Chapter 546: The laurel of the Most Unpopular Celebrity Award!

At 12 o'clock sharp.

Weibo's Most Popular and Most Unpopular Celebrity Awards polling begins.

"It's beginning!"

"The polling system is up!"

"Haha, supporting Heavenly King Chen!"

"Supporting Sister Zhang!"

"This year still belongs to 'Fatty Wu' whose acting was incredibly godly! He fully deserves my vote!"

"Supporting Zhang Ye with one vote! Teacher Zhang has had a difficult year!"

"Damn, I despise your vote for Zhang Ye!"

"Same here, despising your vote for Zhang Ye. I can give my vote for the most popular celebrity to anyone but him. He is even trying to call for people to support him? How is he not embarrassed? Going around scolding and offending people with that character of his, as long as it doesn't have the world's 'most popular' in it, I will be willing to vote for him! Come to think of it, Zhang Ye has got such a thick skin. The Korean celebrities, literary world, crosstalk world, and so many others have all been offended by him before. Yet he dares to ask for supporters to vote for him? Go figure! How could any normal person be as thick skinned as him?!"

"I'm supporting Zhang Ye for his role in bringing glory to our country by proving the global mathematical conjecture!"

"Pfft, if Zhang Ye hadn't used 'On Horses' to scold our Chinese mathematics world, I would have voted for him for sure!"

"Willing to give a vote to anyone but Zhang Ye. During the Lunar New Year, that Brain Gold commercial kept playing so much that I vomited more than 10,000 times!"

"To add on, that wretch even tainted the crosstalk and skit competition."

Zhang Ye's current status in the entertainment circle was too eccentric. You wouldn't be able to find another celebrity as controversial as him in this business.

The contention for the rankings began furiously!

Every celebrity used novel ways to canvass for votes. In the blink of an eye, the top 100 names were already out. Of course, they were not consistently placed as the vote numbers kept changing. Because the rankings were refreshed every second in real time, there wasn't any delay with the rankings. They were seen clearly by everyone. The first page only showed the top 100, and even though the latter rankings could be checked as well by navigating to the next few pages, the netizens were mainly only concerned with the top 100.

On the rankings for the most popular celebrity.

Continuing from her previous post to call for supporters to vote for her, Dong Shanshan suddenly posted another Weibo update that had no text. It was but a picture. It was a selfie, apparently taken at home. Dong Shanshan did not have much makeup on, but her clothing was on the sexy looking side. In the picture, Dong Shanshan posed with both her hands under her chin and sending out flying kisses. From this, it was evident that she had placed great importance on the outcome of this award.

"Shanshan, we're here!"

"My Goddess!"

"Everyone, let's vote together!"

Within the first few minutes, with a Weibo post attached with a picture to canvass for votes, Dong Shanshan's votes kept rising steadily and her name was pushed into the top 100. At one point in time, it even hit 89th place and stayed there for a while before getting pushed out of the top 100 spots before finally settling at around 300th. As Dong Shanshan had only debuted a short while ago, she was still not at the height of popularity, even though her WebTV program had very good viewership, she was beautiful looking, and had a lot of diehard fans who treated her as a goddess. She was still just an E-list celebrity. Briefly ranking in the top 100 at the start was already an outstanding achievement.

Although Yao Jiancai had risen into the C-list celebrity rankings after the crosstalk competition, since he did not ask for voting support, and with no new works recently, he was placed outside of the top 500.

Similarly, Zhang Yuanqi did not ask for voting support, but being a heavenly queen, even if she did not explicitly state it, she would still have the support of her countless fans. From the minute the voting began, Zhang Yuanqi was already firmly placed in the top 10, hovering between 8th or 9th place.

Lee Anson was currently in 105th place—since the incident at the Spring Festival Gala, his popularity in China had been greatly affected. He didn't even get into the top 100.

Korean singer Lee Parkwoo was in 59th place.

Crosstalk actor Tang Dazhang was currently 233rd.

Songstress Grandma Zhang Xia was in 399th place currently.

Famed skit actress Ci Xiufang's placing was the 421st spot.

