"Oh, Sister Yang, I'm sorry to have troubled you over such a small matter..."
Sister Yang didn't look too pleased.
Tonight was supposed to be a normal birthday dinner. The male models Old Zhou brought along were just there to liven up the atmosphere and share a few drinks—or what people commonly called "gathering a few friends to hang out."
It wasn't anything shady, and getting photographed wouldn't have been a big deal anyway, especially since she worked behind the scenes. But as someone in the entertainment industry, she was hypersensitive to that kind of thing.
Sister Yang didn't manage any artists right now, but if one of hers dared to pull a stunt like that while socializing outside, she'd probably want to kill them.
Whatever she and Old Zhou discussed, Bailiang and Huang Jingyu certainly weren't meant to hear it. The two of them stood guard outside an empty private room like a pair of freelance security guards.
When they finally came out, Old Zhou had a fair bit of sweat on his forehead, but his expression was relaxed overall.
As for Sister Yang, she actually gave Bailiang and Huang Jingyu a smile. "You two are pretty sharp, though that kid who threw the punches was a bit too impulsive. Did little Zhou here go bragging to you that I'm about to sign some new talent?"
The handsome guys shook their heads.
Not at all.
"If Sister Yang hasn't said the word, how would I dare shoot my mouth off? Still, these two really are the sharpest guys in my stable of models, and they've got the best look. Most importantly, their backgrounds are completely clean."
Even if Old Zhou was internally cursing Bailiang for having such a loose mouth, he still piled praise on the two of them.
Sister Yang gave Bailiang and Huang Jingyu a thorough, appraising look before nodding with satisfaction. "I have to admit, you two really do have the best look. But I'm taking a break lately, not taking on any new artists for the time being..."
Despite saying that, Sister Yang ultimately handed her business card to both of them.
That was pretty much all the two brothers had to show for themselves tonight.
Huang Jingyu clutched the business card, his mind racing, momentarily unsure of what to do next. In a moment like this, he subconsciously cast his gaze toward the "unreliable" Bailiang.
"Going back for the fruit platter?" Bailiang offered his invitation once more.
*My goodness...*
Huang Jingyu rubbed his forehead in resignation, realizing that even someone as immature as himself looked entirely mature and dependable standing next to this guy.
"Fine, let's go."
For the next two hours, the music played on and the dancing continued. Nobody paid much attention to the missing person in the private room. Bailiang and Huang Jingyu didn't pull any wild stunts either; they pretty much dedicated the rest of the night entirely to the fruit platter.
When things wrapped up, they collected their earnings for the night—eight hundred yuan each.
Add that to the twenty-five hundred yuan hush money per person, and the two of them hauled in six thousand six hundred yuan tonight.
Such an auspicious number! They simply had to celebrate.
Since neither of them had any gigs the next day, they headed straight for Haidilao.
Halfway through the meal, Huang Jingyu mustered his courage after some internal debate and blurted out, "I'm heading to Beijing next week for an audition."
"Oh~"
Mid-battle with a slice of fatty beef, Bailiang fished out two more pieces, dispatched them in a flash, and only then replied.
"I didn't tell you before... You know what, why am I even explaining this!" Huang Jingyu slapped his own forehead. "What's your plan? Aren't you going to contact that Sister Yang and try your luck in showbiz?"
After confirming that the plate of fatty beef was completely wiped out, Bailiang finally looked up and said casually, "I already contacted her. She recommended a film crew to me."
"What? When did you contact her?"
Huang Jingyu, who had been feeling a slight pang of guilt just moments ago, instantly perked up. *What the hell, you actually snuck ahead of me?*
Bailiang pulled out his phone and checked. "Around noon today. While I was taking a dump, you were messing with the router and cut off the Wi-Fi. Since I couldn't use my phone for games, I just called her to ask. She said she'd recommend me for a small role to try out."
"You talked to her about this while you were taking a dump?" Huang Jingyu found that utterly absurd.
"Well, there wasn't any internet."
"Didn't your phone have data?"
"I went over my data limit, got throttled, and pictures wouldn't even load."
Fair enough. Anyway, Huang Jingyu couldn't find a single flaw in that logic and figured he could only blame China Unicom. Why on earth did they have to throttle his data?
"So what did you say to her?" Huang Jingyu pulled his chair closer, burning with curiosity.
"Just said it straight. I asked her if she had any work, since we've been lacking jobs lately, right?"
"And she just agreed to recommend you to a crew?"
"Yep."
How bizarre!
Coming from Bailiang's mouth, it all sounded perfectly logical and followed a clear cause and effect.
Yet Huang Jingyu had worked as a charcoal stoker at a BBQ joint, a telephone editor at a radio station, a waiter, and a factory apprentice—he had taken plenty of beatings from society. It was hard to imagine things playing out so smoothly.
From last night's paparazzi-catching incident all the way to now, combined with Bailiang's nonchalant attitude, it gave him an inexplicably strange feeling.
It was as if the chance to go act was, in his eyes, no different from a gig modeling for print ads.
At the same time, he couldn't help wondering... could that Sister Yang have taken a fancy to this pretty boy, Bailiang?
He had taken her card too, but he hadn't dared to actually call. What if she was just being polite?
Torn between conspiracy theories and overthinking, Huang Jingyu still couldn't make heads or tails of it.
By this point, the fatty beef, duck throat, and tripe were almost entirely devoured by Bailiang.
"Shit! Leave some for me!"
Once they finished the steaming hot hotpot, everything outside seemed to cool down in an instant.
Packs on their backs.
Outside the apartment gates, two tall, handsome guys standing there made quite a striking sight.
Bailiang was off to Hengdian, and Huang Jingyu was bound for Beijing.
One south, one north.
The scene genuinely carried a melancholic air of life's many parting roads, each heading off to their own distant horizons.
Of course, with one of them being a forthright Northeast lad and the other a carefree capybara, they really weren't burdened with that much sentimental drama.
"I'm off, then~"
Huang Jingyu waved a hand and turned to walk toward a brand-new future.
Bailiang, however, lingered under the sun for a good minute longer because he had this nagging feeling he'd forgotten something.
It wasn't until he checked his phone and saw a notification for an uncollected package that he sprinted over to the courier station.
Two tubs of protein powder.
One of which still needed to be returned to Huang Jingyu.
Fortunately, an hour later, the two of them bumped into each other again at the train station.
Talk about fate...
"Seriously, if we were both taking the train anyway, why did we split up to leave?" Huang Jingyu asked, questioning the meaning of life.
Bailiang shrugged, giving a helpless shrug. "I thought you were taking a plane."
One look told them everything: they were both broke guys who couldn't afford a flight.
In fact, Bailiang was clearly even broker, having bought a ticket for a slow green-skin train, unlike the other guy who at least managed a high-speed rail ticket.
After staring at each other in blank dismay, Huang Jingyu took the tub of protein powder from Bailiang with a look of utter disgust.
His backpack and suitcase were already packed to bursting; how was he supposed to fit a tub of protein powder in there?
He had no choice but to cradle it in his arms just like Bailiang...
His usual cool, stylish vibe instantly took on a distinct rural flavor, as if he'd been instantly kicked straight back to his hometown in the Northeast all the way from Shanghai.
Before he could even start complaining, Bailiang gave a breezy wave and turned to walk away.
He swiped his ID card and entered the station.
Leaving Huang Jingyu standing there baring his teeth. *What the hell, does this kid's timing have to be so precise? He just gets here and walks right through the ticket gates?*
Someone like himself, who was terrified of messing up and deliberately showed up an hour early, really felt like a sucker.
Bailiang just had this knack for making everything he did feel... freakishly effortless!