Chapter Ninety-Seven: Welcome Li Xiangyu on Board!

Lin Ze had only just replied when the other side answered almost instantly.

“Ah! Brother Lin, you finally got back to me!”

“No, no, that’s not it at all. After I lost to you last time, didn’t the company launch that trainee camp? There were tons of people with my exact image. The company felt the cost of rebranding me was too high, so they decided to put me on ice.”

Li Xiangyu typed so quickly that before Lin Ze had even finished reading, another message had already come through.

“Brother, take me in. Look, you’re just going head-to-head with Eastern Emperor Entertainment, and then I’m defecting to your side. Anyone who sees that will think...”

That did make some sense.

Lin Ze thought it over and asked the most important question right now.

“Can you handle being cursed at?”

...

“Li Xiangyu! Isn’t this betrayal? How could you jump to the enemy side?”

“What are you even thinking? Look at how badly Zhang Yang has already been suppressed. How could you bear to go over to the enemy?”

“Which company is it that built you up from nothing? Whose popularity did you borrow to get where you are today? Li Xiangyu, you can’t forget your roots when you’re a person!”

“Stop saying that. Internet celebrities have short lifespans to begin with. Don’t you remember that other one from Eastern Emperor Entertainment? He’s been shelved for three or four years already.”

“Exactly. If there weren’t some hardship behind it, who would want to leave?”

The internet was in an uproar.

Anyone could see that Lin Ze was now at war with Eastern Emperor Entertainment, but one of their second-tier stars had defected?

Whether it was Zhang Yang’s fans or Li Xiangyu’s own, all of them were baffled by his choice.

Fans would not ask why a second-tier celebrity would throw everything away at a time like this and switch sides. They would only ask why Li Xiangyu had not stood with Eastern Emperor Entertainment to the very end.

“What?”

In the office, Zhang Huai suddenly slammed his phone to the floor. The moment it hit, it split into three pieces.

“How dare he run over to Lin Ze’s side? How dare he!”

It had already been a rare, satisfying few days. A man with absolutely no economic value had suddenly decided to terminate his contract, and now he would have to pay a hefty penalty fee.

How glorious that was. And yet...

And yet how could he dare go to Lin Ze of all people!

And he hadn’t even discussed it with anyone first. He just quit on the spot?

“He can’t be kept, right? A guy like that... what use is he? Lin Ze, you absolutely must not take him.”

Zhang Huai’s mind churned with thoughts, and then an idea surfaced.

“Lin Ce and the others are definitely on guard against corporate spies right now. If I show support for Li Xiangyu at this moment, then the fledgling outfit over at Lin Ze’s side may not be willing to take such a risk...”

Zhang Huai felt a little conflicted. He desperately wanted the fans to tear that traitorous little brat Li Xiangyu to shreds.

But at the same time, he did not want Li Xiangyu to defect to the enemy.

If Lin Ze really accepted him, would that not be the same as slapping himself in the face?

If he wanted that slap to stop ringing so loudly, there was only one way: quietly belittle Li Xiangyu and paint Lin Ze as a scavenger who picked through scraps...

If that happened, Lin Ze might really decide not to take Li Xiangyu after all.

Mm...

The more Zhang Huai thought about it, the more satisfied he became. This plan was a superb strike to the heart.

Pleased with himself, he could not help praising his own cleverness. Then he opened his computer and began hammering out a long post on the keyboard.

“Farewell to Li Xiangyu:

We have walked together for many years, from utter obscurity to a little bit of fame today, and we have both grown so much. Lately, your popularity has slipped somewhat.

You are anxious, and so are we. There have been some misunderstandings between us these past few days, but resources at Eastern Emperor Entertainment are treated impartially. In your previous competition, we also gave you opportunities. Whether or not you managed to seize them is another matter...

It does not matter. You are still young, and the sky ahead is still vast. I have no way of helping you grow here, but there will always be somewhere that can. Our old home still hopes you can fly.”

Once this long post went up online, it immediately drew in a wave of fans.

“Li Xiangyu really is impossible to talk to.”

“So Eastern Emperor Entertainment did give him resources after all. He just failed to grab them himself, so he has no one to blame.”

“Li Xiangyu has really lost his mind. If Eastern Emperor Entertainment can’t give you resources anymore, where else could you possibly get them? That tiny little studio of Lin Ze’s?”

“To be honest, Li Xiangyu never had much ability to begin with. He got by on his looks. He’s only barely clinging to second-tier status now, and his buzz can’t even compare to other artists.”

“Even Eastern Emperor Entertainment couldn’t make him hot, which proves he never should have been hot in the first place. You expect Lin Ze to write you one song and make you famous?”

This time, Li Xiangyu really was walking away with nothing, and that was no joke. When he first signed with Eastern Emperor as an artist, the contract he got was pitifully small.

He had worked himself to the bone for years, desperately trying to make money.

Taking commercial bookings, ads, variety shows, even sitting down to meals with clients and sponsors...

But what ended up in his hands amounted to barely over a million.

That included the car and the house.

This time, the car had been bought, and the house sold as well — sold to some of his wealthier fans, and not at an especially low price.

Only then had he barely managed to scrape together enough to pay the termination fee.

Compared with other internet celebrities of the same level, that amount was just a tiny fraction of what they earned.

On top of that, he still had to spend a great deal every year on skin care and body management.

Internet celebrities were, after all, the most profitable kind of star.

Li Xiangyu, who was being cursed at by everyone, also posted all of his bills and bank balance at this very moment.

He even shared the contract he had signed with Eastern Emperor Entertainment back then.

Naturally, someone knowledgeable would come forward to explain those things.

And the highly watched Lin Ze studio also posted on Weibo at this time.

“Welcome Li Xiangyu to join Zelinji Studio.”

“Cut the act. The shows he participated in for that competition were not resources provided by you at all. They were planned by students from Tongyin. What are you pretending for?”

Very good. Lin Ze’s studio was as straightforward as he was.

Many of Li Xiangyu’s old fans also breathed a sigh of relief at that moment.

They did not care whether Li Xiangyu had fallen out with Zhang Yang or with Eastern Emperor Entertainment. They only cared about where Li Xiangyu was going.

Besides, Li Xiangyu had not done anything wrong in the first place.

...

“Ah... another one?” Chang Zheng sat somewhat vexedly on the sofa in the dorm assigned by the studio.

Though he now had a place to live every month, a salary, and nothing to do all day...

He had signed on because he wanted to sing and become famous, after all.

Lying around all day like this was not really an option. It left him uneasy.

What if one day they told him they no longer needed him and sent him packing?

“Haiz, and this one’s young too. He was pretty famous before coming over. They’ll probably arrange songs for him first, then Phoenix Park, and only after that will it be my turn...”