Chapter 998: Side Story: The Scorching Summer (2)

In reality, Meng Li was still the lucky one.

Compared to her, the one in a worse situation was Lang Xia.

He had just changed his agent from He Yingzi to Zhou Ping'an, and then Zhou Ping'an resigned. His work suffered setback after setback. The projects he was in the middle of negotiating, without an agent to mediate, were either intercepted or the negotiations fell into a deadlock; not a single one moved forward smoothly.

The frustration in Lang Xia's heart can be imagined.

Lang Xia, after losing He Yingzi and Zhou Ping'an, certainly wouldn't go out of style immediately.

His past works and accumulated popularity and fans were all there.

But he felt like he was now a bit like the Tang Monk on the journey to the West without his three disciples to protect him; every monster and demon wanted to pop out and take a bite of his flesh—

No one negotiated with him with an attitude of "respect" anymore, whether it was the salary or other conditions, all were like that.

Lang Xia had always felt that he was now a first-tier star and that projects should be chasing after him. As it turned out, he was directly revealed in his true colors. Without an agent in this circle to help him maintain the image of a fake first-tier star, not many people actually recognized his ability to carry a project alone.

Yu Jiang, with whom he had collaborated the most, also suspended his cooperation with him because of his refusal of the previous project.

These days, how should I put it, had him feeling incredibly stifled.

What Lang Xia didn't understand even more was that when he wanted to find another reliable agent, not a single person he contacted was willing to take him on.

What was going on?

He was a dignified first-tier star; wouldn't it be like getting a cash cow for free no matter whose hands he fell into?

Even if the agents he contacted were already senior veterans in the industry who had mature artists in their hands, that shouldn't be a reason they couldn't manage him.

Didn't Zhou Ping'an manage several at once?

Lang Xia, of course, didn't know that his act of driving away He Yingzi had caused a huge stir in the agents' circle.

He didn't know that before he proposed the breakup, He Yingzi had already been contacting other agents in the industry, asking them to take him over and help him out.

He also didn't know about He Yingzi's cancer.

After his collaboration with He Yingzi ended, he never contacted her again.

"Lang Xia came to find me." Chen Ziyan sneered at Lu Yan He over the phone, "He still doesn't know exactly where his stupidity lies."

Lu Yan He: "Watching him like this, I suddenly understand why some artists, even after being popular for a few years, go out of style in the blink of an eye."

"He Yingzi and Zhou Ping'an were both masters of marketing, good at hyping up topics. Even three parts of heat for Lang Xia would be hyped up to seven parts, but that had water in it." Chen Ziyan said, "Without the person adding water, the remaining water slowly evaporates."

Lu Yan He: "So Lang Xia is just going to be like this from now on?"

"Depends on the situation. He did film some works these past few years, but he offended his two great benefactors, He Yingzi and Yu Jiang. To make a comeback, it depends on luck and whether he can persist." Chen Ziyan said, "Many stars who have been popular can't start over from scratch; their pride won't let them."

Lu Yan He: "I always felt he would reap what he sowed, but I didn't expect him to be implicated because of this matter."

"Zhou Ping'an never thought about paving a way out for him at all. Look at Meng Li; although Zhou Ping'an left, there are still Zhou Ping'an's people inside Shijin helping Meng Li manage things." Chen Ziyan said, "Zhou Ping'an's departure was to avoid the limelight, not to leave the entertainment industry forever. It's impossible for him not to have left a backup plan, yet his backup plan didn't include Lang Xia at all, so you know his attitude toward Lang Xia."

"His treatment of He Yingzi has already chilled everyone's hearts."

"That's exactly how it is." Chen Ziyan smiled, "The two people you dislike the most in the entertainment industry are now having a hard time climbing back up; luck is really on your side."

"Lang Xia still has a chance to climb back up, right?"

"Currently, it looks difficult, at least difficult within a few years." Chen Ziyan said, "He clearly doesn't have the ability to carry the load himself; during this period, he has been retreating step by step."

"Lang Xia doesn't have the natural ability to generate topics like Ma Zhiyuan."

"To be precise, it's the ability to cause trouble." Chen Ziyan corrected, "Lang Xia, after all, had his father at the helm. His father has been grinding in this industry for so many years, and in the past few years, he had He Yingzi controlling things for him. Over time, his sense of rules is still stronger than Ma Zhiyuan's."

"When you put it that way, that's true."

Lang Xia was not as uncontrollable as Ma Zhiyuan.

The huge changes that occurred in the entertainment industry over the past six months all started from that livestream of Ma Zhiyuan's.

Ma Zhiyuan could no longer appear in front of the camera, Lang Xia was affected, Zhou Ping'an went far away abroad, Chen Pinhe's projects were shelved one after another, and Lu Yan He entered "seclusion" mode—

For a time, a large amount of resources in the domestic entertainment industry were distributed to others.

Especially the Jiang Army.

More than half of Chen Pinhe's projects were incorporated into the Jiang Army's pocket through the efforts of Shihu.

Including one of Chen Pinhe's Hollywood films.

The theory that the Jiang Army was really lucky to have met Lu Yan He appeared online again.

The Jiang Army, as always, did not update their status on social platforms and just quietly filmed movies.

Saying nothing, responding to nothing.

Chen Ziyan said that the incident where the Jiang Army was sick before brought about a very big change in him.

He basically just films, rests, and occasionally attends some events and award ceremonies now.

Besides that, he doesn't take many things to heart.

Lu Yan He envied this state of the Jiang Army.

"Teacher Jiang's rhythm is really comfortable."

"Yes." Chen Ziyan nodded, "He is now being a very pure actor, and he films both domestically and abroad, with different subject types, which also well avoids the problem of high exposure leading to audience fatigue. His frequency of appearing in films is actually no lower than yours, but his volume is not as loud as yours. For an actor, this is actually a good thing."

Many superstars have one movie a year, or one every two years.

From preparation to filming, from post-production to release, they are always in the spotlight.

Such big projects can help stars maintain a high level of attention from the very beginning.

Correspondingly, if he appears in the audience's field of vision too frequently, especially if the characters he performs are all similar, it is really easy to make people tired. Even for a superstar. Lu Yan He faced this problem.

His way of solving this problem was to highlight different facets in different film projects.

For example, when it came to *Godless*, his team and the film's team would not promote the fact that Lu Yan He had "good acting skills" at all; the focus of the promotion was entirely on the characteristics of the character Lu Yan He played, promoting the character.

For example, *The Boat*, even during the awards season, they didn't go against the trend to emphasize that Lu Yan He actually had good acting skills, but instead highlighted that Lu Yan He could sacrifice his own high-light performance in the film to achieve the film as a whole.

Different films leave different impressions, rather than promoting handsomeness, good acting skills, or the same traits over and over again.

Even so, Lu Yan He still had to face the problem of excessive exposure.

This was also the reason why he could stay in Africa with peace of mind.

Although it was very hot here.

However, it didn't matter; the scorching summer would always pass. ===== CHAPTER 999 =====