Chapter 216: Let Your Imagination Run Wild

What's the situation~

For Bai Liang's fans, he was the second male lead in both of these dramas, so naturally there was nothing to argue about.

They couldn't exactly badmouth themselves, could they?

Did they really have to pick a winner between Donghua Dijun and Yan Xun?

That's just nonsense — fans aren't that schizophrenic.

So after being confused for a while, Bai Liang's fans started quietly fanning the flames. Idle hands and all that.

Gradually, Yang Mi's and Zhao Liying's fans started fighting, and Dilireba's and Li Xin's fans started fighting. The two sides escalated into "fighting over" Bai Liang.

It was as if whichever side this top-tier star leaned toward would win.

From a certain angle, that was actually true!

As a top male star, although Bai Liang's debut was recent, when it came to popularity and traffic, he really was on the same level as Yang Mi and Zhao Liying.

Male traffic is inherently greater than female traffic, especially when the star can hold steady and isn't a flash in the pan.

But Bai Liang definitely couldn't take a stance — on one hand, he himself wasn't that schizophrenic; on the other, Sister Yanzi wouldn't pull such a stupid move either.

The production companies behind these two dramas hadn't done anything to wrong Bai Liang, so there was no need to step on one to lift the other.

As for Bai Liang himself, the palm and the back of the hand are both flesh — he genuinely loved watching both dramas.

But the people arguing with each other thought he was too important!

And so, they forcibly pushed Bai Liang all the way to the top of the trending searches, which even made Sister Yanzi laugh.

This can work too?!

The big sisters and young ladies on both sides were tearing into each other, making it look like some kind of Shura battlefield, while their own Brother Dou Xiao Bai stayed silent and quietly raked in all the traffic?

Fine, she admitted, she had underestimated the role of these two second male leads.

The role wasn't within the drama itself, but leapt out of the TV show and into real life!

The online commotion seemed to stay only at the fan level.

Yang Mi and Zhao Liying themselves seemed completely quiet. As if!

The one who contacted Bai Liang first was Yang Mi.

It was just Sister Mi's usual style — she never got to the point right away, but first "aggrievedly" complained to Bai Liang.

"How can a currently airing drama ride the popularity of one that's already finished? This kind of put-down is just too ugly. Dou Xiao Bai Bai, hurry and comfort your sister a little, my chest hurts from being so angry~"

Bai Liang: "What kind of comfort do you need?"

"If only you were by my side, you could help me rub it. Tell me secretly — which one do you think is the drama king of the year?"

Hearing this, Bai Liang was stunned. Wow! She really dares to ask!

He answered without hesitation: "In the Name of the People."

Yang Mi:.

Sorry, she had been too cocky.

In front of this drama, whose viewership broke 8% and set the highest provincial satellite TV ratings record of the past decade, who would dare call themselves drama king?

In front of the Handong F4, she and Zhao Liying combined weren't enough to compete.

How much water there is in online click counts and such data — those in the know, know.

It's just that everyone really wasn't on the same track, and Yang Mi had subconsciously overlooked it.

"Anyway, you don't have to help me, but you can't help that someone bully me. I divorced for you."

Sometimes when facing Yang Mi, Bai Liang actually kind of wanted to call the police.

She really dares to say anything.

Luckily, Bai Liang had plenty of tricks up his sleeve too: "Sister Mi, I'm recording."

Yang Mi on the other end of the line was stunned, then pretended to break down: "You record when you're on the phone with me? Are you even human?"

"Oh, hold on, another call is coming in. I'll put you on hold for a moment."

Before Yang Mi on the other end could even get a word in, she heard the prompt "Hello, please do not hang up" from the phone.

She was immediately a little exasperated.

Who could it be? Who could make this kid put her on hold just to take their call first?

Of course — Sister Xiao Zhao.

Her approach wasn't as complicated as Yang Mi's; she got straight to the point, stating two things crisply and decisively:

"Dou Xiao Bai, the cast for 'The Story of Ming Lan' will be officially announced later. Remember to repost it."

"Oh~"

"Also, don't get involved in the 'Princess Agents' side using 'Eternal Love' for hype!"

"Don't you need my help?"

"You? I'm afraid you'll flip sides and come hit me instead."

Sister Xiao Zhao was as venomous-tongued as ever — at first listen, you'd really think she was serious.

But this also admitted it. Right, it was clout-chasing, it was hype marketing.

It was "bullying" your 'Eternal Love' for already being finished — I can ride your popularity, but you can't ride mine.

