Bright Era of China Entertainment

Chapter 787: Harmony and Cooperation
In a private room of a high-end restaurant in Shenzhen, a man in a white plaid shirt is sitting at the dining table, drinking tea from a cup.

He is Li Hong, the chief operating officer of Xinlang Micro Entertainment News Department. He was also the person who replied to Chu Xuan's text message that night and told him the truth about Zhang Shaohan's public opinion incident.

The reason why the two parties have contact information and know each other is that he used to be an assistant to Xinlang Chairman Cao Guowei.

There is a strategic cooperation between Xinlang and Brilliant Times, and the shares of Weiyu held by Brilliant Times will help Cao Guowei secure his position as chairman. Therefore, Cao Guowei has a deep interest bond with Brilliant Times.

Because of this, as the person Cao Guowei trusted most at the time, he naturally had contact with Wang Jinhua and Chu Xuan of Brilliant Times. Most of the time, when Cao Guowei was busy, he would deal with them on his behalf.

Weiyu may go public this year, and once listed, Xinlang's base and size will increase several times.

The larger the interests, the more power disputes there will be.

Ever since Weiyu proposed the plan of merging with Xinlang and going public, Cao Guowei shrewdly placed his cronies at Xinlang into positions at Weiyu headquarters.

Li Hong is one of them. He was assigned to the Micro Entertainment News Department as the chief operator two years ago.

Since Weiyu is the leader in the online media industry, many individual media, corporate media, entertainment reporters, and paparazzi that rely on Weiyu for their career development always sell news or send it to their department for free. Therefore, they have mastered many unknown truths about marketing hype incidents that have occurred across the country.

Certain information or truths are confidential, and the consequences of exposing them at will are very serious. At the very least, you may be fired from the company, and at worst, you may not be able to continue working in this industry.

But who is Chu Xuan? The Brilliant Times behind it is the third largest shareholder of Weiyu. As the boss of Brilliant Times, Chu Xuan can also be said to be the third largest shareholder of Weiyu, which is equivalent to being one of the bosses of Weiyu.

If the boss comes to question you, is there still any question of confidentiality or what is not?

So, that night when Chu Xuan sent him a text message asking him about the public opinion about Zhang Shaohan, he told Chu Xuan the truth without hesitation.

Originally, he thought that Chu Xuan was just asking him because he was curious about the public opinion, but he never expected that Chu Xuan also wanted to help Zhang Shaohan reverse the public opinion!
This... Having worked in the media for so many years, such situations are very rare. He was caught off guard and couldn't understand why Chu Xuan did this.

But no matter what, whether it is because of the close relationship between his boss Cao Guowei and Brilliant Times, his heart as a younger brother is on their side, or because Chu Xuan himself is also his boss, he will follow Chu Xuan's every order.

Now Chu Xuan wants to help Zhang Shaohan reverse public opinion, and needs him to manipulate the media. So he rushed to Shenzhen to meet and have a face-to-face interview with him at Chu Xuan's request.

"Teacher Chen, have you ever done a program like this before?" Li Hong said with a smile, looking at Chen Luyu who was sitting opposite her and the planner of the "Luyu Has an Appointment" column next to her.

Chen Luyu smiled and shook her head slowly.

When she received a call from Chu Xuan a few days ago and explained the situation, she was extremely shocked.

Let Zhang Shaohan appear on "A Date with Luyu"?
Zhang Shaohan knew about it. As a news talk show host, how could she not know about so much negative news?

But why did she let such a negative person appear on her show "A Date with Lu Yu"? Will it cause trouble for her career?

After learning the whole story and the truth about Zhang Shaohan's public opinion, she was shocked again. Was this public opinion deliberately slandering her daughter by her mother? This was a bit beyond her cognition.

She thought about it. This time, Zhang Shaohan had no platform to speak out. If only she, "A Date with Luyu", gave her the stage to prove her innocence, according to what Chu Xuan said, if she successfully helped such a focal figure to clarify, her column team would indeed gain a good reputation, or even a surge in reputation.

