Chapter 857

Wang Xiao first explained why this project was initiated.

“When we contacted director Zheng Ximo, he brought out this script. We liked it a lot after reading it. At the same time, when I was reading the script, the image of Zhibai came to mind,” Wang Xiao said with a smile. “So I asked director Zheng if he had any ideas about the male lead. If he already had ideas, I would definitely respect his ideas and not bring it up. I didn’t expect director Zheng to say that he only had one requirement for the actors: that they respect his script and respect him as the director.”

The entire audience gasped in surprise.

Zheng Ximo crossed his arms and remained serious.

Wang Xiao said, "But after Director Zheng said that, I was still quite uneasy, because as you all know, Zhi Bai is rumored to have a bit of a temper and personality."

Li Zhi smiled.

The audience members smiled knowingly.

Wang Xiao said, "However, I haven't heard any news about Zhibai acting like a big shot, so I asked some mutual friends. When I finally went to see Zhibai, he said to me directly, in a very sarcastic tone, 'President Wang, the emphasis should be on the word "President"—'"

Wang Xiao's emphasis caused the entire audience to burst into laughter.

Li Zhibai grinned and made a "he deserved it" gesture.

Wang Xiao continued, "He said, 'President Wang, I only vent my temper on those who have truly angered me. If I were really difficult to work with, I would have been beaten up long ago after filming so many movies. To be honest, the time when the rumors about me being difficult to work with were most rampant after all these years of filming was when you were inquiring about the situation everywhere these days.'"

Li Zhibai nodded seriously, indicating that what Wang Xiao said was absolutely correct, and that was indeed the situation.

Wang Xiao immediately said, "Indeed, I later realized that my actions were problematic, so I quickly thought of apologizing to Zhibai."

“No need for apologies. I admit I have a temper.” Li Zhibai shrugged and smiled. “But those who have actually worked with me know very well that my temper is not something I throw tantrums at will. And having a temper doesn’t mean I can’t be tolerant or cooperative. It’s not like that at all. In fact, regarding my temper, it’s probably because someone dislikes me and has been spreading rumors about me for a long time. That’s why when President Wang Xiao came to ask me to act in a movie, he had so many concerns. I’m still quite grateful to him. After hearing so many rumors, he didn’t believe them and ultimately passed me over.”

Wang Xiao: "I'm going crazy. If I pass you over for this reason, not only will it be my unprofessionalism, but if my junior finds out, he'll definitely help you get revenge. He'll at least call me and yell at me for an hour first."

Junior?

It took many people a while to realize that Wang Xiao's junior was Lu Yanhe.

Li Zhibai: "Then you're also wondering why you asked others when you clearly know your junior. Isn't he the one who knows me best?"

Wang Xiao was both amused and exasperated.

"If I were to ask him, I would have to answer why I didn't cast him in the role."

Li Zhibai: "You're really being a bit strange. Why didn't you cast him? That's Lu Yanhe. Who wouldn't want to work with him?"

Wang Xiao: "I do want to, but, since you're the first person that comes to mind when I'm reading the script."

Li Zhibai: "Okay, I'll brag like that from now on, that I'm the actor who beat Lu Yanhe to get this role."

The entire audience laughed and cheered in a show of support.

Wang Xiao looked at Zheng Ximo.

"Director Zheng, after you met with Zhibai, what made you decide to cast Zhibai in this movie?"

Zheng Ximo picked up the microphone and said, "Li Zhibai is already willing to perform, do I need to agree? I couldn't be happier."

He first smiled and complimented Li Zhibai before continuing, "When Li Zhibai met me, the first thing he asked was, 'Director Zheng, are you a fan of mine?' I said, 'I've heard so much about you and have seen many of your films.' Li Zhibai laughed and said, 'No wonder, Director Zheng, your eyes lit up the moment you saw me.' I said, 'That's the reaction a poor director would have when he sees a big star.' Li Zhibai said, 'Then you're in luck, Director. If I were the director, I'd want to work with an actor like me.' I've never met an actor so confident on our first meeting. I said, 'Okay, then I'll have to rely on you.' Li Zhibai said, 'You'll rely on me for things outside the film set, but I'll rely on you for things inside the film set.' That surprised me a bit. I thought, 'This kid is interesting.'"

Li Zhi nodded smugly and said, "I am just such an interesting person."

Zheng Ximo shook his head with a helpless expression.

