Chapter 890: The skit makes its appearance!
Chapter 890: The skit makes its appearance!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Once the script was settled, Zhang Ye shouted out the door. Everyone was called in!
Over a dozen people from the Spring Festival Gala production team crowded in, waiting for Zhang Ye's instructions. The station head and executive director of Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala, Chang Xiaoliang, had already given instructions to anyone without active jobs in the production team to fully obey Zhang Ye's commands and for every department in Beijing Television to give their fullest support to him. If necessary, they did not even need to seek Chang Xiaoliang or the heads' permission and just do their best to help Zhang Ye, Dong Shanshan, and Yao Jiancai in making the skit the best it could be to turn things around!
Zhang Ye quickly asked, "Who is in charge of props?"
"Teacher Zhang, go ahead and say what you need!" Someone stepped forward.
Zhang Ye said, "I need a set of office equipment that includes a desk, some shelves, and a sofa!"
That person noted it down as he listened. "No problem!"
"And these other things which I've written down as well." Zhang Ye handed a piece of paper to him.
That person took it and scanned through it, then asked in a slightly stunned manner, "This is…?"
Zhang Ye immediately said, "Don't ask, just follow what I've written. The props are very important, so you must arrange them properly!"
That person replied at once, "OK, I'll definitely get it done!"
"How about the costumes?" Zhang Ye asked again.
"Here!" A man and a woman stepped forward.
Zhang Ye said, "I need these kind of costumes and this as well." He gave a list of the costume requirements to them and after handing down some other instructions, he said, "Thanks for all the help, everyone!"
After receiving their instructions, they frantically went to do their duties. Everyone had rushed in and immediately back out of the waiting room as time was running low and everybody was anxious!
The door closed.
The room was quiet again. No one disturbed them.
Zhang Ye, Yao Jiancai, and Dong Shanshan gathered together and started to go through the script as they raced against time. "Old Yao, you don't have too many lines, but I have to mention some of the technicalities to you first. For example, here, your tone cannot be too harsh and it has to be a little more casual. And over here, your expression must agree with the lines. Let me demonstrate to you. Yes, that's about it….Shanshan, you have the most lines of the three of us. Whether this skit will be successful or not will mainly depend on you. For example, here, here, and here, you must take note and keep your emotions in check. You can't speed through your lines. There are also some lines that shouldn't be delivered too slowly either….And a skit is different from acting, so when we stand on the stage, we must always face the audience. We cannot have our backs or sides face the cameras….Come, let's go through our lines!"
The three of them began to discuss and polish the script over and over again!
Suddenly, a call came in.
But Zhang Ye instantly rejected the call!
Dong Shanshan said, "Turn off your cell phone."
"I forgot to just now." Zhang Ye was just about to turn off his cell phone when it rang again.
So Zhang Ye answered the call and immediately asked: "Who is this? I have some urgent matters to attend to. If there's a problem, please call me back later…."
However, a weak, middle-aged man's voice sounded from the other end: "I'm Qu Haiying."
Zhang Ye was stunned. "Aiyo, Teacher Qu?"
Yao Jiancai and Dong Shanshan were also slightly taken aback as they looked over.
"Aren't you at the hospital now? Why are you still calling me?!" Zhang Ye said worriedly.
Qu Haiying said: "I really couldn't hold up at my end any longer, Teacher Little Zhang. I've heard everything from the production team. I'm so sorry for giving you trouble at such a time."
Zhang Ye quickly said: "It's no trouble, it's no trouble at all!"
Qu Haiying remained silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke: "For the finale skit act…I'm counting on you!"
When Zhang Ye heard that, he suddenly felt even more pressured and said in a serious tone: "Teacher Qu, just take care of yourself. I'll handle things here, so you can rest easy!"
Qu Haiying said: "Thank you!"
After hanging up, Zhang Ye gave a wry smile and said, "Our performance this time has to succeed no matter what. Teacher Qu just called and said that he would be entrusting the skit to us!"
Yao Jiancai said, "Let's give it our best shot then!"
Dong Shanshan said helplessly, "This time, it seems like the stakes are really high!"
Zhang Ye said firmly, "Our difficult task will begin soon. We have to take this on no matter what!"
...
It was 40 minutes until their turn on the stage!
The staff of Beijing Television were in turmoil!
"Time is running out!"
"How's the progress?"
"I heard that they're already readying the props!"
"Aiyo, is there still time for that?"
"How about the script for the skit?"
"I don't know. No one saw any script and Director Chang probably did not see it either!"
"I think they are rehearsing at the moment, so no one dares disturb them!"
"Why are you even talking about the script? It would already be good enough if they can avert the present situation. How can you expect Zhang Ye to produce a good script for the skit with just an hour to go? If they can manage to go onstage and perform the skit, that's already more than enough!"
"We don't even know whether they can make it in time!"
"We can only depend on Teacher Zhang now!"
"Yeah, whether we can tide over this crisis will all depend on Teacher Zhang Ye!"
Although Chang Xiaoliang was at the venue directing the live broadcast, his mind was not focused there.
Hu Fei was anxiously pacing in circles!
Hou Ge, Dafei, and the others were praying silently!
The production team was also feeling extremely tense but there weren't much they could help with, except for readying the props and costumes to the best of Zhang Ye's requirements. This was the only thing they could do right now!
...
Another performance had finished broadcasting!
Counting down to the last 30 minutes!
At home.
His grandma asked, "When is Little Ye coming home?"
His first aunt said, "He should be back soon, I think?"
"Maybe not." His father was watching Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala and said, "Didn't Mengmeng just say that something has happened over at the TV station?"
