Chapter 171: Receiving the Attention of Society!

Afternoon.

Everyone was immersed in grief.

Not only in the Arts Channel, everyone else from the other departments was feeling the same. Editor Wei’s incident was known to all. Everyone in the station had been touched by Editor Wei’s grace. A few old colleagues who were old comrades with Editor Wei specially asked for the day off to help his family with the arrangements for his funeral. They were afraid that Editor Wei’s only daughter could not take the news, so they were naturally worried.

Over here.

“Lecture Room”’s team office.

A youth that Zhang Ye did not know entered the office. The moment that he entered, he looked at Zhang Ye, then said not too politely to Hu Fei, “Producer Hu, the Station Leader is looking for you.”

Hu Fei raised his head and then followed him.

Xiao Lu was a little shocked, “This person is not from our Arts Channel.”

“Station Leader? The television station’s Leader is looking for Brother Hu?” Dafei had an ominous feeling.

Sure enough, after more than ten minutes, Hu Fei returned alone. He said to Zhang Ye, “The station said that you insulted and threatened a colleague, so they gave you a demerit point, deducted 3 months of your bonuses and suspended you for a week.”

Zhang Ye looked like he did not care about it.

Hou Ge could not take it anymore, “Based on what! Based on what are they meting out punishment to Teacher Zhang for!”

“It’s even instructed by the Station Leader?” Xiao Lu said angrily, “Why did it even get elevated to the top management?”

Dafei said, “Needless to say, it’s definitely Wang Shuixin’s side who reported it!”

Everyone knew what was going on. Zhang Ye had beaten up Wang Shuixin’s son and even caused him to be brought to the detention center. It was Wang Shuixin’s son who caused trouble first. And since the controversy had not blown over yet, Wang Shuixin could not deal with Zhang Ye at the moment. But today, Zhang Ye scolded his secretary. So Wang Shuixin definitely had a cause for action. However, since he did not want it to be a case of settling private scores after Editor Wei’s passing, he had let the Station Leader’s side handle the matter. It could be seen that their relationship was very good.

Zhang Ye got up, “Then I will go back first, Brother Hu.”

“It’s just a week. You will be back next week. It’s okay.” Hu Fei comforted him.

Zhang Ye said a few words to his colleagues before packing his things up. He took a hard look at the area that Editor Wei had worked at before turning around to leave.

In the car.

Zhang Ye made a call to his ex-colleague at the radio station, Wang Xiaomei, “Hello, Teacher Xiaomei. Are you busy? Is it convenient to talk a little?”

Wang Xiaomei replied blandly, “I just finished recording a program; it’s convenient.”

“I have a favor to ask of you. Do you know anyone from the news channel?” Zhang Ye asked.

“I’m not familiar with them, but I know a few. What’s the matter?” Wang Xiaomei replied.

Zhang Ye said, “I have some worthy news which I would like to make public. It’s about an old editor in our television station. His name was Wei Jianguo…..” Zhang Ye spent 5 minutes explaining the situation from beginning to end to Wang Xiaomei, “See if this can make it as news for the radio station?”

Wang Xiaomei thought about it, “If you are saying that the Arts Channel’s Leader abused his powers to get revenge and caused Editor Wei to work to death, then this definitely cannot be reported. After all, our radio station has merged with the Beijing Television Station already. The Leaders would never agree to this. But if we just report about Editor Wei’s incident, then that would work.”

Zhang Ye could only say, “Okay, then let’s just get that reported.”

“Okay, let me arrange it for you.” Wang Xiaomei promised.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Thank you. I will buy you lunch next time.” Zhang Ye hung up.

Wang Xiaomei was very reliable. She was one of the pillars of the Beijing Radio Station. Naturally, her influence was very deep, too. At around 4 P.M., the news came out on “Live News Studio”. The reporters there had definitely thoroughly investigated this incident.

