Chapter 209: The Bigger the Storm, the Pricier the Fish!

The news of Lu Han officially announcing his relationship caused an enormous stir!

A male idol at the peak of his career, whose traffic could be called the undisputed number one by a wide margin—the very term "top-tier" became widespread largely because of him.

The super-topic communities that are now all the rage in fandom circles were first opened by him.

When a male idol with this level of traffic suddenly officially announces a relationship, it's like a thunderclast—his fanbase instantly goes into "berserk" mode.

Those fans had probably been arguing over CP pairings with Dilireba and the like just moments before.

Once this news broke, who knows how many people were left stunned on the spot.

Fans unfollowing, fans turning against him, CP fans unfollowing and turning against him—Lu Han's dirt compilation, Guan Xiaotong's past history, all flying around everywhere. What a circus.

On his official announcement Weibo post, the top-liked comment in the hot comments section had several million likes, and it read: "If you think it's fake, hit like."

Weibo crashed, and all sorts of related tags frantically pushed their way onto the trending searches.

But this could almost be called the final brilliant dance of this undisputed top-tier idol.

Anyone who knows the industry knows that Lu Han's traffic era is over.

The mastermind behind him, Yang Tianzhen, seeing this commotion—his hands were shaking, and it definitely wasn't from being overwhelmed with joy.

He had only one thought in his mind: his contract with the other party expires next year.

He couldn't tell whether he felt relieved or regretful.

Then he thought of that guy Bai Liang. Of course, you can't blame Bai Liang entirely for this, but his actions did indeed play a role in pushing things forward.

The reason Lu Han so readily adopted this "PR" approach was entirely because he himself had already had this idea for a long time.

Because of this wave of rhythm and behavior from Bai Liang, rather than saying he was forced, it's more accurate to say it gave him the opportunity to get his team to accept it.

But the team definitely didn't want him to do this.

You could even say that the vested interests surrounding him hoped even more than those fans that Guan Xiaotong would vanish from the face of the earth.

But there was nothing to be done—he was madly in love.

So what can you do?

Now there's no choice but to accept this plan. Even if Lu Han has to cut himself down, he can't be "defeated" by someone else.

The undisputed top-tier number one can step down on his own, but he absolutely cannot be pushed down by someone else.

Earlier, Yang Tianzhen had been cursing Dilireba as a spinning-top spirit and a love-brained fool, but now thinking about it again, at least she was still hiding things.

No matter how badly she hid it, no matter that everyone already knew, she just never made it official.

In fandom rules, if it's not officially announced, then it's fake.

As long as the parties involved don't confirm it themselves, it never counts as solid proof—unless paparazzi are skilled enough to snap heavyweight evidence photos.

Besides, Dilireba isn't exactly "lonely." For this, she probably needs to thank that Nazha.

If Nazha hadn't been bouncing around over there, stubbornly standing her ground in every way, the CP between her and Bai Liang would have truly been sealed shut by the CP fans.

It was precisely because of Nazha's existence that the arguments kept going and uncertainty arose.

At this moment, Jiaxing was already mulling over whether, after the next episode of Running Man airs, they'd need to find a way to buy Nazha some trending searches.

There's no choice—if Nazha doesn't perk up and step up, and lets these two, Reba and Bai Liang, keep sprinkling sugar, by the time they don't officially announce it, they'll probably be "forced into a corner" by the CP fans!

From Jiaxing's standpoint, if they want Reba to maintain her competitiveness and not get caught up in a confirmed romance scandal, the only real path is to find ways to elevate Bai Liang's other CP pairings.

Because Reba herself refuses to accept or adopt any method that directly breaks up her CP with Bai Liang.

This stubborn little girl!

Regarding this, Jiaxing's internal team was also at a loss. Yang Mi did step forward and say a few "fair words": "This is already not bad. If you push her too hard, be careful—she might reach marriageable age just like me."

Jiaxing higher-ups:???

Such an obedient, hardworking female top-tier, with only this one tiny request—

Well, fine then.

And not long after Lu Han officially announced his relationship, once his personal buzz died down just a bit, the question that smart person raised shot straight to the top of the trending searches.

"What exactly happened in that episode of Running Man?"

The reason people love conspiracy theories is because there's a topic to discuss.

Rather than believing our top-tier number one is a love-brained fool, or that he doesn't care about his career anymore, it's better to believe that because of certain things that happened, he was forced to a point where he couldn't not make it official.

You have to know that freaking Dilireba even went to Lu Han's official announcement Weibo post to "send blessings."

Never seen a case where someone who was previously an ambiguous CP wishes the other a hundred years of harmonious union on their "big happy day."

Too outrageous! On par with the ex-girlfriends' table at a wedding.

Even more outrageous, Lu Han actually replied to her, saying thank you.

For crying out loud!

This exchange between the two was essentially the parties involved themselves stepping up to personally dismantle the show's CP.

And regarding this, the production team and other artists expressed no opinion whatsoever.

