Chapter 177: Keep the Music Playing, Keep the Dance Going (Double Chapter—Please Vote with Monthly Tickets!)

Debuting less than two years ago, he became a top-tier star.

This script, even by entertainment industry standards, is the setup of a chosen one.

But the first battle of becoming a top-tier star seems especially tough.

After Bulgari's official announcement, many industry insiders immediately turned their attention to Bai Liang and Wu Moufan.

The two of them originally had no relationship; you could even say there was no connection at all.

One debuted through TV dramas, "step by step," from supporting role to lead, and exploded in popularity very "naturally."

The other was an export-turned-domestic sale—oh wait, he was originally from Canada anyway, something like that.

An idol by background, debuted through a boy band, took the stage, and went crazy collecting fans.

From the start he walked the traffic-star route; as for works... let's not get into that for now.

Logically speaking, if Bai Liang were to clash with someone, it should be someone like Yang Yang or Li Yifeng—fellow stars who blew up through their works and whose on-screen images overlap with his to some degree.

That way, "going at it" would be more reasonable.

Who would have thought that in the end, because of an endorsement deal, Bai Liang, this newly crowned top-tier star, would directly open a battle line with Wu Moufan.

And he actually succeeded in stealing his endorsement!

Now a whole crowd is waiting to watch the show.

Not just industry insiders.

Because of the matter of Wu Moufan being in contact with Bulgari, even the fans know about it.

Although Bai Liang doesn't quite understand why, when a collaboration hasn't even been finalized, you have to release the news first.

Too much like popping champagne at halftime, thinking the victory's already in the bag?

But Sister Yanzi told him this is a common industry move.

Sometimes the brand is happy to see the artist do this—stirring up buzz in advance, or gauging fan reactions, and so on.

At first the gunpowder smell between the two sides wasn't that strong, but after this news got out, Wu Moufan's team suddenly announced a new schedule.

Not much different from before, just a sudden addition of an appearance.

A jewelry brand launch event in Shanghai.

But what a coincidence—the launch event was on the same day as the Bulgari dinner, and even the venues were quite close to each other.

At the same time, this brand also officially announced that Wu Moufan had become their global spokesperson.

Global spokesperson is indeed a notch above brand spokesperson; of course, this brand's class and fame are a bit lower than Bulgari's.

Fans on both sides each hit their peak.

One side says our brother is a global spokesperson—what "champion" are you?

The other side says some no-name brand, never even heard of it, and you dare come out here showing your presence?

In short, fight, fight!

Sister Yanzi isn't panicking now at all—screw your top-tier star, our Brother Xiao Bai is one too!

Didn't Nazha know perfectly well she couldn't beat Dilireba, yet still "fiercely" charged in?

Looking back now, did it have a particularly big impact on her? It even served to lock in fans and stir up sympathy.

The consequence was just that, from then on, the two of them basically became permanent rivals, and neither side's fans would ever let the other go.

Right now Nazha is taking a bit more of a beating; to this day there are still plenty of people cursing in her comments section.

But when you're out in the world, how can you avoid drama!

Sister Yanzi, who'd long been prepared, was just waiting for a tough fight~

And she had also gleaned plenty of valuable experience from Nazha and Dilireba's clash.

Bring it on!

Her fighting spirit was indeed quite something—even Bai Liang the capybara had been "awakened."

Fortunately he only got a little worked up along with her, and didn't transform into "I don't eat beef."

More like... joining in on his own hype.

"I'm fired up, should I post on Weibo and roast him?"

Love what you do~ He'd said that many times already.

And hearing Bai Liang say this in a voice message to Sister Yanzi, Li Yitong beside him was utterly speechless and shocked.

"You pervert, are you crazy?"

"How dare you—slap yourself~" Bai Liang shot Li Yitong a glance; they'd agreed no calling him that in public.

"Ahem, my mistake, great immortal, are you crazy?"

"Didn't you say we're going to war? I'm pretty good at roasting people." Bai Liang said, eager to try.

Although he was usually quite the capybara, he got along well with all his "colleagues."

But online, he'd occasionally let off some steam too.

