Chapter 153: Xuan Xia Explains It All For You
Xuan Xia was working on both ends.
She protested verbally to Ji Ziyao: “How come we just signed and now it’s studio shoot? Is it this sudden?”
Her hands weren’t idle, replying to Qu Xingxuan’s message: “Why would they invite me for tea? Did they say the reason?”
Wasn’t the Ren Family supposed to invite Daoist Master Qin for tea?
Seeing her multitasking like this, Ji Ziyao was furious and said grumpily: “This contract was originally supposed to be signed yesterday, but where were you yesterday?”
Yesterday with that stunt she pulled, he had even prepared to apologize and make amends.
Fortunately, he received Xuan Xia’s message in the evening, so he didn’t actually do it.
Xuan Xia admitted she was indeed in the wrong and didn’t dare protest anymore.
She just wanted to ask again: “Is the studio shoot time-consuming?”
“How so?”
“I have an appointment in the afternoon,” Xuan Xia said.
Ji Ziyao sneered mockingly and said: “Then cancel your appointment. Even if it’s fast, it’ll go until dinner time.”
Xuan Xia sat sullenly thinking for a bit, then finally nodded.
Yes, yes, no matter what appointment, none is as important as work after signing the contract.
Seeing she had no objections, Ji Ziyao finally felt much better.
He instructed her to stay in the company for the next while, and after lunch, they would set off.
Xuan Xia was extremely compliant.
Once Ji Ziyao was busy, she reopened the chat window with Qu Xingxuan.
Qu Xingxuan had already answered her earlier question.
And added a whole bunch of others.
‘Qu Xingxuan: They said they want to thank us for bringing Ren Tongli out.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Oh, they called me too. Asked both of us to go. I feel like they just want to question us and probe.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: What do you think? Isn’t Ren Tongjin also there? Doesn’t he know what happened inside? The way we treated Ren Tongli, right? I think it’s definitely to reprimand us.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: I don’t want to go. I think you shouldn’t go either. Who knows what tricks they’re holding back, wanting to mess with us again, right.’
They say a lesson learned makes one wiser, and Qu Xingxuan’s trip in and out had clearly boosted his IQ quite a bit.
Xuan Xia was very pleased and remembered to ask him: “How’s your body? Are you okay?”
‘Qu Xingxuan: I’m fine, doing great.’
Really? Xuan Xia felt he was more like toughing it out.
Qu Xingxuan probably felt guilty too and didn’t want Xuan Xia to keep asking, so he immediately brought up the Ren Family tea invitation again.
If Xuan Xia decided to go, he would go with her no matter what.
Xuan Xia didn’t think much: “Not going, I have work.”
‘Qu Xingxuan: Okay okay okay, then I’ll reply like that. What reason should I give?’
Xuan Xia: “Not feeling well.”
‘Qu Xingxuan: Yes yes yes, I’ll say that.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: But don’t overthink it, I’m really doing great.’
Xuan Xia chuckled.
This was truly the pot calling the kettle black.
–
After lunch, Xuan Xia set off for the studio shoot location.
This studio shoot was for filming promotional posters for her yogurt endorsement.
Because the contract only gave her the Trial Ambassador role, Xuan Xia had no part in the ad filming.
The filming task was simple; she just needed to hold the yogurt and smile at the camera the whole time.
Though it sounded simple, the pre-shoot preparations were a big pile.
Even her styling took almost two hours.
From hairstyle, makeup to clothing, everything had to match the brand’s requirements.
For this, a senior manager from the brand was on site supervising the filming results.
Because of this, Xuan Xia added her first Brand Manager to her contacts.
Fortunately, once formal filming started, the progress was lightning fast.
For Xuan Xia, this endorsement poster filming work was similar to the previous dating show poster shoot, not difficult.
And the Brand Manager was very satisfied.
By wrap-up, it was exactly the dinner time Ji Ziyao had estimated.
The brand side suggested dinner together, and Xuan Xia as the lead couldn’t refuse.
Ji Ziyao said: “Good thing it’s a Female Manager, if anything, I’ll cover for you.”
Xuan Xia: “…” You think pretty.
That brand Female Manager had the look of a shrewd career woman, clearly not lacking pretty boys.
But it was reassuring that the brand inviting for dinner had no ulterior motives, purely because of the cooperation and the timing, so they suggested it.
At the dinner party, there wasn’t even a trace of alcohol; everyone behaved, drinking beverages or tea.
