The first scene of the afternoon picked up from the morning's plot of the Qingyun Sect cornering Lu Ji.
Changle Ward was thrown into utter chaos by the Qingyun Sect. Su Jingci, the Registrar of Changle Ward for the Jingzhao Prefecture, was ordered by his superior to assist in investigating the Spectral Bone Case. His superior had also temporarily coordinated two constables from the Six Doors to accompany him, and they rushed to the scene to stop the conflict.
“Presumptuous!”
Su Jingci, wearing green official robes, squeezed through the crowd with a cold expression. “At the foot of the Emperor's throne, how dare a martial sect arrest citizens without authorization?!”
He was merely a low-ranking official with no subordinates of his own. On normal days, he even had to request permission from his superior just to consult the archives. However, the Spectral Bone Case had caused too big of a stir. The higher-ups had dumped this thankless task onto their subordinates, forcing him to bite the bullet and rush to the front line.
Su Jingci's gaze swept over the members of the Qingyun Sect before finally landing on Lu Ji, who was covered in dust and clinging to a pillar while panting.
Seeing the arrival of the officials, Lu Ji immediately adopted a look of utter grievance and rushed over to Su Jingci's side. “My Lord! You must seek justice for this lowly citizen! These martial brutes wanted to kill me without a second thought! I'm just a doctor!”
Su Jingci frowned slightly, looking at this slick-tongued street loafer with a flash of disdain in his eyes. “Are you the one who just pointed out the flaw in the murder case?”
“This lowly citizen... I was just taking a wild guess...”
Lu Ji bowed his head, looking completely submissive, but his eyes quickly swept over Su Jingci's official robes and waist token.
Registrar of the Jingzhao Prefecture.
His official rank was not prominent, and he only had two temporarily borrowed constables behind him, yet the Qingyun Sect disciples had already stayed their hands.
Lu Ji quickly figured things out. The man before him was not here to back the Qingyun Sect; he was truly here to investigate the case.
“Hmph.”
Su Jingci snorted coldly. “The Spectral Bone Case is of grave importance. For a rogue physician like you to spot a flaw at a single glance, you are clearly not simple. Take him back first; we will interrogate him later!”
The constables stepped forward to apprehend Lu Ji.
This time, Lu Ji did not wail. Instead, right before the constables could grab his shoulders, he took a half-step to the side, perfectly bringing both the onlookers and the corpse on the ground into Su Jingci's line of sight.
“If my Lord wishes to take me back for questioning, I dare not refuse.”
Lu Ji raised his head, his face pale, but his tone was much calmer than before. “But if my Lord only takes me away now, the Qingyun Sect will be able to claim that an accomplice has already been found for this fake Spectral Bone Case. The real killer will escape in the chaos, and the fabricated case will become an open-and-shut one. When the higher-ups ask tomorrow, they will only say that my Lord arrested someone at random.”
Su Jingci's expression shifted slightly.
Lu Ji looked terrified. He coughed twice after speaking, yet he still bit the bullet and continued, “My lowly life is cheap and worthless. But the direction of the bone fractures on this corpse and the astral qi traces left by the killer have not yet been investigated.”
He added in a low voice, “Does Lord Su want the truth of the case to be brought to light, or do you merely want someone to hand over to satisfy your superiors?”
At this moment, he was still just a ragged street physician, but his clarity and courage were far beyond ordinary.
Su Jingci was not intimidated by him, but he truly began to look at him seriously.
He first glanced at the corpse, then looked at the right hand of that Qingyun Sect disciple.
The other party subconsciously curled his fingers, the calluses on his web of thumb and index finger clearly visible under the sunlight.
Su Jingci's face darkened. He was only ordered to assist in the investigation; he could not convict someone based on a single sentence, nor could he let the real clues break in his hands.
But if he let Lu Ji continue speaking, he could not guarantee that this street physician wouldn't escape in the chaos.
“Hold on.”
He raised his hand to press down on the constable's sword hilt, his gaze still fixed on Lu Ji. “The clues you mentioned—can they be verified?”
Lu Ji immediately nodded. “Yes. As long as my Lord is willing to give me the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.”
“Half a stick of incense.”
Su Jingci said coldly, “If you cannot produce anything, I will personally deliver you to my superior.”
“Rest assured, Lord Su.”
Lu Ji shrank his neck, once again looking like a timid coward. “What I am best at is speaking the truth to save my life.”
“Are you threatening this official?”
“I would not dare.”
Su Jingci stared straight at him, clearly not believing his words.
“Cut!”
He Chuan shouted in a very pleased tone, “Good! This take was excellent!”
Jiang Yue reined in his emotions, returning to his usual self, and smiled at Shen Xiuyuan. “Apologies. I should have coordinated with you beforehand. My performance just now differed slightly from the script.”
