The three of them found a shop to sit down, opened the file bag, and took out the things inside.
These are some photos.
After seeing this, Li Zhibai looked at each other in surprise with Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang.
What's this?
The photos look like they have just been reprinted and are brand new.
Lu Yanhe picked up one of the photos at random, but the content of the photo shocked him.
What is this?!
In the photo, Ma Zhiyuan is hugging a girl's waist, holding a cigarette in his other hand, and giving the girl a smirk.
"Is this... Ma Zhiyuan's girlfriend?"
As a young idol, Ma Zhiyuan has always portrayed himself as single, with no record of love affairs. Whenever he gets close to a girl, he will be scrutinized by fans with a magnifying glass, not to mention if he has a scandal with a female artist. It would be like an earthquake, and he would dominate the hot searches for those two days.
Lu Yanhe was certain that if this photo were exposed, it would definitely cause a major earthquake.
Ma Zhiyuan's fans will leave on a large scale.
This is how idol artists are. Most of their fans are young female fans, who are treated as "boyfriends". The love in the hearts of female fans is possessive.
Li Zhibai picked up another photo, and the content on this photo looked completely different.
In the photo, Ma Zhiyuan is sitting in a dimly lit room, wearing a white shirt with the buttons unbuttoned, revealing his thin upper body.
At first glance, it looks like a photo with some erotic connotations, but if you look closely, you will find that behind the dim and blurry light, there is a hazy figure. The figure has long black hair, and the wrinkled quilt blocks most of the view, but just the small part that is exposed is enough to drive Ma Zhiyuan's fans crazy.
Photos that look completely different, all pointing to the same thing.
Ma Zhiyuan has a girlfriend, or once had a girlfriend.
The three of them looked at each other, and no one spoke for a moment.
-
"After all, Ma Zhiyuan himself often says that the other members of MX are holding him back, and that he would develop faster without them. So let him develop on his own."
The person who spoke was Lin Suyang.
He was sitting on the sofa in his home, wearing trousers and a white shirt. He looked like he had just come back from outside, or was about to go out.
He's talking on the phone.
The person on the other end of the phone was Vice President Ma.
"Mr. Ma, both MX and Ma Zhiyuan are very popular. If Ma Zhiyuan develops independently and goes solo, he can get rid of the burden of MX as he wishes, and MX can also regain stability." Lin Suyang said, "As long as he leaves, MX will still be that popular but obedient idol group. There will be no sudden collapse due to the existence of Ma Zhiyuan, a time bomb. Both sides can develop according to their own ideas. The best result is that Ma Zhiyuan will still be a popular idol, and MX will still be a popular idol group."
Vice President Ma remained silent and did not rush to speak.
Lin Suyang had told him this idea more than once. At first, he refused without even considering it. However, after the conflict between Ma Zhiyuan and Li Zhibai this time, Vice President Ma also wanted to teach Ma Zhiyuan a lesson so that he could figure out his identity.
Li Zhibai actually misspoke on one point. He questioned why Zhou Ping'an only approached him to appease his fans, rather than Ma Zhiyuan, who was supposed to express his stance on social media. In reality, the company had already approached him, and Vice President Ma personally did so. After all, Lin Suyang wasn't managing Ma Zhiyuan, and Ma Zhiyuan didn't have an agent.
But Ma Zhiyuan refused in a very bad attitude.
Vice President Ma was angry at Ma Zhiyuan's attitude, and even more angry at Ma Zhiyuan's lack of tact.
He's been stubbornly trying to defend himself, using the excuse that he's done nothing wrong. But what's the result now? More and more people are criticizing him online.
No attitude, no responsibility.
The Internet is not a place where right and wrong are clearly defined. In order to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, the company asked Ma Zhiyuan to express this attitude, but Ma Zhiyuan thought that he was deliberately helping Li Zhibai vent his anger.
Vice President Ma was furious, but he couldn't explain the pros and cons to the young people.
They don't care.
Therefore, it is not impossible to let Ma Zhiyuan go out and work alone.
I had previously thought of just handing over my personal business to Zhou Ping'an. If I went out on my own, Ma Zhiyuan would no longer have any relationship with MX.
This was also a blow and punishment to Ma Zhiyuan.
The arrogant young people should be taught a lesson.
Vice President Ma had an idea in mind.
-
Here, in the store.
Lu Yanhe was silent for a long time, then said, "Look, someone really wants to use you to expose these photos."
"This person also has a grudge against Ma Zhiyuan and can't stand him. Why doesn't he expose it himself?" Li Zhibai asked.
"I'm afraid someone will find out." Yan Liang shook his head. "Only if you do this, others won't doubt your intentions or where these photos came from."
