Chapter 298: You Are Not Alone

What Lu Yan He said was very real.

He also spoke from the bottom of his heart.

However, because he happened to be at the center of this storm, what he said was also interpreted by many as his relationship with Jingtai.

Some people think that Lu Yan He is taking the opportunity to express that the contradiction between him and Jingtai has reached an irreconcilable point.

But what was even more unexpected was not Lu Yan He's statement, but a paragraph Lang Xia said immediately after.

"Actually, from my perspective, the Little Commandery Prince has always truly treated Wei Jiang as his own brother. If Wei Jiang could finally let go of his hatred, he wouldn't have reached this final step," Lang Xia said. "Hatred, sometimes, is just a kind of obsession. If you choose to let go, perhaps that will be the beautiful ending we look forward to."

This statement was also interpreted as having hidden meaning.

Mainly because after Lang Xia finished this sentence, Zeng Qiao immediately said: "Everyone has their own interpretation. We don't advocate revenge in filming this drama, but we also don't advocate letting everyone forget hatred. Expecting Wei Jiang to truly be brothers with the son of a father-killer can only be the wishful thinking of this son. I think, as long as anyone with a real heart, it's impossible to do so. Perhaps one day Wei Jiang can let go and forget each other in the rivers and lakes with the Little Commandery Prince, but it's absolutely impossible to truly be brothers."

Lang Xia was stunned by Zeng Qiao's words and didn't come back to his senses for a long time.

This was not the first time tonight.

Every time after Lang Xia spoke, Zeng Qiao would either change the subject or refute Lang Xia.

He seemed to have a subtle targeting of Lang Xia.

Or it couldn't be said to be subtle; it was almost pointed out.

But everyone's speech and attitude seemed to be alluding to the incident between Lu Yan He and Jingtai.

Even Xiao Yun spoke up: "As the person who likes Wei Jiang, Chen Yourong must understand Wei Jiang's choice. She is the one who least wants Wei Jiang to take risks for revenge, but she has never held Wei Jiang back once, because she knows this is something Wei Jiang must do in this life."

Several young people spoke one after another, leaving others unable to interject.

The topic seemed to have become whether Wei Jiang's revenge should be carried out.

They were discussing, and the internet was also discussing.

Should people take revenge?

This became a very popular topic.

And what was even more popular was mainly whether Lu Yan He should ease his relationship with Jingtai.

In this era, many netizens are no longer helplessly supporting others to "do them" with righteous indignation.

Seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages is the consensus of more and more people, and "lying flat" has also become a helpless survival strategy for the working class.

Like Lu Yan He, although he is indeed popular and indeed has a bit of capital, compared to a behemoth institution like Jingtai, it is like the difference between a mayfly and a big tree.

On this matter, very rarely, although everyone thinks it is Jingtai's problem and Jingtai's fault, not many people think Lu Yan He should continue to go head-to-head with Jingtai.

"Don't you find it strange? Lu Yan He can be considered the most popular star in these two months, right? With so much topic bombing and such a good performance in *Phoenix Terrace*, with a good reputation, how come there isn't a single new commercial endorsement? Look at Lang Xia next door, who announced eight endorsements in one breath." Someone said this.

Because this person said it, many people realized this.

Ah?

That's right.

Why is it like this?

Of course, there are also Lu Yan He's fans who took screenshots of his current endorsements: Xueyou App, Busher (Italian men's shoe brand), Shangjian (famous domestic sportswear brand), Baixing (famous domestic stationery brand), math (British top luxury brand), saying: Look at Lu Yan He's current endorsements. He doesn't take just any endorsement. There isn't a single fast-moving consumer goods brand. How difficult is it to add such an endorsement? It's not something an artist can add immediately just because they are popular. They are all one radish, one pit, and not the kind of fast-moving consumer goods brand that signs endorsers by the quarter.

Then Lang Xia's fans were broken—you actually look down on fast-moving consumer goods? What's wrong with fast-moving consumer goods? Fast-moving consumer goods are also a manifestation of commercial value!

And then, Lang Xia's fans organized Lang Xia's schedule for the past two months: This is real popularity. Major popular programs with high national popularity have invited Lang Xia to record, and top fashion events and banquets have Lang Xia's figure. Where is Lu Yan He?

Fans on both sides started fighting.

The presidents of several of Lu Yan He's fan clubs received a call from Chen Ziyan and immediately started to lead the fans to extinguish the fire.

As soon as Lang Xia's fans saw that Lu Yan He's fans had retreated, they announced proudly as if they had won a victory that Lang Xia was now a well-deserved first-tier young actor, and even Lu Yan He's fans admitted defeat.

