During the meal, Lu Ye would occasionally bring up things related to the entertainment industry.
Of course, it wasn't just Lizhou involved; even Zhao Wenyao, who had done his homework, was secretly thrilled and wished he could take out his notebook to write it all down.
"You mean you ran into Cangquan Zoe at the airport?"
Lu Ye put down his knife and fork, his expression somewhat unpleasant.
"His purpose in coming to Lizhou is simple, but also complicated."
"According to industry insiders, the venue for this year's World Art Conference had originally been decided to be the floating island nation, but the art union ultimately chose China, which directly triggered protests and dissatisfaction from the floating island art community."
"In the past two months, many celebrities from Fudao have appeared in Lizhou, just to show off and demonstrate their power."
Zhang Chengzhang looked puzzled: "A demonstration? How old are you? Still so naive? This thing is useful?"
"Of course it's useful."
Lu Ye's eyes flashed coldly: "These artists, who have considerable international influence, have been squeezing the development space of local artists ever since they appeared in Lizhou."
"Furthermore, they did not come alone; each of these people has powerful backers."
"Didn't we mention before? In less than six months, the number of local music platforms in Lizhou and Sangzhou is likely to fall below thirty. A major reason for this is that the capital of the floating island nation is secretly targeting them."
After a pause, Lu Ye continued, "Of course, it's not just local music platforms that are affected; almost every industry involved in the arts is affected."
"Not long ago, it was reported that two medium-sized entertainment companies were targeted for hostile takeover by a giant from Floating Island Capital. Fortunately, the owners of both companies reacted quickly and managed to fight back."
"However, they also suffered considerable losses."
"There's a lot of anxiety in the industry, and many well-known artists have postponed the release of their new works this month. As for commercial performances, they've either rescheduled them or temporarily stopped accepting them."
Sun Min's expression was solemn; the unpredictable weather in Lizhou was far more serious than he had imagined.
He looked at Zhao Wenyao with some concern. Although several leading capital firms had offered Zhao Wenyao opportunities before he arrived, the entertainment industry in Lizhou was currently in turmoil, and he felt that it was not advisable for Zhao Wenyao to get involved at the moment; he should just observe from the sidelines.
"Can the floating islands really suppress Lizhou so easily by simply sending out a few people?"
Zhao Wenyao did not fully believe Lu Ye's words and raised questions about them.
After all, Lizhou is a gathering place for celebrities, so it's unlikely that they would be completely defenseless.
Lu Ye also saw through Zhao Wenyao's thoughts and explained, "If we're just competing on talent, it's a 50/50 chance. But if we're competing on influence, apart from the top few on the celebrity list, the rest are all a bit lacking."
"In the past two decades, the suppression of Chinese artists from outside the region has been extremely severe. They have used books, films, paintings and other works to deliberately insult the appearance of Chinese people, making the outside world mistakenly believe that Chinese people all have squinty eyes, high cheekbones and high outer corners of their eyes."
"They are also adept at using public opinion to promote the 'China threat theory' and incite resentment and hostility towards China among their domestic population."
"What's even more shameless is that they use social media platforms to constantly guide the people of their country to watch some false reports."
"There are too many similar methods to list them all in a day and a night. In short, they succeeded, which has led to Chinese artists facing dual resistance from both their country's government and the public when they want to promote their works internationally."
Zhao Wenyao had not only heard what Lu Ye said before, but had also experienced it firsthand.
After all, for him to rise to the ranks of celebrities, he also needs a work that gains international recognition, and only celebrities who have experienced these things can truly understand the joys and sorrows involved.
"I understand what you're saying, but this is Lizhou, our Shenzhou territory. Even if we're being suppressed, we shouldn't be in such a passive position, right?"
Sun Min voiced the doubts of those present.
Lu Ye sighed, perhaps because he was thirsty. He poured himself a glass of juice to moisten his throat and then explained, "This time, it wasn't just the Floating Island Kingdom that was secretly attacked; the Kingdom of Luo, the Kingdom of Dian, and the Kingdom of Gaul also participated."
"Of course, the Kingdom of Hibiscus also participated, but it seems that the Kingdom of Floating Island, the Kingdom of Dian, and the Kingdom of Gaul don't really like this boastful country that keeps talking about applying for World Heritage status, so the Kingdom of Luo, as the leader, didn't bring them along."
"However, the artists from Hibiscus Kingdom have also been up to their usual tricks, sending their boy and girl groups to hold concerts from time to time. Although each one is small-scale, the frequency is too high. Plus, the girl groups are all fair-skinned, beautiful, and have long legs, so sometimes even I can't resist..."
Seeing that Lu Ye seemed to be trying to steer the conversation off-topic, Lin Rui coughed and said, "Get to the point."
Lu Ye felt a little embarrassed, cleared his throat, and said, "Recently, the Kingdom of Mujin has released more than a dozen high-quality melodramas, which have been praised by a large number of women in Lizhou and Sangzhou. Among them, there are no less than twenty high-quality theme songs and interludes."
"The floating island nation still relies on games and anime as its main form of cultural export. What's even more disgusting is that the popular comics updated in the last month have been synchronized with the Chinese language. In the past, it would have taken a week to start the translation work."
"Of course, many excellent songs have also been selected for inclusion in anime works and presented as insert songs, which has led many anime fans in Lizhou and Sangzhou to go to music platforms to download the full songs."
"The most shameless thing is that some capital in the floating islands actually secretly transferred their works to newly released adult films. Many compatriots who watched these adult films actually contributed a lot of downloads to the songs that appeared in them. Moreover, these websites are only open to Sangzhou and Lizhou. People from other countries, including their own country, cannot log in to these websites!"
"What do you think? Would you call this precision-guided, targeted bombing?"
Lin Rui was speechless.
Try to be serious, why do you always pick out dirty jokes?
And this adjective, is it used like this?
"On the surface, the Kingdom of Luo, the Kingdom of Dian, and the Kingdom of Gaul are hiding in the shadows and have not made a move, but in fact they have been clashing with the top capital in China quite a bit. Now, the stock prices of many local companies in China have been fluctuating abnormally."
"Those who don't know the situation might think it's just the Floating Island Nation provoking us, but in reality, it's a joint attack by five major powers on Lizhou."
"If it weren't for the covert support from the authorities, the situation would probably be much more than just passive."
Lu Ye picked up his glass and drank his juice again, without saying anything more.
This information alone was enough for Lin Rui, Zhao Wenyao, and others to gain a completely new understanding of the current situation in Lizhou.
The meal, which was neither quite breakfast nor lunch, left everyone somewhat uninterested yet reluctant to leave. At that moment, everyone was absent-minded and lost in thought.
Zhao Wenyao originally planned to make a big splash as soon as he arrived in Lizhou, but given the current situation, even second-tier celebrities might not be able to do well. So he changed his strategy and decided to lay low for a while and try to outlive these foreign bastards!
Having figured this out, Zhao Wenyao immediately looked at Lin Rui with a smile.
"Hey bro, I'm free these days. Where are you planning to go? How about we go together?"
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