Chapter 174

This was clearly a coordinated smear by competitors; Fang Hong had known about it before boarding the plane.

He simply said: "Find out who's involved."

"You're getting dragged so hard, and you don't seem worried at all!" Liu Tianxian leaned sideways, elbow propped on the armrest.

She also knew the public opinion had been twisted.

"Worried? Of course I'm worried—I'm burning up. I was even thinking about asking you for advice on how to get through this." Fang Hong spoke calmly.

"Let me tell you, every artist entering this circle has to go through this."

"If you endure it, you have the potential to become a superstar; if you can't, you'll remain an obscure minor star—or quit the industry."

It's true: any star entering this circle, once they reach a certain stage, threatens the existing power structure.

The existing interests must defend their territory, so they launch attacks against the rising ones.

In other words, survive the assault and you ascend; fail to survive, and you're crushed.

Liu Tianxian, Fan Xiaopang, Jing Tian, Nazha, Da Mimi—all these stars went through exactly this.

Even the male idols, the so-called "little fresh meat," went through it; the veteran Four Heavenly Kings and Zhang Guorong did too.

All of them suffered smear campaigns, career lows—unchanging since ancient times.

Some endured it through sheer grit—representatives: Liu Tianxian, Nazha; some were backed by powerful connections—representative: Jing Tian; some turned the smear into promotion—Fan Xiaopang, Da Mimi.

"I'm not a star." Fang Hong felt her hand was incredibly soft, tender.

"Whether you're a star or not, they'll still target your mindset, make you lose your composure—you must stay steady," Liu Tianxian said firmly.

She had real experience: once, she'd been so badly criticized her mental state collapsed, and she quit the industry out of sheer inability to endure it; now, she's constantly criticized and must constantly adjust her mindset.

If you can't calm your mind when facing these attacks, you'll become anxious.

Worse, you might fall into depression.

"Actually, this is a good thing," Fang Hong said.

"How so?"

"Your public opinion has been diverted to me—you can now promote your movie in peace, film ads in peace, and interact with your fans." Fang Hong said.

"I don't want you to get abused," Liu Tianxian shook her head.

Though the man's words moved her, she still felt heartache at the thought of him being attacked.

Her words touched Fang Hong, who then smiled lightly: "It's fine. This kind of thing is child's play to me. If you can endure it, why can't I? They can't shake my mindset—I don't care at all."

This kind of thing is common; next year, the Shoe-Hoe-Inserts-the-Knife Sect will pull the same stunt.

But it's useless against him—if your mental strength is solid, let them scream. He's not an actor, doesn't promote or appear on stage—what use is reputation anyway?

At most, it makes him look disgusting, proves he's as rotten as Xiao Wang and Xiao Wang, as rotten as Ceng Aizi.

Just a terrible reputation.

"You're awesome."

Liu Tianxian laughed "hehe" and gave him a thumbs-up.

This man had walked beside her, encouraging her all the way; now she could walk beside him, encouraging him too.

Fang Hong smiled and gave her a thumbs-up too: "You too."

"Hehehe, don't move like that."

Liu Tianxian pulled out her phone, raised her other thumb beside his: "Let's take a photo."

The frame froze: a picture of the two of them raising their thumbs together—this photo meant something.

It captured their shared journey through storms, mutual encouragement.

"Why are you so obsessed with taking photos?" Fang Hong asked.

"It's a keepsake."

Liu Tianxian saved the photo into a dedicated album—filled entirely with pictures of the two of them, every moment recorded.

If they ever truly got together, they could pull it out later and remember—how beautiful.

"I have a question—won't this hurt the box office of 'The Big Man'?" she asked.

'The Big Man' is set to release on December 15, alongside 'Dragon Gate' and 'The Thirteen Sisters of Jinling.'

"It might hurt a little, but audiences watch the movie, not me," Fang Hong said.

"That's true," Liu Tianxian nodded.

Fang Hong tilted his head, whispering in her ear: "I'll tell you a secret—I have the complete version of the Golden Horse Awards ceremony."

"Huh?!" Liu Tianxian blinked: "How did you get it?"

The complete version should only exist in Baodao; the mainland's broadcasts are all edited, and only Sina has the streaming rights—no one else does.

Here, it's only text reports or video clips—even CCTV only ran news snippets, no full version.

"The ceremony was broadcast on AstroAEC in Malaysia—I bought it through Yindu."

Fang Hong gave her a look.

Liu Tianxian understood—he'd already acted. She'd overthought it. She asked, puzzled: "Then why not release it to clear your name?"

"I want to see who's slandering me!"

"."

On the plane, ignoring others, they sat shoulder to shoulder, chatting quietly—three hours offered plenty to discuss: the current public opinion storm, Zeng's affairs, the movie—all covered.

They didn't hide anything; they'd already reached the stage of deep understanding.

Fang Hong said he'd start with Ceng Aizi; Liu Tianxian didn't stop him, only warned: no physical attacks.

The current Liu Tianxian was harder than before.

Previously, whenever Fang Hong wanted to insult or target someone, she'd stop him; now, she rarely did.

