Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Facts proved that Zhuang Hongyi was not only a ruthless capitalist but also a successful director.

It wasn’t until the end of the month, when everyone gradually returned to work and the Spring Festival Slot concluded, that *The Phantom Thief Alliance 2* once again carried forward the miracle of the first film, firmly securing the championship with a box office of 3.8 billion yuan.

According to big data predictions, its final box office would likely be around 4.7 billion yuan.

Upon learning this news, Xiao He was secretly astonished.

The box office potential of the Spring Festival Slot was always breathtaking every time he heard about it. No wonder there were always directors eager to push their way into the Spring Festival release schedule—people like Zhuang Hongyi, who, after sporadically joining the Spring Festival battle a few times, decisively established the Phantom Thief universe and began dominating the Spring Festival market with *The Phantom Thief Alliance* series.

This truly made people marvel once again at Zhuang Hongyi’s foresight.

However, *The Phantom Thief Alliance* was ultimately not considered one of Xiao He’s major works. As a guest star, the final high box office title wasn’t credited to him, so Xiao He didn’t continue paying attention to this matter. There were more important tasks waiting for him next.

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First, let’s go back to the Spring Festival holiday period.

*The Phantom Thief Alliance 2* was still enjoying a hot run at the box office, and there was no need for Xiao He to do much about it. So, Xiao He focused most of his attention on the upcoming *”Imperial Enterprise”* audition.”Speaking of that emperor through the ages, Qin Zhuo, who ascended the throne through military merit, centralized power with an iron fist, waged wars on all sides to nearly unify the territory, with ruthless methods—his merits and faults left for later generations to judge—”

The middle-aged storyteller slammed the wooden gavel onto the table, and the speakers behind him immediately chimed in with a clanging, ding-dong opera rhythm to match his action.

As the camera shifted, a young man in battle armor, with a tall and upright posture, appeared on stage. One hand pinched the corner of his robe, the other rested on his hip. The paint on his face exuded authority and fierceness, and his eyes were sharp and spirited as he looked down at the camera from a commanding height.

”Leading the army to trample through thousands of mountain passes, this lonely king points his sword at the city of ten thousand miles.”

”Clang, clang, clang—clang, clang, clang—”

The young man shifted his stance. Amid the changing lights, his black robe revealed a few dazzling glimmers of gold, as if hinting at the mandate of heaven, the final outcome already decided.

”Slap—”

The sound of the wooden gavel rang out again.

”But alas, heaven is jealous of geniuses, and lofty ambitions go unfulfilled. The young emperor was born in chaotic times but fell in an era of prosperity...”

Xiao He sat at home, watching several highly-liked historical commentary videos on Bilibili, sinking into a long, deep contemplation.

There was no doubt that Emperor Chen was a character favored by many historical bloggers and historians. And because his surviving historical records were relatively complete, and the historical node he occupied was particularly significant for later generations, the public had a fairly detailed understanding of him. Even those Chinese people with little education had heard his name and knew of his deeds.

For such a historical figure, was there still room to unearth any distinctive personality interpretations?

Xiao He frowned, feeling that this task would probably be very difficult.

Everyone auditioning basically had the same sources of information—special topic videos, historical records, evaluations from later generations...

For a historical figure like Emperor Chen, even experts in this field alone could dedicate many episodes to him, studying and analyzing his personality, his past, his philosophy of governance, his military strategies... And his overall image had largely been fixed in the long river of history.

Even if the *”Imperial Enterprise”* production team’s future filming plot would include some degree of artistic embellishment, beautifying the character or modifying certain parts of the content, the fundamental character should be very close to the historical prototype.