Chapter 286: Can't Stay in One Place Forever

Speaking of guaranteed squad, Bai Liang immediately thought of that guy Wang Sicong—the other party had been nagging him about it all year.

But this clearly wasn't the right moment to chat about teaming up for games, watching Sister Yanzi's face, which had gone pale at first and then tightened up.

Anyone with eyes could tell—trouble seemed to have arrived!

The Misses who had been laughing and chatting moments ago now gradually sensed something was off.

They had never seen Sister Yanzi wear an expression like that.

At this moment, the only ones who still looked relatively calm were Bai Liang and his mother.

Sister Yanzi turned her head to look at the two of them—mother and son wore matching smiles, except one looked gentle and the other looked mild.

At this point Bai Liang didn't even need to speak; the words popped into Sister Yanzi's head on their own:

Do what you want to do.

"Dou Xiao Bai-ge, we need to get ready to be audited for taxes."

Bai Liang: Damn!

Sister Yanzi wasn't the type who, once pushed, became some all-rounded warrior—her flaws were actually pretty obvious.

Her sensitivity to film projects wasn't sharp enough; put bluntly, her eye in this area was a bit lacking—otherwise she wouldn't have been so reluctant to let Bai Liang get "scammed out of money."

She didn't trust Guo Fan, didn't trust the Jia character, and liked to define things directly using "industry common sense."

But in other areas she really was quite impressive—public relations, marketing, her growth in those areas was lightning fast~

At the same time, her sensitivity to many things outside of script projects was extremely sharp.

Oh right, she was also very good at managing the studio—everything top to bottom was kept in perfect order.

So those few minor flaws of hers could basically be ignored.

Anyway, some things were useless no matter how she "guarded them with her life," just like the Jia character incident this time.

As for the situation online~

Actually it wasn't that serious—Sister Yanzi's face had gone pale simply because she recalled that yin-yang contract from back then and felt a lingering dread.

This was way too "targeted"—how long had it been since her family's Dou Xiao Bai-ge received that thing?

And now someone was already coming to blow this whole thing wide open.

Felt like a goddamn trap.

But that fully-loaded Dou Xiao Cui only mentioned in passing that she'd heard Bai Liang had also received that thing not long ago—she didn't actually blast him.

But clearly, if Bai Liang's hands really weren't clean, this "naming and shaming" would carry the weight of a death warrant.

Sister Yanzi gradually caught on: "Holy shit, he's riding your hype, Dou Xiao Bai-ge~"

The other party clearly wanted to blow things up!

Bai Liang thought for a moment: "Maybe my thing stole his spotlight and pissed him off?"

He'd been getting cursed at just fine, then suddenly everyone ran off to focus on Bai Liang's "romance"—anyone would be speechless.

"I don't care if he's happy or not—the photos weren't arranged by us."

After cursing him out, Sister Yanzi felt a little conflicted; she actually thought Dou Xiao Cui making a fuss like this was a good thing.

Someone stepping out to "bombard" those who break the rules and mess around—in a certain sense, that was good news for people like them who played by the rules.

Whether there's shit on your own ass, only you know~

Sister Yanzi knew it perfectly well: her family's Dou Xiao Bai-ge's ass was squeaky clean!

But she still had to prepare for public relations, to prevent some rival from seizing the chance to sling mud. Wait—would they dare?

She mulled it over and figured her peers might not actually have the guts to cause trouble at such a sensitive moment.

This matter could be big or small—once it blew up, at minimum someone would be made an example of, killed to scare the monkeys.

If it got out of control, god knew how many people would be screwed.

Of course, this was actually also an opportunity.

Just look at that "unlucky Best Actor" in the industry, Wang Baoqiang—wife cheating, agent backstabbing, he really had it rough.

But after this whole storm passed, his image was genuinely solid!

Neither his pillow-talk partner nor his agent could dig up dirt on him—in fact, there was the story of him borrowing money just to pay his taxes.

Everyone said if there was only one good person in the entertainment industry, it had to be Wang Baoqiang.

And Sister Yanzi at this moment smelled something vaguely similar in the air.

Her brain spun and spun, and after thinking for a long while she suddenly said something strange to Bai Liang: "Dou Xiao Bai-ge, our taxes might actually have a little problem."

"Huh?"

Bai Liang was stunned for a moment, but his expression didn't change much.

By this point the Misses beside them, who had been silently listening the whole time, could no longer hold it in.

Meng Jie spoke up directly: "You can't screw him over!"

Li Yitong and Chen Yao nodded frantically: "Yeah, yeah!"

When Sister Yanzi said that, they were about to die of anxiety—was there really a problem?!

The entertainment industry once had a "legendary actress," Qing Nai, who got thrown in jail for this very thing.

Yet the one who should have been most worried, Bai's mom, just smiled: "You all chat slowly, I'm going to go get my beauty sleep~"

Sister Yanzi: As expected, can't scare this mother-son pair—can only fool those three "silly girls."

She didn't drag it out any longer, let out a hehe: "There really is a problem—the country owes us a refund."

——

"Joy of Life" wrapped filming.

