Before noon.
Beijing Radio Station.
The auditorium at the top floor was filled with people. Many anchors and staff from the various channels had arrived. All segments had made way for today’s Mid-Autumn Festival Poetry Meet.
Zhang Ye had a stomach ache as he squatted on the toilet at the top floor. It might be due to having eaten too many instant noodles during the past few days. Even an Instant Noodle Hero would have times when he could not cope, for his stomach would also revolt. As he was squatting while doing his big business, he surfed the internet on his cellphone. He realized that the station’s Mid-Autumn Poetry Meet had been publicized greatly. Not only was the publicizing in full swing on the radio station’s website, it was also advertised on large message boards and other portal websites. Today was a public holiday, so most people were resting at home as they spent the festival with their friends and relatives. Noon was when people were gathered together to have lunch and chat. As they would be idle, listening into the poetry meet was a good choice. It was a very wise choice for the radio station to choose this time slot for the poetry meet.
There was a lot of discussion on the internet, with numerous messages posted.
“Poetry Meet? Great!”
“I must listen to it!”
“Last year, the one that the Jinshi Radio Station organized was not bad. There were many good poems.”
“Ha. This year will be even better. Didn’t you see that so many Teachers are coming from the Writers’ Association? I guess that there will be at least one classic Mid-Autumn poem.”
There were also people who heard of yesterday’s Weibo war of words, or people who knew about Zhang Ye.
“Eh? Meng Dongguo? A person who writes fairy tales like Little Red Mushroom is also going? The namelist also includes Big Thunder? Those poets who looked down on Teacher Zhang Ye?”
“Haha! There will be something to see!”
“Right. I remember that Zhang Ye works at Beijing Radio Station, right? Today’s Literature Channel will also be broadcasting it? Teacher Zhang Ye will also be there too, right?”
“That’s right. They will meet each other!”
“To think that they were scolding each other yesterday, but now they are meeting today. You really don’t meet unless you are enemies!”
“Will Teacher Zhang go on stage to recite a poem? I’m slightly looking forward to it!”
“I don’t know. His name isn’t on the namelist. It’s all people from the Writers’ Association!”
There were supporters of Zhang Ye’s poems, and naturally, there were even more who were fans of Meng Dongguo and the other Teachers. They were people who did not agree with Zhang Ye’s prowess in literature!
“All of you are still not convinced? Still speaking against Zhang Ye?”
“Ignore those people. There’s no way of getting through to them. It will only be troll bait!”
“Zhang Ye’s name is definitely not on the namelist. Yesterday, the Teachers have already made it clear. This person is a demagogue. How is he able to write poems? At such an important event as this important Mid-Autumn Festival Poetry Meet, letting Zhang Ye go onstage would be a joke, since it’s a live broadcast. His poems can deceive those who aren’t knowledgeable. Those who are knowledgeable will just laugh silently at him, before letting others laugh their heads off.”