Chapter 7 Violet: I am Red
This week, Ji Jiazhen only has photo shoot work. After all, she hasn't cleared up those rumors about her, whether true or false, and currently no brands or production companies dare to use her. She's happy to have some free time and doesn't take it to heart, since someone will take care of everything for her anyway.
On Monday, she went to Xu Yanning's studio again. This time, she didn't drive herself but went with the company car, accompanied by her assistant and temporary agent, to shoot a fashion magazine cover.
It wasn't a top-tier magazine, but she needed this opportunity to appear in public. She knew Duan Qiyin would stir up the buzz, otherwise he wouldn't have changed the original photography team and let Xu Yanning take over.
Hsu Yen-ning also knew the importance of this cover for Chi Chia-chen's comeback, so the final theme was red.
This red has multiple meanings.
Ji Jiazhen was extremely satisfied after reviewing the proposal. The only person in the world who truly understood her was Xu Yanning.
Xu Yanning also personally handled the makeup and styling; only Ji Jiazhen could enjoy this level of treatment.
After arriving at the dressing room, Ji Jiazhen sat down, took out two lighters from her bag, and threw them on the table. Wen Siyu really kept his word; he delivered the lighters to her door the very next day.
Is there a story behind this lighter?
She didn't see anything special about the lighter. Wen Siyu let her pick out two, but after using them twice, she put them aside. They weren't as good as the ones she bought casually at the convenience store, and they were easy to burn her hands if she used them at the wrong time.
When it comes to smoking, she has always only been particular about the cigarettes themselves; Wen Siyu's particularities are purely habits fostered by money.
Xu Yanning glanced at it only once, "No explanation, it's just expensive. It's good for showing off when you take it out, but I can't bear to buy it."
Ji Jiazhen looked at Xu Yanning with a hint of disdain, and sat there like an empress dowager, commenting, "Vulgar."
The alarm rang twice, ending the banter. Both of them were ambitious and proud, and once they got into work mode, they became more and more serious than the other.
To ensure that all the highlights of the cover are on Chi Chia-Chen's face, the simpler the hairstyle, the better. Her hair was combed into a middle part and slicked back, but because of her good bone structure, this kind of hairstyle, which is not easy to wear, looks particularly high-class and textured on her.
Preserving personal characteristics and style is key to being remembered, so makeup should not overshadow one's appearance. Ji Jiazhen's most memorable feature is her eyes, so eye makeup is the most important.
The eyeliner wasn't too striking; it followed the shape of her eyes, and the color was a subtle brown, so it wasn't very noticeable.
The eyeshadow matched the theme, without any other colors, just a single red, a rather intense red tone, but Ji Jiazhen's face could pull off such a bold color.
Her own eyelashes were already thick and long enough, so she only applied false eyelashes to the outer corners of her eyes, making them longer and curlier. This added a sense of layering and highlighted her fox-like eyes, making them more charming and alluring.
I chose a reddish-brown lipstick and applied three layers, which made my skin look even whiter and gave me a more alluring look.
Only Ji Jiazhen can portray this kind of red so well.
After the styling was complete, Xu Yanning stood behind her, put her hand on her shoulder, bent down, and looked at her in the mirror with her chin at ear level.
—She was watching it herself.
Appreciation and pride are fully displayed in a mirror, and the two emotions flow between her and herself.
“I’ve filmed many of your rivals in the past three years, but none of them can compare to you.”
Who is my rival?
The two smiled at the same time, their upward curves perfectly synchronized.
Congratulations on your comeback.
Ji Jiazhen stood up, put an arm around Xu Yanning's waist, and walked towards the door together. Just before opening the door, he leaned close to her ear and said, "My only rival has always been myself. No one else is good enough."
The door opened, and Ji Jiazhen withdrew her hand and walked out first. Exclamations of amazement rose from all sides. She had heard such exclamations countless times, but after three years away from the entertainment industry, hearing them again still gave her a long-lost feeling.
My steps toward the center of the shed suddenly felt unsteady, like stepping on a sponge mat while wearing high heels—I could feel the weight of my feet, but my legs felt weak.
It's been too long, really too long.
It's been too long since I've faced a camera directly, and too long since I've been in a film studio.
She shot her first cover in this studio. She looked up at the white light on the ceiling for a long time until her eyes hurt.
In the whole world, only that lamp heard the vow she made in her heart:
I want to climb up, to sit in the spotlight, until when everyone mentions Hong, the name that comes to mind is Ji Jiazhen.
I am red.
The headlights turned on instantly, and Xu Yanning's voice sounded behind her.
"Action!"
*
The filming wrapped up after 9 p.m., which is the perfect time to enjoy some nightlife.
