pappabearbooks Chapter 592: A Good Squad Leader; A Good Senior Colleague.
Chapter 592: A Good Squad Leader; A Good Senior Colleague.
Xiao He simply didn’t like playing mind games, but that didn’t mean he was an idiot.“And he shares the same agent as Jiang Junjie, which means they’ll inevitably compete for resources.”
This detail had actually been exposed by Yun Ziqi himself. He admitted he wasn’t that close to Jiang Junjie, and that the agent favored Jiang Junjie more.
So his hostility toward Jiang Junjie must be even greater!
Jingyou Entertainment didn’t have many recommendation slots to begin with; once divided among agents, there were even fewer. Given Yun Ziqi and Jiang Junjie’s situation, most likely it was all about that recommendation slot.
Still, Xiao He was astonished.
Mainly because he hadn’t expected Yun Ziqi to be so ruthless—he almost achieved a triple win with one move.
“I trust your judgment.”
Liu Rulan said from the other end.
“So what do you plan to do now?”
Xiao He thought for a moment and said, “Then kick him out of the Snow Ridge Red Journey production first. Someone so calculating doesn’t deserve to praise heroes here.”
“And having to work with someone who’s always scheming against others makes me sick.”
Ahem, Xiao He completely forgot he himself seemed to be a “bad guy.”
“All right…”
Liu Rulan was silent for a moment, then said, “You don’t need to show up. I’ll find the people to handle it, and that so-called recommendation slot—you don’t need to worry about it.”
…
When dealing with a known enemy, Liu Rulan always acted fast.
Almost the next day, Xiao He personally watched Yun Ziqi leave the production team.
Yun Ziqi still wore a smile, as if he weren’t the one being expelled. Facing Xiao He, he still raised his hand warmly and waved.
Xiao He crossed his arms and looked down at him with nothing more than indifference.
Yun Ziqi stared at Xiao He for a moment in silence. As he turned, his expression twisted for an instant but was quickly masked again.
After Yun Ziqi left, Zhuo Jianhua kept sighing.
He truly felt sorry for Yun Ziqi: “I didn’t expect the kid to quit the crew himself, sigh.”
Xiao He comforted Zhuo Jianhua, “Something like this is hard to handle. If he made that choice, perhaps it was the wise thing to do.”
“Sigh, although overall you can’t blame him for what happened, he did bring people into the crew and was Jiang Junjie’s guarantor. Now that such a scandal has erupted, there must be accountability, otherwise the production’s rules become unmanageable.”
As he spoke, Zhuo Jianhua sighed again, “As for you, after what you encountered last night, you must have been shaken, right?”
Xiao He inwardly felt pleased, but outwardly shrugged helplessly, “Honestly, I still don’t really know what happened.”
Zhuo Jianhua fell silent a moment, then lowered his voice: “Maybe it’s related to Director Qiu’s side... These people will stop at nothing to snatch roles.”
After a pause, he looked at Xiao He: “By the way, Director Qiu Zhenlong is about to form a new crew, did you know that?”
Actually, many in the production suspected Jiang Junjie had been framed; otherwise the series of incidents that blew up online had been too coincidental and too rapid. Without a water army breakthrough, no one would believe it.
But who was the mastermind behind the setup?
Most people’s gaze fell on those who spent the night together.
If someone was setting it up, the people who stayed together that night were the most suspicious!
And speaking frankly, Xiao He was the most suspicious of all!
After all, he was the only one in this incident who remained unaffected.
Jiang Junjie ended up in trouble, Yun Ziqi quit the crew, Ding Cheng luckily picked up Yun Ziqi’s role and gained more screen time, but after that scandal his reputation in the crew was ruined—Director Yang Li surely wouldn’t favor him.
Only Xiao He…
Xiao He was the first to notice something wrong with Jiang Junjie, then acted like nothing had happened and stayed hidden the whole time.
And among the three Jingyou Entertainment artists present, all had bad luck—only Xiao He, an outsider from Linghui Entertainment, came through unscathed.
…How could that not look odd?
Yet Zhuo Jianhua didn’t suspect Xiao He. His judgment was sharper than most; he had already seen through the nature of the scheming from this incident.
But as an elder, watching the ruthlessness among young people still alarmed Zhuo Jianhua.
Xiao He was frank with the senior: “Our team caught a whiff of something, but we haven’t found the trail yet.”
Zhuo Jianhua stared at Xiao He for a while, then gave a wry smile: “Ah, I’m getting old.”
He could no longer read these young people like before.
Zhuo Jianhua shook his head and, full of regret, told Xiao He, “Both of you young ones are talents I admire. I thought introducing you to each other would help you exchange ideas and improve together. But now it seems that was just wishful thinking on my part.”
Xiao He just smiled inwardly at the senior’s keen insight but didn’t reveal who the other young man was that Zhuo Jianhua implied. He merely said, “Everyone is a good person.”
But sadly, they wouldn’t be walking the same path.
“Sigh—” Zhuo Jianhua felt wistful, then quickly recovered. He shook his head and said to Xiao He, “Come on, let’s shoot. Today’s my last scene.”
“No matter what, get the current work done first!”
Xiao He fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
-
In the blizzard, the squad leader fell heavily into the snow.
Everyone else was stunned and rushed forward. Amid the howling wind, their hoarse shouts carried on.
But their cries couldn’t overpower the ferocious cold. Those desperate pleas and prayers were swallowed by the gale in an instant, and with them went a hero who would forever be remembered, gone from this place forever.
The squad leader’s eyes were still open. Snow fell on the sheen that hadn’t yet faded from his eyes, slowly forming a thin layer of frost. His body still held the last remnant of the step he insisted on taking in life, but his breathing had already stopped completely.
He looked so gaunt, so frail, yet in the snow he seemed so unyielding, so towering.
The scene was stunning and tragic.
“Squad leader! Squad leader!”
Chen Shitou threw himself onto the squad leader, calling his name and rubbing at his cheeks and neck. But facing the increasingly cold “statue,” even the tears that fell steamed with heat for a moment before being snatched away by the storm, as if they had never existed.
The other young men wept bitterly, but they knew their mission was not over.
The squad leader’s sacrifice was so they could continue forward—
“Shitou, go! Fast!”
Another man cried.
“We can’t die here! Otherwise… if we let the squad leader lie here alone, how awful would that be!”
They had to keep moving! They had to break through the storm! They had to join the comrades ahead—only then could they return to retrieve the squad leader’s body!
For the squad leader, for the comrades ahead, they had to go on!
In that instant, everyone’s eyes filled with tears, but also shone with a light the blizzard could not erase!
…
Even after his scenes ended, Xiao He still knelt in the snow for a long time, unable to calm his emotions.
Finally, Zhuo Jianhua walked over and pulled him up from the snow.
“Kid, you performed well. It’s obvious you’ve improved a lot over the years.”
Zhuo Jianhua patted Xiao He’s shoulder with a smile and brushed the accumulated snow from his shoulders.
“From now on, these roads will be yours to walk. Don’t let one or two defeats and schemes turn you cynical about everyone. Keeping your original intention is the trump card that lets you keep going. I hope we can work together again next time.”
Xiao He blinked and gradually freed himself from the role of Chen Shitou, then shook Zhuo Jianhua’s hand with respect and a smile: “Yes, Teacher Zhuo, I’ll remember what you said.”
The squad leader was a good squad leader.
The senior was a good senior.