Chapter 349

After returning home for the New Year, Meng Jie had come back to Shanghai with her mother, Sister Qian Jie.

There was no help for it—Sister Qian Jie thought Meng Jie had lost weight and wanted to spend more time with her.

The two had just gone to the cinema to watch *The Wandering Earth*, and Meng Jie had even posted her movie ticket on Weibo.

Support Little Hedgehog!

"Xiao Ciwei is so amazing~ I remember when I first met him, he wasn't any more famous than you, but look at him now—how popular he is! He acts so well, and look at you?"

Worrying about her being thin while also criticizing her—only a real mom would do that.

"Oh come on, Sister Qian Jie, you've been praising him all day long—yet you haven't said a word about his scandals!"

As Meng Jie grumbled, she secretly hoped her mom would gently "scold" Little Hedgehog for her.

He really needed scolding—he'd gone too far!

How many girls has he been involved with now? Meng Jie had been "forced" to join two strange events already.

So embarrassing!

But then her mom, Sister Qian Jie, said, "Outstanding boys naturally attract girls—whose fault is it that you didn't move first? If I were you, I'd have already tackled him and gone straight to get the marriage certificate."

Northeastern women are just fierce!

But hearing this, Meng Jie truly felt guilty.

She had actually tackled him too—showing the decisiveness of a Northeastern woman—but when it came to the step of getting married, she chickened out.

There was no help for it—she was too young!

Back then, she was only twenty. She hadn't even turned twenty yet—still months short of the legal marriage age.

How could she not be afraid and retreat?

By the time she regretted it, it was already too late. But honestly, even if she could choose again now, she'd probably still retreat.

Because even now, Meng Jie had never thought about entering married life—it was too early! She was afraid.

Back home, Sister Qian Jie went to make the bed, while Meng Jie hugged her dog, Chocolate, curled up on the sofa, ready to scroll through her phone.

In the afternoon, she saw the news that Di Li Re Ba would be the female lead in *The Wandering Earth 2*, and she felt intensely envious.

But she didn't resent Little Hedgehog for favoring others—Meng Jie was surprisingly open-minded about this.

Then, at that moment, the WeChat group with the most complete list of his contacts suddenly exploded.

Curious, Meng Jie clicked in and found everyone going wild.

Li Yitong: "Oh my god! We're rich! Help me calculate—how much will my two million yuan to the fox turn into?"

Jin Cheng: "Definitely several million. *The Wandering Earth*'s box office is projected to hit nearly five billion—there'll be over a billion in cash split. A few times return is no problem—he really made a fortune. By the way, Yao Yao, how much did you give him? You gave more than me."

Chen Yao: "About one and a half million—I don't remember clearly. Later he told me if I wasn't in a hurry, he'd hold onto it and return it doubled when I grew up."

Jin Cheng: "You believed that scammer's line to little girls?"

Chen Yao: ". Of course I knew he was joking."

Holding her phone, Chen Yao smiled faintly, recalling Bai Liang's tone when he said that—he really did treat her like a child.

But actually, it was quite nice—normal girls enjoy being cared for like a child by someone they like.

Yet now, this situation surprised Chen Yao—and at the same time, made her heart sweet.

He's always remembered me.

Jin Cheng: "So you gave him the least? I'm going to find the Taoist master to settle accounts!"

Li Yitong: "Weren't you fighting to break your contract and suing back then? Did you even have money to give him?"

Jin Cheng: "Fine, I didn't have any. But it turns out Meng Jie is even poorer than me! She didn't put in a single cent?"

Li Yitong: "Don't tease Meng Jie—she only got a few paychecks back then. She was still living off her parents."

Jin Cheng: "Then I'll tease Li Xin! I figured it out—the list Director Guo Fan posted is ranked by investment amount. Li Xin, your name's at the top—you're going to get rich! Tell us how much you put in."

Li Xin, who had been quietly observing the group for a long time, now smiled—ahh, it's my turn to show off.

She'd stayed silent just to see how much others had invested—if everyone gave more than her, she'd be so embarrassed~

If that happened, she'd just pretend to be dead.

