Chapter 177 Performance Elements

The three of them found a shop, sat down, opened the file folder, and took out the contents.

These are some photos.

After seeing this, Li Zhibai, Lu Yanhe, and Yan Liang looked at each other in bewilderment.

What's this?

The photos look brand new; they were just printed.

Lu Yanhe randomly picked up one of the photos, but the content of the photo shocked him.

What is this thing?!

In the photo, Ma Zhiyuan has his arm around a girl's waist, holds a cigarette in his other hand, and gives her a roguish grin.

"This is... Ma Zhiyuan's girlfriend?"

As a young idol, Ma Zhiyuan has always presented himself as single and has never had any romantic relationship. Whenever he gets close to a girl, his fans scrutinize him with a magnifying glass. Not to mention, if he is rumored to be dating a female celebrity, it's like an earthquake has occurred, and he will dominate the trending topics for two days.

Lu Yanhe was certain that if this photo were to be exposed, it would definitely cause a major upheaval.

Ma Zhiyuan's fans will experience a large-scale exodus.

That's how idol artists are; most of their fans are young female fans who are projected onto them with a kind of "boyfriend" sentiment. The love in the hearts of female fans is accompanied by possessiveness.

Li Zhibai picked up another photo, the contents of which looked completely different.

In the photo, Ma Zhiyuan is sitting in a dimly lit room, wearing a white shirt with the buttons undone, revealing his lean upper body.

At first glance, it looks like a photo shoot with some kind of erotic connotation, but upon closer inspection, you will find a hazy figure behind the dim and blurry light. The figure has long black hair, and the wrinkled quilt blocks most of the view, but even this small part that is exposed is enough to drive Ma Zhiyuan's fans crazy.

The photos, which look completely different, all point to the same thing.

Ma Zhiyuan has a girlfriend, or he used to have a girlfriend.

The three people looked at each other, and for a moment no one spoke.

-

"Anyway, Ma Zhiyuan himself often says that the other people in MX are holding him back. If it weren't for the other people, he would develop faster. So let him develop on his own."

The speaker was Lin Suyang.

He was sitting on his sofa at home, wearing dress pants and a white shirt, looking like he had just come back from outside or was about to leave.

He was on the phone.

The person on the other end of the phone was Vice President Ma.

“Mr. Ma, both MX and Ma Zhiyuan are very popular. If Ma Zhiyuan develops independently and goes solo, he can get rid of the burden of MX as he wishes, and MX can also return to stability.” Lin Suyang said, “As long as he leaves, MX will still be that popular but obedient idol group. There will be no more situations where it suddenly explodes because of Ma Zhiyuan’s existence as a time bomb. Both sides can develop according to their own ideas. The best outcome is that Ma Zhiyuan will still be a popular idol, and MX will still be a popular idol group.”

Vice President Ma remained silent, not in a hurry to speak.

Lin Suyang had told him this idea more than once, and at first he refused without even considering it. But after the conflict between Ma Zhiyuan and Li Zhibai, Vice President Ma also wanted to teach Ma Zhiyuan a lesson, to make him understand his own identity.

Actually, Li Zhibai made one mistake. He questioned why Zhou Ping'an only contacted him to appease the fans, instead of contacting Ma Zhiyuan to clarify his stance on social media. In reality, the company had already gone there, with Vice President Ma personally handling the situation. After all, Lin Suyang is currently not involved with Ma Zhiyuan, and Ma Zhiyuan doesn't have an agent.

But Ma Zhiyuan refused in a very rude manner.

Vice President Ma was angry at Ma Zhiyuan's attitude, and even more angry at Ma Zhiyuan for being so tactless.

By stubbornly sticking to his guns and using the excuse that he's done nothing wrong, what's the result now? More and more people are criticizing him online.

No attitude, no responsibility.

The internet is not a place where right and wrong are clearly defined. In order to settle things as soon as possible, the company asked Ma Zhiyuan to express this attitude, but Ma Zhiyuan thought that he was deliberately helping Li Zhibai to vent his anger.

