"Then I’ll talk to President Cai and clear out all my upcoming schedule..."

President Cai is a pretty tough woman; she might not be willing to let her most promising backup top actress slip out of her control just like that.

But Han Lie had his ways.

"Alright, tell her the total investment for the show is over a hundred million, and just the copyright fee alone is forty million. We’re going the film-and-TV joint development route, rolling out on the big screen at the same time.

Later I’ll have President Su put pressure on her, free up enough time for you, cut down on all those messy commercial gigs, so you can really digest the role.

Before we start shooting, I’ll talk to Cartier and those other top jewelry houses and see who’s convenient to give you a ’brand friend’ title.

If Love O2O does well, we’ll take the chance to upgrade you to ambassador. That’ll basically cement you in the fashion world..."

Zhazha was so moved she didn’t even wait for Han Lie to finish arranging everything; with a whoosh she flipped over and straddled him.

"Lie Lie, why are you so good to me? I love, love you sooo much..."

She’s super clingy, the type who’s never embarrassed by cheesy lines.

The next lines she spewed out even made Han Lie’s scalp tingle as he listened.

Not repeating that, not repeating that!

After another sweaty round, Han Lie sneaked a look at the time and called room service.

Hurry up and feed her, hurry up and put her on the road!

She still wouldn’t behave while eating, chattering away, looking exhausted yet full of energy.

"Smack!"

It wasn’t until she got a crisp slap on the arm that she giggled and went to read the script.

The difficulty of playing Bei Weiwei is actually clearly lower than Zhao Mosheng.

And she fits Zhazha’s own image way too well.

In the original novel, Gu Man describes her like this—gorgeous brows and eyes, seductive gaze, lips always rosy, a voluptuous physique. Even if Bei Weiwei walks around in A University’s super lame uniform, no one would really think she’s a student from some prestigious university.

"Slender, beautiful legs," "stunning enough to steal souls," "a great beauty with a gorgeous face and a sultry physique," "hair like a waterfall, skin like jade"...

All of the above are straight from the text.

Let’s talk with zero filter here: where exactly does Shuangzi even slightly match that?

Next, let’s look at personality and traits.

Personality: pure and innocent, poised and generous, confident, gentle, kind, naive, adorably dumb.

Traits: loves to fantasize, huge imagination, low tear threshold, wild associations, strong internal monologue, extremely concerned about what others think.

Doesn’t it feel like she was literally written with Zhazha as the template?

Good god, she can basically just play herself. To what level has the difficulty dropped...

So Han Lie wasn’t worried at all that Zhazha would ruin the already mega-hit Love O2O. In fact, he was confident the new version could be even better.

Professionals all know that acting skill and shaping a character don’t necessarily have a strong positive correlation.

If you have Chen Daoming, a national first-class actor, play a black gangster, he couldn’t pull it off!

If you have Bao Qiang play the legendary Emperor Qin Shi Huang, that wouldn’t work either.

The number one core requirement in character building is never pure acting skill; it’s always the fit between the role and the actor.

If the fit is right, like Wu Renlin in Hidden Into the Dust—even though he’s just a farmer who’s never come into contact with any professional training—he can still carry a brilliant film.

If the fit is wrong, like Huang Xiaoming’s evil-charming Wei Xiaobao... anyway, I remember throwing my remote back then.

And the vast number of netizens really misunderstand those few traffic-actress girls.

Big Mi-jie: in her mid-career she really did lose the ability to deliver outstanding-level acting, because she’d been phoning it in for years and got over-acted into a greasy mess.

Baby Yang: it’s not that she must rely on green screen. She’s just genuinely bad. With or without green screen, it’s the same...

Re-re: her level is above the pass line, she’s just too busy and rarely has time to calm down and study a role.

Zhazha: professionally trained, limited talent, most of the time hovering around a 50-point performance, but once she lands the right role, she can definitely reach 85.

So you see, a bunch of seemingly similar noobs actually have their differences.

And that’s without even talking about prep time, level of focus, how the director coaches them, and other factors.

