Chapter 97: The Capybara Has Its Own

Na Zha was utterly heartbroken; she had obviously seen today's trending topics.

While inwardly rejoicing for Bai Liang, her face was suffused with a deep sense of resentment.

The male lead was him, but the female lead was not her.

She immediately imagined countless tragic love dramas for herself, making the assistant beside her feel her teeth ache.

"Sis, it's not that serious—your schedule is already packed, and this drama really isn't suitable for you. A forced melon won't be sweet."

Na Zha protested: "Whether it's sweet or not, I'll just taste a couple bites and find out! Besides, with him in it, it'll definitely be sweet!"

Fine then~

The assistant had long grown accustomed to her sister's love-struck mindset.

All she could do was comfort Na Zha with the saying that good things take time.

Take time?

Na Zha pointed out she didn't even get the chance to be ground down—she at least needed to meet him.

"By the way, sis, who's the female lead?"

"I don't know. The production team isn't obligated to tell me. Could it really be Yang Mi? She's almost thirty and already married—wouldn't that be weird for a campus romance?"

"I don't think it's Yang Mi—her age really doesn't match Xiao Bai's. But being married doesn't seem to matter; in the movie version, Wei Wei's female lead was Angela Da Bao, and she's married too."

Hearing another industry doll's name, Na Zha showed no reaction—what did the movie version have to do with her?

"Hey, do you think she's prettier than me?" Na Zha suddenly shifted the topic to an odd direction.

"Sis, when you say 'she,' do you mean Yang Mi or Da Bao?"

No sooner had the assistant asked than she regretted it, and quickly added, "But no matter who, you're prettier."

Na Zha instantly brightened up, pulled out her phone to chat with Bai Liang, yet didn't mention her failure to land the female lead.

Too unlucky—why bring up something like that?

Bai Liang was utterly swamped!

His phone kept buzzing nonstop, forcing him to jab the screen with his thick fingers.

He frantically replied to message after message.

The downside of having many friends was now clear—everyone who had ever interacted with Bai Liang and was on good terms with him was now frantically "greeting" him after learning of the online buzz.

Some were genuine greetings, mostly from girls.

They typically began with a "Wow!" then congratulated or celebrated his rise to fame.

Jin Cheng was the exception.

This girl was cut from the same cloth as Shuangzi—thankfully, she was mostly abstract, not outright crazy.

"Where's your belt? Come whip me twice—I feel like I haven't woken up. How come your face is everywhere?"

Starting with a dirty joke—who could handle that? The emojis she sent were equally suggestive.

She even sent a selfie, her outfit cut dangerously low at the chest.

Unfortunately, after carefully examining it, Bai Liang found it utterly uninspiring—better not to have seen it.

The guys, meanwhile, came straight out calling him "Father," saying things like "If I ever become rich, don't forget me"—Bai Liang had no idea what they meant.

After playing Lü Bu, he was allergic to the word "father"—he hadn't fully recovered yet.

Some were "furious."

Like that bastard Huang Jingyu.

One of his favorite things was sharing with Bai Liang how famous he'd become after "Addicted," sending video after video of fans and admirers.

But he'd always be shut down by Bai Liang's single line: "You kissed a guy."

But this time, he was truly broken—"Bro, how the hell did you get this big?!"

Even when "Addicted" was at its peak, it never looked like this!

Afraid his brother was suffering, yet afraid he was driving a Land Rover.

Bai Liang: "The hell do I have to comfort you?"

He ignored the guy entirely, saving his limited time for the girls.

After all, their voice messages were almost all lovely—soft, sweet, giggly—and their emojis were adorable; Bai Liang sneakily saved plenty.

But after chatting with everyone, he noticed one "escaped fish."

Huh? Where's my Meng Jie? Why not a single word? Too busy to check the trending topics?

No way—don't you dare play dead.

So Bai Liang prodded her directly, and specifically sent her a screenshot of the trending topic.

After a long pause, she replied softly: "Little hedgehog, I'm not good enough for you anymore."

