Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore-Chapter 475: The Baiming Awards — Voting for “No Bait” Opens~

The next day, Liu Rulan flew to Beijing for a business trip, while Xiao He stayed in Shanghai to participate in various upcoming activities.

Time flew by and soon it was the end of May. The box office growth for *No Bait* had already stabilized, but its related topic discussions and popularity still occupied a spot in the top ten of the entertainment charts. Xiao He's name had also successfully broken out of its original niche and spread further.

If before, Xiao He had mainly relied on the goodwill of casual observers and the roles he showed his face in were villains, then the explosive popularity of *No Bait* undoubtedly allowed him to successfully break into the ranks of top-tier male stars. On the star power rankings of various major platforms, he directly placed in the top three.

Although these charts reflect real-time popularity and no one can forever occupy a particular position—names on the list are bound to change with the emergence of new works—based on these rankings, one could tell that Xiao He's current fanbase and traffic had already reached a new peak and were still continuously climbing.

What Xiao He lacked now was just an official title.

But considering the quality of *No Bait* and Xiao He's acting skills, would such a title really be long in coming?

At the end of the month, the preliminary list of nominees for the Bai Ming Award was announced, and the audience online voting was simultaneously opened.

The name *No Bait* was prominently on the list!

[It's here, it's here, we finally waited for it!]

[You cast a vote, I cast a vote, Little He's path to stardom shines even brighter.]

[Let me introduce: the Bai Ming Award, one of China's three major film awards, is a very prestigious award.]

[I know about this award! But was this award chosen by voting?]

[Huh? Is there really someone who doesn't know about this voting mechanism?]

[I didn't know. I never followed celebrities before. This is the first time I'm following Brother Xiao, and as a result, my idol is just too amazing. There hasn't really been a chance for us to do much.]

[My understanding of this award is limited to hearing about who won it each time. I don't know how it's chosen, what the mechanism and process are. Can someone teach me? I want to vote for Brother Xiao too.]

[The Bai Ming Award voting has two core stages. The first is the online voting that just opened, which everyone can participate in. The second is the final on-site voting by 101 audience judges. That's why it also has the nickname "The People's Award." It emphasizes "letting a hundred schools of thought contend" and reflects current mainstream aesthetic preferences. It's the award among the big three that relies the most on traffic and audience votes.]

[Thanks for the explanation. So what do we do now? Where do we vote?]

[You can check the official website [link].]

Linghui Entertainment.

Xiao He also soon received a call from Beijing.

Seeing the caller ID, Xiao He chuckled lightly, leaned back in his chair, and answered the phone lazily. "Hey, Sister Liu, how have you been recently?"

"You brat, I'm over here running around with my feet barely touching the ground, and you're slacking off in the office lately."

Just hearing the spacious echo in his voice, Liu Rulan knew exactly where Xiao He was right now and couldn't help but roast him.

Xiao He sat up a bit straighter, making his voice sound less flippant. "Sister Liu, with this rare free time, of course I need to rest properly."

"Your idea of rest is posting a twenty-game winning streak on your Moments?"

Liu Rulan's tone was pointed.

"Oops."

Xiao He was startled and glanced at his own social media feed.

Alright, he had been having too much fun lately and forgot to block Sister Liu from seeing it.

It did look a bit like he was slacking off.

"Ahem, it's graduation season recently. Teacher An got rehired back to be a workhorse. It's really not that I wanted to be lazy," Xiao He immediately tried to justify himself. "Then, regarding the vocal coach, they said they've done their best. The fact that I can sing without going off-key is already the greatest success. Wanting to improve further would be a bit difficult. So, after thinking it over, rather than making things difficult for them, I might as well give up on myself. Anyway, I'm not cut out to be a singer, so it's whatever."

Liu Rulan: "...Fine, fine, you always have your reasons."

"Hehe, has everything been going smoothly for you in Beijing lately, Sister Liu? How are things? If there's anything you need from me, I'm definitely on call."

"Hmph."

