Chapter 237: Opening Up One's Past

Liu Tianxian's airport interview quotes and clips were quickly posted online, and netizens were buzzing with comments.

"Fei-isms!"

"See that? My Xianxian doesn't give a damn about Song Chengxian, no interest in him at all — those Korean guys just love to fantasize."

"She likes people she can chat with, just can't click with the Korean guy, she likes the way jiejie talks — that vibe."

"I think Liu Tianxian speaks really nicely, high EQ with a bit of humor."

"The media loves to report nonsense, Liu Tianxian has such a big heart."

"Liu Tianxian's interviews are so straight to the point, no beating around the bush, genuine and not put-on."

"Real personality, no pretending!"

"."

Whatever Liu Tianxian says now, there's a huge crowd commenting — can't be helped, her topics are hot, the heat is still climbing steadily, no sign of dropping.

Netizens love watching her now, and Lucy 1 is still in its hot theatrical run, plus she nailed that pretentious-cool persona so well.

Little white rabbit in the first half, then explodes with all kinds of counter-kills in the second half.

Especially when Young Master Zhao says: "I Like You!"

The scene of Liu Tianxian stomping his head in — the little fairies couldn't handle it.

They love this vibe — beating up stinky men! Because the heat is so high, rumors about her are flying everywhere: some say she's with her godfather, some say Song Chengxian, some say lesbian, some about her nationality — every kind of rumor has popped up.

Anyway, the truth doesn't matter — even if they have to make stuff up, they have to slander Liu Tianxian.

Who told her to snatch endorsements, snatch fashion pages, snatch heat, snatch everything.

Lucy 1 is still in its hot run, breaking 600 million at the box office in about ten days, plus the earlier Those Years, Love Is Not Blind, and Bad Genius.

"China's first actress to break one billion is born!"

Liu Tianxian's personal total box office is now around 1.5 billion — in the entire entertainment industry, in the film sector, no actress has higher value than her.

In this era, one billion is a hurdle — once you break it, you've planted your flag in the film circle.

This isn't the later era where fifty-billion, hundred-billion stars are everywhere — back then, one or two hundred million was already a pretty good film.

Lucy 1's success let Liu Tianxian completely shake off Da Mimi, Liu Sisi, Da Baobei and the rest of the 85 Flowers, once again standing in a tier of her own.

And Guoji Zhang is mired in various scandals, Li Bailian's push to go international is still in progress, Young Master Zhou has no desire, Fan Xiaopang is doing all kinds of hype.

Liu Tianxian can be said to be in a league of her own, constantly breaking through and moving forward! It's just that she's inconsistent — after one good film, she rewards herself with a bad one, which is honestly hard for fans to stomach.

There's still a lot of distrust toward her! The Four Great Constables still got roasted to high heaven by audiences — after Lucy 1 and Painted Skin 2 hit theaters, this film's box office was capped.

In a place like the entertainment industry, it's winner-takes-all — Lucy 1 was a massive hit.

Then Painted Skin 2, The Four Great Constables, and other films — including the stars in them — become cannon fodder.

That's the winner-takes-all law of the entertainment industry! After about a month in theaters, The Four Great Constables made about 30 million less than in the original timeline, only around 169 million.

But this film definitely made money, it's just a question of how much — the production cost wasn't that high to begin with.

"Should've known not to do The Four Great Constables." Liu Tianxian was a bit regretful.

Thinking about it, there are still two more — the second part releases in two years, meaning two more years of being called out for bad films.

"I told you, this was a bad film, but you just wouldn't listen, had to stubbornly argue with me." Fang Hong said.

There's an even worse one in the second half of the year, The Bronze Bird Terrace — that's the "epic-level" one, thankfully that got stopped.

"Then what do we do? It's already been filmed."

Liu Tianxian scooped up a piece of cake with a spoon and put it in her mouth: "Who knew what would happen later, getting a drama to act in back then was already pretty good."

Back then Jade Rabbit hadn't risen yet, she had few roles, so getting any drama to act in was indeed pretty good.

Fang Hong didn't say anything, picked up his dessert and took a bite — this kind of thing didn't matter to him.

His company had tons of film projects lined up, just throw money at them! The two were at a café right now, this was them finding time to meet — recently Liu Tianxian had been very busy, no time for all the ad signings, fashion pages, event appearances, etc.

Anyway, they were in BJ, hadn't seen each other in a while, finding time to meet up — going too long without meeting wasn't great.

Liu Tianxian took a sip of coffee, mannerly: "Let me tell you, those Hong Kong circle people are coming to find me again."

"Find you for what?" Fang Hong was puzzled.

"Find me to act in their films, they want a cut of my profits." Liu Tianxian said bluntly.

"Ignore them, a bunch of beggars." Fang Hong said with contempt.

"Hey, in your eyes they're really that pathetic?" Liu Tianxian said.

"I'm not singling them out — I mean the entire entertainment industry is full of goddamn beggars." Fang Hong's tone was heavy.

This kind of beggar doesn't mean begging for money, but begging for resources, begging for profit — seeing someone become popular again, they want to grab a share, leech off some benefits.

"So you're saying I'm one too." Liu Tianxian's phoenix eyes fixed on him, face serious. "You're not, you've already risen above the level of beggar." Fang Hong said.

