Chapter 485: Preparing for a Grand Wedding

The film crew, inside the RV.

The atmosphere was solemn.

Bai Liang tilted his head, one hand propping his chin, eyes fixed on the computer screen without blinking.

Beside him, the three girls also held their breath, their pretty faces wearing expressions of serious concentration.

As if they were all facing some important life decision together.

The truth was somewhat similar: before Bai Liang lay a nineteen-by-nineteen grid, black and white stones interwoven.

To the girls, they couldn't understand it, but it looked incredibly impressive!

Someone who didn't know might think they were solving a legendary go puzzle.

Of course, mainly because the girls saw Bai Liang like this—thinking so long over one move—that they dared not disturb him, even began controlling their breathing.

But when a person deliberately controls their breathing, they inevitably end up with uncontrollable moments.

Sister Tian Tian suddenly felt a bit short of oxygen and couldn't help taking a deep breath, which stood out sharply in the now-silent space.

This scared her into immediately covering her mouth and nose, pulling off a live breath-holding act!

Just as her face turned red, Bai Liang finally "woke up."

His vacant gaze turned to the screen: Huh? This guy finally moved? I've almost used up my base time!

Because the opponent played so slowly, he hadn't even noticed it was his turn.

So he just clicked randomly on the screen without paying attention to where he clicked.

Then the opponent with the ID "Stealth" started pondering again.

This was one of Bai Liang's go-to pastimes when bored: find a poor sucker to torment.

Using pure luck, he acted wildly across the black-and-white nineteen-grid.

After long contemplation, the opponent finally resigned.

Meanwhile, the opponent with the ID "Stealth," right after resigning, was feeling somewhat reclusive and questioning life through the internet connection.

How could I, the eight-time champion, be crushed like this again?

What the hell is this "I Don't Eat Beef"? Cheating?

No, this guy doesn't even play like an AI—no matter how hard he was pressed, he never entered "Husky Mode." Did he just land divine moves one after another?

He checked the opponent's record: a small account, over ten consecutive wins.

Three of those wins were against him, and they'd played only three games total—the opponent won all three.

Yet, just like before, before he could even ask who the opponent was, the person went offline.

Leaving him, the once-proud eight-time champion, utterly bewildered.

"Man, this guy's really tough!" Bai Liang muttered as he logged off his small account.

When he used his small account to cheat and bully others, most people resigned mid-game—this "Stealth" guy was the most annoying, his skill was just too high, dragging games out for ages.

Hmm, I won't play him again.

"Did you win?" one of the girls asked.

"Narrow win!" Bai Liang replied offhandedly.

"Wow, so awesome!"

The girls instantly turned into a cheer squad, enthusiastically cheering for Bai Liang.

This made Bai Liang a bit embarrassed, since he'd been cheating.

But the girls didn't care—they had no idea how winning even worked.

Then Sister Tian Tian couldn't hold back anymore: "Aren't those five stones already connected? Why are you only winning now?"

Bai Liang: Good question! Because this isn't Gomoku.

Nearby, Li Yitong immediately added: "You don't understand—Go means you win by surrounding all your opponent's stones!"

"You don't understand, but you think you do? At least I don't pretend to know what I don't—Dou Xiao Tian, what do you say?"

Dou Xiao Tian: Huh?

Seeing the two older sisters suddenly turn on her, she was instantly thrown into confusion.

Luckily, Bai Liang was still there—he jumped in as the Dragonfly Captain.

If there's a dispute, let's play a tense, exciting game of Gomoku instead.

Go is too complicated for girls to play; Gomoku suits everyone.

He pulled out the Go board and stones he'd bought earlier and told the two girls to settle it on the board!

Their Gomoku skills were about equal; Bai Liang had taught them both his secret winning strategies.

Which were far more practical than the Grand Han Chess Saint's methods.

Things like the Underwear Formation, the Pig Kidney Formation, the Turtle Formation—mainly: ignore whatever your opponent does.

He also rescued Dou Xiao Tian from the "hellish scene," slipping a biscuit into her mouth to cheer her up.

"I want to use your Hetian jade set~" Sister Tian Tian held up a plain stone and made an unreasonable request.

"I want to use it too," Li Yitong immediately chimed in.

