Chapter 278: Wanting to Keep It All to Himself

Xiao Shui once again set out with her people!

Now the group under her management at Sina Entertainment had gradually figured out the action patterns of their young editor-in-chief.

She wasn't all that fond of doing things personally — she just liked doing things personally when it came to Bai Liang.

It gave off the strong sense that if Bai Liang farted, she'd lean in to sniff what it smelled like.

She's not old, she's female, and having the habit of chasing stars is pretty normal.

However, even though Xiao Shui often "used public resources for private purposes," it was quite miraculous that it didn't affect everyone's KPIs, and instead brought positive returns.

Today she brought them to the cinema to do interviews.

In today's cinemas, the movie with the most screenings was, of course, "How Long Will I Love U."

With the most screenings, it also reaped the highest attendance rate — the posture of a blockbuster hit was already on full display.

Xiao Shui and the others weren't here to interview the audience about their feelings after watching the movie.

They weren't film critics either; the focus of this research interview was mainly to find out why the audience chose to watch this movie.

Setting aside the portion who were obviously fans coming to support unconditionally, they actually paid more attention to the casual passersby.

"I'm not a Bai Liang fan, I don't chase stars, I just happened to come watch a movie, and figured his film should be pretty decent."

"His reputation's pretty good, isn't it? Seems like he's never been in a bad movie — picking him shouldn't be a landmine."

"Saw that Miss Jing Tian was in it and didn't want to watch at first, but heard the film's reviews were okay."

"Just picking a romance to watch, I don't know anything about ratings or whatever, saw a clip online and it looked kind of interesting."

"."

Among the answers they got, many were "whatever," "picking one that feels reliable," "."

At first glance it might seem like not that many viewers were supporting Bai Liang, but being able to make most passersby choose a movie he starred in — in the industry, that's called box-office appeal.

Most traffic stars seem to have crazy high buzz and tons of fans, and can easily stir up a huge commotion online.

But if you actually get their fans to go to the cinema to support them, being able to bring in two or three hundred million at the box office already counts as a very impressive top-tier star, with extremely loyal fans — at the very least, their ability to spend money is quite something.

But whether a movie can blow up ultimately depends on that rather mystical thing: appeal to the general public.

When audiences see your name or face and are willing to buy a ticket to see what exactly you acted in — that quality is way too rare in the entertainment industry.

The key thing is, this top-tier star Bai Liang actually appeals to both men and women.

Plenty of male viewers wouldn't go so far as to say they like him, but at the very least they don't dislike him.

For a top-tier star to achieve this is already pretty outrageous.

Most men actually don't have much goodwill toward so-called top-tier male celebrities.

But Xiao Shui and the others also found the reason.

Bai Liang didn't "coddle" male passersby through his professional activities in the entertainment industry.

These people knew him and had some goodwill toward him purely because of his out-of-the-circle hobbies.

Ask them if they've watched Bai Liang's TV dramas, like the most popular one where he was the male lead, "Love O2O," eight out of ten haven't watched it at all, and one or two might have watched it with their girlfriend or wife.

But if you ask them whether they know some of Bai Liang's famous highlight clips, they can rattle them off like a household inventory.

The explosive racing, solo wilderness survival, skydiving with a girl.

During the interviews, some people even gave him the highest male compliment: "I'll give him that — he's legit."

The more she interviewed and researched, the more surprised Xiao Shui became — Bai Liang's appeal to the general public was actually this good?

That shouldn't be the case. Originally she thought, with this guy having so many scandals, his image in the eyes of passersby was probably just so-so, and there might even be quite a few people who disliked him.

But now it seemed that wasn't the case at all — his "hobbies" were pulling this much weight?

Obviously, Xiao Shui had always been quite skilled at steering the narrative. After she personally cooked up the trending topic #BaiLiangBoxOfficeAppeal#, her department's KPIs were clearly completed again.

At the same time, this topic also sparked extensive discussion both inside and outside the industry.

Don't underestimate it — the arguments online were actually pretty heated.

Under this kind of topic there were definitely tons of paid trolls lurking — to put it bluntly: Li Yifeng, stop hiding, we know it's you~

This guy was under insane pressure right now!

