Chapter 93: The Outcome of the Interview?
Everyone had their own recital style.
Some had highly exaggerated expressions. Some liked to use body language. Some had varying tones when delivering the recitals. And some did it with a straight face. There were all sorts of reciters. Those who were not skilled at recitals would always attempt to copy someone else’s style or just not attempt a style at all and recite it just as it is. But someone like Zhang Ye, who was from a background of media arts, would always recite in their own style. This was his rice bowl; he would not lose to anyone in a basic skill like that. His recitals tended to be calmer. He was used to expressing his emotions through the subtle expressions of his eyes and the tonal changes in his voice, and did not use exaggerated body language like dancing and shouting.
From the results, it looked like he had done a very good interpretation of the poem.
These interviewers, each and every one of them had a shocked look!
“I’ve finished reciting it. This poem…is called ‘This is also Everything’.” Zhang Ye said lightly after adjusting his breath and looking at the interviewers.
Director Wang’s “Everything”!
Zhang Ye followed up with “This is also Everything”!
The former was filled with the cries of darkness! While the latter was overflowing with the light of hope!
Zhang Ye’s work was heard! The 8-9 interviewers looked at each other. They were thinking that this wasn’t some poetry competition with Director Wang; it was clearly a smacking of face! You were clearly here to mess things up! They had initially thought that Zhang Ye was unable to follow up, or even if he did, it would not have been good. As for a “pessimism” poem, “Everything” was impeccable! Using the line of thought of Wang Shuixin’s poem to carry on writing a pessimistic modern poem? He would never be able to write something better than “Everything”, no matter how much he tried!
However, no one had expected Zhang Ye to do the opposite. He did not follow the line of thought of “Everything”. He had instead used “This is also Everything” to lambaste this pessimistic view!
Not all!
Not all!
No, not everything… is like what you said!
A few lines of “Not everything” had gradually stepped up the mood of this poem and at the same time stepped down on “Everything”!
If this wasn’t face slapping, what was?
If this wasn’t a blatant challenge, what was?
But somehow, this blatant challenge had sent shockwaves down everyone’s spines. A few interviewers who had not thought much of Zhang Ye initially had been swept along with their emotions while hearing Zhang Ye’s poetry. A few lines of “Not everything” had convinced them as they maintained their stunned faces.
This is Zhang Ye? This was the Zhang Ye that they didn’t think much of? Director Wang had doubted Zhang Ye’s composing on the spot before this? He felt that his poems were all prepared beforehand to fool the listeners? And felt that Zhang Ye’s literary standards could only be compared alongside amateur poets? And if he met a professional poet, he would be exposed? Those who had thought this to themselves earlier were now blushing from embarrassment!
And they thought he was just so-so?
Or that he could not compose on the spot!
This was called a low literary standard that could only be compared to low-grade poets?
Zhang Ye’ s “This is also Everything” had made them swallow their words. Even the least literary educated person present could tell that Director Wang had been outdone by a newcomer! “Everything” had really been overshadowed by “This is also Everything”! And the gap did not feel like it was by a small margin. It was a crushing victory! There was no question about it!
Zhang Ye’s poem had even answered the biggest flaw of “Everything” — Pessimism! It was full of optimism in “This is also Everything”! Full of positive influence on the people! No wonder “Everything” was only in the appendix of the high school textbook for a short one year. Compared to “This is also Everything”, “Everything” was such a shallow and weak piece. Instead, Zhang Ye’s poem looked like it should be added into the textbooks!
They all whispered to each other. All of them had been shocked by this poetry piece of Zhang Ye’s!
But none of them knew. In Zhang Ye’s world, this poem was precisely born because of Bei Dao’s “Everything”.
“This is also Everything” — This was a piece by a famous poet in Zhang Ye’s old world, the writer Shuting’s work. It was rumored that after Bei Dao’s work was criticized for being too pessimistic, Shuting had also criticized something about it. Soon after, “This is also Everything” was born. From its words, parallelisms and thoughts, it could be seen that “This is also Everything” was targeted at “Everything”! So after Wang Shuixin had read his poem, Zhang Ye’s immediate thought was this work of Shuting’s!
Poetry competition?
This poem was made for it!
This was walking into the line of fire!
Hu Fei had given Zhang Ye a thumbs up in his heart. He looked over at the silent Wang Shuixin, “Director, Little Zhang has answered the interview question. What do you think?”
The others also looked over at Director Wang.
Wang Shuixin acknowledged, “It’s matched pretty well.”
How was it just pretty well! It was perfect! But of course they did not say that… No one was that dumb!
Hu Fei took advantage of the situation and asked, “Then about Little Zhang’s recruitment?”
Wang Shuixin looked at Zhang Ye, “Little Zhang, stand up and let me have a look at you.”
“Stand up?” Zhang Ye did so accordingly.
