Become famous another day.

Although assistants have always been a large but inconspicuous group in the entertainment industry, Li Zhibai felt that he was influenced by Lu Yanhe and always felt that, first, one should not flatter the powerful and look down on others, and second, although assistants are inconspicuous, they really influence many things.

Therefore, every time Li Zhibai joins a crew, he not only pays attention to the co-actors, but also pays more attention to their assistants.

At least, when talking to people about sensitive topics, you should be aware that someone's assistant is right next to you and be more restrained.

Li Zhibai didn't have a very deep impression of Xiao Mo.

Because this is a girl who is usually taciturn. On the set, she often keeps her head down and is submissive. She is not the kind of person who jokes with people around her.

Li Zhibai didn't know if she had a little inferiority complex.

Anyway, every time he greeted her, she rarely responded to his gaze.

Therefore, Li Zhibai's impression of her has always been that of a "quiet and simple-minded" person.

Until he saw the recording interface on her phone.
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"It is true that some assistants will secretly take some of the artists' materials and sell them outside for money, but recordings are still relatively rare." Yan Liang said, "This is already..."

Li Zhibai hesitated for a moment and said, "Do you think I should talk to Liu Bo about this?"

Yan Liang: "How is your relationship with Liu Bo?"

"It's just so-so. He always tries to get close to me, which sometimes makes me feel embarrassed."

"If you have an average relationship with him, he might not believe you if you rashly remind him of this." Lu Yanhe said, "That's his assistant."

"The most important thing is that Yan Sui told me that he treated his assistant very badly, so badly that his assistant wanted to mess with him. I think he deserved it."

"Then why are you hesitating? In this situation, of course, just pretend you didn't see it." Yan Liang said directly.

"But I'm afraid something big might happen," Li Zhibai said. "What if something happens to Liu Bo and affects the show 'Those Years'?"

"Hiss—" Yan Liang took a breath, "That's true."

Lu Yanhe said: "Either you talk to her? Or you let Yan Sui talk to her?"

Li Zhibai: "What should I talk to her about? Ask her if she secretly recorded Liu Bo's conversation? She will definitely not admit it."

"Whether she admits it or not, you asked her, and you saw it. You can choose to tell Liu Bo, but you should go directly to her and talk to her about it first." Lu Yanhe said, "In fact, just tell her that you don't plan to tell Liu Bo about this."

Li Zhibai: "Then I won't make such a promise. What if she reveals something in the end and really ruins the movie "Those Years"? "

Lu Yanhe: "Don't say anything yet, just test it out. She may not want to do anything right away. If she really recorded something that was used against Liu Bo, you don't have to show up. The crew will negotiate with her and see how to coordinate and handle the matter. To be honest, she may be more nervous than you right now."
-
What Lu Yanhe said was absolutely right.

Xiao Mo is indeed nervous, uneasy, and even a little scared now.

Because she was worried that Li Zhibai would tell Liu Bo about this.

She followed Liu Bo carefully, fearing that he would suddenly have an attack.

Such a matter was hanging unresolved above her head, and she didn't know when it would fall. She couldn't sleep well, as if her heart was standing on stilts.

While she was eating, Yan Sui came to see him.

Xiao Mo looked at him in surprise.

Yan Sui said: "Brother Bai asked me to tell you that he will pretend not to see it, as long as you don't affect the production and release of this play."

Xiao Mo pursed his lips, shook his head, and said, "I don't have that idea."

Yan Sui: "What happened?"

Xiao Mo was stunned.

"Brother Bai just asked me to say this to you, and he didn't tell me anything." Yan Sui looked at Xiao Mo in confusion, "What did you do?"

Xiao Mo shook his head and hesitated for a moment, "Please tell him that I won't do anything that will affect the show."

Yan Sui looked at her hesitantly, his expression becoming even more confused.
-
"I suggest you take on 'Fake Your Death 2'." Lin Suyang told Li Zhibai on the phone, "This movie has a good reputation among the audience, and your performance in the movie is also well received. Long Yan wants to make a sequel, but this sequel is also a very good project for you. After all, with the first one in front, the box office of the sequel should not be bad."