The spearhead of public opinion pointed directly at Bai Liang.

During this period, Bai Liang only updated his Weibo twice—once posting his look as Donghua Emperor in "Eternal Love," promoting the TV drama.

The other post was his look as Yan Xun in "Princess Agents," also promoting the TV drama.

The guy is just a soulless promotional machine.

As for why they officially announced it, he doesn't know~ because he's been recently researching scripts and characters, busy as can be.

The Weibo account is being managed by Sister Yanzi.

And Sister Yanzi isn't panicking at all either; instead, she has an attitude of "just as I expected."

I told you our Xiao Bai-ge destroys everyone he meets—Lu Han is no exception.

The studio just does what it's supposed to do, everyone handling their own duties.

As for the storm online.

Yanzi: The bigger the storm, the pricier the fish!

The seemingly endless stream of various expenses from the studio is her greatest source of confidence.

Brother Dou Xiao Bai really does hand out money!

Sometimes Yanzi even feels bewildered—Bai Liang seems to completely not care about all the money he earned after becoming top-tier.

Besides spending freely himself, buying whatever he wants, he can even take all the money left over after various expenses and let Yanzi pour it into his "career development."

No such top-tier celebrity could possibly exist in the entire entertainment industry.

Even the wealthiest companies wouldn't do this, because it's a complete money-losing deal.

Oh wait, there is one exception.

And these two "exceptions" have now ended up together~

The funny thing is, after netizens dug up the full guest list for that episode of Running Man, they went "knocking on doors" one by one, but everyone unanimously chose to play dead.

All of them pretended to be deaf and mute, or simply spoke in circles.

Especially Li Xin—looking at the questions piling up under her Weibo account, she was actually starting to tremble.

She didn't dare utter a single word.

She could already feel an online pile-on coming—should she preemptively shut off her comment section?

But while she's a coward, she's also pretty bold.

These two aren't mutually exclusive.

Afraid of online pile-ons, yet daring enough to chase possible opportunities.

Otherwise, how would she have dared to charge straight into the Bulgari gala, or sat down right next to Bai Liang?

The current timing is crucial for her—her contract with her old agency Rongshenda is about to expire.

Even earlier, her personal studio had already been set up in advance, beginning contact with Xinli for cooperation.

Running Man's side also gave her a choice—some shots they could keep, or cut them, but they respected Li Xin's own wishes.

Or rather, the production team's meaning was: "We know with our eyes closed what you'll choose. Come on, Miss, embrace the controversy and the traffic!"

After all, who would refuse?

This left Li Xin unable to help falling into reverie and indecision.

Getting involved with Bai Liang, for her right now, is like arsenic coated in honey.

To eat or not to eat—such a hard choice.

But her team behind her had only one voice: The bold die of plenty, the timid starve! Sis, you've been debuting for almost ten years and you're still not famous—don't you have any self-awareness?

So that day, Li Xin got on the phone with Bai Liang for over two hours.

Not seeking encouragement or comfort—she's not that fragile—she purely wanted to know his attitude.

But there was still some anxiety about gain and loss.

Yet Bai Liang's reaction was exactly the same as always.

He listened quietly, then gently gave his stance:

"Do whatever you want to do."

Not considering relationships, not considering his own interests—he supported every one of her decisions. And cheered her on, encouraged her.

Li Xin's team fell collectively silent for several minutes at Bai Liang's answer, not knowing what to say.

Finally, one girl couldn't help but say: "Brother Dou Xiao Bai really is a very good person."

Li Xin smiled: "He is~"

"Sis, you're a bit unworthy of him."

"Shut up!"

At this moment, she felt even more broken than during the recording, and embarrassed into anger.

—

On the set of "Super Space-Time Cohabitation," Miss Jing Tian looked at the news online and felt an urge to slap herself twice.

So regretful!

Really regretful!

Because before joining the crew, she had also gone to record Running Man.

It was the episode after Bai Liang's, with the theme of "Defend the Yellow River."

Of course, none of that matters—what matters is, why didn't she inquire about the situation back then?

She had clearly already felt that the so-called show CP, Lu Han and Dilireba, seemed a bit off, not quite like on TV.

No errors, no missing content—read it all here!

And the two hadn't deliberately avoided suspicion either, as if their interaction was no different from ordinary colleagues.

But whether the CP was real or fake, it shouldn't have been like this—being too normal was the most abnormal part.

Miss Jing Tian: I should have trusted my sixth sense!

The result was that she had just finished recording the show, turned around, and this huge news broke.

Gossip is a Chinese person's instinct, okay!

Who doesn't love watching the drama?

Right now, Miss Jing Tian felt like she had passed through the world of the big melon but forgotten to take one more look.

Even though the new episode of Running Man airs tonight, she still regrets it.

Eating melon is all about timeliness.

Gossiping about it for days before getting the scoop versus getting it first thing—could those be the same?

The melon's not even fresh anymore!

"Eat melon."

At this moment, Bai Liang brought over half a watermelon bigger than her head, and thoughtfully stuck a spoon into it.