But now—the highest was Li Yitong's two million?

Li Xin: "Five million."

Jin Cheng: "Holy shit! You really hit it big! Treat us to dinner~"

Li Yitong: "Dinner +1, Xin Xin really has money—doing incredibly well~"

Li Xin: "I debuted earlier than you guys. When I first started, I was even worse off than Meng Jie—at least Meng Jie wasn't scammed out of three years' pay."

Jin Cheng: "I heard about that—when you were young, you were actually a naive little sweetie."

Li Xin: "Angry. gif, I'm still young! Jin Da Xi, did you forget you're the same age as me?"

Jin Cheng: "Oh right~"

Li Yitong: "Da Xi's brain often glitches. By the way, Meng Jie hasn't spoken up—did she sneak off somewhere to cry? Meng Jie, don't cry, I'll treat you to something delicious~"

At this moment, Meng Jie wasn't crying—but she was indeed feeling down.

Everyone was celebrating, and she felt completely out of place.

Inferiority breeds inferiority~

At this moment, Sister Qian Jie walked out of the room. "What's wrong? Why are you frowning? Don't do that—you'll get wrinkles when you're older."

"Sister Qian Jie… they're bullying me!" Meng Jie pouted, whining.

"Huh? Who's bullying you?"

But now Meng Jie didn't know what to say—talking about this with her mom felt strangely awkward.

After organizing her thoughts slightly, she said, "It's about… the investment for *The Wandering Earth*—the one mentioned on Weibo. You haven't seen it yet, right?"

"Investment?" Sister Qian Jie froze, then suddenly slapped her thigh. "Oh! I forgot to tell you something."

"Hm?"

"Back when Xiao Bai came to me and took two million, then told me he invested it in his movie—this one, 'The Wandering Earth'—I've never been able to figure out how much he made. You're in the industry, so can you help me calculate it?"

Mencius:???

"Wait, dear Sister Qian Jie—no, Mother Lord, Mom—could you repeat what you just said?"

Sister Qian Jie blinked: "It's just that Xiao Bai came to me and took two million."

Meng Jie: "Enough, enough, no need to say more!"

She dropped the chocolate on the ground and hugged her mother's thigh: "Split it half, split it half."

"Take it all, take it all! Look at you, so pitiful."

"Really?"

"You're grown up now—you should save more money. How else are you going to buy gifts for boys? You're always so stingy. I heard Xiao Bai has taken care of you many times, yet you never bought him anything."

Meng Jie was indignant—she had given plenty too!

But how could she tell her mother that? After all, she had to think of Little Hedgehog's safety.

"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, when I've got money in my pocket, I'll spend it all on him!"

"That's right~ Exactly!" Sister Qian Jie praised her obedient daughter's insight—when chasing a boy, you've got to be willing to spend!

After that, she was ready to sleep—but at this moment, Meng Jie rolled up her sleeves and reopened the girls' WeChat group.

She opened with an overly dramatic line: "Oh my, I just went to see a movie—my phone was on silent. What were you all talking about?"

Li Yitong: "We were talking about movie investments. Didn't you give money to the Fox?"

Meng Jie: "Nope, I don't have any money~"

Li Yitong: "Hehe, we all did!"

Then Meng Jie suddenly changed tack: "But my mom gave him two million—I didn't even know! They're getting along so well."

Meng Jie's sentence plunged the WeChat group into a full minute of silence.

No one spoke.

After a long pause, Jin Cheng finally said: "The Great Immortal met your parents?"

The other girls stayed silent, clearly waiting for Meng Jie's answer.

The atmosphere in the group had turned strange.

Meng Jie: "Hehe, scared you all to death! What's the act for? With my Sister Qian Jie around, who can compete?"

"When I first met him, my mom already met him—they got along great."

The group stayed silent.

But Meng Jie feared she'd overplayed it and lost all these friendships.

She quickly clarified the actual situation in the group.

Now the girls felt better.

Holy crap, that scared the hell out of me!

Li Yitong murmured: "I thought Meng Jie had taken the shortcut and knocked down all the Big Demons~"

The girls in this little group were actually quite loyal to each other; they never played female rivalry games.

