Rebirth 2004: A lone figure in the literary world

Chapter 26 Media Frenzy
This question was indeed beyond Zhang Chao's expectations, but after pondering for a while, he gave his own answer:
"You're right. My mock exam results were really bad. Except for Chinese, everything else was a mess. But that doesn't mean I'm like Han Han, and I don't plan to follow his path. We are two independent individuals. It just so happens that our grades are not very good, and we both know how to write."

"So what do you think of Han Han's rebellion?"

"He is an adult and he can be held responsible for his actions. There is no need to be overly critical of him."

"Is your academic bias a form of rebellion, a kind of unobtrusive resistance?"

"I simply don't know how to do it..."

"Then do you think Han Han is worth learning from for young people?"

Zhang Chao thought for a moment and said solemnly, "Han Han dropping out of high school is a failure. It proves that he is not competent in a challenge and can only quit. This is not worth learning. What is worth learning is always the word "learning" itself. Whether in school or not, this is something that must be done throughout one's life.

I heard that after Han Han dropped out of school, some people followed his example and dropped out of school, and they were proud of it. I don’t understand, what is there to learn from Han Han’s poor performance? His current success does not mean that he would have been successful even if he dropped out of school.”

Li Lie was somewhat surprised by this answer and asked, "Aren't you afraid that he will fight back against you after seeing these words?"

Zhang Chao said, "That is what I wish for, but I dare not ask you."

The two of them laughed in unison, and the interview ended in a pleasant atmosphere.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the two of them walking out of the small meeting room with ease.

Li Lie said: "Among the people I have interviewed, Zhang Chao is the most profound in expression, clear in logic, and sincere in attitude. The key is that he has a strong sense of journalism, which is rare!"

This sentence of praise made Zhang Chao blush, and Zhang Chao's parents smiled happily.

Later, there were interviews with Zhang Chao's parents, the principal Wu Xingyu, the class teacher Wang Zixin, and the Chinese teacher Zhang Ting, but they were all relatively brief and mainly served to supplement some material.

After a busy period, it was already six o'clock in the evening. After finishing his work, Li Lie walked out of the small meeting room. Just then, the inspiring melody of "Your Answer" came from the playground:

……

the light of dawn
will transcend the darkness

I can break all fears

Find the answer
……

Li Lie was immediately fascinated by the song and asked the people around him, "What's the name of this song? It's really nice."

When he heard that the lyrics and music were written by Zhang Chao and sung by a girl from No. 3 Middle School, Li Lie was very surprised and said to everyone, "With this ability, whether Zhang Chao goes to college or not, he will have a bowl of rice to eat."

But Zhang Chao himself did not hear this compliment. After the interview ended at around 5 o'clock, he talked with his parents for a while and went to the cafeteria to have dinner. After dinner, he went to the radio station again.

Song Shiyu and Lan Ting were both there, whispering to each other about something, but they stopped when they saw Zhang Chao coming.

Lan Ting asked, "Is the interview over? Are the big reporters from Beijing very sharp? Are you nervous? I heard that these big reporters are proud to make the interviewees cry."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "It's not that scary. He is quite capable." Then he gave a brief account of the interview process.

Lan Ting enviously said: "How can you handle it so well? I get nervous every time I see the camera..."

The three chatted for a while, and when the song ordering session was over, Zhang Chao started typing. Looking at Zhang Chao concentrating on typing on the keyboard, Song Shiyu gently poked Lan Ting's waist. Lan Ting flinched for a moment, but in the end she didn't say anything and just sat there quietly.

On Tuesday, the interview teams from the city TV station and the county TV station also came. When Ye Zhuoying saw Zhang Chao, her expression was quite complicated. After all, she had just said last week, "I hope I will have a chance to interview you again in the future." It was just a blessing at the time, but she didn't expect it to come true so soon...

On Wednesday, the New Yanjing News published Li Lie's report titled: "Midnight Tide: The high school student who ended the myth of youth literature."

The report was mainly based on the conversation between Li Lie and Zhang Chao, interspersed with Li Lie's interviews with others and his personal comments, taking up a full page.

The end of the report is meaningful:
"Six years ago, New Sprouts magazine and the New Concept Essay Contest created a myth of youth literature through Han Han, Xiao Si and other 17- or 18-year-old high school students. Six years later, this myth was ended by Zhang Chao, who was also a high school student. This seems like a coincidence, but also like a fate. The myth of youth literature polluted by utilitarianism and speculation has ended. But I hope that every young person who devotes himself to literature will remember: youth will never end, and literature will never end.

Love can outlast the years. "

However, in his report, Li Lie concealed the information of Zhang Chao's total score in the first mock exam and only used the term "biased in one subject".

Although the New Yanjing News was founded not long ago, it is the vanguard of the "Northern Expedition" of the two major groups, "Nan Guo Press" and "Guangming Press". It is also the first newspaper allowed to publish across regions. The sales of its first issue exceeded 20 copies, and it has considerable influence.

The key point is that it is backed by two major newspaper groups. How could other associated newspapers not take action?

What? The "Midnight Tide" is actually a high school student? This report by the New Yanjing News immediately ignited the gossip hearts of the national media, and they quickly followed up.

However, after careful consideration, Zhang Chao only chose to interview a limited number of media outlets, including Youth Daily, Southern Metropolis Daily, and China Reading Newspaper. The Youth Daily was undoubtedly the most influential. The rest of the media outlets either declined or responded via email interviews.

Therefore, before the winter vacation officially started on Sunday, the media had already set off a frenzy of reporting on the "Myth Buster of Youth Literature". All major media outlets were trying their best to hype up this news.

Therefore, the interview Zhang Chao gave today would often appear in the newspaper the next day. His efficiency was astonishing.

This is mainly because in terms of attracting young readers, it has been a long time since we have come up with such a valuable subject matter - the last one was Han Han a few years ago.

You have to know that in 2004, after 20 years of expansion, print media had reached its peak of glory and began to decline.

It is an irreversible trend that young people don’t like to read newspapers. How to attract as many readers as possible in this trend is the lifeline for print media to maintain its influence.

"Blog China" also benefited greatly. Before the end of January 2004, the number of visitors to "Blog China" had exceeded 1 million, and the number of page views exceeded million.

Among them, "Midnight Tide" contributed more than 300,000 traffic.

Dongfang Xing originally positioned "Blog China" as a "knowledge filtering professional blog" with a "high-tech focus". His main job is also in the Internet laboratory, and he is also pursuing a doctorate degree.

"Blog China" is currently completely maintained by him squeezing out his own spare time and income. Dongfang Xing originally had no answer as to the future path. But the appearance of Zhang Chao gave him a possibility.

If a "blog" wants to truly exert its influence, it is far from enough to rely solely on the output of high-quality content; the star effect is also indispensable.

Dongfangxing turned on his computer and began to write his first formal business plan.

Zhang Chao didn't know that he occupied more than 30 pages of the 100-page plan. He just felt that he was being squeezed dry by the media, and even started talking in his sleep, which scared Chen Huan who got up at night.

However, the winter vacation finally came, and Zhang Chao fled from the school, and also entrusted the school to reject all interview requests.

Zhang Chao just felt that this was the longest week in his two lives.

(End of this chapter)