Chapter 18: Yang Mi: I Like Someone With Charisma

Magic City.

Director Lin Tianyi, who had been busy all day with *Temptation of Going Home*, opened his computer.

Mobile phones at this time were still feature phones, with pitifully few entertainment functions.

If one wanted to relax, aside from a massage, there was only surfing the web.

Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want a massage, but his body wouldn't allow it; he wasn't young anymore.

Back in the day, he could pee three feet against the wind, but now... forget it, a hero shouldn't dwell on past glory.

"Huh?" Director Lin browsed the news on his computer, his face suddenly full of shock:

"Isn't this our lead actor?"

A bayonet on a rifle, and he even captured a fugitive alive?

That fierce?

"This kid is going to be famous!" Director Lin stared, his eyes wide. Having struggled in the entertainment industry for many years, he knew exactly what benefits this would bring.

Immediately, he picked up the phone, preparing to call the producer.

But just as he touched the phone, the ringtone sounded.

"Old Lin, have you seen the news?" The producer's somewhat relaxed voice sounded on the phone:

"Our lead actor has become famous!"

Like Director Lin, he had also been busy all day, but one could tell from his voice the good mood this event had brought him.

Director Lin laughed: "Producer, we have very good luck!"

"Haha, indeed very good." The producer laughed heartily; he had always thought his male lead was a newcomer.

But now... he wouldn't be for long.

"Producer, to get a lead actor like this for such a small fee, we've made a profit," Director Lin laughed.

The producer was in a very good mood: "Haha, but then again, this fee is indeed a bit hard on him. Let's give him a big red envelope when filming ends."

Times change, and different situations call for different prices.

"Partnering with you makes me feel at ease... eh, never mind, the press conference has started." As Director Lin spoke, he suddenly discovered that the press conference for the *Lurk* crew had begun.

A spacious room.

Director Jiang Wei, Qi Hui, Ling Xiaosu, and Zhang Ruoyun sat in front of a table, with a dense forest of cameras opposite them.

Long guns and short cannons were pointed at the four of them.

Qi Hui scanned the room; there were many media outlets, including all major television stations, and even video websites like Tudou and Youku.

Unfortunately, however, CCTV did not come.

Jiang Wei coughed lightly and said: "Alright, the press conference now officially begins."

"Dear media friends, I presume you already know what happened, so I will not repeat it."

"These three are the heroes who took down the fugitive; if you have any questions, please ask."

"Our crew was lucky enough to film the incident as it happened, and we will share the video with all our media friends after the press conference ends."

Hearing this, the media's enthusiasm surged even higher, and a crowd of reporters scrambled to raise their hands.

Jiang Wei pointed at one at random.

"Mr. Ling, may I ask how you knew the other party was a fugitive?" A reporter immediately asked Ling Xiaosu.

He was the most famous; if not him, who would they ask?

Ling Xiaosu coughed lightly and said: "Actually, it was Qi Hui who discovered the fugitive, not me."

As he spoke, he introduced Qi Hui to the media: "This is my friend, a graduate of the 2005 class of the Beijing Film Academy, who is preparing to play the role of Xie Ruolin in *Lurk*."

"Let him tell you about it."

He had no intention of stealing the credit or the fame.

Even if he did, the police had already confirmed the specific sequence of events, and the cameras had captured plenty of footage; doing so would only be counterproductive.

"Mr. Qi, could you please describe the specific process?" The media turned their lenses toward Qi Hui.

Facing the cameras, Qi Hui coughed lightly and immediately gave a simple account of how he discovered Zhang Guofeng and took him down.

Of course, there were things that shouldn't be said, and Qi Hui certainly wouldn't say them.

Hunan Province.

Yang Mi and Tang Yixin, who were running programs to promote *Sword of Fairy 3*, were staying in a hotel and watching this somewhat explosive news.

"Huh? 2005 class of Beijing Film Academy?" Tang Yixin said in shock: "Mi, isn't that your classmate?"

At this time, Tang Yixin and Yang Mi had a pretty good relationship and were known as the beauties of *Sword of Fairy 3*.

The remaining one was, of course, Liu Sisi.

"Uh... it seems so." Yang Mi looked and said somewhat uncertainly.

In college, she was rarely at school; during that time, she was busy filming and rarely attended classes.

In her freshman year, she played Guo Xiang in the Liu Yifei and Huang Xiaoming version of *The Return of the Condor Heroes*.

In her sophomore year, she played the female lead, Wang Zhaojun, in *Wang Zhaojun*.

Her junior and senior years were much the same; she was filming *Sword of Fairy 3* and the new version of *Dream of the Red Chamber*.

She only went back during the time of the graduation play.