Vice President Ma was furious, but he couldn't explain the pros and cons to the young people.

They don't care.

Therefore, it's not impossible for Ma Zhiyuan to go out and work alone.

Previously, he had only intended to hand over his personal business to Zhou Ping'an. If he went solo, Ma Zhiyuan would have no further connection with MX.

This was also a blow and punishment to Ma Zhiyuan.

Arrogant young people should learn a lesson.

Vice President Ma had an idea in mind.

-

This way, inside the shop.

Lu Yanhe remained silent for a long time before saying, "You see, it's true that someone wants to use you to expose these photos."

“This person also has a grudge against Ma Zhiyuan and can’t stand him, so why doesn’t he expose it himself?” Li Zhi asked.

"I'm afraid of being found out." Yan Liang shook his head. "Only if you do this will others not suspect your intentions or where these photos came from."

"Where did these photos come from?" Lu Yanhe asked with some doubt. "Ma Zhiyuan has been with the company since his debut. Whether he has ever been in a relationship or had any contact with anyone, we have already investigated these things, but no one has been found out. Moreover, we haven't heard a single word about it."

They're from the same company and are currently very popular, so even if there's no news from the outside world, it will always spread within the company.

If a person leaves even the slightest clue, it will be picked up by others—this is the malignant effect of this gossip-driven era.

Pretending is getting harder and harder.

“At this time, many people know that Li Zhibai and Ma Zhiyuan are at odds, but I can’t think of a second person who has the ability to know such a big secret about Ma Zhiyuan and wants to kick him while he’s down.” After Yan Liang finished speaking, he looked at the remaining two people. Sure enough, after he said this, Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai also showed a look of sudden realization.

"What are we going to do with these photos?" Li Zhibai asked.

He seemed to suddenly become unsure of what to do.

Lu Yanhe said, "I thought you were so eager to come here today because you couldn't wait to get the dirt on Ma Zhiyuan and expose it to him."

“That was my original idea, but now it seems that this isn’t just his problem,” Li Zhibai said. “I’m happy to make him unhappy, but there’s no need to involve a girl. Once these photos are posted online, the girl will probably be cyberbullied by Ma Zhiyuan’s fans. You all know how crazy Ma Zhiyuan’s fans are.”

-

It's not that any particular fanbase is particularly crazy; it's just that the fanbase as a whole is prone to going crazy.

Even Lu Yanhe, who is an idol himself, can relate to this.

This is why he has always been somewhat wary of his fans and rarely maintains or manages them.

He has social media accounts on various platforms, but he rarely manages them. Even when his popularity and influence surged in June and his fan base grew rapidly, he didn't do so.

In the live streaming room where he appears most frequently, Lu Yanhe has never specifically maintained his fan base, and there is very little communication between them.

Lu Yanhe has always felt that he is not a qualified artist.

This is partly because he was just a student and wasn't psychologically prepared, and partly because he wasn't 100% accepting of the fan economy culture.

Lu Yanhe was quite surprised that Li Zhibai would consider the girl whose identity he didn't know at this time.

-

It was all for nothing; although they obtained damaging information about Ma Zhiyuan, they couldn't use it.

Nevertheless, Li Zhi did not appear particularly unhappy.

He asked Yan Liang, "Where are you filming later? I can just deliver it to you."

Yan Liang glanced at the time; it was only a little past three. He said, "At Xinmin Bridge."

Xinmin Bridge is about a 40-minute drive from Houshili.

Li Zhibai nodded: "Then it's almost time to go. You need to arrive at five o'clock, right?"

"Mm." Yan Liang nodded.

Lu Yanhe got into the car.

"What kind of filming is this?" Lu Yanhe asked curiously.

"A short business film," Yan Liang said. "A chocolate brand, which is scheduled to launch in July."

"Are you going to be their spokesperson?"