It could be seen that Weibo's most popular celebrity rankings varied from the official Celebrity Rankings by a lot. The latter relied more on comprehensively collated data, with specific objects affecting the overall ranking. It was thus the most authoritative ranking list around. It presented the celebrities' overall strengths through the rankings and was recognized by everyone. As for the popularity award poll by Weibo, it was just an unofficial ranking with aims on finding the current "most popular" celebrity. It had more motivation behind each vote, possibly from fan base cohesiveness, mass appeal, or recent news and activities. Of course, it also had a direct effect from whether a celebrity canvassed for votes on Weibo. Because of all these factors, there was such a large fluctuation in rankings making it a much more interesting selection. Otherwise, if the rankings mirrored the official Celebrity Ranking system, then what meaning was there to all of this?

As for Zhang Ye's ranking right now?

At his maternal grandma's house, his three sisters were yelling!

"Brother, I've already voted for you!"

"Seven of my classmates have also voted for you."

"What rank are you at now?"

Zhang Ye had also conveniently cast a vote for himself before scrolling through his phone with his sisters to check the rankings. Wow, it looked like his canvassing for votes had worked to great effect as there were already 70,000 votes for him! He was currently in 58th place.

His third sister clapped happily and said, "One spot above Lee Parkwoo?"

"It's still not enough," said his second sister. "Our brother has the strength to be within the top 50!"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I like what I hear."

His eldest sister said excitedly, "I will ask my classmates if they still have any votes!"

His third sister stood up and said, "My parents are Weibo users too! I will get them to vote!"

Actually, Zhang Ye knew that being placed 58th currently was already a very good result. As he was still only a C-list celebrity, though not far from the B-list, his popularity was still not there yet. There were many others who were more popular than him. Just the number of S-list and A-list celebrities, together with those foreign celebrities that were very popular in China, would already take up the top 50 spots. In fact, there were probably even more than that, so for a C-lister like Zhang Ye to get his current ranking was definitely down to his proving of a global mathematical conjecture. The momentum that he got from that incident had not died down yet. With the constant coverage on the newspapers, the people were still actively discussing about this matter. Just these past few days alone, the headlines on Weibo were still focused on him. Because of all these reasons, Zhang Ye managed to get a rather good ranking at the start of the voting.

Zhang Ye's fans were out in full force!

"Charge!"

"Teacher Zhang's already in 58th place!"

"Is that all we got?"

"Keep pushing it up! We can't let Teacher Zhang's first battle after his comeback end with a fizzle. We need to kick this up a notch! Only that will suit our usual style!"

"Well said! Let me get my friends to vote too!"

An hour passed.

56th place……

50th place……

49th place……

Votes for Zhang Ye steadily increased as he edged forward in the rankings. However, it could be seen just how much effort it took for him to climb up the ranks. Those singers, actors, and foreign celebrities had fans that numbered more than 10,000. So being able to move up the rank by one spot took everything from his fans. Luckily, being able to get into the top 50 was already a form of achievement. Before the voting started, no one had expected him to be able to get such a rank!

On Weibo, many of those who disliked Zhang Ye could not bear to watch any further.

"Holy sh*t!"

"That Zhang Ye actually advanced into the top 50!"

"Why did so many people vote for him?"

"We can't let him get up there! We have to stop him!"

"Down with Zhang Ye!"

"Fellow victims of the Brain Gold commercial, let's do this!"

Countless people started taking action. For example, those who Zhang Ye offended before, the crosstalk world, the literary world, and so on, the fans of those who had ever been scolded by him and even those who were here just to have fun, all of them were trying to stop Zhang Ye's advance together! The action they took was to naturally vote for Zhang Ye in the "Most Unpopular Celebrity Award." Since the two awards were separate, it meant that, even if they voted for him in the unpopular poll, it wouldn't affect the popular poll. If everyone was not able to stop him from rising in the positive rankings, then they could only take it out on him on the negative rankings!

Zhang Ye was eating right now.

In the house, lunch was served. His three sisters were called by the elders to eat. The whole family sat in the living room, but as there were too many people, they were divided into two tables. The tables that drank and the one that didn't.

His grandma asked, "What were you kids doing just now?"

His third sister said cheekily, "Voting for brother on Weibo's Most Popular Celebrity Awards. He's already in the top 50 and the only C-list celebrity there. The others are all celebrities from either the A- or B-list." For Lee Anson, Lee Parkwoo and other foreign celebrities, the Chinese Celebrity Rankings did not include them. Even though Lee Anson was also a C-list celebrity, he was a C-list in Korea, so it was a different matter.

