Chapter 184: A Serious Situation
Yun Xiangxiang thought that they were indeed friends in times of need. She had hoped He Xingzhou would not let them down.
If he did not do the crime, they would do their best to prove his innocence.
No matter if it was for their own profit or their friendship with him, Yun Xiangxiang believed many would try to help him.
However, if he really did do drugs, Yun Xiangxiang would never go against her principles for “The King’s Plan.”
For Yun Xiangxiang, doing drugs was more unforgivable than actors cheating on their partners!
Cheating was just the moral bankruptcy of an individual. Doing drugs was going against the law.
Yun Xiangxiang once read the news about the narcotics department. Every year, there would be hundreds of officers shot to death by the drug dealers.
Every time an addict got their fix, they were arming dealers with more ammunitions to shoot at the officers.
Yun Xiangxiang quickly went back home to wait for the news from He Wei and Lu Jin.
As she scrolled through the news portal and Weibo, she noticed the online outrage was already gaining momentum. The press was churning out one negative article after the other. They wrote it as if they were the police, doling out their own sentence against He Xingzhou.
He Xingzhou’s rise to prominence happened blisteringly fast. Many hoped he would fall from grace so that they could take away the resources and status he enjoyed now.
Yun Xiangxiang being a part of “The King’s Plan” was a secret to the outside world. In the public’s eyes, she shared no connection with He Xingzhou. She had no grounds to speak for him.
“Brother Wei, how’s the situation?” Yun Xiangxiang immediately set her attention on the matter.
“Not looking well right now. They said he was caught red-handed, and there were a lot of drugs there,” He Wei answered Yun Xiangxiang. “He Xingzhou’s agency has hired a lawyer to do the talking. We still have to wait for the details.”
“How much is a lot?” Yun Xiangxiang felt the situation might be graver than she thought.
“More than ten grams of methamphetamine,” He Wei sounded solemn.
“More than ten grams of methamphetamine…,” Yun Xiangxiang looked at Li Xiangling.
Li Xiangling pushed her glasses, “Methamphetamine is meth. According to Article 348 of the Penal Code for drug-related crimes, illegal possession of more than ten grams and less than fifty grams of methamphetamine has a punishment of three years in jail, detention, or house arrest. They will also be fined. If the case is serious, there’s a high chance they will have to face more than three years in jail, seven at most.”
“That’s serious,” Song Meng gave Li Xiangling a thumbs up.
“Don’t worry about him now. Worry about yourself first,” He Wei spoke again. “As per your promise to Director Wu, you kept your collaboration with him a secret. But your collaboration was before all of this. The public would know about this unless “The King’s Plan” does not air.”
“Brother Wei, are you worried I might be criticized by the public?” Yun Xiangxiang knew what He Wei was trying to say. She saw everything too clearly in her past life. “The most they would say is that I turned my back on a friend. I don’t care about that.”
With He Xingzhou being embroiled in such a major scandal, all his past collaborators will be put under scrutiny. Whether or not they avoided it, believed in He Xingzhou, or even beat him when he was down, they were not like Yun Xiangxiang, who could only pretend to not know.
If He Xingzhou was found to be innocent and “The King’s Plan” was aired, the public would know that Yun Xiangxiang already knew He Xingzhou and that she ignored such a big matter. Some people would try to use this as an angle to attack her.
Even if Yun Xiangxiang did not offend anyone, she still had her competitors who wanted to attack her.
Nobody would believe it if she said it was the promise she made with the crew. They would think that this was only a part of Yun Xiangxiang’s PR strategy.
In the entertainment industry, no matter how perfect an actor was, there would still be a part of the public who felt they were imperfect. A small matter like this was nothing to be afraid of.
He Wei was only warning Yun Xiangxiang about the possible trouble earlier as her agent so that she could prepare herself.
Sometimes, a delayed or inappropriate handling of a small matter could cause a great storm.
“Wanwan, let’s practice,” Yun Xiangxiang said to Yuan Wan after hanging up.
“Ah?” Yuan Wan was taken aback. “I thought you wouldn’t have the mood for it…”
“Why won’t I have the mood for this?” Yun Xiangxiang might be worried about He Xingzhou, but she wouldn’t let it disrupt her life. “Worrying about it now won’t help. I can only wait for the results quietly.”
If He Xingzhou was not guilty, he would not be convicted wrongly just because she was worried. Conversely, if He Xingzhou was guilty, he would not be released just because she was worried.
“That’s admirable!” Yuan Wan thought Yun Xiangxiang had a great mindset. She immediately got up to practice with her.
When she was practicing, it was as if Yun Xiangxiang was unperturbed by the outside world. It was just like nothing happened at all.
Yun Xiangxiang bathed after practice. When she saw Lu Jin giving her a video call, she called him back with a voice call.
“Anything happen, Brother Jin?” Yun Xiangxiang asked when the line went through.
“I was thinking you might be concerned about Xingzhou’s situation, so I called you to talk about it.”
Lu Jin sounded tired, “A total of four people were arrested. All of them are people in our circle. You might have not heard of the other three before, but they used to be best friends with Xingzhou.”
“The trio unanimously gave testimonies that point to Xingzhou as the mastermind. According to them, Xingzhou arranged everything from the supply of the drugs to their gathering. Also, the place where they were arrested was the condominium unit under Xingzhou’s name.”
“Why would there be a sudden police raid?” Yun Xiangxiang continued asking. “Did someone tip them off anonymously?”
“No, someone broke into a unit. When the police who took the report hurried there, he found Xingzhou’s unit when he was hunting for the burglar,” Lu Jin explained.
Then it was just a coincidence that the police bumped into them doing drugs. Yun Xiangxiang was quiet for a long time,” Brother Jin, do you really believe Xingzhou would do drugs?”
“He doesn’t look like this from the surface,” Lu Jin mulled over it before answering. “But Xiangxiang, the entertainment industry is not a kind place. You can never know what people would turn to for relief in this kind of business.”
“Actors always wear a facade when they are facing the audience or anyone else. No matter how frustrated you are, you have to smile at the audience. No matter how uncontrollable your emotions are, you have to push it down no matter what. If you want to maintain your image, you lose the right to be yourself. You lose the right to be human.”
“I see,” Lu Jin was telling her in a roundabout way that no one knew what He Xingzhou was like in private.
Lu Jin was taking the stance of not blindly believing He Xingzhou was innocent, but he also wasn’t deciding that he was guilty either.
“What about Xingzhou? What did he have to say for himself?” Yun Xiangxiang asked again.
“The only leverage was that there were no traces of drugs in Xingzhou’s body after the checkup. Xingzhou denied taking the drugs himself. He didn’t know there were drugs either. It was the birthday of one of the arrested yesterday. He was just there to celebrate it. He stayed there for the night because he was drunk,” Lu Jin told Yun Xiangxiang all he knew.
“What about Xingzhou’s agent and assistant?” Yun Xiangxiang thought something was amiss. It was impossible for the agent to let He Xingzhou do as he pleased.
“This was not the first time they gathered like this. Xingzhou never took his agent and assistant along.”