Huayu became famous overnight

Chapter 271 Untie the knot
"Those guys went too far. They have no ability themselves, yet they still try to discourage us."

Xiao Juan stood next to Xu Ming, grumbling angrily.

"It doesn't matter."

Xu Ming smiled, not taking it to heart. "The less capable you are, the more you care about others."

"I just can't stand them talking badly about people behind their backs," Xiaojuan said unhappily.

"Actually, what they said isn't wrong," Xu Ming said calmly.

Xiao Juan looked puzzled.

"I really don't think much of them," Xu Ming said calmly.

They're just a bunch of clowns; they can't get out of here themselves, and they don't want others to get out either.

But they dare not confront him directly, so they resort to sarcastic remarks like this, trying to hold him back.

"Who do you look down on?"

Fan Bingbing approached and, upon hearing this, teased, "Did someone upset Boss Xu? Should I stand up for you?"

"Oh, no one, just people from Huace and Kunpeng's circle. If Sister Bingbing gets involved, she can definitely help me get revenge," Xu Ming said casually.

Fan Bingbing's expression froze, and her eyes twitched when she heard those two names.

She came from the television drama industry.

They are well aware of the immense influence that the small circle centered around Huace wields in the television drama industry.

She was afraid that once she vented her anger, she would immediately lose it all.

Faced with Xu Ming's smiling gaze, he knew perfectly well that he had been outmaneuvered.

"Ahem, let me introduce you. This is my newly signed artist, Li Yeting." Fan Bingbing stepped aside to make way for Li Yeting behind her, changing the subject.

"I know, it's Wang Lihong."

Xu Ming looked at the reserved Li Yeting and asked curiously, "Who do you resemble more, you or Pu Bajia?"

"Uh, I haven't paid attention to that," Li Yeting said awkwardly.

Although both he and Pu have tried to ride on Wang Lihong's popularity, neither of them is willing to admit that they are a substitute for someone else.

If it were anyone else, he might have already started to show his displeasure.

But since the person asking the question was Xu Ming, he couldn't afford to offend him, much less dare to.

Don't be fooled by his family's considerable connections in the Hong Kong entertainment industry; it all depends on who they're dealing with. Everyone knows that Xu Ming is at odds with the Hong Kong and Taiwan circles, so using his connections might backfire.

Xu Ming glanced at the other man's crotch. He'd heard that this guy had gotten Li Milu to the hospital and was now listed as one of the new generation of "King of Penis"...

Well, it seems I'm at the top of the list.

"I remember you used to date Li Xiaolu, right?" Xu Ming casually made small talk.

“That’s Pu Ba Jia,” Fan Bingbing said irritably.

Xu Ming's face turned awkward; he realized he had remembered the wrong person.

These three are really hard to tell apart.

"He's playing your younger brother, right?"

Aside from the female lead, Xu Ming didn't pay much attention to the casting of "My Love from the Star," basically leaving the decision to Guo Fan and others.

After all, the highlights of this drama are concentrated on the male and female leads, and it doesn't matter who plays the other characters unless they are particularly bad.

Li Yeting's casting as Liu Yuncai was clearly the result of an exchange of interests.

However, this role is almost the fourth male lead's screen time, and Fan Bingbing is still willing to help his artists get it, which shows that he is very optimistic about the future of the drama.

"Yes, please take good care of me in the industry from now on," Fan Bingbing said.

"No problem," Xu Ming agreed.

Although he was two years younger than Li Yeting, no one present thought there was a problem.

Xu Ming then introduced Yang Yang and Lou Yixiao to the other party.

The two played the second male and second female leads respectively. The former has always been Qi Ming's favorite, so it's not surprising that he was chosen. However, the latter's ability to stand out has attracted a lot of attention.

You know, female artists in the company who don't have an affair with the boss are extremely rare.

Lou Yixiao herself had no expectations.

She knew a little about the relationship between her best friend Li Jinming and Xu Ming. Even Li Jinming couldn't get good resources, let alone her.

"Card!"

"Yi Xiao, you're a bit tense. Relax a little," Guo Fan said, frowning.

It was just an idol drama after all, and filming went smoothly from the start.

Today, however, Lou Yixiao made a series of mistakes.

"it is good."

Lou Yixiao said it was all right, but things didn't get any better.

Two more consecutive delays caused a tense atmosphere on set.

Snapped!
A large hand rested on her shoulder.

Turning her head, Lou Yixiao's heart skipped a beat; it was Xu Ming.

How long have you been with the company?

“It’s been more than three years,” Lou Yixiao said cautiously.

"Hehe, speaking of which, you can be considered a veteran of Qiming, one of the earliest artists recruited when the company was first established."

