Chapter 184: Worst Case, Beat Up All Four of the Returning Sons (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

Autumn is the season of harvest.

However, unlike certain laws of nature, humans as a species don't distinguish between the four seasons when it comes to sowing their seed.

The urge comes whenever it feels like it.

After all, we stand at the very top of the food chain.

Animals pick their season because they have to think about survival, and even the duration has to be kept very short.

Humans don't need to — timing depends entirely on the individual, and besides, most of the time the goal isn't really about sowing seed.

Because that particular goal doesn't require kneeling on a hotel carpet doing some strange maneuvers.

Luckily the hotel carpet was very soft and didn't hurt his knees at all.

Though Bai Liang still didn't quite get why the young lady was being so proactive — usually this sort of thing requires coaxing~

Not many misses are willing to take the initiative with this kind of work.

The answer he got was: picking up where they left off last time at the hospital — she couldn't let Jin Cheng look down on her.

Bai Liang:... People actually get competitive about this?

Eye-opening!

Too bad, her skill was truly terrible.

Still, that little cat-like face of hers, tilted upward, really did look quite different.

By now, Bai Liang could completely tell Li Xin and Li Yitong apart.

Completely different.

The next morning, Li Yitong, with tremendous willpower, left the "Riding the Wind and Waves" crew on time.

Even though Bai Liang wanted her to stay a couple more days, she refused.

She said she'd already delayed things far too long — her manager had been urging her back to work days ago.

No sooner had the person left than she immediately sent Bai Liang a WeChat message.

As if there were things she was too embarrassed to say face to face.

First came a cheeky sticker, followed by the line: "Now I get why Meng Jie is so fond of going back to an ex."

The wildest part was she turned around and sent Bai Liang a red packet.

Bai Liang:???

However, someone in this crew was even more speechless than him.

When Xiao Dong showed up in front of Bai Liang with a pale face and two dark circles under his eyes, he got quite a scare.

"Young man, you need to exercise some restraint! You, this..."

"Damn you, and you think this isn't all your fault?!" Xiao Dong glared at Bai Liang with deep resentment, looking as if, had he something in his hands, he'd have swung it straight at him.

He, who was normally mild and polite when speaking with people, simply couldn't hold back the curse words.

"Me?" Bai Liang pointed curiously at his own nose. "What did I do?"

Xiao Dong glared at him. "Last night, some cat was meowing for a long time!"

"Stray cats around the hotel? That's not my department either."

Oh, playing dumb, are we?

Xiao Dong clutched his lower back, declaring that from tomorrow on, damn it, he was going to work out too! Going to run too!

Originally, after he'd paid his dues last night, he could've gone to sleep, but his girlfriend said she wanted to get some air.

She stood by the window for a full half hour.

When she came back, she shook the nearly-asleep Xiao Dong awake, saying they could step things up a bit — seize the moment, since how many golden opportunities does one get in life?

Dong Zijian:???

By morning, after Xiao Dong had questioned her for ages, he finally found out what on earth she'd been listening to by the window.

And Sun Yi had happened to see Li Yitong coming out of Bai Liang's room that morning, her complexion rosy as could be, her gait a little off too.

Putting it all together, case closed on the spot.

Still, after stewing in silent resentment for a good while, he helplessly posed Bai Liang a new question to consult him on.

Learn the barbarian's techniques to tame the barbarian.

But unfortunately, Xiao Dong never got the chance to redeem himself.

That very day his scenes wrapped, and everyone saw the young couple off.

As he left, the resentment in Xiao Dong's eyes was thick as could be — Han Han even thought the kid had grown attached to the shoot and was so reluctant to leave their crew.

In early December, Bai Liang's scenes all wrapped, and along with him, so did Big Sister Xiao Zhao's.

With the seal lifted, he gave the entire crew a demonstration of why Han Han never dared let him touch the car.

That roaring Subaru gave everyone a real "lesson" — you can drive like this too?

So cool! So fierce!

Only Han Han's face was full of heartache, because the car was his.

That little bastard Bai Liang — since it wasn't his own car, he just stomped the gas pedal to death!?

