The surrounding crowd instantly went dead silent, every single chaotic discussion clearing away in that single instant.
The righteous young man looked as though he had been struck by lightning, his feet feeling as though they were nailed to the floor, unable to take a step forward as he muttered under his breath, “How… how could this be?”
Forget about being called a duck if anyone so much as accidentally chuckled while Lin Yi was working, no matter how attractive they were, getting chewed out with a finger pointed right in their face was an absolute guarantee, and there was even a solid chance he’d pick up a chair and smash it over their head.
Precisely because there were countless prior examples, he had dared to act so boldly.
So why was it different this time?
After dressing down that righteous young man, Lin Yi stood there with absolute self-assurance, waiting for Lian Jue to express boundless gratitude and eagerly catch the olive branch he was about to toss his way.
To his utter astonishment, however, Lian Jue took his time pulling out his phone to glance at it, gave it a blank look, and then flatly hit the decline button: “Not interested.”
The smile froze completely on Lin Yi’s face as he cried out in frustration, “Do you have any idea who I am?!”
As a top-tier master photographer, his shooting schedule was booked all the way through to the year after next. Even if an industry-leading A-list star asked him for a shoot, he might very well turn them down.
Yet here he was initiating an invitation to a complete civilian, and Lian Jue had not only rejected him point-blank, but hadn’t even left him a shred of face?
“Why?” Lin Yi clutched at his chest. As expected, all beautiful muses come with a temper. It must be because my photography skills still aren’t good enough to move a beauty with such sky-high standards…
Lian Jue cast a suspicious glance at Lin Yi. “Are you out of your mind? You aren’t even paying me—why on earth should I cooperate with your shoot?”
People who tried to get free labor could act this brazen nowadays; was there any justice left in the world?
“Handsome, we can talk numbers.” Lin Yi handed his previous shooting proposal over to Lian Jue. “Take a look and see if anything catches your interest. We can negotiate the pay, and I can always apply for a higher budget from the company.”
Lian Jue flipped straight to the final page of the contract: hourly rate, 8,000 yuan.
Suppressing the surging excitement in his chest, Lian Jue offered a reserved, light cough. “More or less reasonable. I can shoot, but I’m only doing three hours.”
“Master Lin! Even if you’re the lead photographer, you can’t just run wild like this! A complete amateur’s professionalism can’t possibly compare to a professional model, and we never even coordinated the model replacement with the company beforehand—”
The company’s project director was a capable, polished woman who frowned in clear disapproval.
Artists naturally possessed the freedom of creative expression, but that freedom shouldn’t directly override standard commercial protocol.
Lin Yi dismissed her with a wave of his hand, a look of utter disdain in his eyes: “Get real. It’s just a damn necklace—if they’re willing to shoot for you, you should be thanking your lucky stars instead of being so picky. If you don’t like it, you can replace me and fire us both on the spot!”
The director fell completely silent, her sharp gaze sweeping twice over Lian Jue, naturally harboring heavy doubts regarding his competence.
Lian Jue couldn’t be bothered to offer any further explanations and followed the makeup artist backstage to get styled.
With Lian Jue stepping in as a last-minute replacement, and Lin Yi having just quarreled with the director over him, everyone naturally held their breath, waiting expectantly for Lian Jue to emerge.
In their view, while Lian Jue possessed decent exterior assets, he was still miles away from being able to fill the shoes of a professional model.
Amateurs lacked experience after all, requiring constant reminders to adjust their state. Moreover, given Lin Yi’s notoriously strict artistic standards, there was no way three hours would be enough to hit the target, so everyone had already mentally prepared themselves for mandatory overtime.
Once Lian Jue walked out of the dressing room, the people who had been quietly whispering behind his back a moment ago instantly lost their voices.
A light dusting of powder was applied to Lian Jue’s face, leaving his features looking cool and composed with a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips, resembling snowflakes drifting through the dead of winter.
He wore a deep V-neck top that exposed his porcelain-white chest. Wrapped around his neck was a double-layered pearl chain, with his collarbone serving as a delicate basin cradling the pearls. The bottom chain pendant extended downward along his chest, sinking out of sight beneath the hem of his shirt.
