Chapter 308: You Think You're Fit to Talk Rules with Me?

Going after some small fry for this won't do any good — you don't know how many days they shot, how long they were secretly filming, or how many people were involved.

Go straight for the person running things behind them, and settle it once and for all.

Lu Dabo had people tail them to pin down their hideout and location; Huang Bing monitored the web — if anyone surfaced, they'd know who did it and could delete the posts on the spot.

The paparazzi trade, how to put it — they run a covert-filming business, but the costs are huge. Food, drink, shit, sleep, housing, transport all need money, plus salaries, professional photography gear and the like — it's no small sum.

It takes a great deal of manpower and resources.

Their working method is simple: tail-shooting. Like this time, they probably heard the gossip about Liu Tianxian and Fang Hong, came to tail them, confirm the facts, and manufacture a bombshell.

Then there's street-sweeping — going to restaurants, nightclubs, shopping districts where celebrities often show up, and whoever they sweep up, that's their catch.

That's why Liu Tianxian often gets swept up, but she doesn't care.

Another way is getting tips through agents, producers, the Propaganda Department, entertainment reporters, and so on — of course that's a hidden channel, kept under wraps.

Even if someone tips you off about a celebrity's gossip, they won't expose themselves — that's the unwritten rule.

If you expose someone's gossip, do you think they won't expose yours?

Another way is getting tips from waitstaff, security guards, and the like at entertainment venues — that's the open channel.

If they see something, they pass along the info, that sort of thing.

Fans tip them off too, but most of it is fake, just wild talk. That kind has to be sifted through — you can't report it recklessly. Reckless reporting ruins reputations and invites lawsuits.

Another way is picking up leads from online posts and celebrities' Weibo accounts.

Leads on Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian are easy to find, simply because both of them are famous.

All that said, at the root of it, people in this trade manufacture news — all kinds of celebrity news.

Eating, taking a dump counts as news, as long as you can capture it.

This ties to their profit model. One profit point is licensing fees — basically article fees. They manufacture one piece of news, distribute it to print and online media, and one piece goes for about two or three thousand yuan.

Print media means newspapers, magazines, that sort of paper media.

Even a super-hot scoop is only a few thousand yuan — it doesn't get that expensive.

The number of news pieces they manufacture in a month depends on the size of their studio. With a fifteen-person staff, they can put out roughly a hundred pieces a month.

That's why Fang Hong had Huang Bing monitor the web — to see if anyone was manufacturing news about him. If someone is, they'll know who's behind it.

Distributing to other media also lets you trace the source.

After all, Yutu Public Relations has decent relationships with some media outlets — a little asking around and you can find out.

The other profit point is negotiating a suitable price to buy the photos back. If the price doesn't work out and talks break down, they'll go ahead and expose them.

But no one has come to Fang Hong or Yutu asking for money or anything, so Fang Hong doesn't know the other side's purpose for now.

The young reporter, back at the studio, rushed straight into an office and shouted excitedly: "Boss, I got it."

"Really? Let me see." A middle-aged man wearing glasses immediately stood up from behind his desk.

Anyone familiar with the entertainment circle would know — that's Zhuo Wei.

Of course, Zhuo Wei at this point had a reputation, but hadn't yet cemented his name as the number-one paparazzo. To cement that reputation, he'd have to wait until next year's "Wen Yao" scandal.

"I got shots of the Principal together with Liu Tianxian's grandmother, aunt, and other elders — even Liu Xiaoli was there. Looks like it's at the meet-the-parents stage." The reporter excitedly handed the camera in his hand to Zhuo Wei.

Zhuo Wei looked through the photos on the camera, his expression somewhat stirred. Two months of staking out, and finally some real progress.

Their tailing of the two was based on an inside tip that the two were dating, in a relationship.

But the tipster only leaked the info to him and let him do the tailing himself, without giving him any hard evidence — out of fear of taking responsibility.

