Throughout the night, Zhang Ze was seen imparting his experience to Xu Peng. Perhaps because they were in the same boat, Zhang Ze and Xu Peng found themselves getting along very well, as if they were kindred spirits who had met too late.

As Fang Yang predicted, "Shaolin Temple" had a strong commercial atmosphere, making it extremely difficult to achieve a breakthrough at the Golden Rooster Awards. In the end, it only received a consolation prize because of its box office success.

Jin Dahai returned with a full harvest. Frozen brought him both fame and fortune, standing out as the top animated film. This was an award that no one could take away from him.

Zhang Ze couldn't escape the fate of being a runner-up either. In the end, his nomination for Best Actor wasn't a wasted effort. It wasn't that his acting skills were lacking, but like Fang Yang, the commercial atmosphere was too strong.

In the film market, it's difficult to have both fame and fortune. If you want fame, you make art films that are critically acclaimed but not commercially successful; if you want to make money, you make commercial films. These are two parallel lines that may occasionally intersect, but their general direction will not change.

Zhang Ze showed no signs of dejection. “President Fang, you know what? I’ve been a runner-up for six years now. I’m used to getting nothing, but I still have to live through this damn life. It’s not about acting skills. The main problem is that I simply don’t have the opportunity to take on lead roles in art films. The company won’t agree to lower my salary for a lead role unless I pay the difference myself.”

Fang Yang suddenly realized that a low-budget art film wouldn't have the funds to invite a big-name actor like Zhang Ze. The key was to be ruthless; even with a big-name actor like Zhang Ze, the art film wouldn't achieve high box office returns and would ultimately lose money. It was better not to invite him at all.

"Actually, it's not only art films that can win awards. There are many other genres. I believe that the situation where art films dominate the world will definitely be broken in the future."

Fang Yang made a confident guarantee. By this time, the group was already having a late-night snack at a seafood stall. Prices on Xiamen Island are really high, although seafood is relatively cheap compared to the mainland.

Zhang Ze shamelessly followed along. Fang Yang was bombarded by reporters again tonight. Fortunately, he brought two bodyguards with him this time. With Su Cheng and Bai Mo clearing the way, the group quickly left the venue. No one knew when Zhang Ze had followed them. He made the excuse that it was better to have someone clear the way than to have to work up a sweat and squeeze through the crowd himself.

Fang Yang was already immune to Zhang Ze's shamelessness. Anyway, there were several of them to eat, and one more person wouldn't eat much. But he didn't expect that this person, who didn't look fat, was such a big eater. You could tell from the mountain of shrimp shells and crab legs in front of him. This time, he had just finished two large bowls of seafood porridge with great energy, leaving Fang Yang speechless.

"Teacher Zhang, will you be able to sleep when you get back?"

"Why can't you sleep? Mr. Fang, you don't know that Hong Kong Island is a city that never sleeps. At this time, many people will go out for a late-night snack after get off work, stay up until three or four in the morning, and then go back to work at seven or eight in the morning. It's impossible to get a good night's sleep in Hong Kong Island. So you often see people rushing to work in the morning. That's because they go to bed late and then rush to get up in the morning."

"Then why don't you go back to sleep early? You'll be more refreshed if you get up early the next day."

"It's not as good as you say. I work overtime until 10 p.m. every day. How can I go without eating something on an empty stomach? Besides, electricity is very expensive in Hong Kong. It's too hot to sleep if I go back too early. Wouldn't it be better to go back later and just lie down on the bed and fall asleep?"

Fang Yang was speechless upon hearing Zhang Ze's explanation. Beneath the seemingly prosperous and glamorous surface lay the bitter struggles and hardships of countless ordinary citizens in Xiaojing as they fought to survive.

"As the old saying goes, being born is easy, living is easy, but making a living is not easy!"

Fang Yang also finished two large bowls of seafood porridge. The seafood in Xiamen is all freshly purchased and brought ashore on the same day, so the seafood porridge is especially tender. Fang Yang hadn't had such delicious porridge in a long time. Since no one was drinking alcohol, the demand for seafood porridge was naturally even greater.

"Scholars are just different; this summary makes a lot of sense."

Zhang Ze didn't receive much formal education, dropping out of high school before starting out as an extra on film sets. His story of struggle is legendary in Hong Kong, inspiring generations of young people to pursue careers in film and television, a dream shared by many young people from humble backgrounds who aspire to get rich quickly.

Just as he was leaving, Zhang Ze suddenly blurted out, "President Fang, you were the one who did the thing with Ji Xiaocheng in Yangcheng, weren't you?"

Fang Yang's question, "Who is Ji Xiaocheng?" prompted Zhang Ze to exclaim in admiration, "President Fang, you can't tell me you don't know that bearded reporter from Guangzhou!"

"Know him... my ass! Didn't they say they couldn't find him? Do you have any information about him?"

Ever since Zhang Ze uttered the name Ji Xiaocheng, he had been staring intently into Fang Yang's eyes. Now, seeing Fang Yang utter those words without blinking, he couldn't help but laugh and say, "You're just pretending."

Fang Yang pushed past Zhang Ze, who was blocking the way, and said, "Just say what you have to say, or I'm going back to sleep. I have to rush back to Hengdian to film tomorrow, so I don't have time to play guessing games with you here."

Zhang Ze followed closely behind Fang Yang, "You really don't know?"

Fang Yang pressed his hand against Zhang Ze's chest. "Teacher Zhang, my schedule is packed every day. I really don't have time to pay attention to someone I don't know. Whether in the past or now, thousands of people in the company are counting on me, the boss, to lead them to a life of luxury. Where do you think I have the time and leisure to pay attention to an insignificant person?"

Seeing that Fang Yang didn't seem like a liar, Zhang Ze let him go. "President Fang, you don't know, but just today, netizens dug up the identity of that bearded reporter. It's funny, that bearded reporter is just an employee of a small company. I don't know what happened, but he was bewitched and accepted five thousand yuan from a stranger, and followed instructions to pretend to be a reporter to slander you. Luckily, you reacted quickly, otherwise you would have been in trouble."

"Oh?" Fang Yang stopped and asked, "Any follow-up results?"

Zhang Ze was caught off guard by Fang Yang's sudden stop and almost bumped into him. At the critical moment, he used his hand to brace himself against Fang Yang's shoulder to keep his balance. "What else can we do? The police can't do anything about him. He didn't say he was a reporter at the time. He just said that a fan asked him a question. No matter where you put it, there's nothing to say. Later, angry netizens attacked the small company's website, forcing the company to fire Ji Xiaocheng to appease public anger. I guess it will be a bit difficult for Ji Xiaocheng to find a job again in the future!"

Fang Yang continued striding his long legs to the roadside to hail a cab. "We're all adults. If you do something wrong, you have to pay for it. I have nothing to say about that. Besides, ever since I debuted, I've been used to people lurking in the shadows and doing dirty tricks. I'm still doing just fine. What goes around comes around. Teacher Zhang, where do you live? I'll take you home first."