Chapter 48 Battle Fang Xuran felt inexplicably looked down upon...
"Teacher Pei said that you are the photographer he specially hired, but you arrived rather late, so he asked me to come out and meet you," the staff member said as they walked towards Factory No. 1.
Shi Yao could only take small steps to catch up. After hearing the reason for the other party's explanation, she was silent for a moment, then quickly resolved her dilemma in a few seconds and accepted the identity as the other party said: "Yes, that's me. Thank you for your help."
The staff member smiled and said cheerfully, "You're welcome, it was just a small favor."
At the main gate of Factory No. 1, there was a security guard verifying identities. Everyone entering had to swipe their ID card, have their face scanned, and have their fingerprints checked. The staff member who brought Shi Yao in gave a brief explanation and showed the security guard his ID card and the "Missing Person Notice" paper. Only then did the security guard nod and agree to let Shi Yao in. He then took a temporary pass from the table, wrote a few words on it, and handed it to Shi Yao.
"This pass is valid for one day. You can use it to freely enter and exit Factory No. 1 all day today, but you can't go to other areas," the staff member explained as they walked.
"Okay, thank you." Shi Yao hung the pass tag around her neck like a work badge and casually joked, "Your security is pretty strict, you have to check three times to get in."
"Sigh, it wasn't supposed to be this strict." The staff member chuckled wryly, looked around, and then lowered his voice to Shi Yao, "You can see it too, there are a lot of fans who have followed us here. Before, there were two fans who somehow got our staff's clothes and sneaked in to steal things from the trainees' dorms."
The staff member paused at this point, then said in a lower voice, "Uh... they stole some rather private items. At first, the trainees didn't notice, but then more than a dozen people's items disappeared. When we checked the surveillance footage, we found that some fans had sneaked in."
Shi Yao couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Although the staff member didn't explicitly say what was stolen, she could roughly guess. Sure enough, talent shows were a hotbed for stalker fans.
Seeing that Shi Yao was listening attentively, the staff member spoke even more enthusiastically: "And let me tell you, those two fans have also run into the trainees, more than once. Some trainees bumped into them when they went back to the dormitory to get something, but they had a very good mentality and said that they were the selection manager who was checking the dormitory, and they got away with it."
Shi Yao asked in surprise, "Is the number of your selection managers not fixed? The trainees have been living here for so long, they should be very familiar with them, right? Don't you find it strange to suddenly see unfamiliar selection managers?"
The staff member paused when asked the question, and stammered somewhat embarrassedly, "We...we have a lot of staff here, and many of the job duties are not fixed. Positions that are not technically difficult are often changed, and the trainees can't remember them all."
Although he phrased it euphemistically, Shi Yao understood his true meaning: the "Shining Idol" team had many outsourced staff, the contracted projects were unclear, and there were frequent staff turnovers, with some likely leaving after a short time.
Otherwise, it's impossible not to remember someone after spending dozens of days together in a group.
"Are all the selection officers in your department male or female?" Shi Yao asked casually.
"Most of them are men, but there are also female selection managers. You know, women are more meticulous in this regard," the staff member said with a familiar smile to Shi Yao.
Shi Yao responded with a forced smile and didn't reply.
Goodness, this management is a complete mess.
The staff member seemed eager to quickly build rapport with Shi Yao. Seeing the silence fall, he tried to find a new topic: "What's your surname, teacher?"
"My surname is Shi, the Shi of time."
"Teacher Shi, my surname is Li, you can just call me Xiao Li." The staff member surnamed Li smiled politely again and skillfully began to flatter, "Teacher Shi is really young and promising. I heard from Teacher Pei that you have opened your own studio and that business is very good, and you only accept advance reservations."
Shi Yao was completely confused and couldn't understand why the staff member was being so attentive to her.
What Pei Zixuan said wasn't wrong, but something just felt off.
“I’ve worked with Teacher Pei a few times before, and I’ve never seen him bring staff from other places with him. It seems you really did a great job.” Xiao Li said to Shi Yao with a sincere expression. “Teacher Pei said he went to great lengths to book your appointment.”
The other party always praised her very sincerely, and no matter how uncomfortable Shi Yao was, she could only smile along. Her confusion only increased. What exactly was Pei Zixuan trying to do?
