Going home for Chinese New Year, I squeezed onto a bus with three energetic young women.

In a cheap rental room.

"Now that Zhao Gang is here, just find a few big men yourself."

Zhao Gang held the old-fashioned phone and read it word by word, muttering to himself.

Need a few big men?

What does that mean?

The script is clearly titled "The Great Traitor Zhao Gang".

He blinked twice, his eyes dry from staying up late for so long.

The Great Han...traitor...Zhao Gang.

A few breaths later, Zhao Gang's features contorted into a grimace, his face contorted in a ferocious expression.

He roared wildly in this rented room where even turning around was difficult:

"Bai Li! You're playing me for a fool!!!"

He was very angry and wanted to curse loudly.

But life had already blocked all his escape routes.

Dignity is worthless.

He clenched his teeth tightly, forcibly suppressing the rage that threatened to devour him.

With both thumbs hovering over the shattered keyboard, he typed out humble, obsequious words.

[Wow, Brother Li, you really know how to joke...]

[No matter what we film, as long as it gives our brothers a way to survive, we'll act however we want, we'll follow your lead!]

Click the send button.

A glaring red exclamation mark popped up, followed immediately by a line of cold, gray system notification text:

"The message has been sent, but it was rejected by the recipient."

I've been blocked.

Bai Li had absolutely no interest in watching him fawn over someone.

Zhao Gang was stunned.

The phone slipped from his palm and landed on the dusty cement floor covered with sunflower seed shells.

It took him a long time to realize what had happened.

His eyes were bloodshot and bulging, with veins popping out on his face, and the veins on his neck were standing out.

"Bai Li! You fucking deserve to die!!!"

The harsh curses pierced through the cheap wooden door.

"What are you howling about in the middle of the night! You think I won't come over and beat you up?!"

The neighbor's tenant banged on the wall as a warning, followed by a barrage of profanities.

Zhao Gang clutched his head with both hands, slid helplessly to the ground, and dug his fingernails into his scalp.

Yunding Tiangong Villa No. 2.

"Giggle giggle—"

The living room echoed with clear, melodious laughter, a stark contrast to the desolate atmosphere of the low-rent apartment.

Li Mengmeng and Jiang Ruyue huddled together, staring at the chat history on their phone screens.

"That was amazing!" Li Mengmeng said, clutching her slightly protruding belly.

"That idiot Zhao Gang must be driving you crazy. He's probably smashing walls at home right now."

Jiang Ruyue rested her chin on her hands, her long, straight black hair cascading down her back.

"That's a really underhanded move."

"First, give people endless hope, lure them in, then kill them; finally, destroy their spirit."

"Treating this kind of person is too lenient." Bai Li clapped his hands.

"That guy is rotten to the core, a complete liar."

"He came here today pretending to be a pushover; he must have a lot of bad intentions up his sleeve."

"Ignore him, he's just looking for some fun in the middle of the night."

I glanced up at the clock on the wall; the hands had already passed eleven.

"Alright, it's getting late, we really should go back and rest." Bai Li straightened up.

The web series needs to continue its production schedule tomorrow.

Those four energetic young women were incredibly vibrant in front of the camera; you couldn't keep up with the pace if you weren't fully prepared.

This time, Li Mengmeng was surprisingly cooperative and didn't continue to cling to him like a leech.

She jumped off the sofa, her white-stockinged legs landing firmly on the floor.

She took Jiang Ruyue's hand and led her to the entrance to see the guest off.

Two girls, one big and one small, stood at the door, waving their little hands in unison.

"Goodnight, Brother Bai Li~ Go back and rest early~" Li Mengmeng said with a smile.

Jiang Ruyue nodded obediently, her pleated skirt swaying gently.

"See you tomorrow, Sao Gen."

Bai Li went to the entrance to change her shoes.

He paused slightly as he passed by Li Mengmeng.

His right hand shot out like lightning.

"Snapped!"

"ah!!!"

Li Mengmeng cried out in pain and quickly covered the spot where she had been hit with her two small hands.

Her eyes quickly welled up with tears, and she rubbed them with a pitiful expression, her pink lips pouting high.

"Brother Bai Li, what are you doing! Why did you hit me!" Li Mengmeng stomped her feet in protest.

Bai Li glanced at her sideways, putting his hands into his trench coat pockets:

"Hmph, you know perfectly well why I hit you."

Li Mengmeng's eyes darted around.

She remembered the "masterpiece" she had secretly slipped into Bai Li's pocket yesterday.

Realizing she was in the wrong, the legal loli immediately changed tactics.

She stuck out her little pink tongue and blinked her big eyes, trying to fool them:

"Hehe~ I was just worried you'd be bored at home, so I wanted to keep you entertained~"

"Get some rest, stop doing all this useless stuff every day." Bai Li didn't argue with her and pushed open the villa door.

"Okay~ goodbye~" came a soft, sweet voice from behind.

The door closed gently behind them.

Strolling along the spacious and clean paths of the Cloud Palace, Bai Li took a breath of fresh air mixed with the fragrance of flowers and walked back to Villa No. 1.

Pushing open the front door, a dim yellow wall lamp was on in the living room, radiating warmth.

He walked quietly and strolled around the first floor.

Chen Tingting's door was ajar.

Through the crack in the door, you could see her lying sprawled out on the bed, her large tattooed arms sticking out from under the covers, and faint, even snoring could be heard.

The lights weren't even on in Li Jiaxin and Lin Xiaoshuang's room.

These two girls were running and jumping around on set today, working the hardest, and they're already exhausted and fast asleep.

The wild girl who used to wander the streets all day without a place to call home now finally has a home where she can shelter from the wind and rain and sleep peacefully.

Ascending the spiral staircase to the second floor, Zhang Qian's door was also tightly closed, and it was very quiet.

Bai Li returned to her master bedroom.

Take off your trench coat and hang it on the coat rack.

The large double bed is soft and comfortable.

He lay sprawled on the bed, exhaling a long breath.

"It's been a long time since I slept alone, and I suddenly feel quite relaxed."

Bai Li stared at the ceiling and sighed.

During this period, all sorts of women took turns appearing, leaving no time to even catch one's breath.

This rare peace and tranquility is all the more precious.

Bai Li got up, went to the bathroom to wash her face, changed into a loose set of pajamas, and sat back down on the headboard.

I picked up my phone from beside my pillow, intending to scroll through it for a while before bed to kill time.

The screen has just been turned on.

The WeChat interface immediately comes into view, with Xie Lingmo's pink anime avatar chat box at the top of the message list.

I've been so busy on set all day that I haven't had a chance to reply to her.

Bai Li opened the chat window between the two.

The history record stops at the two sentences he sent in the afternoon:

[I refuse to believe it. You're a rich heiress from a well-off family, and you don't even have a single person around who genuinely wants to play with you.]

There are absolutely no people in the world who are that pitiful.

Xie Lingmo's reply, even through the screen, exuded a fiery, retaliatory tone:

Hahaha. So funny!

Of course I have no shortage of people who genuinely want to play with me. Besides, there are no truly pitiful people in this world!

Below these two lines of text, several long audio messages are displayed in succession.

There was even a missed voice call record.

Bai Li tapped the first voice message.

Xie Lingmo spoke at an extremely loud volume, quickly and urgently, her tone filled with irritability.

"What did you mean just now?"

The second one continues playing:

"What are you showing off? What are you implying?"

The third, and last, point:

"say!"

Bai Li's heart skipped a beat.

Oh no, this rich young lady probably doesn't have any true friends.

The messages I sent during the day hit this rich young lady where it hurt.