Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

Chapter 111 My brother's forbearance is unparalleled throughout history!

A warm and joyful Christmas for Jiang Bai passed quickly.

For four days after the holiday, the entire entertainment industry seemed to fall into a brief vacuum, calm and uneventful.

There were no sensational scandals dominating the trending topics, and no celebrity feuds sparking heated discussions.

The entertainment sections of major social media platforms are eerily quiet.

Everyone is busy wrapping up the last batch of business announcements, gala rehearsals, and magazine shoots for the year.

And quietly await the last entertainment extravaganza of 2017, namely the New Year's Eve galas of various TV stations.

This is also an important occasion for all celebrities in the entertainment industry to compete for trending topics on the last day of the year.

Before this, everyone was conserving their energy and preparing for the next move.

What no one knew was that a massive scandal, big enough to shake the entire Chinese entertainment industry, was quietly brewing in the shadows.

Time flies, and it's March 30st now.

Inside the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, a bustling and lively scene contrasted sharply with the frigid conditions outside.

This is the venue for Dragon TV's New Year's Eve Gala.

The invited celebrities arrived at the venue one after another, dispersing to different rehearsal areas to stagger their stage rehearsals.

Running in and testing the sound system.

We are making final preparations for tomorrow's highly anticipated New Year's Eve live broadcast.

Jiang Bai was dressed in a simple black casual suit and stood in the center of the main stage, cooperating with the sound engineer to adjust the accompaniment track.

After several days of polishing and recording, the arrangement work for his first solo album, "Want to See You," is more than half completed.

The work in the recording studio has temporarily entered the accompaniment production stage. The remaining minor tasks can be fine-tuned by Qian Lei and his team, and Jiang Bai does not need to be with them all the time.

However, he couldn't stay idle. Xu Xu had planned his schedule very well. Once he finished his work on one side, he would immediately start rehearsing for the New Year's Eve gala.

This year, he didn't sing a duet with Oda at the New Year's Eve gala.

Ultimately, the reason is still the unbinding of the CP (couple pairing).

As the end of the year approaches, Tencent Video has finalized the broadcast schedule for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

It is scheduled to premiere in mid-to-late February and conclude at the end of March.

There are less than two months left before the series premieres.

Even the post-production editing and special effects packaging of the film crew have not been completely completed.

However, Tencent Video couldn't wait and started its pre-launch promotional campaign ahead of time.

The official Douyin account, the official Weibo account for the series, and the Bilibili film and television section simultaneously and continuously released character posters, individual behind-the-scenes footage, and on-set interaction clips.

Despite the scarcity of promotional materials, the show's popularity, currently high, has generated immense anticipation from fans and casual viewers alike, who urge the show to premiere in the comments section every day.

Under these circumstances, a new couple is about to make their debut.

Jiang Bai could no longer appear on stage with Tian Xiwei in public.

He should try to downplay the preconceived notion that he and Tian Xiwei are too closely associated.

Therefore, Jiang Bai will only have two solo performance stages at this New Year's Eve gala.

It's still my old favorites, "How Much I Like You, You'll Know" and "Slowly Falling in Love with You".

"OK, the accompaniment track is correct, and the sound recording is also fine. Teacher Jiang, this version can be approved directly."

The sound director's voice came through the in-ear monitor: the rehearsal had successfully concluded.

Jiang Bai casually removed his in-ear monitor and handed it to his waiting assistant. He was about to leave the stage to rest when he stood in the corner to the side of the stage.

Xu Xu suddenly waved to him.

Seeing this, he turned and walked to a quiet resting area on the side of the stage.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Bai asked bluntly.

Xu Xu chuckled: "I just received a call from Fengxing. Last night, they spotted PG1 and Li Xiaolu again."

Jiang Bai raised an eyebrow slightly: "Still the same place?"

"The location hasn't changed, and neither have the people."

Xu Xu chuckled and added, "The content of the video that was filmed this time is even more shocking!"

"PG1 would put his arm around Li Xiaolu's waist, link arms with her, and carry her bag in public. It was incredibly intimate."

"Scenes such as Li Xiaolu linking arms with PG1, the two going upstairs together, and the lights being turned off in the early morning were all captured on camera."

