Chapter 091 Chapter 91
The next morning, Zhou Xiao and Qi Sisi were riding bus No. 1 to the subway entrance near the city center. The route of this trip almost circled half of Shanghai.
The morning sun was already a bit dazzling. Zhou Xiao pressed down the brim of his hat, looked down at the map on his phone, and was already thinking about the next destination.
"Call me when we get there!" Qi Sisi, who was standing beside her, saw Zhou Xiao looking at a map as soon as he got on the bus. She yawned, pushed her hat down, and decided to catch up on some sleep. She'd eaten too much melon last night, and now she was feeling sleepy.
The two had previously arranged that today Qi Sisi would accompany Zhou Xiao to see the upcoming support preparations for the finals. While Shanghai's high traffic volume meant there was no need to worry about the effectiveness of the promotion, it was still necessary to observe the situation in person.
Zhou Xiao's chosen mode of transportation this time was a Shanghai specialty: the double-decker bus. While it's much slower than the subway, this is its downside, but also its upside: it allows for a much better view of the scenery along the way than the subway. For example, the scenery outside the window right now was particularly beautiful. Zhou Xiao even regretted not bringing his camera.
The bus was crossing the bridge, offering a breathtaking view of the riverside. While Zhou Xiao's Huashang Times Hotel, where he was staying, had a river view, the experience of watching it from a moving bus was unique. At least for Zhou Xiao, who often rushed to work overtime in Shanghai, this feeling of not rushing was a novelty.
While taking in the scenery, Zhou Xiao also took note of the large electronic screens he noticed along the way. These screens always account for the largest share of offline support check-ins, allowing multiple people to check in simultaneously. Zhou Xiao, watching the ancient charm of the old city recede outside the window, became somewhat captivated.
As the bus approached the subway station, Zhou Xiao called out to Qi Sisi, who had fallen asleep beside him. "Hmm," Qi Sisi uttered, having been awakened by someone beside her. As she stretched herself and took in the scenery outside the bus window, she realized why Zhou Xiao had called her. She quickly rubbed her eyes and waited for Zhou Xiao to descend from the second floor of the double-decker bus.
The two of them got off the bus. As Zhou Xiao watched the double-decker bus turn a corner and disappear from sight, she suddenly thought of something. She turned to Qi Sisi and asked, "How about we take this bus back tonight?"
After hearing this, Qi Sisi immediately shook her head three times and said, "No, it's better to take an open-top bus at night! You can enjoy the night breeze, and it's better to go later so that it's less noisy and you can enjoy the night in Shanghai better!" Zhou Xiao nodded after hearing this. An open-top bus!
Zhou Xiao had chosen a mid-morning time to go out, as there were fewer people traveling during this time, and there was no need to queue. When the two of them arrived at the subway, Zhou Xiao looked at the map for the train to Huashang Times Square and took Qi Sisi to the platform.
"Xiaoxiao," Qi Sisi looked at Zhou Xiao with horror, "You're not going back again, are you?" She seemed quite desperate about this. Although she didn't know why she was frightened when she saw the subway back to Huashang, maybe it was because she was really worried that Zhou Xiao would take her back to Huashang again?
"You're overthinking it." Zhou Xiao patted Qi Sisi's head in a funny way, looked at the subway that was just coming, and wrote it down in his little notebook.
As Zhou Xiao and Qi Sisi were walking in the city center, she suddenly seemed to see something. When she finally confirmed it, she patted Qi Sisi's shoulder in surprise, motioning her to look in the direction her finger was pointing.
On the wall of the nearby shopping mall, there was a large electronic display showing Ji Shao holding an XS perfume. Zhou Xiao was very familiar with this photo; it was a photo she had taken while shooting a magazine for Ji Shao, and she had never expected it to be used directly by XS as a commercial.
Just as Zhou Xiao was staring at the photo on the wall in a daze, a voice came from the side - "So handsome!" This voice did not come from Qi Sisi who was next to Zhou Xiao, but from a girl who was standing not far away from the two of them and looking at the advertisement.
After praising the photo, she quickly raised her phone, seemingly taking several pictures. "Hey, I've never seen this photo before," Qi Sisi said involuntarily after Zhou Xiao reminded her. She looked at the advertisement hanging above.
The girl who had just finished taking the photo had her eyes brighten when she heard what Qi Sisi blurted out. She leaned over slightly and turned to Qi Sisi, saying, "Sister, you've never seen anything normal! This is XS's ad for Ji Shao, and it'll be up until the finals!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiao curiously pulled her phone from her pocket and opened the Weibo app. Once inside, she clicked on Ji Shao's topic and saw the persistently pinned post about XS providing advertising space for Ji Shao. The digital photo featured in the ad was rotated weekly, and the photos used were from a photoshoot published in Shang Ken magazine.
The comments under this blog post were also quite enthusiastic, with many fans actively checking in and interacting. Seeing the fans so excited, Zhou Xiao was also a little thoughtful. It seems that practical support is really popular.
Qi Sisi, who had already run over, had successfully "recognized" the girl offline, and before saying goodbye, they were quite reluctant to part. While the Star 101 fanbase is certainly huge, China is truly vast. Furthermore, not everyone offline can match the enthusiasm of Qi Sisi and the girl, so meeting a fellow fan is even more exciting. Qi Sisi and the girl tacitly avoided asking each other if they were multiple fans or just a single fan, after all, asking that question could easily lead to serious consequences.
