Chapter 24: Chapter 23: First commercial successfully completed?!
The photoshoot reached it's last few stages and promptly ended around six in the evening.
"Alright, good job everyone! We're done here, so Jiexi you can go ahead and change." Zhao Ya nodded, feeling quite satisfied that they had completed the photoshoot within one sitting. She thought that since Wen Jiexi is a newcomer, it would be good enough if they could get about half of the pictures done. However, she didn't expect Wen Jiexi's fast comprehension skills and so they were able to finish the shoot today. We don't have to work overtime, yay!
"Ok, thank you everyone for your hard work today." Wen Jiexi bowed towards the people around and walked into the dressing room.
"Over here, Little Xi. Here are your clothes and some water for you to drink." The Li Lingmeng who was chatting with Lin Youji stood up and handed Wen Jiexi a bag and bottle of water.
"Little Meng, if they finish their editing, can you ask them for a copy of the photos? I want to keep them as a souvenir to commemorate the first job I've ever done. Don't worry I won't leak the photos and I'll even sign another contract." Wen Jiexi received the bag and water bottle while whispering to Li Lingmeng.
"I can help you ask, but…they probably won't agree." Li Lingmeng hesitated.
"Doesn't hurt to try. Just help me ask first and if they don't agree, then forget it." Wen Jiexi said helplessly.
"Ok, leave it to me! With my charming smile, I will definitely get them for you!" Li Lingmeng proudly patted her chest.
Pfft-
Wen Jiexi watched Li Linmeng make her way over to Zhao Ya and couldn't help shaking her head. To be honest, Little Meng and Dango act a lot like each other.
Speaking of, as Wen Jiexi started changing her clothes, she heard loud shouts behind her that came from Dango.
"Jiexi, Jiexi! I'm back!"
"How did it go? What did you hear?" Wen Jiexi tugged on her shirt and asked.
"After you left, the vulgar man started jumping up and down while complaining loudly to his father. He was wailing and whining so much that snot came out of his nose! Then the two huddled close to each other and began whispering, but don't worry I caught it all on my recording device!" Dango waved it in front of Wen Jiexi.
"Here."
"Thank you, Dango. You did a great job." Wen Jiexi smiled and accepted the recording device, patting Dango on the head.
"That's only natural!" Dango said proudly.
Wen Jiexi glanced down at the device in her hands. If you don't attack me I won't attack you. If the Ma family pair of father and son don't try to make a move on her, she won't either. However, if they do, then they only have themselves to blame for the consequences. Thinking like this, Wen Jiexi placed the device into her pocket, smoothed out her clothes, and walked out.
She looked over to see that Li Lingmeng was still talking to Zhao Ya in the distance. Zhao Ya's expression was awkward and she looked hard-pressed, but they seemed to be persuaded by Li Lingmeng's words and accepted the USB flash drive Li Lingmeng gave them.
Wen Jiexi jogged up to Li Lingmeng,
"So, how did it go?"
"Hehe, naturally, they agreed!" Li Lingmeng made a peace sign with her hand.
"Really….but it didn't look like they agreed." Wen Jiexi raised an eyebrow.
"That's because they only agreed after I told them we wanted to have a copy to commemorate it. I said that since we have to compete with Miss Qiu, if we lose, we might as well get something out of it." Li Lingmeng scratched her neck embarrassedly. She felt kind ashamed to have given them such a reason, it made it seem like they didn't have any faith in these people who had shown them nothing but kindness.
"Ah." Wen Jiexi patted Li Lingmeng's head and before Li Lingmeng could retort in anger, she withdrew her hand. At this time, Zhao Ya also came over with the USB flash drive.
"Here you go, the photos should be all there." Although Zhao Ya's expression couldn't be said to be mad or anything, one could tell that she was now purposely acting a little more coldly towards them.
"Sister Zhao, I'm sorry. Little Meng didn't speak correctly just now. In reality, we asked for a copy of the photos as a backup. You see, I'm afraid after that conflict with Team Two's leader earlier, they will try to use small tricks and schemes behind our backs. They mostly rely on Miss Qiu's identity, but everything else cannot be compared to Team One. Therefore, I think the chance of them using cowardly schemes will increase. Since we don't want to just lie down and let them roll over us, I thought it would be better for us to have a backup in place, just in case. Plus, what matters, in the end, is who's finished product is better. I know that the executives don't care what happens between our groups and only want to use this competition to incentify the two teams in coming up with better results."
Listening to Wen Jiexi's line by line analysis, Zhao Ya and Lin Youjia glanced at each other in surprise. They did not expect a girl who hasn't even graduated yet to have such foresight. Even they were completely focused on quickly completing the work, thinking that they were going to win, but had actually forgotten about the fact that the Ma family father and son's habit of messing around behind the scenes. They had slacked off and if they hadn't gotten a reminder from this girl, it would've been a catastrophe.
