Chapter 323: Fists Strike Chengtian, Kicks Sina—The Hectic Month of August

The open chaos at Chengtian was quickly suppressed; no company, no matter how incompetent, would allow its own artists to publicly insult each other.

Yet this suppression did not resolve the underlying issues; instead, the erupted tensions fueled even deeper undercurrents within the company.

Yan Li didn't need to trigger the system's intelligence network or deliberately inquire—Qin Lan and Dong Xuan continuously fed him information.

Qin Lan's Poodle sisterhood—Ma Yili and Li Xiaolu—were both at Chengtian, as was Wen Zhang; their information network was extensive.

Dong Xuan's close friend Guan Yue's husband, Tong Dawei, was Chengtian's top star; Yang Xue, though now signed with Yian, had spent years at Chengtian and maintained her own connections.

Not to mention Wang Jinghua, whose loyal subordinates, even if not loyal to her anymore, still owed years of personal ties and wouldn't hesitate to pass along a message.

Honestly, you don't realize it until you count—and then you're stunned.

Previously, Yan Li thought Huayi had been deeply infiltrated, but in reality, Li Bingbing and Hu Siyan were essentially open agents; the Wang brothers knew full well and had taken some precautions.

Now, Chengtian was completely riddled with leaks—everywhere were "traitors," and Boss Wu couldn't contain it even if he tried.

This not only revealed Chengtian's internal management problems, but also showed that the company had utterly failed to win the loyalty and trust of its artists.

Forget Yian, which strictly enforced management in this area—even Huayi was far stronger than Chengtian.

Li Bingbing and Hu Siyan had their reasons; most Huayi artists still leaned toward their company and wouldn't casually spill company secrets to outsiders.

But it was understandable: Chengtian's artist management had previously been under Wang Jinghua's control; now that they'd broken ties, her loyalists naturally held grievances.

Meanwhile, many of Chengtian's core artists had signed only recently—mostly within the past one or two years—with little emotional attachment.

More importantly, beyond promoting a few stars through "Red Cliff," Chengtian had limited film and TV resources; its artists mostly took roles from outside productions.

Without real, tangible support, unable to film their own company's projects, expecting artists to remain loyal was absurd.

According to Yan Li's intelligence, morale among Chengtian's artists had become extremely tense, and factions were forming.

For instance, Tong Dawei had allied with his close friend Wen Zhang, along with Li Xiaolu and Ma Yili, who had starred in "Struggle"; Hu Jun and Xia Yu gathered several of Wang Jinghua's loyalists.

Yuan Li, Hao Lei, Mei Ting, and others each had their own cliques and power bases; rumors claimed Yuan and Mei had clashed, possibly over the succession of the top female role after Chen Hao.

Currently, the top contenders for Chengtian's number-one female star were Yuan and Mei; both were considered core artists, with Mei having more seniority and Yuan being Chengtian's major recent acquisition—their dynamic resembled that of Li Bingbing and Zhou Young Master at Huayi.

When fighting for the top spot, conflict is inevitable.

It seemed Yuan Li had suffered a setback and had been holding in her anger; seizing this opportunity, she unleashed a flood of damaging revelations about Mei, who was actually quite level-headed but was pushed into a furious rage, turning the conflict into an all-out war—even Boss Wu couldn't stop it.

Good heavens, Yan Li was truly impressed—Yuan Li was more of a mole than any mole he'd ever seen.

Although Yan Li had many "moles," aside from Li Xiaolu's impulsive antics, figures like Tong Dawei and Ma Yili could at most pass along information.

But Yuan Li? She openly fought, tore the company apart from within—Chengtian's current chaos owed an undeniable debt to her.

This served as a warning to Yan Li: in future signings, he must scrutinize artists' personalities more carefully.

Bringing in such unstable, unhinged individuals was like planting landmines in his own backyard.

