Chapter 307: Little White Is a Good Comrade

Looking at the little box Bai Liang handed over, Ni Ni seemed to drift off for a moment.

It wasn't that receiving a birthday gift could make her that happy or excited.

Of course, whether receiving a gift is a pleasant thing also depends on who it's from.

Some people's gifts she couldn't even be bothered to open — either she didn't want to accept them or she'd just toss them aside.

Some people's gifts were naturally different. Yes. Bai Liang naturally fell into that latter category.

Yet Ni Ni's daze and absent-mindedness weren't because of that.

The main point was... today wasn't even her birthday, you bastard!

What Bai Liang had just said made Ni Ni genuinely space out for a beat, and she even went back to check whether her lunar-calendar birthday fell on today.

She'd rather suspect she had the date wrong than doubt Bai Liang's grinning, "sincere" expression.

Then she was absolutely certain: definitely not!

Is this brat playing his big sister like a dog?

But strangely, after she couldn't help shooting Bai Liang a glare, Ni Ni didn't actually say any of that out loud.

Birthday is birthday then~

At least he still wished her "happy."

She opened the little box right in front of Bai Liang, and inside wasn't anything particularly valuable.

A small regular-octagon stone.

With a dragon on it~

"Huh? A talisman from *Jackie Chan Adventures*?" Ni Ni recognized at a glance what this thing was, then paused with a slight frown, thinking it over.

After thinking for several seconds and still not coming up with it, she simply asked outright: "Where's the incantation?"

"What incantation?"

"I do know, you know — 'swift rabbit, grant you the power to reverse time and space'; 'noble horse, can remove all external force from within the body'... what's the incantation for this dragon you gave me?"

Holy crap, she actually knew?!

"Oh, it's because Sister Ni Ni, you were born in the year of the dragon."

Bai Liang scratched his head and offered a perfectly reasonable explanation.

Ni Ni:.

Honestly, this was the first time she'd ever felt such a strong urge to beat someone up.

Fine, sending a crappy stone — she could let that slide, but at least say something nice.

"Don't you have others? I'll swap one!" Ni Ni was ready to take matters into her own hands.

"What do you want?"

"Sheep~"

The gentle sheep, may your dreams become reality.

That talisman's incantation is so nice — girls love that kind of vibe.

Bai Liang: The little sheep went to Zhao Jinmai.

Ni Ni: What about the rabbit? Rabbit works too!

Bai Liang: The rabbit went to Yang Mi~

Ni Ni: Drop dead!

Although her mouth was full of disdain and her heart held a little disdain too, Ni Ni still accepted this "birthday gift."

Same old saying.

Some things, it depends on the person.

Even though earlier, when they were discussing the Fan Bingbing matter, Ni Ni had casually mocked Hei Niu, saying all he knew was giving heart-shaped stones and now he was nowhere to be seen, etc.

But when it came to the crappy stone Bai Liang gave her, she didn't say a single word of that sort.

Double standards — they're everywhere.

Of course, the saving grace was that it was just a crappy stone.

If Bai Liang had actually given Ni Ni something expensive, she wouldn't have been able to accept it either.

After all, the kid's already being audited for taxes — whatever he earns, he'll probably have to cough up even more. Ni Ni figured she might even have to support him financially.

The thigh she'd counted on in her mind was, in just one night, about to "fall from the altar."

As she sighed inwardly, a rather strange thought also popped into Ni Ni's head.

Given how things stood for him now, every Miss in the entertainment circle who'd been linked to him in a scandal should be scrambling to steer clear, right?

When disaster strikes, everyone flies for themselves — perfectly reasonable.

So could she secretly stash him at her place... provide food, shelter, and pocket money~

Just thinking about it made her a little excited!

Kiddo, plot twist!

Call me something sweet, and big sis will treat you to the good life~

As her inner monologue grew richer, Ni Ni's gaze started to turn a little odd, and the expression on her face gradually went off as well.

At the same time she began sizing Bai Liang up and down... seemingly already cooking up some shady scheme.

Bai Liang: No way, you're already going soft~ I'm picky about being a kept man.

