How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 130 Everyone Has Their Own Fate [10,000-word Update, Please Subscribe]

Wang Yao inquired about Zhao Liying's situation over the past two years while in the car.

Whether she was genuinely naive or indifferent, Zhao Lixiang told Wang Yao all her experiences like she was shaking beans. She had been interested in acting since she was a child, but her family was of modest means and couldn't support her pursuing an arts career.

I heard that being a flight attendant was a lucrative profession when I was in junior high school. Plus, I was pretty, so I enrolled in a vocational school. I originally wanted to become a flight attendant and earn more money, but I gave up because of the intense competition for the profession, I didn't have the money to pull strings, and I refused to accept the unspoken rules. After graduation, I went straight to work.

Coincidentally, Meishe Company was newly established at that time, and He Ming was looking for promising talents in art and flight attendant-related majors in nearby vocational schools. He saw Zhao Liying in the school's graduation yearbook and signed her to Meishe.com.

At that time, the models who entered Meishe.com had a stable monthly income of three to five thousand yuan, which was definitely a high salary for her, who was earning more than a thousand yuan a month at the time. Moreover, coming from a rural background, she didn't understand the intricacies of city life, so she tried whatever the company assigned her.

At that time, Meishe sent "talents" to successful people from all walks of life. Zhao Liying was often taken to dinner parties and drinking parties, but she was quite resistant to this, so she gave up many opportunities. Until one day, He Ming arranged for her to participate in Sohu's beauty pageant. After being spotted by Huayi, she entered the entertainment industry. Hao Ru was her first agent.

Hao Ru was also working under Wang Jinhua at the time. She wanted to use Zhao Liying to replicate Fan Bingbing's maid role, but Zhao Liying's acting skills and attitude were good, but she was too awkward in social situations. After missing several important opportunities, she gave up on Zhao Liying and sent her to Dongfang Xin's place to be treated like cattle.

From Zhao Liying's perspective, many big bosses wanted to sexually harass her, but she refused and was protected by Hao Ru, so she was very grateful to him.

Wang Yao was at a loss for words after hearing this; perhaps this was what was known as a childlike heart.

After Wang Yao settled her into the dormitory, they exchanged contact information, and he promised to take her to the company the next day to familiarize her with the situation.

"Mr. Wang, surely no one will use a key to open this door in the middle of the night?" Zhao Liying suddenly said inexplicably as she saw Wang Yao off.

Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly, turned to meet Zhao Liying's sharp eyes, and chuckled, "Don't worry, the whole building is company dormitories."

"Wow, the company's benefits are really good. I will definitely work hard and help President Wang make more money." Zhao Liying smiled and returned to her previous naive appearance.

Sure enough, those who ultimately succeed are hardly normal people.

Wang Yao looked at that round little face and chuckled softly.

Zhao Liying returned to her room, carefully examined the dormitory, and finally revealed a playful smile.

"A new life, looks pretty good."

"The Fairy's New Clothes" has already begun preparations. The PD director sent by Korea is Lee Yong-woo's confidante, Lee Yoo-jung, who is the famous female director who will make "Reply" and "Witty Responsible" series in the future.

However, she is currently working as a ghostwriter for KBS's "2 Days & 1 Night". After Lee Yong-woo received sponsorship from Wang Yao, he immediately poached her with a high price, originally intending to do a parent-child variety show together.

However, after receiving Wang Yao's "Fairy Robe" project, he directly hired her because she had previously been in charge of similar group female variety shows. Although the format was different, the script highlights, character settings, and conflict points were the same. She also personally wrote the script and character settings based on the materials provided by Wang Yao.

Li Youting is very efficient. She just arrived in Shanghai the day before yesterday, and today she has already completed the initial preparations for the entire program, including location scouting, miscellaneous items, and scheduling. It has to be said that in terms of efficiency, the Koreans are indeed trustworthy.

Yesterday, Li Youting suggested that the main creative team gather together to read through the scripts from the previous episodes.

Wang Yao then summoned Zhang Tianai and Gulnazar to Shanghai. After dealing with Zhao Liying's matter, they rushed to the meeting venue, which was also the main filming location for the program, Thames Town. The scenery there was very nice and suitable for the style of fashion programs.

Wang Yao bought a property here for a total price of 1 million yuan, and also leased office space for an additional 300 million yuan per year, making him a VIP of this property.