Five days into its release, "How Long Will I Love U" had already crossed 1.5 billion at the box office. Before long, it would be his "Animal World" turn to step up and show off.

Originally Li Yifeng's team thought their odds of winning were huge!

Who told Bai Liang to carry such a heavy load~ He brought along a Miss Jing Tian and you still want to flip the script?

And the female lead of Li Yifeng's "Animal World" was Zhou Dongyu — no matter how you look at it, she's way more reliable than Miss Jing Tian, right?

On one side, it's at minimum one plus one; on the other, they're dragging this dead weight along... however you look at it, the advantage is ours!

But the result was that the guy really did just stubbornly take off together with Miss Jing Tian

At the same time, Zhou Dongyu and Jing Boran's "Us and Them" had already been crushed flat. So here's the question: how much better than Jing Boran does Li Yifeng have to be to pull off a "great reversal"?

Although "Us and Them" had some shady moves that hurt its reputation, "How Long Will I Love U" was raking in box office that was skyrocketing day by day! Two billion was definitely not going to hold it back — it might even be able to touch that thirty-billion threshold.

If it weren't for "Wolf Warrior 2," thirty billion would basically be the current ceiling for domestic films!

Up to now, how many films in the country had broken thirty billion in total?

"Operation Red Sea," "Detective Chinatown 2," "The Mermaid."

That's it!

Just those three.

Forget thirty billion — how many films had even broken two billion?

Li Yifeng had been holding it in for so long, finally mustered up his courage, and was ready to make a stunning debut.

But he ended up crashing head-on into a massive one. This time there wasn't a Wu Jing around to let Bai Liang's competitor "save face."

Even Xu Zheng had recently started going "invisible" — he didn't even show up for roadshows.

The reason was simple: now he wasn't needed, and there was no need to jump out and "snatch credit" from Bai Liang, lest some self-media outlets force a comparison and say "How Long Will I Love U" had high box office thanks to him.

Xu Zheng: I don't want the credit, I just want the money.

But he still has a starring role in "Dying to Survive" coming up right after "Animal World" releases, and they'll hold advance screenings when the other side premieres.

Xu Zheng has already booked Bai Liang in advance to attend the premiere and show his support.

Big bro giving you a little drive-by carry — that's not too much, right?

Bai Liang: Actually there's no need to be like this toward Li Yifeng, I even feel a bit sorry for him.

Don't let the pressure get to him and have him rage-order "takeout" — doesn't he live in Chaoyang District?

What if he gets reported early. ——

Whether a movie can be a huge hit was never just the actors' credit — even Bai Liang didn't think so.

At most he has a little box-office draw, plus a "tiny bit" of luck bonus.

See, now privately he keeps saying the movie's huge success is all thanks to Sister Yanzi's marketing!

The cinema-confession marketing of "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" might just be comparable to the marketing of "The Ex-File 3," or even become an even more classic case study.

But Bai Liang really propped things up way more than those box-office-poison leads of "The Ex-File 3," covering up quite a bit of Sister Yanzi's "brilliance."

Sister Yanzi: Huh?! My contribution was that big?

Hearing this from Bai Liang's mouth, she really couldn't quite believe it — because her own Little Bai-ge just gives way too damn much emotional value.

Sister Yanzi even worries she won't be able to get married in the future. Even though she has no improper thoughts about Bai Liang, being around him keeps wildly raising her standards.

Actually Sister Yanzi's little test of skill this time really did achieve quite a decent result.

See, during Bai Liang's roadshow he even ran into an "on-the-spot confession."

Only it was a confession to him.

No one knows which female fan shouted, "Be my boyfriend, will you?"

Then Bai Liang's muscle memory kicked in on the spot and he casually agreed — sparking a wave of heckling and cheers from the crowd.

Of course, there weren't really that many people confessing in cinemas, but there were quite a lot of couples who were already together filming skits in cinemas. Especially after some influencers joined in, it was almost like starting a trend.

But this marketing also brought some "negative effects," especially after Bai Liang casually agreed to that female fan's request to "be her boyfriend."

