Chapter 318: To Decide the Winner, and Life or Death?

"Darling~ guess who I ran into on set?!"

When this call from Guan Xiaotong came in, Lu Han was watching the just-premiered "This! Is Dunk."

He had nothing else to do anyway, and besides, he couldn't help being curious about the whole thing with Wu Yifan, Li Yifeng, and Bai Liang playing basketball together — he wanted to see it.

But just as his girlfriend's call came in, and he watched the opening montage featuring clips of Bai Liang, a very bad premonition suddenly rose in Lu Han's heart.

After two seconds of silence, he slowly uttered that name in a tone of utter disbelief:

". Bai Liang?"

"Yep! Wow, you're so smart!" Guan Xiaotong shrieked on her end of the line, declaring her boyfriend really was something else.

Though he'd been praised, Lu Han's heart was full of helpless resignation.

Damn you and your jinxing mouth!

One moment he'd told his little girlfriend to stay away from that weirdo Bai Liang, and the next she'd been slapped right in the face with him?

That bastard Bai Liang really does have some kind of curse on him.

"Didn't you go do a cameo on the 'The Captain' crew?"

"Yeah, he came too~ he even said he'd treat me to dinner tonight."

"You agreed?"

"Huh?"

"Wait — you said yes?"

"Of course I said yes~" Guan Xiaotong admitted, though she quickly added: "I'm not the only one, lots of girls are going. Lemme tell you something! Guess what I found out?!"

Hearing the excitement mixed with a sneaky, furtive tone in his girlfriend's voice, Lu Han cut in: "Found out some actress on your set has something shady going on with him?"

"Hahaha! You're really, really too smart!"

Lu Han:. Does that even need guessing? Bro saw that with his own eyes a long time ago.

So what if there's some shady thing going on?

Back then, Dilireba straight up drew Bai Liang's junk on a variety show — that scene shook him for an entire year! He still can't forget it to this day.

The post-production team at Zhejiang TV really busted their asses, probably killed off every last brain cell they had, before coming up with the idea of using post-production to turn that thing into No-Face from "Spirited Away."

And they actually fooled a lot of viewers.

At the time, Lu Han had even been hoping for a while that Bai Liang would do a "double official announcement" with him.

Showing off like that on a show — it'd be hard to wrap things up without an official announcement, right?

But the guy actually did "wrap it up," because he had more than one such rumored shady target.

This whole thing had been gnawing at Lu Han ever since.

He himself had only officially announced one girlfriend, and his fans had dropped off like crazy, his once unassailable top-tier position no longer secure.

But what about Bai Liang? A pile of scandals, shipping with everyone, showing off affection on a ridiculous scale — feels like he'd get married tomorrow and have two kids within three years.

But why doesn't he lose fans? He can even gain fans from this kind of thing?

Sometimes the gap between people is bigger than the gap between people and dogs.

Of course, Lu Han definitely wouldn't say any of this to Guan Xiaotong — his girlfriend had already been bashed more than enough, no need to pile on more pressure.

The most important issue right now was still — his girlfriend was going to have dinner with Bai Liang tonight?

How could he possibly allow that?

But if he told her not to go, it would seem a bit too... something.

After all, Guan Xiaotong had explained there were other people too, it wasn't just the two of them eating alone.

So.

Lu Han: So after you eat with him, will you still love me?

Guan Xiaotong:???

By now, the "This! Is Dunk" playing on Lu Han's TV had already "fast-forwarded" to the celebrity basketball showdown.

The match officially began!

He managed to shift his worry about his girlfriend, at least partly, to the TV screen.

He even cracked open a beer for himself, ready to properly enjoy the basketball battle between these "acquaintances" and "enemies."

But the damn second it started, he saw Bai Liang straight-up dunk over Li Yifeng.

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of beer came spraying out.

On TV, Li Yifeng sat on the floor with a face full of existential doubt; in front of the TV, Lu Han's expression was pretty much the same.

That one tomahawk dunk spanned across time, dunking over two top-tier stars!

