Chapter 13

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The other male lead has (finally) appeared!

Early the next morning, while Hua Zhao was still deep within her dreams, Cheng Xingfei was already in the airport’s VIP lounge.

Every September, Paris Fashion Week, which was known as the top of the four fashion weeks in the world, raised its curtains. Cheng Xingfei rode the wave of “Princess Hua Zhao” to become a traffic actress of the circle, receiving endless attention, and immediately there were brands who threw her invitations to invite her to Paris to watch the show.

Until they sat down on the airplane, Cheng Xingfei was preoccupied with thinking about Hua Zhao, who was at home all alone. She was extremely worried that something would happen to Hua Zhao in the week that she would be gone.

Sister P consoled her. “Didn’t you leave everything to Zhuo Yi? I believe that with Zhuo Yi there, there won’t be any issues with the little Princess.”

Seeing Cheng Xingfei still restless, Sister P went straight to talking about work to divert Cheng Xingfei’s attention.

“Xingfei, this is your first time being invited by a brand to watch a show. You don’t need to be nervous, just go with the flow.”

Cheng Xingfei nodded her head, obediently agreeing.

This time, the brand who invited Cheng Xingfei to watch the show was Vossoe, a brand that had been established for 100 years, once tailored clothes for European royalty, and had its deep roots in history.

The brand was on the haughty side, but recently there was news that said they were going to direct full force toward developing in the Chinese market, which would generate a series of commercial movements.

Sister P and their PR manager were close to each other; they had always wanted to get Cheng Xingfei the title of their brand’s spokesperson. But the PR manager secretly let slip that Vossoe’s chief designer had already appointed a Chinese artist. This mysterious spokesperson would appear in the very last, grand finale of the show.

Sister P was extremely sour. She employed her own network to listen around for quite a while, but she wasn’t able to find out which artist was the one who stole away the top pick.

“The news outlets are hiding it too strictly, too.” Sister P grew more curious the more she thought about it. “There are only so few traffic stars in the entertainment circle, but most of them already have brands and I’ve already asked around about the remaining ones. I haven’t heard about anyone being in touch with Vossoe recently.”

Cheng Xingfei helped her analyze, “Vossoe’s style is different from other brands; they’re more mature and elegant. Maybe they don’t want to look for a ‘traffic star’ but rather a film emperor or empress who’s won an award.”

Just like that, the candidate pool expanded.

Seeing that Sister P was still mulling this over, Cheng Xingfei turned to calm her down. “There’s no point in guessing about this and that right now. Won’t we know once we get to the venue?”

……

A female star going to watch a show wasn’t just watching a show — the venue was like a battlefield. Behind every star was, at the very least, several dozen team members behind the scenes!

This time Sister P exerted a lot of effort to haul in a luxury sponsor and so her outfits and accessories alone took up five suitcases in preparation. There were seven people total in the hair and makeup team. From the strands of her hair to the toes on her feet, they used their utmost power to package Cheng Xingfei into exquisite perfection.

An airport outfit for before she boarded the airplane, a street outfit for after she got off the airplane, an interview outfit for when she met with the media, a venue outfit for watching the show.

There were times Cheng Xingfei felt as if she was the heroine of a certain dress-up game. Every day her work was full of dress up, complete tasks, dress up, complete tasks… then with a voila flash of golden light, congrats to you on upgrading!

For this show, Sister P and the makeup team held several meetings before they finally decided on an outfit.

Since Cheng Xingfei’s debut, she had always presented herself in a pure style. Every time she was on the red carpet, her style was just all sorts of elegant dress skirts. This time, her stylists blazed a trail by choosing a men’s suit from the several outfits that the brand offered. The oversized coat combined with a tube top revealed an extremely delicate waist as she walked, and there was a hint of mischief and sexiness showing through the dignified appearance.

To match the suit, the stylist also chose white mother-of-pearl jewelry that was carved to resemble an apricot flower.1 A complete jewelry set adorned the girl’s neck and ears so that you could nearly smell that delicate fragrance.

The clothes that Cheng Xingfei wore to the show completely subverted her previous image. The front-line reporters immediately sent the photos they took back home, instantly exploding the fanbase.