Especially after learning that Wang Yao was in the media industry, the regional head even personally visited him, hoping to persuade Wang Yao to relocate his business there, offering substantial support.

Thames Town has a very large commercial area. It was originally designed as a self-circulating project integrating cultural tourism, commerce and residence, and was even intended to be a landmark attraction, comparable to Disneyland.

However, due to underestimating the cost of cultural and entertainment promotion, after three years of struggling, the town still hasn't figured out the civilian and commercial sectors. With a 60% vacancy rate, the town is close to unsold properties. The attempt to attract businesses and generate revenue through tourism has not been very successful. Currently, there are not many supporting industries such as restaurants in the entire town.

Originally modeled after Times Square, the commercial plaza has now become a place for elderly people in the surrounding area to dance in the evenings, with only occasional visits from young people from the neighboring university town.

If Wang Yao could film a program here, it might bring exposure and publicity to the town. Therefore, the property management and district leaders gave them the green light in many ways, and even temporarily lent the program team Building No. 3, which was originally used by the property management, with a space of more than 2000 square meters, to use as a meeting room and storage room.

When Wang Yao arrived, the venue was already filled with props needed for filming the show, mainly fabrics, accessories, costumes, and so on.

Even after get off work hours, there are still about thirty staff members busy, most of whom are Koreans, as well as Korean language major interns hired from the surrounding area.

An intern is indeed useful, as they can do odd jobs and act as translators.

Wang Yao knocked on the door and entered the conference room. The show's creators and guests were all there, along with the translators, making about twenty people in total.

"Mr. Wang," Li Youting said, stopping her speech as he entered.

"Sit down, don't worry about me." Wang Yao found a seat and sat down next to Zhang Meng.

Naza, who had originally intended to invite Wang Yao to sit down, withdrew her hand. Zhang Tianai straightened her back and looked serious. Everyone else also sat up straight, afraid of leaving a bad impression on their boss.

Huang Shengyi, dressed in a small suit and looking like a strong woman, stood in the corner. When she saw Wang Yao, she waved her hand and listened attentively to the translator beside her.

Since the Lunar New Year, Zhang Meng has been helping the two brands with pattern making and designer recruitment. After Wang Yao returned, he didn't talk to her about the specifics of the cooperation or the compensation, but she took the initiative to assume the role of CEO and wholeheartedly helped set up the clothing brand.

Clearly, she is a very 'willing' person, knowing that you have to give up something to gain something.

Currently, the "Fairy Style" store has already listed more than 30 spring outfits, and "Yunshang" also has five or six sets of professional women's clothing. It is estimated that by the time the "Fairy Clothes" program airs, the online stores will have hundreds of items.

In addition to being a celebrity guest, Zhang Meng also serves as the host of this program. She was even responsible for coordinating the arrangements for foreign staff such as Li Youting these past two days. The fact that everything is running smoothly is all thanks to her. This is the difference between a mature woman and a girl.

Ni Ni is very hardworking and capable, but most of the time she needs to rely on Wang Yao, while Zhang Meng only consults Wang Yao on core decision-making issues.

"President Wang finally remembered to come and see us?" Zhang Meng smiled teasingly, her dimples rising at the corners of her mouth.

"I trust Mr. Zhang's ability to manage the overall situation." Wang Yao smiled. "How is the team cohesion going?"

“Communication is indeed a problem, but fortunately, President Wang has a large enough budget to recruit many interns. As for the program, I don’t know much about variety shows, but Li Youting seems very professional to me, much more reliable than the Goryeo team I worked with on the ‘Myth’ set,” Zhang Meng replied.

"You're considered one of the top PDs in Korea. Let me know if there are any problems." Wang Yao nodded.

“Nazha and Tian Ai don’t have much experience with shows, and their personalities aren’t very assertive. They’re practically being led by the nose by the design team. I estimate they’ll easily be relegated to the background after the show airs,” Zhang Meng began, reporting on the phenomena she’d observed over the past two days.

"It doesn't matter if they lack expressiveness, as long as they look good on camera. Besides, this is a fashion program, so it should focus on designers. Celebrities are just there to attract viewers and showcase their talents," Wang Yao said dismissively.

"Such a large investment in promoting designers?" Zhang Meng was somewhat surprised.

From the perspective of an artist, the program should serve the artist.