Lin Genxin knew this rather well.

"You, roasting people... I've never even seen you curse at anyone." Li Yitong completely didn't buy it.

Although she now liked to call Bai Liang "pervert," and used to call him "male succubus," in a way this was also similar to an "endearment."

If the relationship weren't good, she wouldn't call him that.

And as for caliber, Li Yitong really hadn't seen many people higher than Bai Liang.

At any rate, she didn't think she could match him.

"If I don't know how, I can learn." Seeing he couldn't convince her, Bai Liang switched tactics.

Li Yitong: Sounds reasonable, but somehow feels off.

She knew Bai Liang was indeed very impressive when it came to learning, but still—could cursing people count as a skill?

Unfortunately, Bai Liang still couldn't have a one-on-one real-man showdown with Wu Moufan, because his "request to open fire" was rejected by Sister Yanzi.

Sister Yanzi, though, wouldn't lecture him the way a typical agent would, telling him the boss himself going down there would be insane.

She cooed at him like soothing a child, saying such a small matter, where would it need our Little Bai-ge to take the field personally~

Why use a cow-cleaver to kill a chicken?

Bai Liang figured that made some sense, just a shame he couldn't personally go on the field and micro-manage.

He felt this was a bit like playing a game — who knows, if he played well enough, he really might blow up the opponent's crystal.

Li Yitong, watching from the sidelines the whole time, was dying of laughter!

Oh my, boys as a species really are sometimes just like little kids.

Weirdly fun~

Then she couldn't laugh anymore, because Little Zhao-jiejie arrived.

The moment she came, it made her inexplicably a little nervous.

Although she didn't know what exactly she was nervous about, she was just nervous.

But Little Zhao-jiejie only gave her a few puzzled and incredulous glances, then glared fiercely at Bai Liang.

Bai Liang:???

What the heck? He gets scolded for this too?

Regarding this, Little Zhao-jiejie's take was: "You kid are quite 'faithful.'"

Bai Liang: "Such a well-hidden virtue and you still discovered it?"

Little Zhao-jiejie lowered her voice: "Yeah, everything comes in pairs — two exotic Jiang girls, Li Xin and this one are the same style too. You a collector? You little scumbag!"

"Wronged~"

"Be careful now, don't go provoking Sun Yi, or you kid will really be ruined!"

This was the first time Little Zhao-jiejie had warned Bai Liang so solemnly; that expression was terrifying.

But what she said did make sense.

No matter how many older and younger sisters he was close with, at most it would just be gossip and tabloid fodder.

But if he poached someone else's partner, word getting out would really sound too ugly.

Bai Liang could only emphasize again and again: I'm really not a Cao thief.

But facts proved Little Zhao-jiejie was actually pretty gossipy too: "Then what about Little Meng, what's her 'combo'?"

"Huh?"

"Stop playing dumb, I already know, what are you afraid of? I won't tell anyone, satisfy me a little."

"Satisfy what?"

"Satisfy my curiosity!"

If the conversation had reached this point, Bai Liang could be a little "bold."

Meng Jie, now she's impressive — she's a universal match.

Her style is somewhat similar to Nazha's, both the glamorous type, both a bit love-brained.

She can also form a besties combo with Li Yitong.

In the future there might be other developments.

All of the above is of course nonsense; Bai Liang felt he was neither a Cao thief nor a collector.

Pure coincidence, that's all.

Since Bai Liang failed to "satisfy" her, Little Zhao-jiejie couldn't be bothered to keep yapping with him about this, and was even somewhat cold toward Li Yitong.

She just patted her own forehead, "Almost forgot what I came to tell you — you going up against Wu Moufan?"

"Yep, about to throw down."

"Buck up, don't embarrass yourself~" Little Zhao-jiejie encouraged with a smile.

Regarding this matter, that was all she said.

After all, it's just artists tearing into each other — she's been in the industry so many years, she's lost count of how many times she's been through it.

A big sister with rich experience isn't just talk. She's gotten insights and lessons out of catfighting — her opponents are tough nuts like Yang Mi.

