In the afternoon.
Zhang Ye returned to the studio.
Everyone was working and was rather surprised to see him.
“Director Zhang?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Didn’t you say that you were taking two days off?”
“Yeah, it’s only been half a day.”
“Ah, did something happen again?”
“Is someone trying to challenge you again?”
If it were any other celebrity’s studio, how could there always be so many things happening on a daily basis? Besides, no one could bear that much of it either. If something big happened once every six months, that would be more than enough trouble for them to handle. But it was different at Zhang Ye’s Studio. Here, if there wasn’t a major incident or two per week, they wouldn’t be known as Zhang Ye’s Studio anymore. This was the epicenter of the Asian entertainment industry’s problems.
Zhang Ye smiled. “Nothing bad happened.”
Only then did everyone heave a sigh of relief. “You gave us such a fright.”
Zhang Ye immediately said, “Come, let’s have a meeting.”
In the conference room.
Everyone took their seats.
Zhang Ye asked, “Old Zuo, how are recent developments?”
Zhang Zuo smiled and said, “Although Japan and Korea have introduced the restrictions, we’re actually still doing great. Our popularity in Asia rose again yesterday.”
Ha Qiqi laughed and said, “The more we get scolded, the more popular we become.”
Little Wang flattered, “Director Zhang is mighty! Director Zhang is powerful!”
Zhang Ye said in amusement, “Enough, enough, it doesn’t sound like a good thing no matter how I hear it.”
Zhang Zuo said, “If this continues, even if Japan and Korea maintain their restrictions on us, we’ll still be able to hold our ground in the Asian Celebrity Rankings. We might even be able to keep moving up bit by bit. But if we want to reach the summit of Asia, that could prove to be very difficult, and it also would take a long time to achieve.”
Zhang Ye acknowledged, “That’s why this is still not enough. We mustn’t be satisfied with the status quo.”
Ha Qiqi looked at him. “What do you mean?”
Zhang Ye said, “Since things have come to this, there’s no way we can resolve it. So let’s just take it all the way with them. But we can’t keep on fighting like this. It doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t answer the problem. Yes, it does increase our popularity. But if we want to reach the summit in Asia, this bit of increase is too negligible. We need a greater spurt of popularity increase by doing something impactful, so I think there’s a need to change our strategy. We can’t wait for them to come over. We have to take the initiative and take it to them!”
Can’t be passive or wait to get attacked?
This thinking made sense, but—
Wu Yi said startled, “We’re going to attack first?”
Tong Fu also said, “But how do we fight?”
Zhang Zuo said, “Aren’t the restrictions already in place over there?”
Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Then let’s circumvent the restrictions. They explicitly restricted me by name, but what if I changed my name? Who would know that it is me?”
Nobody understood what he meant.
Change names?
How are you going to change it?
Use a pseudonym?
Ha Qiqi said, “Then where are we going to take the fight to?”
Zhang Ye laughed. “We have two choices. One is Japan and the other is Korea. Which country should we begin with? Everyone, give me your opinion.”
Wu Yi said, “If you really want to do it, then I guess we should target Korea.”
Tong Fu nodded. “We’re more familiar with them since we’ve been fighting with them for so long.”
Zhang Zuo added, “Yeah, we’re more familiar with Korea.”
Then Zhang Ye said, “Alright then, I’ve decided. Let’s target Japan first!”
Everyone was floored!
Pfft!
Then why did you ask us?
Aren’t our opinions redundant!
Ha Qiqi asked, “Th-Then how are we going to do it?”
Previously, Zhang Ye wasn’t sure of how to proceed either. However, the lottery draw that he played at noon had given him a completely new train of thought. It had broadened his horizons and opened his eyes. Since he had always been taking the unconventional path, then he might as well continue taking it. The paths of other celebrities didn’t fit him, so he would just have to find his own way forward!
Japanese language?
Drawing?
The answer was obvious!
Zhang Ye smiled mysteriously. “If we’re going to do it, we have to go big. We’re not gonna sweat the small stuff since that won’t help us get much popularity anyway. Think about it. What is the most popular in Japan, captures the most attention from people, has a lead on any other country by far, has their products sold throughout Asia, and is the most watched industry of all?”
Zhang Zuo was startled. “Are you saying?”
Zhang Ye grinned and said, “Yes.”
Ha Qiqi was gobsmacked. “Are you intending to?”
Zhang Ye nodded with a smile. “That’s right.”
Little Wang said in shock, “Are you going to star in an adult video?”
Flop!
Zhang Ye nearly fell off his chair. He roared, “Me? Star in an adult video? Your sister!”
Little Wang said, “Didn’t you say that it’s an industry that catches the most attention from people?”
Zhang Ye nearly fainted from anger. “Is that the only one you can think of? I’m telling you! You had better watch less of those videos from now on!”
Little Wang looked really embarrassed. Her face had turned all red. “I’ve never watched it before!”
“Hahahaha!”
“Hahahahaha!”
Everyone in the meeting was laughing hard.
Little Wang said anxiously, “Then what are you talking about?”
Ha Qiqi clutched her stomach and laughed. “Director Zhang was talking aboutcomics 1 , right?”
Zhang Ye banged the table and said, “Look at Old Ha! Just look at her! It’s comics! Comics, my dear comrades! I want to use this as an entry point for all Japanese people to learn about me. I want to turn everything upside down! It’s decided. We’ll go ahead with the comics. Starting from today, we’ll be doing this!”
Zhang Zuo said nervously, “You aren’t joking, right?”
Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Do I look like I’m joking?”
Little Wang said, “But you don’t even know how to speak Japanese.”
Zhang Ye opened his mouth and spoke what sounded like gibberish to the team.
Little Zhou was startled. “Is that Japanese?”
Tong Fu cussed, “Damn, when did you learn it?”
Zhang Ye smiled. “I just picked it up. I’m good at studying, and the Japanese language is considerably simpler among languages. It’s not too hard to pick up.”
Not too hard to pick up?
But you still couldn’t have picked it up that fast!
Everyone was skeptical.
Little Wang wiped at her sweat. “But I’ve never seen you draw before?”
Zhang Ye said, “There are many things that you don’t know about me. Anyway, the direction is set. Within the year, we will definitely achieve the status of becoming an Asian S-lister. I know that we’ve never done anything related to the field of comics before, but it doesn’t matter. After all, practice makes perfect. Everyone, I need you to make use of your channels to get in touch with your contacts and prepare for the big plan after this. By the way, keep it a secret and don’t let anyone know about it. When we contact the Japanese publishing studios, we must also ensure that our identity does not get revealed. Otherwise, there will be nothing left to play for.”
He kept going on for a while.
Only then did everyone gasp to themselves.
Is he serious?
Is he really serious?
But does Director Zhang know how to draw comics? Isn’t this field mainly dominated by the Japanese?
However, seeing how confident Zhang Ye looked, no one said anything else about it. If he could actually rely on comics to break into the Japanese market and gain the popularity from their entire population, that would really be another way of doing things. When that happened, their popularity would definitely increase by leaps and bounds! Alright then, let’s take a shot at it!
However, Zhang Ye’s next line left everyone on the verge of collapse!
Zhang Ye was about to leave the meeting room when he suddenly turned around. “Eh, what kinds of tools do we need to make comics?”
“Ah?”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“Dear God!”