Chapter 21: Below Me, All Are Equal (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

During the car ride, the little assistant kept staring at Na Zha.

Afraid she might suddenly "make her move" and invite Bai Liang to "move in together."

Na Zha naturally felt her little assistant's gaze and gave her a reproachful glare: Am I really that shameless a girl?

A momentary impulse is one thing, but once she calmed down and thought it over, the whole thing still felt way too absurd.

Of course, deep down she was also a little guilty~

She'd known Bai Liang for a while now, and even though most of the time he seemed spaced-out, and when he smiled he looked like someone easy to push around.

But somehow it always felt like something was off.

Last night she made some headway on that question, because Na Zha had undertaken a massive project in her head!

She went hard on a wave of memory lane.

The main content was tracing, from joining the crew to wrap, the origin of that strange feeling about Bai Liang.

The method was a bit dumb, but luckily she did have quite a lot of "material" stored in her brain.

Under brute-force review, she actually uncovered quite a few blind spots.

Cheerful, polite, gentle... yet looking down on everyone.

That discovery was so absurd it made Na Zha wonder if she was hallucinating.

Bai Liang seemed to have no sense of reverence.

Not the obvious, in-your-face kind of looking down on people—rather, it was very subtle, and he didn't even show any contempt.

If you met him in everyday life, you probably wouldn't get that vibe, but a film set is a special place—said it many times, right? Strict hierarchy.

Yet in front of Bai Liang, that hierarchy seemed to completely vanish.

Everyone is equal beneath me.

Director, producer, male lead—whoever, Bai Liang's attitude toward them was all pretty much the same; you could even throw in extras, makeup artists, crew hands, and so on.

Some things are easier said than done. "Treating everyone equally" sounds great, but how many people can actually pull it off?

Or rather, without enough backbone, how could you possibly do it?

So the question is, where exactly does Bai Liang's backbone come from?

That itch to investigate filled Na Zha's heart.

"Ahem!" The little assistant cut off the spell in time—after all, the way Na Zha was lost in thought was too much; could you at least lower your head? Your eyes are practically pulling threads, sis!

Bai Liang also thought Na Zha was acting a little strange.

The strangeness came from her eyes—one moment sharp, the next moment dumb as a rock.

Was she actually a dummy or not?

"I have a question!" Bai Liang raised his hand to speak.

"Mm-hmm, go ahead." Na Zha the "teacher" instinctively sat up straight, even putting her legs together.

"Are you a dummy?"

"Huh?!"

Mm, confirmed—she is.

Although Na Zha had a bit of a green-tea-bitch look about her, when she smiled that silly air really couldn't be hidden.

She looked very easy to trick.

Tang Ren's audition this time was all hush-hush, because the boss Cai Yi was personally running it, and even Na Zha didn't know which role was being auditioned for.

Logically, just as Bai Liang had guessed earlier, Jiang Jinfu had run off and bailed, so his role was now open.

But the thing is, Tang Ren had more than just Jiang Jinfu as a young male actor.

Now things were really getting murky.

Even Na Zha, the "soon-to-be top girl," had no idea what the boss was thinking.

The reason she was "soon-to-be top girl" was because the actual Tang Ren top girl Liu Shishi hadn't left yet.

But everyone in the company, top to bottom, knew she was definitely leaving—she was getting married, after all.

Reportedly already registered, legally husband and wife with Long Long Liqi; just missing the wedding ceremony.

The previous Tang Ren top girl Sun Li had handed the title over to Liu Shishi the same way. So although Na Zha couldn't officially be called top girl yet, she was basically already enjoying top-girl treatment.

That was also the confidence that made her feel she had a say in things.

The male lead was a long shot, but surely they could at least get Bai Liang a supporting male role, right?

In summary, Na Zha's ultimate goal was actually—who cares, twenty-one, first get Bai Liang in here to act alongside her, then talk.

She needed more time together to give herself an answer and a decision.

Her little schemes were crystal clear to both the assistant and the manager.

The manager really wanted to sabotage this thing—damn it, the new top girl's head was full of nothing but dating, how was she supposed to manage this artist?

So this time she'd been waiting at the company entrance early on.

She was going to see just what kind of handsome guy was this impressive, to have Na Zha smitten like this.

She'd give him a show of force first!

"Hello, President Cai?"

Bai Liang's very first line upon meeting nearly blew Na Zha's manager away.

This novel is recently updated at ##!! Update!

"Ahem, I'm not President Cai. I'm Na Zha's manager."

This slightly awkward introduction gave Na Zha's manager, Sister Su, a strange illusion.

How come this handsome guy in front of her gave off such a clear, dumb-and-cute college-student vibe?

You little punk, you think the company boss would come to the door to greet you?

The next second, a middle-aged woman's voice came from behind: "Who's this?"

"Huh? Huh! Cai Zong, this is, this is Nazha's friend, here for the audition." Manager Su-jie felt her whole person wasn't quite right—was it really this much of a coincidence?

The name Cai Yinong carried a certain legendary flavor in the entertainment circle as well.

She was a formidable woman—founding Tang Ren in her early twenties and working her way up step by step to where she was today.

The TV dramas she put out—*Handsome Siblings*, *Chinese Paladin*, *The Generals of the Yang Family*, *Scarlet Heart*, and so on—were almost all massive hits.

The saying went: produced by Tang Ren, guaranteed a fine piece.

Oh right, supposedly she was quite good-looking in her younger days; she'd just gotten a bit older now.

There had even been a rumor that the reason she'd taken one look at Liu Shishi and picked her was because the girl resembled her.

"Hello, Cai Zong. My name is Bai Liang, here for the audition." Bai Liang still politely greeted her and introduced himself.

"Hello~ young man, you're quite handsome. I'll be looking forward to your performance in a bit."

"Okay."

Here it comes! Again like this!

Inside Nazha's heart, a groundhog immediately screamed.

It wasn't because of Cai Yinong's sudden appearance, but because this guy Bai Liang—running smack into Tang Ren's big boss—didn't even change his expression.

Bai Liang: "Your boss is actually pretty polite, huh."

Nazha: …great great great, now you're critiquing her too.

"When you go in later, don't be so brash and casual, you should be a little—" Nazha was organizing her words, but felt they weren't easy to say.

She couldn't exactly say, "Let me teach you a thing or two about hierarchy and propriety"—just hearing it sounded off.

Because Bai Liang wasn't being rude; he was just different from the other newcomers, that's all.

Demanding he bow three parts of the way the moment they met—how could Nazha possibly say that out loud.

"Don't worry, guaranteed win." Seeing her conflicted little expression, Bai Liang instinctively soothed her with a line.

"That confident?"

"I've always had great luck, and besides, I came in through the back door."

From Number One Sister to rogue ninja, they're all "his people"—how could he possibly lose? —

This chapter got a bit stuck while writing; let me sort it out properly

(End of chapter)