Chapter 309: Propriety, Righteousness, Honesty, Shame, Loyalty, Filial Piety, Benevolence, Righteousness

After some coercion and bribery, Lu Dabo watched Zhuo Wei delete every single photo of Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian.

Zhuo Wei had no choice; he couldn't even get an audience with the Principal, didn't even have the qualifications to speak with the Principal, so what power did he have to resist.

Every inch of the man radiated the message: you don't deserve it.

Lu Dabo looked at his laptop: "Deleted everything?"

"Deleted, even the memory card is wiped clean." Zhuo Wei held up a fingernail-sized memory card and handed it to him, to prove he hadn't hidden anything.

"If I see these from somewhere else, I won't be this easy to talk to." Lu Dabo threatened, snapping the memory card in half.

Then he tossed it into the ashtray on the desk, "snap"—the lighter burned it to ash, turning their efforts into nothing.

Zhuo Wei watched in silence, saying nothing—unless he wanted to quit after this job and bear the man's wrath.

That reporter's heart went cold too; now thinking back, he really had been too naive.

After finishing all this, Lu Dabo said: "Give me a copy of the dirt you've shot."

"I can send it to your email." Zhuo Wei said.

Lu Dabo grabbed some paper and a pen nearby, wrote down an email on the spot and handed it to him: "Show me the hot stuff you've shot recently, the stuff that hasn't broken yet, I need to verify if it's real."

If what they sent him was all trivial junk, how boring that would be.

"You have to promise me first, you won't leak it." Zhuo Wei wanted to make money.

Lu Dabo nodded, saying he wouldn't leak it.

Zhuo Wei opened the laptop and showed him a few photos he'd secretly taken last month; the photos were dim, only showing two people embracing.

The man's hand had reached onto the woman's rear, the outline visible.

"What's this?" Lu Dabo stared.

"The Jin Tong Yu Nu incident—this woman is the female lead, the man is an actor surnamed Wang." Zhuo Wei pointed at the screen.

"What?!"

Lu Dabo was startled, pushed the laptop over in front of himself, and looked more carefully.

That incident had caused an enormous uproar, dragging on for half a year—hard not to hear about it even if you tried; and the male lead of the incident was on very good terms with Chen Zhixi, who had still grumbled indignantly about it.

She'd even torn into the female lead of that incident a few times, but in the end it was still someone else's family matter.

"Look at this one." Zhuo Wei flipped to another photo.

It showed the hotel lobby, the two chatting and laughing, their faces clearly visible.

"Good, very good!"

Lu Dabo slapped Zhuo Wei's shoulder—hadn't expected this guy to be so capable, even managing to shoot this.

His appreciation was written all over his face: a talent!

When they did this kind of work, they usually hired people to seduce targets, or had close acquaintances secretly photograph them—but this guy could handle it all on his own.

"You promised me, you wouldn't leak it." Zhuo Wei said.

If someone else leaked this, then he wouldn't make any money—the loss would be devastating.

"I'm just looking, I'm not a paparazzi, why would I leak this stuff for you." Lu Dabo looked at the photos, the corners of his mouth curling up.

If he showed these photos to Chen Zhixi, she'd probably be grateful to him—he'd have salvaged the image of her good friend.

Although he and Chen Zhixi were in the same circle, Chen Zhixi's attitude toward him was always cool and distant.

Understandable—Lu Dabo's image wasn't exactly positive to begin with.

Zhuo Wei watched his expression, not knowing what the man was thinking, and asked: "The dirt exchange you mentioned?"

Although he didn't expect Jade Rabbit to hand them any good dirt, having something was better than nothing.

"A deal's a deal. I can also apply for a budget for you—going forward, anything you shoot, you send to us simultaneously. But the condition is you're not allowed to photograph Jade Rabbit's artists anymore." Lu Dabo instructed.

Anyway, Jade Rabbit's annual PR budget was huge, that was a must—rumor had it the Principal was going to raise it again this year.

A little money could buy Zhuo Wei over; in the future, whoever he wanted to deal with, he'd send Zhuo Wei to secretly photograph them. Whether to leak or not was another matter, but having leverage was the key—killing several birds with one stone!

