"Qi Bailu Lifts Shen Mo's Dress."
Opening his phone and scrolling through the morning's trending topics, this was the line that sat starkly at the very top. Clicking on the video with the highest view count revealed the scene from last night’s charity gala during the group photo. Shen Mo, dressed in a floor-length white evening gown, had stepped on her hem while ascending the stairs and paused to look down at her heels. Qi Bailu happened to be passing by; seeing she was in trouble, he reached out to steady her elbow and then leaned down to help her lift the train of her dress.
Such a neutral trending topic was actually a prime opportunity for marketing. The top comments were all praising Qi Bailu for his gentlemanly conduct. Further down, people were asking, "Who is Shen Mo?", "Am I the only one who doesn't know her?", and "What has she been in?" In response, others pointed out that Qi Bailu and Shen Mo had co-starred in *Afternoon Youth* and were classmates at the Film Academy. Shen Mo had returned to school to finish her studies after her debut film and had only recently graduated and signed with an agency this year. Someone posted behind-the-scenes clips and interviews from the movie, prompting a flurry of responses like "I ship it," "So sweet," "They look so good together," and "Requesting hard evidence."
Handling a trending topic like this wasn't difficult; it only required a bit of public opinion management. Cheng Wenhui’s only real concern was whether Zheng Kunyu would take an interest in the matter. After finishing his chat with the PR team, he put down his phone to look at Qi Bailu, who was sitting beside him reading a script. After leaving Xiaoshan Airport, they had boarded a car back to Hengdian. Qi Bailu had scenes with the female lead today, and they were scheduled to start filming as soon as they returned to the set in the afternoon.
Sensing his manager’s gaze from the corner of his eye, Qi Bailu eventually looked up from the script. "Is something wrong?"
Cheng Wenhui held the phone up in front of him. "This wasn't intentional this time, was it?"
"Do you think I enjoy being watched like a monkey?" Qi Bailu looked at him coolly.
"And last time? That wasn't intentional either?"
Qi Bailu didn't bother to answer, lowering his head to continue memorizing his lines.
"You can't just cooperate with people's publicity stunts without my consent."
"Last time, I didn't know anyone was filming. Neither did Peng Yiyi."
Cheng Wenhui saw that he was telling the truth and asked in surprise, "You didn't know... then why didn't you explain yourself back then? Was it to spite him?"
'Him,' naturally, referred to Zheng Kunyu. Qi Bailu didn't answer, slowly turning a page of his script.
Peng Yiyi was the female lead of *West Wind's Many Regrets*. Since filming began, rumors of a romance between her and Qi Bailu had been constant. Backed by Xinying Media, Peng Yiyi was active in the television industry and was considered one of the "Four Rising Actresses" in the mainland, possessing a good reputation with the audience. Zheng Kunyu had always tacitly permitted Xinying Media's hype because Peng Yiyi had a boyfriend outside the industry. Fearing that the exposure of her relationship would affect her career, Xinying Media used the borderline rumors between her and Qi Bailu to divert the media's attention.
Cheng Wenhui nodded, then nodded again. "Fine, we won't mention the last time again. Do you know which company Shen Mo signed with after graduation?"
"No."
"Jiaxing Entertainment."
Jiaxing Entertainment was notorious in the industry for its bottomless marketing tactics. Some professionally trained graduates, unable to endure the loneliness of auditioning for roles, would grit their teeth and sign with Jiaxing just to become famous in a short amount of time. When Qi Bailu filmed his first movie, he had also received an olive branch from Jiaxing Entertainment.
"You think she did it on purpose?"
"Even if she didn't want to, the team behind her would," Cheng Wenhui pointed out ruthlessly.
The makeup artist, who had been silent in the front seat, turned around to interject. "Shen Mo is that actress who went viral recently for her 'Little Dragon Maiden' look on a variety show, right? She really is beautiful, though."
Neither Cheng Wenhui nor Qi Bailu spoke from the back seat. After a moment, Qi Bailu met Cheng Wenhui's gaze. "I know what you mean. But she is her, and Jiaxing Entertainment is Jiaxing Entertainment."
If Cheng Wenhui didn't know Qi Bailu so well, he might have truly suspected there was something between him and Shen Mo. They were both filming for the first time when they worked on *Afternoon Youth*, and being so young, it would have been easy for feelings to develop from the roles. However, after observing coldly for the past two years, Cheng Wenhui had found that Qi Bailu had no personal interest in such things. Having spent so much time together, in some ways, he, as the manager, understood Qi Bailu better than Zheng Kunyu did.
"Don't post anything on Weibo for the next few days."
"I know."
