Love Contract chapter 16
Group Photo
Shen Sijia easily became chatty after drinking, and since it was graduation day, she chatted with Jiang Liusui about their journey from sophomore to senior year. She drank quite a bit more, and Zhou Xun had to help her out of the barbecue place.
Even so, Shen Sijia didn’t forget the important matter of the evening: “Suisui! I’ll message you at midnight! First-hand fresh reactions! Pure fan, professional review… Zhou Xun, why are you pulling me?!”
“Embarrassed by you,” Zhou Xun said with a look of disdain as she ended with a hiccup.
Jiang Liusui found it amusing and, seeing Shen Sijia nearly unable to stand, reminded, “Then you should take her home and be careful on the way.”
“You too, be careful on your way home.” Zhou Xun added with more caution, “Shen Sijia isn’t reliable; she’ll probably collapse as soon as she gets home. Call me if you need anything.”
By the time Jiang Liusui got home, took a shower, and changed into comfortable clothes on the couch, less than ten minutes remained until midnight.
He casually played with his phone for a while, and when it was almost time, he refreshed the page again and saw that He Yujing’s studio had released the video on time. Almost simultaneously, Shengyun’s official Weibo account retweeted the post.
- 【”The Faded Color,” about inspiration and love.】
It had been two years since He Yujing’s last official album release, and countless people eagerly awaited this first single. In less than a minute, the comments and retweets were astonishing.
Jiang Liusui clicked on the MV. The screen unfolded with a smooth and lively melody, showing a troubled painter who wandered into a flower garden in a sun shower and met a boy who had just woken up.
The scene before the painter’s eyes was breathtaking, and the exhausted inspiration seemed to bloom again. The painter reached out his hand, and the boy, more beautiful than flowers, went home with him and became his lover.
…
…
Huang Zhicheng’s every frame was shot with great aesthetic sense, and with He Yujing’s usual strong and impactful visual style, the MV’s brilliant colors and the atmosphere of the loving yet broken relationship were captivating. The song, as the main feature, perfectly matched the entire story, adding a sense of contradiction to the MV.
[Wow, this He Yujing, the song is ridiculously good!! It’s one of the most stunning works I’ve heard recently. As soon as the intro played, I knew it was right!] [Is He Yujing a genius?? I was so tired at this hour, but his singing woke me up. It’s like he’s telling a story.] [So beautiful, so beautiful, so beautiful, am I listening to celestial music?! It made me cry!] [Impressed, He Yujing, you’re such a jerk! Jerk but so handsome. Why sing such a deep, emotional song about being a jerk, ugh, I can’t even bear to scold you!!] [Thought I’d finally see He Yujing dancing, but it turned out to be a purely plot-driven MV. Still, it was shot really well!] [Oh my gosh, it’s the first time I’ve seen He Yujing filming a kissing scene! The part during the infatuation period is even considered a bed scene if you round it up. Either don’t shoot at all or go all out, no one can control you, He Yujing, can they???] [Who’s playing the lover? It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone so captivating. No wonder they were chosen. Are they a model or an actor?] [It’s Jiang Liusui! It’s been trending all day! For those who don’t know, you can look it up. Today, He Yujing revealed the male lead at the Guoyi. Hahaha, the manager must be pulling their hair out.] [Since the caption is about inspiration and love, does it mean Jiang Liusui is considered his inspiration?] [Throwing up, can we not ship CPs here? Where does this love brain come from?] [It’s just a normal collaboration. Everyone is just self-indulging in their fantasies. Those who oppose shouldn’t be too harsh. Jiang Liusui performed very well and matches well with He Yujing] [Although I personally think they match very well, it’s just a collaboration, and they only met at a club two months ago. How close could their relationship be? Besides, He Yujing hasn’t even paid attention to Jiang Liusui. It’s already BE before it even started. It’s impossible to ship.]The negative comments quickly got drowned out. Jiang Liusui wasn’t surprised to see a small portion of people nitpicking him, and he was just glad he didn’t let Jiang Chuan stir things up.