She understood what the staff member had just said; it meant that her photography studio corresponded perfectly to her role today as the photographer specially hired by Pei Zixuan.
That's not necessarily a bad thing. Explaining the true scope of her studio's business to ordinary people might be hard to understand, but the scheduling part is definitely a way of subtly promoting her own agenda.
She's not hard to get a date with!
Although the schedule is a bit tighter now than at the beginning, it's not to the point where she can't manage it all. She only slightly refused when Pei Zixuan asked her about producing the album last time, but that was because neither of them had time. It's not like she was the only one who was busy!
With a belly full of questions, she walked to the lounge where Pei Zixuan was. The staff member Xiao Li knocked on the door, then stepped aside to open the door for Shi Yao, gesturing for her to go in.
"I'll be going now, Teacher Shi. I still have some work to finish." After saying that, she looked up at the people in the room and said, "Teacher Pei, I've brought the person over to you. I'll be going now."
When Shi Yao entered, she found herself in a spacious lounge. Pei Zixuan was sitting at the vanity at the far end, putting on makeup. The hairstylist was spraying hairspray on his head. Fang Xuran was lying on the sofa next to her. She only raised her eyes briefly when she saw her come in before collapsing back to her slumped position.
Seeing that neither of them intended to greet her, Shi Yao simply didn't greet them either. She walked over and sat down on a bench, then sent a message to Xiao Shu and Xiao Niao, who were still waiting for her at the convenience store, telling them not to wait any longer.
Fang Xuran deliberately didn't greet them; he was still angry about what Shi Yao had said last night.
Although she was only slightly angry, she could have said something nicer; he wouldn't have cared whether it was the truth or a white lie.
He was Shi Yao's first client, how could you be so heartless to him!
He spotted Shi Yao at the door and was surprised, but also felt a pang of jealousy. Shi Yao was dressed like that, she must have gone to be a fan site admin for that trainee!
They say they don't care, that they're just customers. Is being a fan site admin part of their job?
While filming on set, Fang Xuran would often talk about Shi Yao with Bai Wenning. It wasn't intentional; it was just that Shi Yao was someone they had been getting closer to recently, and they even had special working relationships with each other, so they would naturally talk about her without realizing it.
During their conversation, Fang Xuran discovered that Shi Yao also cared a lot about Bai Wenning, even giving her a part-time job as a studio consultant! She was responsible for overseeing the business operations, and Bai Wenning's newly recruited assistant had also been approved by Shi Yao.
Why isn't Shi Yao as serious about him?
Fang Xuran felt a little sour. This was the second time he had worked with Shi Yao. Both times, Shi Yao only fulfilled the contractual obligations and didn't care about anything else. She didn't even look at his Weibo, let alone help arrange business activities!
It would have been fine if it was just Bai Wenning, but then they discovered some trainee, which is even more disheartening. Shi Yao even went to become a fan site manager, which is a bit too much, even if it was for the sake of completing the work smoothly.
How come he has never exceeded the curriculum, not even by the slightest bit?
He also needs care and attention.
Fang Xuran got angry and decided to unilaterally ignore Shi Yao, so that Shi Yao would realize that he also had a temper and could not be treated unfairly!
He could be Shi Yao's first customer, in other words, he was a direct customer, while everyone else was a secondary customer. So why did he, a direct customer, not receive good treatment and instead get sold out by a secondary customer?
This is outrageous.
So, although he recognized Shi Yao at the entrance, he didn't greet her. When Fang Xuran entered Factory No. 1, he glanced at her again out of the corner of his eye and found that Shi Yao didn't care whether he looked at her or not, nor did she care about any interaction.
She even went so far as to avoid suspicion, pretending not to know him!
Fang Xuran was heartbroken. As soon as he walked into the lounge, he made up his mind that he would no longer pay attention to Shi Yao, at least not for today!
Knowing that Fang Xuran and Pei Zixuan had a good relationship, the production team of "Shining Idol" specially arranged for them to stay in the same dressing room. Neither of them brought many staff members with them; they only had an assistant with them. The others stayed in the van or moved around freely in the factory. The huge dressing room was very spacious for the two of them.