So after giving the gift, he picked his book back up right in front of Ni Ni.

He'd promised to put out a study guide for his fans — a real man's word is his bond, he can't go back on it.

If he didn't pass the exam in the end, how embarrassing would that be.

Ni Ni: Still studying? You're about to be taken away!

Watching him act as if it were nothing at all, Unlike Ni Ni began to feel a little doubtful.

So she picked up her phone again and checked the situation online, mainly to see what was happening on Bai Liang's studio side.

The result, well, was that there was absolutely no movement.

The rhythm was still going, and the hot search had already shot up to second place.

First place was, of course, still the matter of Fan Fan Bingbing being fined over 800 million — for now, no one could shake that.

But if Bai Liang got the same treatment as her, they could PK for a bit.

Probably plenty of people were waiting for this to happen — why hasn't the official side put out a notice yet?

And after Unlike Ni Ni had gone through every piece of real and fake news she could find, she still didn't feel very sure.

When she looked up at Bai Liang again, she found the guy had actually switched to a different book.

"Still reading? There's a female artist online speaking up for you, and she's getting torn apart."

"Huh?"

Bai Liang thought that shouldn't be the case — hadn't he told Sister Yanzi to give everyone a heads-up?

"Don't you want to know who it is?"

Hearing that question, Bai Liang paused: "Mencius, right?"

"You actually guessed right!" Unlike Ni Ni said, a little surprised, and flipped her phone around to show Bai Liang — sure enough, it was Meng Jie.

Actually, it wasn't hard to guess. Someone who would do this absolutely couldn't be someone super hot like Nazha or Reba — on one hand, they'd been given a heads-up in advance; on the other, their teams are more sensitive about these things.

Whether Bai Liang was really in trouble or not, at this juncture they would never let their artists jump in.

If anyone even thought about it, a whole crowd would come talk them out of it.

As for Meng Jie — she's just so clueless~

Right now her "freedom of movement" is actually pretty high. A minor, semi-famous star doesn't have that many people watching her, so it's not like every single account is fully managed.

And the moment Bai Liang heard "getting torn apart," he figured Meng Jie had probably triggered her passive.

Sister Yanzi had mentioned it ahead of time, but she definitely wouldn't have said it so bluntly — something like: "I'm going to run a little marketing stunt for Brother Dou Xiao Bai, the water army is all hired by me, just pretend you didn't see it, okay?"

At most she'd have told her there'd be a little commotion, nothing to worry about.

The others who knew about it kept quiet, but Meng Jie is exactly the type where if you tell her, she has to go look, and after looking she gets angry, and once she's angry her brain short-circuits, and then she can't help but speak up for Bai Liang and clap back at the "anti-fans."

Just like the type who sees their good friend being ganged up on and immediately rushes over impulsively to help.

The help is obviously useless — usually they just end up getting beaten up alongside their friend.

Unlike Ni Ni's take on this was: "You're not doing that great yourself, are you? So flirtatious, and in the end only one little girl is speaking up for you."

Obviously, she was hinting at Miss Jing Tian.

Hmph! When it was time to cling to a thigh, she couldn't bear to let go — but now she can't even be bothered to make a phone call.

The warmth and coldness of human nature~

Unlike Ni Ni: I'm better than her at least.

As for this whole chain of illusions on her part, Bai Liang didn't know what to say.

He raised his hand to check the time, felt it was about right, and finally turned on his own phone.

After it booted up, the mountain of messages clearly proved one thing: Bai Liang was doing pretty well in the industry, and his relationships were pretty good too.

Even the people Sister Yanzi had notified had all sent messages over.

Mm. Like Reba's voice-message carpet bombing, for instance.

Seeing those neatly lined-up sixty-second voice messages, Bai Liang's face went a little bitter — this young lady really knew how to torment a person.

Nothing to be done, listen he must~

But Unlike Ni Ni didn't notice any of this — she was still over there feeling sorry for Bai Liang.

