Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 219 Public Opinion Battle Royale
Led by Teacher Fang, the other six followed him and entered the backstage one after another.

The heat at the scene cooled down a little. Under the director's instruction, host Wang Lingling began to chat with Zhang Chao, asking him about his recent plans or arrangements.

Zhang Chao was also quite relaxed at this time, and said casually: "I do have more time after graduation. There are two important things to do this summer. The first is that we will start recording the cultural travel feature film "Sanjin Fengliu" next week. At that time, many nationally renowned writers will lead everyone to deeply experience the mountains and rivers and rich history of Shanxi.

The second thing is that at the end of the month, we will hold the semi-finals of the new "National Youth New Concept Essay Competition" jointly organized by us and "New Sprout" magazine. This time, the competition will open the Hong Kong Island and Taiwan Island competition areas for the first time..."

Just as he said this, a noisy voice suddenly came from the loudspeaker on the scene, causing everyone to look around, trying to figure out the source of the noise.

However, the first person to react was Zhang Chao. He immediately stood up, waved his arms to attract the attention of all the audience, and then put his index finger to his lips to signal everyone to be quiet.

Soon, the audience and on-site staff heard clearly that these were a few people who had just gone backstage, and someone forgot to turn off the wireless microphone on his collar.

The host Wang Lingling looked at the director, asking with her eyes whether she should remind them to turn off the microphones, but the director waved his hand and pointed at the audience. Wang Lingling looked in the direction of his finger and saw that everyone was leaning towards the loudspeaker closest to them, craning their ears, afraid of missing a word.

The same is true for TV viewers. Some of them were about to switch to CCTV1 or CCTV5 to watch the news, but now they put down their remote controls.

Not only did the Tianjin uncle not jump into the river at the Lion Grove Bridge, he even forgot to make lunch. He stared at the screen and muttered to himself, "You are much prettier than the fat old woman by the Haihe River!"

The granddaughter rolled her eyes when she heard this, but soon focused her attention back on the TV.

"...Teacher Fang, Zhang Chao is talking nonsense! This is the first time I've met you!"

"Yes, yes, Zhang Chao is just making trouble and seeking revenge!"

"This is also the first time I meet Teacher Fang. How come Teacher Fang has become the 'expert' behind us?"

"It's not just Teacher Fang, this is the first time I'm meeting all of you!"

When the audience heard this, it seemed that there was indeed no connection between them. So Zhang Chao's suspicion was invalid? However, the sound in the loudspeaker continued, and it was obvious that they had not discovered it yet.

"Everyone, please pay attention. This is a trap set by Zhang Chao for us. Don't be fooled." The voice was rough and hoarse. It was Teacher Fang. He went on to say, "We are innocent. I will answer all of Zhang Chao's questions. Not only will I answer them, but I will also ask questions in return.

The most important thing is that other people should not interrupt during this process, and should not be provoked by Zhang Chao..."

Before Mr. Fang finished speaking, another angry voice rang out. It was Lian Yue. He said unhappily, "Why should I listen to you? I was the one who published the first article questioning his ghostwriting! Editor-in-Chief Ma said that I will take the lead on this matter."

"Editor-in-Chief Ma? Are you talking about Ma Cheng? I don't listen to him!"

"Who do you listen to, then? Director Liu in Shanghai, or Eliza in Hong Kong?"

"Who I listen to is none of your business. I won't listen to you anyway."

"I know it even if you don't tell me. We all get paid to do things. Who doesn't know who?"

"What can I say to you guys? Can't you even stagger your blog posts? They're all concentrated in two time periods."

"How would I know? They called me at around 9 o'clock in the morning to ask me to follow up. I finished writing the article and published it around 12 noon."

At this moment, Lian Yue suddenly spoke again: "What? Take money to do things? You get paid for publishing articles?" His voice was full of confusion and suppressed anger.

Everyone fell silent for a moment. After a long while, someone whispered, "Who would be so angry as to provoke Zhang Chao if they didn't take the money? Besides, if I don't take it, how can Director Liu take it? If Director Liu doesn't take it, how can Mr. Carlson take it?"

"Yeah, only a fool would work for free without getting paid!" someone muttered in a very low voice.

"Director Liu said that this is a major operation, and the United States and the United Kingdom are cooperating. Do you know how much it costs to publish an article in the Washington Post? This amount..."

The person who spoke must have made a gesture, but the audience who only heard the sound didn't know what the gesture was, and their curiosity was immediately aroused.

"Shut up! No one will think you are dumb if you don't speak!" Someone immediately shouted loudly.

"Why are you shouting? Aren't you also Mr. Carlson's partner? And Teacher Fang, how about you not? I met you at the foundation's New Year party." The one who was scolded was obviously unhappy and revealed more information.