After a good few seconds of recovery, he blurted out: "Holy shit!"

He didn't even need to look to know what the trending searches would be later.

That guy Bai Liang really is jinxed!

He didn't know why either, but these two seemingly completely unrelated things — basketball and his girlfriend — had somehow given Lu Han an inexplicable sense of crisis.

No, he had to find a way to "keep an eye on things"!

At this moment, Bai Liang was also a bit puzzled — why was Guan Xiaotong looking at him with such a bright, bright gleam in her eyes?

There was a strong feeling of sneaking about her.

This Miss kept hunching down while eating, glancing left and right, occasionally staring at Bai Liang, and sometimes an inexplicable smile would flash across her face.

Like a little mouse sneaking in to steal some sesame oil.

But Bai Liang only glanced at her a few times — he wasn't about to keep staring at someone else's girlfriend, that wouldn't be very polite.

Mainly he just kept chatting and interacting with the girls he knew.

But the atmosphere at this table was actually a little strange.

Because Meng Jie had arrived earlier, before dinner that evening Bai Liang had asked her: How is Li Xin's relationship with Zhang Tian'ai?

Meng Jie opened her mouth and said: Their relationship is great! They should be besties~

Besties?

Bai Liang: Are you sure?

Meng Jie wasn't really sure anymore, because for some reason, when Li Xin and Zhang Tian'ai talked to each other, there was suddenly a passive-aggressive tone.

Earlier, Li Xin had specifically taught her to call Zhang Tian'ai "Xiao Ai."

Meng Jie remembered it, but Li Xin herself at this moment seemed to have "forgotten"?

One moment "Ai Jie" after another, as if implying something.

But Zhang Tian'ai was no pushover either. "Xin Jie, try this. Get more collagen, so your skin will be in better shape after thirty~"

Watching the two of them suddenly start calling each other "Jie," Meng Jie, a real member of the "Jie" generation, was dumbfounded.

Huh?

Clearly, before the little hedgehog arrived, everyone got along just fine.

Those two were always face-to-face taking photos together, posting on Weibo and whatnot.

But why did things suddenly feel off now?

"I'm going to the bathroom~"

"Me too!"

Li Xin stood up to head to the restroom, and Meng Jie followed right behind her.

She couldn't hold it in anymore.

She was closer to Li Xin, so if she didn't ask what was going on, she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

To this, Li Xin found a very, very "appropriate" excuse.

"Check that group of ours~"

"Which group?"

Meng Jie said she actually had some small groups too.

Li Xin understood what she meant, and while washing her hands, she rolled her eyes helplessly. "The group where everyone is."

"Oh~"

Generally, WeChat group chats have a "Do Not Disturb" feature, otherwise the constant beeping would be quite annoying.

Meng Jie found the biggest group. The people in it were indeed pretty complete—Li Xin, Li Yitong, Jin Cheng, Chen Yao, plus her, all five were there.

The group chat was named "Joy of Life Sisters."

Today the group was quite lively, because Jin Cheng was cursing up a storm in it.

She was cursing Zhang Tian'ai!

That long string of chat records was basically her sending messages nonstop, with several voice messages mixed in between.

It felt like she couldn't even wait to type, and just started yelling out loud.

Meng Jie's eyes went wide, thinking, Is the grudge really that big?

After she filtered through the information a bit, ruling out the purely emotional venting, she finally understood what the beef between Jin Cheng and Zhang Tian'ai was all about.

Actually, it was pretty simple—just a role swap.

A drama called "Wu Dong Qian Kun," a role that was originally supposed to be played by Jin Cheng, was ultimately taken by Zhang Tian'ai.

Of course, this was what Jin Cheng herself said in the group. But after Meng Jie did a quick search online, she found that there really did seem to be such a thing.

It had caused some controversy and commotion at the time, but unfortunately, the commotion wasn't particularly big.

Because a handsome guy named Bai Liang was dominating the screen at that time.

His momentum was too huge back then, so this "trivial" little matter was naturally and ruthlessly suppressed.

