Entering the Chinese entertainment industry is like entering a deep sea

Chapter 819 Swallows Fly Without Birth
At the top of the trending search list, under the hashtag #Huang's successor is here#, were just five words: Li Moumou was detained.

If it were just Li, netizens might also associate it with Li Chen.

After all, there's the example of the Golden Bear-winning director "Bald King" before him. He has a beautiful wife, Staff Officer Yang, and he still goes around "collecting material" everywhere!
But "Li Moumou" has no connection with Li Chen; it can't possibly be Li Chen's son, Li Rongsheng.

Yang Mi didn't even bother with it, just glanced at it and laughed it off.

After all, 'Li Moumou' is not Li Yifeng, and besides, how could he possibly be Li Yifeng?

Soon, two more trending topics emerged, leaving the Jiaxing trio stunned.

Li Yifeng was nowhere to be seen on the Weibo Night red carpet!

“Those who go in are ‘good men’!”

Now 'Fengfeng's' fans are getting anxious. If it were Li Moumou, it wouldn't be so bad, but adding 'Good Man' is no different from naming him.

Of all the male celebrities who debuted through the "Good Man" competition, Li Yifeng is the most popular now, and he's the only one who fits the description of "Li Moumou"!
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Then on Weibo, posts from Li Yifeng's fans trying to whitewash their idol appeared one after another.

While Feng Feng was still in Hengdian and missed his flight, Zhao Liying, who played Bi Yao, had already arrived at the China World Trade Center Phase 3.

What happened? Feng Feng was feeling unwell and went to the hospital temporarily. However, netizens responded even more sharply, asking if she was carried away on a stretcher like Huang Shengyi.

Yang Mi called Li Yifeng, but his assistant answered.

He stammered for a long time but couldn't come up with a coherent explanation.

Yang Mi's face turned extremely pale, and her heart sank. She was doomed.
"Honey, what's going on?" Zeng Jia was also quite concerned.

If Li Yifeng really gets into trouble, she, as the head of Jiaxing Media, will have to strongly interfere with Yang Mi's relationship.

Although she didn't believe it either, Wang Quan'an had someone as beautiful and well-proportioned as Zhang Yuqi, and he still went out to have affairs.

"I don't know!" Yang Mi's face turned pale and she shook her head. She was relieved that she and Li Yifeng hadn't officially announced their relationship yet, otherwise she would have experienced Zhang Yuqi's embarrassment today.

From Christmas Day, the 25th, to today, the 7th, a full two weeks have passed. What exactly happened?

Was all of this orchestrated by her senior behind the scenes? Yang Mi was truly confused.

But how could my senior possibly control such an unprecedented event as the A-share circuit breaker?
At the China World Trade Center Phase 3 event, the final performers were Li Chen and Zhou Xingchi.

Both of them are award presenters tonight.

In the backstage rest area of ​​the red carpet, Lu Han's eyes lit up. As soon as the big boss and Stephen Chow appeared, they immediately became the focus of the entire event.

He won the Weibo King title again tonight, and Stephen Chow will present him with the award.

Lu Han knew perfectly well that all of this was inseparable from the strong support of the big boss.

Of the three who returned to China, he was exceptionally fortunate, with resources far surpassing the other two.

Among the current "Big Three and Little Three" in the industry, he is the real "Big" star.

"Boss, Mr. Xing." Lu Han scurried over to greet Li Chen and Zhou Xingchi, leaving Deng Chao and the others behind.

Soon, filming for "The Demons Strike Back" will begin. Zhou Xingchi's eyes were unfocused, and he seemed a little distracted, his reactions a beat slower.

Li Chen nodded slightly to Lu Han, then glanced at the rest area and gave a self-deprecating smile: "Director Zhou, are we too early, or should we not have come at all?"

The scene, which had been lively, did indeed quiet down considerably after Li Chen and Zhou Xingchi appeared.

However, the atmosphere quickly returned to normal, with people taking photos and chatting enthusiastically.

