Chapter 41 - Private Offer
“Li Zhao’s team is very capable. Even Jewelry Expert Wang is helping him speak. Jewelry Expert Wang’s most basic professional ethics have been lost. Which jewelry expert would dare to identify jewels as true or false with a few photos?”
“I just wanted to say this. Isn’t jewelry identification based on seeing the real thing?”
“The more melons I eat, the more interesting it becomes. Things keep reversing and reversing. It is like chasing a brain-burning series. You continue to quarrel. You don’t have to worry about melon eaters like me. Tear and continue to tear each other apart.”
“The studio sent out publicity photos. Sisters, I want to see that regardless of whether the jewelry is real or fake, I can do that face.”
“The jewelry is fake but that face isn’t fake.”
“Someone in my family does plastic surgery. I asked and this face is absolutely real.”
“Boys and girls born beautiful are a gem! I have some understanding of why Li Zhao is a spokesman. He is really a shining star.”
“You superficial women, you only know how to look at the face. However, this face is really beautiful, really fragrant!”
The promotional photos released by Li Zhao’s studio were taken in the corridors of Yan Ting’s house. The background was probably well selected. Li Zhao in the photo looked like a noble son who had passed through time and appeared in front of the people through the screen. They were good-looking eyes like they contained the world’s most beautiful emotions.
“What outfit or brooch? Nonsense. This old lady just wants this person.”
“Isn’t it a watch? Buy it, I’ll buy it. Can I give it to the spokesman after buying it?”
“Just now, I sent my mother a picture of Li Zhao saying that he was my boyfriend. Then my mother called and scolded me for 10 minutes on the grounds that I am forcing a good boy.”
“Upstairs, this is definitely your biological parents. Hahahahahaha.”
The water troops arranged by rival companies were all dumbfounded. They wanted to make netizens think that Li Zhao was dishonest and vain. How was it that after Li Zhao’s studio released some photos, these girls were just licking his face?
Couldn’t they be serious when fighting? Did they only know how to look at the face? Could they eat a good face?
The head of the water army zoomed in on the photos released by the studio. He looked at them several times before clapping excitedly. “Brothers, our recent business will go up again.”
“Why?” The colleague bowing his head to eat instant noodles looked up and asked.
“One look at this new person shows he is popular. As long as he is popular, it is bloody.” The head of the water army smiled. “Where there is Jianghu, there are disputes. Where there are disputes is where we are needed.”
The water army wasn’t afraid of newcomers on the scene. They were afraid of the circle not being lively.
Professor Chen was a teacher at the School of Calligraphy and Painting. His greatest hobby was painting and appreciating paintings. In the evening, he was drinking tea at home when he was shocked to hear his daughter scream. He thought there was something wrong with his daughter and went to his daughter’s room in a worried manner. He found that she was sitting in front of the computer and laughing at a young man’s photo.
“Sucha big person, how is it like…” Professor Chen approached his daughter. He suddenly grabbed the mouse in his daughter’s hand and zoomed in on the photo.
The painting hanging on the wall in this photo seemed to be authentic? Since the background and Li Zhao’s temperament matched very well, the background wasn’t blurred. The more he looked, the more Professor Chen felt that the painting was real. However, he couldn’t guarantee it until he saw the real thing.
“Can you contact this boy? I’d love to see the painting in his home.” Professor Chen was very excited. “It is okay even if I have to give money.”
Professor Chen’s daughter, “……”
She knew that her father was crazy about paintings but she never thought that chasing a star would allow her father to discover a new world.
“Dad, this person is a big star. How can I contact him? Not to mention, the place where the photo is taken isn’t necessarily his home.” Professor Chen’s daughter hastened to appear her excited old father. “Now there are so many imitation paintings. How can you rely on a photo to see?”
After knowing that this young man was a big star and not necessarily the owner of the painting, Professor Chen felt very lost. He twisted his head to teach his daughter, “Don’t just see that a boy is good-looking. The most important thing is character. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I understand.” Professor Chen’s daughter pushed Professor Chen out the door and opened up the fan group to chat.
“Just now, my dad came in and said the painting hanging on the wall in the background of our baby’s photo is real and asked if I could get in touch with him. If I could contact him, I wouldn’t have to lick the screen.”
