39

Lin Qingning came back to himself first, glanced at Wen Nu beside him, and whispered in disbelief: 'So handsome...'

A kind of handsomeness totally different from Pei Xu and the others—paler, brighter, with a tall, vigorous air about him.

Wen Nu didn't even hear what Lin Qingning said. He just stared, dumbstruck.

Duan Yihua was already tipsy, not fully sober, and seeing Zhai Xingchen now was like falling into a dream—their mind went completely blank.

Hu Ying's heart was pounding hard. She felt that Zhai Xingchen, in just black and white, was even more regal than Pei Xu.

Huo Cheng unconsciously rubbed his nose, eyes fixed on Zhai Xingchen, but said nothing.

Pei Xu and Yan Zhi didn't say anything either, because Zhai Xingchen had already walked up to them.

Zhai Xingchen asked, 'Where do I stand?'

The staff member beside them finally snapped out of it and said, 'So handsome, Zhai Xingchen.'

Zhai Xingchen smiled when he heard that.

'Don't smile.'

Zhai Xingchen asked, 'Why?'

'My heart can't take it.'

Do they have to be this dramatic?

They were already pretty familiar with the staff by now—everyone blew sunshine at each other and cracked jokes.

Zhai Xingchen glanced at Yan Zhi and the others across from him.

Wow wow wow, the male leads in suits are so handsome!

Most importantly, even though the three male leads wore suits with similar styles and colors, they came out looking like completely different types.

Yan Zhi had that Asceticism look—looked like a refined gentleman, the kind of gentleman who'd ruin you. Pei Xu was the gentleman type, refined and dashing. Huo Cheng was the buzz-cut, lean, tough-guy type, full of hormones.

Hard to say in the moment which one was more handsome!

Guo Bing wasn't standing at the monitor this time—he was on-site in person. He kept his professional work attitude, taking in every micro-expression from the male guests. His wolf blood was boiling, and on instinct he went looking for the cameras around them, afraid they'd forget to give the guests close-ups!

Just look at Yan Zhi's little glances at Zhai Xingchen every few seconds!

Just look at how much naked affection is in Huo Cheng's unstoppable smile!

And look at Pei Xu—on a face that never smiles, he might as well have written 'obsessed' right across it!

Zhai Xingchen in a suit seemed to have suddenly become much more composed. The photographer told him roughly what they were shooting, and Zhai Xingchen tilted his head down slightly, listening attentively. His demeanor had returned to that between-boy-and-man feeling—humble, gentle.

'You don't need to stand. Sit here,' the ad photographer said. 'We'll shoot this one first.'

Zhai Xingchen saw an extremely luxurious red sofa placed in front of Pei Xu and the others.

'I'm sitting?'

It's because the three male leads can't be balanced, so they put him in the center seat.

His treatment as the supporting male had shot straight up.

But thinking about it more carefully, it made sense—the three male leads were all equal in status, none of them could sit, so the weakest one, him, was actually the most suitable for that spot.

So he sat down in the chair.

Next came adjusting the lights and poses. A staff member stood across from him holding a white light, but the photographer still wanted them to look straight ahead.

'Huo Cheng, step back a bit, then lean your body forward,' the photographer said.

Huo Cheng, who was standing in the middle, took a step back as instructed.

'Like this?' He leaned forward slightly, both hands pressing on the back of the sofa, his upper body almost touching Zhai Xingchen—like a beast lying in wait behind him.

The photographer glanced at the camera and said, 'Yan Zhi and Pei Xu, both move in a bit.'

Yan Zhi leaned lazily against the right side of the sofa, his gold-rimmed glasses glinting with that gentleman-who'd-ruin-you light.

Pei Xu stood on the left with one hand in his pocket, cool and aloof, expression cold, devastatingly handsome.

'Zhai Xingchen, relax your expression. Right, don't smile—almost-smile is fine. Mm-hmm, good, good. The other three, no expression. Give me that Love Variety Show Asura-field look!'

Zhai Xingchen thought, this photographer really knows how to shoot.

But wouldn't it feel more like four tops fighting over one bottom if they had the four Blue Team male guests standing in the back and swapped in a Red Team guest on the sofa?

Well, a luxury-brand ad photographer wasn't someone he could question.

'Ready, OK, very good.'

Click click click click—an uncountable number of shots in a row, and finally it was done.

Guo Bing looked at the photos that came out.

Holy shit, he felt like these could go straight up as promotional images—the relationships between the characters had so much tension.

After that shot, they finally took one of the four male guests standing together.

Zhai Xingchen voluntarily moved to the very edge.

'Zhai Xingchen, stand in the middle again. You're the shortest. Middle looks more balanced.'

Not really—he's 183, not much shorter than Yan Zhi, not much shorter than Pei Xu either.

Of the four of them, only Huo Cheng was notably taller.

After the group shot, they took another one in pairs.

