Chapter 600: I've Already Booked the Victory Banquet

He buttoned up his shirt, knotted his tie, slipped on a waistcoat, and clipped on a fountain pen. Once Bai Liang had the whole getup on, he couldn't shake the feeling that his face was missing something—a bit of facial hair.

A little tuft on the chin would obviously hit the right note.

A walking cane to top it off~ now that would really be something!

However, just as he was still there admiring his new waistcoat-clad look, the two girls, as if by unspoken agreement, kicked off a fresh round of one-upmanship.

When no one else was "watching," both of them stripped off their first set of gowns and changed into a new one.

To be fair, even Zhou Ye, young as she was, had her own little tricks up her sleeve in this department.

As for Miss Dou, needless to say, this kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering that requires no on-the-spot improvisation is entirely her comfort zone—she's got tricks aplenty; a mere feint, hardly worth mentioning.

And then the two of them "wore the same outfit."

Perhaps it was the magic of chemistry—after a flurry of chaotic maneuvering, the two of them actually ended up in gowns of the same color family and similar style.

Not exactly identical—after all, they were two different brands—but at first glance, it looked as if they'd planned it together.

Sitting in the car, they stared each other down, neither willing to speak first.

As the saying goes, wearing the same outfit isn't scary—whoever's the uglier one gets embarrassed.

On Chen Duling and Zhou Ye's side, the "ugly" problem didn't exist; in fact, the "size" problem didn't exist either. They were both padded.

Bai Liang, sitting in the car, was completely dumbfounded.

He looked left, then right.

He didn't feel all that strongly about the two girls' matching outfits—after all, they were walking the red carpet together, and people might even assume they'd done it on purpose.

But both choosing padded-bra deception at the same time was a bit much!

"Senior, how does this set look on me?" Miss Dou had learned some bad habits by now, drifting further and further from her original image of the dutiful, studious good girl.

Of course, at first glance she still looked like a good girl, but with her chest pushed out and that innocent look on her face, every move seemed to "carry hidden meaning."

"It's alright, I guess," Bai Liang replied in a complicated tone.

He didn't really criticize the behavior either; he just felt a little urge to grumble about it inside.

He could even understand a girl going for plastic surgery, so a little padded-bra trickery naturally wouldn't bother him much.

The main thing was, these two were acting as if no one else existed~

A fish with a seven-second memory?

How big you two actually are—there's photographic evidence all over the internet—who would believe this sudden inflation?

At that moment, Miss Dou suddenly turned the tables on Zhou Ye: "Xiao Ye, did you pad too?"

That one line nearly made Zhou Ye, who had been silently posing with her chest out, spit out a mouthful of old blood!

Sis, do you really have to take us both down together? Is this payback for her calling in reinforcements this morning?

"I-I didn't~"

At this point, Zhou Ye didn't know what to say and could only choose to lie through her teeth, denying it outright.

Chen Duling, however, widened her eyes slightly. "Huh? You didn't? I thought we had the same idea~"

"I—"

Faced with Chen Duling's "relentless pressure," Zhou Ye felt a strong sense of déjà vu—like a "sewer rat dragged out into the sunlight." She only padded her chest; what crime did she commit? Did she have to spell it out so plainly and make her feel embarrassed?

A young girl's pride and sense of shame are extremely sensitive to such things.

If it were one of the older, more seasoned girls, she probably wouldn't care at all and might even roll right over you on the spot.

But Zhou Ye could only blush furiously.

Chen Duling: Blushing furiously? Good—keep blushing! Who told you to lure that evil little kitty over here?!

But because Bai Liang was still here, she obviously couldn't go for the kill. Feeling the moment was right, she immediately shifted gears to "cool down" the blushing little puppy.

"I just checked the temperature, and it looks like it dropped again today, below ten degrees, so I figured this would keep me warmer."

"That idea of yours… is quite the masterstroke, just like stuffing sanitary pads into your shoes during college military training!"

Bai Liang couldn't help wanting to applaud her—who the hell comes up with an excuse like that?!

Zhou Ye was even more dumbfounded, itching to pat her own forehead—why couldn't she think of such a perfect excuse?

The padding wasn't for deception—it was for keeping warm!

A positively genius idea.

Looking over again now, what she saw seemed to have changed completely. What kind of fake cup size was that? It was cold-weather armor for the current climate!

Facts proved Miss Dou's theory really did hold water.

The moment they stepped out of the car, a gust of cold wind blew in.

Bai Liang, who was dressed warmly, naturally didn't feel much, but the two girls in thin gowns with plenty of bare skin got goosebumps all over their necks the moment the cold wind hit them.

Coming out of the warm car, that temperature difference plus the cold wind—the shock was too much!

But faced with the dense wall of media cameras around them, the two of them absolutely could not reach out to rub themselves even once.

They still had to display themselves generously. On this point, neither of them felt the slightest grievance.

They spent the whole afternoon prepping just for this one shiver—surely they couldn't actually expect to win an award, could they?

The red carpet photos were what mattered most!

No matter how cold it was! They still had to pose hard and show off their best state!

And to be fair, regardless of their acting in the films, offline the actresses all seemed to level up their performance by a notch.

After getting out of the car, Zhou Ye and Chen Duling switched back to best-friend mode in an instant.

Hand in hand, plus those somewhat similar gown outfits, it gave off the impression that it had been designed that way from the start.

On this kind of chemistry, the two of them hadn't even had any prior discussion or communication.

They just exchanged a glance and fell into step together without the slightest awkwardness.

Even Bai Liang's "usage rights" they took turns on with great awareness, or simply went together.

A male artist—even one at Bai Liang's level—is, on a red carpet like this, just a prop and a backdrop for the women to take pretty photos with.

Unfortunately, because of the pandemic, the so-called red carpet didn't have the scale or the over-the-top scenes it used to.

Basically everyone just took some photos, struck a few poses, and then it was over.

Now here's the fun part!

The moment that segment ended, Chen Duling and Zhou Ye, who just a second ago had been as close as sisters, almost simultaneously let go of each other's hands.

Zhou Ye immediately put on a sour face, and Chen Duling's expression went blank too.

The people from the movie channel watching were completely dumbfounded.

They couldn't help lowering their heads to look at the work badges hanging around their own necks—no problem there, right? It was CCTV-6!

How dare those two give them attitude?

After the photo segment came the movie channel interview waiting in the corridor—the Golden Rooster Awards were broadcast exclusively by the movie channel, and they were also the biggest sponsor.

Of course, besides the TV station, there were definitely online platforms broadcasting it too.

This year the major platforms were all very interested in broadcasting the Golden Rooster Awards, because according to various reports, this might be the year our Weibo Best Actor Bai Bai Daxian was most likely to take the Golden Rooster Best Actor crown!

What kind of person is Bai Liang? In a certain sense, he is traffic itself!

When the Golden Rooster Awards ceremony began at this point, it directly pushed down Yang Tianbao, who had topped the trending searches the day before.

A bunch of people were over there discussing whether Bai Liang could actually take Best Actor this time.

Whether he could take Best Actor was unclear, but Bai Liang, who was currently smiling and chatting with the movie channel reporter, suddenly noticed—why had the two Misses started "acting up" at this moment?