Based on the inside tip, they'd tailed the Principal for over a month. They hadn't expected the man to live so reclusively — tailing him not only ate up time but also drained energy. He had security when he went to work, and they had to dodge them.

After work he'd go home and not go anywhere, just stay home. They'd have to wait the whole night before he showed up again.

In other words, the only chance to see him was during commute hours — at other times there was basically no opportunity.

Who could stand that? So they switched targets.

They hadn't expected that switching the target to Liu Tianxian would be much easier. This girl not only went in and out of Yutu multiple times, but was also spotted shopping with a middle-aged woman.

Over the New Year they also spotted the two together many times. The Principal often went to Liu Tianxian's home, and they even got shots of Liu Tianxian's elders.

Combined with the earlier shot of Liu Tianxian shopping with a middle-aged woman, that had to be the Principal's mother.

With these photos, plus text turned into a slideshow, the buzz would last at least half a year. But they hadn't captured a shot of the Principal together with Liu Tianxian's elders.

This time they got it — the whole thread was finally tied together. The two had met each other's parents; wedding bells were coming.

If this blew up, the hype would be absolutely enormous, and it would cement his position in the trade, bringing them a lot of benefits.

It would invisibly boost his "brand effect," letting him rake in more profit and economic gain, and raise his price.

Fellow paparazzi would also trade scoops with them.

"Good work," Zhuo Wei praised.

Then he sat back down at his computer, opened his personal Weibo, and started typing.

The young reporter's face lit up. This time he'd earn at least several tens of thousands more — several times his previous income.

"You weren't spotted by the other side, were you!" Zhuo Wei finished typing and sent it out.

"I was, but the Principal couldn't do anything to me, so he let me go," the reporter said.

"What?!"

Zhuo Wei was taken aback — why did it sound like some fantasy?

As far as he knew, the Principal couldn't possibly be that soft a person. The man fought viciously in the circle, and had even blasted every celebrity in the circle for Liu Tianxian's sake.

A man like that, unable to do anything to a small reporter? No matter how you heard it, it sounded like fantasy.

"He said he was just a small-time businessman — even if he beat me up, chopped off my hands and feet, killed me, so what? That's all illegal." The reporter described the situation at the time.

"Huh?!" Zhuo Wei was dumbfounded.

Is this something the Principal could say? He had a bad feeling about this.

But the post was already typed out — the enormous temptation had clouded his mind. The profit was simply too great.

{See you on February 24th for the Lantern Festival! }

After this Weibo post was published, it quickly sparked heated discussion among netizens.

"Is this about to drop a big scoop? Looking forward to it."

"Eating melon! Eating melon!"

"Seeing Zhuo Wei just annoys me—running around reporting other people's private business, really disgusting."

"."

Because this person had built up some popularity through previous scoops, some people had great faith in him, so whenever he said he was going to drop a scoop, it would generate a certain amount of buzz.

Of course, there were also people who found him annoying and considered him unethical.

This Weibo post didn't cause much of a stir—Zhuo Wei didn't have that much influence yet.

Besides, no real scoop had actually been dropped, so who knew if it was true or false, or just pandering for attention.

But the moment Zhuo Wei posted, Fang Hong already knew—it was confirmed that he was the one secretly photographing him, and since it was him, there was buffer time.

Whenever this person got a scoop on someone, he would either build up hype first, or contact the relevant party first—in other words, negotiate the price.

You can tell from how he never releases any big news he photographs directly—either he buffers for a week or two, or buffers for a month or two, all to wait for the best price.

The "Jin Tong Yu Nu" incident was exactly like this—he clearly had photos of the woman's affair, yet he sat on it for two whole months before releasing it.

Obviously the price negotiation fell through. This person was actually very greedy—the prices he quoted, almost no one could afford, so he ruined his own reputation and became a target of public criticism!

Huang Bing inquired about the situation: "Boss Fang, how should this be handled?"