"Then where did these photos come from?" Lu Yanhe was a little skeptical. "Ma Zhiyuan has been in the company since his debut. We've already investigated whether he's had a romantic relationship or had any contact with anyone, but this person hasn't been found. Furthermore, we haven't heard a single word about him."
They are from the same company and are very popular. Even if there is no news outside, it will always spread inside.
Any clue a person shows will be caught by others - this is the vicious influence of this gossip age.
It's getting harder to pretend.
"At this time, many people know that Li Zhibai and Ma Zhiyuan are not on good terms, but I can't think of a second person who is capable of knowing such a big secret of Ma Zhiyuan and wants to step on him." After Yan Liang finished speaking, he looked at the remaining two people. Sure enough, after he said this, Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai also showed a look of sudden enlightenment on their faces.
"What should we do with these photos?" Li Zhibai asked.
He seemed to be suddenly uncertain.
Lu Yanhe said, "I thought you were so eager to come here today because you couldn't wait to get some dirt on Ma Zhiyuan and expose it to him."
"I originally had this idea, but now it seems that this is not just his problem," Li Zhibai said. "I'm happy to make him unhappy, but there's no need to implicate a girl. Once these photos are exposed online, I guess this girl will be exposed by Ma Zhiyuan's fans. You all know how crazy Ma Zhiyuan's fans are."
-
It’s not about how crazy the fans of any particular group are, it’s about the fact that fans as a group can easily go crazy.
Even though Lu Yanhe himself is an idol artist, he can still feel this.
This is why he has always been somewhat wary of the fan group and rarely maintains and manages his own fans.
He has social accounts on various social platforms, but rarely operates them. Even in June when his fame and popularity soared and his fans grew rapidly, he did not do so.
In the live broadcast room where he appeared most frequently, Lu Yanhe had never specifically maintained his own fan base, and they rarely even communicated.
Lu Yanhe always felt that he was not a qualified artist.
This is because he is just a student and is not mentally prepared, and it is also because he is not 100% accepting of the fan economy culture.
Lu Yanhe was quite surprised that Li Zhibai would consider the girl whose identity he didn't know at this time.
-
It was a waste of time. Although they got some negative information about Ma Zhiyuan, they couldn't use it.
Despite this, Li Zhibai did not seem unhappy.
He asked Yan Liang, "Where is your next shoot? I can just send it to you."
Yan Liang glanced at the time. It was only a little after three o'clock. He said, "At Xinmin Bridge."
Xinmin Bridge is about 40 minutes' drive from Houshili.
Li Zhibai nodded: "It's almost time, you'll be there at five o'clock, right?"
"Yeah." Yan Liang nodded.
Lu Yanhe followed him into the car.
"What kind of filming are you doing?" Lu Yanhe asked curiously.
"A short business film," Yan Liang said. "It's about a chocolate brand, and it's going to be launched in July."
"Looking for you to be the spokesperson?"
"No, it's just a business cooperation." Yan Liang said, "I don't have the ability to be a spokesperson right now, and not many people know who I am."
"It's only a matter of time. A hardworking and talented artist like you will be noticed one day." Lu Yanhe had no doubt about this. "In fact, I'm kind of looking forward to 'Young Days'. The three of us will go together to record a variety show based on sharing an apartment. Haha, isn't this just putting our daily lives on camera?"
"Then everyone will be able to see Li Zhibai's messy hair." Yan Liang said with a smile.
Li Zhibai said, "How is that possible? I definitely wasn't like that when recording the show."
"I don't believe you can pretend for a day or two, but how can you pretend for half a month?" Lu Yanhe knew Li Zhibai's personality very well. "Given your personality, you'll definitely start to act up after three days."
“…” Li Zhibai was unable to refute again.
Nothing to say.
-
After sending Yan Liang away, Li Zhibai and Lu Yanhe left.
Li Zhibai made an appointment with someone to play games in the evening, and Lu Yanhe was going to do a live broadcast.
On the way back, Li Zhibai was still saying, "What do you think? Why don't I start a live broadcast and show me playing games?"
"That's not a good idea," Lu Yanhe said. "You have a lot of students as your fans. Maybe their parents will object and think you're corrupting their children."
"Tsk." Li Zhibai was silent for a moment, then nodded. "That's right, playing games is indeed addictive and affects studies. Is this why you don't play games?"
"I'll play. Don't I always play with you?" Lu Yanhe said.
Li Zhibai: "You often play with me, but I rarely see you take the initiative to play. Are you not addicted to games at all?"
"It's really not that addictive. I still prefer something more realistic," Lu Yanhe said. "It's okay to play games with you guys, but if I play with strangers, the joy of winning the game won't last long."
Li Zhibai was greatly surprised.
"I surrender, you are a natural born academic," he said.
