Chapter 413: Don

Although previously, due to The Fire Hero being crushed by Nezha, and many marketing accounts using Bai Liang to belittle Huang Jiaozhu, the two might have felt a bit awkward upon meeting.

This was something both Bai Liang and Huang Xiaoming worried about.

Afraid the other would feel awkward.

As for the two of them personally, Bai Liang certainly wouldn't feel awkward—this kind of smear campaign wasn't his doing.

Xiao Ming should reflect on who really wanted to target him~

As for Huang Xiaoming: if you're not awkward, I won't be either.

Since his debut, he's been attacked more than once or twice; life, after all, is a cycle.

And Huang Xiaoming's personal cycle is:

Swell up → get greasy → get criticized → withdraw → feel refreshed → gain good public opinion → swell up again.

Currently, he's just gone through being crushed by Bai Liang, entered a brief period of withdrawal, and is now beginning to feel refreshed.

He seems to have lost a bit of weight—he really looks handsome!

No wonder he got into film school even when he was walking with a cane back then!

Big Mi Mi seemed to want to chat with Bai Liang today, but after glancing at Meng Jie beside her, who wore the look of a scheming villain, her enthusiasm faded back into silence.

In the end, she merely gave a simple greeting, then stood up to talk to someone else.

Huang Jiaozhu, however, didn't leave—he continued chatting with Bai Liang, even making self-deprecating jokes.

As if trying to openly address the online rumors that used Bai Liang to attack him.

He said he was under immense pressure and had to lose weight just to salvage his looks, and begged Bai Liang to go easier on him next time, to leave some breathing room for the old folks.

Of course, he said it all in jest—the conversation flowed pleasantly.

Even Meng Jie couldn't help joining in, thinking Xiao Ming was really nice.

In the end, Huang Xiaoming casually mentioned to Bai Liang that he owed him a favor, and said if anything ever came up, Bai Liang should definitely reach out, blah blah blah.

But Bai Liang racked his brain and couldn't recall any favor Huang Jiaozhu owed him.

Huang Jiaozhu glanced at Meng Jie, but didn't spell it out fully.

He only brought up Running Man.

Bai Liang: Oh~

That whole thing wasn't a favor—Teresa Teng herself didn't want to stay on Running Man anymore.

But to Huang Jiaozhu, it still counted as Bai Liang's achievement, since they'd talked on the phone about it before.

That's how favors are created.

Bai Liang now understood why Huang Jiaozhu made such bizarre movies—he was paying off "favors," wasn't he?

But could that even count as a debt he owed?

These two are about to split up, aren't they?

"Little Hedgehog, your expression looks weird—what's wrong?"

"This couple is off," Bai Liang said, rubbing his chin.

"What's off? I thought Xiao Ming's attitude was great," Meng Jie said, puzzled.

"I'm not saying he's off with me—I'm saying there's something off between them. Let's make a bet—I bet they'll divorce within two years."

From Big Mi Mi, Bai Liang had gained plenty of insight into celebrity couples' breakups.

From deciding to divorce to officially announcing it, there's always a long process.

Whether it's dividing assets, deciding child custody, or untangling commercial ties, it all takes time.

Longer cases dragging on one or two years—or even longer—are normal.

Like waiting for endorsements to expire, for instance.

Let's put it this way: Dou Xiao Lu's hair transformation happened at the end of 2017, yet even now, she and Jia Nailiang haven't officially announced their divorce.

It's been nearly two years—people who don't know might think Jia Nailiang has been enduring it.

From these two, you can see the typical process of celebrity couples.

After all, everyone in the country knows he's been cheated on—it gives the public a rough timeline.

But even in a case where everyone knows he's been cheated on, they still drag it out this long.

The entertainment industry's "divorce cooling-off period" is far longer than the state's mandated one month.

When Meng Jie heard the word "divorce," her mouth dropped open in shock—thankfully, she quickly covered it with her hand.

But today she was smart: "I'm not betting with you—nobody's ever won a bet against you."

"Huh? How do you know that?" Bai Liang said, surprised.

Meng Jie's cheeks flushed with pride as she waved her hand: "I just know—I'm very smart!"

Still, she was curious: how had Bai Liang figured it out?

"It's simple—since they walked in, these two haven't had a single physical contact, barely even exchanged glances. There's no media around now—look at you."

