Chapter 261: The One and Only Unlucky Guy

Meng Jie: Who said Xinjiang is full of Gulnaza and Dilireba everywhere?

That's total nonsense~

As for outside the crew, there were only a few young men running stalls selling snacks, chattering away in dialects she couldn't understand at all.

Mencius was at a bit of a loss for how to tell the guy: she only wanted a tiny bit~

Such a huge slab of qiegao—how could she possibly finish it all?

She had come out with a few girls from the crew to buy snacks; otherwise, alone, she really wouldn't have dared to take on the legendary qiegao.

After all, the thing had too fearsome a reputation. If the guy selling it outside the crew hadn't clearly marked the price, they probably wouldn't have dared to come ask either.

A few greedy girls gestured and bargained with the young man—two sides talking past each other completely.

Luckily the Xinjiang guy had no intention of swindling these little girls; otherwise, he'd have turned into a qiegao assassin and probably made them cry.

One cut and you'll weep, two cuts and you'll break down~

But the next second, the Xinjiang guy, who had been grinning happily, went dumbfounded—because Mencius, standing at the very front, suddenly had big teary eyes.

Hey, adasi, I haven't even cut it yet!

You start crying before I cut?

You can't haggle like this, buddy—we're running a small business here.

"What's wrong, Xiao Meng?" Her companions noticed something off about Meng Jie and hurriedly asked.

Meng Jie quickly rubbed her eyes. "Missing home~"

Homesick over buying qiegao? Those two don't really seem connected.

By the time she finally finished buying her qiegao, the Xinjiang guy let out a sigh of relief.

But just then, a familiar voice came from behind: "Is that little bit really enough to eat?"

"Ahhhh!"

Before Mencius's expression could even react—or rather, while she was still in shock—the girls who'd come out shopping with her couldn't hold back their screams.

Who would have thought you'd run into Bai Liang here in Xinjiang!

After the excitement and screaming, one "clever girl" blurted out instinctively: "Teacher Bai, are you in Xinjiang to meet your girlfriend's parents?"

Bai Liang:???

Good lord, he hadn't even thought of that angle.

Xinjiang, for him, was indeed a bit of a "sensitive" spot.

After all, on today's Simplified Chinese internet, the rumors and stories about him and those two top-tier Xinjiang beauties had spread like wildfire.

Him coming to Xinjiang—it was hard not to make people think he was here to meet one of their families.

After all, nobody knew that Nazha and Reba's families weren't actually in Xinjiang—one side was in Shanghai, the other in Beijing.

They'd moved away long ago.

"Nonsense! He's here to visit our crew!"

Before Bai Liang could explain that rather awkward question, Meng Jie stepped up first, declaring that her little hedgehog was hers to defend.

Even though this was Nazha and Reba's home turf, they weren't here—so of course it was up to her.

"Right, I'm indeed here to visit the crew, and also to pick up one of my leading ladies." Bai Liang said to Meng Jie with a smile.

Although Li Yitong had a bit of an evil-kitten vibe lately, her relationship with Meng Jie was still solid.

When Meng Jie had complained to her about still having a few scenes left to film and worrying she couldn't join the "Joy of Life" crew early, Li Yitong had sighed in a "frustrated-but-fond" way—just this little thing and you're stuck overthinking it?

You don't have the nerve to call in "reinforcements"? Sister Tongtong will help you~

Of course, Li Yitong hadn't expected that top-tier star Bai Liang would be bored enough to make a special trip all the way to Xinjiang.

If she, an insider, hadn't seen it coming, Meng Jie certainly hadn't either.

After a quick greeting, Bai Liang chatted with the qiegao vendor in fluent Uyghur for a few lines, and the guy broke into a brilliant smile and started cutting like crazy.

Because Bai Liang had bought out every last piece of qiegao on his cart.

Adasi, big spender!

Because Bai Liang was so generous, the vendor didn't even mind that this scoundrel was simultaneously linked romantically to two Xinjiang starlets.

Mm, Bai Liang was actually pretty well-known around these parts in Xinjiang.

But although he was well-known, the young men here might not be too fond of him.

They'd have to be crazy to like him.

If it were only one, plus the fact that Bai Liang spoke Uyghur so smoothly, he'd actually have an easy time winning people over.

But it just so happened to be two

The qiegao vendor's first reaction upon seeing him was to reach for his knife.

Then cut him a massive slab of qiegao.

After all, he really did pay way too much.

When visiting a crew, you generally can't show up empty-handed. Bai Liang figured this qiegao looked pretty good~ he wanted to try some himself.

And the scene of him chatting away in Uyghur sent those girls into another round of adoring squeals—they sure knew how to play along.

These days, the fact that Bai Liang speaks Uyghur isn't much of a secret in showbiz; his "encrypted calls" with Nazha and Reba have pretty much been cracked.

Picking up Uyghur that fluently in such a short time further cemented his reputation as a top student.

