Chapter 169

As soon as the three of them left the elevator, they were quiet for a while, looking at each other.

After confirming the elevator had gone up, Li Zhibai immediately exclaimed, "Damn, that narrow-minded Zhou Ping'an must be worried that we've hooked up with Sister Ziyan in private."

Yan Liang was very disgusted by the word "hooked up" that Li Zhibai used, but he agreed with what Li Zhibai meant.

"He's probably keeping it in mind."

Everyone had known Zhou Ping'an for several years and understood his character about seventy or eighty percent; they could all guess what he was thinking.

Li Zhibai suddenly chuckled: "With something like Ma Zhiyuan's incident happening, will he seriously reflect on himself and treat us better in the future? Otherwise, if he pushes us too far, we might have to take action too."

"Forget it. What's there to learn from Ma Zhiyuan's 'kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred of your own' approach?" Lu Yan He was genuinely worried that Li Zhibai would be inspired by Ma Zhiyuan and impulsively take action against Zhou Ping'an, which would have somewhat serious consequences.

Yan Liang nodded as well.

As the three of them were talking, Qu Yousong walked toward them.

In the narrow corridor, they met face-to-face.

"Yo!" Li Zhibai, that guy, became instantly exuberant the moment he saw him. "Don't you usually walk in pairs with Ma Zhiyuan and Wei Zhuoran? How come you're alone today? Oh, right, Wei Zhuoran has stopped working, and Ma Zhiyuan got into a fight, so only you are left."

He spoke with sarcastic inflections, laughing mockingly.

"Good brothers should share the suffering. When Ma Zhiyuan and Lin Suyang were fighting, why didn't you go up and stop them?"

Qu Yousong's face darkened. "None of your business."

"Of course it's my business," Li Zhibai said righteously. "I've been waiting to see you guys make a fool of yourselves, and didn't I just get to see it? Hahahahaha."

Lu Yan He looked at Li Zhibai helplessly.

Only Li Zhibai would dare to say anything and show any kind of expression.

"Why are you talking to him? Let's go." Yan Liang didn't want to watch Li Zhibai provoke Qu Yousong. Qu Yousong was a person with many thoughts, and he was dirty; he was even more cautious than Ma Zhiyuan and Wei Zhuoran. If they provoked him too much, who knew what kind of evil he would be plotting in his heart later.

Only then did Li Zhibai shut up.

Qu Yousong's face was as dark as ink, and he clenched his fists.

MX was a popular boy band, at the height of their fame, but now they were facing internal and external troubles.

In a short period, conflicts had arisen between the agent and the artist, and between the artists themselves.

Now, it was still unknown how the matter between Lin Suyang and Ma Zhiyuan would be resolved.

"Sit."

As soon as Zhou Ping'an entered, Deputy General Ma Zong told him to sit down.

Zhou Ping'an had a smile on his face and asked, "Mr. Ma, is there something you need?"

Deputy General Ma Zong sighed. "I wanted to talk to you. You must have heard about the matter between Ma Zhiyuan and Lin Suyang, right?"

"It's spread throughout the company; how could I not have heard? The colleagues in the PR department must be having a headache right now. It's quite difficult to block the news on this," Zhou Ping'an said.

"I asked you here because I wanted to ask how you think this should be handled properly," Deputy General Ma Zong said. "Although that kid Ma Zhiyuan went too far and needs to be taught a lesson, we can't really let him get caught up in a scandal of hitting someone. He still has so many endorsements and many more business deals ahead. Once he's caught in a scandal, the follow-up handling will be troublesome."

Zhou Ping'an: "The key to this matter depends on the company's attitude toward Lin Suyang, Mr. Ma."

"Hm?"

"Lin Suyang is the agent. Logically speaking, no matter who is right or wrong, the best way is for Lin Suyang to explain to the public immediately that it was a misunderstanding, or just find some excuse to turn the nature of this incident around. But I heard that after the incident, although he didn't hit Ma Zhiyuan back, he scolded him very harshly. Many people outside the rehearsal room heard it, and I don't know if anyone recorded it," Zhou Ping'an clicked his tongue twice. "Of course, this can't be blamed on little Lin. He's young and it's his first time being an agent, and he happened to encounter a boy band that became popular as quickly as MX. It's normal to lack experience."

