Hardworking

It was a little past noon and the southern area of the F district appeared crowded as was usual at this time of the day. The shops lining both sides of the streets sported multitudes of Christmas decorations, but people went about their business as usual without sparing much thought to the ostentation that was on display.

It was like they were used to this flamboyance, but given the level and amount of distractions in the current society, that was not wholly surprising, right?

Yang Jingshen got off Andy's small, J-brand city car and followed his cousin and the older male into the Italian restaurant. The fashion designer had brought the two of them here as a form of thank you and an apology after the photo shoot had ended just a little before noon.

After all, wrapping up a photo shoot in this manner, especially when a person had to model for different sets of clothing can be extremely challenging. Having started today's session well before seven o'clock in the morning, they had continued on for five hours straight, only stopping for a quick, in-studio breakfast and a little water/bathroom break or two in the middle.

In the end, even Yang Jingshen, who could easily adapt to taking up this type of stress without complaint had started to feel the brunt of it. Not to mention, he was the person who had to suffer the most. Even the cameraman could take a break while he was changing costumes, but as the model, he had no such luck. It was five hours of standing on his feet, except for the few minutes of break and make-up retouch sessions when he got the chance to sit down for a bit.

He had been prodded and poked without end, and had to pose in all sorts of manners while constantly changing so they can achieve the best and most alluring results. To top it all, he had to keep himself in tip-top shape until the final photo was taken.

It was not like they could drag this on for another day since that would only incur more expenses!

And, the most disturbing thing was that he only got 1500 yuan as his pay, excluding the company's revenue. For a starter model, it can be considered barely passable in the empire, but Yang Jingshen thought he couldn't complain much either. After all, no matter what his cousin thought of this job, the truth was that he might not get another one for quite some time. And, it was a universal truth that beggars can't be choosers!

"You two… order whatever you like. You guys must be hungry. Little Xi, don't be shy and eat what you like, ok?"

"You heard him… don't be shy and make sure to order the best and most expensive!" Feng Xue muttered grumpily as she picked up the menu. "It's rare for him to be this generous, so make use of it."

"Hey, don't be like this ah! I already apologized."

"Hmph! You worked her too hard! Are you a slave driver or what?"

The three of them gave out their respective orders and after the waiter walked away, Andy took a sip of the sparkling water before sighing. "Aaai sister Xue, you know that I also had no choice, right? I really can't afford to book a full day of the studio as I'm now. I'm already in quite some debt."

Seeing Feng Xue opening her mouth, Andy hastily spoke without letting her interfere. "It's not that I also want to do it like this. After all, the model being too tired can affect the photo quality."

Feng Xue stayed silent for a while before finally sighing. "Sweetie– you heard this guy. Order what you like."

"Sister Xue, I'll try to compensate you guys later. Also, I'm sure that the launch will succeed this time. Your sister is really amazing. I think she's the best out of all models who worked for me until now."

"Stop trying to kiss up. We won't be ordering any less just because you keep bootlicking."

"..." Really– did she really have to phrase it like that?

Honestly though, Andy Lu really thought that this young actress was amazing. Not only was her modeling at a totally different level, but she could also fight really hard. He had worked with female models beforehand, and all of them were actresses or models from small agencies, unlike Feng Xi. And, which one of them hadn't bitched about the tiredness of modeling the whole day?

But this girl– not only did she do her job to perfection and brought the best out of his designed attires, but she also did it without a single fucking complaint. And, she even didn't have to try that hard.

"Little Xi, You're such a hard worker. Here, I'll toast your endurance and spirit." Andy lifted the one-third full wine glass and clinked it with the raised glasses of the other two. "Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The three of them started to eat after tasting the wine, when he suddenly said, "Ah– little Xi, why don't you try to become a model? If it's too difficult to go forward in cinematics, you can just switch over to fashion. You have a quite good presence in front of the camera."

Hearing this, Feng Xi smiled awkwardly. "Thank you brother Lu. But, I don't know if I can walk the runway well, even if I could pose well for photos."

"You should still try and see. Who knows, you might actually be good at it."

"Oh, ok…"

Such a good kid– Andy didn't understand why these people were making such a big fuss over some photos which were probably faked. Anyway, unlike in the entertainment circle, the fashion world is much more lenient towards this type of behavior, even in this country. So, joining the modeling circle, for Feng Xi, might actually be a quite good thing after all.

***

The meal sure looked– no, it even tasted delicious; the bruschetta and the risotto tasted especially authentic, and most importantly, there was not a single piece of fish in sight. Yet, Yang Jingshen didn't actually relish it as much as he would have loved to; his fatigue got in the way.

The worst thing was that he couldn't even properly enjoy the bowl of panna cotta they served for dessert because he felt too nauseous. This felt much more terrible than not being able to enjoy the rest of the lunch, considering that this was the first chance he got to properly enjoy a sweet dish after transmigrating.

'This body is too weak.'

"Ah– isn't this miss Feng?"

Hmmmmm? Who could be here that knew him– or was it an acquaintance of his cousin? But, once Yang Jingshen saw the speaker, he felt his mouth start to twitch in annoyance. And when he saw the person following behind, his mouth tightened into a thin line that screamed of displeasure.

"Mr. Qin, I didn't know you and Mr. Luo were in the F district. If I knew, I would have come to greet you ne." Feng Xue positively gushed, and even though Yang Jingshen felt that the enthusiasm was a bit over the top, he also thought that he couldn't exactly blame her.

After all, this was Luo Cheng and his famous assistant. And even if you didn't feel like acting enthusiastic, you should at least pretend to. No matter what, it won't do well to act indifferent around the top star of their company.

'Who knows how much of a celebrity complex this guy has?' Yang Jingshen knew he was being spiteful, but he couldn't help it. Not when this man was staring directly at him like he wished to bore a hole through his body.

'Fuck! Why is this bastard looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with how I look?' The all too open stare was getting on his nerves, especially when every single time it reminded him of his past transgression! And also of his irrevocable loss.

'Wait! It can't be that this guy has a crush on me or wanna- wanna f-fu-' Nonononono! He was not going there… he just won't!!

But, just to make sure, Yang Jingshen still peeked covertly at the other and after some staring, fell into thoughts. This guy, was he really a silver-level actor who's on the cusp of becoming a gold-rated one in a few months' time? Because, if he remembered correctly, according to that novel, this guy would be rated as a gold-level artist not that long from now on. It would also end up setting off a huge wave, not only across the country but also across the globe as well.

So, why does this person always wear this deadpan expression like someone robbed his wife? For fuck's sake, how was he even going to know whether this guy had a crush on him or worse?

'...' No, more importantly, why was he even thinking like this? Doesn't it make him sound like he actually wanted this guy to fuck him?

'...'