Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

Yang Che arrived at the hotel at 11:30. As he entered the lobby and headed towards the elevator, he was stopped by a very pretty receptionist.

"Yang Che, could you sign this for me? I've been raising my hand all afternoon at Longcheng Cinema..."

Yang Che was instantly on guard, but quickly relaxed: "What's your name?"

"Wang Xusheng".

Yang Che chuckled and asked, "Don't you have an older brother or sister named Wang Xuqing?"

Wang Xusheng's eyes crinkled into crescent moons with laughter: "Yes, sister, you're amazing."

Yang Che smiled and shook his head, then wrote on the note she handed him: "Wishing Wang Xusheng all the best in his work and happiness every day! —Yang Che, January 14, 2000"

Then she wrote the same sentence to her colleague, Xu Ying.

Watching Yang Che's retreating figure, Xu Ying asked curiously, "How did he know your sister's name was Wang Xuqing?"

Wang Xuqing said thoughtfully, "It's a line from the Tao Te Ching."

"What?"

"Who can make muddy water clear by letting it settle, and who can make still water come to life by letting it move?"

"Oh, I thought it was because your mother's surname is Xu. Hey, what do you think he's doing at the hotel in the middle of the night?"

Looking at Xu Ying, who was making faces, Wang Xusheng found her repulsive.

Who wouldn't guess? But why say it out loud?

Wang Xusheng shook his head, staring blankly in the direction of the elevator, lost in thought, until guests appeared in the lobby and he came back to his senses.

In an apartment on the 12th floor, the chubby boy asked breathlessly, "Do you really enjoy us being together?"

"Of course I like it, do you?"

"I don't like it. I feel empty when you're with her."

"Where does it feel empty?"

"Everywhere feels so empty, oh no, I can't take it anymore~"

.............

The promotional tour for "My Sassy Girl" has ended, but that doesn't mean the publicity work is over.

Every now and then, they would still release press releases in the media. Of course, Yang Che took a break, but Wang Jinhua and Yu Dong did not.

However, the box office has started to decline steadily, which is quite remarkable. It was a hot release for 20 days, which is rare even in the heyday of the film market.

After returning to Beijing on January 15, Xiao Pang threw himself into an exceptionally busy work schedule. He was either shooting GG, doing magazine interviews, or occasionally traveling to other places for gigs and appearances, since it was already the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month and many businesses were giving away big sums of money.

Among them were "high-end" foreign liquors as well as down-to-earth thermal underwear, which Little Fatty accepted without hesitation.

Zhou Liren became Xiao Pang's driver, bodyguard, and agent... Yes, agent. Wang Jinhua paid him a salary because of his thoughtful and prudent nature.

He patiently taught him the ins and outs of the industry, even though he knew that Yang Che was one of his men.

Little Fatty's contract has been changed to 70/30. Little Fatty, that's the result of being promoted.

For example, when "My Sassy Girl" grossed over 6000 million yuan at the domestic box office, Nokia took the initiative to approach them and invited Xiao Pang and Huang Haibo to be the spokespeople for Nokia's latest model. However, Xiao Pang's endorsement fee was 150 million yuan for two years, while Huang Haibo's was 50 yuan for two years.

Even so, Haibo's endorsement fee is among the highest for young actors in mainland China.

After all, Hong Kong and Taiwanese male stars still dominate these days, as you can tell from the male and female lead pairings in co-productions.

Speaking of which, there's a funny story. On the very day they returned to Beijing, Lenovo's public relations department contacted the Beijing Film Academy, hoping that Huang Haibo could be the spokesperson for one of their student computers.

The school and Huang Haibo are both very happy, after all, it's a national brand.

But in the afternoon, they called again, saying that the big boss was not satisfied and wanted to change it to a Hong Kong and Taiwan style.

Later, on a giant outdoor GG banner outside the Capital Airport, Nicholas Tse, with long hair and an arrogant expression, said that good students use Lenovo computers...

A rebellious teenager with only a junior high school diploma became the spokesperson for a national brand of student computers.

If this happened 20 years from now, people would be furious.

