The Eye of the Storm

At nine o'clock in the morning of the next day, all media reporters who received the invitation letter rushed to the conference site as scheduled.

Zheng Yin contacted the lawyer overnight to prepare the content of the agreement, and asked the reporters present to sign the agreement, which stated the admission conditions reached by the two parties before - the privacy of Cao Xiuyuan's family members must not be exposed, otherwise they will bear legal responsibility.

The recording studio was opaque, and the lighting engineer arranged the lights in the studio overnight. At the moment, the studio was brightly lit, and the reporters were all occupying the recording positions, busy setting up the machines, chatting with each other occasionally, and waiting for Liang Sizhe to appear on stage.

A few minutes before 09:30, Liang Sizhe appeared from the backstage, followed by his manager Xu Yunchu.

When the lighting engineer saw him appear, he turned on the lights on the stage, and the light mist poured down instantly, casting a very bright circle in the center of the stage.Liang Sizhe walked over and sat on the high stool in the center of Yuanguang.

As soon as he showed up, there was a commotion in the arena, and the clicking of cameras rang out densely.

He has a simple shape, black T and black trousers, and a slightly loose denim jacket. He has always appeared in the media shots, with a mysterious and somewhat rebellious image.

The staff came up to him and asked him about the audition. He raised his head slightly, adjusted the miniature microphone stuck on his jaw line, then turned his head and nodded towards the staff.

Xu Yunchu seemed to give some impromptu instructions, and Liang Sizhe responded, taking off his denim jacket and handing it to her: "It's a bit boring." He said.

Xu Yunchu took the jacket and returned to the backstage.She was quite relieved about Liang Sizhe's ability to accept interviews. Although Liang Sizhe did not cooperate with interviews a lot of the time, he had good adaptability on the spot. As long as he was willing to cooperate, the results of interviews were usually satisfactory.

There was only one host on the stage, who was in charge of calling the reporters to ask questions. As soon as 09:30 arrived, the host looked back at Liang Sizhe. Liang Sizhe looked down at his watch, pinched the microphone cord on the side of his face and said, "Let's get started."

Almost all the reporters in the audience raised their hands.The host picked a newspaper reporter in the back row, and the reporter stood up and asked, "Liang Sizhe, there are rumors that director Cao Xiuyuan signed up for the Academy Awards knowing that he would be banned from filming for five years, just to let you win Best Actor again." , Is this statement true?"

Liang Sizhe looked at the reporter and said, "Mr. Cao didn't tell me what he thought before he signed up for the Academy Awards."

"Then do you think, compared to old Mr. Zhu Qingyun, which one of you two is more qualified to win the best actor?"

"Are you qualified to be an actor?" Liang Sizhe said, "The jury has already given the result."

"And what do you think? Do you think it's fair for the jury to make this choice?"

Liang Sizhe was silent for a few seconds and then asked back: "Do you think it's fair?"

After a few seconds of silence, the reporter said, "Now is the time for me to ask you questions."

Liang Sizhe smiled and said, "I think my answer is the same as yours."

He deftly avoided the traps the reporters had dug for him.Zheng Yin sat under the stage and looked at Liang Sizhe who was being interviewed. He still remembered the 17-year-old boy who stood in front of him five years ago. Thinking that the boy would have such tenacity, supporting him to where he is now.

But this question is just the beginning. Journalists from major newspapers are more reserved and have a bottom line when asking questions. The later they call tabloid reporters and self-media editors, the more tricky the angles of those questions and the more private the content of the questions.

Until someone asked about his past: "Liang Sizhe, it is said that before you acted in "Thirteen Days", your parents killed someone with a car. Is it true?"

The court fell silent immediately, and everyone was waiting for Liang Sizhe to answer this question.They dare not ask questions themselves, but if a reporter is willing to ask boldly, they are also very happy to watch.

The host saw that the atmosphere was not right, and tried to calm down: "Before "Thirteen Days", Sizhe was still an amateur, so he should not be able to answer questions at this stage."

"Didn't you say that you must answer all your questions?" The man said while holding the microphone, "I didn't say that when I signed the agreement."

Someone off the court echoed, "Yes, we agreed to answer all questions."

Liang Sizhe didn't speak, just stared at the man for a few seconds.Zheng Yin, who was sitting off the field, also turned his face to look at that person.It was a small man with a very ordinary appearance, and his eyes were shining behind the glasses.

