Chapter 579: I’ll have a smoke to calm my nerves!

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When the PSA ended, the entire office was in a state of utter silence!

If one described this situation in detail, it was perhaps not the type of excited silence you’d expect from watching your favorite ball team winning the championships, nor the silence you’d get from being shocked from witnessing something extremely amazing happening before you. More accurately, it should be similar to the experience of you being yourself and doing whatever you were doing for one moment, when suddenly, you receive a medical update about yourself from the hospital that tells you that you only have a few days left to live—this was the atmosphere that was spreading throughout the office at this very moment!

One second…

Two seconds…

Finally, someone made a sound!

The old comrade from the Public Service Announcement Department suddenly cried out without warning, “Aiyo, my god!” and then abruptly clutched his chest as if his lungs suddenly hurt!

“Why is there the smell of cigarettes?”

“Quickly open the windows to air out the room!”

“Stop smoking! The harmful effects of secondhand smoke are greater than smoking itself!”

“Yea, stop smoking! Damn, that really gave me a fright!”

“This ad is just too…it just leaves me totally speechless with no reply!”

“I can’t take it anymore! I feel like my lungs are on fire right now! How is this even a PSA? It won’t be held accountable if any of us get scared to death! And it’s not even scaring us visually! This really terrifies me on a visceral level! When I used to watch horror films, especially those Japanese horror films, I’d never even experienced this kind of feeling before. Not only does it feel fearful, there’s even a feeling of disgust and a chill that spreads throughout my body, as though there’s something crawling in my lungs!”

“That’s right. If you’re a non-smoker, you won’t understand that feeling! I was still wondering! I wondered why Teacher Zhang would ask to make such a prop! So that was how he planned to use it!”

“This…”

“This PSA is too ‘bloody’!”

“There’s no blood nor any images of a real blackened lung, but why is it that even though we know it’s just a model lung, it feels even scarier than a real lung!”

“I can’t take it anymore! I need a break!”

“Having made so many ads before, this is the first time I’ve seen one like this—after watching it once, I do not wish to ever see it again!”

“Does it need to be so aggressive!”

“How exciting!”

“They’ve really upped the ante this time!”

For someone who didn’t usually smoke, it was still fine. But for those who were regular smokers, especially the hardcore ones, they had at this time started to panic. They could feel something disturbing enveloping them and couldn’t shake the feeling no matter what. With every breath, they would inadvertently remember the PSA and those lifelike burning lungs with the nauseating looking ashes embedded within them. That sense of fear was really difficult to describe in words!

Sun Han was also frightened quite badly by it. Only now did he understand the reason why Zhang Ye had given those series of tasks for them to do in the production process!

In just a day!

For a 15-second duration!

A full ad was made without any flaws!

He swore that, even among other foreign quit smoking ads, he had never seen a public service announcement that had been done this way. An ad that could be made in such a way—could it even be considered a creative ad? Technically speaking, it simply did not fulfill the criteria for creative advertising, but Sun Han knew that this was really creative advertising. It wasn’t even the normal kind of creative advertising but one that would make others shout, an amazing, ground-breaking new form of creativity!

How extreme!

This PSA was really too damn extreme!

Many of the people had now turned their focus to Zhang Ye, wondering how his mind had developed to such a level. Could it be that the structure of his brain was different from any other normal person’s? A PSA that could even be called an exemplary global public service announcement, an ad that no other creative professional had ever produced. And yet, all of these had come from a person who wasn’t even considered a creative professional? It was in fact produced by someone who was a broadcast host?

Suddenly, Xu Yuhong slowly stood up and started clapping while smiling.

When the others saw this, they stood up quickly and started clapping as well. In the blink of an eye, applause echoed through entire office! The other station leaders were still unsure of what to think, but when they saw the station head clapping, they also followed suit. However, the staff from the Advertising Department were truly impressed and were really clapping sincerely for this PSA and for Zhang Ye, a man who had offered his hand out to them when they were in trouble, who had still battled on without conceding even when others had given up, who had produced an ad so great that it left them industry professionals in the dust! He was too awesome!

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Looks like everyone is satisfied with it. That’s good enough.”

The auditor on the approval board was also very excited. “I’ll send it in for approval immediately and report it to the authorities. If this ad doesn’t pass, then I doubt any other ad would get approved!”

Sun Han was very emotional as he went forward and shook Zhang Ye’s hand. “Teacher Zhang! Thank you! Thank you!”

Zhang Ye waved his hand and said, “It’s not my credit alone. The colleagues from the Advertising Department who came to help out yesterday, you and your team, the staff members who helped to compose the background music, it was all due to everyone’s hard work. If had just been me alone, then I couldn’t have completed it even if I had worked nonstop for three days and night without rest. So don’t thank me.”

