More than forty minutes later, Xiao He escorted the several officers out of the filming location.
"Alright, this is far enough, no need to see us off further."
Officer Zhang waved his hand toward Xiao He, "We'll take these comrades back ourselves."
"Thank you for your hard work, thank you."
Xiao He expressed his gratitude profusely, then finally looked at Officer Xiao Li, a smile in his voice: "By the way, I haven't congratulated Officer Xiao Li on his promotion yet."
Officer Zhang and Officer Xiao Li could really be considered the two officers Xiao He met earliest. He had encountered Officer Zhang several times since, but it had been quite a while since he last saw Officer Xiao Li.
Looking at him now, though, Officer Xiao Li had become much more robust, the light in his eyes still firm, but now carrying a touch of the composure that comes with growth.
He also smiled, saying to Xiao He: "Thank you, and congratulations to you too."
When they first met, he was a newcomer fresh to the police station, and Xiao He was a newcomer fresh to the entertainment industry. But now, they were both different from back then—they had both grown over these years, and from here on, they would continue to deepen their roots in their respective fields and keep moving forward.
Xiao He waved goodbye, watching as the group drove away from the filming location.
Only after the police left did the people from the "Record of Chasing the Wind" production team dare to gather around.
Deng Lei was extremely anxious. He had already heard about the police taking Wang Shaoqi from the hotel this morning. Now, the neighboring production had shut down directly due to the group gathering incident, and the internet was abuzz with noise. And now the police had come to their production and directly sought out their male lead. Deng Lei couldn't help but think the worst.
Fortunately, the police came and went quickly, and the male lead of their "Record of Chasing the Wind" was safe and sound.
"What's going on? What did the police want with you?"
Deng Lei walked up to Xiao He and asked directly without beating around the bush. For some reason, his complexion had even paled several shades.
"It's nothing."
Xiao He glanced around out of the corner of his eye and noticed staff members scattered nearby who were actually subtly gathering around. These people were all pricking up their ears to listen to the situation here, looking ready to welcome a juicy piece of gossip at any moment. He found it both amusing and exasperating.
He simply decided to clarify things in front of everyone, lest someone with ulterior motives spread rumors online about the police coming to see him: "The police came to see me because of the Qin Yuezhang incident before."
Xiao He cleared his throat, making his voice neither too soft nor too loud, just enough for the nearest few people to hear.
"My phone was hacked. I reported it to the police at the time. Now the police have caught the culprit, so they wanted to ask me some questions."
What Xiao He didn't say was that after Old Master Qin was arrested, that old geezer still refused to give up. He mentioned his suspicions to the police, adamantly insisting that Xiao He was problematic.
Of course, it wasn't just Xiao He. He rattled off over a dozen suspects in one breath, all different, suspecting these people were the ones who used hacking skills to steal the Qin family's criminal evidence and were the masterminds behind the scenes!
So, those few people who came with Officer Zhang were actually cyber police from Shanghai, here to conduct a surprise inspection of Xiao He's related communications and electronic products.
But obviously, Xiao He's side was completely clean, with no issues at all. And anyone with eyes could see that Qin Mubo's accusations against Xiao He were entirely based on personal grudges and wild assumptions.
You can't just say that because Xiao He is a computer science major, he's a hacker who can move freely across the internet without the police noticing, right?
Haha, impossible!
If he were really that kind of talent, he would have been recruited by the government during university. Would he have waited to enter the entertainment industry?
Moreover, the police had already conducted an in-depth investigation. Regarding this incident of Qin Yuezhang and Xingchen Film Industry's scandal exposure, there were indeed water armies and "zombie computers" from several companies fanning the flames online, but it was clearly people the Qin family had offended. And in all the Qin family's related electronic products, there were absolutely no traces of the hacker Old Master Qin mentioned.
It just goes to show, the old master is just like his grandson—when anything happens, they can always blame others. Blaming others is always the right move.
At this point, being able to drag one person down counts as one.
