Su Ning rejected Allen’s proposal for a collaboration on the movie’s theme song, and naturally, Qilin Entertainment would not accept it either. As a result, they had to look for someone else, but the popularity of the alternative was significantly less, leading to a limited promotional effect. Now, with Su Hongda stirring things up at the premiere, it was naturally frustrating for them.

Shen Mingzheng would say, even if Pinnacle Agency was frustrated, it was useless, as there would be even more frustrating things to come.

The audience didn’t like unanimously positive reviews anyway; everyone knew that a universally acclaimed blockbuster comes only a few times a year. The media present were aware that “Peerless Map” was merely a passable commercial film.

All the commotion stirred up by Pinnacle was in vain; ultimately, the movie would be judged on its overall quality.

Shen Mingzheng remembered that this year’s New Year’s slot had a true dark horse, “Sea Rescue,” a thrilling film based on a real-life hostage rescue, which grossed nearly four billion at the box office, almost draining the market dry.

During the same period, animated and romance films merely scraped by, with another big production, “Peerless Map,” hit hardest, barely collecting three hundred million, a blood loss for the investors. Shen Mingzheng had hinted as much to Su Ning.

Now, “Sea Rescue” hadn’t spent much on marketing and didn’t look like a blockbuster, but at yesterday’s premiere, it had stolen all the limelight from “Peerless Map.”

Regardless of whether the reviews were good or bad, it dominated the spotlight.

Aside from Su Hongda’s comments, the collaboration that Su Ning discussed was truly what made Pinnacle even more irritated.

Hai Cheng TV had a very popular outdoor variety show “Heart of the Brave,” now in its third season with consistently high ratings, often breaking the 2% mark. The season finale, typically the highest-rated episode, was carefully produced and scheduled just a week before New Year’s, highly advantageous for film promotions.

Pinnacle had always strived to get “Peerless Map” on this variety show, with Allen being particularly good at networking. They had maintained connections with Hai Cheng TV, and it was originally planned for them. However, the biggest issue was that the show was sponsored by “Cha Yue.”

As a spokesperson, appearing on the show was only natural, and even the TV station couldn’t refuse the requests of the sponsoring brand. From Su Ning’s perspective, he would definitely fight for the best episode, especially since Glory also had new promotional needs. He couldn’t just hand it over.

The TV show’s crew couldn’t possibly cram Glory and the film crew into the same episode along with the variety show’s eight regular members; there would be over twenty people, and the script couldn’t accommodate so many. Furthermore, dividing the program’s focus among so many would only offend people.

Allen had aimed for the season finale, which had already booked big names for the first two episodes, and couldn’t be changed, leading to a deadlock in the negotiations. The show’s producers could only choose one or the other.

Because Glory was currently very popular, their previous appearances on other shows had gone well. Today’s negotiations about this were precisely about this issue.

Fortunately, Lü Fei was still in Hai Cheng, and after Su Ning had hinted earlier, the afternoon’s discussions went smoothly, with Hai Cheng TV making their decision.

When it came to choosing between sponsors and relationships, the importance was clear, and Glory also had higher popularity stakes.

When Su Ning smoothly wrapped up the negotiations and returned home that evening, the internet erupted into more intense arguments.

Pinnacle’s marketing was very aggressive. Allen wouldn’t just suppress things; for film promotions, the most painful thing was being ignored.

Thus, on the hot search regarding Su Hongda, he pushed good reviews from the media while also playing the card of “openly accepting audience ratings” and “the only negative review at the premiere had a seven-point score,” continuing to market the movie’s costly but appealing special effects.

Since the movie hadn’t been released yet, the audience couldn’t judge the plot, but the special effects were clearly worth the money spent.

Moreover, Liao Yuansi, who had won the Film Emperor award for his role, had many fans who, along with his fans, pushed the issue further on social media.

By evening, the content of the hot searches had changed.

