The filming of “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law” was progressing at full steam. Ying Shi had visited the set a few times and felt completely at ease with the entire production team.
The story of this drama began from the perspective of the male lead, Shen Rui. He lived in an ordinary world, and his understanding of the martial arts world is limited entirely to novels—just like the audience watching the drama.
Starting from his perspective made it easier for the audience to identify with the story.
But as the plot progressed, the perspective would gradually shift to the female lead, Ye Wei. By then, the audience would have slowly come to understand the story’s background. They couldn’t be left as mere bystanders. They needed to be gradually guided into the female lead’s point of view, to become part of the martial arts story themselves, so that they would become more deeply invested in the plot.
Ying Shi had seen some of the footage on the director’s monitor. As a viewer, she was quite satisfied with the visuals. As long as they didn’t add some strange filters later, there definitely wouldn’t be a problem.
And Yu Zhiyu’s visual aesthetic was already evident from the videos she had uploaded to Bilibili. Ying Shi had some confidence in that regard.
Among all the actors, the one who impressed her the most was Xia Wenxin.
To outsiders, the female lead Ye Wei appeared to come from a poor background, having come to the big city alone to make a living, relying on a small barbecue cart to get by. Although she earned a decent amount, there were also rules to street vending. On the surface, she had to deal with the urban management officers and the local regulatory authorities. Behind the scenes, she had to deal with all the other street vendors. Without some real skills, she wouldn’t have been able to maintain a long-term spot at that small plaza.
So Ye Wei possessed a certain ability—to say the right things to the right people, and to talk her way out of any situation.
Shen Rui noticed something off about her and tried all kinds of probing questions, but he couldn’t find a single flaw.
As the story progressed, Shen Rui even began to doubt whether his assumptions were wrong. Because Ye Wei was the kind of person who hated trouble. She really didn’t seem like a warm-hearted citizen who would step up to help others.
It wasn’t until a second incident occurred that Shen Rui gradually began to understand Ye Wei on a deeper level.
A child had gone missing in a neighborhood near Yanxi Park. A four-year-old boy from a well-off family—but the child had asthma.
After receiving the report, the police were worried that the child traffickers might abandon the child if they found him unhealthy, or that the child might have an asthma attack without receiving timely medical help.
With a case like this, the city’s rundown rental areas, where all kinds of shady characters mixed together, naturally became the police’s focus. Shen Rui happened to be responsible for the area where Ye Wei lived.
In a child trafficking case like this, there was always the possibility of a team operation. If even one suspect slipped through, there would be endless trouble down the line.
Shen Rui expected Ye Wei to avoid trouble like she always did. But to his surprise, her seemingly rambling and confusing answers actually pointed out the affiliations and divisions among the people in the area.
Shen Rui followed the clues, tracked down the traffickers, and even uncovered a vast trafficking network. But the missing child was never found.
At the same time, Ye Wei, who had provided the police with the clues, began receiving threats from an unknown organization…
From the early plot, Ye Wei was the kind of clever, worldly-wise little person from the bottom rungs of society. When viewers first saw her, they might not necessarily like her. She was too slick-tongued, and she understood too well how to protect herself.
Standing under the camera, Xia Wenxin didn’t overly emphasize the helplessness of the character’s difficult life in her words, expressions, or smiles, using it as an excuse for her slick behavior.
When you looked at her on screen, you believed that Ye Wei was simply that kind of person. She didn’t think she had any hidden hardships. She didn’t think saving the child held hostage by a robber was particularly heroic. It was just her normal behavior. She didn’t care about praise or insults.
This was the real Ye Wei. She didn’t need to be liked by anyone—including the audience. She didn’t even consider it.
Ying Shi greatly admired Xia Wenxin’s mentality as an actress. It was a stark contrast to most celebrities these days, who, when choosing a script, first consider whether the character is trendy, whether the audience will like it after filming, and whether it will help them gain fans.
Not to mention that Xia Wenxin had just become a huge hit thanks to “The Legend of Medicine Maiden.” The character that made her famous, Yao Sanxiu, was also a positively portrayed role full of divine qualities. She seemed completely unconcerned about whether the character Ye Wei would impact her existing fanbase.
Of course, Ying Shi firmly believed that Ye Wei would become another representative role for Xia Wenxin, and her ability to attract fans would be no less than Sanxiu’s.
…
Ying Shi flipped through several reports in her hands, looking for any film or television projects worth investing in.
This was a type of mission she had accidentally discovered through exploration. It didn’t require the company to participate in the production—just to provide funding to small crews that had good scripts but couldn’t attract investment.
“Boss Ying.” Su Manwen pushed the door open and handed over a tablet. “Take a look at this interview video.”
Ying Shi took the tablet and saw the actress frozen on the paused screen. An inexplicable sense of familiarity arose within her.
The video was an interview with Zhuo Yixun as part of a drama promotion. She had recently had a drama air in which she played the third female lead—a work from before she became well-known. The production team seemed to be using her current popularity to promote the show.
At first, it was a normal promotional interview. The reporter asked standard questions. Then, suddenly, the topic turned to the drama she was currently filming, and from there, it shifted to “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law.”
In the footage, Zhuo Yixun simply smiled.
