Chapter 143: Professionalism, Visit to the Set, The Crazy Horse Show (Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Votes)

During the script reading for *Bad Kids*, everyone made some minor adjustments to the original script.

Take the protagonist's name, for example.

Since anyone could tell from the title of this web drama that the lead must be a child, during the workshop, Ting Hai pointed out that Li Dong and Ding Xi actually served as a set of reference points for each other. Or rather, Ding Xi was essentially a younger version of Li Dong, given how many similarities the two shared.

In fact, the entire script also unfolded around the character of Ding Xi.

Lin Xing suggested naming one of them Zhaoyang and the other Dongsheng.

Zhaoyang (Morning Sun) must inevitably be followed by Dongsheng (Sun Rising).

This was Lin Xing's instinctive feeling after finishing *Bad Kids*.

Following his suggestion, Ting Hai, Lan Lei, Niu Xiao, the other lead actors, and even Kong Tian all felt that these two names were brilliant modifications.

And just like that, the character played by Lin Xing in the script was changed from Li Dong to Li Dongsheng.

Although *Bad Kids* billed Lin Xing as the top-billed lead and the male protagonist, in reality, as mentioned earlier, the true main stars of this production were the three children, with Ding Zhaoyang having the most screen time.

Following closely were the other two young actors, whose screen time was by no means small.

One has to hand it to the creative team—Deng Ying, Lan Lei, and Ting Hai—they truly poured their hearts into this. Over the six months spent finalizing the script, they had selected these three children from nearly a hundred young auditioners.

It wasn't that the three of them possessed extraordinary acting skills; rather, each of them naturally embodied certain traits of the characters they were portraying.

That was the most crucial factor.

After all, when it comes to young actors, how advanced could their acting skills possibly be?

Most of the time, it required guidance and coaching from the director and performance instructors, combined with a bit of authentic self-expression from the kids themselves.

Coupled with the chemistry built by the three young actors after joining the crew—not to mention having Kong Tian on board as a complimentary acting coach—their progress was tremendous.

This was precisely why the *Bad Kids* production team felt confident about shooting and broadcasting simultaneously.

Everything was basically in place.

5:00 PM.

"Dad, Mom..."

Lin Xing gave Wang Shan and Tang Jiang a sudden, forceful shove, sending them over the edge.

"Cut!"

At that moment, as Lan Lei called out "Cut," Lin Xing rushed forward to help Wang Shan and Tang Jiang back up.

Crew members had been stationed behind them the entire time to catch them.

"Teacher Wang, Teacher Tang, are you okay?"

Lin Xing asked with genuine concern.

Wang Shan shook her head. "I'm fine."

"I'm fine too."

Tang Jiang said as he turned around and asked, "Director Lan, did we get it?"

"Teacher Tang, that take was fine, but you and Teacher Wang should take a brief rest while we do a safety take," Lan Lei said, looking at the monitor.

This scene marked the moment in the story when Li Dongsheng formally sent off his parents-in-law.

He had originally pinned his hopes on them persuading Gu Ning not to divorce him.

"Do I still have any chance left?"

This line was actually Li Dongsheng's final desperate attempt.

Since his parents-in-law believed he had no chance left, Li Dongsheng had no choice but to rely on himself.

To send the elderly couple on their final journey.

Once Gu Ning lost her parents, the only person she would be able to depend on would be him.

Climbing the mountain presented an opportunity.

The main focus of this scene was for Lin Xing to have Tang Jiang and Wang Shan sit near the cliff edge of Liufeng Mountain, then pretend to step forward to adjust the two elderly people's posture, while actually pushing them down the mountainside.

During filming, it was obviously impossible to shoot on a real mountain.

Lan Lei and his team had directly constructed a set, leaving the background to be filled in with post-production visual effects later.

Who even goes on location shoots these days?

Because it was fake, yet had to realistically portray the appearance of falling down a mountain, Wang Shan and Tang Jiang had already been pushed over three times, not to mention a few additional times when stunt doubles were used by the crew.

This time finally marked a success.

Yet, to secure a backup take, Lan Lei wanted to shoot it once more.

5 minutes later.

"Dad, Mom..."

Lin Xing pushed Wang Shan and Tang Jiang directly over the edge, shouting loudly.

"Cut!"

Lan Lei called out, then announced loudly, "Congratulations to Teacher Tang and Teacher Wang on wrapping up! Thank you for your hard work!"

Tang Jiang and Wang Shan had a total of three scenes. They shot one yesterday afternoon, one this morning, and one this afternoon, officially marking their wrap.

