As a newcomer, Shi Yan's most important task after signing was to promote Director Ding's works.
He registered on Weibo and, following his agent's advice, followed his colleagues, liking their reposts to help each other out.
Then, he had a question.
"Who is White Little Fire?"
Agent: "...The boss."
A big question mark appeared on Shi Yan's forehead.
In his view, Jiang BaiYan did indeed have a good temper and liked to joke around. When with directors and producers, he could lower his stance, showing a humble junior's demeanor.
But personality is one thing, and aura is another. During meetings, when he rested his face on his hand and stared directly at someone, everyone would unanimously feel uneasy.
As for Shi Yan... although Jiang BaiYan was very nice and friendly to him, he always had a strange intuition: if one day he needed to play a high-IQ murderer, his first choice for inspiration would be Jiang BaiYan when alone.
But online, White Little Fire showed a completely different style.
A fanboy, naive and sweet, with cats and dogs, living a peaceful life.
It just seemed... very fake.
Later, he learned that it was actually true as well.
That day, Shi Yan was looking at some scripts in the studio when his agent suddenly tugged at him, saying, "Teacher Jian is here."
Shi Yan peeked out and saw a snow-skinned, gray-haired girl walk in, her gait light as if she were a cat spirit. As soon as she entered, Pudding, who had been napping on the cat tree, immediately got up, meowed, and pounced into her arms, kneading.
"Good Pudding," she cuddled the orange cat and sniffed, "Long time no see, did you miss me?"
"Jing Jing~~" Jiang BaiYan came out of the office, leaning against the doorframe and waving, "I've been waiting for you for a long time."
"Sorry, traffic jam," she hugged the chubby cat and reached up to ruffle his head, "Sorry to keep you waiting."
He leaned in, his cheek touching her face: "I don't mind waiting for you this long."
Shi Yan, in the room across, was shocked: "Girlfriend? Is he dating Teacher Jian?"
Agent: "You know Teacher Jian?"
"Uh, I'm a fan of her books," he said, somewhat embarrassed. "Brother Li?"
"No," the agent informed him very directly. "How should I put it, anyway, if you see it, pretend you didn't, don't go around talking about it, understand?"
Shi Yan understood very well.
In the audiovisual room across.
Jiang BaiYan turned on the media equipment, the screen unfolded, revealing the 2D version of Chairman Pudding.
"Even the logo is Pudding," she laughed.
Jiang BaiYan said, "Pudding is the chairman, right Pudding?" He lowered his head, kissed the cat's head in her arms, then said, "There are only the first three episodes now, I want you to watch them first before deciding."
Jian Jing nodded: "Go ahead."
The screen opened, showing the image of White Little Cat, big eyes, gray hair, clearly a 2D face, yet the spirit was extremely similar to Jian Jing.
Jian Jing: "Have the artist draw me a few avatars."
Jiang BaiYan took out his phone: "We have them, I had them draw many posters and character designs, you can change your avatars on Weibo, WeChat, Bookworm... all of them."
She was satisfied and continued watching the plot.
"White Cat Detective" was originally a short story, so the plot wasn't complicated, with each 20-minute episode telling one story. But apart from the first story being short and simple, the content of the second and third episodes had been expanded.
The outline of the cases was written by Jian Jing, but the specific dialogues and presentation were completed by other editors in the studio.
Jiang BaiYan asked, "What do you think?"
Jian Jing nodded: "Not bad."
When writing White Cat, she was still theorizing on paper, and the details and logic weren't perfect. After revision, the cases became more intricate and reasonable, and thus more suitable for adults to watch.
The only thing she criticized was: "Is this wall-climbing parkour plot necessary?"
"Of course it is!"
In the book, White Little Cat only used her superpowers when solving cases, but in the animation, after deducing the truth, on her way to find the police, there would be a transformation performance.
Just, wall climbing, window jumping, rock climbing... a series of dazzling parkour moves.
And still wearing a little dress.
"This is the White Little Cat in my heart," Jiang BaiYan said.
Jian Jing looked at his focused face and didn't say anything more.
Since starting to produce "White Cat Detective", Jiang BaiYan seemed to be able to slowly separate her from White Little Cat.
The White Little Cat in his heart was wearing a little dress, cute and cunning, a genetically modified beautiful girl, full of a sense of justice, quick-witted during deductions, refuting the police officers until they had nothing to say.
She was very similar to Jian Jing, but not her.
Fictional characters never disappoint, but Jian Jing was just an ordinary person, unable to transform into a magical girl wearing a dress.