Luckily, Zhang Tian'ai didn't spill the beans about Bai Liang during the Japan trip, otherwise the fact that he speaks Japanese would probably have trended too.

Just an unremarkable language prodigy, that's all.

Gotta learn foreign languages!

Though Uyghur doesn't really count as a foreign language—it's more of a dialect.

Bai Liang suddenly showing up to visit the "Ever Night" crew naturally caused quite a stir inside the set.

Many people were now looking at Meng Ziyi with a gaze quite different from before.

"Miss, you hid it pretty deep!"

Let me put it this way—if those marketing accounts got wind of this, they'd probably spin it into all sorts of wild stories.

"Bai Liang Travels Thousands of Miles to Xinjiang, All for Her."

Just a headline like that would instantly let Meng Ziyi gobble up all the traffic.

Because the keyword "Xinjiang" directly links to Nazha and Rebar.

Any normal person would be curious—who did Bai Liang go to Xinjiang for?

It had to be Nazha, right? The two of them have been on variety shows together, filmed movies together—Nazha barely even bothers to hide it in front of the camera.

Or Rebar would make sense too; just the spin that's exclusively Bai Liang's seems to explain everything already.

What?! Who is Meng Ziyi?!

The show's effect was instantly there.

Although getting smug over something like this does seem a bit shallow and vain, Meng Jie says she's only human too.

And although she looks rather sexy, with a bit of that "mature bad woman" vibe, her age actually still falls in the little-girl category.

Oh right, right now she actually hasn't even graduated from college yet!

A proper student girl through and through.

When she met Bai Liang, she had just started college.

So what's wrong with a little girl being a bit vain~

She wasn't nearly that precocious; even though she'd been through cyberbullying back then, because there was always someone to cling to and comfort her, her mental resilience never got tempered that strong.

The bumps and difficulties in life can indeed help a person grow fast, but if given the choice, who wouldn't prefer a smooth-sailing life~

Eating hardship when there's none to eat is a sickness.

So she happily took Bai Liang around, introducing every this-and-that person in the crew.

Bearing everyone's "so that's how it is" looks of surprise, or their "uncertain and suspicious" attitudes, made Meng Jie feel like she'd taken the first bite of ice cream in the middle of summer—blissfully satisfied.

Especially when she had to put on an act and say: "We're good friends, okay~"

Blech!

She was internally disgusted with herself, but the smile on her face grew even more radiant.

The way she looked at Bai Liang was practically about to brim over with water~ so rippling it was. "Jie, your drool's about to drip from your eyes~"

"Huh?"

Meng Ziyi instinctively wiped at her mouth; the back of her hand felt the springiness of her lips, but there was clearly no drool.

Then she glared at her assistant—bold of you, daring to file a false report.

But the assistant said: tone it down a bit, don't be so brazen about it.

She was afraid Meng Ziyi wouldn't be able to hold it in even in broad daylight on set

And after Bai Liang went around exchanging greetings, he also chatted for a bit with that famous director's son, Arthur.

At this point Arthur isn't even a legal adult yet~ he's a post-2000 kid.

But you can tell his family discipline is pretty strict; there's a tightly wound feeling about him.

When facing Bai Liang, he seemed rather nervous

In this respect he's a bit like Yang Yang, that "stiff prince."

But Yang Yang's stiffness gives off: I want all of you to know how handsome I am.

While Arthur's kind makes people feel he thinks he's handsome.

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

Actually all that was still fine, but maybe it's because Director Chen is just too strict or something, Bai Liang always felt this kid's eyes were weak, a bit lifeless, no sparkle, power, or emotion to be seen.

If you called it gentle, it wasn't that either; it was closer to the feeling of a blind person.

In a certain sense, Arthur counts as one of the entertainment circle's unlucky fools.

He really wants to be famous, wants to be top-tier, but just can't keep up.

At first they marketed him like Kris Wu—didn't work;

When campus dramas were all the rage, he starred in the movie version of Secret Fruit—flopped;

Later when kid variety shows blew up, he went on a show like Where Are We Going, Dad?, then domestic regulations banned marketing minors—didn't work either;

At the current point in time, he's boarded the big male-lead drama wave, seemingly wanting to ride it hard for traffic, but apparently this drama isn't making much splash either.

In the future, he went on to star in the movie version of the campus drama With You—flopped;

Then when BL adaptations blew up, he starred in Immortality, sold the homoeroticism hard, and then BL adaptations got banned from airing;

Then when iQiyi's suspense theater was doing great, he did a suspense drama with Best Actor Liao Fan—flopped again.

Every time a hot trend blew up in the entertainment circle, Arthur showed up, and the moment he arrived, the trend went "snap"—shut dead.

That one-of-a-kind streak of bad luck, no one else has it.

Later on, he was finally starting to look like he might catch fire, and then it got exposed that he was sleeping with fans—oh wait, no, dating female fans~

I told you to copy Kris Wu's face, not to copy that!

