Chapter 44: Like I

"This is Sister Qian Jie, a rich woman~ I actually delivered on my promise!"

Bai Liang didn't need to look at Mencius Yi's expression to know she was utterly smug right now.

He didn't want to acknowledge her, but his eyes couldn't help but glance over… This girl said she was going back to change clothes, and sure enough, she'd swapped into a low-cut outfit.

He hadn't noticed before, but she really had some curves.

Now she sat there, leaning forward, most of her body draped over the table.

With every twist of her body, she squeezed out a smooth, mesmerizing sight that made it impossible to look away.

On top of that, she was laughing so hard her whole frame shook—now it was dynamic, not static…

Bai Liang looked away!

He politely greeted "Sister Qian Jie," who smiled broadly at him, scanning him up and down.

The more she looked, the brighter her smile became, then she hurriedly invited Bai Liang to sit and chat.

She'd seen every flicker of his gaze.

Honestly, that was a huge plus—glancing was instinct, but only glancing once was refinement.

In that instant, she gained a flood of goodwill toward Bai Liang.

Of course, if it were just the two of them, and the girl was willing to let him look, Bai Liang could manage just one glance.

Staring without blinking? Easy.

As for running away?

Run, my ass!

Eating meals with a girl's parents? Bai Liang knew exactly how that worked.

That's the value of having been married a few times in his past life.

Ten minutes later, when his own mother warmly took Bai Liang's hand, calling him "little brother" over and over, urging him to visit Changchun soon, Mencius Yi's expression became incredibly amusing.

Midway through, she'd quietly called out "Sister Qian Jie" several times, then switched outright to "Mom."

Trying to awaken maternal affection.

But her mother ignored her completely, continuing to chat warmly with Bai Liang.

The conversation started confined to the film industry, then spiraled wildly, as if they had endless things to say.

The meal was quite pleasant, even though Mencius Yi kept performing her "slutty" act at Bai Liang with high frequency—yet her mother's Northeastern accent made her feel especially warm and approachable.

In the end, even the meal was paid for by the generous "Sister Qian Jie"—Bai Liang didn't spend a single cent.

In a certain sense, Mencius Yi really had introduced him to a rich woman.

After dinner, everyone strolled together along the Bund, taking plenty of photos.

Mencius Yi wasn't in any of the photos.

Though initially a bit frustrated, the girl quickly adjusted her mood and took pictures with genuine delight.

She was busy directing poses, nearly twisting her own mother "Sister Qian Jie's" waist out of joint.

After Bai Liang dropped the two of them off at the hotel, Mencius Yi immediately turned to her mother, her big eyes filled with anticipation.

"Sister Qian Jie" gave her a helpless side-eye. "He's a good kid—don't mess with him."

"What are you talking about?!"

"With your brainless way of speaking, you'll cause trouble on set, offend people, and drag him down with you."

Mencius Yi internally ranted at this blatant favoritism.

But overall, she was quite happy.

"Hey, Sister Qian Jie, he just liked my latest WeChat post! So fast—what do you think that means?"

Sister Qian Jie glanced at her and cut straight to the truth:

"It means you're interested in him."

Three days later, Bai Liang, already far from Shanghai, received two new messages.

One was from the "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" production team: they notified him he'd passed the audition, with details on his start date and contract.

It was good news—when Bai Liang told Mencius Yi, her shriek of joy nearly burst his eardrums.

She kept muttering about how, once filming started, they should find a chance to go karaoke together.

From this ordinary remark, Bai Liang somehow sensed a bad omen… as if his luck was warning him of something.

But he didn't take it seriously.

What kind of trouble could this girl possibly stir up? At most, she'd pull some eye-searing stunts to liven up his boring life.

The other message came from Lin Genxin: he said "The God of War Zhao Zilong" was about to air, and asked if Bai Liang would join the early promotional events.

Of course not~

No one had even informed him about it—clearly, the production team's promotional plan didn't include Bai Liang at all.

He was a freelance third male lead; he didn't need to join such events, especially since he wasn't even attending the premiere.

Na Zha also told him that promotions like this were usually reserved for the lead actors and actresses; someone without a company pushing his exposure wouldn't even cross their minds.

In short, before "The God of War Zhao Zilong" aired, it had nothing to do with Bai Liang.

He'd just wait and watch the drama.

That suited him perfectly.

Bai Liang was interested in acting, but he wouldn't even bother signing with a company; as for anything beyond acting, his interest was naturally minimal.

If they needed him, that was different—after all, a drama was made by many people, and he wouldn't let their efforts go to waste.

Wrap day!

Also the day Bai Liang's character would "kick the bucket" again.

"Qiluo, don't waste your energy anymore—I can no longer control my body."

"You can't control this body because it's already rotten and broken! Wu Xin's body never dies—I took it from him and gave it to you."

"......"

"Crack! Chen Yao, calm down a bit—how can you be crying like this?"

This final scene was truly difficult to shoot.

Bai Liang wore corpse makeup for a full day—it was genuinely eerie.

Ironically, Chen Yao, who had always held her emotions tightly in check, seemed overly immersed in the role.

Bai Liang lay sprawled under the crooked tree, doing nothing, while she lay atop him, softly sobbing.

She called it "adjusting her emotions."

But no one on set dared go near her to pull her up.

Wang Yanlin stood beside Han Dongjun and whispered quietly: "I'm confused now—among your company's Misses, which one is dating Brother Liang?"

Han Dongjun sighed, "How would I know? When Chen Yao fought me just now, she went all out—like I'd actually killed Bai Bai Daxian..."

Actors getting into character is certainly good, but when someone like Chen Yao loses emotional control...

It just feels like there's something off.

Is it because she can't bear to let the character die—or because she can't bear to let the person playing the character leave?

It must be the latter; the lead actors all know it.

On set, Chen Yao followed Bai Liang everywhere, and later, even their moments of staring blankly were perfectly synchronized, movements identical.

No wonder Director Lin Yufen once wanted to add more scenes for them—everyday interactions were already addictive to watch.

Jin Cheng, who had appeared out of nowhere, also sighed, "What a tragedy this guy is."

Wang Yanlin and Han Dongjun instinctively turned to look at her, their glances strange.

How can you even say that?

On Jin Cheng's last birthday, everyone had gathered for dinner.

But after drinking too much, Jin Cheng leapt up and clung to Bai Liang—she looked like a female ruffian ready to drag him straight to the bridal chamber.

Of course, she didn't succeed; Bai Liang grabbed her by the back of the neck like a chick and tossed her back to her assistant.

You're totally secretly in love with him!

"Why are you staring at me? None of you guys are good!"

They dared not provoke her—Jin Cheng in this state looked ready to explode, and it was frightening.

So they turned their gaze once again toward the "culprit."

At that moment, Bai Liang also sent his brothers a pleading look: Save me, save me, save me.

He himself didn't feel the same emotional weight as others—he only felt Chen Yao's behavior was like she was weeping at his funeral.

The brothers pretended not to see.

Bro, flirting's fine, but you can't flirt with everyone without discrimination or boundaries~

Like an octopus with tentacles—makes you both envious and disgusted!

Even today, they still couldn't understand how Bai Liang pulled it off—it was so natural, like eating or drinking.

If we shoot two more Tang Ren dramas, will any female artist in this company still be left?

To put it bluntly, thank goodness Liu Shishi is already married...

"Ah! I get it!"

"What do you get?"

"Bai Bai Daxian is unconsciously radiating charm! Look—Jin Cheng usually can't even say one nice word to me, but she smiles when she sees him..."

"She's coming for you—run!"