If she relied on only one show, it might be difficult to reverse the situation. No matter how good the ratings of "A Date with Luyu" were, they could not compare to the overwhelming heat of public opinion. However, with Chu Xuan's energy, Xinlang Media was added, which made her call it awesome and also approved Chu Xuan's plan.

Chu Xuan's plan was to first appear on a TV program to generate popularity through ratings, and then Xinlang Media would issue a press release based on the popularity to reverse public opinion, thereby leading other media to follow suit and completely erase the negative public opinion.

At first glance, the plan looks simple.

But the former is the top talk show in the country, and the latter is the top media in the country. How to connect the two to cooperate? If there is no big shot to act as a middleman to maintain the relationship, it will be difficult for the two parties to sit at the same table.

Chu Xuan did it. He brought them together so that they could interact with each other and work together. This also gave her a clearer understanding of Chu Xuan's strength.

As for what Chu Xuan said, using this help as a resource exchange, he and Liu Yifei would go on a show and let her be interviewed.

This made her laugh and cry, but it was unnecessary. It made her seem like she was profit-oriented and stingy. If the cooperation with Zhang Shaohan was successful, she would gain a lot.

Essentially, Chu Xuan's plan this time can be said to be a boost to her career development, and he even wants to use himself as a bargaining chip to help her. It's really pure and cute.

However, if it is not pure, who would help an insignificant person?

On this point, she admired Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei very much and looked at them differently.

"Sister Chen, Mr. Li, I've been waiting for a long time."

The door was pushed open, and Chu Xuan, Liu Yifei and their group walked in.

"Chu Xuan, Yi Fei, long time no see."

"Boss Chu, Boss Liu."

Chen Luyu and her program planner, Li Hong and her assistant stood up and greeted them.

Compared with Chen Luyu's normal friendly attitude, Li Hong's attitude added a bit of enthusiasm and he took the initiative to step forward and shook hands with Chu Xuan.

As the matter had to be kept secret, he had gone directly to Cao Guowei to ask for leave before coming, bypassing his superiors. When the boss Cao Guowei heard that it was President Chu who asked him to do something, he approved the leave without saying a word. It can be seen that President Chu holds a very high position in the boss's heart.

He could understand this. Many people didn't know how Longyou came about, but he was very clear about the role Chu Xuan played in Longyou. It was indeed amazing. He first created Weiyu and then Longyou, two money-making beasts. Such a person deserves Cao Guowei's attention and even more his admiration.

And from the perspective of the group's power structure, above him as the operations officer of the news department is the director, above the director is the vice president of the Micro Entertainment Business Group, above the vice president is the president of the business group, above the president of the business group is the general manager of the group, and then there is Chairman Cao Guowei, above the chairman is the board of directors, and above the board of directors is the top-level shareholders' meeting.

In the top-level shareholders' meeting, Brilliant Times is the third in command, or it can be said that Chu Xuan is the third in command, two levels higher than the chairman Cao Guowei.

Under such circumstances, few outsiders knew Cao Guowei's attitude towards Chu Xuan, and some even thought that Cao Guowei and Chu Xuan had nothing to do with each other. Only he, who was close to them, knew the close relationship between the two.

Now Chu Xuan needs his help with something, and as a younger brother, he has Cao Guowei's support. If he also has Chu Xuan's support, his future promotion in Xinlang Group will not be worry-free, but it will also save him a lot of trouble. This is also a consideration of his interests when he came to Shenzhen to follow Chu Xuan's instructions.

"Waiter, the food is ready!" Liu Xiaoli shouted at the door. She had booked this private room, so she took care of it.

"Hello Zhang Shaohan, I'm Chen Luyu, the host of 'Luyu Has an Appointment.'" Chen Luyu greeted Zhang Shaohan.

After Zhang Shaohan sat down with the others, he replied sweetly, "Hello, Teacher Lu Yu, I often watch your show, it's amazing."

She knew the general situation before she came. She knew that Chen Luyu and Mr. Li were here to help her. Together with Chu Xuan, Liu Yifei's family, Zhou Jielun and Chen Zhenrong, it was equivalent to that everyone present was here to help her. Only she and her sister were the audience of the dinner. This made her grateful but also very restrained.