Pei Xu and Yan Zhi went first.

Two men most suited to suits—both equally young, devastatingly handsome, heart-stopping.

For a moment, Zhai Xingchen almost wanted to ship the wrong CP.

Then Huo Cheng and Pei Xu, then Huo Cheng and Yan Zhi.

Huo Cheng was too dominant—standing next to anyone, they became a power couple.

Zhai Xingchen had read similar fiction before.

He suddenly realized that on this show, Blue-Blue pairings actually had great chemistry too! Any two of the three picked at random would be a power-couple story from Jinjiang!

They were young, handsome, exceptionally capable, with simple clean love lives, and more money than they could ever spend.

He turned to look at the Red Team guests—their gazes were all so focused. Even Hu Ying, who was usually lively, was lying on her knees, so shy, so focused.

Yeah yeah, who could help loving the three male leads?

Just like the original novel described Pei Xu—they didn't have to do anything, just stand there, and a pile of people would fall for them.

Finally it was his turn.

First was him and Huo Cheng.

Huo Cheng smiled at Zhai Xingchen.

He figured Huo Cheng's buzz hadn't worn off yet, because his cheeks were a little redder than usual.

'A bit hot,' Huo Cheng said.

'We have flowers here, and the guests bought them all,' Guo Bing reminded them.

'Then maybe try using flowers as a backdrop,' the photographer said.

They set up a vase behind them.

The photographer took two test shots. Guo Bing suddenly leaned in close to the photographer's ear and whispered a few words.

The photographer smiled and said, 'Sure.'

He had the staff take the flowers out of the vase and gave both Zhai Xingchen and Huo Cheng a stem of Everlasting Memory each.

'Just Everlasting Memory? We bought a lot of other flowers too,' Zhai Xingchen reminded.

'We'll shoot them separately so they're not all the same. Don't need to hold too much,' the photographer said.

Okay then.

Everlasting Memory didn't keep as well as Baby's Breath—the flowers were already a bit wilted. The photographer felt that this realness and withering had its own special beauty.

Four men, four completely different types—different pairs brought out different chemistry.

When it was Yan Zhi and Zhai Xingchen's turn, the photographer had them switch to Baby's Breath.

It was at that moment Yan Zhi realized the Production Team had seen through all his feelings.

Guo Bing, as a Love Variety Show director, did have some skills—sharp eyes, good at constructing shots.

'Do we all have to take the same kind of photos?' Yan Zhi spoke up, adjusting his glasses. 'Can we do different poses?'

'Sure,' the photographer said.

Yan Zhi put his arm around Zhai Xingchen's shoulder.

Zhai Xingchen froze for a second, then smiled and reached out to wrap an arm around Yan Zhi's lower back.

'You don't need to reach your arm around,' Yan Zhi said softly.

Zhai Xingchen froze again.

Hugs both ways would highlight the close bond between good bros better, wouldn't it?

But Yan Zhi had more experience with photo shoots than him—what he said goes.

Zhai Xingchen lowered his arm and held the Baby's Breath with both hands.

'Smile,' Yan Zhi suddenly said again.

Zhai Xingchen broke into a grin.

*Click*—one photo done.

Yan Zhi really did have experience—after the shot, he went over to check with the photographer.

In the picture, he had his arm around Zhai Xingchen's shoulder, and Zhai Xingchen held the Baby's Breath, smiling brightly.

When it was finally Pei Xu's turn to shoot, Zhai Xingchen said, 'See? Everyone else bought flowers. You didn't, so now you have nothing to hold.'

The Production Team staff burst out laughing.

Pei Xu was silent for a moment, then said, 'There are still Rose Flowers unused. Let me borrow yours.'

'There's also Lily and Tulip,' Huo Cheng said.

He didn't think Pei Xu was deliberately choosing Rose Flower—probably just forgot that besides Everlasting Memory, he'd also bought Lily and Tulip.

The staff brought over the Rose Flower, Tulip, and Lily for them to choose from.

But in the end, this pair still went with Rose Flower.

Mainly because the photographer liked it—felt Rose Flower suited the Love Variety Show theme.

'You two can pose however you want for the shoot,' the photographer said. 'Back to back, arm around shoulder, front and back, side by side—anything works.'

Huo Cheng beside them said ruefully, 'When they shot me, I stood ramrod straight.'

But Pei Xu didn't take any overly intimate shots. He said to Zhai Xingchen, 'Your tie's crooked. Don't you have a clip?'

Zhai Xingchen looked down—he didn't see how his tie was crooked.

But Pei Xu had already taken off one of his own tie clips and pinned it on him.

'Doesn't it suit you?' Pei Xu asked softly as he pinned it on.

The shoot environment was noisy, so Zhai Xingchen barely heard him. He looked down—and the tie clip actually had a star pattern on it.

A silver-white tie clip, pinned on a crisp black tie.