His mother said, "He's ranked that high?"

Zhang Ye who was drinking with his grandpa said, "Of course, your son, me, is no longer a common person. My fans number in the tens of thousands, so my appeal is for real."

His father raised his chin and said, "Alright, stop boasting."

"How am I boasting? It's the truth," Zhang Ye said, not liking what he heard.

First Aunt said, "Ahem, seems like a lot of of people are scolding that Brain Gold commercial."

Zhang Ye waved his hands and replied cheerfully, "First Aunt, just because a lot of people are scolding me online doesn't mean I am unpopular. Actually, they're not really scolding me at all. In fact, they like me a lot. I think you can see that from the rankings, right? If everyone does not like me, why would they vote so many times for me? Would I be able to garner so much support just by saying a few words? Don't be fooled by some criticisms you just see online. They are all fake and come from my enemies' fans trolling me. If you don't believe it, just go online and asked around. I'm sure 99 in 100 like me and support me."

His eldest sister laughed without saying a word.

His second sister rolled her eyes, not bothering to explain either.

Only his grandma agreed, "Yes, no one can compare to our Little Ye."

"See? Grandma is the only smart one around here." Zhang Ye took some food and gave it to his grandma.

Suddenly, his third sister who had been looking at her phone all this time exclaimed, "Damn! What the hell is happening here?"

"What's the matter?" asked his first aunt.

His grandma stared at her. "You gave me a fright! What a loud girl."

Zhang Ye also looked at her with a smile and said, "My ranking went up again, right? What place am I at now?"

His third sister didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Brother, take a look yourself. When you see it, you'll understand!"

"Heh, you're even trying to make this suspenseful?" Zhang Ye took out his phone from his pocket and browsed to the most popular celebrity rankings, "It's still at 49th. There are no changes?"

Zhang Ye's mother, second uncle and aunt also took out their phones to check Weibo.

His third sister sighed and said, "It's not the most popular celebrity rankings. You should be looking at the most unpopular celebrity rankings instead!"

Zhang Ye scoffed at this. "Why should I be looking at that? Your brother here is a famous national celebrity who is being called 'the celebrity with a conscience' by the people in the industry. How could I be on that list of ranking?" Saying so, he still proceeded to scroll through the list as he was curious who would be voted into the top 10 of this year's most unpopular celebrities.

Each year, at the Weibo celebrity rankings, people did not pay the most attention to the most popular celebrity rankings but were always more interested in the most unpopular celebrity rankings. Why? This was the kind of mentality that most people had when they sensed trouble for others. Whichever most popular celebrity, most sexy celebrity, most outstanding song, most talked about movie, etc, there were too many of such kinds of rankings around. Whether it were domestic or international rankings, they were usually focused on the positives and it had become the norm for ranking selections. However, a most unpopular ranking selection was almost unheard of anywhere. A green leaf would stand out if it were placed in the middle of a thousand flowers, like a national treasure. These sort of reverse trending rankings were rarer than rare. And so, because of these reasons, everyone adopted a joking mentality when they approached such ranking selections and always paid the most attention to the most unpopular celebrity award, curious to know who would be the unlucky one to walk away with the "honors"!

Last year, the top 3 most unpopular celebrities were a close fight and had a very tight finish. It was settled between 3 directors and deputy directors involved in the scandals of unspoken rules within the film industry.

The year before, the fight for this ranking selection was between 3 people involved in the production of a repugnant viral song, namely the lyricist, singer, and music composer. It was as though the people had come to a common understanding when it came to voting for them. Their positions were only decided at the very last minute of voting as the voters finally agreed that the lyrics to that viral song was the worst of it and therefore voted the lyricist into first place.

As for this year, there were some discussions earlier about who should be the most unpopular celebrity. The most discussed celebrities slated to be in the top ranks of this award were those who had taken part in the filming of River, a movie with big investments and a highly acclaimed director and top actors. But when it premiered, it was so disappointing that everyone could only curse at it from beginning to end. They all felt that this film was basically rubbish and shouldn't be watched, so naturally, the film's director, screenwriter, and main lead became the top contenders for the award. They were also slated to do a clean sweep of the top 3 ranks—Well, that was what everyone thought anyway.

But what happened in reality?

What happened made everyone overjoyed!

When Zhang Ye tapped on the most unpopular celebrity ranking, he nearly vomited blood. He saw his name in bright crimson at the top!