Fang Xuran had put on a simple base makeup on her way here. Today's main focus was recording, getting to know the trainees, and practicing some stage performances, so she didn't need any exaggerated makeup. In the end, she just had her hair styled and touched up her lip color and eye makeup before finishing.
Pei Zixuan's makeup artist was someone he had worked with before when he participated in the talent show. He was very happy to see him return to the factory and wanted to give him a full, luxurious makeover. However, after Pei Zixuan's persuasion, he decided not to do anything too complicated, but the hairstyle had to be perfect. So he was stuck in front of the makeup table.
Pei Zixuan didn't notice Fang Xuran's low mood. As soon as he entered, he took the initiative to ask him if he had seen Shi Yao. Fang Xuran mumbled that he had seen her. Pei Zixuan then asked him if he knew what Shi Yao was there for. He was full of resentment and said irritably that Shi Yao was there to take photos as a fan site admin.
Upon hearing this, Pei Zixuan immediately called over a staff member and asked them to bring Shi Yao in, saying that Shi Yao was the photographer he had hired and that they should prepare a temporary work badge for her.
Fang Xuran was stunned and asked him in bewilderment why he did this, but Pei Zixuan had a matter-of-fact expression and said that since Shi Yao wanted to take pictures, then of course she should be allowed to take as many pictures as she wanted. Anyway, the production team would ask the official photographers to take spoiler photos and behind-the-scenes photos every episode, so it wouldn't hurt to give Shi Yao some convenience.
Fang Xuran was speechless. He had originally planned to avoid seeing Shi Yao all day to avoid getting annoyed, but Pei Zixuan had brought her to his sight again. Wasn't that testing his patience?
However, Fang Xuran couldn't directly tell Shi Yao that he didn't want her to join. He hadn't told her that Shi Yao was also a client among the trainees. He had forgotten about it last night because he was angry. Now that the recording was about to start and they were about to choose a group, it wasn't suitable. So in the end, he was the only one struggling with the decision.
Of course, Pei Zixuan did not intend to follow Fang Xuran's arrangements. He simply informed her rather than asking for her opinion. After explaining to Fang Xuran, he immediately asked his staff to find Shi Yao and even wrote down a keyword for her to find Shi Yao.
Fang Xuran looked at Pei Zixuan, who was leaning back in his chair waiting to get his hair done. From his back, she could tell that he was in a good mood. Fang Xuran snorted inwardly. Pei Zixuan was so enthusiastic because he must have misunderstood what she had just said and thought that Shi Yao had come here specifically to be their fan club member.
When Shi Yao arrives in a while, tell him that she was actually there for another client, and the two of them were just incidental, to see if he's in a good mood.
So Fang Xuran simply found a sofa and slumped down. The makeup artist originally wanted to stop him for fear of messing up his hairstyle, but he moved quickly and lay down first. So the makeup artist could only swallow his words and prepare to fix Fang Xuran's hairstyle again when the recording was about to start.
As he stared at the ceiling, he thought about how to subtly start a conversation without directly interacting with Shi Yao, but who knew that Shi Yao was even more aloof than him.
He didn't greet her, so Shi Yao pretended not to see him and went to sit on the other side!
Even Shi Yao greeted Pei Zixuan, but he ignored her!
Fang Xuran lay on the sofa for five minutes before finally sitting up, staring at Shi Yao with a resentful look, accusing her with her eyes.
Under his barrage of gazes, Shi Yao finally turned her gaze to him and glanced at him: "Why are you staring at me? Is there something you need?"
Fang Xuran was almost bursting with grievance, and said with her hair drooping, "You didn't even say hello to me."
Behind him, Pei Zixuan and the makeup artist beside him turned around in unison and stared at him with strange looks.
Shi Yao looked at him, equally puzzled: "Weren't you sleeping?"
Fang Xuran: ...
His eyes were clearly open!
"I saw you lying there and thought you didn't want to talk to anyone. What, do you have something to say?" Shi Yao finally put down her phone and raised her chin at Fang Xuran.
“…No,” Fang Xuran said weakly, “but you did greet Lao Pei.”
Shi Yao: ...
childish.
