Chapter 909: The Pollution Problem!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
On the eighth day of the Spring Festival.
It was back to work again.
Perhaps due to the setting off of firecrackers during the festive period, the air quality was not too good. Zhang Ye put on a face mask that was specially used for filtering out fine particles and went off to work very early in the morning.
At Central TV.
The Spring Festival was actually not over yet. The Central TV staff who came to work were still in a festive mood, with some of them discussing how much New Year's money they had given out, some arranging to go out at night and have some drinks, and some others dragging their luggage to work. From the looks of that, they must've just gotten off the train that ran during the Spring Festival and transported passengers to Beijing.
Suddenly, someone looked over.
"Teacher Zhang?"
"Morning, Teacher Zhang."
"Congratulations, Teacher Zhang!"
"Congratulations!"
"Teacher Zhang, happy belated New Year. Hope you've had a good one so far."
"Congratulations on ascending to the A-list!"
A small group of people walked past Zhang Ye and greeted him.
Central TV News Channel's Zhang Ya was also walking over at this time. When she saw Zhang Ye, she smiled and waved at him.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Have a good New Year, too, thanks."
Actually, after Zhang Ye had sued Central TV and caused chaos at the annual staff party, whenever most people bumped into him at work, they would usually try to avoid him as much as possible. They didn't risk greeting or talking to him for fear of getting into trouble. But today, a lot of them were a lot more friendlier. This was due to Zhang Ye's status being different from before!
An A-list celebrity!
Of all the Central TV staff, how many were at least an A-list celebrity?
None!
Not a single one!
Zhang Ye was the one and only!
If this were during the time when Zhang Ye had just arrived at Central TV, he would just be considered one of the more popular hosts of Central TV and maybe one of the several pillars of Central TV. But now, being known as one of some was no longer relevant. Right now, he was the most popular host in Central TV and the pillar of the station! Although, it was unlikely that this pillar would be supporting Central TV much longer. Everyone within Central TV knew that Zhang Ye's contract with Central TV was going to end soon and that Central TV would definitely not be renewing his contract, nor would Zhang Ye be renewing it with them!
Upstairs.
Central TV Department 14.
The Documentary Channel.
Half the staff had already arrived at the office.
"Teacher Zhang!"
"Morning!"
"Teacher Zhang, Director Yan is looking for you. He asked for you to see him in his office after you arrived."
"OK." Zhang Ye waved in acknowledgment and put down his bag. Then he knocked on Yan Tianfei's door and entered, finding him sipping tea at the moment. "Director Yan, you were looking for me?"
Yan Tianfei sighed with pleasure. "This Da Hong Pao you gave me is delicious!"
Zhang Ye sat down and said generously, "Haha, I will bring more for you next time."
"Forget it, I can't afford to drink this tea." Yan Tianfei waved it off and put down his teacup. He then said with a smile, "After the new year fully passes, you'll almost be a free man."
Zhang Ye sighed and said, "Yeah, it's been quite quick."
Yan Tianfei laughed and said, "Yeah, pretty quick. It's almost been a year, eh? So, what are your future plans? What are you thinking of doing next? Will you still be working at a TV station?"
Zhang Ye shrugged. "I haven't actually thought about it."
Yan Tianfei asked, "You're an A-lister now, so aren't lots of people waiting at your door to try to recruit you? Don't you have any preferences for yourself?"
Zhang Ye shook his head and smiled. "I really don't have any. Anyway, it's still going to be awhile before my contract finally runs out, so I would like to use this period of time to rest up. After joining Central TV and up till now, I have not had any time for myself. Since there's no rush, I'll just rest and think about it along the way. When the time comes and my contract runs out, I'll decide it then."
Produce a show?
Host?
Sing?
Act?
Write novels?
He had too many options to choose from, making it difficult for him to decide what to do next.
Yan Tianfei nodded and said, "It's important to contemplate how you want to continue your journey. The competition is intense within the A-list. You could even describe it as brutal, so protecting your position there is considered a huge achievement. Moreover, you're thinking of going even further than this, which makes it even harder for you. I think that it's right for you to put some serious consideration into this."
After chatting for a while.
The secretary came in and said, "Director Yan, everyone has arrived."
Yan Tianfei looked at his watch and said, "Alright, tell everyone to gather in the meeting room."
In the meeting room.
Everyone from Department 14 was here.
The first thing Yan Tianfei announced was, "During the new year celebrations, Director Zhang treated us, but many you had gone back to your hometown at that time. Therefore, I would like to make use of this opportunity and have everyone give their congratulations to Director Zhang for getting promoted into the A-list!"
Applause thundered!
Everyone was excitedly clapping their hands!
"Director Zhang, congratulations!"
"Congratulations, Director Zhang!"
"You're amazing!"
"Yeah, when I found out about the news in my hometown, I was totally dumbfounded!"
"You've brought a lot of pride to our Documentary Channel again!"
Those colleagues who did not spend the new year in Beijing were all giving him their congratulations.
Zhang Ye laughed and said, "Director Yan, it was just a small thing. Why are you bringing it up at the meeting?"
Yan Tianfei laughed. "How many Central TV hosts have ever become A-listers? There's practically no one. Besides, you even achieved it while you were a part of Department 14, so how can that be a small thing?"
The meeting continued.