But Jin Cheng didn't blame Bai Liang—she poured all her fire onto Zhang Tian'ai!

Bitch! Slut!

In the end, it was a small-scale catfight between Jin Cheng and Zhang Tian'ai, and the matter didn't blow up into a huge public spectacle.

It matches! Now everything matches!

Meng Jie felt her train of thought suddenly open up. Back when she was on the "Joy of Life" set, she had asked Jin Cheng: Why, even after losing the lawsuit against Jiang Jinfu, did she still insist on suing to leave Tang Ren?

Jin Cheng's answer at the time was pretty vague, something about not getting what she wanted.

Didn't the timeline line up exactly with this matter?

Perhaps back then, Tang Ren—or rather Cai Yi—hadn't put in much effort to help Jin Cheng fight for this resource, which led to her growing resentful, insisting on leaving, saying she'd buy a standing ticket and ride the train out of there no matter what.

"So Xinxin, you're venting Jin Cheng's anger for her?"

!

This time Li Xin didn't answer the question, just smiled at Meng Jie. "I'm heading back first, are you still going to the bathroom?"

"Ah~ I really do need to use the bathroom."

Meng Jie, who did indeed have to pee, went into the bathroom, lifted her skirt, pulled down her pants, sat down, and then suddenly got curious—why was Jin Cheng cursing up a storm in the group at this time?

The role swap thing was over a year ago, wasn't it?

So she started scrolling through the chat records, scrolled all the way up, and finally found the ultimate answer.

Li Xin had posted a photo of herself with Zhang Tian'ai in the group, and forwarded a Weibo post.

The Weibo content was: "Wu Dong Qian Kun" is about to premiere.

She also added later that she had sent it to the wrong group.

Then Jin Cheng couldn't hold back and started, though of course she didn't go after Li Xin—just gave her a heads-up: The woman you're taking a photo with is no good person!

Later, it got too frustrating to keep quiet, so she just vented in the group chat.

Meng Jie always felt something was off, so she sat on the toilet staring at the chat history, lost in thought.

Then Bai Liang sent her a message: Are you stuck in the bathroom? You've been gone this long?

Long? How long exactly?

Huh? Time!

Meng Jie immediately checked the timestamp of the group photo Li Xin posted, then recalled slightly—it was right after that little hedgehog appeared in front of them.

Oh right! The photo wasn't taken today.

At this moment, Meng Jie felt like she'd just solved a case like Sherlock Holmes, her sense of accomplishment swelling:

I figured this out? I'm so brilliant!

So the question is, why go to such lengths?

Li Xin: If I let you figure it out so easily, little girl, you've got a lot to learn~

She hadn't expected Meng Jie to take this long to figure it out—wasn't she supposed to be smart?

Still, seeing Meng Jie couldn't resist chiming in in the group, Li Xin admitted she wasn't completely useless.

At this moment, the Qinyu Nian Sisters Group:

Jin Cheng: "Is this real, Meng Jie? Did Li Xin and Zhang Tian'ai get into it?"

Meng Jie: "It's real. They kept calling each other 'sister.' The scene was terrifying—why don't you two go talk some sense into her?"

Jin Cheng: "Make her turn on video—I'll yell at her! And what's wrong with her calling the other 'sister'? That Zhang Tian'ai is shameless, faking her age. She's definitely an '80s baby—now she's changed it to '92, making herself younger than all of us."

Li Yitong: "That exaggerated? What year was she actually born?"

Jin Cheng: "Probably '88. Some say '86. It's ridiculous anyway—Li Xin, keep it up! Bestie, I'll treat you to dinner next time!"

Li Yitong: "Go go go~"

Li Xin glanced at Zhang Tian'ai, eyes smiling, slightly raising an eyebrow—as if inviting her: Ready for the next round?

Zhang Tian'ai smiled brightly: Sure~

Tonight we settle not just superiority, but life and death?

Guan Xiaotong: Stop fighting already! You can't kill anyone like this~

She'd truly enjoyed her day of watching drama.

