Chapter 122: Sweeping Away Embarrassment, Being Myself

"Xiao Bai ge, you're in trouble~"

"What do you mean I'm in trouble? How could I be in trouble?"

Bai Liang, who had just finished dinner, rested a while, and then went to work out, was still dazed when Sister Yanzi came over.

At this moment, Sister Yanzi handed him his phone with a strange expression—it was the phone he'd left with her before coming to the gym.

At this moment, the phone was vibrating nonstop!

Messages kept coming one after another.

Bai Liang opened it and saw that quite a few people had been trying to reach him.

But the loudest were Jin Cheng and Li Yitong—these two girls had sent a whole pile of messages.

Jin Cheng was mostly stirring up trouble, looking bored, and as soon as she spotted a trending topic related to Bai Liang, she found her amusement.

She'd sent a whole bunch of "hahaha" and lewd peeking emoji packs.

She also kept fanning the flames, implying: You better wait till someone comes to deal with you~

The "someone" she meant was unmistakably clear.

Li Yitong, however, was acting strangely; Bai Liang didn't even understand her meaning at first—she was jumping around like crazy.

Finally, she summed it up with a very official tone: Xiao Bai, you need to pay attention to what time it is now~ Our drama's about to air, how can you be stirring up CP with other girls right now?

This girl somehow gave off the vibe of an old cadre—yeah, like a little kitten wearing reading glasses.

Ignoring these two girls who were acting like phone-addicted chatterboxes, Bai Liang glanced through everything and thought Sister Yanzi was exaggerating.

"There's nothing troubling about it."

Sister Yanzi glanced at the red notification dots. "Xiao Bai ge, your WeChat has exploded."

"It just means I'm popular—everyone cares about me."

That makes sense~

What could Sister Yanzi say then? Her Xiao Bai ge never seemed to panic.

If she were in his place, she'd probably be feeling all jittery inside.

The fish pond must be boiling by now—all the fish are floating belly-up.

You have to admit, when he was rumored to be with Chen Yao, nothing happened; even the rumors with Meng Zi Yi surfaced a few days ago and caused no issues.

But Di Li Re Ba just turned around once—and the damage was way too big~

What Sister Yanzi was really watching was the person who sent the fewest messages.

The nickname was: Na Zha.

Although she knew chat records were private, she still couldn't help asking: "What did Sister Na Zha say to you?"

"She reminded me to watch 'Yun Zhi Fan' and give her some feedback later, and also about the apartment—she wants me to help pick out furniture and give advice on soft décor after the New Year."

Huh? After the New Year?

Oh~ So it's already 2016 already.

Bai Liang was only now realizing it—he felt like 2015 had been impossibly long for him.

"That's all?" Sister Yanzi said, incredulous.

"That's all."

But emotions don't always need to be expressed through dramatic words.

Na Zha had sent only a few messages, but they were detailed, even a bit rambling.

It was as if she was repeatedly reminding Bai Liang not to forget these things.

But what exactly was she trying to remind him of?

Bai Liang thought for a moment, picked up his phone: "Have you seen today's trending topics? Send me one of those clips too."

Na Zha sent back a string of ellipses.

But before Sister Yanzi could mock Bai Liang for this behavior, Na Zha's spinning video arrived shortly after.

Seriously, just indulge him!

"Like a little top~"

After making this comment, Bai Liang suddenly felt unsatisfied.

Under Sister Yanzi's "you've-gone-too-far" stare, he made an unreasonable demand and literally "ordered" a meal.

And he actually succeeded—received several spinning videos from the girls.

Fine, if you can't beat them, join them.

In the end, Sister Yanzi watched for a long time, scratched her head, "Why do I still think Di Li Re Ba's spin was the smoothest? Isn't Jin Cheng the best dancer here?"

"Difference between staged and instinctive."

After analyzing it from technical and psychological angles, Bai Liang didn't take it too seriously.

But Sister Yanzi noticed he'd still clearly written down some things in his notes—the exact things Na Zha had reminded him about.

Hmm. He has such a good memory—why worry about forgetting?

"Hey? Didn't Li Yitong also send a spinning video just now?" Sister Yanzi spotted another blind spot.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Hmm, something's off, Xiao Bai ge." As a girl, Sister Yanzi sharply sensed the contradiction.

