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."
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."
Aliali: 673eb950c4f3f33ac4ee7f08
"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."