Chapter 293: A Mutual Run Toward Each Other

No matter how dramatic the finale night of "Produce 101" was, no matter how disgusting the chaotic promotional push, tonight's buzz is still terrifyingly high.

Or maybe that's exactly why everyone forces themselves to promote on this stage.

The top fifty trending topics on Weibo — they took up more than half of them!

Even by the next morning, the newly added trending topics were still holding the top three spots!

The discussion about who made it into the group and who got "smeared" has barely stopped, and the arguing is absolutely relentless.

Yet amid all this fierce mudslinging and debate, a rather warm and harmonious voice did emerge.

Because in their post-show Weibo posts, many of the girls gave an extra shout-out to the "The Story of Ming Lan" crew, and some even "called out" Bai Liang by name.

The promotion he chose to give up during the live broadcast, the girls made up for it off-stage.

You could call it a mutual run toward each other.

Wu Xuanyi: The milk tea was really good. I'll work hard to run into Teacher Bai in the industry someday and treat you to milk tea!

Lai Meiyun: At the most tense moment, I received the warmest encouragement and blessings. I'll never forget it for the rest of my life~

Yang Chaoyue: The best cup, two cups, three cups of milk tea I've ever had in my life. I drank every last drop!

Fu Qing: Actually, just a tiny bit of sweetness is enough to make us happy for a long time, but Teacher Bai gave way too much.

This collective statement left their fans feeling a bit puzzled — what did Bai Liang do?

Where's the front-line report? Where's the battlefield correspondent?

Hand over the intel, now!

"Latest update — the Great Immortal and the others actually went there with a promotional mission too, but in the end they didn't mention 'The Story of Ming Lan' at all. Host Hou Peicen looked visibly surprised during the live broadcast, and it was pretty obvious."

"Feels exactly like something the Great Immortal would do. The way those girls looked at him — pure stars in their eyes~"

"They were promoting all night. The Great Immortal and the others probably couldn't stand watching it anymore."

"The girls are pretty lucky. Before entering the entertainment circle, what they were supposed to see was the industry's harsh reality, but out of nowhere a capybara jumped in and gave them a wave of warmth."

"No wonder the Great Immortal is so popular with the girls. With so many scandalous CP pairings, who wouldn't get a little dizzy?"

"What a central heating system — perfectly matched to the job, warming up this many girls in one go, huh? Only the Great Immortal could pull off a stunt like this."

"One of the girls replied to fans under her Weibo post, saying the Great Immortal actually knew every single one of them, could chat with anyone for a few lines — so thoughtful! I'm crying!"

"If everyone who went to promote did it to this standard, who would scold them? A bunch of people who don't care at all about these girls' futures went running around on their stage."

"Now I really have to go watch 'The Story of Ming Lan.' Just based on this move from the lead actors, I feel like the show can't be bad."

"."

Zhu Yilong: The milk tea was bought by me!

However, regarding the girls all focusing their attention on Bai Liang, he didn't have a single complaint.

Shoot the bird that sticks out!

Everyone else promoted — and you lot go special, making us look like the bad guys?

Although everyone online is praising them, it does somewhat offend the peers and even the show's production team.

Even Sister Xiao Zhao didn't jump out to market this, and her team has been unusually quiet.

Zhu Yilong's team, after much deliberation, didn't dare ride this wave of traffic either.

The reason is simple — they don't deserve it.

Big enough butt for big enough underpants — crude words, but true.

He's just a newly crowned top-tier star; his fan base isn't even fully stabilized yet, and he doesn't have the right to play this kind of maverick game.

The only one who has that right is Bai Liang.

He can take the heat, so only he can eat up this wave of traffic.

Of course, only he dares to eat it.

Sister Yanzi: Nobody's eating it? Then I'll happily scoop it all up for Little Bai~

Rake in a wave of good will from passersby, soak up a wave of favorability.

But she didn't market it too hard either — just like how Bai Liang gave up the promotion and returned the stage to those girls.

Mhm. The final afterglow after the grand finale is also the peak traffic period for these girls.

Peak to the point where even topics like "Yang Chaoyue slacking off" could shoot to second on the trending list — basically maintaining her "good at nothing" image right till the end.

Of course, she got roasted hard — people were saying "even a chicken dances better than Yang Chaoyue."

Chicken?

Can it play basketball?

If it's the one that plays basketball, then it's definitely way more impressive than Yang Chaoyue!

Ah Kun really is pretty fierce when it comes to professional ability — at least on his show, he was the undisputed number one by a huge margin, the kind with almost no controversy.