Clearly, they'd both watched the new episode of "Heart Signal," and knew Bai Liang owned this treasure.

Though it was a gift from Dili Reba, girls simply couldn't resist beautiful gems—they genuinely loved the gorgeous stones and board.

It really was beautiful!

As for playing? That was just for fun.

"How could I possibly keep that thing in the car? It's way too expensive—it's locked in the safe," Bai Liang waved his hand, rejecting their unreasonable demand.

"Stingy! I'll buy you a set too—make it jadeite, keep it in the car to play with!" Sister Tian Tian declared grandly.

"This sounds like Hermès' fancy mahjong set—why make a toy so over-the-top?" Bai Liang said casually.

"Hermès mahjong? You actually bought that?"

"I didn't buy it. A friend of mine did."

Li Yitong heard this and almost laughed, because it was Meng Jie who bought the thing.

Since it couldn't be bought domestically, someone had to get it imported from Japan—apparently costing a hundred or two hundred thousand yuan per set.

A few days ago, when Meng Jie came as a guest, she brought it along; honestly, these mahjong tiles were made of solid redwood and calf leather, and made almost no sound when played.

Perfect for lulling non-players to sleep, then sneaking in a game~

As Bai Liang chatted with the girls, he logged into his main account on Ye Hu.

The moment he logged in, an old rival sent a challenge; seeing the familiar ID "Eagle in Flight," he immediately rubbed his hands together.

Here it comes, a worthy opponent!

Playing against this guy is way more fun than that "Infiltrator" nonsense—even though he loses more than he wins against this "Eagle in Flight," the guy loves pulling weird moves.

He sets sneaky traps and thinks the opponent won't notice.

Or he just gets confused.

Tsk. Eagle move.

After the game ended, Bai Liang barely won—truly barely, no hacks involved.

But then "Eagle in Flight" didn't leave; instead, she chatted with him, complaining that her chess income was lower than that of a scorekeeper, so she planned to try livestreaming soon.

The two had been exchanging games online for over two years—they were practically acquaintances.

So Bai Liang generously said: "When you start livestreaming, I'll be your top donor."

She wasn't Bai Fumei, so she couldn't shower him with coins; but since she'd been his practice partner, Bai Liang was willing to spend some coins to reverse-donate.

Not many pretty girls have done that.

But then

Eagle in Flight: "Bro, don't you dare lust after my beauty? You think I'm going to go edge-lit?"

Bai Liang had already guessed who she was—just like he'd guessed who the "Infiltrator" probably was—but he still couldn't help smiling.

Even among Hu Pu goddesses, there are differences, Eagle.

He thought for a moment and replied: "Music, chess, calligraphy, painting—all except chess are going edge-lit now. You better hold the line, okay?"

Eagle in Flight: "Of course I will. Even if I starve to death, I'd jump off this building—"

Bai Liang figured she wouldn't starve; if things got bad, she could always sneak a bite of braised pork rice.

After gaining a "future top donor," Eagle didn't get overly excited.

After all, it was just internet banter—too serious and you'd be foolish.

Still, she wondered: if she started livestreaming, would just sitting there playing Go be too dull? Maybe she should play some games too?

Lately, the hype around all kinds of games had been incredibly high.

From mobile games to PC games, to console games—look, the Honor of Kings and League of Legends fans were still bickering, and the hype was sky-high.

After a bit of research, she found all this hype stemmed from one person.

The recently aired drama "You Are My Glory," besides its sweet romance, was also jokingly called a Honor of Kings commercial.

Meanwhile, the upcoming rival drama "Dear, Love Me," was being closely watched by League of Legends' side in China, because early clips and elements had already sparked huge interest in the esports community—it was already hot before airing.

That's why she'd become an esports goddess, let alone Bai Liang, who actually had real ties to esports—even having played in professional matches.

One of League of Legends players' favorite taunts against Honor of Kings is: "Daxian played in the LPL—why didn't he ever play in the KPL?"

In short, Bai Liang alone had stirred up the entire gaming world with these two dramas.

The traffic and attention were so immense, even the word "exaggerated" felt inadequate.

Eagle watched for a while and couldn't help daydreaming: if she could hitch a ride on this traffic, wouldn't she take off?

