Chapter 544: The Big Environment Is Dragging Him Down!

While Li Xin was busy buying champagne for Seeing Meng Meng, he also couldn't resist mocking Bai Liang.

She didn't actually need to buy any—Bai Liang was an endorser for one of those so-called top ten champagne brands, and they just gave it to him by the crate.

At Bai Liang's project celebration banquets, the champagne was always sponsored by that same brand, and they gave as much as he wanted.

But now his endorsement expires.

It's not that they won't renew—it's just that the price hasn't been settled.

When he signed the endorsement contract, Bai Liang was still publicly feuding with Wu Moufan~

It was during that time he threw a Bvlgari jewel into a champagne glass, creating that viral masterpiece that attracted a slew of internationally renowned champagne brands.

In the end, he signed a three-year endorsement deal with one of them.

Most brands that partnered with Bai Liang signed short-term deals; this champagne brand's three-year contract was only possible because of the influence of that viral image.

The windfall from that one image had the champagne and Bvlgari jewels gorging themselves.

But to be fair, many brands were quite "clever," having built big-data models to estimate the "career lifespan" of top idols.

After all, most top idols only blaze brightly for one to three years before starting to decline.

They don't vanish entirely, but top idols in the entertainment industry are like chives—new ones sprout in waves.

Put more bluntly, even Hearing Hearing Lu Han, once a dominant top idol, didn't have an especially long peak period.

If he failed to transition successfully, decline was inevitable.

Though everyone says it was because he publicly announced his relationship during his peak that he lost fans, even without that announcement, his later works would've still declined.

Now, it almost feels like Schrödinger's cat.

His fans are screaming: "If our Xiao Lu hadn't announced his relationship, there wouldn't be so many top idols now!"

To be honest, publicly announcing a relationship really is a pretty good excuse.

But Hearing Hearing Lu Han's haters have something to say: What about Bai Liang?

Fans: Except Bai Liang.

Long-lasting top idols are always rare—even Bai Liang hasn't fully escaped this pattern.

He's only been in the industry five years total, and he's been a top idol for less than four; right now, there's no real risk of "falling," and many believe he can sustain his popularity for years—there are plenty of works backing him up.

While those brands that seized his top-idol windfall early on have been gorging themselves for three years, now they're also suffering!

Done~

What do you do when the contract expires? Of course you renew! But the price is really hard to negotiate.

Sister Yanzi is infamous in the industry for demanding outrageous sums, and she can do so only because of Bai Liang's absurd commercial value.

She claims her demands are "not high"—she's just quoting a number befitting her little Bai's fame and worth.

It's only "a little higher" than other so-called top idols, and she doesn't understand why these brands are hesitating.

Red Bull was the most generous with money.

Almost the moment Sister Yanzi quoted her price, they immediately agreed.

But the disagreement wasn't over price—it was over contract terms, and they were arguing fiercely.

These lunatics always want to drag my little Bai into ridiculous stunts—would Sister Yanzi ever agree?

We haven't even settled accounts with these bastards over Zhufeng yet!

Again?!

Sister Yanzi hates that movie called "The Thieves" to death—damn Zhai's Eight Rules! It's been disastrous!

Now when my little Bai shoots a film, insurance company reps practically follow him around the whole time.

Premiums have skyrocketed.

Compared to people in entertainment, insurance professionals are the ones who most believe Bai Liang will "fall"—but their idea of "falling" isn't losing popularity; it's suddenly dying.

When Bai Liang filmed a kiss scene with Zhao Jinmai, there were insurance reps among the cleared-onlookers—people who didn't know thought kissing could be life-threatening.

Getting his essence sucked dry by Sister Mai?

Even though Bai Liang hasn't done any dangerous stunts in a while—mainly because he's been immersed in all kinds of tender embraces—

The insurance company insists they won't be fooled by this "act" of his!

When a kid is quiet, he's definitely up to something!

They're sure he's planning something big.

People selling this kind of insurance know exactly what kind of people do extreme sports—expecting such people to suddenly change their ways is about as likely as them being crippled or dead.

Even being crippled isn't safe—losing a leg or an arm doesn't stop them from causing trouble; only quadriplegics or vegetative patients truly calm down.

So now, even when Bai Liang buys normal insurance—for filming, say—the insurance company still assigns someone to watch him, to prevent him from doing anything outside the policy's coverage.

Although it's unlikely such a huge star would commit insurance fraud, it's not impossible!

If something goes wrong, the insurance company will be forced to pay until they vomit blood.

Bai Liang: You guys want free money? What idiots.

If he does something more thrilling now, someone else pays the premium—he doesn't have to pay himself.

Fortunately, Red Bull's troubles are fairly unique.

Other brands' collaborations are normal—mostly just haggling over price and number of events.

Over ninety percent of brands ultimately chose to renew.

Those unwilling to pay the premium immediately had competitors rush in to replace them.

There hasn't been any of that entertainment-industry-favorite drama of poaching endorsements.

Such things are common in entertainment, especially among female stars—their competition is fierce, and fashion and endorsements are especially brutal.

It's basically a constant headache, with new stories every year.

Previously, Reba and Naza's teams both fought over this, and their fans clashed violently.

But this kind of thing really wasn't likely to happen to Bai Liang.

The brands that could come into contact with him—other artists could at most touch the next-tier endorsements, and to show their sincerity, the brand side absolutely wouldn't pull any "backup" stunt.

Even someone as popular as Reba and Nazha—they're each other's competing products, but Bai Liang has no competing product. Or rather, his lead is a chasm-style gap; there's simply no one comparable to replace him.

This kind of thing is just like dating—if you switch partners and the new one has conditions about the same as the previous one, your heart actually feels more balanced; if the new one is even better than before, naturally you're thrilled beyond words.

But if you find someone far worse—some people end up regretting it.

That's just how people are—as long as they have a choice, who would be willing to settle if they could grit their teeth and push through~

So the endorsements on Bai Liang that had expired, after going through a period of negotiation, basically hadn't decreased in number.

It's just that when this year's Forbes ranking and the like come out, his "income" section is estimated to surge by a big margin.

"Eh~ The champagne endorsement didn't change?"

"Yeah, that brand is pretty sincere—they proactively raised the price, and then I floated it up another twenty percent on top of their quote, but basically that's pretty much the ceiling; this time I signed for five years in one go." Sister Yanzi replied quickly.

"Why is it basically at the ceiling?" Bai Liang asked curiously.

Sister Yanzi: ". Dou Xiao Bai-ge, it's basically you who's hit the ceiling in the entertainment circle~ No matter what achievements you rack up afterward, the current quotes and such are already the upper limit, unless the overall influence of the domestic entertainment scene moves up another whole tier."