Chapter 120: The Treasure That Can Never Be Fully Dug Up (Bonus Chapter)

After leaving Star City, the main cast of The Legend of the Condor Heroes traveled to Beijing, then moved on to Shanghai.

The main focus was on the online streaming platform iQiyi and Dongfang Television's programs.

The schedule was still tight, which led to a troublesome issue.

They couldn't properly arrange off-screen CP promotion.

Guo Jingyu was a mature director and producer, but he understood this new era of traffic-driven promotion only partially.

He actually came over to ask Bai Liang and the others: "What do you think we should do to promote our CP?"

The young actors looked at each other, briefly discussed, then decided to each go their own way.

After "work," they paired off in twos.

Li Yitong, who originally had no plan to promote off-screen CP, discussed it with her agent and decided to go all in.

She had no choice—she and Yang Xuwén truly lacked fame and public buzz.

If everyone else was doing it, that'd be fine, but a "freak" had emerged.

He had so many talking points that even in an industry overflowing with handsome men and beautiful women, he stood out as a striking oddity.

It was like a bottom-lane matchup—two gold-rank players couldn't possibly beat the top-tier player carrying his partner.

The key was that the "partner" was extremely cooperative—just hang a cat on him, and the risk of the matchup dropped to near zero.

Thinking back to how she'd once feared Meng Zi Yi would overshadow everyone, Li Yitong found it absurd and ridiculous.

After finishing "Tian Tian Xiang Shang," she realized: there was no female rivalry at all—some seemingly "harmless" guy was about to sweep them all away.

She now had a terrible feeling: wouldn't this second male lead directly overshadow everyone?

Yang Xuwén: "So this is why you dragged me out for a five-kilometer walk?"

"I'm exhausted! Why is promoting CP so tiring?" Li Yitong grumbled.

"Ah? What did you two do?"

"We went out shopping—forced shopping—to get more photos for the PR release promoting our CP."

The statement sounded stiff, and after seeing the photos, Meng Zi Yi found it even more awkward.

After thinking hard, she offered one evaluation: "Look at his eyes—they're so fierce!"

"Really?" Li Yitong sat up instantly, examined the photos closely, and sadly confirmed it was true.

The final conclusion: too eager.

Not only did it fail to create any CP vibe, his expression was like a homeroom teacher rushing students to finish their homework.

Forget it—destroy it all!

During filming, Li Yitong felt she and Yang Xuwén worked well together; everyone praised them for capturing the essence of Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

But for some reason, they now couldn't spark even a single flame.

"What about your guy? Gone?"

"Yup~ ahem, we can't say that anymore—he's back at the set filming." Meng Zi Yi instinctively agreed, then quickly corrected herself.

They said it was just a light taste of grass from the past, but one mustn't forget principles.

Yet her face, still flushed, lacked convincing power.

But it somehow added a strange allure—even barefaced, she looked like she'd applied makeup; even Li Yitong, another girl, thought she looked pretty.

She'd been in this state all these days; when Li Yitong whispered about it to her assistant, she couldn't help blushing—too risqué, not suitable for minors.

Unlike her and Yang Xuwén, Meng Zi Yi and Bai Liang hadn't left the hotel at all after "work" these past few days.

Logically, this was terrible promotion—pure laziness.

But fundamentally, they seemed to be promoting far too seriously and deeply.

Probably pushed to the limit.

Li Yitong flashed a "mischievous" smile: "Have you ever thought—what if one day you want to eat that grass again, but he already has someone else? What then?"

Meng Zi Yi froze instantly. "No… no way?"

"He's really popular," Li Yitong stated a blunt truth.

"Then what do we do?!" In her panic, Meng Zi Yi's Northeastern accent slipped out.

"You need someone to watch him—if anything happens, you must rush over and eat that grass right away."

"Who can I even ask? I can't exactly turn Sister Yanzi against him."

"Cough cough."

Meng Zi Yi looked at Li Yitong, who had deliberately coughed, and a question mark seemed to float above her head.

Li Yitong grew flustered under the gaze. "We have an interview tomorrow—what are you doing with the rest of today?"

"Going back. After this, I'm joining a regular variety show."

"That 'Grade One' one? Is he going too?"

"Grade One: Graduation Season" was an original campus documentary series launched by Mango TV in collaboration with Shanghai Drama Academy.

Four celebrity mentors each lead a class of graduating drama students and popular auditors, forming a celebrity preparatory class, competing through three stages and eight screenings for the final graduation performance.

Hmm—Bai Liang's age does fit this show, and since Mango TV showed such strong interest in him, inviting him to join was perfectly normal.

Li Yitong could already imagine a "Demon King" persona for him in the show.

Sweep up the noobs, do his own thing.

But Meng Zi Yi spread her hands. "I heard from Sister Yanzi—they did invite him, but he turned it down."