"No, it's just a business collaboration," Yan Liang said. "I don't have the ability to be a spokesperson right now, and not many people know who I am."

"It's only a matter of time. An artist as hardworking and talented as you will eventually be recognized." Lu Yanhe had no doubt about this. "Actually, I'm also looking forward to 'The Days of Youth,' where the three of us will record a variety show about living together. Haha, isn't that just bringing our everyday lives onto the camera?"

"Then everyone will be able to see Li Zhibai's messy hair," Yan Liang said with a smile.

Li Zhibai said, "How could that be? I would never do that when recording a show."

“I don’t believe it. You can pretend for a day or two, but can you really pretend for half a month?” Lu Yanhe knew Li Zhibai’s personality very well. “With your personality, you’ll definitely start doing whatever you want after three days.”

"..." Li Zhibai was once again unable to refute.

I have nothing to say.

-

After delivering Yan Liang, Li Zhibai and Lu Yanhe left.

Li Zhibai had made plans to play games with someone that night, while Lu Yanhe was going to do a live stream.

On the way back, Li Zhibai was still saying, "What do you think? How about I start a live stream and stream myself playing games?"

"That's not a good idea," Lu Yanhe said. "Many of your fans are students, which might cause their parents to object, thinking you're a bad influence on their children?"

"Tsk." Li Zhibai paused for a moment, then nodded. "That's true. Playing games is indeed addictive and affects studies. Is that why you don't play games?"

“I’ll play, don’t I play with you all the time?” Lu Yanhe said.

Li Zhibai: "You often play with me, but I rarely see you play on your own initiative. Are you not addicted to games at all?"

“It’s not really addictive. I still prefer something more realistic,” Lu Yanhe said. “Playing games with you guys is fine, but if I’m playing with strangers, the joy of winning doesn’t last long.”

Li Zhi was greatly surprised.

"I'm impressed, you're a natural-born academic genius," he said.

Lu Yanhe suddenly remembered something and asked, "Did Zhou Ping'an contact you again afterward?"

"What do you want?"

"About the laser pointer," Lu Yanhe said. "I just checked my phone, and you and Ma Zhiyuan are still trending on social media, although the buzz has died down a bit since yesterday."

"They didn't contact me." Li Zhibai pouted. "So what if they hung up? I'm not the one getting scolded anyway."

Lu Yanhe: "Have you thought about how you hope to resolve this matter?"

“I haven’t thought about it, and I’m too lazy to think about it. I just know that I don’t accept their current attitude towards resolving this issue. It’s ridiculous,” Li Zhibai said. “As you know, I really hate their attitude. They don’t distinguish right from wrong and just want to quell this matter as soon as possible. In reality, it will only make Ma Zhiyuan’s arrogance grow stronger.”

Li Zhibai's words once again changed Lu Yanhe's opinion of him.

Li Zhibai is indeed very perceptive in certain aspects.

-

As a result, a major scandal broke out within the company the very next day.

Ma Zhiyuan may be going solo and leaving MX.

When Yan Liang saw this melon, the three of them were sitting at the dining table eating takeout.

As soon as he said it, the other two stared at him wide-eyed in disbelief.

“It’s true,” Yan Liang said. “Although I don’t know where the news came from, it’s very well-founded. And this morning, Ma Zhiyuan went into Vice President Ma’s office.”

"Eh—" Li Zhibai suddenly exclaimed in confusion. Just as the two of them thought he had figured out some crucial information, Li Zhibai said, "They both have the surname Ma, could they be relatives?"

Lu Yanhe: "..."

Yan Liang: "No."

"Isn't that so?"

“When Ma Zhiyuan debuted, people dug up information about their blood relationship, and to put it simply, they are completely unrelated,” Yan Liang said.

"Uh, okay."

“If Ma Zhiyuan leaves MX, then MX will only have four people left,” Lu Yanhe said.

"Maybe they'll add one or two more people?" Yan Liang said. "MX is so popular, losing one person means losing money."