The reporters, however, saw in his face the smile of an elder looking at a mischievous junior.

“Indeed, after Zhi Baiyi was cast as the lead actor, everything went smoothly,” Wang Xiao said. “Originally, because this film is an art film, it was a bit difficult to find co-investors. Our Northern Lights Films was even prepared to fully fund it ourselves, but with Zhi Baiyi's involvement, we really didn’t lack funds at all.”

Li Zhibai said, "I have to thank my fans. Without them, I wouldn't have the kind of physique that investors like so much."

...

After chatting for about thirty minutes, they finally moved on to the media interview segment.

The media at the scene had been waiting for a long time.

As soon as this segment began, hands were raised like mushrooms after rain.

In fact, they had already anticipated the situation that would arise before holding this press conference.

The reason they dared to show up at this time was naturally because they had already planned what to say.

The first question the reporters asked was directed at Zheng Ximo.

"Director Zheng, some time ago, there was a lot of talk online about how you and Chen Pinhe had a bad working relationship on 'The Pianist,' and that he was a domineering actor on set. You later posted on Weibo, 'What goes around comes around.' What do you want to say about these online discussions?"

Zheng Ximo shook his head: "I've said what I needed to say. I'm not the kind of director who pushes the problems onto others after a collaboration is over. I've seen that 'The Pianist' is very controversial. As far as I'm concerned, no matter what, if a film is controversial, I, as the director, will be the first to be held accountable. And my attitude is very simple: if there are problems, I will correct them; if there aren't, I will strive to improve."

"Director Zheng, you're working with Li Zhibai again on your next film. Aren't you worried that Li Zhibai might also be a domineering actor?" A reporter immediately asked the second question.

Li Zhibai stared wide-eyed in shock, looking at the audience in disbelief.

"Hey? I'm still right here! Are you spreading rumors to my face? Don't drag me into your drama about the 'drama tyrant' thing. What era are we living in where you still practice guilt by association?"

The other reporters burst into laughter.

The reporter who asked the question immediately said, "This is a hypothetical situation, please forgive me, Brother Bai."

"See you my foot," Li Zhibai said. "Hurry up and sit down, or you'll receive a lawyer's letter."

-

In the eyes of the media, Li Zhibai has always been known as a "living person".

In fact, this is the view of Lu Yanhe, Li Zhibai, and Yan Liang in the eyes of the media.

However, among the three of them, Li Zhibai had the most distinctive personality.

Therefore, he has the strongest sense of "being alive".

If media reporters were to rank the celebrities most favored by them, Lee Ji-baek would definitely be in the top three.

If you interview him and can keep up a conversation, you'll definitely have something to write about, and you won't be scratching your head because you have nothing to say.

Such press conferences, under normal circumstances, are unlikely to attract widespread attention.

Unless you're talking about a really big project.

With renowned directors and big-name actors, the project itself also has significant media value.

However, because of Li Zhibai's presence, the art film "The Journey of Man" ranked among the top 30 on the hot search list, with 13 related topics.

Ten of them directly contain the name Li Zhibai.

The most viral line is, "You'd better sit down now, or you'll receive a lawyer's letter."

She has a temper, but she's also very generous.

After he said that, everyone realized that despite the numerous media outlets and marketing accounts that exploited Li Zhibai's reputation, Li Zhibai had never sent a lawyer's letter to any of them.

Such incidents are commonplace in the entertainment industry.

Many celebrities have had their images damaged because of this kind of thing.

Especially those things that seem trivial to everyone, yet they readily send lawyer's letters.

What kind of impression will this create in the public eye? Well, it's that they lack a sense of humor.

Of course, many actors would say that they are not there to entertain the audience.

After all the twists and turns, the fact that Li Zhibai, despite his fiery temper, is still loved by the media suggests there's a reason for it.

There was another quote from this press conference that also went viral.

Li Zhibai's line, "Don't drag me into your drama about the tyrant. What era are we living in that we still have the practice of collective punishment?", has been interpreted by many as a direct message to Chen Pinhe.

Actually, this has nothing to do with Chen Pinhe. Even if Li Zhibai were foolish, he wouldn't be so naive as to directly mock Chen Pinhe. He only responded that way because a reporter brought it up. However, Li Zhibai and Chen Pinhe had just clashed last month over competition between their two dramas. Chen Pinhe's fans are currently furious due to the chaotic online discussions, and Li Zhibai's use of the term "drama tyrant" in his own words naturally makes Chen Pinhe's fans see this as a provocation.

