Chapter 53: Fifty-Third Day as a Salted Fish
She had been so busy attending Yang Yutong’s birthday banquet and taking care of the injured Yang Yutong lately that she hadn’t realized how fast time flew—it was already time for her guest appearance.
Hopefully, her gaming skills wouldn’t embarrass her during the Esports Star Exhibition Match.
After Romantic Lovers aired this Saturday, she would have to rush out on Monday to film the fifth episode. She wondered where the production team would set the shooting location this time.
Since she had to shoot her promotional concept photos in the afternoon, Qin Jiaojiao lazed around at home during the morning. Spotting the flowers in the dining room—which she had brought back last night and set in water—she suddenly had a spontaneous urge to learn flower arranging.
The garden villa featured plenty of rockeries and running water, overflowing with lush greenery and a wide variety of planted flowers.
The pond in the backyard was brimming with lotus flowers and lotus leaves, while roses bloomed on the branches. Carrying a basket and a pair of shears, Qin Jiaojiao headed to the backyard, cutting a few flowers alongside lotus leaves and seedpods from the pond before returning to the living room.
Auntie Zhang asked, “Madam, what are you going to do with so many flowers?”
Qin Jiaojiao set the basket on the table. “Make flower arrangements. Are there any pretty vases at home? Have the servants bring a few over for me.”
“Madam, please wait a moment, I’ll have the servants fetch them,” Auntie Zhang said.
Qin Jiaojiao pulled out her phone to search for video tutorials on flower arranging. As she sat at the table trimming and pruning away, a servant brought her a classical, round, short-legged vase and a long oval vase. Everything inside the garden villa was exquisite; while these vases looked simple and ordinary, they were worth tens of thousands of yuan.
Driven by a sudden whim, Qin Jiaojiao spent the entire morning trimming stems and branches, barely managing to learn how to create an arrangement by following the video.
Qin Jiaojiao asked Auntie Zhang, “How is it? Does it look good?”
In Auntie Zhang’s eyes, everything Qin Jiaojiao did had been wonderful since she was little; even when she was naughty and mischievous, it was considered adorable. She praised her with a face full of smiles, “It’s so beautiful! Madam is truly talented, making such a gorgeous flower arrangement right off the bat.”
Qin Jiaojiao felt suspicious, so she asked the other servants cleaning the living room; every hired servant showered her floral arrangement skills with praise.
“…”
Qin Jiaojiao took photos and sent a picture each to Yang Yutong and Zhou Shaoli. Then, suddenly remembering that Jin Mingzhu knew the art of flower arrangement, she sent her one as well.
Universe Invincible Beautiful Girl: 【What’s this?】
Qin Jiaojiao: 【Flower arrangement. Does it look good?】
Universe Invincible Beautiful Girl: 【You sure have a refined taste for leisure! Making it look so pretty, I almost thought you bought it.】
Receiving top-tier praise from her best friend made Qin Jiaojiao feel utterly delighted inside.
Zhou Shaoli was likely busy with work and hadn’t replied to her. Jin Mingzhu, on the other hand, gave a critique of the floral arrangement a few minutes later, noting that while it held a strong aesthetic appeal at first glance, the technique was unrefined and lacked artistic flair.
Hearing such earnest feedback, Miss Qin quickly replied with humility: 【Thank you for the critique, Teacher Jin! Being able to receive your praise on my very first attempt at flower arranging makes me so happy.】
Qin Jiaojiao: 【When I come over to your house next time, could you give me a pointer or two?】
Jin Mingzhu: 【Of course, you’re welcome anytime.】
Cradling her finished classical floral arrangement, Qin Jiaojiao pondered where to put this pot. The interior decoration of the garden villa leaned heavily toward a vintage aesthetic, so placing it anywhere would fit right in.
Just as she was weighing her options, Zhou Shaoli sent a reply, showering her with several compliments and saying her floral arrangement was full of poetic and artistic charm.
