Chapter 19: Blow you a Kiss
Translator: Sissy That Walk
There occurred a muffled noise when his cell phone hit the fruits basket on the teapoy. Glancing at the guy who threw a fit, Jiang Xiuwen had no alternative but to bend over to pick his phone up, asking, “What’s the matter? Is the z-list host pestering you again?”
Di Qiuhe got into a sheer panic, his mind stuffed with He Bai’s derision. Not in the mood for Jiang’s words, he covered his head with his hands and seemed on the verge of a breakdown.
‘Dumbass in the flesh.’
Jiang Xiuwen heaved a sigh, ready to inquire what happened to He Bai when his mobile phone vibrated all of the sudden. The screen turned bright immediately, and another new message came.
White and Whiter: Are you feeling sad now? Cheep up, Bro Three! Liu Huanhuan and you are definitely ill-matched in terms of deposition. You deserve better.
The text not only puzzled Jiang Xiuwen but also took him by surprise, “Isn’t this man the one who you asked me the other day to send a WeChat message in your name in reply. I remember you specially urged me to add a smiling emoji at the end of the text. But why does he call you Bro Three? Who he really is? The ‘male fan’ of yours?”
“He called me Bro Three?” Di Qiuhe raised his head, bucked up in a flash, grabbed his phone from Jiang Xiuwen and looked at the message again and again. His expression kept changing and finally put on an air of anger. With his lower jaw slightly lifted, he started typing hard.
A Bird Born in Autumn: I am not Bro Three! I have no ex-girlfriend! You wronged me and scared me!
After sending the text, he found the tone of his message appeared quite strange, not in line with the manner of speaking of an adorable girl, thus hurrying some remedy.
A Bird Born in Autumn: What a lovely single girl I am ^-^
A Bird Born in Autumn: Thank you for the photo. I like it very much.
After some hesitation, he cast a glance at Jiang Xiuwen, leaned to one side and covered the phone screen with his hand, typing quickly.
A Bird Born in Autumn: Blow you a kiss.
Seeing He Bai send message in a furtive manner, Jiang Xiuwen was completely dumbfounded. A myriad of feelings welled up within him… He must have been so possessed by devil that he had made friends with such a neurotic!
Noticing the reply from Bro Three, He Bai’s mind went blank for a while. He cast an eye on the top of the chatting box, only to find that he had sent messages to a buyer’s WeChat account which used similar profile pic with that of Bro Three — a careless mistake. Both images were brown toned, quite similar at the first sight. Besides, his mobile phone was cheap and nasty, making it hard to tell the pics apart with its low-quality screen and disappointing color rendering performance. Therefore, he mistook the buyer for Di Qiuhe due to carelessness.
What a bad thing he had done to gossip about another person when her back was turned! … He was slightly embarrassed and then moved by the considerateness the buyer displayed. It was very considerate of ‘her’ to help him resolve the awkward situation with a teasing yet lovely reply.
What a kind and sweet girl she was! Plus, the habit of spreading one’s gossip behind his back must be kicked in that it’s proved immoral. Thinking in this way, he hurriedly replied the message to apologize.
White and Whiter: Sorry, I had mixed your account up with that of another person.
White and Whiter: Thank you for reminding me. Kiss back.
After he sent the message, his dresser came along to discuss something with him. Stowing his cell phone away, He Bai followed her to the car to choose the clothes Yang Fu were to wear in a while.
Considering Yang Fu is the hostess of Children’s Channel, he selected a few articles of clothing in the style of teenage girls to be picked out after scanning each piece hanging in the clothing car. Due to this, the dresser even teased him a little. She told him photographers hardly ever picked out clothes for models in person and asked him whether he had a crush on the beautiful girl.
Faced with the bantering out of goodwill, he tended to palm them off with a ‘shy’ smile, and this time was no exception.
The dresser was a middle-aged woman, and her children were almost the same age as He Bai. On seeing his adorable smile, she couldn’t bear to tease him again as expected and changed the topic. Very soon, she was hoaxed into uttering a lot of gossips about Saint Elephant staff in answer to several seemingly random questions of He Bai.
Get the costume and makeup settled at high speed, He Bai said goodbye to the make-up artist, and led Yang Fu to a photographer’s studio.
“I’m sorry, but Miss Liu selected here first, and the photography has begun. Please move to the spot over there.” Ma Qun stopped them and pointed to another scene that had been torn apart in half, looking very apologetic.
He Bai didn’t utter a single word. Glancing at Liu Huanhuan in a sexy long gown who occupied the flowery gallery scattered with swings, and then at the other half-torn forest scene which looked rough and messy, he pondered for a while and sought Yang Fu’s advice, “Do you mind taking photos by the lake instead of inside these scenes?”
Yang Fu also cast a glance at Liu Huanhuan and smiled gently, nodding, “Sure, It’s up to you”.
He Bai gave her a smile, and then looked back to Ma Qun, towards whom his attitude became much colder and less courteous than before, speaking bluntly, “Where the hell are juicers? Assign me at least one.” Portraits taking differed greatly from scenic photographing. Lightning played an important role in the former.
Ma Qun looked a lot more apologetic. He indicated the frantically busy team directed by Ma Xingtong and said sheepishly, “We are too busy to spare anyone to help you right now… Or you wait for a while?
It was getting dark very soon. After a while, despite lightening, photos couldn’t be taken.
It was obvious that he deliberately made things difficult for them. He Bai frowned and looked around other staffers, only to find that they shunned his eye contact, which made him a little angry. It is understandable that people in the workplace fight and scheme against each other or seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, about which he didn’t care. But now he was working for customers as well as for the company, they still made no clear distinction between public and private interests, which violated professional ethics a lot.
