Chapter 284: First, Beat the Principal to Death

The caller was Tian Yu's General Manager and Mango Media's Deputy General Manager, Long Danni.

In this storm, Fang Hong had taken Tian Yu's artists as the key targets to look after—their artists were the easiest to smear, simply because their artists were all the type of traffic stars who needed a public persona.

Smearing them like this was equivalent to breaking their artists' public personas, breaking their traffic.

Especially Shuangzi, who had risen to sudden fame in the past two years.

"Principal, hello." Long Danni was still quite polite, probably knowing she was in the wrong.

Yutu wasn't afraid of them either—they were in the film business, which had nothing to do with Hunan Satellite TV; even if they made TV dramas, there were plenty of satellite TV channels.

There was no need to insist on going on their Hunan Satellite TV.

The Liu Tianxian matter had originally been something cooked up by internal fighting within their station, which spun out of control and ended up like this.

The main reason was that the leadership change was coming up, and everyone wanted to rise to the top.

Tian Yu was quite successful in Variety, but in film and television, only "Together Watch Meteor Shower" had exploded; nothing else had.

In film they only got to sip a bit of the soup—they couldn't produce independently—but Long Danni was quite ambitious and had been drilling into the film field all along.

The Producer of "Tiny Times" was one of them.

This person was still very talented; "Dad Where Are We Going" was also a Tian Yu production, only that after the power struggle failed, Tian Yu never touched the film sector again.

But Tian Yu had a big drawback: no matter how much they schemed, they didn't have a single artist who could carry the load in film, television, and Variety, which made Liu Tianxian seem very rare.

As long as she was willing to appear on Variety, people liked watching her; if she was willing to film a TV drama, people liked watching her too—where could you find an artist like this?

"Hello, Manager Long." Fang Hong, with one leg crossed over the other, leaned back against the chair, holding his phone next to his ear, without turning on speaker.

The people around could only hear him speak, not the person on the other end.

"Principal, can you let this matter go?" Long Danni didn't hide anything either, getting straight to the point.

They were all smart people; they both knew what it was about.

And the circle was already widely saying that the Principal was launching an indiscriminate attack over the Liu Tianxian matter.

And the cause of that matter was right here at Tian Yu; it was just that people in the circle had taken advantage of it and risen up to attack together.

"How can it be let go? It's already blown up to this point." Fang Hong said.

"You've already driven Zeng to a breakdown; I think things can end here. Fighting each other isn't good for either of us." Long Danni said.

"Whether it's good for me or not, I don't know, but it's definitely not good for your faction." Fang Hong said.

Long Danni's heart jolted, and her momentum involuntarily shrank a notch—the Principal knew they were fighting internally.

Their faction had wanted from the start to pull Liu Tianxian into the fold, to cooperate with her on filming TV dramas and appearing on Variety shows, much like how later Liu Tianxian would lean on Tencent.

But they handled it badly—seeing that Zeng and Liu Tianxian had a good relationship, they let the two of them get close, and it blew up in their faces.

It blew up from the very start; they weren't clean themselves, so people seized on the loopholes—they didn't understand how treacherous the entertainment circle was.

And they had bungled the Liu Tianxian matter, and now their artists were being smeared by the Principal through Publicity Drafts—equivalent to: if this fight continued, the income from those few cash-cow artists would plummet.

No film, brand, or event would use a star who was currently controversial.

Even fans were unfollowing in greater numbers.

Without fans paying, a star's value drops a big chunk—don't brands rely on fans to pay?

In other words, Tian Yu, while fighting internally and being messed with by Yutu like this, was destined to lose—lose performance, lose reputation.

Of course, in his previous life they still lost, but that's a story for later.

"Then what do you want?" Long Danni said.

"Make Zeng disappear, never appear again." Fang Hong said.

"During my tenure, while she's an artist of my company, I can do it—put her on ice. But when her management contract expires and she's no longer an artist of my company, then I can't do anything." Long Danni said.

She could make Zeng disappear, but if Zeng left, she couldn't control her anymore.

