Because Nemesis of the Shameless had such high ratings, even though it did not air during prime time, its ratings consistently stayed above twenty points—higher than those of some dramas that did air in prime time. Xiao Bai’s performance on the show was like a pot finally finding its matching lid. He was like a fish in water, and the two brought out the best in each other.
Many viewers called the hotline specifically to praise Xiao Bai’s way with words, declaring it incisive, lethally powerful, and nothing short of a weapon of mass destruction—and expressing their pride that their country possessed someone like him.
Netizens even compiled his famous lines into collections, turned them into TXT files, and circulated them across major forums. Among the most famous were the following:
- His conversation with Great God on GO! GO! SU… SUPER STAR:
Great God: “Spacing out?”
Xiao Bai: “No. I’m listening to you guys talk.”
Great God: “Interesting?”
Xiao Bai: “Mm. More interesting than the auntie upstairs.”
- His description of Zhou Min Li when she first debuted, also on GO! GO! SU… SUPER STAR:
Xiao Bai: “You looked pretty much the same back then as you do now.”
- On Nemesis of the Shameless, a young man came to complain that he and his fiancée had been preparing to marry. When they bought a home, he had put both their names on it, but now his fiancée had called off the wedding and refused to return his half of the property.
Xiao Bai: “You should watch more legal-affairs programs. You can’t let the fact that you’re finally going to get a wife go to your head.”
……
So even before tonight’s eleven o’clock live broadcast began, many viewers were already sitting in front of their televisions waiting.
Xiao Bai sat on the sofa and let the makeup artist sweep a brush back and forth across his face while his eyes unconsciously kept drifting toward the door.
Following his gaze, Xiao Fu Ping asked, “Waiting for your manager?”
“Mm. He said he’d come pick me up tonight.” Xiao Bai was becoming more and more popular, so Gao Qin had specifically sent Jia Zhi Qing to learn how to drive. That way, Xiao Bai would not have to squeeze onto public buses and risk being groped by strangers.
“He’ll probably be here soon.” Seeing the director gesture toward them, Xiao Fu Ping hurriedly said, “All right, we’re about to start. Get ready.”
Xiao Bai’s previously hunched back instantly straightened.
That was another thing Xiao Fu Ping liked about him: he was conscientious and obedient.
Tonight’s guest was a young woman surnamed Xu who had been ruthlessly dumped after her boyfriend grew tired of her and found someone new.
“I’ve been with him for six years. For the past five years, I was always going over to his family’s place to buy groceries and cook. Whenever his mother had some minor illness and he was too busy, I was the one who accompanied her to the doctor. But now he says we’re finished and that’s that… He says I’m lazy, that I don’t know how to deal with people, that none of his friends like me… Back then, he was the one who said he would rather stay with me than go drinking with his friends because going out with them was boring. Now that he wants to break up, suddenly everything is different.”
Xiao Fu Ping handed her a tissue.
She wiped her nose and continued crying. “I know why he chose this woman he’s with now. Her family has connections and can help him get promoted. I’ve seen her. She’s fat and ugly. Last time I even saw her yelling at him in public in the plaza… and he’d actually rather spend the rest of his life with someone like that. He used to say the kind of person he hated most in this world was someone completely unreasonable, but now he acts like a dog around her and doesn’t even dare make a sound…”
Xiao Bai suddenly cut in. “He’s already like that. What more do you want from him?”
The young woman surnamed Xu froze and stared blankly at him through tear-filled eyes.
“I mean, he’s going to spend the rest of his life with the person he hates most…” Xiao Bai scratched his head. “Isn’t that miserable enough already?”
Seeing the atmosphere suddenly turn cold, Xiao Fu Ping immediately tried to smooth things over. “Everyone has different values.”
Unexpectedly, the young woman suddenly burst out laughing, and once she started, she could not stop.
Xiao Fu Ping shrugged at Xiao Bai. “Next time, we should charge according to a psychologist’s rates.”
Xiao Bai said, “Don’t psychologists see their patients one-on-one?”
“……” Xiao Fu Ping said, “Are you trying to kick me off the show?”
The episode ended with the young woman surnamed Xu finally seeing the light and setting off on a new journey in life—a proper happily-ever-after ending.
After Xiao Bai packed his things and ran to the entrance, he did not see Jia Zhi Qing. Instead, he found Feng Ya Lun standing beside the glass doors with his arms folded, gazing out at the night view.
“Brother Ya Lun?” Xiao Bai happily trotted over.
Feng Ya Lun turned around with a gentle smile. “Finished recording?”
“It was live tonight,” Xiao Bai said. “Where’s Zhi Qing? Why are you here?”
“That idiot crashed the car and is lying in the hospital.”
“Crashed?” Xiao Bai’s heart tightened. “Is it serious?”
“Not really. Just a few scrapes. The doctor wants to keep him in the hospital for a day of observation. Luckily, he crashed into a wall and nobody happened to be passing by at the time. Otherwise, the consequences could have been disastrous. I think you should find time to learn how to drive yourself. I really don’t trust leaving it to him.” Feng Ya Lun jingled the car keys in his hand. “Want me to drive you home?”
“I want to go to the hospital and see him first.”
Feng Ya Lun tapped a finger against his watch. “Visiting hours ended ages ago. Go tomorrow.”
Xiao Bai reluctantly agreed.
The two walked out the door, only to run straight into Yan Su Ang coming toward them.
Xiao Bai felt Feng Ya Lun, who had been perfectly relaxed only a moment earlier, instantly straighten his back as an imposing aura began radiating from him.
Compared with Feng Ya Lun, who looked as though he were confronting a formidable enemy, Yan Su Ang was even more displeased.