Lu Yanhe suddenly thought of something and asked, "Did Zhou Ping'an contact you again later?"
"What do you want from me?"
"About the laser pointer," Lu Yanhe said. "I just checked my phone, and you and Ma Zhiyuan are still trending, though a little less than yesterday."
"You didn't look for me." Li Zhibai curled his lips, "Just hang up, it's not me who's being scolded anyway."
Lu Yanhe: "How do you hope this matter will be resolved?"
"I haven't thought about it, and I'm too lazy to think about it. I just know that I can't accept their current attitude to solve the problem. It's speechless." Li Zhibai said, "You know, I really hate their attitude. They don't distinguish right from wrong. They just want to quickly calm this matter down. In fact, it will only make Ma Zhiyuan more arrogant."
Li Zhibai's words once again changed Lu Yanhe's opinion of him.
Li Zhibai is indeed very sensitive in some aspects.
-
As a result, the next day, a big news broke out within the company.
Ma Zhiyuan may go solo and leave MX.
When Yan Liang saw the melon, three people were sitting at the dinner table eating takeout.
As soon as he said this, the other two people widened their eyes and looked at him in disbelief.
"Really?" Yan Liang said, "I don't know where the news came from, but it's very plausible. Moreover, Ma Zhiyuan went into Vice President Ma's office this morning."
"Eh—" Li Zhibai suddenly said in confusion. When the two of them thought he had figured out some key information, Li Zhibai said, "They both have the surname Ma. Could they be relatives?"
Lu Yanhe: “…”
Yan Liang: "No."
"Isn't it?"
"When Ma Zhiyuan debuted, some people tried to find out their blood relationship. Simply put, there is no relationship at all," said Yan Liang.
"Uh, okay."
"Then if Ma Zhiyuan wants to leave MX, there will only be four people left in MX." Lu Yanhe said.
"Maybe they'll add one or two more people?" Yan Liang said, "MX is so popular, one less person means less money."
"But if Ma Zhiyuan goes solo, will he be affected?"
"Who knows? Anyway, I see him acting so awesome every day. I want to see how he does after going solo." Li Zhibai said immediately.
Yan Liang looked at him with an indescribable expression and said, "But everyone says that after Ma Zhiyuan goes solo, Zhou Ping'an will take over all of his work, not just manage his personal business."
This means that Ma Zhiyuan is completely under Zhou Ping'an's control.
Li Zhibai's delighted expression on his face instantly collapsed.
-
"So what can be done about this?"
Vice President Ma looked at Wei Zhuoran and Qu Yousong who were sitting in front of him.
"I know you and Ma Zhiyuan have a good relationship and are good friends, but he's gotten into so much trouble in the past six months. We can't just keep letting him go." Vice President Ma put on a look of deep sorrow but helplessness. "He's always thought you're holding him back and has complained to me several times. So let him go solo. His departure from MX will be good for you too. Apart from him, your popularity is pretty much the same. Once he leaves, you all have a chance to become top idol artists."
Qu Yousong and Wei Zhuoran looked at each other.
Wei Zhuoran spoke up, saying, "But if he leaves, we, MX, may not be able to maintain our position as the most popular idol group."
This is something that must be acknowledged.
Ma Zhiyuan's personal fans support a small half of the MX group's fans.
Vice President Ma shook his head and said, "Don't underestimate yourselves. MX's popularity is due to your own talent and hard work, as well as the extensive marketing and promotional support provided by the company. Even if he's gone now, your exposure won't drop. We'll still train you as the most popular idol group and support you. We'll also find a new member to join your group."
When Wei Zhuoran and Qu Yousong heard this, their eyes widened.
"Newcomer?"
"There are only four of you now, so you need to add one more person," said Vice President Ma.
Wei Zhuoran hesitated for a moment and said, "But the new person who joined should be a newcomer, right?"
"He is a newcomer, but he is also a capable and talented newcomer who will not hold you back." said Vice President Ma.
Upon hearing this, Wei Zhuoran asked, "Has someone been chosen?"
"We have a preliminary selection, but we need to further investigate," Vice President Ma said. "Don't worry, Ma Zhiyuan's departure will have a negative impact on you. You will always be the most popular idol group in our Star Entertainment."
Wei Zhuoran and Qu Yousong left his office.
After getting off the elevator, Qu Yousong asked, "What do you think of what he said?"
"It's hard to say." Wei Zhuoran shook his head, "But Ma Zhiyuan's departure is a done deal. There's no room for negotiation."
"Then he got what he wanted," Qu Yousong said. "Didn't we always think we were inferior to him and were holding him back?"
"He also said this to you?" Wei Zhuoran was a little surprised.
Qu Yousong smiled, looked at him thoughtfully, and said, "You don't know?"