Li Zhibai said: "I feel like I still have a long way to go if I want to get out of the romantic comedy track."

"Why do you have to get rid of it completely?" Lin Suyang said, "Since you have so many well-received dramas in this field, it means that this is your comfort zone. You want to step out of your comfort zone and challenge more types of roles. This is of course right, but you don't have to completely abandon your comfort zone, right?"

Li Zhibai: "Because if I don't completely abandon it, people will always choose romantic comedies as my first choice."

Lin Suyang: "But you see, in order to get you to play a romantic comedy, they would also use a project like "Orange" as a trading condition. If you weren't so influential in the field of romantic comedies, Longyan wouldn't easily make such a swap with an actor, right?"

This is true.

"The most important thing is, you haven't even performed to the top level on this track yet, and you're busy changing tracks. Be careful that you can only finish in the top eight on any track you choose."

Lin Suyang's words made Li Zhibai fall into deep thought.

"Anyway, I suggest you take "Fake Your Death 2". Whether it's objectively beneficial to your career development or subjectively, I think this story and this character are suitable for you." After Lin Suyang finished speaking, he changed the subject and asked, "How is the communication with Yan Sui regarding Liu Bo's assistant?"

"It's OK. Liu Bo's assistant said that she won't do anything that will affect the play."

"It seems that she either wants to keep something in her hands to protect herself, or..." Lin Suyang chuckled, "Maybe she is planning to blackmail Liu Bo."

Li Zhibai: "False?"

"Didn't Yan Sui say that before? She seems to be very short of money. She has to endure humiliation around Liu Bo for a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan."

Li Zhibai: "It seems so."

"That's good. People like Liu Bo should be punished." Lin Suyang seemed to have been offended by Liu Bo before.

"Liu Bo seems to have quite a strong background, right?" Li Zhibai asked.

"That's just the way it is. He's just an actor that Sanhua's company is trying to promote." Lin Suyang said, "His agent has been quite active recently, looking for projects and roles everywhere, and has spread the word that he is a rising star, saying that the director of Those Years spoke very highly of Liu Bo, creating the impression that Liu Bo will become an instant hit after Those Years is released."

Li Zhibai: "Ah? Is there anyone who is better at marketing than Li Yuefeng?"

"Li Yuefeng's marketing is usually done during the drama promotion stage, and there is relatively little effort during the filming stage." Lin Suyang said, "Liu Bo did not buy hot searches or anything, he just used "Those Years" to create an image of a rising star for himself, so as to win some resources."

Li Zhibai: "Those Years" is really useful.

"You know what, there are actually several crews that have offered him olive branches." Lin Suyang said, "Although it's not a big project, it's indeed much more important than the roles he's had before."

Li Zhibai: "It proves the saying that when you go out, you have to give yourself face."

"Truth." Lin Suyang nodded, "Is Liu Bo still bothering you recently?"

"Seeing that I don't pay much attention to him, he has calmed down a little." Li Zhibai said.

"He wants to climb up the tree of yours." Lin Suyang laughed, "His agent even came to ask me if I would act in Shi Jin's movie "Ten Miles of Flowers"."

Li Zhibai: "I don't want to act in any romantic comedy, let alone a fairy tale romance."

"Many of your fans hope to see you play a fairy-tale role again." After his first acting career as a supporting actor, which attracted much attention, Li Zhibai's first truly popular drama was actually "Bai Yu Yao" starring with Zhang Wei. That drama made Li Zhibai go from an idol star to an actor.

After that, Li Zhibai actually never starred in any mainstream fantasy romance dramas on the market again.

I just filmed a movie called "The Legend of Sword and Fairy".

Li Zhibai said: "I definitely don't want to shoot something like "Ten Miles of Flowers". It's boring."

"Shi Jin said that if you are willing to act, you will be paid 20 million yuan." Lin Suyang said. Although his words emphasized the number, his tone did not sound like he cared much. "They have offered a salary that is considered a top-tier domestic movie salary."

