"Bang—"
Accompanied by a dull punching sound, Meng Zetian struck Bai Mingchuan in the stomach with his fist.
"Ugh—"
Bai Mingchuan clutched his stomach, his face contorted in pain as he slowly knelt down.
Meng Zetian's subordinates swarmed forward from behind him, firmly restraining Bai Mingchuan.
"I'll give you one chance—hand over the intelligence you're carrying. Maybe I'll even leave your father's corpse intact," Meng Zetian said in a light, cheerful tone.
Bai Mingchuan looked up at him, his eyes still filled with grievance: "It really wasn't me! I don't know anything! My father is acquainted with that person! If you arrest me without any evidence, Captain Meng will have trouble explaining himself later!"
Bai Mingchuan's father was currently the chairman of Shanghai's largest newspaper and one of the most hated collaborators, working with the puppet government to whitewash the atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders on this land, conducting cultural brainwashing and control over ordinary lower-class people.
But even bad bamboo can produce good shoots. Bai Mingchuan, who had studied abroad earlier and returned to work alongside these collaborators as a journalist, actually held completely different ideals and beliefs from his father.
For the sake of his convictions and for more people's lives, he knew he absolutely couldn't fall here. He had to buy as much time as possible, at least until other comrades arrived!
Meng Zetian, however, saw through his stalling tactics and sneered: "Don't try to pressure me by bringing up your father. He's just another dog that we can replace whenever we want. Do you really think that person would seek revenge for you?"
Then he waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to search Bai Mingchuan.
Bai Mingchuan's eyes flickered, and he actually broke free from the restraints of the people behind him, lunging directly at Meng Zetian—
"Damn you, Meng Zetian! You're just settling personal scores under the guise of official duty! You targeted me last time, and you're targeting me again now—you're doing this on purpose!"
Then Bai Mingchuan began wrestling with Meng Zetian...
In this scene, Meng Zetian naturally had the upper hand. Bai Mingchuan, this pretty boy, was completely outmatched. Meng Zetian quickly subdued him and angrily ordered the body search. But at this moment, Xiao He could clearly sense that Su Shengxi was deliberately using excessive force, with several punches almost swinging at his face, seemingly trying to provoke him intentionally.
However, Xiao He naturally didn't fall for this trick. He stepped back slightly, caught the other's hand with his palm, and then performed a shoulder throw on Su Shengxi exactly as scripted.
This shoulder throw had naturally been practiced in advance and wouldn't actually hurt anyone. Additionally, there was a thick mat beneath Su Shengxi, so even if he fell, it wouldn't be too painful.
"Ah—"
Su Shengxi, however, deliberately let out an exaggerated scream.
Xiao He raised an eyebrow but didn't stop filming, instead starting to kick the other person.
His movements were very exaggerated but basically only made contact with Su Shengxi's clothing. To be precise, he was fiercely kicking the other's clothes.
But Su Shengxi took advantage of the fact that this would be dubbed later, wailing and howling dramatically on set.
Xiao He: ...
Honestly, don't overdo it, bro. I'm about to burst out laughing.
Without even thinking, Xiao He knew that Su Shengxi wanted to use the fans' anger to launch a massive online bullying campaign against him later.
But Xiao He wasn't worried at all.
First, he had Sister Liu backing him up, and second, he had hacking skills. He really wasn't afraid of the other party.
"Pick him up and search him!" Meng Zetian coldly issued the command.
But after carefully searching the other person's body, his subordinates found no intelligence hidden on Bai Mingchuan.
"Report—nothing found," the subordinate answered trembling with fear.
"What?" Meng Zetian frowned, his expression finally shifting from confident to incredulous.
Bai Mingchuan lifted his head, showing his bloodied teeth as he squeezed out a mocking smile: "Heh, I told you already—I have nothing to do with these matters! You're framing me! You're just settling personal scores! Everyone knows I wrote that exposé about you last time! But was there anything wrong with what I wrote? Pah! You're just a vile villain who frames his superiors and climbs the ladder by any means necessary!"
Meng Zetian scrutinized the several subordinates around him, then personally came before Bai Mingchuan to conduct a thorough search. But like them, he found nothing.
At this moment, the male lead Li Shuo finally arrived. Looking at Bai Mingchuan being restrained before him, worry flashed in his eyes, but his face showed an expression of surprise: "Captain Meng, you finally caught someone? Isn't this Bai Mingchuan? It's actually him! How despicable!"
Then he rushed up to Bai Mingchuan: "Speak! Where did you hide the intelligence!"
But faced with Li Shuo's questioning, the surrounding people fell into deathly silence.
Bai Mingchuan sneered: "It wasn't me! They clearly found nothing on me! There's no evidence pointing to me having any problems—Meng Zetian is just settling personal scores!"
"Ah?" Li Shuo looked blankly at the others, silently smoothing out Bai Mingchuan's collar that he had grabbed, then quietly retreated to Meng Zetian's side and whispered: "Really found nothing?"
Meng Zetian didn't speak, but his face turned dark.
Li Shuo immediately understood the situation and then deliberately said cautiously: "Captain Meng, look at this...*sigh*! Young Bai's father, Chairman Bai, is currently a favorite at the bureau. Without clear evidence, it's better not to make things too ugly..."
Extremely embarrassed, Meng Zetian said nothing and simply turned to leave.
The remaining subordinates looked at each other and also hurriedly fled the scene.
Only after confirming they had left did Li Shuo help Bai Mingchuan up, showing concern: "Are you okay?"
Bai Mingchuan shook his head, then taking advantage of standing up close to Li Shuo, whispered in his ear: "I planted the item on Meng Zetian!"
It turned out that during the critical moment, Bai Mingchuan had a sudden flash of inspiration and took a huge risk—while fighting with Meng Zetian, he had slipped the intelligence onto Meng Zetian's person!
Hearing about Bai Mingchuan's bold move, Li Shuo was completely stunned.
This daring operation was something only Bai Mingchuan would dare to attempt.
But what could they do? The most urgent matter now was to retrieve that intelligence before Meng Zetian discovered it!
"You go back first," Li Shuo said thoughtfully. "Go make some trouble with your father. I'll go get Director Zhang to take the lead and host a banquet tonight. We must steal the item back before Meng Zetian returns home!"
Bai Mingchuan nodded, his expression serious: "I understand!"
---------
This important plotline thus came to an end. Next would be the scenes between Xiao He and Zhang Mo, with no more parts for Su Shengxi.
When Su Shengxi left the set, he deliberately rubbed his stomach.
With his movement, the fans watching from behind erupted in earth-shattering screams.
"Ahhh! Su Shengxi! Look over here!"
"Brother Su!"
"Brother Su, you acted so well! Your acting is amazing!"
"Su Su, you work so hard! Make sure to rest properly!"
Su Shengxi smiled brightly as he greeted everyone while following his agent Tian Heng to the back restroom.
As soon as he sat down, Tian Heng began contacting his team of water army members.
"Brother Tian, I'll leave this matter to you," Su Shengxi said with a smiling expression.
"Don't worry."
Looking at the messages from his subordinates, Tian Heng revealed a smug smile: "Tonight, I'll make sure Xiao He is erased from the entertainment industry!"