Chinese entertainment starts with Hong Shixian

Chapter 394 So many goji berries wasted
The evening of the third day

Qi Hui, Lao Ling, and Xiao Zhang returned to their guesthouse in a military vehicle.

His camouflage uniform was covered in leaf fragments and wood chips, dried and then wet again, countless times.

They were all too tired to talk.

Qi Hui wiped his still slightly damp hair, feeling somewhat annoyed.

If he had known about this opportunity to exercise earlier, he wouldn't have needed to work so hard to train!

So many goji berries were wasted.

On the fourth floor of the guesthouse, Qi Hui and his two companions ate at an extremely fast pace, their chopsticks flying across the table.

Aside from hunger, the main reason was being corrupted by those active-duty soldiers.

That's how they eat—they devour food at breakneck speed, and after finishing their meal, they don't even rest before starting work again.

Qi Hui and his militiamen couldn't keep up, but they didn't want to fall behind, so they increased their eating speed.

Just as the bowls and chopsticks clattered, the room suddenly lit up again; the lights that had been off for three days came back on.

"Ah, there's power!"

The six people cheered immediately, their joy evident in their expressions.

This is such a wonderful surprise, it's hard to put into words.

It's not just because power has been restored, but more importantly, the damage caused by the typhoon has been visibly repaired.

Overjoyed, Qi Hui and the others ate with even greater relish.

Back on the 5th floor, Qi Hui and Jing Tian took out their phones.

Power has been restored, so the network should be restored as well.

Sure enough... my phone received 99+ messages in an instant.
Qi Hui and Jing Tian were both overwhelmed with the notifications, and it took quite a while before the chaotic ringing of the notifications finally stopped.

Qi Hui replied to each message, telling them that he had only just gotten internet access.

Quite a few people messaged him, including Wu Jing, Guo Fan, Lu Yang, Xiao Yang, Gao Yuanyuan, Zhou Xun, Chen Duling, and Yang Mi.

Some familiar male actors, such as Zu Feng, Lei Jiayin, and Feng Enhe, and even Lao Wang and Han Sanping sent messages to inquire.

Qi Hui replied to each one. Fortunately, his phone wasn't a feature phone like the old ones; it could copy and paste, so he didn't have to type it all out by hand.

"Damn it, these bastards are shameless!" Jing Tian suddenly slammed his hand on the sofa, furious.

"What's wrong?" Qi Hui pulled her to his side.

After glancing at his phone, he quickly understood what Jing Tian was angry about.

[It's pathetic that instead of offering help in the face of such a massive natural disaster, they resort to sensationalism and using the disaster to boost their own fame!]

Actors are ruining the country! Natural disasters are raging, and the people are suffering, yet these actors are using this opportunity to boost their fame.

What's wrong with this country? What's wrong with its people? They can even use natural disasters for publicity.

[You despicable person, you should apologize—apologize to the people in the disaster area, and apologize to the people of the whole country!]

[Entertainment to the death, how pathetic! I have often said that ignorant history creates ignorant nations, and ignorant nations give birth to ignorant people.]

【…】

Without exception, they were all openly mocking and subtly criticizing Qi Hui for using the natural disaster to create hype.

These are opinions leaders, experts, scholars, and several public intellectuals.

Qi Hui saw many familiar faces inside, such as Gao Xiaosong, Yuan Tengfei, and Fang Fang.

Last time when Qi Hui was filming American zombies and poisonous insects, these were the people who were making the most noise.

These were the people who were most excited when "Transformers 4" was predicted to gross 20 billion yuan.

"These bastards, all they do is talk nonsense!" Jing Tian was so angry she wanted to hit someone.

All they do is spread rumors and slander, stand idly by and talk nonsense. If they're so capable, they should come here and try doing some work themselves.

"Don't be angry." Qi Hui patted her little head and comforted her, "These people are all biased. Look, there are plenty of people cursing them."

Qi Hui tapped the screen; the comments under these Weibo posts were all netizens fiercely criticizing them.

Whether Qi Hui is engaging in hype or not, netizens can see it very clearly.

The interview video didn't even mention Qi Hui's name; it simply labeled him as "disaster relief militia."

