Once the suspicious target is identified, the verification process begins...
About ten minutes later, Liu Rulan called back.
"I heard that director Tannis is currently preparing for the casting of 'Ford v Ferrari 7,' which will feature an Asian race car driver with excellent driving skills. So, perhaps because your performance in this race was too outstanding, Qin Lezhang mistakenly thought you were there to steal the role."
Liu Rulan guessed.
She had just confirmed this news with Shu Han. Shu Han had heard about it a long time ago and was planning to give it a try, but after waiting for a long time, he still hadn't received an official announcement from director Tannis. Later, Shu Han shifted his focus back to China, and the matter was dropped, so he stopped paying attention to it.
"High-speed car chase?"
Xiao He was somewhat surprised.
There's no other reason than that the fact that the last digit of the name extends to "7" tells us that the previous films in this series must have been very successful—especially the first and second ones.
"Speedy Cars 1" is already more than 20 years old, and if you think about it, it's even a few years older than Xiao He.
This film series is considered a must-see for racing car enthusiasts. Surprisingly, director Tannis successfully broke the curse that "sequels to the original films are bound to be bad." Every subsequent "Ford v Ferrari" film is a very exciting and high-quality work. Although it may not be a masterpiece, it is definitely a popular and commercially successful film. It appears on the overseas recommended film lists of some film bloggers almost every year.
It's quite surprising that they've managed to release a seventh installment.
However, looking at director Tannis's achievements over the years and his cabinet full of international awards, one should know that his life has been very fulfilling and he has few regrets. Now he is filming subjects and content that he likes, and even if the requirements are high and the filming is difficult, he has the time and money to pay attention to the details and make the best film possible.
Such an internationally renowned director is indeed a target that many actors want to work with.
"So now that I think about it, Qin Lezhang was there not to watch the race, but for Director Tannis?"
After his initial surprise, Xiao He was speechless.
No, he doesn't know anything!
Moreover, Director Tannis never even came to him, so why is this guy searching for enemies out of thin air?
Xiao He felt like he was being wronged to death.
"Qin Lezhang is used to being fawned over in China. If someone displeases him, he is very likely to take the initiative to target them."
Liu Rulan spoke the truth.
"So what do we do now? There's no way we're going to apologize."
Xiao He himself was still wronged, so how could he possibly take the initiative to apologize to the other party?
"Who said you had to apologize?" Liu Rulan was also quite speechless. "I'll first find someone to contact the higher-ups at Xingchen Pictures and see what their attitude is."
"Do I need to come back early?"
"No need. I can handle this level of public opinion. Besides, you've been nominated for Best Supporting Actor, so even more people will be watching you."
Even though Xiao He hasn't actively provoked anyone, many people have already secretly added him to their list of rivals.
There's no way around it; on the road to becoming king, you'll always encounter many rivals.
Xiao He: "...Thank you, I'm already trembling with fear."
"Alright, that's all for now. I'm flying to Beijing now. We'll talk later."
"good."
After hanging up the phone, Xiao He's face turned completely cold.
He pushed his dinner aside and turned on his computer.
Within half a minute, Xiao He found a video circulating online about him bullying a girl on campus.
The video footage was blurry, clearly taken secretly, and the boy with his back to the camera was wearing ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) a somewhat familiar school uniform, kicking the person on the ground repeatedly.
"Damn it, you bitch, you bastard—"
The boy's tone of voice was a bit strange, like he was going through puberty, and at first listen, it really did sound a bit like his own voice.
But how could he not know whether Xiao He himself had done these things or not?
Xiao He laughed in exasperation.
His fingers tapped nimbly on the keyboard, and soon he reproduced the audio.
Hmm, the voice sounds much unfamiliar this time.
It seems the other party has some skill, being able to edit the audio in the video to be so similar to his.
Upon further examination, Xiao He discovered that the audio sources were inconsistent and the videos were suspected of being manipulated by AI.
However, the original video was not found during the big data screening.
Xiao He guessed that the original video must have come from abroad, and there was no trace of it in China.
That would broaden the scope of the screening process...
Xiao He let it screen the posts in the background and then looked at the so-called campus posts.
To be honest, when Xiao He was in school, he never heard of his high school having any online forums.
They used to mostly use Tencent QQ accounts and rarely heard of campus forums.
Of course, Xiao He did not completely deny its existence; it's just that he himself had never heard of it when he was in school. There might be other people playing with it, but he just didn't know it.
So Xiao He started looking back at the online forum of his former alma mater.
To my surprise, it actually existed!
And this so-called screenshot of evidence really did come from the campus forum of his former alma mater.
It's quite obvious that this forum has been abandoned for many years, with many dates remaining from about ten years ago.
The original post discussing a girl's suicide by jumping off a building because of Xiao He's bullying at school actually tells the story of a girl from a neighboring school who had a miscarriage after having premarital sex with a boy in her class and ultimately committed suicide by jumping off a building.
Why is it a story?
The last post in this thread clearly clarified that the incident was just a strange story circulating on campus at the time, but somehow it spread like wildfire and became what it is now, complete with names and details, which is quite outrageous.
Back then, the management of Baidu Tieba wasn't strict, and almost anything could be posted there. Perhaps the moderator thought this post was interesting, so they didn't delete it, and it still lies quietly in the campus Tieba to this day.
But looking at the date, it was already fifteen years ago.
—Come on, he was still in elementary school back then!
You can't exactly say that when he was in school, he went to a high school to bully a girl and drove her to commit suicide by jumping off a building, can you?
Where did they dig all this up from, from some obscure corner, just to smear him?!
Xiao He now genuinely admires these people.
Some also said that his parents were powerful and domineering.
There are no actual screenshots or evidence for this message; it's just circulating among these people.
It is said that Xiao He's father was a high-ranking official in the local education bureau, while Xiao He's mother was a teacher and grade director at the school, as well as the homeroom teacher of Xiao He's class. Knowing that her son was bullying his classmates, she chose to cover it up and conceal it, turned a blind eye to the students' pleas for help, and even turned around and suppressed the students, telling them to look for problems in themselves.
With nowhere else to turn for help, the female student desperately chose to commit suicide.
Later, the female student's parents tried to sue the school and seek redress from the education bureau, but they were driven away by Xiao He's father, who then suppressed the matter.
Who could have imagined that the person who killed someone back then would now become a big star, living a glamorous life under the spotlight, while the girl's family would forever be shrouded in the shadow of losing their daughter...
Finally, during these conversations, some people kept implying that Xiao He's father was corrupt and took bribes. The fact that Xiao He was able to establish Linghui Studio with Liu Rulan right after his debut and become the boss shows that his family was well-off. So where did his money come from?
His father must have done something wrong, and maybe Xiao He's mother even accepted gifts from students' parents...
Xiao He: ...
To be honest, if such a thing really exists, it is indeed quite infuriating.
But you guys better not put my name on it!
