Chapter 116 : Chapter 116

Chapter 116: “He’s asking for a scolding.”

According to the system’s estimated time, Chu Zu fainted in the conference room five minutes later.

The angle was perfectly controlled, just in time for someone to catch him, but he didn’t pay attention and ended up breaking his watch.

However, to Wanshu Zu, anything that could be solved with money wasn’t a big deal.

After returning to the sea of consciousness, Chu Zu briefly sorted things out.

From the company’s standpoint, handling public opinion was the top priority; sacrificing one or two artists was no big deal.

Secondly, they would still protect Shen Weidi, after all, he was the boss’s nephew.

The rest depended on maneuvering.

Wanshu Zu had already made it clear that Qiao Tian’s publicity agent must be held responsible for this, and the company’s stance would not be one-sided.

He would see if there were any details to exploit after he woke up.

“Let’s go back,” Chu Zu said, “Set the time to the day Qiao Tian was ‘taken advantage of under hidden rules’.”

The system said: “OKK!”

Chu Zu was sent to the designated time point, first losing control of his body.

By the time he could control his body again, a tense sense of exhaustion swept over him.

Wanshu Zu was a complete workaholic; besides work, there was only work, and high-intensity, exploitative work at that.

A story once circulated online about the disciplined day of a Wall Street elite, who had a so-called “five o’clock club,” meaning that amidst high-intensity work, they still maintained waking up at five in the morning and working out three times a day.

Wanshu Zu was much the same.

Work to earn money, fight for his life after work.

All the time outside of sleeping was spent bungee jumping back and forth between sudden death and strengthening his body.

The system was quite happy: “You can slack off at work, rest in the sea of consciousness, and then rely on yourself to exercise seriously—running, lifting weights, elliptical machines. After one mission, your mental state will definitely be refreshed!”

Chu Zu: “You got it backwards, the exercising persona belongs to ‘Master Wang’.”

Little Yellow Chicken: “…”

The system was probably secretly thinking about doing something to Master Wang.

Chu Zu pretended not to see and scanned his surroundings.

He was sitting in the back seat of a car, the tablet on his lap was lit, and he was holding a phone.

The screen was on a WeChat conversation page, with a few lines of text in the input field:

[Send the lawyer’s letter directly, have the PR team draft a press release, contact marketing accounts to release the news, and use the news of Shen Weidi’s signing to—]

The rest of the content was not yet typed.

Before Chu Zu could ask the system about the current situation, someone in the front seat suddenly spoke.

“That night, Shen Weidi’s family was acting up, and his parents couldn’t handle him, so they sent him to my place.”

“I got really angry during an argument with Shen Weidi, threw something, and hurt my face.”

“The woman the reporters photographed is the family’s private doctor. The ‘intimate photo’ was a snapshot taken while Dr. Liang was disinfecting my wound.”

In the car, the man in the driver’s seat wore a mask, his voice calm: “I don’t want to drag Dr. Liang into the public opinion, that’s why I didn’t explain and chose to handle it coldly. If you think it’s necessary, I will talk to her and choose a time to come out and clarify.”

The man’s gaze seemed to fall on his own face through the front mirror.

Chu Zu asked the system: “Who is this?”

Little Yellow Chicken: “Your artist and partner, Movie King Li Yamin.”

“A Movie King driving for his agent?”

“I’m not sure either… The main text only has his name, and he appears even less frequently than you do. It just says he gives you full authority in the company, but it doesn’t mention the mode of their interaction…”

Wanshu Zu’s setting was already very limited, all very one-dimensional content, not involving specific events.

Li Yamin’s was even less, without even one-dimensional content.

At most, he would be mentioned a couple more times when Shen Weidi was acting up, as a reason for the company to go all out to clean up his mess.

Going back in time would automatically fill in some of the content, and the system immediately began to collect relevant information.

While collecting, it quickly told the host the current plot.

“Lishou Entertainment has just been established. Shen Weidi dropped out of school right after signing and refused the film and television resources given to him, insisting on forming a band. His parents couldn’t do anything about him, so they let Li Yamin handle it.”

“They had some sort of argument, and Li Yamin got injured and called the family doctor, which was photographed by the paparazzi.”

At first, neither Li Yamin nor Wanshu Zu paid it any mind.

There were plenty of paparazzi chasing after Li Yamin, enough to circle the Forbidden City if they held hands.

They often posted perfectly normal photos with fabricated short stories.

It was just for fun, and there was no follow-up; it would die down on its own before long.

