Chapter 251: No, You

"Aren't you saying you weren't interested in the Spring Festival Gala before? Then why did you suddenly show up? Perfect—we'll have New Year's dinner together after the show."

After briefly greeting Yang Yang and Miss Jing Tian, Na Zha sidled up to Bai Liang and lowered her voice, excitedly planning the arrangements for Spring Festival Gala day.

Chirping like a skylark.

That overflowing joy was palpable to everyone.

Her face was full of anticipation.

Na Zha: Two people spending the New Year together, hehe~

But Bai Liang clearly had thought of more details than she had—for instance, the staff Na Zha had overlooked due to her love-struck state: "We could reserve a table in advance. You've got assistants and such, right? Everyone can eat together."

Assistants and others: Are we even people? Are we really people?!

Na Zha stuck out her little tongue. "Oh no, I accidentally forgot!"

Of course, it was just an oversight for now—when she actually started planning, she swore she wouldn't leave them out.

Everyone worked hard this year~

As "Sister Na Zha," she planned to give out extra red envelopes to her own team.

Hmm, I might as well include Bai Liang's team staff too.

His people taking red envelopes from me? Totally reasonable!

Na Zha declared she was very generous!

While chatting about this, Bai Liang also glanced toward Miss Jing Tian and Yang Yang.

Just like when inviting someone to dinner, you casually ask the colleague beside you: "Want to join?"

Yang Yang: I have zero interest in your New Year's dinner! Can you just start fighting already?!

Miss Jing Tian: I'm going home for the New Year~ Who are you people?

Though she thought that, Miss Jing Tian still unconsciously added: "I know a restaurant with excellent New Year's dinner."

"Oh wow, you're quite the expert!"

Bai Liang's eyes lit up—he counted "knowing how to order takeout" as one of his skills, and exchanging tips with a fellow enthusiast was definitely excellent.

"Just a little bit, really. How many people are there? I'll book the New Year's dinner."

Since the words were already out, Miss Jing Tian decided to go along with it—even though she really wanted to go home for the New Year. Ugh~

Yet right now, despite her usual image of being cute and easygoing, she unexpectedly showed a hint of competitiveness.

For some reason, she just couldn't stand Na Zha!

She didn't like her!

She didn't even bother thinking of a reason—she just didn't like her.

Just like falling for someone doesn't need a clear reason—you feel it, and that's enough.

But Na Zha looked at Miss Jing Tian with confusion. "Sister Tian Tian, your family lives right in Yanjing, right? Don't you need to go home and be with them?"

"I'm from Shaanxi," Miss Jing Tian replied firmly.

Yang Yang: Yes, yes! That's right! Push harder!

Na Zha frowned slightly—she thought Miss Jing Tian was being ungrateful. You've been given a way out, just take it.

Why are you forcing yourself to join our New Year's dinner? What's it got to do with you?

But the title "Flower of Human Fortune" made Na Zha hesitate slightly, so she didn't want to say anything too harsh.

Instead, she changed tactics: "Can I invite my sister and mom too?"

This was directed at Bai Liang.

He naturally had no objection: "Of course. The New Year is about family reunion."

"What about you?" Na Zha asked happily.

Bai Liang pointed at himself: "Me? My parents will probably be happy this year—they rarely get a year where I don't come home and mess things up."

"You're exaggerating! No parent could ever dislike their own child!" Na Zha patted him, correcting him.

"Love and annoyance can coexist. I've always been casual with my parents since childhood, but my grandmother might miss me more."

Hearing this, Na Zha immediately perked up: "Then bring your grandma too~"

"No, that won't work. My family's huge—lots of people gather for the New Year. If I took her away alone, what would that look like?"

"Then just bring your sister and mom. Too many people isn't good—I counted the numbers, exactly one table."

Exactly one table?

That doesn't add up~

Bai Liang looked at Miss Jing Tian—her and her entourage wouldn't fit at one table.

Na Zha: I didn't count her at all! Hope she has some sense—this is a family dinner. What's an outsider doing butting in?

But when she turned around, she found Miss Jing Tian also counting fingers on her hand, looking puzzled: "Huh? One table won't fit your mom and sister—you didn't count your dad?"

At those words, Na Zha's face darkened instantly—she thought it was deliberate!

Even when she had openly fought with Di Li Re Ba, the woman never used this tactic against her.

What kind of "Flower of Human Fortune" is this? Die already! I'm going to kill you today!

