After this fiasco, Xu Zhiyi had lost all interest in Lu Qingyuan. Her previous admiration and thirst for his attention had gone poof in her heart. Now she knew that all men were the same. All of these womanisers were fickle and weak to beauty.
Look at that! This Bai Jinli leeched onto Lu Qiangyuan, exploiting him for his own popularity. Doesn't she know that Lu Qingyuan found her disgusting at that time?
Hmph! How unacceptable! By doing absolutely nothing, she has Lu Qingyuan completely bewitched. And they only met once! Now everything is going her way. Even her enemy stands up for her!
The mood in the car had fallen into a heavy, deafening silence.
...
At the same time, in a studio far away from the stars, the director led the editorial team in a suicidal overtime rush.
"Just give a minute to every star. Don't make it too long and draggy!"
"Remove everything but their best, most attractive moments!"
"This, this scene is nice, keep it."
"My god! God Lu is so handsome." The editorial lady fell into a trance-like state as she looked through their clips.
Hearing her, the Direction walked over to the screen with Lu Qingyuan's clips. Seeing the videos, he absently scratched his non-existent hair, "Indeed, perfect looks and a strong, likeable charisma."
He shamelessly added, "Just a tad lacking compared to how I was at that age."
Quickly looking down on her own screen, the editorial lady simply smiled and silently continued working.
She quickly completed Lu Qingyuan's part and moved onto Jinli's clips.
Hmm, beautifully shot!
Oh wow, this is great too!
Phew! How can this so be aesthetic!
The poor girl's eyes fluttered everywhere, struggling to keep up with the overwhelming excellence in Jinli's clips. Her fingers danced over the keyboard, quickly filling up the allocated minute.
Suddenly, horror descended.
She couldn't fit everything in. What a tragedy.
Looking over all her options, she did not know what to remove. Every single second was pure perfection.
"Director, have a look at these clips."
"Hmm?" Ten seconds into watching, the Director was wide-eyed, his gaze glued to the screen. Thirty seconds in, his obese body was inching closer and closer, and even his hands were on the table supporting him. When the minute ended, he slammed the table as he sat on the editor's seat, which was forcefully displaced, exclaiming. "Perfection!"
His eyes sparkled as his satisfaction took the form of a wide grin on his face. He scornfully remarked: "How lousy were the make-up artistes and videographers Morning Star got for her? It must be a skill to portray such a photogenic person in such a bad light! No wonder she terminated her contract early."
Previously, Jinli had just been a normal beauty in his eyes. Now, having seen her in real life, his heart was pumping raw adrenaline through his veins for every moment that he watched the clip.
Ahem, of course, his heart was still exclusively for his wife and daughter. His violent heartbeat was just a polite gesture of admiration for transcendental beauty. Or so the Director claimed.
"Director," The editor lady broke him out of his daze.
Her face curled with grievance. "Take a look at the back."
"Hmm?" He quickly scrolled through the clip.
Within an instant, a close-up of the dozing little Goddess popped on the screen. That defenceless fragile posture, coupled with the unparalleled beauty erupting with charm, took the Director hostage. Seeing this, his breath subconsciously halted.
"Why is this not included?" The Director interrogated.
He restrained his emotions as his hands fidgeted. The dedicated fans of the programme would love this scene, not to mention those students and the NEETs! He could improve the viewership rate by leaps and bounds just by capitalising on Jinli's appearance,
"But…" The editor was vexed. "The minute is already full. As you have already seen, the content is perfectly complete at the front. It's tough to remove anything from this."
"Fine! Add one more then!" Very quickly, he made the decision. It was only a photograph, it wouldn't take up much time anyway.
The editor lady's eyes lit up, "Oh! Then look at this too!"
There's more?
An unsettling sense of foreboding brewed within his heart, yet his curious hands had already started moving.
"Wakey wakey Jinli!"
"Wuuu…"
"..."
"No! No… Don't sell Jinli away…"
The scene ended there.
The studio fell into a pin-drop silence.
——
"Director, this scene. Shall I add it in?"