“What is happening today? Some people said that the baby’s brooch is very real and now someone is saying that the baby’s background wall is very good.”
“It is impossible. The baby himself said that he is poor.”
“I suspect that those stirring up speculation on the brooch’s value are doing it deliberately to reduce the passersby’ favour of Zhao Zhao.”
“So who is going against our baby?”
The fan group had a moment of silence. It was because they didn’t know who Li Zhao’s family was. At first, they were at odds with the Yu fans. Then after so much trouble, the Yu fans and Li fans had almost formed an alliance and there was no contact with other fan groups and no conflict with resources. It was because Zhao Zhao got endorsement resources that other students simply couldn’t obtain.
“Tonight, the ones who are jumping up and down the strongest to blacken Literary are Lu Renyi’s fans.”
“Lu Renyi is a super first-tier artist. Do his fans need to make life difficult for us?”
They were speaking bluntly. Someone of Lu Renyi’s status should ignore them Li fans who will currying favour for their own Zhao Zhao. Were the Lu Renyi fans doing charity?
“Have you all forgotten that Lu Renyi was a spokesman of the Cangshi watch? His fans always thought that Cangshi would renew their contract with Lu Renyi. As a result, Cangshi signed an endorsement contract with our family’s Zhao Zhao.”
The Li fans finally figured out why these fans were jumping so hard tonight. Lu Renyi’s fans were famous for their fighting power in the entire circle. The fans of many artists avoided them in order to avoid being pushed by the other side. The Li fans couldn’t compete with their numbers and naturally didn’t want to quarrel with such a group. Being noisy would lose goodwill with passersby and lose their face. It wasn’t cost-effective.
At this moment, Lu Renyi’s company really wasn’t having it easy.
It was New Year’s Eve and everyone was looking forward to the end of year red envelopes. Then they suddenly received a call from Cang Huan who said that since their company’s artists acted impolitely in public, all cooperation with their company would be suspended from now on.
Then they got the news that Cang Huan had withdrawn their investment in all movies and television shows related to the company. Even the upcoming endorsement contracts had been cancelled.
“Who was rude in our company?” The head of the company was drinking outside with friends. He heard the news and hurriedly turned on his phone to look at the hot searches on the Internet.
Now the one being ridiculed the most was an artist called Li Zhao. He wasn’t with their company? He searched for news of his own artists for the last two days and everything was normal. Lu Renyi was currently attending Cang Huan’s annual meeting and the fans were boasting that he looked good.
Everything was fine. Who was being rude?
The boss hurried back to the company, which had long been a mess. Strawberry Entertainment was a big company. When an artist tried to create hype with the boss of Cang Huan, President Sun had to go in person to apologize. Their company wasn’t as large as Strawberry Entertainment and Cang Huan had cut off all cooperation with them. Who else would dare to do business with them?
He anxiously called Cang Huan’s PR manager and humbly apologized. No matter what was wrong, just admit it first.
“Your company’s artist wasn’t satisfied with the seat arranged for him by the company. He showed contempt and dismissed our hospitality. How can we talk about cooperation with your company?” The PR manager smiled. “Our bad company is small and can’t afford your company’s big Buddha.”
The boss’ face changed as he listened to the busy tone on the mobile phone. Not satisfied with the seat arranged by Cang Huan?
Cang Huan was a big business but was very disciplined when it came to business. Many companies liked to cooperate with Cang Huan because Cang Huan didn’t play with people through private means and paid great attention to reputation.
What businessman didn’t want to make money safely and securely?
“How many people in our company attended Cang Huan’s annual meeting today?” The boss wasn’t a fool and the other side’s words were clear. If he didn’t understand that his artist had broken Cang Huan’s rules, he wouldn’t be able to work in the entertainment industry.
“Only Lu Renyi.” The management didn’t dare to be careless and immediately replied. “His endorsement contract is expiring in a few days but he is still the spokesman of the Cangshi watch for the current season. We won a place for him to participate in the annual meeting.”
“Call him right away.” The boss was white-faced.
Lu Renyi was talking with a director on the same table about his next drama when the mobile phone he placed on the table started to vibrate. He was thinking about who would be so unintelligent. They knew he was at Cang Huan’s annual meeting and still called him. He looked at his phone and saw it was an executive of the company.
