SAE CH10

There really were many shrewd people in the entertainment industry. Look at Chen Kele—he was very good at reading the room and understood exactly what Jiang Fanxing’s actions meant.

“Come in and have a seat. It’s not good to stand outside,” Jiang Fanxing, having accepted the money this time, smiled and invited Chen Kele inside.

A good brother coming to visit—even if they were photographed, there was nothing to fear. Besides, as a fresh-faced rookie, which paparazzi would have the foresight to stake him out in advance?

Seeing Jiang Fanxing accept his money, Chen Kele’s heart finally settled.

If Jiang Fanxing hadn’t accepted it, he would have had to seriously reconsider whether the path Jiang Fanxing pointed out for him was actually correct.

“What would you like to drink?” Given the one hundred thousand yuan, Jiang Fanxing was very polite.

“Please, no need to be polite,” Chen Kele felt somewhat overwhelmed by the favor. After all, this was a man who even dared to clash with Zhu Guofu. Qiu Songsheng was so arrogant and never paid attention to his “bloodsucking” group members, yet he broke precedent and called specifically about Jiang Fanxing. How could Chen Kele dare to underestimate him?

Although the other party hadn’t officially debuted yet, he was destined to be a massive star in the future.

“I’m not being polite. I only have mineral water or tap water here, so mineral water it is.” Jiang Fanxing tossed a bottle of water over, then sat on the sofa, looked at Chen Kele, and asked, “How much research have you done so far?”

“I used an alt account to watch some ‘Male Bodhisattva’ videos, I really did,” Chen Kele said, a bit flustered. “They seem to just sway their hips a few times, then do a quick outfit transition or something. Some have high traffic, some have low traffic, but so far I haven’t seen any with exceptionally massive traffic.”

“Because men with good bodies are rare to begin with, and training to an aesthetically pleasing level requires a massive investment of time and energy. You can’t see returns in the short term. There aren’t many people in this lane, so you can easily stand out just by showing a little skin,” Jiang Fanxing thought for a moment. “Stand up, lift your shirt, let me see your abs.”

If anyone else had said this, Chen Kele would probably suspect they had ulterior motives. But since it was Jiang Fanxing… well, if he had ulterior motives, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. He might even come out ahead.

Chen Kele quickly reined in his wandering thoughts and obediently revealed his abs, flexing his biceps as well.

Jiang Fanxing felt them, patted them, then walked around to his back to inspect his back muscles.

“Enough, enough. Training to this level is sufficient. If you keep building muscle, you’ll just be attracting the same sex,” Jiang Fanxing scrutinized Chen Kele seriously and said, “The upper half of your face is passable, but the lower half is lacking.”

“I got double eyelid surgery and a nose job,” Chen Kele said quietly. “It’s not very obvious with stage makeup, but there are still some traces in daily life. I’m planning to get some touch-ups.”

“Mm, that works. Sit down,” Jiang Fanxing pondered and said, “If you want to go down the ‘Male Bodhisattva’ route, you must remember two principles. First, you cannot enable donations, you cannot accept money, and you cannot run ads. You are doing this purely for the welfare of your ‘family members’; you are not using this to make money. Second, you must use a mask or half-mask to cover the majority of your face, and your bangs should also cover your eyes slightly. Make people suspect it’s you, but unable to confirm it.”

“If I cover myself up, won’t it be even harder to get famous?” Chen Kele was very puzzled.

“If you don’t cover up, you’ll really just become a borderline male influencer. You’ll lower your own value and easily get reported for obscenity and pornography,” Jiang Fanxing glanced at him. “No accepting money, no enabling donations, just revealing a tiny bit. ‘Male Bodhisattva’ is all about selfless dedication, understand?”

Now he understood.

“Can you dance traditional Chinese style, classical dance, or folk dance?”

“A little, but I wouldn’t call myself proficient,” Chen Kele answered honestly.

“Mm, if you want to create a personal signature, simply showing off your body isn’t enough. You have to add something extra, like promoting national culture. It’s best to wear historical costumes. In the early stages, go for a proper, authentic ancient style, then slowly transition to something like Dunhuang style, Wei-Jin style… figure out the specifics yourself; you’re more familiar with this industry than I am.”

“Once you’ve posted a few videos, find someone to stir up some hype, saying the person posting the videos looks a lot like you. Create topics debating whether this is promoting classical culture or just inappropriate borderline content. Then, have your fans come out to control the narrative and condemn this behavior, initiating a fan-versus-hater war that shoots straight to the trending search list. Finally, during one of your dance videos, accidentally let your real voice slip and get recognized. That’s roughly the script.”

“In the middle of all this, you can donate all the earnings generated from clicks and views on the short video platform to build schools, help the elderly, or do other charity work. If someone in the comments asks who you are, you must insist that you just love dancing and the first video was filmed by a friend! In short, you accidentally stumbled onto this path and discovered that many people love you, especially since you helped some young people successfully lose weight, blah blah blah…”

Jiang Fanxing spoke fluently and extensively, interweaving various tactics, leaving Chen Kele utterly dumbfounded.

Is he really not a professional marketer? How is he more familiar with this playbook than I am?

“Once your secret identity is exposed, you come out and offer a sincere apology, saying you didn’t expect to cause a negative impact. You just love dancing and will pay attention to your clothing in the future. At the same time, call on everyone to support charity, and that should be about it. The public is highly accepting nowadays; as long as you haven’t committed a crime, the more topics you generate—even if it’s black-red (famous for notoriety)—the greater your chance of a comeback.”

Jiang Fanxing patted Chen Kele’s shoulder. “You have to be fast, while you still have some heat. Your biggest advantage is that nominally, you’re in the same group as Qiu Songsheng; his traffic will naturally rub off on you! If you wait until you completely disband and go solo, when you’re a has-been, you won’t have any star halo to help you break out of this lane!”