"The two of them didn't leave the apartment until three or four in the morning."

"This scandal is now practically a done deal."

After listening to Xu Xu's detailed description, Jiang Bai leaned against the wall, a look of understanding flashing in his eyes, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"What's Fengxing's attitude?" Jiang Bai asked casually.

The fundamental profit model for most paparazzi studios in the Chinese entertainment industry has never been exposing celebrities' scandals.

Instead, they take photos as evidence, gather leverage, and then contact the artist's team to sell the original footage at a high price, earning huge profits by settling disputes privately.

Zhuo Wei was later imprisoned because of this incident.

Normally, given PG1's current status as a top-tier rapper, Fengxing Studio would definitely contact him immediately and demand an exorbitant hush money fee.

But this time, the situation is different.

Xu Xu shook his head and said definitively, "Fengxing had absolutely no intention of contacting PG1's team privately or paying them to keep quiet."

"This was originally something someone paid a lot of money to have Fengxing Studio follow and film PG1, trying to sabotage him."

"How could we possibly give him the opportunity to spend money to cover it up?"

Yes, PG1 has actually offended some industry capital this time.

It seemed sudden, but it was actually quite reasonable.

After becoming an overnight sensation with "The Rap of China".

PG1 instantly went from an underground nobody to a top influencer in the rap scene, with his popularity skyrocketing and his fame once comparable to that of mainstream A-list celebrities.

His commercial value naturally soared, and countless business endorsements and program invitations flocked to him.

With top-tier traffic in hand, they should have followed the trend, embraced capital, split the profits, and ceded some of the pie to the platforms and resource providers behind them.

We can all benefit from each other and work together for mutual success.

But PG1 couldn't bear to part with it; he was terrified of being poor and wanted to keep it all to himself.

After becoming an overnight sensation, he directly rejected all signing offers from major brokerage firms, ignored the olive branches offered by various capital groups, and insisted on starting his own business, establishing his own personal studio with sole investment, and tightly holding onto all resources.

Not only that, he also expanded his Red Flower Clan rap label extensively, gathering a group of underground rappers in the industry.

They are trying to create a label that is entirely their own.

He not only wants to make money for himself, but also wants to promote a bunch of underground rappers and profit from them under the company's name.

To put it bluntly, he not only doesn't intend to share his own cake, but also wants to steal other people's cakes.

The traffic is his, the money is his, the resources are his.

He keeps all the profits for himself and is unwilling to share even a tiny bit of the profits with other investors.

But the entertainment industry has never been a place for lone wolves; it is essentially a arena for fame and fortune where capital plays a game.

If you don't want capital to make money off you, then capital will join forces and cut off all your avenues for making money.

Since you want to monopolize the whole cake, then capital will simply not let you have any.

"I understand now."

Jiang Bai shrugged: "This guy got completely arrogant after becoming famous and can't understand the underlying rules of the entertainment industry."

"In any circle, it's hard to get rich by eating alone."

"Making appropriate concessions and sticking together for mutual support is the key to long-term survival."

"He was so focused on hoarding his own profits that he offended all the major players. Now that they've teamed up to take him down, he deserves it."

This statement is not only a comment on PG1, but also a wake-up call for Jiang Bai himself.

Even though he now has the backing of Tencent Video, he absolutely cannot be blindly arrogant and try to monopolize all the benefits!

The top stars in the entertainment industry have never been able to maintain their positions solely based on their personal abilities.

The underlying interests are even more complex and important.

"That's right."

Xu Xu echoed, then said in a relaxed tone, "Fengxing is also planning to follow the example of Korea's Dispatch and pull off a big New Year's Eve juicy scoop, scheduled for noon tomorrow, to be released on time."

"At that time, I will also detonate the whole set of dirt I have compiled, and try to ban PG1 in one fell swoop."

Dispatch has long been known as the "New Year's Day Butcher" in the Korean entertainment industry.

Every year before the end of the year and New Year's Day, a major scandal involving top celebrities is released, which always ignites the Korean internet and has become an industry practice.

Now, Fengxing Studio is copying this model, aiming to rival Dispatch, and plans to release a top-tier scandal in the Chinese entertainment industry on the last day of 2017.

This is a huge publicity stunt, and the resulting media frenzy will be immeasurable.