[‘Princess Hua Zhao’ ’s valiant appearance, Cheng Xingfei’s suit confounds everyone]

[Cheng Xingfei appears in an oversize suit at the show venue, showing an Imperial Elder Sister’s aura with every move she makes]

[The other side of sweet beauty, look at how Cheng Xingfei balances maturity and sexiness]

Because the pictures in the breaking news articles were fairly good, Sister P fanned the flames of the marketing team. Very quickly, the “Cheng Xingfei suit” hashtag was pushed to the top of the trending search list.

In the Weibo field came surges of blind adoration one after another. Not only was there ardent hype from the fans, there was also praise from the passerby.

“Of course everyone has their own strengths. I’m the Messy King of wearing oversized clothing, a female immortal who wears lazy and sexy clothes.”

“I really want to watch the show together with Xingfei meimei! I don’t care if I don’t have a seat, I can sit on the ground!”

“Are these waist and legs real? Aren’t you scared that when God was creating her, he straight-up carved her with Barbie-doll proportions?”

……

Under the guidance of the staff, Cheng Xingfei quickly found her own seat. She and Sister P were sitting together.

After they settled, she finally had time to carefully size up the venue.

“Vossoe really put so much thought into it this time.” Sister P looked all around her, marvelling endlessly. “This is a replica of… the Roman Colosseum?”

“Seems to be.” Cheng Xingfei hid the admiration in her eyes, even if she really wanted to take out her phone and take a picture of the interior decorations of the venue.

This time, Vossoe Paris set up a unique circular venue, the entirety of which looked like a miniature Roman Colosseum. In the centered was a lowered, circular runway. The audience seating ringed the perimeter, rising up layer by layer. Thirteen connected arched galleries stood erect behind them, surrounded by boulders. It was a magnificent scene.

The entire show venue’s concept, craftsmanship, and uniqueness — the media who had entered the place ahead of time were all raising their long guns and short cannons — their cameras2 — to incessantly take pictures. Perhaps after this Fashion Week ended, this venue of Vossoe’s would dominate all of the media headlines.

And a little while later, the audience, one after another, sat down until the place was completely full.

Cheng Xingfei saw several familiar faces in the audience who, like her, had come from China. But the other artists’ seats weren’t in the front row like hers was; they could only sit in the area of the “mountaintop”.

When all of the audience officially entered the venue, the show officially began—

Accompanied by a mysterious and lively drumbeat, Vossoe’s trademark rose up from the center of the stage. Sprays of dry ice scattered in all directions to form a cloudy mist, making the entire stage seem as if was set in a dream, a fantasy.

The lights shone directly down from the dome. The first model had a solemn expression on her face as she walked with her head raised on the runway. The gold and white drapery enfolded her body; she walked barefoot amidst the cloudy mist, awe-inspiring and noble.

Cheng Xingfei watched without averting her eyes.

For a long time, Vossoe’s style had tended toward the mature and serious type. It was only last year that they began using a new designer; as soon as this chief designer took his position, he boldly subverted Vossoe’s intrinsic style to merge the retro wave with a keen sense of modernity.

Accompanied by the eye-dazzling sound and light effects, the models filed out one by one. They were like a group of true gladiators, looking straight ahead, stepping on every empty spot of that stage circuit.

The fashion editors broke out in inspiration; they rushed to record everything they saw and heard, the shutter sounds of their cameras becoming as one.

Sister P said quietly, “When this show finishes, maybe the trending page will explode.”

She stopped, her voice sour. “I don’t know which artist could get the attention of the new creative director either, to even walk the grand finale of the show.”

“Don’t worry.” Cheng Xingfei placidly said, “The new creative director’s design style is so unique that most likely, the spokesperson that he appointed must be extraordinary.”

Fifty minutes later, the launch of the new line was coming to its end. The final model moved from the circular runway toward the backstage.

There was someone who lowly said, “Is that the end?”

As soon as their words sounded, the lights of the entire stage suddenly dimmed one by one. The entire show was plunged into pitch-black darkness in the blink of an eye.

Just as no one knew what the hell has going on, from the side there suddenly came one lion roar, two lion roars, three lion roars… the lion roars neared and came closer, as if several lions were rushing toward the stage.

Immediately after that, a laser beam suddenly lit up from above the dome of the venue. The beam projected onto the mist to build one after another of electric lions. With the cool and dazzling holographic projects and lion roars combined, the entire audience was completely immersed in the midst of a Colosseum.

The lions fought each other in a heap; they had their sharp claws, they roared, they leapt forward to attack… finally, one lion captured the final triumph.

It raised its head and roared toward the dome, long and ear-splitting.

The next second, it suddenly disappeared without a trace!