In no time, Chen Pinhe's fans launched a massive campaign of insults against Li Zhibai.

It just so happens to be Li Zhibai.

Li Zhibai is someone even top idols who follow the traffic-driven idol route can't beat.

Li Zhibai has been a popular artist for ten years since his debut at the age of sixteen.

Li Zhibai's fans began systematically and purposefully digging up Chen Pinhe's past scandals, repeatedly dredging them up in various situations, and even sarcastically raising funds to buy a trending topic on social media.

#Anyway, it wasn't Li Zhibai who was accused of being a tyrant on set#

That's right, they bought trending searches, especially those about Black people, but they didn't include Chen Pinhe's name. Instead, they wanted to generate buzz for their own idol.

This entry doesn't mention Chen Pinhe's name at all, but everyone who reads it knows who it's talking about.

Chen Pinhe cherishes his reputation and has been away from the front lines for a long time.

In the current online public opinion war, Chen Pinhe has status and fame, but lacks ability.

The hype that had just died down was reignited by Li Zhibai's fans.

There was really no other way. Zhang Yue was furious, but could only try her best to remove the trending topic.

Up until this point, Chen Pinhe had not come forward to respond to anything. Actually, it wasn't that he didn't want to, but rather that he couldn't.

Zhang Yuezhen and Chen Pinhe were unsure whether Zheng Ximo would attack them again if they responded.

The whole thing escalated when Chen Pinhe's fans insulted Zheng Ximo, which was ignited by Zheng Ximo's statement, "What goes around comes around."

They could only continue to play dead.

As a result, Li Zhibai's fans bought another trending topic—

#Since it wasn't Li Zhibai who was pretending to be dead, fans shouldn't try to save face for him#

Zhang Yue was so angry that she smashed things at home.

-

Chen Ziyan scoffed.

"Chen Pinhe's fans are the same. Why do they have to fight with Li Zhibai's fans? They're seasoned veterans who have fought with fans of almost everyone in the entertainment industry. Even Yan He's fans are no match for them."

Lu Qingzhen smiled too.

"Yan He's fans are mainly intimidated by his previous disbandment of his fan club," Lu Qingzhen said. "It makes them a bit timid and hesitant to do anything too outrageous. Unlike Li Zhibai's fans, who are known for their explosive tempers and reckless behavior, Li Zhibai's fans are even more so. When Li Zhibai was an idol, his fans were already very powerful, not to mention how many more die-hard fans he gained after he started acting."

Chen Ziyan: "Sometimes I'm quite curious why Yan He himself doesn't play these most popular roles, but instead gives them to Li Zhibai."

Lu Qingzhen said, "Isn't it said that Li Zhibai is more suitable? The two of them do have different images."

Chen Ziyan said, "It's not that the image is completely inappropriate, but now I think that Yan He just doesn't want to become as popular as Li Zhibai."

"ah?"

“Li Zhibai’s acting career is not as smooth as Yan He’s,” Chen Ziyan said. “He is too popular and too famous. Basically, no matter what role he plays, his image as Li Zhibai will always take precedence over the role. There will never be a role that takes precedence over Li Zhibai.”

"Yan He... is it really possible for the character to stand in front of him?" Lu Qingzhen asked, somewhat puzzled.

“When the movie is good enough and the character is good enough, it is still possible,” Chen Ziyan said. “Because Yan He’s personality is not like Li Zhibai’s. With so many fans, he has become a cultural symbol. Li Zhibai’s image as an artist is now basically a cultural symbol, but Yan He has not reached that point yet. He is just well-known and his life experience is very inspiring, but his personal image is still relatively weak in symbolism.”

Lu Qingzhen seemed to be deep in thought.

"When you say Li Zhibai is now a cultural symbol, in what aspects are you referring to?"

"It's hard to explain in a single sentence, but to put it another way, it's similar to the current situation of Li Zhibai and Yan He. Li Zhibai's fans are definitely more enthusiastic than Yan He's fans. Li Zhibai's fans definitely like him more as a person, while Yan He's fans probably like him mostly because of his career, talent, and roles. This has little to do with Yan He's own personality and character."

“I understand,” Lu Qingzhen nodded.

-

At the end of November, Lu Yanhe returned from the United States to prepare for filming this year's "Friends".