Sun Han said, “Without you, we couldn’t have finished it at all!”

The intern girl whose eyes were already reddening said, “We really did it!”

“That’s right!”

“We really did it!”

Many of those in the office were unable to hide their excited state, especially Sun Han and the others from the Public Service Announcement Department. This impossible task was delegated to them and they were responsible for it. They participated in the entire production and understood better than anyone else how difficult this process had been. At midnight, they were still battling to complete the ad, but after realizing that there was a problem with the prop, it could be imagined just how they felt when they suffered this setback. Today, at the very last second, with the help from Zhang Ye, they had miraculously completed the PSA. The feelings they had now were probably only understood by them.

“Thank you!”

“Teacher Zhang, thank you so much!”

“You’re really too awesome!”

“Compared to us, you are the one who seems more like an advertising professional!”

Many of the staff from the Advertising Department also came to thank Zhang Ye as the Public Service Announcement Department was considered to be part of it. Zhang Ye’s offer to help the PSA Department for free was equivalent to helping the Advertising Department. Having worked a whole day and night without rest, they definitely needed to thank him for all the hard work.

Over at the other side, Xu Yuhong suddenly asked without warning, “Little Zhang, you did this voluntarily?”

When Sun Han heard this and noticed the station head’s concern, he immediately answered for him, “Yes, that’s right. Teacher Zhang didn’t ask for a single red cent. We had initially wanted to pay him for the production fee, but…”

Zhang Ye said indifferently, “Since this is public service, why would I want money for it?”

Xu Yuhong nodded lightly. “Then how about this: We will make a small edit at the end of the advertisement. Let’s add a ‘produced by Zhang Ye’ at the bottom of the screen or something similar to that.”

Zhang Ye eyes widened. Eh? A great offer like this exists?

One of the station leaders did not quite agree with this and said, “Station Head, there’s no precedent to handling PSAs that way.”

Another leader also added, “Yes, using a person’s name in a PSA. Is that…acceptable?”

Xu Yuhong explained, “In the conditions of a company sponsorship, they can add their name into the PSA, as long as it doesn’t exceed the recommended duration, so it should be the same for individuals. I understand that this idea came from Little Zhang and he was also the one who contributed the most to its production, so we can consider this ad as sponsored by him. As a member of the public, that shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

With the station head’s approval, no one else dared to say anything.

But Sun Han was very satisfied with this outcome. At least they hadn’t let Teacher Zhang do all this for nothing. It might only be a credit roll for him, but the meaning of it was very significant. Since he knew Zhang Ye’s ambitions laid in the entertainment circle, having additional exposure would guarantee the advancement of his fame and career. Besides, because of Zhang Ye’s involvement in the Peking University incident a few days ago, he had been targeted by many from the media, as well as expert academics, who criticized him for crossing the line this time. With his contribution to this public service announcement, it would help reclaim a little bit of reputation for him. In short, this was surely a good thing for Zhang Ye.

The station leaders left.

There were still quite a lot of people who stayed behind to add the finishing touches to the ad. As a whole, there was nothing that needed changing, but some of the finer details that could be improved were improved. The end credit “Produced by Zhang Ye” was added in as well.

The advertisement was screened for the second time.

Some of the more cowardly smokers chose to leave the office before it started.

“You guys can continue working on it.”

“There should be enough manpower, right?”

“Since we have enough people here, I will go back first. I still have some work to handle.”

“Ahem, this…I, I need to go to the toilet.”

Even if some one them knew it was their job, they did not want to see the PSA a second time. They were afraid that if they did they wouldn’t be able to fall asleep at night!

However, Zhang Ye did not seem to have any reaction to this. Up until now, he had resisted the fatigue as he did not want to waste another Strength Potion. With every bottle he drank, he had one less in his inventory. Even though each bottle had only cost him 100,000 reputation points, these items were easily used up, so he had to treasure each and every one of them. He had to use them in the right situations, and as such, could only use cigarettes to battle his drooping eyelids. He took one out and lit it, and was soon exhaling clouds of smoke from his mouth.

A few people beside him immediately distanced themselves from him.

Sun Han was dumbfounded. “You can still smoke while you’re watching this ad?”

The awesome quartet also expressed their shock at this. “Teacher Zhang, aren’t you scared?”

All the other Advertising Department staff members watched.

Zhang Ye looked at them and said, “Me? Of course I’m scared!”

Hu Fei, who had stayed behind, asked in a speechless manner, “Then why are you still smoking?”

Zhang Ye said confidently, “It’s precisely because I’m so scared that I need to smoke this cigarette to calm my nerves.”

Sun Han: “……”

Hu Fei: “……”

The old-young-sick-crippled group: “……”

Everyone else from the Advertising Department: “……”

This is indeed an example of the talented being bolder!