Chapter 476: The Industry

Regarding the "collective charge" incident.

After receiving the news, the girls' companies and agents were all stunned.

Why out of nowhere are we supposed to be facial models for a game?

And no pay?! That doesn't make sense!

Li Yitong simply explained to her company, and faced no trouble, because she said Bai Liang had "invited" her, and she felt awkward asking for money.

Her company: Bai Liang invited her? Reasonable~ Definitely shouldn't take money—how about we approve extra event funding?

Meng Jie, who was always more "arrogant," told her boss Jia Shikai: Why ask so many questions? I'm starting to get suspicious of you!

Jia Shikai: Fine, just have fun.

Chen Yao, who was quieter and more obedient, went to report this matter to Cai Yinong proactively.

She told him everything she could, emphasizing that she and the company were heart-to-heart.

Cai Yinong naturally gave full support—next year, that contract was about to expire, and she could only count on Chen Yao.

In fact, without Bai Liang's influence, Tang Ren originally favored another rising star, Hu Bingqing.

But Bai Liang told Chen Yao to "play small" before he arrived, and still told her to "play small" after he arrived—wouldn't that make his arrival pointless?

Now the company has firmly decided: Chen Yao is the next top female artist after La Zha's departure. Even though Chen Yao's contract expires the year after next, both sides have already agreed she'll renew for at least three more years.

After all, even a rotten ship has three nails—everyone knows how to choose; leaving won't guarantee better treatment or resources.

As for Hu Bingqing—just mentioning her made Cai Yinong furious.

Damn it!

She was caught on camera kissing a male artist named Zhang Ming'en, and the footage got leaked.

It made Cai Yinong furious.

The issue isn't whether she was dating him—it's how she got caught! Doesn't she have any caution?

She had two starkly contrasting examples on hand.

La Zha had been with Bai Liang for years, yet not a single photo or video of them was ever leaked—no matter how loud the online rumors or CP fans got, it could never be confirmed unless the parties themselves admitted it.

Chen Yao was the same—she was even more low-key; only a few people inside Tang Ren even knew she had a relationship, and the outside world heard not a whisper.

She hid it incredibly well!

Even though Bai Liang had once brazenly parked his car under Chen Yao's building, Cai Yinong, unable to understand why, naturally judged by results.

Doesn't matter if he's arrogant or not—the result is zero scandal.

Under this contrast, Hu Bingqing's actions—especially involving possible third-party interference—looked utterly "failed."

With all this stacked together, Chen Yao's position as top female artist became even more secure, and Tang Ren's top resources would naturally prioritize her first.

"Yao Yao, I don't know whether to say you're lucky or unlucky~" Cai Yinong suddenly remarked.

Chen Yao froze. Huh? Lucky or unlucky?

"That brat Bai Liang is hopelessly promiscuous—girls keep coming and going around him—but he's actually a great guy."

"He really is great~" Chen Yao whispered.

"See? He cheated on you, and you're still defending him."

What?!

This made Chen Yao's expression twist oddly; she instinctively wanted to protest, but held back.

Still, she was curious—why was her boss saying all this about luck?

Soon, she found out why.

The entertainment industry's bottom-feeding men were truly bizarre, constantly shattering expectations.

Take Zhang Ming'en, the guy Hu Bingqing got involved with—he was quite handsome, and a few years ago, he lucked into a share of the spotlight thanks to the hit suspense adventure drama.

2016: "The Nine Gates"; 2017: "The River God"; 2018: "The Sands"—though not top-tier, he'd become a rising star in the industry.

Last year, he gained even more CP fans by publicly dating Xu Lu through variety shows.

Then this year, he pulled this stunt.

The problem was, since everyone was accusing him of cheating and third-party interference, the little bastard actually Shoubashou Sect Hu Bingqing into launching online harassment and manipulating narratives, trying to make his "current girlfriend" attack his ex and get them to fight.

Genius!

Honestly, even Cai Yinong, a veteran of the industry, felt her horizons expanded when she saw the evidence from Hu Bingqing.

Should we call him clever—or stupid?

If you call him clever, he actually came up with this scheme: make the current girlfriend tear into the ex—maybe even generate buzz, while making himself look desirable, possibly attracting more female fans.

But he also seems incredibly stupid—he handed Hu Bingqing so much "damage control" material.

These days, besides Zhai Tianlin and Tong Zhuo, who'd willingly cook themselves in a wok?

He really thinks all female artists in the industry are love-struck fools?

Summary: both evil and foolish!

Cai Yinong: Wait! Could he have been inspired by Bai Liang, seeing how hot the La Zha vs. Re Ba feud got, and tried to copy it?

But there's a huge difference between being the instigator and being the victim!

