Zhao Muqing slept very soundly that night. Upon waking up, he instinctively observed Shen Guanzhi beside him and noticed no furrowed brow, indicating that he had not experienced any nightmares.
He could not quite remember how he had made it back to his room, but oh well, it did not matter anyway, Zhao Muqing thought.
Sensing Zhao Muqing’s movements, Shen Guanzhi quickly woke up from bed and, acting as if Zhao Muqing did not exist, proceeded to groom himself.
Zhao Muqing very tactfully retreated to his own room. With the studio training scheduled for nine in the morning, he quickly got himself sorted out and headed down to the first-floor dining room, where the chef had already prepared breakfast on the table.
At a single glance, he spotted the sizzling sausages, the slightly crisped bacon, golden fried eggs, warm bread, and even a sandwich stuffed with beef. Zhao Muqing’s appetite was instantly piqued, but just as he shoved a piece of bacon into his mouth, Shen Guanzhi’s voice drifted in from the doorway: “Put those items away.”
Zhao Muqing simply could not believe his ears. He stared at Shen Guanzhi with an incomprehensible gaze, but the other man clearly had no intention of explaining anything, nor did he plan to hear any pleas.
In the end, Zhao Muqing could only watch helplessly as the housekeepers cleared away a large portion of the mouth-watering breakfast, leaving behind only fried eggs, bread, and a meatless vegetarian sandwich.
“Share the rest with the others.” After finishing these instructions, Shen Guanzhi formally took a seat opposite Zhao Muqing. “What is your weight at roughly?”
Zhao Muqing instinctively blinked in surprise. “I have not weighed myself yet.”
“You should not be so careless about this,” Shen Guanzhi frowned upon hearing that. “Starting now, you need to strictly manage your body shape. I will have a nutritionist formulate your three meals a day. You can tell him if there are dishes you cannot eat.”
“Did you not tell me to order whatever I want from the chef before?” Zhao Muqing grumbled, taking out his grievance on the vegetable leaves in his plate.
“That was on the condition that you could control your mouth.”
Zhao Muqing was instantly left speechless. Back when he was a dance major, his instructors constantly nagged him to pay close attention to weight management and not waltz into the practice studio with a round, bloated belly.
It was not like he did it on purpose; he was just genuinely hungry.
Dietary restriction was a hurdle Zhao Muqing found very difficult to overcome, though fortunately, he always managed to successfully shed the weight right before major performances and then pig out all over again afterward, continuing the endless cycle.
“There are body shaping and physical training classes too,” Zhao Muqing put on a pitiful act. “Eating this little is going to give me hypoglycemia.”
Shen Guanzhi slid his own vegetarian sandwich across the table to Zhao Muqing.
Zhao Muqing asked what that meant.
Even Shen Guanzhi himself had nothing in front of him except the exact same breakfast as Zhao Muqing’s. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“Not hungry,” Shen Guanzhi replied so crisply that Zhao Muqing had zero room to make an issue of it.
Zhao Muqing had no choice but to obediently finish every last bite of the bland, low-oil, low-salt breakfast. Although the sight of it failed to stimulate his appetite, once it was actually in his mouth, the taste was not all that bad.
When Zhao Muqing arrived at Room 012, the instructor had not yet arrived, reportedly due to traffic congestion on the road. Arriving around the same time as him was another model, holding the latest issue of S.Q and flipping through the pages in the corner.
Isn’t this the magazine heavily promoted by the studio? Thinking this, Zhao Muqing could not curb his curiosity; he simply had to see what a high-quality magazine was actually like.
“Can I take a look?” Zhao Muqing sat down beside the model.
“Here you go, I just finished reading it.” The model smiled amicably at him. Zhao Muqing felt that the other person possessed a trustworthy demeanor and even found himself proactively striking up a conversation. “Thanks. I don’t think I saw you yesterday?”
“Yeah, I just heard about the training here and arrived today.” The model naturally introduced himself as Zhou Ling, mentioning that he used to follow agents from other companies and had only recently re-signed with Shen Guanzhi’s studio.
“Wasn’t your old agency any good?” What good could possibly come from following a demonic boss like Shen Guanzhi? Could anything be worse than that?
“My previous one was a small company with no real career prospects,” Zhou Ling said with a smiling expression that suggested satisfaction with the present. “My current agent is great to me and fights for good work opportunities. Maybe my abilities just aren’t good enough yet, which is why I’ve never made it big.”
“What about Shen Guanzhi?”
“Mr. Shen is a very famous designer with great connections. While I don’t see him in person very often, I frequently see him in online interviews and things like that.”
Only at that very moment did Zhao Muqing realize that he seemed to be the only one under Shen Guanzhi’s direct management.
He quickly browsed through the magazine in his hand. The contents were almost exclusively about jewelry, complete with matching seasonal apparel recommendations that Zhou Ling explained were collaborations between other brands and the studio.
Aside from Shen Guanzhi himself, the studio had signed quite a few jewelry designers. Zhao Muqing spotted their names in the magazine, but Shen Guanzhi’s was nowhere to be found. Zhou Ling very helpfully explained that magazines generally promoted mass-market styles, whereas Shen Guanzhi himself only took on high-end custom pieces. Given his fame and reputation, he had no need for publicity, which was why his personal content did not appear in magazines.
The moment the instructor walked through the door, Zhao Muqing quickly put the magazine away.
The current lessons were still at the foundational stage, making them easy enough for Zhao Muqing to follow. It was only during the final physical training segment that the instructor ramped up the exercise intensity slightly.
