Debuted right after graduating from high school

It's not convenient for Zhuang Muxi to appear in public.

While Fan Wumian went out to have dinner with his senior executives, Zhuang Muxi was also busy. That night, she played mahjong with Yao Xingtong, Liu Yifei, and one of Liu Yifei's wealthy and beautiful best friends. After getting to know the people in the company, she gradually developed her own social circle.

Finish with both feet, one in front of the other.

Fan Wumian had just walked home and brushed the snowflakes stuck to his shoulders and hair when Zhuang Muxi's van quietly drove into his underground garage.

The temperature tonight was only about -5°C. After seeing Zhuang Muxi, Fan Wumian placed his almost frozen hands on her neck.

Zhuang Muxi was already a little sleepy, but the moment she felt the chill, she shivered and woke up, her eyes crinkling with laughter as she said, "Oh, your hands are still so cold even at home?"

Fan Wumian explained:

"I just got home less than two minutes ago. It's only been two or three hundred meters from the Wanghailou Clubhouse. I made a snowball on the way and found a particularly beautiful icicle. I played with it in my hand for a while."

"I'm treating everyone to dinner tonight. Wang Jinghua brought Tang Wei along. You know that movie, right?"

"Dealing with older generations is quite troublesome; they don't know how to maintain boundaries. She signed Tang Wei, but then asked me to help smooth things over to prevent Tang Wei from being blacklisted in the Chinese entertainment industry because of his roles in erotic films. Although Tang Wei has huge popularity and a good commercial future, it's still quite tricky."

Having immediately grasped the key point, Zhuang Muxi said:
"Fortunately, I didn't ask you to help for nothing. At least I made money through this artist, and you got a share of it. The mainland entertainment industry is not like the Hong Kong entertainment industry; it has stricter requirements for artists. If you're worried about getting burned, then you shouldn't help at all."

Fan Wumian shook his head and said:

"Shu Qi, Wen Bixia, and Qiu Shuzhen have all acted in these films, and they still make money everywhere. There are even more male stars who have made their name through erotic films. Asking me for help is a small matter. The key is that you should have informed me beforehand. If you suddenly bring someone to me, I can't just tell them to my face that I'm not willing to help."

Zhuang Muxi smiled and said:
“Some school events like to ask me to help out, like hosting or filming school promotional videos, but they only ask me after everything is finalized. There's a generation gap between us and the older generation; what they might see as small, normal things, what are you planning to do?”

"Let Liangban allow Tang Wei to reflect on his actions for a year or two, and then let him return to public life once the storm has completely passed."

Fan Wumian could understand Wang Jinghua's actions. After all, with Tang Wei's popularity and influence, signing her could potentially earn tens of millions of RMB. From the perspective of the agency, it was a worthwhile gamble.

Even if he is banned, it doesn't matter. After all, not much resources were invested and not much real money was poured in. Tang Wei has his own traffic and popularity, so the initial investment cost is quite low.

From Tang Wei's perspective, she was admitted to the Directing Department of the Central Academy of Drama in 2000 and spent time honing her acting skills. She was clearly not lacking in any aspect. However, after starring in the movie "Police Flower Yanzi" in 2004, she was unable to make a breakthrough in her career. When she encountered a rare opportunity and was offered a salary of 50 yuan, it was naturally difficult for her to refuse.

Before being admitted to the Central Academy of Drama, Tang Wei failed her college entrance exam and worked as a model. She then repeated her senior year of high school twice, which means she spent a total of three years in high school. It took her ten years to finally get this opportunity to turn her life around. The temptation for an actress is too great, so great that she was willing to break up with her ex-boyfriend and suffer all kinds of ridicule.

Having spent a long time in the entertainment industry in my past life, I've met all sorts of people.

Some young men even gritted their teeth and knocked on the doors of wealthy male patrons or elderly rich women at night. It is said that they cried and vomited when they left, and were in a state of disarray for a long time. They could not even fart, and no one knew what they had encountered, as if they had made a deal with the devil and sold their souls.

The opportunity Tang Wei encountered was the kind that others could only dream of, after all, Director Li had just won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Director Award at the 78th Academy Awards in 2005 with "Brokeback Mountain".

While Fan Wumian understood the situation, he felt there were so many artists worth signing that there was no need to create unnecessary work for himself.

However, he only invested in Wang Jinghua's brokerage company and held a large number of shares. Even if some controversy arose, Wang Jinghua would act as a "firewall" to protect him and would not directly implicate Fan Wumian.

They quickly put the matter out of their minds.

Snowflakes were falling outside, and the snow was already more than ten centimeters thick.