When I returned, I happened to catch the release of a movie distributed by Linghe. It was still a Thai movie starring Cai Na, but it was an old movie, eight years old.

At the same time, Linghe also announced that it will adapt this Thai film, which has a domestic rating of 8.5.

Therefore, not only did Cai Na attend the film's screening, but Xiao Yun, the female lead in the remake, also attended.

Lu Yanhe arrived midway.

He quietly entered the screening room and sat down.

On stage, two actresses are complimenting each other.

Cai Na said, "Xiao Yun and I are very good friends. She is also a very good actress. We are both cheerful people. I think it is especially suitable for her to play the role of Xiao Cao in the Chinese version."

Xiao Yun immediately retorted, "Cai Na is the most popular Thai actress in China. I really envy Cai Na for being able to cross borders and receive so much love."

Caina: "You're just as popular in Thailand!"

Xiao Yun: "No one is as popular in China as you~"

Lu Yanhe: "..."

This kind of mutual appreciation (mutual flattery) between girls can sometimes make him feel nauseous.

However, people seem to really like this approach.

At this moment, the host on stage must have received instructions from the staff in the audience to inform him that Lu Yanhe had arrived.

This event was organized by Linghe.

The purpose of Linghe's screening events is to accomplish the most with the least amount of money.

The boss is here, how can we not ride this wave of popularity?

Soon after, the host announced, "I just received a notification that a mystery guest has also arrived at the scene."

Everyone present was stunned for a moment, then turned around and looked around, trying to find out who this mysterious guest was.

Lu Yanhe was recognized by the audience sitting around him.

A cheer erupted.

People around him took out their phones and started taking pictures of Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe smiled helplessly and took off his mask and hat.

When he revealed his full face, the crowd erupted in thunderous cheers and applause.

Lu Yanhe took the microphone from the staff member and said with a smile, "I originally wanted to sit quietly in the audience, but I didn't expect an inside traitor to betray me."

The whole audience burst into laughter.

Cai Na and Xiao Yun looked at Lu Yanhe with surprise and delight.

They had not been notified beforehand that Lu Yanhe would appear.

Lu Yanhe said, "I watched the movie 'School Beauty Announcement' with my classmates several years ago. At that time, the movie wasn't released in China, and we watched a pirated copy. I'm sorry, there weren't any domestic distributors involved in making the movie back then, so we could only find it online. I remember that night, we all laughed out loud, both boys and girls. When the female lead successfully got her university acceptance letter, we were all very excited. My classmate told me that if my experience preparing for the college entrance exam in my senior year of high school were adapted into a movie, it would be quite good. I said no, my high school life was far less exciting than this movie. What I think is most worth watching for this movie is that many of its plots are actually quite exaggerated, but even knowing that they are exaggerated, you are willing to deceive yourself and believe that this is a story that happened at that age."

Lu Yanhe recommended this movie.

Cai Na smiled happily and said, "Now this movie can finally be released in China and meet everyone."

"Actually, this film's domestic video platform bought the broadcasting rights for two years three years ago, but because there was no promotion, not many people saw it," the host explained. "Why did Linghe repurchase the domestic distribution rights for this film and specifically promote it this time?"

"Because this movie is really good." Chen Yin was also on stage, speaking on behalf of Linghe. "Linghe is committed to bringing good movies from overseas that are less well-known to our domestic audience to China and introducing them to everyone. The name 'School Beauty Announcement' was actually controversial within our own organization at first. We were worried that the name wouldn't be attractive enough to the audience and wanted to change it. However, because this movie has always been translated as this, and if you search for this name, you'll find how much people who have seen this movie love it."

Chen Yin added, "Actually, Chaina has starred in many great Thai films, but relatively few of them were previously imported to China. This June, we imported another Thai film starring Chaina, 'Summering,' which grossed over 60 million yuan. As one of the most well-known Thai actresses in China, we cherish our collaboration with Chaina. We will not only invite her to participate in Linghe's Chinese film projects, but we will also import all of Chaina's good Thai films."

Cai Na said with a smile, "Ling He is my ambassador for promoting Ling He in China."

...

Zhang Yuezhen frowned slightly.

Looking at the news on her phone, she said, "What is Linghe doing? Why are they promoting Cai Na so much? Are they planning to cast her in one of their projects later?"

Chen Pinhe looked at his phone but didn't reply.

(End of this chapter)