"But if Ma Zhiyuan goes solo, will he be affected?"

“Who knows? Anyway, he always acts all high and mighty. I want to see how well he does after he goes solo,” Li Zhibai said immediately.

Yan Liang looked at him with a complicated expression and said, "But everyone says that after Ma Zhiyuan goes solo, Zhou Ping'an will take over all of his work, not just his personal business."

This means that Ma Zhiyuan is now entirely under Zhou Ping'an's control.

Li Zhibai's beaming expression as he ate the melon instantly crumbled.

-

"What can we do about it?"

Vice President Ma looked at Wei Zhuoran and Qu Yousong sitting in front of him.

“I know you all have a good relationship with Ma Zhiyuan, you’re good friends, but he’s made so many mistakes in the past six months, we can’t keep indulging him.” Vice President Ma put on a pained but helpless expression. “He’s always felt that you’ve held him back, and he’s complained to me about it several times. So let him go solo. His leaving MX is also a good thing for you. Apart from him, the popularity of the rest of you is about the same. Once he’s gone, you all have the opportunity to become top idol artists.”

Qu Yousong and Wei Zhuoran exchanged a glance.

Wei Zhuoran spoke first, saying, "But once he leaves, MX might not be able to maintain its position as the most popular idol group."

This is something that must be acknowledged.

Ma Zhiyuan's personal fans make up a small portion of the MX group's fanbase.

Vice President Ma shook his head and said, "Don't underestimate yourselves. MX's popularity is due to your own talent and hard work, as well as the extensive operations and promotion the company has provided behind the scenes. Even though he's gone, your exposure won't drop. We will continue to develop you as the most popular idol group and support you. In addition, we will find a new member to join your group."

Wei Zhuoran and Qu Yousong's eyes widened when they heard this.

"A newcomer?"

“You only have four people left now, we need to bring in one more,” said Vice President Ma.

Wei Zhuoran hesitated for a moment and said, "But the new person who joined should be a newcomer, right?"

"He's a newcomer, but also a capable and talented one who won't hold you back," said Vice President Ma.

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhuoran asked, "Has someone already been chosen?"

"We have some preliminary candidates, but we need to evaluate them further," said Vice President Ma. "Don't worry, Ma Zhiyuan's departure won't have a negative impact on you. You will always be the most popular idol group in our Xingyu Entertainment."

Wei Zhuoran and Qu Yousong left his office.

After getting off the elevator, Qu Yousong asked, "What do you think of what he said?"

"It's hard to say," Wei Zhuoran shook his head. "But it's a done deal that Ma Zhiyuan is leaving; there's no room for negotiation."

“Then he got what he wanted,” Qu Yousong said. “Didn’t we all always think that we were inferior to him and were holding him back?”

"He said something like that to you?" Wei Zhuoran asked, somewhat surprised.

Qu Yousong smiled, glanced at him thoughtfully, and said, "You don't know?"

Wei Zhuoran: "He only complains sometimes, but it's not intentional. That's just how he is."

"That's because you have a good temper." Qu Yousong shook his head and said no more.

"Then Li Zhibai must be very pleased with himself," Wei Zhuoran said, somewhat annoyed.

"Isn't this all Ma Zhiyuan's fault? Regardless of whether he was at fault or not, he should have made a statement about this," Qu Yousong said. "He didn't even flinch when someone shone a laser pointer into their eyes and hurt them. Isn't that just asking for trouble?"

Qu Yousong was right, and Wei Zhuoran had nothing more to say.

-

Because neither Li Zhibai nor Ma Zhiyuan cooperated with the company in responding to the laser pointer incident, the matter continued to escalate, but ultimately it was left unresolved.

This matter has been a thorn in the side between the fans of the two sides, and it is brought up from time to time.

The news that Ma Zhiyuan was leaving MX did not spread online; it only circulated within Star Entertainment.

There has been no new development in the news for a long time.

