Chapter 886: A Letter to Home causes a massacre!
Chapter 886: A Letter to Home causes a massacre!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
"Push it up!"
"Let's push 'A Letter to Home' up the chart!"
"It's already #4!"
"Right above it now is the best performing song in Chen Guang's new album!"
"Charge! Let's shatter Old Chen!"
"I'm here! Go to hell!"
"Let's destroy Teacher Chen Guang!"
"Comrades, countrymen, charge!"
"Get Zhang Ye to the top three!"
"Right, get Zhang Ye to the top three! Hahahaha!"
A group of netizens who only wanted to watch the world burn seemed even more excited than the person directly involved. They roared as they either left positive comments for "A Letter to Home," gave it plays, or helped forward it to increase its popularity. Finally, with all of the noisy commotion caused by the troll army, the song truly and miraculously "shattered" Chen Guang!
#3!
Third place on the Top Chinese Music Chart: "A Letter to Home"!
The trolls went wild with joy!
"Wow!"
"Hahahaha!"
"It's a success! It's done!"
"This is so cool!"
"Pfft, can you guys not be such trolls!"
"Aiyo, let me laugh a little longer!"
Initially, this group of people teared up because of the song and some of them even cried listening to it. But in the blink of an eye, when they saw an exciting opportunity for fun? When they realized they could stir up some trouble? These trolls seemingly changed into different people as their attitudes turned faster than the pages of a book! Every one of them jokingly called for a massacre on the charts with a domineering air!
"Let's destroy Sister Zhang next!"
"That's right! I don't care who she is!"
"Our target is the #1 spot!"
"Our target should be the #1 spot for the month!"
"No, let's push 'A Letter to Home' up onto the annual chart!"
"Only the annual chart? What sort of low-level goal is that! We'll push this song up into the Worldwide Music Chart! Push it up onto the American Billboard Chart! Let the Americans feel the passion and warmth of China's ballad!"
"Right, let's bring it to America!"
"Gooooo!"
"We're headed for America!"
"Push that son of a gun up!"
When a lot of people saw this, they nearly fainted on the spot. "Fuck, can you all please stop showing off? Headed for goddamn America? Why don't you push it out of the galaxy instead! Or push it beyond the Milky Way?!"
The trolls replied: "What a good suggestion!"
The onlookers had no response
It was a festive atmosphere on the Internet that felt just like the New Year. Eh, but it was really the New Year anyway.
Beijing Television.
In a waiting room.
Yao Jiancai was highly entertained. "With that lousy voice of yours, you can still get onto the Top Chinese Music Chart on the day the song was released? Damn, it's already #3! You're already going into the music industry so soon after crossing over into the documentary industry as a director?!"
Zhang Ye did not like hearing that. "Hey, what do you mean by my 'lousy voice'?"
"Hahaha, what you're doing is just making trouble for their industry," Yao Jiancai remarked.
Zhang Ye boasted, "This is called talent, understand?"
Yao Jiancai seethed, "Who are you trying to bullshit?"
"Just look at Grandma Zhang Xia's comment, Sister Zhang's comment, Ning Lan's highest recommendation. They're all relevant and on the money!" Zhang Ye pointed out the comments on Weibo.
Yao Jiancai said, "Keep spouting your nonsense!"
When he sang "A Letter to Home" earlier, Zhang Ye was in all seriousness. But after he left the stage, this fellow was back to his usual cheeky self.
Since they were just idling about, the two of them started browsing through Weibo to kill their boredom.
Yao Jiancai was suddenly amused by something. "Heh, someone is scolding you!"
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "There are always people scolding me."
Yao Jiancai laughed. "But this time, their scolding is ingenious! Quick, take a look at it! Your song has brought you trouble again!"
Initially, Zhang Ye was not bothered about it, but after he leaned over to have a look, he was at a total loss for words!
Not only Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai, everyone else felt that way as this was not your usual online comment, but a news report. It was an interview comment, and it was even an interview that was broadcast live!
...
It was the first day of the Lunar New Year.
The World Team Table Tennis Championships that was progressing overseas had ended. In the finals of the men's team event, the Chinese team lost 2-3 to the South Korean team. With an extremely advantageous lead of 2-0, they eventually lost the match after surrendering three consecutive sets at the end. The final player to compete was the world #2, Han Li. He was not in the best shape and lost the crucial match point. This loss was extremely painful to China as they had won the men's team event in the world championships for ten straight years. It was the first time in all those years that the trophy had changed hands!
The commentator and host for Central TV in this competition was none other than Yu Yingyi!
When the men's team championship was lost, many table tennis fans were furious!
"Were they even playing table tennis?!"
"Damn, there's something suspicious about that referee!"
"They played so terribly today!"
"I'm not watching this anymore! Making us feel like shit during the new year!"
"If I would've known this was going to be the result, I wouldn't have watched the table tennis match at all. I'd rather have watched the Spring Festival Gala instead!"
"This competition met with some problems back then and was dragged on for so long until today's finals. But in the end, they showed us such a result? I don't even get it!"
A lot of these people were in a bad mood due to the results.
However, during the post-match interview, a scene played out in front of them that no one could have expected.
When the reporter interviewed the men's team player, Han Li, to ask him about the main reason for losing his match, Han Li's reply amused everyone!
Han Li said with outrage, "I've always had the habit of listening to music to relieve myself of any pressure before a match starts."
That reporter was stunned. "Listening to music?" What did that have to do with losing a match? The reporter couldn't understand.