After saying that, Qi Bailu went back to his script, exuding a cold aura that signaled he didn't want to be disturbed further. This was also what Cheng Wenhui liked most about him: he was talented and willing to work hard as an actor. The silhouette of Hengdian World Studios was faintly visible outside the car window. Cheng Wenhui lowered his head to type a message to Zheng Kunyu: *Arrived.*
After filming in the studio for a few days, *West Wind's Many Regrets* was preparing to move to location shooting. It was expected to wrap in about a month. The weather was cold in the twelfth lunar month, and with the end of the year approaching, the crew was inevitably becoming a bit restless. That afternoon, Qi Bailu was filming an interrogation scene with Peng Yiyi. They did several takes, but Peng Yiyi wasn't in the right state. The boxed lunches ordered by the crew sat to the side, untouched, until the director finally announced they would resume after lunch.
Peng Yiyi, dressed in her character's prison garb, sat on a prop chair, leaning her head on her hand in exhaustion and frustration, unwilling to get up. Her assistant leaned over to talk to her, but she only shook her head. Qi Bailu took off his military cap and, before his own assistant could bring his lunch, leaned against a table and looked at Peng Yiyi. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"This fits the character better," Peng Yiyi said with a shrug.
Peng Yiyi's assistant, who was ordering milk tea on an app, chimed in, "Sister Yiyi hasn't eaten anything all morning."
Qi Bailu toyed with the cap in his hand. "Starving yourself will leave you with no energy to act."
Peng Yiyi lifted her face, tucking a strand of her messy, straw-like wig behind her ear. She sighed. "Xiao Qi, the way you talk sounds too much like Yan Peiyun."
"Does it?" Qi Bailu casually set the Kuomintang military cap on the table. Yan Peiyun was the name of his character in the drama.
"Of course." Peng Yiyi looked Qi Bailu up and down, joking, "Even your small gestures are like him. There's no 'action' right now; do you have to put so much pressure on people?"
Just then, Qi Bailu's assistant arrived with the boxed lunch. Qi Bailu spread his hands and sat down at the table—one of Yan Peiyun's signature movements in the show. Peng Yiyi was amused and let out a small laugh. Seeing Qi Bailu snapping his disposable chopsticks apart, she murmured, "You're really going to eat?"
Qi Bailu gave the simple wooden table a light pat. Peng Yiyi thought about it and decided that such exhaustion might not be worth it, so she walked over to the table and took the lunch her assistant handed her. Her relationship with Qi Bailu was purely professional, and they had gotten along well since joining the production, so she could pick up her chopsticks and eat heartily without any awkwardness. However, Qi Bailu's new assistant seemed to be constantly staring their way.
Peng Yiyi couldn't help but give Qi Bailu a look, whispering, "Is your new assistant a relative?"
"?"
"...He's so dedicated."
Qi Bailu lowered his head to pick up some vegetables with his chopsticks. After slowly finishing them, he glanced back at the assistant. The silent, middle-aged man was less an assistant and more a bodyguard, standing like a fortress in the distance, watching him almost without pause.
His phone rang at that moment. Qi Bailu looked at the caller ID and quickly answered. While Peng Yiyi focused on her soup and took photos of her lunch to post on Weibo, she faintly heard a female voice on the other end. Once Qi Bailu put the phone down, she smiled. "Girlfriend?"
"A friend. Talking about work."
Peng Yiyi was about to say something when her finger suddenly froze on the screen. She looked at the screen, then at Qi Bailu. "Do you know about *Fierce Spring Water*?"
Qi Bailu was taken aback. Peng Yiyi had already placed her phone in front of him. This time, the trending title wasn't Qi Bailu's name, but the three words: "Fierce Spring Water." An anonymous Weibo account had leaked the casting for the movie *Fierce Spring Water*. The first male lead was already set as the Film King, Dai Ping, but there were over twenty candidates for the second male lead. A photo wall of the potential cast was shown, and among them was Qi Bailu.
That wasn't the main point of the trending topic, however. The point was that Qi Bailu's photo was pinned right next to Cai Tongyue's. As if fearing it wasn't provocative enough, the leaker had enlarged and cropped the section with Qi Bailu and Cai Tongyue, claiming that the final casting would likely turn into an internal competition within the *West Wind's Many Regrets* crew.
Cai Tongyue was the male lead of the drama they were currently filming. In terms of seniority, experience, and audience favor, he was far above Qi Bailu. Last year, because one of his movies performed poorly at the box office, Cai Tongyue had "descended" to film a television drama. He was now in desperate need of a commercially successful representative work to prove himself again.
Even Peng Yiyi could smell something unusual in this aggressive wave of news. The timing of the leak was too strange; they were moving to location shooting tomorrow, and almost all of Qi Bailu and Cai Tongyue's scenes together were concentrated in the latter half of the schedule. If Cai Tongyue were an easy person to get along with, it might be fine, but he was notoriously arrogant and known for being vindictive over the slightest slight.
"The auditions for this film haven't happened yet, have they?"
Qi Bailu shook his head and continued eating his rice. Seeing that he remained calm, Peng Yiyi said, "Then there's still a chance." But after a moment, as if remembering something, she let out a mocking and sorrowful laugh. "In this industry, it’s always a hundred radishes fighting for a single hole."
