I am Really a Superstar

Outside the elevator on the seventh floor.

Zhang Ye bade farewell to the physicists and mathematicians and excused himself.

“I’ll go back to my room first.”

“Uh, are you really staying on the seventh floor?”

“You were really nominated for the Literature Prize?”

“Didn’t I already say so?”

“Alright then, you sure are impressive.”

“Zhang, come visit our room when you have time.”

“Which floor are you all on?”

“We’re on the eighth floor.”

“We’re on the ninth floor.”

“OK, I’ll move around as much as possible if I have nothing on.”

Ding. The elevator door closed. The rest of the party proceeded upstairs.

Only then did Zhang Ye, Ha Qiqi, and Little Wang walk to the rooms with their luggage.

Little Wang was laughing as they walked in. “Director Zhang has left them all so confused.”

Ha Qiqi laughed and said, “That’s right. The thing here is that Director Zhang is really involved in too many industries. Forget about what those foreigners think. Even our own countrymen, including those who know Director Zhang well, would not know which prize he was nominated for if the Nobel Prize Committee did not publish the nominee list.”

Zhang Ye said, “Actually, either one of them would be fine.”

Little Wang said, “That’s right. As long as it’s a Nobel Prize, we can break into the international celebrity rankings.”

“We’re here.” Ha Qiqi matched the keycard with the room number. “Director Zhang, this is your room.”

Zhang Ye took his luggage from them. “Alright, I have nothing else for you all here. Carry on and go shopping or eat if you want. Do anything you wish to. I’ll call if there’s anything.”

Little Wang said happily, “OK!”

After they left, Zhang Ye drew open the curtains to have a look at the scenery outside. He took out his cell phone and sent Old Wu and his parents a message to inform them that he had arrived. He even took a few pictures to show them. Then he did some simple unpacking before checking his watch and closing the curtains. After that, he pulled the covers over himself in bed and went to sleep. On the plane, he had chatted with the physicists for almost the entire journey without getting much rest. There was a dinner banquet ¹ in the evening, so he decided to sleep for a while.

An hour.

Two hours.

Ding dong. The doorbell rang.

Zhang Ye yawned and woke up. He thought that it was Ha Qiqi and Little Wang coming to look for him, so he went to open the door.

He saw two people standing outside the door. He was slightly taken aback by them. They were two strangers he did not know at all.

Zhang Ye blinked. “You two are?”

Standing outside were a man and a woman.

The man was around forty years old and looked like a very refined gentleman.

The woman who was in her thirties was a pretty blonde.

Anthony smiled and said in English, “Hello, are you Zhang Ye?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “I am. ”

Anthony said, “My name is Anthony, and I’m English.”

The blonde beauty said in a friendly manner, “I’m Felicia, a Swede.”

Zhang Ye didn’t know these two people, but he had heard their names before. “So it’s Mr. Anthony and Ms. Felicia. Hello to the two of you.”

Anthony grinned. “It’s almost time for the evening banquet. We’re all nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and Felicia and I were about to head downstairs for dinner when we talked about your book. So we asked around to find which room you were in. We were hoping to get to know you and maybe ask if you would like to join us for dinner?”

Felicia had a very sweet smile. “Anthony and I have been researching your book for quite some time now. It’s such a wonderful read. I have not come across such a soul-stirring novel in many years, so when we learned that you were also nominated for the award, we were both very happy. We felt that we definitely had to get to know the author of Gone with the Wind.”

Zhang Ye shook their hands. “I’ve also read both your works before and was really inspired by them. It’s my pleasure to get to know the two of you. Please, come into my room and have a seat.”

The three of them were all famous writers of this world, so after he introductions, there wasn’t a need to act like strangers in front of each other. With pleasantries exchanged, everyone became familiar with each other quite quickly. Zhang Ye had brought along his own tea leaves on this trip. He brewed them a pot of tea, using the Da Hong Pao tea leaves, of course. The two writers liked the tea so much they couldn’t stop praising it.

Zhang Ye asked, “Are the you two a couple?”

Felicia laughed. “Of course not.”

Anthony said, “I’ve known Felicia since last year when we were both nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, so we’re extremely familiar with the entire process of the awards. If there’s anything you do not understand, feel free to ask me since I’m English, or you could ask Felicia.”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “That would be great.”

Felicia asked, “There will be a lot of people later at the banquet. I’ll introduce a few of them to you.”

Anthony said, “Right, it’s your first time, and you don’t really know a lot of people here. We’ll go as a group, and Felicia and I can introduce the other nominees to you.”

Zhang Ye said happily, “Sure.”

Anthony said, “You’re the favorite to win the Nobel Prize this year.”