Na Zha bit her lip hard, her whole body tensing: "My father is dead. What are you trying to say?!"

Miss Jing Tian:?!!

"Are you serious?"

Her first reaction was disbelief.

But the next second, she saw Na Zha's eyes blazing like fire, as if she was about to charge over and slap her.

Miss Jing Tian's fighting spirit instantly doused, like cold water thrown over her.

She visibly panicked, instinctively stepping back in a practiced retreat, her small face filled with guilt and embarrassment.

"That… I… I didn't mean to, I didn't know…"

At this moment, Yang Yang had quietly shuffled to the door.

On one hand, his bladder was about to burst; on the other, he felt the situation had spiraled out of control.

This wasn't the catfight he wanted to watch—hopefully nothing bloody would break out.

Girls fighting might be entertaining, but if these two actually started brawling backstage at CCTV, it'd cause a huge scene.

You'd get splattered with blood you could never wash off.

Open the door quietly, slip away quietly.

But before he could bolt, he saw Bai Liang not retreating a single step—instead, he bravely "a" forward.

He first pulled Na Zha aside and said something, then waved at Miss Jing Tian—what happened after that he didn't know, because Yang Yang was barely holding his pants.

Compared to getting splattered with blood, peeing his pants might be even worse.

Has any entertainer ever lost control of their bladder or bowels?

If news like this got out, he'd definitely be hung up and displayed.

After he ran to the bathroom and finally relieved himself, he came back and paced twice outside the lounge door, hearing no loud commotion inside, then pushed the door open.

Mainly because there were plenty of people in the hallway—he'd been loitering there too long and it was suspicious.

When he stepped inside and saw the scene, his whole body froze.

Fortunately, he still had some sense—he quickly shut the door behind him.

At least people outside couldn't see what was happening.

Right before his eyes was an absolutely explosive sight!

Bai Liang had his left arm around Na Zha and his right arm around Miss Jing Tian.

Na Zha leaned against Bai Liang's shoulder, tears streaming down, eyes red and swollen—her pitiful look was nothing short of heartrending.

She, who was already a beauty queen, seemed at this moment to have shattered her own beauty ceiling.

She was truly beautiful—so beautiful you couldn't help but stare.

On the other side, Miss Jing Tian's eyes were red too, clearly from the same reason—her cheeks puffed up like little buns, both wounded and full of remorse.

These three were stuck together like conjoined twins!

"That… did I come at a bad time?" Yang Yang muttered awkwardly. Bai Liang gave him a deadpan look. "No, you came at the perfect time."

"Huh?!"

"Lock the door, or I'll break your legs!"

This "threat" was too terrifying—Yang Yang, whose legs were already short, couldn't imagine what would happen if they got broken.

After confirming the door was locked, he nodded at Bai Liang.

He, who had been clashing with the other just moments ago, now looked incredibly docile.

Of course, instinct still made him put on a front.

He wore the look of someone who understood everything—the know-it-all expression.

Who understands drama and love triangles better than me?

In reality, his mind was a mess—this scene had surpassed his wildest imagination.

A top-tier little flower, a famed 85s flower—both of them, fresh and vibrant, were being hugged by Bai Liang at once?

He swept them both?!"

Bai Liang: You guessed it… you're full of shit!

Not a single word, not a single line, not a single detail—none of it makes sense!

Even though Yang Yang was pretending to be composed, his eyes had already given him away.

One glance told you exactly what he was thinking.

But Bai Liang wouldn't bother explaining—not because Yang Yang wasn't worthy to hear it, but simply because he wanted him to envy him a little longer~

Men, you know.

Of course, if Yang Yang was so clueless he actually dared to ask out loud…

Then Bai Liang would definitely toss him this line: "The way of a true man—I'll tell you, but you still wouldn't understand."

This line comes from Peng Yingyu in The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.

It was Bai Liang's most brutal insult in his arsenal.

Mainly targeted at men.

He'd used it on Na Zha before, and the girl had immediately pouted, saying she was just a little girl.

Oh right—why was he hugging both at once? Mainly because he had two hands. What a coincidence.

In truth, Na Zha's emotional breakdown was perfectly normal—after all, someone had attacked her using her deceased family.

But Miss Jing Tian wasn't any better off.

She'd almost certainly wake up in the middle of the night, sit bolt upright, slap herself twice, and scream, "I'm such a terrible person!"

Look—Na Zha had already calmed down, but Miss Jing Tian still hadn't emerged.

