Chapter 80.2: Rest (3)
Meanwhile, after patiently waiting for several hours, Assistant Xiao Gong finally spoke up.
“Brother Ming, Mr. Kaiser’s assistant rejected our request for a meeting…”
After saying that, the assistant kept his head down, not daring to meet Duan Mingfei’s eyes.
“Rejected?”
Having waited so long, Duan Mingfei’s patience had long since worn thin. He shot up from the sofa in a flash.
“What does an assistant amount to? Who the hell does he think he is, making decisions over Kaiser himself? Keep trying to get in touch.”
Duan Mingfei’s voice suddenly rose several notches, startling Xiao Gong into bowing his head even lower.
“Brother Ming, it’s not the assistant who rejected us, it’s…”
Halfway through the sentence, the assistant thought better of it, shut his mouth, and directly handed over his phone.
“Brother Ming, it’s better if you read it yourself.”
If he said it himself, he might get chewed out. Better to let Duan Mingfei read it on his own and vent his anger on the other assistant instead.
Duan Mingfei took the phone and scrolled through the chat between his assistant and Kaiser’s assistant. It wasn’t a long conversation, and he finished reading it in under a minute.
After reading it, he didn’t blow up right away. His confusion overtook his anger, and he frowned, muttering to himself:
“Kaiser just returned to the country recently. Since then, he hasn’t been in contact with any artists above B-tier, yet he says he’s already found the right person? That’s impossible…”
Kaiser wasn’t just the lead designer of the luxury brand VG, he was also the second young master of the VG family.
Every move he made was closely watched by the industry’s media and artists alike.
If Kaiser had actually come into contact with any celebrities, those involved—whether or not they ultimately secured a VG endorsement—would definitely leak the news to marketing accounts to hype up their own popularity and exposure.
This tactic was commonly referred to as “bragging on credit.”
It was standard practice in the industry.
After all, the news was released by marketing accounts, not the artist’s own studio. Even if the endorsement didn’t come through in the end, the artist could always guide their fans to “clarify” things, claiming that others were hyping them up without permission, or that someone had bought a negative trending topic to smear them—they themselves were totally innocent.
Now that there wasn’t even a whisper of news in the industry, Duan Mingfei was convinced that it wasn’t because Kaiser had actually chosen someone—his claim that he’d found the right person was just an excuse to turn him down.
But that was fine. As long as the final choice hadn’t been made, he still had a chance.
Duan Mingfei handed the phone back to his assistant and gave instructions: “Bring the outfit and ring I mentioned yesterday to the studio. We’re doing a photoshoot for promo.”
No one fit VG’s summer “cool and rebellious” line better than Jiang Ming, the handsome delinquent school bully he played in That Summer.
He planned to ride the trending topic, then have the studio’s paid fan managers subtly hint in fan groups, encouraging fans to DM VG with the new photos.
“Got it, Brother Ming.”
The assistant let out a sigh of relief and jogged out of the office to prepare for the shoot.
After being promoted, the new assistant had thought that once Du Heng and the original assistant were gone, Duan Mingfei would quickly fall apart and sink into obscurity.
He hadn’t expected that Duan Mingfei, who had been in the entertainment industry for so many years, actually had some tricks up his sleeve.
Even under Lin Jiashi’s suppression, Duan Mingfei had managed to stir up some waves with his role as the school bully in That Summer.
Xiao Gong had a hunch—if Duan Mingfei could successfully land the VG endorsement, he’d make a real comeback.
And not just a comeback—with a luxury brand endorsement in hand, his market value would skyrocket.
—
The Jiang Household.
The assistant director had already left after lunch. Shen Xiu had been here many times, and both Jiang Jinya and Aunt Lu knew that when Shen Xiu was immersed in watching movies, he didn’t like to be disturbed, so no one called him during mealtime.
Shen Xiu only came out of the home theater to eat after finishing five movies.
After eating, Shen Xiu quickly moved to the study where he used to do homework, hoping to finish the assignment given by his teacher before leaving the Jiang household.
In the end, only Shi Buwen was left alone in the theater.
Shen Xiu had been writing his film analysis in the study for an hour, and still, Shi Buwen hadn’t come out. Helpless, Jiang Jinya went into the theater.
Opening the door, she saw Shi Buwen leaning back on the sofa scrolling on his phone. Her tone carried a trace of exasperation: “Aren’t you hungry?”
Hearing his teacher’s voice, Shi Buwen, who had been slacking off, instantly hid his phone and stood up straight.
“Te–teacher!”
“Come out and eat,” Jiang Jinya said and turned to leave.
“…Okay.”
Shi Buwen drooped his head and walked out of the theater.
While Jiang Jinya went to fetch Shi Buwen, Aunt Lu had already gone to reheat the food.
By the time Shi Buwen came out, Aunt Lu had set the table and called out to him, “You must be starving.”
“Thank you, Auntie Lu~” Shi Buwen replied sweetly.
As he picked up his bowl, Shi Buwen glanced toward the teacher sitting in the nearby living room and finally let out a sigh of relief.
He really was hungry, and lowered his head to eat heartily.
After finishing the meal, Shi Buwen helped Aunt Lu clean up.
During dinner, he hadn’t seen Shen Xiu or the assistant director who had come with him. Feeling guilty, he didn’t dare ask his teacher and instead quietly asked Aunt Lu, “Where are Director Xu and Shen Xiu?”
Before Aunt Lu could respond, a voice reached his ears:
“Xiao Xu left. Shen Xiu is in the study doing homework.”