But the timing was very delicate.

Li Yamin had a very unpleasant breakup with his former company when he terminated his contract.

His contract hadn’t expired yet, and not only did he want to leave on his own, he also wanted to take his agent with him.

Wanshu Zu was called in by the company for talks again and again.

The company promised a salary increase and even offered shares to persuade him, but Wanshu Zu was very firm; he was following Li Yamin.

After repeated attempts to retain him failed, the company could only take Wanshu Zu’s breach of contract penalty and let him go.

Then they turned around and saw that Lishou Entertainment was established.

If Li Yamin had only set up a personal studio, the former company wouldn’t have been so angry.

Li Yamin had always been an actor with a strong personal opinion.

Even before terminating his contract, he didn’t pay much attention to the company’s arrangements, at most cooperating with Wanshu Zu for appearances.

It was very normal for him to choose to set up a personal studio.

But an entertainment company was different in nature.

By this time, Wanshu Zu was already one of the most well-known agents in the country.

Even though he only had Li Yamin as his sole exclusive artist, he had close dealings with other A-list artists.

More importantly, he had a large amount of resources in his hands.

Film and television production companies, distribution companies, advertising companies, agencies, record companies, performance companies, platform companies, game companies, content creation companies, copyright agencies…

Wanshu Zu had spent many years cultivating connections and was definitely a leader in the entire cultural and entertainment industry ecosystem.

The former company’s choice was very decisive.

They had to completely ruin their reputation before they could grow.

The strategy they chose was also very low-class, immediately adding fuel to the fire upon seeing a spark.

Li Yamin’s looks were in line with traditional Chinese aesthetics, his image had always been good, he became famous at a young age yet remained steady and down-to-earth, taking one step at a time on the path of an actor.

Without a mistake in principle, it was difficult to launch an effective attack on him.

They chose to attack Wanshu Zu.

The entertainment gossip fermented rapidly, and in a short while, the direction of the wind had qualitatively changed from a scandal.

Dr. Liang was the daughter of a certain conglomerate, and Wanshu Zu sold his best artist to win over the conglomerate.

The former company had a name for itself in the industry, with strong publicity capabilities.

It was a simple matter for them to spread the news everywhere.

The marketing accounts that followed for scraps fanned the flames, and [Listen to Gossip, Talk about Gossip] directly wrote the headline as:

“New Year’s First Melon, Movie King Li Yamin Feared to be a Tool for Dirty Work, Years of a Puppet’s Life, How a Good Actor Became a Victim at the Bottom of the Food Chain Step by Step.”

A marketing account belonging to the same company as [Listen to Gossip, Talk about Gossip] published an article:

“Who is Wanshu Zu? A Three-Minute Guide to Understanding the Cold-Blooded Ecosystem of the Mastermind Behind the Entertainment Circle.”

Different focuses, but the content was interlinked.

Marketing accounts knew best how to sell emotions with trumped-up news, spreading homogenized content on channels like Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo, UC, Xiaohongshu, and so on.

The news had only fermented for half a day, and the quantifiable monitoring data had already reached an extremely terrifying level.

For a time, the online news was rampant, spoken with great conviction.

Attacking the actor was useless, so what about attacking an agent who relied on trust to build his network?

“It’s really… as soon as the protagonist runs into a problem, my problems here directly multiply and explode.”

Chu Zu tsked, “It’s not my fault for being inactive. If we judge the severity of the matter by the standards of the entertainment industry, the protagonist’s crisis is completely insignificant.”

System: “Li Yamin seems… to not have realized it’s aimed at you yet?”

From Li Yamin’s explanation, it probably thought Wanshu Zu was stressing out over the scandal.

“Hard to say,” Chu Zu said, “If I didn’t want to get involved in this mess, I would also downplay the matter and let the person who is really in trouble figure out how to solve it themselves.”

He didn’t yet understand Li Yamin’s character.

In this circle, blockheads were precious wood, but there were plenty of shrewd people pretending to be blockheads.

“But this cheap trick is quite effective. It makes it very difficult for me to sign other artists.”

“Although they won’t directly believe the marketing accounts’ stories, they will be somewhat wary in their hearts.”

“If they really signed with me, the fans would definitely be the first to cause a fuss, thinking it’s signing an indenture of selling oneself, a form of self-sabotage.”

The Little Yellow Chicken secretly said: “I’ll go and unplug the marketing accounts’ internet cables right now.”

Chu Zu thought for a moment, then suddenly asked the system: “Do you think I’m good-looking?”

