Chapter 27: How much discount?
Shang Que had an appointment with Ning Sheng to read the script in the afternoon, so after lunch, he left not long after.
The meeting was held at her house, and Ning Sheng arrived a little earlier than the agreed time. She stood at the door wearing a mask and a hat, picked up the coffee in her hand, and said a little embarrassedly, "Sorry to bother you, I brought you a peach light latte on the way. I wonder if you like it."
"It's okay if it's not a hot American coffee. I forgot who gave me a cup of hot American coffee last time. I hadn't eaten for two days because I was busy with the filming schedule. I almost vomited my stomach acid after taking a sip."
Ning Sheng was amused by her wrinkled nose in disgust and agreed, "I was in a bad mood for a while because of staying up late. I drank iced American coffee every day to reduce swelling. I finally got used to it, but I didn't believe it and tried the hot one. The taste was really... hard to describe."
Shang Que curled his lips and said, "It's better to take Chinese medicine. At least you can use medical insurance after taking Chinese medicine."
After a few jokes at the door, Ning Sheng suddenly became less reserved. She changed into slippers at the entrance and said as she walked in, "Your house is really..."
She wanted to compliment it out of politeness, but when she saw the empty living room, the words froze in her throat. It took her several seconds to find an adjective: "How concise."
The living room wasn't very large, but it looked quite empty due to the lack of furniture. There was only a single sofa in the center, a small round wooden coffee table, a dining table and chairs set nearby, and a double-door refrigerator. Apart from that, there was almost no other furniture.
Shang Que explained: "I didn't have time to buy anything when I first returned to China."
"But haven't you been back to China for two or three years?" Ning Sheng asked in confusion.
"Yeah, so later on I was just lazy." Shang Que said frankly: "I can't cook anyway, so as long as I can sleep at home, it's fine."
"So what do you usually eat?"
“Occasionally, go out to eat, or make a salad.”
Ning Sheng had tasted the salad she made on the variety show, and it was practically on par with the hot Americano as one of the two most lethal weapons. She cast a sympathetic glance at him, "You don't always eat white food abroad, do you?"
"That's not the case." Shang Que shook his head. "I ate pretty well for a while."
“Delicious white people’s food?”
"No," Shang Que said with a narrowed eye. "It was just home-cooked food. I met someone who cooked really well back then, and I feel like the delicious food I tasted during those two years made up for all the hardship I'd endured eating white food my entire life."
Ning Sheng didn't think much about it. After a pause, he asked tentatively, "What if I'm thirsty right now?"
"There are still cups!" Shang Que opened the drawer under the coffee table, and dozens of beautiful cups of various kinds were neatly arranged inside. She took out a pink rabbit and poured a glass of water for Ning Sheng, and then the two sat on the sofa and began to discuss the script.
Shang Que found the corresponding videos for the places she circled last night and watched them. The problem was quite obvious. "Your eyes are not right. When the male lead was flirting with you, your eyes were so determined that you looked like you wanted to join the party."
"Yes, is there?"
"Yes," Shang Que took out a tablet, showed her the live video, and explained, "School dramas don't have much eye contact, most of the time they just look at each other and then look away, so there's no problem. But in those workplace dramas later on, a lot of the tension between the male and female leads is expressed through eye contact. Not to mention the poor performance of the male actors in those two dramas, but this male lead's eye contact is very good, and you clearly didn't catch it."
Ning Sheng fell into deep thought.
Shang Que placed a stylus against her chin and turned another page. "But the eye contact between you and Lu Zhixu in that modern idol drama was spot on. I watched all ten episodes last night." Her eyes curved into crescents as she teased, "So sweet."
Ning Sheng's ears flushed as she glared at her, "Shang Que!"
"What are you talking about? I said it was very sweet in the drama." Shang Que calmly clicked on a photo album. "Look, when you two were having a conflict in the drama, the misplaced glances at each other here made it feel like love, as if you were really in a relationship."
Ning Sheng stared at the photo intently. The plot at the time was that after the two had quarreled, the female lead had to secretly observe the male lead's expression because she was in the wrong. There was no action of glancing back in Lu Zhixu's script, but the eye contact he added privately made this clip the most popular scene in the entire drama.