Liu Rulan snorted coldly but didn't go into detail about what she had been busy with recently. Instead, she said, "This time in Beijing, I ran into He Jinnian again. You haven't forgotten our agreement with him, right?"

"I remember, I remember. I've already cleared my schedule for it," Xiao He even sighed. "For this, I've already turned down several collaboration offers. I even declined Director Tannis. I just hope Teacher He doesn't really lead us into a pit."

He naturally remembered this project that had consumed most of Linghui Entertainment's funds vividly.

He Jinnian, a famous, accomplished award-winning actor, now wanted to transition behind the scenes to become a director and film a "sci-fi movie," which is practically a money-guzzling beast in the film industry.

And back then, in order to poach He Wenming and other talented people from He Jinnian's studio, and also for long-term future plans, they became He Jinnian's first... well, let's say generous backers.

Back then, they spoke with great ambition, saying that to keep Shu Han and He Wenming, investing money just to hear a bit of news was worth it.

But now, looking back at the continuous stream of funds pouring out, Xiao He still couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

Where on earth did he get the nerve to say that Linghui Entertainment could handle such a "sci-fi film"?

You don't realize until you see it, but it really is a freaking money pit!

Fortunately, He Jinnian's connections within the industry over the years still provided some guarantee. The speed of assembling the production team was indeed quite fast, and they managed to raise more funds.

Perhaps afraid that Xiao He's side would "back out" if they waited too long, He Jinnian formally discussed other matters regarding the production team with Linghui Entertainment around the Spring Festival this year and began looking for actors.

And to save costs, and also to fulfill the agreement with He Jinnian, Xiao He and Shu Han were definitely not getting out of it.

It really was something he never expected—that his first collaboration with Shu Han would happen this way.

Xiao He rubbed his temples. "Well, it works out. I don't have much going on recently. When is he sending me the script?"

"Which role do you want to play?" Liu Rulan asked while casually flipping through the tablet in front of her. "Actually, the script came over in early May, but you were very busy, so we let Shu Han pick first. After reading it, he felt any role was fine and replied to Director He. But then Director He couldn't make a decision either, so he passed the buck to me."

Xiao He: "...What's so hard to decide about this?"

"They're mainly worried that no matter how they arrange it, you and Shu Han might have opinions."

Xiao He and Shu Han's acting skills naturally went without saying—they could play any role well.

If it were before, Xiao He would definitely play a supporting role to Shu Han. That wouldn't be a problem. Given their senior-junior relationship and their respective statuses, it wouldn't be an issue.

But now, with the success of *No Bait*, Xiao He's name recognition had skyrocketed. Plus, considering that *No Bait* was originally Shu Han's project, and in the situation where both of them competed for the same role, Shu Han withdrew defeated while Xiao He took off because of it... now that the junior was no longer an ordinary figure confined to a small pond, the senior's status became slightly awkward.

This was also the reason why the production team hadn't made a direct decision for so long.

Who should take the lead role was a question worth discussing.

Of course, the most important thing was to see what the two parties involved thought.

Having the senior colleague play a supporting role was definitely not okay. Shu Han would lose face, and there would be controversy on Xiao He's side as well.

Having Xiao He play a supporting role didn't seem very appropriate either. Xiao He had slightly outperformed him back then, and now that he had finally turned things around to become a male lead, what if his ambitions had grown and he wasn't willing to be subordinate? In that case, Shu Han would also feel embarrassed to take the lead. Moreover, Xiao He was technically the boss, a major shareholder of Linghui Entertainment, and the biggest investor in this project.

So, after going around in circles, this problem ultimately landed on Xiao He's plate.

Xiao He understood and felt slightly speechless. "Oh, is that all? Why are they so conflicted? It's not like I bite."

"Just give me the villain role, preferably one that's downright evil."

"Alright."

Liu Rulan wasn't surprised, as if she had already guessed Xiao He's decision. "Check your email for the script yourself. I'm hanging up now."

"Okay."