At this point Bai Liang dug out his earphones, ready to listen to the voice messages while replying to the messages he needed to reply to. Some people he could just mass-send a reply to — after all, this matter wouldn't drag on for long. Even though Sister Yanzi was playing the build-up-before-payoff game, whether the build-up or the payoff, it all had to be resolved within a day.

The whole point was fast in, fast out.

What Sister Yanzi actually wanted wasn't for her to issue a statement herself in response, but rather for the matter to gain traction and then have the tax bureau in charge of the audit come out and explain the situation.

That would carry more authority.

Having paid so much tax, cooperated so earnestly with the work — helping out with this "small favor" wasn't too much to ask, was it?

Of course, Sister Yanzi wouldn't go so far as to negotiate terms with the tax bureau — she just wanted to give it a little time and try her luck.

Keyword triggered: try her luck!

The echo of extreme luck reverberated endlessly in the air.

Tax Bureau: As you wish!

With Fan Fan Bingbing as such a perfect negative example, the entertainment industry was in a panic — the goal of killing the chicken to scare the monkey had already been achieved.

So shouldn't there be a positive example next?

Bai Liang was perfect for it!

His traffic was high enough, and he was the top-billing player among today's young artists. Now, because of this tax matter, it turned out he was this clean and honest.

!

Just like that, his image in the eyes of the higher-ups was established.

Dou Xiao Bai is a good comrade~

The official media Sister Yanzi had been hoping for really did jump in.

One outlet put out a notice, and several others followed up with reposts.

There was quite a bit of content in what they put out, but when summarized and distilled, it was really just one sentence:

The tax audit was confirmed, but the result of the audit was that he had overpaid.

The studio's Weibo reposted it immediately.

At the same time, Sister Yanzi waved her hand grandly: Black pawn water army, retreat! Switch to alt accounts and whitewash yourselves, then get back on!

But this time the main job was just to play along, adding a little rhythm was enough.

Because Bai Liang's own fans' "climax" was already enough to make a tremendous noise.

They were truly ecstatic right now!

"Good, good, good! I knew there'd be no problem! All my fighting wasn't for nothing."

"No way. Immortal, are you messing with us here? You didn't stage this whole thing yourself, did you?! But as long as you didn't evade taxes, damn, you scared me to death."

"It probably wasn't hype — which hype campaign can direct the tax bureau to cooperate? They definitely went to check, it was just a bit of a fiasco."

"Not really a fiasco. After being named by Dou Xiao Cui, he still dared to meet with Fan Fan Bingbing — in the whole entertainment circle, only he has the biggest guts. Immortal really is always dancing on the edge of courting death. What normal person could play it like him? Luckily his background really is clean, otherwise this wave would've dragged him under for real."

"Now I finally get why Immortal dared to meet and chat with Fan Fan Bingbing — go ahead and investigate, my man is squeaky clean, what is there to be afraid of?"

"I said he donated so much money, he definitely wouldn't evade taxes — and a bunch of people were cursing me. Where are those people now? Come out and argue!"

"Earlier people were saying Immortal didn't dare to respond. He's busy filming properly on set, does he need to respond himself? Such a trivial matter."

"Ahem, I heard he's on the set of 'The Longest Day in Chang'an,' getting pretty close with Unlike Ni Ni."

"What's the big deal, one isn't enough? Bring on another! He deserves it!"

"Sisters, calm down, this still needs more discussion. Reba and Nazha haven't decided a winner yet — how about Unlike Ni Ni and Miss Jing Tian go on the same track, let them fight it out slowly first."

"Who was that young lady speaking up for Immortal? So brave, a friend in need is a friend indeed."

"I feel like she's just riding the hype a bit. Some obscure nobody."

"."

Meng Jie: Huh? I gained followers?!

Sitting at home, fans fall from the sky.

She actually didn't dare to post on Weibo directly to back Bai Liang, only argued with people a few times in the comments.

Posting on Weibo she didn't dare, afraid of being scolded by her own boss.

In the comments at least she could still quibble a bit.

Mainly because some people really said things too far. Cursing her she could endure, but talking about her family's little hedgehog like that — she really couldn't hold it in.

With this outcome now, everyone's happy!

