Someone still owes me a favor
Wasin, who was assigned to stand guard at the main entrance on the first floor, heard the sound of a coffee cup breaking. Like a whirlwind, he rushed between Jonathan and Yuan Xiao, pried their hands apart with one hand, and raised the other hand in a defensive posture.
Yuan Xiao was startled again, covered her mouth and gasped softly, instinctively taking a step back.
"Wasin! I told you not to show up!" Jonathan kicked Wasin's heel. "This lady is a stylist, get out of the way!"
Vasin put down his arms, stood at attention, nodded stiffly to the two men twice, turned around, and went to the "bodyguard storage area" to continue waiting.
"A brute." Jonathan glared at Vasin's retreating figure, then turned back to look at Yuan Xiao with a warm smile, tracing a circle on his temple with his index finger. "This guy, here..."
"Excuse me, I'm sorry for startling you. Are you OK?" Jonathan used Yuan Xiao's words to express his apology.
Yuan Xiao seemed surprised that the top idol Ci Wen spoke so fluently and accurately, and even cracked a joke. She raised her eyebrows, paused for a moment, and then laughed.
“Call me Janus, or Jonathan is fine.” Jonathan extended his hand to Yuan Xiao again.
"Whoosh~~"
Wu Fangsi whistled as she barged in, one elbow draped over Jonathan's shoulder, and a champagne glass appeared in her other hand. She tilted her head back and took a swig of sparkling wine, then held the glass out toward Yuan Xiao: "Wouldn't it be a bad idea to wear TOM FORD to WANTON WU?"
"Isn't it inappropriate to bring a drink to see an old classmate?" Yuan Xiao retorted, lowering her eyes.
“B*tch.”
"A drunkard."
Jonathan raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over the two "old classmates" who had suddenly started hurling insults at each other. Just as he was about to say something to smooth things over, Wu Fangsi strode over to the other side, opened her arms, and gave Yuan Xiao a hug: "You're so lucky."
Yuan Xiao hugged Wu Fangsi back, patted her on the back, and said with a smile, "Long time no see."
"You're being too polite. You went to the smoking area first." Wu Fangsi separated from Yuan Xiao, sniffed, shrugged, and shivered. "How long have you been outside? I told you it was okay to come in and smoke."
After speaking, Yuan Xiao loosely extended her index and middle fingers from her free hand, and then, as if on cue, took out a cigarette case and lighter from her handbag, opened the lid with her slender fingers, and handed it over.
Wu Fangsi took the lighter, then pulled two cigarettes from the cigarette case. He held one between his teeth and gave the other to Yuan Xiao's fingers. He lit Yuan Xiao's cigarette first, and then lit his own.
“Janus, Yuan Xiao. Yuan Xiao, Janus.” Wu Fangsi, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, turned around and closed the French windows. He raised his hand to hold the cigarette butt, took a drag, and exhaled, then raised his chin. “But you two should already know each other.”
Jonathan and Yuan Xiao exchanged a smile. Wu Fangsi, with one in each hand, pushed them to sit down at the pattern-making table and said to her assistant, "Go and clean up over there, and bring an ashtray over. Then you can go upstairs to rest."
The assistant reluctantly disappeared from behind the mannequin. Wu Fangsi glanced at the white shirt on the mannequin, one sleeve of which was visible, rolled her eyes, and asked Yuan Xiao, "Was your assistant this difficult to manage at first?"
Yuan Xiao chuckled lightly without answering. After her assistant brought the ashtray, she stubbed out her cigarette, rolled up her suit sleeves, washed her hands in the bathroom, returned to the mannequin, stared at the shirt sleeve that Wu Fangsi had buttoned for a while, and then deftly took over and got into work mode.
After taking a sip of wine and a puff of cigarette in each hand for a while, Wu Fangsi felt much more energetic. Then, belatedly remembering something, she asked Jonathan, "Janus, you still don't drink or smoke?"
Jonah rested his elbows on the table, his chin propped up on his hand, intently watching the beautiful stylist work the white shirt into its perfect state, and casually replied to Wu Fangsi with a "hmm".
Seeing this, Wu Fangsi got up and moved behind Jonathan, lowered his body, squinted one eye to share the view, quickly smiled, leaned on the edge of the table, and said, "I heard an interesting statement from a model agent."
"What?" Jonathan and Yuan Xiao responded in unison.