Zhou Xingchi was still a beat behind: "Director Li is wrong. I shouldn't have come with you."

Zhou Xingchi's dry humor made Lu Han burst out laughing. Perhaps only Stephen Chow would dare to tease a big boss like that.

Li Chen turned his head and glanced at him, and Lu Han immediately swallowed back his smile.

"Okay, Director Zhou, you'll be the closing act later. Let's go our separate ways. I'll head out first."

"No, Director Li, I take back what I just said!" Zhou Xingchi panicked when he heard that he was to be the final act.

With Li Chen by his side, at least 80% of the media's firepower was diverted.

Lu Han secretly admired him; a big boss is a big boss, even Stephen Chow couldn't gain an advantage.

"Boss, Mr. Stephen Chow! You've arrived." Deng Chao, dressed in a suit and tie, followed closely behind Lu Han.

"Brother Chen, Stephen Chow." Fan Bingbing is also an award presenter tonight.

Following closely behind, Xiao Tiantian Cai Shaofen and her husband Zhang Jin also came up, all asking to take photos with Li Chen and Zhou Xingchi.

Former "Star Girl" Zhang Baizhi also came today. She and Zhou Xingchi seemed to have reconciled on the surface, and they posed for a photo together. The only one who probably felt uncomfortable was the plump lady.

Besides Zhang Baizhi, Zhang Yuqi was also on set. The crew of "Yunnan Insect Valley" has returned to Beijing to film interior scenes.

Huang Xiaoming and his wife Angelababy were also present.

Li Chen readily agreed to take a photo with Zhang Baizhi and Zhang Yuqi, two actresses who had worked with Stephen Chow.

but
"Stephen Chow."

Seeing the person approach with a smile, Zhou Xingchi looked very uncomfortable. The other person didn't greet Li Chen, but only called him "Master Xing". Even if Zhou Xingchi was slow to react, he knew what the other person was thinking: to deliberately embarrass Li Chen.

Li Chen's expression remained unchanged; he simply smiled faintly and said, "Director Zhou, your idol has arrived. Excuse me for a moment."

Many of the celebrities present witnessed this scene.

"It seems the rumors about Director Li and her not getting along are true!" Big Baby was engrossed in gossiping.

Li Chen and Zhou Xingchi were so popular that she and Xiao Ming didn't even have a chance to show their faces before witnessing such an interesting scene.

"Observe more, listen more, and talk less!" Huang Xiaoming succinctly stated.

Big Baby pouted: "What? Are you standing up for your former dream girl, Mrs. Huang?"

Huang Xiaoming glared at his wife helplessly. What was all this about? This Mrs. Huang was not the same Mrs. Huang. How could she be so jealous? Huang Xiaoming was truly exasperated with his wife.

Ma Yun stood not far away, secretly shaking her head. People in the entertainment industry are too impulsive.

He came with the 'goalkeeper', but he didn't join in the goalkeeper's antics.

Zhou Xingchi stood there, looking at Li Chen with a pitiful expression as he left him.

I don't know if Li Chen is angry, even though he just said something light and casual.

But he always felt that Li Chen was disgusting him.

He himself had almost forgotten his own words from back then, "Zhao is my idol," but he didn't expect this person to still remember.

Zhao Yanzi's facial muscles stiffened, and Li Chen walked away decisively, clearly not wanting to have any interaction with her. Her little tricks instantly failed, and she was the one who was embarrassed again.

"Master Xing." Zhao Yanzi extended her hand, adopting the demeanor of a superior, and took the initiative to shake hands with Zhou Xingchi.

Zhou Xingchi's eyes kept drifting towards Li Chen, and he absentmindedly shook hands with Zhao Yanzi briefly before letting go.

"Sigh," Zhou Xingchi didn't know whether to laugh or not, and finally managed to squeeze out a single word.