Ning Sheng pursed her lips, a little confused: "Shang Que, I have a question. You said that two people can still be friends after breaking up. Does that mean they have let go of it, or do they want to get back together?"
She immediately came to her senses after asking and laughed at herself: "Forget it, why should I ask you? You have never been in love."
"I have."
Ning Sheng opened his eyes wide, not caring about his own questions. He immediately turned to her curiously and asked, "You talked about it? When?"
She raised her hand and swore, "Don't worry, I promise I won't tell anyone."
Shang Que didn't try to hide it and said frankly: "When I was abroad."
Ning Sheng's mind raced, and he realized, "The one who cooks delicious food?"
Seeing Shang Que nod, she asked curiously, "Then why did you break up?"
"He was going back to China, but I thought I would stay abroad after graduation, so we broke up. I can't accept long-distance relationships. I like the kind of relationship where I can slap someone in the face the moment I get angry."
Ning Sheng expressed her understanding and continued, "Have you seen him again since returning to China? Is there any chance for you to get back together?"
"It shouldn't be possible, right?" After all, the way she broke up with him at that time made him laugh.
As for meeting...it's better not to meet again.
But Shang Que didn't expect that the slap in the face would come so quickly.
*
The fifth episode of the variety show began recording. After the director finished his usual opening remarks, he said with a happy face: "Today we received an invitation, inviting all the guests to attend a wedding."
However, everyone was already PTSD to the words "invitation" and "wedding." Lin Jinyi asked cautiously, "Isn't this another escape room?"
"No, no, it's just a normal wedding."
Everyone said in unison: "I don't believe it."
[Hahahahaha, the director's credibility has been zero since the garden party episode.]
Because it was really scary! After watching the last live broadcast, I had nightmares for three days straight!
My subconscious reaction was to think it was an escape room or a scripted killing game, but then I thought, the production team wouldn't be so boring. It would be boring to do another episode of the same content.
"It's a normal invitation," the director explained at length. "The two newlyweds are fans of our variety show, so we wanted to invite all the guests to the wedding to make their dream come true."
Everyone reluctantly believed it and followed the production team to the woman's home. The house was decorated with a festive atmosphere before the wedding, with red paper cutouts hanging on the walls and balloons and artificial flowers already half-pasted.
Seeing them, a girl in the crowd ran out happily: "Hello, I didn't expect you to actually come. My name is Qi Lan, you can call me Xiao Lan or Sister Lan. The wedding is tomorrow. Everyone, please take a seat. I'll go get some water."
The other people in the room were probably the woman's relatives and friends, all helping out. They felt embarrassed to just stand there doing nothing, so Ning Sheng took the initiative to ask, "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"It seems like there really is one." Qi Lan frowned worriedly. "My wedding makeup appointment got canceled due to something unexpected, and now it's too late to find a makeup artist."
"Wedding makeup?" Lin Jinyi suddenly said, "I know how to do this. I did it for my cousin before. Do you have all the makeup?"
"It should be quite neat, but it also has a shape."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present immediately sensed the nature of the task. Everyone looked at the director standing by, who covered his face and coughed, "Since we're here, we're fans after all, so let's help them."
【Hahahaha, I knew it wouldn’t be that simple. 】
[Some programs appear to be variety shows, but are actually wedding planning companies.]
Ning Sheng smiled helplessly: "Let me do it, I know how to braid hair, and I happened to have a curling iron in my bag. You can take a look at which style you like later, and I'll try to make it."
"That's great." Qi Lan clapped his hands, "But we're still short of an emcee."
Jiang Yizhe was very interested: "I'll do it, I'll host it."
"Oh, and the rings we exchanged at the wedding. The wedding ring is too valuable and we're afraid of losing it, so we plan to buy a more ordinary gold ring."
Qi Lan reported the ring sizes of herself and her boyfriend, which happened to match the fingers of Shang Que and Lu Zhixu, so the task of buying rings fell on them.
Only Ji Jingchuan was left. He frowned and said, "Then what should I do? I want to go too."
"Can you go and give red envelopes with my brother?" Qi Lan said with a smile: "This kid doesn't want me to get married. He said he would use boards to board up all the doors and windows tomorrow. My parents forced him to give red envelopes."