Yan Li wouldn't just watch Chengtian's undercurrents—he'd fan the flames and light the fuse where needed.

While internal chaos at Chengtian might require effort, external internet and media outlets were flooded with endless analytical posts about Chengtian.

Boss Wu had said one thing right: Yan Li was indeed skilled in public opinion warfare, not to mention he now held a major weapon—Weibo.

A lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth; so does a rumor.

Many people go online without thinking—they lack the ability to judge online information objectively; they believe whatever they're told and are easily swayed.

Even decades later, many still behaved this way, let alone in 2008.

Rumors like Zhou Jielun stealing instant noodles in disaster zones or Liu Tianxian being transgender had entire crowds believing them.

Not to mention the current posts about Chengtian, which Yan Li personally guided—good news was glossed over, bad news was amplified, truths mixed with lies, all presented on the surface as rational and well-supported.

This tactic would collapse even the Five Permanent Members—how much more so a single company?

The effect was clear: many now knew Wang Jinghua had betrayed her own company, "Red Cliff" had lost money, and the acquisition of Shaw Brothers was a suicidal move, and so on.

In short, Chengtian was suffering a crushing defeat and was bound to collapse.

Under Yan Li's public opinion assault, Chengtian's chaos wasn't limited to its artists—it had also unsettled other departments within the company.

At this moment, Huayi seized its opportunity to strike.

Not only did it repeatedly block two of Chengtian's projects, but it also subtly sabotaged Lu Chuan's new film "Nanjing! Nanjing!"

Chengtian had invested slightly in this film and used some of its artists, such as Hao Lei and Jiang Yiyan.

Lu had originally been with Huayi, then defected; now he was entangled with the enemy, and the Wang brothers couldn't stand it—they took the chance to strike back.

Lu Chuan was truly unlucky.

"Nanjing! Nanjing!" had faced constant turmoil since its inception; funding had collapsed multiple times, forcing him to beg everywhere, eventually securing support from Star Media by helping Chengtian promote its projects and assigning roles.

Even so, production was rocky—eight days before the June wrap, the crew was surrounded for eight days due to unpaid wages or other reasons, and had to be rescued by police.

Just as post-production began, Huayi intervened and directly halted the project.

This halt varied in form, but the most direct was the denial of the film certification, meaning it could not be released.

"Nanjing! Nanjing!" had substantial investment, backed by Star Media and others; Huayi had the power to disrupt but not to outright ban the film—otherwise, other companies would have no room to operate.

Thus, for other Chengtian projects, Huayi merely delayed them or forced them to cut losses, draining Chengtian's manpower and resources and disrupting its cash flow.

But Lu's project bore greater blame on his own part, partly due to Yan Li's influence.

This brings us to last year's New Year film "Assembly" and the earlier "Lust, Caution"—relevant authorities had suffered enough losses and tightened scrutiny on such topics, even to the point of "better to err on the side of rejection."

After all, if they made a mistake, they wouldn't lose money; once the storm passed, negotiations could still be reopened.

But if something went wrong upon release, and they shifted their stance so quickly before the sixtieth anniversary next year, the consequences would be enormous.

So even without Huayi's interference, Lu probably wouldn't have cleared approval; with Huayi's sabotage, it became inevitable.

Huayi didn't publicize its actions—such tactics were too unsavory for public display.

But Chengtian's suffering was obvious, and many had already realized that Yian and Huayi were jointly suppressing Chengtian.

With the two industry giants working together, the rumors of Chengtian's decline became accepted as truth.

The most direct feedback: some projects now refused to collaborate with Chengtian, fearing collateral damage.

Some of Chengtian's artists, unable to hold on, chose to leave.

The first to act were Zhu Yuchen and Zuo Xiaoqing, who announced their departure to join Wang Jinghua's newly founded "Shi Ba Culture."

Both were Wang's loyal protégés, personally nurtured by her—but their decision to leave Chengtian wasn't solely due to their bond with Wang.

