Exclusive Model for the Top Painter Chapter 3

Groping Embrace in the Dark

---

The alarm clock went off at 7:30 a.m.

Liang Jin opened his sleepy eyes, jumped out of bed, stepped on the soft carpet and pulled back the curtains that reached the floor.

The morning light shone through the pale blue floor-to-ceiling windows, revealing a small and delicate garden and a private swimming pool not far away.

He stretched and sighed to himself, thinking that the weather was perfect.

A figure suddenly emerged from the pool, and Ji Xiuyuan's deep eyes met his lazy ones. The two pairs of eyes met, and Liang Jin froze for a moment before he immediately flashed his signature bright smile and waved at him through the window.

Ji Xiuyuan leaned against the edge of the pool, averted his eyes and did not respond.

After Liang Jin had finished washing up, he scavenged bread and milk from the fridge, wandered over to the pool and squatted down next to Ji Xiuyuan: "Ji Shen, if you were to become a model, you could definitely kill 99.99% of your peers."

Ji Xiuyuan picked up his glass of water and took a sip: "Are you among the remaining 0.01%?"

"Of course," Liang Jin said, "although your figure would make most male models die of shame, it's about the same as mine. But if you ever switch to modelling, remember to let me know and I will switch careers immediately."

Ji Xiuyuan asked, "Which company do you belong to?"

Liang Jin nibbled on a piece of bread: "… I don't have a company."

Ji Xiuyuan was a little surprised. Given Liang Jin's appearance, there should have been many companies interested in him.

Liang Jin finished his milk and threw the carton in the trash, seemingly a little bored.

"Can you swim?"

"Huh?" Liang Jin scratched his head, "A little."

"Get in the water."

"Oh." Liang Jin subconsciously agreed and asked, "Why?"

"No reason, just a sudden desire to play." Ji Xiuyuan leaned over the edge of the pool, "You and I will compete, and if you beat me, I will introduce you to a few companies."

Liang Jin's eyes immediately lit up: "Are you serious?"

“Mhmm, but it's just an introduction, whether you get the job or not is up to you."

"Thank you, Boss Ji, I'll be right back!" Liang Jin ran back to change into his swimwear and then hurriedly dove into the water. He had just said that he could only swim a little, but in fact, swimming was his forte: "What do you say, how will we compete?"

Ji Xiuyuan saw that he was so full of energy, and he felt good for no apparent reason: "One round trip, first back to the start is the winner."

He set his cell phone alarm to 8 o'clock, and when the alarm rang, it was the command to start.

Liang Jin was the first to set off, comfortable in the water and excited by the thrill of the competition. After all, he was a young man, with a strong desire to win. Thinking that Ji Xiuyuan could beat him in every way, he was determined to get back into the competition.

Ji Xiuyuan was relaxed and unhurried, enjoying the process more than the result. Because of his profession, he had always been quiet and liked to be alone. Having a new companion at this time was unexpectedly not annoying and was a novel experience for him.

Liang Jin was the first to return to the starting point, his hands touching the wall of the pool, and before he could turn around, Ji Xiuyuan caught up with him from behind. "Congratulations."

The hot, humid breath sprayed on the side of his ears.

Liang Jin looked to the side and saw Ji Xiuyuan smiling at him.

The heaving in his chest still had not subsided after the strenuous exercise, and Liang Jin took off his goggles, panting heavily.

Ji Xiuyuan's reaction, however, was much more subdued.

Liang Jin tapped on the surface of the water: "Did you deliberately drain the water?"

Ji Xiuyuan smiled gracefully, "Is it obvious?"

Liang Jin gasped, "Is this interesting? Ji Shen? Playing with me? I want to beat you up."

"You can try."

Liang Jin raised his fist to smash it into his face, but Ji Xiuyuan stood still.

Liang Jin sighed and gently patted his cheek, "Forget it, you're my Party A's father, I won't bother with you." (Angel: Party A's father is a term used when people laugh at themselves as a humble gesture when working under someone.)

"Which company do you want to contact?" Ji Xiuyuan said, "The domestic ones are generally fine, the foreign ones might take some time to book."

"No need," Liang Jin was a bit disinterested, “anyway, I can't beat you."

Ji Xiuyuan didn't expect him to refuse: "Winning or losing doesn't matter."