Since there was no live broadcast of Su Hongda’s comments, and they had been heavily manipulated by marketing accounts, he seemed to be a very crude person who couldn’t appreciate film art, even suggesting he was deliberately causing trouble, linking it to the long-standing disputes between the two companies.

Allen had been determined to secure “Heart of the Brave” for the variety show, even leaking hints before the contract was signed, as a way to create hype.

But now that it hadn’t panned out, he couldn’t explain to the fans, so it was most suitable to pin this failure on the competition, adding an element of sympathy while shifting public attention.

“Snatching resources” was always a sensitive issue, widely frowned upon in the industry.

Especially since Glory was in its prime, it naturally attracted envy. The fans, who had been pleased by the new stage performance and the variety show news, were suddenly caught up in this whirlwind of public opinion.

Previously, Shen Mingzheng had managed to divert attention with the second episode of the group variety show, preventing the dispute from continuing. But a hugely popular group can never fully avoid disputes, and the new fans, after learning from old fans about past grievances, couldn’t stand it.

“What resource snatching, who are they trying to frame? Are you kidding me? Haven’t the show’s producers announced anything? Have you started filming? We are the legitimate spokespersons, it would be abnormal if we didn’t appear on the show!”

“This well-known marketing company loves self-promotion. They even said Glory was going to sing the insert song. Our fans politely congratulated them on the movie’s big sales, but then our management team debunked it, saying there was no such cooperation. I wonder who’s trying to gain attention.”

“Now they’re staging their own drama again! And they even claim to be seniors. Do they have no shame at all?”

“I’m so mad, so mad!”

Although there were rational people in the fan group who just wanted to focus on their own and clarify the so-called resource snatching to bring everyone back.

But for Pinnacle, this quarrel was advantageous as it continued to maintain interest and allowed them to step on Guang Ying Entertainment once more.

As long as one side doesn’t want to stop, the issue won’t stop.

Idols have many young fans who are hard to control and can easily be influenced.

As they were unreasonably criticized online, they became agitated and responded fiercely, leading to their comments being screenshotted by some marketing accounts and taken out of context, proving the popular idol fans to be brainless and easily angered, making the opponents appear more innocent.

The fan community is too easily caught in such self-fulfilling traps, and even official statements from Glory’s official account were useless. The opponents were single-mindedly dragging them into this, arguing for days without cessation.

Su Ning and Shen Mingzheng’s previous judgments were not wrong. New idols facing someone like Liao Yuansi, who had a good reputation and many years of fame, were naturally at a disadvantage in public perception and online discourse, always starting three steps behind, and arguing was a losing battle.

This issue blew up significantly, even reaching the roadshows where journalists asked about it, and Liao Yuansi acted magnanimously.

“I don’t mind these things. Some fans are indeed young, and I don’t blame them. This industry is always welcoming new faces. I think in the end, it should be about the work. I welcome everyone to the cinemas during the New Year to watch ‘Peerless Map’ and I hope my performance has not let everyone down.”

His comments only angered the fans who knew the context even more.

How could there be such a shameless person!

Even after Su Ning officially announced many high-profile resources, they couldn’t completely pull back their attention.

This was no longer about the celebrities; this was about the fans needing to vindicate themselves no matter what.

But ordinary fans at the beginning couldn’t win against the trained water army and marketing accounts. It seemed Pinnacle had tasted sweetness from this situation, later even brazenly calling Su Ning to ask if he was open to a reconciliation.

Su Ning’s response was the same.

“My advice is still the same: don’t release this movie,” he said. “This kind of marketing is a losing battle, so cut your losses.”

He added one more thing: “Always leave room for others, otherwise, the one without an escape will be yourself.”

Allen felt that Su Ning was completely unyielding!

Frustrated, he hung up the phone.

Su Ning sighed. He and Shen Mingzheng sitting next to him just exchanged looks, not saying much.

Su Ning knew that Ji Xue was still in Hai Cheng.