Finally, Pei Zixuan, who was focused on getting his hair done, broke the strange atmosphere with a calm voice. He said in a gentle tone, "I see that you are carrying a rather heavy camera. Since you decided to come and shoot today, why didn't you tell me in advance? There are a lot more things to shoot inside than outside. I will just tell the director to cooperate with the publicity."
Shi Yao paused for a moment, thinking to herself that it wasn't appropriate to directly say that she was actually there to film the trainees, and struggled with finding the right words.
Actually, she could have gotten the pass herself without Pei Zixuan's help. She originally chose to only film on the outdoor set in order to avoid meeting too many people, but she was still taken inside.
Fang Xuran, who was standing next to Shi Yao, suddenly sneered when she saw Shi Yao stumped by the question, but Shi Yao stopped her with a look.
"I was just hoping to get some pictures, and since today's schedule wasn't really last-minute, I didn't tell you guys," Shi Yao ultimately chose to give a conservative answer.
Pei Zixuan turned around and gave her a disapproving look: "Don't be so polite in the future."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she casually said, "By the way, how did you know we were going to be recording here today? The schedule was really finalized at the last minute. Even my fans who follow the schedule regularly didn't know. How did you get here earlier than us?"
Fang Xuran looked at her with schadenfreude, wanting to see how she would respond.
As a result, Shi Yao innocently threw him aside: "Fang Xuran told me that you guys are coming here to record today."
Fang Xuran: ...
Seeing his friend's gaze, which held a hint of questioning beneath a smile, Fang Xuran gave a forced, insincere laugh as he twitched the corner of his lips.
"Oh, so he's the one who told you," Pei Zixuan said ambiguously. "He didn't even tell me."
Fang Xuran looked up at the sky innocently. He had just forgotten, it wasn't intentional.
This ceiling is truly a ceiling.
Fortunately, Pei Zixuan didn't intend to dwell on the matter and quickly moved on to the topic. He then asked Shi Yao with concern, "But the Yuyang Film and Television Base is quite far from the main urban area. We will be recording for three days in total. You can actually come later, and you will still have plenty of time."
Fang Xuran couldn't help but suppress her laughter again. One lie requires many more to cover it up, and it's not easy to fool someone as suspicious as Pei Zixuan.
To his surprise, Shi Yao gave up on hiding the truth after hearing this. In fact, she hadn't lied at all; she had just selectively said some things.
Considering that they would inevitably run into each other eventually, and that there was a high probability that they would choose each other, Shi Yao simply confessed: "I was already here."
Pei Zixuan's hair was just finished, and the makeup artist had already left. Upon hearing this, he turned his swivel chair around to face Shi Yao directly, his expression somewhat surprised: "Was it already here?"
“Yes.” Shi Yao nodded in agreement. “I’ve been here for the past few days. I… I’ve been working as a fan site manager for a trainee these past few days. I heard you guys were going to record a collaboration stage, so I just came to film it.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Pei Zixuan remained silent for a long while. Shi Yao, on the other hand, looked completely at ease. Fang Xuran, caught in the middle, nervously looked back and forth between the two of them.
Pei Zixuan lowered his eyes and pondered for a few seconds, then looked up and said simply, "A new client?"
Shi Yao nodded: "Sort of, but the cooperation started a long time ago."
Pei Zixuan pressed further, "Earlier than me?"
Shi Yao paused for a moment when asked the question, wondering why everyone was so hung up on this issue. She thought for a moment and said carefully, "They're going to be done around the same time, but yours is short-term, so we've settled your order first. His order will have to be done slowly. You know how it is with trainees."
“Oh…I see.” Pei Zixuan said meaningfully, drawing out the last syllable slightly, then gave Shi Yao a slightly meaningful smile, his narrow phoenix eyes curving up, “I don’t quite understand.”
Shi Yao:
Shi Yao: ?
What's wrong with these guys? They all seem so sarcastic and unpleasant. It's one thing for Fang Xuran to always talk like that, but how come Pei Zixuan has also caught up with it?
"I haven't been a trainee for a long time, so I'm not really familiar with it." Fortunately, Pei Zixuan added a sentence to smooth things over, "I really miss that time."
Shi Yao's doubts were dispelled. It seemed that Pei Zixuan was still the same normal person she knew, and had not been possessed by the strange and sarcastic spirit.
