Entertainment: This top celebrity is really letting loose!

Magic City.

As a well-known entertainment agency in China, Star Entertainment is headquartered in a 28-story office building on the banks of the Huangpu River.

After lunch, Wang Man had just returned to the company when she was told that General Manager Lei Mingkai had invited her to come.

"Okay, I understand."

She dared not delay and immediately went to the general manager's office.

"Mr. Lei, you wanted to see me?"

General Manager Lei Mingkai, who is in his forties, has an exaggeratedly large belly, but his head is small, and with his small eyes and nose, he looks quite comical.

As soon as she entered, Wang Man noticed the other person's furrowed brows and sensed something was wrong.

Sure enough, as soon as she sat down, the other person threw a thick stack of documents in front of her and said coldly, "Take a look first."

She picked them up and counted them, finding a total of more than a dozen documents, all of which were termination notices from partner businesses, and all of them were commercial endorsements currently held by Zhou Yang.

"This...they all voluntarily applied to terminate their contracts? Zhou Yang isn't exactly a pariah, but this is just too much..."

Looking at the thick stack of termination notices in her hand, Wang Man's face visibly showed panic.

Although Star Entertainment is a well-known agency in the Chinese entertainment industry, and its overall revenue previously ranked tenth, its biggest difference from other companies is that it suffers from a serious "Zhou Yang dependency syndrome".

Simply put, over 60% of the company's annual net profit is generated by Zhou Yang, a top influencer.

Now all his commercial endorsements are gone, and the sky has fallen.

"Take another look at this."

Lei Mingkai angrily placed the open Weibo interface on his phone in front of her.

"Showing up at a barbecue restaurant dressed like that, smoking and drinking—where's the image of a top celebrity and a role model? What is he trying to do?"

Wang Man looked down and saw Zhou Yang in the photo with a shaved head, a cigarette in his mouth, a beer bottle in one hand, and a skewer of barbecue in the other, chatting and laughing with two girls next to him.

Scrolling down a few more pages, almost all of them were negative reviews, such as "As a public figure, he shouldn't smoke in public" and "He's setting a bad example for children and causing a terrible influence."

Near the bottom, I finally found a few words of praise on a media account called "Entertainment Times":

"Zhou Yang ate barbecue by the roadside without any idol baggage or celebrity airs. Not only did she generously pay for all the fans, but she also took the initiative to help the vendors maintain order, showing her down-to-earth nature..."

"President Lei, Zhou Yang... he probably didn't do it on purpose..."

Lei Mingkai sighed, "The foreign language scandal not only cost me all my commercial endorsements, but also caused me to lose more than 20 million Weibo followers. Now, this other negative news story has emerged..."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lei. I didn't manage Zhou Yang well, which damaged his public image. But this isn't a complete collapse, let alone a major mistake. Aren't these brands acting a bit too quickly?"

According to the rules of the entertainment industry, brands will only terminate contracts or sue for compensation when an artist's career is ruined or they make a mistake that could lead to a ban.

Zhou Yang is currently only "suspected" of dating a mysterious foreign woman, which has absolutely nothing to do with any scandals or bans. As for the roadside barbecue restaurant, it's not a big deal at all, and it's far from the point where everyone is kicking her while she's down.

"Quickly? Zhou Yang's fans are almost all young female fans, and her image and persona were too perfect before. Now that she has been plagued by negative news, it is inevitable that her commercial value will be damaged. It is expected that they will terminate the cooperation."

Then he asked, "By the way, has he returned?"

"He's back. He just finished recording 'Yearning' last night. I told him to rest at home for a while."

"At this crucial moment, why are you letting him appear on the show? He's being unreasonable, and you're doing it too."

Lei Mingkai shook his head repeatedly after hearing this.

"That's what I advised her at the time, but Zhou Yang felt that she hadn't collapsed yet, and that going on the show at this time would both maintain her popularity and rebuild her image."

Wang Man then reassured him, "President Lei, don't worry, I've already confirmed it. He said the recording of the show was a great success, and he got along well with Teacher Huang and Teacher He. Both teachers like him very much."

"The recording has already been done, what else can be done? Tell him not to do anything afterward, let him rest for three to five months, and wait for the public opinion to cool down before making any further decisions."

"What will happen to the company's revenue if we take a three-to-five-month break?"

If Zhou Yang takes a three-to-five-month break, it means that the company will lose 60% of its revenue during that period, a cost that the company can hardly afford.

"If all else fails, just bring out his former teammates and reheat the old news. Isn't there the Candy Girls group? They've been doing that for three years already, it's time to reap the rewards."