Shen Xiuyuan snapped out of it and smiled back. “It's fine. Your delivery actually made me understand why Su Jingci keeps a close eye on Lu Ji later on. It has much more narrative weight than just following the script verbatim.”
Before coming, he had also scrolled through clips of 《The Hidden Sentry》 and knew that Jiang Yue was currently highly popular, but he didn't know much about his character. Now that they were actually acting together in this scene, he realized Jiang Yue was not someone who only cared about hogging the spotlight. Acting alongside him was truly comfortable.
He Chuan chimed in from the side, “Let's keep going in this direction. Su Jingci is not a high-ranking official; he has no men and no final authority, so his only option is to cling tightly to the clue that is Lu Ji.”
Jiang Yue nodded. “Lu Ji is afraid of being caught, while Su Jingci is afraid of not getting any results.”
Shen Xiuyuan glanced at him, a bit of gratitude entering his eyes. “Then I know how to play the subsequent scenes.”
In the evening, after wrapping up work and returning to the hotel, Jiang Kaiwen walked in holding a thick express delivery box. His expression was quite solemn, as if he were carrying some precious treasure.
“Third Brother, the photos sent by the studio have arrived.”
Jiang Yue propped his elbows on the counter and tilted his head to ask, “Sign them now?”
“Just a portion for now.”
Jiang Kaiwen placed the box on the table and opened it, revealing stacks of sealed photos. “Didn't we mention during 《The Hidden Sentry》 watch-along that we would raffle off signed photos for the audience? The activity page on Penguin Video is already live.”
Jiang Yue picked up the top photo.
The photo was a solo promotional shot of Zhou Jinnan, wearing a single-breasted suit, white shirt, and narrow tie, with half of his face concealed in light and shadow.
Jiang Kaiwen handed over his tablet, which displayed the official activity page of Penguin Video.
《The Hidden Sentry》 Finale Benefit Event.
Accumulating a certain amount of watch time for the episodes would grant base points.
Daily check-ins, sharing the drama, participating in bullet comment interactions, and taking part in character Q&As would also grant extra points.
The points could be used for a raffle. Users who won a signed photo would fill in their shipping address on the activity page, and the platform would ship them out in batches after verification.
Jiang Yue scanned the rules and nodded. “The platform did a very meticulous job.”
“Penguin Video is putting a lot of effort into this.”
Jiang Kaiwen continued, “Since 《The Hidden Sentry》 broke records, they practically want to treat the leads like deities. The signed photos were sent to the set first. Once you're done signing them, I'll send them back to the studio in batches, and the studio will coordinate with the platform to check the quantities, winner list, and logistics.”
Jiang Yue picked up a marker and asked curiously, “How many photos?”
Jiang Kaiwen was silent for two seconds. “The first batch is five hundred.”
Jiang Yue looked at him without saying a word, his expression speaking volumes.
Jiang Kaiwen explained, “Don't look at me like that. Sister Qing already cut down the number once! The platform originally wanted a thousand, saying the number of participants was too high and the raffle pool would look too empty otherwise.”
Jiang Yue lowered his head and smiled helplessly. “Alright, let's get signing.”
Jiang Kaiwen arranged the photos in neat stacks and stuck sticky notes with batch numbers on them. “Third Brother, sign them slowly so you don't make mistakes. Fans will definitely post pictures once they get them, so your signature shouldn't be too messy.”
Jiang Yue had already made his first stroke.
Beside the name "Zhou Jinnan" was his signature.
The strokes were sharp and clean, carrying a strange resemblance to the man hidden in the shadows of the promotional shot.
Jiang Kaiwen watched from the side for a while and suddenly sighed with emotion, “Who would have thought that even though you're already on the set of 《The Pivot Bone》, you still have to do post-broadcast promotion for 《The Hidden Sentry》?”
Without raising his head, Jiang Yue continued to write furiously. “If you've promised something, you have to see it through.”
Jiang Kaiwen paused for a moment, then lowered his head to send a message in the work group.
[Jiang Kaiwen: We'll finish a portion of the signed photos tonight. I'll arrange to send the first batch back to Donghai tomorrow morning. You can coordinate the winner list with Penguin Video on your end.]
Su Qing replied quickly.
[Su Qing: Got it.]
Chen Fei popped up right after.
[Chen Fei: The activity page data is great. The watch time tasks are clearly driving rewatches, and the check-in rate is high. Once the first batch of winners start posting pictures, we can sustain the hype for another wave.]
Looking at the messages, Jiang Kaiwen couldn't help but laugh. “Third Brother, Chen Fei says these five hundred photos of yours might just breathe another wave of life into 《The Hidden Sentry》's popularity.”
Jiang Yue's pen didn't stop. Hearing this, he replied, “Tell him to keep a close eye on online trends and contact me anytime if anything comes up.”
“Don't worry, Sister Qing is also keeping an eye on things.”
Rate on N.U.
