Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Chapter 263: Chapter 225: Rise: 61

”You really haven’t heard about it?”

”Come on, stop keeping me in suspense. I usually don’t care about them either, you know, working in this business, who cares about celebrities, they’re not much good behind the scenes.”

”Hahaha, that’s true.” The person agreed before continuing, ”Aren’t they both from the same company? Chengqian Entertainment. At the beginning of the year, they both starred in that hit drama, ’Eighth Heartbeat’. Zhou Yun played the lead role, Xu Siyao the supporting role. You know, Zhou Yun has been popular since last year, but Xu Siyao only rose to fame this year because of that drama. Before the show aired, Xu Siyao subtly insulted Zhou Yun during a live event, which caused an uproar online, with netizens arguing fiercely, calling Xu Siyao a ’green tea bitch’. That’s how their feud started. After that, they confronted each other in public several times. I heard from friends that they really don’t get along, even to the extent that they don’t want to appear in the same frame.”

”If it’s about not wanting to appear together, it must be Zhou Yun who doesn’t want to deal with Xu Siyao. I’ve seen Xu Siyao deliberately getting close to Zhou Yun these past few days.”

”Well, of course. What do you think Xu Siyao became famous for if not by riding on Zhou Yun’s coattails? She even leveraged the success of ’Eighth Heartbeat’ to star in a second drama, which didn’t even achieve half the success of the first.”

”That drama was terrible, I don’t know how it got popular.”

”It’s the chemistry between the two main actors that people liked, Gu Huaichun and Zhou Yun’s CP was really popular.”

”Regardless of these things, Xu Siyao herself is beautiful and not lacking in acting skills. Why did she choose to go down this controversial path to fame?”

”Fame comes quickly this way. How many newcomers are like Xu Siyao? Her very first drama made her famous. Although there are many people who criticize her, her fame keeps growing. Originally, the second female lead in our drama wasn’t even her, but she pushed her way in.”

”Yeah, I heard about that, the previous girl was pitiful.”

...

Xu Siyao’s face turned so black it looked like it could ooze the black water of a stinking ditch.

She really wanted to go see who was talking behind her back, but their words were too unbearable to hear. If she burst in on the conversation, it would only spread these words even faster.

Xu Siyao could only grit her teeth and swallow her anger.

Fuming with rage.

Since Xu Siyao’s debut, objectively speaking, everything had gone swimmingly. She was promoted by He Yong in the company, and her first drama made her famous without having to experience a period of lying low. Recently, her popularity soared even more thanks to that red carpet photo with Li Ci, attracting a wave of fans, and she was enjoying her moment in the limelight. Many brands and partners saw potential in her CP with Li Ci and sent collaboration invitations. Although these collaborations were not accepted due to the relationship with Li Ci, these offers still gave Xu Siyao a sense of vanity from being so sought-after.

If there’s anything she wasn’t satisfied with, it was Zhou Yun.

Xu Siyao prayed every day that Zhou Yun would fall out of favor soon.

The one thing she dreaded most was being compared with Zhou Yun—especially when other people seemed to prefer Zhou Yun over her, every single time.

However, Xu Siyao didn’t expect that she would soon have no energy left to think about Zhou Yun as a sudden, overwhelming public opinion crisis hit her.

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This public opinion crisis actually originated from the drama ’Dingfengbo’.

Initially, the second female lead of this drama was not Xu Siyao, but another newcomer from Chengqian Entertainment, named Wang Jing.

He Yong knew that Zhou Yun didn’t like Xu Siyao, so he planned to use this role to promote a newcomer.

But then Xu Siyao insisted on getting the part, making a fuss until He Yong had no choice but to remove Wang Jing and make room for Xu Siyao.

This was indeed unfair to Wang Jing.

But to He Yong, fairness wasn’t important. All the artists belonged to Chengqian Entertainment, and it didn’t matter if Wang Jing suffered a bit. Besides, whether Wang Jing got the role or not was his decision; without his approval, she wouldn’t have had the chance to play a second female lead in the first place.

Naturally, Wang Jing was dissatisfied.

But there was nothing she could do about it.

She was under contract with Chengqian Entertainment and couldn’t disobey the company’s arrangements.

Moreover, it was Xu Siyao who was taking her role, not just anyone.

Wang Jing didn’t have the audacity to think she could compete with Xu Siyao.

She could only swallow her anger.

If Zhou Lan hadn’t found her, she might have had to keep swallowing that anger indefinitely, perhaps waiting until the day she rose to return the favor.

Zhou Lan found her and suggested that if Wang Jing was willing, Zhou Lan could ask some friends to make a big deal out of the situation.

”The bad impact, you should know, if we blow this up, you’ll be completely at odds with Xu Siyao. The upside is, first, if this gets big, you can enter the public eye, increasing your visibility; second, neither Xu Siyao nor the company will blame you—they’ll know it’s my doing; third, you can vent your anger.”

Zhou Lan laid out all these points clearly on the table to discuss with Wang Jing.

She could have chosen not to inform Wang Jing and just proceeded with it. But she had other ideas.

Wang Jing was smart, she realized this was a great opportunity.

What do newcomers lack the most? Exposure.

Why are there so many people hyping themselves online? Because hype can be exchanged for visibility, for heat and traffic, and those can be converted into more opportunities, more money.

Wang Jing wanted to be famous.

She agreed.

Zhou Lan said, ”There’s one more thing, the company hasn’t arranged an agent for you yet, right?”

Wang Jing shook her head. She sensed what Zhou Lan was implying, her expression suddenly became excited.

Chengqian Entertainment had many agents, but no one had gained as much momentum in the last two years as Zhou Lan. Everyone knew that Zhou Lan had only one artist under her wing, Zhou Yun, who had become popular incredibly fast, breaking many predictions, staying popular from last year to this year without faltering. Instant popularity relies on luck, but sustained success relies on ability, including the agent’s competency to manage their career.

How strong Zhou Lan’s abilities were might not be known outside, but within the company, there were many rumors.

Several of Zhou Yun’s PR incidents are now classic case studies for internal training at the company.

Zhou Lan smiled faintly and said, ”If you’re willing, you can come to me. I’ll be your agent.”

Wang Jing clenched her fists in surprise.

”Really?”

Zhou Lan said, ”Yes, really.”

”I’m willing!” Wang Jing nodded excitedly, ”I—I didn’t expect this at all!”