Chapter 231: I

When Sister Yanzi came to pick up Bai Liang, she saw a scene that was "blindingly weird."

Two big men were tugging at each other.

One wanted to leave, the other wanted to stay.

At first, she thought her little Bai had run into some kind of pervert~

After all, these days there are still plenty of stans—why shouldn't male celebrities get harassed by other men?

So she hurried over, only to discover the shameless one was Wu Jing—then she grinned and switched into snack-mode.

"Bro Liang! Bro Liang! Stay two more days, just two days~ Who do the audiences like you more?"

"Bullshit. You're the lead actor—what's this got to do with me?"

"Seriously, when has any of our roadshows ever had less than half female audience members? They all came for you."

"No, they came for you—'Wolf Warrior 2' lived and died by you, I was just a cameo."

"No no no, it's all you— you're the top streamer!"

"Top streamer? What the hell is that?"

"Then you're the real-life Wolf Warrior."

"Ah Fei, be a real man—don't be so effeminate."

Wu Jing:???

Damn it, this line—back to age twenty!

Clearly, this "battle between men" ended with Wu Jing instantly defeated by a single line from Bai Liang.

He never imagined his own movie lines could one day be used against him.

Who even remembers lines like this?

Bai Liang: I don't just remember the lines—I remember how dry Xinjiang was.

Ah Fei and Lin Xian fled all the way to Xinjiang, hiding in a small town.

Li Xunhuan tracked them down, observed for days, then told Xiao Hong: "Strange—Lin Xian seems to have changed her ways; now she's as chaste as a virtuous widow, no longer flirting with other men."

Xinjiang was so dry it made Lin Xian rein herself in—ridiculous!

So when Bai Liang had joked with Na Zha about visiting Xinjiang, he'd said they'd better bring extra lube.

Then he got jumped on and pummeled by the furious Na Zha.

Next time he plans to use this topic to ask Re Ba.

No feast lasts forever—next time we meet, just drink well and be done with it.

Wu Jing sighed this after calming down.

Bai Liang: I know this well—life's paths twist north and south.

Still, before leaving, he sized Wu Jing up and implied they'd meet again soon.

Wu Jing: At the victory banquet?

Bai Liang: No—Guo Fan will pull off the ultimate feat of getting something for nothing.

So it's "getting something for nothing" and "Wolf Warrior"—Bai Liang and Wolf Warrior.

"Little Bai, what's going on between you and Director Wu Jing? What happened to him?" she asked once they got in the car.

"Hmm—sudden massive success made him question life for a moment."

"It's his own movie—he didn't expect this?" Sister Yanzi shook her head, seemingly confused.

As director and lead actor, Wu Jing should've known his film best—she'd once thought she'd misjudged him, but now she saw how powerful he really was!

Now she was just grateful: thank goodness she hadn't stopped Little Bai from joining 'Wolf Warrior 2'.

Otherwise, seeing this insane box office, she'd have died of shame.

"Who'd expect it?"

Bai Liang had actually discussed with Wu Jing why 'Wolf Warrior 2''s box office was so absurd.

In the end, it always came down to timing, location, and people.

The movie's brilliance was this: even if a time-traveler came and shot and released an identical copy, they still couldn't match its insane results.

Timing, location, and people—all essential.

Oh right—Bai Liang's presence? Just added a tiny bit of extra luck on top of all that.

It's already hit five billion, but clearly this isn't the end for 'Wolf Warrior 2'.

That 'six' Bai Liang originally wrote might've actually been right.

"Little Bai, online now people say you brought Wu Jing thirty billion in box office."

"Pfft! Who says this? So ridiculous."

Earlier, someone said Bai Liang brought five billion—he thought that was conservative, but now thirty billion? Way too exaggerated.

Even the original 'Wolf Warrior 2' box office was terrifyingly high—no matter how lucky Bai Liang was, he couldn't add an absurd number like that.

And frankly, he was just the second male lead—the boost 'Wolf Warrior 2' got from him was limited.

Or you could say the original box office was already so high, there was little room left to grow.

If 'Wolf Warrior 2' had only been forty billion, maybe it could've hit maximum boost~

Sister Yanzi shrugged. "A lot of marketing accounts say that—just hype you nonstop. I already had people tone it down."

"You're awesome, Yanzi!"

"I think ten billion is more reasonable."

Clearly, Sister Yanzi's "scale" was slowly shifting.

Before, she'd worried 'Wolf Warrior 2' might not even hit ten billion.

Now she casually pinned this halo on Bai Liang.

Fortunately, he wasn't the type to get anxious and overly cautious just because of some title on his back.

Bai Liang enjoyed watching other people's drama, and was equally interested in his own.