Ji Jiazhen's phone was bombarded with messages and calls. The person harassing her relentlessly was a playboy she met in the United States. As for how they met, it was quite straightforward: she slept with his cousin, and this guy had always held a grudge about it because he felt it was unfair—why did she get to sleep with his cousin and not him?
The reason is simple: his cousin was a young, tender guy who had just turned eighteen. He was a flirtatious and promiscuous man, so who would want to sleep with him?
But putting that aside, he's a pretty interesting person. His schemes are always very entertaining, and his own identity is somewhat special—he's got connections with higher-ups—so he's very good at protecting his privacy and keeping things confidential.
Ji Jiazhen glanced at the address he sent; it was a top-notch nightclub that he had booked out entirely.
But she didn't go immediately. She went home first, removed her makeup, took a shower, did some simple skincare, and finally put on some comfortable clothes and applied lipstick before going out.
It was one in the morning when she drove there. When she got to her car, she glanced at the neighboring vehicle a couple more times. It was empty; Wen Siyu's Lamborghini was gone.
Thinking back, it seems like I haven't seen her since I delivered the lighter that day; it's been three or four days.
She pursed her lips, then stepped into the car.
I arrived at 1:30, and the venue was buzzing with excitement. The red lights had an inexplicable misty quality, the electronic music was catchy, and the intro had a hallucinogenic feel to it.
Someone was already quite drunk and couldn't tell which way was north or south. He stumbled past Ji Jiazhen. She turned her shoulder and glanced back, feeling that the face looked familiar but she couldn't place the name.
She walked through the crowd, brushing past dozens of people. Her face was so distinctive that many people greeted her, but she couldn't quite tell who was who.
The atmosphere was electric, with flashing lights dancing to the rhythm of the music, reaching a climax after a drumbeat. The brightest beam of light suddenly fell on Ji Jiazhen's shoulder, but she was completely unaware. She chose the least crowded booth and sat down, not caring whether she knew the people inside or not. After all, everyone who came here was from the same circle, and she would eventually get to know them all.
She had opened many bottles of wine and left them aside, but she took an unopened bottle in the opposite direction, showing that she was quite cautious.
The people next to her shifted a few times to change seats. Ji Jiazhen took out her phone to send a message, asking Gao Peng, the person who had invited her, where he was. She had just swallowed two sips of wine when someone suddenly sat down next to her, the kind of person who practically wanted to stick close to her.
"All your girlfriends have gone upstairs, what are you doing here all by yourself?"
The deliberately lowered voice was particularly unpleasant to hear, and the smell of alcohol was overwhelming.
Ji Jiazhen turned her head, and the man's face was right in front of her. He had the appearance of an ordinary passerby, neither handsome nor ugly, just passable. The hair wax on his hair could catch a thousand flies.
He had clearly mistaken her for someone else; she had no idea who his "little sister" was.
She moved to sit down beside her. "Don't you recognize me?"
The man persisted, and as she retreated, he pressed on, asking, "Should I know you?"
She moved a little further to the side, almost to the edge.
"Did Gao Peng invite you to come over?"
“I came back with him today.”
As he spoke, he reached out to put his arm around her waist, but Ji Jiazhen suddenly stood up, and he found nothing.
"Don't you know there's a rule in his department?"
The man stood up, shrugged, indicating he didn't know, and didn't seem to care about her at all, his hand still reaching forward.
"There's this girl named Ji Jiazhen, she's the one who seduces men, she's never the one who gets seduced."
The man, still with his nonchalant attitude, asked, "So?"
Ji Jiazhen released the bottle from his hand. He didn't deliberately smash it, but simply put it down in mid-air. The liquid spilled onto the back of the man's hand. His expression changed, and he immediately withdrew his hand. The bottle first smashed on the table, then rolled to the ground. It wasn't very high, so it didn't break, and the sound was drowned out by the noise.
“I am Ji Jiazhen.”
She pointed at him and said, "Stay away from me. I hate your perfume. It smells awful."
The phone screen lit up briefly; Gao Peng had sent a message saying he was in a private room upstairs and gave the room number.
Ji Jiazhen turned and left.
The private room was quite crowded, with pretty girls lining up. Ji Jiazhen finally understood what the person downstairs meant by "little sisters."
Gao Peng sat among the girls, wearing a purple shirt with a leather bag, and greeted her across the crowd.
Ji Jiazhen glanced at him as a response, found an empty seat on the sofa, and soon Gao Peng came over.
"Sister Zhen, you're a female celebrity, how come you're so unkempt after coming back to China? Not only are you dressed sloppily, but you're not even wearing makeup?"
Ji Jiazhen kicked him in the shin. Her outfit was anything but sloppy. It was a bit loose and casual, but it was still well-coordinated. There was no doubt about her sense of style. She had put on lipstick before going out, which showed a lot of respect.
