Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

  Lately, big productions had been showing in theaters. The films from Worldwide Entertainment and Emperor Sky Entertainment alone dominated 70-80% of the market, and there was a hustle of promotional activities, not to mention how they were intentionally suppressing Age of the Immortals.

  Although all viewers gave the film positive ratings and reviews, everyone felt their hearts chilling when the results of the film’s box office debut came out.

  The box office only got to the several hundred thousands without touching the tip of Ling Shaozhe’s film. Moreover, it was Gong Xu and Luo Chen’s loyal fans who contributed to the several hundred thousands.

  If this pattern continued, they would lose their life’s savings.

  Due to their mediocre box office performance, the company was in low spirits.

  Luo Chen said, ”?Date with a Superstar?is broadcasting today, maybe it will help the box office a little…”


  For celebrities in the entertainment industry, fans were the most valuable but were also the easiest to lose.

  In order to shoot?A Life and Death Struggle?, Luo Chen and Gong Xu hadn’t made public appearances for several months. Fresh meat also came out like chives, one after another, so fans were disappearing at a high rate.

  And now, the promotional period for the film was encountering obstruction after obstruction, and the box office results were quite worrisome.

  At the moment, Yao Jiawen hastily entered with her phone in hand. She angrily shouted, “This is too much!”


  “What is it?” Ye Wanwan asked with a frown.

  Yao Jiawen held up her phone and said, “I was watching?Date with a Superstarjust now and discovered that all of Luo Chen and Gong Xu’s screen time in?Date with a Superstar?was cut out! There wasn’t even a single second left!”


  They waited for 2+ hours and shot for 10 minutes. They originally thought they would get at least five minutes but ended up being completely cut out.

  When Luo Chen heard Yao Jiawen’s words, his face darkened. He originally hoped this popular show could promote their film, but it was a no-go.

  Similar things had been happening frequently lately.

  They managed to obtain some good assignments with great difficulty, but their screen time on them was all squeezed into nothing. There was obviously someone purposefully suppressing them behind the scenes.

  The smell of wine was still afraid of the depth of the alley. No matter how high quality the film was, it would be useless if nobody went to watch it. Moreover, their film topic didn’t have an edge against the pile of teen dramas and metropolitan romance films to begin with.

  Yao Jiawen had a suggestion. “How about… we have Luo Chen and Gong Xu interact more on Weibo and attract some popularity?”


  Ye Wanwan shook her head and rejected Yao Jiawen’s suggestion.

  These interactions were fine if they were natural and suitable, but if they were too frequent and intentional, they wouldn’t escape malicious suspicions of playing gay. Instead, they would negatively impact their popularity with netizens unfamiliar with them.

  Moreover, this didn’t solve the problem at its roots.

  “I already told you about the current situation back at our first meeting, so you should have mentally prepared for it. My current plan is to stop our future promotions. Worldwide and Emperor Sky are clearly making life difficult for us, so any further investments will be no use. Why don’t we use that money to do other things instead?”


  “Other things?” Yao Jiawen didn’t understand.

  Ye Wanwan handed a stack of documents to her. “That’s right. We won’t do promotions anymore. The remaining budget will all be used for charity.”


  Han Xianyu nodded and said, “That’s a good idea.”


  Ye Wanwan said, “Brother Yang has more experience with this, so I’ll have to trouble Brother Yang to help me out.”


  Fei Yang quickly said. “Not a problem.”


  Ye Wanwan’s gaze swept over everyone. “For this segment, there’s only one thing that everyone needs to do—be steady.”


  Then Ye Wanwan purposefully looked at Gong Xu. “Gong Xu especially, don’t go crazy.”


  Chapter 1142: A wooden club that’s breaking apart an affectionate couple

  Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

  “The time we have now isn’t bad for you. You can allow yourself to settle. Do more charity, read more books, learn more things, enrich yourself. Do you hear me?” Ye Wanwan said with concern.

  Gong Xu dispiritedly slapped the table and said as though he was on his last breath, “Go crazy… I have no energy… I can’t see Brother Ye in female clothes… What meaning is there to my life…”


  Ye Wanwan: “…”


  Can’t his life… be less boring? Can’t he do something more meaningful?

  When Han Xianyu heard that, he shook his head and chuckled out loud. However, his face looked a little relieved.

  “There’s also my Little Candied Plum. Ah, my Little Candied Plum… Why is our love so perilous…” Gong Xu peered resentfully at Ye Wanwan. “Brother Ye, I don’t like you anymore! Do you know what you look like right now?”


  Ye Wanwan asked, “What?”


  “A wooden club! A wooden club that’s breaking apart an affectionate couple!”


  Ye Wanwan: “…”


  “If you wore a dress for me, I’d reluctantly forgive you!”


  “No need to be so reluctant. Thanks.”


  Yao Jiawen pondered over it and realized this was all they could do.

  If a little company didn’t have any background and was intentionally bullied by a large company, nearly every step forward would be strenuous.

  Yao Jiawen said, “Now, all that we can hope is for?A Life and Death Struggle?to make it to the finals of the Golden Orchid Awards. We have two male leads, so either one who qualifies will contribute to our reputation at least…”


  Otherwise, not only would they lose money, but they also wouldn’t gain any reputation.

  Although they knew in their hearts that?A Life and Death Struggle’s?topic was advantageous for obtaining an award, it wouldn’t be good if they didn’t win the award even if they made it to the finals.

  Yao Jiawen actually didn’t really understand Ye Bai’s thought process.

  With Gong Xu and Luo Chen’s popularity, if they changed the film into a school drama and went the idol drama route, their box office performance wouldn’t be so awful even with a large company suppressing them. At least they wouldn’t lose money.

  Although Ye Bai was truly capable, he was too new to the industry, so he was too idealistic sometimes.

  Perhaps Ye Bai really did do this for Luo Chen and Gong Xu’s benefit to help them transform their image and didn’t want them to excessively exhaust their popularity, limiting themselves to earning money quickly. However, Ye Bai underestimated the cruelty of the market and the ability of big companies.

  Although Ye Bai managed to obtain Xu Lin’s script, he offended Emperor Sky, so the gains hadn’t made up for the losses.

  Currently, the company’s funding chain was very tight and completely relied on this film to recover.

  If this film crashed and burned, it’d be questionable whether the company could continue to operate…


  “Jiawen, arrange the upcoming schedule,” Ye Wanwan instructed.

  Yao Jiawen returned to the present and quickly nodded. “Okay!”


  …


  In the following period, films from big companies were all being promoted and shown in theaters like wildfire. Meanwhile, Ye Wanwan took Luo Chen and Gong Xu to silently do charity work, going to mountainous regions to visit the children or to military bases to express their appreciation for the veterans. They completely transformed their original promotion schedule to perform charity and public welfare activities.

  When Ye Wanwan learned that the Golden Orchid Awards nominated both Luo Chen and Gong Xu for Best Actor, she was with Gong Xu and Luo Chen and was chatting with a few veterans on some mountain.

  As Gong Xu stared at his phone, his downcast face finally emitted an array of brilliant, eye-catching colors. “Ahahahahaha! Brother Ye! Brother Ye! I was nominated for the Golden Orchid Awards’ Best Actor!”


  Ye Wanwan looked at the list of nominations sent by Ye Mufan. “Calm down. It’s just a nomination.”