Anyway, with Love O2O under President Su’s control and backed by Han Lie’s no-expense-spared support, there’s a very, very high chance it’ll be better than in the previous lifetime.

By then, maybe the second-tier Zhazha will become a premium Zha making 2.08 million per day?

The more expensive you are, the happier I am—win-win!

The dog man chuckled evilly to himself, feeling like life simply could not get better, then ignored Zhazha’s clingy whining and coaxed the all-nighter, emotionally wrecked girl to sleep.

He took a quick shower, came out, glanced at the time—heh, it was only 11:00!

Brother Lie smugly pulled out his phone, which had been on silent, and replied to the text Pan Ge had sent first thing in the morning.

"Just finished work. Want to grab lunch together later?"

To be honest, Pan Ge didn’t quite believe him; half suspicious, she replied, "You’re free this afternoon?"

"Yeah. Been working in high gear, finally got almost everything done. If nothing unexpected comes up, I can spend the whole afternoon with you..."

Pan Ge thought about it and didn’t see anything off.

So she asked again, "What about tonight?"

I wanna go soak in a hot spring tonight...

Uh, not for anything else, mainly because the last two days of work were brutal...

Think it is one thing; the dog Lie definitely wasn’t going to tell her.

"Depends on you tonight. If a whole afternoon isn’t enough to drain your battery, what’s wrong with keeping you company at night too?"

The way that sounded was as infuriating as it gets, but it actually calmed Pan Ge down.

Yup, that’s his style. That’s more like it!

So Little Bottom Pan replied excitedly, "First we have lunch, then in the afternoon we go shopping. When I’m tired of shopping we go watch a movie. After the movie you come with me to meet some girlfriends. If your performance stays that good, then maybe I’ll go back to the hotel with you! Today you’re not going anywhere else!"

Tch!

Han Lie let out a cold laugh, not taking it seriously at all.

He straight-up sent a voice message, scaring her so much her expression totally collapsed on the spot.

"Let me tell you, I don’t care! Mall bathroom, back row in the cinema, under the table at the restaurant... you better really not come back to the hotel with me!"

Pan Ge went numb and even started wondering if she should go on this date with that dog at all...

If someone else said that, it might be an empty threat. But that dog? He really might do it!

In the end, she still mustered up her courage and headed out.

Originally she’d wanted to dress up all pretty—with a short skirt, gray stockings, rhinestones at the corner of her eyes, the whole thing, dazzling the crowd.

But in the end she obediently put on a pair of tight jeans and even added a belt...

Then everything was fine during the meal, but just when she was about to go shopping, the dog grabbed her into his arms, practically hoisted her with one arm, and carried her off to the hotel...

It’s not that she didn’t want to resist, but with all her strength, she couldn’t pry a single one of Han Lie’s fingers open.

Finally showing off those gym gains, huh?!

And then, all the original plans went down the drain.

Han Lie hugged her and snored away, and the dehydrated her got dragged along into sleep with him. When she woke up groggy, it was almost 8 p.m.

"Take me for a walk in the square and buy me a bouquet of roses, okay? Pretty please?~~~"

She pleaded softly and sweetly, only to hear the dog let out a cold laugh.

Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

"No!"

...

After a short while, she stopped resisting, her eyes empty as she stared at the ceiling, tears glimmering in her eyes.

Never before had there been a moment when Pan Ge missed Xi Luting this much.

Sis, you’re my sis, where are you?

Come back... I need you!

A little after nine, when she finally recovered a tiny bit, Pan Ge absolutely refused to stay any longer.

"I want to go home! If you don’t drive me, I’ll call my mom to pick me up!"

"What use do I have for you then!" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The dog Lie looked utterly disgusted, gave her a light smack, then sighed and drove her home.

Actually, the way he wouldn’t step inside the house already told Pan Ge this dog probably had something going on—at the very least, somewhere to go blow money on women.

But...

She couldn’t control him, sob sob!

This princess really can’t take it anymore. Do whatever the hell you want...

Pan Ge staggered her way toward home, completely letting go of certain fantasies in her heart, loosening the reins she’d just grabbed hold of because of their engagement.