Chapter 536 - Never, ever compromise! (1/2)
Chapter 536: Never, ever compromise!
Around 9 PM.
Zhang Ye was writing something when the screen of his cell phone on the table lit up. As he had received too many calls from people last night, he had already switched it to silent mode. Zhang Ye glanced over without thinking of picking it up, but when he saw Yao Jiancai's name on the caller ID, he reached for the phone.
”Old Yao?” he said after accepting the call.
On the other side, Yao Jiancai said, ”Get online.”
Zhang Ye asked, ”Go online for what? What's the matter?”
”You'll know when you see it.” Yao Jiancai sounded very calm and relaxed. ”There's an addendum to Decree #43 that SARFT previously announced. They posted some additional info.”
Zhang Ye asked with interest, ”What does it say?”
”Take a look at it yourself,” Yao Jiancai answered merrily. ”All thanks to you, half of this batch of banned artists have some hope of getting their ban lifted.”
Zhang Ye asked, ”What about you?”
Yao Jiancai answered, ”I'm no longer on the list.”
”Yo, that's great then, congratulations.” Zhang Ye quipped, ”Your 'prost.i.tution' label can finally be put to rest. When will you be treating me to a meal?”
”After you settle your own issues.”
”Sure, I'll go take a look now.”
”When you have your ban lifted, we need to have a good drink together.”
After hanging up, Zhang Ye went onto Weibo and directly searched for the SARFT's verified account. Indeed, a post t.i.tled ”In regards to Decree #43's addendum clarification” was posted earlier and the updated banned artists list did not have Yao Jiancai's name on it. Another six names were also deleted, like the movie star who held a press conference apologizing for his actions and another singer who expressed regret for her past actions during an interview. Scanning through the list, Zhang Ye could still see his own name on it.
The lifting of the ban was beginning?
Base on what reasons do they lift the ban for?
It was only normal that Old Yao would be unbanned as his incident was just a case of misunderstanding. Because of the media reporting on unfounded truths, Old Yao was banned. But after clarification statements from the police that the case has been resolved with no charges pressed, Yao Jiancai would naturally be the first person to be unbanned when the ban list was refreshed, that was without a doubt. But how about the others? Why did they get unbanned? These artists' misdeeds were already set in stone, no?
Reading further, Zhang Ye finally understood.
Actually, this clarification was to announce the conditions to get unbanned. The artists who had committed misdeeds more than 3 years ago and had shown improvements in their behaviors without any further misdeeds or those who had committed minor misdeeds within 3 years but had apologized could all send in their applications to the SARFT for them to consider and approve before releasing the decision to the public!
The application form for the revocation of ban was also leaked.
Name: XX.
Gender: XX.
Age: XX.
Representative Agency: XX.
There were even blanks labeled ”Previous Misdeeds” and ”Self Reflection Statement” at the bottom of the page before an acknowledgment by signature and effective date ended the application form.
Other than Yao Jiancai, the names of those artists who had been removed had committed their misdeeds more than 3 years ago and were apologetic about their actions, hence the automatic exclusion of their names by the SARFT. Except for one artist who had committed his misdeed of soliciting prost.i.tutes within the past year, considerations were made due to the fact that he was unmarried and the crime wasn't too serious, on top of which he had also expressed his regret in the events and so was given the chance to improve on his behavior. This was an example of the clarifications to Decree #43 regarding those who had committed minor misdeeds within the past 3 years and were given the pa.s.s to have their ban revoked.
This was what the clarification generally meant and after Zhang Ye had finished reading through the article, he had also fully understood it's meaning. No wonder Old Yao mentioned that it was due to him that he was able to get his ban lifted. But the timing of this clarification was still quite ambiguous as according the the current batch of banned artists, slightly less than half of them were covered by the conditions that would allow them to be unbanned, including Zhang Ye himself, involved in the minor crime of a.s.sault. Or it could be perceived as these conditions were actually made directly as a result of Zhang Ye's crimes, which he felt was the true reason behind it!
Why?
Because of the artists who had been unbanned of course!
This addendum clarification had only obviously been issued a short while ago and the application had also just been leaked. The few banned artists who had their bans revoked could not have possibly filled in the form and submitted it beforehand. Yao Jiancai had also not made any mention of this application in the phone call and if he did fill it in and submit it, he would have made any mention of it. From this, it could be said that the other banned artists were in the same situation, so why didn't they need to submit an application before getting their bans revoked while Zhang Ye's name was still on the ban list? Was it because Zhang Ye had not made any apology since the incident? It did not seem like it. If a public apology could replace an application form, then why did this addendum have to state the procedures of filling up the application form so clearly? They even explicitly stated that this would be a required step in the procedures? Yet, in the revocation of the bans on the other previously banned artists, this was obviously not the case. Old Yao and the others did not fill in any application forms and were quickly taken off the ban list!
Wasn't it illogical?
This showed that there was something fishy about it!
It was as though this doc.u.ment was screaming out to Zhang Ye for him to fill it in. It was definitely directed at him and the other names on the list seemed irrelevant.
Zhang Ye knew the reason for this. Why did it seem like it was targeted only at him? Logically speaking, on the list of banned artists, Zhang Ye was not the one with the most fans. There were others who had a few million fans, so Zhang Ye was not the most famous name on it as there were others who were previously B-list movie stars. Neither was his misdeed the most serious since there were drug abusers on it as well, so he should not have been so targeted if everything was considered. But it seemed it was happening because of one specific reason. The reason was that Zhang Ye was much better than any of these other artists at one, and only one thing—This wretch could really cause trouble!
That Bamboos on the Rocks!
That Li Bai poem!
Going to Central TV to cause trouble with his crosstalk performances and the incidents regarding the promotions of Legend of Wukong!
After he had been banned, Zhang Ye's protest had never stopped. Time after time, he took the bull by the horns and created a stir that got bigger and bigger each time. He was the proverbial thorn in the side as each and every move he made had a big detrimental effect to the authorities. This was exactly the reason why he was targeted and the hidden agenda of this addendum clarification!
They want to revoke the ban on Zhang Ye!
They want to pardon him for his offenses!
But before that, Zhang Ye had to compromise and fill up the application form to submit to the SARFT for approval. They wanted him to guarantee his behavior and admit to his offenses. As of yesterday, Zhang Ye had solved a global mathematical conjecture and his presence could no longer be suppressed, neither was it suitable to do so any longer. But to lift his ban directly would mean that the reputation of the SARFT was at stake! They needed a proper excuse to do so and to protect their reputation so that people would not gossip. This was why they had come up with a reason like this to lift the bans!
This addendum clarification had also caused a big reaction online!
”Wow!”
”Teacher Yao has had his ban lifted?”
”That's great. Looks like Teacher Zhang Ye will be unbanned soon as well!”
”Haha, this is so exciting. The SARFT has finally loosened their grip on this. I thought that Teacher Zhang would have been banned for life. From the looks of it now, we are not far from the day Teacher Zhang returns to the entertainment circle. All he has to do is submit the application? That's so simple. Teacher Zhang, quickly submit the form. Your misdeed was just a minor one. You merely beat someone up and that incident was already a thing of the past. The honor you have brought to our country's mathematics world cannot be argued with, so just quickly complete the form! The authorities will surely agree to lift the ban on you!”
”Hooray! We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!”
Many of Zhang Ye's fans were cheering at this because their Teacher Zhang was finally going to be able to return through sheer perseverance after so long. How could they not be excited by this?