Uncle Ming Has Floated

On the night of the wrap party, most people were drunk, except for Li Xun, of course. He knew his limits and refused all drinks, no matter who offered or how much they insisted. At first, some actors and crew members thought he was aloof and looked down on them. But when they saw him reject drinks from both Director Kong Teng and the top mogul Chen Minghao, they felt better.

The next morning, the crew dispersed. Executive Producer Tang Jiahe handled the wrap-up work, Director Kong Teng immediately began preparing for post-production, and Li Xun was summoned back to the company headquarters by Dai Ying.

Li Xun boarded his return bus at 10 AM and appeared in Dai Ying's office by 2 PM that same afternoon.

"You need to hurry up and finish the script for the second arc of Young Bao Qingtian. As soon as Director Kong Teng finishes editing the first arc, we'll start production on the second. Don't be caught off guard later," Li Xun said as he entered. Dai Ying was facing away from him, gazing out the window.

Li Xun muttered to himself, Even a workhorse on a production team wouldn't be pushed this hard! I've been away for half a month and I can't even go home, and they're already piling new work on me. These capitalist lackeys are even worse than the capitalists themselves!

Despite his internal grumbling, he would never say such things aloud. He simply smiled and assured Dai Ying that the production would not be delayed due to the script.

"Oh, and in the future, pay more attention to your words and actions. Think before you speak. Know what you can say and what you shouldn't," Dai Ying said, still looking out the window.

Li Xun scratched his head. "President Dai, what do you mean by that? Did I say something?"

Dai Ying turned and pointed to her computer. "See for yourself!"

Li Xun leaned closer to Dai Ying's computer. The webpage displayed the trending topics on Weibo, with the number one trending keyword being: Uncle Ming is getting arrogant!

He scrolled through the trending topics from top to bottom. Finding nothing related to himself, he asked, "Are you talking about this top trending topic?"

Chen Minghao was commonly known as Uncle Ming in the industry. After looking it over, this was the only topic that might be related to him or the company.

Seeing Dai Ying nod, Li Xun curiously pulled her chair over, sat down, and clicked on the keyword.

Dai Ying watched Li Xun sitting in her chair, her delicate eyebrows furrowing involuntarily.

When you tell one lie, you often have to tell countless more to cover it up.

Dai Ying found herself in a difficult situation. Simply put, her parents had taken a liking to Li Xun.

The last time she spoke with her family, she lied and said she had a boyfriend who was her subordinate. The time before that, her mother urgently asked for a photo of the young man. On impulse, she posted a photo of herself and Li Xun on her Moments.

After that, her parents, grandparents, maternal grandparents, aunt and uncle, aunt and aunt, cousins, and so on, all saw the photo.

Don't ask how so many relatives saw the photo instantly. She swore she had set her Moments post to be visible only to family, and that family definitely only included her father and mother.

But she had never accounted for her mother's desire to show off.

Her daughter being unmarried at her age had always been a worry for her mother. In the past, she could still boast about her daughter's high income, and friends and relatives would always praise her for having such a capable daughter.

But in the last two years, the topic of conversation when relatives met had shifted to the problem of their once-proud daughter being an old maid.

Now her precious daughter finally had a boyfriend, and he was so handsome too. When the young man and woman stood together, as the saying goes: a perfect match!

How could she not show off?

She had intended to use Li Xun as a shield, but he turned out to be a magnet.

Just moments ago, she had hung up a call with her maternal grandmother, who was nagging her: "Ying Ying, have you thought about when you'll have children? Does that young man smoke? Drink? Keep an eye on him, tell him to quit anything he should. You're not getting any younger, and it's better to have children sooner rather than later!"

She had received several calls like this in the past few days, including from her paternal grandmother, her aunt, and her aunt.

She was indeed getting older, and her grandmothers and aunts all meant well. But who was she supposed to have children with? Her "boyfriend" still didn't know he suddenly had a "girlfriend"! The woman's family was already pushing for pregnancy, and the man was completely unaware. How was she supposed to have this child, and with whom?

She didn't know how things had escalated to this point. It was just a photo, was it really that big of a deal?

Dai Ying looked at Li Xun, who was engrossed in reading Weibo, and her teeth itched with frustration.

Every time she saw him, something bad happened!

Perhaps they were simply incompatible?!

Dai Ying, who never believed in such superstitions, even felt an urge to find a master to consult.

