Chapter 317: One Battle Secures Her Standing in the Martial World

"Sister Yanzi, having you is my luck~"

"Big Brother Dou, you say that so cloying. I'm not like those Jie girls—can't you pick a different word?"

"No no no, I'm just stating an objective fact."

If someone saw Yanzi now, acting like a little girl, they'd find it hard to connect her with the ruthless female demon who chased down fleeing enemies.

Still shy?

After this incident, to put it mildly, Yanzi's name became known to everyone in the industry.

One battle cemented her status in the martial world.

As long as Big Brother Bai is here, if you call me Yanzi, I won't hold it against you.

Once you walk out that door and Big Brother Bai is gone, what should you call me?

"Director Yan, the other party has apologized on Weibo."

"Mm, received!"

After hanging up the phone, Yanzi's expression was calm and composed, as if the little girl who had just coaxed Big Brother Bai on the line wasn't her at all.

But everyone in the company understood this point well.

Yanzi's playfulness is reserved only for her own boss.

Yet strangely, no one believed Director Yanzi had any overly intimate romantic relationship with Bai Liang.

This also shows Yanzi has struck an excellent balance between closeness and avoiding suspicion.

She has evolved incredibly fast.

Yang Xing, who used to often give her advice, now has nothing to suggest to Yanzi.

Even when they communicate, it's completely equal, a mutual discussion.

In certain areas, Yanzi has already surpassed Yang Xing—by a wide margin!

So she directly entered the ranks of renowned agents.

Ranked alongside Yang Tianzhen, Du Hua, Jia Shikai, Long Danni, and others.

But each of these renowned agents has their own specialty: Yang Tianzhen excels in marketing, Du Hua in idol-building, Jia Shikai in resource integration, and so on.

Mm. These should be called strengths—Yanzi and Yang Tianzhen are in the same lane.

But these agents also each have well-known personality labels.

Yang Tianzhen likes to market herself, Du Hua is calculating with sharp insight, Jia Shikai has a fragile ego and loves to charge into the fray.

Yanzi, in this regard, stands out sharply—everyone's evaluation of her is: Ruthless!

It's not that she lacks other traits; it's just that this one stands out too much.

She bites down and won't let go until every drop of blood is drained!

As a result, many people who knew Yanzi before couldn't immediately recognize her.

Huh? Is this the Yanzi we used to know?

Huang Jingyu:???

He was the most shaken, because he now wasn't even sure if this Yanzi was the same little girl who originally became his agent.

He was filming perfectly fine when suddenly he heard the "Ta Zhai" crew say Yanzi had "gone berserk."

His first thought was: Huh? Did they add a drug dealer named Yanzi to the drama?

Later he found out it was the real-life Yanzi.

It felt like he hadn't woken up yet.

At first he laughed about it, even calling Bai Liang "Silly Sweetie"? That's pure nonsense~

Who could possibly bully that guy?

He was the first one not to believe it.

But Yanzi's rampage made him wonder: Could Big Immortal really have been bullied?

Similar doubts lingered in the minds of several girls on the set of The Chinese Pilot.

"So cool, Sister Yanzi!"

Meng Zi Yi heard about this and was the first to cheer for Yanzi: That's exactly how it should be done!

Then she started discussing with Li Xin how likely it was that Bai Liang had been bullied.

Meng Jie: Little Hedgehog is so nice—he's definitely easy to bully.

Li Xin felt she couldn't communicate with her; this girl had a weird brainwave pattern.

How could that troublemaker Bai Liang be bullied by some washed-up middle-aged actor?

She remembered clearly the video clips from the movie night—Bai Liang was practically sitting in the C-position.

He was just one step away from slinging an arm around the CEO of Weibo and chatting about life and ideals.

While they were discussing this, Zhang Tian'ai couldn't help whispering: "Bai Liang is such a good person—he really could be bullied. Gentlemen are taken advantage of through their virtue."

Oh! You're surprisingly cultured!

"Right! I think so too!" Meng Jie strongly agreed with Zhang Tian'ai's theory.

Li Xin immediately sensed something off: How do you know Bai Liang is a good person? Have you interacted? What's your relationship?

She said she'd had close-range contact and knew exactly how "evil" Bai Liang was—she had full authority to speak on this.

That's pure evil!

"Are you guys gossiping?!"

