Chapter 376

About this "little lick-dog" thing.

Bai Liang seriously corrected Yang Mi's wording.

First, she's not small at all, second, she's not small at all.

The former refers to age, the latter to numerical value.

So far, before encountering that Liu Yan or Cheng Xiao, Big Mi Mi is unquestionably Bai Liang's number one in numerical value.

"I love how seriously you say nonsense," Yang Mi winked at Bai Liang and chuckled lightly.

"Nonsense?"

"One moment you praise me, the next you tease me—you're really something! So naughty, huh, men~"

"Miss Yang, try to be a bit more normal—you're making me uncomfortable."

"How boring. We're just chatting, why take it so seriously? But are you actually interested in that little girl? I saw how happy you looked in that photo with her."

"Don't I always smile like that?" Bai Liang asked, surprised.

"Then let's take a photo together—you have to smile even brighter than you did with her."

Yang Mi was a woman of action; she immediately pulled out her phone and told Bai Liang to bend down slightly—she wasn't wearing heels today.

But just as her finger was about to press the shutter button, she suddenly turned her head—smack~

She kissed Bai Liang's cheek.

Click! The photo was captured.

Looking at the photo, Yang Mi was momentarily stunned—her eyes closed, face showing a hint of mischief and shyness, she actually looked twenty-five.

This wasn't the same as the "girl-next-door vibe" on hot searches; in this photo, she genuinely looked like a girl.

She didn't want to delete it.

She turned to look at Bai Liang, expecting to see him flustered.

After all, if this photo got leaked, he'd definitely be in trouble.

Aside from his rumored girlfriends, just posting such an intimate photo with a divorced woman would make his fanbase explode.

But he remained completely unfazed, merely blinked, didn't try to snatch her phone, and after glancing at the photo, said:

"Miss Yang, your eyes were closed. Want to take another one?"

"You really aren't afraid," Yang Mi shook her head, her tone filled with amazement.

Bai Liang spread his hands, looking utterly innocent. "Why should I be afraid? Are you planning to send this to your ex-husband? No problem—I can beat him."

This made Yang Mi nearly collapse laughing, trembling violently~

"I'm serious—just a few years ago, even if I'd held a knife to your throat, I'd have forced you to marry me!"

"Actually, you don't even need a knife—it's too much trouble."

"So if I were younger, you'd really marry me?"

"I'd marry you now too."

Bai Liang rubbed his chin, thinking that if Dorgon couldn't do it, he certainly could.

Was Empress Xiaozhuang a wealthy woman?

If she was a wealthy woman, then he was perfectly suited for the role.

"You just say pretty things to sweet-talk people."

Yang Mi rolled her eyes at him, as if she saw right through all his little tricks.

After all, she was a woman past thirty—not someone you could fool with just a few sweet words.

Unless she wanted to believe them herself.

Then Yang Mi's expression turned serious. "If you ever work with Yu Zheng, be a bit more careful—he's a bit petty, but he's also genuinely talented. Even copying him isn't easy to surpass."

Bai Liang wasn't particularly concerned about that—after all, getting past Sister Yanzi's approval was already hard enough; she was very strict.

Even in the entertainment industry's ecosystem, actors weren't high up—directors, producers, industry bigwigs—all of them were more powerful, held higher status.

But when an actor's commercial value and project enhancement reached an extremely terrifying level, they'd all show their most amiable smiles and directly lower their posture.

Who would turn down money?

Bai Liang wasn't capital himself, but the amount of capital he could casually mobilize was already an astonishing presence.

Of course, he could be capital too—but there was no need.

Why bother with that? He'd rather chat with a little sister—like right now.

"Miss Yang, aren't you the actress who's collaborated most with Yu Zheng in the industry?"

"Yeah, four times. I've even worked with Guo Jingming five times—impressive, right?" Yang Mi laughed at herself.

That was truly impressive.

Bai Liang couldn't help but raise his thumb.

