But to be honest, this whole incident was just a big misunderstanding.
The root cause wasn't fans, but actually a thief.
Zhao Jun, a recently released thief who had just gotten out of prison, was preparing to restart his "business" and expand his operations again.
After extensive surveillance, Zhao Jun had set his sights on the fan groups near the film studio.
The area had dense crowds where people's attention was easily drawn to the celebrities coming and going, making them less alert to their surroundings. Moreover, most fans who came here were relatively well-off and usually carried multiple electronic devices—backup phones, cameras, tablets, headphones, etc. Zhao Jun could size up his targets at a glance and pick their pockets with ease.
With the recent surge of fans at the film studio, Zhao Jun had been raking in profits, thriving like a fish in water.
However, due to Zhao Jun's brazen actions, plainclothes police had recently been stationed around the studio, and fans had caught wind of it, keeping their bags and valuables close while being wary of strangers.
But who was Zhao Jun? Would he be stumped by such laughable tricks?
Of course not—just a razor blade was all it took.
After effortlessly snatching another phone, Zhao Jun glanced at the plainclothes officers disguised among the crowd and couldn't help but sneer inwardly.
*Hah, what amateur disguises.*
Back in the day, Zhao Jun had successfully committed crimes under the surveillance of over a dozen police officers. To taunt them, he had even managed to steal a cop's wallet and Nokia phone. If not for being ratted out by a fellow thief, Zhao Jun might still be at large today, unknown to the authorities.
Now that he was out again, the Nokia era had ended, and smartphones had replaced cash payments. Zhao Jun's targets had shifted from wallets to phones.
But this didn't affect his skills. Even with plainclothes officers patrolling the area, Zhao Jun kept stealing without hesitation.
He even set his sights on one of the younger officers.
That officer's phone… was almost too easy to take. So easy that Zhao Jun wondered if it was a setup.
But before he could get far, the girl whose phone he had stolen noticed the theft and, with clear logic, immediately accused another girl behind her:
"My phone was stolen! Was it you?"
The accused girl was stunned. "What? No! What's wrong with you?"
"You were the one squeezing past me the whole time! And you and your friend were gossiping about me—I heard everything!"
Turns out, these two girls already had beef. Now that something had gone wrong, the victim instinctively pointed fingers at her.
The wrongly accused girl naturally refused to take the blame and angrily demanded an apology for the false accusation.
What followed was pure chaos.
Someone had seen Zhao Jun steal the phone, but due to the angle, they mistook his hand for the accused girl's. They stepped in to back the accusation, and since the two girls happened to be fans of rival celebrities, this random accusation somehow escalated into a battle of honor between their idols.
"Typical Xu Bitch fan behavior! No improvement after all these years! First, your 'Water Queen' steals awards, now you steal phones—truly following in your idol's footsteps!"
"Bullshit! I didn't steal your damn phone! And how dare you drag Youyou into this? Without her, your plastic-faced idol would never have won Best Actress! You're just as delusional as she is, making up theft stories—disgusting!"
"You fucking bitch, what did you just say?"
"Shut your filthy mouth!"
The phone-less girl, furious, yanked the other's hair. The other girl fought back by grabbing her clothes, and soon their respective fan groups jumped in. What started as a small scuffle escalated into a full-blown brawl, with many fans getting dragged into the chaos without even knowing what was happening.
"Everyone calm down! Separate!"
"Break it up!"
Originally, each fan group had staked out their own territory peacefully. But now, gossip spread like wildfire, and despite the organizers' attempts to control the situation, everything had devolved into utter confusion.
Unsurprisingly, the police had to step in to disperse the crowd.
By the time Xiao He arrived at the scene, the chaos had mostly settled. Officers were directing the fans to leave, and though people grumbled, they complied and gradually dispersed.
"I can't believe this! We were all fine before, but ever since *those* fans showed up, everything's gone to shit!"
A group of girls walked past Xiao He, complaining loudly. He pricked up his ears and quickly pieced together the situation.
It was still fallout from the Xu Youyou and Su Shengxi dating scandal.
Even though everyone knew they were together, since neither had confirmed it, the official stance was "it never happened."
But fans had dug up that both were currently at the same film studio, so the online frenzy had spilled over into real life, with fans staking out the area to monitor their every move.
And the worst part? Also filming nearby were rising star Ran Yunrui and popular actress Yi Man'er.
To make matters worse, Yi Man'er and Xu Youyou were rivals—their fan wars over Best Actress had been vicious, with Xu Youyou ultimately winning.
Meanwhile, Ran Yunrui and Xu Youyou were under the same agency, even sharing the same manager. Xu Youyou had helped promote him early in his career, which made her fans resent him…
The tangled web of grudges and drama was too convoluted to explain fully.
So when these fan groups all gathered in one place? It was like throwing enemies into a pit together.
Just hearing about it made Xiao He break out in a cold sweat.
*Who the hell thought putting all these people in the same place was a good idea?*
Thankfully, they weren't in the same production, or else he was sure the fans would've razed the studio to the ground by now.
*Tsk tsk—*
Someone bumped into Xiao He, snapping him out of his thoughts. His instincts kicked in, and he reflexively checked his pockets.
*Holy shit! My phone's gone! While I was busy watching drama?!*
*This is humiliating!*
He whirled around, but the crowd was already moving—whoever had bumped into him had vanished.
Yet the next second, his gaze locked onto a woman slightly ahead of him.
She wore a black chiffon dress, a wide-brimmed sun hat, and amber sunglasses, making her face hard to discern—only a few strands of wavy hair peeked out from under the hat. Her movements were graceful and unhurried, exuding an air of elegance and sensuality that stood out from the girls around her.
No one would ever suspect her of being a thief.
But Xiao He strode straight up to her, gripping her wrist firmly as he said in a low, serious voice:
"Hand over my phone."