Chapter 284: Industry Reshuffling: One Superpower and Many Strong Contenders

Li Yifei and her younger sister returned to her joint general manager office.

"Sister Hua has left; this office will be yours from now on."

"Sister, Bingbing is not easy to deal with."

Li Xue did not respond to her, sitting on the sofa with a rather worried expression.

The ones who understand an enemy best are always their enemies.

The reason Li Xue was able to rise to power after Wang Jinhua left was that, at the moment Li Yifei was hesitating, she pulled her to declare their stance to the two Wangs and transferred their management contracts under her own name.

But what she hadn't expected was that, before her, a female artist had actually beaten her to the punch and raised the banner of allegiance first.

Is this still the same Bingbing who was always lukewarm no matter how she tried?

Li Yifei gave a bitter smile: "I know, you saw it just now too."

"I don't know what medicine she took these past two years, but it's like she suddenly had an epiphany; things are truly not what they used to be."

"Could it have something to do with Lu Kuan?"

"What do you mean?"

Li Xue analyzed: "Lu Kuan sought her out for his second film, *Shoplifters*."

"Feng Yuan is an old partner, Zhou Xun is an old acquaintance, but Fan Bingbing? No acting skills, no status—why would he seek out Fan Bingbing?"

"Also, the 'washing machine' theory that Zhuo Wei relied on for his fame once hinted at the ambiguous relationship between Fan Bingbing and him."

Li Yifei hissed, unable to stop herself from tracing back the development trajectory of Fan Bingbing since the sudden emergence of Boss Lu, and there were indeed suspicious points.

But they were only suspicious.

Given the life-and-death struggle between the Zhou Army, the two Wangs, and Lu Kuan, if Bingbing had something clearly wrong with her, she should have been warned or dealt with long ago, right?

"Sister, to put it bluntly, you have no chance of winning against Fan Bingbing right now, not to mention that Zhou Xun is coming too."

"But with me here, many things can be turned around."

"Our goals are, first, to seize more internal resources, and second, to obtain more internal subscription shares."

Li Yifei was someone without much of an opinion, always obedient to her sister: "Xiuxiu, then what do you say we should do?"

This was Li Xue's nickname.

"Don't worry about it, I'll find someone to test her bottom line first."

"Let's go, let's go sit in President Wang's office for a while."

"I heard that before this public offering and share allotment, the company will conduct an internal subscription for core artists first."

Li Xue's information was correct; in the future, before the large-scale subscription, Huayi, in order to stabilize the situation after Wang Jinhua's departure, would first extend an olive branch to Li Yifei, Zhou Xun, and Huang Xiaoming.

It was just that Zhou Xun politely declined.

She pulled her sister up and walked to Wang Dajun's office, only to hear a burst of laughter from inside.

"So, you didn't succeed either, kid?"

"Damn! My own girlfriend was snatched away by that Lu Kuan; what success or failure is there to speak of."

"Alright, go handle the handover first. We're all in the same trench from now on; we'll communicate again if there's a need."

"Eh, yes, yes, I'll head out first."

Chen Sicheng pushed the door open and came out, running straight into the Li sisters; he nodded and smiled before leaving.

Wang Dajun caught a glimpse of the two at the door: "Come in and sit, why are you standing there stunned?"

"Who is that, President Wang?"

"Oh, a male actor the company just signed. Have you seen *Soldiers Sortie*? He's an important supporting character in it."

Perhaps remembering something, Wang Dajun chuckled: "The person has quite a bit of spirit; he's considered clever."

The office door was closed. Chen Sicheng, having walked some distance away, looked back for two seconds and gave a dark laugh.

It was considered a success.

This step was the right one; even if he might have to take some risks, what he gained in exchange was the opportunity to join Huayi!

The condition was merely to appear at the right time and tearfully accuse his girlfriend of being subjected to the unspoken rules of the dark forces in the entertainment industry!

A certain well-known director who is a beast in human clothing!

——

At the Huabin Golf Club, Boss Lu was tucking into a table full of seafood.

"Is it good?"

"Mm! Quite good!"

Boss Lu's table manners were still considered refined, but his eyes glanced over two dozen oysters, and he looked dissatisfied: "Why get so many oysters? What a waste!"

Bingbing rested her chin on her delicate hand, watching him with fascination: "If you don't want to eat them, then don't. These things don't last long, so we might as well finish them all."

"Is that so? Forget it, can't waste them. I'll eat a few."

The great actress only ate a few bites of the garlic-flavored meat of the steamed turbot, while the man opposite her had already pried open a dozen oysters.