He himself couldn't bear to drive it that hard.

Luckily, this kind of race car was a battle-hardened type, not so delicate — it wouldn't fall apart just because Bai Liang drove it a few times.

However, Bai Liang paid a price too.

Before Big Sister Xiao Zhao left, she specifically "disciplined" him again — the way he drove made her feel like her heart was about to leap out of her throat.

"These young men nowadays have way too much nerve! You're not allowed to mess around like this again!"

After the scolding, she also stuffed a box into his hands.

This was the "return gift" she'd mentioned before — Big Sister Xiao Zhao never brought up anything about "The Story of Ming Lan" at all.

The other party didn't even wait for Bai Liang to open it — delivered and gone, straight into the car and vanished.

Now that was smooth and done in one clean sweep.

Bai Liang waited until he was in the car before opening the little box, and discovered a ring inside.

But it had been strung on a chain, modified into a necklace.

"Huh? This ring is Bvlgari." Sister Yanzi glanced over and recognized it instantly.

"How come I didn't notice?" Bai Liang said, somewhat puzzled.

"Dou Xiao Bai, you're an endorser and you don't even recognize your own brand? But you really haven't seen this one — at the banquet that night it was mostly women's jewelry. I've seen this on the website — over two hundred thousand."

A silver ring bought on Taobao for a little over a hundred yuan, traded for one worth over two hundred thousand?

Reasonable.

And Sister Zhao had been very thoughtful — she'd specifically bought a brand that Bai Liang endorsed, so he wouldn't have to worry about being photographed.

He slipped it right around his neck, and it actually looked pretty good.

Sister Yanzi glanced at it twice but said nothing.

If it had just been a ring shoved over, she'd probably have had a word or two to say.

That was Zhao Liying, after all!

A top-tier A-list actress — if she entered the fray, the previously heated rivals Nazha and Dilireba would probably have to combine forces just to match her.

Fortunately, the ring had been strung on a chain.

Even though the piece obviously looked like an aftermarket addition, once the chain was added, it really wasn't quite so... that.

The big sister really knows how to behave — and with subtlety, too.

Five minutes later, Sister Yanzi retracted that assessment of hers.

The one who knew how to behave wasn't the big sister — it was Sister Zhao.

"Huh~ Yang Mi?"

Seeing the caller ID on his phone, Bai Liang instinctively muttered the name as he picked up.

Sister Yanzi gave a start and immediately pricked up her ears.

But the very first thing her own Dou Xiao Bai said after greeting nearly made her spit out her water.

"Sis, did you finalize your divorce?"

Sister Yanzi: Huh?

Yang Mi on the other end was pretty speechless too, but who was she? She wasn't about to be thrown off by a single line from Bai Liang.

She immediately replied with a smile: "Yep, that's why I'm calling to get our marriage certificate — you got time?"

"Getting the certificate is fine, but I've actually been pretty busy lately — how about after the New Year?"

"I was even planning to take you home for New Year~" Yang Mi huffed.

"Marrying into your family?" Bai Liang thought for a moment. "Give me three hours to think it over."

"Why three hours?"

"In three hours I'll be on a plane."

"You little punk!"

The vibe is completely different~ Sister Yanzi muttered to herself.

This big sister, in certain respects, is way more forward than Sister Zhao. But her own Dou Xiao Bai isn't a pushover either! He actually volleyed right back, blow for blow.

Of course Yang Mi's call wasn't to invite Bai Liang to get their marriage certificate — she had real business.

The premiere of "Eternal Love" was scheduled right before and after "Sisters Who Make Waves."

To put it bluntly — poaching viewers!

She wanted to lure Bai Liang over to help promote "Eternal Love."

This drama was far too important to Jiaxing — whether it succeeded was almost equivalent to whether the gambling agreement could be fulfilled.

Back then, Jiaxing had rather not use their own company's artists than give up having Bai Liang appear in "Eternal Love" — what they were betting on was that "Love O2O" would be a hit.

And it had indeed exploded — Bai Liang had been directly upgraded to a top-tier male actor, and even in his "clash" with Wu Yifan, he'd managed to suppress the other party outright.