Before that, Li Yitong, who had come to "visit the set," had only stayed a few days before her agent stormed into the crew and dragged her away.

Her trip this time was an "unsanctioned operation," purely a spur-of-the-moment decision after Meng Jie let something slip—the agent didn't scold her only because she was technically doing "legitimate work."

Otherwise, with this kind of behavior, grabbing him by the ears and giving him a good scolding would be totally justified!

She didn't even dare tell anyone outside that she had come back to visit the set.

That excuse was too dumb — she could only say there were some scenes that needed to be reshot.

As for Meng Jie, the crew's old freeloader, she could indeed keep freeloading for a few more days, but the whole crew had wrapped filming — she couldn't just hang herself off Bai Liang forever.

Reluctantly bidding farewell to Bai Liang and Mama Bai~ she even shed two little pearl-like tears.

However, Mama Bai didn't dote on her alone either.

On wrap day, she didn't forget to grab Chen Yao's hand and chat with her for quite a while.

Apart from Li Yitong, who had left early, she gave attention to every single one of them.

What happens after that depends entirely on her little handsome guy's own thoughts — she can't manage that~

"Then I'll head off to record first, you come over early too, okay?"

"Okay~"

Mama Bai left first to go finish her dubbing recording with Director Director Jiao Zi, and Sister Yanzi had also arranged for someone from the studio to accompany her~

Bai Liang wasn't just abandoning his own mother — he would go meet up with her afterward to finish his own dubbing too, but before that, there was still some work he needed to handle.

The endorsement events, ad shoots, magazine appointments and such on him had already piled up quite a bit.

Once you've taken someone's money, you have to do their work for them.

But recently, quite a few of the brands he endorsed had also been paying close attention to Bai Liang's contract and tax issues.

Hard to tell whether they're hoping Bai Liang stays clean, or hoping he has a scandal.

A scandal just means swapping out the endorser — they could even squeeze a breach-of-contract penalty out of him~

What a wonderful thing that would be!

There might even be those particularly shady brands that quietly do background checks and specifically seek out stars with dirty histories to endorse their products.

Once those stars have a scandal after endorsing for a while — hey, they can still get their money back.

The plane landed in Shanghai.

Bai Liang glanced at Chen Yao beside him. "Are you heading back to the company, or going home? Want me to give you a ride?"

Chen Yao didn't answer that question, but asked back: "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going riding on a motorcycle today~"

"I can ride a motorcycle too!" Chen Yao's eyes lit up, and her voice grew considerably louder as she said.

She felt like at this moment she was the only one by Bai Liang's side, so her courage had grown.

Bai Liang tilted his head: this girl doesn't think she's going to have fun, does she?

Though, she did seem to be free with nothing to do.

"Then come along~"

Regarding the matter of Bai Liang bringing a female artist along whenever he shoots ads — the Red Bull brand side certainly had no objections at all.

But Chen Yao said her poor little heart could barely take it, especially when Bai Liang twisted the motorcycle's throttle "all the way" and shot off with a whoosh.

She didn't even care that her skirt had almost been blown right up — she just felt this was even more dangerous than the racing car he'd played with before!

As for that car accident Bai Liang had on the track, Chen Yao was of course very clear about it too. When the news first broke, it had scared her face white. Otherwise, when she went to the hospital to visit Bai Liang later, she wouldn't have been so impulsive — upon seeing Jin Cheng and Li Yitong hiding in the bathroom, she had reached her hand into Bai Liang's blanket to check before leaving.

That was the most, most intimate contact the two of them had ever had since they met.

Whatever she felt, Chen Yao didn't dare think too much about it — in any case, the sensation was quite... peculiar.

The only thing she could be sure of was that Bai Liang wasn't wearing pants at the time.

And this motorcycle track naturally reminded her of that burning Mercedes sports car from back then.

This motorcycle had the Red Bull logo printed on it.

Whenever that thing shows up, it basically means something exciting is about to happen.

Fortunately, Bai Liang's insurance premiums were just too high, and the insurance company was a bit reluctant to cover him.

After all, the guy's somewhat death-defying reputation had already spread — this made the Red Bull people swallow back some of their wild little ideas.

If something really happened, they felt they couldn't afford to pay out — so for the stunt parts, they still prepared to use a body double.

But for Bai Liang riding a few laps himself, having a little fun with speed and passion was definitely fine.

No errors, no typos — one chapter, one post, all content in one place to read!

The ad shoot went very smoothly — overall, more scares than harm.

Bai Liang was safe; Chen Yao was the one scared.

"Slow down! It's too scary." The Miss said worriedly.

Bai Liang took off his helmet. "Didn't you say you could ride a motorcycle?"

"But I've never ridden one this fast either!"

"Want to try a couple of laps? It's fine if you ride slowly — hey~ this bike can carry a passenger too, you take me."

Chen Yao: Who's taking who?

Five minutes later, when Chen Yao was riding that performance-monster of a motorcycle around the track at an average speed of forty to sixty, Bai Liang sitting behind her was even getting a bit anxious.

Such a big baby — you can't be afraid to twist the throttle!