Though she didn't understand what was going on between Li Xin and Zhang Tian'ai, their confrontational stance made her giddy again and again.

She'd forgotten to reply to her boyfriend's messages multiple times, too engrossed in the drama.

But Meng Jie had misled her a bit.

Among everyone present, Meng Zi was the one who looked most like a villain—on first glance, definitely a sly, tea-brewing temptress—but she ate the most at dinner.

But right now, she couldn't spare attention for her—what mattered most was whether Li Xin and Zhang Tian'ai would tear each other apart tonight.

Guan Xiaotong couldn't help sneaking another glance at Bai Liang.

Is this really that weird?

This guy—wherever he goes, blood and wind follow!

It was like this at the movie night, and now even when he's just guesting on someone's set, it's still like this.

Wherever he is, there's drama?

But how can he just sit there calmly? Li Xin and Zhang Tian'ai are already throwing shade at each other like this.

Bai Liang: Huh?

He looked up at Guan Xiaotong, waving his phone. "I'm chatting with your boyfriend."

"Really?"

"True. He asked me—why aren't you replying to his messages?" Bai Liang smiled sweetly.

This made Guan Xiaotong blush furiously. She quickly opened her phone, saw the many messages from Lu Han, and hurried to reply.

Lu Han: …I can't reach you, but you reply to Bai Liang?

Damn it! Where the hell are you eating?!

When Guan Xiaotong reluctantly answered Lu Han's video call, the entire drama in the room halted because of her.

Lu Han looked at the screen full of beautiful girls, sighed in relief, then awkwardly greeted everyone.

Bai Liang: So this is how you solve it?

He hadn't expected Lu Han to have such an effect.

Oh right, these two girls—Li Xin and Zhang Tian'ai—are acting weird.

Their performance is too heavy.

Bai Liang, self-proclaimed Weibo Emperor of Acting, knew their acting was laughable in front of him.

Only Meng Jie and Guan Xiaotong, lost in the drama, were fooled.

But while they were acting, they didn't seem to have planned this in advance.

Clearly, both had gotten slightly heated, nearly losing control.

When it comes to hurting each other, girls understand girls best.

Of course, tonight's biggest "sucker" wasn't even here.

As everyone knows, when Bai Liang goes out to eat or spends money with girls, he rarely gets to pay himself.

Sometimes even when he wants to pay, he can't.

But tonight's bill payer was truly unexpected.

In the end, it was Lu Han who paid.

That's right—he wasn't even there, yet he paid remotely.

When this buddy transferred the money over, he even asked Bai Liang to look after Guan Xiaotong a bit, and thanked him~

Bai Liang:???

No, this buddy is only staying in this crew for two and a half days!

Look after my ass.

But since he'd already accepted the guy's "friend fee," Bai Liang quickly figured out what Lu Han meant.

Hey! This kid's saying the opposite of what he means.

Is this meal money asking him to look after her? This is clearly telling him to absolutely not look after her.

After all, you can't pull that "entrusting" move in the entertainment circle — asking a male buddy to look after your own girlfriend?

Look after, look after, and before you know it, you've looked after her right into bed.

This thing actually has real cases too!

No wonder he could go public — this kid really loves her a lot.

In response, Bai Liang didn't dawdle either, and stated his position on the spot:

"Hey, Xiaotong, are you here to play a flight attendant?"

"No, I'm playing a photography enthusiast who shoots planes." Guan Xiaotong said very bluntly.

"Then I guessed wrong, because when I came I happened to see a video, and thought it was a promo clip for this movie — let me show you~"

By the time Guan Xiaotong realized what video Bai Liang was talking about, her face changed drastically and she tried to stop him, but it was clearly already too late.

A loud sound came from the phone!

That bastard Bai Liang had even turned the volume all the way up!

"Told you to turn off your phone but you won't turn it off, you xx!"

"Told you to fasten your seatbelt but you won't fasten it, you xx!"

"."

Public execution!

Bai Liang: Lu Han, bro, I've already shown my stance in this way — if you still doubt me, that wouldn't be right~

(End of this chapter)