Seeing such rhetoric, Lu Yan He's fans were so angry that they were grinding their teeth.

However, because the message conveyed from Chen Ziyan's side was to be calm and not argue with others, everyone finally held back and did not respond on a large scale.

*Friends* is a work that Lu Yan He values. Even if he was so unhappy with the broadcasting platform, Lu Yan He still used his greatest strength to do this drama and promote this drama without any discount.

And in the end, Jingtai scheduled *Friends* as a TV exclusive broadcast, without TV-online simultaneous broadcast.

This can be considered Jingtai's first response after the incident.

However, the trailer was only aired on the TV station three days before *Friends* aired.

Lu Yan He and several other actors promoted it on their own social media.

Besides that, there was surprisingly no other promotion.

Jingtai's own programs didn't even have any promotional plans for *Friends*.

Facing this situation, Lu Yan He was already powerless to complain in his heart.

However, under these circumstances, Lu Yan He couldn't just give up on himself.

This is a work where he serves as the lead actor and screenwriter. Success or failure has a great impact on him.

Lu Yan He had no choice but to work hard himself.

After the leads released the airing information, Lu Yan He thought about it and sent messages to every actor he had worked with, asking them to help promote it.

The same went for Shang Yongzhou, whom he hadn't worked with.

"Why doesn't Jingtai do any promotion? Have they already given up on *Friends* in advance?"

A film and television commentary media suddenly published such a tweet.

In this article, it described in detail the various problems *Friends* encountered in the early stage, as well as the current status of *Friends* before airing.

"As everyone knows, because of the previous incident, *Friends* made the contradiction between the popular young actor Lu Yan He and the traditional TV station Jingtai public. So far, except for that Weibo post by Lu Yan He, there has been no relevant response. This drama is still being filmed in an orderly manner, but in three days, the first episode will air, and so far only the trailer has been aired on the TV station, with no other promotional plans."

"Compared to the discussion caused when this drama was established, *Friends*, which is about to usher in its first episode, is now cold in popularity, as if it is no longer being paid attention to. Under these circumstances, what kind of results this sitcom, where Lu Yan He serves as the male lead for the first time, will achieve is inevitably hard to be optimistic about."

"For Jingtai, *Friends* is just a drama with very low investment costs. Eight episodes, weekly broadcast. According to the news we received, the reason it dared to only adopt TV exclusive broadcast is that the production cost is very low. The production cost per episode is almost only one-sixth of the current first-tier big dramas, or even less. Jingtai can accept the failure of *Friends*, but can Lu Yan He?"

"For the past two months, Lu Yan He has been at the center of public opinion. Even though his performance in *Phoenix Terrace* was unanimously praised, it didn't change this situation. As a male actor who has just turned twenty, he originally had a bright future after winning the Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Tripod Awards, but now he seems to have fallen into a quagmire because of the contradiction with Jingtai."

"From Jingtai's attitude toward *Friends*, we can already infer their attitude toward this lead actor. It can be expected that in the next few years, Lu Yan He may not appear on Jingtai's TV screen again—of course, except for another TV drama *Seventeen Layers* that Lu Yan He also stars in. The investment of the latter is so large that it might make Jingtai change its mind, but as for the specifics, we will have to wait until then to see."

This article spread widely.

The "ignore-style" scheduling of *Friends* by Jingtai was basically attributed to their dissatisfaction with Lu Yan He, so they wanted to give up on this drama.

Lu Yan He's actor friends all helped to send promotional messages, which caused some ripples, but more were doubts about this drama.

From the beginning, no one thought highly of the ratings of this drama on TV exclusive broadcast.

The main creator group of *Friends* was dead silent.

Yin Xincheng even asked in it: Does Jingtai have any promotion that needs us to do?

No one replied to him.

Lu Yan He met Chen Ziyan at the school cafe.

Chen Ziyan asked with a smile: "Do you regret posting that Weibo post back then?"

"I didn't want to post it from the beginning, so there's no talk of regret," Lu Yan He said calmly.

Chen Ziyan asked: "Since you didn't want to post it from the beginning, why did you post it? Impulse?"

"No," Lu Yan He shook his head. "Li Zhibai rushed out to fire cannons for me. Should I still hide behind at this time? He fired cannons at Jingtai for me. If I don't stand up and speak out at this time, I would feel guilty."

"You are a person of temperament, but you have also seen that everything has a price. This world is not judged by right or wrong," Chen Ziyan said.

Lu Yan He nodded. "I know this world is not judged by right or wrong, but I also have my own principles and my own bottom line. I can suffer grievances, but I cannot let others suffer grievances for me."

"You." Chen Ziyan smiled helplessly and gently.