She felt Miss Jing Tian's gaze at her growing more and more off!

Although the two of them had been "communicating" almost every night these past few days, and Miss Jing Tian's complexion seemed to have leveled up, looking more and more radiant.

But Bai Liang could sense there seemed to be some other meaning in her gaze.

She wanted to hog him all to herself.

This wasn't just shown in her gaze — it was visible in their daily life these past few days.

Even though she absolutely couldn't take care of people, she really enjoyed the feeling of "taking care of" Bai Liang's daily life.

Even just handing him a towel while he showered, or scrubbing his back a couple times, or fetching his slippers could give the young lady a very different kind of joy.

This kind of joy was completely different from physical pleasure!

The words "go public" kept spinning wildly in her mind, but the scene of her fighting with Na Zha backstage at the Spring Festival Gala kept holding back her impulse.

Otherwise this thin window paper would've been pierced long ago.

It was like a little angel and a little devil were fighting inside her.

No errors in any chapter, first release, full content, only here!

Little angel: Date? The official-announcement kind!

Little devil: Don't do it, he's a scumbag! You can't handle him!

The two thoughts were bombarding each other in her mind, currently at a stalemate.

And because she'd retreated too many times, even though the movie had pushed her forward a big step, charging ahead further — she just couldn't be that decisive.

The key to "breaking the deadlock" was either Miss Jing Tian being brave once more and speaking up first,

or Bai Liang taking the initiative. But the pity was, the him from two and a half years ago would've immediately wanted to take responsibility — that's exactly what he did with Meng Jie back then.

Forget going public with a relationship, wouldn't it be better to just go get the marriage certificate~

But now the young ladies have "trained" him so well — who told them to spoil Bai Liang so much, this pot can be equally divided among every one of them.

On the eighth day of the movie's release, the box office was already closing in on two billion.

Either today it breaks two billion, or tomorrow.

And at the bustling roadshow venue, the Wanda Plaza hosting the roadshow was packed with people — Bai Liang just had to wave his hand and it seemed to summon mountain-shaking, sea-roaring screams and cheers.

This roadshow had been announced in advance, so the turnout was especially large, even causing traffic jams in the surrounding area.

Under such an atmosphere, Miss Jing Tian still trailed behind Bai Liang like a little tail, step for step, and felt an inexplicable amount of pressure.

So she accidentally tripped, though luckily didn't fall.

And Bai Liang reacted lightning-fast, reaching out to steady her — the familiar touch of his palm from recent days made the young lady's heart flutter slightly.

But this interaction between the two of them in public made the surrounding crowd even more excited; the noisy voices made Miss Jing Tian feel her little head starting to sweat.

This feeling of being popular because of a movie. So awesome!

So even though she felt a slight shortness of breath, like when Bai Liang had gently gripped her neck last night, the effect was the same — a little external pressure could bring a bigger reaction and enjoyment.

She raised a smiling face, waved at the crowd, then continued being Bai Liang's little tail.

But staring at the back of his head, she zoned out.

"They all say you're a great sage, so do a reading — will someone confess to you again today?" When they reached the waiting room to wait their turn, Miss Jing Tian asked casually, as if making small talk.

As if asking about the fan who confessed to him on the spot earlier.

Huh?

But hearing this gave Bai Liang a strange sense of déjà vu.

It was like someone pointing a gun at a "master" and asking: "Master, do a reading — will you get shot today~"

No matter how he answered, it felt like a trap.

"I will~" Bai Liang said without hesitation.

At that moment, a kind of radiant smile that had never appeared before lit up Miss Jing Tian's face.

Hey! You said it yourself!

Miss Jing Tian: Hehe, I'm really a little genius~

But before she could speak, an assistant outside suddenly knocked and came in to tell the two of them that Unlike Ni Ni had come to cheer them on again.

Miss Jing Tian:???

A sudden bad premonition rose in her heart—the one who came meant no good!

No way, is Unlike Ni Ni sick in the head? Like some ghost that just won't leave, haunting everywhere—the whole roadshow has only been running for eight days, and this is already her second time showing up.