Zhang Ye said humbly, “It’s both your second times being nominated. I don’t think I stand that great of a chance.”

Anthony shook his head and said, “It has nothing to do with the number of times we were nominated.”

Felicia nodded and said, “That’s right. Some people have been nominated over seven times, yet they still didn’t win the Nobel Prize. But for some people, they win it immediately after being nominated once. All of it depends on the quality of their work. Gone with the Wind is too popular, and its sales figures have broken so many records as well. It’s already reached 17 million copies in sales worldwide, hasn’t it? And it even caused America to repeal the bill that enabled racism, as well as made Russia enter into peace talks with its neighbors. This sort of influence is unmatched by any other. The only people who can possibly compete with you are the Indian writer, Bangalore, and the Japanese writer.”

Anthony grunted. “That Indian writer has a terrible temper.”

Felicia smiled and said, “I don’t like him either. So if we see him, let’s stay far away from him. It’d be for the better if we don’t engage with someone like that.”

Stay away from him?

Zhang Ye was amused to hear that.

This was a phrase that others would often say about him. When had he ever needed to stay away from others?

It was almost time.

The three of them chatted as they took the elevator down to the banquet hall. Although it was called a banquet, it was actually just a buffet dinner with music and performances. This was held for the Nobel Prize nominees to interact with one another. It was not an enforced event, so those who wished to join could join, but it didn’t matter even if they did not want to go.

In the banquet hall.

Violin music was serenading the crowd.

Quite a few people had already arrived, and the atmosphere was very lively.

Anthony was a local and had previously participated in the Nobel Prize award ceremony, so he automatically started showing Zhang Ye around since he was a newcomer. “Zhang, there’s nothing to be nervous about. This is your first time taking part in an event like this, so it will definitely take a little getting used to. All of the world’s leading authorities are gathered here. There are mathematicians, chemists, medical practitioners, and people from all sorts of different fields here. We don’t have much in common with them, so there’s nothing much for us to interact with them on. We just need to mingle with the people from our own field since we can’t take part of the other fields’ conversations.”

Zhang Ye nodded.

Felicia smiled and said, “Let’s go, we’ll introduce a few friends to you.”

When the three of them entered the dinner venue, some people immediately took notice of Zhang Ye.

Hans and his student waved at him from afar. “Zhang, over here!”

Anthony was startled.

Felicia was also stunned for a bit.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Hi, Professor Hans.”

Hans said, “Why did you just get here? Who are these two?”

Zhang Ye said, “Oh, let me introduce you to each other. This is Anthony, and this is Felicia. They’re both world-renowned authors.” He turned his head and introduced, “This is Professor Hans and his student. Professor Hans is one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of physics.”

Anthony said, “Ah, hello, Professor Hans.”

Felicia said in a stunned manner, “Nice to meet you.”

Over there, another two people came over.

“Zhang, I’ve been looking for you for a long time.” Anna fast walked over.

Paige was also beside her. He got very happy when he saw Zhang Ye. “Zhang, you’re finally here. Quick, I was just conversing with Anna. Come and give us your opinion.”

Anthony was dumbfounded. “These two are?”

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Professor Paige and Professor Anna.”

Behind them, another voice rang out.

“Zhang!”

“You’re here already?”

“Bond has just arrived, and he’s looking for you.”

A group of mathematicians from all over the world walked into the venue.

Zhang Ye said happily, “Yo, Professor Bond.”

Bond complained, “Where have you been all these years? I had so many research projects that I wanted to work with you on. Have you been purposely avoiding me?”

Zhang Ye said in a speechless manner, “How could I?”

Bond said with a straight face, “There’s a mathematical conjecture that I wanted us to work together on!”

Zhang Ye wasn’t too interested. “Let’s talk about it again in the future.”

“No, you have to give me an answer today,” Bond said.

Zhang Ye chuckled. “Let’s eat first, let’s eat. Oh yes, I still haven’t made introductions. This is Anthony, and this is Felicia. They’re both my friends.”

The English mathematician, Steve, said curiously, “Anthony? I’ve read your books before.”

The English writer, Anthony, hurriedly said, “I’ve seen you on television before, Professor Steve.”

Steve was very happy to hear that. “I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”

Anthony said, “Me too, it’s an honor.”

Group after group.

After they went away, only Zhang Ye, Anthony, and Felicia were left.

Felicia was going crazy!

Anthony was aghast!

Isn’t this your first time in England?

Isn’t this your first time getting nominated for the Nobel Prizes?

Damn! Why do you know even more people than I do?

Are you the local or am I the local?!

The two of them had been very eager to bring Zhang Ye around to get to know some people before this. But how could they have imagined it would end up with Zhang Ye introducing a host of other Nobel Prize nominees to them!