This question was familiar; the host had asked the Little Yellow Chicken the same thing during his first mission.

At that time, Chu Zu said that they, as villains, needed to have a face, to look decent, and couldn’t be both young and ugly.

The Little Yellow Chicken deeply agreed.

“Good-looking!”

It said, “Nine out of ten good-looking, deducting one point for using Big Zu and Little Zu as a reference!”

Chu Zu let out an “en” and continued typing on his phone, completing the rest of the message.

[Send the lawyer’s letter directly, have the PR team draft a press release, contact marketing accounts to release the news, and use the news of Shen Weidi’s signing to suppress the current news.]

[Choose a time to hold a press conference, I will personally attend with the two newly signed artists. You go negotiate with the live streaming platform for an exclusive monopoly, get a good price, and then we’ll go over the details.]

Sent.

Chu Zu: “As long as I look good, it won’t be embarrassing on camera, I can use my face to ward off disaster.”

Almost instantly, the person noted as “Xiao Gu” replied: [Received.]

Putting down the phone, the car stopped.

Chu Zu looked up.

The man in the front seat was leaning against the seat back, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel, the frequency in sync with the second hand of the Patek Philippe on his wrist.

“Are you going to give me the cold shoulder again?”

Li Yamin frowned, his face under the mask unclear.

This “again” was very subtle, immediately letting Chu Zu decide what attitude to take towards him.

He reminded the system in his sea of consciousness to hurry up and organize all the existing background settings, then picked up his phone and tablet, opened the car door, and stepped out without a word.

Wanshu Zu left directly, without looking back.

Li Yamin watched from the car as he walked into the apartment building.

A few minutes later, the light on his balcony turned on.

Wanshu Zu stood by the railing, making a call, the light from his phone particularly conspicuous in the night.

Li Yamin gripped the steering wheel.

They had known each other for many years, and Wanshu Zu had always been like this.

Wanshu Zu’s style was very simple and efficient.

Occasionally, when he got angry, he would curse, but after a couple of curses, he would feel that his behavior was a waste of time.

Usually, if even the step of cursing was omitted, it meant the matter was very tricky.

And when faced with tricky matters, Wanshu Zu had his own procedures.

If there was something for Li Yamin to do, he would talk about it.

If he judged that his presence was not needed in the event, he wouldn’t say an extra word, not even bothering to give a look.

Li Yamin classified this behavior as the “cold shoulder.”

The phone rang.

Someone sent a message in Li Yamin’s work group chat.

Gu An had just sent out the drafted press release, and also tagged the publicity agent and the head of public relations, asking if they had any content to revise.

Li Yamin directly called Gu An.

“Brother Li?”

The voice on the other end was a bit hoarse and somewhat surprised.

Gu An was Li Yamin’s executive agent, a key figure under Wanshu Zu.

Apart from the focus of business development, all other executive-level issues were handled by Gu An.

Li Yamin: “Did he curse?”

Gu An: “…”

Gu An: “Brother Li… you can’t just come and ask me these things every time you get the cold shoulder from Brother Zu. He wouldn’t curse at you or anything…”

Li Yamin: “Why doesn’t he curse at me?”

“…”

Gu An was silent for a moment, but the sound of typing on the keyboard on the other end didn’t stop.

“Probably because there’s too much to curse about.”

“Do you remember, that time you clashed with the director on set, and out of misplaced anger, you ended up cursing at half the actors on set.”

“Brother Zu told you then to hold your tongue, and if you wanted to stir up trouble, let him do it. You didn’t listen either, and turned around to curse at several film crews.”

Li Yamin frowned slightly: “That wasn’t my problem, and I apologized to A-Zu, he said it was fine.”

“That is precisely your problem.”

Gu An was overwhelmed by the work Wanshu Zu had arranged, and the words he shouldn’t have said to his boss just came pouring out.

“You usually have a pretty good temper, you’re just stubborn. Isn’t it a waste of time for Brother Zu to curse at you? The things that need to be solved still have to be solved by him.”

“You can’t get involved in this matter. The marketing accounts will twist all your explanations into Brother Zu’s manipulation.”

“Just wait. Brother Zu has already arranged almost everything, he just doesn’t have time to explain to you.”

“If you really feel pent up, wait until this is over and talk to him then, okay?”

Gu An spoke quickly, “Really, although this matter started with you, it essentially has little to do with you. It’s aimed at Brother Zu. Your work focuses are different now, and he also doesn’t want you to get more deeply involved.”

