Exclusive Model for the Top Painter Chapter 51

The Script That's Not Quite Right

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After returning home from London, Liang Jin received a notice that he passed the audition.

According to the arrangements, he rushed to the crew of 'The Legend of the Changqing Swordsman' on Monday morning to attend the opening ceremony.

Director Zheng Yangping handed him a brand new script and said slowly, "Xiao Liang, the script has been changed again. This is the latest revised version, take a rough look at it first."

"Oh okay." Liang Jin took the script, flipped through the outline of the plot, and was once again shocked.

Why has the plot changed so much again?

Previously, it was the female lead's scenes that were deleted, but now it's giving the villain a crazy amount of extra scenes.

Qin Hongyi's master, Hua Junhao, was originally an important role, and after adding more scenes, he directly crushed the heroine and became the most frequent character in this drama, apart from the male lead.

Originally, the two of them were in dire straits and did not share the same fate. With this change, it became a situation where Qin Hongyi and Hua Junhao loved each other but killed each other, and there was even… a hint of a dual male lead in there.

He even had reason to suspect that the scriptwriter was a fan of their CP...

Liang Jin politely asked, "This villain's part, why was so much added at once?"

Before Zheng Yangping had time to explain, Yu Shan's sultry voice sounded from the side: "What? Do you have an opinion?"

Liang Jin was surprised, "Why are you here?"

Wearing sunglasses, Yu Shan snorted, "Why can't I be here?"

Zheng Yangping said, "Xiao Liang, the script was revised by Emperor Yu, he intends to take over the role of Hua Junhao."

Yu Shan smiled with bewildering confidence, "Liang Jin, see? If Ji Xiuyuan can change this script, so can I."

Liang Jin was extremely regretful inside: "Is it too late for me to break the contract and run away?"

Yu Shan huffed, "Liang Jin, I advise you not to be ungrateful. Do you know how many people outside are begging to be paired up with me? You should be thankful that this Emperor is willing to support you."

The contract had already been signed, think about the liquidated damages, forget about it. Liang Jin sighed, "Aren't I joking with you? I'm really happy to work with the Emperor!"

"You better be genuinely happy."

"Emperor Yu, if there's nothing else, I'll leave first!"

"Wait!" Yu Shan suddenly whispered, "Did you recently take an advert?"

"What advert?" Liang Jin's mind suddenly floated to a certain erotic product, and his face suddenly reddened, "It has nothing to do with you, right!!!"

"How is it not related?" Yu Shan teased, "I purposely bought the one you endorsed, it's quite exciting."

"I don't want to know!!!"

"Liang Jin, having sex with you should feel good."

"Don't disgust me!"

"Someone like Ji Xiuyuan, I don't think it's possible for you to screw him, right? But I can, do you want to try with me?"

"... Get lost!!!"

After Liang Jin left, Yu Shan had doubts about his personal charm.

He went back to his luxury van and said to Ruan Jun, "Hey, Ruan Jun, let me ask you. What do you think of me?"

Ruan Jun opened a bottle of champagne, poured the drink into a glass and handed it to him, "Brother Yu is the best."

"In what ways?"

"Whether it's appearance or acting skills, Brother Yu is the brightest under the sky."

"If I wanted to have sex with you, would you refuse?"

Ruan Jun froze instantly, only knowing how to look stupidly at Yu Shan.

"Hey, dork, speak."

Ruan Jun lowered his eyelids, "Of course not. It would be my honour to be favoured by Brother Yu."

"Then why would anyone not want it?"

"Because they don't understand Brother Yu."

"How can I make him understand me?"

"Who does 'him' refer to?"

"Liang Jin. I want to get him into bed."

"Why?"

"He's the most innocent I've ever seen, I just don't believe he can really be that steadfast."

Ruan Jun said seriously, "Brother Yu, sometimes, what you are chasing is not necessarily what you really like. You're just caught in the illusion of the hunt, maybe what you're chasing has been right next to you all along."

"Yo, I didn't expect you to say things like that." Yu Shan reclined on the chair, swayed the glass in his hand, and gently took a sip of wine, "Then tell me, what am I chasing?"

"Brother Yu, what you are chasing is a sense of security." Ruan Jun whispered, "Although you appear to be flirtatious on the surface and treat relationships very casually, in reality, you're protecting yourself, and you don't dare to commit yourself sincerely. That's why even though you've had a very long history of love affairs, there's not a single person you've truly loved."

Yu Shan tightly clenched his cup in silence.

Ruan Jun stared into his eyes and continued, "Your current infatuation with Liang Jin is purely out of a yearning for faithful feelings. You wish to have such feelings, but like a coward you refuse to take a step forward. In other words, you don't like him at all and are just fooling yourself."

Yu Shan pulled Ruan Jun's collar and splashed the wine in his glass all over his face, "A bunch of nonsense, I don't know what you're talking about."

Ruan Jun smiled obediently, the wine slid along the side of his face and into his collar, "I'm sorry Brother Yu, I said the wrong thing."

———

When Liang Jin returned home from work, he saw Morgana as soon as he opened the door.

