Chapter 134: Brought to Tears by Poverty

Upon arriving at the pre-booked hotel, the group could finally rest.In the morning, several related topics slowly climbed onto the Hot Search—

Many people who woke up early, still groggy from sleep, opened their phones and saw this news, instantly becoming wide awake.

In the video, a group of people in uniforms surrounded Xiao He, then Liu Rulan came out to negotiate with the police. The two stood side by side at attention, waiting for the lead Police Officer to check their documents.

After the inspection, the Police Officer said something to them and then took Xiao He and the others away from the scene.

Seeing this video, others were somewhat confused.

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 commit a crime? What did he do?

Filled with curiosity and confusion, they only learned what actually happened after opening these messages and reading carefully—

Not only were netizens laughing online, but several friends Xiao He knew also sent their warm regards.

Leading the charge were naturally the people from the 'Starry Radiance' crew. Yi Man'er was the first to arrive, offering Xiao He both condolences and mockery. Director Wen Hongyuan was actually quite happy about the wave of heat Xiao He brought, offering him praise and concern. Producer Ma Qianyou was even more direct, sending Xiao He a big red envelope to help calm his nerves.

Xiao He really didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Helplessly, Xiao He could only post a moment on his social media to explain his situation.

Familiar faces quickly arrived in the comments section.

No one knows if Xiao He's heart was bitter or not, but 'Starry Radiance' continued to gain heat because of this incident. Combined with its inherent good quality and broad audience appeal, its subsequent ratings soared continuously, even breaking the channel's ratings record in recent years and becoming one of only two heavyweight contenders in the past decade to break the three rating points mark.

The other drama with an average rating breaking three points was the classic anti-corruption drama from ten years ago that remains popular to this day! It's worth noting that ten years ago, video platforms hadn't completely dominated the market yet, and many people were still willing to watch TV channels on television.

But ten years later today, with video platforms flourishing, many people don't even want to turn on their TVs, let alone chase dramas on television.

It can only be said that 'Starry Radiance' is quite good at capturing its audience. Although Zhang Mo usually doesn't have a prominent reputation, he has a significant market among middle-aged and elderly viewers, while Su Shengxi, Yi Man'er, and others target the current young audience, attracting them to help boost data and heat across various platforms.

'Starry Radiance's achievement in reaching its current status is indeed inseparable from fan economy...

However, of course, this is all hindsight.

After posting on social media, Xiao He went with Liu Rulan to meet Director Zhuang Hongyi of 'The Phantom Thief Alliance'.

This meeting was directly arranged at Zhuang Hongyi's home. The location where Zhuang Hongyi lived was none other than the legendary Western Hills affluent district. This area possesses scarce semi-mountain land resources while still being relatively close to the city center, belonging to a premium high-end mountaintop villa community.

Sitting in the car, Xiao He felt like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden as he looked out the window at the neatly trimmed cedars and sweetgum trees on both sides, the wrought iron fences occasionally visible through the woods, and the lavishly decorated, luxurious villas and gardens situated behind the fences. He felt a sense of unease and nervousness, as if he had stepped into some other high-class channel.

And whether it was psychological or not, the air in this area felt exceptionally fresh. Just taking a deep breath gave a refreshing, heart-soothing comfort. Xiao He's nose even faintly detected the fragrance of money lingering in the air.

He couldn't help but lean close to Liu Rulan and ask in a low voice, "Sister Liu, roughly how much do houses cost here?"

Liu Rulan also quietly replied, "I remember the most recent villa area in this region was 140,000 per square meter."

Xiao He: ?

Based on the sizes of the villas he just saw, they definitely had at least 500 square meters...

Xiao He made a quick mental calculation, then shed tears of poverty.

My apologies, he wasn't worthy.

Liu Rulan couldn't resist adding, "And it's not like you can buy here just because you want to. Asking about the price is pointless anyway."

Xiao He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes. "I understand, Sister Liu."

There was really no need for that additional verbal stab.

The car continued up the mountainside and finally drove into one of the villas, where the villa butler personally came to welcome Xiao He and his companion.

Then, under the butler's guidance, Xiao He finally met Zhuang Hongyi.

Director Zhuang Hongyi was a middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses who looked quite scholarly. His speech and demeanor were very appropriate—neither overly enthusiastic nor giving a sense of distance. It was just that his white hoodie and jeans somehow felt oddly mismatched with this high-end villa.

After discussing the situation with Liu Rulan, Zhuang Hongyi signaled for both of them to follow him to the separately built annex building nearby.

Entering the annex, Xiao He looked at the temporary setup complete with all the filming equipment and couldn't help but mentally roasting: Using such prime, expensive land as a studio—Director Zhuang's behavior was truly lavish.

Since it was a temporary setup and the shooting time wasn't long, there weren't many people on site—just two stylists, one assistant, and Director Zhuang himself.

The reason for having two stylists was simple: the character Xiao He was playing in 'The Phantom Thief Alliance' was a hacker with bleached white hair and extensive tattoos covering his body. The workload for makeup and styling might actually take more time than the filming itself.

Of course, following Xiao He's usual roasting style, his evaluation of this character was: white-haired pretentious punk—as for any additional impressions, honestly, the character description in the script was too brief, not even having a name yet, so he couldn't discern any extra personality traits for this character.

Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. He's just a thief, not a good person either, so just shoot it!