Xu Ming chatted casually, "Your 'iPartment 3' premiered this July, right?"

"Yes."

Lou Yixiao nodded, feeling somewhat puzzled, wondering why Chairman Xu had suddenly brought this up.

Could it be... that they've set their sights on me?
"Besides the 'iPartment' series, it seems you've only played supporting roles at the company. Do you have any complaints about that?" Xu Ming asked Lou Yixiao.

Upon hearing this, the latter quickly shook his head.

Before she could speak, Xu Ming chuckled and said, "Don't pretend. It's impossible to say you have no complaints. If it were me, and I became famous at a young age but could only play supporting roles, I would definitely be very unhappy."

The other person was only one year older than him and had just graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy when "iPartment 1" premiered, making him a big star.

He was later signed by Qiming and has experienced almost no setbacks along the way.

The original cast of "iPartment" was mostly the same as Lou Yixiao's.

Deng Jiajia, who joined in the second season, worked her way up to get the opportunity, and her performance was more groundbreaking than others.

Wang Chuanjun declined to participate in the subsequent filming of "iPartment," and after a period of reflection, he transformed himself with "Dying to Survive."

But the others were pretty much set in stone from the very beginning, each one starting strong but ending weak.

Jin Shijia, who touts himself as a talented actor, is, in Xu Ming's view, just an immature older man whose marketing far outweighs his actual abilities.

He thinks highly of himself after performing in two plays, believing himself to be incredibly unique.

Little did people know that Xu Zheng and Guo Jingfei, two geniuses in the theater world, were far more talented than him, yet they were able to perform steadily and reliably. These are the true actors with real talent.

In Xu Ming's view, these people's situations were all the price of achieving fame at a young age.

Including Lou Yixiao's current situation.

It's simply a conflict and contradiction between the pride of being the series' female lead and the self-doubt that arises from only being able to play supporting roles.

In addition, the people I'm acting alongside this time are two top stars in the Chinese entertainment industry, Fan Bingbing and myself, so it's inevitable that I'll be nervous.

"That's true. I think several actresses in the company are not as good as me, Li Jinming, and Zhao Wenqi in terms of seniority or ability. Why should they be able to play the lead role right away, while we have to play supporting roles for them?"

I don't think I'm any worse than them..."

Lou Yixiao bit her lip and blurted out everything she wanted to say.

But after saying that, his face turned pale, and he realized that he had acted impulsively.

"well said."

Xu Ming nodded in agreement.

He wasn't afraid of the other person raising the issue; he was afraid of them keeping it bottled up inside. In fact, he had already noticed this problem among the artists in the company, but they were just too lazy to solve it, or rather, they didn't take it seriously.

Compared to the development of the company's artists, he has always prioritized his own personal development.

But since we've come this far, he intends to resolve it all at once.

"Let me explain first. The reason why they were chosen to play the female lead is because they fit the role. Ni Ni played the role in 'So Young' because she was selected from the school beauty pageant that year."

The same applies to Li Xin's role in "Duckweed". They were suitable for the roles and were then signed to the company, rather than being signed to the company first and then getting roles. The priorities should be clear.

Secondly, whenever the company has a project, you, as in-house artists, are always given top priority.

Xu Ming's words made Lou Yixiao's face grow even paler.

The reason she questioned them was because she was unwilling to face the speculation that they didn't have the makings of protagonists.

This is a defect that is difficult to solve.

A TV series may have dozens or even hundreds of characters, but there are only a limited number of main characters.

Not to mention that throughout the year, the number of dramas that appear before the audience is already a sifting process, and most of these dramas still need to be filtered out before the remaining ones can be liked by the audience.

However, the fact that these dramas are popular with audiences does not mean that audiences will necessarily like the main characters.

Many actors have to accept the fact that they may only be suitable for supporting roles, and even supporting roles can only be played in a certain way.

"Of course, I did make mistakes," Xu Ming said frankly.

This mistake is called preconceived notions; he subconsciously favors those promising talents who have proven themselves in their past lives.

The author adopts a laissez-faire attitude towards actors like Lou Yixiao and Li Jinming, who ended up making a living through live streaming in their previous lives.

Even if he doesn't explicitly state his position, his subordinates will read his words and allocate resources based on his implied meanings.

In other brokerage firms, this situation would have already caused problems.

However, due to Qi Ming's immense personal prestige, coupled with the fact that every promising talent he favored became a star, the problem was effectively suppressed.

The problem is that the issue has been piling up and hasn't been addressed at its root; if left unresolved, it will only brew into an even bigger disaster.

Or perhaps it will erupt when Qiming's development slows down.

This also exposed one of his own flaws.

They are always cautious, afraid of altering history too much and losing their foresight.

