Chapter 33
Ten minutes later.
The auditions for Brand X had begun. The director let the artists record a short video directly on the set without any chance for a do-over. Success or failure was determined in one shot.
It was almost An Ye's turn, with only two people ahead of him. He sat in the corner of the studio, waiting restlessly as Zhou Yuanzhe was nowhere to be seen.
Just then, a figure walked into the studio.
Zhou Yuanzhe held a neat, ironed denim jacket in his hand. He calmly walked up to An Ye, handed him the jacket, and spoke in a low voice, "Put this on. Make sure to perform well."
"Next up, An Ye—"
An Ye hurriedly put on the jacket and took a moment to steady his breath before heading towards the filming area.
While waiting earlier, a makeup artist had quickly applied makeup that accentuated his already striking features. The teardrop mole at the corner of his eye seemed to glow under the spotlight.
Everyone in the room watched An Ye silently, the atmosphere falling into an awkward stillness.
Ideally, Brand X wouldn't opt for a star embroiled in scandals. But An Ye was accompanied by Zhou Yuanzhe and, much to their reluctance, the brand had to give him a chance out of respect.
"Begin."
The director gave the command, and the white light fell on An Ye. Compared to others, his attire was quite simple. However, the moment the light hit him, this simplicity transformed into a pure and innocent beauty.
The camera focused on An Ye's flawless face.
An Ye slowly walked up to the table and looked at the few bottles of perfume arranged on it, an expression of dilemma crossing his face. He picked up several bottles in turn, sprayed a bit on his wrist but never found one to his satisfaction.
The camera then panned to a bottle of beautifully packaged perfume tucked away in the corner - the very perfume Brand X was promoting for the New Year.
An Ye with his slender fingers picked up the bottle, gently sprayed it into the air. He closed his eyes, his eyelashes trembling slightly as the misty perfume swept over his face. He gently curled the corner of his lips, a graceful smile appearing - everything seemed just perfect.
The camera shifted again, revealing a long-haired girl holding an umbrella. She was the object of An Ye's affection in the commercial. As An Ye walked by her, she caught the crisp scent of the perfume and couldn't help but turn her head.
At this moment, An Ye slowly turned around to meet her gaze.
A smile returned to his lips, different from the previous one. This time it was a smile of shyness and longing.
The scene froze.
For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of this process, they would simply think that An Ye’s acting skills had improved, and the whole story seemed very smooth.
However, the directors were somewhat surprised after seeing this scene.
In this shoot, An Ye’s acting skills were secondary; what was most important was his control of the timing and space.
From picking up the perfume to try, to closing his eyes and smiling, to making eye contact with the female lead, the entire process was rhythmically controlled to perfection. Being even one second faster or slower would have ruined the shot.
This was the brilliance of An Ye after his rebirth — his professional capabilities could withstand the scrutiny of everyone.
The directors exchanged glances and found themselves in a dilemma.
Choosing An Ye would undoubtedly be a huge risk, but so far, they had not found a more suitable candidate for this perfume than him. The directors even had a premonition that if they could put aside An Ye’s scandals, this commercial would make Brand X the sales champion for the first quarter.
“Uh…” one of the directors spoke up somewhat uncomfortably, “An Ye, you go back and wait for our notification. Our audition isn’t over yet. It seems there’s still one more person left, right?”
An Ye nodded, not bothered by the curious or disdainful gazes of others, and walked back to Zhou Yuanzhe’s side.
At that moment, there was a scream from the nearby resting room.
"My God, what happened here —"
Everyone was startled as the staff rushed to the nearby resting room.
The manager of the newcomer who had just been talked about was kneeling on the floor with a look of anxiousness, checking his breath.
"Thank goodness, he's still alive..."
The manager, pale with fright, shouted at the staff, "Don't you see he's fainted? Call the ambulance immediately!"
The staff was in a flurry, dialing 120, as others approached to see what had happened.
The manager was also baffled. How did a perfectly healthy person faint in the rest room while he was gone just to use the restroom?
"It seems like he got an electric shock!" A staff member examined the scene carefully and found an electric wire at the newcomer's feet. It seemed that he had tripped and his elbow fell precisely on the damaged part of the wire.
"What the hell is wrong with you all?!" The manager furiously accused, "How dare you keep such a dangerous electric wire in the resting room? Just because our artist is a newcomer doesn't mean he could be bullied. I'm telling you..."
