239: Caught a Big Fish

Two days later, Yazhi’s rival, Jinlan Culture, suddenly announced in a high-profile manner that they were trying to cultivate a certain newcomer under their name, and then replaced the originally scheduled male lead, a certain big star, with their newcomer. When the news spread, it caused a sensation, and many posts appeared on the Internet.

Fans of that big star felt helpless for their idol, because there were rumors that the newcomer had a backing. As we all know, fans of some stars can do a lot of crazy things for their idols, and that big star was also a big name in the entertainment industry. So, fans had asked Jinlan Culture to give a statement on why their idol was stepped on in order to make a newcomer famous. Things were still raging, yet neither Jinlan Culture nor a certain big star had come forward.

At this time, the appearance and name of the newcomer had been found, so a bunch of wallhead grasses* appeared, who were actually water armies. They then began to praise the newcomer for being handsome, and some people said that he had graduated from a certain prestigious school. Alumni from that school even stood up to speak for him, saying that he was not such a person.

[T/N: * = daisies. Wallhead grasses means people that will always follow the stronger side, like how daisies move with the direction of the wind.]

The trend of public opinion went back and forth for a while, but under the bombardment of the water army, more and more fans became ‘reasonable’. So, some fans who claimed to be old fans stepped up and said, "It's better to listen to our idol. Say, maybe it really is a misunderstanding?" Her proposal was approved by many people, so many fans left comments on the Weibo of the big star.

On the fourth day of the incident, the big star finally appeared on Weibo. He said that he was rushing around to film a movie, the place was relatively closed and backwards, so he didn’t know that such a big thing had happened in the past few days. Additionally, he said that there was absolutely no character grabbing. In fact, because his schedule could not be arranged, he had no choice but to give up the TV series, all this was a misunderstanding. Finally, he uploaded a photo with the newcomer.

Afterwards, Jinlan Culture also stepped up to clarify, but was slammed by some netizens who guessed the origin of the story. The big star’s explanation was acceptable. What was the matter with Jinlan Culture? Could it be that all of their high-level officials also went somewhere backwards to film?

But in any case, the newcomer was indeed popular. At this time, as long as the newcomer's works were released, his foundation could be laid. His whole set of self-directed and self-acted plays had to be said to be quite successful.

"Tsk, tsk, I didn't expect him to sell the plan to Jinlan Culture. However, Jinlan Culture is also very powerful. The plan was just a random idea, but they actually implemented it."

Wang Cheng held today's entertainment newspaper in his hand, and the headline of the newspaper spoke on this topic.

A few days ago, after Ma Daxing passed the information that Wang Cheng had given him to the person who instigated him, the man did not act on it immediately. It was not until the news about the newcomer and the big star spread that Wang Cheng learned that the plan he had given to him had been given to Jinlan Culture. However, how could he have thought that the plan was completely indistinguishable from their real plan?

“Killing two birds with one stone, that was a good strategy." Chu Yifeng leaned on the sofa and held an apple that Wang Cheng had just washed for him in his hand.

Wang Cheng threw the newspaper on the coffee table, and laughed: "I only planned to catch a small fish, but I didn't expect to catch a big fish. Since the other party took the initiative to send their identity to my hand, I will be too sorry if I don’t use it well."

Although the headquarters of Jinlan Culture and Yazhi were in the same building, the relationship between the two was not good. They grabbed scripts and endorsements, there was competition between artists, etc. In the beginning, the strength of the two could be considered evenly matched. However, after Zhao Chenlin took over, Yazhi gradually grew inferior to Jinlan Culture, and Jinlan Culture even often dug in Yazhi’s corner. After Wang Cheng took over Yazhi, this situation had not changed.

Jinlan Culture didn’t want to revitalize Yazhi, so they began to dig Yazhi’s artists. They dug both those who were a bit famous and those who weren’t, but there was one person who they didn’t want to dig. That person was the eager-to-leave-Yazhi Cen Xi, who took the initiative to send himself to their door. However, the other party didn’t want Cen Xi. Wang Cheng felt very sorry about that.

"When are you going to act?" Chu Yifeng took a bite, then handed the apple to his mouth.

Wang Cheng stared at the bite mark for two seconds. He then opened his mouth and took a bite; the apple was very fresh and juicy. After chewing, his mouth was full of its sweet taste. "I don't plan to let them strut so proudly for so long. I cannot let this Jinlan Culture go."

Gossip should be thrown out while the incident was still warm, otherwise, if the topic wasn’t as hot and fans were no longer complaining about the incident, the news would not become as big as expected.

However, before that, someone finally came back.

After seven days of training, He Zihuan and his assistants finally returned from abroad. Upon returning to the company, the employees keenly noticed that his temperament had changed significantly from last time.

He Zihuan’s back had always been strong, as if no matter how hard his life was, he would not be crushed. However, at that time, everyone only thought he was a very lively young man, unlike the way they thought of him now. In his few days of absence, his body had become very straight, with his posture like a sharp sword about to be unsheathed, and his body seemed to be full of sharp edges that could not be seen directly. The change in his temperament was shocking. Everyone was curious about what kind of training he had undergone in his past few days abroad, for his change to be so obvious.

Because of his reduced workload, Cen Xi had little desire to return to Yazhi's headquarters. However, it was impossible to avoid going from time to time. Today, he had finally come back and came face to face with He Zihuan.

The youth who used to look gloomy because of his suppression had long since disappeared. He clearly had no fame now, but the brilliance that erupted from his body was like the light from a superstar. When comparing them, the huge gap caused his face to look very ugly. Before anything happened, he could hear the voice of two employees discussing nearby.