"Fine, you decide," Jiang Bai said nonchalantly.

Crushing PG1 was an easy task, so he couldn't really take it seriously.

All the turmoil tomorrow will just be the last "year-end gift" given to PG1 in 2017.

He was actually more interested in another group of people involved than this.

It's a pity that all the guests' rehearsals for the New Year's Eve gala were scheduled at different times.

Therefore, Jiang Bai was unable to see Brother Nai Liang during rehearsals.

Jiang Bai shook his head inwardly, feeling a pang of regret.

At this moment, Jia Nailiang is still completely unaware of the truth and continues to trust his wife wholeheartedly, presenting a perfect image of a loving couple and a happy family to the outside world.

That's how unpredictable life is.

A night passes in the blink of an eye.

December 31, 2017, New Year's Eve.

The last day of the year has arrived as scheduled.

The entertainment industry is particularly lively today, as all five major television stations are hosting New Year's Eve galas.

More than a hundred well-known artists will take turns performing on stage.

Naturally, netizens started studying the program schedules of major TV stations on various social media platforms from the daytime.

Plan how to accurately switch between five TV channels to cheer on your favorite idol.

Amidst the fans' anticipation, at 11:50 AM...

Just as Jiang Bai finished lunch, it was time to change into the New Year's Eve outfit prepared by the team.

When preparing to take a set of New Year's Eve selfies to post on social media platforms such as Weibo and Instagram at midnight.

His phone screen suddenly started popping up windows like crazy.

Weibo, Douyin, Hupu, Tieba, and all other social media platforms across the internet were flooded with posts almost simultaneously.

In less than ten minutes, the hashtags #LiXiaoluStayingOvernightAtPG1Apartment# and #PG1LiXiaoluIntimateShowingTogether# skyrocketed at an alarming rate.

It forcefully broke through the preliminary list of trending topics and directly topped the overall Weibo trending topics list, with the trending topic marker being bright red and eye-catching.

Countless netizens who were watching the gala program, scrolling through videos, and browsing news were intrigued by the sudden trending topic and clicked on it to see what was going on.

At exactly 12 o'clock, Fengxing Studio's official Weibo account updated its status, officially announcing the news.

The entire post was a long Weibo post, accompanied by more than ten high-definition, unedited photos, plus two original, uncut videos, each lasting more than a minute.

The first video was filmed on Christmas Eve, and the footage clearly shows the scene late at night.

Li Xiaolu accompanied PG1 back to the upscale apartment. The two went upstairs side by side, behaving intimately throughout, and the lights in the apartment remained on until late at night.

The second video, which is the latest material fresh off the 29th, is far more explosive than the first one.

At the restaurant entrance, PG1 naturally took Li Xiaolu's handbag and carried it with one hand.

When crossing the street, he took the initiative to put his arm around the girl's slender waist and protect her from oncoming traffic.

Li Xiaolu nestled close to him, her arm tightly wrapped around his, a gesture that far exceeded the boundaries of ordinary friendships between opposite sexes.

The footage continued to be filmed as the two returned to their apartment complex together in a car. They made no attempt to avoid suspicion and showed no concern for paparazzi taking pictures. They went straight into the building hand in hand and did not leave all night.

Two irrefutable videos corroborate each other's old and new evidence. The images are high-definition and clear, with no trace of editing or fabrication. The evidence is irrefutable and undeniable.

In addition, Fengxing Studio added a thought-provoking caption at the end of the article:

[The year-end grand finale, a tribute to all the gossip-loving onlookers; no gossip today, no gossip tomorrow.]

Aiming to rival Dispatch, this year-end bombshell is incredibly powerful.

The moment this Weibo post was published, it went viral across the entire internet.

Weibo's backend servers were overwhelmed by hundreds of millions of visits in a short period of time, and were on the verge of crashing!

The comment and repost sections were instantly flooded with comments.

"Holy crap??? Am I seeing things? Li Xiaolu? PG1?"

"My God! Nailiang is being cheated on! The whole internet was raving about their perfect love story, and now it's all fallen apart?"

"This is absolutely not normal! Ordinary friends of the opposite sex can put their arms around each other's waists, carry each other's bags, and spend the whole night alone together? Who's kidding me!"