His third sister said cheekily, "But that has nothing to do with Bro at all. He has already completed his job there, no, I mean, he has excelled in his performance there today!"
His eldest sister nodded, "Our bro was so awesome today!"
...
Counting down to the last 20 minutes!
The Internet continued having heated discussions!
"The other provincial stations' Spring Festival Galas have already started breaking out their finales!"
"Yeah, this performance on Zhejiang TV is honestly good! The station's popularity has risen again!"
"That's because Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala is no longer competing with them anymore!"
"Hai, it's so unfortunate."
"I'm still watching Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala and I feel that it's pretty good."
"What's good about it? Qu Haiying can't make an appearance and the finale skit is gone too. Actually, what I was most looking forward to on Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala were Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai's crosstalk routine and Qu Haiying's skit. I was elated after watching 'Everything is Great' and felt very satisfied by that, but somehow the finale skit act got canceled? Then what is there left to look forward to?! It's time to change the channel!"
"I'll change the channel too."
"Yes, there's indeed nothing left to look forward to!"
"I'll still watch Beijing TV, I want to see how they are going to turn things around!"
"Yeah, I also wonder who they'll get to stand in for this skit!"
"Who can there be? There's no one who can do it!"
"Teacher Qu's skits are very unique and his style is incredibly distinct. They are always great fun to watch, so who can replace Teacher Qu's spot?! No one has the popularity and ability to do so!"
...
Counting down to the last 10 minutes!
The industry insiders' attention was wholly focused on Beijing Television.
"Is it going to start soon?"
"So how are they going to resolve it? Can it really be resolved?"
"I don't know, there's no news about it!"
"I think it's hopeless. If a live broadcast problem occurs, they're bound to be punished!"
"All their efforts for Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala has come to naught this year!"
Central TV employees had also tuned into Beijing Television.
Especially the production team of Central TV's Spring Festival Gala who hated Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala to the bone. During the rehearsal of Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala, Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai had mocked the crosstalk routine of Central TV's Spring Festival Gala, even naming their routine "I Want to Get on the Spring Festival Gala"! At that time, it had caused a lot of fans to cast doubt on Central TV's Spring Festival Gala. They sincerely believed that the reason why so many people insulted and cursed Central TV's Spring Festival Gala this year was because of Zhang Ye's crosstalk routine on Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala opening the floodgates. Now that something had happened at Beijing Television, many of them were gloating at this unfortunate accident.
"Retribution!"
"It should be enough trouble for them this time!"
"Let's see how they'll handle this!"
"No one can help Beijing TV now!"
Chen Ye was also watching Beijing Television.
Jiang Naixiong, Jiang Yuan, and Xu Yipeng were watching as well.
The director of Central TV Department 14, Yan Tianfei, was also extremely concerned about the situation there and wanted to call to Zhang Ye to ask for an update on the situation. But unfortunately, Zhang Ye's cell phone was off.
Countdown to the last 5 minutes!
As it got closer to the given time, a lot of people were surprised that more and more people were changing their channel to Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala instead. Even many of Liaoning Television's and Mango TV's faithful audience tuned into Beijing Television. There was no reason other than purely wanting to witness the mess and commotion of Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala!
At this moment, everyone had turned their full attention to Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala!
Everyone was wondering what would happen next!
Would the live broadcast be cut?
Would the gala end early?
Or would the hosts apologize?
Counting down to the final minute!
The last performance before the finale skit had just ended!
Countless people from every province and district in the entire country all had their eyes on Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala!
"It's almost time!"
"It's starting!"
"Will they cut off the live broadcast feed?"
"It's finally time!"
"Eh?"
"Strange, why isn't Dong Shanshan doing the introductions on the language act stage?"
"I don't know, she hasn't been there since a while ago!"
"Why did they replace her with another host in the middle of the live broadcast?"
"Who knows what happened! Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala is really experiencing a wave of trouble!"
"Stop talking already and just watch!"
"I'm just waiting for the hosts to make the announcement!"
...
Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala.
Live on the scene of the language act stage.
The audience was also getting worried. The issue was so large that even the live audience knew about it. They were just like the home audience all around the country who were watching their televisions, staring unblinkingly at the male host and the new replacement female host onstage!
However, to everyone's surprise, not only did the two hosts of Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala not look panicked, they were even beaming!
The male host smiled and said, "I was nerve-wracked just from watching the acrobatics act just now!"
The female host laughed and said, "How is that considered nerve-wracking?"
"Oh?" The male host looked at her.
The female host gestured to the side and said, "The performance that is truly nerve-wracking is right at the end. There, those people who just left the stage a bit ago are back again for some reason!"
The male host also looked over all smiles. "Is that so?"
The female host said, "Please enjoy the skit: 'Playing It Up'!"
Are back again?
Left the stage a bit ago?
Everyone blinked, not understanding what was going on. What did they mean?
The curtains were drawn!
The cameras cut to the stage!
The stage, arranged into an office setting, was unveiled in front of the audience!
Also onstage was a person. When the audience saw this person, they nearly jumped out of their seats in shock. The people watching Beijing Television's Spring Festival Gala on their televisions were also shocked. so much so that their jaws nearly dropped. In this moment, no one could believe what their eyes were seeing!
"What?"
"This…"
"Holy shit!"
"A-Are my eyes deceiving me?"
"How could it be him? Why is it him?"
"This is…"
"It's Zhang Ye!"
"W-What is he doing there?"
"Heavens!"
"It's actually goddamn Zhang Ye!"
"Oh my god!"
Each and every one of the audience members was dumbfounded!