Chapter 469: "If by life you were deceived"
Chapter 469: "If by life you were deceived"
"A Departing Song of Traveling to Tianmu in a Dream"!
This was a traveling immortal poem that was written by Zhang Ye's previous world's Li Bai. He did not write out the poem in its entirety, as it involved some things that did not exist in this world, so Zhang Ye only used the main portions of it. In comparison to Zhang Ye's previous poems, this one was a much more obscure type of poem. If one did not have a strong literary upbringing or had no experience with poems, it would be rather difficult to understand!
When the poem was posted!
Many of those who read it could not understand it’s true meaning!
A lot of them were trying to take it in one word at a time!
Only some of the more well learned scholars in the literary arts, who had understood this poem at a glance, were stunned by Zhang Ye's poetry once more!
You really can write all these poems in an impromptu fashion!
And even as an impromptu composition, it still carried so much in strength of character?
It was even an ancient poem?
And not only that, it was in a more rare form of traveling immortal poems?
Are you on f**king steroids?
This poem immediately sparked some reactions from people!
A verified CEO of a certain trading company commented: "What a great 'traveling immortal' poem!"
A newly debuted female author's verified Weibo also posted: "What a great 'take away my joyous smile'!”
“I've finally witnessed Zhang Ye's literary talents today. I'm ashamed!"
"What does it actually mean?"
"Is this poem really that awesome?"
"Who can explain it to us? I really don't understand!"
"Begging for an explanation! I really want to know what it means now!
“I regret not studying harder in my language courses!”
“I can't even understand my idol's poem!”
“I can understand the last sentence though!"
"Haha, I can understand that line too!”
“How domineering it is!"
"It's not only domineering!”
“That is also Teacher Zhang Ye's pride and strength of character!"
Then, an expert started to explain the full context of the poem with some hints and comments, which were listed out one by one to allow everyone to gain a better understanding!
"Heavens!"
"This poem is too good!"
"Awesome!”
“That's the Zhang Ye I like!”
“He dares to say, to do, to scold, and to beat!"
"I only found out about Zhang Ye when I saw the list of banned artistes earlier. I never noticed his works in the past, but seeing this poem of his now, I find him to be very good and likeable. Hehe, is the fanclub still recruiting?
“Count me in!”
“I love such kinds of troublemaker celebrities!"
Those who had been insulting Zhang Ye suddenly did not look too good. No one expected after yesterday's comeback, Zhang Ye could come up with yet another poem!
What did the last sentence say!
Why should I lower my face and bow for the influential and the rich?
And take away my joyous smile?
With the explanation now posted, even the people who did not like Zhang Ye could not help but bow down to Zhang Ye. What the fuck!
Did you really dare to say all of that!?
Did you feel that the trouble you attracted was not enough?
The feelings expressed in this poem were really too proud!
You want me to lower my face?
You want me to do what is required of me?
You want me to bow and bend my principles?
I'm sorry!
That's impossible!
Why?
Because I am just not willing to do so!
......
At home.
After he had posted the message, Zhang Ye read through it once more and nodded contentedly. He was very satisfied with this poem, but was he afraid of the trouble it might bring?
Of course not! Zhang Ye was already in big enough trouble at this point and he had already been banned. That was the worst it could get, so what was there to be afraid of?
So what he was really afraid of was not that the trouble he stirred up would be big, but rather that it would not be big enough!
If you don't want me to have it easy?
Sure, I won't make it easy for anyone else either!
I might not be able to do other things.
If you want me to do it correctly, I might not be good at that.
But when it comes to making trouble?
No one would dare make the claim that they are number 1 if I were to say that I was number 2!
Zhang Ye's temper was rising, but it was not temper that originated from anger, but that of a strong desire and adrenaline!
This temper would not be able to contain itself once it overflowed!
......
On the web.
In an online chatroom.
As though they had come to an agreement, everyone who read Zhang Ye's poem changed their personal signatures to "Why should I lower my face and bow for the influential and the rich, and take away my joyous smile"!
The poem was going viral!
It was forwarded countless of times!
Even if the major media outlet had restricted the content of Zhang Ye's reports, there was still a limit to the censorship that they could implement due to the ban. They couldn't possibly ban Zhang Ye's Weibo too, as he had not been guilty of any crime. The ban was in terms of the media only, and not on Zhang Ye's rights as a citizen. Only a judicial organization could do that, not anyone else!
Even if they were held at knifepoint, this poem would still make its rounds on Weibo without regard for the ban. As a result, countless people saw it, which also led to countless commentaries about it!
Smash!
Smash!
When the clock struck midnight, everyone went to check the celebrity ranking page to see the latest update!
Tang Dazhang was still a D-lister!
Zhang Ye was third from last place in the C-list!
Seeing that, the netizens shouted in disbelief!
"It has risen again!"
"Zhang Ye's ranking has gone up again!"
"What the heck! This world can no longer stop Teacher Zhang Ye!"
"Hahahaha! @TangDazhang! @TangDazhangsFans! I'm dying of laughter!"
"At this moment, I feel embarrassed for Teacher Tang and his fans!
They've already been embarrassed once last night and it had to happen again tonight! They've been face slapped by Zhang Ye again!"