Wang Shuixin took a look and shook his head, “I won’t comment on his looks since a minority of successful hosts and guests are lacking in that department, too. But your height is even more important compared to your looks. If I’m not wrong, after your shoes are off, your height is around 1.65m, right? That’s too short; even with shoes on, you won’t hit 1.70m. If you were onstage with other hosts or guests, your height would be a problem. If a female guest wears slightly higher heels, you’d probably be shorter by half a head or more. How can you become a host like that? It will affect the broadcast quality. If your looks are ordinary and you are lacking in height, then it certainly will not work!”
Great!
You couldn’t find fault with my literary standards, so now you started picking on my height?
Zhang Ye was thinking that if he was f**king tall and handsome, then he wouldn’t be wasting so much effort here! He would have gone to become a singer or movie actor!
Hu Fei added, “Little Zhang can add insoles to his shoes.”
“That at most will add 6-7cm to his height. Any taller than that and it wouldn’t look natural. A look and you will know there’s no conformity. What’s the use of that 6-7cm? At most, he will be 1.7m tall with his shoes and insoles.” Wang Shuixin was finding faults, “Our male hosts at the Beijing Television Station, which one of them doesn’t reach 1.8m after wearing shoes? It is the minimum requirement to reach the height of 1.8 with shoes.” After that, he also sighed, “Old Hu, I’ve seem Little Zhang’s talent today. It’s not bad. You didn’t make a wrong choice, but his height is not enough. If his height can reach the standard, he can report to work after National Day! I wouldn’t say anything else!”
He could be hired as long as he was taller?
But this was actually a load of rubbish!
Looks were not hard to change. There was plastic surgery. But how could one change one’s height? Zhang Ye was already 23 years old. As the saying goes, one could still grow at 23, but no matter how much you grew, you couldn’t go from 1.65 to 1.75! Do you think that you were sitting on a rocket!? That you could increase your height so easily!?
It was clear that he did not want Zhang Ye!
It was just a way of rejecting him by saying that he would be hired if he was taller!
Hu Fei was disagreeable with it. He strongly insisted, “Director, I really want to hire Teacher Little Zhang. My segment is about to begin recording. Little Zhang will be of great help to me, and will also greatly help the station.” Saying this, Hu Fei said to Zhang Ye, “Teacher Little Zhang, why don’t you go out to the resting area and wait for a while?”
“Alright.” Zhang Ye could only take his things and leave the room.
Outside, he could hear Teacher Hu fighting for him. Zhang Ye knew that there was no hope left. He could only take Teacher Hu’s appreciation of him in his mind. He would return the favor in the future slowly.
After he waited for a while, no one came out.
Zhang Ye leaned on the windowsill and watched the traffic flow below. Suddenly, he saw a shoe shop across the road. Seeing this, he also wanted to try to see how much elevator shoes could increase his height. Who knew if he could reach the height of 1.8m wearing them? Zhang Ye had never tried them, so he quickly took the elevator downstairs.
On the side of the road.
It was a foreign shoes shop named HT.
“Sir, what type of shoes do you want to buy?” A female attendant came forward.
Zhang Ye asked, “Do you sell any insoles or shoes that can raise a person’s height?”
The female attendant smiled. “There aren’t insoles, but there are elevator shoes. This way, please.” She led Zhang Ye over. “There are two styles. They are elevated leather shoes and can increase your height by about 5-8cm.”
Zhang Ye tried them. Although he felt some discomfort in his heels, he was indeed much taller. However, it was clear that 8cm was an exaggeration. It was not that much, and was probably at most 6cm. With Zhang Ye’s height, he could only reach 1.71m at most. He was still shorter than Wang Shuixin’s lowest requirement of 1.8m by nearly 10cm. The difference was too great, and could definitely not meet the requirement. Zhang Ye smacked his lips but still decided to buy the shoes. He did not wear his shoes and let the attendant remove the tags. He wore the new shoes and walked back to the television station, returning to the resting area.
Every bit helps in becoming tall.
Who knows… If Teacher Hu was helping him, maybe he might have a chance?
Hai, what was he thinking!? He was still having hopes when he knew there was no chance?
Right, why was he relying on others? He still had his game ring! He could try his luck at the Lottery!
Zhang Ye suddenly thought of it. Every time he faced a tough situation, he had used the magical items from the game ring to resolve them. Who knew if the Heavens would be standing on his side today?
The office on the other side was still having arguments. There was Hu Fei’s voice, and the voices of the other interviewers. It did not seem like it would be over in ten minutes.
He did as he thought!
Zhang Ye immediately opened the game interface!
The menu opened, and a virtual screen was presented before Zhang Ye’s eyes. Staff from the television station who walked past could not see it at all.
Then, a glance at the Reputation points he had accumulated over the past few days made Zhang Ye extremely pleased. His overall Reputation points had reached an alarming 930,000!