In the audience.
Under the attention of everyone, Zhang Ye went back to his seat.
The atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival Poetry Meet was pushed to its peak by “Shuidiao Getou”. Everyone was getting more and more excited about the final results of the voting. Right now, the top ten spots are all held by people from the Writers’ Association. Even the next ten spots were scattered with people from there. It was an almost unanimous victory for them. But the breakout of Zhang Ye had put the whole contest into suspense and uncertainty!
“Teacher Zhang, you were great!”
“Good job! You didn’t embarrass the Literature Channel!”
“Those Writers’ Association guys don’t dare to speak up anymore? That’s what they get for showing off! They are all humbled now!”
“Haha. Teacher Little Zhang, give me an autograph later; I want it as a memento.”
The members of the Literature Channel were seated in the same area. When Zhang Ye came back to his seat, everyone gave him a thumbs up. Even Tian Bin, Jia Yan and Wu Datao did not dare to make snide remarks. The poem had them in awe, too!
Zhao Guozhou, who was originally seated the furthest away, changed his seat with several subordinates and said to Zhang Ye, “Little Zhang, you have impressed everyone yet again!”
Zhang Ye replied, “Thank you for your acknowledgement, Leader.”
Zhao Guozhou queried, “Why did you not canvass for votes?”
“That would be unnecessary, right?” Zhang Ye had felt it wasn’t necessary, “Everyone is not stupid; they all have their own artistic appreciations and if they thought my poem was good, then they will vote for me. If they felt the other poems were good, they will vote for them. There’s not much meaning to canvassing for votes. It’s not a contest, but an exchange of literary learning. It’s better to keep it simple.” He had said so logically, but self-righteously.
Wang Xiaomei said, “You seem rather relaxed.”
Zhao Guozhou asked everyone from the Literature Channel, “What ranking does everyone think Little Zhang will get? Teacher Xiaomei, what’s your opinion?”
“In my opinion, from just the quality and literary qualities, Teacher Little Zhang would definitely get first. But that’s just my own opinion. We don’t know if the audience has been convinced by it. Vice-President Meng Dongguo’s poem was good, too. Perhaps some will find it to be better. It’s all possible.” Looking at her watch, she said, “Besides, there’s only about 20 minutes left.”
“20 minutes?”
“Ah, yes! The voting will be ending soon!”
“Aiyo, then there’s no hope; how can we catch up to them!?”
Everyone felt a little pity; such an amazing poem appeared, but it could not achieve a good result due to the lack of time!
From behind, the Literature Channel’s Big Sis Zhou came back alone. So as to not block the people behind her, she bent over as she squeezed all the way over. “Excuse me. Liu’er, Zhou’er, let me get past.” In the blink of an eye, she was beside Zhang Ye, “Eh. Leader, you are here, too?”
Zhao Guozhou tersely acknowledged, “What did you do?”
“I pretended to go to the bathroom.” Big Sis Zhou held her cellphone, “Actually, I was checking the voting results for Little Zhang. There’s no internet reception in the auditorium and I can only see it outside.”
Auntie Sun asked with concern, “So how was it? How was it?”
The other people from the Literature Channel also tilted their heads over, wishing to know.
Big Sis Zhou pointed to her cellphone. There was no more internet connection, but the web page that she had opened before could still be seen. “Little Zhang’s ‘Shuidiao Getou’ has already caused quite a sensation. Three minutes ago, the website staff had uploaded his poem after he finished reciting it. ‘Shuidiao Getou’ already has more than 900 votes. Look at their comments. The comments left by the netizens are practically going nuts. It’s almost explosive!”
The cellphone’s screen showed densely packed messages.
“God!”
“This melody poem is invincible!”
“Can it not be so powerful?”
“Who is Zhang Ye? Why have I never heard of this Teacher?”
“Did I hear wrongly? Previously, I thought Meng Dongguo and someone from the Writers’ Association were going to criticize Zhang Ye’s poems? Using him as a negative example? With the melody poem out, why did no one criticize it?”
“I’m laughing. I’m really laughing!”
“The Writers’ Association is so hilarious! Their faces are swollen from being smacked!”
“Haha. I have always supported Teacher Zhang Ye. Today, I want to see who dares to say that Teacher Zhang Ye doesn’t know how to write poems! From today onwards, I want to see who still dares to say that Teacher Zhang Ye’s works have no literary value!”
“To be going against the Teachers from the Writers’ Association, I can only now express my heartfelt condolences!”