Let Me Meet You chapter 17
Are You Stupid?
Sheng Min’s place wasn’t far from the filming location, but the traffic caused a fifteen-minute delay on what would typically be a thirty-minute journey. Fortunately, they’d planned extra time, so they still arrived on schedule.
As expected, Zhang Zhihua had already arrived, sitting in the lounge. on his phone, glancing toward the door every so often. When he saw them come in, he instinctively started to stand but then thought to himself, If I stand up, won’t that make me look like I’m afraid of him? So, halfway up, he sat back down awkwardly, nearly missing the chair and creating a comical moment.
Li Xuan, however, ignored his theatrics entirely, taking a seat and not giving him a second glance.
“Why are you only arriving now? The shoot is about to start.” Zhang Zhihua, irritated by the lack of acknowledgment, started to complain.
Li Xuan, busy thinking about company matters, couldn’t be bothered to respond.
“Yang Xu,” Zhang Zhihua, annoyed by the lack of reaction, turned his attention to Yang Xu, venting his anger. “Didn’t I tell you to get here earlier? Look at the time. How are you handling this?”
Yang Xu, too nervous to argue, mumbled that traffic was heavy.
“Traffic is an excuse? No sense of punctuality. What’s next? Not showing up if there’s too much traffic?” Feeling triumphant, Zhang Zhihua pressed on, hoping to further assert himself, but Li Xuan, fed up with the noise, cut in.
“If you want to argue, go outside,” Li Xuan said coldly, still looking at his phone. “Or, better yet, draft a solution for traffic congestion and submit it to the city council. With that skill, you wouldn’t have to stoop to being a manager here.”
Zhang Zhihua’s face turned dark, his frustration redirected toward Sheng Min. “And him, I can’t even call him out for being late. Why are you bringing random people along when shooting an ad?”
Sheng Min thought, This isn’t good.
“Don’t get angry,” he quickly whispered to Li Xuan.
It was no use.
The next second, Li Xuan put down his phone, turned, and for the first time that day looked directly at Zhang Zhihua. “He’s my assistant—what’s the problem with him being here?” He let out a cold laugh. “But you, this early in the morning, looking for trouble?”
His tone was extremely calm, and for a moment, Zhang Zhihua couldn’t tell if he meant “looking for trouble” or “looking for a fight.” Feeling a surge of anger, he wanted to retort, but meeting Li Xuan’s icy gaze, it was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, extinguishing his anger on the spot.
It really is different from before. Zhang Zhihua recalled the scolding he received that morning at Sheng Min’s home, and he found himself feeling a bit afraid of him. How could this be? How could someone change so completely in such a short time?
The atmosphere became tense. Sheng Min gestured to the makeup artist, who had been standing at the door observing, “Please come in and do the makeup.”
The makeup artist, fearing they might start arguing again, hesitated to enter. Sheng Min had no choice but to gently poke Li Xuan, who was sitting while he stood, right at his waist.
“It tickles,” Li Xuan frowned but didn’t say anything more and turned his face away.
Zhang Zhihua finally regained some composure and, trying to ease the tension, awkwardly said to the makeup artist, “He’s in a bad mood today.”
The makeup artist gave an awkward smile but didn’t respond. Zhang Zhihua felt disheartened and left the lounge room with an unpleasant expression. Yang Xu followed him out to coordinate with the brand representatives.
The makeup artist was a middle-aged woman in her forties who had done makeup for Sheng Min before and was familiar with his skin type and face shape. She was usually calm and didn’t speak much, but after the earlier tension, her movements became much quicker. After applying the final touches, she packed up her makeup kit and left.
“What kind of stuff did they put on me?” Li Xuan muttered, half-closing his eyes and waving his hand in an attempt to fan it away. “I can’t even breathe.”
In reality, Sheng Min had good skin, and the foundation was just a light layer. Li Xuan was simply not used to it. Sheng Min held his arm to stop him, saying, “Don’t touch it, or you’ll mess up the makeup. You’ll take it off right after the shoot; it won’t take long.” Glancing at his watch, he estimated they still had time and asked, “Do you want to review the ad proposal again?”
They had already looked at it once on the way, but since Li Xuan had only skimmed it quickly the night before for about two minutes, Sheng Min felt a bit uneasy.
Upon hearing this, Li Xuan turned his head to look at him and lazily held up three fingers.
“What?” Sheng Min asked, confused.
“There are three pages in total; besides the company profile, it’s the advertising strategy. Do I need to memorize it word for word?” Li Xuan said. After a pause, he began reciting in a flat tone, “In 1878, this brand was established in Switzerland. After a century of development, it has become a world-renowned luxury watch and jewelry brand… The product style is…”
Sheng Min suddenly realized he was reciting the contents of the proposal and exclaimed, “You memorized it?”
“The product style is classical and exquisite, simple and beautiful.” Li Xuan insisted on finishing the last part before stopping and glancing at him.
Sheng Min looked down at the proposal, which was completely accurate, and was astonished. “You memorized all of it? You only looked at it for such a short time…”
“First you say I have a bad temper, and now you’re complaining that I’m not serious,” Li Xuan interrupted him, took a sip of water, and spoke flatly. “You’re quite bold today.”
“You know that’s not what I meant,” Sheng Min replied, seeing that Li Xuan didn’t seem genuinely angry. He was curious, “Did you really memorize all of it?”
“Guess.”
“Why do you always want me to guess?” Sheng Min muttered.