Looking out through the huge triple-pane glass in the living room, the lake view, attic, rockery, and pine trees, illuminated by the soft yellow light, are as beautiful as a landscape painting.

Fan Wumian was a little worried that the huge, fat koi would freeze to death, but the house had a heated greenhouse and the pond water was connected to the outside, so the fish shouldn't be foolish enough to stay outside.

The interior was warm and spacious, while the exterior was covered in snow and offered scenic views everywhere. Living in such a super mansion made him feel that all the efforts he had made since the accident had been worthwhile.

Wearing a white turtleneck sweater, Zhuang Muxi sat on the sofa flipping through a magazine, pointing to a picture of porcelain and saying:

"A Ming Jiajing polychrome fish and seaweed pattern covered jar. I think I saw a similar prop when I was filming a period drama. Aren't you planning to open a private museum on the Bund in Shanghai? Have you bought any antiques recently?"

Fan Wumian took the magazine and glanced at it. He saw that experts valued it at 8800 million RMB, and instantly lost interest, sighing:
"I got in too late. Looking at the state of this year's autumn auctions, Qiu Ying's 'Red Cliff' sold for nearly 8000 million, a Yuan blue and white flat bottle sold for nearly 1 million, and a Qing dynasty enamel lantern vase also sold for more than 8000 million."

"Those who hoarded and speculated on the goods long ago are busy selling them at high prices. I don't want to join in the fun and let them cash in. There might be illegal transactions involved, and they're trying to launder the money."

"There are so many museums in China, with so many exquisite cultural relics that their warehouses are overflowing, but they lack venues for public display. Perhaps creating a modern art museum to house the works of contemporary artists would be more suitable for me. If you have nothing better to do, you could open another gallery, find some talented people worth promoting, and we could run it together."

Zhuang Muxi found the suggestion interesting and said with a smile:
"Whether I'm free or not depends on how much work you assign me. I'll be a bit busy in the first half of next year, with two TV series and a movie waiting to start filming, but I can give it a try."

"By the way, should we go to the hospital for a checkup? Why haven't we seen anything yet?"

"Could it be that you're always running around and not working hard enough?"

"."

Seeing Zhuang Muxi pat her belly while speaking, Fan Wumian said with a helpless expression:

"We've only seen each other a few times since you agreed to have a baby. And before you went to film 'A Quiet Place Part III,' we hadn't really tried it yet so as not to interfere with your work. I'm in a pretty good situation right now, so let's just leave it to fate."

He wasn't in a hurry, and Zhuang Muxi was even less so, smiling as she said:

"What if I won the lottery last night? I need to be more careful from now on. I won't drink alcohol or take medicine as much as possible. There are people smoking everywhere on the street, so it's hard to completely avoid it."

"It's like you have many opportunities to go shopping. Now, if you show your face anywhere, half the street will be blocked." Previously, Fan Wumian had a bit of a falling out with the multinational speculators because of the incident of targeting international hot money in A-shares. Now that the conflict has been resolved, he is no longer so worried and anxious.

The next morning.

Zhuang Muxi went to the Central Conservatory of Music to prepare for the New Year's Day gala performance.

This year, she also received an invitation from the Spring Festival Gala program team to sing with Liu Yifei, Yang Mi and others. She is expected to rehearse until dark before returning. The selected song is a new song called "The World is Beautiful and Intertwined with You" which was written with the help of Fan Wumian. The Alluring Girls Group will also perform a song called "A Friend Like Me" on stage.

In addition to Gangzi's crosstalk, Benshan Media's skit, and Zhang Liangying and Chen Yisen's duet, popular topics such as "Fan Wumian is the biggest winner of this year's Spring Festival Gala", "It seems that CCTV is particularly satisfied with its investment in Tudou.com" and "Mountain King Media's dominance in the entertainment industry is amazing" circulated on the Internet.

In the early years, artists relied mainly on traditional media for promotion, in addition to their works. This led to a severe polarization: well-known artists were constantly in the news, while third- and fourth-tier actors had almost no exposure.

Since the launch of Tencent Weibo, it has brought traffic to a number of artists. As Tudou.com began to rise, it increased its investment in self-produced variety shows and dramas, bringing new work and exposure opportunities to countless brokerage companies and artists.

With the addition of channels such as Mountain Bandit King Media and Myth Film Studio, Fan Wumian's status as the "number one" in the Chinese entertainment industry has become increasingly stable, and countless people are hoping to make a living off him.

Not long after Zhuang Muxi left, Fan Wumian also set off by car to Huairou Film and Television Base in the suburbs. In a large indoor studio, he met the trainees who were undergoing training.

