The next day.

It was the annual Mid-Autumn Festival again.

In the morning, Zhang Ye loaded up small and large packages into the car and drove to the studio. Without anyone's help, he carried everything and went upstairs.

All of the staff were present.

"Director Zhang!"

"Boss, what's with all that?"

"Whoa, why are there so many things?"

"Let me help you!"

"Just leave them there."

Everyone quickly came over to help.

He brought over a lot of things, and they weren't exactly cheap either.

There was an entire hamper containing Brain Gold products in it, prepaid gift cards with a value of 1,000 yuan each, mooncakes, and many other goodies.

Zhang Ye opened up a box and said to everyone with a smile, "Come, my comrades. I'm giving out these items for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Everyone will get a share, so please distribute them among yourselves. All of you may go home after you've collected your items. Rest well during the holidays and send my greetings to your families. You've all worked hard recently." Zhang Ye was quite a stingy person and did not really earn that much, but he was still a very generous person. Be it the staff's welfare or salary, those who worked at his studio were earning more than the industry standard.

Zhang Zuo smiled and said, "You're handing out this much stuff?"

Little w.a.n.g grinned and said, "This isn't considered much!"

Little Zhou smiled. "Boss is the greatest!"

"Oh right, we still haven't congratulated our boss yet," Wu Yi suddenly said.

Everyone immediately responded.

"Haha!"

"Director Zhang, congratulations!"

"Congratulations on your engagement!"

"Who's our female boss going to be?"

"Yeah, Director Zhang, share with us."

Seeing them kick up a fuss, Zhang Ye felt rather amused. "I can't say right now, but everyone will know soon enough."

At this moment, Chenchen strolled in. Old Rao's house was not far from Zhang Ye's office; it was only a few floors down. In the past, when Rao Aimin had to go out for some errands, she would always leave Chenchen with Zhang Ye. But it was even more convenient for her now. Whenever Rao Aimin needed to go out, she would send Chenchen straight up to Zhang Ye's office since there were surely going to be people around to take care of her.

Chenchen looked at all the gifts lying on the floor and said, "Zhang Ye, you're giving out things?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Yeah, why?"

Chenchen nodded. "I want a share as well."

Zhang Ye said in amus.e.m.e.nt, "You aren't even my employee."

Chenchen was not happy to hear that. She spoke like a little adult and said, "I come up here every day to help you supervise their work. Without me, your studio would have closed down long ago."

Zhang Ye exclaimed, "Looks like I should thank you then."

"You're welcome." Chenchen then opened up a box of mooncakes and sat and chowed down.

Everyone laughed hard.

The items were quickly distributed.

After chatting and joking around for a bit, everyone sat down for a meeting.

Zhang Ye sat at the head of the table and said, "Everyone, please enjoy your time off during this two-day holiday break. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, it'll be time for us to get busy again. I'll give everyone a heads-up, so be ready. On top of that, I want to announce something. When we get back from the holidays, I plan to officially begin my a.s.sault for a spot in the S-list!"

Zhang Zuo said, "Of course we must."

Ha Qiqi gave an easy smile. "You're already at the top of the list, so the next target is definitely a spot in the national S-list. Even without you saying, we know what to do. All of us have always been working hard in that direction. A few years from now, we'll be doing everything with that target in mind."

"Right!"

"Our target is to reach the top!"

Everyone expressed their stance.

But Zhang Ye said, "No, you guys might've misunderstood what I meant."

Ha Qiqi was taken aback. "Eh?"

Wu Yi asked, "Then what did you mean?"

Zhang Ye said with a smile, "I'm not talking about getting there in a few years' time. I'm talking about doing it immediately, right now."

Everyone exclaimed, "What's the time frame of 'right now'?"

Zhang Ye answered, "Within the next few months."

Everyone vomited blood and started sweating!

Within the next few months?

Break into the S-list?

What the f.u.c.k! Are you dreaming?

How is it possible to get into the S-list in just a few months' time?

Ha Qiqi quickly said, "Director Zhang, you're still young and stand out more than anyone else. We're in no rush. You can slowly gain more experience and win more awards to add to your popularity score. All that cannot be done in just a month or two. If you're talking about doing so within a year or two, we might be able to fight for it and push our way up. But to get there within a few months? Even with the momentum of your current daily popularity growth, we still couldn't catch up, isn't that so?"

This was too hasty.

Everyone felt uneasy.

Zhang Ye said, "I know this isn't going to be easy—that's why we need to fight for it. I still have time to get there? I'm 26 and turning 27 this year. I may look like I'm still young and have plenty of time left, but don't forget that I still haven't exactly broken into the Asian scene yet. I don't even have the qualifications to take aim at the international scene. If I were to take a few years to slowly slog my way up to the top of domestic s...o...b..z, how old would I be? I would be past 30! Furthermore, the scene is changing too quickly these days. You guys should have realized that there's a lot of 'fresh meat' out there who are getting more and more popular by the day. They're likely to gain more than half the entertainment industry's market share from here on out. Who can predict what will happen to the domestic entertainment industry in a few years? Who can say for certain? I've never depended on my looks to make a living anyway. If I just continue slogging ahead, then when the times and trends change, I might not even be able to get into the S-list after two or three years. Opportunities are not gained by slogging but by fighting."

Everyone fell silent.

Little w.a.n.g said, "But there's a Heavenly King who's on the downturn. If we wait another one or two years, it's highly possible…"

Zhang Ye shook his head and said, "I've never, ever had the mentality of getting lucky this way. That Heavenly King might not have a good product right now, but he might just suddenly become popular again around the world. Don't take those people in the S-list to be pushovers. If I were the type to wait for those at the top to slip up, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am now. That's how cruel show business is. You've never experienced it before, so it's probably very difficult to understand. But I've always been on the front line witnessing these events, so I know. If I were to slightly lower my guard, I would probably get replaced by someone the very next day."

He gave an example. "Ning Lan is very popular, right? Back then, Sister Ning was also in first place in the list rankings, but what happened in the end? She was unable to squeeze into one of those seven spots. I've heard a few people in the industry saying that Sister Ning had been waiting for one of the Heavenly Queens to give up their spot. But after many years of waiting, that Heavenly Queen has yet to relinquish her seat to anyone."

Ha Qiqi took a deep breath. "Is this what you've decided?"

"Yes, that's how I've decided I want it to be." Zhang Ye nodded seriously. "In the next few months, I must definitely get into the S-list. It's not a joke; I am being totally serious here."

Everyone in the studio knew that if the media heard about this, it would definitely cause a huge uproar!

A total of seven people sat on the thrones of the Chinese S-list rankings, and they were the top seven celebrities of the entertainment industry. They were virtually unmovable, even by a lightning strike. Just think of it this way: Every time a change occurred in the S-list, it would cause a great shake-up and reshuffling of the entertainment industry. In this world, this could be considered the biggest event in the entirety of show business!

But today?

Zhang Ye was thinking of forcing his way to the very top?

He wanted to pull down one of those seven people standing atop the pyramid and replace them? And he wanted to do so within a short few months? How brave would he need to be to attempt that!

"Alright, let's do it!"

"We'll listen to whatever you say!"

"Whatever you say, we'll do!"

"d.a.m.n, I guess we can only fight!"

"I'll come up with a proposal and give it to you after the holidays!"

"How else can we have it? Since the boss has spoken, let's do it!"

Everyone echoed their compliance but were really quivering on the inside.

Is this doable?

Can they really do it?