"Oh, you're here."
The director's eyes lit up when he saw Ma Xianbei lead a handsome young fellow inside.
"Go over there and take your clothes off."
Ma Xianbei: ...In that much of a hurry?
Shi Wei trembled. "Brother Bei, is this a legitimate shoot?"
"Get lost!" Ma Xianbei growled under his breath. "Get over there."
Shi Wei went into the changing room. There were no jeans inside, only a bathrobe.
He stripped down to his underwear, wrapped himself in the robe, and walked onto the all-white set.
"Try on a few styles first."
Shi Wei took off the robe outright, drawing several gasps from everyone there.
He didn't have exaggerated, bulky muscles, but his skin was fair and his body had smooth lines, especially his supple, slender waist.
"Very good." The stylist brought over an armful of jeans for Shi Wei to try on.
A good figure really made all the difference. Every pair of jeans fit him beautifully, especially the skinny pair, which showed off his waistline and perky butt to even greater perfection. From behind, he looked like a juicy peach.
And from the front...
The director was stunned, then suddenly clapped his hands. "No need to prepare a top for him!"
Shi Wei: ...
As his manager, Ma Xianbei had to keep things in check. He asked, "Wouldn't that be too revealing?"
"Don't worry," the director said. "We won't shoot him from the front, only from behind."
Ma Xianbei nodded. Shi Wei's popularity had only just begun to pick up, and he was playing a beautiful young eunuch who served his sovereign with his looks in "Calming the Wind and Waves." If even his ads were that sultry, Ma Xianbei really worried that Shi Wei would end up typecast.
The director had Shi Wei pose on the sofa.
Standing, lying on his stomach, lying on his back-Shi Wei fulfilled every request. When they shot him from the front, he finally got to wear a top. The stylist prepared a white shirt for him, its buttons all undone to offer tantalizing glimpses.
Desire and innocence, two different sides-Shi Wei portrayed both very well.
The director couldn't help telling Ma Xianbei, "Your guy's pretty good. He has real presence, and he's so seasoned he doesn't seem like a newcomer at all."
Ma Xianbei basked in the reflected glory, but he still didn't particularly want to praise Shi Wei aloud. "He's just thick-skinned."
"All right, we're done." The director announced the end of the shoot.
It had been so long since Shi Wei had shot an ad that even taking photos left him a little tired. On the way back, he asked Ma Xianbei to take him to the supermarket. He had to stock up to replenish his energy.
Shi Wei picked out a cartful of snacks, giving Ma Xianbei a fright. "You eat that much, and your figure still hasn't changed."
"I've always kept my natural beauty a secret," Shi Wei said very modestly.
Ma Xianbei asked suspiciously, "Speaking of which, last time I told you to take snacks to Great God Ji, did he accept them?"
"He did."
Ma Xianbei was shocked. "Great God Ji is so aloof, and he actually eats that junk of yours?"
Shi Wei: ...Brother Bei, say that again if you dare!
"He really ate them?"
Watching me eat counted as eating them too, right?
Even if it didn't, it had to.
"Yep."
"Then hurry up and pay!" Ma Xianbei pushed Shi Wei toward the exit.
"Where are we going?"
"To deliver snacks to Great God Ji!"
"No, no, no." Shi Wei refused three times in a row. He had finally gotten away from Ji Hanchuan. Why would he go back?
But although Brother Bei had neither a domineering CEO's figure nor his looks, his personality was even more overbearing. He insisted on bundling Shi Wei and the snacks up and taking them back outside the set.
Shi Wei was forced to call Ji Hanchuan.
"Hu..." Shi Wei abruptly stopped. "Hey, Old Ji, whatcha doing?"
Good. My life was safe!
Ma Xianbei looked at him as though he were an idiot.
On set, Ji Hanchuan was having lunch. Caught off guard by what Shi Wei called him, he frowned slightly. "What do you want now?"
"Teacher Ji, I brought you some snacks. Didn't you love them last time?"