Li Yamin slowly tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

Gu An’s words annoyed him.

What did he mean by “little to do with you,” what did he mean by “doesn’t want you to get more deeply involved.”

When terminating the contract with the former company, Li Yamin had asked Wanshu Zu if he wanted to leave with him.

Wanshu Zu had coldly asked back, what do you mean?

I raised you by hand, and now you want to run off by yourself?

Li Yamin had his answer.

He had originally prepared Wanshu Zu’s breach of contract penalty, but the other party didn’t take it, paid the money himself, and even emptied his savings to start the company with him.

Li Yamin felt that this was absolutely the most solid friendship.

If you really thought about it, the relationship between an agent and an artist probably couldn’t be simply summed up as “friends.”

At least friends wouldn’t help clean up messes every other day, manage every aspect of life, and even worry about some inexplicable mental health, setting aside fixed time every year to take him on trips to relax.

Li Yamin didn’t know if he was like this with all the artists he was responsible for.

He only had himself under his management, so there was no reference.

And there was no need for a reference.

Li Yamin had gotten used to it over the years.

He only needed to choose scripts and start filming; everything else was arranged perfectly.

With this kind of relationship, calling it friends was not an exaggeration at all, right?

Gu An added: “The press conference is scheduled for tomorrow. Remember not to accept any interviews, Brother Zu will—”

Li Yamin asked: “What press conference?”

Gu An was a little surprised: “Brother Zu didn’t tell you?”

“He’s going to hold a press conference with two newly signed artists. He probably wants to clarify the work focus of Lishou Entertainment and also respond to the rumors online…”

Not only that.

The attacks against Wanshu Zu online mostly centered on Li Yamin, saying he exploited the Movie King.

So Wanshu Zu would directly state that his future focus would be on cultivating new talent.

Cultivating was a type of supply, requiring time, energy, and resources to build up.

A newly established company didn’t need some conglomerate’s daughter.

If Wanshu Zu could create one Li Yamin back then, he could now rely on what he had to produce a second, a third miracle.

“Cultivation” couldn’t be quantified, and Lishou Entertainment wouldn’t provide specific expenses.

But the amount of exposure the newcomers received was a tangible thing that everyone would witness.

If handled properly, Wanshu Zu could completely turn the attacks on himself into free publicity.

This would be the two newcomers’ highest-profile “debut.”

Li Yamin said in a low voice: “When he signed them, he said they would just be under his name.”

Gu An found it strange: “Brother Zu can’t possibly only manage you as an artist forever, right? Besides, your development is very stable now, and you don’t need him to be too involved.”

Li Yamin started to understand: “He’s not cursing at me because he wants to go solo.”

Gu An: “…”

Gu An didn’t want to go around in circles with his boss anymore.

Hadn’t he suffered enough from trying to reason with a stubborn person?

Why waste precious time!

“Anyway, if you want to talk, just wait a bit longer. I have to get back to work—do you have anything else? No? Okay, then I’ll hang up now. Goodbye, Brother Li, goodnight, Brother Li!”

Before hanging up, a few more messages popped up in the work group chat, from Wanshu Zu.

He asked the publicity agent and the business manager to create another group, add the two newcomers, and set a time tonight for a face-to-face meeting at his place.

Gu An hung up the phone.

Li Yamin found his private chat with Wanshu Zu and scrolled up.

It was Wanshu Zu asking him about the photo.

He was still annoyed with Shen Weidi at that time and replied with a period.

Then Wanshu Zu never paid him any mind again.

Li Yamin suddenly understood the reason for his anxiety.

He certainly knew Wanshu Zu’s capabilities, that he could produce a second Li Yamin at any time.

But Li Yamin couldn’t find a second person to replace Wanshu Zu.

“Got it, a true artist with a temperament who needs a nanny, right?”

After reading the information temporarily summarized by the system, Chu Zu pondered.

“I’ve been Li Yamin’s nanny for several years. This kid has been well taken care of, and his pursuits haven’t changed, just filming.”

“After starting the company, his mindset didn’t shift. He still thinks it’s centered around a single artist, that I have to revolve around him, and any trouble is by default his trouble.”

He pointed out, “I’m still quite career-minded, a businessman’s thinking. The blueprint is drawn, but he hasn’t kept up.”

The Little Yellow Chicken thought about it.

It seemed there was no contradiction, just that the partners’ philosophies weren’t aligned.

But for partners, isn’t it enough as long as their respective goals are achieved?

There’s no conflict of interest!

