Chapter 111 - The Preliminaries Begin! (1/2)

Sat.u.r.day.

The weather had turned chilly.

Entrance to Peking University.

Today, the school was sealed off. It only allowed the school’s students and teachers, as well as the Couplet Compet.i.tion staff and contestants, to enter. Hence, all of the other entrances to the school were closed, leaving only the main gate and the largest side gate open. There was even a sign erected. The side gate was for students and teachers, while the main gate was used for the admission of the Couplet Compet.i.tion’s relevant personnel and spectators. There wasn’t a lack of security. Many of the school’s security guards were gathered here, and there were more than ten people. Because there were more extreme events happening frequently in society these days, the security check was done more strictly.

Zhang Ye was also being inspected.

“h.e.l.lo. Please show me your tickets,” a Couplet Organization staff said.

Zhang Ye, who had come early, took advantage of not needing to line up to enter the school, but he was stopped. He said, “I’m a contestant.”

The youth looked at him, “May I know what your name is?”

“I’m Zhang Ye. Please check for me. The Writers’ a.s.sociation should have given me a pa.s.s,” Zhang Ye said.

“Alright, let me take a look.” The youth immediately called out to a colleague to bring a suitcase over. Inside were the contestant pa.s.ses. “Zhang Ye…Zhang Ye…” After rummaging for a while, the youth frowned, “Sorry, there’s no contestant pa.s.s with your name.” Then looking at the name list, “Zhang Ye, right? The contestant name list submitted by the Writers’ a.s.sociation doesn’t have you. Sorry, but I won’t be able to let you in.”

“It doesn’t have me?” Zhang Ye could not stifle his laughter.

The people from the Couplet Organization thought that Zhang Ye was purposely here to mess things up and enter, so they ignored him and checked the tickets of others.

Zhang Ye could smell a rat at this moment. Was it really as he had guessed? The Beijing Writers’ a.s.sociation inviting him was a scheme to pay him back with his own coin? They were determined to make things difficult for him and disgust him? But aren’t your methods too low-cla.s.s? Or could it be that he was an eyesore to a minority of people from the Writers’ a.s.sociation, so they had schemed against him? And the people from the upper echelons of the Writers’ a.s.sociation and the Couplet Organization were uninformed of this? He felt this was most likely. Anyway, no matter what, someone had definitely done something behind the scenes. They had made an error, forgetting Zhang Ye’s contestant pa.s.s? This possibility was almost zero!

The official admission time came.

There were quite a lot of people lined up at the school gate. They were beginning to enter.

Hu Fei brought Hou Ge, Hou Di, Dafei and Xiao Lu with him, and they just arrived. The moment they reached, they noticed a gloomy-looking Zhang Ye nearby.

“Yo, Teacher Zhang!” Xiao Lu shouted.

Dafei also waved his hands, “Teacher Zhang, over here!”

Zhang Ye walked up, and Hu Fei and company walked over too. Hu Fei asked in surprise, “Little Zhang, why haven’t you entered? The preliminaries have already begun, right? Contestants like you should enter much earlier than us.”

Zhang Ye threw up his hands, “I can’t get in. The Beijing Writers’ a.s.sociation did not prepare a contestant pa.s.s for me. Although they invited me, my name isn’t on the invitation list.”

“What? Such a thing can happen?” Hou Ge immediately turned angry.

Hou Di also understood immediately as he gritted his teeth, “F***, aren’t they being bullies?”

They had recently gotten to know of Zhang Ye’s previous matters. They knew that he had offended quite a number of people from the Beijing Writers’ a.s.sociation, including its Vice President Meng Dongguo. However, in their opinion, the Writers’ a.s.sociation was such a big organization that wouldn’t be so petty. Since they had invited Teacher Zhang Ye, they were probably making leeway in order to then rope Zhang Ye in. That was the reason why they had encouraged Zhang Ye to join the compet.i.tion yesterday. However, who knew that they were too naive? They had invited Zhang Ye, but would not allow him entry? Were they bent on disgusting him?

On the web, many of Zhang Ye’s fans knew that he was partic.i.p.ating in the compet.i.tion. Many of them were full of antic.i.p.ation, waiting in front of their computers for the live stream to begin. In the end, Zhang Ye did not even enter the gates? If someone asked, would the Beijing Writers’ a.s.sociation just explain it away with, “Zhang Ye gave up on his own accord”? That would make the fans grumble at Zhang Ye and, at the same time, strike a blow to his reputation. If someone investigated, the Writers’ a.s.sociation could simply say, “Oh, a subordinate made a mistake and did not process the contestant pa.s.s.” They could push the blame just like that? It was too despicable!

“Those bunch of grandsons!” Hou Ge cursed!

Hu Fei’s face was also sullen, “Little Zhang, have you called the person who contacted you?”

“Well, I was just about to call.” Zhang Ye called the woman from the Couplet Organization who had contacted him from before, “h.e.l.lo, I’m Zhang Ye.”

There was a lot of noise on her side. She was probably busy. “Zhang Ye? Oh, Teacher Zhang Ye. Why haven’t you entered? Can’t you come? Our preliminaries have just begun.”

Zhang Ye said, “I’m already here, but I can’t enter.” He explained the situation.

The woman clearly did not know of the situation. She was stunned, “How can that be? The Writers’ a.s.sociation should have done the necessary work for you. Alright, I’ll give them a call. I’ll try to arrange it for you.”

After hanging up, Zhang Ye said, “Why don’t all of you go in first?”

“If you aren’t going, what’s the point of us going?” Xiao Lu said, “If we are going in, we must all go in together!”

Hu Fei reached into his bag and pa.s.sed him a ticket. “Take my ticket and enter first. Take part in the preliminaries first. Since they invited you, even if they did something underhanded, your name must be on the namelist of the Couplet Organization. They just need to provide you a contestant pa.s.s.”

Zhang Ye waved his hands, “There’s no need. Go in first.” They had all taken the pains to travel here, so how could he go in himself while leaving them outside?

Suddenly, there were a few shouts!

“Haha! Little Zhang!”