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

Chapter 371: Variety Show Invitation?

”Teacher Xiao, please wait a moment!”

Xiao He was stopped, a look of confusion on his face, but he still maintained a smile. ”What is it? Director Li, is there something else?”

Seeing Xiao He stop, Li Qing rubbed his hands together, looking somewhat embarrassed as he said, ”Teacher Xiao, Iʼm truly sorry. I know youʼve been very busy lately, but I really have something I need to discuss with you. Could you spare me another ten minutes? I promise to keep it brief.”

Xiao He was taken aback for a moment, then glanced at the crowded passageway beside the stage before nodding. ”Thatʼs fine, Director Li. Letʼs go somewhere a bit quieter to talk.”

”Okay, okay, thank you, thank you so much.”

A look of joy appeared on Li Qingʼs face as he eagerly guided Xiao He in another direction.

Xiao He, however, first whispered to Xiao Chen beside him, ”Go outside and ask Sister Liu to come over.”

”Okay.”

Xiao Chen hurried out.

Generally, the program directors for these gala stage performances are invited from within the entertainment industry, with variety show directors being one of the most frequently invited groups. This is mainly because the variety shows they are responsible for often involve related stage performances. Therefore, most variety show directors, while overseeing their own programs, are also invited to manage the performance stages for these short-term large-scale events.
Directors like this Li Qing are responsible for certain variety shows themselves, usually interacting with variety show artists and schedules. However, as a pure-blood actor, Xiao He had almost no contact with such directors and wasnʼt very familiar with them or the content of the programs they typically specialized in and managed.

But since they were all in the same circle, Xiao He naturally wouldnʼt give these directors a cold shoulder. Even though the other party had abruptly stopped him and seemed to want to discuss work matters, Xiao He didnʼt refuse.

Finally, under Li Qingʼs guidance, Xiao He arrived at a temporary lounge.

As soon as they sat down, Li Qing couldnʼt wait to state his purpose. ”Teacher Xiao, Iʼm very sorry for my abruptness. Itʼs really because I have a variety show script Iʼd like to invite you to perform in, but the script we sent hasnʼt received a reply yet. Our side is in a bit of a hurry, so I came directly to find you. Iʼm truly sorry.”

No reply?

Xiao He raised an eyebrow.

Most likely, it had already been rejected.

After all, a variety show invitation... to be honest, Xiao He really wasnʼt interested.

Moreover, at this stage, Xiao Heʼs acting career was on the rise. Scripts for next year were already being scheduled into the second half. Xiao He truly didnʼt have the spare time to waste on variety shows.

But this person in front of him seemed like he hadnʼt given up...

”Very sorry, Director Li.”

Xiao He deliberated for a moment in his heart before politely refusing, ”To be honest with you, my work schedule for next year is mostly abroad. And in my current career plan, I donʼt have any intention of accepting variety show appearances for the time being.”

”So—” Iʼm afraid Iʼll have to disappoint you...

However, before Xiao He could finish his sentence, Li Qing quickly explained, ”Teacher Xiao, I know your current work is tight, and you have no intention of getting involved in regular variety show appearances. But we sincerely want to invite you to shoot the concept teaser short film for our variety show. What we sent to your company was the short film script for our show, which is completely different from the script for formally participating in the variety show program. You should really consider it.”

”Variety show concept teaser short film?”

Xiao He was somewhat confused.

What was this?

Seeing Xiao Heʼs blank expression, Li Qing immediately realized they hadnʼt explained clearly themselves and said at once, ”Sorry, Teacher Xiao. Perhaps we werenʼt clear when we sent the invitation earlier. Actually, we want to invite you to shoot the promotional probability teaser for our variety show program ʼAce Reasoning.ʼ You would mainly be responsible for playing the murderer in the first case in the film.”

”So thatʼs it.” Xiao He suddenly understood. ”So Iʼm not going to be a program guest or an NPC for the show?”

”Thatʼs right. Itʼs actually just a short film similar in length to a micro-movie,” Li Qing explained at a rapid pace. ”The script is very simple, and the shooting wonʼt take much time. As long as youʼre willing to come, we can start filming anytime.”

After Li Qingʼs explanation, Xiao He finally understood the situation.

Actually, Li Qing and his team didnʼt want to invite Xiao He to be a guest on this variety show, but rather to shoot the murder case teaser short film for the first episode of this variety show.

To put it bluntly, Li Qingʼs program was essentially a live-action version of Werewolf, a detective-style reasoning show. There had been many such variety shows in recent years. Even without much introduction from Li Qing, Xiao He could already grasp the gist of it.

Although Xiao He wasnʼt interested in participating in such variety shows, he was somewhat interested in the filming invitation Li Qing mentioned.

To put it simply, this was asking him to play a murderer!

If it were anything else, Xiao He would have refused outright, but... who could resist the chance to play a murderer in this spare time?

To be honest, it had been a long time since he played such a role. Now, suddenly returning to his old trade, his heart was really itching a bit...

But before Xiao He could answer, Liu Rulan also knocked and entered.

Seeing Li Qing, a smile appeared on Liu Rulanʼs face. ”Director Li, long time no see.”

Li Qing hadnʼt expected Liu Rulan to arrive so quickly and awkwardly stood up to greet her. ”Manager Liu, long time no see.”

”Sit, sit, no need to be so formal.”

As she spoke, Liu Rulan sat down on another sofa next to Xiao He, smoothed the stray hairs by her ear, and said calmly, ”So, whatʼs going on now? You donʼt mind if I listen in, do you?”

”Of course not.”

Li Qing quickly sat down as well and repeated everything he had just said to Xiao He.

At the same time, he looked at Xiao He with hopeful eyes, wishing to gain his agreement.

However, Xiao He wasnʼt foolish. Although he was interested in playing a murderer, scripts asking him to play murderers were as numerous as hairs on an ox. He wasnʼt really at the point where he would accept any murderer role without discrimination. So, Xiao He didnʼt immediately respond to Director Liʼs pleading gaze but instead first turned his eyes to Liu Rulan.

He really wasnʼt very familiar with this Director Li, so Liu Rulan would likely have a more comprehensive understanding.

Sure enough, Liu Rulan spoke. ”I heard the Fruit Platform next door is about to launch a detective-style variety show. Whatʼs your relationship with that?”

Li Qingʼs face immediately showed a trace of hesitation.

Xiao He narrowed his eyes.

Hehe, as expected, thereʼs a problem! No wonder he came to me first instead of going to Sister Liu.

Thinking Iʼm young and easy to fool, huh!

Seeing Xiao Heʼs displeased expression and Liu Rulanʼs aggressive demeanor, Li Qing let out a bitter laugh and said seriously, ”Our program has no relationship with that variety show. Please donʼt worry;it wonʼt involve issues like copyright disputes. We just had bad luck. When we started the project, we happened to collide with theirs.”

There was no so-called script stealing, nor any grudges, affections, and hatreds over who came first. It was simply that two originally unrelated production teams both targeted this genre, and their schedules precisely collided, destined to become competitors who would inevitably clash in the future.

They were destined to clash in the future—comparing promotional efforts, comparing lineups, comparing scripts, comparing viewership and final results.

However, compared to the other production teamʼs deep pockets, their own team was slightly more modest. Although they had also found first and second-tier artists, the other side opened with a powerful move, directly bringing in classic villain actors from Hong Kong films to participate in their promotional teaser shoot. Their own opening, in comparison, was rather ordinary and unremarkable.

Therefore, after careful consideration within the production team, they set their sights on Xiao He.