Chapter 49: Job Hunting Online via Blog

The noisy clamor fell silent.

The entire Hong Kong entertainment circle was plunged into a dead silence.

The frenzied fans scurried about, barking wildly in the comment sections like beaten dogs.

They posted laughable remarks such as, "A minor box office loss isn't a real loss," "Doing business involves both profits and risks," and "My idol gave it his all."

The film industry is ruthlessly pragmatic; if you deliver every single time, I will support you every single time.

However, once you rack up losses for three consecutive times, no normal investor will ever give you another chance.

The sense of superiority possessed by Hong Kong and Taiwan artists was granted by their once-glorious history.

Now that this fig leaf had been violently ripped away, their battered and scarred résumés could hardly boast any commercial value.

Without any commercial value, could Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers still be treated as honored guests everywhere they went, just like before?

Advertisers gave the answer.

Commercial negotiations with multiple Hong Kong and Taiwan artists were abruptly suspended, and their endorsed rates plummeted drastically.

This bloodless, fatal article acted like an invisible giant hand, dragging these people down from unearned pedestals and back to the positions they truly belonged to.

Xiaoyuan ran excitedly into the lounge where Xu Ming was resting.

"Brother Ming, [See You Monday] has published their article."

"I know."

Xu Ming nodded, wearing an indifferent expression.

Given this timing, Xiaoyuan would never believe that he had nothing to do with [See You Monday].

"Then, according to what you said earlier, after their performance, is it our turn to take the stage?" Xiaoyuan probed tentatively.

Earlier, when she had logged into her own blog account to support Xu Ming, she had been scolded and forced to flee in panic.

Now that she finally saw a glimmer of hope for a comeback, she was naturally eager to sound the horn of counterattack.

"Of course. By the way, contact Sohu Entertainment and have them reserve media resources. In a couple of days, we'll start promotional campaigns tied to the serialization of the novel *Love Is Not Blind*," Xu Ming said as if remembering something.

"Got it," Xiaoyuan replied.

As soon as she stepped out of the lounge, she immediately found a computer and opened her blog.

Sure enough, after refreshing three or four times, she spotted her boss's comment.

[Big Bro Xu Ming: Hey bosses, look this way. Low maintenance, high efficiency, and incredible cost-effectiveness. Available for commercial performances, endorsements, advertisements, film and television projects, and all sorts of events. For details, please email 1xxx.]

Isn't this my own email address?

Xiaoyuan felt a sudden darkness cloud her vision, as if foreseeing her miserable life as a corporate beast for the coming week.

[Fan Fan's Face Fan: Haha, is this online job hunting? So interesting.]

[Master Benshan: May I ask if the aforementioned Fan refers to Teacher Fan Wei?]

[Dongchen Yipin: Our company is currently scouting for performers for an opening ceremony celebration. We've decided to recommend you.]

[ Xiuqin, Open Fire!: Our company is also discussing spokespersons. Xu Ming's image feels quite approachable, so we'd love to give it a try. Email sent.]

The next second, Xu Ming's reply appeared right underneath that user's comment.

[Big Bro Xu Ming: I've sent my manager's phone number to you via private message. You can contact her directly.]

What the heck? Did this online job hunt actually succeed?

Did he really have to play it like this?

Netizens watching the fun couldn't wait for things to get bigger. One after another, they popped up to declare that their own companies were also hiring spokespersons, hoping to get a private contact method.

Although Xu Ming stopped replying, this grand spectacle stirred the ambitions of other onlookers in the entertainment circle.

[Xiao Shenyang: This is Xiao Shenyang. My representative works include *My Good Brother*, *My Name Is Xiao Shenyang*, and *Super Superstar*. Available for commercial performances, endorsements, advertisements, film and television projects, and all sorts of events. Email 1xxx.]

[Xiao Songjia: Dear investors, my cost-effectiveness is even higher. If you have any film or television auditions, please definitely consider me. Email 1xxx.]

