Chapter 43

Chapter 43

A man who is young, handsome, tall, creative, has excellent singing skills and talent, and also has a large fan base is bound to be full of confidence.

Lan Xu is someone who grew up surrounded by praise, and he is never afraid of any challenge.

Faced with Tong Xin's critical gaze, Lan Xu remained seated, not only without flinching but also straightening his back and becoming even more aggressive in his eyes.

Unfortunately, Tong Xin's "looking" was simply the kind of pickiness one would show when choosing pork.

After inspecting the "pork" and confirming that there was no problem, she changed to a listless look, nodded casually, pulled out a chair, and sat down next to Jiang Mingyue.

Tong Xin then turned to the three boys she had brought and said, "You guys sit down too. Don't eat too much tonight, or your face will be puffy and won't look good in your onboarding photos tomorrow."

Gradually, the professionalism emerged from just one sentence.

After she finished speaking, her gaze fell on Jiang Mingyue's plate.

All of these were picked out from that mixed dish, including chicken breast, black fungus, cucumber strips, and konjac noodles.

A responsible agent will never give up monitoring the "meal" of their artists, and Jiang Mingyue keenly noticed Tong Xin's gaze.

Almost instinctively, Jiang Mingyue pointed to the sauce on her plate and explained, "It's aged vinegar, low in salt and soy sauce."

Regardless of whether the claim that soy sauce contains a large amount of melanin is scientifically based, Jiang Mingyue has avoided soy sauce for many years in order to maintain her fair complexion. Excessive salt intake can lead to water retention, and Jiang Mingyue also consumes very little salt.

"Hmm, that's good, go ahead and eat. Remember to keep exercising after you finish eating." Tong Xin smiled contentedly, ending the brief conversation with Jiang Mingyue in a kind and gentle tone.

Gu Yifan interrupted, "Tong Xin, don't interfere with the little girl I'm taking care of."

Tong Xin rolled her eyes at Gu Yifan, her tone natural and intimate: "If you can manage girls, who would want to manage male artists? They have terrible tempers, are inexplicably confident, can't control their mouths or their penises, and often make me get out of bed in the middle of the night to clean up their messes. There are even those who try to climb into their own manager's bed to steal resources. Yeah, a commodity living like a joke."

A single sentence swept over everyone present except Jiang Mingyue.

Jiang Mingyue suppressed the upturned corners of her mouth and lowered her head to continue eating.

Gu Yifan seemed used to Tong Xin's blunt speaking style, ignoring its aggressiveness, and smiled as he steered the conversation back to Lan Xu: "Stop complaining, tell me about your plans for Lan Xu's future."

Tong Xin held up her chopsticks and said, "Let me have a couple of bites first. I've been busy all day and haven't eaten. I've just had a moment to relax."

This wasn't an excuse. Tong Xin picked up a palm-sized piece of brown sugar sesame cake, cut a slit in the middle, stuffed in a bunch of meat and vegetables, swallowed the whole cake in a few bites, drank a sip of the warm water Jiang Mingyue had pushed to her side, and let out a long sigh of relief.

Then, she wiped the sesame powder and grease off her hands with a wet wipe, quickly twisted her long curly hair into a bun at the back of her head, and began to say, "The movie that Lan Xu turned down hasn't even filmed this part yet. I can squeeze out the young actor's job and take back the job, so that after filming, it will be just in time for Lan Xu's album to be released."

She pursed her lips, her expression clearly showing her disapproval of the record sales: "Sending you to a satellite TV station to do a show and promote your song is at least a way to salvage the sales of your casual listeners. We'll do our best and leave the rest to fate. But I still don't have a good outlook on the future of the music market. After the promotion, don't talk to me about your musical dreams. With the market like this, artists who aren't famous don't deserve the company's financial support for their musical dreams. Just get into acting and I'll talk to you about soundtracks for TV dramas or movies. If you really have a dream, get the opening and ending credits and insert songs too. Earn two jobs at once and slowly build up your experience."

She took out her PDA, tapped it, paused for about ten seconds, and then spoke again: "First, go play the third or fourth male lead in four movies to build up your image and popularity, and hone your acting skills. If the response is good enough, I'll try to get you a role as the third male lead in a movie in ten months without being rejected. As for the money, don't worry about it. Your contract with the company should have been revised a long time ago. Not only can we negotiate a percentage that you'll definitely be satisfied with, but I'll also get back the difference for the months the company withheld from you. As for the endorsement issue..."

Tong Xin then adopted that "picky pork-picking" look and began to scrutinize Lan Xu, offering an objective evaluation: "Her temperament isn't particularly elegant, and she's not the type to become famous and endorse high-end luxury brands. However, she's really good-looking, so a trendy and cool image would be fine for her, and she'd have many second-tier brands favored by young people to choose from."

"Let's try to get you a watch endorsement within six months. As for those cheap drink and snack endorsements, I personally suggest you don't get involved unless you have a gambling habit and are extremely short of money. Artists with a too approachable image are unlikely to become wildly popular."

Tong Xin lowered her voice and emphasized, "You need to be self-reliant and not mess around with relationships. That's how the entertainment industry is. If you want women, then you can forget about popularity and money. If you really can't hold back, don't hide it from me. I can arrange for you to be paired up with female celebrities. As long as it's just a nominal relationship, I don't care how many fake 'best friends' they bring to sleep with you, or even if you all sleep together. But if the entertainment reporters and your fans find out before I do, then you can expect to be blacklisted."

After finishing her sentence, Tong Xin shrugged and said, "Don't bother looking, I won't give you a contract."

Following Tong Xin, Lan Xu doesn't need to switch companies; he remains an artist under GIGABYTE Entertainment. Therefore, he doesn't need to provide an additional contract. Even if there is a contract, it would be a supplementary revenue-sharing contract that GIGABYTE and Lan Xu re-sign.

But all of this is just talk and no proof.

After Tong Xin finished speaking, she stood up and left the dining table: "I will bring up the matter of transferring you to my team tomorrow. If you can accept this, then agree; if you want to switch jobs to Xingchen Film and Television and follow Gu Yifan, that's fine too. Just don't tell me that you still want to help your relatives. Don't blame me for being blunt—there are plenty of artists who want to help their families, but in the end, they all silently fade into obscurity."

She finished speaking and left, patting Gu Yifan on the shoulder and whispering, "I'm tired, I'm leaving. You guys eat slowly." Her back turned without any hesitation.

If Gu Yifan hadn't timed it perfectly, even Jiang Mingyue would have suspected that Tong Xin's actions were just a passing fancy.

Gu Yifan ignored Lan Xu, who was deep in thought, and instead took out a document and handed it to the three young men Tong Xin had brought: "Standard contract, ten-year term, with income fluctuating depending on your work. Sign it now, and I'll take you to the company dormitory to settle in later."

The three young men were quite obedient and signed the papers without uttering a single unnecessary word.

Jiang Mingyue noticed with her sharp eyes that they even carried two copies of their ID cards with them.

...They're really fully prepared.

After dealing with these matters, Gu Yifan glanced at Lan Xu a few more times and chuckled, "What a pity. I thought Tong Xin had arranged for you to regain your popularity with that three-minute appearance in a teen musical in Hollywood. It seems Xu Wenjia doesn't think much of you and would rather send Sang Zhuo abroad to try his luck."

Lan Xu, who had been so confident before, suddenly lost her composure, leaping over the table and grabbing Gu Yifan by the collar: "What did you say? Sister Jia hates male celebrities who mess around the most!"

Jiang Mingyue: ...?

Jiang Mingyue: !!!

Wait a minute, Lan Xu's tone and expression... could he be...?