"He is indeed inexperienced and impulsive," Deputy General Ma Zong said. "He's in a fit of anger right now and can't think rationally. We can't let this matter develop like this. Tell me, what should we do?"

Zhou Ping'an smiled and said, "What we need to do is simple. Finding a cover for the fight isn't hard. The hard part is whether these two parties will come out and slap us in the face after we do it. If we finally manage to whitewash the situation and they come out and expose it, the company will lose face too."

Deputy General Ma Zong understood what Zhou Ping'an meant.

"I'll go talk to Lin Suyang, and you go communicate with Ma Zhiyuan," Deputy General Ma Zong said. "We can't let them just throw tantrums like this. They're adults! What kind of childish temper are they throwing? After this matter passes, we must teach them a good lesson!"

Downstairs.

Lu Yan He and the other two didn't have anything to do at the company; they were just here to watch the show, but the show was already over.

"So what are we going to do now?" Li Zhibai asked.

Yan Liang said, "There's no show to watch anymore, let's go back."

Li Zhibai: "We're already out, why go back so soon? How about we go watch a movie?"

"That works too," Yan Liang nodded.

Lu Yan He went along with it.

Just as he was thinking this, Zhou Ping'an suddenly walked over from the front.

"You guys are still here. Perfect, I have something to ask of you. Come here," Zhou Ping'an said to Li Zhibai and Yan Liang.

When Li Zhibai heard this, he frowned and said, "We were planning to go watch a movie. What is it? It won't take long, will it?"

Zhou Ping'an glanced at them sideways and said, "I'm not going to give you work during your time off. It's something else, it'll be quick."

Li Zhibai looked at Lu Yan He: "Then we'll go over for a bit, wait for us."

"Sure," Lu Yan He nodded.

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang followed Zhou Ping'an.

Lu Yan He was bored alone, so he went to the public area, found a chair to sit down, took out his phone, and prepared to scroll through Weibo.

His Weibo had been very lively these past two days, and his followers were growing fast. The account that only had a few tens of thousands of followers now had 230,000 followers in just these two days, all because of the fans who gathered after seeing Lu Yan He's college entrance exam scores.

Both the comment section and private messages were full of expressions of admiration and worship.

Many people were also asking if he was planning to attend Zhenhua or Yuming.

Lu Yan He had thought about it seriously for a long time these past two days. In fact, for him, either Zhenhua or Yuming would be fine.

Both of these universities were top-tier universities in the country.

Lu Yan He was thinking about one thing: would he follow an academic path in the future?

After thinking for a long time, he felt he probably wouldn't.

Liberal arts are different from science and engineering. Last time he was choosing a university and major, he had researched it. Science and engineering have more quantitative standards for market and academic demand, while liberal arts are relatively vague. If you follow an academic path in liberal arts, in most cases, you get a PhD at twenty-eight or twenty-nine, then either do a postdoctoral fellowship or go straight to finding a teaching position, basically starting as a lecturer with low pay, and it's hard to stand out. Compared to science and engineering, the industry influence of liberal arts is quite tied to your credentials.

If you don't follow an academic path, the employment direction for liberal arts is broader than science and engineering, but also more limited. The job market changes every year, but the positioning of liberal arts is just there. Except for a few disciplines with very clear correspondence like law and finance, most humanities graduates don't have a directly corresponding industry like science and engineering graduates do.

Choosing a major in university is a major event in one's life.

Many people's employment direction after graduation is different from their major, but that doesn't mean that professional knowledge has no influence or effect on their lives.

Not many people would dare to say that.

Lu Yan He was thinking about what university meant to him.

He would definitely be an artist in the future, no matter what major he studied, he couldn't avoid this line, so it didn't make much sense for him to study a major with very high correspondence and professionalism.

Then the meaning of university seems to be considered from the following points:

1. Leaving a backup plan for his future. If he can't make it as an artist, he can still have a specialized skill.

This point can only be disregarded. In liberal arts majors, it's hard to accumulate such specialized skills. Even in law, if you're a lawyer, if you haven't been in the industry for four or five years, you won't have any accumulation, and no one will come to you.