While the three were chatting enthusiastically, a girl with a slightly rough voice and a Beijing accent couldn't help joining in.

It was Guan Xiaotong, who had just joined the cast today.

"Uh, we were just chatting casually~" Li Xin quickly explained.

Slightly overly familiar, Guan Xiaotong said not to be nervous—she wasn't there to expose or report them; she was here to join them!

And her advantage is huge!

Because that night at the movie event, she was right there, and she was extremely close.

She watched the whole thing, eating popcorn with full attention.

Come on, let me tell you all the details~

"So that's how it happened?!"

"That's exaggerated."

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"Could something like this even happen?!"

"."

The four girls huddled together gossiping made quite a racket.

And their shocked tones, combined with Guan Xiaotong's nearly dancing descriptions, made even veteran Yuan Quan feel tempted to lean in and join the gossip.

After all, who doesn't love gossip~

As for whether Guan Xiaotong's description was neutral or accurate, it was certainly not neutral at all.

In her telling, Bai Liang had truly become a naive, clueless fool.

And as for this incident, wasn't it just a textbook case of entertainment industry bullying?!

A senior with years in the industry bullied a newcomer just starting out, using such underhanded tactics—disgusting.

Bai Liang may be popular, but he's been in the industry too short a time; his experience is insufficient, so others are eager to take advantage of him.

Similarly, though he's intelligent, he's kind-hearted and has never encountered such dirty tricks, so despite being smart, he failed to see their malicious intent.

Very reasonable!

Meng Jie nearly cried, thinking: Why is my little hedgehog being treated like this?!

She genuinely felt the pain—she'd been bullied herself during past filming sessions~

Li Xin felt something seemed off, but Guan Xiaotong spoke with such certainty, and all the information seemed to point to this "reality," leaving little room for doubt.

So it really happened like this?

And though Bai Liang sometimes acts a bit mischievous, he's genuinely a good person.

Guan Xiaotong was pleased with the impact of her "speech"—gossip only feels satisfying if others believe it.

Earlier, when she'd called her boyfriend Hearing Hearing Lu Han to gossip about this, he'd shown zero interest.

Because Hearing Hearing Lu Han flat-out didn't believe it.

He even lectured her: "Bai Liang isn't that naive and clueless."

Guan Xiaotong: "I saw it with my own two eyes—how could it be fake?!" "Anyway, just trust me—keep some distance from him~"

Saying that would almost certainly start a fight between the couple.

After the fight, Hearing Hearing Lu Han would have to soothe her, spending hours doing it.

And then his resentment toward Bai Liang would grow even more.

And Hearing Hearing Lu Han insisted he meant every word sincerely.

Others didn't matter—but his girlfriend absolutely had to stay far away from both of them.

One was his former teammate Wu Moufan. He wouldn't say much more about that—he assumed the other man knew his own mind.

The other was Bai Liang!

That guy is too sinister!

But Hearing Hearing Lu Han's view differed from the other three top-flow stars—he didn't wish for Bai Liang to "die"; he actually hoped Bai Liang would now rise up strongly.

That movie, *The Wandering Earth*.

Both inside and outside the industry, sci-fi seemed poorly regarded; many who disliked Bai Liang were waiting for *The Wandering Earth* to flop badly, so they could finally launch their attacks on him.

But Hearing Hearing Lu Han didn't want that—he breathed a sigh of relief when he learned Bai Liang was the lead in *The Wandering Earth*.

!

Because now he could cross the river by feeling Bai Liang's stones.

He himself had starred in another "sci-fi movie," also set for release next year.

Called *The Shanghai Fortress*.

If Bai Liang flopped, Hearing Hearing Lu Han felt he'd probably fare no better—but if Bai Liang succeeded, he could ride the genre's wave too.

Maybe he could carve out a new path after his public relationship caused his traffic to plummet.

It was his last gamble—if this failed, he'd truly go into slacker mode.

Of course, success was fine, but not too overwhelming—he couldn't handle being dragged into direct comparisons.

Among the four top-flow stars, Bai Liang had already crushed the other two in film.

Hearing Hearing Lu Han thought: I can't be this unlucky—do I really have to get crushed again? Must I hand him a "grand slam"?

Absolutely not!

Guan Xiaotong didn't know her boyfriend's thoughts—she was still too young, even younger than Meng Jie, and couldn't hold so many complex ideas in her head.