While his fanbase outside the industry was skyrocketing, to those inside the industry, his value in every respect was rising right along with it.

Wu Yifan had twice tried to compete with Bai Liang, and both times he'd failed — and what he'd lost wasn't just that one Bvlgari endorsement.

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

Recently, Sister Yanzi had spent no small amount of money going head-to-head with the other side.

It was just that Wu Yifan really did have stains on his record, and combined with Bai Liang's earlier partnership with Lin Gengxin — the two swords combined — personally diving in for a slaughter, the other side didn't dare make too big a move.

His team was genuinely afraid of provoking Bai Liang into personally jumping in and tearing into them — if it turned into mutual exposure, god knew what kind of impact it would have on commercial value.

They could only sneakily pull small tricks, but Sister Yanzi had been lying in wait for a long time.

The next clash between the two sides should be settled by their works.

But for now, Bai Liang had won twice in a row, holding an absolute upper hand.

So after Yang Mi beat around the bush and even gave Bai Liangyibo a little flattery, she got around to the matter of promoting the drama.

"Dou Xiao Bai, Dou Xiao Bai!"

Hearing this, Sister Yanzi immediately got anxious — even if it meant interrupting their call, she had something to say.

Bai Liang said directly to Yang Mi: "Sister Mi, give me half a minute, I've got something here."

At the same time he covered the mouthpiece with his hand. "What's up?"

"Jiaxing actually did coordinate with our studio, but the promotional schedules they arranged were way too many — I pushed most of them back. You absolutely must not fall for the honey trap!" Sister Yanzi said at top speed.

Of course the bad guy had to be her~

Bai Liang was originally just the second male lead in "Eternal Love," and now letting them pick up a top-tier star for free was already a huge bargain.

The marketing press releases online had long been shouting slogans like "Xiao Nai and Bei Weiwei reunite for a second collaboration," drawing quite a lot of attention.

The traffic had already been milked for all it was worth.

Under these circumstances, Sister Yanzi felt that her own Dou Xiao Bai just needed to cooperate a little with the promotion, and that would be enough—was he really going to slave away for Jiaxing?

The pay was only so much; if the TV drama's ratings exploded, would they really top it up?

In short, it wasn't worth it!

Business is business, friendship is friendship—just because you Yang Mi whines a couple of times doesn't mean Bai Liang has to scamper around doing your bidding.

Get paid for what you do; whatever cooperation is written in the contract, that's what we'll do.

Anything outside the contract costs extra.

"That's all~ Don't worry."

Bai Liang gave Sister Yanzi a reassuring look and picked up the phone again.

Yang Mi on the other end of the line immediately raised her Dou Xiao Nai voice: "Figured out how to brush me off yet?"

"No no, I'll just help promote it normally. Sis, you definitely wouldn't let me work too hard, right? Besides, it's the end of the year and I've got quite a lot of other commitments on my side—if I skip some of them I'll have to pay penalties."

"You little punk, turning the tables on me, huh? Let me tell you, when this sis gets serious, she doesn't even recognize her own kin!" Yang Mi pretended to be fierce.

"How about we talk about getting the marriage certificate instead? Once we get the certificate, we'll be family, and then I'll help you with anything."

This time Yang Mi was genuinely amused—good good good, after all these years in the business, she was now being relentlessly teased by a "little brat."

Marriage certificate? Why not just come split big sis's family fortune while you're at it!

Half of Jiaxing for you too—if she actually had it.

"Then you've still got to help me out, right? A man can't just be all talk—what counts is just using your mouth? Who does that satisfy?"

Hiss—one wrong word and we're on the highway!

Bai Liang figured he might need to consult someone like Wu Yifan on rap; heard the guy knew that stuff.

This PK across phone lines finally came to a complete end when the staff on both sides took over.

Sister Yanzi wouldn't be polite with Jiaxing's people—any unreasonable request got blasted right back.

She knew the people over at Jiaxing had big tempers, but she could have an even bigger one.

Her own Dou Xiao Bai was top-tier—who's begging whom here?