"He Zihuan seems to be a little different."

"I feel the same way. I didn't feel that way before, but now, I feel he walks very pleasingly. It’s like he is a model walking on a catwalk."

"I get the same feeling after hearing you say that. Should he be changing his job to become a model?"

"There is nothing wrong with modeling. If He Zihuan really wants to change his career, I think he will become popular. In fact, he is also very hardworking. He is much better compared to some people who are always opportunistic with no real material behind their popularity. He is destined to become popular soon."

Cen Xi felt like they were talking about himself when he heard them, and immediately glared at them. The two female employees finally discovered his presence, perhaps because his murderous aura was so obvious. However, they were not afraid after seeing him, as they did not name him. Nothing could happen unless he voluntarily admitted that it was him.

The return of He Zihuan meant that Wang Cheng and Pan Zhihai’s plans could begin. During this period, Pan Zhihai reported to Wang Cheng on He Zihuan’s learning progress from time to time. Sure enough, he did not disappoint Wang Cheng. The teacher who taught He Zihuan repeatedly said that he was too hardworking.

He only rested for four hours a day and got up to train before dawn to re-practice and consolidate the content he had learned the day before. In the evening, he would rehearse what he had learned on the same day. The students who had been at the same pace as him had been left behind within four days.

On the day that He Zihuan returned, Wang Cheng took him to see Master Paul.

In the afternoon, gossip swept throughout the entire internet.

This was because an internal source of Jinlan Culture inexplicably circulated a document out, and it was uploaded to the Internet in its original form, where water armies went crazy over it.

The person who uploaded the material wrote a shocking title, such as ‘The plan between Jinlan Culture and a big star to use innocent fans to hype a newcomer!’

Since the incident had not completely cooled down, the blogger tagged the big star and asked how the other party could bear to use their kind fans.

When the fans found that they were being used by their idol just to hype a star of the idol’s company, they one by one became bombs that ignited in an instant. Many diehard fans turned around and became black fans. The number of Weibo fans of the big star had also dropped a lot in just a few days.

In order to save these fans, the big star quickly jumped out to explain that he had been taking the route that brought a lot of attention because he was forced to do so - rivers and lakes are beyond people’s control* - and he could not resist the firm attitudes of those above. In fact, this wasn’t originally his idea.

[T/N: * = it’s beyond their control so they are forced to adapt.]

That statement was a bit false, but some people were shaken, thinking that they might have misunderstood their idol. If their idol did not listen to their company, then they would be hidden in the snow, so they might have really had to do it as a last resort. Despite this, the reputation of the big star had fallen.

The reputation of the newcomer that Jinlan Culture was ready to cultivate also stunk. Many netizens had threatened that they would never watch his TV series. Advertisers who originally wanted him to endorse them had withdrawn their invitations. Jinlan Culture had to temporarily withdraw the newcomer from the sight of the masses.

Jinlan Culture thought that this was Yazhi’s plan.

They deliberately found someone to sell the plan to them, making them think that they had obtained Yazhi’s important information, when in fact, they had been waiting for this moment. They were angry, but had no choice but to secretly keep this loss in their hearts and look for opportunities to fight back.

The editor-in-chief of Fashion Pioneers was a foreigner named Mark. When Shao Zheng took Wang Cheng to see Mark, the other party seemed a little unhappy, but he hid it well.

It was no wonder that he might be unhappy, because in a well-known international magazine like Fashion Pioneers, a lot of work was arranged in advance, and a change of person was not so simple. So, He Zihuan, who was inserted halfway, forced them to work overtime to reformulate the plan.

"Mark, let me introduce you. This is Zhou Cheng, the chairman of Yazhi Media, and next to him is his company’s artist He Zihuan. The theme of Fashion Pioneers this time should be about him. You can talk about it." Shao Zheng introduced them.

Wang Cheng stretched out his hand: "Editor-in-Chief Mark, it's nice to meet you."

"Hello." Mark shook his hand, Yazhi Media? He didn’t have a deep impression of such a name. However, a person who could be brought by Shao Zheng himself should not be an unknown junior, so even if he was a little unhappy that the other party had brought them trouble, he didn’t dare to be rude.

He Zihuan was a little nervous. Since knowing that their destination was Fashion Pioneers, he had been very worried. Although Zhou Shao didn't tell him their specific purpose, he had a hunch in his heart that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Getting on the cover of a magazine was not that simple. Fashion Pioneers focused on fashion, so the content must fit the theme. However, since He Zihuan jumped in, they needed to first solve the problem of clothing, then go to various places to shoot. There were many things to do.

Wang Cheng brought He Zihuan over to discuss these details on his future work, and the efficiency of the other party was also very high. It took less than two hours to get it done.

After leaving the building, Wang Cheng asked He Zihuan to go first. He took out his mobile phone and prepared to call Chu Yifeng and ask him where he was. Before he dialed the number, a call came in first; the caller was Zhang Wu.

[T/N: Refresher - Zhang Wu is the one that Wang Cheng placed in charge of Dongwang Group, and his father is the manager of Jinding Hotel.]

Wang Cheng was still confused when he hung up the call. In the end, he did not call Chu Yifeng. Instead, he drove to the headquarters of Shenghui Group. He stared at the building for over half an hour before leaving. Wang Cheng was afraid that he would not be able to hold back his emotions if he saw that person, so he didn't stop until he calmed down. When his emotions were back to normal, he didn't mention this scene to anyone afterwards.

***

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