She agreed to put her on ice because Zeng couldn't create much value for Tian Yu, and the damage Yutu was inflicting on Tian Yu was far greater than Zeng's value.

"I need a once-and-for-all method to make Zeng disappear." Fang Hong said.

Later Zeng got together with Guo Biting again, and there was another storm then, again linked to Liu Tianxian—the best method was to make sure this person never appeared in public again.

Even if she did appear, it would be in a negative light.

"This—" Long Danni was momentarily at a loss for words, feeling the Principal was being way too ruthless.

In every word there was the implication of making someone disappear, with a bit of a physical-elimination vibe.

Chen Zhixi, Huang Bing, and the others also exchanged glances.

"Principal, is the grudge really that deep? Ending it here would be enough." Long Danni advised.

"I have a project called 'Dad Where Are We Going,' a parent-child outdoor reality show purchased from South Korea's MBC, and we can cooperate with Mango."

"."

Fang Hong went to a place with no one around and chatted alone with Long Danni for a long time—discussing the Variety cooperation, and also discussing how to make Zeng disappear.

Making Zeng disappear didn't mean physical elimination, but another method of making her disappear; that was manageable.

Variety cooperation had to rely on Satellite TV—even online video platforms' Variety shows had to rely on Satellite TV for distribution, and Yutu didn't have the talent to produce Variety shows.

Long Danni was an old hand in this area; she was not only Mango's deputy general manager, but also had very good relations with Zhejiang Satellite TV—she was a graduate of Zhejiang Media College.

This was also why, even if this person left Hunan Satellite TV, she could still start her own company to produce Variety shows and rise again.

The resources behind her were vast—people like Xiao Zhan and Mao Buyi had been made famous by her.

Perhaps when the power struggle failed, she could be pulled over.

Co-developing the "Dad Where Are We Going" project, Long Danni was very interested—she had heard of that Variety show, and the station had always intended to bring it in.

She hadn't expected the Principal had already gotten there first.

This wasn't about taking sides, just a simple business cooperation; as for Zeng, that was incidental.

But making Zeng disappear wasn't done by Yutu, nor by Fang Hong, but by Tian Yu—they were in a position to handle it. After Fang Hong finished chatting with the other party, he came back, and Chen Zhixi reminded him: "You can't do anything excessive."

"I know the limits, don't worry." Fang Hong said.

That's fine, but if it really came to physical elimination, the sin would be enormous.

After a series of mutual compromises and negotiations, over two or three days, the heat of the dirt on Liu Tianxian online dissipated considerably.

It was as if overnight, almost no one was saying Liu Tianxian was a lesbian anymore.

Once the people stirring things up in the background were gone, the Wangyi were just loose sand—easily led away and made to forget.

Liu Tianxian herself didn't say a single word the entire time, never even mentioning the matter, as if this person had never appeared in her life.

What replaced the public discourse now were reports about Liu Tianxian winning the Macau Film Queen, and how at the 2012 Weibo Night, Liu Tianxian appeared on Weibo's official Propaganda Department publicity with an entire poster to herself.

Other artists had to fight for the C-position on the publicity poster, brawling until their heads bled, or else share a poster with a crowd of other stars.

Yet she occupied an entire poster by herself, as the promotional image.

This kind of treatment is usually reserved for big stars like Fa Ge, or great directors like Lao Mouzi.

Although Liu Tianxian can't compare to them, it's also not appropriate to put her together with other "artists"—because at Liu Tianxian's current tier, she must be given the C-position.

If it's not appropriate to give her the C-position, then just giving her a full page will do.

The top star of any major agency has such a clause—her own artist must have the C-position. Take Chunge, for instance—when have you ever seen her share a poster with someone else without being in the C-position?

This edition of Weibo Night was held on January 14.

As this storm gradually faded, the entertainment circle clearly recognized that the gap between them and the Principal was not only one of financial resources, but also of strength.

The current Jade Rabbit has clearly grown into a force in its own right—not enough to cover the sky with one hand, but enough to launch an offensive against the entire entertainment circle.