Ji Jingchuan's brows furrowed even more. "What were you thinking? You even used wooden boards to seal the doors and windows."
"It's just a child's temper."
Ji Jingchuan: "Why not just break the man's legs and they won't be able to get married?"
"?"
【？ ？ ？ ？】
[The bride's younger brother gave you a thumbs up.]
[Ji Jingchuan, you probably don't have a sister. If you do, your future brother-in-law would be in big trouble.]
Shang Que glanced at him, raised his eyebrows slightly, and said nothing.
After assigning tasks, everyone went about their own business. Ji Jingchuan asked where his brother was and then angrily went to find him to "give him a red envelope."
Lin Jinyi and Ning Sheng were discussing with Qi Lan which hairstyle to choose, while Jiang Yize was discussing tomorrow's procedures with the bride's parents.
Shang Que and Lu Zhixu took the funds given by the program team and took a car to the most famous jewelry store in Jinghai - Wu Ni Jewelry.
The huge store can be described as magnificent. The cold white ceiling lights shine through the glass onto the gold and diamonds, reflecting dazzling light.
【Watching live broadcasts is risky. It flashed in my eyes.】
[Please take more pictures. I have a problem where I can't take my eyes off gold.]
[That pigeon egg just now was really shiny. Even if we take a step back, it couldn't have appeared in my hand for no reason!]
There were a lot of people in the store. They wore masks and used hidden cameras, so they were not very conspicuous. I stood in front of the gold ring counter for a long time before someone hurriedly came to greet me.
"Sorry, sorry," the salesgirl explained, "The big boss is here for an inspection today, and everyone's in a meeting, so we're a little shorthanded. I'll recommend whatever you two want to buy."
There was a commotion at the stairwell, and the salesgirl breathed a sigh of relief: "Looks like it's closed."
Shang Que turned to look. He saw a man in the front, dressed in a well-tailored black suit, his brows stern, walking out from the crowd. Someone seemed to be talking to him. When he tilted his head to look, his gaze suddenly stopped mid-air, and then his beautiful phoenix eyes narrowed slightly.
Shang Que's eyelids twitched, and he quickly turned his head away. But the next second, the other person suddenly walked over and stood where the salesgirl had been standing. He placed one hand on the counter, and gently tapped the glass surface with his slender fingertips. His voice was clear, but it was vaguely malicious: "Buying a wedding ring?"
Shang Que hinted to him not to cause trouble: "It's live broadcast."
"Buying a wedding ring live?"
Shang Que: ...
[Oh my god, there is such a handsome salesperson in Wu Ni? ]
"What salesperson? Didn't you hear that guy just calling me Director Jing? He's obviously the big boss the salesperson was talking about."
[What? He's the chairman! He looks so young though.]
[He's very young, maybe only 27. A few years ago, he returned to China and fought a business war against his illegitimate son and his foolish father, which was very famous.]
[I haven't heard of it, but based on this face, I definitely support him.]
Shang Que returned home late, so naturally she didn't pay attention to the news from a few years ago. It was only when she saw Jing Ya that she realized that Wu Ni Jewelry—
The transliteration of Muninn is Muni, which is the name of a crow in Norse mythology and symbolizes "memory".
Lu Zhixu looked at the two people who were in a stalemate and asked, "Do you know each other?"
Shang Que: "I know him."
Jing Ya: "I don't know him."
The two spoke almost in unison, looked at each other, and changed their words at the same time.
Shang Que: "I don't know him."
Jing Ya: "I know him."
[So do you know him or not? ]
【You can know him or not. 】
[Regardless of whether or not I know him, I feel like there's a story behind this.]
Lu Zhixu nodded: "Let's talk about the past next time. It's getting late, Shang Que, let's buy the wedding rings first."
Jing Ya glanced at them and suddenly said, "It's better to buy diamond wedding rings. It seems that you two are quite rich."
He looked at Shang Que again, his tone sounding somewhat sinister: "Besides, I know Shang Que, so I can give you a discount."
Shang Que: “…”
Seeing the strange atmosphere between the two, Lu Zhixu deliberately smiled and asked, "Really? How much discount can you give me?"
Then a dangerous look swept across his face, and Jing Ya said coldly: "Break the bone."
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