"By the way, Guo Xiaosi also sent me a script once."

"Sent you a script? Oh, I know—was it the two-part 'Qing Ya Ji'? You didn't take it?" Yang Mi asked, surprised.

She was truly awed—she felt like everyone in the world was handing scripts to Bai Liang. She'd never seen another artist receive such treatment since her debut.

Too outrageous!

When she first met Bai Liang, this kid was just a fresh-faced newcomer who'd just landed his first male lead role.

And how much time had passed? The fresh-faced newcomer had become a behemoth.

And every time they met, Bai Liang would reset her understanding and raise the ceiling of what she imagined a young entertainer in the mainland industry could achieve.

Like this time—the producer and director of "Escape Room" had specifically reached out to her, cautiously asking if Yang Mi could invite Bai Liang to make a guest appearance, simply because they'd heard he was recently promoting a show.

They were asking to invite him for promotion—and they were being cautious. Yang Mi had been stunned.

How did you even know I had a thing with him? —er, I mean, a connection?

As for that thing called The Qing Ya Collection, Bai Liang said he only had a faint memory of it, and Guo Xiaosi got passed over by Sister Yanzi faster than Yu Zheng did.

Just because of his name, Sister Yanzi wasn't even keen on reading it, but she still politely glanced through it—and then passed anyway.

Of course, she told Bai Liang about it, so that if they ever met in the circle later, her little Bai Ge wouldn't be unaware of the matter—that would seem disrespectful.

Basic manners still need to be observed.

"Should I take it? Miss Mi, are you going to act in it?"

Hearing this, Yang Mi knew he had no idea what the project was—this was genuine disdain for Guo Xiaosi's film.

She raised an eyebrow: "If I act, you'll act too?"

"It's not impossible."

Though she already knew how Bai Liang would answer, Yang Mi said she truly loved hearing it—it was so thrilling! If he kept talking like this, she'd even feel young again!

She clenched her legs, tempted to pull Bai Liang back to the hotel for a chat—or if that failed, even the car would do.

But then the director, producers, and planners came over to greet them.

Oh well, they still had to record the show~

Escape Room was a new variety show created by the team behind Celebrity Detective, and Bai Liang was quite interested in both programs.

One was escape room, the other was script-killing—both far more interesting than idiotic mini-games.

But both required large-scale setups to be truly fun—they were hardware-intensive.

The former needs no explanation: escape room, you at least need an actual escape room.

As for the latter, because Celebrity Detective had popularized script-killing, Bai Liang had once been dragged into playing it by the girls while filming The Longest Day in Chang'an.

They were fascinated by it and even bought scripts online, printed them out, and played them.

But holding a script and forcing yourself to play clearly wasn't as fun as the immersive role-playing on the show.

This ultra-low-spec version of play was tolerable only if the script was excellent; if the quality was even slightly worse, it was like spending hours in a pointless meeting—Bai Liang had been utterly tortured back then.

And with a group of girls, they couldn't help but "target" the only boy present~

It was just like the "Sanniang Sect" game in mahjong.

Luckily, after playing twice, they lost interest and judged it worse than mahjong.

So being on the show to play it was actually a great option—the production team would spend money building the hardware setup to maximize the experience.

Bai Liang rubbed his hands together, looking genuinely excited.

Seeing this, Yang Mi chuckled, "Don't forget you're here to record a show—don't just focus on playing; the show's entertainment value matters too."

"Do you guys also have character roles assigned?" Bai Liang asked, remembering this detail.

"Uh, yeah."

"May I ask what yours is?"

"Timid, but highly intelligent," Yang Mi said without blinking.

The latter probably wasn't an issue, but the former—was she really timid?

Still, before arriving, Bai Liang had watched clips of several aired episodes—Yang Mi really did go "Aaaaah!" all the time~

The subtitles felt like they were shouting right into his eyes.

The theme of this episode of Escape Room that Bai Liang was joining was called The Haunted Mansion.