The real reason wasn't that they were all broad-minded and "traditional"—it was external pressure.

Just those two new Crimson Demons were enough to make anyone quake, let alone the Eight-Five Flowers.

Even if the Eight-Five Flowers probably didn't mean it that way—maybe just that kind of vibe—their reputations still loomed large and intimidating.

Once things were explained, it was Meng Jie's turn to be unhappy.

!

What's going on? She'd figured it out—every one of her sisters was eyeing Little Hedgehog, trying to move up.

Otherwise, why would "meeting the parents" make them all so shaken?

But Meng Jie thought of Gu Li Na Zha's oppressive aura—and decided to stick with her sisterhood.

Miss Jing Tian: "Stick together? Stick to what? Only losers stick together~"

She herself was an entire army!

Today was the most prestigious day! Call me "Sister Tian Tian"!

In Guo Fan's Weibo post, her name was listed first!

Money doesn't matter—this matters!

This "investment" had earned her so much that Miss Jing Tian felt uneasy—she needed to find a way to spend it.

With a grand wave of her hand, she immediately announced on Weibo that she'd treat her fans to a movie.

Right after she had her team organize a Weibo lottery for movie tickets, she noticed someone had messaged her on WeChat.

Hmm. The person wasn't very familiar, but she thought they'd added her at some fashion event.

They asked if she wanted to join a group.

When she saw the link and the group's name—Bai Liang's Global Rich Women Fan Club? —Miss Jing Tian laughed.

Haha, what a silly name!

Add it, add it, add it! —

Undoubtedly, whether it was Re Ba's early confirmation as the lead in Movie 2, or the girls' generous contributions—collective effort igniting the flame—helping 'The Wandering Earth' complete its final funding puzzle, had left netizens gleefully feasting on the gossip!

Re Ba's black trending topic had long vanished.

All that remained was the frenzy of her fans—truthfully, this wave had pushed many of Re Ba's single-status fans to defect to the CP fan camp.

Many of Re Ba's fans had always disliked Bai Liang—he had too many rumors. In their eyes, how could he possibly match Re Ba? No matter how talented you are, if you're not faithful, you're not good enough!

Many had occasionally even dabbled in being Bai Liang's trolls.

His many black fans are actually just fans of various young ladies.

But this time, even the most devoted fans of Reba who hated Bai Liang couldn't say anything negative about him.

Everyone knows Reba landed the female lead in Ballistic 2 solely because of Bai Liang's influence.

After all, though she's a top-tier celebrity with huge fame, she's really just a TV actress.

Don't even mention her—Yang Mi, the so-called "boss" everyone talks about, can't even get access to good film resources, and still got roasted to hell for landing the female lead in The Wandering Knife 2.

As for an IP like The Wandering Earth? Yang Mi can't even dream of it.

For Reba to land it was pure dumb luck.

What's there to say? It's just pure mutual attraction.

Mutual attraction my ass.

Without a doubt, those crude words were spat out by that group's fans.

Only they could launch an attack right now!

So what if Ballistic 2? We've got the female lead from Wolf Warrior 2 too—didn't she land it thanks to Bai Liang?

Nobody even knows when Ballistic 2 will hit theaters—why are you popping champagne early? And now you're pretending to be humble~

The female lead of a 6.6-billion-yuan box office is right here—what are you even pretending for?!

Reba's fans fired back: "Those trending smear topics were definitely bought by your side! Pfft! Shameless, using such low tricks!"

Without a doubt, the fight's on!

Of course, that trending smear topic about Reba's attention-grabbing had nothing to do with that group.

They've been directly calling each other to scream insults—why would they buy smear topics? That's just throwing money at Weibo.

Whether it's the workaholic Reba or the little hamster Zha, neither would do something so low-value.

But fans don't care—they just need an excuse to fight.

They fight among themselves; netizens have grown used to it. Outside the battlefield, everyone's clearly curious about all those young ladies who "extended a helping hand."

"Wait, Big Immortal, what's going on with you? After acting with Da Shu, did you finally unblock your meridians? 'Tiger Cao Dahua' of the Serious Crimes Unit, huh? Eating soft food like it's hard?!"

