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Chapter 55.1
At exactly 7am domestic time, Stu officially released a message through various channels, “Stu is pleased to announce the famous actor and singer Xu Luoyang, as the brand’s new global spokesperson.”
The news sent shockwaves through the domestic fashion scene, followed by #Xu Luoyang Stu flying up the Weibo hot search.
“—Is this the legendary not making a move but when one does, it sets the world ablaze? I’ve done the math. The highest end endorsements our Luoyang got before were Tuan Ning and Cherish and now it’s a direct switch to a global endorsement for Stu? I’ll check back in after a good night’s sleep. I feel as if I’m dreaming!”
“—Now you’re creating a hype with Stu’s name? Aren’t you afraid of being blacklisted and never being able to borrow clothes again? Heh heh.”
“—XLY endorsing Stu? Where would that put Song Yao? No matter what it’s not XLY’s turn right? This is the funniest joke ever!”
“—Brainless sunspots, please back off! And, why am I the only one who is so calm? When Cherish posted the hard copy of Xu Luoyang’s watch all over the world at the beginning of last year, I knew that Xu Luoyang was going to go up! Go! Up! So it’s normal to get an endorsement from Stu now, isn’t it? What’s all the fuss about? I’m a fan of the cause, so let’s go have a hot pot and be happy~”
“—During Luoyang’s endorsement period, Tuan Ning’s perfume sold out! Cherish’s watches became a hit! Cherish’s sunglasses sold out! So, these ‘lessons from the past’, Stu must have learned a bit about them!”
Less than a minute after the official message was sent, Xu Luoyang clicked repost, but after this, he didn’t bother to see which way opinions were blowing. Instead, he just switched off his phone and prepared to sleep.
However after ten minutes of preparation with his eyes closed and still not feeling anything at all, Xu Luoyang sidled up to Qi Chang’an and trailed in a tone, “It’s over. What should I do? I can’t sleep! It’s almost twelve o’clock!”
Stu’s creative director Wilson was an out-of-order card kind of guy and when inspiration came, he just told Xu Luoyang to start shooting tomorrow, both for the hard copy and the image shoot. So, if Xu Luoyang dared to stay up late, he would seriously be regarded with disdain by the make-up artist the next day.
Reaching out, Qi Chang’an took him into his arms and kissed his hair, “Should I sing you a lullaby?”
“I’m sure that the more I listen to it, the more excited I’ll become!” Xu Luoyang twisted around and wouldn’t stop. Groaning, he asked, “Chang’an, what do you do to calm yourself down when you’re in this situation?”
“What kind of situation?”
Xu Luoyang struggled to come up with an example, “Like when you were cast by Director Chu Wei for the lead role in ‘Blizzard’. Did you get so excited that you couldn’t sleep?”
“Not really,” Qi Chang’an recalled, “I met Chu Wei in London when I was at university and it happened to be a weekend, and I went over for dinner with my classmates. Chu Wei saw me through the glass window of the restaurant and rushing in, stood at the table and asked me if I wanted to make a film.”
Xu Luoyang sounded certain as he said, “You must have turned him down!”
“En, I refused straight away.”
“Haha, my heart aches for Director Chu Wei!” Interested in Qi Chang’an’s previous affairs, Xu Luoyang prodded repeatedly, “And then, and then? And why did you say yes afterwards?”
Fingers gently caressing Xu Luoyang’s back, Qi Chang’an said, “Director Chu then contacted me twice more, but I wasn’t interested and turned him down. Then because he was returning to C Country to make a short film, he invited me to come and see it on site, saying that if I was interested, I could try it out first. I was done with my exams at the time, so I went along.”
It took three invitations before he agreed to go and see it on site! Xu Luoyang looked at Qi Chang’an with amazement— sure enough, I don’t understand the world of kings!
Seeing the amazement filling his eyes, Qi Chang’an smiled and kissed the tip of his ear, “When I arrived on set, I found that filming was interesting and that in a scene, I could become a completely different person. Because of that, I said yes to Director Chu’s invitation. I remember that Director Chu was so happy that he even treated me to barbecue.”
Barbecue? After extracting the key words and calculating the time, Xu Luoyang’s grip on Qi Chang’an’s robe subconsciously tightened— so was that what had caused Qi Chang’an to wreck his car over two years ago?
His breath coming in a little faster, Xu Luoyang asked as naturally as he could, “The place where director Chu treated you to a barbecue, was it a place called Nob? The location is particularly remote and the car park is in disrepair, with a gravel road.”
Qi Chang’an nodded, “You’ve been there too? I remember the car park being badly lit as well and driving with a terrible stomachache, I wasn’t able to see clearly and accidentally bumped into the car parked next to mine.”