“People with the same regional bloodline will have some commonalities.” Wu Fangsi raised her voice mysteriously, “It may be reflected in their facial features, or it may be reflected in their temperament. Two strangers with similar bloodlines will be attracted to each other when they meet for the first time because of these commonalities.”
Yuan Xiao fastened the last button on the sleeve of her white shirt, her fingertips resting on the top of the mannequin's rigging. Looking at the person opposite her, she continued unbuttoning the shirt with one hand: "So?"
Wu Fangsi glanced at Jonathan from under her champagne glass, took a sip of her drink, and replied to Yuan Xiao with a mischievous grin: "I have a straight male friend whose mother is from Jiling. Aren't you working with a film crew recently? What a coincidence, he also works in film and television, and we both happen to be in Jingting. How about I introduce you two?"
Jonah looked straight ahead, frowned, and didn't give Wu Fangsi a glance.
"You still have straight male friends?" Yuan Xiao took off her white shirt from the mannequin, put her hands inside, and opened her palms to cover her sleeves. "It's quite a coincidence, but it depends on what kind of introduction you're getting. I'm happy to introduce you to people, but as for introducing you to potential partners..."
"Heh." Yuan Xiao smiled and winked. "Unfortunately, I'm not very straight lately."
Jonathan's expression was somewhat complicated.
"What?!" Wu Fangsi choked on her drink. "You cough cough... When? By whom?"
"Unlicensed taxi driver".
-
Because WANTON WU has not yet fully developed its accessories line, Yuan Xiao and Wu Fang Si's collaboration this time not only involves planning the styling for the entire show, but also providing accessories that complement the theme.
Yuan Xiao helped Jonathan put together the outfit he would wear for his performance at the show. She took out a palm-sized, spiky conch from the suitcase she brought, touched the shell opening with her bare hand to make sure it was smooth and wouldn't snag, and then pinned it to the black satin scarf around Jonathan's neck.
Jonathan immediately thought the conch shell was very special and beautiful, but Yuan Xiao was too decisive and had already put it on before he could see it clearly. Afraid that lifting it up would change its position, he only looked down at it out of the corner of his eye.
Then Yuan Xiao pulled out a mirror from a hidden compartment in her suitcase and thoughtfully handed it to Jonathan: "It's easier to see this way."
"Wow, it's so beautiful." Jonathan moved the mirror up and down and back and forth, carefully examining every detail of the conch shell.
It's a dreamy pink, with orange iridescence shimmering through its intricate texture. It's wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, with an overall spiral shape, resembling a knight's sword, a beating heart, a fish in a wedding dress, and even... an orange rose.
"What's its name?" Jonathan asked. "Is it still available?"
"The rose conch shell is actually my personal treasure. I found it by chance when I went beachcombing in Bincheng one summer. Although I know that natural things are most beautiful when they are left in their original state, out of a professional habit, I still wanted to see it worn by a beautiful person, so I took the initiative to transform it into a brooch."
Yuan Xiao's reply was like a gentle breeze. Jonathan swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue about snatching her away with a large sum of money, but he was genuinely pleased. So he asked for more information, such as which beach in Bincheng specifically, and whether there was any special meaning behind it.
“Jinyao Bay, I remember.” Yuan Xiao tapped her lips and patiently explained, “As for the meaning, the conch is a hermaphroditic creature, and it is also a symbol of romance, freedom and eternal love. Speaking of which, it’s a very strange coincidence.”
“When I was gathering materials for the inspiration version, I happened to look up and see it. I felt that it fit perfectly with the theme of this show, ‘LOVE is LOVE.’ After discussing the idea with Fang Si, we hit it off immediately and decided to use this element in all the looks…”
Jonathan listened intently, secretly dreaming of going with that person to Jin Yao Bay in Bincheng to pick even more beautiful rose-shaped conch shells.
Hey, smile!
The two turned around in response, only to see that Wu Fangsi had somehow climbed onto the pattern-making table and was now kneeling on the kraft paper, holding a flat cell phone in both hands, rubbing his thumbs on the screen, swaying his upper body for a moment, and then pressing the shutter button.
Immediately afterwards, the phones on both of their tables beeped with WeChat message notifications almost simultaneously.
"How dare you be so presumptuous!" Yuan Xiao picked up her own first and said to Wu Fangsi with feigned anger, "If you take a picture of a deformed melon or a cracked date, you're dead."
