Chapter 287

It was clear that this so-called Harper's Bazaar Star Charity Night wasn't very professional.

Well, it's not that it's unprofessional—more accurately, it just can't hold the stage.

In plain terms, it's just a fashion magazine that originally relied on connections and face-saving to invite familiar stars—all part of the same circle, all trading favors, just having fun among themselves.

This time, it hitched onto two giants, Huayi and Yi'an, drew in more stars, and threw together a big spectacle—but it got a little out of control.

At this stage, the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine still doesn't wield much influence over stars.

Even if they did, Harper's Bazaar is still just a magazine; many stars interact with it on equal—or even superior—terms.

Everything's fine when everyone's happy, but if things go south, they won't give you a second thought.

As for big shots like Yan Li, just showing up is already a favor.

Editor Su Mang merely greets them; the real hosts for Yan Li and the others are the magazine's behind-the-scenes proprietor.

And even he has people who don't take him seriously.

Aside from a few corporate sponsors propping up the event, media and film figures like Yan Li hold far more relevant resources—they just don't involve themselves in or deeply specialize in this area.

It's unclear what Wang Zhongjun is thinking, but for Yan Li, the reason he came this time is twofold.

First, charity—public exposure for such public welfare events is never excessive; second, to generate buzz for Shuang Bing ahead of the filming of "Painted Skin."

Stir up Shuang Bing's popularity, then smoothly transition into promoting the upcoming filming of "Painted Skin."

As for exactly how to stir it up, Shuang Bing don't need to act much—just appearing together in normal, natural states gives plenty of room for media and teams to run with it.

Besides Shuang Bing, Yan Li also has a subtle intention to elevate Deng Chao.

"Liu Zong, isn't there a celebrity group photo segment?"

Liu Laowu of Harper's Bazaar didn't understand, but he knew Yan Li had something to say, so he asked directly.

"What suggestion does President Yan have?"

"Suggestion? Not quite—just an idea for you to consider, Liu Zong."

Yan Li smiled: "I think your group photo segment is a bit disorganized and irregular. You could pick a few more substantial figures to go up together and promote charity."

"For example, the Four Dan and Shuang Bing—Xiaoming, Deng Chao, Dawei—all top male and female stars in mainland China. Gathering them together would be a highlight for our charity night."

Wang Zhongjun glanced at Yan Li; as Huayi's leader, he caught the subtext immediately.

These people already had connections; appearing together would be a unified showcase.

Once their teams start hyping it up, they can lock the narrative, steer the momentum, and turn them into the hottest names in mainland China.

That's beneficial for these artists, but even more so for some—like Deng Chao, who's being fully elevated.

Not content with bumping into Huang Xiaoming, now he's going after the Four Dan and Shuang Bing?!

Wang Zhongjun remained calm: "These few are too few. Why not add Xinru and Youpeng? Six women, four men—perfect."

Elevating Deng Chao is fine, but Huayi must take the lion's share.

Yan Li looked at him: "So Huayi gets the big slice—Zhou, Li, Huang—three slots; Yi'an gets two."

"We have more people, so you benefit more from riding our fame."

"The buzz is lively—aren't you the ones who profit most?"

"Tong Dawei's close to you, isn't he? He's practically your Yi'an guy."

"Then again, Huayi was Tong Dawei's original company."

The two traded sharp words—Wang Zhongjun wanted to push more Huayi artists on stage; Yan Li refused.

Yu Pangzi stepped in to mediate: "Wang Zong, President Yan, the Four Dan and Shuang Bing and the Four Big Bros are all well-known to the public. Adding people last-minute won't work well."

"Everyone's friends, everyone benefits—don't fuss over who gets more or less. There'll be plenty more chances to collaborate."

Wang Zhongjun hesitated, then set a condition: "The male lead must be Xiaoming."

Who leads the Four Dan and Shuang Bing? Hard to decide—and Huayi has two, so picking either is awkward. Better to ignore it.

But Huang Xiaoming, as the hottest male star, must claim center stage.

Yan Li agreed. This was indeed about elevating Deng Chao; Huayi had conceded a step, so he wouldn't press further.

Though the goal is for Deng Chao to claim the title of mainland's top young male star, right now he started late—he must first solidify his place among the Four Big Bros.

Yan Li and Wang Zhongjun reached an agreement; Liu Laowu immediately contacted Su Mang to adjust the segment.

With Huayi and Yi'an locked in, their people were no issue; Tong Dawei would help too. Whether Zhang Ziyi and Xiao Yanyan would show up depended on Su Mang's outreach.

But it wasn't a big problem—if they refused, just replace them.