But Bai Liang didn't care—he was used to it.

He tapped Meng Jie and told her to submit today's "homework"—Teacher Bai was strict about this.

After reviewing the girls' "homework," he gave an overall positive evaluation.

No wonder it's the entertainment industry—everyone's so talented, so flexible.

They could all just start dancing on command.

Not a single one was fake.

Bai Liang couldn't help but try twisting in front of the mirror. Mm. Pretty ugly.

Should he learn to dance sometime?

However, just as Bai Liang was wiggling his butt in front of the hotel gym's mirror, an uninvited guest had already been standing at the doorway for a while.

Watching his abstract performance, as if utterly mesmerized.

Not until Sister Yanzi poked Bai Liang and tipped her chin toward the door did he turn to look.

"Hey~ what made you feel like working out today?"

Bai Liang wasn't all that embarrassed — unlike Dilireba, who last time he "caught" her singing a folk tune looked utterly mortified.

Sweep away the awkwardness, be yourself again!

A faint blush on Dilireba's cheeks, she rubbed her little hands together. "I have a little something to talk to you about."

Acting cute?

Sister Yanzi caught that note, so sensibly went outside to keep watch.

"What's up?" Bai Liang found a spot to sit, wiped his sweat with a towel, and asked.

There was clearly a sofa right across from him, but Dilireba didn't seem to mind that Bai Liang was drenched in sweat — she still sat down beside him.

Honestly, even Bai Liang himself was a little worried that his current "manly musk" might offend the Miss.

Luckily, the other girl kept both hands on her lap, didn't make any move to pull away, and her body weight was even leaning toward him.

"You should've received the role invitation from my company, right?"

Once business came up, Dilireba's expression turned serious too.

"I got it, but I'm planning to turn it down." "Huh?! Why?"

Bai Liang's opening move caught her completely off guard, and even the words she'd spent half the day organizing back in her room couldn't come out.

"Your company's people want to invite me to Yanjing to talk — you're probably looking to sign me, right?"

". Mm."

"Then no need, don't waste your time. I'm not really a fit for your company."

"I think you'd fit perfectly!" Dilireba blurted out.

After saying it she quickly added: "The company doesn't have a male artist who can carry the stage yet — you could be our top guy."

"Way too busy~" Bai Liang shook his head, killing the conversation in one line. "I can handle being busy with filming, because I enjoy it myself, but that kind of life really doesn't suit me."

This was a clash of values, or of pace of life.

Dilireba couldn't lie to Bai Liang and say, oh, if you join the company we won't keep you that busy.

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Jiaxing now is like a madhouse — nobody escapes, the moment you walk in you become a "slave."

The income is certainly not small, but the drain on a person's spirit and energy is equally terrifying.

Dilireba could only say she'd really done her best~

A little pity — if Bai Liang could come to Jiaxing, setting aside the company itself, she really would have been very happy.

Now it counts as some regret, but deep down there's actually a tiny bit of gladness.

She didn't quite know why, but she didn't really want to see Bai Liang's pace of life turn into hers.

His ease, his carefree nature, and his happiness — she'd always envied that.

She couldn't bear to wreck that feeling.

Still, Dilireba had underestimated Bai Liang's "gold content."

After observing the changes in the girl's expression, he added: "Will your company give you a hard time or scold you?"

"Huh? This—"

"If they would, just say I look down on Jiaxing, that I'm a Yang Mi hater — just push it all onto me."

In that moment, Bai Liang was as if possessed by Duan Zhengchun.

Whose child is Xuzhu, really? If no one's willing to claim him, he wouldn't mind stepping up.

"No, no, my company isn't that dramatic." Dilireba hurriedly waved her hands in refusal.

"How many years is your contract?" Bai Liang suddenly asked.

"Uh— fifteen years."

Your company really is pretty dramatic~

"Do you need a full civil-service exam prep kit?" Bai Liang felt he'd run into someone who genuinely had that need.

Dilireba of course knew what he meant, covered her mouth and laughed. "No need~ Even if I had to do it again, I wouldn't regret it."

