Chapter 24

The outdoor part was about to end, and the indoor part of the red carpet was all media.

Fan Xuexue turned around to have a final interaction with the fans.

Even if she was a so-called top-tier actress, fans were the foundation she relied on to stand firm.

Relying on works, she had no way to rank among the celebrity wealth lists.

The opportunity had arrived!

As Fan Xuexue turned, her dress swept an arc like a wave on the ground, very, very close to Qi Hao's feet.

If Qi Hao continued walking now, he would inevitably step on Fan Xuexue's dress.

What would be the consequences of stepping on the dress?

Actually, there were no consequences; after all, it wasn't rare for dresses to be stepped on at various banquets, and no one had ever been seen becoming naked just from being stepped on once.

Of course, there was still a tiny probability of achieving this joyous situation.

And even if he couldn't step the dress off, it might cause other awkward situations.

Therefore, try not to step on someone's dress if you can avoid it.

Just like children are taught from a young age not to lift someone's skirt.

In order to avoid stepping on Fan Xuexue's dress!

That's right, this reason was perfect; Qi Hao suddenly retracted his foot.

He stumbled and fell...

Thanks to the twenty points of stamina added during this period, the moment he fell, Qi Hao braced himself with one hand and squatted back up from the ground.

The agility of his movements was something even he found incredible.

And in this process, he didn't pull Fan Xuexue down, didn't tear off Fan Xuexue's dress, and certainly didn't stick his head into Fan Xuexue's dress... to peek.

Qi Hao was worried that if he did such a thing, Fan Xuexue would make him take responsibility.

And he didn't want to take responsibility.

He could only apologize to the male netizens.

Besides, it wasn't like Fan Xuexue hadn't acted in movies with revealing scenes.

The only flaw was his current posture...

Damn, miscalculated!

This posture looked a bit like kneeling on one knee!

Even after falling, he didn't let go of Fan Xuexue's hand.

After all, the moment of falling, one would definitely subconsciously grip tighter; letting go would reveal it was a fake fall.

One hears and sees plenty of fake falls by female celebrities on the red carpet, but there really aren't many by male celebrities.

How could he face people if that got out?

The current situation was that he hadn't let go of her hand and was kneeling on one knee—at least it looked like kneeling on one knee—no matter how you looked at it, it looked like a marriage proposal.

Fan Xuexue was completely bewildered by Qi Hao's series of actions.

She was genuinely frightened, covering her mouth and looking at Qi Hao in disbelief, her mind starting to think uncontrollably...

Should she agree to him?

Fortunately, Qi Hao stood up quickly.

Otherwise, if Fan Xuexue really nodded vigorously, eyes brimming with tears, and shouted "I agree, let's get married tomorrow," he really wouldn't know how to end it.

Qi Hao apologetically let go of Fan Xuexue and lightly brushed off the non-existent dust on his body; the whole movement was as smooth as flowing water, showing no sign of the awkwardness of having just fallen.

Actually, he was taking the opportunity to ask Brother Tongzi if this counted as completing the mission.

If you think it doesn't work, then I'll pretend I just sprained my ankle and lie on the ground right now to have someone bring a stretcher over.

Believe it or not, I dare to roll on the ground in pain.

Face?

That's Penguin stock; do Penguin shareholders have any need for face?

Perhaps the system also felt it was embarrassing and approved of his wrestling technique.

Success!

"I almost stepped on your dress just now..." Qi Hao explained to Fan Xuexue with a smile.

Fan Xuexue's expression was complex.

Qi Hao, a popular idol star, had gone so far as to fall down just because he was worried about stepping on her dress.

To say she wasn't moved would be a lie.

The media reporters were snapping photos frantically; Qi Hao and Fan Xuexue were both A-listers, so the media lenses couldn't possibly have any gaps, faithfully recording that scene just now.

Don't know who suddenly shouted:

"Qi Hao, you're a real man!"

"Sister Xuexue, agree to him!"

"Qi Hao, our Xuexue is entrusted to you!"

"Qi Hao, are you worthy of Yuanyuan? Are you worthy of Xixi? Are you worthy of me?"

What kind of messy stuff is this? Qi Hao smiled and waved, took Fan Xuexue's extended hand again, and walked toward the inner venue.

Sister, can we stop holding hands?

We're about to reach the signature wall; do we have to hold hands while signing?

Qi Hao usually always looked a bit unintelligent, but now he realized he had caused trouble again.

Fortunately, fortunately there was Old Tian.

And Zhan Qi Laiden.

Fan Xuexue finally let go of Qi Hao's hand in front of the signature wall; she returned to normal and left her name on the wall.

Qi Hao followed closely behind and signed his name too.

Then he was led by staff to accept an interview.

"There seemed to be a little accident just now..."

The host got straight to the point.

If this kind of thing wasn't clarified, who knew what it would ferment into.

Saying their organizer's red carpet was icy and slippery would be the mildest version.

"Just now, in order to avoid stepping on my dress, Qi Hao twisted his foot and fell." Fan Xuexue took the initiative to find a reason for Qi Hao's behavior.

In fact, she did indeed think so.

"Ah, were you injured in the fall?" The host asked with concern, as long as it wasn't the organizer's fault, it was fine.

"No, just a bit awkward."

Qi Hao didn't have much expression.

His persona was originally quite cold and aloof, the super male god in the hearts of the vast number of female fans.

Although the persona had already collapsed quite a bit.

"Not awkward, Qi Hao is a gentleman!" Fan Xuexue praised sincerely.

She also knew that saying this would further escalate the rumors.