“Wei Jianguo — An ordinary name, an ordinary person. But if you heard of his story, I believe no one would find him to be ordinary. Over 20 years, with his meager income, by being frugal and picking up scraps in the streets on his rest days, this man had sponsored 159 children! Some were kids who had no education! Some were children who were sick! Some were abandoned orphans! A total of 159 of them! Of course, this was the situation we learned from Wei Jianguo’s family. As for the real figure, maybe only Uncle Wei himself would know. But we will never find out now. Last night, Uncle Wei had a heart attack due to fatigue and passed away!”

“Now, let us listen to some interviews.”

The radio station had made this a topic of discussion. It wasn’t just simply reporting the news anymore.

“Hello, I am the reporter for Radio News. Are you one of the kids who Uncle Wei has helped before? What kind of a person was Uncle Wei?”

“Sob, sob, sob!”

“Little girl, don’t be too sad. We are very sorry to hear about Uncle Wei, too.”

“Wei… Father Wei was such a good person! Sob, sob! He was a great man! He treated us…. Sob, sob, sob….. like his very own children…! When we first received help from Father Wei, we thought….We thought that Father Wei was a big boss. We thought he was very rich…. But only later did we find out that Father Wei was just a normal salaried worker…. His money came from his salary and picking up scraps! And… And he gave it all to us! Once…. When I was sick, Father Wei somehow knew about it… And when he came to the hospital to visit me, the doctor said that I needed to have a minor operation…sob, sob… Father Wei handed over the money without a thought…sob, sob… Later on, I found out that the money used for my operation was supposed to be for his own daughter’s university fees the next day!”

The news reporter at the studio also sounded moved as silence took over temporarily.

The child was crying, “Why!! Why! The textbooks and teachers always tell us to be good people! Good people should live to a ripe old age! But why has Father Wei gone so soon! Reporter Auntie! Sob, sob, sob…..They say that Father Wei had a heart attack because of fatigue! Did we cause Father Wei to die? Father Wei had done it all to help us…. To pick up bottles, to work overtime! Did we really cause the death of Father Wei?”

The child’s question had left a deep impression in many of the listeners’ hearts!

The reporter in charge of the interview did not know how to answer!

Following that, the second person was interviewed, then the third and the fourth!

“Big Sis, are you Father Wei’s neighbour? What impression do you have of him?”

“Old Wei was a really good person! He would always help if the neighbors needed anything! He was especially endearing to everyone! Why did such a good person leave so early!”

“Did you know about him sponsoring all those children?”

“We didn’t. No one knew a thing. We only knew that Old Wei worked at the television station as an editor. We have never heard of him helping all those children! We only knew that his household’s living conditions weren’t too good! There was once when his daughter went to university, and he couldn’t even pay her school fees. It was only later when we learned that Old Wei had to beg the school Leaders before they finally allowed him some time to pay it off. Sigh! Old Wei was such a person! He did not like to say what he did! There was once when my son was alone at home running a high fever. He went to Old Wei’s house in a daze and Old Wei brought my son to the doctor. After that, he just told me it wasn’t a big deal. Only later on did my son tell me that the route to our house was too far. With traffic jams, the ambulance could not make it here and it was Old Wei who carried my son and ran for a kilometer to the hospital! But these were things that he never mentioned!”

……

When the news was reported, it immediately attracted the attention of the whole society!

Actually, it wasn’t only Beijing Radio Station who reported it. At the same time, a few other newspapers also reported it. Even the Beijing Times newspaper had printed Editor Wei’s picture at a good place in its second edition! Needless to say, it must have been someone at the Beijing Television Station who leaked the news. It wasn’t only Zhang Ye who knew people. Everyone was in the media industry and had their own networks of friends and classmates! As this matter could actually attract many people who were paying attention to the news, Editor Wei’s story after his passing had been published throughout Beijing!

A broadcast media and seven or eight newspapers were all reporting on the story!

This incident had suddenly attracted so much attention that even people from other parts of the country were now concerned!

This was especially so online, the place where open discussions flourished. This incident had become a subject of hot discussion in just a short while!

“A good person!”

“How is there such a good person in this world?”

“I’m touched! Compared with Father Wei, I am ashamed!”