The disgruntled manager ranted in an angry tone, thinking that the audition was completely ruined. He had initially hoped to cooperate with Brand X.
"Well, it's not that serious..." The staff hurriedly tried to appease the situation with a smile, "He's just temporarily shocked, there's no life-threatening danger..."
"Are you even speaking humanely?!"
The manager grew angrier as he spoke, nearly destroying the entire resting area.
If someone at the scene knew anything about magic, they could immediately feel the intense presence of lightning magic in the air. However, as magic doesn't exist in the world setting of "Brilliant Star Path," the only one who knew the truth was Cheng Xuyuan himself.
Cheng Xuyuan glanced at the person lying on the ground and emotionlessly said to An Ye, "He's fine, let's go."
An Ye looked at the poor newcomer with some doubts, thinking that the company must be really poor; their wires were too outdated.
________________________
After getting in the car, Linda suddenly called Zhou Yuanzhe.
"Brother Yuan, have you finished the audition?" Linda's sweet voice came over the phone, "I need to inform you that President Xiang wants to have a private talk with An Ye."
"Alright, I'll send him over to the company now."
What else could Xiang Baiyan and An Ye be talking about except their relationship? Cheng Xuyuan thought disdainfully in his heart.
An Ye looked at Zhou Yuanzhe, wanting to ask something, when suddenly his gaze fell on his left hand resting on the steering wheel. There was clearly a red mark on it, as if he had recently been burned.
"Brother Yuan, is your hand injured?!" An Ye exclaimed, "Quickly, let's go to the hospital..."
"It's nothing." Zhou Yuanzhe still maintained his ice-cold expression, "President Xiang has something for you; we need to head to the company right away." If they were late, President Xiang might hold a grudge against him.
An Ye grabbed Zhou Yuanzhe's hand, angrily saying, "What are you thinking? The back of your hand is so red, and you didn't say a word when we were in the studio!"
Zhou Yuanzhe quickly withdrew his hand, "Don't pull on me like that."
An Ye opened the car door and said to him before getting out, "Wait for me here for a moment."
Ten minutes later, An Ye returned with a bag of ice cubes, anxiously opened the car door, handed the ice to Zhou Yuanzhe, and said, "Brother Yuan, let me drive. You sit on the side and put ice on your hand. After we finish at the company, we'll go straight to the hospital."
Cheng Xuyuan glanced at An Ye's palm, which was turning red from the cold, and couldn't say anything more. He sighed, switched seats with An Ye, and began to ice his hand while sitting in the passenger seat.
On the way to the company, An Ye suddenly asked, "Did it happen when you were ironing my clothes earlier?"
"... Yeah." Cheng Xuyuan paused for a moment, "Actually, it's not really a big deal. The iron had just been turned on for a short while..."
"I'm sorry."
Guilt filled An Ye's eyes. The tear mole at the corner of her right eye seemed dull, and she looked like a high school student who had done something wrong, somewhat flustered.
"Really, it's okay, you don't need to apologize. It was my own carelessness." Cheng Xuyuan sighed. Compared to losing a hand, this bit of pain was nothing in the midst of storms.
The sports car arrived at the Xing Entertainment headquarters in the city center. An Ye parked the car and followed behind Zhou Yuanzhe, still wearing an expression of having done something wrong.
As they entered the company, Zhou Yuanzhe and An Ye instantly became the focus of attention.
"You go upstairs and find President Xiang. I'll wait for you in the office." Cheng Xuyuan turned his head and said to An Ye.
"Does your hand still hurt?" An Ye looked at him cautiously.
"It's not hurting anymore."
All of a sudden, An Ye reached out and lifted Zhou Yuanzhe's left hand. The red mark on it was still very eye-catching. Regardless of Zhou Yuanzhe's surprised gaze, An Ye puffed up his cheeks and blew on his hand forcefully.
"I'll blow on it for you, and then it won't hurt anymore..."
After An Ye blew on it a few times, Cheng Xuyuan quickly withdrew his hand and said somewhat angrily, "Quickly go find President Xiang!" If Xiang Boyan saw this, even if I were an octopus, I wouldn't have enough limbs for him to chop off!
An Ye looked at him innocently, slowly nodded his head, and finally went to take the elevator.
However, the scene where An Ye blew on Zhou Yuanzhe's hand had already been captured by the working staff in the lobby from all angles.
The thing that Cheng Xuyuan was most worried about still happened. Someone in some idle chat group accidentally sent the photo of An Ye and Zhou Yuanzhe into the work group.