And teaching your current girlfriend to attack your ex—being so cruel to your former lover—wouldn't you be afraid, even if you two stayed together, that one day you'd break up?

Bai Liang: Now you're dragging me into this?

Actually, besides the tycoon's death and the family's inheritance drama, this was the biggest entertainment story right now.

Not only that—the sisters from "Sisters Who Make Waves" were all feasting on this gossip, analyzing it thoroughly, and completely exposing the guy's scheme.

They branded him outright as a tasteless scumbag! No appeal allowed!

After settling his character and crimes, they couldn't help but gossip about Bai Liang, the "mastermind."

"Little White, the entertainment industry's morals were corrupted by you!"

"What the hell?"

"Still pretending? Someone's even trying to imitate you—just hasn't succeeded yet. But if they did? Two female stars fighting over a male star—doesn't that sound familiar?"

Bai Liang: "Yeah, it's pretty familiar~"

He had a faint memory of that Zhang Ming'en—wasn't he the Deputy Zhang from "The Nine Gates"?

Didn't expect this kid had such ambitions. But why learn this? Of all things.

Actually, from the entertainment circle to the influencer circle, there've always been no shortage of imitators of Bai Liang.

His explosive traits—if you can capture even one of them, you can go viral overnight.

If it were skills you could fake to look cool, that'd be fine. But some people without any skills just force themselves to copy anyway.

In past talent shows, there even appeared a second, third "Capibara" imitating Bai Liang's blank, vacant stare.

But this one? This one's way more intense!

He actually wants to create a weakened version of "Na Zha, Reba" for himself.

If you think about it carefully, his logic isn't entirely flawed—if he truly succeeded, in some sense, it would definitely boost his fame and popularity.

But this is just too disrespectful to the female artists. You're all foxes a thousand years old—what's the point of playing "Strange Tales"?

You really think they're pure little bunnies, to be fooled however you please?

Turn around and smash "After tasting the sea, no other water suffices"—is this guy a man or a ghost?

"Why hasn't anyone punched you?" Jin Da Xi tilted her head at Bai Liang, looking genuinely curious.

Bai Liang: "Yeah, I'm curious too. Why don't you give it a try?"

Jin Da Xi couldn't help rubbing her hands together. "Oh my, how could I possibly?"

"You're Jin Da Xi—what's there to be shy about?"

Jin Da Xi tilted her head. "Are you complimenting me or insulting me?"

"Absolutely complimenting you!"

Looking at Bai Liang's "sincere" expression, Jin Da Xi couldn't help covering her face, feeling melancholy.

She thought: Is this the consequence of being the funny girl?

Why does everyone else get pink, sweet moments with this guy, but when I'm alone with him, even our conversation is so abstract?

But she didn't dwell on it long—suddenly she let out a weird, cackling laugh, like she'd suddenly contracted some disease or been possessed by a ghost.

Bai Liang nearly flipped her onto the sofa to perform physical exorcism.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I just thought of something hilarious. Come on, give me a kiss to make me even happier~"

He grabbed her face, keeping this female hooligan at bay, then asked curiously: "What's so funny? Did your mom give you a baby brother?"

"What the hell? The other day, Di Li Reba went to the 'The Son-in-Law' set to cause trouble—Tong Tong complained to me all night."

Bai Liang's expression turned strange. "You're happy about this?"

"Yeah~" Jin Da Xi answered, struggling hard—her arm muscles visibly tensed.

She felt like her strength might even surpass Dou Xiao Tian's.

But in front of Bai Liang, she was still easily pinned down with one hand. Still, to spare her some sorrow later, he eased up slightly—letting her have her way.

When Jin Da Xi stepped out of Bai Liang's dressing room, wiping her lips, feeling cheerful and ready to go find Zhang Tian'ai to fight today's battle—

A tall figure, surrounded by others, suddenly appeared in her line of sight.

Jin Da Xi stared, dumbfounded.

She even rubbed her eyes, disbelieving.

"Di…"

"Di Li Reba."

Zhang Tian'ai, who'd appeared from nowhere, chimed in, her expression complicated.

Jin Da Xi, for once, didn't immediately attack her. She just froze, as if invisible slaps kept landing on her face, leaving her dizzy.

She even stammered unconsciously: "H-how did she get here?"

Zhang Tian'ai ignored her. I'm not your girlfriend—why should I answer all your questions?

She'd only come because she heard Di Li Reba was here, to watch the spectacle—and found Jin Da Xi again doing performance art.

Watching Di Li Reba draw nearer, Zhang Tian'ai—who wasn't wearing heels—immediately slipped away. After all, cameras were rolling.

Poor Jin Da Xi didn't react in time—Di Li Reba was already right beside her.

The woman nodded, smiled slightly, and greeted her—then seemed ready to head toward Bai Liang.