And because Yang Chaoyue actually debuted in third place, it even dragged Wang Sicong out of the woodwork.

He went straight to Weibo to call her out, saying it was an insult to the other talented contestants.

This guy even came to ask Bai Liang: Am I right or not?

Bai Liang: Hmm, not really.

The domestic entertainment industry simply can't pull off so-called boy bands or girl groups. Otherwise, why would those guys from the Four Returnees bother doing the export-and-reimport thing?

The reason is simple — the industry just isn't mature enough.

The boy band and girl group members who come out of these talent shows all have to eventually transition — almost without exception.

Their peak popularity is basically during the show's run. Without follow-up works coming out, they gradually vanish into obscurity.

Even with works, it might not work out.

Because once they leave the talent show stage, the "real" entertainment circle is going to reveal itself to them — the little backstage shenanigans on stage are nothing.

Kind of like college students graduating — once they leave the ivory tower, society is going to beat them up real good.

"Is that all?" Wang Sicong sounded somewhat dissatisfied on the other end of the phone.

Bai Liang thought for a moment, then delivered a "killing blow."

"The Japanese and Korean model of training idols for years doesn't work at all in China—take a look at nine-year compulsory education~ You're also signing girls for girl groups, so go ahead, recruit a few little sisters under fourteen for me."

"Fuck, don't provoke me!"

"You might need legal assistance later—I can help you review it."

"Take a look at the Law on the Protection of Minors, take a look at the Child Limit Order~"

Even Time Future, the company that launched the Three Little Ones, when they signed young trainees, still required them to balance their studies, concentrating training only during winter and summer breaks or weekends—their system was fundamentally weaker than Korea's full-time training.

So after signing those little boys, their company felt less like preparing them for debut and more like running an after-school hobby class.

How can their professional skills compete with Korea's full-time grind?

So, does a Chinese girl group really need extremely strong professional skills?

Of course, all this was just Bai Liang's own speculation and imagination—not guaranteed to be true.

Fortunately, he didn't need to convince many people—just one person: Wang Sicong.

Young Master Wang found his points reasonably persuasive, so he stopped posting online about Yang Chaoyue, but then he immediately posted a Weibo:

"Got a lesson from the Immortal—temporarily not trolling anyone. But @Bai Liang, professional player of IG Esports Club, it's time for you to get on the field! Professional division invitation sent."

Amazing!

This troll Wang Sicong had actually paused mid-troll and "let go" of Yang Chaoyue, suddenly sparking netizens' curiosity.

After all, when this entertainment industry "discipline inspector" starts scolding people, he truly "doesn't spare even his own family."

Known for his unrestrained tongue, he was "exhausted from worrying" about the entertainment industry—from top directors down to obscure eighteen-line artists, not one escaped his mouth.

When he lost his temper, he even trolled his own hotel.

Yet today, he suddenly fell silent—everyone wondered what Bai Liang had said to him.

But soon, most attention shifted to the latter half of this Weibo.

"Holy shit! I'd completely forgotten the Immortal had this identity—can he even still play at his level?"

"He can play—he never changed his ID, has been playing these two years. Last time in Ionia's Master rank, I even played against him~ Fuck, spreading rumors about my goddess? Gotta take him down."

"If it were any other male celebrity, the goddess mentioned above would already be known—but Bai Liang? Fuck, no one can guess! He's had too many rumors."

"Still Master Rank? If he just muddles through a match, it'll be fine. IG's strength this year is strong too—but will Principal Wang play with him? If both play, IG only fields three people—can they hold up? Three gods with two trash players?"

"Is this just a hype campaign? Otherwise, why randomly mention Bai Liang like this? Last year's All-Star match, I thought I'd see the Immortal—but he didn't show up."

"He'll probably show up this year. And since Principal Wang said it, unless something unexpected happens, those two guys who registered as pro players will likely play against real pro teams—not just the All-Star match."

"Holy shit, how much gold advantage will they start with?"

!

"So here's the question—who's richer, Bai Liang or Principal Wang?"

"Probably Principal Wang still has more money—he's got a billionaire backing him. But Bai Liang's made a fortune too—he took profit shares from Wolf Warrior 2 and The Time Traveler's Wife, he's still a top-tier star, and he's shot so many dramas… Who can calculate how much he's worth now?"

"."

The topic of Create 101 had barely cooled when Wang Sicong reignited the professional player topic—over a year and nearly two years later.