What gave her an even bigger headache was that her dear mother was insisting on coming to Jing City to meet her new son-in-law. Her mother was worried.

Ever since Dai Ying posted that photo on her Moments last time, no other man had appeared on her Moments. Her mother started overthinking.

Did her daughter and boyfriend have a fight?

Otherwise, why weren't they interacting on Moments?

Her boyfriend hadn't appeared on her Moments for a full half a month. What was going on? Had they broken up?

The old lady was worried and insisted on staying at her daughter's place for a few days.

Dai Ying managed to persuade her otherwise after much effort. She couldn't tell her mother the truth. The entire family, even distant relatives, knew about it. If the truth came out, her parents and family would become the laughingstock of everyone.

This lie had to continue!

Dai Ying had to explain to her mother that her relationship with Li Xun was very good, but he was away on a business trip. Men were career-driven, and she promised her mother that as soon as Li Xun returned, she would send them a video call.

She didn't know how long this lie would last, or if he would even know he had a wife out of nowhere when they eventually got married.

Dai Ying pushed the chaotic thoughts from her mind, secretly took out her phone, pretending to read the news, but actually secretly turned on the video recorder.

She needed to record more footage this time. It seemed that from now on, she would have to post content about her "boyfriend" on her Moments from time to time.

Li Xun was seriously reading the trending topic. Simply put, something from the Young Bao Qingtian wrap party last night had been recorded and posted online.

In the video, Chen Minghao confidently stated: "Fourth, the script for Young Bao Qingtian is exceptionally good. It's no exaggeration to say it's the most stunning script I've seen in twenty years. Our screenwriter is incredibly talented, perhaps the most talented young person I've encountered in all these years. Therefore, based on the four points above, our Young Bao Qingtian will undoubtedly become a phenomenal hit drama!"

The video only contained these remarks, but the anonymous poster clearly knew more. The post stated that an unknown scriptwriter from the Young Bao Qingtian crew had brazenly claimed that Young Bao Qingtian would surpass The Coroner and become another phenomenal hit drama.

The anonymous screenwriter provided four reasons:

First: Young Bao Qingtian's investment was higher than The Coroner's.

Second: The fame of Young Bao Qingtian's main actors at the time of filming was higher than The Coroner's.

Third: The ability of Young Bao Qingtian's director and their team was higher than The Coroner's team.

Fourth: As Chen Minghao said in the video, the screenwriter of Young Bao Qingtian is a genius!

Then, the entire internet exploded.

You can be confident, but why step on The Coroner? Do you know The Coroner's status in the eyes of TV fans?

Almost all internet traffic companies were abuzz. How did the traffic come about? Controversy surrounding famous people drives higher traffic.

At this point, opinions didn't matter. If you cursed him, you gained traffic from people who disliked him; if you supported him, their traffic naturally flowed to your account.

Then, a war of words began online between the opposing sides.

Among the voices opposing Chen Minghao, the most frequently heard was: Uncle Ming has gotten too big for his britches.

This is because many TV dramas that met the above four conditions were on the same list, and the name of this list was: Let's Dig Up the TV Dramas That Lost the Most Money in History!

The first three points were clearly stated by Li Xun, but he had no fame. Cursing him or supporting him wouldn't bring much traffic. Therefore, even though Li Xun said most of the words, Chen Minghao was the center of the online storm.

Both sides tacitly agreed that these were Chen Minghao's views.

Gradually, a consensus began to form among those opposing Chen Minghao: Penguin Video must have spared no expense this time!

Such a principled celebrity had actually started speaking with a guilty conscience for money.

Before Li Xun could finish reading the trending search content, another hot search related to Young Bao Qingtian appeared out of nowhere.

"Shocking, Huang Zhou actually rejected Zhao Guocheng's movie!"

Clicking on the trending search to view detailed content:

"Shocking news: Actor Huang Zhou, in order to play a role in Young Bao Qingtian, actually rejected the male lead role in a new film by Zhao Guocheng, the director who won the Golden Rooster Award, Hong Kong Film Award, Huabiao Award, and the Golden Lion Award, Golden Bear Award, and Golden Globe Award at European film festivals, and the winner of Hollywood's Best Foreign Language Film Award!"

So, how much money did Penguin Video really spend this time? Did they really break through the bottom lines of so many stars?!

And weren't these stars afraid of their years of accumulated good reputation being ruined after the TV drama was released?

The situation seemed to be escalating a bit too much!

Li Xun felt a headache coming on.