"Who is Carlson? I don't know him. If you disagree with me speaking on behalf of everyone, then each of you should think about how to respond. There is no point in arguing here now!" Teacher Fang quickly denied it and tried to get the topic back on track.

"Why are you pretending to be so arrogant? You dare to say you don't know about the 'Yanjing Spring' Foundation? Don't think you are superior just because you have studied abroad for a few years! Mr. Carlson and I have also met alone and had coffee together!"

"What's the point of responding? Only Zhang Chao came this time, and none of his teachers came. We agreed to bring down Zhang Chao and his teachers together, but now look what happened. How do you think this will end?"

"I said no, what can he do to me? I only received payment for one article anyway, no matter how much you received, I didn't offend him that much."

As everyone was talking, Lian Yue asked with a trembling voice: "Let me ask you, how much do you get for publishing an article?"

Everyone fell silent again. Who would make such an offer in front of others?

"I'm going to make a phone call." Lian Yue said as his footsteps gradually faded away, but he could still hear a voice from afar: "...Didn't you say that the funds were tight? How come I'm the only one who doesn't have..."

Soon there was another round of hurried, tight footsteps, and Lian Yue's voice became clear again, but he sounded extremely panicked. He shouted to everyone, "Quick! Quick! Turn off the microphone! Turn off the microphone! Our quarrel just now was broadcasted!"

"What? It's on the air?"

“How do you turn this thing off?”

“Do you still want to turn this thing off?”

"Where's the switch?"

"Son of a bitch!"

"This is a sneak attack!"

"A bunch of idiots..."

After a moment of chaos, accompanied by a sharp and piercing microphone whistle, someone threw the wireless microphone to the ground, and the backstage voice finally fell silent. The director felt distressed, the wireless microphone used for live broadcast was so expensive...

The audience, staff, host, and Zhang Chao at the scene all fell into silence.

In fact, from the perspective of TV program production, this was considered a serious "live broadcast accident" - but the effect of this "live broadcast accident" was too good, and the amount of information was too large, which directly confused Zhang Chao, who was the most mentally prepared.

Zhang Chao's original plan was to use a series of designed questions in front of the camera to expose these people's plan to bring him down. Even if the other party did not admit it, he was confident that he could make most of the audience believe it to a large extent.

But what was unexpected was that some of the other team members had never been on TV and lacked experience, and coupled with the negligence of the staff, they ended up self-destructing on the spot, and it was a complete explosion without leaving any trace.

However, Zhang Chao did hear a familiar name - Carlson. Didn't he hear that the US government had canceled its funding plan for IWP and he was officially laid off? How did he get a job again so soon?

After a while, the discussions in the audience became louder and louder, and the staff on site could hardly control it.

At this time, a stagehand hurried out from the backstage, came to the director with a panicked look on his face, and whispered, "Teacher Fang and the others have left, and we can't stop them... What should we do?"

The director did not expect things to develop to this point, so he had to convey the order to end the live broadcast to the host Wang Lingling through the headset.

Wang Lingling quickly stood in front of the camera and said to the audience with a slightly regretful tone: "I am very sorry, we just received the news that due to time constraints, today's live broadcast can only end here.

Although it ended a little hastily, our goal of live streaming was achieved, and Zhang Chao proved that his work was created by himself. Thank you for your attention and support, goodbye. "

As soon as the word "goodbye" came out, the live broadcast signal was cut off. CCTV10 quickly cut into a few commercials, and then began to play "Lecture Room" which was delayed for more than ten minutes.

Teacher Yu Dan from the School of Media of Yanshi University, wearing delicate makeup and a white professional suit, stood gracefully in front of the familiar podium of Lecture Room 100 and began to speak:
"Hello everyone, I'm Yu Dan. We all say that our nation has a virtue of filial piety. But what is true filial piety? Maybe every child has his or her own way of doing it..."

"Confucius said: This is called providing for one's parents. Even dogs and horses can provide for one's parents. If they are not respectful, how can they be distinguished? If we provide for the elderly today, is this filial piety? Lambs kneel to suckle, crows feed their parents, and animals all provide for their parents. So if we only provide our parents with food and clothing without deep respect in our hearts, can this be called filial piety?"

(To be honest, I went to watch the video when I was writing this, and I was furious when I saw this part. Teacher Yu really just talks nonsense when he gets on stage. He doesn’t prepare for the class at all…)
However, the audience who had just finished watching Zhang Chao’s live broadcast were now exhausted. Some went to the toilet, some had lunch, and some changed channels. No one paid attention to the fact that there was a new lecturer on "Lecture Room".

Teacher Yu Dan's first TV show was a dud. As a flagship program, Lecture Room has repeatedly introduced star lecturers in the past two years, and the advertising fees have also risen sharply. It has become the core program of the whole station.