Li Zhibai: "I don't understand why a fairy-tale romance movie with a female perspective would go to such great lengths to hire a male actor. I haven't seen them looking for a female actor in such a high-profile manner."

"Because this kind of subject matter needs to be popular, the premise is that the male lead must be popular." Lin Suyang said with a smile, "I have never seen a fairy tale romance drama where the male lead is not popular but the drama is still popular, and there are cases where the female lead is not popular but the drama is popular. To put it bluntly, this kind of subject matter is to create dreams for female audiences. How can the male lead not meet the dream-making standards? The female lead is a little ordinary, which makes the audience empathize with her."

Li Zhibai: "Let others create their dreams. My own acting is boring. How can I make other people's dreams interesting?"

Lin Suyang: "I guess you would say that."

Li Zhibai: "Shi Jin's behavior is also sick. He not only contacted you, but Yan Liang also contacted him. Besides him, Li Yuefeng also contacted us. Does he think that he should get us together to raise the Gu, and then give it to whoever wins in the end?"

Lin Suyang: "They are using this drama to build momentum for themselves. For the first drama, they chose people from so many top-tier actors. It's the same logic as Liu Bo's routine. Anyway, we rejected them, and they won't say that we rejected them. In the industry, details are true and false, real and fake, but it is real that a drama has contact with so many top-tier actors. Doesn't their status in the industry have been raised?"

Li Zhibai: “Heh.”

Lin Suyang smiled, "However, actors of your caliber are always scarce."

Li Zhibai: "What's the difference between rare and unscarce? Even the rarest actors will be outraged if they star in a bad drama. When 'Nineteen Years' was broadcast, so many people stared at me and scolded me for my poor acting. No matter how much my fans praise me, it can't change the facts."

"You are becoming more and more sober."

"How can I not be sober? Damn it, if you had my two friends, you would be more sober than me." Li Zhibai said, "A genius who is beyond catching up, and a lowly talent who built a tall building on a flat ground, and I am still complacent, really thinking that I am so awesome, just relying on a face and a so-called cool guy personality, I can sweep the entertainment industry, right?"

"You are you. It's good like this. You roll them up, they roll you up, and in the end, everyone else will be rolled to death by the three of you." Lin Suyang said with a smile.

In the entertainment industry, there are many male actors in the first echelon. Except for Lu Yanhe who has surpassed the five elements, the others, including Yan Liang who won the award, all have their own strengths and weaknesses. It is hard to tell who will come out on top in the future.

Li Zhibai is not a serious drama star, and awards seem far away from him, but his star style is destined to make his "blooming period" last for a long time. Moreover, it is recognized that his acting skills are not bad.

Although Yan Liang won an award, his image could not follow the "handsome guy" route like Li Zhibai, and because of the subject matter of several of his representative works, his popularity and commercial value were lacking. However, "Friends" laid a solid foundation for his national popularity, and the stage of an idol artist made him have sticky fans and popularity far exceeding that of "real actors".

As for other male actors, Li Yuefeng's acting skills are slightly inferior, but his marketing is unparalleled. The key is that he can fool people inside and outside the industry. Apart from complaining that he is "really good at marketing", you really can't put him down. His representative roles and works have never been out of fashion.

Liu Zefan, Huang Kairen, Zeng Qiao... These male actors who have more or less relationship with Lu Yanhe and have a small age gap each have their own path and the basis for taking the lead and becoming a leader in the circle. It all depends on their future development fortunes.

However, if we really compare them, Yan Liang and Li Zhibai both started their acting careers many years later than these people, but they have already overtaken them.

Especially with the inventory that the two of them have in their hands, no one knows which drama they will star in next that will make them soar to fame.

Of course, Lu Yanhe said it directly.

For Li Zhibai, it must be "The Legend of Sword and Fairy". Once this drama was broadcast, combined with Li Zhibai's previous foundation, in terms of popularity and traffic, there is definitely no one who can surpass him.

As for Yan Liang, Lu Yanhe said, it depends on which action movie of his comes out first.

