Previously, Jiang Ling had been subjected to nationwide backlash due to Shen Mingjue's affairs. Coincidentally, just when things couldn't get any worse, it was exposed that she had drastically altered a popular danmei IP, triggering a chain reaction.
Huohuajiye Media, seeing that a whitewash was impossible and that Jiang Ling had lost the favor of Shen Mingjue, her major benefactor, ruthlessly abandoned her. They had assumed that after her contract termination, Jiang Ling, lacking any real talent, would be unable to survive in the industry and would ultimately have to retire in disgrace.
Who would have thought that without capital support, Jiang Ling's acting would soar to new heights, effectively slapping them in the face.
The night was deep.
As workers began to leave, the offices of Huohuajiye Media remained brightly lit.
In the conference room.
A group of high-ranking executives sat at their respective seats, their faces grim, looking as though they had just eaten a fly.
As soon as the CEO of Huohuajiye Media entered, he unleashed a torrent of abuse on a balding middle-aged man. This man was Wang Tian, the Deputy General Manager who had called Jiang Ling and forced her contract termination. Because of Wang Tian, Huohuajiye Media had lost such a massive cash cow.
The CEO, disregarding Wang Tian's dignity, berated him in front of all the executives, leaving him utterly disgraced.
"Are you a pig-brained idiot?"
"How dare you drive away such an outstanding artist?"
"Do you know how many people in the industry are now laughing at us for being blind and letting go of a god of wealth?"
"Do you know the colossal loss Jiang Ling's departure has caused our company?"
The CEO's spittle flew as he cursed, directly landing on Wang Tian's face. Wang Tian instinctively started to wipe it, but dared not. He suddenly recalled that when he had called Jiang Ling that day, he had also cursed her in a similar manner. He never imagined that retribution would arrive so swiftly, and that he himself would be subjected to such an onslaught.
The CEO roared, "Jiang Ling was an artist under our company. With a contract in hand for over a decade, she could have secured immense commercial profits for us. Now, you've offended her and driven her away. From now on, every contract she signs will be unrelated to us, and you, you idiot, are the cause of all this!"
It was understandable why the CEO was so furious. Jiang Ling's acting in the role of Tianshan Tonglao had been astonishingly impressive. In the current entertainment industry, the most commercially valuable were traffic stars. Many seasoned actors, after toiling for half their lives, earned perhaps only a fraction of what a traffic star made in a single drama. However, while traffic stars possessed high commercial value, their popularity was difficult to sustain long-term. Without sufficient talent, they were bound to fade.
Precisely because they knew their fame was fleeting, traffic stars would aggressively cash in on their peak popularity. They would accept any bad script as long as the pay was high, aiming to earn enough during this period to last them a lifetime. Honing acting skills requires time. After all, true acting prodigies like Zhou Gongzi, who were seemingly blessed by heaven, were exceptionally rare. The vast majority of skilled actors had spent decades, day after day, painstakingly refining their craft. But traffic stars, focused on quick profits, had no time to hone their acting. The less they practiced, the worse their acting became, the more they were criticized, and the faster they faded. The faster they faded, the more they needed to rush to make money, for they knew that this opportunity wouldn't last. This created a vicious cycle, which was the fundamental reason behind the prevalence of bad films from traffic stars.