Chapter 673

"People at Jingtai know about your relationship with Chen Pinhe, but Jiang Lan doesn't."

Chen Ziyan said to Lu Yan He, "For Jingtai, having Chen Pinhe star in the spin-off of 'Seventeen Layers' is actually their way of trying hard to extend the brilliance of this series. After all, both you and Chen Bige have made it very clear that you won't be participating in this series anymore after filming the third season."

Lu Yan He: "The most disgusting part is that I have no way to tell Jiang Lan, 'No, you can't let Chen Pinhe star in this show.' If I were to do that, I'd need a reason, but in reality, I don't even have one. I can't say anything to her."

Chen Ziyan nodded and said, "However, I don't think this counts for much. Jingtai collaborating with Chen Pinhe is not something we can interfere with in the first place."

"It's just disgusting. If they were collaborating on other projects, that would be one thing, but the problem is that they want to collaborate on a 'Seventeen Layers' spin-off."

"Because the only thing Jingtai has to show off right now is the 'Seventeen Layers' series. Although they still hold the rights to 'Friends', the problem is that the two seasons they developed themselves had terrible word-of-mouth. No one believes they can develop the 'Friends' series well, so they have no choice but to target 'Seventeen Layers'," Chen Ziyan said. "Plus, the key people who worked on 'Friends' at Jingtai have all left, but the people from 'Seventeen Layers' are all still there."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"So we're just going to watch Chen Pinhe act in it?"

"To be honest, if he wants to act in the 'Seventeen Layers' spin-off, let him," Chen Ziyan said. "No one knows what this spin-off will be developed into. Even if it manages to reach the heights of 'Seventeen Layers', so what?"

Lu Yan He: "That's one way to put it."

"So, unless we want more people to know about your relationship with Chen Pinhe, we can't directly tell people not to collaborate with him on projects like the 'Seventeen Layers' spin-off, unless we go after him and snatch the project away like we did with 'Doomsday'," Chen Ziyan shook her head. "In fact, here in China, if we said that to people, they might not buy it at all. Chen Pinhe's popularity, status, and even his drawing power in China are all top-tier."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"Yes."

He had to admit that point as well.

Chen Ziyan asked: "So, what do you plan to do?"

"I—" Lu Yan He hesitated for a moment, "I don't know. It feels like nothing I do would be appropriate."

"Yes, I feel the same way," Chen Ziyan nodded. "I don't think a project of this level is worth us making a move yet."

Lu Yan He said: "Then let's just leave it at that and act like we don't know anything."

"Oh, no, we can't act like we don't know anything," Chen Ziyan said. "Don't forget the trashy things Jingtai has done. You've clearly shown that you don't intend to collaborate with Jingtai in the future, and who knows what cards they'll play? It's not impossible that they'd step on you to prop up Chen Pinhe. We have to negotiate the performance agreement for the third season with Jingtai, and there's plenty of room to maneuver there."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"There's one more thing," Chen Ziyan smiled slightly. "I don't intend to just let a 'Seventeen Layers' production go like that."

"What do you mean?" Lu Yan He asked.

Chen Ziyan said: "A drama starring Chen Pinhe is clearly an S+ grade blockbuster. If possible, I want to send a few actors into it."

"Huh?"

"How much money have you made for Jingtai with your talent and strength? Why can't we use their project to prop up a few of our own actors?" Chen Ziyan said. "You're being so generous and letting bygones be bygones to act in the third season, so they should show some appreciation. Originally, they would have announced this spin-off project later, after you had already committed to the third season and it was a done deal, leaving us with no bargaining chips. But they were so impatient to announce it now—if I don't tear a few chunks of meat off them, that's not my style."

Lu Yan He frowned and said: "But, Sister Ziyan, wouldn't that mean collaborating with Jingtai again?"