"Of course, if we can cultivate one or two internet celebrity designers, then the money won't be a loss. You can keep an eye out for interesting or pretty people; their design skills don't matter," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Alright, I'll follow your instructions, boss." Zhang Meng smiled charmingly.

Wang Yao chatted quietly with her while listening to Li Youting's meeting topic. Today's main topic was variety show effects. She had watched a lot of domestic variety shows and felt that the guests' performances were too reserved.

In reality, she's just putting on airs; she hopes the female celebrities will exaggerate the effects of the show.

Newcomers like Gulnazar can accept this, but veteran actresses like Huang Shengyi and Zhang Meng need time. They are used to the restrained style of performance in China, and it is still very difficult for them to be so open and dramatic in front of the camera.

The meeting ended after about half an hour. Li Youting assigned homework to all the guests, to be checked at tomorrow's meeting. "Zhang Meng, you take everyone to eat first. I need to talk to Teacher Xu." Wang Yao kept the guest host of this program behind.

Xu Jianshu is an internationally renowned designer and a graduate of the Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts. He specializes in designing red carpet haute couture gowns for celebrities. His distinctive feature is the integration of Chinese cultural elements into Western-style clothing, creating a fusion of the two.

This style makes him unique in the international arena. He gained fame in 05 after designing a peacock dress for Zhang Jingchu at the Berlin Film Festival. Later, he designed dresses with Chinese elements for actresses such as Fan Bingbing and Zhou Yun, which further enhanced his international reputation.

He was also the designer of Fan Bingbing's red carpet dragon robe. Before returning from Beijing, Wang Yao had arranged to invest in his design studio and to promote him as a top designer both at home and abroad.

This time, having him as a special guest commentator for "Fairy Robe" can give the audience a high-class impression based on his professionalism and title.

In reality, Wang Yao didn't really approve of his fusion design concept, but it's undeniable that this unorthodox cultivation approach is indeed popular in both the East and the West right now.

Chinese people don't care whether the clothing style is based on Chinese design concepts; they will only see the eye-catching Han-style patterns on it.

Westerners wouldn't care about the strange Han-style patterns on it; they would just find the style of the clothing pleasing to the eye.

This is a true master of combining Chinese and Western styles to please both sides.

However, for people who understand Chinese culture and Western styles, his design is strange and feels very stiff. It was only after Wang Yao made short videos that he realized that this stiffness was the key to visual appeal.

It's precisely because it looks strange that people want to take another look, which makes it easy for it to go viral.

When he designed the dragon robe, he drew inspiration from the Ming Dynasty in terms of craftsmanship and form, and from the Tang Dynasty in terms of dress design, combined with Western three-dimensional tailoring. He incorporated all the popular elements, and he could talk for ten minutes just to explain the design concept.

So Wang Yao still entrusted Fan Bingbing with the dress this time, but this time it was a collaboration with Yunshang. The original production cost of the dragon robe was around 15 yuan, but Wang Yao raised the budget to 25 yuan, asking him to use as many intangible cultural heritage techniques as possible.

This dress is bound to be a hit online. Wang Yao has already collaborated extensively with several textile-related intangible cultural heritage projects, such as Jinling Yunjin. In the future, all of 'Yunshang' designs will incorporate intangible cultural heritage elements such as 'Yunjin'.

Of course, these items can't be handmade, but as long as they're associated with Fan Bingbing's style and intangible cultural heritage elements, the price can be increased by at least 100 yuan, and it can quickly attract a target audience for this affordable luxury brand.

"Teacher Xu, how was my program?" Wang Yao asked with a smile.

"It feels different from 'Project Runway,' your program doesn't seem to have that much professionalism," Xu Jianshu said honestly.

"After all, it's an entertainment variety show, mainly for brand integration. After all, our domestic clothing industry doesn't even have brands, let alone design expertise," Wang Yao smiled.

"I understand, I understand. Anyway, you asked me to come here to popularize Chinese cultural elements, so I just need to do my job well," Xu Jianshu said with a smile.

When Wang Yao proposed to collaborate with him, he was somewhat resistant. In fact, he knew that there was no high-end couture market in China, and he already had plenty of deals in the entertainment industry every year. He didn't expect to be able to create any brand himself.

The only thing that moved him was Wang Yao's promise to hold two fashion shows in his name every year, and to create a special online program for him, targeting an overseas audience, in order to promote Chinese culture.