It kicked into overdrive.

Gaming fans re-entered the fray, showing the entertainment industry just how loud they could be.

Of course, this time it was real—not Wang Sicong being bored or pushing Bai Liang.

His upcoming schedule included League of Legends-related events: one match against a "carefully selected" pro team alongside Wang Sicong, followed immediately by a celebrity exhibition match.

This was essentially fulfilling his endorsement duties.

League of Legends had previously wanted Bai Liang as an endorser, but back then he wasn't an official endorser—only announced as a "Celebrity Summoner."

And last year, when negotiating the partnership, the deal wasn't fully finalized.

Because BMW had sponsored League of Legends, and that directly competed with Bai Liang's Mercedes-Benz endorsement.

That was the main reason Bai Liang never appeared at matches or celebrity exhibition games.

A Mercedes-Benz endorser streaming a game with BMW logos underneath? That would be too absurd.

Last year's seventh-anniversary celebrity exhibition match featured Wu Youfan.

His fans even chanted slogans like "steal Bai Liang's game endorsement."

Unfortunately, Wu Youfan's teammate was his "Sister-in-Love" from his hip-hop show.

Shortly after the exhibition match ended, "Sister-in-Love" was exposed for doing his sister-in-law's hair.

As a result, the official cut and downplayed the entire exhibition match.

As if nothing had happened.

Did he participate? Yes, he did.

Even Bai Liang hadn't heard about it—he only learned when Sister Yanzi told him during the year-end summary.

That's when he realized Wu Youfan still hadn't given up~

Still trying to steal his endorsement, only for "Sister-in-Love" to blow up big-time.

Add to that last year's final at the Bird's Nest, where no Chinese team participated, turning it into a mess.

Afterward, Wang Sicong had even complained to Bai Liang: "Thank God we didn't play last year."

This year, however, the host's opening line was "Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz."

Meanwhile, League of Legends' official channel will soon announce Bai Liang as the official China brand ambassador—no more "Celebrity Summoner" title.

"Set. We're playing VG—total pushovers. Immortal, step up! Don't let your mid-laner get crushed."

"Joke's on you—worry about yourself."

"By the way, you're joining this year's All-Star exhibition match, right? I'll come along too—let's have some fun."

"Go sign up with the officials then, what's the point of telling me?" Bai Liang said, somewhat puzzled.

"I went and asked, and they said there are too many people on your side. What the hell, when did so many people in the entertainment circle suddenly start playing League of Legends?"

Too many people?!

Bai Liang was also baffled. That shouldn't be the case—he'd only called Lin and Xin.

In fact, the game's officials were also feeling rather troubled at this moment.

All-Star lineup. This time it really has become an All-Star!

Ten people, two teams.

In previous All-Star exhibition matches, they always had to slot in a few relatively famous pro players.

Otherwise there wouldn't be enough people.

Sometimes the stars they brought in weren't all that big-name, and in terms of fame they might genuinely not compare to players like Uzi.

But this year is different!

The All-Star exhibition match plan was for two teams, each led by one person—Bai Liang and Zhou Jielun—to face off against each other.

Their names alone were big enough, so the rest of the roster didn't matter much, as long as they weren't too terrible.

But the number of entertainment circle stars inquiring about this batch of slots exceeded the officials' expectations!

They shared the same doubt as Wang Sicong: do this many people in the entertainment circle really love playing League of Legends? For real?

If they were all small-timers it wouldn't matter, but when every single one of them has a bigger background than the last, that's just absurd!

"Unlike Ni Ni, Yang Tianbao, Gulnazar, Yang Mi."

What the hell!

The game's officials were half-tempted to set up a tryout for these female stars, just to see whether they actually knew how to play, or were just jumping on the bandwagon for the hell of it.

Oh right, Yang Tianbao really can play—she's even done ranked streams with Chen Hechi, Misaya, and others before.

But the others—

You have to understand, liking games is no problem, but once you're on stage—even an exhibition match—if you play badly enough, those bros watching the stream won't let you off easy.

Just how vicious these people's mouths are—anyone who's been through it knows.

And these were still the ones with relatively bigger fame and status; there were also some artists a tier below—

Who, one after another, also declared: you know, I've loved playing League of Legends since I was a kid!

Then when asked if they knew Faker—

They fired back asking which luxury goods brand that was.

Oh, wonderful. Truly a deep, abiding love for League of Legends.

——

Want to push for a spot in the top twenty of the monthly ticket rankings! Brothers, help me out!

(End of this chapter)