Though these two's tastes are both pretty picky.

One likes them young, the other likes them older than himself.

Judging from this point, Arthur's problem is much smaller—at least it's not illegal.

And right now Arthur is still in the middle stretch of his streak of flops; there's plenty more hardship waiting for him~

The entertainment circle really does have some mysticism to it; even Director Chen's son can't just become famous that easily.

Maybe it's because he was born in Rome, so every step he takes takes him further from Rome?

Oh right, Arthur at this point is actually quite interesting.

Speaking of which, Mencius has secretly come to "tip off" the news — nothing makes for better gossip than chatting about the drama crew.

In the *Ever Night* crew, the biggest piece of gossip naturally revolves around the one with the biggest background and connections — Arthur.

"He seems to be secretly imitating you!"

"Huh? Imitating what about me?"

"Last time at a crew dinner, the way he held his wine glass looked really familiar." Mencius could barely hold it in. "Did you notice today that the range of his smile also looks kind of familiar?"

Bai Liang: The capybara's signature warm-guy smile?

Damn, Arthur's even stealing that?!

Mencius says other people might not pick up on it right away, but how could she possibly miss it~

The range of motion was practically identical — most likely he'd practiced it by looking at Bai Liang's photos.

Hearing this, Bai Liang's expression turned strange. He suddenly recalled the rumor about Arthur — that he was desperate to produce one of those "effortlessly viral iconic shots."

Without a doubt, in the entertainment circle these past two years, no one has produced more "viral iconic shots" than Bai Liang.

But that kind of thing demands an air of effortlessness.

Bai Liang's jewelry falling into the champagne glass was because his hand slipped; Chen Weiting standing on the escalator in that shot was because he was desperate for the bathroom, legs clamped together — it really has that feeling of "the piece was heaven-made, a clever hand stumbled upon it by chance."

Arthur forcing it like this obviously won't work.

Once something becomes deliberate, it actually falls short.

Even when Bai Liang walked out of that burning car back then — sure, there was a bit of showing off in mind — it genuinely wasn't forced. Those moves came out of him instinctively.

As for that viral iconic shot in the wilderness, that was really the kitten's doing — it was the one who shaped the whole vibe.

No matter how much Arthur imitates, he can never become a second capybara.

But he did successfully pique Bai Liang's interest. Kid, want to learn? I'll teach you! —

Originally, the *Ever Night* crew hadn't filmed any of Mencius's scenes for several days.

But the moment Bai Liang arrived, that very evening her scenes were scheduled — and they were scenes opposite Arthur.

Bai Liang simply grabbed a little stool and went over to put pressure on Meng Jie.

"You good, Meng Jie? It's been a while since we filmed together, don't drop the ball. If your acting's too weak and the director of the *Joy of Life* crew chews you out, I'm not taking responsibility."

Hearing this, Mencius's lips puckered right up — and she immediately got "criticized" by the director: "Xiao Meng, you're playing Ye Hongyu right now, stop acting cute."

Meng Jie:. Did I just act cute?!

But seeing the director's kindly smiling yet absolutely certain expression, she figured she probably, maybe, possibly had indeed acted cute.

Outrageous!

She'd thought the little hedgehog came to back her up, but instead he came to "bully" her along with everyone else?

She hurriedly apologized, reined in her expression, and tried to get into character fast.

Fortunately, Meng Jie actually does have some real acting chops — just like before, even when she was being hated on, hardly anyone said her acting was bad.

In that earlier *Legend of the Condor Heroes*, even when people said Meng Jie broke immersion, it was only about her looks and sexy lips — not about how badly she acted.

And as everyone knows, when Bai Liang is around the young ladies he's close with, he can bring out their best acting.

He can even carry Nazha along.

So Arthur instantly felt the pressure.

Arthur: What the hell?! The intensity just shot up?

He instinctively turned to look at Bai Liang, who was sitting nearby eating Hami melon, and thought: this guy is truly terrifying. No wonder he's my biggest rival in the future!

The guy didn't even exert himself — just stood in as a "Stand user" — and yet he's putting this much pressure on me?

Even though he hasn't turned eighteen yet this year, Arthur still has plenty of ambition.

Surveying the four top-tier stars, Lu Han cut himself down with his own hand, now in constant decline — a corpse in a tomb.

Wu Yifan suffered defeat after defeat at Bai Liang's hands, his endorsements damaged, scandals clinging to him, without even the courage to fight again, forced to swagger around in niche circles — fierce in looks, faint in heart, full of schemes, lacking in resolve.

Li Yifeng seems to have boundless prospects, his development steady — but in truth it's empty fame without substance, not worth mentioning!

Therefore... in this world, among all heroes, only you and I remain.

Bai Liang, who was eating Hami melon: Why does this kid's eyes look a little chuunibyou?

Interesting — let's play with him a bit.

(End of chapter)