This was good enough.
After watching the White Little Cat animation, it was already dark.
Jiang BaiYan: "Dinner?"
"Okay."
However, just as they stepped out of the audiovisual room, Sister Chen came over hesitantly: "Xiao Bai."
Jiang BaiYan was alert: "I'm going to have dinner with Jing Jing, no overtime."
Sister Chen: "See for yourself."
She handed over her phone, which showed news from a marketing account, saying that he and Zhuzhu had developed feelings while filming the previous drama and were secretly dating.
Jiang BaiYan said dryly: "Am I that popular?"
"You're like a piece of fat meat, if they can't eat you, they at least want to rub some oil off," Sister Chen summarized incisively.
Jian Jing couldn't help but laugh.
Jiang BaiYan didn't miss a single opportunity, immediately playing the victim: "Jing Jing, I'm so unlucky." He wiped his non-existent tears, "It's always like this, just one collaboration, and the marketing accounts start spreading rumors. Everyone rushes to see the hot search, they innocently clarify, as if nothing happened, gaining free popularity."
Jian Jing: "Ah, poor thing."
"You're so perfunctory." Seeing this plan didn't work, he immediately returned to normal as if nothing had happened, "Sister Chen, don't mind them, they wouldn't dare not to clarify anyway. How about this, next time we'll use this trick too, whoever needs promotion can go and leech off Zhuzhu."
Jiang BaiYan thought for a moment, then suddenly called out to the onlooking Shi Yan: "Stone, you were there that day too, why don't we give you this opportunity?"
Shi Yan was caught off guard and quickly refused three times: "No, no need, not appropriate."
Jiang BaiYan: "Be brave."
Shi Yan pressed his lips together.
"Alright," he said regretfully, and told Sister Chen, "Doesn't Zhuzhu have a period drama? Tell them I won't make a fuss about this, but they need to reserve a role for my junior."
Shi Yan felt a bit uneasy, but his agent gave him a look, and he swallowed his words.
Sister Chen made an "OK" gesture and went to work overtime.
"Jing Jing, what shall we eat tonight?" Jiang BaiYan naturally helped her pick up her coat, "It's getting cold, it's a bit early for hotpot, how about sukiyaki?"
Jian Jing smiled: "Sounds good."
The two left.
Shi Yan asked his agent: "Do we really have to do this?"
"We can't let them take advantage of us for nothing," the agent said righteously. "If they could ride on the boss's popularity without any consequences, everyone would do it in the future, how could that be allowed?"
That was true.
Shi Yan didn't say anything more, thinking that acting was better than hype.
A few days later.
Jiang BaiYan found Shi Yan and said he would take him to an alumni gathering to meet some senior schoolmates, which would be good for future mutual support.
Even though he was a bit socially anxious, Shi Yan agreed to such a good opportunity.
He met many alumni.
Some were famous actors, some had switched to directing, and some had started investing in films. Because of their shared school background, even though their statuses were vastly different, everyone's attitude towards Shi Yan was quite good.
Many people were not stingy with advice for their junior, which benefited him greatly.
What surprised Shi Yan was that Zhuzhu was there too.
"She wasn't in the acting department, originally doing art design," an insider secretly gossiped, "It took a lot of effort for her to successfully transfer."
Shi Yan, imitating Jiang BaiYan's tone, sincerely said: "Admirable spirit."
The person chuckled and said about him: "You look honest, but you're quite mischievous, aren't you?"
Shi Yan just smiled.
Overall, the gathering was quite pleasant.
No one forced him to drink, but he got caught up in conversations with seniors and unknowingly drank too much. Fortunately, the host had made thorough arrangements, with many guest rooms in the villa for resting at any time.
Shi Yan had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar beds, so he didn't go to a room, just found a couch to lie down on.
Just before falling asleep, he saw Jiang BaiYan talking to someone, who turned his head to smile at him, as if saying, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you.
Shi Yan felt inexplicably reassured and fell asleep leaning on the armrest.
About a few hours later, after the alcohol had metabolized, he was awakened by pain in his neck. He sat up holding his neck, momentarily confused.
The living room was a mess, bottles were strewn about, and someone was lying on another couch, covered with a blanket.
He was very thirsty, so he got up unsteadily and went to the kitchen to find something to drink.
After a few sips of ice water, his mind finally cleared, and he began to search for Jiang BaiYan.
The person in the living room wasn't him, and neither was he among the men and women in the first-floor lounge. Shi Yan rubbed his temples and pushed open the door to a guest room.
There, he saw Jiang BaiYan's clothes.