“But Qiu Songsheng might not be willing to let me ride his coattails,” Chen Kele smiled bitterly. Their relationship wasn’t that good.

“Qiu Songsheng originally rode the coattails of a certain top-tier traffic star and tied himself to them to rise to the top. The entertainment industry is just about leaching off others when you’re not famous, and being leached off by others once you are. No one escapes this process. Does it matter if he doesn’t want you to? To the outside world, you’re in the same group,” Jiang Fanxing said easily. “If you don’t use a bizarre strategy, how can you get famous? There are a dime a dozen people like you in the entertainment industry. The ones who can get famous are the dramatic ones with a story. Do you really think that during your talent show days, your brotherhood was as deep as it looked on the program?”

Hah, to put it bluntly, a talent show is just hundreds of people interviewing for ten positions. How could it be harmonious? Even elementary school kids infight when running for class monitor!

“Of course, if I get famous later on, I’ll give you a hand too. After all, we’re from the same studio; if you do well, I’ll do well too,” Jiang Fanxing casually painted him a beautiful, empty promise.

Chen Kele was flabbergasted.

“Jiang… Jiang-ge, what exactly did you do before this?” Chen Kele felt that despite being older than Jiang Fanxing, he had wasted those years; he was being completely outclassed in every aspect.

“Just an ordinary melon-eating netizen (spectator). These things have long been summarized countless times by various entertainment forums,” Jiang Fanxing shrugged. “When celebrities enter the influencer lane, it’s often a dimensional strike. Those with better bodies than you don’t look as good as you, and those who look better than you don’t have your star halo. As long as you generate topics and have people hating on you, you’re set. But your psychological endurance should be okay, right?”

“Not bad. I get private messages cursing me out every day from Qiu Songsheng’s fans and the fans of other popular members. At its worst, when I accidentally blocked Qiu Songsheng’s camera during a dance, they photoshopped my funeral portrait.”

“Then you’ve seen the big storms.” Jiang Fanxing nodded. “Remember to report this to Shen-ge in advance. You’d be a fool not to use his PR team while you still haven’t terminated your contract. If it’s viable, he might even renew your contract.”

“Ah, thank you so much, Jiang-ge. I will absolutely never forget your kindness,” Chen Kele nodded and bowed.

“No need for these empty words. If you forget my kindness in the future, it will only prove one thing,” Jiang Fanxing looked at Chen Kele and smiled, brimming with confidence. “It means I’m still not as famous as you.”

If he were famous enough, Chen Kele would only stick to him and would absolutely never forget the kindness. The entertainment industry is a vanity fair; under the spotlight, everything is about profit. True feelings might exist, but they are never exposed in front of the camera.

“Jiang-ge, you will definitely be a massive star,” Chen Kele couldn’t help but sigh.

Talking to a smart person is truly a difficult task.

Shen Tianqing doesn’t have it easy either.

Filled with emotion, Chen Kele planned to thoroughly digest what Jiang Fanxing had said after returning.

It’s highly feasible.

I’ll risk it all!

Jiang Fanxing saw Chen Kele out, also feeling a bit expectant about whether Chen Kele could actually get famous. If this path worked, it meant that if he ever became a has-been one day, he could also open a company, sign a bunch of influencers and artists, and have them make money for him.

Being a celebrity was the main job, but one had to prepare a few side hustles. You can’t just hang yourself on one tree in a single industry.

Which celebrity doesn’t want to transition into a director, producer, or investor? Being a celebrity means being Party B (the contractor); being capital means being Party A (the client).

Who wants to be Party B when they can be Party A? The sheer number of celebrities opening their own independent studios made this glaringly obvious.

An hour later, Chen Kele was sitting in Shen Tianqing’s office.

Shen Tianqing listened to the path Chen Kele had planned for himself and gave him a long, measuring look. “Jiang Fanxing taught you this, didn’t he? You’re quite a few years older than him… I didn’t expect you to listen to him.”

“Uh, I think what he said makes a lot of sense,” Chen Kele lowered his head. “Shen-ge, I know your PR team is the best, so… could you help me? I know I haven’t brought much profit to the studio before, and you didn’t plan to renew my contract. But please, give me one more chance. If I still can’t get famous this time, I’ll obediently leave the industry and become a training instructor. If I can rise up, I’m willing to stay with the studio, even for a lower cut.”

“Very well,” Shen Tianqing looked at him. “Let’s sign a supplementary artist agreement. I’ll renew your contract once more.”

“Thank you, Shen-ge.” Chen Kele knew this meant Shen Tianqing agreed with his approach and was willing to operate behind the scenes for him. That was enough! Countless boy bands popped up every year, and pretty faces were a dime a dozen. If he couldn’t seize this final chance to make a push, his trip to the entertainment industry would truly have been in vain.

Only after Chen Kele had finished signing the contract did he hesitate and look at Shen Tianqing. “Shen-ge, Jiang-ge only gave me the idea because I pestered him endlessly. Please don’t be angry.”

“He’s the future cash cow of our studio, why would I be angry?” Shen Tianqing’s expression was unreadable. “If he decided not to be an artist and switched to opening a studio, I’d have a massive new rival on my hands. Compared to having him as a competitor, I’d much rather have him as an artist under me.”

Furthermore, if Jiang Fanxing really went out to start his own company, his seed money would 100% be the thirty million yuan penalty from his contract termination.

Why on earth did water enter my brain back then, making me sign that kind of contract with him?

Forget it, let him just be an artist. I feel like he could succeed in whatever he does; he’s an absolute menace. Having signed such an artist, I don’t think it would be too much for me to apply for a Nobel Peace Prize.