Chapter 403: Not Admit, Not Deny, Not Declare

Compared to the Spring Festival slot, the summer vacation slot is also quite competitive.

There's basically a box office hit every year.

The 2017 box office champion, Wolf Warrior 2, came from the summer slot; the 2018 dark horses, I Am Not a Pharmacist and The Billionaire of Xicheng City, also exploded during the summer.

Until two weeks before the official start of this year's summer slot, domestic filmmakers still had high hopes for it.

They said the 2019 summer slot, packed with numerous seed films each targeting over one billion yuan in box office, gathered the collective effort of Chinese-language filmmakers over the past half-year.

Yet this year's summer slot has been surprisingly quiet so far.

The best performer so far is Scorpion 2: Heaven vs. Earth, released in early July, with roughly 1.2 to 1.3 billion yuan in box office.

Originally, the most anticipated film in July was Deng Chao's The Galaxy Tutoring Class.

This film is considered Deng Chao's "transformation work"—he finally abandoned playing the fool and forcing comedy in movies, shifting toward more serious themes.

Although its reception still lags far behind I Am Not a Pharmacist and it has many flaws, audiences at least feel he's returned to his strength.

Unfortunately, after more than a week in release, its box office is only around 400 million yuan; it seems extremely unlikely to cross one billion.

It's estimated the final box office might reach 700 to 800 million yuan—even prediction apps like Maoyan, known for over-optimistic guesses, only projected 990 million yuan, clearly doubting it could break a billion.

Still, compared to its cost, this film has definitely made a profit.

The main issue is the current atmosphere is too restless—less than a billion? What the hell?

In reality, they could already be throwing a victory party; it's just below expectations.

Moreover, this film pushed Deng Chao's total lead actor box office past ten billion, adding another member to the Ten-Billion-Dollar Actor Club!

After becoming a ten-billion-dollar actor, Deng Chao is thinking about what stunt to pull next.

On one hand, to generate buzz for the movie; on the other, to celebrate and let everyone know he's now a ten-billion-dollar actor.

Hmm. What if he dresses in women's clothing if the movie breaks a billion?

Unfortunately, after posting this idea in his Weibo comments, his fans disagreed.

"Bro Deng, stop using this as an excuse to reward yourself~"

"You just want to wear women's clothes, don't you?"

"Lady, come and take him back—he's up to his old tricks again~"

"."

What? What?!

These days, wearing women's clothing counts as rewarding yourself?

Still, in some silly comment sections, there are normal people who immediately offered Deng Chao suggestions.

"Bro Deng, check the trending topics—Lu Han and Bai Liang are betting on opening day box office. Aren't you going to join?"

Upon hearing this, Deng Chao immediately checked the latest trending topics.

Sure enough, their bet had already surged to number one.

The head-to-head clash between two generations of top-tier idols drew massive attention.

But as individuals, the two had little real tension—this kind of public bet felt more like a stunt than a rivalry.

So Deng Chao didn't need to act as some international mediator; he wanted to join the fun himself!

"@Bai Liang, @Lu Han, count me in—how about we make it even bigger?"

Since it's about opening day box office, he'd set the benchmark first: The Galaxy Tutoring Class opened at 160 million yuan. Younger brothers, step up and challenge!

Bai Liang:???

Does this movie really have that high an opening day? If the opening was that high, why is the total after a week only 400 million? The reviews weren't completely trash either~

He couldn't help checking—and discovered this sneaky guy had included pre-release screening box office too.

If you counted only the official opening day, it was only around 60 million.

Whatever, let the senior have his dignity—160 million it is.

Then Bai Liang replied to Deng Chao: "Of course I'll include you, but Bro Deng, do you have a girlfriend now? Is this an official announcement? @turbosun."

Turbosun is his wife Sun Li's Weibo handle.

This grand summoning actually pulled Sun Li over—before Deng Chao could react, she executed cyber house discipline.

"Hahaha, I'm dying laughing—they're betting on livestreaming with their girlfriends, but Bro Deng, a married man, still wants to join? He's gonna be kneeling on his keyboard when he gets home."

"The Immortal's mind works fast~ I think Bro Deng meant livestreaming with the Lady, but the Immortal instantly turned it into an 'announcement.' That's such a practiced trap."

"Looking forward to Bro Deng's counterattack—he's great at creating drama. Can he really swallow this?"