A-list actresses who fought their way up — few of them are soft-hearted. It's true that quality and works speak for themselves, but marketing and put-downs can't be skipped either.

This is how top female stars survive and play the game in the industry.

To prevent you from possibly coming for me, I'll strike first and get you before you get me.

Honestly, it's just like grocery shopping at the market.

Sure enough, after Bai Liang finished his call with Sister Xiao Zhao, Yang Mi first whined in her Dou Xiao Nai voice.

But after learning it was Zhao Liying who had called, she immediately dropped the subject.

Same as with Little Zhao jiejie, Yang Mi actually didn't let Bai Liang slant things in any particular direction either.

It's just that compared to Little Zhao jiejie, she preferred to inquire about Bai Liang's private attitude.

This was probably the unspoken understanding between her and Little Zhao jiejie: however the two of us fight, it's none of your business — you just have to not side with the other person and make jiejie me sad.

As for the second half of this phone call, now that was exciting!

Just like Little Zhao jiejie, she was no pushover either!

Meaning, once the broadcast is over you can't ride the wave anymore? She'd turn it around and use the traffic from your drama broadcast.

Sure enough, Yang Mi shifted the topic: "I've been helping you repost several promotional Weibo posts for your movie recently~"

"Wolf Warrior 2? Thanks, Mi-jie. I'll grab Wu Jing later and have him kowtow to you a couple of times."

"Aiya, who wants that? As long as you remember in your heart that I'm good to you, I hope your movie is a huge hit!" Yang Mi said cheerfully on the other end of the line.

"Mm."

"What's up?"

"Mi-jie, you're acting a little weird~" Bai Liang said very directly. "Why don't you just spell it out more clearly."

"You brat, you didn't actually record this, did you?"

After confirming once more, Yang Mi finally told the truth: "You have to crush the movie version of 'Eternal Love' hard! Jiejie I don't want to lose~ You get what I mean?"

Mm. Sort of.

Actually, Bai Liang had genuinely experienced something like this once before — the 'Love O2O' incident.

That time was even more direct; the TV series and the movie version went online at almost the same time, making the contrast even sharper.

The loser would directly lose the role and the name, getting stripped of the character by the original novel's fans.

Those people flat-out refused to acknowledge that Jing Boran had ever played Xiao Nai.

But compared to the pure work competition between him and Jing Boran, Yang Mi's side was far more complicated.

Compared to the online brawl with Zhao Liying, she was even more unwilling to lose to the one in the movie version.

She even used almost the same tactics as Zhao Liying — no matter how your movie turns out, I'll defend against it in advance.

That's right, offense as defense.

Two days later, just as the female leads of 'Eternal Love' and 'Princess Agents' were lining up and fighting it out hot and heavy—

A bizarre topic shot straight up to the trending searches!

After Yang Mi, there will never be another Bai Qian.

Little Zhao jiejie's fans were a bit stunned at first — how did a trending topic like this pop up?

But there are plenty of talents online, and someone quickly noticed something was off.

This didn't seem aimed at Zhao Liying — it was targeting that fairy sister!

Oh-ho-ho, now a third party is entering the fray too!

Yang Mi is really fierce! While still tearing into Zhao Liying, she dares to turn around and provoke another 85 flower.

With that kind of fighting spirit, Bai Liang was willing to call her the strongest!

Oh right, Bai Qian is the female lead of 'Eternal Love', known as the number one beauty of the Four Seas and Eight Deserts.

This thing instantly enraged Liu Yifei's fans — old grudges and new feuds settled all at once!

The stories of these 85 flowers, especially the ones connected to 'Chinese Paladin', have been wonderfully dramatic and have stayed marketable for years.

So from this point on, chaos — total chaos in northwestern Shanxi.

Reba and Li Xin withdrew from the stage directly; this scene was no longer something they could get involved in.

Li Xin ran fast anyway, not daring to buy even a single trending topic.

She didn't dare get anywhere near it.

Reba's side held on a little longer, but as a newly crowned top-tier young actress, she really couldn't handle this kind of situation either.

Her fans had never fought a battle like this either!

They could only let their Mi-jie take it on alone.

Catch you later.

In response, Bai Liang, who had been sitting there eating melon, silently took a screenshot and sent it to Jing Boran.

The other party replied with a question mark.

The rule of gaming: when someone spams a question mark, it doesn't mean they're confused — it means: something's off with you!

Bai Liang: "Look how good a bro I am to you, I never bought this kind of trending topic." Jing Boran: "I really can't thank you enough."