Though no drinking culture, it didn’t stop everyone from chatting about everything under the sun after being full.
As for this table of industry insiders, the topics were nothing but some celebrity gossip.
But due to confidentiality and such, some couldn’t be named directly, using aliases instead.
Xuan Xia couldn’t decode them all, but it didn’t stop her from being a bystander.
In the end, this gossip actually connected to her.
Her first Brand Manager suddenly smiled and said: “I heard earlier that you and a certain Female Artist from the program you participated in don’t get along well?”
Xuan Xia was stunned, was there such a thing?
But she quickly realized it was referring to Xie Yun.
She had only participated in one program and only had friction with Xie Yun.
The Brand Manager smiled faintly, “In this circle, fortunes rising and falling like the river east to west for thirty years each way is commonplace. Next, her days probably won’t be easy.”
Hmm?
Xuan Xia secretly exchanged a glance with Ji Ziyao beside her.
But the Brand Manager only mentioned it lightly, unwilling to say more.
She was satisfied with Xuan Xia’s performance today and happened to know a bit, so she mentioned it casually, like a little hint in advance.
But she didn’t know Xuan Xia digested and accepted this little hint in one second.
Then she looked perfectly calm.
Calculating the days, Senior Agent Zhao Mingfang’s career luck should be starting to break, right?
This little hint was just a side note at the dinner table; everyone soon chatted on to other topics.
Then this wave of chat unexpectedly veered into metaphysics.
Which film crew was haunted, which Artist secretly burned incense and prayed, raising what shady things.
Xuan Xia continued listening as gossip, while Ji Ziyao was a bit unaccustomed.
“Teacher Xuan, do you believe in these?” The beauty manager suddenly turned to Xuan Xia.
Ah this…
Xuan Xia first glanced at Ji Ziyao, then reservedly answered: “Actually, my family runs a Daoist Temple.”
At these words, everyone was shocked.
Then, all sorts of questions came flooding toward Xuan Xia.
Ji Ziyao ground his teeth secretly; she was pretending not to understand his look, right.
He clearly signaled her not to say it, not to say it!
But how could Xuan Xia miss the chance to promote Changsheng Temple?
Everyone present knew little about Daoist ways, and upon hearing Xuan Xia’s family ran a Daoist Temple, the first curious question was: “Are there still private Daoist Temples now? Aren’t they all public?”
Xuan Xia smiled and answered: “Actually, there are still some, but private ones are indeed more difficult, so many seek public support.”
After all, backing a big tree is good for shade.
Everyone looked enlightened.
But still found it unbelievable.
“Then is your family all monastics? Then you too…”
“Impossible, once ordained, can they still marry and have kids? That requires purity and severing worldly ties.”
“Hey, modern society, still so many rules. Ah, Teacher Xuan don’t mind, I’m not talking about your family.”
Xuan Xia kept her gentle smile, unconcerned: “My family, my great grandfather was ordained. But my great grandfather was a Zhengyi Daoist Priest, and Zhengyi can marry and have children.”
“Ah? Oh.”
Everyone had that ‘so that’s how it is’ expression again.
There were actually people at the table who knew Daoism splits into two sects, Zhengyi can marry and have kids, Quanzhen cannot, but in front of Xuan Xia, a more orthodox Daoist, they didn’t show off and let her explain.
–
Xuan Xia’s dinner party didn’t last long, wrapping up just after nine.
But in the latter half, the dinner party turned into a Daoist popularization non-public class, with Xuan Xia as the main speaker, sharing quite a bit, focusing of course on introducing and recommending her Changsheng Temple.
Whether the recommendation worked or not, everyone definitely remembered it.
At parting, Xuan Xia specially took out a Daoist Talisman and gave it to today’s host, the beauty Brand Manager.
“This is an Amulet from our temple, just a small token.”
The other took the talisman and spotted the embossed Changsheng Temple name.
After seeing the temple name and address, she smiled, “Then I’ll accept it.”
Xuan Xia watched her put it away, then smiled and said goodbye.
Once only their own people were left, Ji Ziyao started nagging her as expected.
“Do you know those who drag people into a meeting room, give a lecture, then hand out two boxes of eggs?”
Ji Ziyao said: “Really, it was exactly like that. Tell me, are you planning to develop in that direction next?”
Xuan Xia followed the principle of looking obedient while letting it go in one ear and out the other, meekly letting him nag.
But she still answered the key question: “No, I don’t give eggs.”
Then, Xuan Xia’s attention was completely taken by Qu Xingxuan’s messages.