And Xiang Boyan was in this group.
Before the person could retract the photo, Xiang Baiyan immediately replied, "What are you taking pictures during working hours for? Report your staff number and your salary will be deducted."
The group instantly fell silent like a tomb.
At this moment, An Ye knocked on Xiang Boyan's office door.
In the original work, Xiang Boyan helped An Ye secure the endorsement of the X brand and praised him for the great job he did in the commercial. From then on, they both had different feelings for each other.
Cheng Xuyuan thought to himself, as long as nothing goes wrong, you two can develop however you want. I won't intervene. I don't believe that Xiang Boyan can do anything to me as things continue this way.
However, the development of things doesn't seem to be as he imagined.
After An Ye walked into the office, Xiang Boyan just said coldly, "I've called the X brand. The endorsement for that perfume is yours. And—”
Xiang Baiyan glanced at the computer screen and said in an indifferent tone, "The advertisement sample you shot is pretty good. Zhou Yuanzhe didn't misjudge you. You've indeed made a lot of progress lately."
An Ye curled his lips and confidently said, "Thank you for the praise, Mr. Xiang. I'll definitely live up to your expectations."
"Alright, you can leave. I don't need anything else from you for now."
An Ye nodded and turned to leave.
Xiang Boyan lowered his head, using his finger to magnify the photo in the group chat. He saw An Ye's worried look and a faint red mark on Zhou Yuanzhe's left hand.
"Hold on." Xiang Baiyan suddenly called to stop An Ye, who was near the door. "Tell Zhou Yuanzhe to come to my office."
An Ye slowly turned around, but didn't answer immediately. He smiled and said, "If you need something, you can tell me. I can relay the message to Yuanzhe. He has some things to do later, so he can't be delayed."
"When did it become your job to relay messages between him and me?"
The tone in Xiang Boyan's voice suddenly became cold. His gaze cut across An Ye's face like a sharp blade, leaving no room for pleasantries.
An Ye's smile faded, and after a brief moment of mutual eye contact with Xiang Boyan, he slowly said, "I'll go call him now."
The current An Ye didn't have the capacity to engage in a contest of will with Xiang Boyan.
"What?!" Zhou Yuanzhe's eyes widened in rare surprise. "Xiang Boyan wants to speak with me alone?!"
An Ye nodded reluctantly, saying, "You better go quickly and come back, we need to go to the hospital later."
Zhou Yuanzhe swallowed hard and took heavy steps towards the elevator, his silhouette as tragic as one heading to execution.
When knocking on the CEO's office door, Zhou Yuanzhe's fingers were trembling like a sieve.
"Come in."
The calm and steady voice of Xiang Boyan rang out. Zhou Yuanzhe carefully pushed open the door, only to meet a pair of eyes as sharp as a cheetah's.
"Mr. Xiang, you…" Zhou Yuanzhe tried hard to maintain his cool image. "You wanted to see me?"
Xiang Boyan's icy facial expression softened slightly. In a low voice, he said, "Come here."
Without changing his expression, Zhou Yuanzhe walked up to Xiang Boyan, although his fingertips were still trembling.
"Give me your left hand," Xiang Boyan commanded, his gaze landing on Zhou Yuanzhe's left hand.
The entire office suddenly fell silent, so quiet one could hear the sound of hair dropping onto the floor. Thunder seemed to rumble in Zhou Yuanzhe's head. Cold sweat broke out on his back.
This is it, Xiang Boyan must have seen An Ye blowing on his hand earlier... Today might be the day Zhou Yuanzhe loses his hand.
Zhou Yuanzhe felt icy cold all over. If there was a mirror in front of him, he was sure his face would have been drained of all color.
After a while, Xiang Boyan lifted his eyelid and raised his eyebrows; looking directly at Zhou Yuanzhe, he said, "Didn't you hear me? Give me your left hand."
"No, it's okay..."
Zhou Yuanzhe's voice had a hint of barely detectable anxiety, even though it was well disguised. This was not a voice tone that the usually impassive Zhou Yuanzhe would have.
Xiang Boyan thought that Zhou Yuanzhe's left hand was seriously hurt as he stuttered. A hint of concern flashed in his eyes. He rose from his seat, reached out and grabbed Zhou Yuanzhe's left arm, forcibly pulling it in front of him.
Driven by the instinct of survival, Zhou Yuanzhe subconsciously grasped Xiang Boyan's wrist.
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