Presumably Yang Mi's side thinks the same~

Now that the environment is "better," celebrities don't have to personally enter the fray when catfighting. Back in the early days, the 85 Flowers really would shade each other on Weibo or in interviews.

The even earlier batch of Four Dan and Double Bing were even tougher — these big Flowers dared to put their conflicts out in the open, no one afraid of anyone, just go for it.

Coincidentally, not long after Little Zhao-jiejie finished her "encouragement," Yang Mi also gave a call.

But she didn't even bother to encourage him — she was purely there for the drama.

She cheerfully told Bai Liang to make the scene bigger, and don't end up with less commotion than Dilireba and Gulinazha, or she'd look down on him.

You can tell — these jiejies are all tough!

Each one more nonchalant than the last, looking every bit like they want to see the world burn.

During this time, Li Yitong's heart was trembling as she listened — is this the world of top-tier stars?

Magic duel between casual chats?!

This book's latest updates are on ##!! Update!

"Why are you so jittery?" Bai Liang saw her shrinking her head and couldn't resist teasing her.

"You have to win! Go for it!"

Today's first sincere blessing came from Little Crescent Moon Li Yitong.

Tch~

The big sisters only want to watch the show; only the young lady truly cares.

——

Before heading off to the Bulgari gala to fight Wu Yifan across the airwaves, the movie still had to keep filming.

Han Han had been worried that the online drama would affect Bai Liang's acting state, but after a couple of takes he realized this kid really did have a big heart.

He slapped his own head, thinking he really had lost his mind.

What kind of person is Bai Liang?

A track torpedo, the undying phoenix of the circuit!

This guy got into such a serious car accident without his eyelid even twitching, calm as if he were just out for a stroll — how could something like this affect him?

Keep the music playing, keep the dance going!

Speaking of music, today a new guy with squinty eyes arrived on set.

The Dafan Sect villain Huang Zhiqiang.

Though in real life he's the singer Li Ronghao.

This guy is way more popular these past two years than another singer Bai Liang knows, Hu Yanbing.

Mainly his path to fame was different from other singers who blew up in the traffic era — he released albums first, gained a small following within the industry, then got nominated for a Golden Melody Award, becoming the first mainland singer to take home a major Golden Melody Award, and later became widely known after appearing on Season 3 of "I Am a Singer."

He even pulled off that "debut and reign as king" vibe.

Bai Liang also thought he was pretty popular, because when he went singing with Meng Jie before, she sang quite a few of Li Ronghao's songs.

That song "Li Bai" she sang several times.

How to put it — after hearing Meng Jie sing it, and now running into Li Ronghao himself, he kind of wanted to go up and apologize.

Li Yitong was naturally one of the victims too.

But she knew Li Ronghao even earlier — they had just collaborated on a film.

In that previous movie, "If You Don't Drink Coconut Juice You're the Undercover," the two singers Chen Yixun and Li Ronghao were the leads.

Maybe she had already apologized on Meng Jie's behalf?

The very era-appropriate Tiger Head Benz that came onto set with Li Ronghao — that was Mercedes-Benz's product placement in this film.

Just give that three-pointed star logo a few extra shots.

But Mercedes-Benz's people came today too, mainly wanting to use this rather era-appropriate Tiger Head Benz and the set dressing to shoot a few retro-style photos of Bai Liang, which might be used for promotion later.

A sponsor's request — Han Han naturally wouldn't refuse, and the whole crew cooperated.

"Playing a big boss is the life, huh? Even get to ride in a Tiger Head Benz~"

Bai Liang glanced at his beat-up motorcycle and expressed his envy.

"Bro, how about you drive it? We can swap, or you can do a cameo as my driver?" Li Ronghao laughed.

"You've got some nerve! Director Han Han strictly forbids him from driving during filming." Deng Chao patted Li Ronghao's shoulder. "Didn't you see the trending topics recently?"

Li Ronghao caught on at that moment — holy crap, the Undying Phoenix?!

Forget the serious car crash that made the trending topics — even when filming on a motorcycle, Bai Liang almost gave the crew a real scare once.

It was Han Han's carelessness too, telling Bai Liang to use his imagination.

A small-town youth riding a motorcycle — still pretty wild.