"Hehe, not bad, not bad."

Bingbing giggled: "Glutton."

"By the way, as you expected, everything is going according to plan, and they should be talking to me soon; there will be a round of private subscription for original shares."

The great actress picked up a Qingdao prawn from the plate and patiently peeled the shell and removed the vein for him: "But Li Yifei actually stayed behind too; perhaps it has to do with her sister."

"Oh, it's fine, just defeating them is enough; it's simple."

Boss Lu didn't take it to heart; with himself, a bug-level external aid, bullying a 'Thin Bing' was already a sure thing.

However, the Bingbing of the future had indeed suffered quite a bit at the hands of these two sisters.

After the film and television circle had class and status divisions like the Four Great Actresses and the Two Bings, the artificial siege effect became prominent.

The great actresses used every trick in the book to value and protect their status in the industry.

Under these circumstances, the artists in Wang Jinhua's hands gradually split into two factions.

One faction consisted of artists with no ambition who were focused on developing as artists or who were not good at and did not like socializing.

But the other faction, the "female flowers" who had ambition and means, and who had already begun to expose each other's shortcomings, hype themselves up, and fight for the sake of rising to the top, were already gradually dissatisfied with her nanny-style agent model.

In the future, when Wang Jinhua left, Huayi gave shares to Li Yifei and Huang Xiaoming, which caused Bingbing's dissatisfaction.

Immediately after, Bingbing, unwilling to be outdone, did two things.

One was to expose the background of Thin Bing's benefactor, Shi Tao, revealing her privacy of clinging to a big shot.

The latter's public relations tactic was to find her close friend Ren Quan to hype a CP, and whenever there was nothing to do, they would act ambiguous to stop the public's gossip.

The second was, just like Boss Lu last year, to expose her intimacy with Zhu Xiaotian under the camera for everyone to know, completely destroying her image as a pure jade girl.

The two's moves went back and forth, and with the help of her sister, Thin Bing also frequently released explosive material about her opponent.

Plastic surgery, involvement in prostitution, kicking reporters...

Just like Li Xue's analysis to her sister after the meeting ended today, this shrewd and capable Huayi joint general manager and future Huayi vice president was already prepared to take action.

This kind of internal infighting, speaking of it, was no different from the exchanges between Lu Kuan and the Zhou Army over these two years, and it was even more common within the entertainment industry.

The cake is only so big; one can only rise to the top by kicking others away, and if one doesn't fight, one's status will drop.

The two were chatting, and Bingbing was very much enjoying this kind of unique warmth, when suddenly A-Fei's scolding came from outside the house.

"Stop! I'm going to take action!"

"Don't, don't! I'm not a bad person!"

Immediately after, there was a loud cry from a little boy.

Boss Lu continued eating the small lobster without moving a muscle, not having the slightest desire to go out and watch the show.

Professional matters should be left to professional people.

If A-Fei couldn't handle it, he would come in to ask for instructions and report; there was no need for him to go out and stir up trouble.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Kuan looked at the expression on Bingbing's face opposite him, which was a bit off.

The great actress's pretty face was twisted and pale; looking at the man's two casual, probing gazes opposite her, she felt a bit guilty.

"It seems... it's my mother and younger brother..."

Lu Kuan frowned: "Ah?"

Bingbing stood up in a panic, seemingly not wanting to bring him trouble: "I'm sorry, I'll have them leave right now."

Lu Kuan habitually raised a trace of suspicion; while still peeling shrimp shells, he raised his eyes and looked at the great actress with a smile, observing her micro-expressions calmly.

It wasn't until Bingbing's face looked anxious, as if she were about to cry, that she wiped her hands, rushed to the door, and pulled it open abruptly to go out.

"Wait, I'll go with you to take a look."

The young director didn't seem to notice anything wrong, following her with his hands behind his back in a leisurely manner.

"Man'er! It's me!"

A-Fei had blocked Zhang Chuanmei and her 5-year-old son inside the villa courtyard gate, observing his surroundings.

"Mom, why did you come?"

Bingbing almost rushed forward, then turned her head to look at Lu Kuan with a difficult expression, fearing she might anger him.

She knew very clearly that she seemingly hadn't yet received permission to introduce him to her family.

Moreover, how should she introduce him?

Such an accidental meeting would undoubtedly increase the risk of exposure and affect his plans for Huayi.

It was dark, and even though Zhang Chuanmei used the street lamp by the villa, she couldn't quite see the appearance of the man not far away, only curiously stretching her neck.

"No, I came to see the villa you have here. I couldn't find the place for a moment, then I saw your car parked here, so I just..."