He smiled apologetically to his fellow tablemate, picked up his phone and went to the bathroom to accept the call.
“What?” Lu Renyi heard the news from the company’s side and was frightened. “That isn’t possible. I was very polite to Cang Hua, even to the waiters. How could I offend them?”
“Dissatisfaction with my seat?” Lu Renyi’s expression changed. He suddenly remembered. The directors and actors at this table were acquaintances, plus there were two well-known investors. Thus, he changed the position of his and Li Zhao’s name cards.
Li Zhao was a new person who just became famous. Even if his seat was changed, he definitely wouldn’t dare to say anything. Facts proved that Li Zhao didn’t dare do anything after finding out his seat was changed. Lu Renyi never thought that such a small matter would lead to so much trouble.
“Whose seat did you change?” The voice on the other end of the phone was clearly furious.
“J-Just a small entertainer.”
“How can a small entertainer go to Cang Huan’s annual meeting?”
“He is a small artist. It hasn’t been long since Strawberry Entertainment signed Li Zhao.”
“I don’t care if he is new or big. Since Cang Huan is dissatisfied with your behaviour of changing seats, go to apologize or bad luck will follow our entire company.”
“But…”
“Do you know, Cang Huan directly terminated the cooperation with our entire company and even the investment plan has been cancelled.”
Lu Renyi hung up the phone and returned to the banquet hall trying to find the spot where Li Zhao was sitting. He was in a hurry and finally saw Li Zhao’s figure at another table. Then once he saw the people sitting with Li Zhao, his entire body wasn’t good. These people were all high level people at Cang Huan’s headquarters.
At this moment, Lu Renyi knew what it meant to regret. He was so regretful that he wanted to cry, but tears didn’t fall. If he had a relationship with the higher ups of Cang Huan, he should’ve said so. If he jumped up and hit Lu Renyi in the face when changing seats, how could he be wronged?
He thought about the leading characters in some novels liked to play as a pig when they were actually a tiger. He never thought that people in the entertainment circle would like to play this game. Lu Renyi saw this usually blank-faced higher ups smiling amiably at Li Zhao and even hand-delivering soup to Li Zhao and felt his legs weakening.
Why was he so capable? He attended the annual meeting and managed to offend the most powerful person?
Bathed in the gentle eyes of the people on the table, Li Zhao drank two bowls of soup given to him due to the care of the ‘elders.’ He took advantage of when the two of them went to give toasts to hastily go to the bathroom.
Then he saw the elders looking at him with a type of ‘Baby is awesome, he can actually go to the toilet on his own’ expression. He ran away to the bathroom and sighed with relief.
“Teacher Li…” A man followed him in, a flattering smile on his handsome face.
“Teacher Lu.” Li Zhao was startled and made a big jump. “You can call me Xiao Li.”
Lu Renyi thought in his heart, ‘No, I dare not!’
“My brain short-circuited just now and I changed your seat. Please don’t mind it and forgive my mistake.” Lu Renyi saw that Li Zhao didn’t show the slightest bit of displeasure and thought this was a master who didn’t leak anything.
“Teacher Lu is too serious. Sitting anywhere is the same.” Li Zhao took the paper towels and cleaned the water on his hands. “It is a small matter, not worth mentioning.”
Lu Renyi looked at Li Zhao. He thought this young man was really dishonest. His mouth said he didn’t care yet he showed no mercy. From today on, he no longer dared to bully newcomers. Who knew who was behind them? He couldn’t afford it, couldn’t afford it.
“Teacher Li, can you forgive me?” Lu Renyi was really afraid “There are some ignorant fans on the Internet who are talking nonsense. After I go back, I will restrain them and stop them from slandering you.”
“What? Your fans are slandering me?” Li Zhao stared. He had been immersed in his meal and didn’t know what happened on the Internet.
Lu Renyi, “……”
Originally, Li Zhao didn’t know the Lu fans were scolding him on the Internet. Then why did he make this move? As a mature actor in his 30s, Lu Renyi nearly shed tears.
The Lu fans didn’t know that their artist was caught in a dilemma and were still at the official Weibo pages of major brands, ridiculing Li Zhao for wearing a fake.