Dating, gossiping, acting—that was the entirety of her current life.

Aside from being harassed by Hearing Hearing Lu Han's fans, her life was going smoothly, and her career was steadily growing.

Dating a handsome guy, then gossiping with her "sisters" about another handsome guy.

Hmm, what a sweet life.

Of course, it was mainly because of Meng Zi's enthusiastic support as a perfect foil that made Guan Xiaotong's gossip session so thoroughly satisfying.

Sister! You're truly the best supporter ever.

Everything has a resolution, every sentence gets a reply!

Meng Jie: Oh, where, where~ You're great too~

As for where she's great? She didn't know—her mouth just replied automatically.

She's the type who responds to anyone who speaks to her, no matter what they say.

This trait was even more obvious when she was with Bai Liang.

Whatever you handed her, she took it; whatever you brought to her lips, she'd instinctively put it in her mouth.

This trait, Bai Liang had only seen it in Meng Jie and Re Ba.

So when he handed her a bottle of water, Meng Jie took it and drank right away.

After taking two sips, she looked at the water in her hand, utterly bewildered.

Huh? Where did this come from?

At that moment, she suddenly noticed her sisters' expressions were off.

Li Xin gently bit her lip, her cold features glowing with delight, yet she held it back well.

Zhang Tian'ai was even more obvious—her smile was too radiant.

The most extreme was Guan Xiaotong—she blushed!

Not from shyness, but from the ultimate embarrassment of gossiping about someone behind their back and getting caught red-handed, wishing she could vanish into a crack in the floor.

Oh right, everyone's gaze was perfectly aligned—they were all looking to Meng Jie's left.

Only then did Meng Jie realize, and quickly turned her head.

"Wow! How did you get here?!"

Bai Liang spread his hands. "I came to act, but I never expected to find you here."

After speaking to Meng Jie, he didn't forget to greet the others.

He nodded with a smile to Li Xin, said "Long time no see" to Zhang, and as for Guan Xiaotong—

"Say hi to Hearing Hearing Lu Han for me. Next time, invite him to play soccer."

"Oh oh oh, okay okay."

Her reaction gave Bai Liang a strange sense of déjà vu—as if he weren't asking Guan Xiaotong to pass a message to her boyfriend, but to her father.

But the pot can't call the kettle black—Meng Jie was right here too.

When she got mixed up with Bai Liang, Meng Jie was only nineteen.

At this moment, Meng Jie was the one among the girls whose expression was the least concealed.

She looked at Bai Liang with a bright, delighted face, but then a hint of distress appeared—she didn't know how to comfort him.

After all, he'd just been "bullied" by bad people.

As for Li Xin, after that brief surge of surprise at Bai Liang's sudden appearance, she quickly regained composure and was now observing Zhang Tian'ai.

Sis, you're acting weird~

And what Bai Liang just said to you wasn't "Hello"—it was "Long time no see."

When did you see him? What kind of connection do you have?

Li Xin wasn't jealous—she wasn't some twenty-something girl anymore. It was simply because—her team and Zhang Tian'ai's team would soon have a joint marketing campaign.

Better to cooperate and win together than to outshine each other.

Nowadays, close, affectionate interactions between girls are quite popular.

After all, stirring up rumors with male idols carries too much risk, but intimacy between female idols? No problem—fans love it.

Kind of like that "Saoji Sisters" thing with Li Yitong—wait, no! Just "Sisters"!

"Saoji" is a damn derogatory term.

Zhang Tian'ai: Why are you staring at me so much?

Ever since Bai Liang showed up, she'd felt Li Xin's eyes never left her.

That feeling of being watched made her uneasy.

She really wanted to catch up with Bai Liang.

After our parting in Tokyo, so long without seeing him—it was hard not to miss him a little.

Whether it was the nighttime neon or the dawn sunrise, it was unforgettable—even that strange male host bar, and the friendship between Bai Liang and his old friend.

But this isn't Tokyo anymore.

That night was long past.

Zhang Tian'ai's eyes suddenly held a touch of sorrow.

At this moment, Guan Xiaotong, who had been so embarrassed before, gradually perked up again.

Because she smelled gossip!

Good good good—he just came to make a cameo, yet it felt like he'd walked into someone's romantic battlefield~

She was going to be thrilled!

(End of Chapter)