Noon.
12 o’clock.
At the villa.
Zhang Ye pushed open the door and went in, saying loudly, “I’m home!”
Inside the living room, he could see that his parents and Wu Zeqing were here. They were making lunch.
Old Wu turned around and looked at him. She smiled and said, “You’re home? What tea would you like? I’ll brew it for you.”
Zhang Ye waved it off. “There’s no need. I wanna rest for a bit first.”
His mother asked, “Why are you back so late? Didn’t you say that you were landing in Beijing at 8 AM?”
“I did land at 8 AM.” Zhang Ye slumped onto the sofa and said in an exhausted voice, “But I was blocked from leaving by all the people asking for my autograph the moment I landed. I signed it for them one by one until my hands went soft.” He raised his right hand. “Look, just look at this. I almost can’t lift it up. Those awful people tortured me so much.”
His father said, “Why didn’t you just turn them down then?”
Zhang Ye said tearfully, “I bragged that I would never reject requests for autographs from my fans on A Date with Yan Mei. Who knew that this would happen? If I had known, I wouldn’t have bragged on the show.”
His mother chuckled. “Didn’t the airport authorities intervene?”
Zhang Ye said, “They did.”
His mother said, “That’s right, drive them all away. Such a commotion would have badly affected the day-to-day of the airport.”
Zhang Ye said, “Right! That’s why the airport authorities specially arranged a reception room for me so that I could concentrate on signing autographs. The ground crews and flight attendants even joined the line to get one themselves.”
The airport staff were terrible!
Thinking about this now, Zhang Ye still had an urge to curse at them.
His mother and father were speechless.
Wu Zeqing laughed as she prepared lunch. “It’s because your calligraphy is so very popular. On a domestic trading and auction platform, your autograph was even sold for a sum of 100,000 yuan.”
Zhang Ye nearly sprang up from the sofa. “What? 100,000 yuan? Damn, no wonder I was thinking what was up with those animals! Then how much did I sign away today? 50 million? 100 million?”
Wu Zeqing said gently, “You’re being too hopeful. That transaction was just a one-off and not the true market price. Did you really think you can depend on autographs to make a living? Hur hur.”
His mother was reminded. “Oh yes, just what is with your calligraphy?”
His father also wondered, “Yeah, your mom and I did not sign you up for any calligraphy lessons when you were young.”
Wu Zeqing smiled. “Dad, with his calligraphy, it’s no longer a matter of getting lessons.”
Zhang Ye belly laughed and said, “It was self-taught. I’m just a genius at it.”
“Little Ye’s writing has always been quite good.” Wu Zeqing said, “That ‘Ode of Mulan’ is still framed in our house. But compared to the ‘Preface to the Orchid Pavilion,’ there are indeed no comparisons. I also watched the live broadcast and found that this ‘Preface of the Orchid Pavilion’ was the most stunning piece of semi-cursive calligraphy that I have ever seen. There’s nothing that comes close to it.”
Zhang Ye laughed and said, “It’s been some time since then. I oughta have improved.”
His father said, “The media blew up yesterday as well. Little Ye’s name was all over the headlines and they even said something about his writing being the greatest semi-cursive since ancient times. I’m not sure what that means.”
His mother added insult to injury by saying, “Hmph, that means our foolish son donated away a calligraphy piece worth nearly 700 hundred million RMB to the Red Cross. Greatest semi-cursive since ancient times? More like the greatest fool since ancient times!”
His father was speechless.
As was Zhang Ye.
Wu Zeqing stood there laughing.
She was done cooking.
The family sat down together and had lunch.
Talking about the Korea trip, Zhang Ye bragged as he ate, his eyes lighting up. “Dad, Mom, Old Wu, it’s not that I’m bragging to you all, but it was really a crisis at that point in time. I was ignoring Miyamoto Shinshou at first, but who could’ve guessed that he’d create trouble for himself. I kept wondering to myself why he insisted on showing off! He even wanted to discuss calligraphy with me? I could easily demolish him with my eyes closed! So how could I hold back? I decided to roll up my sleeves and take him on. After I finished writing the piece, I looked into the crowd and saw that everyone had turned silent. Miyamoto Shinshou was standing there dumbfounded and tried to flee after being defeated. He didn’t even dare make a sound to me after that!”
His father said in a speechless manner, “Why do you always look so spirited whenever you get into a fight with a foreigner?”
Zhang Ye laughed and said, “Do I?”
His mother looked at him. “You do!”