"No need for you to handle it, go do your thing." Fang Hong said.

Zhuo Wei is different from those celebrities—he doesn't need reputation, doesn't need public opinion, arguing with him is useless.

He wants not only money, but also a kind of influence—to elevate himself, to hype up the scoop, so he can sell it at a good price.

For example, as long as his melon is branded with his name "Written by Zhuo Wei," it's worth a lot—that's what he wants.

Just look at his past track record and you'll know.

"Exposed Ma Yashu's extramarital affair with a foreigner."???? That's the ex-wife of that Longrich guy.

"Exposed Feng Kuzi spending the night at an apartment with a mysterious woman."

"Exposed Gao Yuanyuan and Xia Yu's romance!"

"Exposed Wang Liqin and Yan Zi's romance."

"."

His track record is indeed impressive. This matter can only be handled by Lu Dabo—physical attack, mental attack is useless.

Zhuo Wei's background is easy to look up. He used to be a reporter at the Daily News Entertainment News Department, then jumped to Star Bigstar Weekly and started his paparazzi career.

Later he partnered with Feng Ke to found Fengxing Studio, recruiting paparazzi specifically to secretly photograph celebrities.

This Feng Ke is not the same Feng Ke as Zhang Jingying's Feng Ke.

The people they recruited were all fresh college graduates—engineering students with knowledge, people with a strong interest in the entertainment circle.

Because the salary and benefits were decent, ten to twenty thousand a month, and it involved celebrity privacy, it was very attractive.

This is also why Fang Hong didn't go after that young reporter for trouble—he went straight after the people behind it; for them it was just a job to make a living.

See how magnanimous Liu Tianxian is—she lets you photograph her freely outside, knowing this is how they make their living.

If you don't photograph her, you can't manufacture news.

Knowing Zhuo Wei's background, you can find out where he lives, how many people are in his family—very easy to look up, just ask former colleagues or superiors.

Nothing to hide—Zhuo Wei isn't some big shot, and he didn't pay anyone hush money.

It's not like no one has gone after him before, but the biggest boss he ever provoked was at the level of Feng Kuzi.

Now Lu Dabo had already located Zhuo Wei's studio, and led people to storm into it. There were staff working inside the studio.

"Everyone stay where you are and don't move—this doesn't concern you." Lu Dabo pointed at the several employees working in the office area.

He didn't smash anything, didn't make things difficult for them. If they wanted to call the police, go ahead—they weren't clean either!

Secret photography is also an infringement of others' reputation rights, and it's all scandalous stuff. If this place gets raided all at once, Zhuo Wei's losses will definitely be severe.

Besides, Lu Dabo didn't really do anything.

The several employees saw the aggressive manner and looked somewhat frightened, but all stayed silent. It wasn't like no one had come to cause trouble here before—it happened often.

Once he even provoked Dou Xian and got a car burned down.

"Bang!"

Lu Dabo kicked open the door to Zhuo Wei's office with one foot.

That reporter and Zhuo Wei were both there. The two of them heard the huge noise and were startled, especially the secretly-photographing reporter—he had seen Lu Dabo before, and his expression immediately turned panicked.

Only because this person had previously said he would finish him off.

Zhuo Wei was relatively composed, and adjusted his glasses: "What do you people want?"

"Looking for you." Lu Dabo didn't look at the reporter, sat directly on Zhuo Wei's desk, and looked down at him from above.

The people who came with him closed the door, stood at the doorway, arms crossed, staring at the two of them.

"What do you want with me? I don't know you people." Zhuo Wei forced himself to stay composed, his gaze shifting among these people, then settling on Lu Dabo.

"He-he's the Principal's man." That young reporter spoke incoherently.

He had personally witnessed how ruthless Lu Dabo was; the Principal, on the other hand, was much more affable.

Hearing this, Zhuo Wei's pupils contracted: "What do you want?"

"Discuss something with you—stop photographing the Principal and Liu Tianxian, delete all their photos." Lu Dabo was still speaking politely.

