Once they arrived at the hotel they had booked in advance, the group was finally able to rest.
In the morning, several related topics slowly climbed to the top of the trending searches—
Xiao He was arrested at the airport.
【Xiao He appeared at Beijing Airport in the early hours of the morning and was intercepted by the police!】
【Xiao He: Playing Meng Zetian, becoming Meng Zetian!】
【Actor Hsiao Ho arrested because of a role?】
Many people who woke up early in the morning, still half asleep, opened their phones and saw this message, instantly waking up completely.
In the video, a group of uniformed people surround Xiao He. Then Liu Rulan comes out and talks to the police. The two stand at attention and wait for the head officer to check their identification.
After the investigation, the police officer spoke to them briefly before leading Xiao He and the others away from the scene.
Upon seeing this video, others were somewhat puzzled.
What happened? What's going on? Why was Xiao He surrounded by the police? Why was Xiao He taken away by the police?
—Did Xiao He get into trouble? What did he do?
Filled with curiosity and doubt, they opened the messages and read them carefully before they learned what had happened.
【Seriously, can you marketing accounts please stop posting such ambiguous headlines all the time? Before clicking in, I thought Xiao He had been executed.】
【Well, that's not necessarily the case.】
【Haha, the title upstairs is even more heavyweight.】
【So, to summarize, Xiao He's portrayal of Meng Zetian was so convincingly evil that he was reported on while on a plane?】
【Haha, I was half asleep this morning, but seeing this news woke me up with a laugh.】
【Brother Xiao, could you... maybe take on some positive roles next time? I'm begging you, my mom asks me who my idol is, and I'm too embarrassed to point them out. PS: My parents are also watching "Shining Stars" lately, and their absolute least favorite character is Meng Zetian.】
【Indeed, I don't even dare put Brother Xiao's photo on the table, otherwise I'd definitely be kicked out of the house.】
【+1, As fans of Brother Xiao, keeping a low profile is our norm.】
【If it's Meng Zetian, I'll offer my contempt; if it's Brother Xiao, I'll offer my ridicule—hahaha...】
【This is hilarious! The whole "Tai Zhen" thing getting arrested used to be just a joke, but now it's really become a laughing stock. Xiao Ge, maybe you should go back to being a programmer; there's a real risk of going to jail in the entertainment industry.】
【No, please don't scare our Brother Xiao! He's the only one in the Chinese entertainment industry. If you scare him away, who will be left to kill him?!】
【You guys are so mean! I want to be your online friend again in my next life.】
Not only were netizens laughing online, but several of Xiao He's friends also sent their warm greetings.
Leading the charge were naturally the crew of "Shining Stars." Iman'er arrived first, offering her condolences and teasing to Xiao He. Director Wen Hongyuan was quite pleased with the buzz Xiao He had generated, praising and showing concern for him. Producer Ma Qianyou was even more direct, giving Xiao He a large red envelope to calm his nerves.
Xiao He was truly at a loss for words, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
【Xiao He: Thank you all for your concern. Everything is fine; it was just a misunderstanding.】
Left with no other option, Xiao He could only post a message on his WeChat Moments explaining his situation.
Soon, acquaintances from the comments section arrived at the scene.
【Pu Rong: Brother, you scared me to death! I thought I'd never see you again.】
【He Junhao: Hahaha, you truly are my godfather! Godfather, don't worry, if you get arrested, I'll break you out of prison~】
【Liu Zehang: Brother Xiao, you're living a very colorful life.】
【Lin Yipeng: Hahaha, it's like watching an episode of Backstreet Boys, so relatable.】
【Xiao He replied to Lin Yipeng: . 】
No one knows whether Xiao He is suffering or not. However, the popularity of "Shining Stars" continues to rise because of this incident. Because of its high quality and wide audience appeal, the ratings have continued to soar, even breaking the channel's ratings records in recent years and becoming one of only two heavyweight contenders to break the 3% mark in the past decade.
Another show with an average viewership rating exceeding 3% is the classic anti-corruption drama from ten years ago that has been passed down to this day! It's important to know that ten years ago, video platforms had not yet completely taken over the market, and many people were still willing to watch TV channels on television.
Ten years later, with the rise of video platforms, many people are unwilling to even turn on the TV, let alone watch TV series.
It can only be said that "Shining Stars" is quite good at capturing the audience. Although Zhang Mo is not well-known, he has a large market {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} among middle-aged and elderly people. Su Shengxi and Yiman'er, on the other hand, are aimed at the current young audience, attracting them to help boost data and popularity on various platforms.
The success of "Shining Stars" is indeed inseparable from the fan economy...
But of course, that's a story for another time.
After posting on his WeChat Moments, Xiao He and Liu Rulan went to meet Zhuang Hongyi, the director of "The Phantom Thieves".
The meeting was held at Zhuang Hongyi's home. Zhuang Hongyi lives in the legendary Xishan affluent area, which boasts scarce hillside land resources and is also close to the city center, making it a high-quality, top-tier mountain villa area.
Sitting in the car, Xiao He felt like a country bumpkin visiting the Grand View Garden. Looking out the car window at the neatly trimmed cedars and maples on both sides, the wrought iron fences that occasionally appeared behind the trees, and the luxurious villas and gardens behind the fences, he felt a sense of bewilderment and tension as if he had stepped into a different high-class world.
Moreover, whether it was psychological or not, the air in this area was exceptionally fresh. Just taking a deep breath brought a refreshing feeling, and Xiao He even faintly smelled the fragrance of money.
He couldn't help but lean closer to Liu Rulan and whisper, "Sister Liu, how much do the houses here cost?"
Liu Rulan quietly replied, "I remember the nearest villa area in this region costs 140,000 yuan per square meter."
Xiao He: ?
Based on the size of those villas we just saw, they must be at least 500 square meters...
Xiao He made a mental estimate, then shed tears of poverty.
I'm sorry to bother you, he doesn't deserve it.
Liu Rulan added, "Besides, it's not like you can just buy it here whenever you want. Asking about the price is pointless."
Xiao He wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes: "I understand, Sister Liu."
There's no need to finish them off.
-
The car drove up to the mountainside and finally pulled into a villa, where the villa's butler personally came to greet Xiao He and his companion.
Then, led by the butler, Xiao He finally met Zhuang Hongyi.
Director Zhuang Hongyi is a middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses and a very refined appearance. His speech and manners are very proper, neither overly enthusiastic nor aloof. However, his white hoodie and jeans make him seem inexplicably out of place in this upscale villa.
After talking with Liu Rulan about the situation, Zhuang Hongyi gestured for the two of them to follow him to the annex building that was built independently next door.
Upon entering the annex, Xiao He looked at the temporary set-up area, complete with all the filming equipment, and couldn't help but think to himself: "In such a prime location, Director Zhuang using it as a studio is quite a generous act."
Because it was a temporary set and the filming time was short, there weren't many people on set, just two stylists, an assistant, and Director Zhuang himself.
The reason two stylists were brought in was quite simple: Xiao He plays a hacker in "The Thieves' Alliance" with dyed white hair and large tattoos. The amount of work involved in makeup and styling might be more than the time spent filming.
Of course, in line with Xiao He's usual style of吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments), his evaluation of this character was: a white-haired pretentious thug. As for his other impressions, to be honest, the script was too short, and the character didn't even have a name yet, so he couldn't see any extra personality traits in this character.
Forget it, whatever. He's just a thief, nothing good anyway. I'll just take the picture!