"Yan He, Jingtai is a first-tier major station. With so many artists in our Shihu, it's impossible for none of them to collaborate with Jingtai," Chen Ziyan said. "Don't be afraid of collaboration, but don't let yourself be taken advantage of. You don't collaborate with them because they've screwed you over, but many of our newcomers aren't famous yet and need Jingtai's resources. In an environment where there are more monks than gruel, I can't make them all stop collaborating with Jingtai."

Lu Yan He understood what Chen Ziyan meant.

Although he felt a bit uncomfortable, he also understood that what Chen Ziyan said was right.

It was reasonable.

Chen Ziyan: "And think about it, even if you don't collaborate with Jingtai later, how much money have you already made for them? Why should they get all the benefits? We won't be at a disadvantage later. Furthermore, think about the 'Seventeen Layers' spin-off. Chen Pinhe is the lead, sure, but how did Li Yuefeng handle the marketing back then? After 'Seventeen Layers' aired, you were clearly the male lead, but when it came to Li Yuefeng, it became a dual-male-lead show. In the end, because of his relationship with Jingtai, he was the one who got the Best Actor nomination, not you. If you hadn't had such a strong foundation, Li Yuefeng would have truly succeeded in 'stealing the tower' and become the actor who reaped the most benefits from this show. We can do to Chen Pinhe exactly what they did to you."

Lu Yan He suddenly saw the light, and his eyes lit up.

"We can do that?"

"Yes," Chen Ziyan nodded. "So, don't be afraid of collaboration or whatever. Even if we do collaborate, it's not certain who will get the biggest share of the benefits. Chen Pinhe is already at the top; only others can ride his coattails, he can't ride anyone else's. Anyway, no matter what, he's the one who's going to be disgusted."

Lu Yan He was suddenly energized.

"This works."

Since it began airing, the performance of the second season of "Seventeen Layers" has been climbing steadily.

Lu Yan He didn't do much marketing or promotion for himself because there was really no need.

Li Yuefeng, on the other hand, bought all sorts of press releases like crazy.

However, compared to the first season, this time his press releases didn't step on Lu Yan He, either openly or covertly.

Li Yuefeng and Lu Yan He are on good terms now, and the two have a friendship. During the promotion of the second season of "Seventeen Layers," Li Yuefeng mentioned many times that he and Lu Yan He are good friends.

In the middle of it, Lu Yan He even posted on Weibo, saying: Because I'm preparing for the second season of "Friends," I don't have time to participate in the promotion of the second season of "Seventeen Layers," but that's okay. As long as you have a friend who is willing to mention you wherever they go, you won't be absent from any promotion.

Below were nine photos, each a screenshot of Li Yuefeng mentioning Lu Yan He in interviews.

Lu Yan He posted this Weibo because he saw people dissing Li Yuefeng, saying that Lu Yan He had never publicly spoken about his relationship with Li Yuefeng, yet Li Yuefeng kept showing off everywhere that they were on good terms.

Lu Yan He felt that since he and Li Yuefeng were genuinely on good terms, it was only right to step up and maintain their friendship.

Not to mention, during the show's promotion period, it was only natural for him, as the lead of the second season of "Seventeen Layers," to create some buzz to promote the show.

As expected, his Weibo post made it to the trending list.

However, at this time, a media outlet—it's unclear where they got the news—found out that the male lead originally set for the drama version of "Rouge" was Li Yuefeng, but because Lu Yan He wasn't satisfied, he was replaced by an unknown named Yang Shiyi.

Suddenly, the "friendship" between the two of them seemed very plastic.

"We didn't leak this news, and we don't know who did."

Li Yuefeng's agent, Wu Bai, said to Chen Ziyan over the phone.

"Sister Ziyan, you should know that this news being released is not good for our Li Yuefeng either. We wouldn't be hyping this up."

Chen Ziyan: "I know. We didn't think you were hyping it up. I'm calling you to discuss how we should respond to this."