Meng Jie: Me? What about me?

She looked down and realized she'd unconsciously placed her hand on Bai Liang's leg.

And her whole body had leaned toward him instinctively, pulling impossibly close—long past the safe distance between men and women.

The key was, she hadn't even noticed—and thought it was perfectly normal.

"No wonder they kept giving me weird looks earlier," Meng Jie realized belatedly.

But the topic of marriage and divorce unintentionally stirred up some painful memories for her.

At twenty, she'd thought marriage felt impossibly distant, even avoiding it subconsciously.

But as she'd grown older—even though she was only twenty-four by lunar age—she'd started "looking back on the past."

Ah! That was her lost youth.

If youth had a color, it would surely be the hue of endless green grass spread across the ground.

So she couldn't help herself, constantly turning back to nibble a little more.

And as time passed, her inner regret also kept growing.

She really wanted to say to Bai Liang: Little hedgehog, are the words you spoke when you were twenty still valid now?

But she dared not speak, fearing that if she did, she'd lose even the chance to nibble the back-grass.

Seeing Meng Jie suddenly look pitifully forlorn, Bai Liang kindly asked her what was wrong.

Hearing this concern, Meng Jie's heart warmed, and she instinctively wanted to give it one last try!

"I"

Just as she said the first character, the flight attendants arrived.

The two at the front had a very clear target—they led the group straight toward Bai Liang.

Watching Li Xin and Zhang Tian'ai draw closer, Meng Jie's mind flashed, and she quickly changed her words: "I'll wait for you at the Qing Ping Yue set. You have to come early, okay?"

"Don't worry, I'll definitely go. When have I ever broken a promise to you?"

Bai Liang's words carried real confidence, and they warmed Meng Jie's heart again.

That's right! Little hedgehog always keeps his word!

What about that very first time?

Meng Jie's eyes widened, her gaze brimming with curiosity.

But her sensual lips refused to cooperate~

Only when Li Xin and the others reached her side did she finally deflate.

At the same time, her mind flashed back to Huang Xiaoming and Yang Tianbao.

When those two got married, they threw a century wedding that made countless girls insanely envious.

But now, weren't they also becoming strangers? If Bai Liang's analysis was right.

So why, exactly, did it all happen?

The bitterness of love—only those who taste it truly know.

But Meng Jie felt she hadn't even enjoyed much of love's sweetness; she'd only been eating bitterness.

——

The movie China's Captain is somewhat similar to The Climbers, both belonging to the type where the subject matter outweighs the film itself.

Both are adapted from true events.

Their flaws are probably similar—some bizarre, random flirting scenes that always felt off somehow.

Frankly speaking, the role Meng Jie played was utterly useless.

Its only function seemed to be to get flirted with.

But after checking further, Bai Liang realized they really had to add something.

The real Sichuan Flight 8633 had only one incident: the windshield shattered.

From the accident to landing, only thirty minutes passed.

To stretch that into a two-hour movie, you'd have to pad it with all kinds of filler.

They even added dangers that never existed—like shattered glass shards being sucked into the engine, causing a second engine failure; the plane violently shook, sending crew members flying everywhere, leaving many injured, even flight attendants suffering heavy injuries; then they encountered a wind shear, flying straight through it; upon landing, the plane was overweight and couldn't descend; finally, when landing became possible, a tire blew out.

Even with all these added scenes, they still couldn't reach two hours—so they had to insert more romantic subplots.

Bai Liang felt a slight pang of guilt.

Because when he saw Ou Hao's co-pilot half his body sucked out, he inexplicably found it funny.

At the same time, he thought: This guy didn't buckle his seatbelt!

Sinful, sinful—I'll tap a few electronic wooden fish now~

Oh right, the role Bai Liang cameoed as was an air traffic controller.

Just one scene: wearing headphones, constantly issuing instructions and communicating.

Dressed in a white shirt with headphones, this image inexplicably made some young female audience members nearby scream.

Xiao Nai!

But Bai Liang thought the movie kept cutting to extreme close-ups of his face—wasn't that a bit ridiculous?

He had a fairly distinctive look; he didn't need this kind of reminder to tell the audience: This character is played by Bai Liang~

Overall, the movie had plenty of flaws, but as a commercial film, it was still quite enjoyable.