The new topic and the new lecturer were duds, which should have been reviewed and analyzed, but the leaders of CCTV10 no longer care about it. The two live broadcasts with Zhang Chao as an opportunity have made this channel, which mainly broadcasts recorded programs, taste the sweetness.

The channel made a ton of money just from the in-stream ads during these two live broadcasts!

Just now the leader heard that Zhang Chao is making a documentary about cultural travel, which just fits the channel positioning of CCTV10 as a cultural and educational channel; in addition, there is the rematch of the latest "New Concept Composition Competition" - can this also be broadcast live?

Anyway, as long as Zhang Chao is there, the ratings will definitely be guaranteed. Thinking of this, the station leader immediately sent someone to discuss the program and live broadcast with Zhang Chao.

Some were happy and some were sad. After Teacher Fang escaped from the studio in a panic, he felt like the sky was falling.

He took out his cell phone, only to see more than 20 missed calls - some from his wife, some from Sima Bei, some from Carlson... No need to guess, they were all reminders about the microphone.

But before the show, everyone turned off their phones or muted them at the director's reminder. In a hurry, no one took out their phones to check.

Is this a conspiracy between Zhang Chao and the TV station? It seems like it, but it also doesn't seem like it. After all, it is a small probability event that someone did not turn off the lapel microphone. Zhang Chao is so cautious that he would not pin his hopes on it.

That can only be God’s will!

Teacher Fang is a thorough materialist and does not believe in the existence of God's will. But since he started targeting Zhang Chao two months ago, he has been blocked everywhere, and today he has completely capsized.

If it weren't for those pigs... But there are no ifs in the world. He could already imagine how terrible the storm of public opinion would be.

Thinking of this, Mr. Fang hurriedly took a taxi and returned home. When his wife saw him, she quickly comforted him, "It's okay, it's okay. As long as the storm is over, it will be fine..."

Teacher Fang pushed his wife's hand away irritably, walked into the room, and started packing his luggage.

The wife was stunned and asked, "Where are you going?"

Teacher Fang said, "Don't you understand what's going on? Book two tickets quickly, the sooner the better."

The wife said, "You have a green card, so you can leave whenever you want. I still have to apply for a visa, so how can it be that fast? Besides, I have to ask for leave from the newspaper and hand over my work..."

Teacher Fang said impatiently, "Then do it quickly. Or I'll go first and you can follow me."

The wife also started to panic at this time, and quickly said: "Then I will go to Carlson, he should be able to help me get a visa as soon as possible."

Teacher Fang sneered, "Then try to see if you can get through to him now. He's probably in trouble now! All right, help me pack my luggage. I won't be back in China for at least two or three years."

Teacher Fang has a green card, but others do not, and can only wait in the country to be torn to pieces by the huge storm of public opinion.

Sure enough, that evening, the most influential sub-brand of Guangming Daily, Xinming Evening News, published an article on the front page with the title: "Zhang Chao's "ghostwriting scandal" was actually an organized conspiracy?"

The article not only reviews the live broadcast process, but also raises the following questions:
[What kind of organization is the "Yenching Spring" Foundation? Who are Editor-in-Chief Ma, Director Liu, Eliza, and that Carlson? I hope that Teacher Fang, Lian Yue, Nan Yun and others can explain the truth to the public. ]

[During the conversation, it was mentioned that we should “overthrow Zhang Chao and his teacher”. These people are the backbone of Chinese literary circles. If we “overthrow” them, there will inevitably be a gap in our cultural frontier. Who will occupy this gap?]

[If there had not been an accident during this live broadcast, we would still be in the dark and think that questioning Zhang Chao's "ghostwriting" was just a debate in the literary field. The author, like many readers, did not expect that the sniping behind the scenes was more dangerous and exciting than the verbal battles on stage! ]

[We are also curious. In the conversation between Mr. Fang, Lian Yue and others, they said that they would be paid for each article they published. How much was the money?]

……

Many TV stations also reported Zhang Chao's live broadcast that day, and were amazed at the "major mistakes" made by the other teacher and others. However, since the incident happened suddenly and no official statement was made, the language used was quite cautious.

CCTV1 used a short news of less than 10 seconds in the "Evening News" column at 30 pm. The host recounted the general course of the incident in a very calm and objective tone, but the following few words in the commentary made many people's hair stand on end:
"Zhang Chao's 'ghostwriting scandal' is getting worse and worse. Whether it is related to the support of foreign forces remains to be determined... I hope that the bloggers and media people involved in this incident will explain the situation to everyone as soon as possible, clear Zhang Chao's name, and give the public the truth - and at the same time, give yourself a chance!"

The battle royale of public opinion in the post-"ghostwriting scandal" era has officially begun!
(End of this chapter)