"Li Zhibai's innate advantage is that his own personality is very distinct, and it blends well with every role and every stage he plays. Over the years, he has formed his own identity. This happens to be Yan Liang's disadvantage. His own personality is not strong. Therefore, although he has many popular dramas, the character's personality is not so well integrated with Yan Liang's personality. He has not formed an actor's personality, and his strength is not concentrated together."

This is also what Chen Ziyan mentioned when chatting with Lu Qingzhen in private.

"Yan He and Li Zhibai can occupy an ecological niche because they have completely integrated their own personality with that of an artist." Chen Ziyan said, "Yan Liang... the impression he left on everyone is still too vague. Yes, he works hard, and yes, several of his dramas were well-received, but what kind of actor is he? What kind of personality does he have? Is he hardworking? This seems a bit too mediocre."

“All efforts are made to achieve something, not just to make an effort itself,” Lu Qingzhen concluded.

The two men nodded.

"So, if you want to be a star, unless you say, okay, that's all you want to be, you don't want to be too famous, you just want to treat it as a job, otherwise, you must have a recognizable star personality."

Lu Qingzhen wrote it down.

"We should talk about this when we have a meeting with the agents later," she said with a smile.

"There's no point in talking about this kind of thing. It all depends on your liking." Chen Ziyan smiled.

"But then again, the entertainment industry is really not friendly to good people," Lu Qingzhen said. "Sometimes, the more unconventional a person is, the more they can develop this so-called recognition and personal style."

"They are two different things. Being unorthodox does not mean you have bad character." Chen Ziyan said, "But there is one good thing about the entertainment industry. No matter how famous you are, you are a public figure. Even if you are pretending, you have to pretend to follow public order and good customs. Compared with many other circles, they are too lazy to pretend. They just attribute everything to human nature, and then rationalize breaking rules, the law of the jungle, unfair competition, and even bullying the weak. Which star dares to expose such things? No one can stand up to public opinion."
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"I want five hundred thousand."

Her gaze was firm and powerful, without a trace of compromise.

Her voice was also clear and calm.

Liu Bo looked at the timid Xiao Mo in disbelief and was unable to react for a moment.

"Otherwise, these things will be spread online in various ways after Those Years is released, and your career as an actor will be over."

Liu Bo: "Are you crazy? You are committing a crime!"

"You've committed a crime too." Xiao Mo suppressed her nervousness and smiled. Maybe she wanted to laugh like in the movies, but she couldn't control herself well and her smile turned out to be hideous.

"Did you know that extortion can also lead to jail time?"

"Then I will drag you into jail with me. It's useless to threaten me. Now I'm threatening you." Xiao Mo glared at Liu Bo and suddenly raised his voice.

Liu Bo looked at Xiao Mo in surprise.

"So, five hundred thousand, you have to transfer it to this account before noon tomorrow." Xiao Mo took out a folded paper, put it in front of Liu Bo, and said bluntly, "I don't accept bargaining, and don't even think about asking the company or the agent to solve this matter. The things are in my hands. As long as the money hasn't arrived, you can just wait for "Those Years" to be released."

Xiao Mo stood up and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute!" Liu Bo grabbed her angrily, "Do you think you can leave like this? I'm calling the police now! I want to see--"

"Then report it. Call the police!" Xiao Mo said the lines he had rehearsed countless times in his mind, "What are you going to say to the police? What you just heard is only in my hands. Only you heard it, and it was destroyed after you heard it. The backup is in a place that none of you know, and you have no evidence to prove that I have it."

Liu Bo was stunned.

"I have submitted my resignation to the company. From now on, I am no longer your assistant." Xiao Mo said, "You are not qualified to ask me to stay here anymore."

Liu Bo was furious.

"As long as you dare to post it, we can find out it's you."

Xiao Mo nodded, "Then come and check it out. I don't know if you can find me, but your career will definitely be ruined."

She stared stubbornly.

"You'd better think it over. I advise you to just transfer the money directly. 500,000 yuan, not a cent less."

Xiao Mo broke free from Liu Bo's hand, turned around and ran out. (End of this chapter)