Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 794: “Journey Across Mountains and Rivers” Hong Kong Special Chapter

“I probably won’t go.”

Xiao He said directly.

“That kind of banquet isn’t really my scene. But if it’s really like you said and they’ve also invited others from the industry, then considering the traffic, I might still get an invitation.”

Of course, being invited was one thing; actually going was another.

Facing Zhou Junhao, Xiao He spoke very frankly.

Zhou Junhao said he understood.

“That’s a shame.” Then his slightly regretful voice came through, “I was thinking I’d fly over to Hong Kong when the time came, hang out with you guys!”

Xiao He was speechless. “Didn’t you just finish that news report over there? How are you already thinking about coming to Hong Kong to find news? And aren’t you from the social news section? How are you snatching work from the paparazzi now?”

How come everyone he knew was also practically born with that competitive king trait.

This guy had just blown up the medical system’s loopholes with that missile of a report. There must be tons of people who hate Zhou Junhao’s guts right now. And yet this kid still wouldn’t settle down, actually wanting to “reach” his hand into Hong Kong…

Xiao He didn’t know whether to say he loved his job or had no idea how high the heavens were.

“Hey, right? I’m not even an entertainment reporter. Why am I so proactive…” Zhou Junhao realized belatedly. “Could it be because I’ve known Bro Xiao for so long that I keep stumbling onto big news from the corners of the entertainment industry?”

Xiao He was left speechless.

“Haha, and besides, it’s an upper-class banquet, right! I heard from them that during past parties, the cruise ship would even head out to international waters for a spin. What could happen on the sea then? No one can say for sure… That sounds just like a Hong Kong movie plot! How could it not make someone curious?”

Zhou Junhao chuckled. “Bro Xiao, you’re my only connection! And it’s not like I’m going to look for news! Can’t I just come for a vacation? These past few months, Brother Tong and I have been exhausted. So the company gave us a long break to rest.”

“If they told you to rest, that means you should calm down and stop digging everywhere.” Xiao He massaged his forehead. “And you said yourself they’d take a spin out to international waters later. If something really happened, you’d disappear without even knowing how.”

Besides, these kinds of events were pretty legitimate nowadays, you know! They had to go through formal approval procedures, so it shouldn’t come to the kind of stuff you see in old movies – gangs gathering everywhere, shady deals, underground casinos, and the like…

“You never know.”

Zhou Junhao muttered, but he didn’t try to persuade Xiao He to get on the ship either. He just lowered his voice and said, “I was joking just now. This whole thing blew up way too big. My sister and brother-in-law won’t let me leave Shanghai for the time being, so there’s no way I can come to Hong Kong.”

“Good.”

Xiao He let out a long sigh of relief.

“But hey—” Zhou Junhao suddenly changed the topic. “I noticed Brother Tong is processing the relevant travel documents. Looks like he’s planning to come directly to Hong Kong to have a look.”

“Huh? Teacher Tong is coming over?”

Xiao He was astonished.

On the other side, Liu Rulan, who was personally on the phone with Tong Junhui, received the same news.

“You’re coming to Hong Kong? Why?”

Since she was in her own room and perfectly safe, Liu Rulan couldn’t help but raise her voice a bit.

“Don’t you know how eye-catching recent events have been? The medical system issue has implicated way too many people’s interests. Even though it’s been exposed now, the higher-ups are still investigating. It’ll take some time for the real ending – for those people to be brought down. You and Reporter Zhou better not go running around anywhere for the time being.”

Liu Rulan had met Reporter Zhou and later learned from Xiao He a part of Reporter Zhou’s family background. So she knew that as long as both Reporter Zhou and Tong Junhui stayed in Shanghai, they’d definitely be safe.

But if they came to Hong Kong, things would get complicated.

“Relax. I’m not that conspicuous. Zhou Junhao has been shielding me the whole time.” Tong Junhui explained, but didn’t say much about why he was coming to Hong Kong.

Tong Junhui’s identity was too complex. Once targeted, there would be too many angles to attack him, which would be very disadvantageous. So besides the name “Reporter Li,” Tong Junhui had a very low profile throughout the investigation report. Basically, all the credit and fame went to Zhou Junhao.

Zhou Junhao was a bit embarrassed about it, but Tong Junhui didn’t seem to care much.

“Alright…”

Liu Rulan didn’t know what Tong Junhui was thinking and didn’t try to persuade him. She just gave him the address of her current hotel. “Xiao He and I have been staying here lately. You can come visit the set when you arrive and hang out with us.”

“Okay.”

After Tong Junhui agreed, he hung up directly.

But Liu Rulan remained standing in place, staring at her phone in thought.

…

Maybe because things can’t withstand being talked about, the next day, Xiao He heard from Liu Rulan that the company had received an invitation letter.

“They actually sent me an invitation?”

During a break in his makeup session, Xiao He took the phone Liu Rulan handed him and looked at the electronic invitation on it.

He had to say, this electronic invitation was very high-class. The gold-threaded border design was full of style, giving off a bit of that “Law of the Jungle” invitation feel – it looked top-tier at first glance.

Except this time they were attending a banquet, not a battle royale.

“Right. And this time, they directly invited both you and Shu Han to attend.”

Liu Rulan said, “Shu Han can’t come back from abroad until next month, and he can make it over from there to attend.”

“Huh? Weren’t you against me going before? How come you agreed to let him go?”

Xiao He asked in surprise, then deliberately teased, “Sister Liu, don’t be so two-faced!”

Liu Rulan rolled her eyes. “First of all, I’m not Shu Han’s agent. His decision to attend is between him and Agent He. I don’t interfere. Secondly, he’s taken part in events like this abroad before, so he’s not unfamiliar with them. I fully trust he can take care of himself. And finally, he’s attending this event as part of a variety show, so his safety is much better guaranteed than someone going solo like we are.”

“Huh? Where did this variety show come from?”

Xiao He was surprised.

“The ‘Journey Across Mountains and Rivers’ Hong Kong special episode.”

Liu Rulan crossed her arms and explained seriously, “The first season of ‘Journey Across Mountains and Rivers’ has officially wrapped up, and the broadcast results were fantastic. The episode you were in even successfully blew up public opinion. For the later episodes, they even added a bunch of new advertisers on the fly. This was an S+ investment project. A lot of investors had pinned their hopes on it. They made a killing this time, and it became this year’s dark horse variety show. There’s no way they’d just let it go that easily.”

“So, not surprisingly, the second season of ‘Journey Across Mountains and Rivers’ is already in the project pipeline. But it definitely can’t be put together that fast. So the program team came up with a ‘Special Episode’ to pull in as many of the regular cast members they could get to join and quickly cash in on it.”

This was also a common way for many hit variety shows to rapidly monetize their traffic. After all, starting a whole new season would be too rushed in terms of time and personnel. But if they whipped up a temporary “Special Episode” – something that felt like a fan service gift for the variety show’s audience – even if it was a bit casual, informal, and short, it would still definitely attract tons of fans to tune in and show their support.

It could even be said that this was a gift for the variety show’s fans, and also a key way for the market to once again harvest this group of fans and refine them. Of course, only a hugely popular phenomenon-level variety show could get this kind of treatment nowadays. Otherwise, it would just be waiting to flop again.