As Yan Zhi emerged from the office building in the city center, it was the evening rush hour, but it only took him twenty minutes to reach Tianxi Yunwan, where he rented a place.
The furniture shipped from Europe arrived a few days ago, and the unfamiliar, spacious apartment was decorated in Yan Zhi’s familiar style.
After taking a shower, he opened a bottle of sparkling wine, adjusted the home audio system, and played a crime thriller.
Just as a crucial character appeared, Yan Fei’s video call came in. “Son, having fun at work?”
“Not bad.” Yan Zhi paused the video and moved to the floor-to-ceiling window, holding his phone.
“Bruce said not to put too much pressure on yourself.”
As she spoke, Yan Fei was selecting an outfit in her walk-in closet. Her focused expression clearly indicated that mentioning Bruce’s message was just a casual remark.
“Do you think I’ll feel pressured?” Yan Zhi asked.
“That’s good if you don’t.” Yan Fei took down a dress, held it against herself, zooming out to ask, “How’s this?”
Yan Zhi glanced at the asymmetrical neckline, neutral tones, retro suede fabric, and strong modern vibe – perfect for Yan Fei’s style.
“What’s the occasion?” he asked.
Yan Fei smiled, “Going wedding dress shopping with Bruce.”
“Nice.”
Yan Zhi didn’t know who his father was – maybe even Yan Fei herself didn’t know – but he knew the line of suitors for his mother stretched from the Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower.
Bruce was a trustworthy man, and Yan Zhi didn’t object to Yan Fei getting married.
“I’ll go with this one.” Yan Fei set the chosen outfit aside and asked Yan Zhi, “When are you planning to come back this time?”
Yan Zhi hadn’t considered returning yet. “We’ll see, I just got here.”
Yan Fei understood her son’s desire to explore new things. Working for a fashion magazine seemed quite interesting, and apart from the distance from China, there wasn’t much downside.
After a few more casual remarks, she rushed off to do her hair.
Yan Zhi returned to the couch as the crime thriller resumed playing.
The protagonist’s partner was ambushed and fell into a pool of blood after being shot multiple times.
The director’s cinematography was beautiful, capturing the young wounded officer in a tragic light. Yan Zhi found himself immersed in the emotion, unconsciously setting down his wine glass.
Suddenly, an email notification sounded. Yan Zhi checked his inbox to find a list of candidates from his assistant, Luo Fei.
A WeChat message accompanied it: I’ve selected ten people, do you think they meet the requirements?
Yan Zhi was about to open the attachment when another message popped up: “I put Jiang Si’s boyfriend last.”
During the meeting earlier, Yan Zhi noticed Jiang Si hadn’t made his relationship public, so he didn’t bring it up, and the matter was dropped.
Unexpectedly, Luo Fei had actually found the person for him.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Opening the attachment, Yan Zhi flipped straight to the last entry and paused, narrowing his eyes slightly—who was Liu Qing?
He had never seen this face before.
Reviewing the information again and confirming there was no one he wanted, Yan Zhi switched to WeChat and sent Luo Fei a voice message: “Where’s Jiang Si’s boyfriend?”
“The last one,” Luo Fei said. “You’re really well-informed, you know everything before it even breaks. I asked a friend; they’ll be going public soon.”
Yan Zhi: “？“
Yan Zhi didn’t often use Chinese, but he couldn’t have misheard that badly.
At the CVV show, Jiang Si’s boyfriend was clearly someone else, and that person—
Glancing back at the TV screen, the young officer was still lying in a pool of blood. Yan Zhi returned to the intro page; the actor’s name should be Rong Ke.
“I’m also not sure what you mean by ‘expressive,’ but these people I found have good reputations in the fashion world and solid work quality. As for Liu Qing, he’s a bit inexperienced, but your eye is definitely sharp.”
Wrong.
Entertainment news was often half-truth, half-rumor; Luo Fei had likely been misinformed.
Since they hadn’t made it public, Yan Zhi naturally wouldn’t pry. He replied with “Got it,” ended the voice call, and reviewed the other candidates.
—Liu Qing was the first he eliminated.
Regardless of experience, Liu Qing debuted through a talent show with a ballet background and a decent classical look in photos.
But his features were too delicate, not the style Yan Zhi wanted.
Some of the other candidates fit Yan Zhi’s requirements, but whenever he considered shortlisting them, he’d glance at the TV screen and feel they still weren’t quite right.
After hours of screening with no satisfactory results, he simply took a photo of the TV and sent it to Luo Fei.
[Yan Zhi: Image.jpg]
[Yan Zhi: This one]
The “typing” status appeared for a long time before Luo Fei cautiously sent:
[Luo Fei: Boss, who is he? [囧]]
[Yan Zhi: Rong Ke]
After a while, Luo Fei seemed to have figured out who the person was and responded even more cautiously:
[Luo Fei: Can he be on our cover issue? [Confused]]
[Luo Fei: He doesn’t seem very famous… [Awkward Smile]]
[Yan Zhi: I have the final say.]
This time, Luo Fei replied quickly.
[Luo Fei: I’ll contact his agency right away]
Luo Fei was very efficient in his work. Before Yan Zhi arrived in China, Luo Fei had handled renting the apartment, buying a car, and furnishing the place. At least since moving in, Yan Zhi hadn’t encountered any inconveniences.