Li Xuan found his expression amusing and smiled, “Of course I…”
“Mr. Sheng.” Before he could finish, someone knocked on the doorframe; it was a staff member from the brand. “The shoot is about to start.”
“Okay.” Li Xuan stood up to leave, and Sheng Min also got up. “What were you saying?”
Li Xuan glanced at him and gently waved his hand for him to move close.
“Hmm?” Sheng Min obediently leaned closer.
Li Xuan tilted his head and leaned close to his ear. It was too close, and Sheng Min wanted to move away slightly but was held by his shoulder. Li Xuan’s voice, with a hint of a smile, brushed past his ear: “Of course, I only memorized the first sentence. Are you stupid?”
Sheng Min felt a tickling sensation as if tiny ants were crawling over his skin, a sudden itch in his ear. Li Xuan left the room, and Sheng Min quickly followed.
“Are you blushing from that?” Li Xuan noticed that one of Sheng Min’s ears had turned red and laughed. “Does that mean when you talk to girls, you stutter?”
Sheng Min pursed his lips, not saying anything.
They turned a corner and arrived at the filming set, where the crew was making final adjustments to the props. Taking advantage of this time, Sheng Min quickly explained how to look at the camera angles. Li Xuan nodded, indicating he understood. Sheng Min could only trust that he remembered everything and briefly mentioned some points to pay attention to. The director then called for the shoot to begin.
Sheng Min nervously stepped aside, but a female staff member, seeing him for the first time and finding him handsome, mistook him for a new star following a senior. She hesitated, then tried to strike up a conversation.
Sheng Min was too nervous to engage, offering only a polite smile while keeping his focus on the set.
As it turned out, his worries were justified. Li Xuan, being a beginner, wasn’t used to it. The director assumed he was familiar with the process and didn’t offer much guidance. After a while, something felt off.
“Mr. Sheng,” the director called for a cut. “You don’t seem to be in good form today. Do you need a break?”
Li Xuan didn’t respond immediately, and Sheng Min felt a bit worried. Then he saw Li Xuan step over some silver decorations on the ground and walk to the director’s side. “Let me take a look at the monitor.”
His tone was extremely calm, showing neither shame at being pointed out for not performing well nor fear about not being able to resolve the issue. He bent down to carefully look at the footage they had just filmed for a while and then straightened up, scanning the surrounding cameras.
Sheng Min walked over, not caring whether the crew would find it strange, wanting to explain to Li Xuan again. Li Xuan sensed his intention, gently waved his hand, and went back to looking at the monitor, slightly frowning as if he were deep in thought. His expression was serious, similar to when he sat in the study in front of the computer.
“Mr. Sheng, what are you looking at? Is the lighting off today?” the director asked.
“No,” Li Xuan replied, straightening up to glance at Sheng Min, signaling him to relax, his gaze calm. Sheng Min felt his heart strangely settle at that glance. Then Li Xuan walked back to the front of the curtain. “Let’s start.”
When they began filming again, it was indeed much better.
Of course, Li Xuan was still a novice, and his movements were somewhat stiff, maintaining a cold expression in front of a group of strangers. But since this was an advertisement for a high-end watch, that aloofness fit the brand’s tone perfectly. The result of the shoot wasn’t outstanding, but it was still quite watchable.
“It’s done. That’s a wrap.” After filming two takes and some close-up expressions, the director finished the shoot before Li Xuan’s patience ran out.
The staff gathered around to thank him for his hard work and Sheng Min noticed Li Xuan giving a polite nod, saying, “Thank you everyone for your hard work,” before he went back to the lounge, exhaling heavily.
Sheng Min rushed after him and handed him some water, “Thank you for your hard work.”
“It was hard work.” Li Xuan grumbled lightly.
“Why the difference in treatment?” Sheng Min laughed. “Sit for a while, the makeup artist will come to remove your makeup, then we can head back.”
Li Xuan murmured an acknowledgment. Having the makeup on for so long wasn’t as uncomfortable as he’d expected.
He glanced at himself in the mirror, the circle of lights around the makeup mirror casting a glow on his face. The features in the mirror were well-defined, with a sleek jawline, gentle brows, slightly upturned peach blossom eyes, and a small dip on the upper lip, while the nose was high and straight, balancing the soft yet sharp appearance.
The bone structure and facial features were impressive. Thinking back to what he’d just seen on the monitor, Li Xuan realized there wasn’t an angle where this face didn’t look good.
Li Xuan had never paid such close attention to a man’s appearance before; in fact, he didn’t even look at women closely. For most of his life, he had only focused on himself, uninterested in others.
“You…”
“What?”
It was an unconscious thought, and he hadn’t planned on saying it, but Sheng Min’s gaze stayed intently on him, waiting for him to continue.
“You’re actually pretty good-looking,” Li Xuan coughed.
“Ah.” Sheng Min hadn’t expected that response and didn’t know how to react, so after a moment, his ears reddened slightly. “Thanks.”
It was oddly awkward. Li Xuan took a sip of water, saying nonchalantly, “Where’s Yang Xu?”
“I don’t know,” Sheng Min answered earnestly.
Fine, it didn’t matter. Li Xuan thought to himself, I didn’t really want to know anyway.
The air between them turned a bit awkward until Sheng Min’s phone rang, breaking the tension. He glanced at the caller ID. “I’ll take this call outside.”
Li Xuan noticed his tense expression. “Remember to use the voice changer.”