Global Film Emperor

Chapter 212 Company Struggles

"Brother Lu, let's get ready to go."

Wang Zixuan reached out and knocked on the door. Standing outside, she looked somewhat uneasy. Everyone knew about what happened last night, and the relationship between Lu Ze and Jiang Wenshu made it hard for Wang Zixuan not to worry about Lu Ze.

The door to the room was pushed open, and Lu Ze walked out. His hair was still wet, and he had obvious dark circles under his eyes, indicating that he had not slept well last night.

Carrying his suitcase, he went out, turned around and locked the door, handed the room key to Wang Zixuan to check out, said goodbye to Wang Zhen who was going back to Shanghai with him, and took the elevator down to the underground parking lot with Wang Zhen.

In the elevator, Wang Zhen glanced at Lu Ze, not knowing what to say, so she took out her phone and started scrolling through it, becoming a "phubber."

She knew that Lu Ze and Jiang Wenshu were friends, but she and Jiang Wenshu were not friends at all, and hadn't even met a few times. In this circle, there's no such thing as your friend being my friend. It's best to say less and not mention it.

Liu Bin had already returned to Shanghai, so Lu Ze hitched a ride with Wang Zhen. After picking up Wang Zixuan at the hotel entrance, the car headed towards Beijing Airport.

The atmosphere in the car was not pleasant. None of the four people spoke to each other. Even Wang Zhen, who was usually a bit of a goofball, had toned down her temper and stopped joking and teasing Lu Ze.

Lu Ze scrolled through Weibo, keeping a close eye on the developments of this matter. As it turned out, the situation was heading in the most serious direction. This morning, Liu Yunzheng's wife filed for divorce and began dividing their property. In other words, she was no longer going to live with Liu Yunzheng. She didn't care who paid the taxes or what they sold off; even if Liu Yunzheng went to jail, it would have nothing to do with her.

This is solid evidence that hit Jiang Wenshu's fans hard. Why did Mrs. Liu, who was planning to auction off the property yesterday, suddenly insist on divorce today and ignore Liu Yunzheng?

The problem can only be with Jiang Wenshu. You know, Liu Yunzheng's wife is a notorious tigress in the circle. Although she and Liu Yunzheng usually have a harmonious married life, if Liu Yunzheng has even the slightest bit of a flirtatious thought, just wait and see, the next day Liu Yunzheng will definitely have four bloody scratches on his face.

So, do I need to explain what happened?

At the same time, many influential Weibo users, and even some celebrities, began to kick Jiang Wenshu while she was down, for various reasons.

Although some celebrities and influential figures spoke up for them, the celebrities were all from Tianhe Media, and the influential figures were all those who had previously defended others, so their credibility was questionable.

This morning, after the stock market opened, many people, including Lu Ze, realized that perhaps the person's main target was not just Liu Yunzheng, but the entire Tianhe Company.

Starting from the opening of the stock market this morning, Tianhe Media's stock price plummeted by thirteen percentage points, which is the impact of the negative news surrounding its leading actress, Jiang Wenshu.

In addition, the stock price had already fallen by more than 6.4 percent when Liu Yunzheng was arrested. In other words, since Liu Yunzheng was arrested, Tianhe Media's market value has evaporated by 20 percent, resulting in a direct loss of nearly 2 billion yuan!
Lu Ze didn't know who was behind Tianhe, but he believed that Tianhe already knew the truth and would definitely not sit idly by. The person behind it should soon be revealed.

As for how Lu Ze found out who that person was, it was very simple. He just needed to check Weibo in the past few days to see if any artists other than those from Tianhe Media had been involved in scandals.

Just like a few years ago, when Lu Ze was still an extra, there was a series of scandals involving celebrities using drugs, driving under the influence, and having affairs. Today, one celebrity is arrested for drug use, the next day another is arrested for domestic violence, and the day after that, yet another one has an affair.

Netizens assumed it was a report from the Chaoyang District residents and even made up a lot of jokes about it. But what was it really? It was just two companies fighting each other. Today you ruin one of my artists, tomorrow I'll ruin one of yours. You stab me, I'll stab you back. Let's see who dies first.

However, the government quickly intervened, as it was determined that the two influential companies could not be allowed to continue their feud indefinitely. The controversy had already severely damaged the public's impression of the entertainment industry, and continuing the conflict would only deepen this negative perception, which would be a huge blow to the development of the cultural industry.

This time, it's likely to cause an even bigger uproar than last time, since Jiang Wenshu's earning power is too strong. She's been completely ruined by someone, so will Tianhe let it go?

As for Jiang Wenshu, Tianhe will definitely try to protect her if possible and wash her if necessary, but the outcome of the wash is uncertain.