[Guo Jingfei: I'm different. If you pay enough, I'll do whatever you want. My email is 1xxx.]

Some of them joined in to support Xu Ming, while others held a wait-and-see attitude.

To their surprise, they actually started receiving inquiries for events.

After all, many companies had substantial demands for commercial performances; it was just that previously, they had to go through intermediaries to reach the artists.

Now, right under the blog of [See You Monday], the middlemen were bypassed entirely, preventing them from skimming profits off the top.

This drove even more mainland artists into a frenzy.

At present, the domestic artist management market was not yet mature, which was evident from how candidly many stars spoke on the internet in the early days.

It was only later, after the artist management models of Japan and South Korea were introduced, that stars' public platform accounts were entirely taken over by talent agencies.

Ninety percent of the time, the star replying to you wasn't actually themselves.

Yang Yan, Da Mimi, Liu Shishi, and other mainland artists all stepped forward, including currently surging stars like Ren Quan and Deng Chao.

Even Han Han, a veteran internet celebrity on the blogosphere, popped up to make an appearance.

This truly turned into a carnival for mainland filmmakers and capital.

It was very simple: resources within the circle were limited. The more the Hong Kong and Taiwan artists seized, the less the mainlanders got to consume.

Cooperation was cooperation, but when it came time to strike, they wouldn't pull their punches either.

Previously, most companies held the mindset of trading market access for technology, believing that Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers possessed more mature commercial acumen.

Yet once [See You Monday] stripped away their facades, they discovered that a large portion of them were merely freeloaders.

Conversely, mainland China was overflowing with talent. If they didn't make their move now, when would they?

In the previous life, it wasn't until after 2012 that mainland capital propped up post-75s actors like Huang Xiaoming and Deng Chao, alongside post-80s actresses like Huang Shengyi, Liu Yifei, Yang Mi, and Wang Luodan, before truly sounding the horn of counterattack.

As for why the male and female actors were separated by a generation, it was naturally due to official regulations requiring co-productions between the two regions to feature a mainland actor as the lead.

After careful deliberation, the Hong Kong and Taiwan sides chose to monopolize the male lead roles, inadvertently leaving development space for mainland actresses such as the Four Dan Actresses and Two Juliets.

Now, this had been advanced by a full three years.

It could be said that mainland filmmakers had suffered under the dominance of the Hong Kong and Taiwan circles for far too long.

On their own home turf, they still had to act like inferior grandsons—who could possibly stomach that?

"Crawling bugs coming out of a mere speck of land, did you really think you were dragons crossing the river?"

Listening to the continuous stream of popping notifications on his computer, Xu Ming softly hummed to himself: "Today, we ordinary folks are truly, oh truly happy~"

He hummed all the way to the office area where Xiaoyuan sat, only to find his assistant staring at a mountain of emails with a splitting headache.

Without needing to think, there were definitely prank emails mixed in among the netizens' messages, and she would have to screen through them several times just to filter out the valid ones.

Xu Ming quietly retreated. Never mind, he might as well contact Sohu Entertainment himself.

He made a phone call right away: "Leak some information out and have media reporters stake out the downstairs of my apartment building in Beijing."

"Don't ask why; you'll understand when the time comes. Anyway, it's for promoting our movie. Charge it to the promotional budget."

After hanging up, Xu Ming dialed Xiao Songjia's number.

"Come to Beijing to find me tomorrow. We need to coordinate on movie promotion."

"But the company has already arranged promotional schedules for *On His Majesty's Secret Service*," Xiao Songjia said.

"Don't worry, just come over directly. Wong Jing probably won't have the bandwidth for promotion these next few days anyway. If your company has any objections, tell him to call me," Xu Ming scoffed.

Come to think of it, Orange Sky Entertainment was also a close partner of the Hong Kong and Taiwan circles.

With the knife he was about to plunge in, he was probably going to pierce straight through Orange Sky as well.