Bingbing had also bought a unit at Huabin Golf; usually, when she and Boss Lu were inseparable, A-Fei would consciously go there to eat and sleep.

I didn't expect such a farce today.

Lu Kuan stood on the steps observing for a few minutes; Fan Bingbing, with her back to him, was anxious, clenching her fists one moment and gently pushing Zhang Chuanmei to leave the next.

It didn't look intentional, so he walked over calmly: "Hello, Auntie, I'm a colleague of Fan Bingbing."

"It's too late, why don't you take your family back? On the road..."

A faint clicking sound rang out; A Fei turned his head abruptly and darted out like a cheetah, heading straight for the man taking photos outside the fence!

Fan Bingbing, with her back to the man, almost closed her eyes in despair, her legs going weak as if she were about to collapse to the ground...

"Man'er! Man'er!"

"Mom, I'm fine, a pebble got into my slipper..."

Fan Bingbing's heart was near despair; she didn't expect the assistant she had directed to be able to escape A Fei's pursuit.

At this moment, she was just blurting out explanations to her mother, and even more so to the Lu Boss behind her.

To be honest, Lu Kuan was already suspicious.

Fan Bingbing's panic in the room and her pushing her mother away after coming out—he could understand her desire not to be exposed; she was afraid of angering him.

But the appearance of the paparazzo who had already been pinned down by A Fei gave this tension an extra explanation.

Was the paparazzo her arrangement?

Did she want to find someone to take photos of her, Zhang Chuanmei, and Fan Chengcheng together?

Why?

What was the use?

Lu Boss squinted his eyes as he descended the steps, attempting to move to the front to observe the big star's expression; no matter how well one could act, one couldn't escape the discerning eyes of a world-class director.

Fan Bingbing's hands were tightly gripped by her mother Zhang Chuanmei, already oozing fine beads of sweat, her throat bobbing as she swallowed saliva involuntarily.

The man behind her lifted his foot to walk this way, and it looked like he was about to walk around to see her expression clearly!

"Wah!"

Fan Chengcheng, not knowing what had gotten into him, suddenly burst into tears!

Facing the young director, Zhang Chuanmei clearly saw the trace of pain and struggle on her daughter's face, which was right before her eyes...

"Boss, the person has been brought back."

Fan Bingbing knew that if she didn't admit her mistake now, she would never have the chance to again; she turned her head abruptly to look at Lu Kuan, catching a glimpse of the shifty-eyed paparazzo in her peripheral vision...

"Xiao Yu?"

"Xiao Yu! What are you trying to do!"

The first "Xiao Yu" was out of shock that it was actually Xiao Yu.

The second "Xiao Yu" was out of wild joy that it was actually Xiao Yu!

He was Li Bingbing's former driver!

The big star seemed to have been injected with 10mg of adrenaline in an instant, veins bulging on her fair, smooth forehead.

"Did Li Bingbing or Li Xue tell you to come?"

As she spoke, she turned back and pushed Lu Kuan: "You go back first, I'll handle this, I won't cause you any trouble."

Then she whispered: "He is Li Bingbing's driver."

How could Lu Boss let these clues slip by? His gaze, like a hawk's, scanned everyone present.

The astonished Zhang Chuanmei, the wailing Fan Chengcheng.

And the extremely suspicious Fan Bingbing.

But with Xiao Yu's capture and the exposure of his identity, it seemed the previous suspicions could be temporarily shelved and reserved.

No matter how she plotted, she couldn't possibly order Li Bingbing's driver, right?

Next was just having A Fei verify his camera and identity.

"A Fei, wait in the car."

Lu Boss didn't even want to enter the villa again, walking directly outside the fence to get into the car.

Behind him, the steaming heat and popular delicacies on the dining table inside seemed to become a cold background.

Fan Bingbing had no heart left to care about Xiao Yu; her charming eyes were fixed on the direction he left, and the panic she had just suppressed began to rise again...

He didn't speak to her.

A Fei acted quickly, deleting the photos, returning the camera, and taking a close-up photo of the man's face before letting him go.

Soon, the sound of a car engine came from outside the fence, fading into the distance as A Fei drove away.

Fan Bingbing could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground.

When Zhang Chuanmei went to help her daughter up, she saw that her back was already soaked with cold sweat.

The big star suddenly shook off her mother's hand like a madwoman, rushed into the house, pulled out her phone, and dialed with trembling hands.

Beep, beep, beep...

What a cruel and long three seconds.

"Hello? Where are you?"

"I... I'm in the bushes next to Building 13, can I come out now?"