Of course, nothing's wrong now. After all, some people online are saying that Lenovo has given Nicholas Tse a bad break, because very few people in mainland China actually know this guy.

Another thing is that CCTV invited Huang Haibo and Fan Bingbing to sing (lip-sync) "I Believe" at the Lantern Festival Gala. Forget about the Spring Festival Gala; even if they have enough influence, there isn't enough time.

Still can't compare to Zhao Zhetian. He not only sang on the Spring Festival Gala, but also hosted and performed in skits. He's still the most popular person in China.

The only difference is that in another time and space, many brands that were looking for Zhao Zhetian either didn't contact him or hesitated.

If Xiao Pang were like Zhang Ziyi, only accepting so-called "high-end" endorsements and not accepting endorsements for things like thermal underwear or eight-treasure porridge, brands would actually prefer her. It's just that Xiao Pang is too indiscriminate in accepting all offers, but Yang Che doesn't think there's anything wrong with that.

Therefore, after returning to Beijing, Yang Che basically stayed in Courtyard No. 8 and only went to Anzhen Lane once. After all, even when Xiao Pang was in Beijing, he mostly stayed in hotels.

Gao Yuanyuan's winter vacation started on January 16th, but she did not go back to Fengtai directly. She told her parents frankly that she would go back after her boyfriend finished his postgraduate entrance exam.

After returning to Beijing, Yang Che went to the Beijing Film Studio and then, without a care in the world, enrolled in a preparatory class for the entrance exam to the Beijing Film Academy.

He didn't attend the second round of sales for "Spring Bright Pigsy," which greatly angered Xiao Yi, a female leader in Hunan Province. She complained about how Hunan TV and Xiangjiang Film Studio were so supportive of "My Sassy Girl," blah blah blah...

话说如今的电视剧回款确实快，1月16日当天大结局，1月18日杨澈的个人帐上就多了242万（税后）。

The second-run plus DVD rights sold for a total of 28 million, nearly double the first-run price. This is actually quite normal, considering it was sold to 58 TV stations, both satellite and non-satellite... at an average price of 10,000 yuan per episode. What's so expensive about that? Yang Che also received 4.8 million, of which he received 400,000 that day, followed by smaller, scattered payments.

In short, Yang Che earned 780 million yuan from this drama.

..........

Because the Beijing Film Academy had started its winter break early, Yang Che had fewer troubles. As the most outstanding student in the tutoring class, few people talked to him about movies. Instead, they asked Wang Fei all sorts of indirect questions. Yang Che even wanted to put a photo of him and Gao Yuanyuan on his desk.

But that was useless, because the photos of him taking pictures of Wang Fei's buttocks were known to everyone on the internet. This was not something Yu Wenhao orchestrated; it just spread naturally.

However, after January 20th, no one spread rumors about Yang Che and Wang Fei anymore.

Instead, they started spreading rumors about Wang Fei and Jing Gangshan.

When Yang Che saw the photo online of the two whispering in each other's ears outside a restaurant, he was convinced of it, but he still felt uneasy when he saw the photo.

On the 21st, when Yang Che was checking out the exam venue, he received a text message from Wang Xiufang saying that Wang Fei was taking Jing Gangshan and Ma Jia to attend Eric Tsang's birthday party or something.

However, Wang Xiufang also said that she vaguely heard Liu Jialing, who came to visit her home, mention that Xie Tingfeng had invited Wang Fei out to play, but she was not sure whether Wang Fei had accepted the invitation, since Wang Fei had been frequently leaving late and returning late in the past few days.

Yang Che, whose emotions had just calmed down, was troubled again. However, he did not contact her, but instead contacted Jiang Zhiqiang and asked him to send an invitation to Wang Fei in the name of "My Sassy Girl".

Jiang Zhiqiang was very puzzled: "Aren't you good friends? Why go to all this trouble? I invited some people, but I didn't prepare any invitations."

Yang Che was somewhat embarrassed: "The situation is a bit complicated, Mr. Jiang, could you please help me out?"

Jiang Zhiqiang was taken aback, then burst into laughter. He immediately understood that the rumors about the two of them a while ago were true, and that Gao Yuanyuan was also real.