NOVEL NEXT “Yes. I’m still shooting now. Miss Jia and her friends are enjoying the party. They are singing Happy Birthday now.” Being present at a birthday party surely put He Bai in a good mood and he was more talkative than before. “How about I shoot a set of photos for you at your next birthday party? Just like today, you could play with friends, and I will be taking photos around you.” He thought it’s more interesting to celebrate the birthday with more people. It would be a bit boring if there were only two of them.
‘So that explains those photos…’ Di Qiuhe finally felt relaxed and put on a smile on his face. But in his heart, he was poking the little puppy’s dimples out of rage. ‘He just doesn’t know when to shut up,’ thought Di Qiuhe.
“Well, as you wish. You can take as many photos of me as you want.” Di Qiuhe turned around and looked at himself in the mirror. His short-haired reflection looked rather dapper. He paused for a while and rolled up the vest to look at his six-packs. Suddenly he felt embarrassed, so he pulled down the vest and turned around again to continue the conversation, “Is everything going OK today?”
“Very smoothly.” He Bai’s voice suddenly got clearer, along with the vague sound of him pressing down on the shutter. “But I have to stay up late tonight to edit these photos as it has to be done before 7:00 pm tomorrow. I am in a bit of a hurry. Right, you haven’t told me how you lied to the Jia. And, going forward, would you please talk to me first before you lie to people? I almost failed to cover up your story today.”
“It doesn’t matter. I will be able to fix it if that happens.” Di Qiuhe could almost picture that little puppy holding his phone with his shoulder while holding up the camera to take pictures. As he heard the voice getting clearer, Qi Qiuhe suddenly felt an itchy sensation in his ear, but he was not willing to switch his mobile phone to the other side. Instead, he smiled and said, “Well, noted. I will make sure to run my story by you in advance. I didn’t say too much, just mentioning how the Saint Elephant had been shamelessly taking advantage of your sorry ass…” “Wait!” He Bai’s voice suddenly increased, and then a shuffling sound came from the other end of the line. “Wait till I plug in this earphone.”
Picking up his clothes, Di Qiuhe got up, opened the door of the bathroom and went outside. “Take your time. I’m not in a hurry,” said he with a pampering tone.
After inserting the earphones, He Bai waited a second and said, “Okay, shoot.”
“Well, actually the Jia Family…”
The girls suddenly burst into laughter over something. Wearing a smile, He Bai talked with Di Qiuhe in a low voice, all the while raising up the camera to take photos of the birthday girl who was surrounded by other girls.
The party wasn’t over until eleven. From a distance He Bai waved to Jia Beilei who was escorting the guests to the door and with a bunch of photos he went back to the room that the Jia Family arranged for him.
After taking a shower and changing into pajamas, he made a cup of coffee and turned on the computer provided by the Jias to start editing.
The clicking sounds of the mouse and keyboard were amplified by the quiet night and through the current they passed to the ear of Di Qiuhe who was on the other side of the phone.
Looking at the screen, Di Qiuhe noticed that they had been on the phone for several hours straight. He found it quite soothing when he pictured the little puppy working hard. Although it was his usual bedtime, he didn’t feel like sleeping at all.
‘Good luck with your work.’
He wished inwardly. Then he took out the other Apxxx cellphone which had the same color as the one he gave to He Bai. He logged in twitter and flipped through the to-be hot news, all the while twitching his lips and tapping his fingers.
The sun was already hanging high in the sky, and the light managed to squeeze in through the curtain gap.
After rubbing his eyes, He Bai turned off the desk lamp and leaned forward to sleep on the table.
“All done?”
Crack.
Hearing that, He Bai immediately sat up straight, and in a panic his arms accidentally swept away bits and pieces on the table.
“Scared? Good morning, little puppy.”
To He Bai’s ears, the voice sounded rather obscure and vague, but he was sure that it’s Di Qiuhe.
He looked around in horror and raised his hand to bang his forehead. “Am I starting to hear things after pulling an all-nighter?”
“It’s not an illusion. We talked over the phone yesterday. Have you forgotten that?”
Although it was still vague, it’s enough for him to make sense of the words being said to him.