2. Being very helpful to his acting career.

This point needs to be considered seriously. Just like how Chen Ziyan hired acting teachers for him, not only did she hire teachers with strong practical skills like He Shuyi, but she also hired theoretical experts like Zhang Ming, just to improve his understanding and establish a higher level of acting awareness.

3. His own interests.

Having studied hard for so many years and prepared for the college entrance exam twice, he was finally able to attend a good university this time. What did he want to learn, what did he want to understand, and what kind of knowledge did he want to acquire?

Lu Yan He thought for a long time and had a few backup answers.

Art, literature, or history.

These are all majors that look a bit disconnected from society and a bit superficial.

But they are majors that can help him settle and accumulate.

As for his own interests... Lu Yan He thought for a long time and felt that whatever he wanted to understand or know had nothing to do with liberal arts. His understanding of liberal arts was entirely based on preparing for exams. To say he liked or loved them... Lu Yan He felt he still liked mathematics a bit more; it was more interesting.

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang followed Zhou Ping'an into his office.

Zhou Ping'an sat down in his chair and looked at them for several seconds without speaking, which made the two of them feel inexplicably pressured.

Li Zhibai coughed lightly and said, "Brother Ping'an, what did you want to see us for?"

"Is Lu Yan He still living with you guys?" Zhou Ping'an asked.

"Yeah, we've been together for a few years now. You're not going to make him move out at this time, are you?" Li Zhibai asked.

"Why would I make him move out at this time? Even if he doesn't move out now, he'll be going to school in two months anyway," Zhou Ping'an looked at them helplessly. "I wanted him to leave the company before because there were special reasons. Now that he's no longer under my management, I don't have any prejudice against him. You don't have to look at me like I'm some fierce and evil enemy."

Li Zhibai immediately asked: "Then what were those special reasons?"

"That has nothing to do with you. In short, you just need to know that he's not under my management now and has nothing to do with me. I don't really have any prejudice against him, so you don't need to worry about me setting him up," Zhou Ping'an sighed. "Come to think of it, you guys should also be more careful. You're no longer artists managed by the same agent, and you're about the same age, so you'll be competitors in the future. I know you have a good relationship now, have good feelings, and treat each other as brothers, but in this vanity fair, there are plenty of brothers who turn into enemies."

Li Zhibai rolled his eyes directly at Zhou Ping'an.

"Brother Ping'an, why are you still thinking about sowing discord? We've known Old Lu since we were fifteen. Even if we turn into enemies one day, that's a matter for the future. Right now, we're getting along like honey and oil. If you say things like this, not only will it not drive a wedge between us, but it will make us unite against an outsider, and that outsider is you."

Zhou Ping'an: "..."

Among the artists he managed, Li Zhibai was the only one who dared to talk to him like this.

And he had always been like this, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I'm not trying to drive a wedge between you; I'm reminding you to be careful. It's not necessarily that Lu Yan He wants to harm you, but once there's competition, is Chen Ziyan behind him a pushover?" Zhou Ping'an said. "This time, even Ma Zhiyuan didn't get any advantage when he went up against Lu Yan He. Think about it, is that normal?"

Li Zhibai snorted lightly. "That's because Old Lu himself is awesome. He scored 657 on the college entrance exam. Popular artists appear every year, but is there a second artist who can score 657 on the college entrance exam?"

Zhou Ping'an: "... Then you don't think about it, having someone like that around you, doesn't it make you look inferior?"

"We're already inferior to him," Li Zhibai admitted generously. "If our studies aren't as good as his, do we need to be around him to show it? Forget it. In the entertainment industry, it's not about who has better grades. Why bother with that?"

"If it weren't for him, Yan Liang getting into Beijing Arts this year would be the biggest news for Star Entertainment, but now most of the promotional resources have been moved by Chen Ziyan to Lu Yan He," Zhou Ping'an said. "My original plan was to let Yan Liang use this momentum to do a set of promotions."

"Do it then, it doesn't conflict. One is a master of cultural scores, the other is a master of art exams. Neither delayed the other," Li Zhibai pointed out to Zhou Ping'an without hesitation.

Zhou Ping'an was almost laughed to anger.

"You have so many ideas, why don't you be the agent instead?"

Zhou Ping'an's original intention was to squeeze Li Zhibai and make him understand his position and stop talking nonsense. However, he forgot one thing: Li Zhibai's thick-skinned nature was as thick as the nine heavens.

