Chapter 622 Filming Interlude: Mei Yaohong's "corpse" was discovered in Master Mei's room.
Mei Yaohong died from a gunshot wound, a small bloody hole between her eyebrows, and she passed away without pain. The killer used a silenced pistol, so apart from a scream, no one heard anything else.
A piece of paper was also found on her body. Everyone initially thought it was some confidential document, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a will. It stated that all the family property would be left to her second son, Zhuang Sheng, and so on. The document was complete, except that it lacked Master Mei's seal.
Now, the situation was easy to guess: Madam Mei was a second wife, and Lin Hao was not her biological son, but rather the son of her first wife. Madam Mei had a plan: to take advantage of Mr. Mei's death to forge a will and fight for her and her son's inheritance.
It was for this little bit of greed that he entered this study, only to have his soul depart for the Heaven of Sorrow.
Not only were the audience stunned, but even Shang Yechu was almost speechless with surprise.
Master Mei was an NPC, so his death was no big deal. But Mei Yaohong, a regular guest, also died so easily!
Unlike Wu Jia's fantasy of "Ye Chu holding the script and knowing everything," in order to maintain the program's entertainment value and authenticity, the "Happiness Street Detective" production team only provided the guests with simple biographical sketches.
The guests only know a small part of their key information. As for the identities, secrets, motives, and timelines of the other guests, they have to find out and deduce them on their own.
In other words, apart from the real culprit, the guests on "The Happiness Street Detective" know neither who the murderer is nor how the crime was committed. The deductions on "The Happiness Street Detective" are 80% true and 20% false.
For example, Shang Yechu has only received one guest card since the start of the show, and the front of the card only has three pieces of information:
1. You are a reporter, and perhaps sometimes a detective.
2. Gu Wenhua is your assistant, and you've been ordered to accompany him to the Mei Mansion to interview Mr. Mei, the richest man in the old city. With snow falling heavily, it's the perfect time to admire the plum blossoms!
3. Whether you're a journalist or a detective, you must bring the truth to light!
This is all the information Shang Yechu received about herself.
If real people could pop up speech bubbles like comic book characters, when Shang Yechu saw this guest card filled with nonsense and with a slightly irritating tone, the speech bubble above her head would probably be two rows of ellipses.
Of course, while speechless, Shang Yechu was also a little excited. In her previous life, she had participated in many variety shows, but due to her appearance and intelligence, she could only play cannon fodder or comedic roles, even more comical than Fatty Zhang and more of a background character than Huang Feizhang. In this life, the production team actually arranged for her to be a deduction character!
Shang Yechu was born to be the protagonist. If he were to be a murderer, he would be the most cunning and treacherous; if he were to be a detective, he would be the most intelligent and courageous. After confirming his identity as a detective, he appeared carefree on the surface, but in reality, he was as energetic as if he had been injected with adrenaline, constantly racking his brains.
During the recording, Shang Yechu couldn't see the live comments or predict the audience's reactions. However, based on past experience, she could roughly guess that some viewers would feel she was stealing the spotlight from the regular guests.
In fact, before the show was recorded, Wu Jianing and Zhuang Sheng's agents had asked Shang Yechu's agent to help them mentor the newcomers, let them get more exposure from the stars, and give the newcomers some spotlight.
In Shang Yechu's view, these demands were simply ridiculous.
What is a variety show? A variety show is a script where actors have the freedom to improvise. Even in movies and TV dramas with their limited scripts, actors with ambition rack their brains to get the best roles and perform well; yet on variety shows, they expect others to be loyal to their peers, to be senior and deferential—isn't that ridiculous? If you don't earn your living through your own abilities and intelligence, and instead expect others to cater to you and guide you, is the entertainment industry really such an easy place to make a living?
Does that mean that if you can't outshine your co-stars in a scene, you should expect them to give way and help you out? How is that any different from Li Yi? You're even worse than Li Yi, who doesn't know what humility is.
Asking Shang Yechu to get some screen time with Zhuang and Wu, to make some jokes and join the conversation, would be fine. Or perhaps they could pay Shang Yechu to "play" a humble guest, which wouldn't be out of the question either. But using the company's name to coerce Shang Yechu into accommodating them, making her a supporting character, and reserving all the spotlight and excitement for them—what is this all about? Shang Yechu isn't even old enough to be looking for a successor yet!
Therefore, when Shang Yechu learned of this, he only replied sarcastically, "If I were the host instead of a guest on 'The Happiness Street Detective', that would be great."
The agents on both sides were quite sensible; after hearing Shang Yechu's words, they quickly left and never mentioned it again.
Perhaps because Shang Yechu refused to relinquish the spotlight, Wu Jianing and Zhuang Sheng performed rather poorly throughout the variety show, much to Shang Yechu's disappointment.
Wu Jianing's problem lies in her excessive effort, which often brings idol habits to the show. For example, she's afraid to make exaggerated expressions, overly sensitive to the camera, and unconsciously poses for photos, posing with her best left profile or perfect angle. Overall, it's precisely because she tries so hard that she appears increasingly unnatural. Qi Ming's assessment that she "didn't put in the right kind of effort" is quite insightful.
From the moment Shang Yechu appeared, Zhuang Sheng remained silent. He didn't fit the script's description of a naive, pampered young master at all. Shang Yechu, mindful of Zhuang Sheng's previous confession, dared not acknowledge him, lest Zhuang Sheng overthink things. Zhuang Sheng then secretly glanced at Shang Yechu with what he thought was a discreet look, making Shang Yechu want to twist his head off.
When Zhuang Sheng turned his gaze to Shang Yechu for the thousandth or ten thousandth time, Gu Wenhua stood up, walked up to Shang Yechu, and said, "Yechu, do you have anyone you suspect?"
Shang Yechu paused slightly. In fact, apart from herself, she felt that everyone else was a suspect.
Master Mei's death was probably unrelated to Gu Wenhua, Huang Feizhang, and others, but there were eight people in the mansion when Mei Yaohong died!
Despite Gu Wenhua being her assistant in the story, Shang Yechu only trusts one person out of all the assistants, deputies, and XXs in the world: her own two hands.
After pondering for a moment, Shang Yechu said, half-jokingly, "I've got it."
Gu Wenhua asked, "Who?"
Shang Yechu said quietly, "We've got a bunch."
————
Mei Yaohong, wearing an angel halo and a red circle (representing a gunshot wound) on her forehead, sat among the guests with a sullen face.
Wu Jianing and Zhuang Sheng weren't close to her, so their expressions were rather reserved. However, the members of the "Happiness Street, Please Come In!" crew didn't have this concern. Shang Yechu and Fatty Zhang slammed their fists on the table and laughed wildly. Gu Wenhua poured a cup of tea for Shang Yechu and Fatty Zhang to soothe their hoarse throats from laughing.
"Madam Mei," Shang Yechu said, wiping away her tears, "is there any way to save her?"
Mei Yaohong flicked the halo above her head with a stern face, then pointed to the red circle on her forehead: "There are two circles now, what do you say?"
Fatty Zhang laughed loudly, "Can't you tell us the murderer in a dream?"
Lin Hao coughed and said, "The fantasy part was from the last episode."
After a few rounds of joking around, Shang Yechu waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's summarize the current clues."
As he spoke, Shang Yechu pulled out a thick stack of cards from his pocket. Every time he uncovered a clue, Shang Yechu would record it on a card, and now he had quite a few.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