He had been busy rushing through filming these past two days, so he had never managed to fulfill his promise to take Xiao Bai out for another meal. Today, for once, he had wrapped early. He had rushed over without stopping, intending to ask Xiao Bai out for a late-night snack, only to discover that someone else had beaten him to it again.
Yan Su Ang and Feng Ya Lun stopped simultaneously when they were less than two steps apart.
The corner of Yan Su Ang’s mouth curled. “I heard the box office for your new movie isn’t looking too good. Want me to help promote it?”
Feng Ya Lun was slightly startled inside. Usually, he was the one who provoked Yan Su Ang first, and Yan Su Ang merely responded in kind. He had not expected Yan Su Ang to strike first this time. But Feng Ya Lun reacted quickly. After that brief moment of surprise, he immediately sneered. “You should worry about your new album instead. I hear the overseas promotion isn’t going very smoothly.”
“I like a challenge.”
Is he saying there’s no challenge left for him domestically? Feng Ya Lun’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Xiao Bai rubbed his eyes. “Brother Ya Lun, I’m really sleepy.”
A flash of realization passed through Feng Ya Lun’s mind. Could this be why Yan Su Ang is acting so strangely? He put an arm around Xiao Bai’s shoulders and said softly, “We’ll go home right away, okay? Be good.” As he spoke, he secretly watched Yan Su Ang’s reaction from the corner of his eye, but Yan Su Ang merely watched expressionlessly, revealing neither happiness nor anger.
Xiao Bai nodded, looked at Yan Su Ang, and waved. “Bye-bye.”
The corner of Feng Ya Lun’s mouth curved upward. With his arm still around Xiao Bai’s shoulders, he brushed past Yan Su Ang.
“Xiao Bai.” Once they were inside the car, the smile on Feng Ya Lun’s face faded. “Are you close to Yan Su Ang?”
Xiao Bai thought about it. “We’ve been trapped in the same elevator before, and he also treated me to a meal that cost more than six hundred yuan.”
“More than six hundred?” Feng Ya Lun’s expression became peculiar.
“What?”
“Nothing. I just find it interesting that his meal happened to cost about a hundred yuan more than the shirt I gave you.”
“No, it didn’t.” Xiao Bai counted on his fingers. “I only ate half of that six-hundred-something-yuan meal. Yan Su Ang ate the other half himself. So I only ate a little over three hundred yuan’s worth.”
As Feng Ya Lun slowly started the car, he laughed. “I’d really like to know what expression Yan Su Ang would make if he heard you say that. It must be priceless.”
“I already told him.”
“To his face?”
Xiao Bai nodded.
Feng Ya Lun immediately became excited. “What did he say?”
“He said…” Xiao Bai thought about it. “‘We’re coming again tomorrow.’”
“Ha ha…” Feng Ya Lun could not help collapsing over the steering wheel with laughter.
Xiao Bai watched him in alarm. “Watch the road.”
“All right, all right. Don’t worry. I have no intention of letting tomorrow’s magazine headline say that you and I became a pair of doomed lovebirds.” He forced himself upright.
Outside the window, a silver-gray Lamborghini sports car shot past like a meteor.
Feng Ya Lun’s gaze sharpened. “Xiao Bai.”
“Mm?” Xiao Bai, whose eyelids were getting heavier, forced himself awake.
Feng Ya Lun’s voice lowered slightly. “You and Yan Su Ang… it would be better if you didn’t get too close.”
Xiao Bai looked puzzled. “Were we close to begin with?”
“I’m just saying.” Feng Ya Lun’s tone became casual again. “Think about it. You and I are senior and junior artists from the same agency, and gossip magazines still made up all that nonsense just because we went shopping together. If someone photographs you eating with Yan Su Ang… the consequences could be even worse.”
“Did they make up things about us?” Xiao Bai blinked.
…As expected, I’m approaching this the wrong way. Feng Ya Lun thought for a moment, then changed tactics. “What I mean is, I don’t think Yan Su Ang’s intentions toward you are innocent.”
What does “not innocent” mean? Xiao Bai tried hard to think of what someone as flat broke as himself could possibly have that would make Yan Su Ang harbor ulterior motives.
“It’s like…” Feng Ya Lun searched for an explanation. “A big bad wolf and a little white rabbit.”
Xiao Bai fell silent.
Feeling that his warning had finally worked, Feng Ya Lun was immensely satisfied.
When they arrived downstairs at Xiao Bai’s apartment building, Xiao Bai opened the car door, then suddenly turned around and looked at him with complete seriousness. “What you meant just now was… Yan Su Ang likes eating human flesh?”
Feng Ya Lun stared at him dumbfounded.
How did he arrive at such a powerful conclusion?
The next day, Xiao Bai went to the hospital to visit Jia Zhi Qing.
Jia Zhi Qing was chatting enthusiastically with a young woman who had come to visit the patient in the neighboring bed, smiling from ear to ear.
When Xiao Bai appeared, his expression even showed a trace of displeasure.
Xiao Bai put down the fruit and was just about to ask about his injuries when the young woman exclaimed, “Are you Xiao Bai?”
Xiao Bai froze. “Do we know each other?”
Judging from her age… could she be a junior from my vocational high school?
Jia Zhi Qing nearly coughed up blood as he watched from beside them. Even after being in the entertainment industry this long, Xiao Bai still had absolutely no awareness that he was a public figure.
The young woman pulled out a banknote and asked him to autograph it, then chatted with him at length. She did not reluctantly leave until someone called to invite her out.
Jia Zhi Qing looked at Xiao Bai’s baffled expression and teased, “So, celebrity, how does it feel to be worshipped?”
Xiao Bai frowned. “So… that girl just now wasn’t my junior?”
“……”
Jia Zhi Qing lowered his head and started peeling an orange.