Han Li replied angrily, "I found a song that was at the top of the Top Chinese Music Chart, something called 'A Letter to Home'? I was in rather good shape initially, but after listening to this 'noise,' I got really unsettled! What I want to know is, what's up with the Top Chinese Music Chart these days? Is this still the most authoritative music chart in the country? Any song could just randomly appear on it?" He then stopped answering any more questions from the reporters and turned away, leaving together with his teammates and coach! On the screen, his teammate even patted him on his shoulder to console him.
As this was a live interview, it was broadcast to everyone watching!
Once this interview was broadcast, many of the trolls on Weibo were laughing madly!
"Aiyo, what the heck!"
"Isn't this excuse too fucking far-fetched?"
"You can blame others even though you lost the match yourself?"
"Hahahaha!"
"Teacher Zhang has been scolded by someone again!"
"Look at what you people have done by pushing 'A Letter to Home' up onto the music chart. Just see for yourselves what happened! You have caused trouble for someone! And made our country lose the match!"
"What has that got to do with us!"
"Aren't you blaming the toilet when you can't shit!"
Because this was an international tournament and due to it being a live broadcast, Han Li's words caused a big sensation. Who wouldn't know about it when it had been broadcast on television?
Immediately, doubting voices came flooding in!
"This idiot!"
"This Han Li is always finding excuses! He did it previously as well!"
"I'm so tickled from hearing that! What sort of crappy excuse is that!"
"A loss is a loss, why would you blame Zhang Ye for your loss?"
Faced with great pressure from the public opinions, the national table tennis team had no choice except to issue a response.
Very quickly, the national table tennis team's head coach, Liu Yifeng, gave an interview.
The female reporter asked, "Regarding Han Li's post-match comments, what is your view on that?"
Liu Yifeng replied calmly, "As far as I know, Han Li indeed has the habit of listening to music to relax before a match. As our athletes all have their own ways of relieving stress, there is nothing wrong with that. The players are still young and speak bluntly, so it's understandable since everyone is in a bad mood after losing the match."
The female reporter probed, "Then do you mean that the reason for the national team losing is directly linked to 'A Letter to Home'?"
Liu Yifeng said, "Han Li is a young person and is easily affected by external factors. Based on my understanding of him, when something that he dislikes suddenly appears like a certain song or whatever else, it definitely affects him. As for the other athletes, it's also impossible for them not to get distracted as none of us are sages."
The female reporter found it both funny and annoying. "Then do you mean that the reason for the loss is because of Zhang Ye?"
After the tournament, Liu Yifeng learned of the origin of that song and who its singer was. He said, "I did not say that."
But the female reporter thought to herself that it was clearly implied so.
Liu Yifeng explained, "There are a lot of factors contributing to the loss of a match. Besides the external factors, we would reflect on ourselves as well."
So the external factors were still the main reason!
It was still "A Letter to Home" that caused your loss in the tournament?
Coincidentally, the changing room door behind was opened at this moment. Another member of the table tennis national team was just entering, saying to his teammate next to him as he walked in, "That 'A Letter to Home' is really infuriating! What a troublesome mess it has caused! Otherwise, we would have won this match easily!" He did not know the head coach was currently giving a live interview on television. After he saw them, he was startled and quickly left the room again, closing the door behind him.
But what he said had been clearly broadcast to the public!
The criticism immediately swarmed in!
"What's the meaning of that!"
"I thought only Han Li alone was immature, but it seems like the entire national team is blaming Zhang Ye now?"
"Isn't this too far-fetched?!"
"Although many people are scolding Zhang Ye online, you guys should at least find a more reasonable excuse, right? What is this? Isn't this making something out of nothing at all?!"
"It was you who listened to the song willingly! No one forced you to listen to it!"
"The table tennis player is young and not sensible? But why is the head coach also being not sensible?!"
"Yeah, Han Li always has this bad habit of pushing away responsibility. When he lost the match, shouldn't you as a head coach criticize him instead of helping to make excuses? Helping the national team push away the responsibility? What sort of person are you! And to that player called Li, we all heard what you said as well!"
"Teacher Zhang has been shot again even though he did nothing wrong!"
"This bunch of table tennis players are such jokes!"
After that, Han Li did not say another word.
Liu Yifeng also did not give any explanations as he had probably already communicated it to the reporters in the changing room. In the end, the rest of the players on the team did not accept any further interviews either.
...
The phone rang.
It was from Yu Yingyi.
Zhang Ye was just scolding "fuck their grandpas" as he answered the call.
Yu Yingyi said: "Zhang'er."
"Yes, it's me," Zhang Ye said.
Yu Yingyi blinked. "What is going on? You saw the live broadcast?"
Zhang Ye snorted. "How could I have not seen it? They're even blaming me for not singing well? They lost their match just because they listened to my song? Then when Zhang Yuanqi, Chen Guang, and Fan Wenli sang well, why didn't they go and listen to their songs every day and become the world champions! What the hell are they bullshitting about me?!"
Yu Yingyi said, "I'm overseas right now and I'm still at the tournament's arena. I've just finished my work and will return to Beijing tomorrow. Let me tell you something, this Han Li has always behaved like this. When he lost the match last year, he claimed that the table tennis paddle was no good. At the beginning of last year when he lost to a Japanese player, he said that the air in the competition arena was not good."
Zhang Ye was so angry that he was amused. "Then tell me who have I offended? Why am I always getting the blame? Alright, let's not talk about Han Li's faults for now. Why are his other teammates also behaving this way? And even their head coach is behaving this way? It doesn't make any sense at all! I really can't let the matter rest just like this!"
Yao Jiancai was entertained by this as he sat there beside him.
His young buddy sure was getting unluckier by the day! Just singing a song could even cause such a "massacre," making a world #2 table tennis player unable to play properly anymore!
Thinking about it, there was no one else who could do something like this!