The Martial Artist Turned Movie Mogul-Chapter 719 - 718. Is it a case of "Li dai tao jiang"?

"Vast Entertainment’s Righteous Celebration, Guests Overwhelm!"

"Mu Ziwei Graces the Red Carpet, the Most Dazzling Goddess Among the Crowd!"

"Imperial City International Hotel Gathers Nearly Half of the Entertainment Industry, Every One a Big Shot—"

"XXX’s Red Carpet Look, Outshines Everyone Present!"

...

The next day, news about the Imperial City Hotel’s celebration was flying all over the place, and marketing accounts and short videos were scrambling to cash in on the popularity. Netizens who had been interested in the event eagerly clicked to join the excitement, bringing a massive influx of traffic to websites.

Marketing accounts had their eyes wide open; with such hot trending topics, what were they waiting for?

Hurry up and write about it!

That’s traffic, which is to say, money!

Various media outlets rushed out explanations about last night’s event, spending reams of text describing the outrageously opulent celebration. Every star that had attended was dug up, with photos of actresses in their dresses arranged in a variety of grids, making the scene look like a beauty pageant.

Netizens, carrying their love for juicy gossip, read article after article, utterly astounded.

"F*ck, was the event really that awesome? I’m not well-read and haven’t seen much of the world, so don’t you guys deceive me—"

"Did the editor use all the exaggeration techniques taught by our Chinese teacher? Look at these comparisons, look at these modifiers, tsk tsk!"

"This makes me itch with curiosity. Was there no live-streaming web celebrity who sneaked in or something? It would have been great for broadening our horizons!"

"Above, you’re thinking too small. Why watch web celebrity live streams? You can become a web celebrity and get in there yourself, hahaha!"

Everyone: "..."

Is there something not quite right mixed in here?

Netizens have different points of focus, some like to scrutinize celebrities, and naturally, some are intrigued by the ordinary-looking attendees.

"emmmm, so many business tycoons? All big sharks in the capital circle!"

"Damn, isn’t that pot-bellied man the boss of some corporation? He’s worth billions and actually got invited by Vast Entertainment???"

Of course, the biggest standout at the celebration was naturally the protagonist Mu Ziwei.

"It looks like Mu Ziwei’s momentum is strong, are there any female stars in the entertainment industry more awesome than her?"

"None, goddess is awesome!"

"She has reached the pinnacle of life—"

The buzz continued for three to four days until it began to die down on the fifth day after the celebration. Vast Entertainment briefly became the most dazzling agency in the circle, even the press releases of other artists noticeably increased.

During these days, Wang Zheng, as Mu Ziwei’s agent, kept his phone on 24 hours a day.

According to the conventions of the entertainment industry, after a star shoots to fame, countless invitations will flood in, from product endorsements to television and movie scripts.

However...

Over the past few days, having only received a few calls from drama productions, Wang Zheng gradually realized something was wrong.

"Why are there so few calls? This is too unscientific."

So far, he had only received calls for two endorsements and four TV drama lead roles. This number was even fewer than what he’d received before the fire, which was completely illogical.

"Could there be a problem with my mobile number? Has it been marked by some anti-fraud app?"

A thoroughly baffled Wang Zheng, had even come up with such a messy reason, but still no one could clear up his confusion.

What was even more astonishing was that he had noticed another strange phenomenon: whenever he walked through the Vast Entertainment office, he always felt that the looks he got from a few colleagues were somewhat off.

However, when Wang Zheng asked casually, every single person had a secretive air about them, with not a single useful word being divulged to him.

It was too strange.

This state of affairs continued for several days until one day Mu Ziwei posted a new update on Weibo.

[Mu Ziwei VIP: Let me introduce everyone to my new manager. Also, thanks to Brother Zheng for his companionship over all these years, we are still good friends @Manager Wang Zheng...]

The content of the Weibo post was quite simple: it meant that she had changed managers.

Even though Mu Ziwei was a big star, such a minor matter as changing a manager did not cause much commotion on the internet; after all, it was nothing attention-grabbing for the public.

In comparison, what Mu Ziwei had for lunch was more interesting.

However, for everyone in the industry, this brief message caused a huge stir, and the WeChat groups of major managers exploded with shocked and mocking comments.

"Holy shit! Mu Ziwei changed her manager? Wang Zheng is the ace of Vast Entertainment!"

"Exactly, how could she change managers at such a critical time when she’s so popular? Clearly, there was a falling out!"

"I’m just curious, what exactly happened between the two of them?"

"There must be some turmoil within Vast Entertainment, but to speak the truth, now that Mu Ziwei is going international, most of Wang Zheng’s resources are in the domestic market, so he really can’t be of much help."

"LOL, after all the hard work Wang Zheng has put in over the years, finally making a big star, she just dumps him like that?"

"Walking too many nights catches up with you, doesn’t it? He was always too arrogant——"

As the saying goes, outsiders love a good show, insiders look for the strategy, and many people began to analyze covertly upon seeing the news.

Could it be that Wang Zheng offended the top brass at Vast Entertainment?

Or maybe Mu Ziwei was casting off the old for a better option?

The speculations among the managers were colorful and imaginative, as they all concocted one dramatic scenario after another.

When Wang Zheng himself saw this message, he was first stunned on the spot for a long while before a series of images started rising in his mind, and he was on the verge of exploding with anger on the spot.

"Mu Ziwei... well played!"

No wonder she had been interacting with other people that day at the celebration; she had already made her plans. No wonder these past few days his peers had looked at him with a touch of strangeness, no wonder he hadn’t received several endorsement calls; they had all gone to someone else!

He had been made a scapegoat!

Suddenly, Wang Zheng thought of something and shot up from his seat towards his office. When he opened his computer and found he could no longer find the file folder with Mu Ziwei’s information, he finally understood where her confidence came from.

"Heh, do you think that by deleting the files on the computer, you can rest easy?"

Even after being in the entertainment industry for so long, she was still so naive!

***

When Wang Zheng came to Mu Ziwei, armed with a printed "file," the Du Corporation had finally managed to analyze the composition of the Anti-Reduction Ointment.

However, they encountered another problem.

"President Du, I can only identify eleven types of medicinal herbs in it, but I suspect this Anti-Reduction Ointment must be made from at least fifteen varieties," a white-haired, lab-coat-wearing elder reported to Du An in the laboratory of Du Pharmaceutical.