Ji Ziyao’s corner of the mouth twitched: “…”
While she was at the dinner party, Qu Xingxuan had messaged her again.
In a mysterious tone, asking if she knew where he was now.
Probably because she hadn’t replied, he simply did a text live broadcast, bringing her real-time reports from another dinner party.
He had asked her in the morning how to refuse the Ren Family invitation, but by evening, he had gone to the Ren Family for a banquet.
But he wasn’t the only one; his Master Yuan Zhongshu and Daoist Master Qin were there too.
The Ren Family’s stated reason was to apologize to Qu Xingxuan.
So as the apologizee, Qu Xingxuan had to go.
‘Qu Xingxuan: My goodness, today’s setup is quite grand. Ren Tongli’s dad even came to Yanjing. He rarely appears.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Heard Ren Tongli still hasn’t woken up. Think he won’t wake up?’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Heh heh heh, I knew they weren’t up to good, talking about apologizing, but still asking what I did to Ren Tongli inside. They think I made him like that.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: I wish. If I had thought of it then, I could’ve made him even worse!’
‘Qu Xingxuan: But don’t worry, they think it was my idea.’
‘Qu Xingxuan: Sigh, so boring. You still not done with work? Tomorrow I probably have to go to the Cui Family dinner too; I already foresee it’ll be even more boring than here.’
…
Xuan Xia checked the timestamp of the last message: ten minutes ago.
Given the info Qu Xingxuan revealed, Xuan Xia had to first ask if their dinner party was over.
If not, she planned to go over.
‘Qu Xingxuan: Over over, just wrapping up. Finally can go home. You done with work?’
Xuan Xia suddenly felt a bit regretful.
But no matter, there was still tomorrow.
She immediately messaged Qu Xingxuan.
“By the way, do you still remember what Manager Ding said earlier?” Ji Ziyao stopped nagging and suddenly changed the subject.
Manager Ding was that Brand Female Manager, full name Ding Lu.
Xuan Xia thought Manager Ding had said quite a few things back and forth; how would she know which one Ji Ziyao meant.
Ji Ziyao said: “The one she said you have a grudge with.”
“Oh, you mean Xie Yun?”
Ji Ziyao was momentarily speechless.
When he heard the wording back then, he guessed it was Xie Yun.
Xuan Xia knew what he wanted to say, so she said flatly: “Didn’t I tell you early on that Zhao Mingfang’s luck is coming to an end.”
Ji Ziyao: “…”
“See, it’s starting to come true, right? Just wait and see; the avalanche will only speed up.”
Ji Ziyao: “…”
He really wanted to slap himself; why bring it up out of nowhere.
But with Xuan Xia repeatedly saying Zhao Mingfang was done for, plus tonight’s little tip from others, he now felt like waiting for lottery results, curious if it would really be as Xuan Xia said.
Ji Ziyao suddenly slapped his forehead.
Done for, after listening to Xuan Xia’s lecture tonight, he was showing signs of being poisoned too.
–
Xuan Xia and Qu Xingxuan chatted sporadically.
She asked some details about the Ren Family dinner party, and Qu Xingxuan answered like doing an exam, scratching his head where she couldn’t see.
Finally satisfying Xuan Xia’s curiosity, Qu Xingxuan got home.
Once home, he immediately freed his hands and sent Xuan Xia a voice message.
He said with deep feeling: “Sigh, why can’t Daoist Master Qin stay long-term in Yanjing? With him around, I feel so safe.”
Because Changsheng Temple was in Ningzhou, not Yanjing.
Changsheng Temple had no legs, couldn’t run from Ningzhou to Yanjing, so Daoist Master Qin couldn’t stay long-term in Yanjing.
Xuan Xia thought of the answer in her mind.
In the next second, a flash of Spiritual Light hit her mind again, and this time, she caught it.
She finally remembered, “Qu Xingxuan, didn’t you tell me before that Daoist Master Qin can’t leave Ningzhou?”
“Ah? Did I tell you that?” Qu Xingxuan said he didn’t remember.
After all, he had shared so much random gossip with Xuan Xia.
“Just say, is that how it is?”
Qu Xingxuan said: “Ah, yes.”
But that was hearsay, and now Daoist Master Qin was in Yanjing, didn’t seem like he couldn’t leave.
Looks like that rumor was fake.
First 16 chapters fully revised, but if you’ve read the old ones, no need to reread specially; more deletions than additions. And not fully done yet, will continue revising.