Wu Bai asked: "Do you have any ideas?" Chen Ziyan: "This is a fact, so it's hard to deny it. But if we deny it based on facts, it won't be good for Yuefeng either. Although we all know that roles are about suitability—it's not that a popular actor with good acting skills will necessarily get a role—others won't see it that way. Once we admit that they wanted Yuefeng for this drama at first but changed it to a newcomer like Yang Shiyi, the media will start writing that Li Yuefeng is inferior to a newcomer, and all sorts of smears and attacks will follow."

"Yes," Wu Bai sighed. "That's the media environment right now, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Chen Ziyan said: "I'm thinking, why don't we both get on the same page and respond that we did indeed discuss this project before, but because the schedules didn't align, we didn't continue the talks. That would be better for both sides."

"Fine," Wu Bai said.

Schedule conflicts are the most universal excuse.

But it's also the excuse that causes the least harm to both parties.

After the two reached an agreement, Wu Bai suddenly went "uh" and said: "Sister Ziyan, wait, things have changed."

"Huh?"

"Yan Liang just posted on Weibo."

"Huh? What did he post?"

【Content omitted for brevity】

"He said there are many roles in dramas that Lu Yan He wanted to act in, but because the roles weren't suitable, they didn't come to him. He asked if that means he and Lu Yan He can't be friends either," Wu Bai said in a tone of disbelief.

He didn't seem to understand why Yan Liang would post such a Weibo.

Chen Ziyan, who was already familiar with the antics of these people, felt a jolt in her heart.

"Wait, we might not need to respond anymore."

Just as Chen Ziyan had predicted, shortly after Yan Liang's Weibo post, Li Zhibai also posted one: What should we do? He didn't ask me to act in "Rouge" or "Friends" either. Does that mean our friendship is plastic too?

What Lu Yan He didn't expect was that Jiang Yuqian also joined in the fun: Although I acted in "Squid Game" and "Phone", and am about to act in "Doomsday" and "Red Eye Flight", he didn't ask me to act in "Rouge", "Love Letter", or "My Own Swordsman" either. My friendship with Lu Yan He must definitely be plastic.

As a result, after these few people started it, many who had collaborated with Lu Yan He came to play along with the meme.

Huang Kairen said: He didn't ask me to act in "Doomsday", tsk tsk, so plastic.

Ceng Qiao forwarded Huang Kairen's Weibo: At least you acted in "My Own Swordsman", what about me?

Jia Long forwarded Ceng Qiao's Weibo: At least you acted in "River of Silence" with him. He hasn't even acted with me; he just gave me the script for "Lost in Journey". It couldn't be more plastic.

Kong Fan, who filmed "Late Spring" with Lu Yan He, @Lu Yan He: When you filmed "Chinese Paladin", you asked Yan Lingyu, and when you filmed "Phone" and "Squid Game", you asked Wang Jing. Tell me, why have you never asked me and Qingqing? Is our friendship too plastic?

Over a dozen actors participated in the "crusade" against Lu Yan He.

For a time, the trending list was full of topics related to Lu Yan He.

Li Yuefeng:??? I was going to use this opportunity to play the victim with Old Lu and get him to tailor a script for me. Why are you people joining in the fun!

A public opinion crisis regarding the plastic friendship between Lu Yan He and his collaborating actors died down just like that.

"Did you see Lu Yan He's popularity in the entertainment industry?"

Zhang Yuezhen took a deep breath and shook her head. "With such a small matter, so many people voluntarily stood up to speak for him. Ordinary smears have no effect on him at all."

"Think about it, how could they have an effect?" Chen Pinhe said. "He's doing so many projects right now, and so many people are eating from his hand."

Zhang Yuezhen said: "I told you back then that we should have established our own company and gathered those people of yours. After all, one person's power is limited. Even if you win six Best Actor awards, you're still just an actor. No matter how high your industry status is, if it's only high for you alone, others will at most be polite to you on the surface. If something really happens, they will absolutely not stand by your side."

Chen Pinhe: "Do you think I didn't want to start a company back then?"

Zhang Yuezhen: "Wasn't it because you didn't trust me at the time and weren't willing to start this company with me?"

