Chapter 4

"Oh my, Sister Yang, such a small thing didn't need to bother you..."

Sister Yang's expression turned slightly unpleasant.

Today's actually a proper birthday banquet; the male models Old Zhou brought are just for atmosphere, just drinking together.

It's just the common saying of "bringing some friends along to have fun."

Nothing messy happened, so even if photographed, it's no big deal—besides, she's behind the scenes.

But as someone in the entertainment industry, she's very sensitive to this kind of thing.

Right now, Sister Yang doesn't have any artists under her, but if any of her artists dared pull this kind of stunt at social events, she'd probably want to kill them.

I don't know what Sister Yang said to Old Zhou—Bai Liang and Huang Jingyu definitely aren't qualified to hear it.

The two of them briefly acted as security outside an empty private room.

When they came out, Old Zhou's forehead was sweaty, but his overall expression remained relaxed.

As for Sister Yang, she even smiled at Bai Liang and Huang Jingyu: "You two are pretty sharp, but that guy who got physical was a bit impulsive—did Little Zhou brag to you that I'm signing artists?"

The handsome guy shook his head~

No way.

"If Sister Yang doesn't speak up, how would I dare say anything? But these two are definitely the sharpest and best-conditioned models under me—crucially, their backgrounds are spotless."

Even though Old Zhou secretly resented Bai Liang for talking too fast, he still praised them both.

Sister Yang now seriously sized up Bai Liang and Huang Jingyu, then nodded in satisfaction: "Honestly, you two really do have the best conditions—but I'm resting right now, temporarily not taking on any artists..."

Even so, Sister Yang still gave them her business card.

This was pretty much all the two got out of tonight.

Huang Jingyu held the card, his mind swirling with thoughts, unsure what to do.

At a moment like this, he unconsciously turned his gaze toward the "unreliable" Bai Liang.

"Want to go back and eat the fruit platter?" Bai Liang invited again.

Fuck you...

Huang Jingyu helplessly rubbed his forehead; compared to this guy, even his own immature self seemed mature and reliable.

"Fine, okay."

For the next two hours, music kept playing and dancing continued; no one noticed the absence of one person.

Bai Liang and Huang Jingyu didn't do anything remarkable—they basically just ate fruit platter all night.

At the end, they received their earnings for the night: eight hundred yuan each.

Add to that two thousand five hundred yuan each as hush money, and together they made six thousand six hundred yuan tonight.

Such a lucky number! Must celebrate!

So the next day, with no work, they went back to Haidi Lao.

Halfway through eating, Huang Jingyu mentally prepared himself, then said: "Next week I'm going to Beijing for a screen test."

"Oh~"

Bai Liang, still battling the beef slices, grabbed two more while Huang Jingyu spoke and quickly devoured them.

"I didn't tell you earlier... forget it, why am I even explaining this!" Huang Jingyu slapped his forehead. "What do you think? Should we contact Sister Yang and try the entertainment industry?"

Bai Liang confirmed the plate of beef was completely gone, then looked up and said casually: "I already contacted her. She recommended a production team to me."

"What? When did you contact her?"

Huang Jingyu, who had just felt a twinge of guilt, instantly perked up—damn it, you sneaked ahead?

Bai Liang pulled out his phone and checked: "This afternoon, when I was on the toilet, you were messing with the router and cut the Wi-Fi—I couldn't use my phone, so I called her to ask. She said she'd recommend a small role for me to try."

"You called her while on the toilet?" Huang Jingyu thought it was utterly absurd.

"There was no internet."

"Didn't your phone have mobile data?"

"I exceeded my data limit, so it's throttled—I can't even load images."

That made sense. Huang Jingyu couldn't find any flaw—he could only blame China Mobile.

Why the hell did they throttle him?

"So how did you talk to her?" Huang Jingyu pulled his chair closer, unable to suppress his curiosity.

"I just asked—'Got any jobs? We're short on work lately.'"

"And she immediately agreed to recommend a production team?"

"Yeah."

That's so weird.

Coming from Bai Liang's mouth, it sounded logical and followed cause and effect.

But Huang Jingyu had been a charcoal burner at a barbecue joint, a radio phone editor, a waiter, a factory apprentice—he'd been beaten down by society.

It was hard to imagine things could unfold so naturally.

From the incident of catching the paparazzi last night to now, combined with Bai Liang's nonchalant attitude, it gave him a strange feeling.

As if getting a chance to act was, to him, no different from a modeling gig.

At the same time, he couldn't help wondering... could Sister Yang have taken a liking to this young, fresh meat?

He'd taken her card too, but hadn't dared to call—what if she was just being polite?

Torn between conspiracy theories and overthinking, Huang Jingyu still couldn't figure anything out.

By now, the beef slices, beef tripe, and beef stomach were almost all gone, devoured by Bai Liang.

"Damn! Save me some!"

After eating the steaming hot hotpot, everything suddenly felt cold.

He shouldered his pack.

Two tall, handsome guys standing at the entrance of the residential complex — they really did draw the eye.

Bai Liang was heading to Hengdian, Huang Jingyu to Yanjing.

One south, one north.

The scene honestly carried a touch of that wistful "life's roads fork north and south — you to Xiaoxiang, I to Qin" melancholy.

But with one of them a northeastern tough guy and the other a carefree capybara, there really wasn't all that much sentimental heartache.

"I'm off then~"

Huang Jingyu gave a wave and turned toward a brand-new future.

Bai Liang, meanwhile, lingered under the sun for over a minute, because he kept feeling like he'd forgotten something.

Not until he checked his phone and saw he still had a package to pick up did he hurry over to the Cainiao station.

Two cans of protein powder.

One of which he actually had to return to Huang Jingyu.

Luckily, an hour later the two of them ran into each other again at the train station — damn it.

He said, "Fate, huh…"

"I mean, we're both coming to take the train, so why did we have to leave separately?" Huang Jingyu said, slightly questioning his life.

Bai Liang shrugged, little-bear-spread-his-hands: "I thought you were gonna fly."

After exchanging looks, they confirmed — both were too broke to afford a plane.

In reality, Bai Liang was clearly even more broke; he'd bought a green-skinned train ticket, unlike the other guy who'd actually sprung for a high-speed rail ticket.

After a big-eyed, small-eyed stare-down, Huang Jingyu took one can of protein powder from Bai Liang, looking thoroughly disgusted.

His bag and suitcase were already stuffed to the brim — where was he supposed to fit another can of protein powder?

He could only hold it in his arms like Bai Liang…

His originally cool, handsome style instantly gained a few shades of rustic charm, as if he'd been kicked straight from Shanghai back to his old northeastern hometown.

Before he could complain, Bai Liang had already waved with a flourish and turned to leave.

Swiped his ID and entered the station.

Leaving Huang Jingyu standing there baring his teeth — damn it, how does this guy time things so tight? Just got here and already swiping in?

Someone like himself, who was afraid of being late and had specifically come an hour early, really did look like a sucker.

Bai Liang, this guy — no matter what he does, it feels like… it's almost eerily smooth!