I Was a Very Traditional Girl

"Teacher Zhang, stay a little farther away from Bai Youlou!"

Hu Manyin's sudden warning surprised Zhang Xiaorong, though she wasn't excessively shocked.

She had experienced this kind of sudden kindness from people she originally didn't know several times before.

It was just like the "good looks are useful" theory Bai Youlou had previously explained to Long Ziqiang.

Good-looking people always received preferential treatment.

Some people's looks could win them favor from the opposite sex, while Zhang Xiaorong belonged to the type that was popular with both sexes.

She also roughly knew what Hu Manyin wanted to say. An Luning had already told her that Bai Youlou's reputation didn't seem to be very good.

Zhang Xiaorong wasn't curious about the specifics, nor had she deliberately searched for them online.

She had her own judgment of what kind of person someone was, rather than relying on what others said.

But she still thanked Hu Manyin for the warning.

As a result, her "carefree" attitude made Hu Manyin somewhat anxious.

Having started as a child star, she had entered the entertainment industry at a young age. She felt there was nothing wrong with being a little worldly.

If she wanted to get ahead, she had to pay attention to every aspect.

As an artist, she couldn't just act recklessly according to her own whims.

But although she was worldly, she was still a young girl. She wasn't that seasoned yet. After seeing all kinds of messy things in the entertainment industry, she couldn't get past it when she saw a campus goddess like Zhang Xiaorong "fall for a scam" and become infatuated with a scumbag. It was as if her obsessive-compulsive disorder had been triggered.

That damn scumbag could only trick someone like Teacher Zhang, who didn't go online!

"Teacher Zhang, if you fell in love with someone, but he was married, what would you do?"

Zhang Xiaorong: ???

Why had the topic suddenly turned to this?

Little Hu was such a warmhearted person.

Zhang Xiaorong never rejected other people's kindness, even when she didn't need it. At the same time, she would return the favor.

So she rarely revealed a slightly mischievous smile, put her hands behind her back, and said, "Well, actually, I'm a very traditional girl."

Exactly!

That was it—traditional!

Just as Hu Manyin was about to tell her that Bai Youlou was trying to seduce someone else's wife, Zhang Xiaorong smiled even more brightly and said:

"If he doesn't mind, I'm willing to be his concubine."

Hu Manyin: ???

Her mind suddenly buzzed and stopped functioning. Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?

After taking several seconds to recover, she found herself speechless.

Yes, that is pretty traditional—but you're way too traditional!

The tradition Hu Manyin had imagined: the man worked outside, the woman managed the home, and they loved each other without fooling around.

Zhang Xiaorong's tradition: going back several hundred or even a thousand years.

She had gone straight into the category of feudal dross.

Put that way, she and Bai Youlou really were a match made in heaven.

It took a full half a minute of looking at the smile on Zhang Xiaorong's face before Hu Manyin finally came around.

She was joking with me!

"Teacher Zhang, you scared me to death."

"It's not that serious. But thanks for reminding me. I understand now."

"Then let's exchange contact information."

"Sure."

After they exchanged numbers, Hu Manyin had already walked far away from the filming site when she suddenly realized that her "persuasion" didn't seem to have done anything.

Zhang Xiaorong had brushed the matter aside with a joke.

She could only shake her head helplessly and think, Who knows what kind of spell Bai Youlou cast on Teacher Zhang?

If I get the chance, I still have to find a way to talk some sense into her!

After twenty-five days of work, The Drummer finally wrapped.

But just as the start of filming had been rushed and sloppy, the wrap itself was nothing special.

Bai Youlou was busy confirming whether there were any problems with the final batch of footage.

Long Ziqiang let out a sigh of relief, dropped onto the floor, and vigorously rubbed his face. His entire person seemed to have the feeling of awakening from another lifetime.

He had already decided to go out for a heavy drinking session that night, using alcohol to numb himself and escape the shadow and madness of the role as quickly as possible.

Old Zhou, meanwhile, was holding a stack of red envelopes and handing them out to everyone on-site.

With each one, he said, "Thanks for your hard work."

There wasn't much money in the red envelopes, but the amount was still enough to make people happy for a while after seeing it.

So nearly everyone who received one was willing to respond to Old Zhou with a pleasant remark.