And she'd heard Bai Liang liked playing Go too—when would this heavenly fortune ever come to the Go community?

Unfortunately, Go's traffic was nothing compared to esports'—it seemed unlikely Bai Liang would care much.

There was no way he'd come to her livestream to play Go with her.

Of course, Eagle wasn't the only one coveting Bai Liang's traffic. Dou Xiao Lu said she really didn't want to answer the director of "Five Ha's" calls anymore.

"Director, just contact him directly! Why do you make me relay every detail?"

Dou Xiao Lu was fed up—she felt like Bai Liang's personal assistant.

"Mainly because you can actually talk to him," the director sighed. "If I could reach Bai Liang directly, I wouldn't need to go through this roundabout route."

Thank goodness "Five Ha" had such a lineup—Deng Chao, Dou Xiao Lu, and Chen Chichi anchoring it; otherwise, he wouldn't even get to speak to Yan Zong, let alone anyone else—any random staffer would've brushed him off.

Of course, Bai Liang hadn't actually refused "Five Ha's" invitation.

But he certainly didn't have time to be a permanent guest.

Still, after making one small request, he agreed to appear for one or two episodes.

Honestly, his request was a bit excessive—but given his status, it wasn't unreasonable.

It all depends on who you are.

It just made the production team's planners suffer—they had to change the final destination of "Five Ha" from Xi Zang to Xin Jiang.

That night, the new variety show "Five Ha" gathered in Shanghai; the plan was for the "Five Ha Travel Group" to depart from Shanghai and end in a city in Xin Jiang, with members earning travel funds through labor while sightseeing.

As soon as Dou Xiao Lu boarded the production boat, he saw the director staring at him with eager, fiery eyes.

Fortunately, he didn't let them down—he spread his hands and said: "He's waiting for us in Hengdian."

"Perfect!"

Until today, Bai Liang hadn't given a clear answer about which stop he'd join.

Because he himself wasn't sure.

If the "Five Ha" crew arrived in Hengdian and he happened to be away on another drama promotion, he'd miss it—no way around it.

The worst case is he only shows up for the final stop, meeting the Wu Ha team in Xinjiang, bringing along that batch of content—probably one or two episodes.

But he also said: if he's in Hengdian and has time during Wu Ha's filming, he could do one more episode.

The production team fully accepted this highly uncertain scheduling.

Just one sentence: Brother, whenever you're free, just show up! It's all up to your schedule.

After passing on the message, Lu Han couldn't help complaining: "Why not let Chao Ge do this? He's also close with Da Xian~"

"Ah~ I'm getting old, Xiao Lu, you're young," Deng Chao, the old rogue, quickly dodged the responsibility.

But at this moment, Chen Chichi curiously asked: "Aren't we changing our final stop from Xizang to Xinjiang? Then the question is—who's Da Xian meeting in Xinjiang?"

Good question!

As soon as he said it, Deng Chao and Lu Han both perked up.

"Based on timing, it should be Na Zha. When the Xinjiang episode airs, Glory will have long finished, and Qinqin is probably nearing its end—definitely not for Glory's promotion," Deng Chao analyzed.

"Can our show ride the tail end of his drama? If we can't, then either one is possible."

"I think it's Re Ba," Lu Han rubbed his chin and guessed.

"Why?"

"Just a feeling."

Lu Han couldn't honestly say he'd witnessed Bai Liang and Re Ba showing off their affection right in front of him—back then, he and Re Ba even had a CP going. Then Bai Liang showed up and completely dismantled their CP on the spot!

It further pushed Lu Han to announce his own relationship early.

Because of that, Lu Han will always vote for Re Ba.

As for Na Zha, though they've collaborated before, she seems a bit dim—probably can't outplay Re Ba.

"Then let's place bets!" Deng Chao excitedly prepared to open the betting pool.

Of course, none of this conversation would appear in the actual episode, so the director had to step in and remind them: "Talk about something we can air~ Even if you're not betting money, gambling is still not good."

—

The day before the Wu Ha team arrived in Hengdian, while they still seemed to be in Zhoushan, Big Tian Tian wrapped filming on The Son-in-Law.