Then Pei Xu stepped next to Zhai Xingchen: 'Let's shoot it like this.'

Pei Xu didn't smile. He looked serious instead.

A staff member glanced at the shot and muttered, 'Isn't the pose a bit too proper? No smiles either—it's all carried by their looks.'

'At first glance, it looks like a wedding photo.'

One more look...

It really did kind of look like one.

After all the photos were done, Zhai Xingchen was so tired he kept holding his waist.

He'd really worked way too hard today. He'd started practicing dance in the morning, danced all day, performed at night, went drinking and dancing, then came back and shot photos for almost two hours.

He really hadn't expected just taking these photos to be this much trouble, taking this long.

Being an artist is no joke.

'Tired?' Yan Zhi asked softly.

Zhai Xingchen nodded.

'All done shooting for today, right?' Yan Zhi asked the Director.

Guo Bing said, 'Done. After you all send your texts, you can rest.'

There were a lot of lights on at the venue, plus he was wearing a suit—Zhai Xingchen felt like he was about to sweat. He loosened his collar and leaned back on the sofa to look at the finished shots the photographer had taken. A top photographer is a top photographer—the photos had real quality.

'Some post-production tweaking will make it even better,' the photographer said, looking up at Zhai Xingchen. 'What do you do, young man?'

'He's a dancer,' Guo Bing said.

'No wonder,' the photographer said. 'Great proportions, very photogenic.'

Huo Cheng turned to look at Zhai Xingchen when he heard that.

Everything the photographer said was right.

After the shoot was completely over, the staff gradually left. Zhai Xingchen walked toward his bedroom, holding his waist.

'Remember to send your texts before sleeping later,' Guo Bing said. 'One more bit of hard work, and tomorrow will be easy.'

The crowded living room quickly emptied out. Hu Ying and the others went upstairs too. As soon as they reached the small living room, Hu Ying collapsed onto the sofa.

Only Duan Yihua sat on the stairs for a while longer.

Huo Cheng followed Zhai Xingchen back to his room and watched as Zhai Xingchen took off his suit. Taking off the jacket was fine, but the moment he saw him start to take off his pants, Huo Cheng immediately walked out of the room. The staff laughed at him and said, 'Our Xingchen doesn't mind being seen.'

Zhai Xingchen looked up when he heard that.

He was wearing knee-length shorts underneath—he didn't mind being seen.

But a few of the staff couldn't help glancing at his legs.

Such white, such straight legs!

Zhai Xingchen returned the suit to the Production Team, then took the tie clip and went to Pei Xu's room.

No staff went into Pei Xu's room—they all stood at the door.

'Tie clip,' Zhai Xingchen said.

Pei Xu undid his shirt buttons and said, 'It's yours. Keep it.'

'I basically don't wear suits. I don't need it.'

Plus the tie clip looked pretty expensive.

Pei Xu said, 'I have tons. More than I can use.'

Zhai Xingchen smiled, but still put the tie clip down on the table.

Pei Xu saw him about to leave and reached out to grab his arm.

Zhai Xingchen turned to look at him. Pei Xu's features were so striking, so fair, devastatingly handsome enough to make your heart stop—but his hand was flushed red, with the outline of blue veins on the back and clearly defined knuckles.

'Take it,' Pei Xu said. 'I gave one to everyone. Consider it a memento.'

Pei Xu said, 'Really.'

Zhai Xingchen was surprised and asked, 'You prepared a gift for everyone?'

As expected of a Jinjiang male lead—thought of everything.

He hadn't even prepared gifts for the guests.

Pei Xu hummed in agreement, picked up the tie clip from the table, and placed it in his palm.

Zhai Xingchen thought Pei Xu was really thoughtful—this tie clip definitely wasn't bought at random, because look, the one he gave him even had a star pattern.

He put thought into it.

'Then what kind did you give Hu Ying and the others? Do they all have special patterns?'

Pei Xu paused for a moment, then hummed in agreement.

'Can I see?' He wanted to learn—after all, Jinjiang male leads' romance always left real men in the dust by a million miles.

Pei Xu's throat moved, and he finally choked out: 'Secret.'

Sigh, alright then.

Zhai Xingchen closed his hand around the tie clip and said, 'Then thanks. I really like it. Next time I wear a suit, I'll use it.'

Pei Xu watched Zhai Xingchen leave, pulled his shirt out of his waistband, and rummaged through the drawer for tie clips.

Two more left.

So he called his assistant.

'Yeah, tie clips. Could you buy me a few and bring them over tomorrow?'

The staff at the door exchanged looks.

'Um, Pei-ge, your clo—' The staff member had just poked his head in, saw Pei Xu taking off his pants, and scrambled back in fright.

His buddy asked, 'What happened?'

He shook his head, his face red.

He thought Pei Xu's body was incredible—those two strong, sculpted long legs paired with black briefs, absolutely killer.