"You two look alike." Chen Luyu glanced at the two sisters and found that they were very similar.

Liu Xiaoli laughed: "How can they not look alike like sisters?"

"Yes." Chen Luyu responded and nodded with a smile: "That's right."

The two middle-aged women talked to each other in an unexpected tacit understanding, which made everyone laugh and also made sisters Zhang Shaohan and Zhang Hanxuan feel a little relaxed.

The waiter served the food very quickly. Perhaps the food had been prepared long ago and was waiting for the call. When Liu Xiaoli said the food was ready, he pushed a cart in within a minute, served the food, and then left.

There was no wine on the table, only drinks and tea. Liu Xiaoli thought that everyone was busy with something to do, and Zhang Shaohan was not in a good condition to drink. Since the parties involved did not drink, there was no point in them, outsiders, drinking, so she did not bring any wine to the table.

"Chu Xuan, Liu Yifei, Aunt Liu, Jie Lun, Teacher Chen, Teacher Lu Yu, Mr. Li, thank you so much, I can't express it in words." Zhang Shaohan stood up with a cup of tea and toasted everyone, and as he spoke he burst into tears again.

"Don't be so polite. If you really want to thank someone, just thank Chu Xuan and Yi Fei. We are just helping out, and they are the ones who really want to help you." Chen Luyu said. It was really distressing to see this girl with tears in her eyes, and her help in this plan was also convenient, and she could also gain a lot of benefits. It was okay to thank her, but he couldn't say thank you to her in front of Chu Xuan and Liu Yi Fei.

"Yes, just thank Mr. Chu and Mr. Liu, we are just acting according to the plan." Li Hong agreed with a gentle expression.

"Chu Xuan..." Zhang Shaohan pointed the teacup at Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei.

Chu Xuan interrupted him immediately after he finished speaking: "Thank you when things finally have a good outcome. Let's eat first. Don't be like this. Seeing you cry makes me want to cry too. Give me some face."

"Hahaha..." Chu Xuan's self-joking made everyone laugh.

Zhang Shaohan couldn't help but burst into tears and raised the corners of his mouth. His favorable impression of Chu Xuan was fully increased. He quickly covered his face with a tissue to wipe away his embarrassment.

Chen Luyu picked up the chopsticks and said, "If I want to go on the show, I need to get the real situation from you, Shaohan. Do you accept it?"

Zhang Shaohan wiped his tears and nodded.

"Tell me your experience in as much detail as possible, and treat me as someone you can confide in. I may listen to your personal privacy, but this will be more beneficial to the presentation of your program. I will not disclose your privacy. Since I am here to help you, I will naturally not harm you."

"During the time when we are getting to know each other, you can tell me anything. I will take some of your words to heart. I won't ask during the recording of the show, so you don't have to say it."

"For example, don't slander your mother, at least not on the show. Maybe we who know the situation understand you, but the audience won't understand after it's spread. You just need to talk about your own experience on the show."

"For the rest, we will issue a press release behind the scenes to help you clarify it in depth."

After all, Chen Luyu is a senior interview host. In choosing to help Zhang Shaohan in this matter, she is also teaching Zhang Shaohan by words and deeds what he should pay attention to.

"Okay." Zhang Shaohan nodded in agreement. Chen Luyu said so much for her own good, which made her feel even warmer.

Li Hong took a bite of food and said, "During the few days when Teacher Chen gets to know you privately, I will also be by your side and listen. I will bring a recorder. I hope you don't mind. I am the operations manager of Xinlang Micro Entertainment's news department. I will pick out the material that is beneficial to you from what you said and write a draft. On the day of the show, I will ask a group of media and Micro Entertainment big Vs to publish the draft and help you prove your name."

"Thank you, Mr. Li. It's all for my own good. How could I mind?" Zhang Shaohan said this, but his expression was a little complicated.

She knew that there were a lot of negative news about her on the mainland's Weiyu, and the Mr. Li in front of her was the person in charge of news operations. Did that mean that the leader who was slandering her was now helping her?
Seeing the subtle changes in her expression, Li Hong smiled bitterly inwardly and guessed a little about Zhang Shaohan's thoughts.

