Chapter 555: What Do You Mean

When it comes to "the hero's grand entrance," sometimes it really doesn't require stepping on seven-colored auspicious clouds and striking a pose as an all-conquering hero.

In any case, Bai Liang felt that if he took on this job, it would actually come across as a bit too late — like firing after the battle.

The matter was already settled, and only then did he show up.

Isn't that basically dancing on someone's grave~

But this kind of thing is just too interesting! He has to take it!

Just hearing about it sounds fun~

Of course, the main reason is that "Actors, Take Your Place" is already nearing its finale, so even if he goes, it won't take up much of his time.

For many artists, appearing on variety shows mostly means easy money.

Except for certain shows whose intensity is way over the top and truly grueling.

Including but not limited to competitive reality shows and certain travel programs.

That said, to be fair, the "Actors, Take Your Place" production team really does play pretty wild.

Actually, they had already sent Bai Liang an invitation last year, wanting him as a mentor at the time.

But Sister Yanzi considered back then that her own Little Bai was still young and lacked seniority — although being a mentor wouldn't really be a problem, it would also make him an easy target for nitpicking.

To give a somewhat similar example, Meng Meiqi, who like Yang Chaoyue gained a lot of traffic from "Produce 101," debuted as first place and has actually developed quite well over the past few years.

But she became a "mentor" on a show called "Heavenly Voice," while the person singing below her was veteran singer Zhou Zhou Chuanxiong, which directly triggered mockery across the entire internet.

Of course, the amplification of such incidents is usually related to brain-dead fans who can't tell what's what.

When the show aired, Douban's gossip group posted a soul-searching question: "What kind of variety show is this, with Zhou Zhou Chuanxiong as a contestant and Meng Meiqi as a mentor?"

Originally, a brief explanation would have settled it, because the onstage-offstage pairing on this show isn't actually a mentor-contestant relationship.

But Meng Meiqi's fans just had to chime in with "The new-generation Ayumi Hamasaki mentoring a washed-up male singer — is there a problem?"

That one sentence directly lit the powder keg, and netizens argued themselves red-faced in the comments, tearing each other apart in a complete mess.

So what Sister Yanzi was worried about back then was similar to this kind of thing.

Bai Liang's fan base is just too massive — even if the proportion of dim-witted "Little Tang Ren" is smaller than that of an average top-tier star, the absolute number is still quite considerable.

These kinds of fans will say any kind of nonsense.

Fortunately, her Little Bai doesn't exploit his fans for money, nor does he really need to purify or crystallize his fan base, so there haven't really been any incidents before — they've basically been spotted and suppressed in time.

For this reason, Sister Yanzi previously didn't recommend Bai Liang appear on such shows as a "mentor," since it would too easily attract hate.

But now, after a round of discussion with the team, she actually quite strongly recommends her Little Bai go on and have a stroll.

The "missed opportunity" of the Hundred Flowers Best Actor award now seems to have passed, and Bai Liang himself doesn't really care much about that trophy.

But some things — if he doesn't actively ask for them, you really just won't give them?

Outrageous!

Damn it, acting mentor, right?

Done!

Five years, thirty billion in cumulative box office, multiple hit dramas and even ratings kings accumulated, representative works so numerous that even a standard bio can't fit them all — and he can't even be an acting mentor on some crappy variety show?

Whoever's stirring up drama online, just smash these stats right in their face.

Water armies and marketing accounts on standby at all times, just waiting to see who's not convinced!

Meng Meiqi being mocked across the internet was partly because she's young, and partly because she's weak!

Bai Liang has no such troubles!

He's so strong that a whole bunch of people feel wary of him, yet can't do anything about him!

This move can basically be said to be aimed straight at the Golden Rooster Awards!

Of course, Sister Yanzi didn't tell Bai Liang all that — she just suggested it'd be best if he could go.

One saw profit in it, the other saw fun — a meeting of minds, you could say.

The matter was pretty much settled just like that~

However, before participating in the recording of "Actors, Take Your Place," Bai Liang does need to first make a trip to this year's Golden Eagle Awards.

On one hand, he's been nominated for Best Actor again; on the other, Nazha whined and declared, "If you don't come, I'm going to throw a fit!"

When Reba was the Golden Eagle Goddess last edition, Bai Liang was sitting right there in the audience~

The two of them together racked up who knows how many trending searches.

And this time it's Nazha's turn — she says she's not competing with anyone else, but she absolutely must outshine her little hometown buddy!

To that end, she prepared quite thoroughly, and also whined at Bai Liang for ages, demanding that he not just attend the final awards ceremony but be there from the very start.

Because the Golden Eagle Goddess reveal happens at the Golden Eagle Festival, which runs for three days — only the awards ceremony on the final day is the Golden Eagle Awards proper.

Nazha declared in a rather "domineering" manner that for those three days, her little treasure has to stay by her side!

Neither of her two little treasures can be missing!

Of course, Bai Liang wouldn't refuse such a request, but to play along with Nazha, he still put on a slightly troubled front at first.

Only in the end did he "reluctantly" agree.

He wasn't doing this to play hard to get with Nazha — mainly, the effect really was good.

See, she had originally been simply full of anticipation, but after Bai Liang overcame "difficulties" to still accompany her, she instantly became ecstatic!

Just a little bit of thoughtfulness, and the emotional value gets a huge boost!

"Oh~ they've finally changed the name of this edition of the Golden Eagle Awards!" Bai Liang remarked with a touch of sentiment.

"Mm-hmm~" Nazha nodded along, but she was busy with something else at the moment and didn't have time to discuss it with Bai Liang.

The matter of the Golden Eagle Awards' name had caused a lot of trouble before.

Audience's Favorite Male and Female Actors, and Most Popular Male and Female Actors.

One golden cup, one crystal cup.

If the same actor took both the Audience Favorite and the Most Popular awards at the same time, then naturally there was nothing to argue about — a clear-cut Best Actor or Best Actress of the festival.

Last edition's Bai Liang took both the Golden Cup and the Crystal Cup simultaneously, an undisputed Golden Eagle Best Actor.

But most of the time, these two awards ended up going to two different actors.

After that, naturally, came the flame wars online!

The debate over which of the Golden Cup and the Crystal Cup was the true Best Actor or Best Actress had every faction arguing themselves hoarse, completely irreconcilable.

Bai Liang once felt the Golden Eagle Awards were doing it on purpose — yeah, probably on purpose.

Though this edition was rather well-behaved, possibly because the previous large-scale online conflicts had drawn some attention from the higher-ups.

In any case, Bai Liang looked at the nominated award names and saw that this time there was finally a Best Actor and Best Actress category.

Of course, the Audience Favorite Actor and Actress awards hadn't disappeared, but which award was the true Best Actor or Best Actress was clearly no longer up for debate.

But the trouble hadn't vanished — instead, people started digging up old grievances.

The old debate over which of Most Popular and Audience Favorite was the genuine Best Actor or Best Actress — it seemed this edition's award names could finally put the matter to rest.

But how could that be~ The faction that had previously championed Audience Favorite as the true Best Actress absolutely would not allow their idol's Golden Eagle Best Actress title to just vanish like that.

They swore to defend the worth of the Crystal Cup to the death!

At this, that Zha didn't put up much resistance, only baring his teeth slightly, as if trying to look fierce and threatening.

Hmm. Pretty cute~ Makes one want to bully him a little more!

But not long after, Bai Liang noticed a few blind spots.