Exclusive Model for the Top Painter Chapter 14

Uncontrollable Palpitations

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After seeing Morgana off, Liang Jin moved back to his room downstairs.

In the evening, he turned on his computer and started to deal with the unread emails in his mailbox. After reading a couple of them, Liang Jin guessed that they were all the same: these emails were merely a greeting during the heat of the moment, but in reality there was no sincerity to cooperate. Some companies didn't even care about his status as a model and asked him directly if he wanted to join their marketing campaign.

With a soft sigh, Liang Jin selected all the emails and put them in the recycle bin with one click. He wanted to become a truly powerful and established model, and he hoped to win a prize at a Vogue gala one day. He doesn't want to be a part of those crooked paths.

His WeChat suddenly vibrated with a message from Song Kaicheng, the executive producer for Xinhong's Bluetooth advertisement: "Hello Mr. Liang, please come to our office tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. sharp to participate in the official filming of the Bluetooth earbud advertisement."

Just after Liang Jin replied that he had received it, his chat window with Shu Yue popped up, and an explosion of alerts rang out one after another, it seemed as if he could feel his hysterical emotions.

Shu Yue: Brother!!! I'm dead!!! I was so humiliated today aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Shu Yue: Why didn't you tell me that Zhou Hai was gay???

Shu Yue: In order to vent, I brought my guitar and went to their company lobby to sing and managed to lure him out. I wanted to intentionally be mean to him and announce in public that I liked him and that I wanted to chase him. I thought the people in his company would be shattered and he would be embarrassed and angry, but in the end, in the end!!!

Shu Yue: The people in his company actually started to cheer??? There were even people whistling and clapping??? The most baffling thing was that Zhou Hai calmly replied to me that he had someone he liked. The entire company instantly looked at me differently, and some even came to comfort me!!!

Shu Yue: I really wanted to smash his head in with my guitar, but when I was planning to commit an act of brutality, he called the security guards to kick me out. Brother! I hate it so much!!! I don't want to take revenge!!!

Shu Yue: Brother, I'm so miserable!!!

Liang Jin: ...... In future, don't say you know me when you go out.

Shu Yue: ??? Brother, didn't I do this for you? You would do this to me? But I'm a bit curious, who does he like? Do you know, Brother?

Liang Jin: Why ask me, I suggest you ask him yourself, don't you want to take revenge?

Shu Yue: Wait, I suddenly have a bold idea. Tell me honestly, why did you leave his company? And at the expense of losing so much money? Could it be???!!! Did you have an affair with him?

Liang Jin: Aren't you the one having an affair with him now?

Shu Yue: Stop messing around, from what I know about you, you're supposed to be the most straightforward man in five hundred years. Could it be that he fell for you, you swore you wouldn't do it, and left in anger?

Liang Jin: I suddenly remembered, yesterday your father asked me, how are you doing at school lately, have you been studying well...

Shu Yue: I'm sorry Brother, I'll shut up immediately. Then, I won't disturb your rest, heh heh, bye!

Feeling a little thirsty, Liang Jin put down his cell phone and went out of the room to look for a drink in the fridge.

He chose a bottle of orange juice, opened the cap and had just taken a drink when he saw Ji Xiuyuan heading towards him. Liang Jin inexplicably became nervous and choked on the juice, coughing gently.

Ji Xiuyuan stopped beside him: "Still awake?"

"Ah, getting a drink."

"What else is there to drink?"

Liang Jin was standing closer to the fridge: "What do you want to drink? I'll get it for you."

"The kind you're drinking."

Liang Jin opened the fridge and searched for it: "I don't think we have any more of those."

Ji Xiuyuan took the orange juice out of his hand naturally, "The rest is mine, you don't have any objections, do you?"

"No... no."

Ji Xiuyuan held the drink to his lips, exactly where Liang Jin had touched it. Looking at the knot in his throat as he swallowed, Liang Jin's heart suddenly beat faster.

It was dark all around and only this small area was lit up with orange lights.

Ji Xiuyuan placed the finished bottle on the table.

The two stood opposite each other, neither of them speaking.

The silence seemed to have a unique attraction of peace and comfort, making them not want to leave.

Looking out of the window, there was a bright moon in the sky.

Ji Xiuyuan asked, "What are your plans for tomorrow?"

Liang Jin looked out at the night sky: "I'm going to shoot an advertisement."

"Shall I take you there?"

"No, no need, I'll just go myself."

"Okay," Ji Xiuyuan looked at him, "be careful."

"Mhmm."

"Come back early."

This seemingly ordinary statement rippled through his heart, as if the two were really living together and had an unusually close relationship.

Liang Jin took a light breath: "Okay. Good night, Ji Shen."

"Good night."

———

The following morning, when Liang Jin arrived at the Xinhong Advertising Group, it was already past 8:50.

The shooting location was on the 26th floor, and he rushed into the elevator at the last moment when its doors were about to close, but when he looked up, he saw Zhou Hai.

Fortunately, there was someone else in the elevator.

But when they reached the 15th floor, everyone else poured out and they were the only ones left in the elevator.

Zhou Hai took the initiative and said, "Good morning, A'Liang. It seems to be my lucky day, running into you by chance. Are you here to shoot an advertisement?"

Liang Jin answered perfunctorily, "Yes."

"I am working on some projects with this company as well, if you are interested..."

"Ah, I've arrived!" The elevator stopped on the 26th floor, the door opened slowly, and Liang Jin rushed out impatiently.

When he arrived at the studio at 8.59 a.m., Song Kaicheng looked at his watch, "You really seize every second, have you read the script?"

"Yes."

"This is a 45-second ad that involves a number of different scenarios for the product, so go to the dressing room and get ready. I'll be very strict about the quality of the ad. Any shot that doesn't pass must be refined over and over again, and your ability to get off work today depends entirely on your own performance."

Once filming began, it became clear to Liang Jin. Song Kaicheng really was as meticulous as he had made himself out to be. Thanks to his careful preparation, he had already studied the relevant materials and scenes countless times. The books he had read in Ji Xiuyuan's study had also been of great help. Art and media are inseparable, and with Ji Xiuyuan's guidance and coaching, he was able to deal with this level of advertising and filming with ease.

After a day's work, Song Kaicheng was quite pleased with him. Even so, it was 9 p.m. by the time the shooting was completed.

He finally had time to check his cell phone, and Ji Xiuyuan had texted him a short while ago, asking when he would be home. Liang Jin replied: Just got off work, coming back now!

"Mr. Liang, the payment for this advertisement will be paid according to what was agreed in the contract, and post-production will take a while." Song Kaicheng shook hands with him, "But I'm impressed with you, and I hope we'll have the chance to work together again in the future."

Liang Jin said politely, "Thank you, it's been a pleasure."

The streets were deserted as he exited the Xinhong Advertising Group's office, and Liang Jin followed the navigation to the subway station.

When he walked past a rather isolated alleyway, he heard someone whistle, "Oh, it's really a case of enemies meet by chance."

Under the streetlight, Liang Jin saw the other person's face clearly, it was Zhang Xuan, who he had punched at the exhibition last time.

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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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 30, 2023