—Zhang Ye!

Votes: 1.91 million!

Mom: "…"

Maternal grandma: "……"

Maternal grandpa: "……"

Second uncle: "……"

His eldest younger sister: "……"

Zhang Ye nearly blew his top, "Why is it my name?!"

His second younger sister coughed and added in an almost speechless manner, "And you're even running away with the lead!"

Following in second place for most unpopular celebrity was the male lead of River. Though he was second, his votes only numbered 87,000. Compared to Zhang Ye, the gap was so large that it differed by two orders of magnitude! Not only was Zhang Ye firmly in the lead, he was clearly in the lead by an overwhelming amount of votes!

It has only been slightly more than an hour?

Almost 2 million votes for the number one most unpopular celebrity?

Zhang Ye nearly threw up his gall bladder as he stood up and hit on the table in anger. "There's definitely vote fixing involved! Those bunch of people are buying fixed votes against me!"

His second younger sister cleared her throat and said, "What are you talking about, brother? This doesn't look like vote fixing at all. This ranking selection has always been fair every year. There have never been any cases of vote fixing before."

Zhang Ye stared at her. "Those were in the previous years, but there's surely vote fixing involved this year!"

His second younger sister, "……"

Zhang Ye scolded, "Those people are really too wicked, they are wicked beyond all compare! A celebrity with a good conscience like me has somehow ended up being voted as the most unpopular?"

His eldest younger sister was wiping away her sweat as she continued checking her phone. "This…The votes are still increasing."

2 million!

2.5 million!

2.7 million!

The voting only began slightly more than an hour ago and the votes for the most unpopular celebrity had actually hit 3 million already? This had totally broken the record for the most number of votes cast for the most unpopular celebrity ranking selection! And with each second passed, the record was broken again!

There were too many votes!

As if countless people were stepping on Zhang Ye!

……

On Weibo, other users also noticed this anomaly in votes!

Many of those who had something against Zhang Ye were laughing out loud!

"Ahahahaha!"

"How awesome! Great one, brothers and sisters!"

"Everyone's well supporting! This year's Most Unpopular Celebrity Award will definitely belong to Zhang Ye!"

"Hehe, that title was tailor-made for him!"

"Pfft, and we still thought that it would go to one of the people from River? Looks like Teacher Zhang has outdone himself again. A rubbish movie like that can actually be overtaken by Zhang Ye. Look at the votes! This is truly unbelievable! Teacher Zhang has a few million votes in first place while second place is only at slightly less than 100,000! What pleasure to witness such an outcome! Looks like Zhang Ye getting the Most Unpopular Celebrity Award this year is welcomed by everyone!"

"You're all terrible people, haha!"

"Actually, I'm also Teacher Zhang Ye's fan, but I've also given him a vote for the Most Unpopular Celebrity Award. Hehehe, there's nothing to worry about if I'm just here to enjoy myself!"

"Friend above me, you have left me speechless!"

"Aiyo, I'm dying from laughter! This voting selection is really too funny!"

"Yea, I'm dying from laughter too. If only they held ranking selections for the most unpopular artist every year! How fun would that be?! It would be awesome!"

"Teacher Zhang deserves the title!"

"Compared to Zhang Ye's wickedness, River has been thrown more than ten streets away!"

"Hahaha, can you all not be like this? Teacher Zhang is really pitiful. If we anger him again, he will surely cause some big ruckus again!"

"That's good! We're just waiting for him to come up with something big!"

"Right, right! Actually, it's not that I dislike Zhang Ye. I only gave him this unpopular vote because I wanted to see him stir up some trouble! How fun would that be! Ha, would everyone give your unpopular votes to Teacher Zhang? Since he has such thick skin, I don't think he will be embarrassed by this. Today is Zhang Ye's day of return to the entertainment business. I believe this award will put him at the forefront of everyone's discussions. So what if it is the most unpopular award? It's still first place anyway, right? It's all the same! He's already in first place anyway!

"Then let me add some fuel for his ascent! Vote cast!"

"I think all of you are more wicked than Teacher Zhang Ye….Vote cast!"

"You're all terrible people….Vote cast!"

"Oh, Teacher Zhang Ye is so pitiful….Vote cast! Don't thank me, just call me a Red Scarf!"

"Pity him yet you still voted for him? Pu!"