Overall, the filming had gone smoothly, but this final mountain-climbing scene and its concluding shot had been relatively grueling.

Both of them were approaching seventy years old; being pushed and tumbled like that was indeed tough on them.

However, Tang Jiang and Wang Shan didn't mind it at all.

Acting—how could one ever call it exhausting?

Being able to participate in a production was something to feel happy about.

More importantly, working with the *Criminal Profiler* crew had already made Tang Jiang and Wang Shan feel extremely comfortable. Everyone in the crew—whether directors, screenwriters, producers, or fellow actors—treated the two of them with utmost respect.

Especially when performing opposite Lin Xing, Tang Jiang and Wang Shan could genuinely feel his sincerity, to the point where he would even consult them on acting techniques.

That was a rare occurrence indeed.

Not to mention anyone else, take Wang Shan's own son, Wang Lin, for instance. Even though he was around forty years old, he had never once thought to ask his mother for acting advice.

As for the other young actors on set, it went without saying.

Each of them felt that their own acting was flawless, even believing they were brilliant. When Tang Jiang once couldn't help offering a small piece of advice, he instantly earned the reputation in the crew of "relying on seniority to act superior."

"Who do you think you are?"

Yet in the *Criminal Profiler* crew, this issue was entirely non-existent, let alone in the *Bad Kids* crew.

Everyone's respect for Wang Shan and Tang Jiang was sincere and from the bottom of their hearts.

"Teacher Wang, Teacher Tang, congratulations on wrapping."

Lin Xing handed two bouquets of flowers to Wang Shan and Tang Jiang.

They took a commemorative group photo.

After finishing the whole routine, Wang Shan and Tang Jiang were driven to the airport in a vehicle specially arranged by the crew.

"See you in Beijing."

Wang Shan and Tang Jiang said with smiles.

After all, *Criminal Profiler* still had a celebration banquet coming up, which would undoubtedly be attended by the entire cast. By the time Lin Xing returned to Beijing, he would naturally see Wang Shan and Tang Jiang again.

Saying "see you in Beijing" was entirely accurate.

In the evening, Lin Xing filmed his night scenes with Tong Jing.

In the series, the relationship between Li Dongsheng and Gu Ning was one where they shared a bed but not dreams. Or rather, once a woman fell out of love, her ruthlessness and decisiveness could far surpass that of many men.

When love was gone, it was simply gone.

At 9:00 PM, Lin Xing wrapped up for the day, but Niu Xiao's crew was still filming.

After all, the three children—Ding Zhaoyang and his friends—still had plenty of night scenes to shoot.

Upon returning to the hotel, Lin Xing received a call from Sister Dao.

"Big Cat from the fan club told me that some fans want to come visit your set tomorrow..."

Sister Dao informed Lin Xing.

"Are they out of their minds?"

Lin Xing was somewhat speechless. "Why would fans visit the set? Although the *Bad Kids* crew isn't too chaotic, a film set is still a mixed bag of people. Tell them not to come."

Sister Dao replied, "Just telling some fans won't have much effect. Although there are no extreme fans left now, you can't stop the truly devoted ones. I figured that rather than letting them act independently and run risks, it's better to organize them so they act collectively. That way, it's much safer."

Her words were undeniably true.

Fan set visits weren't just a phenomenon for traffic idols; veteran actors and performance-driven artists also occasionally received visits from fans.

There were also cases where artists actively instructed their managers to arrange fan visit events simply to boost popularity and publicity.

The production crew would naturally cooperate fully, as this also served as free promotion for the project.

However, those cases were the manageable ones. What was truly terrifying was brainless fan behavior; sometimes, just to visit and catch a glimpse of a celebrity, they would even agree to sleep with certain members of the crew.

Incidents of crew members tricking fans into hookups were quite numerous.

Then there were the celebrities' assistants and the like who lorded it over others. Not to mention their arrogant attitudes, many extreme fans of certain stars were even willing to be "chosen" by assistants just to get a single autographed photo of the star.

This was precisely why Lin Xing had disbanded his official fan club, purged extreme fans, and chose to casually sign autographs for anyone who asked, while accommodating photo requests as much as possible.

Lin Xing had no illusions about changing the broader environment, as the overarching culture had always been there and could not be altered overnight.

In the realm of fandom culture, it was something one could never truly bypass.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Lin Xing only guided his fans. He had no intention of harvesting fan capital like crops, while simultaneously striving to maintain a healthy distance from them.