Zhang Ye said, “Alright, so be it. But I’m only doing so for our country and its people. It’s indeed meaningless to clash with our own, and I’m getting annoyed from fighting on home turf. There’s too much discord within the Chinese entertainment circle with people trampling on each other every day. Once they head overseas, they turn headless and don’t know what to do when a conflict arises. But that’s OK! Isn’t there still me, Lord Zhang, around in the Chinese show business? Have I ever been afraid of anyone in the domestic industry? So of course I can deal with them even if they come from abroad! I don’t care who it might be!”
His mother said, “Good, that’s my son!” She picked out a piece of meat for him and asked, “So you’ve taken the first steps to your development in Asia?”
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. “What first steps? I’ve already taken off and am soaring!”
His mother curled her lips and said sarcastically, “Right, right, soaring.”
Wu Zeqing gave him a timely reminder. “Little Ye, don’t assume it to be so great. Your relations with the Japanese and Koreans were already no good prior to this since you’ve fought with and scolded their people before. Although it brought you quite a bit of attention at that time and your current ranking within Asia is very high, if you really wish to continue progressing in the region and aim for the Asian S-list, all of those past incidents you were involved in will become stumbling blocks in your attempt to reach the top of Asia.”
Zhang Ye said, “You’ve said this to me before.”
Wu Zeqing acknowledged, “Yes, you have to be prepared for it.”
Zhang Ye laughed and said, “It’ll be fine. I’ll deal with it as it comes.”
After lunch.
The calls started coming in one after another.
While he was in Korea, there were times he couldn’t get a signal on his cell phone. He was overseas, after all. But now that he was back, many people were looking for him again.
…
Yao Jiancai called.
“Whoa, you’re great, Zhang’er!”
“Haha, it was alright.”
“When will you be coming over to my place?”
“Why?”
“Write another two calligraphy pieces for me.”
“Get lost! I’m not free!”
…
Grandma Zhang Xia called.
“Little Zhang, you’re back?”
“Yes, I just reached home.”
“You’ve managed to stabilize your position in Asia this time.”
“Haha, I didn’t expect it to be so smooth sailing either.”
“You talents always glow wherever you go.”
…
The Calligraphy Association called.
“Teacher Zhang.”
“Hello, President Sun.”
“Let’s skip the niceties! Will you join the Calligraphy Association? I’ll arrange for it immediately!”
“Ah? Please don’t.”
“That won’t do. If a great calligraphy master like you isn’t in the association, how would it look on us? You definitely have to join us. I’ll push for you to be the vice president, and when I retire next year, we can arrange for you to take over as the president or honorary president. Master Wu also feels the same way about it!”
“President Sun, let’s talk about that again in the future.”
“Don’t push it back anymore! Everyone is really hoping for you to join us!”
“I’m just an artist, so I really shouldn’t be poking my nose into your people’s business.”
“A calligraphy celebrity is a celebrity too! And we’re now regulated by the entertainment industry as well!”
“Pfft, don’t tease me.”
…
Later that afternoon.
Zhang Ye’s phone rang again.
But it was this call that stunned Zhang Ye.
The caller was someone from the Asian Red Cross Society.
“Is this Teacher Zhang Ye?”
“That’s me.”
“Hello, I am with the Red Cross.”
“Hello.”
“Regarding your outstanding contributions to charity work, we are extremely grateful to you and also very touched by your actions. We held a meeting with the higher-ups and came to a unanimous decision. We would like to invite you to take the role of our new Asian philanthropic ambassador and join us in contributing to the philanthropic cause. Will you accept our invitation?”
“Ah?”
“Teacher Zhang?”
“Ah, I’m here.”
“We’re officially inviting you. Would you be willing to join us?”
“Of course I am. But may I ask a question first? How many ambassadors are there going to be?”
“There will only be one in the whole of Asia.”
“Is there going to be a selection round then?”
“No, you will be appointed as the ambassador as long as you agree to it.”
“Of course I will agree. This popularity—to contribute to the philanthropic cause, I am more than willing to play my part.”
“Thank you! Then we will immediately issue a letter of appointment to you. We will notify the media of the different countries around Asia and call for a press conference to be held.”
The call ended.
Zhang Ye was still feeling rather stunned.
The Asian philanthropic ambassador?
This must be the special reward that the Asian Red Cross Society was talking about, right? This reward was indeed too generous! Prior to this, Zhang Ye actually had no expectations at all. He never thought that a charitable organization would be able to hand out such a reward! But who could have thought that such a big move would be made the very next day!