Qin Jiaojiao felt embarrassed by his praise. “I learned this by following videos online and just added a few of my own creative ideas to make it.”
She asked: 【Where in the house would be a good spot to place this potted arrangement?】
Zhou Shaoli: 【The desk in the study is a bit bare; you can put it on the desk.】 That way, he could admire his wife’s work every single day.
Grasping his intention, Qin Jiaojiao broke into a delighted smile: 【Okay, I’ll put it up there right now.】
Auntie Zhang and the servants were just about to help her look for a spot when Qin Jiaojiao hurriedly said, “No need to look, Zhou Shaoli asked me to put it on his desk in the study.”
Cradling the vase, she walked upstairs and pushed open the study door.
She hadn’t been to the study for quite a long time. Every time she stepped into Zhou Shaoli’s study, it felt like pushing open the doors to an ancient hall of ten thousand books, filled with rare treasures and precious curios.
Compared to these valuable jade ornaments and displays, this potted flower arrangement—aside from its slightly poetic and artistic ambiance—looked a bit shabby. Yet, it earned the privilege of being displayed on the master’s desk, right where he could look up and see it every day.
Qin Jiaojiao found a spot on the office desk to set the vase down, then sat in Zhou Shaoli’s chair. Imagining him sitting here working every day, looking up at the artistic flower arrangement whenever he felt fatigued, she thought it might disperse a bit of his tiredness.
Since Qin Jiaojiao rarely accepted job offers through the company, her manager hadn’t arranged a nanny van to transport her, sending her the address for the promotional photo shoot instead and telling her to head over on her own.
Elegantly dressed and stepping on small high heels, Qin Jiaojiao rode the elevator to the studio floor.
The official platform hosting this promotional event was a giant in the domestic live-streaming industry, so their company building was remarkably grand. She even bumped into several popular influencers from the streaming platform along the way.
Entering the studio, a staff member stepped forward to lead her to the makeup room for styling. Since camera shooting tended to wash out makeup, Qin Jiaojiao needed a fresh application.
Stepping into the makeup room, Qin Jiaojiao froze upon spotting Shen Xiaoshan sitting in front of the vanity mirror. Seeing her, the other woman was clearly surprised as well.
At the makeup artist’s request, Qin Jiaojiao took a seat in the chair right next to Shen Xiaoshan.
After their last encounter at the Yang Manor, Qin Jiaojiao and Shen Xiaoshan hadn’t crossed paths again. During this period, Shen Xiaoshan had been publicly mocked by netizens for fake order-swiping during her charity farm-assistance stream, leading to public apologies and massive financial compensation.
That storm had inflicted severe negative damage on Shen Xiaoshan’s reputation. Most of the commercial events and ad offers brought in by her dating variety show popularity fell through, and she was unwilling to take the remaining low-paying gigs.
In this era where live streaming was immensely popular and the esports industry was booming, Shen Xiaoshan had snatched a spot in this Esports Star Exhibition Match right from the hands of a third-tier artist under Meng Brothers Pictures, intending to craft a gamer girl persona tonight to draw in otaku fans.
Qin Jiaojiao hadn’t expected to run into Shen Xiaoshan either. She mused inwardly that this segment didn’t seem to exist in the original plot.
Since neither of them was currently recording a dating show, they had nothing to say to each other—especially after their confrontation at the Yang Manor birthday banquet, which had effectively torn away all pretense of respectability.
Qin Jiaojiao stared expressionlessly into the makeup mirror, praying in her heart that she wouldn’t be matched onto the same team as Shen Xiaoshan.
The makeup artist removed Qin Jiaojiao’s makeup.
Qin Jiaojiao’s face was completely free of blemishes, fair, delicate, and snowy-white; her exquisite features looked ridiculously gorgeous even bare-faced. The makeup artist couldn’t resist complimenting her, “Your skin is so good…”
Qin Jiaojiao offered a faint smile. “Thank you.”