“Then find him two more assistants, 24-hour nannies, for round-the-clock care!”

Chu Zu thought so too.

Li Yamin treated the company like a studio, didn’t manage affairs much, and signed off on major decisions.

Purely a titular shareholder on the board of directors, just providing the money.

His fame was there, and he was quite useful as a mascot.

Rounding it up, Lishou Entertainment belonged to Wanshu Zu alone.

He’d made a fortune.

“But this also makes sense, why the hidden rules incident would have such a huge impact on Lishou Entertainment.”

“A scandal breaks out during the company’s startup phase. Even if the public opinion was resolved years ago, the internet still has a memory.”

Chu Zu said, “Sacrificing Qiao Tian not only saved Shen Weidi, but also the company.”

“When we return to the main storyline, I’ll have ample reason to interfere—a person like me who is devoted to his career would do anything for the company.”

Little Yellow Chicken: “That’s right.”

As long as Wanshu Zu left an impression on the protagonist during the rewind, the corresponding rewind event would also have a chance to appear in the main text.

Once the entire logic was completed, readers would begin to accept the subtle changes in the main text, and the host could also reasonably appear in the main text—as a Long Aotian!

No longer bothering with Li Yamin, a partner even more side than himself, Chu Zu went over work with a group of staff.

The people he recruited were all very reliable.

After understanding Chu Zu’s intentions, their work passion was abnormally high.

The involution kings in several groups were in a fierce battle, the messages never stopped, all fired up to fight a comeback battle with their boss.

Those who didn’t know would think they were also company shareholders, not workers with a fixed salary and commission.

This also showed from the side that Wanshu Zu was indeed proper in his dealings.

Whether as an employee or a boss, before any conflict of interest led to a falling out, everyone who had contact with him had a very good impression of him.

Looking at the efficient progress of various tasks, the Little Yellow Chicken commented sharply: Never in this life have I fought such a rich battle.

Is this the joy of being a Long Aotian!

It’s too tempting, not job-hopping would be a disservice to myself!

Chu Zu was amused by it.

He hadn’t laughed for long when Gu An contacted him to synchronize information: “I can’t find Qiao Tian.”

“Her phone won’t connect, she’s not replying to WeChat or text messages. I also contacted her publicity agent, who said they are trying to reach her.”

Chu Zu: “Who is her publicity agent?”

“Li Yichi.”

“The scheduled meeting time remains unchanged. You bring Shen Weidi to my place.”

Chu Zu returned indoors from the balcony, putting on his shoes while grabbing the car keys, “You know the password to the main door. If I’m not there, you communicate with them about the press conference first.”

Gu An: “Are you going out?”

Chu Zu pushed open the door and said coldly: “I’m going to pick up Qiao Tian.”

Gu An didn’t ask further questions.

He knew his boss had the general schedule of all the company’s artists and had his own channels that weren’t convenient to disclose.

If he said he could pick her up, he could pick her up.

“Okay.”

After the call ended, Chu Zu didn’t take any unnecessary steps.

The reader’s perspective was fixed on the protagonist.

A senior agent didn’t need to explain to a little-known newcomer where he got his information from, and the readers wouldn’t ask either.

He simply asked the Little Yellow Chicken: “Where is Qiao Tian?”

The Little Yellow Chicken gave a location and thoughtfully brought up a panel, providing direct navigation with a red-dotted map.

Wanshu Zu’s car was in the underground garage.

He had to negotiate for the company, and the necessary prestige had to be displayed.

A white Bentley Continental GT was more effective than countless words.

Getting into the car, he input the address given by the system into the navigation.

Chu Zu floored the accelerator, turned the steering wheel a few times, and sped out of the underground garage onto the main road.

The lights on both sides formed parallel lines, the traffic was incredibly smooth, and after another corner, the destination was just ahead.

The Little Yellow Chicken suddenly reminded: “Li Yamin is following you.”

“He never left?”

“It seems so… I’ve marked him, so I can spot him immediately next time!”

“En.”

Chu Zu didn’t want to create more complications.

Wanshu Zu was already caught up in the storm of “selling his artist.”

He was heading to the scene of the hidden rules incident, and Li Yamin following him was just adding fuel to the fire.

Moreover, the original plot already had him “faint from anger.”

If someone of Li Yamin’s caliber got involved, the situation would only be more serious when the hidden rules incident was exposed.

“He’s asking for a scolding.”

Chu Zu slammed on the brakes, slammed the door shut, and walked towards Li Yamin.

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