And here it was — drama had arrived.

Mainly because some people online had hyped it way too hard.

Many people dug through "Wolf Warrior 2" from every angle and found that this top-tier celebrity, Bai Liang, really stood out too much.

Getting into all that technical stuff — ordinary netizens don't want to read it. But hyping up a top-tier celebrity? Everyone gets that instantly.

And during the movie's promotional period, he had way more presence than Wu Jing.

"Divas Over the World 3" hasn't even finished airing yet~ The final episode won't air until a couple of days from now.

The last dance of the variety-show CP between Bai Liang and Nazha — and the most exciting, most CP-charged episode — is about to arrive.

The production team has already prepared to break the variety-show viewership records of the past few years.

Mhm. The record set the last time Bai Liang appeared on "Running Man."

The record he and Reba set together will be personally erased by Nazha.

The reason the production team is so confident — isn't it because of "Wolf Warrior 2," folks?

Watching the movie's box office change day by day, the "Divas Over the World 3" production team genuinely felt like they'd stumbled into a massive stroke of luck.

The hell? This can actually happen?!

They originally thought they were the ones hyping the movie, but now it looks like they were actually riding its coattails.

At the same time, Bai Liang's "rivals" seemed to have vanished from the entertainment circle overnight.

Just as Sister Yanzi said — the entire internet is hyping him right now.

This has something to do with the current prevailing culture.

The era of traffic!

Many people and companies don't actually want to hype Bai Liang — they want to use this top-tier celebrity as a model example.

Telling everyone: traffic really works! Don't believe it? Just look at Bai Liang — joined a movie nobody had faith in, brought it so much traffic and attention, and helped it achieve such terrifying box-office numbers.

This is the one time the industry has truly united.

Because there's profit to be made, because the pie can grow — who knows, they might lure in a few more gullible capital bigwigs to wave their cash around chasing other traffic stars.

At this moment, for now, no one is attacking Bai Liang.

Even other top-tier or second-tier traffic stars, no matter how much they disliked him, wouldn't sing a different tune.

Too bad — most likely it won't do much good.

Or rather, the number of people who "take the bait" won't be that large. More likely, a few things like War Bears, War Tigers, War Dogs will pop up.

After all, "Wolf Warrior 2" wasn't the only film released at the same time — there was also "Eternal Love." Bai Liang is the positive example; Yang Yang is the typical negative one.

Today's capital isn't as easy to fool as the coal-boss-era investors of the past.

Do those guys online romanticizing the coal-boss era really miss the creative freedom of those days?

Purely because the capital entering the market now isn't as easy to scam!

Still, other traffic contestants will indeed get a few more opportunities — once some people "get scammed," they'll discover that traffic might be useful, but not that useful.

In short, after "Wolf Warrior 2" broke five billion at the box office, a very peculiar phenomenon appeared online.

One group started attacking Wu Jing, while another group started hyping Bai Liang.

These two groups seemed to be on the same side, but also not entirely.

The male lead and the male supporting role of one movie received two completely different treatments.

One was being hated by the entire internet, the other was being hyped by the entire internet.

Wu Jing's reaction to this was: What the hell, this is absurd!

Of course he wouldn't hold any grudge against Bai Liang over it, but he definitely needed to have a good rant with him about the whole thing.

No errors in any chapter — first release, full content, all in one place!

This is too ridiculous! How is anyone supposed to feel balanced about this~

Bai Liang: Your movie pulled in so much box office, how is anyone else supposed to feel balanced? Of course they've got to come after you.

Perfectly reasonable.

—

When Bai Liang returned to the "The Story of Minglan" set, he was greeted with a warm welcome from the entire crew.

Nobody cared that he'd taken such a long leave — one that had even brought filming to a halt for several days.

If it had been anyone else, the production company would've probably called them out online.

But facing Bai Liang, the entire directing team beamed from ear to ear the moment they saw him! The producers were coming over to toast him!

After all, who could've imagined that a top-tier celebrity could actually level up his status while in the middle of filming~

"Top-tier celebrity" and "leveling up" — these two words together just sound weird.

He's already top-tier — how can he still level up?

The answer is: he can!

One could say that after Lu Han's official announcement, that position of undisputed top-tier celebrity is probably gradually shifting onto Bai Liang.

Maybe someday in the future, the "Four Top-Tier Celebrities" Yang Yang longs for will really come to pass.

Except it won't be him pushing someone out — it'll become one super, four bigs, three smalls.

Of course, if Bai Liang's rise is a bit slower, he can wait a few more years — someone will get caught.

But then new faces will join the top-tier celebrity challenge.

"Wow! Our male lead is back!"