Hearing this, Zhuo Wei's heart leaped with joy: "Sorry for the trouble."

"Alright, that's it."

After finishing this matter, Lu Dabo swaggered out with his underlings.

Watching the figures disappear, Zhuo Wei deflated like a punctured ball, his whole body sagging at once; he picked up his glasses from the floor and put them on again.

"Boss." That reporter called out.

"The money will be paid as usual, don't tell anyone about this." Zhuo Wei said.

Since they were going to cooperate with the man, there was no point in saying anything more—keeping quiet was best.

That reporter felt a little better, at least it wasn't all for nothing.

After returning, Lu Dabo went straight to Fang Hong's office and reported: "The matter's been handled."

"Very good." Fang Hong praised.

Actually, for him this wasn't much of a big deal.

Lu Dabo was in high spirits: "Do you know what I saw?"

"What?" Fang Hong was baffled.

"The Jin Tong Yu Nu incident." Lu Dabo told him what he'd seen.

"Oh!"

Fang Hong was nonchalant, as if not interested at all.

He'd already known the outcome of this incident long ago; in this life he'd never paid it any attention—it had nothing to do with him, and he'd never thought of doing good deeds for the sake of it.

Seeing his indifferent look, Lu Dabo instantly lost the desire to show off his achievement.

He took his leave of the Principal, ran downstairs again, and rushed into Chen Zhixi's office: "Sister Chen, do you know what I saw?"

"What?" Chen Zhixi set down the work in her hands.

Although the two were familiar, Chen Zhixi's production business had never handed logistics over to this person; generally, only when Fang Hong was filming a movie would she bring Lu Dabo along.

Chen Zhixi had never brought Lu Dabo before; being close to the Principal was not the same as being close to her.???? She had no interest in Lu Dabo's bootlicking, climb-the-ladder style.

Lu Dabo took out his phone, showed her a few photos, and narrated: "This is."

Chen Zhixi looked at the photos above, listened to the narration, her pupils slightly widened, and her expression slowly changed.

This expression pleased Lu Dabo greatly.

"Where did you get this?" Chen Zhixi said in astonishment.

"Zhuo Wei took these last month, I had him send me a copy." Lu Dabo said with a proud smile.

Still couldn't hold steady!

"Send it to me." Chen Zhixi's expression turned serious as she took out her phone.

"No wait, what are you going to do?" Lu Dabo stopped her.

"I'm going to expose him and clear my friend's name." Chen Zhixi said firmly.

Her friend had endured so much abuse, had so many hats pinned on her, and her parents were in tears every day; watching it, she felt it was pitiful.

The two had a very good relationship; she had once been her friend's agent.

"You can't do that, I promised the person that this matter wouldn't be exposed." Lu Dabo advised.

"I can give you money, however much, I'll just buy it outright, alright!" Chen Zhixi was very generous.

Not counting her salary, her annual dividends alone were tens of millions; she simply didn't care.

"Oh, it's not about the money, this matter just shouldn't involve you, your identity isn't suitable. It's best to let the paparazzi expose it themselves, and you stay out of it." Lu Dabo suggested.

If Chen Zhixi exposed it, people could say she was slandering, spreading rumors, a third party interfering; the credibility would be greatly reduced.

Her identity alone was very unsuitable.

"Taken last month, and it still hasn't been exposed this month—how long must we wait?" Chen Zhixi didn't want to wait; one more day, her friend suffered one more day.

The fear of public opinion is real; not everyone has that kind of mental resilience.

"Sister Chen, don't rush. Leave this matter to me to handle. By the Lantern Festival I'll have him expose it. So much time has already passed, you don't mind waiting a few more days." Lu Dabo thumped his chest, taking the matter upon himself.

"Then don't disappoint me." Chen Zhixi looked at him, and suddenly felt a fondness for this person.

"I definitely won't disappoint you." Lu Dabo said with certainty.

He was very smart, and didn't discuss any benefits with Chen Zhixi—only feelings, only helping. Now that Jade Rabbit's production volume was growing larger, any scraps Chen Zhixi let slip would be enough to fill him up.