At this speed, it felt like a slightly faster electric scooter could whoosh right past them.

Still, being given a ride by a girl actually felt pretty nice.

Especially being able to reach out and wrap his arms around her waist — Bai Liang indicated that slow wasn't unacceptable either.

After all, if she rode too fast, he wouldn't quite dare to hold on — what if the Miss suddenly couldn't take it and let go? That would really test his luck.

If something happened on a high-speed motorcycle, how solid would your fate have to be to walk away unscathed~

Bai Liang didn't want to pose such a huge challenge to his own luck either, so he simply enjoyed the joy of "turtle-speed cruising."

After all, some things can't just be about going fast—you need rhythm, a proper balance of fast and slow.

Speaking of which, Chen Yao's long legs really are quite suited for riding a motorcycle; if you swapped in some shorty, once they got on, their feet probably wouldn't even touch the ground.

This thing really does have certain requirements for height and leg length.

After that, the two of them switched off for a few more laps. Compared to Bai Liang's open and easy embrace around her waist, when it was Chen Yao's turn, she hugged him even tighter.

Bai Liang couldn't help feeling like he'd been wrapped up by an octopus.

"Too fast, I can't really take it."

"My fault—should I slow down?"

"Mm, take it slow. Let me get used to it before speeding up, I really can't handle it."

After getting off the vehicle, when Bai Liang replayed this exchange in his mind, he kept feeling something was a bit off about it.

Still, after a wild ride that sent his heart rate through the roof, Chen Yao took several deep, ragged breaths, feeling as though she had "come back to life."

As everyone knows, after a person "dies once," their courage tends to grow considerably.

Sure enough, after leaving the airport track they'd rented for the commercial shoot, just like two years ago, Bai Liang drove Chen Yao back to her apartment.

"You still remember this place?"

Seeing the familiar streets and scenery, Chen Yao suddenly said, pleasantly surprised.

"I've been here before—of course I remember."

"But I don't live here anymore." The Miss pressed her lips together as she looked at Bai Liang, a smile on her face, as if reminiscing about the past.

Nearly two years had passed since that "date" back then. If she had stayed frozen in place the whole time, she'd never be able to walk to his side again.

Even if she can't be his leading lady, putting in some effort—being the supporting girl—doesn't seem so bad either~

New address, new home.

This time, Chen Yao didn't just silently head home on her own like she had two years ago.

She didn't even ask—she simply opened her mouth and invited him: "Come up for some water, and have a look around my new place."

Her tone was still gentle, but there seemed to be a hint of refusal-not-allowed in it.

Of course Bai Liang wouldn't refuse.

A very spacious, bright home, with all sorts of arrangements that felt very girly. At first glance, you could tell the owner of this place really loved life.

And there was even a chubby cat sprawled on the sofa.

Chen Yao walked over to the sofa with practiced ease and scooped up the silver shaded cat. "I got a cat too~"

That word "too" carried quite a bit of flavor.

Bai Liang naturally thought of Na Zha's little kitten—the current number-one internet celebrity in the domestic entertainment pet world.

She's still not confident enough~

There's no need to benchmark against something. Just like kittens, every kitten has its own unique personality.

Clingy ones, aloof ones, well-behaved ones, even some crazy ones—they can all be lovable, not all cut from the same mold.

"You're raising it well, a very special little cat. But you can't just let the cat get all chubby—you have to put in some effort yourself too."

As he spoke, Bai Liang glanced around, thinking to himself, where exactly am I supposed to drink water?

The house was quite clean, probably because she'd hired someone to come feed the cat and tidy up.

But no matter how long Bai Liang looked, he couldn't find a single cup to drink from~

And so, in just the time it took him to turn his head, when he turned back, Chen Yao suddenly said: "Huh? I don't know where the cat ran off to, I can't find it. Can you help me look for it together?"

Bai Liang looked at the silver shaded cat sprawled right at his feet, and for a moment his brain couldn't help but short-circuit for two seconds.

Can't find it?

Fortunately, he seemed to catch on to what the Miss meant, because Chen Yao's face had already started turning red—as if she didn't know what to say next, or what to do to make Bai Liang stay.

So she chose to lie through her teeth with her eyes wide open?

Bai Liang glanced at the cat, who knew nothing and was still over there licking its paw, and thought to himself that this little thing couldn't even be bothered to play along.

At least duck under the coffee table or something~

Just now, Chen Yao had clearly been trying to hide it, but because the cat really had been fed quite plump, she hadn't managed to pull it off in time.

He looked up again at Chen Yao, whose blush was deepening.

A few seconds later.

"Could it have run into the bedroom?"

"Ah! Right, the bedroom, the bedroom's over there."

Just then, Bai Liang's phone suddenly rang.

From a somewhat unexpected person.

"Hello, Sister Bingbing, what do you need me for?"

"Yeah, I'm in Shanghai."

"Grab a drink?"

Bai Liang looked up at Chen Yao, then checked the time. "Eight in the evening then~"

The current time was four in the afternoon.

—

Third watch, thirteen thousand words. See you tomorrow, muah~

Begging for monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)