Xiao He sighed for a moment, then closed his laptop again.
This matter really can only be decided by Qu Qiuyan herself; outsiders cannot force her to do it. Perhaps only her own son, Lin Yipeng, might be able to persuade her.
But nobody knows how long it will take.
Xiao He was still a little disappointed. After all, the movie "The Thief Catcher" had achieved good results, and he really liked it. It was just a pity... Oh well, he didn't want to think about it too much. These were issues that the director should consider.
Xiao He temporarily put the matter out of his mind, washed up, and went to bed.
The following day, Xiao He and his group prepared to return to the island by small boat.
However, the area around their boarding gate was quite lively today.
As soon as Xiao He parked his car in the open-air parking lot, before he even got out, he saw that the beach was surrounded by people in the distance.
Xiao He was somewhat surprised: "Is it the weekend? Why are there so many people here?"
Xiao Chen, standing nearby, asked suspiciously, "Brother Xiao, has our itinerary been exposed? A lot of paparazzi and fans have come again?"
Xiao Chen still vividly remembers his experience of taking photos for others on the island, so when he saw so many people, this idea came to him subconsciously.
Xiao He also looked at Liu Rulan.
Liu Rulan certainly knew these things better than they did.
Sure enough, Liu Rulan looked out the car window for a while and then deactivated the alarm: "It's probably some variety show crew coming here to film a variety show. It has nothing to do with us."
She looked through her phone for a while and finally remembered: "It's the production team of 'Fearless Journey'."
"A fearless journey?" Xiao He recalled, "It seems to be the kind of challenge?"
“It’s called a large-scale outdoor competitive reality show,” Liu Rulan said, using a relatively professional term. “To put it simply, it’s a show where several celebrities are divided into several teams, compete against each other, and challenge some extreme or impossible things to attract the audience’s attention.”
Xiao He: "I think I've seen this before."
"Fearless Journey" is a long-running variety show with a national reputation. Xiao He used to love watching it on TV when he was young, but as he grew up, he gradually stopped liking to watch these kinds of shows.
And to be fair, most variety shows have indeed become boring and lack originality.
"They must have invited a big influencer this time," Liu Rulan said, getting out of the car first.
She said to Xiao He in the car, "Director Liu of this program crew is no ordinary person. Since we're passing by, I'll go and say hello to him. You wait here. Xiao Chen, go over there to the boarding gate and ask when we can set off."
Xiao Chen: "Okay, Sister Liu."
Xiao He nodded: "Then I'll wait for you."
After Liu Rulan and Xiao Chen left, Xiao He, who had nothing to do, leaned against the car window and quietly watched the scenery outside.
Just then, he suddenly heard the voices of several girls behind him—
"I'm speechless! The production team went too far! They knew perfectly well that my Yin Yin couldn't swim, yet they still insisted on making her go into the sea. I saw Yin Yin's face turn pale just now!"
"Yeah, and they already filmed it once, but because the footage wasn't good enough, they made everyone compete all over again. It's disgusting!"
"Can Yin Yin please not participate in variety shows like this next time? It breaks my heart to see her like this."
"There's nothing we can do. After all, 'Fearless Journey' is a long-running variety show with a high level of national recognition, which is a great resource for Yin Yin. All we can do is continue to support him."
Xiao He turned his head and saw that there were several young girls standing behind the car next to him.
Xiao He overheard everything they said.
Xiao He frowned slightly.
How could this production team be so outrageous?
Fortunately, his main job now is acting, and neither he nor Sister Liu have any intention of participating in any variety shows.
Needless to say, Xiao He doesn't really want the traffic from this variety show; what he wants is the fame of the character who killed the killer and the character after the killer. Participating in the variety show won't help him at all.
Liu Rulan's reasoning was even simpler: she felt that actors participating in variety shows was essentially a form of retirement planning.
Variety shows neither improve professional skills nor enhance personal value. Aside from flopping on variety shows to earn money and traffic, they offer no benefit to an actor.
Some actors' natural talent is worn away by various variety shows, or even defined by the audience, making it impossible for them to play more roles.
Therefore, Liu Rulan never mentioned appearing on variety shows to Xiao He, but of course, appearing on shows to promote a drama is another matter.
Xiao He didn't show himself, but continued to sit «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» in the car listening to the girls in the back complaining about the crew's inhumane behavior.
About ten minutes later, Xiao Chen and Liu Rulan returned together.
"How about it?"
Xiao He asked.
"The boat rental owner said there are a lot of people renting boats today, so we have to wait a while," Xiao Chen answered first, then complained, "We clearly made a reservation yesterday, but he just had to take this opportunity to make a quick buck, and the boat we rented out still hasn't returned."
Liu Rulan said, "Today, the crew of 'Fearless Journey' is filming a maritime competition. It should be other staff members or fans who went out to sea with the rented boats."
"Who came today? There are so many people!" Xiao Chen asked curiously.
Liu Rulan raised an eyebrow and looked at Xiao He.
Xiao He: ? What are you looking at me for?
Xiao He looked bewildered: "What's wrong?"
Liu Rulan: "Do you remember the guy I casually mentioned to you yesterday?"
"Uh—" Xiao He observed Liu Rulan's expression, "Is it about whether her surname is Lin or Qin?"
Liu Rulan chuckled and got into the car: "It must be the eldest young master, Qin Lezhang."
"Oh, him? He's participating in this program too?" Xiao He exclaimed in surprise. "He's also participating in the sea combat competition?"
He had just heard those girls say that the competition was tough and the production team was being unreasonable. It turns out that the young master from the Beijing elite circle that Liu Rulan mentioned yesterday is also here to suffer along with them.
This is not what he imagined!
Liu Rulan seemed to have guessed Xiao He's doubts and explained helplessly, "Of course not. The participants in this competition were arranged in advance by the script. How could that young master possibly participate?"
When Liu Rulan went over just now, she saw the young master lying comfortably on a beach chair, with screams and shouts from his fans coming from time to time.
This scene contrasted sharply with the group of performers paddling small plastic boats in the sea under the blazing sun.
After listening to Liu Rulan's words, Xiao He's expression was also complicated: "...Speaking of which, are all these shows scripted these days?"
Liu Rulan scoffed: "That's right, most of them are scripted. Even many of the famous scenes that went viral were pre-arranged by the production team. In the end, the two sides at the center of the incident gained traffic and attention, while only the audience was genuinely angry."
"For example, their match just now was actually because the result of the match was not arranged according to the winning team in the script, so the director forced them to reshoot."
In the past, variety shows might have contained some elements of reality, but now...
Don't ask, the answer is always the same: actors express three parts emotion and seven parts tears when they act. Even Liu Rulan herself sometimes isn't sure if what the other person is doing is simply for the sake of the show or a genuine expression of feeling.