She'd been on set for some time; besides her scenes with Bai Liang, nearly all her other scenes were done, taking advantage of Bai Liang's leave.

So when he returned and they began filming Ning Yi's scenes in bulk, the director, considering Big Tian Tian was a special guest, scheduled her scenes together with Bai Liang's.

Big Tian Tian: Overstepping!

On one hand, she was leaving again and wouldn't see Bai Liang; on the other, she was a little reluctant to part with Dou Xiao Tian and Li Yitong.

Bickering and squabbling with them was actually fun.

Li Yitong wasn't as aggressive as the two from Xinjiang; Big Tian Tian enjoyed arguing with her.

The key was, after the fight, she didn't feel bitter or unhappy.

She'd never been pushed to speak her dialect—she'd only done it once before, with Big Mi Mi.

It was very limited; even Big Tian Tian herself resisted it.

Fundamentally, she just didn't want to fight.

But with Li Yitong, she found some joy in squabbling—perhaps because their fights weren't over men, but over girl friends.

With this tone, things felt much more harmonious.

Add in Private First Class Dou Xiao Tian, running around the set all day, and it was all so cheerful—Big Tian Tian loved this set.

Li Yitong: I don't like it!

The two from Xinjiang bullied her, and Big Tian Tian had to join in the fun.

Have you ever seen a stressed-out kitten?

If that evil little kitten got stressed, she couldn't even imagine what she'd do.

Who knows—she might go crazy at night, grabbing her custom-made "Da Xian's Treasure" to ambush Big Tian Tian!

This scene, the evil little kitten had definitely imagined it herself.

After imagining it, she immediately felt much better~ She really was quite evil!

Still, on the day she wrapped, Big Tian Tian specially prepared some parting gifts.

Li Yitong: "Huh? I get one too?!"

"Why wouldn't you get one?" Big Tian Tian asked, puzzled.

Li Yitong scratched her head, not knowing what to say.

Arguing with her every day, then giving her a gift afterward?

Glancing at the expensive parting gift, Li Yitong couldn't help sighing: Truly, a woman of wealth and grace—so generous.

She almost didn't know whether to keep hating her—actually, Sister Tian Tian was kind of cute, if only she didn't compete for Dou Xiao Tian.

Turning her head, she saw Big Tian Tian pulling Dou Xiao Tian aside, whispering something about wanting to play with her later.

Li Yitong immediately rushed over like a protective mother hen, shielding Dou Xiao Tian behind her.

But Big Tian Tian turned around and went straight to Bai Liang to pout and cuddle.

Clearly, of the two targets, she could only "defend" one.

"Hug me~"

Hearing this, Bai Liang first handed the flowers to someone nearby, then warmly hugged Big Tian Tian, and handed her the flowers afterward.

After letting go and taking the large bouquet, Big Tian Tian sniffed the flowers' fragrance and pouted:

"When our drama airs, let's match Re Ba's promotion intensity! Can't be worse than her~"

"Sure thing, I'll think hard about what kind of stunt to pull," Bai Liang readily agreed.

He was quietly relieved that Big Tian Tian was aiming for Re Ba, not Na Zha.

Re Ba's promotion intensity was manageable anyway—The浪姐 was all Re Ba's own initiative.

The other drama promotions were just unusual in their approach, but they weren't really that much trouble.

That batch was the truly exaggerated one—Bai Liang was "forced" to make a variety show change its plans because of it.

Still, women are fickle creatures.

Who knows, after some time passes and Sister Tian Tian compares things, she might change her mind again.

When that time comes, Bai Liang won't know what kind of stunt to pull either—he can only let things take their natural course.

But there's no need to worry about it now.

After all, the boat will straighten itself out at the bridgehead—future matters should naturally be left to one's future self to handle.

For now, he only needs to prepare a grand wedding for one girl.

——

Brothers, if you have the time, drop by and join that 515 Easter egg chapter event~

Oh right, I saw someone asking about extra updates and the like.

To sort it out: I still owe one extra chapter for the Alliance Leader, and one extra chapter for the monthly tickets—I'll definitely pay them back.

It's not that I don't want to update more, I simply can't write that much right now—my state really can't keep up.

Sorry about that.

(End of this chapter)