Everyone was welcoming Bai Liang back to filming, and everyone felt they could ride his coattails — only Sister Zhao was being passive-aggressive.

Still, Bai Liang understood her well enough to know she just liked talking like that—the real meaning was: "I've missed you to death~"

The result was that he confidently translated it as—

"Miss you, my ass!"

Big Sister Zhao grabbed Bai Liang's ear, then suddenly let go. "Oh my, can't just yank on it anymore—you're the star of a five-billion-box-office film now, aren't you impressive."

Hearing that, Bai Liang wasn't pleased. "Sister, the movie's still in theaters. It'll definitely pass that number in the end."

"That number?"

Big Sister Zhao nearly lost it on the spot—that was five billion!

God knew how much she wished that Nazha role had been hers. Letting her imagination run wild a little wasn't too much to ask.

Probably every older sister or young lady who knew Bai Liang and was on decent terms with him had indulged in that same fantasy.

Whose fault was it but Wu Jing's big mouth, going around saying "Nazha came in at the last minute to put out the fire, the original female lead ran off, blah blah blah blah."

Just like when he used to brag about Bai Liang being loyal and righteous, he seized on Nazha and praised her to the skies.

The other female artists who heard it were so envious their eyes turned red!

Just picking up the female lead of a movie with such absurd box office, for free?!

Damn, "fortune favors fools" became painfully concrete in that moment.

Luckily, most of the young ladies still had clear heads. If they really thought about it carefully, would they themselves be willing to gamble without taking a fee?

Worst case, a few months of work for nothing; if the movie flopped too, they'd also have to carry the reputation of starring in a stinker.

Nazha had truly gone in prepared to walk away with nothing.

Big Sister Zhao figured this out pretty quickly, but she still couldn't help feeling envious. "Your little girlfriend has really ascended now—got everything I've ever wanted, easy as pie."

"Sister, that sounds like there's something hidden in your words."

This time, Big Sister Zhao didn't glare at him; she just gave him a long, quiet look.

"Get back to filming, won't you? Don't you still have to rush to the next crew?"

"True, I don't have much time left on my end either."

"What was your next project again? That Great Ming Splendor thing?"

"Oh, that's still a ways off. The next one is also a movie."

"What movie?"

"A sci-fi film."

"Pfft!"

Big Sister Zhao's face said it all: Are you fucking kidding me?!

"What the hell are you playing at? Not taking your own career seriously, huh? Even if they pay you the penalty, don't do it! Every sci-fi outfit in this country is selling dog meat under a sheep's head—it's a trap."

"This one's a bit different. I know what I'm doing."

"You know what you're doing, yet you still whip that thing out in the living room—"

"Hey hey hey, don't bring that up!"

Seeing Bai Liang "break," Big Sister Zhao burst out laughing. "I'm holding this secret over you for life!"

Bai Liang did a little bear shrug. "Name your price~"

"Mm, wait until next year's Spring Festival slot. After my starring film Woman Kingdom hits theaters, we'll talk."

"What, if the box office is a hit you'll treat yourself?"

The word "treat" sounded awfully odd somehow.

Big Sister Zhao shook her head. If the box office took off, her workload would only increase.

Still, regarding the sci-fi film matter, she wanted to nag Bai Liang about it some more.

But the guy shook his head like "la la la, I'm not listening, turtle reciting scripture," and ran off.

It made Big Sister Zhao stamp her foot on the spot in frustration!

It really felt like: you have to beat your little brother while he's young—once he grows up, you can't beat him and you can't even catch him.

Yeah, if only she'd met him when she was a bit younger.

In fact, under such intense scrutiny, the news that Bai Liang was about to join the crew of The Wandering Earth was no secret anymore.

His peers said nothing, just silently hit the like button.

Who says this sci-fi film is bad? This sci-fi film is amazing!

Watching Bai Liang rampage alongside Wu Jing, his top-tier momentum was getting scarier by the day—then they turned around and saw this guy about to "cut off his own arms."

Lovely lovely lovely, pop the champagne!

People who'd held off on slandering Bai Liang for their own self-interest now felt even less urgency to go after him.

Why bother? He'd hand it to them himself.

Instead, it was the final episode of the soon-to-air Divas Hit the Road 3, for which the production team had already started hyping like crazy.

Riding the now red-hot wave of Wolf Warrior 2, it effortlessly trended on the hot search list several times before even airing.

A variety-show CP about to reach its ultimate sublimation on the show.

Perhaps no future program would ever be able to replicate it, unless Bai Liang decided to stir up trouble again.

——

Third watch, fourteen thousand words. See you tomorrow, muah.

Begging for monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)