Fan Bingbing nervously ran to the second-floor balcony again to confirm it was safe: "Come over immediately, now!"

She told her mother to take her younger brother into the inner room and stay quiet, then nervously met with Zhang Siman, the assistant in the duck-billed cap who had taken the photos.

Zhang Siman had followed Fan Bingbing since her debut and certainly had no motive to betray her employer; it was just that the cheetah-like bodyguard from earlier had scared her half to death.

Fan Bingbing was also scared half to death.

If it weren't for the fact that the imposter Xiao Yu had accidentally taken the fall, today would have almost declared the death of her credibility in Lu Kuan's heart.

The infiltration of Huayi Society was the condition of the deal they had agreed upon when they first got together.

To put it bluntly, this was her greatest value and reason for existence to him.

If she couldn't even be useful for this, then there was no need for her to explain the reason for staging this farce.

Apart from this body of hers, which had already been offered from the inside out and might still make him linger, she had no other special value.

Zhang Chuanmei was still in the room coaxing her temperamental son; Fan Bingbing poured herself a glass of cold water and gulped it down, attempting to extinguish the terror that was rekindling in her heart.

Admittedly, everything tonight was her careful arrangement.

If Liu Yifei were to bow into the game with her "better to be a broken jade than a whole tile" attitude, Fan Bingbing couldn't predict or guarantee how Lu Kuan would react.

But one thing was certain: if the two of them succeeded, it would be the most disadvantageous situation for her.

She would lose the chance to move up forever.

The big star knew better than anyone the slight partiality that man had for Liu Yifei.

The men's items in the wardrobe of the Sihe Academy were her arrangement; based on her understanding of Zhang Chuanmei, the latter's curiosity would inevitably be uncontrollable.

A phone call to arrange ingredients, through Li Ayi's mouth, pointed out a clue for her mother to investigate and clarify her daughter's love life.

As for Fan Chengcheng, given Zhang Chuanmei's habit of taking him out for a walk every day these past few days, she would likely bring him along; even if she didn't, it wouldn't have much impact.

Or rather, even if nothing was photographed today, it wouldn't have much impact!

At worst, she would just give up this opportunity.

When dealing with Lu Kuan, she would always treat him with the utmost caution and care, preferring to miss an opportunity rather than make a mistake.

At this moment, Fan Bingbing couldn't describe how she felt; she only felt that the god of fate was favoring her. As luck would have it, the Li Bingbing sisters, who were in conflict with her, tried to catch her in a scandal today and sent the former driver Xiao Yu to spy and take photos.

The big star looked happily at the photo with the tricky angle in the camera:

Her mother Zhang Chuanmei holding her hand, four-year-old Fan Chengcheng wailing on the side, and Lu Kuan, who had just walked over and hadn't yet had time to observe her expression, slightly hunched over.

With a little modification and guidance, this was a family portrait!

Fan Bingbing didn't have much contact with Liu Yifei, but from their time on the "Zhu Xian" set, her deliberate observations, and the rumors heard before and after,

She knew this was a girl who seemed cheerful and optimistic, but once she made up her mind, she would never look back.

Since Liu Yifei was already prepared to use such means to urge and push forward a relationship that currently seemed incompatible;

Then if she saw such a photo that would break her heart and cause a misunderstanding, how would she react?

For Fan Bingbing, the best result would be for Liu Yifei to give up this relationship in despair because of her own inherent pride and independence.

The worst result would at least allow this plot, which could be called an "adventure" for both Liu Yifei and Fan Bingbing herself, to pass, right?

As long as she didn't confess on the spot, at least the young director didn't have the awareness or motive to cut ties with her immediately.

Just thinking about it made Fan Bingbing tremble with tension; she braced herself on the chair arm and stood up to pace around.

Xiao Yu's innocent scapegoating just now provided her with a perfect "alibi."

There was one more thing she was glad about, and that was the information gap between her and Lu Kuan:

Lu Kuan certainly wouldn't know that Liu Yifei was going to confront him at her eighteenth birthday banquet.

Even if this photo caused an impact, a heartbroken Liu Yifei wouldn't bring up old matters again and reopen her own wounds.

At that time, would the two of them, drifting further apart, sit down leisurely to review all the accidents and emotions of the scene, and then discover her flaws?

The probability of that was too small.

Even if they did! That would be in the future, and for now, she had to get through this hurdle first!

What lay before Fan Bingbing now was a seemingly optimistic situation.

From beginning to end, Zhang Chuanmei came of her own accord, he wouldn't know about Zhang Siman taking the photos, and Xiao Yu's photos had already been deleted by A Fei.