Jade Rabbit has a dedicated team to plan these matters: twenty million a year on public relations, maintaining so many Propaganda Department channels—equivalent to over a million in monthly expenses for handling things.

Whether there's a task or not, this money has to be spent—major media public relations and online platforms all get a share.

If there's a task, there's additional expenditure, like with this incident.

This is also why there's relatively little news about Fang Hong online—unless it's necessary, he generally isn't reported on.

Simply because they have so much business and have paid their protection fees—digging into their background means you don't want to earn their money.

With this wave of Liu Tianxian's announcement that she'll attend the event, occupying a full poster page, very few people online are still slandering her.

But the internet still isn't quiet—it's still scaring everyone, because Jade Rabbit is currently going all-out slandering one person to death, with "Evil Little Essay" being spread across the entire web.

Directly slapping the "Evil" label on her.

This person is rather arrogant—thinking that because she has the most Weibo followers, she's amazing and super popular, she kept stirring things up against Liu Tianxian, buying slander Publicity Drafts about her.

For Jade Rabbit to investigate is now very simple, because many people have made their stance clear—the scope narrowed dramatically at once, and the investigation quickly zeroed in on this person.

"Evil Little Essay" explained why she is "Evil," what "Evil" did that was enraging, that hurt people's feelings.

Half true, half false—in any case, it was distortion and exaggeration.

In an instant, netizens with sensitive nerves flooded this person's Weibo, giving her a thorough cursing.

"Stinky whore!"

"Evil my ass."

"."

This person's Weibo was flooded with vicious comments, the comment section quickly collapsing.

Simply because the little essay stirred up the Wangyi's emotions.

She was still rather stubborn, going down to argue and trade insults with netizens, completely squandering the goodwill she'd accumulated from "My Own Swordsman" and "Lurk."

No one cared about her, and Fang Hong couldn't be bothered to either—as long as no more people stir things up, a few individuals can't make any waves.

Complete peace is impossible—there are always a few stubborn people or companies, plus a few Heizi.

A Hong Kong company like Emperor Entertainment can't make waves in Neidi—they can mess with small-time stars, but compared to a local enterprise like Jade Rabbit, they have no foundation.

Even if they buy Publicity Drafts, they can't make any waves.

And right now Bona and Huayi don't have the bandwidth for that either—one has "The Last Tycoon" flopping and urgently needs other films to make up for it.

The other is anxious because "Now You See Me" is about to be released and Tu Piaopiao's financing is causing headaches—this round of Tu Piaopiao financing has a valuation almost catching up to Huayi's.

Where would they find the mind to deal with all that nonsense online?

With the Principal helping Liu Tianxian, the worst they can do is disgust Liu Tianxian—they can no longer cause her substantive harm.

Because the person involved already clarified it wasn't sent to Liu Tianxian, but to her boyfriend—in a situation where there's no inherent error from the start.

If you insist on stirring things up, it becomes a two-sided brawl.

Setting aside whether they can take down Liu Tianxian, the question is whether they can take down the Principal.

You say take down Liu Tianxian—fine, but can you take down the Principal? The two of them are independent entities, with virtually no agency dealings between them.

Could Liu Tianxian possibly sway the Principal's decisions?

But the artists of these film and television companies have real, tangible interests with their artists—artists who have created agency value for the company.

When Jade Rabbit slanders their artists, it causes actual losses.

Liu Tianxian hasn't created any agency value for Jade Rabbit—slandering Liu Tianxian doesn't hurt the Principal.

So this business simply isn't worth it!

This is the same line of thinking as Fang Hong's: in the eyes of the big shots, Liu Tianxian is only a secondary contradiction—the Principal is the primary contradiction.

Want to kill off Liu Tianxian? First kill off the Principal!

That's also why Fang Hong set the targets for slander on artists from the start, not on the companies as a whole—because Liu Tianxian only blocked the path of those artists.

She didn't block the overall interests of the talent agencies, only a portion of them.

(End of chapter)