Worth noting was the fact that scattered across the back of Lian Jue’s neck and his chest were tiny, unblended red plum blossom marks anyone with eyes could easily guess precisely what those marks were.
Lian Jue self-consciously reached up to cover the back of his neck, looking somewhat embarrassed. “The makeup artist said the concealer couldn’t cover them completely, so they’ll have to be photoshopped out in post.”
Everyone present barely managed to snap back to their senses, their expressions shifting unpredictably as they cautiously stole glances at Lin Yi’s face.
In the past, Lin Yi would have absolutely zero tolerance for such unprofessional flaws. Forget about artificially created hickeys, even an accidental bruise from a bump would trigger a full two-hour tongue-lashing from him.
In Lin Yi’s eyes, no matter how gorgeous a beauty might be, defiling his art was strictly forbidden.
“It’s fine, quack, quack, quack, we can just photoshop it in post. But Xiaojue, you can’t have this kind of attitude toward your work in the future,” Lin Yi lectured hypocritically, cleverly taking advantage of the situation to address him as “Xiaojue” in an insidious attempt to close the distance between them.
Lian Jue flatly rejected the overture: “Teacher Lin, please call me Lian Jue during work hours.”
Lin Yi’s expression withered into ash: “Fine.”
Staff members: “…”
Once he entered work mode, Lian Jue drew upon his accumulated past experience, straightening his slender back slightly. His fair fingertips brushed lightly against the pearl chain around his neck, causing the pendant to sway gently along the alluring curve of his chest—a living, breathing picture of vibrant allure.
The staff members who had previously clustered nearby waiting to watch Lian Jue get chewed out and make a fool of himself now stared with wide eyes, completely captivated and unable to look away.
To put it bluntly, it wasn’t even a matter of Lian Jue setting off the necklace anymore; the necklace was adding luster to Lian Jue.
Lin Yi’s gaze, meanwhile, held zero concealed appreciation. Staring at Lian Jue, he felt as though he could live another twenty years just to keep contributing to art.
“Not bad, not bad, Xiaojue’s state is fantastic.”
“Let’s get another shot from this angle.”
Necklaces of various styles lingered around Lian Jue’s neck. Displaying top-tier professional dedication, Lian Jue maintained high nervous tension for so long without ever throwing a single tantrum, his facial control remaining consistently on point.
Cooperating seamlessly with the camera angles to showcase the necklaces resting against his neck, his expressions and posture remained locked in peak form, pushing the shooting progress along at a pace significantly faster than before.
Having long since discarded her initial skepticism, the project director quietly watched Lian Jue while secretly plotting how to poach this incredible talent and lock him down as the company’s exclusive contract model.
Suddenly, an alarm notification chimed on his phone. Lian Jue paused his movements and looked over at Lin Yi. “Teacher Lin, the three hours are up. I think that’s about it for today.”
Lin Yi wore an expression of profound reluctance, clearly feeling unsatisfied. Staring longingly at the monitor screen in front of him, he protested, “How can that be ‘about it’? Look how beautifully I photographed you—won’t you stay just a little longer?”
Lin Yi cursed his own lack of striking good looks; otherwise, he’d try using a little seduction on Lian Jue right about now.
“No. We agreed on three hours, so please have my pay transferred to my bank account as soon as possible.”
Turning on his heel, Lian Jue marched straight back to the dressing room to remove his makeup and change his clothes, showing not a shred of hesitation or reluctance.
With one hand, he yanked the necklace off his neck, while his other hand kept his eyes glued to his phone screen.
Earlier that morning when Chen Xingjian sent him off with a new phone, the phone number had already been pre-saved, and the two of them had added each other on WeChat.
After a few moments of hesitation, Lian Jue edited a message and hit send: Sir, I just finished my shift. Are you coming home for dinner tonight?
Chen Xingjian didn’t reply for a long time.
After pondering for a moment, Lian Jue snapped a casual selfie and sent it over.
Barely three seconds later, a tiny red notification dot popped up over Chen Xingjian’s profile picture box.