So he yanked the front wheel straight up — and at high speed too!

Even though he landed it smoothly in the end, he nearly scared the crew to death.

This led to Han Han flat-out vetoing his idea of riding the filming motorcycle to "commute" to set.

The final ban became: before wrap, don't you dare touch any motor vehicle except for filming.

A moment later, after watching Bai Liang pilot this old antique through a vicious drift, the previously cocky Li Ronghao broke out in a cold sweat, his eyes narrowing even further.

Little Zhao Jiejie felt the same — her eyes narrowed too, except hers gradually gained a few degrees of murderous intent.

Luckily, Bai Liang knew when to quit while he was ahead, and after getting his fix he let the old antique off the hook.

Looking back, he noticed most people were still tense — clearly the aftereffect of that car crash.

Bai Liang summed it up and tossed the blame onto Wu Yifan.

Damn it! It's all his fault!

Luckily, there were still people who appreciated him!

Li Yitong was very excited. "You're really amazing at driving! No wonder you came out of such a serious accident totally fine!"

The logic didn't quite hold up, but Bai Liang couldn't really explain that it was just luck.

He could only say modestly: "It's alright, I guess."

That comment made the Mercedes-Benz people unhappy: "Teacher Bai is our internally recognized best spokesperson."

"That's going too far. Isn't your best spokesperson Natsuki?"

"Natsuki?"

"And she's never charged a single cent in advertising fees all these years."

That remark momentarily baffled the Mercedes-Benz people — damn, who is Natsuki? Is there anyone like that in showbiz?

Li Yitong was also puzzled, so she quietly asked Bai Liang which veteran actor this Natsuki was.

"You know Initial D?"

"Oh! That Natsuki!" she said with sudden realization.

But Bai Liang just grinned:

"It all started when Natsuki told Takumi she'd bought a few really sexy swimsuits and was heading back to the countryside for a couple of fun days."

"Turns out she showed up at the hotel in her uncle's Mercedes-Benz."

"That's when they realized no matter how fast the AE86 was, it could only drift through corners on Mount Akina, but uncle's Mercedes could drift through corners in Natsuki's gutter."

Bai Liang paused, feeling like he'd been getting a bit risqué, so he wanted to apologize to Li Yitong.

The result was that the other party patted him with a strange expression, as if holding back laughter, "Keep going!"

Bai Liang instinctively said: "Xia Shu's mouth is very sexy, but for some reason it tastes like Soft Zhonghua."

"Hey! You!"

"The look on your face clearly says you still want to keep listening."

"Then hurry up and say it!"

"Ahem, Takumi met the person he most wanted to protect at the most helpless age."

"Only after growing up did he realize that a Mercedes-Benz really can take you anywhere you want to go, even places the sunlight can't reach."

After this wave of "advertising copy" was finished, Li Yitong completely couldn't hold it in anymore, grabbing Bai Liang's shoulder and sighing: "You really are a genius!"

"Right~ But I didn't expect that you actually like hearing this kind of dirty joke, tsk tsk, I won't call you Little Kitty anymore from now on, I'll call you Little Egg."

"What Little Egg! That sounds awful."

Though she said that, Li Yitong was clearly still somewhat looking forward to Bai Liang's explanation.

"Once peeled, it's white and tender on the outside, but yellow on the inside."

"Then you're a mango! Yellow inside and out!"

"I don't mind, anyway there's no worse nickname than public fox.

While speaking, Bai Liang touched his own ear and found there was still a cigarette tucked on it.

It was a "prop" from the earlier shoot.

What a coincidence, Soft Zhonghua!

He instinctively put it between his lips, but didn't light it with a lighter either, after all he didn't really want to pick up the habit of smoking.

Yet just this action made Li Yitong's face suddenly flush a little, and after struggling for a while, she suddenly blurted out of nowhere: "I don't like the smell of smoke."

"Mm, I don't really like it either, it's just that this drama needs it."

"Only for this drama, okay?"

The young lady muttered to herself, as if some strange thoughts were popping into her head.

Two updates of ten thousand characters complete, there's another update later tonight.

(End of chapter)