Hearing the name, he felt something was off—and when he noticed the strange smiles on the crew's faces,

it made him recall the Celebrity Detective episode titled The Terrifying Nursery Rhyme.

Very memorable!

Soon, he met the other regular guests on the show besides Yang Mi.

Deng Lun, Wei Daxun, Huang Minghao, Xie Yilin.

Originally there was also Zhang Guowei, but he's an athlete who stopped appearing after the first two episodes to prepare for the Asian Games.

This guy was an abstract-type player—from White Crane Spreads Wings to Dragon Sucks Water—he was a lively sports internet celebrity.

Aside from Yang Mi, the biggest star on the show was clearly Deng Lun—after exploding in popularity from Sweet Dreams, he'd become a top-tier celebrity.

He'd also joined the Top Celebrity Club rankings, but his position wasn't high—he was definitely below Akun, who rose from Huang Minghao's show Idol Producer.

Still, Huang Minghao, though only fourth place on that show, was also quite "exceptional."

Bai Liang actually remembered him—this kid was especially good at close-range teasing.

Including, but not limited to, teasing Huang Xiaoming with "Nao Tai Tao," and bringing up New Rap to Jia Nailiang.

It seemed his entire purpose in entering the entertainment industry was to joke directly in front of the originals.

So… this reckless little fool wasn't going to let Bai Liang off either.

After politely greeting him upon meeting, he immediately started thinking.

As if trying to recall any "black history" of Bai Liang's he could reveal for a laugh, to complete his daily quota of close-range teasing.

Bai Liang had plenty of iconic moments, but embarrassing ones—he'd have to think hard.

After all guests arrived, they all got into the car and headed to the recording location.

As a guest star, Bai Liang's arrival clearly stole the spotlight—almost every topic revolved around him.

And as soon as Yang Mi sat down, she reached out and pulled Bai Liang to sit right beside her.

This made the other male guests a bit jealous—was Miss Mi really this forward?

Of course, Yang Mi had never been linked to Bai Liang in any gossip—she simply used Reba as a shield, acting as if she could do whatever she wanted and didn't care what others said.

This tactic worked too well! No one thought too deeply about it.

"Bro, your courage must be huge, right?"

Hearing the question, Bai Liang wasn't quite sure: "Hard to say—it depends on the theme. Some real things don't scare me, but some fake ones… well, Miss Mi will protect me."

Yang Mi slapped him directly. "A man asking me to protect you? I'm counting on you to shield me this episode—you even dared to fight a lion!"

"The big cat is so cute, how could it scare anyone?"

This remark made everyone in the car blink with question marks above their foreheads.

Then, without hesitation, they tagged Bai Liang: this guy is definitely fearless to the point of recklessness.

Even the production team thought the same—they'd assigned Bai Liang a temporary persona as the "big leg."

With his boldness and razor-sharp wit, he wouldn't just dominate the celebrity version of Escape Room; he'd thrive in the god-tier version next door.

"Oh right, I still need to promote my movie and TV drama."

"Bro, is that really that forced?"

"What if I wait until we're inside and scream in terror, then do a live promo? Wouldn't that work better?" Bai Liang mused.

Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.

Hehe~

If this episode really has a lot of horror elements, when everyone gets scared, having someone shout a promo right beside them? It'd actually be reassuring!

"Do it, do it—I'll remind you then!" Yang Mi said enthusiastically.

Remind him?

After everyone had their eyes covered and got off the bus, Bai Liang felt his arm suddenly go limp.

People used to say you could recognize Yang Mi just by her silhouette—but now you didn't even need to look; with his eyes covered, he could tell it was her by touch alone.

Yet before Bai Liang could savor it long,

They entered the escape room, and the blindfold was removed.

Opening shock!

Inside the silent, dark mansion, the toilet bowl was filled with blood, the showerhead dripped blood, and even the water from the sink tap ran red.

Isn't this supposed to be a puzzle show?!