"."

Swallow it? Not a single bit.

After being thoroughly scolded by the Lady, Deng Chao painfully "climbed out," then, fueled by rage, launched a massive counterstrike against Bai Liang!

Little brother, if you're unkind, I won't be merciful—don't blame me for going too far!

Watch out~

"@Guli Naza, @Dilireba, any idea about his girlfriend livestreaming thing? You two got any info?"

As soon as this Weibo post went up, netizens nearly exploded with laughter.

Okay okay, direct face-to-face big move—brilliant, you're amazing!

When it comes to creating drama, only Deng Chao, the true performance-type personality, can pull off such stunts.

"This is a real evenly matched duel—so good, I love it! The Immortal's gonna get crushed this time—he can only tag the Lady, but Bro Deng can tag even more people than these two."

"Bro Deng's being merciful—if he listed all of the Immortal's rumored girlfriends, Weibo would blow up today."

"Isn't the Immortal's latest rumored girlfriend Dudu?"

"Nope, your Dudu is just his gaming partner—they only play games together, nothing else. Unlike others, they've probably already kissed each other's lips raw."

"The most recent one should be Li Xin, but it feels too much like a publicity stunt—not as genuine as the New Crimson Beauties—and Li Xin already explained that day, Bai Liang wasn't just carrying her on his bike."

"The other gossip girlfriends of Big Xian don't have enough clout to beat these two."

"Where did you put Big Tian Tian? Not enough clout?"

"Tian Tian just isn't trying hard enough—what can we do~"

"Actually, after 'The Time Traveler's Wife' premiered, Tian Tian and Big Xian's Liang Chen Mei Jing CP wasn't any less popular than those two new Jiang girls—but somehow, the hype just mysteriously died down."

"."

Deng Chao's Weibo post even had the effect of stirring up a thousand waves.

He directly tagged them~

Originally, when no specific person was involved, both new Jiang girls could just pretend to be dead and ignore the matter.

In fact, they had already seen the trending topic about Bai Liang and Lu Han's bet.

Then, without saying a word, they both chose to pretend they hadn't seen it.

They also didn't rush around to confront Bai Liang over it.

There was no choice—they knew him too well. He was definitely just talking nonsense.

Besides, how could he possibly lose~?

But after Deng Chao tagged both their names, there was no more hiding.

"Sis, shouldn't we take this opportunity to—"

Seeing her assistant Ling Ling's encouraging glance, Sister Reba seemed to sigh slightly, "What are you thinking~?"

Of course, if Ling Ling had a stethoscope and listened to Sister Reba's heartbeat, she'd find that though Sister Reba spoke those words, her heart was truly stirred.

But at this moment, Gu Li Na Za's earlier remark—dismissed by her as a joke—kept echoing in her mind: "I'll spill it all on you."

Some words may seem meaningless at the time, but at the critical moment, they can have tremendous power.

It's like nuclear deterrence—during arguments, people shout, "I'll blow you to hell!" and no one believes them.

But when full-scale war breaks out, that very phrase might become reality.

Still, Sister Reba was deeply tempted—after all, she'd gotten along so well with Bai's mom, who even invited her over for dinner.

But this matter wasn't just about whether she was tempted.

Her team directly said: "Sis, please don't log into your Weibo for now."

Clearly, they were watching her.

They feared she might, in a moment of impulsiveness, say something she shouldn't online and ignite a massive storm.

Funny enough, Na Za's side was the same.

Though she herself swore she wasn't the type to act recklessly—if she'd been impulsive, she'd have announced it long ago, why wait till now?

But her team thought the stakes were too high, and better safe than sorry.

They'd even changed her password.

After both teams took identical actions—restricting their respective female leads—they entered negotiation mode.

This wasn't the first time they'd negotiated; everyone knew the drill.

The main discussion was how to set the right boundaries, what each side should say, and how to avoid triggering bad trends.

Honestly, the low presence of Big Tian Tian and Bai Liang's CP wasn't without reason.

The two new Jiang girls have long held high positions in Bai Liang's CP ecosystem, mainly because of their "clashing" dynamic.

They constantly reminded everyone, making their impression unforgettable.

And the fans didn't wait long—Sister Reba and Na Za, the two tagged "main characters," appeared in Deng Chao's Weibo comments.