Li Zhibai took the bait without hesitation: "Actually, I also think I'm quite suitable to be an agent. If I stop being an artist in the future, I'll switch careers and become an agent."

Zhou Ping'an almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

He stared at the shameless little bastard in front of him, speechless, and said: "When will you have some self-awareness? With you being lazy and gluttonous, if you were an agent, the artist would never become popular in eight hundred years."

"It's fine, my family has money. I'll throw money at it, get him on the hot search every day. I don't believe I can't make him popular," Li Zhibai said bluntly.

Zhou Ping'an: "..."

Hold it, hold it.

Zhou Ping'an took a deep breath and decided not to dwell on this topic with Li Zhibai anymore.

There was no point in dwelling on it with him.

This person was impervious to reason, his thought process was different from ordinary people, and he had "money power."

"Do whatever you want, I'm not saying anything else," Zhou Ping'an waved his hand and forcibly changed the topic. "I asked you here for the program *Young Days*. Li Zhibai, you already recorded a resident program in the first half of the year, and the feedback was pretty good. If you record this program in the second half of the year, I won't book any other resident programs for you. I plan for both of you to develop in multiple areas: acting, singing, recording programs, and live streaming. All of these will be arranged. The core is one thing: increase visibility, increase popularity, and stand firm. The next few years will be an explosion of idol artists. You've been debuted for almost four years; you can't stand still, or you'll be eliminated."

Yan Liang nodded seriously.

Zhou Ping'an said again: "Besides, you've seen it too. MX is currently having all sorts of internal problems, and things like the agent and artist fighting have even come out. They won't be popular for long. The day they start going downhill is when you can share the cake. By then, the company will definitely push new idol artists."

"There will be newcomers by then, right?" Li Zhibai said.

"Are you stupid?" Zhou Ping'an said. "So what if there are newcomers? How many newcomers can become popular overnight like MX? That's why I said let you start increasing exposure now, let more people know you, know who you are, and cultivate more idol temperament."

"But no matter how much idol artists struggle, it's just those fans. They can't be liked by people of all ages like actors and singers, and their popularity can't go up," Li Zhibai was quite clear-headed.

"So what? As long as you can reach the top level among idol artists, your fan appeal won't be any worse than any superstar," Zhou Ping'an said. "Otherwise, why do you think the company wants to vigorously develop idol artists? It's because whether it's singers or actors, the country has a very mature training system and a group of people who have already stood firm. But look at idol artists, do you see any? Who has that kind of dominance and status? Whether it's Europe, America, the Korean wave, the Japanese wave, including the surrounding Thailand and India, idol artists are becoming bigger and bigger, and the influence of pop culture is expanding to a world-class level. This area in the country is a shortcoming, and there is huge space. Why don't you go fight for this piece of the cake?"

After Zhou Ping'an finished speaking, Li Zhibai rarely didn't argue with him.

"There is no shortage of stages for idol artists in the country now. Web variety shows and music festivals are all stages," Zhou Ping'an said. "I will help you book all types of work, but the core positioning is still to be an idol. Don't be influenced by others, and don't think about transitioning in the short term. You are so young and have plenty of time to transition, but the only path you can take at your age to compete for the king's status is to be an idol."

Lu Yan He was searching for information on various majors on his phone, wanting to know more, when Li Zhibai suddenly called.

"We're done, where are you?"

"I'm... it's hard to explain. Let's just meet in the parking lot," Lu Yan He said.

This area nearby was a large public area, and Lu Yan He didn't know how to describe it.

He didn't know the layout of the company that well either.

"Okay."

Lu Yan He walked toward the nearby elevator lobby.

The three of them met in the parking lot.

After getting into the car, Lu Yan He looked at their expressions; they both seemed to be deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about? Did Zhou Ping'an say anything to you?"

"He said a lot of random things. The core meaning was to let us clarify that our future career focus is to be an idol artist, and he drew a huge pie for us, telling us to work hard," Li Zhibai said directly.

Lu Yan He couldn't help but ponder for a moment and nodded. "Our company is indeed one of the few brokerage companies in the country that invests so much in idol artists."

Mainly because there is no mature industrial chain for idol artists, which leads to output and income not necessarily being proportional.

