The Movie Emperor’s Little Idol 3

Bai Liang stood outside the frame along with the other guests as the host of the show opened the program. While waiting for the shoot to start, they had familiarized themselves with one another, and on the surface, everybody seemed to be a pleasant individual.

He also found that Han Yi-Shen was very influential. The other guests treated him with unanimous respect though at the same time, being careful not to exaggerate either.

The host soon called them into the frame one by one. Since they didn't introduce themselves with their work earlier, Bai Liang only then knew the occupations of the other guests except for Jiang Wei and Shen Qing-Mei. He already knew about them from heaven's revelation.

Jiang Wei was a B-tier singer and songwriter while Shen Qing-Mei was an uprising actress. For this program, Shen Qing-Mei came with her leading actor in their drama, Wen Zhang. He was a former child actor and a veteran in the acting field. The other girl on the guest list was Yu Nian, a model who was currently trending for her perfume advertisement which caused the product to be continuously sold out even after a month of its release.

Then there was Han Yi-Shen, the unbeatable emperor of the silver screen. He was the reigning holder of the Grand Platinum award for 3 consecutive years, beating his predecessors who only won 2 consecutive years.

For some reason, he was placed second last while Han Yi-Shen was the last. Initially, he was the first one since he was the youngest and had the least fame. He wondered which one should be questioned. Why was someone like him here or why was someone like Han Yi-Shen here? If Han Yi-Shen was an emperor, he was merely a peasant.

When the host cued his entrance, Bai Liang walked out and politely bowed to everyone present while they welcomed him with encouraging applause. He stood next to Jiang Wei and briefly lowered his head at the camera as well.

It was a little excessive, but Su Yan's character was originally as such since his family put specific importance on etiquette. He even bowed to his fans one by one in EFEX signing events, so doing this much was only normal.

"Our youngest is truly polite. I hope it's not because we scared you," the host quipped. "Why don't you introduce yourself to our audience?"

Bai Liang made a diamond with both his index and middle finger–EFEX's hand sign–and opened with his group's greetings, "Light your heart. Hello, my name is Su Yan from EFEX. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to be here. Although I'm not very good with ghosts, I'll do my best to finish this program safely. Thank you very much."

"Are you sure you're not good with ghosts, Xiao Yan?" Wen teased. "Why does it look like it's the ghosts that will run away from you?"

"And here I thought to have Xiao Yan protect me," Yu Nian lamented.

"Senior Jiang, Senior Yu, my fans always told me that I'm cute. Why would ghosts be scared of me?" Bai Liang poked his cheeks without expression.

The guests laughed and pitched in one or two remarks as they pinched Bai Liang in teasing. Once they finished their bantering session, the host got the introduction back on track to finally cue Han Yi-Shen's appearance.

The man entered the frame bearing charisma and confidence. There was no trace of his earlier fear, and he introduced himself with articulate words. The host put more respect towards him as well and didn't tease him as much as he did to the other guests.

"Emperor Han, isn't this your first time participating in a variety show? Director Luo was very surprised when you accepted our invitation that he slapped himself to check if he was still in reality."

"As I have announced, I accepted the lead role in Director Zheng's upcoming movie which is a horror genre," Han Yi-Shen answered with a smile. "I want to see for myself how a real haunted place is to play my role better, but my manager will scold me if I rush over to a haunted site in the middle of the night by myself. Director Luo's offer is truly a timely blessing."

The guests and host sighed in admiration. They praised Han Yi-Shen's dedication and how his achievements were based on his hard work.

Han Yi-Shen was standing next to the host at the centre for his introduction and once his part finished, the guests were ready to move aside to balance their position only for Han Yi-Shen to walk over towards the end of the line. When he passed by Bai Liang, he stopped and reached out to pinch his cheek briefly before standing next to him with a content smile.

Bai Liang touched his cheek and looked at Han Yi-Shen in doubt. His action was witnessed by everyone and caught clearly on camera, including his smile that he didn't bother hiding over Bai Liang's confusion.

Han Yi-Shen spread his arm with a helpless smile. "You should've introduced Xiao Yan last so I could also eat his tofu. This is only fair."

The others were dumbfounded before they laughed and teased both Bai Liang and Han Yi-Shen. With a harmonious introduction segment, the program set off with a great start.

At first, nobody was sure how the idol would fare since he was, bluntly, out of the rest of the guests' leagues. But he was very polite, sensible, and showed respect to everyone equally.

When they boarded the boat, he helped a staff move some equipment onto the boat when he noticed her struggle. He then wordlessly left without a change in his expression as if nothing happened. Not even his cute appearance could mask how cool he was. The crew who were previously full of 'aww' became full of 'woah'.

Qin Ning noticed everybody's impression towards Su Yan was favourable and finally let go of her worry. She guessed that Su Yan must also realize how important this program was for both his and EFEX's popularity and put more effort than usual. If he just smiled once it would be perfect.

Once everything was ready, they set off to the island. The cast had a separate boat from the crews' with only the necessary cameramen on their boat. The trip to the island would take around an hour which was free time for them. Still, they all tacitly knew this was a short bonding segment to give the audience their interaction.

Everybody wanted to be more familiar with the film emperor, but they didn't hurry. All of them were experienced in the field. They took the time to chat with each other first so as to not appear too eager.

Except for Bai Liang.

Under everyone's scrutiny, he went straight to Han Yi-Shen who was standing by the side of the boat. "Don't force yourself, Senior Han."

Han Yi-Shen's knuckles on the guardrail had turned white yet his face was completely normal when he smiled at Bai Liang. "What do you mean, Xiao Yan?"

Bai Liang guessed Han Yi-Shen didn't want his fear of the sea to be exposed and faintly sighed. Even if he didn't want it to be exposed, why was he torturing himself like this? Was he trying to challenge the sea or something?

He didn't know why, but he couldn't leave this man alone. He grabbed Han Yi-Shen's arm and pulled him away. The other casts couldn't help but glance at one another in silent wonder. Han Yi-Shen who was a head taller than the idol was helpless under his force and got dragged to sit in the inner side of the boat. Although doorless, it was enough to block the sea from Han Yi-Shen. The sofa was also comfortable enough for him to rest.

Bai Liang sat down across from him. It would be inappropriate for him to touch Han Yi-Shen's forehead in front of camera and decided to use another method. "Senior Han, what is 78 times 9?"

Confused by the sudden question, Han Yi-Shen looked at Bai Liang in silent askance but saw the other was serious. He calculated and hesitantly answered, "702…?"

"Then, 89 x 21?"

"1,869…"

Bai Liang kept throwing random math questions at Han Yi-Shen under everyone's, including Han Yi-Shen's, confusion. It took a while for Han Yi-Shen to finally understand what Bai Liang was trying to do and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. How could someone be so adorable?

Having his confusion cleared, he continued playing along. After a few more questions, he couldn't help but want to mess with Bai Liang and threw a question in return, "1,234 x 1,234?"

Getting the childish attempt, Bai Liang curled a faint smile with a hint of laughter in his eyes. "1,522,756."

Han Yi-Shen felt his heart tremble.