Because even the romantic parts weren't heavily drawn—just a little flirtation, a slight tease, then over.

At least they didn't start dating right in the middle of the emergency, when every second counted.

So the flaws didn't overshadow the merits.

Bai Liang pretended to be a professional film critic, analyzing it seriously.

To judge whether a commercial film is good or not, just look at the reactions of the "ordinary viewers."

Just look—Meng Jie was reacting to the movie's scenes with "Wow!" and "Oh my god!"

And occasionally gasping sharply~

Her simple, naive reactions proved the film was quite competent.

But Bai Liang hadn't expected that Yu Dong had really done his homework in inviting him.

After the movie ended, instead of continuing his speech on stage, he turned and brought up Bai Liang's own experience of being chased by a typhoon on a flight, and invited him to share it.

Bai Liang was stunned—he'd completely forgotten it was that time he went to Reba's birthday party.

"Director Yu, I can't really share anything—I was perfectly calm on that flight, felt nothing at all. You should've invited the captain of that flight instead."

Hearing this, Yu Dong chuckled: "I already invited him~ Come on, let's welcome the Shandong Airlines captain."

Awesome!

Bai Liang was curious how this publicity genius had come up with that whole "secret promotional campaign" scheme.

Unless your brain was full of water, you couldn't pull off something so absurd.

The pilot from Shanhang Airlines had indeed been invited by Yu Dong to the premiere, where he briefly shared what had happened on that flight.

The funny exchange with air traffic control made the audience burst into laughter.

"The tower's chasing you!"—what a mid-air high-speed chase.

The showmanship was excellent.

But the pilot ended with a sigh: "It's really strange—I kept feeling the typhoon was just pushing me to speed up. As soon as I slammed on the throttle, it immediately changed course."

As he spoke, the pilot couldn't help glancing at Bai Liang—his gaze was odd.

Bai Liang stared at his nose, his nose at his heart, signaling it had nothing to do with him—nope~

Who could make a typhoon help them? Impossible.

Pilot: Really? I still feel it's got something to do with you, kid.

He only found out later from trending topics that Bai Liang had actually been on his plane at the time.

Because the typhoon was chasing them, the plane sped up and arrived in Beijing early, letting Bai Liang make it to the female star's birthday party.

What a coincidence!

But such an absurd coincidence, plus that strange typhoon, made people wonder.

Especially since Bai Liang's nickname just happened to be "Great Immortal."

Pilot: Did you perform magic on my plane? Huh?!

Bai Liang: Nonsense. Can't you pilots talk some science?

So Yu Dong's move was pretty slick—he somehow rode the wave of Li Yibing's birthday party hype.

After the premiere of The Chinese Pilot, Bai Liang wanted to take Meng Jie for coffee and chat.

Though he had to rush to his next engagement, time was like water in a sponge—you could always squeeze some out.

Besides, he sensed Meng Jie's mood had been off in the second half of the day—he couldn't just ignore it.

He was responsible; if a girl was troubled, he'd try to help her through it.

But that old man Yu Dong came crawling back again—completely clueless.

Of course, this time it was serious business.

He wanted to discuss next year's project with Bai Liang.

The Battle at Lake Changjin.

After mentioning it, Yu Dong glanced at Bai Liang's little shadow, Meng Jie.

The girl was daydreaming, seemingly unaware she'd slipped into a conversation among "big shots."

But in her eyes, Bai Liang was just her little hedgehog—no "big shot" aura at all.

To Yu Dong, however, she was clearly an insider's big name—he quickly noticed her gaze and grew flustered.

Huh? Did I do something wrong?

"Bring her along to listen," Bai Liang gently supported Meng Jie's back with one hand, stopping her from recoiling.

Don't panic—I'm here.

Yu Dong, a seasoned veteran, instantly understood—men, right?

He immediately smiled: "Miss Meng, right? There's a movie next year—interested in a cameo?"

"Oh? Sure! Thank you~"

Actually, Meng Jie hadn't clearly heard what Yu Dong said—something about a movie?

She'd just automatically agreed.

After saying yes, she looked confused: What did I just agree to?

"Besides the two leads' mothers, does The Battle at Lake Changjin have other female roles?" Bai Liang asked.

Yu Dong smiled warmly: "There can be."

As for The Battle at Lake Changjin project, Yu Dong hadn't just approached Bai Liang today.