As for that young master of the Tao family, Tao Zidong, who personally dug up the Qin family's criminal evidence and reported it, he naturally also underwent investigation. However, he was well-prepared. When the police came to investigate, he directly produced a sealed-mouth private detective who took full responsibility for everything.
After all, those pieces of criminal evidence were indeed secretly copied from Qin Song's computer by the private detective at great risk. It's just that the private detective himself didn't know that the reason he could so quickly find the criminal evidence hidden in Qin Song's computer and swiftly copy it out was naturally because there was an "expert" helping behind the scenes.
But none of that is important now.
The private detective took the money, feeling delighted, his head filled with visions of a wonderful life after getting out. Tao Zidong wasn't afraid of being investigated at all. On the contrary, it was Qin Mubo himself who, using hacking to invade Xiao He's phone—after police investigation, the evidence was conclusive.
His wild accusations ended up adding more crimes to his own tally. How ironic.
-
Back to the present. Hearing Xiao He mention that hacking incident involving his phone, gasps of surprise also came from the people around.
"So I guessed right last time! It really was that bastard Qin Yuezhang!"
An excited voice came from the side.
Xiao He: ...
Xiao He turned his head with a dark expression, just in time to see Yuan Sitong standing not far away, her eyes shining brightly, looking at Xiao He excitedly as if she were looking at some delicious piece of gossip.
Xiao He really didn't know what to say.
If he remembered correctly, she didn't have any scenes scheduled for today, did she?
"But when that hacker invaded your phone, how did you know? How did you figure it out? Does this invasion mean they could access your photo album, your memos, even your chat records?"
As she spoke, Yuan Sitong herself gasped sharply: "If that hacker dug out your private secrets and posted them online, wouldn't you be finished? Social death!"
"The hacker didn't have time to do anything before I discovered it, so you don't need to worry about that for me."
Xiao He explained with a smile.
He certainly didn't want this incident to leave a public opinion landmine, with the whole internet spreading things like "Xiao He's secret chat records, DM me to see" or "Brother Xiao's private photos, DM if you want to see"... and so on, a whole series of scam messages.
That would truly be a case of running your legs off to debunk rumors!
"Alright, everyone, disperse. It's nothing major."
At this moment, Liu Rulan walked in from outside the filming location, her gaze coolly sweeping over everyone, "Xiao He is the victim this time. Let's not dwell on certain things, lest it affect the production."
"Ah, right." Deng Lei nodded repeatedly, glanced at Yuan Sitong, and tactfully reminded, "Let's not mention this matter. The online public opinion is too intense right now. Our production team should stay out of it."
Although Xiao He was the victim, the current heat was clearly a hot potato, not suitable to be used for promoting the production. So, naturally, Deng Lei wanted the production team to handle this matter with a low profile to avoid getting swept into the public opinion storm.
Fortunately, Yuan Sitong's manager, Tang Wenjuan, also rushed over. Seeing Yuan Sitong grabbing Xiao He and asking about other people's private matters, she immediately walked up with a headache, offering an apologetic smile to Xiao He and the others, and pulled Yuan Sitong aside.
"Sis, my sis, my young lady." Tang Wenjuan sighed, "If only you could channel this enthusiasm into acting, with your face, why worry about not becoming popular?"
"But I'm already popular with my face even without my enthusiasm being in acting."
Yuan Sitong said matter-of-factly, tenderly stroking her own beautiful face.
Tang Wenjuan was speechless.
"Did you forget what we discussed before? Coming to this production is for serious study and serious performance! This is an important opportunity for you to transition. If it goes smoothly, you'll be a skilled actor in the future too!"
Tang Wenjuan said with exasperation, "Look at Xiao He, how serious, how hardworking, covered in bruises and marks from being tied up during filming. And you!"
Still dragging a wounded person into gossip!
Heavens, how is Liu Rulan so lucky? Who can bestow upon her an artist like Xiao He?