If this kind of grand scene materialized, whoever didn't show up would be the one embarrassed. The Shuang Bing couldn't be replaced, but the Four Dan? No rule said they couldn't be swapped.

Su Mang went to coordinate; Yan Li and Wang Zhongjun, having dropped their earlier tension, chatted cheerfully again.

Over the past year, Huayi's strategy had shifted: in film, they focused almost entirely on "Assembly," plus two low-budget projects.

But while their film strategy tightened, their artist management and TV drama sectors expanded aggressively.

They were signing artists furiously and heavily investing in TV dramas; according to Yan Li's knowledge, using a studio-plus-outside-investment model, they already had over ten projects in production or slated for next year.

On paper, Huayi had become a TV drama powerhouse rivaling Yi'an and Hai Run.

Huayi's reason for investing in TV dramas was simple: broaden influence, absorb artists, and make profits.

Making money through film was too risky!

Huayi could only reliably profit from Feng Xiaogang alone; relying solely on him to make films meant Huayi could never go public, and such heavy dependence on one person would hurt stock prices.

That's why Huayi was aggressively entering the TV drama market.

How much actual profit they'd make was uncertain, but at least it created visibility and generated income, balancing the company's overall profit model.

Yan Li and Wang Zhongjun discussed Huayi's TV drama distribution cooperation—Huayi wouldn't hand over all distribution to Yi'an, lest they become dependent.

But for high-profit projects, letting Yi'an handle distribution could earn more, and Huayi didn't object.

Still, this method clearly favored Huayi; Yi'an, holding distribution control, naturally wanted to extract benefits.

Best if they could invest; if not, assign a few roles; if even that's impossible, at least fight for Huosiyan.

Last time forcing "The Deer and the Cauldron" to cast Huosiyan gave Yan Li a different feeling.

Sleeping with Huayi's people, settling bills with Huayi's resources—Huosiyan shot Huayi's dramas but thanked him most, giving him an NTR thrill.

Plus, this method was safer: allocating company resources to a few women made it obvious to everyone they were sleeping with Yan Li.

Yan Li wasn't afraid—but he could avoid unnecessary trouble and gain some peace.

Besides cooperation, they also discussed project operations.

Huayi had money, but it couldn't—and wouldn't dare—support this entire operation; if their cash flow broke, the Wang brothers would be in trouble.

So Huayi's TV drama operations matched Yan Li's earlier estimates.

Huayi provided channels, artists, brand, and a small portion of investment; most project leads still had to seek outside funding—even resorting to presales.

In plain terms: first approach TV stations, secure a deposit, then use that deposit money to film the drama.

This practice was common in the industry, but TV stations weren't fools; pulling this off meant heavy price pressure, and not every project could get upfront payment.

Huayi could scale this widely only because of its brand reputation.

As a major company, no one worried about the crew failing to deliver the drama or running off.

But this solved funding issues at the cost of sacrificing the crew's future profits.

Meanwhile, using the company's reputation as collateral carried significant risk.

If a few projects flopped or kept failing, it would seriously damage the company's image and cause partners and TV stations to change their stance.

In plain terms, this was overextending the company's potential for expansion.

Artist management worked this way; TV drama business worked this way—so long as the financials looked good and IPO was possible, the hidden dangers and costs could be dealt with later.

As always: if problems arose, all shareholders and stockholders would foot the bill together.

Yan Li sometimes marveled: no wonder Huayi grew so fast—these two brothers sometimes truly had no conscience.

Companies like Yan Li's Yi'an or Hai Run, by contrast, were cautious, mindful of ethics, and reluctant to sacrifice the hard-earned reputation built film by film.

In business, low and high ethical bars each have advantages, but for IPO speed, lower ethics made operations easier.

Yu Pangzi beside him was wide-eyed—he'd never seen anything like it. But Bonan's projects centered on film; they had no bandwidth for TV dramas.

Since film and TV drama business logic differed, he could only borrow a few ideas—he couldn't replicate it.

As they chatted, the charity night finally began.

Su Mang took the stage to speak, followed by hosts Ke Lan and Wu Dawei.

Speaking of Wu Dawei, rumors had surfaced that he'd kissed Xiao Yanyan politely—Yan Li had just noticed, and saw no interaction between them.

The hosts took the stage, invited a few guests to interact, then specifically mentioned sponsors, before launching into the auction.

Called an auction, but there weren't many items.

Most people were just there to show support—they weren't spending money. Too many items would lead to unsold lots, so all auction pieces and confirmed buyers had been pre-coordinated.

This ensured the auction wouldn't go cold, wouldn't see vicious bidding wars, and allowed willing buyers to acquire items at fair prices while gaining visibility.

