Bailiang had already been in the crew of God of War Zhao Zilong for a month in the blink of an eye.
His final scene was a pure action sequence: riding Chìtù, cutting down enemies indiscriminately, looking as handsome and cool as possible.
It sounded simple, but shooting it was quite a hassle.
It took a full afternoon of grinding to get it right.
The content of this scene was actually Lü Bu's first appearance in the show.
After all, television series are rarely shot in chronological order; scheduling depends primarily on the sets and the characters' emotional states.
Shooting scenes that shared the same set was done for convenience and to save money. The characters' emotional states were even easier to understand—you couldn't possibly have everyone laughing heartily in one scene, only to have them mourning the death of their parents in the very next.
Even if an actor possessed exceptional acting skills, doing things that way would drain their physical and mental energy too severely, resulting in more loss than gain.
For Bailiang, that turned out to be a good thing as well.
At that moment, he happened to be in his peak physical condition, and the results of his recent workouts were quite gratifying.
It matched the plot line!
Naturally, Lü Bu should appear at his most ferocious, before gradually becoming thinner and haggard due to a life of alcohol and women...... It made perfect sense.
Bailiang felt the director's design was truly brilliant, to the extent that even his workout routine had been factored in.
He really knew his stuff, truly deserving of being a director!
Director: Huh? What? I had no idea?
Flipping down from horseback, Bailiang was greeted by a massive bouquet of flowers, accompanied by a face as radiant as the blossoms.
"Congratulations on wrapping up!"
"You're still with the crew?" Bailiang blurted out instinctively.
He hadn't seen Meng Ziyi at all over the past two days and had assumed the girl had already finished her scenes and left.
After all, even though she played the handmaiden to the female lead played by Lin Yoona, logically she should have been able to stay on screen alongside the lead.
Unfortunately, Lin Yoona was playing a dual role.
Xiahou Qingyi, the daughter of the commandery governor, kicked the bucket, and Ma Chao's sister, Ma Rou'er, entered the fray.
Lin Genxin's Zhao Zilong could switch partners for romance, but Meng Ziyi's handmaiden couldn't possibly swap masters~
"What do you mean I'm still with the crew?!" Meng Ziyi flared up, her eyebrows shooting straight up. "My character's exit is much later than yours!"
"Did she die?"
"......She died."
"Then we're the same," Bailiang said happily.
Meng Ziyi pulled the classic "subway old man looking at his phone" expression. Was having a character die really something worth celebrating?
Fortunately, her brain capacity wasn't very large, and she quickly found something to be happy about.
"Come take a picture! Make sure you edit me to look good when you post it on Weibo! Don't you dare use the beauty filter only on yourself!"
Seeing Meng Ziyi eagerly sidle up to him, already primed and ready for a group photo, Bailiang decided to satisfy her photo-taking desires first.
The only problem was, he hadn't even registered an account on Weibo......
However, wrapping up his very first television drama indeed deserved to be commemorated, so Bailiang decided to post the photo on his WeChat Moments instead.
Unlike Guli Nazha when she wrapped up—she had been in a rush to head off to her next production and had left in the afternoon—Bailiang, an idle fellow with nothing pressing to do, actually organized a wrap-up dinner.
Of course, the production crew was still filming, so the scale was very small, consisting only of the few people he had gotten closest with on set.
Meng Ziyi deliberately put on makeup for the evening and even paused in surprise upon entering the private dining room.
Aside from casting director Sun Qiang and the male lead Lin Genxin, everyone else was female......
Bailiang's way of treating people was quite unconventional; alongside the actresses, he had invited production assistants and makeup artists.
The treatment standard was remarkably egalitarian.
At this table, there was no sign of the so-called crew hierarchy whatsoever.
Yet the person most reluctant to see Bailiang pack up and leave turned out to be none other than Lin Genxin. His gaming carry was leaving...... though they could still duo queue online, it could never match the joy of sitting side-by-side in an internet café.
After three rounds of drinks, a slightly flushed Sun Qiang pulled Bailiang aside. "Little brother, which crew are you heading into next? Big brother has a few connections in the industry; let me put in a good word for you......"
Next?
Bailiang hadn't thought about that yet; he rarely bothered contemplating the so-called future.