Smoke spread all throughout the stage, an extremely bright light shone out from the back of the stage, glaringly dazzling, and from the smoke a thin and tall figure was lit from the back—

—Without a doubt, he was the mysterious spokesperson who was the grand finale of this show.

His upper garment fluttered, his steps steady. He was like the God of War descended to the world, transmigrating from the battlefield of times of old.

This man possessed a face that was unforgettable for anyone who set their eyes on his. He was mixed-race, evident Caucasian features in his appearance, his facial features three-dimensional and his handsomeness quite grandiose.

Especially those eyes… He had a pair of azure eyes. It was like they had a certain kind of secret spell that made people unable to do anything but fall into them.

No one could completely escape from his eyes.

He went forward to the heart of the stage, step by step, to the front of the runway. He gazed around in self-assuredness, as proud as a sword.

Within the audience there came a gasp. Countless whispers of discussion travelled out from the back rows.

“How come it’s him?”

“Is that young man really famous?”

“You don’t know him? Then if I tell you the name of a movie you’ll definitely know: Director Lin’s ‘The Past, Like a Fog’, the one that got him a title as the youngest Big Three Film Emperor in the world!”

“Ah, so it’s Shen Yuxiu. I was wondering why he looked so familiar! Wasn’t he still a minor the year he won an award?”

“Right, Director Lin, with his sharp eyes, discovered his talent. Shen Yuxiu was only 16 years old when they filmed, and they filmed his first maiden work and won a prize. That’s a true debut-straight-to-the-peak!”

“Why do I remember that he went off to study later on?”

“Ah, I heard that he got Director Lin’s recommendation to go abroad to study professional acting, and then he switched schools to study directing. There hasn’t been a single piece of news for these past 10 years, but with such a high-profile appearance today it looks like he wants to return anew to the entertainment circle?”

The crowd was full of the sound of discussion. Everyone’s attention had completely turned from the show to the grand finale, Shen Yuxiu.

Ten years ago, the film “The Past, Like a Fog”, made Shen Yuxiu famous, extremely well known. When he was 16 years old he won the honor that many people had no hope of reaching in their entire lives; at the time, everyone was awaiting his next action, yet during his peak he chose to retreat and study abroad…

The him of ten years ago had a beauty that was unhindered by gender, difficult to differentiate whether he was male or female. And the him of today was as brilliant as a sharp sword, piercing straight into every person’s hearts.

He stepped onto the stage circuit enveloped by those trivial sounds, yet not even his eyelashes trembled. His azure eyes made him look like an untouchable doll.

Did he not hear? Or perhaps he heard, but didn’t care…?

In the audience seating, Sister P sighed out, long, and readily surrendered. “So the spokesman is him. No wonder he caught the eyes of Vossoe’s designer.”

Being a designer is pursuit of the ultimate beauty, and so Shen Yuxiu’s existence was the embodiment of beauty.

Sister P finished speaking, yet she didn’t wait for Cheng Xingfei’s assent.

She turned to look at her artist, yet discovered by accident that Cheng Xingfei’s gaze had stayed on Shen Yuxiu’s figure, following him.

Sister P’s heart thumped. “Xingfei? Xingfei…?”

“Huh?” Cheng Xingfei suddenly awoke.

“Do you know him? You know Shen Yuxiu?”

“…” Cheng Xingfei paused for the slightest moment, but she did so well in hiding it that even her agent didn’t see there was something wrong with her. “Who in the circle doesn’t know Shen Yuxiu? ‘The Past, Like a Fog’ is so famous that as long as you’re an actor, you have to have seen that piece.”

“That’s true.” Sister P nodded in acceptance of her words.

Ten years ago, young Shen Yuxiu, at 16 years of age, starred in Director Lin’s “The Past, Like a Fog”. And at the time, Cheng Xingfei was only a whole 10 years old. She had just shot her first commercial as a child star.

After that, Shen Yuxiu went abroad to study.

How could 10-year-old Cheng Xingfei know him?

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1 The Xing (杏) in Xingfei’s name refers to a type of apricot.

2 长枪短炮, which directly translates to “long guns and short cannons” is a joking way of referring to cameras, but it’s cute, so I left it in, lol.

***

Anyway with this mass (?) drop also comes the news that I will be dropping this novel for the foreseeable future. I will be making a proper announcement in case some people don’t see this one and I’ll link it >here< in case you’re curious, I guess.

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