Then Li Yitong called over, "Meng Jie, you're way too sneaky, huh? Riding the traffic like this? I held it in and didn't say a word, and you secretly stole a march?"

"I just couldn't hold it in," Meng Jie said, suddenly a bit guilty.

"Let me tell you, you've made everyone angry in the group, you know that?"

"Huh? What group?"

"Uh, nothing. But you really are bold, almost caused trouble." Li Yitong suddenly swerved.

"Huh?"

"You really think his people-relations are that bad, that nobody wants to speak up for him? You can't just say whatever at a time like this — at least not before the results come out. Otherwise what would it look like? Artists ganging up?"

Hearing this, Mencius Yi suddenly felt a cold sweat on her back, feeling like she'd done something stupid.

"So did I overplay my hand?"

"Oh, no, you're too obscure — this traffic only you can ride along with, others want to ride it but can't."

Li Yitong might as well not have said that — it left Meng Jie feeling a bit stuffy.

So her ability to "speak freely" was actually because she was obscure enough.

Fine, fine, fine, you're all famous, you all have high popularity, can't help what you say.

Following Meng Jie's muttering, Li Yitong on the other end of the phone seemed to smell a sour whiff of lemons.

Way too strong!

I'm out, I'm out~

And at this moment, looking at the instant reversal, Unlike Ni Ni felt ants crawling all over her body.

She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt a bit awkward.

She'd imagined all sorts of wild things before, even cooked up some eighteen-plus little scenarios about hiding a handsome guy in a golden house.

"Great news, your thing got reversed."

Bai Liang smiled as he looked at Unlike Ni Ni, waiting for her "outburst."

Sure enough, after Unlike Ni Ni said that one dry line, she suddenly caught on. "You knew all along, didn't you?"

"Mm."

"Then you lied to me like that? I even said I'd lend you money, told you to come find me if you couldn't get by after switching careers."

"You didn't ask either. My studio really did get audited for taxes." Bai Liang said very matter-of-factly.

Today he hadn't habitually tossed out any little lies.

Unlike Ni Ni heard this and thought, hey, that does make sense — it seemed like she'd been doing all the imagining herself, Bai Liang never said he was definitely in trouble.

But at this moment her brain got heated and she suddenly blurted: "You pulled this whole stunt, wasn't it to see how your fair ladies would react? Disappointed? Only one little girl spoke up for you."

Bai Liang:???

What kind of brain circuit is that.

"Here, let me give you a piece of advice."

"How old are you to be giving me advice? I should be the one giving you advice — when making friends, you have to look at quality, quantity alone is useless."

Unlike Ni Ni almost said she herself was the high-quality fair lady candidate.

Of course, she really was a pretty decent person.

And Bai Liang helplessly shook his head. "Let me finish, will you? I rarely give people advice — a gasoline car can't take diesel. Ahem."

He reorganized his words: "Never test human nature, especially with lies."

Unlike Ni Ni suddenly felt a bit flustered, as if something had been hit home.

Just then, a knock came at the door.

Xi Zi Ge had arrived.

"Liang-ge, I heard about the stuff online. It's really great that you're okay."

Unlike Ni Ni couldn't help but glance at him. Little bro, your timing sure is something.

You show up right after the reversal.

Where were you all that time before?

Still, based on her current understanding of Bai Liang, he probably couldn't be bothered to fuss over this kind of thing.

Sure enough, Bai Liang smiled at Xi Zi Ge and issued an invitation: "Perfect timing. Up for a game?"

"N-no, I need to go over the script a bit more."

After he scurried off, Unlike Ni Ni couldn't help muttering: "The entertainment circle, huh. Not even grown up yet and already acting all jaded and world-weary."

After venting, she felt she might not have the standing to lecture Xi Zi Ge.

Hadn't she herself been clinging to him like a piece of dog-skin plaster, desperate to latch onto his coattails?

If Bai Liang had "gotten into trouble" back then, she probably would've kept her distance too.

Just human nature, that's all.

But right then, she suddenly thought of that brave little nobody. What was her name again?

—

Third watch, muah muah, begging for monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)