” ‘A True Hero Does Not Break the Law’ did reach out to me, but I had already accepted ‘Whipping the Wind with a Bold Blade’ and didn’t have the availability…”
“Also, I personally prefer Ning Tang. Ning Tang is a cheerful, sincere girl. I’m very happy to play a character like this…”
“The character in ‘A True Hero Does Not Break the Law’ is very challenging. I truly admire the actress who took on this role…”
“Whipping the Wind with a Bold Blade” had also started filming. Unlike “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law,” which kept a low profile during production, the former seemed to appear on trending searches every few days. Leaked set videos were all over the internet, and in ultra-high definition at that.
One day it was the male lead’s highly faithful styling, the next it was a rundown of the female lead’s costumes, the day after it was the second female lead’s impressive action scenes. They were constantly on the trending list, as if afraid the audience would forget about this drama.
Even during promotional events for other dramas, they had to mention it—truly a labor of love.
Anyone familiar with such interviews knew that without the interviewee’s consent, questions like this wouldn’t have made it into the final edited version.
“There are already marketing accounts online stirring up the narrative that Zhuo Yixun chose Ning Tang because the character is cheerful and sincere, implying that the female lead of ‘A True Hero Does Not Break the Law’ is gloomy and hypocritical.”
Su Manwen reported the current online situation to her.
Ying Shi paused the video, her eyes lowered as she looked at the faintly smiling actress on the screen. Her emotions were hard to read.
After a long moment, she finally broke into a smile. “Actually, she’s not wrong. Our female lead really isn’t all that cheerful and sincere.”
Su Manwen studied Ying Shi’s expression and couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
In truth, there was nothing wrong with Zhuo Yixun’s interview. Her statements weren’t lies or fabrications. Aside from controlling the comments, there was no direct way to refute anything.
The words weren’t even said by Zhuo Yixun herself—it was netizens who had run with their own interpretations. If they took it seriously, they’d be admitting guilt by association.
But this was Ying Shi. How could she possibly swallow this loss in silence?
Like most netizens following the drama, Su Manwen was also curious about how Boss Ying would respond.
She waited eagerly all day, but even by the next morning, the Guanjun account still hadn’t replied.
Just when everyone thought Ying Shi had chosen to ignore it this time, Guanjun updated her Weibo.
But the content of the Weibo post had nothing to do with Ning Tang, nor was it related to “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law.”
It was a book-sharing post. The book she was sharing was “Whipping the Wind with a Bold Blade.”
Netizens: “…”
That damn familiar feeling.
[Procrastinating Drama Watcher V: From the daughter of a prince lying low, to the regent at the center of power, and finally to the empress who unified the realm—Bai Rong’s cunning and strategy are truly admirable 👍.]
Then, she continued posting—
[Procrastinating Drama Watcher V: Bai Rong is reserved and steady because the cruelty of the royal power struggle never gave her the chance to be naive. In such an environment, she has learned to be wary of those around her. Trusting others carelessly could very well lead to her eternal damnation.]
Netizens fell silent for a moment upon reading this, then an explosion of discussion erupted.
[Not a single word mentions her, yet every word is about her.]
[Laughing to death. I wondered why she didn’t say a thing all day—turns out she stayed up all night reading the book.]
[I can just picture Mushroom reading the novel, searching for something she could use to fire back, and finally finding it (Mushroom proud.JPG).]
[The Mushroom emoji from the person above is so cute! Please share it!]
[Shock! So ZYX wasn’t taking a jab at “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law” at all—she was targeting Princess Bai Rong!]
[Her words sounded strange. It didn’t really seem like she was taking a jab—her tone was quite amiable—but it still made people uncomfortable…]
[High-level passive-aggressive talk. If she didn’t mean any harm, then why did the marketing accounts push the narrative so quickly yesterday, all suddenly saying the female lead of “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law” is gloomy and vicious…]
[Just thinking about her playing Ning Tang scares me (biting handkerchief). I was actually looking forward to her before, based on some of her action scene edits…]
[ZYX’s fans are already trying to clean it up everywhere, saying the marketing accounts twisted her words, and that someone is trying to use this to smear ZYX…]
[Some fans are even saying that turning down “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law” was the worst luck for her, because now she’s been latched onto by Guanjun…]
[Laughing to death. They’re the ones stirring up trouble every single day. The drama is still being filmed, yet it’s on the trending list all the time. Their production’s confidentiality statement is like the emperor’s new clothes. What does any of that have to do with “A True Hero Does Not Break the Law,” which is filming quietly without even a single leaked costume or styling?]
[Mushroom was just sharing a book she’s been reading recently. What did Mushroom do wrong?]
[Since you’re implying that our female lead isn’t cheerful or sincere enough, let’s take a look at how cheerful and sincere your female lead is. Oh, your female lead is also quite scheming? I’ll give you a like before I leave (dog head).]
[The familiar taste, the familiar formula. Ying Men is invincible!]
[Am I the only one who finds it incredible? “Whipping the Wind with a Bold Blade” is nearly four million words long in its original novel. She actually read it?]
[She’s the kind of ruthless person who would produce a long video just to argue with someone. Nothing she does would surprise me…]