"You're moving way too fast."

Yang Mi had barely unfastened her blindfold when the eerie scene terrified her into reaching for Bai Liang—only to find nothing beside her.

Just as her heart turned icy with dread, she turned her head and saw him already backed into the corner.

She felt both annoyed and amused.

"You should praise me for my agility—this is way too scary!" Bai Liang declared with full confidence.

"You say 'this is way too scary' with a completely calm face—it's even scarier than the scene."

"I'm just naturally not a smiling person. No expression, looks calm—but I've been dead for a while already."

Bai Liang admitted he was scared, begged for protection like a newbie, and confessed he truly preferred ordinary games.

But Yang Mi ignored him, clinging tightly to him, as if determined to force him to show some manliness.

Stupid little brother, snap out of it!

Bai Liang: In a situation like this, no amount of testosterone can make you stand tall.

So he wasn't bothered at all by her wriggling against him—she got a full benefit, because even like this, he absolutely wouldn't embarrass himself.

Laughable, it just wouldn't rise.

Then things got even weirder—the piano started playing itself, and a strange boy appeared in the mirror.

The puzzle-solving segments in between were almost relaxing.

Bai Liang occasionally glanced over, gave hints, and when they were truly stuck, he helped analyze—his super brain was genuinely useful; one misstep and he'd speedrun the whole thing.

Yang Mi had completely forgotten her plan to "remind" Bai Liang about the promo.

She'd become his personal attachment, determined not to let go of him for a second.

The production team is trying to kill us, making it this terrifying!

But the most terrifying part was coming.

In a bedroom, faint light revealed a woman hanging on the wall—her face twisted in fury, deathly pale—suddenly appearing, then vanishing without reason.

All the guests scrambled in panic; Xie Yilin, who seemed tough and tomboyish, collapsed right onto the floor.

Even Yang Mi, whose courage had never been small in previous episodes, couldn't hold on.

She went limp as a noodle, hanging entirely on Bai Liang.

Honestly, being scared enough to pee a few drops was perfectly normal.

This episode clearly prioritized horror over puzzles—the scare level was maxed out, and Bai Liang had truly caught the worst of it.

Luckily, he didn't let Yang Mi down—he still showed off his "cleverness."

He always found the perfect corner, then pulled Yang Mi over to huddle with him.

"Little brother, you're Bai Bai Daxian! Can't you use some magic?" Yang Mi, finally calmed down, instinctively tugged at her skirt.

Clearly, what she wanted to tug wasn't her skirt.

Bai Liang nodded reluctantly, "Alright… alright! Follow the dragon, seek gold, observe the winding mountains—one curve, one barrier."

"That's tomb-raider jargon! Hey—puzzle solved, hurry up!"

Yang Mi clearly wanted to see Bai Liang shine—she always wanted him to handle these moments of glory and cleverness, couldn't stand him slacking off.

It made people feel like she was showing off.

Fine, she was indeed quietly showing off—just enjoying herself.

When the whole episode finished filming, though it was already dark outside, the guests felt a strange sense of "dawn breaking."

Filming such a show was genuinely exhausting for celebrities.

Especially one this terrifying.

After a brief debrief on the bus, no one even mentioned getting dinner—everyone stared blankly, as if their bodies had left the escape room but their souls remained trapped inside.

Everyone just wanted to get back to the hotel, shower, and rest.

"I'm scared. I don't dare to sleep alone." Yang Mi said in a small, pitiful voice.

"Sister Mi, that's a bit much~ Try to act a little more normal."

"I knew you were faking. When we played the four-corner game, you walked the steadiest of all."

"My heart's pounding too~"

Bai Liang said he had genuinely been startled—after all, he was only human, and the moment he closed his eyes, there was that female ghost hanging on the wall. It was freaking terrifying.

But since he'd been scared, he figured he really did need to comfort the young lady a little in return; otherwise, he probably wouldn't sleep well tonight.

(End of chapter)