That Principal, didn't work for three years at a stretch, every day either flirting with Liu Tianxian or sitting in the office.

Which left Lu Dabo with fewer chances to grab some windfall.

He couldn't urge him either—Principal, go make a movie, would you—that would be too deliberate.

This matter wasn't hard for Lu Dabo to handle. Zhuo Wei had previewed exposing it on the Lantern Festival, so he'd expose this material on the Lantern Festival.

Their scheming, Fang Hong didn't know, and didn't manage it; even if he knew, he wouldn't manage it. Who doesn't have a little selfishness? It's normal.

He just didn't expect that, with his involvement, this matter was exposed more than half a month earlier than in the previous life.

The Lantern Festival was the 24th; in the previous life, it was exposed on March 13th. This year February only went to the 28th. Recently, Fang Hong was paying attention to another matter.

It was the attitude of the higher-ups toward Fifty Shades of Grey.

Ever since the major video platforms hung up banners saying they would import this film, would put it online, the topic of whether it could pass censorship had never stopped, with endless public debate.

And on the day before the 20th, that is, when Wangyi were looking forward to it, hoping that at midnight they could see Fifty Shades of Grey on the major film and television platforms.

The higher-ups issued an edict, halting the film.

That is to say, no platform was allowed to put this film up; this film was erased.

Along with it, Yu Xian's hype was also dialed down.

Chinese people making this kind of film? Not feeling shame, but turning it into honor—do they even know how to write the eight big characters of propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame; loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness?

Yu Xian was also very depressed. He had said he'd go back to the United States after putting on a show, to experience Li An's treatment—no need to put on a show now, just work hard.

Wait until he wins an Oscar, then go back and act cocky!

Wangyi were also stunned and unable to understand; some even questioned whether it was real or fake.

But iQiyi, E-Factory Video, LeEco and several other leading video platforms successively took down Fifty Shades of Grey's promotional pages, indicating it was real.

iQiyi issued an announcement: "Due to some special reasons, Fifty Shades of Grey is temporarily unable to go online; we deeply apologize for this."

Among them, "special reasons" and "temporarily" were highlighted in red—the former indicated force majeure, the latter still left hope.

Fang Hong knew there wouldn't be. If it could go online, he himself would have already put it up on Bilibili, and he had been showing no movement at all.

E-Factory Video also posted a headline: "Sorry, we tried our best!"

Look how sharp their sense of smell is—no hope.

LeTV was even more outrageous; they had even let users purchase viewing memberships for this film a few days in advance.

A large number of viewers demanded refunds. Because of this, LeTV had no choice but to extend the membership period for free for these viewers who had purchased it—for example, a one-month purchase was extended to two months.

Anyway, the money was earned; refunds were impossible.

But LeTV was also tough; their spokesperson directly said: "This was to cooperate with the General Administration's directive."

Neither E-Factory Video nor iQiyi had anyone come out to speak; even when reporters sought them out, they only said it was inconvenient.

And according to relevant parties: "Fifty Shades of Grey passed the relevant review, with a large number of inappropriate scenes cut, but it was still halted!"

That is to say, this film wasn't about review; even if many scenes were cut, it still wouldn't be played on online platforms.

It was filled with a large number of sm, sexual-abuse scenes, which would cause trauma to the people's bodies and minds, and impact their values—all for your own good!

Actually, whether it went online or not, professional Wangyi could find pirated versions to watch. This film had pirated versions leaked; European and American copyright was strict.

That didn't mean the copyright of other releasing countries was also strict!

But the pirated versions were only accessible to those netizens with a deep understanding of the internet—those who could find where to download av—ordinary people couldn't find them.

But Bilibili skirted the line, sending private messages to major Up Masters, encouraging them to do film and television commentary. They didn't say which film, just encouraged them to do film and television commentary, with traffic-boosting support.

No need to worry about copyright — there is no clear copyright regulation for clip-style video explanations.

This way, not only can it draw traffic, but it can also satisfy those who are craving it.

(End of this chapter)