Tianhe's counterattack was faster than expected. After the plane arrived in Shanghai, Lu Ze parted ways with Wang Zhen, got into Liu Bin's car, and turned on his phone. The trending topics on Weibo had changed, allowing Lu Ze to pinpoint who was behind Tianhe's attacks. "Luo Ziqin exposed for having an affair with a female fan; indecent video leaked. The fan is only sixteen years old and just started high school this year!"

Lu Ze had a conflict with Luo Ziqin before. As for Luo Ziqin sleeping with underage female fans, Lu Ze was already used to it. After all, he had a long criminal record, and even people in the industry knew that some young girls had had abortions for him.

Luo Ziqin's company is Dingxin Media, which is said to have a powerful backer and strong resources. It is a company that specializes in developing young male celebrities to make quick money and belongs to the group of companies that are the most unscrupulous in the industry.

Despite having such a strong background and plenty of money, they always behave like small agencies or even shell companies, possessing the ability to quickly make artists famous, while their contracts are truly shady.

The contracts of top-tier artists are confidential and Lu Ze doesn't know them, but the contracts of trainees seem to provide no money at all, only accommodation, not even food, and the teaching is crammed in.

Trainees start training as soon as they arrive at the company. For artists with good skills, if the company intends to debut them, they are forced to undergo plastic surgery, and the company pays for it. After their faces are made to look like the style that young girls like, regardless of whether they can sing, dance, or act, they are pushed out directly, paid for to generate traffic, and then the traffic flows back to start making a profit.

Lu Ze had no idea what Luo Ziqin was fighting with Tianhe over, but he knew that Luo Ziqin was finished and had become another victim of the two companies' feud.

Meanwhile, Tianhe Media is controlling the narrative and diverting public attention. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that these trending topics were bought. Apart from Luo Ziqin, all the other trending topics have been replaced by various good deeds and good people. The headlines that Jiang Wenshu firmly dominated in the morning have now disappeared.

However, as a popular actress, even if she doesn't trend on social media, many people still think about her. Meanwhile, Dingxin has also started to take action, preparing to throw more mud at Jiang Wenshu.

Many of Jiang Wenshu's fans even went to Lu Ze's Weibo, hoping that Lu Ze would speak up for Jiang Wenshu and get help from Lu Ze's group of lazy fans.

Lu Ze's fans are quite loyal. Although their average age is not young, they have all acted like teenagers. After all, Lu Ze and Jiang Wenshu are best friends, which is common knowledge in the entertainment industry. In addition, when Luo Ziqin's fans attacked Lu Ze, Jiang Wenshu herself personally joined the fray against Luo Ziqin. Now that Jiang Wenshu is in trouble, they would lose face if they did not help her.

It has to be said that Lu Ze now has quite a few fans, reaching over seven million. Moreover, neither Lu Ze nor Qian Shijia has inflated this number of fans. There must be some zombie fans given away by Weibo, but the number of real fans is much larger than that of these popular celebrities.

Just as Lu Ze's fans were speaking up for Jiang Wenshu, Lu Ze received a call from Wang Kai, the head of the online publicity department of Qian Shijia. From the moment the phone rang, Lu Ze knew what Wang Kai wanted to say.

“Lu Ze, this is a big deal, not a simple squabble. The company hopes you won’t get involved. I know you and Jiang Wenshu have a good relationship, but this is indeed irreversible. If you get involved now, you’ll only get yourself smeared and won’t benefit from it.”

"Brother Wang, you should know what the word 'friend' means, right?"

Wang Kai was taken aback by Lu Ze's words. He knew what Lu Ze meant and what friends meant, but that was the company's requirement, so what could he do?
“Aze, now is not the time for you to be stubborn. I know you are loyal and a good friend, but is this the time to talk about loyalty? You need to know your place and which company you work for! Does this have anything to do with us? If you really speak up for Jiang Wenshu, President Hu will have to smooth things over for you! This is not as simple as Jiang Wenshu fighting with some other artist. It's easy for you to go in, and it won't be difficult for you to get out, but you will have to pay a price to get out!”

The car was quiet. Liu Bin was driving, and Wang Zixuan was looking at Lu Ze making a phone call. Lu Ze, however, was holding the phone and didn't answer.

"Anyway, that's how things are. You wouldn't want President Hu to call you personally, would you? I have something to do, so I'll hang up now. Are you going to Shanghai today? Get some rest."

After hanging up the phone, when Lu Ze tried to log back onto Weibo, he found that his account was no longer valid. When he tried to re-enter his password, it showed that the password was incorrect.

Turning his head to glance at the nervous Wang Zixuan, Lu Ze sneered but said nothing. He knew that the little spy beside him had already started working.

"."

(End of this chapter)