Pretending to be clueless, acting cute, looking utterly innocent.

In short: I don't know~

Is Bai Liang looking for a girlfriend? I don't know.

Am I Bai Liang's girlfriend? I don't know.

Does he have a girlfriend? I don't know.

Every question met with three "I don't knows"—neither confirming, denying, nor stating any position.

They left ambiguous room for fan imagination, but not too ambiguous—after all, it wasn't the right time yet.

Both teams wanted to save the "climax" for the drama's premiere; now they were just using this chance for preheating.

So, after feigning ignorance on Deng Chao's post, both their studio official accounts simultaneously posted their respective drama posters.

As if merely reminding everyone that this drama was coming next year—but the poster styles were oddly off.

One showed hand-holding; the other showed leaning into Bai Liang's arms.

They were restrained.

Neither posted any kissing stills or posters.

"These two new Jiang girls say they don't know, yet their intimate photos come out faster than anyone's—even if they're all drama stills."

"You pretend to be clueless on your personal account, but sneakily show affection through your studio account? Dare you post a single private photo instead of drama stills?"

"Hmph, I actually like this quiet rivalry—it just makes me think neither of them succeeded. Could they really be the ones chasing him?"

"I'm guessing Big Xian is hesitating, unsure which one to pick."

"I even think he might've dated both, then broke up with each."

"Reasonable! I vote for 'dated but broke up.'"

"Who still remembers this all started with Lu Han betting against Bai Liang? Poor little Dou Xiao Lu—the spotlight was completely stolen."

"I actually hope Lu Han wins, but I don't want to watch 'The Shanghai Fortress'—what should I do?"

"I've already been cheering for his female fans in his Super Topic, telling them to buy more movie tickets—can't expect me to pay~"

"."

In fact, Lu Han wasn't silent in this commotion—he interacted actively with Deng Chao and Bai Liang.

But there was no way to compete; once Deng Chao tagged the new duo "Shuang Mei," even as a former dominant top idol, he couldn't grab any attention.

You can't just drag Guan Xiaotong out to show off affection.

Clearly, netizens weren't very interested in already-announced relationships—no room for imagination, nothing left to discuss.

But the craziest part came: Lu Han realized he'd been completely fooled by Bai Liang!

In his super topic, a significant portion of his fans were discussing boosting the opening-day box office for "Ne Zha: The Demon Child Comes Into the World."

When he saw this, Lu Han was stunned.

These aren't my fans—mine!

Sometimes you just can't imagine how these fans think—their reason was simple: they wanted to see Dou Xiao Lu kissing a girl.

Oh right, afterward they'd photoshop Guan Xiaotong's face onto their own.

So logically, Bai Liang's side must be the same situation, right?

If that were true, Lu Han thought he wasn't losing—even profiting, since the other side's fan count was far higher than his.

But it was completely different from what he expected, because a large number of big fans and fan leaders had descended.

Watch Bai Liang announce his girlfriend?

Rich lady fans: How could this be allowed!

Most of Bai Liang's fan leaders were these women—they never exploited small fans, often handed out red packets and treats, so their words carried real weight; "one call, a hundred responses" was even an understatement.

Lu Han:.

The opening-day box office hadn't even been released yet, and he already felt he'd lost badly.

This is what it feels like to go head-to-head with Bai Liang? Truly fucking hopeless.

At this moment, he finally understood how the other three of the former Big Four top idols had felt—how did they endure such brutal beatings?

Yang Yang: I'm used to it.

As for the other two, one died, and the other now has to fight over billing even for TV dramas, and can only assert presence in variety shows.

And now, Wu Moufan had taken another iQIYI variety show called "Trend Partners."

When he saw the guest list, his eyes lit up.

"How old is this girl?"

His assistant, aware of his "habit," immediately checked the data and answered:

"Seventeen."

"Perfect!"

After carefully reviewing Zhao Jinmai's age information, Wu Moufan thought this show was amazing—he wished he could start recording right now.

But even as he rejoiced, he felt a faint chill down his back and a heaviness in his head.

The feeling was eerily familiar, but he couldn't recall when he'd last experienced it.

Whatever, probably not important.

Yet the strange sensation didn't fade—it kept growing, until even sitting still, his legs couldn't help twitching in a pedaling motion.

Not cycling—more like stepping on a sewing machine.

(End of Chapter)