"It's true that winning or losing doesn't matter, but my fragile self-esteem has been hit by a million blows, so you should let me destroy myself." After sighing, Liang Jin suddenly turned around and pinned Ji Xiuyuan against the wall of the pool, "You wait, I'll challenge you again in a while, no water will be drained then, you hear me?"

Hearing his fierce words, Ji Xiuyuan couldn't help but smile at his voice: "Okay."

Liang Jin leaned against his chest, looking at the slight tenderness in his indifferent eyes, and his heart suddenly jumped fiercely, as if he had been stimulated.

He pushed Ji Xiuyuan away and jumped onto the side of the pool, "I'm not playing anymore."

Returning to his room and drawing the curtains, Liang Jin sat on the bed and wondered to himself: what had just happened? It must have been too long since he had been entertained.

He immediately took out his cell phone and called Sister Qiong.

The phone was answered as soon as it rang, and there was an unusually sophisticated-sounding female voice on the other end.

"Hello, A'Liang? It's been a while, what's up?"

"Ahem, Sister Qiong. I recently ended my contract with my last company, do you have any suitable resources?"

"Well, are you free at 7 p.m. tonight? It just so happens that there's a dinner party, you can join us."

"Ah okay, thanks Sister Qiong!"

"It's alright, I'll send you the address on WeChat."

Liang Jin opened his WeChat and a group message called [Spirituality Building Center] popped up immediately, it was a small group he had created with two colleagues he was close to at his last company.

Summer: The atmosphere in the company is so bad these days, A'Liang, why did you leave so suddenly? I miss playing with you so much. You don't know, but that little sister in the company who has a crush on you is heartbroken.

Liu Shen: A'Liang, it is said that you paid a lot of money for breach of contract when you left, right? If you can't make it through, tell me, I'll support you a little.

Summer: Mr. Zhou has been very angry lately, I suspect it's because you ran away @LiangJin, haven't you and he been good friends for 10 years?

Liu Shen: I think A'Liang must have his reasons for doing this, @Summer, stop asking.

Summer: Oh oh, I mean, I definitely support A'Liang. A'Liang, I haven't been able to contact you for a while, please send us a message when you see this.

Liang Jin read through the 99+ messages one by one. Then he sent a message to the group:

Are you free? I'll buy you guys a drink? @Summer @LiuShen

He had asked Summer and Liu Shen to meet him at noon, and he had a dinner meeting with Sister Qiong in the evening, he wouldn't be home for the rest of the day, so Liang Jin wanted to go and talk to Ji Xiuyuan first.

He pulled open the curtain and looked out, the pool was empty, Ji Xiuyuan must have gone to work.

When he was working on his painting, he probably did not want to be disturbed.

Liang Jin thought of sending him a message, but then he realised that he had no personal contact details for Ji Xiuyuan. The work number printed on the previous business card was not suitable for sending such personal matters.

So he wrote a post-it note and stuck it on the door of his workplace:

Ji Shen.

I have to go out for a while, but I will be back in the evening.

Liang Jin.

———

At 11 o'clock at night, Liang Jin returned to his residence and opened the door gently, without turning on the light.

He was afraid of disturbing Ji Xiuyuan's rest.

At lunchtime, he had a meal and drinks with Summer and the others. Summer was a chatterbox and told him about the latest gossip within the circle and complained about the company. Liu Shen had a drink with him and asked him how he was doing, if he needed any help, and so on.

The dinner party in the evening was a big headache for him, he had hoped to get in touch with some other companies' resources through Sister Qiong, but instead he met the last person he wanted to meet at the dinner party and drank himself into a mess.

Without any light, Liang Jin had to grope his way forward.

When he accidentally kicked a step and was about to fall to the ground, a hand held him around the waist.

Liang Jin pushed the person away as if he had been exposed.

He staggered a few steps, almost hitting the edge of the table.

Ji Xiuyuan grabbed his wrist and held him in his arms: "If that table is broken, you can't afford to pay for it."

Liang Jin's drunken eyes were misty as he stared at Ji Xiuyuan for a long time, then suddenly smiled, "Oh, it's you!" He put his arm around his neck and smiled brightly, "I'm back! Ji Shen!"

Ji Xiuyuan helped him to his room and threw him on the bed.

Liang Jin was still looking at him with a smile, his whole body bubbling with stupidity: "Thank you, Ji Shen, you're the best!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

Previous Chapter | TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: April 13, 2023