Zheng Yin knew in his heart that this person was the worst kind of questioner to deal with.They don't consider the artist's mood, as long as they can write eye-catching news, they can ask anything.

Liang Sizhe, who was sitting in the beam of light on the stage, had two hands resting casually on his bent thighs, but now they were clasped together, breaking the joints of his hands again and again.If the camera zooms in, you can still see the cyan blood vessels on his hands protruding from the force.

Zheng Yin sighed almost imperceptibly.When discussing matters related to the press conference last night, he reminded Liang Sizhe that among the more than 100 media present, there would always be people asking questions that he didn’t want to answer, but Liang Sizhe just said “it doesn’t matter”—has he thought about it, is it true? Is it okay?

He was only two years older than Cao Ye, Zheng Yin suddenly realized this, but even when he talked to Liang Sizhe five years ago, he never regarded Liang Sizhe as a child.From the very beginning, when Liang Sizhe appeared in front of him, he was in a sharp and defensive posture. He never showed weakness, and never gave anyone a chance to treat him like a child.

But the blade is for people, if it is sharp, it is sharp, and if it hurts others, it hurts itself.

After a moment of silence, Liang Sizhe said, "I refuse to answer questions about my family."

The little reporter was aggressive: "If there is a question that must be answered without counting, then does the agreement we signed when entering the venue also count?"

"Answer your questions refers to questions about me," Liang Sizhe responded calmly, "not about my family."

"Then may I ask," the reporter still refused to give up, "It's been so many years since the incident happened, have you ever visited the family of the deceased again?"

Liang Sizhe still didn't answer, looked at him and asked, "Which media reporter are you?"

"Are you asking this because you plan not to accept our interviews in the future?"

"There is this consideration."

"Then as long as a reporter asks a question you don't want to answer, you block a media outlet. Does anyone dare to ask questions?"

"No one dares to ask questions," Liang Sizhe said lightly, "Then this press conference can be over."

Xu Yunchu, who was monitoring the situation in the background, saw that the atmosphere in the venue was tense, and urged the host to call the next reporter by ear. At first, the little reporter insisted that he had not finished asking questions and refused to sit down, but another reporter had already started asking questions, so he had no choice but to give up. .

The reporter who stood up afterwards also tried to dig into Liang Sizhe's past: "Someone from your previous school broke the news that you used to be the principal violinist of the school orchestra, so why did you use hand substitutes when filming "Thirteen Days"?"

He wanted to bring up Liang Sizhe's past, because everyone was interested in Liang Sizhe's life before he became famous. As long as the word "car accident" came out of Liang Sizhe's mouth, the headlines they prepared in advance would come in handy immediately.

But Liang Sizhe didn't agree with their wishes, he refused to reveal his scars, and only dismissed the question with three short words: "I am willing."

The atmosphere of the press conference dropped to freezing point. All the reporters at the scene could see Liang Sizhe's lack of cooperation. Some people began to complain in a low voice. As soon as Liang Sizhe opened his mouth, they could click release to seize the hot spots.

But now Liang Sizhe maintains a defensive posture, avoids all sensitive issues, and refuses to talk about his past, so what is the hot point of this press conference?

Another reporter stood up and asked: "It is said that before the filming of "Thirteen Days", you competed with director Cao Xiuyuan's only son for the role of Xiaoman. How did you finally get the role?"

"It's written in the agreement that we won't talk about matters related to Dao Cao's family," Liang Sizhe said.

"Then it turns back to you. Is it related to the recent rumors between you and Director Cao that you finally got the role?"

"Do you believe me when I say the rumors are false?" Liang Sizhe overestimated his endurance before coming to the press conference. After more than half of the interview, he began to become a little impatient. With his temper, he went back one by one.

The reporters off the field noticed his attitude,

At this time, he saw someone trotting over to Zheng Yin's side, and whispered something in his ear. Zheng Yin was sitting in the second row. Liang Sizhe saw that his face seemed to have changed, and his heart sank, and then What's wrong?Is something wrong with Cao Ye or Teacher Cao?

Zheng Yin said something hastily to that person, then stood up and looked towards the back row, as if he was looking for someone.

That person quickly ran all the way to the stage. Originally, Zheng Yin asked him to tell the host to suspend the press conference, but when he passed Liang Sizhe in the middle of the stage, Liang Sizhe raised his hand and grabbed the man's arm: "What's wrong?"