Morgana warmly embraced him, "Xiao Jin, long time no see! Welcome home!"

She took Liang Jin's hand and led him to the living room, "I have a gift for you!"

Morgana took out a beautifully wrapped gift from a beautiful gift box, "Open it and have a look?"

Liang Jin unwrapped the gift, and inside were nine beautifully drawn portraits. Looking closely, he realised that each postcard depicted his and Ji Xiuyuan's wedding and holiday in France.

From the embracing and kissing in the church, to the holiday routine in the small town of Giverny.

One scene after another was all about sweet love and overflowing tenderness.

Liang Jin sighed inwardly: What kind of divine painting is this? It's too beautiful!

Morgana's painting style was very different from Ji Xiuyuan's, with the characteristic softness and delicacy of a woman. Under her depiction, the love between the two was as romantic and beautiful as a fairy tale.

Liang Jin sincerely said, "It's so beautiful! I love it, thank you!"

"We are family, you and Vincent are both my children, there's no need to be polite." Morgana said, "The set of postcards I gifted you are my original paintings. In France, I printed many more sets and put them for sale in the art shop in the town of Giverny. The shop owner told me that the sales were particularly good and that you were very popular!"

Liang Jin: ......

"With the money I earned, I increased the amount of printing. I hope that one day, every tourist travelling to Giverny will discover this beauty."

"... Thank you." Liang Jin asked, "Are you here this time to participate in an event?"

Morgana smiled, "No! Xiao Jin, it's almost Christmas!"

Liang Jin looked at his mobile phone, it was already December 22nd, "The days go by so fast, in the blink of an eye, it will be the end of the year."

"It's a very lucky thing to have met Xiao Jin this year, so we're going to celebrate!" Morgana took out a long handwritten list, "Here's a detailed list of things I want to buy, at night, you and Vincent can go shopping together!"

"Okay."

After dinner, Ji Xiuyuan and Liang Jin followed Morgana's instructions and went shopping at the mall together.

Purposely choosing an enormous shopping cart, Liang Jin whispered, "Ji Shen, in fact, I've always had a dream of sitting in a shopping cart and gallivanting between the shelves of the supermarket. But when I was a kid, my mum was so strict, I never got to experience this kind of joy."

Ji Xiuyuan rubbed his hair, "So?"

"So, I'm kind of jumping up and down now."

"Shall I help you up?"

"Ah ah ah no!" Liang Jin said, "I'm an adult now! Isn't it a little inappropriate to do that? I always feel a bit ashamed."

"Xiao Jin, are you more afraid of losing face, or do you want to sit in the shopping cart more?"

"Sit sit sit!" Liang Jin said, "No one knows me anyway!"

He climbed into the shopping cart with his hands and feet, and excitedly said, "Ji Shen, go go go! Let's get going!"

Ji Xiuyuan laughed lightly, "Xiao Jin, turn around first."

Liang Jin looked sideways, "What's wrong?"

Ji Xiuyuan leaned over and kissed him on the lips, "Pay the labour fee first."

A little girl passing by was so excited that her face turned red.

Liang Jin whispered, "Ji Shen, this is a public place a-ah!"

"It's precisely because it's a public place that I'm extra restrained. Otherwise," Ji Xiuyuan squeezed his waist, "there would be more outrageous things."

"... This kind of thing, let's talk about it at home!"

Between the orderly rows of shelves, Ji Xiuyuan pushed the shopping cart, in which sat Liang Jin, and piled up all sorts of purchases.

While holding the list, Liang Jin selected goods from the shelves on both sides. From time to time, he would turn his head back and ask Ji Xiuyuan, "Ji Shen, what does this word on the list mean?"

In order to take care of Liang Jin, Morgana had specially written the shopping list in Chinese. However, there were some things that she really didn't know how to express in Chinese, so she wrote them in English or French.

Ji Xiuyuan looked at it and said, "Christmas tree."

"Wow, we're buying a whole Christmas tree?"

"Mhmm."

"Awesome! It feels like it's going to be so much fun! I'm going to hang my entire collection on a Christmas tree!"

"Xiao Jin, what does your collection refer to?"

"Lego robots! Cards and marbles!"

"Then I'm going to hang my collection too."

"What are you collecting?"

Ji Xiuyuan hung his head and whispered in his ear, "My collection of erotic items."

Liang Jin's ears turned red: "Don't hang that kind of thing!!!"

At night, when he returned home and lay on his bed, Liang Jin once again took out the postcards that Morgana had given him and admired them.

The one he liked the most depicted the scene of two people kissing each other in Sainte-Radegonde Church.

On the back of the postcard, a few lines in French were written in a very beautiful and pleasing script:

Il est des êtres dont c'est le destin de se croiser.

Où qu'ils soient. Où qu'ils aillent.

Un jour ils se rencontrent.

Liang Jin asked, "Ji Shen, what does this mean?"

Ji Xiuyuan wrapped him in his arms, "It means that our meeting was destined to happen."

There are people whose destiny it is to meet.

No matter where they are, no matter where they go.

One day, they will definitely meet.

‿︵‿︵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: July 24, 2023