This was from his experience — in other crews before, some female artists wouldn't eat it because gnawing on a melon didn't look great on camera.

Now Bai Liang was even more thoughtful, having prepared a spoon for her and all.

Oh right, this thing was paid for by Miss Jing Tian again.

It had only been a few days since joining the crew, and the two of them had already kicked off their "spending war."

Bai Liang had tried several times to sneak in some "stocking up," but each time he was miraculously caught red-handed by Jing Tian.

Then the other party would, on grounds like "you're older" or "you're the senior here," generously pay for him.

This left Bai Liang rather annoyed — if she kept this up, how was he ever going to spend all the money he earned?

Even judging by his experience dealing with rich women, this was the first time he'd run into someone as outrageous as Jing Tian.

Jing Tian: "I-I can't finish this much."

"You have an assistant too, you know."

"Even if we eat it together we still can't finish it." Jing Tian looked at that enormous melon, a touch of bitterness surfacing on her cheeks.

It was too big — she really couldn't handle it.

But as she looked and looked, she thought of the online chatter again.

The very person involved was right in front of her! Why not just ask him!

Mhm. She was just a tiny bit afraid to — her instincts told her this seemingly gentle-looking handsome guy was actually quite "dangerous."

"Huh? That episode of Running Man?"

"Yes, yes, yes — the one you went to. Did anything special happen?"

"The special thing was that Zheng Kai was absent." Bai Liang thought for a moment and gave that as his answer.

He'd heard the guy was the little prince of perfect attendance, so his absence was naturally quite special.

Zheng Kai?

A question mark seemed to appear on Jing Tian's forehead. She waved her little hand. "Besides him?"

"There were a lot of female guests that episode~"

"Guan Xiaotong went too?"

"Nope."

Big eyes staring at small eyes, the two faced each other in silence.

Jing Tian showed astonishing patience at this moment — both hands cradling that big melon, eyes wide open, just staring at Bai Liang like that.

It was as if they'd reached a standoff.

"Uh, you like that doesn't really fit the character — it's a bit too dopey." Bai Liang gave a very honest assessment.

This big sister right now looked just like a Psyduck with her styling — nothing like the female lead in the movie at all.

Didn't they say Jing Tian was quite professional?

Bai Liang said he hadn't seen any sign of it yet — at any rate, not as good as himself.

Jing Tian:???

Huh? Character?

One side talking about city gate towers, the other about hip joints.

They weren't even on the same channel.

Jing Tian casually slapped a label on Bai Liang: erratic thinking.

Not as cute as when he was spacing out.

Damn it! Not talking, huh? Fine — she'd go watch it herself!

Just as the director was about to call it a day, Bai Liang wanted to ask Jing Tian if she wanted to grab some good food tonight and chat about the script.

But then he saw this big sister sticking her butt out, hugging that big watermelon, very eagerly waiting to get off work.

Sigh~ dunce! He'd assumed that with her attitude toward acting being so proper, she should be pretty eager to improve.

"Dou Xiao Bai, you should chat more with the female lead. In these past two days of filming, you two haven't had much spark."

Hearing the director say this, Bai Liang refused to take the blame. "I think my acting's pretty decent, right?"

"I'm not saying you have a problem — it's Jing Tian's eyes that never quite land right."

"Then talk her through the scene~" Bai Liang said with an innocent face.

But at this moment, the director Su Lun seemed a bit embarrassed too. "I heard you're quite good at dealing with female artists. You act well — bring her along, will you?"

Su Lun was, after all, a young female director — there were some things she might not feel comfortable saying too bluntly.

What she actually meant, translated, was: go seduce her.

Before filming started, she had actually worried about Jing Tian's fearsome reputation as a movie "killer."

But as a female director — and a first-time solo lead director at that — her way of solving problems was rather unorthodox.

For a romance film, nothing works better than the male and female leads actually falling in love!

Bai Liang: Honestly, these artsy types can really be pretty extreme sometimes.

He'd never run into this kind of situation filming TV dramas before.

Even with sweet romance shows, at most the director's team would just stand there giggling auntie-style on the sly — not actually step in to manipulate things, trying to force a pairing.

He turned his head to look at Jing Tian hugging the big watermelon — the more he looked, the more she resembled Psyduck. The way she'd just been scurrying back and forth was also very similar.

She runs with her toes pointed outward~

"How about I ask her to watch a TV show together tonight?"

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" Su Lun immediately beamed, thinking this kid Bai Liang really knew how to play ball.

But she asked casually, "What show are you watching?"

"Oh, *Running Man*. Letting her see how I do the sweet flirting with other female artists, so she can learn a thing or two."

Bai Liang figured that if *Running Man*'s later episodes were any good, the way Reba looked at people on the show would give Miss Jing Tian plenty to learn from.

If she could pull off what Reba did, then acting in this film of hers would be a total breeze.

Su Lun:???

That doesn't add up!

(End of chapter)