Xiao He finished handling the procedures and returned to the hospital room, planning to call Liu Rulan and Shu Han back to the hotel to continue their conversation.
But before he could even knock, he first heard Liu Rulan's voice—
"I know, you mainly want to invite me to continue being your agent this time."
Xiao He froze for a moment.
Oh no, is someone trying to poach Sister Liu?
But after thinking about Shu Han's current situation, Xiao He wasn't too surprised.
The economy isn't doing well now, and many people have returned to develop in the domestic entertainment industry. For someone in Shu Han's situation, it's even better to come back. After all, he hasn't accomplished nothing abroad—over the years, he's consistently had some impressive films released domestically. Although he hasn't won any prestigious foreign awards, he has good audience appeal both domestically and internationally, with a solid fan base in both markets.
Moreover, Shu Han built this all through his own efforts. He's not like the bubble-like traffic stars manufactured today; he's a genuinely skilled actor who fought his way up, and among the many celebrities who went abroad, he's one of the few who still maintains Chinese nationality.
All these factors combined mean he's destined to return to the domestic entertainment industry in a very "powerful" state.
If this news spreads, the entire entertainment circle might experience some tremors.
And for this first step of his return, naturally he needs to find an agent for a powerful collaboration—no one is more suitable than Liu Rulan!
Liu Rulan is both Shu Han's old partner and old friend, someone who knows him inside out, and also a highly capable golden agent in the industry. If he can bring Liu Rulan to his side, Shu Han's path back into the domestic entertainment industry will only be smoother.
So without a doubt, he desperately needs Liu Rulan's help.
"Yes."
Shu Han didn't beat around the bush either, speaking very frankly: "I really need you right now, Sister Liu. You know I've been away from the domestic entertainment industry for too long. Most of my connections and information channels came from you, and over the years I've basically become disconnected from the capital environment here. I don't have anyone particularly trustworthy either. If Sister Liu is willing to help me, I'll definitely develop much better."
Liu Rulan remained silent for a moment, then said: "But as you can see, I'm already managing Xiao He now."
"I can join your studio," Shu Han said sincerely. "I've accumulated some savings over the years. If possible, I could invest in Linghui Studio."
Actually, one agent managing multiple artists isn't particularly rare. After all, the current industry situation is that there are many artists but few agents. For example, Cheng Hongwen previously served as the agent for both Xu Youyou and Ran Yunrui.
There's almost no barrier for newcomers wanting to break into the entertainment industry—just sign a contract and you can become an artist. But if you want to be an agent without holding some resources in hand, you might not even qualify as an agent, at most you'd be an assistant.
In fact, many slightly famous agents first have numerous assistants under them, and then many artists' management contracts.
Only agents like Liu Rulan, who are confident in their own abilities and their artists, hold contracts for just one artist like Xiao He.
She hasn't even trained other assistants to help with signing and managing other artists. The entire studio really only handles resources for Xiao He alone, and all the resources in her hands are only allocated to Xiao He. This is already quite a rare situation.
There's no helping it—after all, signing more artists also means earning more!
For example, most newcomers in large companies are handled and signed by assistants, though they're nominally under the lead agent. But in reality, they're managed by assistants, picking up leftover resources from the lead agent. Only when a newcomer unexpectedly becomes hugely popular through sheer luck will they truly come under the original nominal agent, who will then personally allocate and manage their resources.
This is equivalent to a pyramid-shaped management structure, where one agent might have hundreds of artists under their name, but only a handful are actually personally managed and responsible for by them.
So perhaps in others' eyes, Liu Rulan's behavior of pouring all resources only into Xiao He is truly wasteful and very foolish. If Xiao He runs away or gets poached, then Liu Rulan would really end up with nothing.
But Liu Rulan has always been confident in herself. Even when she encountered a few unreliable foolish artists, she never let herself suffer losses.
And now facing Shu Han's invitation, she just rationally shook her head: "The studio is currently saturated and temporarily doesn't need a second artist."
"I will only bring out the best resources in my hands, and you and Xiao He overlap too much in career paths. If both of you are with me, it would inevitably lead to unequal resource distribution."
Shu Han brings a large amount of capital with him, and bringing him into Linghui Studio would indeed be a good thing—after all, having one more ally is better than having one more competitor. But this would be unfair to both Shu Han and Xiao He.
Liu Rulan also doesn't have that much energy to balance the relationships between these two sides.
"So, you've chosen Xiao He after all..."
Shu Han sounded somewhat disappointed.
Liu Rulan spread her hands helplessly: "There's no helping it. Even if you had returned a year earlier, I probably would have still chosen Xiao He. After all, the kid is still young, has great potential, and high talent—I would definitely choose Xiao He."
Shu Han, who's almost forty: ...
It felt like a sword had been brutally stabbed into his chest.
"Alright, I actually kind of guessed this would happen."
Shu Han let out a long, helpless sigh.
The moment he first saw Xiao He, he sensed danger—call it an actor's intuition cultivated over many years. Shu Han felt that Xiao He would definitely become a very strong competitor for him in the future.
Moreover, it had been a long time since Shu Han heard Liu Rulan use "high talent" to describe anyone she praised.
Sister Liu's judgment has never been poor.
Even when he was still a stunt double, Liu Rulan frankly told him that his acting might need polishing, but diligence could compensate for lack of natural talent, and his martial arts skills could become his advantage, giving him an edge over others.
And indeed, that's how it turned out later. Relying on his martial arts skills, he "fought" his way to his own career in the domestic entertainment industry, and under Liu Rulan's guidance, successfully grabbed the big Hollywood opportunity at that time, got noticed by a major director, successfully connected with entertainment companies there, and went international.
So Shu Han believes Liu Rulan's words.
He's just somewhat unwilling to accept it...
Shu Han said somewhat resentfully: "Only you would make such a choice."
On one side is a newcomer who debuted just a year ago with no achievements or reputation yet, and on the other is a martial arts superstar returning gloriously with numerous accolades.
The choice should be obvious, shouldn't it?
Liu Rulan chuckled: "Alright, don't I know you? You'll have plenty of options when you return—even starting your own studio wouldn't be difficult for you. Looking for me to continue being your agent is just because you're worried that if I only manage Xiao He and he unexpectedly betrays me, I'd have to start over from scratch."
How could Shu Han lack for agents? In his current situation, seeking out Liu Rulan would just be adding flowers to embroidery—nice but not essential.
So Shu Han's invitation to Liu Rulan was probably mainly to help her out.
After all, having left Jiaxing Entertainment, Liu Rulan now has to rely entirely on herself.
Shu Han looked at his old partner with complex emotions, ultimately not saying anything more, going along with Liu Rulan's words: "Yes, since Sister Liu trusts Xiao He's character so much and believes even more in his future achievements, then I won't engage in poaching anymore. But if Sister Liu ever needs any help, you must definitely tell me."
"Of course."
Liu Rulan's eyes curved into smiles, and her tone softened considerably.
"Oh, I almost forgot to say—"
"Welcome back, Shu Han."