But Zhao Yanzi made conversation, talking about her upcoming drama "No Other Love" which will start filming in March, and hoping that Zhou Xingchi could make a cameo appearance as a way of repaying the favor she did for her cameo appearance in "Shaolin Soccer" back then!

Ten years ago, Zhao Yanzi certainly wouldn't have had the courage to make such a bold claim to Zhou Xingchi.

But now, they've transformed themselves and are no longer the same as before.

Although he was in the industry, his connections extended outside of it. His social standing had long since risen to the level where he conversed with learned scholars and associated with no commoners.

In her eyes, Zhou Xingchi was nothing more than a washed-up comedy king, and she wouldn't hesitate to take a jab at him whenever she had the chance.

Zhou Xingchi had no interest in being polite with Zhao Yanzi and was just absentmindedly responding.

Upon hearing this, he refused without even thinking: "Forget it, I haven't acted in many years, I can't act anymore."

"Excuse me, I'm sorry."

Zhao Yanzi forced a smile: "Okay, okay!"

Li Chen didn't linger on the first floor, but went up to the VIP lounge on the second floor.

Both Cao Guowei and Wang Changtian were present.

Upon seeing Li Chen arrive, Cao Guowei stood up and said with a smile, "I thought you weren't coming!"

"If you don't come, I'll give the Weibo Queen title to Sun Li tonight!"

Li Chen chuckled: "Whatever, it's not like my wife needs a Weibo Queen like you!"

Wang Changtian laughed heartily: "That's right, Guo Wei, get this straight, you're the one begging Li Chen to come, not the other way around!"

Cao Guowei asked helplessly, "Where is Zhou Xingchi?"

Li Chen sat down on the sofa: "He's been pestered by his idol."

"His idol?" Cao Guowei was unaware that Zhou Xingchi had an idol.

Wang Changtian had never heard of it either.

"It's that swallow, trying to play tricks on me, humph." Li Chen sneered.

Wang Changtian knew that this fellow disciple had a very bad impression of him, but he didn't know why.

There were no outsiders present at the moment, so Wang Changtian asked curiously, "What is it about this person that you dislike so much? You don't seem like a petty person. You can't be jealous of other people making money, can you?"

"Or is this person, like those you used to look down on, destined to fall from grace sooner or later?"

This last sentence is the kind of insight that a seasoned media professional like Wang Changtian should have.

He had known Li Chen for over a decade and had long since realized that anyone targeted by Li Chen, regardless of whether Li Chen used underhanded tactics or someone else got into trouble, would always end up in the same situation: collapse!
The most bizarre incident at that year's Shanghai International Film Festival was Sharon Stone's affair. The big stars invited to the festival were publicly humiliated and belittled by this guy on the red carpet, drawing criticism from the media and netizens.

But then, a disaster not only exposed Sharon Stone's true colors, but also boosted Li Chen's popularity and reputation to new heights!

"I don't know if she'll collapse or not, but we're friends, so I'm giving you a friendly reminder: Guangming, don't get too close to her, lest one day our friendship ends," Li Chen said with a smile.

He actually admired Wang Changtian. Even though Enlight Media's stock price had plummeted to almost nothing, Old Wang could still chat and laugh with him. At least in terms of spirit, he was much better than that young Wang from Huayi Brothers.

Wang Changtian laughed heartily: "No way, our friendship will last forever. Not even a swallow, let alone a gyrfalcon, could ruin it."

Although Li Chen's words were said in jest, they made Wang Changtian break out in a cold sweat.

Clearly, Li Chen's words revealed that he was going to take action against the swallow.

A friendly reminder is actually a warning, telling him to stay away to avoid getting splattered with blood.

"Alright, alright, it's about time, we should head out now."

The group of celebrities in the rest area were discussing topics that were more or less related to Huanrui and Li Yifeng.

Zhao Yanzi's interlude was just a fleeting moment.

No one thought much of it; the relationship between Li Chen and Zhao Yanzi was irreconcilable, as everyone in the industry knew. Even the Beijing Film Academy tried to mediate, asking Tian Zhuangzhuang to step in, but Tian Zhuangzhuang refused the job.