He had come to act this time purely on a whim, combined with a twist of fate.
For all he knew, this drama might well turn out to be the swan song of his acting career.
Still, Bailiang had no intention of just sitting around doing nothing. Acting was quite interesting, and of course he would continue if the opportunity arose.
Besides, he wasn't picky—he'd act in anything.
He just didn't have the connections for it...... and he was rather reluctant to keep troubling Sister Yang.
"I don't have any gigs lined up for now. If the crews you guys end up in are short on people, just give me a call~"
Bailiang tossed the remark out casually, and most people simply laughed and agreed just as casually.
Yet there were those who took those words to heart......
"So you don't have any work lined up next?" Meng Ziyi chimed in with her usual quick mouth.
Bailiang nodded. "I'm planning to head to Beijing first, though. A friend of mine is shooting there, so I'm going to drop by for a visit."
Visiting the set?
Guli Nazha had run off to Beijing to shoot a drama?
Hearing this, Meng Ziyi clamped her mouth shut, picked up the beverage on the table, and began to gulp it down—seemingly trying to mask something.
Lin Genxin started giving Bailiang a thumbs-up again, damn it!
A single glance was all it took for anyone to understand his meaning.
Fucking legendary, bro!
Yet Lin Genxin felt a bit puzzled. Wasn't Guli Nazha supposed to report to the adjacent crew of Chinese Paladin 5? At most, she would head back to Tangren Media in Shanghai first; she couldn't possibly have run all the way to Beijing, could she?
Was there another pretty girl in Beijing?
Clearly, everyone still assumed Bailiang had a thing with classmate Nazha....... probably everyone at the table thought so.
As it turned out, once the gathering broke up past ten o'clock that night, Meng Ziyi saw Bailiang's WeChat Moments post.
Just a single photo!
The selfie with her!
Confusion and pleasant surprise swirled in her heart simultaneously, though her brain suddenly became remarkably sharp at that moment.
Could this guy have posted it so that only she could see it? Was he a fuckboy?
At the same time, the photo itself carried quite a bit of substance...... Aside from the handsome guy and pretty girl, the crucial point was that he had only edited one person!
Unlike those pretentious vixens commonly found in the entertainment industry, Bailiang hadn't filtered himself at all; instead, he had applied a slight beauty filter specifically to Meng Ziyi.
Based on that alone, before she could suspect him of being a fuckboy, Meng Ziyi hastily liked the post.
"Visible to only one person?"
Fuckboy, show your true colors!
The moment she backed out after posting that comment, her phone vibrated.
It was a notification that someone else had liked it too...... At that split second, Meng Ziyi's speed in deleting her comment reached her career peak.
Feigning that nothing had happened, she re-commented with a "flower" emoji.
Once she finished, she collapsed onto her bed, completely sapped of strength. That was close—she had almost suffered a massive social death.
After recovering somewhat, she sat there hugging her phone and began to space out....... She just couldn't make sense of it!
The moment her feet touched the ground, her brilliant intellect abandoned the high ground once again.
Fortunately, there was someone having a much harder time than she was.
Nazha, who had originally prepared to step directly into the crew of Chinese Paladin 5, figured that since both productions were shooting in Hengdian, she could easily drop by for a visit and grab a meal with Bailiang.
The moment she arrived on set, however, she was immediately met with the notice that production was temporarily suspended and she was to return to the company at once.
Back at Tangren Media, what awaited her was the indiscriminate wrath of boss Cai Yinong.
It was only then that Nazha realized a major disaster had struck!
Jiang Jinfu, the popular rising star originally scheduled to succeed Hu Ge for the company, had rebelled!
With such an incident unfolding, Tangren Media was thrown into utter chaos, and at that moment, Cai Yinong looked at everyone as if they were potential traitors.
Nazha was thoroughly panicked because Lin Genxin, with whom she had just collaborated, happened to be one of the company's "traitors" as well...... He too had walked out on Tangren, filing a lawsuit to terminate his contract and run off before it expired.
After Cai Yinong subjected her to a few lectures on ideology, Nazha returned home, opened her WeChat Moments, and took a look.
Her world collapsed!
Meng Ziyi, pressed right up against Bailiang, was smiling so brilliantly, damn it!