“I noticed several spare lamp panels were lying over there. I’ll help you, He.” Lin Rui came from the periphery. Without looking at Ma Qun, he went straight there and took a panel in hand.
He Bai’s expression turned slightly bright. He bypassed Ma Qun, gave Lin Rui a friendly nod, signaled the lakeside and said, “Thank you a lot, bro. It is quite late now. Let’s go to the lakeside.”
“Count me in, too.” A makeup artist came over with a makeup box in her hand, “I can help touch up Miss Yang’s make-up.”
Yang Fu smiled at her, “Thank you a lot.”
“You… You’re welcome.” The girl blushed at her words answering.
While waiting for Liu Huanhuan to fix her make-up, Ma Xingtong checked the camera and asked, “Only four people? Do they use the camera our company provided?”
“No, they don’t. He Bai used his own camera.” Ma Qun handed a bottle of water over, hesitated for a while and said, “Uncle, is it right to do this? After all, He Bai is backed by Mrs. Li, and Yang Fu works in the TV station. Will our behaviors offend Li and the whole TV station?”
“It’s all right.” Ma Xingtong gave a careless wave of the hand, his voice a little cold, “Li Ru gets complacent recently. A successful photography company relies more on photographers than directors. As for Yang Fu, she’s nothing but a mere intern host, a newcomer of newcomers. The station won’t fall out with Saint Elephant for such a newcomer.”
Ma Qun nodded his agreement and flattered Ma Xingtong all the more, “You’re really knowledgeable, uncle.”
“There’s a long way for you to learn from me.” Ma Xingtong gave him a mild look and sighed, “You are too simpleminded.”
As an hour and a half passed, the sun sunk, and the shooting finally came to an end for Liu Huanhuan.
Liu Huanhuan lifted up the skirts and headed for where Ma Xingtong stood. Seeing a few of ready-made photos, she felt quite satisfied and flattered him in a few words. Afterwards, she pretended to ask in a casual way, “How’s Fu getting along? Haven’t they finished? By the way, how long has it been since Mr. He entered Saint Elephant Company? Young he is, Mr. He has become a photographer. Really awesome!”
“Not very long. He was only recruited to fill the gap on a part-time basis. There’s a long way for him to go.” Replied indifferently Ma Xingtong, who didn’t care at all that what he said ran counter to the previous introduction of He Bai by his nephew. Stowing the camera away, he called a staffer over and asked, “Where’s He Bai? Tell him to hurry up. Everyone wants to wrap up early. Even if he couldn’t take good photos, dawdling is not allowed. Given that he is a newcomer of low ability, the quality of his photos won’t necessarily be improved even though he spends more time.”
The staffer looked embarrassed when he glanced at Liu Huanhuan, replying, “Leader Ma, Mr. He and Miss Yang finished photographing and left half an hour ago… Miss Yang intended to wait for Miss Liu and leave together, but unfortunately the TV station called her and urged her to go back. So Mr. He sent her over immediately.
“Have they left?” Ma Qun couldn’t help but to interrupt.
The staffer nodded, “It’s been a while.”
Anger crossed Ma Xingtong’s face. He asked, “Where are photos he has taken? Does he hand them in?”
“Yes, he does. But it’s only a backup. He took away the original copy and told us that he must hand them over to Director Li for a routine check after retouching the photos.” The staff replied.
Handing in the backup only and specially explaining that he would retouch the photos himself and then delivered them to Li Ru, it was beyond doubt He Bai guarded against him! Ma Xingtong was seething with anger but feigned magnanimity with scruples that Liu Huanhuan was still there and that he might be laughed at by an outsider, thus speaking, “I got it. Do as he likes. Today he takes photos for the first time, so it’s normal for him to become nervous and unconfident. Asking Director Li to check will help.”
Liu Huanhuan bowed the head and ruffled her hair, giving a contemptuous smile.
It turned out that He Bai took photograph for the first time on a part-time basis. Humph! She originally considered He Bai a skilled photographer, who only turned out to be a nobody. Indeed, how come a poor wretch was able to pursue such a money-consuming hobby like photography? Yang Fu’s photos must be messed up.
Covering her mouth with one hand to feign yawning, Liu Huanhuan tried hard to restrain herself from smiling. She had complete confidence to substitute for Yang Fu now.
Saying goodbye to He Bai and getting into the car her family sent to pick her up, Yang Fu was bubbling over with excitement. She took out the mobile phone, dialed her aunt’s number and cried, “Aunt, I met a very cute and skilled photographer today! Seen from the photograph he took of me, I’m just like a celestial fairy! I hear that you are worried recently about lacking in good clothing photographer. I recommend him to you! To be frank, he is really an excellent man, patient and considerate. Plus, he has a dimple which appears when he smiles. I would definitely court him if I had no fiancé!
Thumbing through the product manuals her subordinates sent over, Zhu Ke replied smiling, “Is he really as good as you said? Zehang will get jealous if he hears you praise another man to the skies. By the way, do you adapt to the working conditions at Station Five? Remember to tell me if you don’t so that I could assign you to other posts. Anyway, your father is Station Head. Don’t let such a good resource go to waste.”
“I’m well adapted.” Yang Fu reclined in the back seat of the car. Recalling Liu Huanhuan’s nauseating actions, she muttered with her nose wrinkled, “Everyone is nice, and hosting program with children is full of fun, but…”
Zhu Ke listened to her chatter patiently. Looking at the vacant column for clothing photographer on the product manual of a newly created teenager girl brand, she couldn’t help heave a sigh.
It’s not all rainbows and butterflies for a company to develop at a quite fast pace. New talents proved hard to come by.