Upon closer reflection, history has been changing ever since his rebirth.

His sudden popularity proves that while history may have inertia, the details within it are not unchangeable.

With the strength he has accumulated, he no longer needs to be so cautious.

"Once this drama is finished filming, I will ask the company to give all the artists, including you, the opportunity to play the lead role and tailor-make drama projects for you."

Xu Ming paused, looked at Lou Yixiao who was beaming with surprise, and added, "As veterans, you have three chances, while the rest of you only have two. If you want to get another chance, you have to build up your audience's favor by playing supporting roles."

He himself is a person who does not believe in fate, and he cannot allow his fate to become fixed in the fate of others.

"Thank you, Chairman Xu, I will not let you down!" Lou Yixiao said excitedly.

She knew how important her opportunity was: three tailor-made leading roles in TV dramas—a level of support and cultivation that her peers could only dream of.

Moreover, she has the "iPartment" series to her name. Even if she fails three times, she can still build up her popularity through this series and get another chance to play the female lead.

Xu Ming truly treated them with utmost kindness and righteousness.

"So that you won't disappoint yourself."

Xu Ming said unhurriedly, "Show me the same energy you had when you questioned me and fought for your own opportunity. The role of Liu Shimei will become your new masterpiece."

"clear."

Lou Yixiao smiled sheepishly.

She finally realized the problem with her previous performance.

When the two returned to the film set.

Lou Yixiao's performance not only returned to normal, but even surpassed her usual level.

This surprised Guo Fan and the others.

During a break in filming, Fan Bingbing asked Xu Ming how he trained the actors.

That's incredibly effective!

Xu Ming briefly explained his promise to Lou Yixiao of three leading roles in films.

For a moment, everyone's face turned ashen, as if they had swallowed a fly.

Why am I so pathetic, eagerly letting others flaunt their wealth?

This trick is simple, but it's too resource-intensive; once you learn it, you're doomed.

……

Lou Yixiao became more and more engrossed in her work.

The film crew was like a spring that had been lubricated, running smoothly and efficiently.

The former was initially worried that Xu Ming might have other ideas about her.

After all, wolves eat a lot of sheep, so if they suddenly say they're going to eat vegetarian food, nobody will believe them.

Until February 5th.

She only gave up her idea when a topic about Xu Ming suddenly appeared on Weibo's trending topics list.

"Wow, Professor Xu is amazing! He's just sitting on set and he's trending on social media."

Fan Bingbing scrolled through her phone, her large, bright eyes glancing at Xu Ming. She chuckled, "It's still number one on the trending topics list. Let me read it to you: Breaking News! Intimate photos of rising Hollywood A-list actress Jennifer and mainland actor Xu Ming exposed..."

Wow, that woman in the photo is practically clinging to you! Professor Xu's charm knows no borders.

The crowd joined in the commotion.

After spending time together, everyone gradually became familiar with each other and lost their initial reserve towards Xu Ming.

"When it comes to upholding our national prestige, we've never lagged behind," Xu Ming said casually.

He knew that the Hunger Games was starting to generate buzz in China, and that this was a good opportunity to promote himself.

It would also be beneficial to him, and he had been notified in advance, so he naturally let it be.

"Pah, I'm just praising you, and you're already getting all worked up."

Fan Bingbing spat and asked curiously, "How did you two meet?"

She had heard a little about Xu Ming's situation in Hollywood, but she knew far less about it than Zhang Ziyi did.

“Jennifer is the second female lead in ‘American Hustle,’ and I’m the producer and screenwriter of the show. The photo was taken at a crew dinner,” Xu Ming said.

He's very careful; he never gives anyone a chance to take photos that provide solid evidence.

"By the way, The Hunger Games is being released in mainland China in June. Do you want to come to the premiere there?"

They've already sent him the invitation. If he brings a local celebrity along, he'll probably be very happy.

After the two Hollywood blockbusters, "Transformers 3" and "Titanic 3D", achieved explosive box office results in China.

These Hollywood production teams are increasingly focusing on the mainland Chinese market.

As a result, Chinese celebrities like Xu Ming also saw their popularity rise.

"of course yes."

Fan Bingbing's eyes flickered; everyone knew her desire to enter the international market, and the other party's invitation struck a chord with her.

She continued, "Seeing how sincere you are, I won't eat garlic tomorrow."

"Xiao Juan, don't cook me chive dumplings tomorrow," Xu Ming said.

"you!"

Fan Bingbing was taken aback, and gritted her teeth inwardly.

She was joking, but judging from the other person's expression, she probably wasn't serious.

Tomorrow's kissing scene between the two of them, if she gets a mouthful of chives on her lips, she'll be devastated.

(End of this chapter)