People in their line of work do feel a little unwelcome when they meet someone who knows the business but is not in the same field.

There is no other way, marketing hype and buying hot searches are the platform’s way of accumulating customers and one of its profit sources.

Managing news, collecting materials, and creating hot topics are their main jobs.

Boosting public opinion, arranging hot searches, and raising advertising prices are the unspoken rules of their job.

They are just acting within the rules and that's all they can do.

In fact, they are also very angry when facing some truths.

Take the public opinion about Zhang Shaohan this time for example. They knew internally that this was clearly the result of a false accusation and that Zhang Shaohan was truly pathetic, but they could do nothing but watch and even "aid and abet" him.

If it were any other marketing hype, such as a certain product being amazing or a certain movie being fantastic, such things would tend to become normal in the market. Once people get used to such ideological propaganda, they would just laugh it off and there would be nothing to be sad about.

But the public opinion about Zhang Shaohan is different this time. This is not normal marketing hype, but naked slander and blatant defamation of a person's character.

It would have been fine if they didn't know the truth, but knowing the truth really made their internal staff angry. How could there be such a family? They even didn't let their own daughter go!
However, even though they knew the truth, they were powerless to do anything. They had to arrange for hot searches to boost their clients’ content for the benefit of the group. This was simply disgusting.

But what can be done about it? This is the rule of the entire industry. It is the default after fierce competition in the capital market and the result of interest groups scrambling for profits. They are just workers under this rule.

He is unable to do anything fair due to the limitations of the rules, and he is also unable to do such things due to his limited abilities, but their President Chu can do it. Firstly, he is outside the rules, and secondly, he has connections and capital strength.

Therefore, when he heard that Chu Xuan wanted to reverse public opinion for Zhang Shaohan, he was very supportive deep down in his heart.

For media workers, it is very painful to hold the truth but be unable to make it public.

What Chu Xuan did could relieve him of the torment in this matter, which was also the reason why he came to Shenzhen to obey Chu Xuan.

"Sister Chen, when will Shaohan be on the show?" Liu Yifei asked.

"Wait for two episodes. I'll get to know Shaohan first and put her interview in early May and broadcast it in mid-May." Chen Luyu said, "It just so happens that the public opinion about Shaohan is currently fading, and there will be fewer topics online in a while. At this time when netizens are about to forget, your reversal will be timely and the effect will be better."

"Yes, I agree. I just talked to Teacher Chen and this arrangement is most appropriate." Li Hong took a bite of the food and nodded.

The reason why he agreed was not only because Chen Luyu's plan was indeed very good, but there was another main reason.

The team behind Zhang Shaohan's mother has not completely stopped the hot searches they asked Weiyu to buy, and many media people and media companies that have their own press releases are still benefiting from it. If they are allowed to reverse public opinion at this moment, the media that benefited will not be able to get the final payment.

Moreover, the person who prevented them from receiving the final payment was him, the operations manager of the Micro Entertainment News Department, which made it very difficult to deal with.

Suddenly, he felt a gaze on his face, and when he looked up, he met Chu Xuan's meaningful gaze.

Li Hong was slightly embarrassed, mainly because the look in his smiling eyes was a bit sarcastic, which also told him that Mr. Chu saw through everything.

Zhang Shaohan's mother slandered her daughter, and they were also helping her. Now her daughter herself is the one they are helping. This is really ironic.

What's even more ironic is that Zhang Shaohan's mother stole her daughter's money and took away her daughter's property.

In other words, these media people who have helped to boost public opinion are essentially making money from Zhang Shaohan.

Now, not only do we have to help Zhang Shaohan, but we also have to wait until the media within the faction has made all the dirty money before we can help them. This is really embarrassing to think about.

Even so, which private media outlet in the country has not done something like this?
One moment they are criticizing someone, and the next moment they are praising him after receiving money. This is how people working in the media are, they have no moral principles and only care about profits.

Who decides the distribution of benefits? It is media capital, which is the source of confusion.

So, Mr. Chu, don’t look at me like that, you are also a media capital!

If you want to change one or two things, I absolutely support you. I'm fed up with the world full of false news every day!
(End of this chapter)