Chapter 53 Studio: "It's because you taught me well."

On Saturday, the long-awaited studio finally opened as scheduled, named "You Ling" (meaning "Spiritual Beings"). It is simple yet straightforward, meaning "all beings have spirits, and their spirituality is interconnected."

Jiu Su indeed came as promised to support them, and even brought Jin Wanli with her. While the two of them were acting as billboards, Qi Yun quietly nudged Shu Qing and teased her, "How was your birthday trip?"

Shu Qingxin gave her a weary sidelong glance.

What kind of experience can a young couple have when they go out together?

What is this? A fireworks display, a secret kiss under the fireworks; what is this? A Ferris wheel, a secret kiss when it reaches its highest point; what is this? A wishing tree, a secret kiss under it; what is this? An ancient garden, a secret kiss in the shade behind the artificial hill…

In short, she could sneak a kiss anywhere, and as everyone knows, snakes move with lightning speed, so she couldn't escape them even if she wanted to. Besides, it would be difficult to activate the collar to control him outside.

So he had no choice but to let it be, and he developed an even thicker skin than before, and he became indifferent to it.

Qi Yun, observing Shu Qing's expression, understood what was going on. He covered his mouth and grinned mischievously, saying to Shu Qing, "At least she's good-looking. Look at this customer traffic!"

The number of customers was much larger than expected, and a long queue had already formed outside the door. The staff at Chiffon Photo Studio had never seen such a scene before and were busy setting up the reservation system.

Besides producing online short videos, Youling Studio operates offline in a similar manner to previous photo studios, focusing on interacting with and taking photos with the little monsters, giving people a chance to get up close to these extraordinary creatures.

There were no successful precedents for this model. After all, it involved monsters. People might be okay looking at it online from behind a screen, but many would be afraid to actually get close to it. Qi Yun had to use a lot of persuasion to convince her father to invest money in her, saying things like "We have the reputation of the Qi family" and "It's officially guaranteed by the Supermarket Management Bureau." It wasn't easy to convince her father to agree.

This was also the most important reason why Shu Qing had desperately wanted to obtain an official cooperation agreement – ​​while an official title might not be very effective at attracting traffic, it was irreplaceable as a guarantee of security.

With the demon king Jiu Su around, communication with the little demons went very smoothly. He selected a few little demons who were willing to interact with people and asked the studio to guarantee that not too many people would be let in at once, so as to avoid chaos and difficulty in controlling the situation.

Both sides are curious and kind to each other, and so far, everything is progressing smoothly without the potential for them to hurt each other as they had feared.

Qi Yun and Tu Nan both breathed a sigh of relief. Shu Qing trusted Jiu Su a lot, so she wasn't too worried about this issue. She pretended to be a staff member and lay on the front desk, observing the interactions between the customers and the little monsters.

After a while, Jiu Su slipped away from the doorway, leaving Jin Wanli to greet the guests alone. She came to Shu Qing's side and followed her gaze.

"Look, as long as there's a safety guarantee, we all get along pretty well, don't we?" Shu Qing knew he was here, so she moved aside slightly to make room for him, and casually tugged at a strand of his silver hair, playing with it in her hand. "How exactly did things turn out to be such bitter enemies in the past?"

“Times have changed,” Jiu Su said softly. “Back then, Kunlun still existed. Both humans and demons craved absolute power, and it was common for them to plunder and prey on each other. But things are different now. Humans want peace and tranquility, while demons… or rather, these ‘extraordinary creatures’ who still retain a trace of demon blood only want a place to live. So things are naturally different.”

Why are they so different?

“Because Kunlun no longer exists.” A voice interrupted, “Kunlun was the gathering place of spiritual energy in the world, the cornerstone for ancient immortals to seek immortality. But later, the immortal capital collapsed, and Kunlun was also pressed under the vast ice plains. The immortals lost the spiritual energy they depended on for survival and declined from then on, as did the ancient demon race.”

"Although the current 'supernatural beings' still possess some supernatural power, they are no longer as powerful as the ancient demon race in moving mountains and filling seas."

Shu Qing turned around and saw Xie Heng; he had actually come too.

This is a distinguished guest, so Shu Qing quickly nudged Jiu Su and asked him to pour her a glass of water while she politely led Professor Xie inside.

Xie Heng stopped and said, "It's alright. I just wanted to see how things were going today. When I got here, I heard you discussing the history of the ancient immortals and the demon race, so I couldn't help but chime in. If you're interested, there's a set of 'A Brief History of the Immortal Capital' in the archives, which contains the complete explanation."

Shu Qing thanked him, then asked curiously, "So this is actually a problem of environmental change? Like now, after desertification, some species lose their habitat and become extinct."

“That’s one way to understand it,” Xie Heng nodded with a smile. “But for example, with the desertification problem, there might be people or things causing damage behind it. The same goes for the disappearance of Kunlun; it’s not necessarily just due to natural cycles.”

The studio was bustling with people, almost everyone with a smile on their face. Some were already taking photos, while others were buying food to feed the little monsters, hoping to establish a preliminary friendship with them. Some of the little monsters were already playing happily with the people, while others were still cautiously testing the waters. In short, it was a joyful and beautiful scene.

Xie Heng sighed softly, the sigh barely audible amidst the laughter filling the room. "The current situation is good, but can it really last forever?"

Whether it will last forever is unknown, but judging from the situation in the following two weeks, it has indeed been quite long-lasting.

Tu Nan's appointment system was launched urgently, and the number of appointments is increasing daily. So far, no dangerous incidents have occurred, and more and more little monsters are willing to come to the studio to interact with humans.