If it leaked again, the only possible explanation was that Huayi Society had sent more than one person to spy on their relationship.

And as for that, she had already given a warning to his face after that car accident: she was already being suspected by the Zhou Army.

The entire logical chain was seamless; Fan Bingbing didn't think there would be a high risk of exposure.

Besides, for that man right now, how to get her to explain the night's events clearly to Huayi Society to clear her suspicion was the most important thing, right?

Because the share allotment for core actors was about to begin, this was the top priority in his mind.

Fan Bingbing did not doubt for a second that the Li Bingbing sisters, who had failed to snap any photos, would go to the Wang brothers and Zhou Jun to wag their tongues and stir up trouble.

But...

Facing his consistent record of foolproof schemes, even if she had cleared her name on the surface, did she really dare to use this photo?

The great actress fell into an endless internal struggle.

"Bingbing?"

Zhang Chuanmei walked out on tiptoe and closed the door, careful not to wake Fan Chengcheng, who had just fallen asleep.

"Tonight..."

"Mom, I will explain it to you later."

Fan Bingbing stepped forward and took her mother's hand: "Just remember one thing I say."

"Tonight you saw nothing, you know nothing, just pretend nothing happened, okay?"

Zhang Chuanmei hoped for her daughter to become a massive star to help the family and her younger son.

But just now outside the villa, seeing her poor daughter so nervous she nearly collapsed to the ground, pale and drenched in sweat, what mother wouldn't be moved?

"Man'er, don't make yourself suffer; your brother doesn't need you to worry about him."

"Mom doesn't want you to be this tired."

Fan Bingbing hugged Zhang Chuanmei with red-rimmed eyes, feeling and absorbing the gentle warmth of this familial affection with her whole being, her throat bobbing as she murmured.

"It's okay... I will succeed... It's okay..."

She didn't know if she was comforting her mother or convincing herself.

The great actress spent the night without sleep.

In the following days, Lu Kuan did not take the initiative to contact her.

She had the heart to call Lu Kuan, but feared that doing too much would lead to mistakes and make her seem guilty, so she gave up.

A small episode, seemingly ordinary, was constantly expanding and fissioning under the tug-of-war of various forces, about to transform into a thunderclap.

Among the forces in the tug-of-war, the two Huayi brothers and Zhou Jun had a slight disagreement.

The cause was naturally the report from Li Bingbing and Li Xue; even without photos, the testimony of the former driver, Xiao Yu, counted as a witness, right?

Zhou Jun used this to corroborate his previous suspicions, but Wang Dajun and Wang Xiaolei did not think so.

Do you wish to repeat the mistakes of Zhang Nara?

In their eyes, Zhou Jun's behavior had already deviated from basic corporate competition and was aimed entirely at Lu Kuan himself, which was inconsistent with the brothers' stance.

Just like before the trip to Cannes, when Teng Huatao feigned drunkenness to help the brothers replace an actor, cracks had already appeared within Huayi.

"Brother Jun, I don't think we can fully believe this stuff."

Wang Xiaolei was adamant: "In our line of work, these things are commonplace."

"Li Bingbing and she are competitors; although we don't support or encourage such mutual attacks internally, it has happened repeatedly in the past."

"Just based on the empty words of her former driver, we want to reduce Fan Bingbing's resources and share allocation? This... isn't that unreasonable?"

Fan Bingbing was currently the female star who generated the most revenue for Huayi, and she was the first to declare her position after Wang Jinhua left, playing a major role in stabilizing the situation.

Especially since the resources she had carved out in the fashion world would not be lost due to Wang Jinhua's departure, which was a benefit to other artists in the company!

Zhou Jun had recently taken to wearing gold-rimmed glasses to hide the increasingly uncontrollable hostility in his eyes.

"I don't oppose share allocation for artists and core directors."

"But with the recent lesson of Sina changing hands before our eyes, I think we must be cautious; at the very least, we need to put more effort into considering the loyalty of the actors."

Seeing that he couldn't convince him, Wang Dajun shook the company's internal semi-annual report in his hand to chime in.

"President Zhou, in the first half of this year, among our four main sectors—advertising, film, television, and artist management—the revenue from artist management was around 42 million."

"Of this, Fan Bingbing's advertising endorsements, commercial performances, and commission from film fees accounted for nearly one-sixth."

"Wang Jinhua signed with Cheng Tian yesterday and is holding a press conference tomorrow; at this point in time..."

"Shouldn't we stay stable?"

Zhou Jun's gaze, as if having substance, roamed between the two brothers; in the past, they would never have spoken to him like this.