Unlike the previous filming of "Idol Producer", this variety show is called "F(12) Idol Producer". A total of 12 handsome young men will be selected as official members, and only two episodes will be broadcast on TV each month.

From May of this year until now, more than half a year of training has been conducted. The number of trainees has been reduced from more than 70 to 14. The two extra trainees are backups in case anyone changes their mind or has an unexpected situation and chooses to withdraw midway.

Fan Wumian's sudden arrival without prior notice startled the program's director and producer.

After greeting everyone, the female producer named Zou Yingying, her face beaming with smiles, introduced herself:
"Mr. Fan, do you think this indoor studio is pretty good? It was just built last year. The film crew and trainees usually live in the nearby dormitory, so transportation is very convenient."

Fan Wumian, hands in his pockets, calmly said:
"It's fine, it's a 45-minute drive from the city center, not too far. Why did you suddenly stop renting the filming location to us?"

Producer Zou explained:
"The rent they quoted us was low at the time, and later the place became popular, so other people wanted to rent it long-term. The landlord was pretty good; he notified us to move more than a month in advance and waived about two and a half months' rent. Then, for convenience, we moved the recording venue to Yanjing."

Fan Wumian asked casually, changing the subject as he said:

"When the group was launched hastily, in addition to lacking experience, the training period was too short. After their debut, they were often ridiculed for their poor singing and dancing skills and for relying on their looks and hype to gain attention."

"This time, the F(12) boy group is much better than the Alluring Girls group. Let those young girls taste what it means to be a fine chaff."

"Even after our official debut, we can't slack off on daily training; we mustn't give any South Korean groups any chance."

Compared to the currently popular actors known for their talent and good looks, these young male celebrities are truly "pretty good," enough to captivate countless naive young girls.

When Fan Wumian first created the Alluring Girls group, he put in a bit of effort and did a lot of behind-the-scenes manipulation by taking advantage of his position as the boss.

This time, they directly handed over the responsibility to others. In each elimination round, 500 young women were invited to vote, and the winners and losers were determined by their rankings. The competition was quite fierce.

On the surface, it took more than half a year to select 12 official members from more than 70 trainees. In reality, it initially attracted tens of thousands of applicants. The first round eliminated a large number of them, the second round eliminated a large number of them, and it took three rounds of selection to finally select this group of trainees. It truly achieved the goal of selecting one in a thousand.

The last time he selected the Alluring Girls group, he recognized many familiar faces, but this time, among the remaining 14 trainees, he only knew one: Lu Han.

When the program's producer and director took him to the dance studio for a tour through the glass, Fan Wumian specifically pointed at Lu Han and asked:

"What's the deal with this member? He seems to be very popular online."

After reading it, female producer Zou Yingying replied:
"Yes, he's one of the most popular trainees. Girls from all around Beijing often travel long distances to see him and bring him gifts. Last time I checked Lu Han's Weibo, he had almost 40 followers, right?"

The program's director nodded:

"It's already 40. Last time, a guest said a few words to him, and the guy humbly accepted it, but his fans couldn't stand it. They created a special topic to complain and curse. Later, the guest complained to me that young people these days have such a temper, and he wouldn't dare to come to our show again."

Fan Wumian chuckled upon hearing this.

The matter of Lu Han being nominated has absolutely nothing to do with him.

As a native of Yanjing, Lu Han is currently in high school. Because of his good looks, he often attracts girls from other schools to come and see him, and some people even call him "Haidian School Heartthrob".

With a passable singing voice and decent looks, she naturally broke through the competition and advanced smoothly through each round.

After scanning the area, Fan Wumian casually remarked:

"Let's keep him. After the group selection process, his individual abilities are all top-notch. We need to pay more attention to his commercial prospects and personality to see who has the best chance of going the distance."

"Being able to sing and dance is only one aspect. If you have good acting skills and a good image and temperament, your commercial value will be even greater. You can decide for yourselves, but please don't let any troublemakers in."

"There are also playboys who like to flirt. Some of them don't show any problems normally, but once they succeed, they become arrogant and difficult to manage in the future."

After saying that, Fan Wumian felt as if he had thrown a boomerang and hit himself squarely on the forehead.

Fortunately, he wasn't exactly a saint in his past life either. Through his opportunity to sing in bars, he added a bit of fun to his dull and boring life. His philandering personality wasn't something that suddenly developed after the accident, so it's not like he became arrogant.

In her early years, she was a romantic at heart, but after a breakup, she became completely lost and confused. A friend took her to the third floor of a bathhouse, and from then on, her innocence and naivety were gone forever.

(End of this chapter)