But after two steps, Di Li Reba turned back and kindly warned: "Your lipstick's smudged."

Jin Da Xi hastily wiped her lips—damn, now it was even worse.

Honestly, seeing this, Di Li Reba almost couldn't hold back her laugh.

Her companion, Mao Xiaotong, stared at Jin Da Xi and frowned. Lipstick smudged? Where'd it smudge?

Hmph!

She'd been gone for just a moment—and someone already did something bad?

That heartless, roguish radish clearly needs constant surveillance. A moment's lapse, and someone's already sniffing around to "steal."

But since the production team was still filming, Mao Xiaotong said nothing—only gave Jin Da Xi a warning glance.

Normally, Jin Da Xi would've just shrugged it off, indifferent as a dead pig unbothered by boiling water.

But today, she was a little timid—she quietly stepped aside.

Di Li Reba: "Ah~ Long time no see. You've become much more 'well-behaved,' haven't you?"

Back when that bunch of nobodies charged forward, wasn't this one among them? But never mind.

So she just smiled and came to the door of Bai Liang's dressing room.

"Is he in?"

"Definitely in. If there's nothing going on before the show taping, he stays in the dressing room slacking off the whole time." Mao Xiaotong said with certainty.

"That's good~"

Reba smiled at the camera, then pushed the door open and walked right in.

"Huh?! Reba?"

At this moment, Bai Liang's acting was actually quite good — he put on a look of being especially surprised to see her, as if he had completely not expected Reba to show up here.

A smile appeared on Reba's face. "Hello, Teacher Yu Tu, I'm Qiao Jingjing~"

——

Reba's arrival this time was met with an enthusiastic welcome from the sisters.

It wasn't that everyone liked her — it was that everyone wanted to gossip.

Especially with the recent appearance of a "copycat imitator" of Bai Liang online, which made everyone even more curious about the original story.

As for the story of Bai Liang and the two Misses from Xinjiang, the industry sisters present might not all know every detail by heart, but at the very least they had all heard a bit about it.

In response, Reba actually came across as fairly generous about it.

She directly revealed that she and Bai Liang would be appearing together on an episode of a dating variety show next.

During the chat, she answered whatever questions she could — the ones she couldn't, she either laughed and brushed past, or fudged them in a slightly ambiguous way.

During drama promotion, you have to "show off the love" hard!

The two of them were already a ready-made CP, and the fact that there still hadn't been any news of them kissing or spending the night together meant the hype had been very restrained.

Using drama promotion as an excuse, no matter how much sugar they threw out on the show, it was fine.

And while tossing sugar at the camera, they could also use the chance to make a statement — a fairly graceful way to give anyone with ideas a little heads-up.

Her gaze swept past Zhang Tianai and Jin Da Xi. Reba didn't mention anything, but it seemed as if she had mentioned everything.

It made both of them a bit uncomfortable, their expressions slightly stiff.

This kind of performance actually made many of the sisters quietly give a thumbs-up.

This little sister has something going on! The aura is legit!

But the sisters were also a bit puzzled — Dilireba is already at this level, so why hasn't she wrapped up that little hometown boy of hers yet?

Reba couldn't help but sigh inwardly: if only the little hometown boy were as easy to intimidate as Jin Da Xi and the others.

That lunatic — she actually forwarded the matter of Zhang Ming'en and Hu Bingqing to her.

Reba took one look and knew exactly what the little hometown boy meant: be careful, I'll blow it all up on you at any moment!

Hearing that the promotion for "Go Go Squid!" seemed to be moved up — clearly, the little hometown boy was getting a bit restless too.

But Reba held the first-mover advantage right now, and there were still big moves to drop later in the drama, so she felt she wouldn't lose to the other side in promotion.

Setting aside all this messy stuff, Reba also took the rehearsal quite seriously.

Compared to the other sisters, the time she had practiced was clearly not enough, but she caught up with the progress remarkably fast.

Speaking of which, if Reba weren't an actress, she might well have debuted as a girl group member and gotten famous too.

Not to mention how high her singing and dancing level is, but she really does have a certain infectious quality.

Otherwise, the dance she did at her birthday party back then wouldn't have gone viral on Douyin, getting a bunch of people to imitate it.

And her appearance on the "Sisters" stage this time under the identity of Qiao Jingjing — from the moment the paparazzi shots started, it drew plenty of attention.

Before this episode even aired, related topics hit the hot search, and there were tons of people discussing it in the super topic.

Of course, Reba wasn't here to challenge anyone — she was joining as a guest performer in Mao Xiaotong's group, helping them PK against the others.

After all, she was only on for this one episode — the main purpose was still drama promotion.

But the audience clearly ate this up — this kind of cross-promotion between a drama character and real life felt somewhat novel.

Are these two trying to break the fourth wall?

(End of chapter)