Since living together with Zhou Shaoli, her sleep schedule had become regular. The dark circles from her past late nights out had long vanished, and coupled with daily skincare treatments, her skin had indeed improved.
Shen Xiaoshan cast a glance at Qin Jiaojiao, her hands clenching tight as her nails dug into her palm.
Lately, she had been swamped with damage control over the farm-assistance stream incident, while also dealing with the Meng family and hiring private doctors to forge fake pregnancy reports. Her mental state was terrible, her skin dry and rough—makeup couldn’t even cover her exhaustion.
Her facial structure wasn’t naturally great, so she usually relied on mood-enhancing makeup to create a sense of beauty.
Sitting together, the contrast completely outshone her in favor of Qin Jiaojiao.
Suppressing her internal impatience, Shen Xiaoshan asked the makeup artist, “Are we done yet?”
The makeup artist, who was currently trying to conceal her blemishes, said, “Almost ready, Teacher Shen. Please wait a moment longer.”
Qin Jiaojiao finished her makeup before Shen Xiaoshan. Thanking the artist, she walked outside.
Exiting the makeup room, she ran head-on into a few young guys who looked to be eighteen or nineteen. The boys varied in height; standing in the center, surrounded by the group, was a tall, slender youth wearing a black-and-gold team jersey. He casually let his teammates drape their arms over his shoulders as they laughed and chatted.
“Why do we have to wear makeup too? What a hassle.”
“With that ugly face of yours, no amount of makeup can make you look as handsome as King.”
“Get out, as if anyone can be like him and look as handsome as a celebrity.”
When the youths caught sight of Qin Jiaojiao, their eyes widened slightly. Woah, what a gorgeous girl!
As esports youths who spent every day training and gaming at their base, they rarely socialized outside, so seeing a exceptionally stunning girl left them completely unable to look away.
Only the youth in the center kept his handsome face cold and aloof, not sparing her a second glance.
Accustomed to being admired, Qin Jiaojiao maintained her proud demeanor like a noble black swan, passing by them without turning her head.
The boys’ hushed chatter floated from behind her.
“Woah, what a gorgeous girl! Is she a celebrity?”
“The platform invited tons of stars for this stream event. With looks like that, she’s gotta be a celebrity.”
“Sigh, why don’t I have the luck to get picked to play games with a celebrity sister? I’m so jealous of King.”
The exceptionally cool youth threw back a flat line: “If you want this ‘luck,’ you can have it.”
“Forget it. If I can’t carry her, I’d just embarrass myself,” his teammate admitted sheepishly.
The organizers had invited celebrities and professional players to form two teams for an exhibition match. Normally, these stars rarely played video games, so they were bound to get slaughtered by pro players on both sides in-game.
In a match between two teams of pros and stars, winning depended on which team’s pros were better—specifically, whether they could get kills faster than their celebrity teammates could feed.
After wrapping up her promotional photo shoot, Qin Jiaojiao returned to the garden villa. That evening, Zhou Shaoli left work early to accompany her for dinner.
After dinner, the two went out for a short stroll before Zhou Shaoli headed to the study as usual to handle work; Qin Jiaojiao followed him inside as well.
Zhou Shaoli sat behind the desk while Qin Jiaojiao leaned against it, asking him with a beaming smile, “How does this pot of flowers look sitting here?”
“Very nice.” Zhou Shaoli motioned toward her with his eyes.
Qin Jiaojiao failed to grasp his meaning, looking at him in confusion.
Zhou Shaoli extended a hand toward her, and she placed her hand in his. Across the office desk, the posture felt oddly hilarious.
“Come over,” Zhou Shaoli said helplessly.
Qin Jiaojiao offered an oh, rounding the desk to walk over to his side.
The man turned his body slightly, applying a firm pull to her arm. Suddenly, she tumbled straight into his arms, landing right on top of his lap.
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