Perhaps because of the impact of Bai Liang's earlier "willing to take the fall" remark, the way Dilireba looked at him now was clearly a little different from usual.

More direct, and far more intense.

"But I do envy you a bit too — you seem so free."

"Freedom is always relative. How do you know I don't envy you for having a goal, a dream?" Bai Liang said with a little blink.

"So do you envy me?"

"Oh, I don't."

"Hey!" Feeling she'd been played, Dilireba went in with a "heavy punch" right away.

After taking a hit that was neither light nor heavy, the Miss hurriedly rubbed the spot for Bai Liang, as if to apologize.

Compared to Li Yitong, who was very good at apologizing, she was far more sincere — leaning her body toward him, making it hard not to sneak a glance at the neckline of her t-shirt.

Dilireba seemed to have not chatted with anyone like this in a long time, or rather, hadn't been able to just sit quietly like this in ages — relaxed and happy, letting her mind go blank, without having to think about schedules, itineraries, or all the arrangements and plans ahead.

Bai Liang was a very good listener — and of course, if you asked him to reason things out, he could just as easily pull out a whole stack of arguments on the spot.

Buddhist teachings say all conditioned phenomena are suffering; Daoist teachings say to follow the natural way—any of these could comfort girls lost in life's confusion.

But Dilireba doesn't need them; beneath her fragile exterior lies a strong core.

Even when she feels like she's about to shatter, she quickly picks herself up and sings a mountain song to cheer herself on.

So now he mainly plays the role of a listener, patient as ever, just like how the girl doesn't mind the smell of sweat on him.

After that night, everyone on set felt the two must be dating.

Some little gestures were too natural.

For instance, Dilireba would unconsciously reach out to link arms with Bai Liang; as they acted, their hands would just end up holding each other.

Even when they occasionally sensed something was off and quickly let go, it only seemed like covering one's ears while stealing a bell.

This atmosphere made Director Lin Yufen exclaim, "Brilliant! Damn it, Dou Xiao Bai, you really know how to do it!"

I knew I didn't misjudge you—you actually went and "seduced" that girl.

After Bai Liang turned down Jia Xing's olive branch, there were no strange follow-ups.

No ridiculous plotlines like, "How dare you reject me? I'll blacklist you!"—Cai Yi didn't even do that, and Jia Xing was so busy chasing performance targets they were nearly driven mad, with no time for such nonsense.

They started the company to make money and go public, not to throw tantrums.

Besides, whether they could even pull it off is a big question.

He refused? Then he refused.

But Sister Yanzi thought it a pity—the second male lead in "Three Lives, Three Worlds" was truly a good opportunity.

Then, Bai Liang received a call from an acquaintance, chatted for about ten minutes, and turned to Sister Yanzi: "Have you heard of a drama called 'Special Agent Imperial Concubine'?"

"'Special Agent Imperial Concubine'? That title sounds weird."

"I thought so too—why did Li Xin take this role?"

"Li Xin?"

Sister Yanzi froze—where had this person come from?

At that moment, Li Xin, who had just hung up the phone, sent another message.

Bai Liang glanced at it: "Oh~ They changed the title—it's now called 'The Legend of Chu Qiao.'"

"Wait!"

Sister Yanzi froze—she knew this project: "The drama already confirmed to star Zhao Liying?"

"Yeah~"

If it's this project, it's no less impressive than "Three Lives, Three Worlds."

Zhao Liying, like Yang Mi, is one of the Eight-Five Flowers actresses; though she rose later, she's become a textbook example of a latecomer who surged ahead.

Her momentum was too fierce.

"The Legend of Lu Zhen," "When a Snail Falls in Love," "The Journey of Flower"—within just a few years, each drama was more powerful than the last, as if she'd been on a permanent power-up, truly the queen of screen dominance these past years.

She has a round little face, yet the scripts she gets are pure, unadulterated female lead wish-fulfillment stories.

But how could such a project just show up at his door—with no work done, no contacts made?

It's so strange~ Sister Yanzi was genuinely baffled, and naturally raised her question:

"Brother Bai Liang, this Li Xin… does she have that much influence? Can she recommend you to this cast?"

"I don't know, but she sounded pretty credible—said a lot of people think I'm perfect for the second male lead."

(End of Chapter)