Chapter 162: Artists and Agents

Li Zhibai's phone call caught Chen Biqiu and Li Zhen completely off guard.

He actually had a rift with Ma Zhiyuan? And such a severe one that he refused to appear on the same program?

Then deciding whether to consider Ma Zhiyuan wasn't just about weighing Lu Yan He; they now had to factor in Li Zhibai as well.

In terms of pure popularity and buzz, Ma Zhiyuan, who was currently at the peak of his fame, naturally ranked higher over the past half-year, but Li Zhibai was no pushover either; having debuted over a year earlier than Ma Zhiyuan, he held his ground just as firmly.

For Chen Biqiu, choosing between Lu Yan He and Ma Zhiyuan was easy, but weighing Li Zhibai against Ma Zhiyuan was far less straightforward.

Adding Li Zhibai and Lu Yan He into the equation against Ma Zhiyuan made the choice even harder.

Chen Biqiu and Li Zhen fell silent, staring blankly at each other, with no one speaking for a long while.

This situation was something neither of them had anticipated.

Although Chen Biqiu and Li Zhen felt somewhat headache-inducing trouble, they did not blame Li Zhibai for causing them problems.

For one thing, both were veterans in producing programs; any production team finds artist coordination the most headache-inducing task, as relationships in the entertainment industry are intricately complex—one person clashes with another, another holds grievances against someone else, and trivial matters abound.

For another, they knew they had no standing to blame Li Zhibai for this.

Zhou Ping'an suppressed his fury, refraining from outright cursing Li Zhibai, but his meaning was nearly there; his earnest persuasion twisted his expression into something somewhat ferocious.

"Lu Yan He?"

Lu Yan He coughed twice and said, "I'm thirsty; I'll go get a glass of water."

But it was fine if netizens just gossiped and mocked.

"Wait, what did you say?" Li Zhibai suddenly interrupted him.

Ma Zhiyuan glanced at Lin Suyang with slight surprise and said, "Your news travels quite fast; who rushed to tattle on me so quickly?"

Pressed by Lin Suyang, Ma Zhiyuan fell silent for a moment, then thought of something, looked at Lin Suyang, and asked, "Do you know why I'm interested in this program?"

Li Zhibai stared at Yan Liang with a speechless expression.

Once Lu Yan He realized he had been kicked out and eliminated, he would surely explode with rage, wouldn't he?

Thinking of this, a surge of satisfaction swept through Ma Zhiyuan's heart.

"We're friends, of course we're friends," Yan Liang immediately said, "but let's be practical, Brother Bai; our popularity compared to that bastard's is indeed still lacking by a tiny bit; you need to push harder to catch up; you're just too lazy, which allowed that bastard to seize the initiative first."

"Are you stupid? If Ma Zhiyuan participates in this program with you, the show is guaranteed to be a hit; at such a time, who cares what kind of person Ma Zhiyuan is? Even if you were deadly enemies, you should pretend to be friends to record the program!" Zhou Ping'an said, "Do you think Ma Zhiyuan actually wants to record the program with you?"

"How did you come here?" Ma Zhiyuan asked, looking at Lin Suyang in surprise.

Those truly deserving condemnation are the ones who, after the money has been paid and contracts signed, suddenly go back on their word, make impossible demands, and refuse to appear unless those demands are met.

Seeing Li Zhibai's shamelessly obstinate demeanor, Zhou Ping'an wished he could slap him senseless.

Although Li Zhibai was a friend and Ma Zhiyuan an enemy, one must still face oneself honestly.

Although Chen Biqiu and Li Zhen hadn't agreed on the spot, he didn't believe anyone would choose Lu Yan He over him.

Seeing their reaction, Li Zhibai immediately made two "wei wei" sounds, "Damn it, are we even friends or not?"

Yan Liang chuckled, "Old Lu, you agree, right?"

Similar incidents like this were not the first time.

The smile on Qu Yousong's face turned cold.

Li Zhibai glanced at them and said, "Tell me, between me and Ma Zhiyuan, who will they choose?"

"Ma Zhiyuan, do you even know I'm your Agent? Do you think this matter is as simple as someone tattling?" Lin Suyang's veins bulged on his forehead; he clenched his teeth, suppressing his anger, "You bypassed me to privately contact the program producer and even voluntarily agreed to participate in their program; where does that leave me?"

He nodded, "It seems graduates from Zhenhua and Yuming really are different; the confidence in their speech is something ordinary people can't compare to."

Lin Suyang looked at Ma Zhiyuan, took a deep breath, and asked, "You met Chen Biqiu yesterday? You contacted him regarding a new program he's producing?"

"Learned it from you guys," Lu Yan He smiled as well, "If you aren't arrogant, others will be arrogant toward you."

He had always been very laid-back and never took work matters too seriously.