"Get lost!"

Liu Tianxian kicked him under the table — that comment implied she used to be a beggar.

But she couldn't argue with that!

This man probably had some grudge about her past! Fang Hong asked: "I'm curious, how do they split the profits with you?"

"Before, it was 50% kickback for introducing a role. Fang Long pushed me for a while — attending events with him, shooting magazines, all of that, he got a cut." Liu Tianxian didn't hide it from him.

Back then Fang Long spared no effort in promoting her, praising her at every occasion.

"That's highway robbery!"

Fang Hong clicked his tongue inwardly — 50% was way too outrageous. (Author made this up, don't take it as gossip!) He knew the entertainment industry had this unspoken rule — stars introducing roles to each other and taking a 20% kickback.

Some more famous actors with clout on set, after getting scripts, would specifically introduce roles to actors who could give them kickbacks.

This is why the entertainment industry is all about connections, and also why it's so cliquish.

Because introducing outsiders means no profit!

It's similar to how Fang Hong gave My Love from the Star to Fan Xiaopang to act in — the profit split was about the same, except he was relatively decent, only taking half of the excess overflow! He didn't take more than he should! "What could I do, back then I had to rely on them, otherwise I wouldn't even have roles." Liu Tianxian said it Tandang.

That was right when she was blacklisted and the Godfather was reported on — her lowest point! She went on: "Love in Disguise was Brother Fang Long's arrangement, A Chinese Ghost Story was wired by Emperor Entertainment Group, and White Lie was actually a Hong Kong circle cake too."

"Then your ties to the Hong Kong circle run way too deep." Fang Hong didn't know what to say.

One had to admit, rejecting Huayi was the right call, but walking out on the Hong Kong circle was a completely stinky move — it gave her a tacky, world-weary air.

Nobody didn't say that Liu Tianxian back then dressed greasy and world-weary.

And it even made Chen Jinfei unhappy. Chen Jinfei was mired in trouble, yet the mother and daughter had actually run off to the Hong Kong circle on their own.

Chen Jinfei himself had even complained: only one dog was keeping him company! That was also one of the reasons the two sides fell out!

But the inside story was very complicated. Fang Hong didn't know the specific reasons and couldn't say much, which was also why he'd always kept his own interests cleanly separated from Liu Tianxian's.

Even if he gave her a role, there'd be no business dealings — because sometimes even he couldn't read this mother-daughter pair! Liu Tianxian lowered her head and was silent for a while, her mood somewhat low: "I didn't understand back then. Only after I understood did I realize many things were beyond my control."

Some things she didn't know, her mother didn't know too well either — only after going in and seeing for herself did she know how deep the waters ran.

It was never something she could grasp.

Huayi was a big dyeing vat, but actually the Hong Kong circle was even worse than Huayi — that was also why she was slowly cutting ties with the Hong Kong circle now.

Seeing her like that, Fang Hong didn't say anything more. He too was looking at the problem from the angle of results — when you're actually in it, how many people can see the whole picture?

Besides, how old was Liu Tianxian back then! Let the matter drop here — talk too much and Liu Tianxian's mood would only get worse.

But he still had one question: "You said they took your interests, but how come I never saw you act in any Emperor Entertainment Group films?"

If they took the interests, they should've given her roles — that was only right!

Now that she's hit big, they come running back wanting to cooperate again — are there really people this shameless?

He remembered — last time Liu Tianxian blew up with Bad Genius, Emperor Entertainment Group had a film called The Lost Bladesman come to her, but she didn't take it!

"Because Emperor Entertainment Group wanted to go north," Liu Tianxian said.

Got it — Emperor Entertainment Group wanted to go north, so they had to embrace Neidi film and TV companies and cooperate with them.

Huayi was the best choice. CJ7, Back to 1942, Personal Tailor — all had Emperor Entertainment Group's involvement, and Fang Long's involvement too.

So that was also why in recent years Fang Long hadn't cooperated with Liu Tianxian again, only acting as a middleman to make introductions — every project he introduced was garbage.

Emperor Entertainment Group was the same — only acting as a middleman to make introductions.

That way they both took the interests and didn't offend the leading players of the Neidi film and TV circle.

Every one of them was sly as a fox. Only Fang Hong was bull-headed and went charging straight in — luckily he was reborn back to this time, and over the past few years he'd worked diligently, eating alone, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

Otherwise he'd have been played by these people and still had to count their money for them!

Actually, thinking about it, Liu Tianxian was pretty pitiful too — interests handed over, drinks kept, and she'd even ruined her own reputation.

And damn it, she didn't even get any benefit! Shit! The two of them finished their meal and walked out of the café together. Fang Hong looped his arm around Liu Tianxian's waist and pressed his face to hers for a parting kiss.

"Don't overwork yourself," he said.

"You too. Remember to text me."

Sometimes when Liu Tianxian was taking photos or busy and didn't have time to take a call, she'd give him a heads-up first.

The two of them were still as they always were — unaffected by what had happened before.

If Fang Hong really minded, he wouldn't have gotten together with Liu Tianxian in the first place — because even if he didn't know many things, he could guess them.

Once his status rose, he could hear about many things from other people's mouths too! Liu Tianxian had also realized this point, which was why she deliberately revealed some things — she meant to open up her own past.

(End of chapter)