"Alright~" Li Yitong thought it made sense; Bai Liang was already famous—he didn't need to compete for screen time with a bunch of "unknowns" and "newbies."

"Then they invited him as a guest star—to appear in one episode to coach acting."

"Pfft!"

Seriously? Mango TV must be starving.

Even though everyone knows who gets invited when, this kind of thing still sounds utterly absurd.

Teacher Bai?

The "students" on that show are probably older than Bai Liang—let him go over and "guide" them?

An artist like Bai Liang is definitely the least suitable for such a show.

Too inexperienced as a student, too junior as a mentor.

But Li Yitong's mind turned fast, immediately turning to Mencius: "Teacher-student romance."

"Shut up! We haven't even agreed yet—Sister Yanzi said she's not sure about the schedule later."

"I suggest if you get mistreated on that show, just call Teacher Bai over to back you up," Li Yitong said with a smile.

Please... you... collect... 6... 9... the... book...!

"He's not that scary—what good would that do? I'd rather argue myself!"

"You dare? He definitely would."

"I dare~" Mencius said, trying to sound confident but lacking conviction.

"Then dare to visit the set? His drama crew isn't that far from us—there's still half a day left."

"I'll go! What's there to be afraid of?"

——

Bai Liang had no idea what wild ideas the two idiots had cooked up together.

After returning to the "Wee" drama crew, he filmed while also studying the script with Sister Yanzi.

In the past, he got roles entirely through referrals—either from big sisters or little sisters—and the process was basically just referrals and auditions.

But now, with fame, he discovered that scripts were being sent directly to him.

He could even choose~

Of course, the quality varied wildly—even Bai Liang, an actor who wasn't picky and had even tried his hand at anti-Japanese fantasy dramas—was genuinely intimidated by some scripts and hesitated to even open them.

"What's this? 'The Domineering CEO Falls in Love with a Woman in Menopause'? Isn't that too ahead of its time?"

Sister Yanzi glanced over and reminded him: "Dou Dou Xiao Bai, I just told you—not a single one of that pile needs your attention. No serious actor would take such roles, unless they were truly starving—and most of these are three-no crews; they might even vanish mid-shoot with the money."

"Then do you have any scripts you think are reliable?"

"There are some, but mostly supporting male roles," Sister Yanzi said with a hint of resignation.

"Mainly because your current drama hasn't aired yet. If 'Wee' blows up, that's the real leap forward—after that, leading roles in major projects will come knocking."

Old Zhou chimed in with his analysis.

"Old Zhou, you really know your stuff~" Bai Liang said in surprise.

"Hehe, I've already started preparing to switch tracks, so I've gotta study up. By the way, Little Brother, I've contacted a few fashion magazines—two are almost settled. Let's see if we can land a cover."

Watching Old Zhou and Sister Yanzi brimming with energy, Bai Liang felt oddly out of sync with them.

"Should I also try harder?"

Hearing this, Sister Yanzi and Old Zhou nodded simultaneously.

Working hard is good! Of course you should work hard—no one knows how long fame will last; sometimes it's just a passing wind.

But when it came to specific directions, Sister Yanzi and Old Zhou fell silent.

Strange.

Bai Liang was usually laid-back and lazy, doing mostly nothing but flirting.

But if you said he was slacking off, as an actor, his skill level was already extremely high.

This wasn't just boasting—industry directors and others had personally vouched for it.

If he were to try harder, he couldn't even find a direction right away.

To try harder now would only lead him toward the unwritten rules.

Old Zhou offered a suggestion: "Little Brother, do you have any personal talents? We could focus on those—being multi-talented is never a bad thing for an artist."

Sister Yanzi stared at him in disbelief—how could you say you did your homework if you didn't even know Dou Dou Xiao Bai at all?

Personal talents?

She still hadn't figured out how many talents Dou Dou Xiao Bai actually had.

But she knew—this seemingly lazy capybara held far more than met the eye!

Back then, he'd spent barely any time to craft a genius persona—she wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly earned a master's or even a Ph. D.

What's a "treasure boy"? This is it! No matter how much you dig, you'll never exhaust him!

"Talent... I've been doing pretty well with Go lately—should I take a rank test?"

"Oh right, I haven't driven in a long time—where in Shanghai can I drive a rally car?"

Old Zhou: Pfft!

What the hell?!

The two stared at each other for several seconds; seeing Old Zhou's bewildered expression, Bai Liang decided to let him off the hook.

After a moment of serious self-reflection, he pulled out his phone: "What do you want to eat tonight?"

Old Zhou: Hmm, studying what to eat is more reasonable.

——

Three-thousand-word bonus update! Requesting monthly votes!

Another bonus chapter coming later.

(End of Chapter)