Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 691: The Woman Who and Liu Rulan Never Cross Paths - An Laijia

Just as Qiu Zhenlong issued such an impersonal order to Xiao He, the other actors around him also subtly cast pitying glances toward the young man in the center.

Tsk, I wonder what exactly Xiao He did to piss off Director Chou... It feels like Director Chou's attitude toward Xiao He has always been terrible...

Actually, this wasn't the first time Director Chou had spoken to Xiao He so harshly.

As early as the script reading session a few days ago, Qiu Zhenlong had already very seriously warned Xiao He that the script reading was extremely important, that their "Imperial Enterprise" production team would be using on-location audio recording, and that they absolutely, definitely would not find another post-production dubbing actor for Xiao He. So the lines that needed to be memorized had to be memorized. If there were any issues, it would only waste everyone's time on set.

And if even Xiao He, the protagonist, wasn't allowed to use a dubbing actor, then naturally, the others would receive the same treatment.

But singling out Xiao He specifically to say this was indeed a bit strange.

That was also why basically everyone in the production team knew Director Chou had a problem with Xiao He.

What was confusing, though, was that if Director Chou was dissatisfied with Xiao He, why had he still chosen Xiao He to be the male lead?

There had clearly been so many final candidates. If Director Chou wasn't happy with Xiao He, he could have swapped the selection at any time...

While the others were confused, Xiao He, the party involved, didn't show much of a reaction. Instead, he nodded very seriously with a composed demeanor, neither arrogant nor impatient: "Alright, Director Chou."

Instantly, the others felt a surge of respect.

Xiao He's temperament was really good! He wasn't even a little bit angry!

---

"Director Chou seems to have quite an opinion about your artist."

In an empty spot off to the side, He Wenming crossed his arms, half-jokingly and half-warningly saying, "Didn't you get someone to feel out the situation?"

"What's there to feel out?"

Liu Rulan also crossed her arms, shifting her weight onto one leg in a completely indifferent manner. "Since they've already asked us to act, whatever's going on inside the production team isn't our business anymore."

Besides, Qiu Zhenlong's current behavior hadn't actually had any real negative impact on Xiao He. On the contrary, it seemed more like a setup to help Xiao He build momentum. If Xiao He couldn't handle those demands, then naturally, he'd be the one embarrassed. But if Xiao He accepted them all and completed the tasks smoothly, then Xiao He's authority within the production team would be instantly established.

After all, there were plenty of actors on this set who prided themselves on being veteran actors with seniority. Xiao He, as the young emperor, had to outshine them all, and that was definitely no easy task.

Instead, Director Chou had set up a "coronation ceremony" scene right at the start of filming, having Xiao He directly "ascend the throne" and play the emperor, suppressing everyone's pride from the very beginning and making them "kneel in submission"...

From a certain angle, Director Chou was actually helping Xiao He, giving him a push to establish his authority on set from the get-go.

So, faced with Xiao He's current situation, Liu Rulan wasn't the least bit worried.

She was even somewhat pleased to see it.

He Wenming also understood Liu Rulan's calm logic. He leaned back and chuckled, "You really aren't worried at all about Xiao He not living up to Director Chou's 'special affection'."

"After all these years, he's got at least that much ability."

Liu Rulan waved her hand casually, shifting her gaze from Xiao He in the center of the set. Her eyes passed through the crowd and locked straight onto a corner on the other side of the set.

Another agent besides them was standing there in the shadows, watching the actors on set without saying a word.

"That she got poached by Yun Ziqi to be his agent doesn't surprise me."

Liu Rulan wasn't worried about her artist at all; instead, she turned the topic to that agent.

She looked at that woman and couldn't help but let out a disdainful snort. "What do you think he's thinking? Could he really be trying to bring in an agent with dirty tricks and still have designs on stealing the lead role?"

He Wenming's gaze naturally followed hers, and then he let out a wistful sigh. "She actually did come. I'd only heard about it before; this is my first time seeing her in person."

The person they were looking at right now was none other than Yun Ziqi's new agent, An Laijia.

As agents, they knew a bit more about her than the artists did.

The reason An Laijia had ended up like this went back to an old incident from her days in the Korean entertainment industry. But honestly, it was what she deserved—

If the domestic entertainment industry back then was still an underdeveloped, fertile market, then the Korean entertainment industry of the past—and even now—was a hunting ground where people killed without blinking. Especially within girl groups, internal competition was like a miniature society detached from the law, filled with terrifyingly vicious rivalry.

The waters there were deep, so deep that you could never imagine the things they'd do, but they'd do them anyway.

As for the origin of it all, it started with An Laijia making the first move to harm others: the situation wasn't complicated. She used hormone drugs to sabotage her competitors.

But she probably never expected to mess with the wrong people. In the end, she was the one who got screwed over even worse, fleeing in disgrace and being forced to move to China to find another way out... When it comes to the past, if you had to say it, no one was really a good person. An Laijia was both victim and perpetrator.

So she didn't go after the people from back then for payback. Instead, she took hush money, became an agent, and rode the wave of idol culture rising in China at the time. She came back to the country, partnered with an entertainment company, established a new girl group, and smoothly used that group's development to become a red-hot top-notch agent in the industry.

Her path was purely a marketing route for idols. The girl group she managed had internal competition that was almost a one-to-one copy of the old Korean groups. Even though she was once one of the victims of those mechanisms and rules, she now reveled in it. She couldn't be happier to see her girl group members and their respective fans tearing into each other, stirring up everyone's wild side and driving the fans to spend like crazy on charts.

Within their fan community, there was a big fight every three days, a small one every two days, and the remaining days were spent bickering internally... It was a complete mess of terror.

In the end, the girl group disbanded in less than three years. But An Laijia had already taken her favored prospects and gone solo, establishing a new studio. Then she squeezed every last drop of value out of the old girl group, making her favorites climb up by stepping on others, shamelessly feeding on blood money.

It's no exaggeration to say this woman's methods were dirty and ruthless. Even Liu Rulan had to admit, some of the things she'd done were beyond her.

Fortunately, because their artists operated in different fields—Liu Rulan mainly handled actors, while An Laijia handled idol singers—there were rarely conflicts of interest. So the two sides had always maintained a delicate state of never crossing paths.

The other agents in the industry had all heard about An Laijia's deeds and were quite wary of her.

After all, who in this circle didn't want a good reputation?

If you got bitten by this woman, it'd be a wound filled with garbage—red and yellow, cut it and it hurts, wash it and it's filthy, leaves a scar, and still disgusts you.

So, whenever anyone saw this crazy woman, they defaulted to steering clear of her.