"Someone wants to send the video of Director Cao's son," the man said quickly and in a low voice, "It seems that it has been sent, but the video file is too large and has not been uploaded yet. Brother Yin means to suspend the press conference first ..."

Before he finished speaking, Liang Sizhe's expression changed, and he stood up from the high stool.

Seeing Liang Sizhe standing up with a heavy face, all the reporters in the audience followed his gaze.

Liang Sizhe saw the little man Zheng Yinchao who asked the question walk over, and the little man also stood up, and the two seemed to be negotiating.

"That's not what you said before you came here," the little man suddenly raised his voice, "Any questions are answered, and an hour has passed without answering anything. How can we make headlines with this kind of content?"

"That's right," someone echoed, "it's totally different from what was agreed upon!"

"You can't fool us like this, can you?"

"None of the content written in advance can be used. They are all avoiding the important ones and not answering anything."

"It can't be a headline at all."

In fact, their complaints were not unreasonable. Liang Sizhe dealt with all the problems lightly, which is his consistent style in interviews, bypassing the traps set by reporters with questions, and using his own way to easily pass them by.He doesn't like to make hot spots, and he doesn't want to be the so-called headlines. Off-screen, he only takes the interviews related to movies seriously, and he always knows how to change the topic about the questions about his private life.

But the reporters present were not satisfied with this answer. Liang Sizhe was too smart and knew how to protect himself, so that all the problems that could become hot spots were resolved by him in his own way.

Liang Sizhe took a few steps forward, then suddenly squatted down, and jumped off a platform more than one meter high.

The voice of complaints suddenly weakened, and everyone turned their heads to look at Liang Sizhe, who walked off the stage, and watched him walk straight towards the little reporter.He was full of hostility, and when he sat on the stage, he was filtered by the soft mist of light, and people could only see the indifferent expression between his brows and eyes, but now that he stepped off the stage, everyone could feel that he was not kind, and consciously Silence to make way for him.

They looked at this young man who had just turned 22, and suddenly realized that he was not a caged bird imprisoned in the light circle of the stage, but a raw meat beast temporarily trapped in it, waiting for an opportunity to move.

Liang Sizhe walked over, stopped in front of the little man, and glanced at the open laptop in front of him. The screen displayed an interface of uploading videos.Zheng Yin seemed to have tried to click cancel upload, but it was useless, the video was still uploading, but the pop-up window for entering the password popped up.

Liang Sizhe was a head taller than the little man, looked down at him, and said in a cold tone, "Cancel the upload."

"The big star is coming off in person." The man looked up at him maliciously, "What is the relationship between you and Cao Xiuyuan, and why are you protecting his family like this?"

The progress bar shows that 70% of the upload has been uploaded, and the number is still rising one by one. The speed is not fast but steady. In less than one minute, this video will be made public.

Holding the keyboard with one hand, Liang Sizhe put the computer in front of the little man, and said coldly, "Cancel the upload, hurry up."

"Why? It doesn't matter if you talk first."

I don't know if it's an illusion, but the upload speed seems to be faster, Liang Sizhe asked impatiently: "Are you canceling or not?"

"I won't cancel," the little man poked his neck, "You smash the computer if you have the ability."

As soon as Liang Sizhe raised his hand, the posture really wanted to smash the computer to pieces, Zheng Yin hurriedly stepped forward to stop him: "Sizhe, don't be impulsive." He snatched the computer away forcefully and pressed the shutdown button.

"Do you think I'm the only one who wants to release it?" The little man couldn't grab the computer, and yelled at Zheng Yin angrily, "You use such a press conference to fool us into making headlines, and you are obviously playing us for fools!"

There was another round of echoes around, and if this continues, it is hard to predict how many media will release the video without authorization, and things will develop in the direction they least expect.

Liang Sizhe suddenly reached out and grabbed the little man's collar.

The little man was a little flustered, trying to break free: "What do you want to do? So many cameras are facing you, do you still want to do something?"

But he failed to break free as he wished. This young man in his early twenties had amazing strength, and when he got close, he felt a sense of oppression and aggression that could not be ignored.He suddenly realized that Liang Sizhe in the camera had actually restrained his sharpness, and when he fully released his sharpness, he was like a lively, dormant and moving beast, and no one could really restrain him.

"Don't you guys want headlines?" Liang Sizhe pushed him hard against the wall with his hands. He leaned over the little man's ear, lowered his voice and said coldly, "Then I'll give you a headline."