Isn't the meaning obvious?

"Guo Wei, at least half of this trending topic on Weibo was contributed by Li Chen, right?"

"What you said isn't wrong. Yang Siwei was behind Li Yifeng's incident today."

"Li Chen's moves are precise, accurate, and ruthless. Huanrui is likely to be wiped out from now on."

Cao Guowei nodded secretly as he listened to his old classmate's感慨 (sentiments/reflections).

It's likely that the relevant departments will soon come forward to clarify the situation.

At that point, the penalty fees alone would bankrupt Li Yifeng; those who couldn't afford it would have to turn to Huanrui.

Zhao Liying's mind was in a complete mess at that moment.

The male lead of "The Legend of Chusen" died less than a month after filming began.
Does that mean the upcoming drama "Sparrow" has been shelved?

"Mr. Six" – will it even last a month in theaters?

Zhao Liying guessed correctly; Wang Zhonglei was now filled with the urge to kill Feng Zi's entire family.

If Feng Xiaogang hadn't been banned from Weibo, the platform would probably have been overrun again by now.

Feng Xiaogang once praised Li Yifeng highly at the Venice Film Festival.

Especially that line, "Times have changed, but deep down he's still quite like me!"
"Call Huanrui immediately and tell them to clarify and refute the rumors! If this is true, tell them to prepare for a lawyer's letter!" Wang Zhonglei slammed down the phone.

"Damn it!" He couldn't help but swear.

Xu Li stood silently in front of Wang Zhonglei's desk.

This time, Li Yifeng is exactly the same as Wen Zhang last time. If you say it wasn't Li Chen who did it, even he himself wouldn't believe it.

But saying all this now is pointless. Flies don't land on eggs without cracks. If Wen Zhang and Li Yifeng had clean hands, no one would have taken advantage of the situation.

"What do you think we should do now?" Wang Zhonglei's face was as black as charcoal.

One circuit breaker triggered a 21% drop in Huayi's stock price, wiping out nearly 60 billion yuan in market value, leaving the two brothers in a state of shock.

Enlight Media's stock price fell by 25%. Although it will definitely rebound within a week after the circuit breaker was triggered, the idea of ​​recovering 60 billion yuan is just a pipe dream.

Now that the private sector has surpassed the top five, Wang Zhonglei has no choice but to accept it.

"Do you think Li Chen had a premonition that the A-share market would crash when he decided to list Yixin in Hong Kong?" Wang Zhonglei asked before Xu Li could answer.

Xu Li pondered for a moment before saying, "It's hard to say. Li Chen's actions have always been unpredictable. Many times, I even have a feeling that..."

"What does it feel like?"

"Mr. Wang, don't you think that since Li Chen's debut, many things have been hard to explain, from the initial mystery of Jinxiu Mingzuan's funding, to the later 10 billion bet with the eight major cinema chains, to Wen Zhang's incident, and now Li Yifeng's incident."

"What exactly do you want to say? Speak!"

"What I want to say is that Li Chen gives me the impression of being able to predict the future; things we think he doesn't know, he actually already knows perfectly well."

Xu Li's words were like a wake-up call: indeed, Wang Zhonglei also had many things he couldn't understand.

When Huayi Brothers first went public, after the one-year lock-up period expired, artists from Rongchen's group, including Liu Yifei, sold all the Huayi Brothers shares they held.

Huang Xiaoming's net worth shrank by 447.8 million yuan during the first circuit breaker-triggered plunge on the 4th, and he lost another 1175 million yuan on the 7th.

Feng Xiaogang, on the other hand, was just as cunning as Li Chen. He sold his shares as soon as the company went public, making a profit and avoiding the sharp decline in stock prices.

Fan Bingbing and Zhao Yanzi's Tangde Film and Television each lost a huge sum of 20 million yuan within four days.

Only the Rongchen faction remained unscathed.
(End of this chapter)