What does this movie have to do with her? She keeps pushing her way forward!

She clearly still has a boyfriend.

Bai Liang's mouth is so tight—if Unlike Ni Ni and Jing Boran haven't officially announced their breakup yet, then this bit of news won't be told to anyone by him.

The entertainment circle's tree hole—that's exactly what people call him.

"Hello~ Almost at two billion! Congrats, I happened to be nearby so I dropped by to join the fun."

Unlike Ni Ni's excuse was extremely clumsy—happened to be nearby? The whole area is jammed with traffic.

Besides, this big roadshow was announced three days in advance, so what other celebrity's schedule would clash on the same day at the same place?

But the reason Unlike Ni Ni used such a clumsy excuse was actually to express: I came on purpose~

When showing goodwill, being too subtle isn't a good thing—what if the other person really doesn't get it?

Bai Liang looks a bit "ditzy," and so many viewers say his acting is cute, so Unlike Ni Ni figures she'll just treat him like a "dummy" for now—at least that way she won't go wrong.

As for Miss Jing Tian's dissatisfied gaze beside them, she acted as if she hadn't seen it.

If you can't even handle this much thick-skinned behavior in the entertainment circle, then don't bother staying in it.

Since it was "happened to be nearby," after praising the absurd recent box office of "How Long Will I Love U," everyone naturally started chatting about the latest hot topics in the entertainment circle.

Without a doubt, in today's entertainment circle, aside from Bai Liang, the one with the hottest momentum is none other than that Dou Xiao Cui.

Just last night, director Xiao Gang Pao announced on Weibo that he was about to shoot the movie "Cell Phone 2," with the original cast from the first film, and posted side-by-side comparison photos from fifteen years ago and now.

Fan Fan Bingbing also posted on Weibo to promote "Cell Phone 2": "Care to learn about the Wu Yue from fifteen years ago? Thanks to Director Feng Xiaogang and Teacher Liu Zhenyun for entrusting Wu Yue to me once again."

A few hours later, Dou Xiao Cui opened fire!

The war of words began!

But for now, the matter hasn't blown up that big—it's just celebrities hurling insults online while everyone watches the show and weighs in on who's right.

Cold leftovers from fifteen years ago being dug up and rehashed, and some people still think it's a publicity stunt.

Even when people like Unlike Ni Ni chat about it in the industry, they don't think it'll amount to much.

Maybe they think it'll just fizzle out in the end~

Same old saying—if you're in the entertainment circle, can you really be afraid of being scolded?

"Oh right, let's grab a meal together after the roadshow~ Otherwise next time I want to ask you out it might be hard—you're really hot stuff now."

The dagger is revealed.

After laying all that groundwork and chatting about gossip for quite a while, Unlike Ni Ni finally stated her real purpose for coming today!

And this move was pretty underhanded too—right in front of Miss Jing Tian, only inviting Bai Liang alone.

As for whether she actually wants to invite him to dinner or something else, that's hard to say.

Maybe it's just the former, or maybe she'll adjust flexibly based on Bai Liang's attitude.

In any case, Miss Jing Tian's face was already struggling to hold it together.

When she was flopping, being mocked by people in the circle and scolded by netizens was one thing, but now that she'd latched onto Bai Liang's thigh and propped herself up, the situation hadn't improved at all—instead someone was right in her face!

The thigh she'd finally managed to grab! It was still warm and she hadn't even had her fill, and already someone wanted to snatch it?!

No way!

But when it came to catfights, she really wasn't skilled—backstage at the Spring Festival Gala she'd been completely tongue-tied by Na Zha's takedown, and even when she accidentally pulled out an "off-field ultimate move," it was completely broken through by Na Zha's tears.

She couldn't even win against Na Zha, so facing Unlike Ni Ni who was clearly out to cause trouble, she was probably even less of a match.

Then at this moment Sister Yanzi arrived.

She looked at Miss Jing Tian and Unlike Ni Ni inside with a strange expression, leaned close to Bai Liang's ear, and said: "Sister Na Zha is here."

(End of chapter)