Contacting the agency was just a phone call away. However, before Luo Fei could respond, Yan Zhi received a call from the property management:
“Mr. Yan, your parking spot is on B2, not B1. Could you please move your car?”
Moving the car would only take minutes, so Yan Zhi went down in his loungewear.
After parking in the correct spot and taking the elevator back to the 7th floor, Luo Fei’s call came through.
As the elevator doors slowly closed behind him and descended from the 7th to the 6th floor, Rong Ke dragged his small suitcase into the elevator, idly checking his phone. The message he had sent Jiang Si that afternoon remained unread.
Actually, Jiang Si had messaged him first that afternoon, saying MQ had an issue and dropped him from the project.
At the time, Rong Ke was packing, so he didn’t see it immediately. By the time he asked why, Jiang Si had stopped responding.
—This often happened between them, a time lag in their conversations, even in chatting.
The community’s parking lot was bright and filled with luxury cars, making Rong Ke’s old electric car seem out of place.
Tianxi Yunwan was the city’s most private upscale community, home to many celebrities.
Jiang Si had only moved in after his income skyrocketed this year, but he was often busy with work, so Rong Ke spent more time there.
Easily navigating out of the underground garage, Rong Ke merged into the traffic flow.
It was the perfect time to head to the suburban studio. After a nap at the hotel, he’d have an early call time tomorrow for his scenes.
Legal Elite was a government-supported legal drama series. Rong Ke had a significant eight-episode arc, though his scenes were scattered.
Previously, he had filmed scenes of seeking a lawyer’s help for unpaid wages. Today, he would portray realizing the lawyer was useless and confronting the project manager with a sledgehammer himself.
With a 6 a.m. call time for makeup, he waited until almost noon for the lead’s scenes to wrap.
Rong Ke was used to this routine and always remained on standby. So when the director gave the cue, he immediately slipped into character.
“When will you pay us?”
“Do you really think we’re easy to bully?”
Rong Ke had worked on a construction site before and knew that bricklayers earned 3 cents per brick. If he moved 5,000 bricks in a day, he could make 150 yuan.
Contractors always delayed wages, and even though Rong Ke laid bricks just for the experience, not the money, their attitude often infuriated him.
This fury transitioned well into the scene. Afterward, the older actor playing opposite him joked, “I was really afraid you’d hit me with that sledgehammer.”
“Of course not,” Rong Ke said. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“No, you acted very well. You made me feel like I really owed you money.”
As minor roles, their conversation in the corner went unnoticed.
However, Rong Ke noticed something off about the set atmosphere today. Usually, the staff focused on their tasks, but today, the crew huddled in groups, chatting.
Especially the script supervisor, who was normally quiet but was now animatedly video calling someone, holding her phone up high and clearly not filming herself.
Rong Ke instinctively followed her camera’s direction and saw—
Yan Zhi?
Rong Ke thought he was seeing things at first, but Yan Zhi was too striking, especially amidst this messy set, standing alone like a deity descending to earth.
Yan Zhi was clearly looking for someone. After surveying the area, his gaze finally landed on Rong Ke.
He waved Rong Ke over.
The scene was so surreal that Rong Ke looked left and right, then hesitantly pointed at himself with his index finger.
Yan Zhi nodded and tilted his head, gesturing for Rong Ke to come over.
The other cast and crew watched curiously as the confused Rong Ke followed Yan Zhi to a vacant area outside the studio.
“Hello, I’m Yan Zhi,” he enunciated perfectly in Chinese like before.
Yan Zhi handed Rong Ke a business card. “I’m the consultant for MQ Magazine.”
…The consultant was him?
Rong Ke glanced at the card. “What did you need me for?”
Yan Zhi personally coming to find Rong Ke could only mean one thing: an invitation to shoot the New Year’s cover for MQ Magazine.
Last night, Luo Fei called saying he had contacted Rong Ke’s agent, but they said Rong Ke wasn’t interested in magazine work and suggested MQ reconsider Jiang Si instead.
Yan Zhi initially found it strange that Rong Ke would outright refuse such a great exposure opportunity with MQ. But considering Rong Ke’s relationship with Jiang Si, it made sense.
The original cover model was supposed to be Jiang Si, so taking that opportunity from one’s own boyfriend wouldn’t be ideal.
Before officially trying to persuade him, Yan Zhi wanted to confirm he wasn’t mistaken by asking, “Are you rejecting me because of your boyfriend?”
His demeanor was natural and frank, but Rong Ke looked utterly baffled.
Rong Ke hadn’t received any call from his agent.
He had offended the agency’s CEO and refused to apologize, so he had been shelved by the company right when his career was taking off. Any good opportunities would be intercepted before reaching him.
Strictly speaking, his taking this minor role today was already violating company rules. The only reason the director allowed it was to prevent Rong Ke from starving.
So Rong Ke was completely unaware of what happened behind the scenes. He could only interpret Yan Zhi’s words from his own perspective—
“Are you rejecting me because of your boyfriend?”
Had his memory from fashion week been distorted, and he hadn’t just borrowed Yan Zhi’s light but actually slept with him?
…Impossible.
🌸💖🌸💖
Omg, hilarious 😂