Many people would think so.

Ma Zhiyuan sneered and said, "I'd like to see if you can actually get in; talking so big, do you really think of yourself as a top scholar?"

However, before Ma Zhiyuan could revel in his triumph for too long, Lin Suyang came knocking at his door.

Then there could be no yielding; otherwise, it would look like they were afraid of them.

Yan Liang: "..."

At the elevator entrance, the several members of MX made an unprecedented appearance at this hour.

Just a simple chat?

Lin Suyang looked at Ma Zhiyuan and asked, "Then if I don't agree to let you record this program, according to your logic, it doesn't matter? It's just a simple chat, isn't it?"

Seeing Li Zhibai like this, Zhou Ping'an didn't know what else to say.

On the other side, Ma Zhiyuan felt somewhat triumphant and self-satisfied.

They stated the harsh truths upfront, didn't stab anyone in the back, and didn't force someone onto Liang Mountain before asking if they would jump off a cliff.

Ma Zhiyuan righteously absolved himself of all blame, but Lin Suyang knew him all too well.

Qu Yousong: "Mute? Not saying a word."

A clear, deliberate sneer appeared on Lin Suyang's face.

Li Zhibai's eyes flashed with disdain as he asked contemptuously, "If he doesn't want to, what the hell does his promise matter? Clearly they approached me first; if he doesn't want to record the program with me, he should just refuse."

Just as righteously confident as Li Zhibai had been when confronting others earlier, he was now rendered utterly speechless by the confrontation against him.

Ma Zhiyuan's gaze swept over.

Zhou Ping'an stared wide-eyed: "Is that the main point?"

Zhou Ping'an was somewhat annoyed, "What you need to consider is yourself."

If filming dramas still depends on acting skills and suitability for the role, recording variety programs basically depends solely on whether the artist is currently popular or not.

Lu Yan He had originally intended to wait until they went up before approaching to avoid a face-to-face encounter, but Qu Yousong had already spotted him, turned around, and said something to Ma Zhiyuan.

Ma Zhiyuan said, "For this program, they approached Lu Yan He; I told them that as long as they kick Lu Yan He out, I will join."

Not stupid either.

"Really not going?" Yan Liang asked.

He sighed and said, "Brother Ping'an, I guarantee you, there are only a few people like Ma Zhiyuan whom I detest and am unwilling to work with; do you really want to see me fighting with him on the show?"

He looked at Zhou Ping'an with sincere eyes, hoping Zhou Ping'an could sense his genuine emotions.

"Exactly." Ma Zhiyuan's mouth curled up in mockery, "Unlike someone who can't protect their own artist; just a few words spoken, offending a Lu Yan He, and now your artist is suspended from work—what kind of Agent is that?"

Li Zhibai: "Otherwise what?"

"Precisely." Ma Zhiyuan looked at him coldly, "Without us MX, what are you? When you encounter an artist like us who shoots to fame overnight, shouldn't you cherish that? The way you treated Wei Zhuoran is chilling."

Either they can't agree, and this collaboration falls through.

Li Zhibai also knew his own faults; Zhou Ping'an's words were not wrong at all—young master temper, picky and choosy, nitpicking every job, finding fault with this and that.

Either you meet the conditions, or you don't.

Wei Zhuoran was absent, suspended from work; Ma Zhiyuan was the one who told him about this.

Lin Suyang's face instantly turned very ugly.

As soon as Lu Yan He approached, Ma Zhiyuan and the others looked at him very unfriendly.

For instance, at some galas wanting to invite two stars to attend, both sides adopt an attitude of 'if you're here, I'm not,' seemingly making things difficult for the organizers.

Then, in this matter, is the organizer the victim?

When MX was first established, the company assigned Lin Suyang as MX's Agent. Lin Suyang had no experience either, and due to Feng Zhi's reasons, the company initially did not place much hope in MX. As a result, MX shot to fame under these circumstances. From start to finish, it was Lin Suyang leading MX, becoming the key figure in MX's rise to fame.

Among the few people, only Chen Jing looked at Lu Yan He somewhat uneasily, seemingly wanting to express some goodwill but not daring to.

The atmosphere was permeating with a strange feeling when Qu Yousong suddenly looked at Lu Yan He and asked, "Aren't your college entrance exam results about to be released?"

You can't just organize a gala and insist on forcing two people who refuse to meet each other to show up together just to boost your event's profile, can you?

If they don't come, do you blame them for making unreasonable demands?

Since you want to invite them and they have raised conditions, what follows is very simple.

Lin Suyang's questioning made Ma Zhiyuan frown.

Lu Yan He glanced at him thoughtfully but said nothing.

He swiftly got up and left this place of trouble.

