Chapter 565: The Great Immortal's Kindness Can Never Be Repaid

Regarding the job of director, Bai Liang truly had no prior experience whatsoever.

But he had worked with quite a few directors, possibly even more than some actors who had been in the industry for over ten years.

After all, the sheer number of works speaks for itself~

From a certain angle, in these few years since his debut, his workload was actually even heavier than Big Mi Mi's, that tireless workhorse of the entertainment circle.

Almost non-stop, jumping from one crew to the next, never pausing.

But on one hand, his stamina and energy were slightly inhuman, so he wouldn't end up looking haggard like Big Mi Mi did for a stretch.

More importantly though, there was another reason: he almost never did commercial gigs.

Bai Liang may look like a top-tier celebrity who loves stirring things up, but he's actually a very pure type of actor.

Since his debut, let alone compared to those leeching fans dry, even among veteran actors his appetite looked decent.

So, even though his debut hadn't been that long, the directors he knew were genuinely plentiful.

And his reputation among directors was excellent~

He could even handle Chen Kaige, let alone other directors.

Still, no matter how good the reputation, the move of poaching a director to serve as his own assistant director was genuinely outrageous.

The key point was, the "assistant director" Bai Liang was looking for wasn't some obscure figure.

Some directors in the circle had skill and works, but audiences truly knew little about them.

But some directors were nearly as famous as A-list stars, household names to viewers.

And the first director Bai Liang contacted nearly made Meng Jie choke, her eyes wide open! Pure disbelief!

Guo Fan.

Director of "The Wandering Earth," the famous cyber-seducer! The man who almost single-handedly got sci-fi films back on their feet!

The reason he gave was simple: I'm free anyway, I'll come help out and grab a drink.

Guo Fan on the other end of the line was a bit speechless: Buddy, where am I free? Don't I have to prep "The Wandering Earth 2"?

Of course, during the prep stage it really wasn't that urgent; he wasn't an artist drowning in schedules and events.

He could squeeze in some time to wander around~

Besides, since Bai Liang had asked, Guo Fan had no reason to refuse.

No choice, when filming "The Wandering Earth," he owed Bai Liang a whole sackful of favors.

He really couldn't repay the great immortal's kindness!

Nothing to say, I'm coming~

Plus, Guo Fan wanted to see how Bai Liang directed—this was too novel, he'd truly never seen it before.

After agreeing, he even asked: "When did Brother Liang secretly learn the director skill?"

Guo Fan didn't doubt his ability at all—after all, he'd witnessed Bai Liang's absurd skill library and terrifying learning ability~

Hearing this, Bai Liang raised an eyebrow. "You'll know once you get here."

Meng Jie beside him had already scrunched her brows into a cute figure-eight, just like an online meme.

Because Bai Liang had just told her he had zero directing ability~

She couldn't shake the feeling her little hedgehog was scamming people online, recruiting free labor.

Sure enough, the moment Guo Fan's call ended, Bai Liang went off again with zero cooldown, not even a skill CD!

This time the call was to Wu Jing.

But compared to Guo Fan, Wu Jing—an actor turned director—clearly had more experience in this area.

"Huh? You join a show and bring your own people? The production team did invite me before, I refused, didn't expect you to call... feels a bit off!"

"Actors, Take Your Place" really had invited Wu Jing—after all, his reputation and all spoke for itself, absolutely one of the most famous directors.

But for Wu Jing, going on a show to show off his wife with his wife was no problem; sitting in a mentor's seat lecturing other actors—he just wasn't that interested, so he naturally refused.

Perhaps this was the martial arts champion's intuition!

Of course, it could also be that Wu Jing had been tricked by Bai Liang so often he was developing antibodies.

His first reaction was "Is this kid trying to screw me over again?"

Bai Liang: Yes~

But he found a very fitting reason to convince Wu Jing.

"Don't you want to sideline Chen Kaige? He's on this show too. Let's, the two of us brothers, show him a thing or two first!"

That line worked like a charm—Wu Jing was immediately tempted!

Yes, yes!

He'd had a rough couple of years with so-called famous directors; "The Battle at Lake Changjin" was about to start filming, and he truly wanted to grip the reins of power.

He'd once, while tipsy, half-jokingly mentioned this to Bai Liang.

Though sober he denied it, just like how many people speak their true feelings in jest on April Fools'.

He wanted so badly to be a "scene bully"!

Bai Liang struck while the iron was hot: "Just come, we'll beat him in one round first! Build momentum!"

Well said!

Then came the question—Wu Jing immediately raised a doubt: "How can you guarantee you'll win? Is this show yours?"

Bai Liang: "It can be."

"Huh?"

"I can go sign a contract with the production team right now, make them rule I win. Straight-up rigging, you know what black-box manipulation is?"

Wu Jing:.

I know that shit way too well!

Only this time the shady deal got pinned on Chen Kaige. Damn, just hearing about this sounds so thrilling!

He had to get involved!

At this moment, Meng Jie was listening with her mouth agape. They could do that? And they're going to rig things right away?

She couldn't help a full-body shiver. Could her own little hedgehog, doing all this, somehow end up as the champion of this show out of nowhere?

Honestly, this might be a good thing for Meng Jie, but the odds of it being a good thing aren't that high.

Virtue not matching the position brings disaster—she'd already suffered on that front before.

She really didn't want to walk the black-and-red path again!

But Bai Liang was still on the phone—no, to be precise, Wu Jing had already started scheming for him.

This guy still had some self-awareness, knowing exactly where his shortcomings as a director lay.

So... Wu Jing suggested Bai Liang rope in a few more people!

The two of them, separated by a phone call, had actually thought of the same thing.

Bai Liang, who'd originally thought roping in two would be enough, heard him say that and figured it made sense!

He'd already brought in outside help anyway, so why not the more the merrier?

Every director has their own strengths—as long as he brought in enough directors, his weak spots would shrink!

Being a director really is easy~

The third call, Bai Liang dialed Han Han.

This time the reason was simple: "Don't you want to prove your directing skills are better than Xiao Si's too?"

Han Han said, didn't I already prove that ages ago?

In film, his results had pulled ahead of Xiao Si by who knows how much—their movies weren't even in the same league at the box office; the box office of one of his films exceeded the total of all of Xiao Si's films combined!

Also, just like with Wu Jing, the show's crew had approached Han Han too.

The reason they used was pretty much the same as Bai Liang's—both were writers turned directors, and these two had been "biting and scratching" each other for ages, and in the eyes of some fujoshi they'd even become a CP at one point.

And Han Han had of course refused, on the grounds that he was busy with racing and had no time.