She basically only knew her roommates and a few other girls in her class.

As for the others... she basically ignored them all.

From the very beginning, she and her classmates were not on the same starting line.

Yang Mi felt a sense of pride; who wouldn't mention her, Yang Mi, when they saw those classmates of hers?

"No way?" Tang Yixin widened her eyes and pointed at Qi Hui on the screen, asking: "You don't have an impression of someone this handsome?"

Yang Mi was indifferent: "Handsome as he is, he's no Hu Ge or Huo Jianhua... alright, pretend I didn't say that."

She glanced at the screen and retracted the words she was about to say.

Instead, she shrugged and said: "I actually prefer someone with charisma. Although he is very handsome, he lacks charisma."

Lacks charisma... Tang Yixin rolled her eyes; you might as well have just said he isn't famous.

"What about now?" Tang Yixin pointed at the screen, where the footage switched to Qi Hui holding a rifle alone against the fugitive, heroic and domineering, handsome as hell.

Yang Mi nodded: "His charisma is gradually rising."

"That's basically how it happened." Qi Hui finished the account simply, then paused and continued: "Actually, this wasn't my credit alone."

His original purpose in orchestrating this was to thank Ling Xiaosu and Zhang Ruoyun.

Of course, he wouldn't take all the credit for himself.

Otherwise, wouldn't it have been enough to just quietly call the police?

Why would he need to step in and fight himself?

"I couldn't have beaten him alone. If it weren't for Senior Brother Ling and this junior from the 2007 class, Zhang Ruoyun, helping out, the fugitive might have escaped."

"Especially Senior Brother Ling, who lunged at him first and risked his life to control the other party."

"Cough, cough, not at all, not at all." Ling Xiaosu quickly waved his hand: "If it weren't for Qi Hui disregarding his own safety to injure him, I wouldn't have had the chance."

"Actually, we weren't sure that person was the fugitive. It was Junior Brother Zhang who risked approaching the other party and intentionally let him hear the police call, alerting him, which allowed us to confirm the target."

Zhang Ruoyun coughed quickly: "No, no, both senior brothers are joking. It was Senior Brother Qi who discovered the target first. What I did was entirely part of the senior brothers' plan; it was a link in the plan."

"Moreover, if Senior Brother Ling hadn't been there to protect me, I wouldn't have dared to get close to call the police."

"Not at all, both junior brothers are amazing."

"No, no, no, it was the two senior brothers who devised the strategy and struck like thunder."

"Why say that? It was clearly the senior brothers and junior brother who were fearless!"

The three of them went back and forth like this in front of the cameras, constantly engaging in commercial flattery and mutual praise.

For a moment, they were like brothers, the atmosphere was harmonious, and the netizens watching the live stream immediately began to discuss it.

"These three have such a good relationship!"

"Holy crap? Is the school spirit at Beijing Film Academy this good? They're even pushing the chance to be in the spotlight back and forth."

"Brothers, I kind of want to go to Beijing Film Academy now."

"If the Earth were this harmonious, how good would that be."

"Exactly, can't we just lead humanity forward under the beacon of freedom and democracy?"

"The guy above, have you eaten too much American laundry detergent? Is your brain broken?"

"Damn, there are little pinks everywhere."

"Guys, you're off-topic, we're talking about the three brothers of Beijing Film Academy."

"Off-topic my ass, if I don't spray this Western-worshipping dog to death today, I'm not Chinese. Bring the keyboard!"

The internet was filled with noise, but the media on the scene were somewhat speechless as they watched the three praise each other.

Being behind a screen and being on the scene were two different concepts.

"Oh, there's one thing I forgot to mention." Director Jiang Wei interjected: "The reason this happened is that Qi Hui came to our *Lurk* crew today for an audition, preparing to play the role of Xie Ruolin."

"Sigh, I didn't expect that our *Lurk* crew would actually have an actor who is a fugitive..."

The reporters: "..."

What a stiff transition.

"Of course, that is not the point." Director Jiang Wei took out two sheets of paper, which had quite a lot of text on them: "This is a letter of appreciation given to us by the police comrades."

"One is for our *Lurk* production crew, and one is for three actors from our *Lurk* production crew..."

Jiang Dao could not go three sentences without mentioning *Lurk*. As for whether Qi Hui and the other two were all actors from *Lurk*... regardless of whether they would be in the future, they were now.

*Snow Leopard* production crew

Zhang Jian closed his computer with a look of frustration and sighed helplessly.

Now the reputation of *Lurk* had been completely established; it was a hit before it even aired.

Damn it, I'm so envious!

If I had known that kid could stir up so much trouble... Zhang Jian felt incomparably frustrated inside.