Lu Yan He thought that if Li Zhibai were here, he would definitely lose his temper and retort directly with "What are you looking at? Looking at your dad?", but he was not Li Zhibai, so he could only YY (fantasize) about it internally.

Li Zhibai stating the ugly truths upfront is far better than exploding only after the contract is signed and the show is about to start recording.

Hanging up the phone, Li Zhibai said to Lu Yan He and Yan Liang, "Alright, I've said what needed to be said to them; if they really insist on inviting Ma Zhiyuan, then I won't go."

"If I only consider myself, I wouldn't want to record this show at all," Li Zhibai said carelessly, "Who enjoys living together with a bunch of strangers?"

Zhou Ping'an: "This is work; even if you don't enjoy it, you must pretend to. If you really pick jobs entirely based on your mood, then you don't need to work at all. With your young master temper, what job would you even deem worthy?"

"Are you saying Ma Zhiyuan intends to drive Lu Yan He away?" Li Zhibai, impatient to finish listening to Zhou Ping'an's words, interrupted and asked again.

Yan Liang thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Then we won't go."

As similar incidents are exposed more and more frequently, a trend has emerged online: whenever an artist makes more demands, they are accused of throwing their weight around, taking a high salary without doing their job properly.

"Why?" Lin Suyang actually wanted to see what explanation Ma Zhiyuan had.

Ma Zhiyuan was indeed slightly more famous than Li Zhibai.

He took on some jobs externally, brought them back, and dumped them on him; sometimes these conflicted with the arrangements he had made, requiring him to change the schedule.

Li Zhibai: "Not going. If I really end up fighting with him on the show, wouldn't Zhou Ping'an fly into a rage?"

They did not know that for this show of Li Zhen, she was genuinely selecting guests based on whether they were compatible with each other.

He was not exaggerating in the slightest.

Lu Yan He curled the corner of his mouth, "What kind of person are you, that I should speak to you?"

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang simultaneously hemmed and hawed, saying nothing.

Instead, it was Zhou Ping'an who received the news on Wednesday, learning that Li Zhibai had thrown a tantrum, causing him to roll his eyes in anger.

"Are you mocking me?"

But one could only think about it.

Either agree to the demands and collaborate.

Yan Liang: "Sly."

Who Chen Biqiu and Li Zhen would choose was not a question that troubled Li Zhibai too much.

"Have you not thought about why he didn't refuse?" Zhou Ping'an glared at Lu Yan He as if frustrated by iron that won't turn into steel, "He says he wants to drive Lu Yan He away and teach Lu Yan He a lesson, but what scheme he is actually plotting, who doesn't know?"

Those truly working in this industry cannot genuinely seize the opportunity to stand on a moral high ground and condemn these artists.

Hearing this, Zhou Ping'an thought Li Zhibai had finally realized the truth and said complacently, "Finally realized it? That kid Ma Zhiyuan is cunning; knowing you are also here, he wants to—"

This kid shot to fame at a young age, is arrogant and dismissive of everything, and long ago stopped taking him seriously.

But this also depends on the situation.

Lin Suyang took a deep breath and clenched his fists tightly.

On Wednesday, Lu Yan He walked into the company building early in the morning, preparing to go to the rehearsal room.

Ma Zhiyuan was the leader of MX; during that initial period, he communicated frequently with Lin Suyang, often sitting together to discuss what MX should do and what aspects to focus on for promotion. Later, Ma Zhiyuan's own work increased, and the work Lin Suyang had to handle also grew; everyone was rushing to appointments every day, overwhelmingly busy, so the time for communication decreased.

Qu Yousong laughed loudly and said, "Truly becoming arrogant; I never saw you dare to speak like this before."

"What do you mean by me 'sparing you' to privately contact the show producers? I met them at the company, learned they had a show, and merely mentioned that I'd be willing to participate if the conditions suited me; first, I didn't sign a contract directly with them, second, I didn't discuss remuneration. How can a simple contact make you so wary? Aren't you being too petty?" Ma Zhiyuan spoke very rudely to Lin Suyang, "I know we are famous now, and you are always worried about being unable to control us, insisting on keeping us all under your thumb, but have you not thought that we are beyond your control? Can I not even chat with a few show producers?"

This isn't charity or public welfare; whether they are willing to come or you are willing to invite them is a matter of mutual consent.

If you dislike such people, then just don't invite them.

Lin Suyang never expected this answer.

After those chaotic days following their rise to fame passed and things slowly entered a normal track, the two had become much distant; even, due to differences in positioning and understanding of MX, they had several conflicts of opinion.

Qu Yousong said with a beaming smile, "Old Ma, you can't say that; they're a genuine top scholar, livestreaming their studies every single day, the first of their kind in the entertainment circle!"

"What a damn pretender!" Ma Zhiyuan said disdainfully.

There's more coming later; updating one chapter first.