“Banner? Cash award?”
Hearing those two words come out of the other end of the line, Jiang Nian was a bit surprised. He had originally thought that with this incident blowing up so big and involving foreign elements, it would take at least half a month for them to sort it all out. He didn’t expect them to wrap it up so quickly.
But thinking it over, it made sense—since the National Security Bureau had taken over the case, the local police really didn’t have much left to handle. This was good news for Jiang Nian too. After all, if the case weren’t closed, as someone directly involved, he wouldn’t be able to leave Chuncheng anytime soon.
Not that staying in Chuncheng was bad—the scenery was beautiful and the climate was pleasant—but he still missed his old hometown up in the northeast, where you’d take one breath of freezing air and the bitter wind would cut like a knife.
The only pity was that the hype had only lasted three days—too short. If it could have simmered for another week, the buzz would’ve truly exploded.
So he told the officer the name of the small mall he was heading to, hung up, and looked over at Yang Mi, who was driving, with a grin.
“See? The authorities are about to make a statement, aren’t they?”
Yang Mi, who had heard the whole conversation, said, “Not bad, Mr. Jiang. Your fame’s really something now—even the police are sending you a banner.”
At that, Jiang Nian smirked smugly. “Of course! Don’t you know who your buddy is and what he’s done? A mere banner? Pfft, easy peasy.”
“Yeah, yeah, our Mr. Jiang is the best,” Yang Mi humored him with a laugh, then turned her focus back to the road and drove attentively.
Just as Jiang Nian and the others were heading toward the mall—
Over on the other side, as that curious guy explained the situation and posted the photos in the group chat, the previously quiet chat instantly came alive.
“What the heck? Flying Swords of Dragon Gate is doing a promotional event? Didn’t that movie already tank?”
“For real. The lead actor’s a murderer who got arrested, and they’re still shamelessly putting on an event? They don’t actually think anyone’s gonna watch it, do they?”
“You know what? I’m actually kinda curious to see it. I mean, a movie starring a killer isn’t something you come across every day.”
“Same here. But what I’m more curious about is—since the lead’s already in custody, how are they even gonna run this promotion?”
“Let’s just go check it out. The mall’s not far from my place anyway. Anyone wanna come with?”
“You guys go ahead. I’m not going. A movie starring a murderer? No way I’m setting foot near that promo. If another killer pops up while I’m there, that’d be a total disaster.”
“Come on, don’t be like that. It’s already crazy enough that one killer happened to be in the cast—there’s no way there’d be that many. It’s not like it’s some terrorist organization.”
“…”
People were chatting away, and while their tone wasn’t exactly flattering and they weren’t too optimistic about the Flying Swords promotion, you had to admit—thanks to all this chatter, a lot of people found out about the event and came over out of curiosity.
By the time Tsui Hark and his crew finished setting up the venue and looked up, they were stunned by the sea of people packed in front of them. There were even more than on the first day they’d arrived in Chuncheng!
Tsui Hark was overjoyed.
He knew very well that at least eighty percent of this crowd was just there for the spectacle—but hey, even a spectacle crowd was fine! At least people were still paying attention to them.
Tsui Hark had come to terms with it by now. What Jiang Nian said before made sense—haters were still fans. The authorities would inevitably make a statement, and once that happened, everything would be resolved. And the louder the noise now, the more explosive the eventual payoff would be. When Flying Swords of Dragon Gate hit theaters, it might just blow up!
“Has Mr. Jiang arrived yet?”
After checking the scene, Tsui Hark went backstage and immediately asked Zhang Zhiliang.
Zhang Zhiliang had just come out of the makeup room and nodded in response. “He’s here, getting his makeup done inside!”
“Good!” Tsui Hark acknowledged, then turned to Zhang Zhiliang. “Old Zhang, go on stage first with the other actors and run a few segments to warm up the crowd. I’ll talk to Mr. Jiang about what he’s going to do up there.”
“OK!”
Zhang Zhiliang nodded to show he understood, then took the cast up on stage.
But the crowd wasn’t all that responsive to his appearance. After all, everyone’s focus was on the people directly or indirectly involved in that homicide case—Jiang Nian, Tsui Hark, and the like. Zhang Zhiliang wasn’t involved at all; he was a complete side character. Naturally, he didn’t grab much attention.
So while Zhang Zhiliang and the cast performed and spoke on stage, the audience below just murmured among themselves. This left Zhang Zhiliang with a major headache.
Luckily, just then—
“Old Zhang, we’re good to go!”
Tsui Hark appeared at the foot of the stage and called out to him, finally giving Zhang Zhiliang a way out. He quickly led his people off stage, letting Tsui Hark take over.
And the moment Tsui Hark stepped up, the atmosphere shifted completely.
Not only did he grab the full attention of the entire venue, but even before he could say a word, someone from the crowd shouted loudly:
“Director Tsui, your cast’s got a murderer in it—and you’re still doing a promotion? Aren’t you afraid of losing money?”
That one line immediately drew the crowd’s attention, and they all started chiming in:
“Yeah, Director Tsui! With this mess, the movie probably won’t even get released, right? What’s the point of all this promotion?”
“If you ask me, forget all the flashy stuff. Why don’t you just tell us what actually happened that day?”
“Yeah, that’s what we’re really curious about. Heck, why not make a movie based on Jiang Nian? I’ve already got the plot—just break down how he turned into a killer and show us his daily life as a calm, collected murderer. That’d be a guaranteed hit. We’d all go watch it in theaters!”
“Haha, that’s brutal!”
“…”
The crowd was buzzing with noise.
Seeing the scene unfold like this, the person who had started it all wore a smug look. Then, quietly slipping through the crowd, he pulled out his phone and said: “Director, I’ve done what you asked. The Flying Swords event is in total chaos—everyone’s fixated on the incident. I doubt there’ll be any turnaround now.”
On the other end of the line, a calm voice responded: “Mm, you did well. But keep at it—Tsui Hark’s an old fox. Stir things up some more, try to completely sabotage this promotion. Once you’re back, you’ll be well rewarded.”
“Heh heh, sure thing. But Director, I don’t get it—why are we going through all this trouble? Even if we did nothing, wouldn’t the movie flop anyway after something like this?”
“That’s not for you to worry about. Just do as you’re told and ask fewer questions.”
The voice on the other end turned icy cold.
Realizing he’d crossed a line, the man shut his mouth immediately. The director hung up without another word.
Then, he picked up a file sitting on his desk.
[Radio and Television Administration Response Slip]
[Report Target: Flying Swords of Dragon Gate]
[Report Reason: Actor committed homicide]
[Result: Rejected—Reason not valid]
Staring at that last line, the director crumpled the paper in his hand, his eyes dark and unreadable.
How could this not be valid?