With eyes widened, He Bai hurriedly took out his cellphone from his camera side bag on the table corner. When he turned on the phone, he saw that they were still on the phone with each other. Apparently, this call had lasted for a long time. It seemed that he indeed forgot to hang up last night. One minute he was talking and the next thing he knew, he was back on taking photos and when he finally finished, he simply took down the earphones without disconnecting the call.
He thought that Di Qiuhe had already hung up, but…
“Why didn’t you hung up the phone?!” Now completely awake after that initial shock, he very much wanted to follow the current to rip his head off. “Do you know how much money you have wasted over that past ten hours?
“But you didn’t hang up, too”
“….. that’s… I forgot.”
“Me too,” after spinning a shameless lie, he quickly changed the topic, “you have been busy all night. You must be sleepy. Don’t go sleep now. Eat something. I’ve ordered you breakfast.
He Bai felt that he was a bit slow in his response. Obviously, the lack of sleep has somehow hampered his ability to think.
“You ordered me breakfast? How?”
“By making a phone call.”
“What do you mean?”
“I found out the phone number of the resort, gave them a call, and ordered the breakfast.”
“Okay… But how do you know my room number?”
“I told them your name, and the staff would find you.”
“Hmm……”
“Sleepy now?”
“A bit.”
“Call me brother.”
“Asshole”
“…. Aren’t you sleepy now?”
Rubbing his face, He Bai sneered, “I’m sleepy, not stupid. And I haven’t finished the editing yet, so I can’t sleep now. Got work to do. Thank you for the breakfast. I’ll enjoy it.
Di Qiuhe frowned, “Haven’t finished yet? How many photos have you taken?
“Not many, just dozens of them. Childish Di, it’s very cute of you to order me breakfast. Thank you.”
Although Di Qiuhe rather enjoyed the way He Bai called him, he still pretended to be angry, “Don’t you dare call me cute! Need a bit of discipline, don’t you? You naughty puppy.”
He Bai suddenly burst into laughter and quickly asked, “How does a dog bark?”
Having never heard of him laughing so loud, Di Qiuhe froze for a while. He felt his ear getting hot and his heart racing. In a trance, he unconsciously replied, “Woof, Woof.”
“Good boy, I will treat you with bones.” Having mocked him, He Bai stopped Di Qiuhe right there and then and immediately hung up the phone. Then he went to the bathroom to wash his face and waited for breakfast.
……Woof.
Di Qiuhe took off the phone and stared at the screen.
Di Qiuhe still could feel his ear burning and he felt as if he could hear the echo of his laughter.
“What’s so funny!” Grinding his teeth, he rubbed the ear and tapped on the chest. Holding back his desire to laugh, he continued with his furious face, “What a naughty puppy. I really should be stricter with you! I gotta teach you a lesson when I am back.”
At 6 pm, all the resort lanterns were lit up. Along the way leading up from the entrance gate to the main building there were blooming flowers and trees decorated with ribbons. It was absolutely gorgeous. In front of the main building there was a red carpet spreading out from the inside with flowers flanking it’s both sides.
“How lavish. Those flowers are transported by air, right?” Looking out of the car window, the new person Wu Meng of the Bai Xiu Entertainment exclaimed, “Ms. Ouyang, thank you for taking me here. This is absolutely mind blowing.”
Ouyang Linlin was retouching her makeup when she heard Wu Meng talking. Upon hearing what she said, she quickly pulled Wu Meng over to sit with her. After sneaking a look at the agent sitting at the front seat, she said, “No need to thank me. If it were not for the company, we wouldn’t have been here. Well, stop looking around and get your glam fixed. We are expecting media coverage later.”
Wu Meng obediently stuck out her tongue and started to reapply her makeup.
The agent sitting at the front seat nodded in agreement. After the girls finished their glam, he said, “Ouyang, Meng, the company doesn’t expect you to make friends with big shots here. We only hope that you don’t make any trouble and get yourself some face time with these people. Bear it in mind that the Jia Family has only one girl, and so all the family members spoil her. You are about the same age as her. Don’t get too much attention and steal her thunder. Understand?
The girls kept nodding.