"Can you tone down your overly effeminate Northeastern accent?" Wu Fangsi was clearly slightly drunk. His face changed from the sharp-tongued Jia Baoyu to an annoyingly arrogant person. "Always trust my aesthetic sense, OK?"
Jonathan picked up his phone and opened Green Bubble, which he had downloaded a few days earlier.
Wu Fangsi created a group chat for the three people present and sent the photos she had just taken to the group. To be fair, although Wu Fangsi was slightly drunk, her taste was still there. Although the photos were blurry due to the shaking, she applied a film filter, giving them a unique atmosphere.
"I'll let you off the hook." Yuan Xiao seemed quite satisfied, and pressed the save button on the long press.
Jonathan followed suit and also saved the photos to his album.
Looking at Yuan Xiao's profile picture in the group, and then clicking on Wu Fang Si's profile picture, I switched to their chat window and saw a screen full of familiar figures. Thinking that I would soon be returning to Man'er and that I might never cross paths with that figure again, I suddenly felt very unwilling.
An absurd idea popped into his mind.
-
Wu Fangsi's photography skills are okay at capturing atmosphere, but when it comes to taking proper fitting photos, not a single one is good enough to be featured.
Yuan Xiao drew a sketch of Jonathan's makeup and hair on her work iPad. After finalizing it with the designer and the artist, she simply used water to give Jonathan a wet hair style. According to the specifications of the drama's costume photos, she took full-body and detail photos of Jonathan's look for Wu Fang Si.
The day's primary task was successfully completed at 10:00 AM.
Wu Fangsi suggested hosting a welcome-back dinner for Yuan Xiao and strongly urged Jonathan to stay with them. Jonathan was actually a bit tired, but considering that it would be difficult to see Wu Fangsi again after returning to Man'er, he stayed.
Since WANTON WU was going to resume work in the afternoon, the welcome ceremony was simple and straightforward: they would drink good wine and catch up on old times in Wu Fang Si's private area on the third floor of the villa.
Jonathan asked Wu Fangsi to find a bedroom for Vasin to sleep in, while he brought up a jar of licorice candy from downstairs. Actually, he had some other ulterior motives. Jonathan, who neither smokes nor drinks, didn't find it boring being caught between the two.
He enjoys observing all sorts of people up close and listening to them share vivid snippets of their daily lives, but in Manr's dream bubble, beneath the veneer of a perfect idol, such opportunities are actually few and far between.
He preferred to observe the woman named Yuan Xiao in front of him. Wu Fangsi's statement was indeed very interesting, which was why he felt that Yuan Xiao was a gender-swapped version of Jiang Songhe.
Yuan Xiao finished her work without any hesitation; in fact, she was quite forthright, tolerant, and considerate.
Even though she was slightly tipsy, she could still quickly catch Jonathan's gaze as he secretly observed her, but she didn't feel offended. Instead, she smiled and asked him if he was hungry and if he wanted to eat something, her tone gentle and casual, just like asking her younger brother at home.
Driven by some inexplicable emotion, Jonathan found it hard to refuse and said directly, "I'm a little hungry and want to eat fish and rice porridge."
Half an hour later, Yuan Xiao and Wu Fangsi's takeout arrived together: fish and rice porridge, and a birthday cake.
The thoughts in his mind suddenly became even more absurd. Jonah thought, what would happen if one day he returned to the Porcelain Country to develop his career?
After drinking a large bowl of porridge and eating a small piece of cake, Jonathan felt warm and cozy in his stomach. He hadn't drunk any alcohol, but he felt a little tipsy.
Wu Fangsi was probably under too much pressure, and she was even more drunk and intoxicated than Yuan Xiao, and her behavior gradually became out of control and crazy.
He ran downstairs and then ran back downstairs, shoving an invitation into Yuan Xiao's hand, saying that he would meet the "black cab driver" who had turned his old classmate gay in a week.
I prepared another one, and just as I was about to hand it to Jonathan, I took it back.
"How could I forget? Someone still owes me a favor."
Wu Fangsi started his tour, excitedly circling around while secretly plotting with a wicked grin.
*Smack*
Wu Fangsi flicked the invitation, finally stood still, and then turned around to face Jonathan.
"J, do you want to see the GOGO version of Jiang Songhe?"
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