"You never were, really."

Hua Tuo himself could cure this emo.

Instant results.

Meng Jie was a high-speed internet surfer—she was the type who knew she was hated online, yet couldn't resist checking anyway.

Of course she knew Bai Liang's popularity had exploded today. At first, she was happy and wanted to message him.

But as soon as she opened the chat interface, she froze—what was her identity?

And after hearing too many stories of "the first sword after getting ashore," she felt this version of Bai Liang might be different from before.

But after just two messages, she immediately felt the old connection again.

Hehe~

Still "Little Hedgehog"! Not changed at all!

"I really hope 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' airs soon—then we can promote it together."

"Then we can even stir up some CP later."

"Huh? You want to stir up CP with me?!" Mencius exclaimed in surprise.

"What, am I not good enough?"

"No, it's not that—you're so popular right now, and all positive attention. I'm black-popular, and I'm barely even popular anymore, just black."

"Then I'll take the loss—you can compensate me in other ways."

Please… could you… collect… 6… 9… the book… please…!

Bai Liang thought his words were perfectly fair, but for some reason, after Mencius called him a "pervert," she ignored him.

"You're so busy~"

Seeing Bai Liang finally put his phone down and quiet down, Li Xin remarked with a touch of envy and nostalgia.

"Bad company—I feel like I've seen a sow climb a tree, and everyone's chattering away."

"Having many friends is a good thing," Li Xin said with a smile.

Bai Liang seemed to sense something, blinked, and said, "Maybe we can act together sometime—I've watched your dramas. I'm kind of half your fan."

"You're so popular now."

"You'll be popular too. My friend who looks just like you isn't even as famous as you."

"Oh~ I get it. Because we look alike, you're only half my fan, right?"

"No, because the male lead is ugly—I can't get into the role—so I can only count as half."

This made Li Xin burst out laughing, covering her mouth. "Which drama? You're not just making that up, are you? All the actors I've worked with are handsome."

Bai Liang didn't boast, "I'm probably better-looking than him, so I can't get into it."

Instead, he thought carefully and said, "'Flowers in Midsummer.'"

He really had watched it!

Wait—so the guy he said was ugly… was… cough… him?

Li Xin dropped that line of thought, but her smile grew even brighter.

When she wasn't smiling, she had a cool, distant aura—that was a big difference from Li Yitong.

But when she smiled, the two of them looked even more alike.

Bai Liang couldn't help himself—he imagined some bizarre, strange scenes in his mind.

To be honest, he actually preferred bright, dazzling beauties like Na Zha or Mencius.

But sometimes a man's taste is hard to explain, especially when he's just in appreciation mode—his range can suddenly expand a lot.

Fortunately, at this moment, his "good buddy" couldn't take it anymore.

"Great Immortal, come over and check how I'm doing—give me some feedback! Don't just stand there flirting!"

Young Master Wang wasn't an entertainer—he spoke bluntly and loudly.

The moment he said it, many eyes turned toward Bai Liang and Li Xin, leaving the girl unsure where to put her hands.

It was just like when classmates in school would start teasing.

In the end, to avoid suspicion, they pulled apart a little.

Bai Liang shrugged helplessly at her, signaling apology.

He turned and walked toward Young Master Wang, who had already filmed a segment and was watching the playback.

"Your face is stiff, your diction is unclear, your expressions are weird, too fake. Look—here you're walking with both arms and legs on the same side."

Good! Good! Good!

Even the director couldn't help applauding—because Bai Liang was absolutely right, every point hit.

He obviously saw it too, but could he say that? Young Master Wang was just here as a guest star.

At this moment, Young Master Wang:????

His mouth opened involuntarily, but he didn't know how to retort—he was desperate.

He regretted his earlier mouthiness—why did he go and provoke him?

Lin Genxin had said Bai Liang had an exceptionally good temper—he sometimes provoked him and still didn't get angry.

But now it seemed even the capybara had its "taboos."

(End of Chapter)