Among Chengtian's young male stars, Tong Dawei was the top, followed by rising stars Wen Zhang, Zhou Jie, Xia Yu, and Chen Xiaodong—all ranked higher than Zhu Yuchen.

Zuo Xiaoqing faced the same situation: as a 75er, she competed with peers like Yuan Li, Mei Ting, Ma Yili, Wang Yan, Xiao Songjia, and Hao Lei—all roughly her age—with fierce competition.

With no chance of rising in Chengtian anytime soon, they chose to follow Wang Jinghua, their veteran agent, who had treated them well.

Wang Jinghua didn't disappoint—she immediately arranged relevant resources.

Her own network and resources were strong, and with Yan Li's promised compensation, she could easily attract Zhu and Zuo, even if she couldn't lure top-tier stars like Tong Dawei.

The departure of Zhu and Zuo severely shook Chengtian's internal morale.

More importantly, besides Wang Jinghua, several other companies were also reaching out to poach talent.

Huayi was the most aggressive, contacting multiple artists, eager to strip Chengtian bare to avenge past humiliations.

Another aggressive player was Bona: Yu Pangzi realized the celebrity strategy was crucial for listing, and had begun building Bona's artist management division, recruiting talent.

Bona already had Huang Yi, Gao Hu, Yuan Quan, Yu Xiaowei, and now aimed to poach hot talents like Hu Jun, Xia Yu, and Yuan Li.

To be honest, Huayi and Yian's assault on Chengtian delighted Bona the most.

Bona had strong name recognition but weak actual strength, with a narrow business scope; Chengtian's rise threatened only Yian and Huayi—but dealt a massive blow to Bona, which had always ranked below them.

When the top two fight, they don't necessarily want to kill the third—but the one who most wants the third dead is the fourth.

Without needing any invitation from Huayi or Yian, Yu Pangzi charged forward eagerly, desperate to dismantle Chengtian.

Yian also sent emissaries; Yan Li had little interest in Chengtian's artists—he only wanted to disrupt and keep them unsettled.

With the big companies leading the charge, smaller firms also rushed in, drawn by the scent of opportunity.

Chengtian was still a giant, and their appeal was far weaker—but even if there was no fruit, it was worth three swings of the stick; maybe something would stick.

For Boss Wu, Chengtian's chaos was overwhelming.

Both Yian and Huayi struck hard; in terms of actual impact, Yian's blows were clearly more severe.

It had thrown Chengtian's artist management into utter chaos—don't underestimate artist management; its impact on Chengtian was enormous.

Because Chengtian planned to go public via a backdoor listing next year, it needed stars to execute its celebrity strategy and inflate its stock price.

Now, with its artists disloyal, many having fled or preparing to flee, the celebrity strategy was dead—market players weren't fools; Chengtian's chaos would directly reflect in its listing plans and stock value.

Boss Wu wanted to cease hostilities and seek peace, but neither Huayi nor Yian responded.

At this point, letting him off would be a waste of effort.

This wasn't like past conflicts, where neither side wanted to break the surface—apologizing and backing down was enough.

This was real, hard-nosed business competition—the goal was to cripple Chengtian, ideally kill it.

Especially Yan Li—he understood perfectly well: Chengtian had never held back in scheming against Yian; now that it was scared and wanted to surrender and stop, it wasn't going to get such easy mercy.

Since no overt suppression was used, only subtle sabotage, the authorities didn't intervene.

Business competition was inevitable; as long as it didn't become excessively outrageous, cause severe public backlash, or threaten national or public interests, relevant agencies wouldn't easily step in.

Even to the authorities, Chengtian was merely a minor footnote—Yan Li's real spectacle was the "Weibo War" against Sina.

…

In August, the Olympics began, and Sina launched Weiket.

With features nearly identical to Weibo, and fueled by old grudges from the blog scandal, the two sides quickly clashed, launching the Weibo War.