“Are you full? If you are, come here—I have something to ask you.”
Shi Buwen: “!”
So it finally came! Judging from the teacher’s tone, she clearly already knew about him sending the message to the wrong account and accidentally leaking personal information.
Although Shi Buwen was scared, he didn’t dare run away. He timidly walked over to Jiang Jinya, head down, not daring to sit.
Before Jiang Jinya could say anything, Shi Buwen quickly apologized on his own: “I’m sorry, teacher. I forgot to switch to my alt account…”
“That’s what you think the problem is?”
Jiang Jinya nearly spat out her tea and raised her hand to rub her temples.
Why did all the brains seem to grow on Shang Yu’s head? If Shang Yu had a thousand clever ideas, then combined with Shi Buwen’s, there might only be 999 left.
But Jiang Jinya had to admit: out of all her students, Shi Buwen was the dumbest—but also the most endearingly dumb.
“Isn’t… isn’t that the main issue?”
If he hadn’t posted the photo using the S account, the netizens wouldn’t have been able to dig up anything.
After all, his alt account was just a string of numbers, had zero followers, and no one would’ve paid attention if he posted the photo there.
Jiang Jinya took a deep breath and smiled. “As long as you’re happy.”
Shi Buwen looked up, confused. “Huh? I’m fine, as long as you’re not mad, teacher.”
Jiang Jinya replied, “If I really got mad at you, I would’ve died from anger a long time ago.”
Shi Buwen had been hopeless at studying since he was a kid—much more frustrating than now.
Shi Buwen didn’t dare say a word.
Jiang Jinya continued, “I know what you’re worried about. Shen Xiu is a good kid. Even though he seems indifferent and cold to everyone, deep down he’s soft-hearted and kind.”
“If you made a mistake, apologize sincerely. Shen Xiu will forgive you.”
“Yes, teacher.”
…
At 9 PM, Shen Xiu came out of the study, and three hours had already passed since Jiang Jinya and the others finished eating.
“Teacher, I’m done.”
As soon as he stepped out of the study, Shen Xiu eagerly placed his notebook in front of Jiang Jinya, nervously waiting for her feedback.
Shen Xiu thought to himself, no matter how many times he went through this scene, no matter how old he got in the future, he’d probably never forget the feeling of standing in front of his teacher, his body and heart involuntarily tense and anxious.
Shen Xiu, such a tall person, stood right there, staring at him without even blinking, as if he were watching him correct homework. Even Jiang Jinya felt a bit of pressure.
Jiang Jinya said, “Go eat first. Next time you come, I’ll review it for you.”
“…Okay.”
Shen Xiu felt like half of his happiness had been taken away today.
Seeing that Shen Xiu didn’t leave, Jiang Jinya continued, “After eating, go back with Xiao Wen.”
Shen Xiu nodded. “Okay, teacher.”
While Shen Xiu was eating, Shi Buwen didn’t dare apologize. Instead, he secretly flipped through the notebook Shen Xiu had handed over to Jiang Jinya.
When he saw that the notebook was almost filled up to the last page, Shi Buwen’s eyes widened.
In front of Shen Xiu, Shi Buwen whispered, “Is this even human?!”
This would be enough for a whole week of writing! Shen Xiu was truly… terrifying in every sense!
Jiang Jinya shot Shi Buwen a glare. “I suggest you retake Chinese.”
Shi Buwen awkwardly shut his mouth.
…
At 10 PM, Shen Xiu and Shi Buwen were on their way back to the production team.
On the way back, every time Shi Buwen glanced at Shen Xiu, he saw the cold, downward-turned face of Shen Xiu and didn’t dare bring up the trending topic.
Shen Xiu, busy editing his vlog, still felt the pressure of Shi Buwen’s gaze on him, which made him feel extremely uneasy.
“?”
Why was Director Shi looking at him so often? Did he have something on his face?
In front of Shi Buwen, Shen Xiu couldn’t open the front-facing camera to check. He could only endure the awkwardness, pretending he didn’t notice Shi Buwen’s gaze, and continued editing his video.
“How… do you feel today?”
“?” He had been staring at him for so long, and now it was to ask about his feelings?
Phew… Shen Xiu let out a big sigh of relief. Without even lifting his head, he answered without hesitation, “Happy, joyful.”
When he felt lonely in the dorm, Director Shi showed up and brought him to the teacher’s house.
Then he spent most of the day at the teacher’s house, completing his homework, leaving him no time for idle thoughts.
Indeed, his day had been both happy and fulfilling.
Now that he thought about it, he had misjudged things.
Hearing Shen Xiu’s response, Shi Buwen’s mind was filled with questions.
Shi Buwen: “Happy? Joyful? Are you sure?”
Shen Xiu nodded in confusion. “Sure.”
Shi Buwen: “…Your happiness and my happiness seem to be on different wavelengths.”
How could anyone think doing homework for an entire day was happiness!
Just as Shen Xiu finished editing, saved the work, and turned his head to glance at Shi Buwen, he asked, “Hm?”
Shi Buwen, as if drained of all energy, slouched in his chair. He had no intention of apologizing, instead waving his hand at Shen Xiu, “It’s nothing, I just want some peace and quiet…”
“…Oh.” Was there something wrong with his answer?
Shen Xiu replayed the conversation in his mind, but couldn’t find anything wrong, so he let it go.
After all… not understanding what others said didn’t seem to affect him or anyone else.
Shen Xiu averted his gaze, opened his Weibo account, edited the content, and uploaded the two vlogs he had just saved.