Chen Pinhe was silent.

Zhang Yuezhen: "You should know by now who is the one who is really good for you, right? Without your own power, even a young person like Lu Yan He dares to challenge you now."

Chen Pinhe: "Then what do you want to do next?"

"One step at a time," Zhang Yuezhen said. "First, make a comeback in China. This time, after the news that you will star in the 'Seventeen Layers' spin-off was announced, it immediately attracted the attention of the industry, and the number of projects and scripts coming to you has increased several times over. Before, everyone thought you didn't really want to act anymore; after all, our output has been very low over the past few years, and usually, people had to work very hard to get you to act. Now we need to signal to the outside world that you are making a comeback."

"I never retired in the first place."

"Regardless of what you think, in everyone's mind, you've rarely appeared over the past few years, and that's an indisputable fact. Your only work was 'White Pearl'," Zhang Yuezhen said. "Now, you are going to make a full comeback."

Chen Pinhe looked at Zhang Yuezhen in silence.

Zhang Yuezhen said again: "In addition, I plan to start a company and sign some actors. You should be able to see from 'Doomsday' that fighting alone is useless. Even if you take on many roles, you can only act in so many. You need to have different cards in your hand so that you have more ways to play when dealing with different platforms and production companies. You can't always rely on your film status to make the other party agree to our demands."

Chen Pinhe said: "You've wanted to start this company for a long time, haven't you?"

"Yes, you actually knew that a long time ago," Zhang Yuezhen nodded. "I've said that I hope your career can be better."

"But I don't want it to end up where I have to bring them along to act in whatever I'm acting in."

"Husband, look at those projects of Lu Yan He's. Which one of his projects hasn't brought along people he's familiar with?" Zhang Yuezhen said. "You are an artist, and you want to protect your feathers and don't want others to think you're worldly or money-grubbing. I understand all of that, but the reality is that unless you accept more and more people riding on your head and you accept the projects you're interested in being snatched away by others, you must have greater power and the right to speak to protect these things."

Chen Pinhe looked at Zhang Yuezhen and didn't speak for a long time.

Zhang Yuezhen: "Believe me, this company will definitely be more beneficial than harmful to your career. We are husband and wife; no matter what others say, in my heart, you are definitely the most important."

Chen Pinhe: "There will definitely be some projects that I'll be forced to act in because of the development of this company, won't there?"

"Doesn't Lu Yan He have them?" Zhang Yuezhen said. "Husband, there's no other way, unless you tell me now, 'Fine, I won't compete with these people.' It doesn't matter; you've already won so many Best Actor awards. Even if you retire from now on and never act again in your life, you'll still be a Best Actor whose name is in film history. In your generation, no one's achievements can surpass yours. But if you can't retire now and aren't willing to give all this up, and you want to compete, then I can help you compete. It's just that we can't compete while 'eating wind and drinking dew'. Everyone is not a fool. Who would be willing to suffer a loss just because you are Chen Pinhe? Who would be willing to pay for you without return just because they like your acting?"

Zhang Yuezhen held Chen Pinhe's hand.

"As long as you are willing, Best Actor at the four major international film festivals, Oscar Best Actor, Emmy and Golden Globe Best Actor—all of these can be strived for," Zhang Yuezhen looked at Chen Pinhe sincerely. "The premise is that you are willing to trust me."

Meanwhile, Chen Ziyan was also telling Lu Yan He about Chen Pinhe and Zhang Yuezhen.

"Zhang Yuezhen has some background," Chen Ziyan shrugged at Lu Yan He. "Not to mention, she needed some skill to snatch Chen Pinhe from so many people back then."

Lu Yan He asked: "So, you mean that when we face Chen Pinhe later, Zhang Yuezhen will be a difficult person to deal with?"

"Yes," Chen Ziyan nodded. "By comparison, Chen Pinhe is actually easier to deal with; he's just a gilded Bodhisattva." (End of chapter)