…
Zhou Xiao, exhausted, sank onto the sofa upon returning to the hotel. Today had been a complete blunder. He should have gone straight back to the hotel after watching the big screen. Qi Sisi's words were only half-hearted. If she said she could finish shopping at this mall quickly, she was actually saying she already had her next destination in mind.
Standing up, Zhou Xiao submitted the searched-for support venues collected on his phone to the system. Last night, the system finally popped up a long-awaited task -
[System Task: Support Ji Shao in the Finals (0/1)]
After calculating the date, Zhou Xiao extended the time to reserve the support venue to three days. From the list of available reservations displayed in the system backend, a three-day reservation was clearly a bit of a luxury, so only those who reserved more than two days would have priority.
Looking at the deducted fame points, even though Ji Shao already had millions of fame points, Zhou Xiao still silently knocked the wooden fish in his heart. As the saying goes, there is no gain without pain. If you don't use it now, when will you use it? The same is true for the surrounding areas, so naturally, it's time to use it!
…
Early that morning, Zhou Xiao had already arrived at Ster's door. Although the fog was a bit thick today, Zhou Xiao had already found the key storage box hidden in the stone under the osmanthus tree at the wall of the small villa. This was the key that Ster had left for Zhou Xiao when he took Xiao Ha out for a run before knowing Zhou Xiao was coming.
Taking the key out of the small box, Zhou Xiao unlocked the iron gate and locked it back. Although it was morning, at least he felt more at ease after locking it himself. Entering the villa, Zhou Xiao followed the open door into the villa and walked up the stairs on the first floor to the indoor shooting location on the second floor.
After Zhou Xiao arranged the props in the small studio upstairs according to his familiar habits, Ster's loud voice could be heard from downstairs, "Teacher Zhou! You actually brought me breakfast!"
Zhou Xiao responded casually. On the way here, Ster, teasing Zhou Xiao for always coming early, said he might not have had time for breakfast by the time Zhou Xiao arrived. Seeing a breakfast shop in front of the community, Zhou Xiao brought Ster a portion.
She continued to move the camera equipment around the room. She knew Sturt had a regular photographer, but her habits were quite different from his. These days, she basically just re-arranged everything in the room. After all, for a photographer, touch is everything, so if she can do it herself, she'll do it.
There was a crackling sound on the stairs, and Zhou Xiao didn't need to turn around to know that it was Ster coming upstairs in slippers. With the puppy's bark of "Wang", Zhou Xiao turned around and hugged Xiao Ha, who was struggling in Ster's arms.
"I really don't know if you're its mother or I'm its mother," Ster said with a hint of jealousy as she looked at Xiao Ha, the real dog-licker nestled obediently in Zhou Xiao's arms. Her Xiao Ha was a family man, but god forbid, this was just her usual way of praising her own little Ha for being so well-behaved. But Ster had never expected that Xiao Ha and Zhou Xiao were even closer than her own mother! What a little traitor!
Xiao Ha did not react at all when his mother glared at him. Instead, he nestled obediently in Zhou Xiao's arms, making comfortable purring sounds from time to time, reminding Zhou Xiao to touch him.
Zhou Xiao heard the gurgling sound in his arms and stroked Xiao Ha's chin. Looking at Ster, who was dressed in casual clothes and looked uninhibited, he said, "Let's go have breakfast first. We can take advantage of this morning weather."
Today's foggy weather in Shanghai is unusual. Zhou Xiao reminds the driver to slow down when he gets in the car here. Holding Xiao Ha in his arms, Zhou Xiao pulls out his phone and searches for topics that fit the weather.
The beauty videos on Douyin are divided into two categories, one is imitation and the other is being imitated. Many of the props prepared by Ster are intended to imitate recent hot videos.
While stroking Xiao Ha's head, Zhou Xiao inadvertently looked up and saw the Taoist robe placed aside. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and it was you!
Amidst the thick fog, a woman, sword in hand, dressed in a traditional Chinese Taoist robe, slowly emerged. A look of determination and a hint of confusion flashed across her face, her hair, caught in the wind, drifting through the mist. As she turned her head, her almond-shaped eyes fixed on the camera before her, the sky suddenly darkened, and the girl vanished into the mist like the wind. Leaving behind her was only the empty bamboo forest and the trembling of the wind through the treetops.
A grinning Ste hopped and skipped through the fog to Zhou Xiao, who was sitting on a small stool intently looking at her tablet. For Zhou Xiao, this low-cost shoot was a real boon! The Taoist robe was a leftover from Ste's previous cosplay. Apart from Zhou Xiao, it could be said that this shoot was entirely free of cost. After all, she did her own makeup and provided her own fill light!
When she got close to Zhou Xiao and looked at the results, she was immediately amazed by the image of herself on the tablet. It turns out that atmosphere is the most powerful tool. Looking at the mysterious feeling in the photo and then looking down at herself, St. wanted to kneel down and thank the master!
In her mind, she thought about adding a background music that matched the background and then doing some timing. It seemed as if Ster saw the third video with tens of millions of views waving at her! Looking at Zhou Xiao with sparkling eyes, Ster looked at Zhou Xiao just like Xiao Ha who was locked up at home by her at this moment.
After briefly reviewing the videos and photos, Zhou Xiao put away her computer and looked at Ster, who was inexplicably staring at her. She smiled and said, "I just took a few more shots. We've already captured all the morning spots. In the free time, we can shoot some indoor cross-dressing." She paused and said, "You can borrow some clothes first. If it's still foggy tonight, we can consider shooting another set with a different style!"
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