But this is basically a long-term investment with little chance of return. Even for a designer of his caliber, no one would be willing to promote him if he has no commercial value.

But Wang Yao was willing to pay the cost, which was what moved him. Another reason was that he found Wang Yao's concept of "Guofeng" (traditional Chinese style) very interesting. Hanfu culture has gradually gained influence in recent years, but he doesn't like this kind of retro thing.

However, Wang Yao's concept of "Guofeng" is all-encompassing and spans five thousand years of history, which actually piqued his interest. Fan Bingbing's dragon robe and the "Fairy Robe" program can be seen as a trial run.

"Teacher Xu, how's the dress making progress?" Wang Yao asked.

"There's still a month and a half until the Cannes Film Festival, which is a bit tight, mainly because the production process is complex. However, Mr. Wang has a sufficient budget, so there shouldn't be any problems." Xu Jianshu waved his hand, indicating that everything was under control.

“Okay, here’s some information about the origins of Japanese/Korean elements. I’ve had it compiled. You can take a look and see how to incorporate it into the program script.” Wang Yao took out a USB drive.

The main topic and underlying theme of the first season of "Fairy Robe" revolves around the origins of the aesthetic culture of Japan and Korea. Through the perspective of a professional and authoritative designer, the show explains to the audience which current popular elements originated in China and how many good things were adopted by neighboring former tributary states.

This controversial topic can spark discussion not only domestically but also internationally, making the value of this USB drive immeasurable.

"Thank you, Mr. Wang. You must have put in a lot of effort." Xu Jianshu took the USB drive as if it were a treasure.

"It's expensive. We spent 200 million yuan to launch a joint research and development project with more than a dozen universities in China specializing in Chinese culture. We'll have to invest some money every year thereafter," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“It’s worth it. This is a great thing that benefits future generations and the present. I just don’t have the money. If I did, I would be willing to invest 20 million every year,” Xu Jianshu said with a smile.

“Maybe you’ll earn 20 million after the show airs. Don’t forget to invest in this project together then,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Don't worry, my idol is Yan Hui, and I'll give back all the money I make to the cultural industry," Xu Jianshu grinned.

Wang Yao looked at him and smiled without saying a word.

Hopefully, you'll actually provide feedback on everything by then.

For Koreans, the food and prices in China are absolutely heaven.

According to Zhang Meng, the biggest expense for the project team every day is the cost of buying watermelons. So Wang Yao arranged for them to have their late-night snack at a nearby buffet restaurant, allowing them to eat as much fruit as they wanted.

The nightlife around Songjiang University is very lively, so it's inconvenient for a big star like Huang Shengyi to go out. So he took Nazha and Zhang Tianai to eat high-end Japanese food, and split up with Zhang Meng.

The three of them could barely be considered alumni, and it really was a stretch.

Huang Shengyi is an undergraduate, Zhang Tianai is a continuing education student, and Nazha is a preparatory student.

The two naturally felt somewhat awkward around this senior who had already graduated and achieved great success.

However, Huang Shengyi was very polite to these two junior girls. After all, these two girls were the managers of "Fairy Style". She made a special inquiry about what the managers did.

She actually holds the dual roles of brand manager and spokesperson.

It's equivalent to deeply binding people and brands together.

She's not stupid. You can tell from the name "Fairy Robe" that the show was made to promote the brand. And these two are the managers, so it's not an exaggeration to say that Wang Yao made the show for his two younger sisters.

Although she was already considered a top-tier celebrity, seeing the two young girls who hadn't even debuted yet receiving such good resources and support made her feel a little sentimental, reminding her how difficult her journey had been.

I've been cheated by the company so many times to get to where I am today.

She thought she had finally married a good husband, but the exploitation and control he exerted on her was even more outrageous than that of her agency. Lately, she has increasingly felt that Yang Zi married her just to use her as a publicity tool.

Indeed, everyone has their own destiny.

But she felt nothing but envy towards her two younger sisters; instead, she was somewhat curious about Zhang Meng.

After all, Zhang Meng wasn't from Wang Yao's company, but she was like a producer for the entire program, and could even get involved in brand-related matters. She was practically Wang Yao's spokesperson for this project.

Huang Shengyi initially thought that since he had invested 1000 million, this position should be his, and he should at least be able to get some say in it. But he ended up just being a guest.

Why?
(End of this chapter)