"I did?"
"You did, you did, you absolutely did!" Shi Wei hurried to cut off Ji Hanchuan's denial. "Sorry for the trouble, but could you have Brother Xiaochen come out and get them?"
After giving Li Xiaochen some quiet instructions, Ji Hanchuan asked, "You spent the entire day buying snacks?"
"Of course not. I shot an ad too. It was hard work."
"What kind of ad?" Ji Hanchuan thought of that mess of a manager of his.
"Just a regular jeans ad."
That sounded normal enough. Ji Hanchuan said, "Anything else?"
"Nope. I won't bother you, hu... Old Ji." Shi Wei wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "Bye, Old Ji."
Ma Xianbei looked at Shi Wei with an indescribable expression. "You're so rude. Good thing Great God Ji didn't hold it against you."
Shi Wei: ...I've done even ruder things.
Soon, Li Xiaochen came out, and Shi Wei gave him half the snacks.
Li Xiaochen had meant to say that Brother Hanchuan didn't eat this stuff, but when it came to Shi Wei, Brother Hanchuan's bottom line seemed to keep getting lower.
"Has filming been tough lately?" Shi Wei asked casually.
When his former coworker asked about this, Li Xiaochen had a whole torrent of grievances he wanted to pour out to Shi Wei.
He told Shi Wei quietly, "Brother Hanchuan's been terrifying these past few days. He keeps overpowering the other actors in their scenes. Director Zhang's almost gone through a whole bottle of blood pressure pills. Last time, he even scared that Xu Xirui into crying."
"Huh?"
Shi Wei hadn't expected...
I actually missed out on so much gossip!
What a shame!
Come to think of it, Ji Hanchuan had also said something about Xu Xirui not daring to come talk to him again... So he had actually scared Xu Xirui into tears.
To dare treat the harem-master protagonist like that, Shi Wei could think of only one possibility.
"Could Teacher Ji be going through menopause?"
Li Xiaochen: ...
This coworker really was as unreliable as ever.
Li Xiaochen returned with the snacks. Ji Hanchuan had already removed his makeup and was ready to return to the hotel.
He ventured, "Brother Hanchuan, there are so many snacks. Should I help you hand them out to everyone else?"
Ji Hanchuan glanced at him. "I'll take them back."
Li Xiaochen handed them over, feeling not the slightest ripple inside.
Sure enough, Shi Wei, who loved dancing at clubs, had finally danced Brother Hanchuan's bottom line right out of existence.
A few days later, Ma Xianbei informed Shi Wei that the filming date for "Traveling with You" had been set.
"This is a livestream, Shi Wei. Don't you dare cause trouble. Be hardworking and proactive about doing the work, got it?"
"...Okay."
Looks like I won't be able to slack off.
Ma Xianbei said happily, "The promotional materials for that jeans ad are ready too. Remember to repost them when the time comes. It'll be perfect for building some buzz alongside the show."
"Okey-dokey."
Shi Wei lay on his stomach on the sofa, eating a lollipop, and was about to ask Zhuo Xiao if there was anything he needed to watch out for on the show.
A news alert suddenly popped up.
#Queen Shi Wei.
Shi Wei: ???
He tapped it and discovered that the jeans ad had gone live and shot straight onto the trending list.
Bowei's official Weibo account had posted a nine-photo grid.
In the photo with the most likes, Shi Wei lay on his stomach on a leather sofa wearing nothing but jeans. His head was raised, his hair tousled, and he looked into the camera with a gaze full of dominant energy, looking somewhat coolly glamorous and regal.
His pose was so seductive, yet his eyes were full of aggression.
It brought just one phrase to mind-Her Majesty the Queen!
Just then, Ji Hanchuan, standing outside the door with his luggage, happened to see the trending phrase.
Had Shi Wei gone off and changed his sex to stir up trouble?
He tapped it with a frown and froze.
He called this "just a regular jeans ad"?