"Teacher Zhang Ye, please have mercy on Teacher Tang Dazhang. It wasn't easy for him to climb to such a ranking and he has been trying to surpass you by criticizing you, so it really wasn't easy for him."
"Pfft!"
"Haha, please have mercy on Teacher Tang."
"Old Tang's fans' faces have probably turned green by now!"
"Teacher Zhang is going against the heavens!"
"He's riding against the waves of destruction! And stepping up towards the heavens against all odds!"
"Has Teacher Zhang really been banned? Because with him going up in the rankings each day, I don't see how he's banned at all!"
On this day, Tang Dazhang and his fans had been kept silent once again.
Even as the other banned artists had dropped in popularity and fame, with some suffering significant drops, Zhang Ye still managed to outshine them and rose in the rankings!
......
The next day.
From morning till night, Zhang Ye's ranking was sliding down again. One poem was clearly less effective than a program or a song, as it wasn't something that people would keep watching or listening to. That was the reason why his ranking rose and dropped very quickly. With the national crosstalk and skit competition promotion and reports, Tang Dazhang was rising in rank once again.
"Surely this would be it?"
"Damn, if he doesn't surpass Zhang Ye and get into the C-list, I will go crazy!"
"No, tonight's definitely gonna be the night."
"Zhang Ye can't go against the trend all the time, because that's how trends work!"
Many of those who opposed Zhang Ye were still making their calls.
But this time, many of Zhang Ye's enemies had learned to be smarter. They did not make any calls, but instead decided to wait for the outcome to be set before speaking!
Finally at 11.30PM, Zhang Ye's Weibo was updated with a post again!
"If by life you were deceived"
If by life you were deceived.
Don’t feel dismal, don’t get mad!
Be at ease and don’t feel sad:
The days of joy will soon arrive.
The heart can’t wait for this to pass;
The present is depressing here:
All is fleeting rather fast;
That which passes will be dear.
Tang Dazhang: "..."
Deputy Station Head Jia: "..."
Tang Dazhang's fans: "..."
Zhang Ye's fans: "..."
At midnight, the Celebrity Rankings were updated again as usual!
Zhang Ye was still firmly on the C-list celebrity ranking, while Tang Dazhang still failed to rise!
When countless number of people saw this result, there was a moment of silence before they could not help but burst out, "Holy sh*t!!!"
"Zhang Ye is too fierce!"
"Each poem is more awesome than the other!"
"Teacher Zhang sure is calm and can be so optimistic. Yes, everything will one day pass."
"Previous poster, hahahaha, I dare to bet that your guess is wrong! It's not that Zhang Ye is optimistic. This is just him making trouble and nitpicking on issues! This poem was not about himself but a gift to Tang Dazhang! When Tang Dazhang had initially celebrated his possible rise in the celebrity rankings, he was foiled by Zhang Ye. The second time he did it, it was foiled by Zhang Ye again. Now this is the third time already! Tang Dazhang's people have been slapped again! This is why Zhang Ye was telling them.....If by life you were deceived. Don’t feel dismal, don’t get mad! Be at ease and don’t feel sad! The days of joy will soon arrive!"
"Ah! That's true!"
"How amusing! Teacher Zhang is too sarcastic!"
"Hahaha, it really is a poem dedicated to Tang Dazhang!"
"I was wondering why this poem didn't carry the spirit of Zhang Ye! Your sister, that's because it was used to make fun of Tang Dazhang! Old Tang's probably feeling dead in his heart now! But why did he choose to offend Zhang Ye in the first place? Who in the entertainment industry does not know of that temper of his!"
"It's time for Tang Dazhang to be unlucky. He only has himself to blame. We can understand those who have grudges with Zhang Ye would try to get at him, but for you who has never ever crossed paths with Zhang Ye before? You were asking for it. When you saw that Zhang Ye had been banned, you chose to step on him from where you were! Stepping! And stepping! Look who's the one being stepped on now!
We don't even need to mention how famous Zhang Ye's poems are? Everyone in the industry, even those from the education world, would admit that Zhang Ye's poems are all classics. A poem like this would definitely be passed down for the ages and when our future generations mention this 'If by life you were deceived', then Tang Dazhang would be mentioned as part of its origin story. He's going to be mocked for a long time to come now! A simple hit back at you would only have caused you temporary pain, but this was not a simple hit back. This pain would last you for many generations, even after you have passed!"
"Tang Dazhang should have learned his lesson this time. To let Zhang Ye insult him to this state, it would surely cause him traumatic pain! Teacher Zhang Ye is also telling everyone that even if he were to be banned, his venomous mouth and pen still exist. Don't think that just because he’s been banned, that Teacher Zhang is a good target for bullying! It's not necessarily him who would end up being bullied!"
"So hilarious!"
"I need to take a screenshot for remembrance! Hahaha!"
"I can feel the pain on Old Tang's face!"
"Comrade Old Tang, keep believing. Don’t feel dismal, don’t get mad! Be at ease and don’t feel sad. The days of joy will soon arrive!"
Tang Dazhang's fans were all infuriated and they started scolding Zhang Ye, but faced with the experienced troll army of Zhang Ye whose morales were boosted by his latest post, they were clearly no match. When they had just begun to scold, they were pushed back and flooded by the troll army, who had learned the colorful scolding style from Zhang Ye himself!