After all, Lin Xing had witnessed too many instances where an artist merely communicated with fans, only for those fans to turn around and post a sob story online: "Family members, my idol has betrayed my feelings," leaving the artist humiliated and disgraced.

This explained why so many managers strictly prohibited artists from maintaining private contact with fans.

Many fans mistakenly thought it was to protect them, but they were wrong; managers did it purely to protect the artists.

Lin Xing's situation was largely similar. Sister Dao had always been the one handling communication with the fan base, primarily dealing with veteran fans like Big Cat and Zeng Li.

This time, Big Cat had noticed messages in the group chat about people spontaneously planning to go see Lin Xing. Fearing something might go wrong, Big Cat decided to take charge and organize a collective fan visit to see Lin Xing instead.

Since they couldn't be stopped, they had to be guided.

Sister Dao believed this approach could also prevent individual fans from running into danger.

After a brief exchange of a few more words, Lin Xing hung up the phone.

Before going to sleep, Lin Xing took a glance at the news online.

As he had anticipated, *Criminal Profiler* remained firmly at the top of the charts. Even though it had already concluded its broadcast, because the drama *The Correct Way to Open Independence* was currently airing, viewers criticizing *The Correct Way to Open Independence* would invariably throw in a comment: "You guys should go take a look at *Criminal Profiler*."

Originally, *The Correct Way to Open Independence* had already bombed. While the other lead actors managed to escape relatively unscathed—actors like Han Long, Lin Yu, and Wei Hai basically had no major issues—when a drama succeeded, the top-billed lead took the credit; when a drama flopped, both the industry and the audience naturally directed the heaviest criticism at the top-billed lead.

Zhao Yining and Xu Tong bore the brunt of the blame.

This marked the second drama of Zhao Yining's that had flopped.

Often, when an artist was experiencing a surge in popularity, past scandals could be successfully buried, and even if someone tried to drag them down, PR teams could smooth things over.

However, the moment you ran into any sort of trouble, those past scandals would instantly become daggers ready to stab you a few more times.

Take Zhao Yining, for example.

She and her manager Ding Chunling had originally hoped to make a comeback through this drama, but they never expected that while the viewership ratings were mediocre, the public reputation completely tanked.

Not only that, but its streaming numbers and online heat on video platforms were utterly crushed by *Criminal Profiler*.

Realizing there was no other way out, Ding Chunling wanted to deflect the blame away from Zhao Yining, and Xu Tong happened to be the most suitable target.

As it turned out, Xu Tong's camp was thinking along the exact same lines.

Consequently, a video capturing Zhao Yining acting like a diva on the set of *The Correct Way to Open Independence* was leaked online.

It was very clear: the footage showed Zhao Yining enjoying emperor-like treatment on set. She remained seated while an assistant put her shoes on, and a nearby assistant director went over lines with her, politely hoping she could manage one more take.

In response, Zhao Yining unleashed a string of curses: "I fucking said we aren't filming anymore today, are you out of your mind or just deaf?"

This video, less than fifty seconds long, severely dented Zhao Yining's public reputation.

And then, a chain reaction seemed to trigger.

More videos exposing Zhao Yining's diva behavior began to surface directly.

Yet those incidents weren't even the worst of it.

Acting like a diva at most hurt one's reputation. When Zhao Yining first debuted, her acting skills were frequently criticized, but she later recovered a lot of public goodwill after participating in reality variety shows.

Pretty women always held an extra advantage, especially since it was easy to build a likable persona on variety shows.

Just as Ding Chunling was planning to have Zhao Yining join an upcoming food-exchange variety show titled *Can I Come Over for Dinner?*, which was currently in pre-production, believing it would help her repair her public image and win back favor, everything changed.

While trying to persuade Zhao Yining, Ding Chunling suddenly saw an explosive exposé posted by the top internet paparazzi figure, leaving her completely frozen in place.

She rushed into Zhao Yining's hotel room, suppressing her rising anger, and demanded, "Is this video real or fake?"

"Oh, come on. Wasn't this just from last month when I went to France to蹭 [parasitize] the Cannes red carpet? I saw a performance going on, so I went,"

Zhao Yining said dismissively, showing no concern at all. "Didn't you tell me to interact more with people in the fashion circle abroad anyway?"

"Do you have any idea what this is?"

Ding Chunling suddenly roared in fury.

"Why are you panicking? Of course I know, isn't it just the Crazy Horse Show? I thought it was pretty decent, there were even South Korean and Japanese stars performing there..."

Zhao Yining looked bewildered. "Besides, I wasn't the only one who went to watch it. Other artists went too."

"You, you..."