He couldn’t please everyone. No matter what others said, as long as he was true to himself, that was enough.
He Yujing treated him well, so he couldn’t pretend not to know about Jiang Chuan’s small actions and shamelessly ride the wave of popularity.
Thinking of this, Jiang Liusui refreshed his Weibo and found a new special follower.
It was a mutual follow.
The messages popped up one after another. Seeing that He Yujing, who had just followed him, quickly posted a new Weibo, Jiang Liusui was stunned.
It was a photo from earlier in the day at the Guoyi. He was smiling at the camera, while He Yujing happened to glance sideways at him.
At first glance, the photo seemed fine, but upon closer inspection, He Yujing had cropped out Chi Lianxi, leaving only the two of them.
The flood of fans instantly overwhelmed He Yujing’s Weibo, and the top comment was unexpectedly from the unfortunate person who was cropped out.
【Chi Lianxi】: [Where am I???]
[Can’t stop laughing! He Yujing, don’t think no one saw today’s photo from Guoyi. There were clearly three people in that photo! I can imagine Teacher Chi’s anger when typing this, hahahaha!] [Lao gong, Lao gong, Lao gong, it’s been so long! Finally caught your Weibo update! Wahhhh QAQ!] [The new song is super, super good! Lao gong, you worked hard. Looking forward to the whole album!] [What does this mean? Am I really shipping it?! Lao gong, did you directly follow and post a photo to prove your relationship?] [So you also have such a gentle side? Somehow, the look in the photo seems so indulgent. Who understands?]…..
The comments surged instantly. Jiang Liusui was scrolling down when Jiang Chuan called. From his tone, he sounded overjoyed: “Have you seen the MV? It’s so well-made, and the reviews are great. The top six trending searches are all related to this MV!”
“I’ve contacted a promotion company to help you with video editing and setting up a trend history—don’t worry, it’s just for you, no CP-related stuff… Ah, He Yujing is really straightforward.” After his reflection, Jiang Chuan couldn’t help but be curious, “How did you get to know him? Isn’t he quite aloof?”
Jiang Chuan, who managed the most popular boy group Zone at Gallery, considered them the company’s hope. Besides Zone, the other artists in the company were rather mediocre. A member of Zone appeared on a talk show with He Yujing. Gallery, being a subsidiary of Shengyun, thought there might be some connection between seniors and juniors, which could potentially boost exposure and create a caring senior junior image.
He tried every way to make contact, but He Yujing’s team outright refused, though they were very polite. The reason, ultimately, was their pride: they didn’t want to create such an image, and they just weren’t familiar with each other.
Hearing Jiang Chuan’s probing, Jiang Liusui replied, “Not really. Yu Ge is very nice and considerate.”
Without the superstar aura, He Yujing wasn’t as unreasonable as the rumors suggested, but he was more reckless and childish compared to ordinary people.
It was quite rare and interesting.
Jiang Liusui looked at the intentionally cropped photo and gave it a like.
Jiang Chuan, familiar with Jiang Liusui’s personality, was surprised, “You think so highly of him? Seems like you two hit it off. The Zone kids are both in awe and fearful of him.”
After the manager mentioned this, he recalled the main purpose of the call: “Check your personal trend history. The popularity is rising faster than I expected.”
Jiang Liusui followed the advice and clicked on it.
The top related hot Weibo was a behind-the-scenes clip from the MV. Before the official shoot, Huang Zhicheng asked him to try expressing the moment of first meeting the painter, and Jiang Liusui smiled at the camera.
“That’s not right. It’s a bit too seductive.” Huang Zhicheng frowned, “Make it a bit sweeter and more innocent.”
