Chapter 271

Several women stirred with hidden currents, and Yan Li triggered two pieces of intelligence, but he paid no attention.

Let them stir if they want!

Although these people around him had some influence, recommendation rights, and even a degree of scheduling authority in relevant matters, their actions still couldn't escape Yan Li's control.

The so-called recommendations and arrangements? All parties still acted out of respect for Yan Li's face; promotion and heavy backing could only happen with Yan Li's approval.

Especially Dong Xuan and Qin Lan—the so-called personnel and connections in Yi'an's faction were essentially his own people.

Fan Xiaopang had greater fame, energy, and broader contacts, and indeed had his own network, but most of his key connections still relied on Yan Li; otherwise, their effect and impact would be greatly diminished.

Under these circumstances, no matter how they stirred, it was all, in a sense, meat rotting in the pot—and the power to divide the meat still rested in Yan Li's hands.

So Yan Li didn't care; if Qin Lan and Dong Xuan truly managed to pull down the company or even those he favored, Yan Li would actually hold them in higher regard.

It would mean these two had grown capable, or that the people they supported held considerable value—both of which were still good for Yan Li.

In short, no matter who won, Yan Li would definitely win!

In mid-April, Huang Xiaoming officially joined Huayi, and the two Wangs of Huayi held a sizable signing ceremony for him.

Judging by the cost of the ceremony, the guest lineup, and the promotional intensity, Huayi treated Huang Xiaoming with great importance—far surpassing previous signings like Zhou Young Master, Lin Xinru, and Su Youpeng; even before the signing began, articles had already labeled him Huayi's number one.

Of course, this was only part of Huayi's thinking.

As previously mentioned, Huayi's artist management was divided into several groups, each with its own flagship artist.

For example, Li Bingbing and Li Xue formed one group, Zhou Young Master another, Lin Xinru and Su Youpeng—who stood together—a third, and now a new group after Huang Xiaoming's arrival.

As is well known, within large companies, departmental interests often outweigh corporate interests.

Although Huayi heavily promoted Huang Xiaoming and tacitly accepted him as number one, that didn't mean other artist management groups had no other ideas.

At least Su Youpeng, who considered himself no less famous or popular, felt he had the right to compete for Huayi's number one spot.

Also remaining at Huayi alongside Li Bingbing was Ren Quan; although currently focused on business, he still had considerable fame and seniority, and wasn't without a chance to step forward.

Other male artists at Huayi also had ambition, and some groups were already reaching out to popular male artists outside.

Huayi had previously wanted to poach Deng Chao, but Deng Chao was snatched up by Yi'an; naturally, they began considering other candidates.

It was said that Lu Yi had grown very close to Huayi.

Although Lu Yi's development had hit some bottlenecks these past two years, and his popularity had been affected by romance and marriage, he still ranked among the top young male actors; with Huayi's support, he might break through his bottleneck.

Another name frequently mentioned was Du Chun; though not highly famous, several of his dramas had performed decently, and he was beginning to emerge.

Popular young male actors were coveted by every company and hard to poach; promising newcomers were equally key targets.

At present, Huang Xiaoming, with his strong momentum and Huayi's backing, held a major advantage, but also faced internal challenges.

Especially Lu Yi—if Huayi secured him, it might ignite a battle for Huayi's number one.

Huayi was fully capable of doing this.

After all, they had already stirred up a battle for number one between Li Bingbing and Zhou Young Master, now had Lin Xinru, and planned to sign popular female stars including Liu Tianxian.

If female stars can be pitted against each other, male stars can too—it's all about profit and exposure.

As always, the two Wangs of Huayi cared about listing and stock prices; internal conflicts were temporarily out of consideration.

But Huayi hadn't anticipated that just as their internal "Huayi number one" topic was beginning, Yi'an started promoting a rivalry between Yi'an's number one and Huayi's number one.

Just four days later, Deng Chao officially joined Yi'an, and his signing ceremony was even more lavish than Huang Xiaoming's.

