Zhou Lan said, "Zheng Xiaowen also said this is the new-season piece they’re about to launch, and they hope you can wear it."

Zhou Yun thought for a moment and said, "How about this: I wear V’s dress on the red carpet, then change into VX’s dress when I go inside for the awards ceremony. What do you think?"

"That works." Zhou Lan nodded and said, "You’re also going on stage tomorrow night to present Best Actor. With that appearance, VX should be satisfied too."

"Then let’s do that," Zhou Yun said.

Zhou Lan said, "I’ll go talk to the two brands. At noon you’re having lunch with He Yong—how about I skip that one."

"You’re not coming?" Zhou Yun asked in surprise. "Why?"

Zhou Lan said, "I’m guessing He Yong has something he wants to tell you. I’d better avoid being there."

Zhou Yun said, "If he has something to tell me, shouldn’t you all the more be there with me?"

"I’m guessing this time it might be related to personnel changes at the group level," Zhou Lan said. "I heard HQ wants to set up an overseas management department. They might parachute in a VP in charge of overseas management. Officially it’s just ’VP’, but it’ll be a separate business line running parallel to He Yong."

When Zhou Yun heard that, she was a bit surprised. "Doesn’t that mean they’re going to carve off part of He Yong’s business scope?"

"And a very important part at that. Mainly because more and more of your work now comes from overseas, and Xiao Jing has basically been working in the United States for the past half year. The overseas work for the two of you makes up a big chunk of the company’s revenue." Zhou Lan said, "Once HQ realized this was a big piece of fat, of course they’d want to keep pushing while they’re ahead." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Zhou Yun said, "Then why not just let He Yong handle it directly? His performance over the past few years has been impressive."

"Some people at HQ don’t want Chengqian Entertainment to become He Yong’s one-man show. You know this too—right now Chengqian Entertainment is basically whatever He Yong says it is." Zhou Lan said, "Especially after Wei Ru Xue left at the end of her contract, he quickly built you, Xiao Jing, and Xu Siyao into three leading actresses. I also poached Yuk Chu over; he broke out with Deep Sea. On the actors’ side, even though Li Ci is a bit past his peak, Zhang Mo, whom He Yong signed, has very strong momentum—his acting and word of mouth are highly recognized in the circle. Some people want to stick their hands into Chengqian Entertainment’s business, but this place is already a sealed iron barrel. No one can get in."

"If someone does manage to reach in and takes away the overseas management segment, wouldn’t that basically mean this VP could actually manage all the artists?" Zhou Yun immediately caught the crux of it. "Which is to say, He Yong would no longer hold control over the core artists."

"Exactly." Zhou Lan said, "I’m guessing He Yong asked you to lunch at noon to talk about this. You’re the artist in all of Chengqian Entertainment with the most overseas work and highest overseas income. He has to unite with you if he wants any chance of killing this plan."

"How do we kill it?"

"Your opinion carries a lot of weight." Zhou Lan said, "You’ve already set up your own studio. In practice, your work is no longer under Chengqian Entertainment’s control. But I handle Wang Jing and Yuk Chu, and also Huang Zicheng and Lu Zhongting. The artists under me all have overseas business. If you don’t support this change, HQ will have to factor in your stance. Honestly, a lot of the overseas work for Chengqian Entertainment’s overseas artists now all leaks out through our line. On their own, they wouldn’t be able to land overseas jobs."

"Really?"

"One top-tier artist can bring in a huge amount of resources." Zhou Lan said, "You know this: if it weren’t for you, there’s no way Xiao Jing would have gotten so many top overseas brand deals."

"Yeah, that I know. But Xiao Jing also pulled her weight. She did really well in Behind the Scenes, and she was lucky too—she happened to catch Behind the Scenes doing an Oscar run in the United States. She was willing to put in that much time and effort to do the PR circuit. I heard Xiao Jing is doing quite well in the States now too?"

"It’s all about knowing people." Zhou Lan said, "That’s beside the point. The key is still our attitude. If we don’t support this decision from HQ, He Yong will have a lot of room to maneuver."

Zhou Yun nodded.

"So what’s your take?"

"We’ve already aligned with He Yong on a lot of things and we’re familiar with him. If another person comes in to stir the pot, no one knows what Chengqian’s structure will look like going forward. If I have a choice, of course I’d rather not see the current situation change."