The Zhang Nara incident had dealt a significant blow to his own influence and credibility within Huayi.

You find financing and internet capital for Huayi, leading everyone to grow, strengthen, and go public—we respect you and are willing to give you equity.

But because of personal grudges, you want to drag Huayi, this broken donkey cart still in its development stage, to collide head-on with Lu Kuan's Mercedes, not hesitating to perish together...

Then even if your background is strong and your voice is loud, there is no logic to that, right?

You have people, but Huayi has people behind it too.

Wang Xiaolei gave a hollow laugh: "Oh! Brother Jun, you don't understand Fan Bingbing."

"Let's not even mention whether what the Li Bingbing driver said is true; even if it is!"

"That's just Fan Bingbing's personal networking and resource expansion."

"Two years ago she went to Xiangjiang for a round, and these past two years she went to scout for fashion resources herself, carving out this path; if it weren't for this drive of hers to go all out, she wouldn't have stood out, right?"

Wang Dajun also laughed: "Fan Bingbing is the most daring and hardworking among the female stars; I see her relationship with Lu Kuan as at most an exchange of resources—trading her body for opportunities."

"Actually, if you are suspicious, Zhou Xun is much more worth scrutinizing than Fan Bingbing? She has had a friendship with Lu Kuan since her debut."

The reason the Wang brothers were indifferent to Zhou Jun's suspicions was also because of the huge information gap that existed.

Even if Huayi went public in the future, the total share allocation for all artists would not exceed 15%; if Lu Kuan hadn't already secretly bought into Sina, the shares in the artists' hands alone couldn't ruin their plans.

Even though he had already bought into Sina, more planning was still needed.

The two brothers spoke one after another, almost leaving Zhou Jun speechless.

But he truly couldn't produce any real evidence to corroborate his judgment.

Other than the witness testimony of competitor Li Bingbing's former driver, and such isolated evidence clearly lacked sufficient probative force.

Not to mention internal corporate governance, even if taken to court, it wouldn't even meet the standard of high probability, let alone the level of excluding reasonable doubt.

"President Zhou, this is what I think."

Seeing his gloomy expression, Wang Dajun made up his mind to simply speak plainly today.

"Actually, we and Wenjie have always coexisted in competition and cooperation."

"In 'A World Without Thieves', Feng Xiaogang used Wang Baoqiang; in 'Shoplifters', Lu Kuan used Fan Bingbing; even if there were some frictions on the surface, they were kept within a reasonable range."

"But using Zhang Nara to hit Liu Yifei... that really did stir up everyone's anger."

Wang Xiaolei looked up, thinking to himself that his brother's words were also about to stir up Zhou Jun's anger.

Wasn't the subtext of these words saying that Zhou Jun had turned normal commercial competition into a life-or-death political struggle?

With Zhou Jun's family background and insight, how could he not hear the implication?

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that this time he had truly stepped into a quagmire and couldn't pull himself out.

At first, he just wanted to use Dong Shuangqiang as an intermediary to plan a way to buy into Wenjie, go public, and cash out.

As a result, he became angry from embarrassment due to Lu Kuan's firm refusal, turning instead to Huayi to support them in challenging Wenjie.

Aside from conventional commercial competition, he brought in Zhang Nara to replicate Liu Yifei's path to fame, attempting to use underhanded tactics to replace her and create a traffic-generating cash cow for Huayi.

It was just that as both sides went back and forth, Huayi was defeated repeatedly.

To this day, even if the Wang brothers didn't want to get involved in this personal grudge that had evolved, Zhou Jun was determined to regain his ground and face.

Otherwise, he would become a laughingstock in the circles behind him.

Accelerating the hunt for Zhuang Xu and cutting off the connection between Lu Kuan and the Olympics were urgent goals that needed to be achieved.

"Fine, as you wish; our goal is always the same, which is to take Huayi public as soon as possible."

Zhou Jun adjusted his glasses and rose leisurely: "From now on, we will divide the work; you don't need to worry about Lu Kuan's affairs, and I won't interfere with the company's management."

"However, I hope that after I bring in so many resources, you can make good use of them."

The Wang brothers exchanged a glance; although they both heard the dissatisfaction of the scion of a powerful family, things that needed to be insisted upon had to be insisted upon.

They were businessmen, not politicians.

Time entered the end of July, and the domestic entertainment industry was surging; news that made people gasp was rampant, and the paparazzi fell into a frenzy.