He gave a summary of last year's performance and very quickly summed up everything. Yan Tianfei was not one to drag things out. Soon, they were touching on the job assignments for the upcoming year. "With the new year, the pressure on our department to perform will be enormous. As everyone knows, Director Zhang will be leaving us soon." Saying that, Old Yan smiled and said, "But the legacy that he has left for us is much too great. Using a documentary, he ruled over the nationwide viewership ratings for two straight months. That has now become a source of pressure for us as well as our motivation, spurring us forward."
Everyone gave a wry smile at Zhang Ye. Yes, this hat was certainly too big for their heads and the results were too brilliant. In the future, after Zhang Ye left, what would they do? How could they shoot another documentary like A Bite of China? Thinking about if gave them with a splitting headache. But from a different perspective, this was a good thing. Since when had an unloved and uncared for documentary channel like them been able to attract so much attention from the audience? Essentially, Zhang Ye had helped them lay a strong foundation before he left so that their path ahead would be much smoother!
Yan Tianfei took out some documents and handed them to his secretary to pass out. "During the festive season, people set off firecrackers. It created a ton of smog everywhere. I've been coughing for several days and feeling bad because of that, but when I read some of the newspapers, they don't seem be placing any emphasis on new terms like PM readings and such. As a result, a lot of citizens are not conscious of the need to protect themselves against this. I've noticed that the only ones who wore a mask to work were Teacher Zhang and Little Huang, right?"[1.]
Huang Dandan coughed and said, "I've been having some breathing problems lately."
Next to her, her boyfriend, Tong Fu, gave her a cup of warm water. "Drink up."
Zhang Ye asked, "Is it serious?"
"Cough, cough…" Huang Dandan coughed several times again. "It's alright, it's just a slight cough. Maybe a cold."
Zhang Ye said, "The skies are getting smoggy, so everyone should wear a face mask."
Yan Tianfei said, "Director Zhang is right, we should all take precautions. I have a few friends who are experts in the related fields and they told me that this is a very serious problem that will cause great harm. Moreover, it's a slow-acting chronic harm, so why are the media and government not placing any importance on this problem? Whenever the issue of pollution is brought up, it only receives superficial mentions from them? There's too many concerns involved in this problem, like economic and societal factors that make it very complicated. Therefore, after some thinking, why shouldn't our Documentary Channel be the first to bring about the changes to this issue? We should create a documentary based on the pollution problem and bring the citizens' attention to it. We have to make the enterprises contributing to the issue panic and pressure the environmental departments to govern this with more regulations so that we can get rid of the pollution problem! What do you guys think about that?"
"That's good!"
"It'll work!"
"Whatever you say! We'll do it your way!"
"Right, please assign the tasks to us!"
Yan Tianfei said, "Alright, our Documentary Channel's first project this year has been decided. We'll set up a program team and collect data, conduct interviews, and film onsite. As for the documentary's executive director…hmm, let me think about who will be the most suitable for the role."
Zhang Ye was amused. "Director Yan, are you already excluding me?"
Yan Tianfei looked at him and said, "I of course know that you're the most suitable for the role, but your contract will be up soon and I can't possibly hold you back from leaving, can I?"
Zhang Ye bluntly said, "Each day that I'm still at the Documentary Channel, I will keep working. I will leave only after I leave. Besides, I would also like to make this documentary investigating the pollution problem. I already have an idea in mind for it. I'm not going to ask for the role of the executive director, because I think either Old Ha or Zhang Zuo are more suitable for it. So just let me be in charge of the planning for the documentary."
Yan Tianfei considered this for a moment before saying, "Alright! That's fine!"
...
The meeting ended.
Ha Qiqi and Zhang Zuo came looking for him.
Zhang Zuo said helplessly, "Director Zhang, if you're not leading the team, how can we film this?"
"Yeah." Ha Qiqi added meekly, "The two of us have always worked under you. We can't handle the role of executive director."
Zhang Ye replied, "When it comes to work experience, the two of you are better than me, so why can't you do it? I'll be leaving soon, and I don't even know if that will be before or after this documentary is completed, so of course it has to be one of you who takes the role, haha. Besides, I was thinking of taking some days off to rest at home for a while and relax, so the interview and filming here can only be overseen by you two. Don't worry, I'll draft an outline of the interviews and shoot to let you two have a guideline on what to do. Just follow it and you'll be fine. If you really encounter something that you can't handle, or you can't find a suitable candidate for the interviews, just wait for me to come back after my break and I'll help out with that!"
Only then did Zhang Zuo finally smile. "Sure. With you saying that, I can feel relieved."
Zhang Ye said, "Don't worry, I won't refuse to work. The outline will definitely be drafted by the end of the day."
The two of them left.
Zhang Ye's assistant, Little Wang, brought in a cup of hot tea for him then went back out.
Zhang Ye, now alone in the office, picked up a pen and closed his eyes to think for a long time. Finally, he started scribbling on the piece of paper!
A documentary on the pollution problem?
The first thing he thought of was that documentary film by Chai Jing that caused a great deal of controversy across the nation, the famous Under the Dome: Chai Jing's Documentary on Air Pollution in China! It was also the first documentary in his previous world that brought such large-scale concern of the fearful problem of pollution to the attention of the citizens. It was the highly influential and controversial missing piece to the understanding of this subject.[2.]
Naturally, Zhang Ye had to use it as his reference for the new documentary.
He spent the entire day cooped up in his office to finish drafting the outline of the documentary!