The massive smear campaign, Zeng's affair, the distortion of truth against him—these had deeply affected her, making her feel the world was full of malice.

It was mostly Zeng's matter—the betrayal by a friend—that hurt her deeply. She could accept whatever outsiders said about her, but the abuse of her trust wounded her deeply.

After landing from the flight, Liu Tianxian rested for half a day, then the next day went out to promote "The Legend of Hongmen Banquet."

This movie will be released in two days, and these two days are critical.

However, the scandal about the Principal being criticized never stopped; instead, it intensified, with "Principal Assaulted Someone" news appearing everywhere online.

It seemed as if someone had set the tone, and others rushed in en masse.

A reporter interviewed Huang Bo, who attended the Golden Horse Awards: "What do you think about the Principal's assault?"

"The Principal is a man of great integrity, but I was too far away at the time and couldn't see clearly," Huang Bo first praised the Principal, then distanced himself from involvement.

In short, he offended no one—a people-pleaser.

The same question was posed to Hao Lei by another reporter, and she replied: "It's not what I saw."

"So you mean someone framed the Principal?" the reporter said.

"You can understand it that way."

Don't be fooled by Hao Lei's revealing attire—she has a straightforward personality and an inner defiance of authority.

Her resources are messy and disconnected from the mainstream; she takes any role, supporting or lead, and isn't afraid at all.

Amid this huge storm, many artists attending the Golden Horse Awards were asked about it, but none commented, since it had nothing to do with them.

Even Liu Tianwang couldn't be reached and made no response to the matter.

For them, offending anyone is bad; the best approach is to say nothing.

In truth, they don't know who's behind this, but something this big must be complex and involve more than one person.

It seems the Principal blocked many people's interests! While promoting, Liu Tianxian was also asked by a reporter: "Without winning an award, do you feel regret?"

"Of course I do—keep working harder!" Liu Tianxian answered bluntly.

"What do you think about the Principal's recent situation?"

"Justice resides in the hearts of the people," Liu Tianxian said.

"Do you mean the Principal when you say justice?"

"Yes!"

Liu Tianxian directly admitted she stood with Fang Hong.

Regarding the criticism, Fang Hong temporarily ignored it and didn't respond—he wanted to see who was involved, otherwise he wouldn't even know who his enemy was.

Also, he wanted the matter to cool down; the other side couldn't keep shouting forever. Once it cooled slightly, he'd start with Ceng Aizi.

At least taking him down first is definitely right.

What he needed to do was strengthen his strength and make plenty of money. Since war was coming, he'd need supplies—and this would be a prolonged battle.

That day, Fang Hong met Li Meijing, chairwoman of South Korea's CJ Entertainment, one of the country's top entertainment giants.

This company's focus isn't on girl groups, but on film production and distribution, as well as cable television networks.

In the original timeline, "The Veteran" was produced by this company.

Its headquarters is CJ Jituan, a chaebol in South Korea.

It is also a shareholder of the United States' DreamWorks and holds the distribution rights for DreamWorks in Hong Kong and Neidi.

Fang Hong approached this company to expand into the South Korean market—if China won't work, there are other markets to fall back on.

In plain terms, he had little confidence in "The Big Man" this time.

It wasn't due to being smeared, but because "The Flowers of War" and "Dragon Gate" had put pressure on him.

After all, "The Big Man" didn't achieve high box office returns in its original timeline.

Although some viewers had seen the Korean version and didn't find it fresh, and although its plot and ideas differed from the Korean version, he still had no confidence.

Fang Hong and Li Meijing met and watched "The Big Man" in a screening room.

"Director Fang's film is well-made; it could be considered for import," Li Meijing said tactfully.

No Chinese film has ever been a major hit in South Korea; she couldn't guarantee success, but this one was indeed good—at least she found it enjoyable.

She was an intellectual middle-aged woman, reportedly nicknamed the "Queen of Hallyu."

"Your Chinese is very good," Fang Hong said.

"Hehe, I often come to China, so I learned Chinese," Li Meijing laughed.

In recent years, exchanges between China and South Korea have been frequent; South Korea's market is too small, so they target this side's entertainment industry.

After all, there's more money to be made here.

The two chatted casually, then Fang Hong asked: "If you're going to import it, how will the revenue split work?"

"This is an imported film, not a local one—we need to clear bureaucratic hurdles to bring it in, so we can only offer you 20%," Li Meijing held up two fingers.

Revenue splits for imported films are never high anywhere in the world; no one is as "domineering" as the United States.

"I'm a simple person—I like things clear. Is this 20% net? Are there no other additional fees?" Fang Hong asked.

"No, it's strictly 20% of the total box office, including online and television rights," Li Meijing shook her head.

As for propaganda, it's such a tiny market with such a tiny population—why spend so much on promotion?

"Fine, let's cooperate happily," Fang Hong extended his hand, without haggling.

Twenty percent is acceptable—it's not that low; we only got 13% before, later raised to 25%.

But even then, there were still restrictions like value-added fees, levies, and tax rates.

"Director Fang, you're a straightforward man."

Li Meijing shook his hand.

(End of Chapter)