Yanzi and Wang Xiaofei broke up and began looking for the next target; Huang Yi, who was accused of being a third party, visited the Sina Entertainment live broadcast room to discuss the matter but made no comment;

Diva Wang Fei and Li Yapeng secretly registered their marriage at the Civil Affairs Bureau in Dihua, Xinjiang, and held a small-scale invitation for relatives and friends at a hotel in Beiping, marrying in a low-key manner;

The popular group S.H.E from Taiwan held their first concert in Beiping since their debut four years ago, with ticket pre-sales already exceeding one million.

Among these, what made the major Beiping entertainment newspapers go crazy was the mutual poaching and major personnel changes between the domestic entertainment and management companies!

First was the breakup between Zhou Xun and Rong Xingda.

Li Xiaowan spoke through her blog, saying that the contract had expired and was not renewed, insisting that there was no conflict between the two sides; Rong Xingda was in its tenth year of establishment and would continue to work hard.

The company's artist department currently had sixteen signed actors, such as Chen Kun, Huang Jue, He Lin, Jia Ni, Zeng Li, and Shen Chang, all of whom were on the front lines of film and television shooting, developing toward a more mature, standardized, and large-scale stage.

Immediately following this, when Huang Shengyi was promoting her new film "Tears of Heaven" in Yangcheng, she lost control of her emotions when asked by reporters about whether she had been shelved by her management company.

She cried to the media that she had been intimidated and threatened by Starry Night Company and claimed she wanted to terminate her contract.

The matter became a huge sensation; big shots in Xiangjiang who were at odds with Zhou Xingchi jumped out to criticize the star for being greedy for money and forgetting righteousness, calling him a disgrace to Xiangjiang.

Zhou Xingchi made no response, but Cheng Tian, with Hong Kong and Japanese capital backgrounds, which was planning behind the scenes, did not intend to let him off so easily and pressed step by step.

Eventually, both sides terminated the contract, and Cheng Tian signed Huang Shengyi.

The Baoding Young Master successfully saved his "white moonlight," and Wu Kebo, who had long coveted the domestic entertainment industry, finally had the template for a traffic-generating young star he had been dreaming of.

He prepared immediately to start replicating Liu Yifei's path to fame.

Just as the gossip-loving public was feasting their eyes and had endless topics for conversation after tea and dinner, the biggest thunderclap in the domestic entertainment industry this year was also detonated.

Huayi, Wang Jinhua leaves!

The front-page headlines of relevant newspapers such as "Beiping Daily", "Beiping Entertainment News", and "Star Bigstar" all published two announcements regarding Wang Jinhua and Huayi.

The tone varied, but the gist was the same.

It was nothing more than mutual gratitude, well wishes, and hopes for a smooth future.

Among them, Wang Jinhua also declared her next steps, stating she would not start anew but would lead the artists under her wing to join Cheng Tian Entertainment, which had backing from a Japanese NEC enterprise.

Chen Daoming, Xia Yu, Hu Jun, Zhou Yun, Guan Zhilin, Liu Jialing, Wu Junru, Yang Ziqiong...

One by one, astonishingly famous stars and big names departed.

The onlookers broke into a cold sweat for Huayi, wondering how Huayi, already severely damaged by the withdrawal of Zhang Nara, would survive this crisis.

Clearly, there was still a massive information asymmetry between the amusement-seeking spectators and the insiders of the entertainment industry.

Huayi immediately held a press conference to thank Ms. Wang Jinhua for her contributions over the past five years, but also stated that Huayi would travel light and forge ahead with determination.

Following this was the launch press conference for Feng Xiaogang’s "The Banquet," where former Rongxingda artist Zhou Xun "attended the banquet" and officially announced her move to Huayi.

Huang Xiaoming accepted an interview with reporters on the set of the unit drama "Strange Tales of Liaozhai," officially announcing his negotiated termination of contract with Century Elements in Xiangjiang and his move to Huayi.

Another budding young starlet, Yang Mi, also appeared at the press conference; given that Ms. Zhang Nara had voluntarily withdrawn from the filming of "Sword III," she would fill the role of Xue Jian.

Insiders knew the ropes and understood that this was another young starlet being groomed by Huayi, similar to Huang Shengyi at Cheng Tian and Tang Yan at Emperor Group, still aiming for the path taken by Liu Yifei.

The Chinese people have an extremely strong ability to imitate; even if they cannot be the first to drink the soup in this race, by following the pattern, there will always be an audience willing to pay.

With this, the domestic entertainment industry underwent a semi-annual reshuffle, and a pattern of "one super and many strong" gradually formed.

Wenjie Holdings stood firm and immovable, representing the "one super."

