Chapter 794: Here's 10 million! Spend it all!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
At this very moment.
At the recording studio of Rise to the Dance.
Chen Ye was currently giving instructions. "The first batch of auditions will officially start the day after tomorrow. Although it will not be broadcast, the stage must still be ready since the auditions will be conducted here. Set up all the signs and supporting beams properly!"
"OK."
"Understood!"
"Teacher Chen, leave it to us!"
Everyone answered enthusiastically and got busy with their work.
The stage here was originally The Voice's and it was designed completely by Zhang Ye himself. Now that, Zhang Ye was put into cold storage and dumped over to that "desolate" Department 14, this variety stage that had taken a large sum of money to build and was ranked among the best in the country would naturally be given to Xu Yipeng and Chen Ye's team who had taken over. The signboard and logo of The Voice had already been removed and the workers were now hanging up their Rise to the Dance's large signboard and slogan in place.
Chen Ye said, "Move it slightly to that side!"
That worker said, "Do you mean here, Director Chen?"
Chen Ye said, "No, move it a bit more!"
That person said, "Uh, is it alright now?"
Chen Ye said, "No, no, no. Aiyo, why can't the few of you understand what I'm saying?! Move it this way!"
Without warning, a worker suddenly lost his footing on the ladder and with a tremble of his hands, the large signboard fell out of his hands. On the other side, another worker who was standing on the ladder supporting the other end of the signboard could not react in time and also lost his grasp as it slid out under the horrified gaze of everyone. The signboard was still suspended from a steel cable, but only on one side, making the signboard swing like a pendulum in midair!
The steel cable broke as it swung.
And hit two long rows of lights at the side with a loud bang. Boom boom boom. With several exploding noises, those two rows of lights were completely smashed and the signboard and lighting frame dropped to the ground together. No one knew what it hit when it landed. With several thunderous crackles, it was as though lightning had struck!
This was not the end. While the signboard was swinging, the two workers standing on the ladder were shocked and instinctively stretched out their hands to try to grab hold of it. However, that only made matters worse. They did not manage to catch hold of the signboard and the ladders they were on tipped over amid the screams of everyone. Then the ladders crashed directly down onto the stage's largest main equipment in the rear!
Smash!
Smash!
The entire place was a complete mess! Everything was smashed!
There was even a device making a crackling sound as it exploded with glaring sparks at the next moment. The entire place was in shambles!
Chen Ye was stunned!
All hell broke loose!
"Ah!"
"Quick, rescue them!"
"How are they? How are they?"
"Aiyo, what happened?! What happened?!"
"It's over! All the equipment is broken!"
"Get away quickly! In case it explodes again!"
"Oh my god! What, what should we do?!"
A moment later, Xu Yipeng rushed over frantically. When he arrived, he saw the scene in front of him and started cursing immediately. The two slightly injured staff who were putting up the signboard were scolded until their faces turned green. For such a big incident to happen at this critical juncture, how would they be able to hold the audition in two days? If they were to repurchase the equipment and repair the stage, would they still make it in time for the broadcast in December? Their plans were disrupted. Besides, even though they had 100 million RMB for the production budget from Central TV Department 1, the use for this money was already all planned out. They did not have much money to spare to repurchase the equipment and repair the stage anymore. It was likely that even a few million would not be enough to cover the damage on these equipment!
Being the leaders of the program team, the first thought that came to Xu Yipeng's and Chen Ye's mind was: Where would they get this money from? How could they fill this shortfall?
Not long after.
The news of the incident at the Rise to the Dance recording studio had spread throughout Central TV!
Many people were shocked when they heard about it.
"Holy shit, why are they so unlucky?"
"Are you serious? Such a big accident?"
"There was even nearly a fire?"
The people of Rise to the Dance are really unlucky. But then again, that stage was originally designed and built by Zhang Ye, so it was just restoring it back to its original state. A lot of the equipment were damaged and I even heard that the electrical wirings of the lights were destroyed. Repair? It looks more like they'll have to rebuild it from scratch!"
"This is really strange."
"That's right. The main problem is that the electrical circuits and equipment are all damaged!"
"Is there anything that is related to Zhang Ye not strange?"
"I just passed by Central TV Department 1 and noticed their directors getting anxious. It won't be a small sum of money. If they have to repair the stage, then what's left over of their production budget will become even less and that might affect their ability to invite big shot celebrities. Back then, when Zhang Ye made The Voice, he raised the celebrity joining fees by around two times the market prices. With that as a benchmark now, the conditions for a celebrity to appear as guest on variety shows has also become much higher! Let's just see how they'll handle it."
...
At the Deputy Station Head's office.
Yan Tianfei was called over by the deputy station head.
"Old Yan, sit," the deputy station head said pleasantly.
Yan Tianfei asked curiously, "Old Zhou, what's the matter?"
"Hur hur. I heard that Zhang Ye and his team were transferred to your department? How are they doing?" the deputy station head asked.
Yan Tianfei said, "They're quite fine. Everyone knows how capable Little Zhang is, so you might as well say that he's wasting his talents over at our department. Old Zhou, if there's anything you want to say, just say it. We've known each other for over twenty years now. So stop beating around the bush."