Bai Liang: "How about you kowtow to me?"

Jing Boran: "Get lost!"

Still, although he was running his mouth, Jing Boran thought it over carefully — hey, it was true!

Back then, Bai Liang really hadn't bought any trending topics to drag him down, and the fans of the two hadn't created much conflict either.

Maybe it was because Baby had attracted more of the hatred~

She and Reba's side was actually livelier — not only did these two play the same character, but Reba had even gone to "raid the base" while the other was pregnant, directly "inheriting" Baby's representative work, 'Running Man'.

It would've been a miracle if the fans on both sides had no conflict.

As for Jing Boran, he had just quietly flopped, and Bai Liang hadn't kicked him while he was down.

Even though Jing Boran back then had the title of a two-billion-box-office male lead, which was actually a pretty good stepping stone.

Later, when fans discussed Xiao Nai and such, they almost never dragged Jing Boran in to mock him.

Every word, every line, every post — all original content, all in one read!

Anyone who's been in the industry a while knows this clearly means the "rival camp" wasn't stirring up trouble.

Damn, the more Jing Boran thought about it, the more he felt — that big-shot immortal is actually pretty decent?

He was clearly taken down by the other guy, and he actually has to thank him?

So unreasonable, yet so reasonable!

My head itches — feels like a brain is about to grow.

Lin Genxin: Bro, you feel the same way too?

He is the biggest victim of Bai Liang's "persecution" — that guy has been watching him and causing trouble since his debut.

Originally there really was a chance they could have become rivals or even enemies, but for various reasons, the two of them got along pretty well.

In the end, it developed to the point where, even when Lin Genxin got suppressed by Bai Liang again, everyone just teased him: Ooh~ can you handle it or not~

He's already used to it!

After all, so far Lin Genxin has never seen anyone who, after going up against Bai Liang, could avoid being suppressed — let alone gain the upper hand.

The Great Immortal is really uncanny!

Sister Yanzi: This is way too uncanny — why is it that in a three-way battle among the 85 Flowers, our Little Bai-ge still got pushed to the top?

Whether it's Yang Mi, Liu Yifei, or Zhao Liying, none of their fans are pushovers — every single one of them is a fierce fighter.

They've truly been forged through fire.

Then, Bai Liang once again landed on the trending searches, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

Who made him the Eastern Hua Emperor in "Eternal Love," and his CP with Reba, who's under Yang Mi's "banner," so wildly popular.

And Yan Xun in "Princess Agents," who's about to team up for the third time with Sister Little Zhao.

The "The Story of Minglan" side has already released a notice, and once that came out, Li Xin and his CP almost got broken up — all kinds of CP clips of Yan Xun and Chu Qiao started skyrocketing in popularity, as if paving the way for "The Story of Minglan."

At the same time, although he'd never met that fairy sister face to face, by coincidence, Bai Liang's "Wolf Warrior 2" and her film version of "Eternal Love" ended up in the same release window.

Just like that, he got tangled up with all three of them.

Actually, there's also Meng Jie — Bai Liang had just found out that she, too, was cast in the film version of "Eternal Love."

Apparently it was a welcome gift from her newly signed company.

Meng Jie played the bad woman Su Jin — although she was billed fifth or sixth, if you only look at the actresses, she was actually the second female lead.

The new company treats her pretty well~

At this moment, in Meng Jie's new company, the agent and boss Jia Shikai was holding a meeting.

It was called a big meeting, but it was really a small one.

The only attendees were Yang Yang and Meng Ziyi.

The film "Eternal Love" was very important to Yang Yang, because for the entire year he only had this one project meeting the audience.

Oh right — because of Bai Liang's sudden rise, Yang Yang had already been squeezed out of the so-called "Four Big Three Small Top Traffic" lineup.

This bro has fallen off~

But this time, he's going to take back everything that belongs to him!

Even if he can't step on Bai Liang to climb up, he at least has to prove himself.

"The current situation is a bit grim. Bai Liang's traffic is too high! Every topic somehow drags him in — we need to think of something."

"The Eastern Hua Emperor in our movie won't get stepped on by him again, right?" Yang Yang asked instinctively.

He always felt this possibility was extremely high!

Honestly, he felt that if it were him, he might be able to go fifty-fifty with Bai Liang, but if it's someone else, that's dangerous!

The male lead he plays would definitely crush Zhao Youting — Yang Yang felt zero pressure on that front.

But Jia Shikai looked at him speechlessly: "The movie version doesn't have the Eastern Hua storyline. And no Bai Fengjiu either."