Zhao Muqing was not someone lacking in exercise, so pushing through the routine did not prove overly strenuous. However, even for experienced hands, workout injuries were an everyday occurrence.
During the second set of exercises, he accidentally sprained his ankle. After notifying the instructor, Zhou Ling helped support him outside and asked if he needed to hail a cab to a nearby clinic.
“No need, it shouldn’t be serious and will get better soon.” Zhao Muqing fished out his phone, intending to contact the driver, only to bump into Shen Guanzhi right at the corner.
“Mr. Shen.” Zhou Ling quickly offered a greeting, but Shen Guanzhi paid him little attention, focusing his gaze entirely on Zhao Muqing. “What happened?”
“Just a sprained ankle, can’t finish class. I’ll have the driver pick me up.”
“Come here.” Shen Guanzhi took a few steps closer and reached a hand out toward Zhao Muqing. The latter obediently hobbled over from Zhou Ling’s side to lean against Shen Guanzhi’s shoulder.
“I happen to be off work, I’ll send you back.” Shen Guanzhi supported Zhao Muqing by the arm, completely ignoring Zhou Ling as he turned to leave.
Zhao Muqing hastily thanked Zhou Ling, then used Shen Guanzhi as a walking cane, making his way step by step toward the elevator lobby.
Halfway there, Shen Guanzhi abruptly halted his steps and turned his head back.
Curious, Zhao Muqing followed his gaze backward, but aside from Zhou Ling’s fleeting back as he stepped into Room 012, there was nothing else.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” Shen Guanzhi continued moving forward. “Let’s go back.”
Zhao Muqing had not seen Shen Guanzhi in his room for several nights in a row. Whenever he peeked toward the study door to check, Shen Guanzhi would always catch him and casually invite him inside.
Unable to suppress his curiosity, he eventually learned that Shen Guanzhi’s first draft had been rejected, and he was now rushing to revise the second draft.
“I thought everyone would be satisfied with your designs.”
“Aesthetics are highly subjective,” Shen Guanzhi said as his pen tip kept gliding across the tablet. “The client and I have aesthetic discrepancies, so revisions are completely normal.”
Zhao Muqing glanced sideways at the design on the tablet. “You have to change quite a lot of it. It looks completely different from what I saw before.”
“For me, designing for someone unfamiliar is much harder. I haven’t seen his lover in person, only photos and a few descriptions of his preferences from Xu Yintang,” Shen Guanzhi explained. “I have to deduce what the other person would like and what suits them based on those clues. Since there are biases in understanding as well, the areas needing revision pile up.”
Zhao Muqing nodded with a half-understanding look. Even though it practically meant redrawing the whole thing from scratch, Shen Guanzhi showed not a shred of temper.
It took Shen Guanzhi nearly half a month to finish Xu Yintang’s design drafts. The remaining time had to be spent on drafting the mold, refining it, stone-setting, polishing, and quality inspection, and only after going through all these processes could the finished product be created.
Zhao Muqing had secretly observed in Shen Guanzhi’s studio that every single step was carried out personally by Shen Guanzhi, and the final product genuinely dazzled an outsider like him.
“Xu Yintang just notified me that he has an event to attend in Dongyuan City and will drop by to pick up the necklace on his way.” Shen Guanzhi bumped into Zhao Muqing on the first floor of the villa. “Is your foot better?”
“Healed ages ago.” Zhao Muqing rotated his ankle a bit; the sprain had been minor and cleared up in a few days. “Do I need to be here too?”
“Best if you are. Don’t let Xu Yintang suspect that you and I aren’t on good terms.”
“Fine, we’ll meet him. It’s not like you aren’t watching me anyway.” Zhao Muqing sighed inwardly; some people were just impossible to avoid no matter how much you wished otherwise.
Shen Guanzhi packed the necklace away, placing it inside a specially customized gift box inscribed with the lover’s name as requested by Xu Yintang.
Zhao Muqing changed into a simple, clean outfit and followed Shen Guanzhi to the first-floor reception parlor.
As soon as the housekeeper announced Xu Yintang’s arrival, Shen Guanzhi reached out to wrap an arm around Zhao Muqing’s waist, and the latter leaned his head against his shoulder, looking quite intimate.
Xu Yintang was ushered inside by the housekeeper and seated opposite Shen Guanzhi. A nanny brewed a pot of tea and poured a cup for everyone present.
“Haven’t seen you two for a while, but your relationship is still just as good,” Xu Yintang said with a meaningful smile.
“Not bad.” Shen Guanzhi raised a hand to stroke Zhao Muqing’s hair, and the person in his arms very obediently placed the jewelry box he was holding straight into Shen Guanzhi’s palm.
“Here is the finished custom piece commissioned by Mr. Xu. Please take a look. If you find any flaws, we can rework it at any time.” Shen Guanzhi handed the jewelry box across to Xu Yintang.
“How could I ever doubt you? He’s bound to love it.” Xu Yintang’s gaze swept over Zhao Muqing. “I’m just curious, what kind of gifts does Mr. Shen buy for his lover?”
Zhao Muqing could roughly guess what Xu Yintang was getting at. Shen Guanzhi was a jewelry designer, yet his pampered lover wore not a single luxury piece of jewelry.
He wondered if the man was trying to expose them or simply seizing the opportunity to mock them.
“Gemstones.” Shen Guanzhi stroked Zhao Muqing’s earlobe. “Precious accessories are naturally reserved for distinguished guests, don’t you agree, Mr. Xu?”