The deputy station head cleared his throat and said, "OK, then let me give it to you straight. Did you hear of the incident regarding Rise to the Dance? Your Department 14 has actually gotten quite a good bargain this time. Not only was Zhang Ye transferred over, even his entire elite team of people from The Voice have been incorporated by your department. Since Central TV Department 1 has given you so many talented people for nothing much in return, now that something has happened on their side, you should express some gratitude, right? Since you all don't have any new shows lined up for now, you should take out a portion of your production budget and lend it to Central TV Department 1 first. I think just 10 million would do. It's not much."
Upon hearing that, Yan Tianfei was angered. "Old Zhou, do you think that our Department 14 can be bullied around like that?"
The deputy station head frowned. "How can you say that?"
"It's because Central TV Department 1 stole two of our rookies in first place. When I went to request for the two of them back, they refused. Since Zhang Ye and his team were already getting the cold storage treatment from Central TV Department 1, they were dumped over to our Department 14 to free up their staffing. How did it turn out to be that I'm the one who owes them? They created the trouble themselves, but I have to clean up the mess for them now? Help them out with our money?" Yan Tianfei laughed loudly. "Don't bullshit me!"
The deputy station head said, "It's just a loan. I'll be the guarantor for them and make sure that they will return it to you all later."
Yan Tianfei did not give in to either soft and hard approach. "If they want to borrow money, tell them to borrow from the station. Don't set your eyes on our Department 14!"
"The station doesn't have much money now since our spending has already been planned beforehand, so there aren't many surplus funds to move around for the time being." The deputy station head said, "I hope you can look at this from the bigger picture, Old Yan!"
Yan Tianfei said angrily, "The station does not have surplus funding, Department 1 does not have surplus funding, then why does it fucking seem like only our Department 14 have surplus funding?! How much do the other departments get for their annual budgets? How much does our Department 14 get for our annual budget? We have the least amount among all the channels! Old Zhou, don't tell me you don't know that!"
The deputy station head was also fuming. "It's been many years now and yet your temper is still just as terrible! That's enough, I'm won't be discussing this with you anymore. The station will cut your department's production budget this year. Tell your department's financial personnel to come look for me!"
Yan Tianfei sneered, "If you can take it directly, so be it. But let me tell you this first: there's not a single cent left in our department's account anymore!"
...
At Central TV Department 14.
In Zhang Ye's office.
As he looked at his reputation points decreasing rapidly, Zhang Ye could feel his heart wincing!
-100,000!
-100,000!
Ten minutes passed!
Another twenty minutes passed!
It was consuming 100,000 reputation points every second! Seeing that his reputation points were almost used up, Zhang Ye still did not know if the matter was resolved or not. Therefore, he did not risk deactivating it in case the Lucky Halo just took effect but ended up getting stopped by him suddenly. If that happened, it was as good as giving up halfway and all the reputation points spent up until now would be for nothing!
Hurry!
Just what was the situation like now?
Could any investors be taking the initiative to contact this bro for the title sponsorship right now? Or could it be…
As he was feeling restless, he heard the sound of someone hastily walking outside. He could hear Department 14's Director Yan Tianfei shouting for him from a distance away, "Teacher Little Zhang!"
Zhang Ye was stunned and quickly turned off the Lucky Halo (Upgraded). He walked out from his office in a hurry to look for the direction where the sound came from. He then saw Yan Tianfei taking large strides towards him with an infuriated expression.
Sensing that something had happened, the staff of the department's two sections were also startled as they looked over. Some of them even ran over in a flurry.
"Director?"
"Director Yan, what's the matter?"
"What happened? What's made you so angry?"
Zhang Ye also asked puzzled, "Director Yan, you're looking for me?"
Ha Qiqi, Zhang Zuo, and the others appeared as well, not knowing what was going on.
As they were clamoring, Yan Tianfei walked up before everyone. After he caught his breath and stifled his anger, he shouted at Zhang Ye, "Teacher Zhang, set up a program team immediately for the new show that you mentioned earlier. Establish an independent program team from Section 1 and 2 of the Department right now. You will be the team leader and the program team's account will be separate from Department 14's. I will give you 10 million and you shall lead your team to go film the documentary!"
Everyone was dumbfounded by what they heard!
"What?"
"10 million?"
"A documentary? 10 million?"
"This…this…"
"Director Yan, what's this about?"
Zhang Ye was also a little confused. Damn, just what the hell was happening? He's handing out the money just like that? And it was even for a budget of 10 million which had surpassed his requirements? This was more than enough for him to shoot the entire documentary! There would even be a lot of surplus funds leftover!
Zhang Ye exclaimed, "Director Yan!"
Yan Tianfei was not afraid to say what he wanted and interrupted, "Don't say that it's too much. I won't let you reject this either. I don't have any requirements for the documentary and it doesn't matter if the viewership rating is low or not! The only thing you need to do is to spend all 10 million on this documentary! You must spend it all! Don't leave a single cent! All the money will be handed to you!"
All of a sudden, he was given 10 million!
And he must even fucking spend it all??
Zhang Ye was elated and immediately said, "OK! I will definitely complete this mission!"
Yan Tianfei nodded. "Good! Very good!"
Everyone's jaws dropped as they did not know what was happening here!
Only Zhang Ye knew clearly that it was because of the power of the upgraded Lucky Halo. All the problems he had were easily solved. It was just that awesome!!