As for the finances, Qi Yun's exact words were: "In just the first week, the revenue has already exceeded the first-month turnover of many projects under our group!"

Shu Qing spent every day in her studio gathering material. With the consent of several customers, she filmed their interactions with the little monsters. That day, she selected and edited the footage from the past two weeks into a vlog.

This montage is unlike her usual style. There are no ingenious plots, no elaborate designs, and even the transitions are at a beginner level. She simply filmed, edited, added gentle and cheerful music, and then released it—in short, without any skill, relying entirely on genuine emotions.

She only spent half an hour editing this clip, most of which was spent selecting footage. So when she closed the editing software, Jiu Su was a little surprised, "So fast?"

"Hmm, simple today." Shu Qing hugged him casually, but before Jiu Su could hug her back, she pushed him away, sniffed herself, and wrinkled her nose in disgust. "No, I've been in the studio all day, it's so crowded, I smell awful. I'm going to take a shower first."

Jiu Su chuckled, patted her head, and told her to go take a shower. She then opened the short video platform to check the data of the video she had just posted.

The teaser trailer for "Monster Compendium" that she and he filmed together last time had already garnered a lot of followers for Youling Studio's official account. Today, as soon as this video was released, likes and views skyrocketed in just a few minutes.

This video focuses on the daily operations of the studio. Shu Qing's editing style is simple, but the footage she chooses is excellent. Considering privacy issues, she didn't film any customers' faces, only their hands. Jiu Su realized for the first time that hands could convey so many emotions.

Among the viewers of the video, there were clearly many customers who had visited the studio, as evidenced by the occasional comments on the screen:

"You saw my hand!"

"Ahhh, I played with this little gecko today too!"

Taking a photo with yourself

"I've booked a time to pet this kitten the day after tomorrow! It's so cute!"

Another person commented: "I'm just a passerby, but I'm really tempted after watching the video. Does this studio really look like this?"

Within three seconds, someone replied, "It's fake, don't come. There are already very few spots left to fight monsters, I won't allow more competitors [doge.jpg]"

Jiu Su frowned slightly, wanting to refute, but upon refreshing the page, she found that someone had already clarified: "It's really good, and fun! I went on the first day it opened. The little monsters are all very well-behaved, and they can understand some simple words, but the queue is really long..."

"But being able to see Xiao Hong in person makes the wait worthwhile. The real Xiao Hong is really... to be honest, she only has about 5/10 of the looks in the video. It would be a waste if she didn't debut. There's also another handsome blond guy, I heard he's also a high-level monster. I'm speechless. When will the Super Management Bureau let the monsters debut as a group?"

"Wow, is Xiao Hong here too? Why isn't she taking pictures?!"

"Only on rest days, didn't Ashu say Xiaohong went to the Supermarket Management Bureau now?"

Has anyone seen what Ashu looks like?

"I saw Xiaohong being very intimate with a pretty girl, I wonder if it was Ashu."

"Standing next to Xiao Hong and still being a 'pretty girl,' she must be very good-looking. I'll go first, wishing Xiao Hong and Ashu a long and happy life together."

When Jiu Su saw this, her eyes crinkled into a smile, and she specially replied, "Thank you."

Shu Qing suddenly patted him on the back, "What are you thanking me for?"

Jiu Su turned around and saw that Shu Qing had finished washing up. She had changed into a new set of home clothes, her hair was still wet and tied up, and her snow-white face was flushed from the steam.

He leaned over and pecked her on the face. The two of them sat down in front of the dressing table, all lovey-dovey. Jiu Su untied the towel wrapped around her hair and used her magic to fix it, saying, "I saw a comment that wished us a long and happy life together."

Shu Qing opened her phone and saw it too. She praised, "You already know what 99 means? You have a pretty strong learning ability. It seems you'll be integrating into the modern internet soon."

Jiu Su used her demonic power to dry a strand of her long hair. The jet-black hair meandered through her fingers and into her palm, swirling with affection, making her heart flutter.

“It’s because you taught me well,” he leaned down and whispered in Shu Qing’s ear, “and secondly, it’s because I learned well.”

It's a perfectly normal sentence, but the way he said it made it sound strange.

Shu Qing had been subjected to his intense teasing for a month and had become accustomed to his various tactics. Upon hearing this, she wasn't embarrassed or annoyed at all. Instead, she raised her hand and pinched his chin: "I was talking about social integration. What's going on in your snake brain?"

"That's true," Jiu Su said innocently. "What do you think I'm thinking?"

Shu Qing raised an eyebrow at herself in the mirror, as if to say: You know it yourself, yet you still try to fool me?

Although they didn't say it aloud, he knew that Jiu Su would never admit it. With a smile, he continued to deal with Shu Qing's hair, his fingers slowly stroking her long hair, making her feel a little itchy.

"Why not just pick a day and eat him up?" she thought. "Xiao Hong shouldn't be a conservative snake... Although it's difficult for me to give him a proper status under the current law, his identity is special, and so am mine. I wonder if it's possible to ask the Supermarket Management Bureau to make an exception?"

Lost in thought, Shu Qing suddenly noticed Jiu Su's phone light up. She smoothly picked it up, unlocked it, and checked it—this wasn't the time when she was lecturing Jiu Su about "not looking at other people's phones."

Jiu Su asked casually, "What did you say?"

"...According to the Supermarket Management Bureau, the little gecko that was delivered to our studio today is showing signs of stress." Shu Qing frowned and turned off her phone screen. "We might have to go check on it tomorrow."