“Being a trainee is actually quite tough, but it’s also very meaningful. At least you’ll have a lot of time to dedicate yourself to one goal, and it’ll be hard to come by again.” Pei Zixuan played with the small comb in her hand, her slender fingers slowly gliding over the comb’s teeth.
Shi Yao nodded in agreement: "Yes, there are a lot of things to do after debuting. You have to take care of many jobs at the same time, unlike when you were training, when your only goal was to debut."
Fang Xuran sat between the two of them, looking on in bewilderment as the two inexplicably went from being at each other's throats to being completely at ease.
No, why didn't this fight turn into an argument?
He had just sensed the oppressive atmosphere emanating from Pei Zixuan, but then it suddenly disappeared, and he started inexplicably chatting about everyday things and reminiscing about the past. Shi Yao also pretended to be clueless and chatted along with him. What do these two mean?
Fang Xuran had known Pei Zixuan for quite some time and was very familiar with his friend's personality and temperament. He was the type who was indifferent to everything he did, as if no matter what happened, it had nothing to do with him. When he did something, he would focus on it wholeheartedly. Even if someone called him while he was recording a show and said that his house was on fire and he had lost his house, he would calmly say "oh" and continue recording the show until he was sure that the show was over before dealing with other things.
He rarely saw Pei Zixuan angry, but if this person was in a bad mood, it would be very easy to tell, because he was the kind of person who could completely release his aura, especially when he was angry or unhappy, so that everyone who saw him could immediately sense that he was in a bad mood.
Fang Xuran briefly sensed this atmosphere when Shi Yao mentioned having other clients, but it disappeared shortly afterward.
What does this mean? Has Pei Zixuan changed his mind again?
Shi Yao always said that Fang Xuran was sarcastic and sarcastic, but his sarcasm was nothing compared to Pei Zixuan's. He was mostly joking, but when Pei Zixuan got sarcastic and sarcastic, it really made people feel the air cool down.
As it turned out, it only cooled down for a few seconds today.
Fang Xuran was a little annoyed. He wanted to see Pei Zixuan's reaction and how he would be sarcastic. Fang Xuran couldn't win the argument with Shi Yao, but if Pei Zixuan could win for him, then he would barely be considered to have won half the battle.
Surprisingly, the argument didn't escalate into a fight, leaving Fang Xuran extremely frustrated. He couldn't help but doubt himself again. Was he being overly sensitive? Was Shi Yao actually alright?
No, there is a problem. How could she hide it from him? He tells him everything without reservation. How awful!
Pei Zixuan and Shi Yao were unaware that Fang Xuran had acted out a movie in her mind all by herself. Shi Yao sensed a brief change in Pei Zixuan's emotions, but she didn't pay much attention to it. She was overjoyed that he had decided to skip it.
It's so comfortable dealing with smart people.
After an eerie three-minute silence, Pei Zixuan spoke again, asking, "Could you tell me who that trainee is? I might be working with them later..."
Fang Xuran also raised her head and secretly stared at Shi Yao.
Shi Yao winked at the two of them: "You'll know when you see him later."
Pei Zixuan was slightly taken aback, somewhat puzzled.
Shi Yao countered by asking him, "Which song are you going to dance to?"
Pei Zixuan: "The Galaxy"
As expected, this song is indeed his most popular song. It became a minor hit in the first half of the year. The choreography and arrangement are very suitable for stage adaptations, so choosing this song couldn't be more appropriate.
There's a high probability that he'll be in the same group as him.
Shi Yao then looked at Fang Xuran: "And you?"
Fang Xuran was taken aback when she was suddenly called out: "Huh? Me? I didn't know. The production team said they arranged it for me."
"You two aren't a team, are you?"
"No," Pei Zixuan immediately denied.
Shi Yao felt relieved: "That's fine then."
Fang Xuran felt that she was being looked down upon for no reason.
No, what do you mean?
Author's Note: Oops... This silly author set the release time for 9 PM tomorrow night! No wonder the backend showed no update today. Luckily I checked. *wipes sweat* Bows to all my little angels!
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 20:53:30 on July 6, 2024 and 21:58:49 on July 7, 2024!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: la la la, log 5 bottles; Shang An, wishing our motherland a better future, and Tangyuan Yuan Gun Gun 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