Many companies are unwilling to do it.

In the last two years, the market for idol artists has slowly grown, and only then have companies started to exert effort.

Li Zhibai nodded. "Zhou Ping'an said the same thing, saying that MX will be eliminated sooner or later, and told us to be prepared to take over their market."

"Ah?" This was something Lu Yan He hadn't expected.

Take over MX's market? How did Zhou Ping'an think this group was going to be eliminated?

Just as many people had predicted, the news of Ma Zhiyuan fighting with his agent Lin Suyang, even though the company tried to block it, was still anonymously exposed on the internet.

With Ma Zhiyuan's personality, he had offended quite a few people in the industry. As soon as the incident happened, many people who loved to watch the excitement pushed the waves.

Especially some media outlets that really didn't like Ma Zhiyuan; they learned about this and immediately followed up with very negative reports.

An idol artist fighting with an agent, no matter the reason, is negative enough.

Especially mainstream media, which has higher requirements and is more sensitive to idol artists, because in the social consensus, the fans of idol artists are basically teenagers who are easily influenced by the words and actions of idol artists.

As soon as the matter was exposed, within half an hour, three mainstream media outlets stepped in to comment on the negative social impact of this incident.

Entertainment media, which is different from mainstream media, focused more on the "past and present" of this young artist Ma Zhiyuan, and various "traces" from the past were dug up to form a manifesto of "there were signs long ago."

Ma Zhiyuan instantly felt like he was being pushed by everyone as the wall collapsed.

Within MX, besides Ma Zhiyuan, the others were also shocked by this situation.

How could it cause such a big public opinion?

Qu Yousong and Wei Zhuoran both sat silently, neither of them looking up to speak, until Ma Zhiyuan suddenly threw his phone angrily at the sofa, and the phone bounced off the sofa and fell to the ground.

At this moment, neither Qu Yousong nor Wei Zhuoran spoke to try to comfort Ma Zhiyuan.

And in the house across the hall on the same floor, Jiang Bai, after reading the news on his phone, curled his lips slightly, put the phone aside, and got up to pour water.

At this moment, Chen Jing didn't know how to describe his mood.

Ma Zhiyuan's usual style was like this: self-righteous, self-centered, and if anyone offended him, he wouldn't let them have an easy time.

Chen Jing had been banned from performing on the same stage as him several times because Ma Zhiyuan was jealous that he danced better.

Such unreasonable demands were agreed to because he was the most popular person in the group, even if it made no sense.

Chen Jing had long hoped that Ma Zhiyuan would get the lesson he deserved. Now Ma Zhiyuan had received the lesson, but it seemed that MX was also being trampled along with him.

"MX is indeed one of the most popular boy bands right now, and as the leader, Ma Zhiyuan is also one of the most popular idols at the moment. However, this is not a reason for him to hit someone," said columnist Mao Yu, a guest on a live entertainment news program. "In fact, according to feedback from my friends in the entertainment industry, Ma Zhiyuan's personality had long exposed such problems: irritable, arrogant, and self-righteous. He once participated in a program produced by a friend of mine, and because of his demands, the rehearsal time was changed from 4:00 PM to 3:00 AM, requiring everyone in the program team to stay with him. When it reached 3:00 AM, he said he wouldn't come to the rehearsal. This kind of behavior is common, but because he is too popular, no one exposed it. This time he dared to hit his own agent, and I am not surprised at all."

"Not only that, I also heard that he suppresses other members of MX," another guest immediately followed up. "Just because others performed better than him, he forced the program team and the agent not to allow that person to appear on the program."

"Damn, really? That's too much!"

"It happened not long ago. Everyone can search for the news and know who I'm talking about."

When Lu Yan He was live-streaming his reading, someone in his live-stream bullet screen immediately posted the link to this entertainment news commentary live program.

Because Lu Yan He was an artist at Star Entertainment and they were all idol artists, many people in his live stream today were discussing this matter, and many people were asking Lu Yan He to express his views on it.

Lu Yan He saw everyone's comments, and of course, he chose not to see them.

How could he get involved in such a thing and get himself covered in dust?

It's just that he didn't expect this matter to attract so much attention and discussion.

It seemed to have become a social news story.

He couldn't help but wonder, how would the company finally resolve this matter?