"None of those names are male—what did Guo Fan say again? All these female stars together poured tens of millions into him! All that money, just handed over so freely."

"To be honest, before The Wandering Earth came out, not a single sci-fi fan believed in this movie. Those young ladies who ponied up cash probably did it just because of someone's face."

"True—last month Weibo was still bashing The Wandering Earth; domestic sci-fi had such a terrible reputation. Anyone who still paid up? Definitely true fans."

"But here's the thing—is Big Immortal's 'true love' really that excessive? If it were one or two, even three or four, I'd tolerate it—call you a male succubus who stole the souls of these actresses—but this whole list—"

"This is insane! Guo Fan used an ellipsis—does that mean non-celebrities invested too? I bet they're all women!"

"Summary: Me, Bai Liang, throw money! That's the gist, right?"

"."

Netizens were baffled—couldn't figure out how Bai Liang pulled this off.

The young ladies, who gained both face and substance, naturally said: "Ah~ it's purely his personal charm—he asked, so of course we had to support him."

To ride The Wandering Earth's hype this way—and with such a good reputation—was incredibly satisfying.

Many movie fans even thanked them under their Weibo posts.

They said it was thanks to these young ladies that such a milestone film existed.

The young ladies: "Huh?!"

"Wow… we contributed to Chinese cinema."

Now they'd satisfied not just face and substance—but their spiritual world too~

Actually, compared to netizens, some people were even more baffled.

While The Wandering Earth didn't just rely on the film itself to spark buzz—it effortlessly seized trending topics through outside activities, drawing in massive traffic.

The creators of The Crazy Alien and The Wandering Star could only watch as Bai Liang and Guo Fan went wild with antics.

And they could only shrug helplessly.

They could've crushed him with pure talent—but he still went all out with flashy marketing.

Who could possibly compete with them?!

"Guo Fan's a jerk who loves to deceive, but he could never come up with so many bizarre marketing stunts."

"Forget it—it's Bai Liang. We need to reassess his true box office draw."

"It's not just about box office draw—he saves way too much money and adds way too much value in marketing!"

"Someone once claimed Bai Liang added ten billion to Wolf Warrior 2's box office—I didn't believe it then. Now I think ten billion's too low."

"Does he have any slots next year?"

"Unlikely—even next year might be full. Many want him dead, but more want to work with him—the tide has turned."

"He's already in a league of his own in the domestic entertainment industry—and he's so young!"

After this flurry of discussion, the film industry reached one conclusion: Don't compete with Bai Liang in marketing!

This kid's got too many tricks up his sleeve!

They now even suspect Bai Liang hasn't even used all his cards yet—after all, the movie's only been out a short while.

Then someone suddenly said: "Wait—he took the postgraduate entrance exam, right? Applied to Peking University—the results come out after Spring Festival!"

"Holy shit! That's another angle—but it probably won't make much noise—he's already got the genius persona."

"Hard to say—Bai Liang's just weird."

"Han Han, what do you think?"

Han Han said he didn't know—he was questioning his entire life.

How much of his own film, Riding the Wind and Waves, had actually owed to Bai Liang?

And as Bai Liang's films kept breaking box office records one after another, his pride and joy—Riding the Wind and Waves, Bai Liang's very first movie—was now practically dragging him down.

Just that~

After "The Wandering Earth" hit the Spring Festival slot, a whole lineup of heavyweights was still waiting for it.

Back then, the opponents "Wolf Warrior 2" faced were just a bunch of small fry, weren't they? It really just bulldozed right through.

But what was waiting for "The Wandering Earth" was "Alita: Battle Angel," "How to Train Your Dragon 3," "Green Book," and "Captain Marvel."

And the screenwriter of "Alita: Battle Angel" was none other than the director of "Titanic" and "Avatar" — trucker Cameron, the man standing at the peak of the world's box office.

You can win, right? Little Broken Globe?

—

Third watch, eighteen thousand words, muah!

Rolling around shamelessly begging for monthly tickets~

(End of chapter)