She was trapped in guilt and self-reproach—this sister had probably never in her life used such a vicious way to attack someone.

She'd gone full mutual destruction.

While dealing a targeted strike against the "enemy," her own conscience had shattered into a thousand pieces.

But women are truly miraculous creatures.

Under Bai Liang's mediation as the "international organization," this misunderstanding was naturally cleared up.

Miss Jing Tian sincerely apologized to Na Zha, and Na Zha believed her—she really hadn't known, it was just an accidental hit to a weak point that triggered a critical strike.

After an emotional exchange, the conflict was resolved—but they still couldn't stand looking at each other.

I don't like the other person!

Both of them clearly have that slightly ditzy-cute vibe, and their lanes overlap a fair bit, so Bai Liang had originally thought these two might actually be on the same wavelength.

But the result was complete, total mutual repulsion.

So it is said, the book called "girls" really does get thicker the more you read it.

During the next two Spring Festival Gala rehearsals, Nazha and Miss Jing Tian would simply dodge each other on sight.

Even if they happened to run into each other, they'd exchange a greeting that was awkward yet still polite.

That was all.

This matter even affected the filming once they returned to the crew.

Of course, it wasn't a negative effect.

The character Sun Ruowei, after some adjustments to her character design and the script, naturally still started out in a romance with Zhu Zhanji, played by Bai Liang.

But as time went on, the imperial youth gradually began to turn into a political creature, and the bright, sunny girl also gradually began her transformation toward that "demon empress."

What a coincidence!

At this point, Sister Tian Tian's tangled, complicated, even slightly panicked state of mind happened to line up perfectly with the character's arc.

However, Miss Jing Tian's behavior of deliberately keeping some distance from Bai Liang back at the crew looked like she'd seen through a scumbag's true colors and was drawing a clear line with him.

Yet it directly backfired.

Originally, the rest of the crew hadn't thought there was anything particularly ambiguous between Bai Liang and Miss Jing Tian.

She wasn't running over to Bai Liang's trailer, and whenever others saw the two of them together, they were almost always discussing the scene or chatting about the script.

It really couldn't be tied to any "dating Gouba" business; in this drama Miss Jing Tian never "flicked her forked tongue at Bai Liang~"

It even caused quite a few people in the crew to revise their opinion of Miss Jing Tian significantly.

The prejudice in people's hearts is a mountain.

Back when she debuted and earned the title "Flower of Worldly Wealth and Splendor," Miss Jing Tian's "resource-backed" flavor was just too strong! It was easy for peers to be somewhat biased against her.

But this time, looking at it — putting everything else aside, her attitude toward acting was absolutely maxed out!

Her diligence was downright scary; it was only when besieged by a group of "maniacs" that her performance came off slightly weaker, but it was absolutely not garbage acting.

Staying in character while also having bright spots — this already made the director quite satisfied.

At the same time, the lead actor and actress's shared drive to pour themselves wholeheartedly into their craft had also become something of a feel-good story on set.

But after they came back from this Spring Festival Gala rehearsal, the flavor changed.

The two of them looked exactly like a couple who had dated and then broken up.

Of course, within the crew this was just gossip fodder; when people were bored they might tease and gossip about it a little.

A few of the actresses would even secretly have "passionate discussions" in private: did these two actually date or not?

Women's intuition told them they definitely had dated.

But certain oddities also made them feel it didn't quite look like a normal post-dating situation.

Who wouldn't love chatting about a little story starring a top-tier idol and a famous "85 Flower"~

However, for the production side of this drama, it was practically like "the sky had fallen."

Wait — you two are for real?

If you are for real, could you maybe wait until after this drama finishes airing before breaking up? When it airs, the two of you still have to do joint promotions.

Originally, the production side of "Great Ming: Wind and Splendor" figured that Bai Liang and Miss Jing Tian had just co-starred in a film together, playing a couple in it.

When the TV drama aired, it was bound to ride that wave.

Of course, with Nazha and Dilraba sitting there as two "mountains," they hadn't really expected these two to go public — but could they at least not pull this stunt!

However, just as the production side was wondering whether they should call these two in for a chat to get a rough sense of the situation—

A "bomb" was tossed out at the end of 2017.

"Shuangzi's Book"

—

Two updates today; I still managed to write them at five in the morning, sorry for dragging it this late.

But it's the last day, so how about giving me your monthly tickets anyway.

Muah~.

(End of chapter)