CH 140 Punishment

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Fang Ruoti contacted her agent nervously, and asked her agent to contact the gossip tabloid quickly to buy back the photo of her smudged eye makeup.
It couldn’t go to the newspaper no matter what, otherwise she would definitely be laughed at by all the other female artists in Hong Kong.

The bartender behind the bar couldn’t hold back any longer, shook his head and said, “It’s not as exaggerated as the pretty boy said.
The light in the bar is dark, and you painted smoky makeup.
If you don’t look carefully, you can’t tell at all.
What’s more, the cameras that the paparazzi use in Hong Kong, you know what the pixels are like.
How could they take pictures so clearly.
It’s not like it’s a close-up for movie posters.”

Fang Ruoti also realized it when she thought about it.
So she was completely deceived by Tao Mu.

“Young man.” Fang Ruoti tapped on the bar with her long, slender fingers painted with red nail polish, and complained with dissatisfaction, “If you treat beautiful sisters like this, you won’t be able to get a girlfriend in the future.”

Tao Mu chuckled, but said solemnly: “Really? Maybe it’s because I’m more sensitive to girls’ makeup.”

Fang Ruoti was the female lead in “Black and White”, and she was also very curious about Tao Mu, the man who had brought the crew to the hot search before he even joined the crew.
So she searched for Tao Mu’s related news on the Internet, and of course she knew that Tao Mu used to do the makeup for female stars, and the result was quite a sensation in the fashion circle.
Moreover, she also registered on FlyNews.com.
And besides thinking that the gossip was quite interesting, she was also very envious of the popularity of mainland female stars——when clearly she had never heard of these female artists before, yet they actually have several hundred thousands and even millions of fans on FlyNews.com.
She was really super envious.

“Hong Kong is too small.” Fang Ruoti shook her head with some emotion, and motioned the bartender to make her a cocktail: “There are probably not as many people in the whole of Hong Kong as a major province in the mainland.
If the box office exceeds tens of millions after the release of a movie, the investors and crew would be very happy.
I didn’t expect that there are already many movies in the mainland that have exceeded 100 million yuan.
But I don’t know if it is because of the acclimatization.
The box office of our Hong Kong movies in the mainland is not very good.”

When Fang Ruoti said this, she looked at Tao Mu with a smile: “It’s no wonder that CEO Tao didn’t think about bringing money into the crew despite participating in “Black and White” this time.
Were you also pessimistic about the box office of this movie in the mainland?”

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As news spread that Tao Mu was about to join the crew of “Black and White”, Fang Ruoti didn’t know about the others, but she herself was very interested in Tao Mu.
After reading a lot of related gossip news, she naturally knew that although Tao Mu did not officially debut, he liked to bring money into the crew he took part in.
The rumor on the Internet was that Tao Mu joined a TV series before, in which he only played a small supporting role that appeared in less than three episodes, and actually invested 14 million yuan in the crew.

The production cost of “Black and White” was only 50 million.
And this movie also gathered many A-list stars from both sides of the strait and Taiwan.
Tao Mu also played an important role in the film, though his appearance time was not long.
Even so, he was unwilling to invest in it, so it was conceivable that Tao Mu was not optimistic about the film’s box office performance.

As an A-list female star in Hong Kong, Fang Ruoti’s salary was 5 million yuan per film, and she also had 1% of the box office share.
So Fang Ruoti naturally hoped that the higher the box office of this movie, the better.
However, Hong Kong was just a small piece of land, and the market was only so big that it had long been saturated.
If one really wanted to make money, one would have to go to the mainland.

You could imagine how disappointed Fang Ruoti was when she found out that Tao Mu had not invested in the crew.

After all, Tao Mu was not just an actor.
His investment vision and entrepreneurial talent were even better known than his acting skills.

Aware of film queen Fang’s resentful eyes, Tao Mu smiled: “Miss Fang misunderstood.
It’s not that I’m not optimistic about the box office of “Black and White”, but the production cost of 50 million is already enough.
Even if I insisted on injecting capital, there would be no use for it.
And I am just a newcomer, so if I rashly bring money into the crew, I am afraid that it will bring a bad impression to everyone.
So, it is better to just honestly focus on acting.”

Fang Ruoti looked at Tao Mu with a half-smile.
To be able to tell lies in such a serious way, no wonder he suited their line of work in the entertainment industry.

After the two chatted for some time, Fang Ruoti’s agent Qiu Xiying came to pick her up.
It was a woman who looked to be in her thirties, with neat short hair and a black business suit, looking smart and capable.

When Qiu Xiying saw Tao Mu, who was also sitting at the bar, there was an uncontrollable flash of surprise in her eyes.
As a top agent in the entertainment circle of Hong Kong, Qiu Xiying had seen many male stars since she entered the industry.
It had to be said that Tao Mu’s appearance was top-notch even in Hong Kong.
The most important thing was Tao Mu’s aura, which was a captivating mix between maturity and innocence, indifference and fiery, cynicism and seriousness, which were extremely contradictory and complicated.
Just like a bottomless autumn spring pool, looking at the shimmering water, it could reflect dazzling colors.
But in places where the sight could not penetrate it was very deep and reserved.
He was completely different from those immature boys but neither was he the same as those sly and mature men.

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Could be salty or sweet, the ever-changing prince, described people like Tao Mu perfectly.

She heard that CEO Tao had no agent even now.
It would be great if she could sign him.
But obviously, with Tao Mu’s current net worth, it was absolutely impossible for him to rashly sign with someone else’s film and television company.
Therefore, although Qiu Xiying was covetous, she just thought about it privately in her mind.
Though if there was a chance, she could try to sign Tao Mu’s artist contract in Hong Kong.