"I remember now! A couple of days ago during Nailiang's live stream, a fan asked where Lu Han was, and Nailiang laughed and said his wife went out to get her hair done! So getting her hair done was just a cover, and the real reason she went to PG1's house for the night?"

The phrase "getting a haircut" quickly went viral after being discovered by netizens.

Within minutes, it spawned countless memes and jokes, becoming the last top internet meme of the year.

The online frenzy surrounding the story quickly escalated, with public opinion surging exponentially.

Fifteen minutes after the incident began to unfold, netizens' emotions reached their peak.

Everyone is waiting for the parties involved to respond, wanting to see what the two parties and the unsuspecting Jia Nailiang will say.

What kind of explanation should be given?

Under intense public scrutiny, the first person to respond was PG1.

At 12:22 PM, PG1 posted a long, top-rated response on his Weibo account. The entire response was evasive and the rhetoric was textbook-perfect for a perfunctory whitewash.

And this gave rise to the famous Chinese entertainment phrase, "This is my brother Liang, this is my sister-in-law!"

Throughout the entire blog post, there was not a trace of remorse, nor was there a direct response to the core issues such as staying overnight and intimately embracing.

He tried to deceive the entire internet by using the "brother and sister-in-law theory" throughout the entire process.

This weak and feeble attempt to clear their name not only failed to quell the anger of netizens, but instead directly enraged them, drawing a new round of ridicule and abuse.

"My sister-in-law can stay out all night? She can just put her arm around my waist like that? Don't try to fool me, I'm not well-educated!"

"You son of a bitch, you love your sister-in-law, huh?!"

"To put it bluntly, they're not treating Jia Nailiang like an outsider, and they're blatantly trying to steal him away right in front of him, right?"

"The biggest joke of the year, I'd call it the best whitewashing copywriting in the Chinese entertainment industry in 2017!"

Public opinion intensified, and the level of public interest remained high.

At 12:35, Ma Su, who claimed to have participated in the gathering on the evening of the 29th, quickly stepped in and posted a short blog post, taking the initiative to defend PG1 and Li Xiaolu.

Unfortunately, this explanation was not convincing at all, and instead only made things worse.

Ma Su did not appear in the high-definition video released by Fengxing from beginning to end.

The lie was full of flaws and could be seen through at a glance.

Her decision to take sides not only failed to help her friend out of the predicament, but also dragged herself into the vortex of public opinion, and was ridiculed by netizens across the internet.

Jiang Bai, who was also watching the drama unfold, couldn't help but laugh.

This Ma Su is really asking for trouble. How much did Li Xiaolu give her to make her a target?

Unfortunately, she didn't divert any attention at all.

And so, as a large number of onlookers flooded Li Xiaolu's comment section, demanding a response, she remained completely silent, pretending to be dead.

Seeing that he was getting no response, Jiang Bai had no choice but to wait for the latest news like other netizens.

He's also going to attend the New Year's Eve party tonight!

Around 3 p.m., Jiang Bai arrived at the backstage area of ​​the Oriental Sports Center, escorted by his team.

The styling team, which had been prepared in advance, still meticulously dressed him up, striving to make him the most dazzling star on the New Year's Eve stage tonight.

However, Jiang Bai knew in his heart that no matter how well he sang or how handsome he looked tonight, he wouldn't be able to grab the top spot on Weibo today.

Unless he publicly announces his relationship with Tian Xiwei and Li Yitong on stage, he might not be able to surpass PG1, Li Xiaolu, and Nai Liang!

But he's not crazy yet.

It's just a trending topic on Weibo for one day!

This was PG1's last ripple before he died, so let's give him a break!

Thus, as online public opinion intensified, at 17:04 PM, just as Jiang Bai had finished her makeup and was coordinating the evening's schedule with her staff.

Nailiang, who was also backstage at the venue but whose location was unknown, surprisingly responded on Weibo before Li Xiaolu.

Inside the lounge, the Jiang Bai team members, who had been chatting and gossiping, were now all glued to their phones, excitedly following the latest gossip and whispering amongst themselves.

Jiang Bai also leaned back on the sofa, swiping his finger across the screen, browsing Nai Liang's response.