Jiang Liusui smiled again, but Huang Zhicheng was still not satisfied. Seeing Jiang Liusui didn’t quite understand how to express it, Huang Zhicheng patiently said, “Relax, imagine something interesting to you. You’re not trying to attract him, you’re imagining how awkward it is with both of you drenched in rain. You could even secretly mock him in your mind…”
Jiang Liusui thought about it and nodded slowly.
When the camera rolled again, he suddenly broke into a smile. The expression didn’t change much, but his demeanor did.
“That’s the feeling!” Huang Zhicheng said happily, “Great, keep it up, it will definitely be even better next time!”
[Director Huang, hahahahahaha, I’m dying from laughter! I’ve already heard ‘it will definitely be better next time’ countless times in the bloopers.] [He learns so fast! Just a bit of guidance from a good director and he’s on track! Maybe it’s just my feeling, but Jiang Liusui’s temperament is so extreme, the contrast before and after is so strong!] [Sisters, go check out the bloopers of him getting his makeup done. The way he chats with the makeup artist is super soft! Feels like he wouldn’t resist if you pinched him.] [Hahahahahaha, why do I feel like Jiang Liusui isn’t that easy to bully? After all, he stands shoulder to shoulder with Lao gong and doesn’t lose any momentum. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone who can evenly match Lao gong in the same frame. PS. Chi Lianxi doesn’t count; they’re just pals.] [A little secret: My friend is from this year’s Guoyi graduation. Jiang Liusui isn’t famous, but he’s particularly well-known among students. Everyone knows he’s the guy in the acting department who’s been confessed to since the first day of school, and over the years, both men and women have confessed to him, almost continuously.] [Really…… so popular? Then he probably isn’t soft and fluffy, at least he’s very decisive in rejecting people.]“So many people are discussing you, all interested in you.” Jiang Chuan, seeing the increasing buzz, was very pleased, “I haven’t even bought much publicity! There’s so much praise!…… Ah! Why didn’t you mention that people often confess to you? Such a good marketing point, what a pity not to use it! I’ll arrange something for you when there’s a suitable opportunity.”
After discussing some work matters with his manager and hanging up the phone, Jiang Liusui looked at his own Weibo. Most of the comments under He Yujing’s personal MV and Shengyun’s official blog were from his fans or passersby, and the evaluations were either harsh or fair, without any bias. But on his own Weibo, a stream of praise filled the comments, and the compliments from the little girls made him feel a bit embarrassed.
Although he knew he wasn’t at that level and far from being as perfect as his fans described him to be.
But he was still very happy…
Jiang Liusui refreshed the homepage and saw that Chi Lianxi had also posted a new Weibo a few minutes ago:
[Have you all heard “Fading colors”? The new song is really good! As expected of you, He Yujing [smile][smile]]The accompanying picture was the full version of the group photo from Guoyi’s graduation, with all three of them. Despite promoting the new song, the two smiling emojis in the picture seemed to carry a hint of anger. Jiang Liusui couldn’t help but laugh:
“What’s going on…… These two friends must be toxic, one more childish than the other.”
Not only did he find it funny, but the comments below were all laughing: [Tonight feels like watching a sitcom, Teacher Chi actually released the complete photo… made me laugh to death. What’s this called, repaying kindness with kindness?]
[Jiang Liusui: Stuck in the middle of you two, so difficult.] [Suisui also gave Teacher Chi a thumbs up! Is this considered fair treatment?] [Hahahahahahaha, Jiang Liusui is very fair and impartial, not biased towards anyone.] [Suddenly realized this isn’t the first time he’s liked Chi Lianxi’s post. Three years ago, he also liked a behind-the-scenes photo of “Chang Jie”! He was probably just a freshman then?] [Wow?! Is he a fan, and an old one at that!] [Does this count as a successful fan chase? Although it’s in such a strange and unexpected way.]“……Seems like it really does.”
Jiang Liusui laughed enough, sent a congratulatory message to He Yujing for the success of the new song, and noticed the hat on the coffee table. He asked:
[By the way, your hat is still with me. When will you want it back?]