Wei Zhuoran: "He just complains sometimes, but he doesn't mean it. He's just like that."
"That's because you have a good temper." Qu Yousong shook his head and said no more.
"Then Li Zhibai must be very proud of this." Wei Zhuoran said a little annoyed.
"Isn't this Ma Zhiyuan's fault? When something like this happens, regardless of whether he's at fault or not, he should have made his position clear," Qu Yousong said. "He was indifferent to someone using a laser pointer to injure their eyes. Isn't he asking for trouble?"
Qu Yousong was right, and Wei Zhuoran had nothing more to say.
-
Because Li Zhibai and Ma Zhiyuan refused to cooperate with the company in responding to the laser pen incident, although the matter continued to ferment, it was eventually left unresolved.
This matter is like a thorn in the throat between the two groups of fans and is brought up from time to time.
The news that Ma Zhiyuan was leaving MX did not spread on the Internet, but only circulated within Star Entertainment.
There is no new news yet.
Time quickly came to the end of June.
A lot of things happened this month, but no matter what, the most important thing for Lu Yanhe was that he got a high score of 657 in the college entrance examination as he wished.
Lu Yanhe will soon join the crew to film.
He had practically memorized his script's lines.
Not only his own scenes, but also every scene of his opponent was memorized.
Get familiar with it, then start thinking about it.
Lu Yanhe packed his suitcase and prepared to go on a long journey.
Li Zhibai and Yan Liang were still a little reluctant.
In the past three years, Li Zhibai and Yan Liang had both gone on long journeys and not returned for half a month, but this was the first time for Lu Yanhe.
Li Zhibai said, "If you're bullied on set, you must not tolerate it. You must fight back, otherwise they will think you're easy to bully and keep bullying you, okay?"
Lu Yanhe didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "I was recommended for this role by Jiang Yuqian and selected by Luo Yuzhong. Under normal circumstances, no one would be so blind as to bully me, right?"
Especially since he has been quite popular recently.
"Then don't be too naive. I've seen some gossip online before. Even Jiang Yuqian gets bullied by some people." Li Zhibai warned seriously, "In this circle, there are many people who take advantage of their age, look down on traffic and idols, or simply dislike you. There are too many such cases. Not every incident will be exposed."
"I know, I know. I'll pay attention."
"Where are you filming? It's not in the mountains, is it? Then you should bring some food with you, otherwise you won't be hungry late at night and have nowhere to find food."
"I'm filming a modern drama." Lu Yanhe didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Although it's not in Yuming, it's not far from Yuming."
Li Zhibai: "That's not bad."
Yan Liang also said, "I feel like Li Zhibai is a little worried about his old father who has gone on a long journey with his children."
"Isn't it just that I'm worried?" Li Zhi said confidently, "Look at how he was bullied by Zhou Ping'an before. He didn't even know how to resist. Who can be at ease with him?"
Yan Liang really wanted to say that Lu Yanhe had changed a long time ago and was no longer the same Lu Yanhe as before, but when the words came to his lips, he felt that what Li Zhibai said was actually correct.
He nodded and said to Lu Yanhe, "You really need to be careful."
Lu Yanhe raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, stop it. Don't nag me anymore, brothers. I'll definitely pay attention and won't hold it in."
Only then did Li Zhibai nod in satisfaction.
On the day of departure, Chen Ziyan came to pick up Lu Yanhe and took him to the crew.
Because Li Zhibai and Yan Liang had work, they left Yuming the day before and missed this "farewell" drama.
Lu Yanhe was very grateful that they had work the day before, otherwise he felt that his ears would have been even thicker with calluses today.
Chen Ziyan drove him there specially, and the journey took about three and a half hours.
The filming base is in a city called Langhua next to Yuming.
Originally, this was not an economically developed city, but because a film and television base was built, gradually, major crews came here to shoot movies, and then the film and television base tourism culture was derived, and Langhua gradually developed.
They didn't need to find a film and television base to shoot these modern dramas, but because the modern background of "The Golden Age" was not in the last decade, but the period when the domestic economy just took off, they needed to find a city with a less strong modern atmosphere, so they found Langhua.
Chen Ziyan drove Lu Yanhe to Langhua and checked in at the hotel first.
Three floors of the hotel were booked by the crew.
A big deal.
The crew members are specially received in the lobby.
As soon as Lu Yanhe appeared, they immediately came to greet him.
After completing the check-in and other formalities, Lu Yanhe went to put his luggage away first.
Chen Ziyan was standing at the door talking on the phone with someone. I don't know what she was saying, but she was laughing so hard that she was shaking.
Lu Yanhe took a look and felt that Chen Ziyan's "shaky smile" was a bit of an act.