"Mr. Lei, of the remaining five members of the Rose boy group, only the vice-captain Liu Jia has some popularity. As for the Candy girl group, they are practically no different from ordinary people."

After counting them all, both Lei Mingkai and Wang Man sadly discovered that in the past five years, Star Entertainment had launched so many boy and girl groups and popular trainees, but apart from Zhou Yang becoming a top star, almost all of them had failed.

Now that the company has decided to protect him from further financial strain, it is already facing financial difficulties.

"You can decide what to do. If Candy doesn't work out, let them disband and go solo. Keep burning money like this without seeing results isn't sustainable."

If the mainstay cannot continue to generate profits in the short term, the company will inevitably need to be frugal and budget carefully.

'

Undeterred, Wang Man asked, "President Lei, don't we have any other options?"

Lei Mingkai shook his head, saying helplessly, "I did consider other methods, and even personally invited the renowned composer Wei Ran to join the company a few days ago..."

"Professor Wei Ran? What did he say?"

Upon hearing this name, Wang Man was somewhat excited. The person in question was ranked fourteenth on the list of composers, a true big shot in the pop music scene.

Three years ago, after my contract with my previous company ended, I have been a free agent ever since, and many entertainment companies in the industry have been trying to recruit me.

If they can win over this big shot, Star Entertainment won't even need to rely solely on popularity anymore. They can poach some talented singers, let them take the route of talent, and earn money with dignity.

"What can I say? They didn't even bother with me when they heard the name Starry Sky Entertainment. I originally wanted to sign someone, but I couldn't. At least I could get a song for Zhou Yang. Who knew they would just say 'see them out' on the spot."

In the end, Lei Mingkai looked utterly helpless.

Whether in the entertainment industry or the pop music scene, there is a clear hierarchy of contempt: veteran actors with real talent always look down on or even dislike young, popular idols.

Starry Sky Entertainment and Zhou Yang are typical examples of people in the entertainment industry who manipulate traffic and exploit others.

"Mr. Lei, don't worry too much, everything will be alright."

Stepping out of the general manager's office, Wang Man breathed a long sigh of relief.

As an agent, she could understand her boss's feelings very well. Without Zhou Yang, Star Entertainment was not even as good as a second or third-rate company in the entertainment industry.

As she walked back to her office door, her assistant suddenly said, "Director Wang, you're back! Liu Jia has been waiting for you in the office for quite a while."

Liu Jia? What's he doing here?

Upon entering the office, Liu Jia was indeed sitting on the sofa, waiting for quite some time.

Upon seeing Wang Man arrive, he quickly stood up and said, "Director Wang..."

"I heard you've been waiting here for ages. What do you want?"

The original idol survival show that created the boy group Rose was set up with Liu Jia as the center and top star by Star Entertainment and Wang Man. However, fate played a trick on them, and Zhou Yang, the "chosen one," was the one who broke out of the circle in the end.

As for Liu Jia, although he eventually became a vice captain, the gap between the two widened in the following years. One became a true top star who was popular all over the Chinese entertainment industry, while the other was a lukewarm third-tier nobody.

"Mr. Wang, Zhou... no, Yang-ge's accident happened so suddenly, he'll probably need to rest for a while, right?"

"Yes, I plan to let him rest for three to five months, and then we'll plan his comeback... Why are you asking this?"

Halfway through her sentence, Wang Man suddenly realized something and looked at the other person with a puzzled expression.

"President Wang, in the past, the company relied entirely on Yang Ge to hold it up, but now he's about to be sidelined. I... I also want to help the company get through this difficult time."

After saying that, he looked at his boss with great anticipation.

When a top performer takes a three-to-five-month break, the company will inevitably have a lot of opportunities and resources available. If you seize this opportunity, you might be able to turn things around... no, it should be called overtaking on a curve.

In the entertainment industry, a place of fame and fortune, how many people don't want to rise to the top?

Wang Man stared intently at the other person, her expression calm and composed, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

Only when Liu Jia couldn't bear the gaze and started to look away did she say, "Jiajia, I also trained you from scratch, and I even invested more in you than in Yangyang back then, but what was the final result?"

"Sister Man, but..."

To get closer to her, Liu Jia even changed how she addressed him.

Wang Man shattered his hopes with just one sentence: "Do you remember what I told you at the end of the Youth Training Camp? Small fires rely on support, big fires rely on fate. If it's not in your destiny, don't force it."

"But……"

Liu Jia wanted to continue to advocate for him, so she added, "Yangyang didn't collapse; he's just taking a temporary break. All of Xingchen Entertainment's future development plans will still revolve around him, and that won't change."