It contradicted her principle of wanting to use Qi Hao for hype while not wanting to really be with him.

However, if she didn't express anything, how would the public view her?

After all, everyone knew Qi Hao fell because he didn't want to step on her dress.

"Yes, not awkward at all; I saw it, just now it was like being on a wire, it was really cool; Qi Hao, have you considered acting in action movies?"

Since this blame wouldn't be shifted onto their organizers, the host didn't mind flattering Qi Hao.

"I don't exclude that possibility." Qi Hao replied concisely.

"Do the two of you have plans to collaborate again?"

The host looked at these two high-value idol stars and felt it would be a pity not to collaborate.

Fan Xuexue had tended to collaborate with acting-focused actors in recent years, such as Liang Jiahui, Li Ming, Liu Dehua, Ge You, etc., and Qi Hao now also belonged to the acting-focused category, so it was just right to collaborate.

"There is already an intention in this regard; everyone can look forward to it."

Fan Xuexue was talking about "October Weicheng," but how they would collaborate was still unclear.

The production side might not arrange for them to play a couple.

It wasn't impossible for her to play Qi Hao's stepmother.

"Will you be appearing in 'Xianjian 3'?" The host asked again.

"Currently, there are no plans in this regard." Fan Xuexue denied this news without hesitation.

Tangren was indeed a bit disgusting in the circle.

They liked to "walk the pie" (tease potential casting).

Ever since they invited Qi Hao to play the eldest disciple of Mount Shu, Tangren started various sneaky "pie-walking" tactics.

Almost everyone Qi Hao had been rumored with had been teased by them.

Qi Hao suspected that Tangren hired him at a high price precisely because he had the most rumored partners.

Especially An Feng, who had appeared in "Xianjian 1."

They claimed definitively that she would return for the third installment, even giving out a melodramatic script of "Qi Hao and Hu Ge, two men fighting for one woman."

Fan Xuexue was of course also one of the people teased.

With Qi Hao here, she didn't know his attitude toward this "pie-walking" thing, so her denial was already considered quite tactful.

"The leads have basically been decided, and filming starts in February."

Qi Hao didn't want Tangren to keep teasing his "girlfriends," so he directly stated that the leads had already been confirmed.

Most of his "girlfriends" had already achieved success and fame, and it was impossible for them to run into such a TV series to play supporting roles.

"Then I wish you a smooth filming in advance."

Because of the sudden heavy snow, setting up the shed wasted some time, and Qi Hao had also fallen on the red carpet, so the host asked a few more questions before hurriedly ending this red carpet interview.

Backstage, Qi Hao suppressed his impatience to settle the mission.

His gaze searched the venue to see if anyone was suitable to be the training NPC this time.

However, one couldn't just go straight to the point to find an NPC.

One had to socialize with old seniors and friends in the circle first.

For example, Li Lianjie, with whom he had just collaborated on "The Warlords."

"The Warlords" was released on December 12th and earned a total box office of 222 million, which was barely worth mentioning compared to the 270 million cost.

Moreover, the calls of it being a bad movie were relatively high.

Qi Hao felt the movie was actually okay; perhaps this was the case of "the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment."

Besides, one doesn't fear not knowing the goods, one fears comparing goods.

Feng Xiaogang's "Assembly" was released on December 20th, but its box office had already exceeded "The Warlords," and "Assembly" only cost 80 million; who won and who lost was clear at a glance.

Qi Hao chatted with Li Lianjie for a bit and hurriedly looked for the next person.

Sun Honglei!

This guy's performance was actually quite good, especially when he asked if the watermelon was ripe.

Qi Hao decided to chat with him for a while longer.

If he could "capture" him as a training NPC, he could experience the pressure of whether it was ripe or not.

Ni Dahong!

It was said that Ni Dahong was going to appear in the "New Three Kingdoms" that was currently in preparation.

Old Tian was also eyeing this pie.

Qi Hao hoped to play Lu Bu or Zhao Yun.

Who doesn't like playing a tough guy?

One of his career plans was to play all the tough guys in Chinese history.

Lao Ai doesn't count.

If he could secure this role, it would be just right to join the "New Three Kingdoms" production after "Xianjian 3" finished filming.

However, "New Three Kingdoms" also had flaws.

First, there was the classic Old Three Kingdoms ahead, and wanting to surpass it was almost equivalent to dreaming; second, the filming time span was too long, which wasn't a good pie for Qi Hao, who was in a career transition period.

"Which role does Teacher Ni plan to play?" Qi Hao asked curiously.

"I actually wanted to play a general, mounting a horse to pacify the world, sweeping east and west, majestic and imposing..." Ni Dahong's expression dimmed, and he sighed: "Gao Xixi asked me to play Sima Yi; I was so hot-headed from his sweet-talking at the time that I agreed. He is really good at sweet-talking; if you run into him, be careful of him sweet-talking you."

"Is the pressure high if playing Sima Yi?" Qi Hao asked in a low voice.

"Sigh... even if the pressure is high, I have to play it; you're a Best Actor, is the pressure high?" Ni Dahong asked back.

"The pressure is huge!" Qi Hao nodded vigorously.

The Capital Satellite TV Film and Television Awards Ceremony wasn't a large-scale event after all, and there weren't too many acting-focused actors that Qi Hao could look up to.

He circled around and gave up on continuing to look.

With Ni Dahong and Sun Honglei as backups, choosing either one wouldn't be a loss.

After the event started, Qi Hao sat in his seat and began the mission settlement.

Excited heart, trembling hands.

Shares worth 40 million, here I come!