"Gentlemen, I've already claimed the top lot today—don't compete with me."

Yu Pangzi greeted Wang Zhongjun and Yan Li.

Huayi and Yi'an were there to show support—they brought a large entourage of artists, and their own artists would also bid, so they only needed to make token bids. Yu Pangzi brought no one and wanted visibility, so he had to spend.

Wang Zhongjun nodded; Yan Li smiled: "I'll help you raise the bid—contribute more to charity."

"Just a little raise, little raise—I'll give you a signal."

Auctions always need some bidding up—otherwise it's fake, and spending money feels hollow. Regular artists wouldn't dare compete with him; other entrepreneurs might spark disputes or drive prices too high.

Yan Li's cooperation would create buzz without going out of control.

As they spoke, the first auction item ended—a branded watch worth 300, 00 yuan, bid by Zhang Lan, owner of Qiaonanjiang.

Yan Li helped by playing along, providing a topic without letting things get out of hand.

As they spoke, the first item at the auction ended—a branded wristwatch worth 300, 00, bid on by Zhang Lan, proprietor of Qiaonanjiang.

Yan Li had a vague impression of him; they'd exchanged a few words just now, and he curiously asked Fatty Wang.

"This guy seems pretty flashy."

Food and beverage is a physical industry; there aren't many like Zhang Lan who are so conspicuous and closely tied to media and the entertainment circle.

"Rumors say Qiao Jiangnan wants to go public. Their cuisine is premium, they've opened lounges, and they're moving into high-end business leisure—this is just branding and advertising."

Fatty Wang didn't know him well, but Wang Zhongjun did—he'd been to one of his lounges and explained the situation.

Yan Li understood. Fatty Wang added: "Spend some money, run an ad, get some attention—two benefits for one price."

"Hmm."

Yan Li realized he needed to adjust his thinking: there were plenty of low-key industrial bosses, but also plenty who craved fame and spotlight.

Take Wang Shi, mentioned earlier—he was so active he hardly seemed like a businessman. Other real estate tycoons also loved interviews and even surfing blogs.

When profit isn't lacking, people naturally seek fame—and it brings benefits to their own businesses.

There were always people like this in the past, but due to limited media, they could only appear in newspapers and TV, with little recognition.

Now, with the internet and entertainment industry growing ever more advanced, more and more 【celebrities】 will emerge.

Even Yan Li himself had played a significant role in this wave.

He'd blended fame and business so well, reaping great profits, so naturally other entrepreneurs and bosses began to imitate him.

Zhang Lan is flashy, but not everyone is—two entrepreneurs only revealed their surnames, never their full names, never appeared on stage, instead asking favored stars to accept awards on their behalf.

Auction items priced at 100, 00 yuan or more, often hundreds of thousands, were indeed a heavy burden for most of the celebrities present.

Many earned only a few hundred thousand yuan a year—or less—and spending a significant fraction of their annual income just to show off was pure foolishness.

So most auction items were still bought by entrepreneurs; few celebrities spent money.

Huang Xiaoming and Li Xiang jointly bid 300, 00 yuan for a wristwatch; host Yang Lan bid 400, 00 yuan for a necklace.

After that, there was no further action; many turned their gaze to the table of the Four Dan and Two Bing.

In terms of artist income, they were the top tier on the mainland; several of them ranked in Forbes' top ten income earners last year. If anyone was going to spend, it had to be them.

Each of them knew this, and had even prepared themselves—but all were waiting for the others to move first.

Princess Zhou was the calmest; she didn't need to spend money today—she was coming on stage to perform, and any bidding would be part of a charity performance.

Xiao Yanzi squinted, considering whether to bid.

Over the past two years, due to various scandals and her decision to transition toward directing at Beijing Film Academy, she'd been low-key. This time, she'd gotten along well with the others—should she get involved in the mess?

Fan Xiaopang and Li Bingbing exchanged glances; they were definitely going to bid, and ideally spark a clash to stir up some tension—otherwise the media would have nothing juicy to write about.

Zhang Ziyi looked down her nose; before arriving, she'd already made plans with Su Mang. Today was half her home turf—who else but her would claim the trophy?

As the Four Dan and Two Bing were still in preparation, Tong Dawei and Deng Chao had somehow teamed up and bid 350, 00 yuan for a luxury travel bag.

The reason they spent so much was because Huang Xiaoming had already spent money.

If Huang Xiaoming spent and they didn't, how could they be mentioned in the same breath?

Huang Xiaoming had teamed up with others anyway; so they'd team up too—just tens of thousands each, easily affordable.

All three top male stars had paid, and the slogan of the Four Dan and Two Bing had been officially sounded.