After saying that, he didn't let Meng Jie off either, glaring at her — because when Meng Jie had previously found out she could be in the movie version, she'd clamored about wanting to play Fengjiu.

Meng Jie shrunk her neck: "Hehe~"

Looking at Yang Yang, who was stunned and then frowning while posing, and then at Meng Jie, who was grinning, Jia Shikai rubbed his head.

Damn it — Unhappy and No-Brain, huh~

"Let's stir up a scandal!"

Hearing this, Yang Yang raised his head, "I'm stirring up a scandal with Liu Yifei?"

"…If you can convince her, it's not out of the question."

"Oh, then forget it."

Meng Jie looked completely baffled, pointing at herself: "Me?"

"Right, Yang Yang takes a small hit and brings along his little junior sister — your fame is too low right now."

"Forget it, forget it, I'd drag down his status — who am I to be worthy of stirring up a scandal with him?"

Yang Yang: …It's not that exaggerated.

Still, why did he feel like Meng Ziyi simply didn't want to?

That's a bit hurtful — look at this bro's handsome face!

Seeing Jia Shikai about to say more, Meng Ziyi quickly raised her hand eagerly: "Um, the male lead of 'Wolf Warrior 2' is Wu Jing — why do we keep staring at Li— staring at Bai Liang?"

"Wu Jing is just a male lead and director — at most he decides the film's quality, but the buzz and traffic can only come from Bai Liang."

Hearing this, Meng Ziyi scratched her head in confusion.

So weird~

Isn't a movie's box office supposed to be decided by its quality…

When Meng Ziyi's call came in, Bai Liang was filming the final wrap shot of "How Long Will I Love U."

Honestly, Bai Liang really had no interest in planting a little spy inside the "competitor's" camp.

But what Meng Jie was doing now did indeed have a bit of that flavor.

Your company just discussed its "strategic layout," and the next second you tell me about it?

Actually, Bai Liang wanted to advise Yang Yang and the others not to bother—just lie down obediently hand in hand and wait to be steamrolled by *Wolf Warrior 2*.

In front of that thing, no trick you play will do any good.

This film will crush every same-period competitor, no matter how big or small the other side is, no matter the cast, no matter the subject.

It already had 5.6 billion, and with a "bit" of luck added on, Bai Liang had no idea what kind of result this thing could pull off.

Or perhaps, how much the final box office would be depends on how high the ceiling of the current film market is.

He had no interest in their film promotion strategy, but Bai Liang was slightly interested in the matter of Meng Jie and Yang Yang stirring up a scandal.

"How are you two planning to stir up the scandal? You don't expect to kiss, do you?"

"Little hedgehog, are you—"

"I can serve as your kissing-scene director," Bai Liang said, his tone sounding utterly flat.

Yet on the other end of the phone, Meng Jie was secretly laughing till her apple cheeks turned red. Hehe, jealous~

"Achoo!"

At this moment, Yang Yang, who was running between engagements, suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

The goosebumps on his neck all rose up.

It felt like that strange sensation of being sleep-paralyzed by a ghost as a kid.

Luckily, the feeling came quickly and left quickly too.

Glancing at Jia Shikai ahead, Yang Yang suddenly said: "I'm really doing the CP thing with Xiao Meng?"

Who would have thought, the other party actually said: "It's not appropriate right now, I was just telling her to hear it out. You play a couple with Liu Yifei in the film, and off-screen you're spreading scandals with the second female lead—is that appropriate? It was just a line to fool her, and you actually believed it? Where's your brain~"

Yang Yang:.

Sometimes it's really annoying dealing with these guys who have all sorts of schemes and tricks stuffed in their heads.

He also caught on to what was going on. Oh oh oh, so there's a "mole" in the company!

Almost forgot—this "little junior sister" who just joined the company is actually also Bai Liang's "old-school CP."

Yang Kang and Mu Nianci, wasn't it.

Of course, the film and TV company isn't afraid of this kind of "mole" either.

For example, Jia Shikai really hopes Meng Jie actually has something going on with Bai Liang. Once that's confirmed, he feels he might be able to use that point—at the very least, not to say he'd lure Bai Liang over.

At the very least, he could get him to give Meng Jie a boost.

Freeloading a top-tier streamer's influence and traffic—just thinking about it feels wonderful.

Oh right, if possible, company shares aren't off the table either!

When the time comes, Yang Yang can push for it again.

The dream of dual top-tier streamers—it's really thrilling!

(End of chapter)