The light was dim, and there was a strange smell in the room.
"Senior, wake up," Shi Yan went over and pushed him gently.
"Hmm? Stone?" Jiang BaiYan struggled to open his eyes. "What time is it?"
Shi Yan was about to answer when he suddenly noticed the person on the other side of the bed. Extremely embarrassed, he stammered, "S-sorry, I didn't mean to..."
He stuttered and retreated repeatedly, wishing he could disappear on the spot.
Jiang BaiYan propped himself up to sit, blinking slowly as he realized something. He jumped out of bed in horror, pulling off the covers in the process.
The scene that appeared was worse than imagined.
The woman beside him was completely naked, with a knife stuck in her chest.
Shi Yan froze, his whole body breaking out in goosebumps.
What happened? A dead person? Who... who killed her? He looked at Jiang BaiYan, involuntarily shuddering.
Jiang BaiYan, however, didn't notice his unusual reaction. Seeing the dead woman, his expression actually calmed down. He turned on the light and leaned in for a closer look.
"Oh, it's actually Zhuzhu," he scratched his head. "This is troublesome."
He smacked his forehead in frustration and started looking around for his phone, but couldn't find it.
"Stone, phone," he stretched out his hand.
Shi Yan swallowed hard and carefully handed over his phone.
Jiang BaiYan expertly dialed a number and waited patiently for over a minute.
The call finally connected.
"Jing Jing!" he raised his voice, "Come save me quickly!"
Jian Jing: "Huh?"
Jiang BaiYan: "I woke up from a nap, and there's a dead woman next to me."
Jian Jing: "Hmm."
Jiang BaiYan: "I didn't kill her. If I had, would I be lying next to her waiting to be caught??"
"Where are you?" She yawned. "Call the police first. I'll come over after I wake up."
"Come quickly," he pleaded, "I'm scared."
Shi Yan thought: I can't see that at all.
Jian Jing on the other end: "Alright, I'm coming now."
Half an hour later, Jian Jing arrived, much to the relief of Shi Yan, who had been imagining all sorts of scenarios. He was a bit confused, not knowing why Jiang BaiYan had called Professor Jian. Was it to plan how to dispose of the body?
"Did you call the police?" Professor Jian asked.
Jiang BaiYan: "No, I wanted you to take a look first."
She said: "That's fine."
Then she very calmly went in to examine the scene, came out and called the police, even comforting him: "It's okay, you'll just go to the police station for a bit, have a cup of tea."
Jiang BaiYan stood behind her, resting his head on her shoulder, his face close to hers: "This is a huge scandal, people will definitely start rumors."
He grumbled unhappily, "I'm so unlucky. It's even more horrifying than waking up with a woman next to me - this woman is dead."
This time he really was in trouble.
Jian Jing was very sympathetic: "I'll be as quick as I can."
"Can we avoid an overnight stay?" He nuzzled her neck. "The boxed meals at the police station taste awful."
Shi Yan was baffled: How many times have you eaten those?
Jian Jing: "I'll try my best."
"I'm innocent," he said. "Do you believe me?"
Jian Jing: "I believe that if you were to kill someone, most people wouldn't be able to tell."
Shi Yan: This development, I don't understand.
What was even more incomprehensible came later.
The police arrived and took Jiang BaiYan away, separating all of them for individual questioning.
Shi Yan honestly recounted everything he knew.
Professor Jian went in and out of the crime scene, and even came to ask him a few questions.
Around 9 p.m., she said: "I know who the killer is."
Shi Yan: Who is it?
It was the senior who had been talking to him about acting yesterday.
He: *pupils dilating in shock*
"That's impossible!" Shi Yan couldn't help but exclaim. "The senior was with me the whole time."
"Yes, he used you as an alibi," Professor Jian said. "He deliberately got you drunk to frame Jiang BaiYan."
Shi Yan was stunned: "What?!"
Then, the senior confessed.
He numbly followed Professor Jian to the car and arrived at the police station, where he saw his boss looking bored.
"Is it over?" Jiang BaiYan was delighted but not surprised. "Jing Jing is indeed the best, mwah!"
Shi Yan wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt like many police officers turned to look, their gazes peculiar.
"Jing Jing saved me again," he said in a normal volume, sweetly asking, "Are you sure you don't want me to offer myself in return? You can inherit my Pudding, you know."
Jian Jing rolled her eyes.
Jiang BaiYan said: "Really, your name is in my will."
"What a coincidence, you're in mine too," she paused, then smiled. "Of course, you're not the only one."