Cute story about romance in the c-ent industry. It was enjoyable reading about how rival after rival tried to take down Li Zhao and all went down in flames after Yan Ting found out about them and got involved. This book does make me wonder if c-ent culture is as toxic and cutthroat as it's described here, like fans of different actors engaging in online wars, hiring water armies to blacken other artists based on gossip and hearsay, etc. Based on my limited experience with the world of c-ent, I'm guessing it is....
I actually didn't like either of the main characters much at the beginning. Li Zhao seemed a bit overly naive (he thought Song Yu was helping him by ordering him so much food when Song Yu was just trying to make him fat lol), while Yan Ting was not in a good place mentally. I much rather prefer the people they became after meeting each other.
Overall their relationship wasn't the most interesting part of the story for me. Rather, the highlight was watching how all of Zhao Zhao's rivals either start hugging his thigh or are taken down by Yan Ting and the financial might of Cang Huan. First there's Song Yu, who quickly converted into Zhao Zhao's "friend" when he realized which direction the was blowing. And then there was Xu Bei, which did his best to steal Zhao Zhao's roles and smear his reputation. Then where was a brief appearance by Qiao Jing, who in her ignorance angered Yan Ting so much not just her but her dad had to pay by stepping down as company head. There are a couple more actors whose names I don't remember, but they all made the same mistake of messing with Zhao Zhao and it felt so satisfying to read about them getting their just desserts.
I also loved the CPs the author thrown in there and how Zhao Zhao ends up paired with so many people. There's not just Cang Li and Yu Li, but also a Zhai Li (referring to Zhao Zhao's good relationship with his two house demolished friend). What was especially amusing to me was that the Cang Li and Zhai Li fans were fighting between themselves, not realizing they were supporting the same CP. And the fact that Yan Ting paid money to suppress the Li Yu supertopic on Weibo and to promote his own CP with Zhao Zhao.... I died!!!
Here are some quotes from the story I found hilarious:
Soon, the story of the Cang Li CP started to circulate among the netizens. Painters started to make many cute pieces for this CP and the limelight completely suppressed that of the Li Yu CP who had their super topic blocked.
The Li Yu fans, “??”
There wasn’t even a photo of the boss of Canghuan, let alone Li Zhao being in the same frame as him. What were these CP fans doing? The love story of the domineering president and the beautiful star? Oh, superficial. Their Xiao Yu was also a rich second generation.
“Sir.” Qin Xiao sent a screenshot of the popular Cang Li CP Weibo post to Yan Ting. “On the Internet, the degree of discussion about you and Mr Li is already very high.”
Yan Ting saved the screenshot. "Control public opinion so that everyone knows this is just a brain hole and isn't actually real. Don't let it affect Zhao Zhao's professional development."
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This year, he went out with Ting Ting and deliberately didn’t hide in. However, in the eyes of the media and netizens, they had always been good brothers and there was nothing to do with dating.
Only the CP fans silently ate sugar but between the Cang Li CP fans and the Chai (demolition) Li CP fans, there were frequent arguments. This made the secretly watching Li Zhao laugh and cry.
The same was true for today’s popular comments area.
“Cang Li fans, don’t be ashamed. The one that Zhao Zhao mentions the most is his demolition tyrant friend. As for the boss you are imagining, who knows what he looks like or what his relationship is with Zhao Zhao. Haven’t you read stories of overbearing presidents?”
“Perhaps Zhao Zhao didn’t mention Canghuan’s boss to prevent him from falling into public opinion. Chai Li fans, don’t you know? Didn’t the boss of Canghuan attend the annual meeting last year for Zhao Zhao? It is said that he has never participated in the annual meeting before but last year, he made an exception for Zhao Zhao.”
“Are the Cang Li fans crazy? Is Zhao Zhao the only one who participated in the annual meeting last year?”
The All Li fans: Don’t quarrel, don’t quarrel. Perhaps the demolition tyrant and Canghuan’s boss are the same person?”
Cang Li fans: Get lost!
Chai Li fans: Get lost!
The All Li fans: …
What was this attitude? Couldn’t they be a bit friendly?
The Li fans watching the entire thing, “……”
Please pay attention to Zhao Zhao’s upcoming movie! This was obviously a touching brotherhood. What strange things were these people making up?