At that moment, Ding Chunling felt her blood pressure spiking. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to participate in this? And do other artists go around taking photos of themselves there like you did?"

"It's just a show, what was there to tell you about?"

Zhao Yining still failed to grasp the gravity of the situation. She looked at Ding Chunling and said, "Since the paparazzi have already leaked it, we can just use this opportunity to generate some publicity."

"From this moment on, you are not to utter a single word on any of your social media platforms, and you are not to contact anyone. I am going to report this to the company to see if we can manage a crisis PR cleanup as quickly as possible,"

Ding Chunling took a deep breath. "Attending a show in itself might be nothing, but this is the Crazy Horse Show—it's practically equivalent to a soft-core strip show. Do you think that flies in China? You've always positioned yourself as a spokesperson for women; aren't you essentially backstabbing women by doing this?"

Zhao Yining let out an "ah" sound. "Sister Ling, don't scare me."

When a person is worthless, fate will deal with them; when a person is hopelessly stupid, no one can save them.

A thought suddenly flashed through Ding Chunling's mind.

She truly never imagined that Zhao Yining could be this foolish.

However, as Zhao Yining's manager, Ding Chunling had no choice but to try every possible means to handle the PR disaster. Her only desire right now was to contain the wildfire of public outrage before it spread any further.

Otherwise, by tomorrow, everything would be completely ruined.

"I refuse to believe that just because I watched a single show, they're going to cancel me or something?!"

After Ding Chunling left, the more Zhao Yining thought about it, the more convinced she became that her manager was simply trying to scare her.

Yet the next morning, Zhao Yining was met with a brutal reality check.

At the very top of the Weibo hot search list sat Zhao Yining's name.

The search tag was filled almost entirely with insults directed at her.

"Playing a role as an independent woman and constantly preaching about speaking up for females, only to go watch the Crazy Horse Show?"

"Going to a soft-porn venue to watch a show is, in my eyes, supporting the sex industry, so shove your 'art' up your ass."

"Cancel Zhao Yining already. She was always a delinquent punk girl with a mountain of dark history before this."

"That's right, she bullied people back in her school days, dated her teachers in art school, slept with directors for roles after becoming a star, and now with a resume full of stains like this, she dares to call herself an independent woman?"

...

This was the backlash of a fabricated persona.

Zhao Yining had reaped massive benefits from the "independent woman" archetype, even making a big show of her supposed boldness during breakups until she brainwashed herself into believing her own hype.

Sometimes brains were a great thing, but it was a shame artists genuinely lacked them.

Because they were constantly surrounded by people flattering them and had long since detached themselves from the lives of ordinary people, expecting them to feel empathy for the common folk was laughable.

It was much like the short film *A Day in the Life of a Delivery Driver* directed by Chen Dahao's son, Chen Biao, which became a running joke. In the film, a delivery worker lived in a lavishly renovated two-bedroom apartment in the city center—setting aside the exquisite interior decoration, he even had books, a computer, a guitar, cats, dogs, and more.

In short, the entire film reeked of being completely out of touch with the masses.

Then there was Zhao Yining's good friend Pang Qing, who had recently declared on a variety show, "I had such a hard day working today, I had to wake up at 8:00 AM."

This remark drew endless mockery online.

Good grief.

Did they seriously think ordinary working stiffs woke up at 8:00 AM?

While Zhao Yining's past interviews had showcased her lacking emotional intelligence, those were minor issues that could easily be managed by a PR team.

This time, however, it was entirely different.

This was simply Zhao Yining being utterly brainless.

Other celebrities who went to such places would at least try to save face, doing everything possible to avoid the media and denying it afterward as long as they weren't caught on camera.

Yet Zhao Yining not only went openly and boldly, but she even accepted interviews.

This kind of scandal was exceptionally difficult to spin.

Never forget that the people praying for your downfall the hardest were always your industry peers.

Xu Tong's camp was practically ecstatic.

It truly felt like divine assistance.

Aside from Xu Tong, other female artists competing with Zhao Yining for resources also made their moves.

And thus, in the year 2024, Zhao Yining fired the first shot of a celebrity career collapsing from grace.

Public relations efforts were completely meaningless at this point.

Zhao Yining single-handedly occupied three spots on the Weibo hot search list.

Meanwhile, Lin Xing, who was preparing for a media set visit, felt a momentary sense of bewilderment as he looked at the news headlines on Weibo.

That was certainly a collapse of a uniquely spectacular kind.

Zhou Wei must be thrilled, though.

...

...

(End of this chapter)