Still, in the end they confirmed a few promotional appearances, without making things too ugly.

But mainly they were scheduled for after the broadcast.

Before the broadcast, Bai Liang's schedule really wasn't free enough.

Even so, Yang Mi was actually quite satisfied—she hadn't really intended to push Bai Liang to that point either.

Before she even opened her mouth, she had a good idea of how much time he could squeeze out.

Want to open a window? Say you want to tear the roof off first—a classic little negotiation trick the Chinese always keep handy.

In fact, her real core demand over there was just one—"Running Man" after the new year.

When top-tier stars collide, Bai Liang and Wu Yifan had already set the example.

Since that's the case, how about colliding with another one?

Sister Yanzi certainly didn't want to agree, because there was no need.

Compared to Wu Yifan, the other top-tier star about to become a regular on "Running Man," Lu Han, was the one with the most traffic among the four returnees.

Even though she now kept saying "my Dou Xiao Bai is top-tier too" every day, in her heart she had to admit that compared to this peak-level top-tier star, Bai Liang still fell a bit short.

But once Jiaxing's side mentioned that "next year's Running Man will use post-production editing to hype up an on-screen couple," Sister Yanzi knew her Dou Xiao Bai would definitely go.

Because when Sister Yanzi was chatting with Bai Liang before, she'd asked him what he thought of Dilraba.

Bai Liang just smiled and said one line: "I don't know if I'll ever meet another girl who, the moment she sees me, starts dancing gracefully."

Sister Yanzi: Damn it! We're doing this!

Worst case, we'll take on all four of the returnees!

Trample every top-tier star and stand at the very top! —

Time flew by, and it was late December.

Every year-end, the entertainment circle had all kinds of events.

Things like Weibo Night, Scream Night, All Video Night, and this year newly launched Tencent Starlight Awards.

Luckily most of them had nothing to do with Bai Liang—he only needed to attend one Weibo Night.

He'd trended too many times this year, and Weibo's side said, "Come on, we've got prizes for you, handsome!"

Bai Liang was a bit curious at first—after all, he really hadn't won any awards before, and he'd only gone to the Golden Eagle Festival to help Meng Jie hold down the fort and ride her coattails; otherwise he hadn't even attended an awards ceremony.

Winning an award~

But Sister Yanzi told him straight up that any artist who showed up to lend support, as long as their status was decent, could win an award.

You could never imagine how many titles the organizers had, how many awards they could dream up.

Bai Liang wasn't disappointed either: "Our studio doesn't have any trophies or decorations like that anyway, right? If everyone's got one, then everyone's got one—bring a trophy back to decorate the place, that's pretty nice too."

Sister Yanzi gave a thumbs-up: "Dou Xiao Bai, your mindset is really solid! You can even get interested in this kind of boring gala."

Boring?

Heh heh, Weibo said they had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.

Bai Liang's popularity was so high this year—as long as he showed up, he'd definitely get a ton of camera time.

But just giving him more camera time wasn't interesting~

There were more and more year-end galas now, and for the moment Weibo Night was indeed the one with the highest attention.

But you also had to remember the principle of staying alert in times of peace—boring awards shows, the audience definitely wouldn't enjoy watching.

There had to be some fun!

The Weibo people had studied Bai Liang and knew he had the skills and the guts!

So they had plenty of guts themselves!

Also receiving invitations were Dilireba, Gulnazar, Meng Ziyi, Chen Yao, and even Li Xin.

That's right — every on-screen CP of Bai Liang's, within less than two years of his debut, received an invitation.

Even Li Xin, the "endorsement CP," wasn't left out.

Of course, the invitations themselves were perfectly normal; the real trick was the seating arrangement.

Weibo was going to arrange them all together, utterly without restraint!

They couldn't be in the same row — their statuses differed too much — but they could be placed in the same area across different rows, like front and back seats.

When Bai Liang went on stage to accept the award, a single camera sweep over the audience would catch them all in one shot.

As for whether they'd start a fight — a fight would be even better!

——

Third update, fourteen thousand words done. See you tomorrow, muah~

(End of chapter)