The "many strong" had various backgrounds:

Cheng Tian poached Huang Shengyi to cultivate as a traffic-driving starlet, poached the Wang Jinhua team to bolster their artist roster, and relied on ample capital to begin planning film and television production businesses.

Huayi joined forces with internet capital TOM, Sina, and Yahoo China, and opened up an international perspective through the Zhonghua Heng Company.

Added to the already rising Fan Bingbing, the newly joined Zhou Xun and Huang Xiaoming, and those who stayed behind like Li Bingbing and Ren Quan, their strength was not diminished but rather further refined.

The variety shows on Xiangtai this year, such as "National Ball Ceremony," "Super Girl," "Happy Camp," and "True Feelings," remained popular, and they recently continued to increase the introduction of Korean dramas to counter the "Zhu Xian 2" on Travel Satellite TV.

There was also the Emperor Group standing tall in Xiangjiang, Bona focusing on the film industry, Fiber Optic just preparing to enter the market, the steadily developing Galloping Horse, and the veteran powerhouse Rongxingda...

Overall, it was just like the speech given by Director Qi of the Cultural Industry Research Center of the Development and Reform Commission at the "Forbes" 2005 Entertainment Forum this March:

The domestic cultural industry after the pomegranate harvest was a blue ocean, and head industries including the film industry were all being unchained, lowering market thresholds across the board from production and distribution to screening.

We welcome private, foreign, and original state-owned capital to take root and cultivate deeply on the basis of complying with national laws and regulations, injecting more vitality into the domestic cultural industry!

On July 31, 2005, one week after the release of "Seven Swords," "Bad Genius," co-produced by Wenjie Holdings and China Film, held its premiere ceremony in Beiping.

They were preparing to launch an assault on this blockbuster with a crumbling reputation.

Inside the Bentley Arnage, Lu Kuan flipped through the "Beiping Entertainment News," scanning all the major events in the domestic entertainment industry recently.

Because of the flapping of his butterfly wings, the plot had changed slightly, but the major industries, major guidelines, and major policies still moved along the established path.

The curtain on the domestic entertainment industry had only just been raised, and the "one super and many strong" jokingly referred to in the newspapers were all still in the process of concentrating industrial capital.

Including his own Wenjie Holdings, as the heavy capital expansion of Wenjie Jiahe deepened, the primary task for the second half of the year was to find venture capital for Wenjie Mall.

But Boss Lu knew clearly that from now until 2008, it would be the three years for domestic entertainment film companies and entertainment companies to lay foundations and take deep root.

Three years later, everyone would face the "big test" of hot capital money:

The coal bosses were about to enter the market.

In 2008, the financial crisis struck, the global economy retreated, and the demand for coal plummeted.

Coupled with overcapacity and the frequent occurrence of mining disasters, Jinxibei took the lead in starting a major reorganization of coal enterprises.

In this process, many coal bosses sold their mines to state-owned enterprises and other large corporations, becoming behind-the-scenes shareholders themselves or even withdrawing entirely.

Standing at this historical turning point, the coal bosses held huge sums of transfer payments and compensation, not knowing where to go.

Consequently, white liquor, real estate, and automobiles all became targets for the pouring of funds, and of course, so did the film and television industry.

In 2009, Director Jia’s office in Beiping was often bustling with visitors, and his fellow coal boss countrymen would shout in their local accents: "Director Jia, what should we do? We have too much money and can't spend it all! Do you have any movies to shoot?"

"What? The budget is only 50 million? Just throw 100 million at it first to spend!"

Boss Lu was very clear that the "self-admiring" one super and many strong and small companies in the domestic entertainment industry today would all face a situation of fierce competition when faced with the influx of massive funds at that time.

This kind of competition was not just survival of the fittest, but more like bad money driving out good.

Because the capital brought in by the coal bosses entering the market was, to a certain extent, irrational.

While meeting the massive supply-side demands of the industry, it also brought about an ecological imbalance.

Such as the inflation of actor salaries, the disruption of market order, the prevalence of following trends in creation, and the increase in shoddy productions.

Even the high-quality content of Wenjie Holdings might be affected.

Of course, for a prophet like Boss Lu, this kind of industry hot money, if utilized well, could allow Wenjie Holdings to reach a higher level.

For example, the creation of capital-intensive theme parks, the establishment of Wenjie’s own film and television shooting bases, and so on.

"Boss, we're here."

A Fei’s words interrupted the young president’s deep thoughts; he pushed open the car door and walked into this giant-screen cinema owned by Wenjie Jiahe in the Guomao business district.

(End of chapter)