Chapter 10: Respect the Clothes Before Respecting the Person

He dismounted, patted the horse's cheek, and returned it to the crew's horse handler.

The chestnut horse was tall and muscular, and before parting, it snorted at Bai Liang.

Perhaps due to the lingering effect of his previous Shang K experience, Bai Liang unconsciously imagined the horse saying: "Hey, handsome, come play again next time."

Yes, it was a young mare.

Actually, Bai Liang was a little curious—what if he couldn't ride at all or knew no martial arts? Would the crew kick him out right away, or make him re-audition for the Emperor?

The Emperor~

He suddenly felt a twinge of regret—should've just said he couldn't ride.

Sun Qiang: You're too young!

Who says you have to actually know how to ride to film horseback scenes? Just don't shoot wide shots.

Not every actor in the entertainment industry can actually ride when filming horse scenes; it used to be stricter, back then.

Now?...... If you can't ride for real, ride a fake one~

For long shots, use a stunt double; for close-ups, just film the upper body.

Some crews save money by using only fake horses.

The slightly conscientious ones use electric fake horses that move up and down; the heartless ones just make you ride on a stool and shake it.

The whole point is pure props-free acting.

It really tests an actor's skill—those who do it well look like they're truly riding; those who don't look like they're on a kiddie ride.

What's your father's father called? Your father's father is called Grandpa.....

After leading the horse back, the crew's horse handler couldn't help exclaiming: "Bro, your riding's amazing! You shot off like that just now—I thought the horse had spooked!"

"Not bad~"

At this moment, Bai Liang noticed there were quite a few people around.

People here still love a good spectacle~

He wasn't shy—he waved at the onlookers, and immediately a few girls giggled and waved back.

He even thought he heard someone whispering he was handsome?

After a brief interaction with the "live audience," Bai Liang felt something was still missing, so he glanced around.

Ah!

There she was—Guli Naza—he quickly waved at her.

When learning a skill, some do it to cultivate their spirit, others out of interest.

Bai Liang was more straightforward—he just wanted to have fun while waiting for a chance to show off big.

And here it was!

Guli Naza:...... Show-off!

She couldn't help laughing out loud, feeling exactly like when she'd seen a boy in school showing off.

Her assistant, however, gave a sincere sigh: "Xiao Bai is so handsome riding! Even his dismount was smooth and elegant."

"You're smitten, huh?" Guli teased her assistant.

The assistant blushed furiously, remembering the egg from breakfast.

For some reason, that plain boiled egg had a taste she just couldn't forget.

Of course, a few girls were willing to cheer him on because of his handsome face, but others whispered behind his back.

What the hell is he trying to show off for?

Bai Liang's face was still unfamiliar to the crew—not just the crew, but even in the entire entertainment industry.

No one knew him, so there was no automatic respect.

First respect the clothes, then the person—same principle.

In this industry, your face is your business card.

Bai Liang did put on a very cool show, but the positive effect only reached some people, while others grew annoyed by him.

Some went so far as to sneer right to his face.

As if to say: You think you're good at riding? So what? In this world, you need power, you need connections...

Bai Liang: Exactly!

He nodded happily, smiled at the man, radiating the warmth of a sunny, cheerful boy.

Thanks~ Now it's perfect.

His smile threw the sneering guy completely off balance.

Wait, bro.

What the hell are you smiling at me like that for?

After spreading kindness and charm to the crowd, Bai Liang vanished—showed off and left, no cleanup needed.

The sneering guy felt miserable. Sure, he'd acted impulsively, but now that his "punch" had landed, the feeling of hitting cotton—no resistance, no effect—made him want to spit blood.

Worse, the others who'd just moments ago agreed with him that "it's nothing special" were now whispering about him.

"Why'd he react so strongly?"

"He's frustrated—he thinks he's got talent, but he's still stuck as a background extra. Yesterday he auditioned for Liu Bian's big extra role, went in full of confidence, and got rejected. Now he's back to playing soldiers like us."

"......"

In that moment, shared resentment acted like a catalyst, magnifying Bai Liang's earlier smile.

The once arrogant, dismissive guy now looked confused, dazed.

He unconsciously glanced toward Bai Liang's direction... and saw him standing with Sun Qiang, the casting director, laughing and chatting.

Yesterday, it was Sun Qiang who had given him the audition for Liu Bian's role—and the result was, of course, "wait for notification."

This kind of minor role still needing to wait for notification basically means "you don't have a chance" in a roundabout way.

"Hey, you there, come here for a sec." Sun Qiang suddenly waved over in this direction and called out.

Disdain Bro: Was he calling me?

Frozen on the spot for two seconds, he shuddered all over and rushed forward!

But after only three steps he took a nasty fall! It hurt so much he was grimacing and showing his teeth.

"Goodness, take it easy..." Sun Qiang looked at this guy rather speechlessly, then turned back to Bai Liang with a smile and asked, "Yesterday when we were auditioning for Liu Bian, he was one of them. This guy's taking over your original role — any advice?"

Disdain Bro, who had scrambled up from the ground and hurried over, had his eyes bugged wide open!

Countless thoughts and ideas popped into his head.

The summary was: deep regret!

But Bai Liang glanced at his miserable, fallen-down appearance, did a little bear shrug, and said, "He's pretty good."

Disdain Bro's first reaction was still disdain: Huh, you actually dare give an opinion?!

The next second he saw Sun Qiang nod rather casually, "Then let's go with him."

"Thank you! Thank you, Director, for giving me this chance..." Disdain Bro's face lit up with joy, and at the same time he glanced at Bai Liang — just one look before lowering his head.

Don't ask why.

The sunlight was too blinding!

He now felt like a rat dragged out of a dark sewer and exposed to the sun!

He didn't dare watch Bai Liang leave until Bai Liang had already turned and walked away.

His heart was naturally a tangled mess of feelings.

In the end he still said thank you, so quietly only he himself could hear.

Fortunately, on the other side, Bai Liang also ran into "trouble."

"I heard everything just now — you're way too nice, aren't you?"

"Don't go handing out 'good guy' cards to people on your own. It's bad luck."

Bai Liang turned to look and saw a Miss in ancient costume, with bright eyes and pearly teeth, blinking at him curiously.

That outfit looked vaguely familiar — a flash of it at the horse shed earlier, probably one of the Misses who'd been cheering on his smooth moves.

Now that he saw her face, naturally he could recognize her.

"Repaying grievance with virtue — I heard that guy snort at you, and you were still speaking up for him in front of Director Sun! Of course you're a good guy!" Mencius clearly had her own opinions, judging with absolute certainty.

Bai Liang thought for a moment, "You're a good person too."

Inner thoughts: Just a tiny bit of a cutesy voice.

But considering how good-looking she was, Bai Liang forgave her for handing him a "good guy" card.

Oh right, he'd heard many of her close friends were quite pretty too.

Pretty girls liking to cluster together — this phenomenon seemed pretty common in the entertainment circle.

Di Mi Meng Za — on this trip he'd already spotted two of them.

This drama crew really does have a lot of pretty girls!

Only the story's development was heading in a strange direction...