Of course, the reason they were handing out red envelopes wasn't that Bai Youlou and Old Zhou had suddenly become generous. Old Zhou had mainly done some calculations.

Holding a wrap banquet at any random restaurant would cost at least a thousand yuan for a table. And that was only the food, without counting the alcohol and cigarettes.

There were quite a few drinkers among the old hands on the crew. After calculating everything, handing out red envelopes could still save them some money.

Of course, they could also skip the wrap banquet and simply disband the crew on the spot and send everyone home.

But would Bai Youlou be making any more movies in the future?

No matter how terrible his reputation was online, they couldn't damage the underlying structure.

"I have one too?"

Zhang Xiaorong was slightly surprised as she looked at the red envelope Old Zhou handed her.

"Everyone gets one. I still have to give one to the aunt responsible for cleaning this floor later."

After hearing this, Zhang Xiaorong didn't refuse.

But she pursed her lips and thought for a moment, as if she had something to say. In the end, she only said, "Thank you."

Old Zhou, the consummate people person, chuckled. "Teacher Zhang, one last favor. Before everything here is cleaned up, keep an eye on Old Bai for a bit. His workload has been too intense lately, and I'm worried he'll drop dead here after using up his last bit of energy."

The request seemed to be exactly what Zhang Xiaorong wanted. She hitched up her skirt, carried her chair over, and sat down beside Bai Youlou.

She didn't say anything or disturb him. She simply sat there quietly, propping up her chin and glancing at him from time to time.

After Bai Youlou finished confirming the footage and carefully saved everything away, he finally noticed the familiar beauty beside him.

Although Zhang Xiaorong was wearing an ordinary white dress today, no clothing looked ordinary on her.

Her well-proportioned figure still stood out, and the lower half of her calf exposed beneath the dress was fair, tender, and smooth.

Having finished the movie, Bai Youlou was in an unusually good mood. He wasn't as gloomy as he had been over the past few days. After smiling at her, he asked, "You've been watching for a while. Am I handsome?"

"You haven't shaved for two days," Zhang Xiaorong said lightly.

Oh.

Bai Youlou reached up and rubbed his face, immediately feeling the rough stubble.

Every time he teased this girl, her light yet precise responses always made him feel as if he had taken a punch straight to the liver.

But after seeing his helpless, defeated expression, Zhang Xiaorong smiled and casually asked, "Now that you've finished the movie, are you not coming to school anymore?"

Bai Youlou immediately understood, but he countered with a question. "Are you still going to spy on An Luning afterward?"

"I don't know. She didn't tell me."

After more than half a month, if he still didn't know that Zhang Xiaorong had been "sent" by An Luning, he might as well find a crooked-neck tree and hang himself.

What was more, these two girls weren't professional spies. Every time they met, it looked incredibly covert, but in reality, they were completely aboveboard.

Later, Zhang Xiaorong didn't even bother hiding it anymore. Sometimes, she would relay a few words from An Luning to Bai Youlou.

Things like:

"That idiot—after making a movie, does he have a company to distribute it? Is he planning to sell it to the Movie Channel?"

"I admit he might have a little talent, but not much!"

"His reputation is so terrible, so why is he playing the lead himself? He's so stupid!"

"Help him? If it weren't for the fact that I knew him before, I wouldn't even bother saying anything!"

"..."

These were all An Luning's complaints to Zhang Xiaorong, but every time, An Luning would add, "Sister Zhang, help me scold him."

It could be considered her way of helping pass along little notes.

Although this girl "scolded people" rather frequently, everything she actually said was advice.

She was only missing the chance to lift her chin, put her hands on her hips, and say to Bai Youlou, "Call me Sister and I'll help you~"

Bai Youlou hadn't called her Sister.

But he hadn't let the channel go to waste, either, and he was genuinely grateful for the favor.

Since her manager kept such a close watch on her, Bai Youlou had hardly crossed paths with An Luning over the past few days.

But through Old Zhou, he had reached an agreement with Huaxing Company behind her regarding distribution.

There was no special treatment. They would handle the publicity themselves, and he shouldn't expect the company to put up any money. It was more or less just borrowing their distribution channel, so they didn't ask for much of a cut.

It was somewhat like writing novels on Qidian: they gave you a platform, but whether you became a man or a god depended entirely on your own ability.