"Even if I came in my pajamas without makeup, I'd still be a dream man." She glanced around casually. "These guys all look like they have genetic defects that weren't detected during prenatal checkups. What kind of monsters did you find?"
Gao Peng was overjoyed, unaware that Ji Jiazhen's "these" included him, and was quite pleased with himself.
"Finding so many guys who are about as handsome as me isn't really realistic, but I did find you a few. Hey, wanna go have some fun over there?"
Ji Jiazhen grabbed a glass of wine and swayed away.
The next private room was larger and more crowded, with men and women split equally, and the small groups were more distinct. Those drinking, chatting, and playing cards did not interfere with each other, while those standing walked around, looking at this and that.
Gao Peng led her straight to their target, and they sat down in the crowd of people drinking. Someone next to her, who was very good at socializing, handed her a glass of wine and said, "Sister, this is delicious."
"The top students at University A are all freshmen, they just finished the college entrance exam this year, aren't they clean enough?"
The boys were all handsome, young, and still had a youthful charm, so they should have been to her liking. But tonight, for some reason, she couldn't stand any of them; she could find fault with everything about them. She thought the most handsome one wasn't tall enough, and the tallest one's skin wasn't fair enough. A sense of unease was churning within her, but she didn't know where it came from.
But if it's just drinking, without sleeping or talking, we can still keep having fun.
So she accepted the glass of wine the boy offered and replied to Gao Peng with "It'll do."
Perhaps because they knew who she was, the group was very attentive and eager to please her. They were good at bringing up topics and would unconsciously reveal signals that "I am better than him" during the conversation. Ji Jiazhen saw this but did not say anything.
The guy sitting next to her, closest to her, had a lot of little tricks up his sleeve. For example, when he leaned back, he would accidentally touch her fingertips, or he would accidentally drink the wrong wine and his hand would land right on the spot with her lipstick mark. His tricks were so amateurish that they couldn't even be called flirting.
Ji Jiazhen loved watching men scheme and fight, loved seeing them jealous and competitive, loved seeing them turn against each other and hate each other for her sake. She harbored a mischievous intent, deliberately planting a kiss on the cheek of the boy next to her, the bright red lip print waving in the air, drawing envy from the others.
Several men poured her drinks one after another, hoping to win her a kiss through such flattery. By the end, she was slightly tipsy and her eyes were half-closed. As another boy wished, she leaned on his shoulder to rest.
The phone vibrated twice in his pocket, and Ji Jiazhen reached out to take it.
She didn't add a note to the person who sent the message, but she knew very well who it was from the name and profile picture.
—"Ji Jiazhen".
"You're not very trustworthy."
Wen Siyu's words made her sit up straight, her brows furrowing slightly. Because she had been drinking, her thinking was slower, and she didn't realize for a while what he had said. The next second, the phone rang.
Ji Jiazhen waited for her phone to ring for a few seconds before hanging up, but Wen Siyu persisted and called again.
She licked her lips, tucked her hair behind her shoulder, and switched her phone to her other hand. After doing all that, she suddenly thought: Damn, what am I doing?
Finally, I clicked to connect.
Wen Siyu held the phone to his ear, but neither of them spoke. The other end of the line was noisy, filled with music and vocals…
Ji Jiazhen frowned again, moved the phone further away to listen to the sounds inside the private room, and then brought the phone close to his ear to listen to the sounds on his end.
They... overlapped.
Wen Siyu suddenly spoke, his voice devoid of emotion. "Turn around."
His voice was husky and low, a precocious sound completely different from the boyish voices of the five boys, and this contrast was captivating.
Ji Jiazhen's neck went numb instantly, and her heart was racing, both from the alcohol and the electronic music. But the restlessness suddenly disappeared, and a tingling sensation spread from her chest to her lower abdomen, reaching every nerve in her body.
She turned around, and the crowd that was standing moved at that moment, opening a path for her to see. Behind the layers of figures, she saw Wen Siyu sitting there with his phone to his ear.
A beam of light shone from above, casting clear shadows on his face, highlighting his sharp features. She couldn't see his face clearly, but his indifferent eyes, the slight, cold smile on his lips, his low, husky voice, and the hand holding a lighter to light a cigarette—every detail flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.
Finally, a complete image of Wen Siyu appeared, and he whispered in her ear: "Your pickiness and restlessness are because these people are not me."
All the unpleasantness tonight has been resolved.
Wen Siyu's face was unforgettable, and he was the kind of person she had never seen before. Purity and desire coexisted in him, and that feeling was too attractive.
She really did want to sleep with him.
I feel an electric current coursing through my palm; it's tingling.
Her heart was pounding, her head was spinning, but she didn't forget to ask one question:
How did he get here?
A note from the author:
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The next chapter will be updated on the 24th, and there's a kiss. Who dares to read it?
You probably noticed the stunning artwork in the character section.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