Tao Mu, who was sitting at the bar and fiddling with his whisky, obviously didn’t know that this Hong Kong first-rate agent just glanced at him and piled so many adjectives on him.

After all, he had a mission when he brought people to the nightclub this time.
Although when chatting with Fang Ruoti, out of courtesy, Tao Mu had to pay some attention to Fang Ruoti.
However, Tao Mu still focused most of his energy on observing the police students.
So when Qiu Xiying arrived, Tao Mu only greeted politely, but didn’t pay much attention.

Fortunately, he was well-mannered, and his exquisite social etiquette had been deeply ingrained.
Even casually, there was no rude behavior.
A few simple and concise words, and even Qiu Xiying suddenly felt like they had suddenly become the best of friends.

On the contrary, Fang Ruoti seemed to notice something.
After chatting a few more words with Tao Mu, she dragged her reluctant agent away.

In such a short time, the news that Tao Mu took the police students from the Hong Kong Police Academy to skip class to go to the nightclub, and the gossip news that he even chatted happily with the film queen Fang Ruoti in the bar had spread like wildfire.
By the next morning, the headlines of all entertainment newspapers were of such related news.

Tao Mu had never overestimated the integrity of the Hong Kong gossip paparazzi, nor had he underestimated the efficiency of the Hong Kong gossip paparazzi.
So these reports were in his expectations.
On the contrary, the police students who skipped class with Tao Mu and went out to play in the middle of the night did not think about this situation, and instantly panicked.

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However, they didn’t blame Tao Mu, they just bit the bullet and went out for morning exercises, waiting for the instructor to punish them in dejection.

Last night, there were also other police students who hadn’t slept for most of the night, too busy taking care of Shen Yu who had twisted his ankle in practice and spent the night crying his eyes out.
As a result, these other police students who woke up the next day with a splitting headache couldn’t hide their jealousy.
They all had dark circles under their eyes that were heavier than Jiang Jingwen and the others.
So from the time of the morning exercise, they waited for the instructor to get angry, but unexpectedly they did not see the instructor express his dissatisfaction once even after the morning exercise was over.

The police students led by Zhong Chengzhi couldn’t hold it in anymore, and couldn’t help but ask the instructor why he didn’t punish those who skipped class and went to party in nightclubs.

“PC92311, are you questioning me?” The always serious instructor asked with a dark face as always.

“No, sir.
I just want to know why the school doesn’t punish those police students who violate the school rules.” Zhong Chengzhi stood up straight, looked directly ahead, and asked confidently, “Is it because Tao Mu took the lead in breaking the rules?”

The iron-masked instructor stared expressionlessly at Zhong Chengzhi for a long time, until a trace of unease and panic flashed across Zhong Chengzhi’s face, and then he asked, “Who else think the same?”

The police students who were close to Zhong Chengzhi, those who sympathized with Shen Yu, and those who didn’t like Tao Mu came forward one after another.

“We are not convinced that the school should be so partial to a visiting student with backgrounds.”

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The iron-masked instructor swept his eyes over the indignant police students one by one, and said in a deep voice, “The reason why the school did not punish the students who went to the nightclub last night was because PC92577 had already asked the school for leave in advance.
So taking people to the nightclub yesterday was just a private behavior of the police students in their spare time.
They have neither violated the laws of Hong Kong nor the school rules of the Hong Kong Royal Police Academy.
Do you understand?”

PC92577 was the student number Tao Mu used during his time at the Hong Kong Royal Police Academy.
This was what Tao Mu specially requested.
Tao Mu even communicated with Xu Musen, the director of “Black and White”, and wanted to change Zhou Yuanting’s student number in the script to this.
Xu Musen felt that this approach was also beneficial for publicity and had already agreed.

Hearing these words, all the police students looked at each other in dismay.
Jiang Jingwen and the others were overjoyed.
They didn’t expect that Tao Mu had thought about this kind of thing in advance.
Zhong Chengzhi and the others were even more dissatisfied: “But——”

“No buts!” The iron-masked instructor sternly interrupted the rebuttals of the police students: “If you have this free time to question the school, then you might as well focus on your studies.
As an official student of the Hong Kong Royal Police Academy, your grades can’t even compare to a visiting student.
Don’t you feel ashamed? If all the Hong Kong police were of your quality, how could the people of Hong Kong entrust their lives and safety to the Hong Kong police.
From now on, all students with training results that do not meet the standard will be called for extra training.”

Speaking of this, the iron-masked instructor pointed at Tao Mu with a baton, and said simply and crudely: “All the standards will be the test scores of PC92577.
Those who exceed PC92577 are fine.
Those who do not exceed PC92577, shall have your training increased.”

“Now, every one of you will run ten laps around the field before breakfast.”

The police students looked at each other in dismay, knowing that this was the instructor’s punishment for questioning the school’s decision without authorization.
Zhong Chengzhi and the others glanced at Tao Mu with a suffocated anger and bowed to fate.
As for Jiang Jingwen and the others, that the school did not hold them accountable for sneaking out to nightclubs was already worthy of burning incense so how could they dare to talk anymore nonsense and attract the instructor’s ire.

The iron-masked instructor looked at the backs of everyone running around the field, and then looked at Shen Yu, who had been hiding in the shade of the tree without speaking, and frowned silently.

Fortunately, these two would only be staying at the police academy for a short while.
They would be pissing off soon in a few days.
Thank heavens.