“Yes, those who are involved in charity, those who call themselves philanthropists, so many of them publicize their contributions after doing only one thing to show everyone what they did. They only want to gain praises about their noble acts. But are they really noble? In the past, I felt so. But now, I don’t think so anymore! After knowing of Father Wei’s story, I have a deeper understanding now. Kindness comes from deep within. It is a conscience of human nature. It doesn’t need to be known, nor publicized!”

“The previous poster said it well!”

“There was also news yesterday of their television station. The person who was quite famous that wrote ‘Everything’, the poet called Wang Shuixin… He’s also the person in charge of a channel. Didn’t he help some child to attend school? In the end, the papers were all writing about this and everyone on the net praised him. I said this at that time, that a Leader at the station doing such things should be acknowledged. But now that I think of it, compared to Father Wei, it was nothing!”

“Rest in peace!”

“Father Wei, we will always remember you!”

“Hey, I heard that Father Wei had offended someone and was ill-treated until he died!”

“What? How could that be?”

“I heard of it, too. I’m not sure if it’s true, but I heard that he offended someone in the station and was made to work overtime almost every day. It wasn’t that Father Wei volunteered to work overtime, because he did not get any overtime pay or bonuses. It was always deducted at the end for some reason!”

“Is that a rumor?”

“There’s such a matter? How can this be?

“If it’s true, I’ll be damned! That is really too hateful!”

“I can’t be sure either. Just take it with a pinch of salt.”

However, the thread on this discussion forum was soon deleted by someone.

Zhang Ye was just browsing this post and clicked on the next page only to be informed that the thread did not exist anymore. He felt his heart sinking!

What does this mean?

It was obvious!

This was the same situation as when Zhang Ye was arrested!

In the end, Beijing Television Station could no longer not issue a statement. They then reported on BTV-News Channel about Editor Wei’s case, stating that they did not know about his deeds. They had only found out and were very proud of this colleague. This was some skillful bullsh*t! How could they not have known!

Including them, although most of the the other media had already reported it, it was all limited to Editor Wei’s deeds. With regards to the other happenings and issues, there was not a mention of them. Nothing was leaked. Even the smaller newspapers did not say much since they did not want to offend a major broadcaster like Beijing Television Station. This was all because of Wang Shuixin’s influence. Otherwise, with Editor Wei’s news of him being “driven to death”, many newspapers would grab at the chance to publish such a story! It didn’t matter if it was the truth or just grandstanding, this was still a topic of discussion! It couldn’t be that no one cared!

The truth was rather obvious!

Zhang Ye was in the media industry, too. If he did not understand, then he would have lived for nothing!

This time, someone was manipulating the discussion from behind the scenes. They only wanted the public to see the positive side of Editor Wei, rather than find out the truth behind his death!

That Wang Shuixin!

Is this all you’ve got?

Zhang Ye suddenly had a face of determination! Alright, if no one wants to uncover the truth of this matter, if no one wants to report on it……

Then I will!

I will bet on my job as a host!

I will bet on not working in this television station anymore!

I will f**king drag you down, Wang Shuixin!

If this was just using words, Zhang Ye did not have the ability to do so, nor did his words have the strength. Even if he publicly exposed Wang Shuixin, there was a possibility that no one would believe or even care about his words. After all, he wasn’t some big shot celebrity. But if words alone did not work, it did not mean that Zhang Ye had no other ways. He had a way that others would not even think about — his poems!

Zhang Ye’s words were limited in effect, but Zhang Ye’s poems were highly regarded. Just like when he was in the detention center, he got out precisely because of two poems!

This was the charm of literature!

Or it could be said that this was the charm of good literature!

Some might think that if words don’t work, would poems be able to attract attention?

For Zhang Ye’s situation, this was precisely the case. Citing an example, so many innocent students have died in history. Who would remember their names? Who would remember? Not many! But one of them, a female student called Liu Hezhen, was well-remembered by everyone in Zhang Ye’s world! Why? Because Lu Xun had written an article called “Remembering Miss Liu Hezhen“!

Literature… Only literature could have such power!

Zhang Ye’s heart already had an idea and knew what to do!