"Impossible." Zhuo Wei refused outright.

He had gone through so much trouble to photograph them, spent so much manpower and resources—how could he possibly just delete them on someone's word?

"Not even the slightest room for negotiation?" Lu Dabo said.

"No, if you want to talk, let the Principal talk to me."

"Snap!" Lu Dabo slapped Zhuo Wei across the face, knocking his glasses off onto the floor.

"Do you even qualify to talk to the Principal?" Lu Dabo sneered.

The young reporter looked stunned and shuffled aside, becoming a ghost.

Zhuo Wei's face burned—he'd been fine just moments ago, and now they were just hitting people? He'd lost all face, all dignity.

He'd meant to extort money from the Principal, figuring he couldn't get through to this guy.

"Listen well—I have money, and I have people."

Lu Dabo pointed at his men and added: "I know exactly where your parents live on Jinmen X Road, and which apartment your wife is in."

"Let me make this clear—I have no limits. Don't provoke me. If you do, the consequences won't just hurt you—they'll hurt your family."

He meant he was different from anyone Zhuo Wei had ever messed with—he had money, people, and investigative channels that could make his whole family's life a nightmare.

Zhuo Wei's heart turned icy with dread, but he still struggled: "In this world, you follow the code of the underworld. Do you know what you're risking by doing this?"

He threatened with rules, with law.

"I've got nothing to lose. Without the Principal, I'd be some nobody getting yelled at on some set, worse than a dog. Do you think I'm afraid?"

Lu Dabo shot back, tugging at his collar: "And who the hell are you to lecture me about rules?"

Zhuo Wei's face twisted unnaturally—he knew men like this had no limits, because he'd been poor too, and could put himself in their shoes. He had no limits either.

Whoever gave them big money, whoever gave them dignity—they'd sell their lives for them.

"Choose: you delete the Principal's photos yourself, or I go after your family." Lu Dabo sat upright, expression cold.

The room fell silent. Zhuo Wei wrestled with himself—this was a huge story. Honestly, he didn't want to let it go.

If this broke, he could easily make a few million. He'd planned to make the Principal buy back the photos and pay a protection fee.

He hadn't expected the Principal to break the script—just hit him physically.

"I accept your demand. Can I talk to the Principal?" Zhuo Wei still wanted some benefit.

He had no choice—he couldn't risk his own safety or his family's. He had no limits, so he couldn't fight back. At best, he could make them feel uneasy.

But these people had no limits—they'd actually harass.

"No," Lu Dabo said. "The Principal said you can exchange information with us—only through cooperation. In return, you must hand over every single piece of material you've filmed."

The "material" here meant everyday footage of Yutu artists—what they did off-duty, behind-the-scenes on set—harmless stuff.

Zhuo Wei had to give Yutu everything he'd filmed too—whatever he caught, he handed over. They had him cornered. After all, he'd been the one who'd gone around sneaking photos of the Principal for no reason.

Fang Hong refused to talk to him because Zhuo Wei was too filthy—talking to him would drag Fang Hong's status down.

"You're thinking way too highly of yourselves. You want my hard-earned stuff?" Zhuo Wei was unhappy.

"Why the rush? We're just taking it to look at. Do you think we're like you—spilling everything to the press? We don't have your taste."

Meaning they'd only look at it—never leak it, never touch Zhuo Wei's interests.

Of course, that was just talk—subject to their mood.

Zhuo Wei stayed silent, his heart resisting.

"I'm not joking. Do you believe I can have your wife snatched right now?" Lu Dabo slapped his face arrogantly.

He'd switched from sweet talk to threats.

"I'll do as you say."

Zhuo Wei bowed his head, submitting.

I'll reset my state. Tomorrow I'll get back to work. These past few days I've been off—I've been emotionally drained, and staying up every night has left me hollow.

Sorry! I'm sorry!

(End of Chapter)