In other words, the reporters did not recognize Qi Hui at the time.

This video was later repeatedly used by CCTV's "Morning News" and "Evening News." You're telling me this is a celebrity publicity stunt?
It's more like a fry!
Under the Weibo posts of opinion leaders, experts, scholars, and public intellectuals, a bunch of people were frantically cursing their entire families.

Starting from their biological mothers, and extending to their relatives.

With their biological father as an accomplice, they circled their ancestors for eighteen generations, and finally dragged in their maternal grandparents for entertainment. Even their pets weren't spared; netizens spat on them all.

In this relatively old internet age, many swear words are not censored or blocked like they are now, more than a decade later.

The atmosphere in the comments section is purely one of battle, a battle devoid of any self-interest.

Netizens attacked public intellectuals as if they were mortal enemies, and their words, though seemingly poisonous, were strangely heartwarming to read.

Jing Tian's originally angry face showed a hint of satisfaction.

The frustration in my heart dissipated.

It wasn't just netizens who were fighting; Wu Jing, Guo Fan, and Lu Yang all posted on Weibo to refute these claims.

Xiao Yang also refuted this claim using the company's official Weibo account.

Wang Jinghua's side also angrily cursed these people.

Qi Hui's financial ties are still with Wang Jinghua, and Qi Hui's acting career has just started to improve her son's career.

Huayi also forwarded and refuted these people's claims, stating that these are outsiders and that criticizing others will not have any impact on the company.

On the contrary, Huayi can tell at a glance whether Qi Hui is hyping things up, because Huayi is an expert in this area.

Criticizing these outsiders not only brings no loss, but also gains a lot of praise and saves face for Qi Hui.

With such a favorable situation, it would be strange not to fight!
Some netizens posted photos of Qi Huixin at work on Weibo.

Besides Qi Hui, photos of Lao Ling and Xiao Zhang working on the front lines were also posted.

Unlike Qi Hui, they didn't even get an interview.

If they hadn't sent out the message, many people wouldn't have known that Lao Ling and Xiao Zhang were serving as militia members in the disaster area for disaster relief.

Suddenly, the number of followers on Xiao Zhang's and Lao Ling's Weibo accounts skyrocketed.

If it were a young, handsome actor, he would definitely apply for a Guinness World Record.

Now, what do you have to say?

Is this a publicity stunt?

Have you ever seen this kind of hype?
Once the matter was settled, those public intellectuals, scholars, and opinion leaders fell silent, refusing to utter a word, letting netizens hurl insults without offering any response.

They know they are wrong, but they refuse to apologize or admit their mistake.

He didn't even delete his Weibo posts.

Play dead!

Jing Tian snorted, no longer as angry as she had been when she first saw it, but rather somewhat smug.

A bunch of sewer rats can't stand anything good or righteous.

Once you see it, it's like a vampire seeing the sun—it's worse than death.

……

4 days later
The cleanup work in the urban area has been basically completed, and traffic, power, and communications have been restored.

Airports, ports, and railways have all resumed operation.
Aside from the sparse, unkempt tree canopies along the streets and the damaged billboards, it's clear that people's lives have returned to normal.

Those who need to go to work should go to work, and those who need to study should study.

After discussing it with Lao Ling and Xiao Zhang, Qi Hui decided to withdraw from the temporarily formed militia team.

It has been a week since the typhoon passed through.

After all, their main profession is acting, and it's time for them to leave.

The captain felt a little regretful about the three leaving, but was also very grateful.

The fact that these three people, who are from out of town and are even celebrities, were able to step forward in such a critical moment already shows that they are good comrades.

After the team leader applied and received approval from his superiors, beer was delivered to him by the roadside when work ended that evening.

The whole team drank together to send off Qi Hui and the other two, and also to reward the other comrades who had worked hard all week.

Of course, there are also corresponding allowances and subsidies.

Although it wasn't much, it was what Qi Hui, Lao Ling, and Xiao Zhang deserved.

The next day, Qi Hui and his group of six booked plane tickets and prepared to return home.

However, the next morning, someone did come to visit.

After introductions, it turned out he was a staff member of the provincial publicity department.

Qi Hui and the other two were taken aback...

(End of this chapter)