Chapter 456: A terrifying amount of Reputation Points! At night.
Zhang Ye was in the study room, humming away as he worked on a second grader's homework. The subject wasn't difficult, but as he had to imitate Chenchen's handwriting, Zhang Ye's speed naturally slowed down. After he finished it, he took a look at his watch. It was already 8:30PM.
Ring, ring, ring.
It was yet another call. This time, it was from Yao Jiancai.
It sounded very noisy over there, like some music was playing in the background. It was probably either a bar or the karaoke.
"Little Zhang, it's me." Yao Jiancai said.
Zhang Ye said, "What's the matter, Old Yao?"
Yao Jiancai said, "I am at Karaoke. Do you wanna join us?"
Zhang Ye asked, "You finished your filming?"
Yao Jiancai said, "Yea, I just got back to Beijing and went for an outdoor shoot. It didn't take too long."
Zhang Ye said, "Oh, Hur Hur. I can't join you though. I am helping a friend take care of her kid, so I can't get away for now."
Yao Jiancai said, "Then there's no other way to go about this. Oh, did you hear about the new policies that the SARFT will be passing tomorrow? I wonder what it’s about, do you?"
Zhang Ye said, "If even you don't know, how could I possibly know?"
Yao Jiancai said, "Doesn't anyone from your circle of friends know?"
Zhang Ye said helplessly, "....You think that I have friends?"
Yao Jiancai heard that and laughed loudly, "Hahaha, that's true. You have offended too many people. Only I seem to be close to you. Your popularity is really terrible to a certain extent."
"What do you mean my popularity is terrible? That's me keeping a low profile." Zhang Ye did not like what he had heard.
"You can say anything you want." Yao Jiancai said, "Alright now, I'll begin my singing and drinking now. I wanted to have a get together, but since you have no time, we can meet in a couple of days somewhere. It's been too long."
"Sure." Zhang Ye hung up.
In the entertainment business, other people made friends with certain interests in mind. Those celebrities, who were always together having fun or drinking and eating together, those buddies or BFFs, who took photographs together daily, were basically doing all of that to advance their careers, but Zhang Ye and Yao Jiancai didn't have this sort of things going on between them. Zhang Ye was a broadcast host who dabbled in literature and occasionally music, while Yao Jiancai was an actor with his main line in drama acting. The two of them might both be in the entertainment business, one being a C-lister while the other a D-lister, but their paths almost never coincided. It was only that one time when Zhang Ye made a cameo appearance in the movie that he had worked with Yao Jiancai and that was where he had gotten to know him.
Excluding Dong Shanshan and Zhang Yuanqi, Zhang Ye's closest friend would be Old Yao. Do you think they had never encountered any obstacles together? No! Do you think that they ever helped each other in any way? No! How many times would you say they had a meal together? Also none! But these two clicked well from the moment they had met each other. Their temperaments matched well even if their ages differed by a large gap. This friendship duo could be even considered as a 'wonder' in an industry as diverse as this!
After closing the workbook, his mind wandered to the announcement of the policies that would be made tomorrow. What sort of policies would be introduced? As long as it's not something that would drag this bro down, it would be OK, but Zhang Ye somehow had a feeling of uneasiness. This was because Weiwo WebTV had rushed to finish broadcasting his "Zhang Ye's Talk Show" to avoid it not being affected by the policy changes and Zhang Ye felt that they would not have done so if they did not receive some sort of insider news. It must have been because the changes were significantly important to have warranted such actions!
Sigh, he could only wait.
It was useless to think too much. At most, he would come up with something more orthodox next time and not choose something as satirical as a talk show.
The study rooms door suddenly opened.
Chenchen said, "Zhang Ye, I'm sleepy."
Zhang Ye stood up, "Then go to bed."
"Bring me to wash my face." Chenchen said.
Zhang Ye sighed, then looked at the time. The landlady was probably not going to make it back tonight, so he had to do as Chenchen asked. He brought Chenchen to the bathroom, then squatted down and lifted her up to the sink. The little one took her toothbrush and toothpaste and washed up before sleeping. After she was done, Zhang Ye put her down and gave her a face towel.
"I'm going to bed now."
"OK, good night."
Chenchen slowly walked up the stairs.
Zhang Ye was a little worried, so he went up to take a look. He tucked her in properly before switching off the lights and went back downstairs. He was not feeling sleepy yet, so he prepared to do something proper.
As if it were a stone, the new policies from the SARFT weighed down on his shoulders and he was unable to shake the feeling. Zhang Ye had already planned for the worst and as such, he needed to expand his abilities. If the SARFT really planned on enveloping control over the entertainment business, then Zhang Ye would surely be affected. He could not stand around and do nothing, so he had to plan things in advance to have some hidden cards up his sleeve just in case.
What hidden cards?
Of course it had to be the game ring!
Ever since the last few lottery draws, he realized that the Skills Category experience books had help him a lot. For example, the lockpicking skill, the computer programming, and network technology skills. All of these didn't seem like they could enable him to do anything and he had felt they were unideal as prizes, but at critical moments, these skills had all come in handy and even allowed him to showcase how great he was! Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
Skills were strength!
Skills were life!
So, Zhang Ye planned to gain a few more skills tonight. Yes, he did not want the Stats Category or Consumption Category treasure chests. He only wanted Skills Category experience books. Even if they might not seem useful now, he could leave it for later and there would be a more suitable time to apply it. It could even help him in his work or daily life. From a more pessimistic point of view, even if the skills turned out to be useless, he would be okay with it since it was just a loss of some reputation points and he knew he could accept it.
Why?
Why did he become so generous?
It was because he had been paying attention to his game ring's reputation points for the past few days. His total reputation points had already reached a terrifying figure!
Over 110 million points!
Every time he looked at this number, he became elated!
How did all these reputation points come about? A portion of it was leftover from Zhang Ye's previous lottery draw, about 30 million of it. All of that was accumulated, while a small portion after that came from 'Zhang Ye's Talk Show' and his other works like, 'The Song of the Stormy Petrel' and 'Ghost Blows Out the Light'. All of these still contributed to his gain of reputation points as there would always be people who did not know or hear of Zhang Ye before and just found out about him. They would then go and search for his other works once they knew a little about him and that was why a single person contributed more than a single reputation point to him. All of this added up to quite a good amount!
Of course, the main reason why his reputation points went past a hundred million was still mainly due to the Panda Burning Incense!
For him to have amassed such a large amount of points, it was all due to very special circumstances. There had been circumstances that allowed him to become even more popular before, but those times, he had only gained the in Beijing or a few other provinces. This was not enough to put him on the entire stage of Asia, let alone the world stage, but as the author behind the "Panda Burning Incense" virus, "2", even if most people did not follow the news and were not interested in computer viruses or hackers, there were still be people who felt that hackers were powerful people and knew how fearful they could be. For example, the programmers and hackers who were from Korea, China, and other countries, all of them had contributed that large amount of reputation points to Zhang Ye!