Time flew by and it was already the end of June.

So much has happened this month, but no matter what it is, the most important thing for Lu Yanhe is that he achieved his goal of getting a high score of 657 in the college entrance examination.

Lu Yanhe will soon be joining a film crew.

He had practically memorized all his lines from the script.

Not only his own scenes, but also every scene of his opponents' scenes were memorized.

Get familiar with it, and then start to figure it out.

Lu Yanhe packed his suitcase and prepared to go on a long trip.

Li Zhibai and Yan Liang were still somewhat reluctant to part.

In the past three years, Li Zhibai and Yan Liang have both gone on long trips and not returned for half a month, but this is the first time for Lu Yanhe.

Li Zhibai said, "If you are bullied on set, you must not tolerate it. You must stand up for yourself, otherwise they will think you are easy to bully and will keep bullying you, understand?"

Lu Yanhe was both amused and exasperated, saying, "I was recommended by Jiang Yuqian and selected by Luo Yuzhong for this role. Under normal circumstances, no one would be so blind as to bully me, right?"

Especially since he's been quite popular lately.

“Don’t be too naive. I’ve seen some gossip online before. Even Jiang Yuqian gets bullied by some people.” Li Zhibai reminded him seriously, “In this industry, there are many people who take advantage of their seniority, or look down on traffic stars and idols, or simply don’t like you. There are too many such cases. Not every incident will be exposed.”

"Okay, okay, I'll be careful."

"Where are you filming? It's not some remote mountain valley, is it? You should bring plenty of food with you, otherwise you might not have anywhere to eat when you're hungry late at night."

“I’m filming a modern drama.” Lu Yanhe said, both amused and exasperated. “Although it’s not in Yuming, it’s not far from Yuming.”

Li Zhibai: "That's alright then."

Yan Liang also said, "I feel like Li Zhibai is a bit like an old father who is worried about his child going on a long trip."

“Isn’t it because I’m worried?” Li Zhibai said righteously. “Look at how Zhou Ping’an bullied him before, he didn’t know how to fight back at all, who can feel at ease with that?”

Yan Liang really wanted to say that Lu Yanhe had changed a long time ago and was no longer the same Lu Yanhe as before, but when the words came to his lips, he felt that what Li Zhibai said was actually true.

He nodded and said to Lu Yanhe, "You really need to be careful."

Lu Yanhe raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, "Okay, stop it, stop nagging me, brothers, I will definitely pay attention and won't hold it in."

Li Zhibai nodded in satisfaction.

On the day of departure, Chen Ziyan came to pick up Lu Yanhe and took him to the film set.

Because Li Zhibai and Yan Liang had work to do, they left Yuming the day before and missed this grand "farewell" scene.

Lu Yanhe was very grateful that they had worked the day before, otherwise he felt that his ears would have developed even more calluses today.

Chen Ziyan drove him there, a journey of about three and a half hours.

The filming location is in Langhua, a city next to Yuming.

Originally, this was not a very economically developed city, but because a film and television base was built, various film crews gradually came to shoot movies and TV shows, which led to the development of film and television base tourism culture, and Langhua gradually developed.

They didn't originally need to find a film and television base to shoot these modern dramas, but because the modern background of "The Golden Era" is not the last ten years, but the period when the domestic economy was just taking off, they needed to find a city with a less modern atmosphere, so they found Langhua.

Chen Ziyan drove Lu Yanhe to Langhua and checked into the hotel first.

The film crew booked three floors of rooms in the hotel.

A grand gesture.

There are crew members in the lobby who are there to greet you.

As soon as Lu Yanhe appeared, they immediately came to greet him.

After completing the check-in and other formalities, Lu Yanhe went to put his luggage away.

Chen Ziyan was standing at the door talking on the phone when she burst into laughter, her laughter uncontrollable.

Lu Yanhe glanced at her and felt that Chen Ziyan's "shaking laughter" had a slight element of acting.

(End of this chapter)