Just as the Li fans themselves were close to believing that LI Zhao was wearing a fake imitation, the chief designer of a well-known luxury brand sent a post stating that Li Zhao’s outfit was a private, customized product and wasn’t for sale.
The taunting Lu fans, “Who am I, where am I, what happened?”
Soon, other chief designers of major brands came out and posted to prove that the jewelry on Li Zhao’s body was their work. These posts all had common words: privately customized.
“Privately customized by chief designers of big brands…”
“Li Zhao is really the son of Strawberry Entertainment’s boss. Does such a big hand need to be used to attend an annual meeting?”
“Fans of Lu Renyi, continue to laugh. Your artist doesn’t have any jewelry of value while you are laughing at other people for wearing a fake?”
“Strawberry Entertainment has other artists participating in the annual meeting who have a higher status than Li Zhao and they aren’t wearing privately customized clothes. Strawberry Entertainer did more for a new person than award-winning artists?”
“Upstairs, are you talking about Liu Fen? She is wearing the latest model from the D Family, which is already very powerful. Strawberry Entertainment invested in a movie for her that will be released on the first day of the new year. They spent a lot of energy to praise her. Her treatment can’t be worse than a new person.”
“In fact, out of the three Strawberry Entertainment artists participating in the annual meeting, only Li Zhao has personally customized clothes. In addition, the brooch on his body is said to be worth several suites. If this is also true then he will be very hot today.”
The fans of Strawberry Entertainment’s two other fans saw these remarks and felt some discomfort. They ran to Strawberry Entertainment’s official Weibo to ask why Strawberry Entertainment provided Li Zhao alone with customized clothes from big brands.
Just as everyone was making a lot of noise, Strawberry Entertainment finally posted a positive response.
Strawberry Entertainment V: Thank you for your attention and love toward the company’s artists. I also want to thank the D Brand and A Brand for sponsoring our artist’s clothes. I wish you a Happy New Year.
Netizens noted that Strawberry Entertainment thanks the clothing brands of Liu Fen and the other artist, but didn’t mention the brands that Li Zhao was wearing. Some netizens directly mentioned this issue in the comments section.
Strawberry Entertainment’s reply was: Zhao Zhao’s clothing was provided privately by his friend. This wasn’t prepared for him by the company.
“What friend is so awesome?!”
“Just now, I was randomly scolding Jewelry Expert Wang for his random identification but I don’ t know why, now I firmly believe the brooch that Li Zhao is wearing is the real thing.”
“Tonight, I’m a lemon essence.”
“I’m different, I’m a lemon tree.”
“I’m curious, what type of friend can be so generous?”
“I don’t know if anyone saw the variety show that Li Zhao went on after Overbearing Female President became a hit?”
“Are you talking about There Exists a Person with the Same Profession as You?”
“At the time, the crew of Overbearing Female President talked about their rich friends. Li Zhao introduced his friend and said his friend has two houses and dozens of stores in Beijing. Sisters, he is talking about Beijing where every patch of land is worth so much.”
“Right, I also have an impression of this. It is said that his friend gave a house for Li Zhao to live in.”
“It is probably this mysterious friend.”
“That isn’t the important thing. The important thing is that I want such a friend.”
“My focus is very strange. I would like to know how many suites Li Zhao’s entire body is worth.”
“Don’t think about it. We can’t afford it anyway.”
“I don’t know if this local tyrant has a girlfriend. I admire his generous spirit toward his friends.”
“What a coincidence. I appreciate it too.”
The Lu fans saw the atmosphere on the website changing and couldn’t carry the blame. Thus, they turned around and said it was the Li fans deliberately picking trouble. They also said this trouble wasn’t caused by Lu fans at all but other black fans pretending to be them.
The Lu fans were invincible when tearing at other fan circles. This time, they finally fell down and the other fan groups were happy to see it. However, this wasn’t the worst moment for the Lu fans. The worst thing was that their artist suddenly sent a Weibo post passionately and sincerely praising Li Zhao. The number of words was so much it was like a small composition.
The Lu fans, “??”
‘Brother, what’s wrong with you? Have you been kidnapped and hoodwinked?’
The author has something to say:
Lu Renyi: I was wrong. Even my name is a mistake.