Because of his company’s business, Lü Fei had already returned, but Su Ning had subtly asked him. He mentioned that since Ji Xue’s family was in Hai Cheng, he should spend time with his parents, and after this period, he would come back to pick her up. The two were planning to get married around the New Year.

What his fiancée was actually doing in Hai Cheng was probably beyond what Lü Fei could imagine.

According to Shen Mingzheng’s memory from his past life, Ji Xue had gotten her revenge on Liao Yuansi after her comeback. Following the flop of “Peerless Map” and Liao Yuansi’s stardom waning, a drunken incident that led to his arrest and detention had virtually ended his career.

Shen Mingzheng didn’t know if Ji Xue had played a part in it or if it was just Liao Yuansi’s karma, but Ji Xue seriously clarified the misunderstandings about her being blacklisted at the time. However, because the industry still whispered about her being a gold-digger and Liao Yuansi being a scoundrel, not many believed her, and the matter was hastily concluded.

But in this lifetime, inspired by something unknown, Ji Xue seemed to have changed her approach.

While Pinnacle was still provoking the young fans and trying to use Glory to generate more heat, the young fans began to fight back.

First, the fan forums dug up some old dirt. Liao Yuansi, having been in the industry for so many years, was not without his scandals, such as acting like a big shot and some ambiguous sexual scandals, but most had been meticulously cleaned up.

These dubious exposés couldn’t be considered solid evidence and were easily dismissed as fan disputes that bystanders wouldn’t care about, leading initially into a dead end. But then, a well-known whistleblower account in the fan forums suddenly dropped some new information about Liao Yuansi.

This account was famous because it truly knew a lot of insider information and was well-regarded among Glory fans.

The endorsement for “Cha Yue” was first leaked by this account before Su Ning had even signed the contract, and his team kept tight-lipped about it. Su Ning didn’t know how it had leaked, but when the endorsement was officially announced, the fans naturally trusted her deeply. Later, she leaked a few more pieces of information, characterized by few words but very accurate details.

Driven by anger over the Liao Yuansi situation, a large group of capable people began to follow the clues provided by this account, and soon enough, they found traces leading to more evidence.

Not just about the Ji Xue incident, Liao Yuansi was a repeat offender, his boldness only growing because he hadn’t been punished.

First, some lesser-known actresses he had worked with even had chat screenshots, but they were afraid to name him, and many of their posts had been deleted. Some were restored, others were lost forever, leaving only fragments.

But it also indicated that the matter wasn’t so simple and wasn’t just hearsay.

Initially, when a few pieces surfaced, Liao Yuansi’s fans and followers said it was impossible, vehemently accusing the idol fans of being without principles, calling it slander. Liao Yuansi’s official account even came out to vehemently deny the allegations, but they couldn’t stop the evidence from mounting.

Even Glory fans were shocked.

But facing threats and insults, they didn’t back down; instead, they came together more resolutely, not only to vent their previous frustrations but also because if Liao Yuansi was such a rotten person, he shouldn’t remain in the entertainment industry claiming to be a “virtuous and artistic happy family old actor.” No one could stand that.

This issue needed a resolution!

Not just the fans but also bystanders who felt something was off began to get involved, and even some media insiders and paparazzi who knew the inside story started to leak information. It had become an industry dispute that couldn’t be suppressed.

“Actually, many in the industry have said for years that his character isn’t good, but his company is too powerful, cleaning everything up and even threatening some actors from small companies, saying if they affect the release of works, they’d have to pay, scaring them into silence.”

“They still want us to watch the movie, you still want to be in this movie?!”

“One or two might be rumors, but with so many people coming together, I think it’s true.”

“Damn, this time Glory fans have done a great job!”

Originally labeled as “mindless fans,” the Glory fan community suddenly became first-class detectives with keen insights, and the fans vented their frustrations thoroughly, planning to delve even deeper.

We’re not like the main parties; we’re not the kind-hearted fools!