With his heart feeling as if it had been tugged by a hook, Xu Luoyang could just imagine what had happened. Qi Chang’an had probably had a sudden attack of stomach pain and lost sight in his right eye at the time and coupled with the low light around him, caused the accident.
“En, of course I’ve been there. That shop is a joint venture between Director Zhang and his friend.” Xu Luoyang rubbed the tip of his nose against Qi Chang’an’s shoulder, thinking, Not only have I been there, the car you wrecked was even mine.
But luckily, it was my car that you hit.
Happy once more, Xu Luoyang’s voice relaxed, “Let’s go there again later when we have the chance, okay?”
Qi Chang’an thought Xu Luoyang was craving something from that place and so nodded, “Okay.”
The next day, before it was even light, Xu Luoyang got up and the first thing he did was to run to the bathroom to look in the mirror, carefully observing himself for any bags under his eyes. Still unsure after looking at himself in the mirror, he ran over to ask Qi Chang’an, “Do I have good skin? Are my pores large? Are my eyes puffy?”
Holding his finger to his chin, Qi Chang’an looked closely, “There’s none of that. You look good.”
“It’s not in vain that I went to bed so early last night!” The stone hanging in Xu Luoyang’s heart finally dropping, he smoothly helped Qi Chang’an button up his shirt then lifted up to kiss his chin, “Mr. Qi, good morning! It’s another beautiful day!”
Looking at the smile in his eyes, Qi Chang’an responded, “Hmm. Nao Nao good morning, it’s another beautiful day.”
By the time Wilson arrived at the studio, though, Xu Luoyang had visually predicted that it was definitely a not-so-good day.
There were five rows of racks of clothes hanging around, taking up half the room. Wilson stood in place and staring at Xu Luoyang, asked him to take off all his jackets, leaving only a cotton base-layer, then after observing him for almost twenty minutes, Wilson instructed his assistants to pull out eleven outfits from the piles of clothes next to him.
Xu Luoyang seriously pretended he was a plastic model, with his clothes coming and going and when he reached the ninth set, Wilson snapped his fingers, “That’s you.” Frenzy welled up in his eyes as he muttered, “A baron reborn from the ruins of an old castle, yes that’s it…..”
Seemingly remembering something, Wilson took out his pencil and began to write and draw on the paper, immersing himself in his world.
And next, Xu Luoyang’s hair was dyed grey-blue and an extremely luxurious and dazzling ruby stud was placed in his earlobe. His eye make-up was heavy and the color of his lip had been deepened so much that it made his skin look a little pale. An emerald ring was on the middle finger of his left hand and a brooch of diamond-shaped four-leaf flowers in gold and enamel had been pinned to the underside of his collar.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Xu Luoyang took the silk gloves handed to him by his assistant and placed them on his right hand slowly and discreetly, with his chin slightly raised a few degrees and for a moment, the cold arrogance that belonged to a baron was revealed from the corners of his eyes and eyebrows, causing him to look extremely overpowering
A pencil held between his fingers, Wilson laughed happily, “I knew you would blend perfectly with the aura of these outfits! Sure enough, sure enough!”
It was two hours later before Xu Luoyang followed the crew to the set— an old castle nestled in the far outskirts of the city that had been mostly reduced to ruins. Once upon a time, the castle had been overgrown and littered with collapsed walls and crumbling stone carvings. As the crew were determining the location of the shoot, Xu Luoyang sat with Qi Chang’an in the artist car, catching up on some rest.
It was just the two of them in the car and Xu Luoyang was taking sips of juice through the straw in his mouth when he heard Qi Chang’an say, “Luoyang, do know what I want to do the most right now?”
Biting into his straw, Xu Luoyang looked at him with some curiosity, “What do you want to do?” Did Qi Chang’an want to kiss him? But he had his makeup on so heavily that kissing would be a disaster! Then he only saw Qi Chang’an kneel directly in front of him on one knee then gently but irresistibly take his hand, lower his head then gently plant a kiss on the back of his hand, his voice as deep as wine.
“My lord duke, you are as enchanting as the stars.”
Xu Luoyang’s face burst into red and he couldn’t speak very well, “You …… I……” His brain blank and his mind in a knot, all he could think of was ’ah ah ah ah’.
Qi Chang’an’s fingers kneaded his fingers and it was obviously an extremely normal action, but it gave off a bit of ambiguity, making Xu Luoyang feel as if his palms were about to burn!
Just then, the door of the artist’s car was knocked on. Xu Luoyang answered immediately then took several deep breaths in succession before the heat on his face faded away. His voice a little low, he told Qi Chang’an, “I’m going to get off first…..”
He was entangled for a moment before he moved closer to Qi Chang’an. Closing his eyes, his thick eyelashes fluttering hard, he finally stretched out a bit of his moist tongue and licked Qi Chang’an’s lips, responding softly, “You are the moon surrounded by stars.”
With that, he got out of the car hurriedly.
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