Lu Yan He shook his head and said: "Sister Ziyan, don't worry, I haven't lost yet."

Chen Ziyan asked: "Jingtai uses this zero-promotion method to air *Friends*, do you think you haven't lost yet?"

Lu Yan He smiled slightly and said: "I don't know if I will win, but I won't watch myself lose silently like this."

Chen Ziyan looked into Lu Yan He's eyes, and there was a settled light in the latter's eyes.

Lu Yan He didn't know if he could turn the tide under these circumstances, but he was not alone.

At this moment, Lu Yan He sincerely rejoiced that he had made the magazine *Jump Up* with Chen Siqi.

Two days before the premiere, the Ye Mai website and the *Jump Up* series of self-media launched promotional information for *Friends*.

They simultaneously put out a promotional slogan: Maybe everyone doesn't believe him, but don't we, who have known him for so long, believe him?

Liu Jiazhen, Ming Yin, and more than a dozen other authors posted statuses, telling "The Lu Yan He I know."

Liu Jiazhen said: "The Lu Yan He I know is a sincere person who is willing to help others. Without his recommendation, maybe I would still be a slow-selling author, maybe I would have stopped writing long ago. I remember the first time I met him, I was a bit nervous, but he was even more nervous than me, calling me 'Brother Jiazhen' in a very student-like way. I also remember when my new book was released, he took the initiative to use all resources and channels to help me promote my new book. The Lu Yan He I know is a person who works hard himself and also has a good eye. He created a TV drama like *Friends* as a screenwriter and lead actor, which caused a lot of questioning from many people. I don't know if it will succeed or fail, but as he said, failure doesn't matter. He has the courage to take on such a drama that many people don't think highly of. His courage itself is a kind of success."

Ming Yin said: "The Lu Yan He I know is the appearance of the teenager I often describe in my writing. He is spirited. Every time I see him, there is light in his eyes. He works hard, desperately, using all his strength to do everything. So, when he was only twenty years old, he had already achieved so many results. I don't envy, I admire. I want to say one thing, but I'm afraid of bringing him hate, but I still want to say, support him, that is supporting the most hardworking appearance of young people. Not because he is Lu Yan He, but because he is the most hardworking young person."

After more than a dozen authors, the popular writer Nian Jin also posted a status: "I don't know Lu Yan He, but he recommended several books to me. I want to say, he has a good eye. So, the night after tomorrow, Jingtai, I will wait to watch the premiere of *Friends*. After so many things happened, I don't have much to say. I hope he succeeds, I hope his hard work will not be let down again and again."

This was not the end.

In the evening, the magazine circle's accounts also came.

About twenty magazine media accounts forwarded Lu Yan He's drama promotion Weibo and cheered for him: "In such an era, a young man who successfully made a paper media, others don't cherish, we cherish!"

In such an internet era, supporting someone on such a large scale and cheering for someone, except for the protagonist in social news, it seems that it has not been seen for many years.

Lu Yan He's name was pushed to the first place on the hot search list.

And this, still not the end.

One day before the premiere.

The official Weibo of the Zhenhua University Youth Association posted a status: Tomorrow night at nine o'clock, meet with you at every public TV station in the Zhenhua University canteen to watch *Friends*! @Yuming University Youth Association official Weibo.

Yuming University Youth Association official Weibo forwarded: Tomorrow night at nine o'clock, meet with you at every public TV station in the Yuming University canteen to watch *Friends*! @Yuming University of Technology Youth Association official Weibo.

Yuming University of Technology Youth Association official Weibo:...

Within two hours, the official Weibos of hundreds of university youth associations across the country carried out a relay to promote this new drama *Friends* for Lu Yan He.

Jingtai Headquarters.

At this moment, six or seven people were sitting in the station manager's office, but the atmosphere was as silent as the low-pressure area before a storm.

Many things, when they start, don't know where they will be taken by the gears of fate.

Shen Tailin's face was as heavy as water.

As the station manager, he never cared about these specific affairs.

The criticism caused by Jingtai's several practices toward Lu Yan He didn't alarm him either.

However, Shen Tailin also didn't expect that things would evolve to this point.

He glanced at one of them and said: "Old Li, tell me about this matter."

The station manager Li, who was named by him, was instantly focused on by the eyes of others.

A look of surprise appeared on Xu Bin's face.

Old Li?

Xu Bin couldn't believe it. He had always thought that the person making trouble was Jiang Lan. How did it suddenly become Old Li?

How did this person, who was usually the most harmless and didn't easily get into disputes with others, suddenly get pointed out by Station Manager Shen at this time?

What did he do? ===== CHAPTER 299 =====