Bona had already contacted Sister Yanzi.

Getting Bai Liang and Wu Jing together was an enormous feat for anyone else.

These two were currently the highest box-office draws in the country.

At first, Yu Dong wasn't sure—he was most worried about Bai Liang's status.

His status was too high.

More than a year ago, Wu Jing could still overshadow him, but now it was unclear.

Then came the classic problem in the entertainment industry.

Star ranking!

With these two together, who gets top billing?

From the script's perspective, Wu Jing should be first, but if Bai Liang's team pushed for it, there was plenty of room to maneuver—and a good chance of winning.

Fortunately, Yu Dong had "prepared in advance."

He thought his earlier move of paying Bai Liang for a cameo—"buying a horse's bone to attract a thousand horses"—was brilliant.

Precisely because of this "relationship," little effort was needed, and the cooperation was essentially settled.

And Bai Liang's side was willing to yield top billing—everyone was happy.

Yu Dong: All my doing! I'm so awesome!

With these two standing there, he could already imagine breaking new box-office records.

Of course, he didn't know that this whole thing had been settled with a single phone call between Bai Liang and Wu Jing.

Who gets top billing or not—if the order's unclear, they might just settle it with rock-paper-scissors.

In the past, they might've settled it with drinking, but ever since Wu Jing got hospitalized after drinking with Bai Liang last time, he'd never dare challenge him to another round.

In short, billing meant absolutely nothing to them.

They were both at the top of the film industry—who played second fiddle to whom wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

Bai Liang's record was more explosive, but Wu Jing was the senior, so it made perfect sense either way.

Of course, giving it to anyone else was out of the question.

Plainly put, no one else was worthy.

Meng Jie stood dumbly beside them, listening for a while, until she finally figured out what project they were talking about.

Her eyes widened wide—filled with disbelief.

Huh?!

After the two finished talking, Bai Liang patted her head:

"Don't overthink it. That movie's basically all men—Yu Dong was just being polite, asking you to play a nurse or some female staff member, just a cameo. You won't find another young actress who could outshine you; you're unquestionably the most beautiful girl in the whole film."

If he remembered right, the only female character in that movie was the old mother of the two brothers he and Wu Jing played.

So Meng Jie would totally be the one to outshine everyone else~

Hearing this, Meng Jie felt a bit flustered and annoyed. "Why do I have to outshine anyone?"

"You've got a track record."

Mentioning this dark history made Meng Jie's face flush, but after a long pause, she murmured, "Guess I'm basking in your glow again~"

"It's not even a lead role—what glow?" Bai Liang waved his hand.

"That movie? Just hearing about it gives me chills. Such an insane cast," Meng Jie rambled on, gazing at Bai Liang with sparkling eyes full of admiration.

Bai Liang: She's way too easy to fool.

Young girls seem to want so little—this wouldn't even be true for a top-tier female star, let alone anyone else.

Even Li Xin wouldn't have such a filtered view of this role as Meng Jie does.

Like she'd just found a treasure.

The movie did sound impressive, but there was no room for any female character to shine.

Bai Liang genuinely worried Meng Jie might start imagining herself with roles like Zha from Wolf Warrior 2 or Zhao Jinmai from The Wandering Earth—but those were completely different.

Luckily, Meng Jie was still level-headed enough not to imagine anything too extravagant.

What she really felt was the security from Bai Liang's support just now—that sense of safety had exploded!

"Little hedgehog, you're so impressive! Just now, Director Yu clearly wanted me to step aside, but you instantly held me up."

As she spoke, Meng Jie mimicked Bai Liang's earlier gesture.

Wow! So manly!

She loved it~

But Bai Liang scratched his cheek and said, "If you'd backed down, wouldn't I look bad?"

"Really?"

"Of course. In the entire entertainment industry, who doesn't know you, Meng Jie, are my lackey?"

"Ugh, 'lackey'? That sounds awful!"

"If you're not my lackey, you wanna rise up and lead?" Bai Liang said, wary.

Meng Jie nearly blurted out: Yes~

But she held back, said nothing, just grinned at Bai Liang, then softly said, "You're so good to me."

—

That's all for today—I can't stay up any longer. Tomorrow noon, I have to drive on the highway to go home for Qingming Festival.

Mu mu da, please vote for monthly tickets.

(End of Chapter)