Yan Li, rarely so outspoken, declared that Deng Chao had the potential to become the representative of mainland male actors.

Simultaneously, it was officially announced that Deng Chao would star as the lead in Yi'an's next Gu Long drama, "Xiao Shiyilang."

The competition between this drama and another, "Liu Xing Hu Die Jian," had sparked much debate; ultimately, "Xiao Shiyilang" edged ahead due to its relatively higher recognition.

Moreover, this was Deng Chao's own choice—he personally preferred Xiao Shiyilang.

Although Deng Chao rose to fame in historical dramas, he had mostly portrayed young emperors; to portray Xiao Shiyilang's chivalry and wildness, he would need to put in considerable effort.

Gu Long dramas were one of Yi'an's golden trademarks; to avoid tarnishing the brand, Yan Li had even considered halting production after the wuxia craze faded.

Of course, there were other reasons as well, but this also indirectly demonstrated Yi'an's high regard for Gu Long dramas.

If Deng Chao failed in the Gu Long drama and caused the project to collapse, his position as company number one would be unstable.

Everyone could see Yi'an's high regard for Deng Chao, but they never openly declared him number one.

Just as Huayi never openly declared Huang Xiaoming their number one—the company had to consider others' feelings, especially since both were newcomers.

But while the company didn't acknowledge it, the press releases kept pouring out.

Some came from the company, some from the artists' teams, and others from media outlets eager to stir trouble.

Thanks to these press releases, more and more people began linking Deng Chao with Huang Xiaoming; Huang Xiaoming was even asked by reporters at an event about his opinion of Deng Chao.

Anyone with eyes could see this was Yi'an's classic "poaching" tactic—the same old strategy used in the "Shuang Bing" marketing campaign.

Huayi was still hesitating whether to respond, but Chengtian—more precisely, Wang Jinghua—had already begun acting.

She launched Chengtian's number one, Tong Dawei, into the fray.

Whether Tong Dawei truly counted as Chengtian's number one was debatable; after all, Chengtian still had Chen Daoming, Hu Jun, and Xia Yu—all far beyond Tong Dawei's reach.

Another prominent young actor outside Wang Jinghua's roster was Zhou Jie.

But Tong Dawei had his own advantages.

First, he was a popular young actor, with higher commercial value than Chen Daoming and others; he was Wang Jinghua's protégé, heavily backed by Chengtian, given the "Chibi" project, and held several dramas including "Struggle."

More crucially, he had a good personal relationship with Yan Li.

Hype isn't something you can just do at will.

Anyone can try to poach, and many had tried to poach Huang Xiaoming—but only Deng Chao had gained momentum.

Why?

Because Yi'an had sufficient weight, knew how to create topics, was willing to spend heavily, and had ample channels to drive exposure.

For ordinary poaching attempts, Huang Xiaoming's team wouldn't even respond; but Yi'an's campaign had pushed Huang Xiaoming's team to consider responding.

Because responding to others' poaching meant bleeding Huang Xiaoming's resources; but with Deng Chao backed by Yi'an, even though Deng Chao currently gained more, Huang Xiaoming still received some exposure, long-term competitive advantage, and sustained hype.

The "Shuang Bing" example was right there—what artist wouldn't envy the many benefits of such rivalry and binding?

By the same logic, if Deng Chao and Huang Xiaoming alone could be hyped, why bring in a third?

But Tong Dawei was different—he was half Yan Li's own man, sometimes usable by Yan Li, so including him wasn't out of the question.

Three people hyped, three companies, the momentum could grow even larger; Tong and Deng Chao could even collaborate at times.

Precisely because of this, Wang Jinghua persuaded and suppressed internal dissent at Chengtian, forcefully elevating Tong Dawei.

And clever people weren't limited to Wang Jinghua; Hai Run's Chang Jihong also swiftly pushed forward Liu Huohua from her roster.

Liu Huohua was widely recognized as Hai Run's number one, though his presence as number one wasn't as strong as Sun Li's as number one.