3 million!

4 million!

Zhang Ye was leading the way in the Most Unpopular Celebrity Award…by miles!

Finally, even fans of Zhang Ye could no longer do anything about it. By the looks of it, they also decided to cast their unpopular votes for Zhang Ye.

"Vote!"

"Oh, it won't make a difference anyway."

"He definitely won't be able to get past the top 40 on the most popular celebrity rankings. At most he'll settle somewhere between the 41st and 50th spots. I guess if it has to be the most unpopular celebrity rankings, so be it. At least it's still 1st place. Let's help Teacher Zhang break the record! In the past, this ranking's No.1 spot would usually get around 1 million votes, so even if it has to be this unpopular celebrity ranking, we mustn't lose out to the others. We'll break the record and break it by more than 10 times! Only then can we show our reputation as Zhang Ye's fan club! We reject being average!"

"Well said! Since we can't be the best, then we'll be the worst!"

"…I give up!"

"F**k, everyone is so open minded!"

"Could Teacher Zhang be crying because of this?"

Zhang Ye, who was currently having his lunch at his grandma's house, was indeed about to cry. He could not have expected that his cheerful canvassing of votes could have led to this situation. He only did alright in the most popular ranking but took a big lead in the most unpopular ranking! Even his own fans were happily voting for him in the negative ranking awards!

These are my fans?

You guys must be spies!

Not only that, there were also people who laughed at his misfortune and teased him.

Yao Jiancai had come out of his slumber and sent a message to him on Weibo: "@ZhangYe , congratulations, old bro, on securing your victory so early."

Zhang Ye replied: "……"

His old classmate, Dong Shanshan, sent a "congratulatory" message over: "@ZhangYe ,you'll be first for sure, when should I be expecting a meal from you?"

Zhang Ye once again replied: "……"

His fellow colleague from Peking University, Teacher Su Na: "Teacher Zhang deserves the 1st place for this without a doubt."

Teasing!

It was all teasing!

Zhang Ye might as well just ignore them. This bunch of friends was really good at stepping on him when he was down. What do they mean by "I truly deserve to win"? Am I that unpopular!?

On the most popular celebrity rankings, it was still difficult to say who would win it as the number of votes for top 10 places were too close to call and still very suspenseful. However, on the most unpopular celebrity rankings, there was no suspense at all. The first place was Zhang Ye's for sure! Even if the second place got rigged votes, even if the celebrity used money to bribe the official organizers, he wouldn't be able to catch up to Zhang Ye!

That's how big a lead we're talking about!

It was just so certain!

Afternoon turned into night.

At midnight, the voting system stopped and the tabulated data showed that Zhang Ye received 1.957 million votes and placed 49th on the Most Popular Celebrity Awards poll with outstanding results. Then, with a total count of 21.7035 million votes received, Zhang Ye again placed as overall "winner" of Weibo's Most Unpopular Celebrity Awards poll!

The official numbers were put to the record.

It had been recorded into the annals of Weibo's history books!

When the results of the poll were declared, everyone was once again heatedly discussing the outcome!

"Hahaha, Teacher Zhang had fought and won such a great glory for our country, but you guys actually voted him to the top of the most unpopular celebrity rankings? Is what you've done considered good!?"

"Friend above, if you didn't include the 'hahaha' in front of your post, I would have believed that you were really trying to help Teacher Zhang seek justice."

"So what if it's a loss of face? It's not like this is Zhang Ye's first time being treated as a joke to so many people. He should already be used to this. Look at the Weibo of Teacher Zhang Ye's friends and colleagues. Aren't they all also teasing him? The most unpopular…is still a form of honor. It's not something that anyone can get even if they want it!"

"Teacher Zhang did not take part in last year's awards polling, right?"

"No, Zhang Ye only debuted in the middle of last year, so this is his first year taking part in it."

"Only his first appearance and he has already won the Most Unpopular Celebrity title? I have a feeling that Zhang Ye will be a big contender for this award again next year! Haha!"

"With Zhang Ye's bad temper, that award will probably be his for the next 3 years!"

"Only for the next three years? My guess is that, as long as Zhang Ye is still in the entertainment business, that award will automatically be his from now on! No one will be able to take it from him!"

The more they discussed, the funnier it became!

So it could be said that a person like Zhang Ye…has really poor popularity among the people!

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