At 11:00 PM, Lu Yan He finished his live stream and was preparing to wash his face and go to sleep. He was still washing his face when he heard Li Zhibai exclaim loudly.

"What's wrong?" Yan Liang's voice sounded.

Li Zhibai said: "The company issued a statement saying that the fight between Ma Zhiyuan and Lin Suyang was a misunderstanding. The real situation is that Lin Suyang was accompanying Ma Zhiyuan in the rehearsal room to rehearse a segment for an audition, and the rumors on the internet were taken out of context and were rumors."

"Ah?"

Lu Yan He finished washing his face and walked out.

"Does anyone believe this kind of explanation?" Lu Yan He was a bit surprised.

Li Zhibai shrugged and said: "Anyway, both Lin Suyang and Ma Zhiyuan forwarded this statement and gave an explanation. It looks like they have already shaken hands and made peace. Ma Zhiyuan even posted a photo of himself eating barbecue with Lin Suyang."

Lu Yan He logged into Ma Zhiyuan's social media homepage and saw that the latest post was the photo Li Zhibai mentioned.

Ma Zhiyuan and Lin Suyang were leaning against each other, looking very close, with bright smiles, as if there were no grudges at all.

"It's not easy to take this photo either," Yan Liang remarked. "It seems the company didn't issue a statement immediately to clean up the mess, and after getting their stories straight, they responded together."

"Whether others believe it or not, there is no evidence that they fought, and the parties involved clarified it, so even if you don't believe it, you have to."

"So boring, I thought Ma Zhiyuan would get a hard lesson this time."

Lu Yan He looked at the two people in the photo smiling brightly, and his inner feelings were somewhat complicated.

This is the entertainment industry; what is presented on social media is always edited and processed.

Smiles, sadness, truth, misunderstanding, everything can be disguised.

Many people know what the truth is, but no one will jump out to expose these hypocritical lies.

The truth of this matter itself is not important.

Lu Yan He was still thinking about these things when Yan Liang suddenly said again: "Someone in the company said that Lin Suyang and Ma Zhiyuan are going to part ways."

"Ah?" Li Zhibai said. "They just said they have a good relationship and it was just a misunderstanding, why part ways suddenly?"

"I don't know, it's just a rumor, but this rumor also mentioned one thing," Yan Liang looked at Li Zhibai seriously. "It says Ma Zhiyuan will leave MX and have solo activities, and his personal management affairs will be handled by Zhou Ping'an."

Li Zhibai and Lu Yan He showed expressions of disbelief at the same time.

"Zhou Ping'an?"

"Yes," Yan Liang nodded. "It's just a rumor, but I think there's no smoke without fire. Plus, with what Zhou Ping'an told us this afternoon, I think it's quite possible."

"Ma Zhiyuan is going to be managed by Zhou Ping'an? Are you kidding me?!" Li Zhibai's face changed instantly. "What is my relationship with Ma Zhiyuan, and Zhou Ping'an is going to manage him? Where does he put me?"

They wouldn't even be in the same frame for a program, so how could they be willing to be under the same agent?

"If Zhou Ping'an takes in Ma Zhiyuan, I'm leaving immediately." Li Zhibai was just watching the excitement and gloating, but now that he suddenly found out the matter had to do with him, he couldn't stay out of it and exploded immediately.

Lu Yan He asked: "Does Zhou Ping'an know you and Ma Zhiyuan are so at odds?"

"What doesn't he know?" Li Zhibai said angrily. "No, I'm going to ask Zhou Ping'an tomorrow to see if this is true. If it is, I'll say goodbye as soon as possible."

Things that originally had nothing to do with them ended up affecting them, which was what Li Zhibai least expected.

He even felt that Ma Zhiyuan and he were truly incompatible, and even such a matter could be pulled onto Zhou Ping'an in the end.

However, Zhou Ping'an would definitely be very willing to manage him.

A top idol artist, why wouldn't Zhou Ping'an be willing?

For the first time, Li Zhibai felt a sense of crisis under Zhou Ping'an.

He thought seriously for half a day: "How about I go find Lin Suyang and let him be my agent instead?"

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang heard Li Zhibai's words and had massive headaches, immediately speaking up to stop him, "Don't make a stupid move just because you're stimulated, calm down first!"