Before he transmigrated, he had witnessed the entire sensational overnight stay incident that shocked the entire internet, and knew all the dramatic twists and turns that followed.

But now, in 2017, experiencing it all again from the perspective of an artist in the industry and a fellow gossip enthusiast, the feelings are completely different.

Those in the industry know that Jia Nailiang must be feeling a mix of anger, humiliation, embarrassment, and heartbreak at this moment.

Just the day before, he was on a live stream, happily and without any suspicion, covering up for his wife by telling his fans that she had gone out to get her hair done.

In the blink of an eye, the entire internet knew that he was being ridiculed for being cheated on, becoming a laughing stock in the entertainment industry and among the general public.

If any ordinary person were to suffer such a humiliating defeat, they would most likely lose control of their emotions, tear off the mask of civility, confront each other in public, and fight to the death.

But perhaps it was for the sake of appearances, or for the sake of his acting career.

Or perhaps it was a large number of business contracts tied to the couple's business, in order to avoid paying huge breach of contract penalties.

Nailiang chose to tolerate it!

Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of millions of netizens across the internet, Jia Nailiang's Weibo response was neither hysterical rage nor sarcastic remarks.

There wasn't even a questioning, no falling out.

The entire text is calm, restrained, and gentle.

This dignified behavior, ironically, broke the defenses of countless netizens.

In just over a hundred words, every word is restrained and every sentence is restrained.

There was no anger or blame in his words; he even took the initiative to defend his wife and friends.

Choosing to swallow all the grievances and humiliations alone, she carried all the bitterness on her own shoulders.

The moment this Weibo post was published, the entire internet was silent for two seconds before it exploded.

Countless netizens who were initially just watching the drama unfold suddenly felt pity for Jia Nailiang and flooded his comment section with messages of comfort.

"Nailiang is so gentle, it breaks my heart to see him like this!"

"If it were me, I'd explode on the spot. He's actually defending outsiders! How much does he love them?"

"The whole internet is watching him make a fool of himself, but he's the only one gritting his teeth and enduring it. Nai Liang has perfectly demonstrated the dignity of an adult."

Inside the lounge, Jiang Bai slowly put away his phone and gently exhaled a breath of stale air.

Jiang Bai couldn't help but exclaim from the bottom of his heart, "I have to say, Brother Nai Liang is really good at enduring."

"Their business contract is tied to each other as a married couple; could the penalties for breach of contract amount to hundreds of millions?!"

"Is it worth it for Brother Nailiang to put up with this much?"

After Nai Liang's Weibo post was published, it took nearly two hours to gain traction.

With more than 40 minutes to go before the New Year's Eve concert was about to begin, Li Xiaolu, the female protagonist at the heart of the incident, finally arrived late and released her official response.

Compared to PG1's perfunctory and hasty whitewash, Li Xiaolu's response was longer and more diplomatic.

She first admitted that she did meet with PG1 late that night, and then explained that the group met late at night to discuss a new film script with a hip-hop theme and prepare for related cooperation matters.

She also took the initiative to apologize to her husband, thanking him for his tolerance and trust, and said that she would strictly restrain herself in the future and pay attention to the boundaries of her interactions with male friends.

At this point, all three parties involved have responded, using similar wording and maintaining a consistent stance.

This is what happens when friends don't know how to avoid suspicion, leading to misunderstandings with netizens.

Nai Liang Ge really wasn't cheated on.

Whether netizens believe it or not?

Jiang Bai, anyway, didn't believe it.

He scrolled through several of the latest comments from netizens, pointed to one of them, and said gloatingly, "What do you mean by 'everyone's watching Dragon TV's New Year's Eve gala tonight'?"

"Dragon TV might be the biggest winner tonight!"

As for some comments questioning whether Nailiang and Xiaolu will still perform a duet on stage tonight.

These people really underestimate Nai Liang's patience.

My brother Liang's forbearance is comparable to that of Goujian in ancient times!

Xu Xu, sitting next to him, was also browsing Weibo, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Netizens are really sharp-tongued. Some have already suggested that Bao Qiang, Chen Yufan, and Jia Nailiang become sworn brothers."

"They even gave the three of them a brotherhood name, called 'Outlaws of the Green Forest'."

"That's so mean!"