"Thank you, Jiexi." Zhao Ya gave Wen Jiexi a look full of admiration. A person who looked at the big picture and not just the results is someone who will go far in the future.
"It's fine. As the saying goes, each takes what one needs. [1]" Wen Jiexi tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled.
"Indeed." Zhao Ya nodded and smiled. She had learned today that Wen Jiexi is not as naive as she looks. If anything, her mind was quite bright. If the father and son pair from the Ma family try to take revenge, I'm afraid they will have to pay a painful price. She didn't mind waiting to see what the pair would do, but she was more interested in what Wen Jiexi would do to counter.
"It was nice cooperating with you." The two shook hands and smiled.
On the drive back to the dorms, Li Lingmeng said,
"Little Zi, if I really want to work as your assistant, I might need to do some research."
Are you serious about being my assistant?" Wen Jiexi was surprised. She thought that Li Lingmeng was just joking with her, but she could hear the sincerity in her tone.
"Hey, hey, hey, I am always serious! Not to mention, there's nothing wrong with being your assistant since I'm so familiar with you. So why not we partner up and take care of each other? If you become successful, then I can at least ride on your coattails." Li Lingmeng said.
"Hahaha, then I will let you ride as much as you want!" Wen Jiexi laughed at Li Lingmeng's words and made a lighthearted promise."
"Then it's a deal! Alright, let's go out and eat!" Li Lingmeng high-fived Wen Jiexi and happily ran off with her to a nearby street stall.
During the one holiday weekend, telling her parents that she was hanging out with Li Lingmeng, the pair were able to leave the dorms without Wen Jiexi's parents knowing their true purposes. They arrived at the venue that they and Zhao Ya had agreed upon: a large outdoor basketball court. There was no one here, most likely because the cameras surrounding the place or maybe they were asked to leave by someone from the company.
"Jiexi, Lingmeng, over here." A parasol was set up near the basketball court and Lin Youjia waved at the two of them from underneath it while wiping her sweat.
"Sister Lin." Wen Jiexi and Li Lingmeng immediately made their way over.
"Jiexi, come over here and take a look at this." Zhao Ya showed her pictures of basketball players. They were players performing actions like shooting, doing a layup, dribbling and other actions and finally the slew of pictures ended with a man shooting a three-pointer.
"Can you perform all these moves?"
"I can." Wen Jiexi nodded.
"Splendid. We might need to do multiple takes and you may have to repeat your actions until we can capture the perfect video. If you feel tired, tell us. We don't want you fainting on us." Zhao Ya gave Wen Jiexi some clothes and waved at the temporary dressing room set up nearby,
"This is our main theme, so you only need to wear this outfit."
"I understand." Wen Jiexi nodded seriously.
It only took five minutes for Wen Jiexi to get changed. Before they started, Wen Jiexi did some warm-ups on the sidelines. Li Lingmeng did not stay beside Wen Jiexi but instead chatted with Lin Youjia, asking this and that, hoping to learn some helpful tips as Wen Jiexi's assistant. Seeing as how she was trying to help Wen Jiexi lay a good foundation, Wen Jiexi felt touched. At that point, she decided to do her best, whether it was for herself or for Little Meng or….to meet that person again…
"Everything is ready. Please get into position."
Wen Jiexi slightly lowered her body as she dribbled the ball, In front of her was a young man in his 20s who was hired to be her opponent. Of course, the man only had some basic skills in basketball because after all, the protagonist of the commercial was still Wen Jiexi.
Looking at the man in front of her, he was at least half a head taller than her. If she was going to shoot a three-pointer, the height of this opponent will be a bit of an obstacle for her.
"Jiexi, first try making a shot. Little Qu you will play defense!" Zhao Ya shouted through her megaphone.
"Ok!" Wen Jiexi nodded and before the man called Little Qu could respond, she stepped back, kicked her feet off the ground and leaned back slightly as she made a beautiful arc.
Shuahhh…..
The ball went straight through the basket.
"Good job!" Zhao Ya gave her a thumbs up and the people around her looked at her with widened eyes. Then the applause started and ringed out in the entire court. Little Qu is a simple youth so seeing Wen Jiexi's skill, he also gave a big thumbs up.
"Little girl, you are amazing!"
"No, no, not at all. Let's work hard together." Wen Jiexi smiled.
"Ok." Facing Wen Jiexi's bright smile, Little Qu flushed. However, because his skin was too tan, no one noticed it. He sheepishly scratched his neck and then seriously took up a defensive stance,
"Alright, this game officially starts now!"
And like this, the recording for the commercial went by smoothly. Fortunately, the weather didn't suddenly start raining nor did the wind pick up, so the shooting was not affected. Zhao Ya and her team watched the final edit and the admiration on their faces couldn't be concealed.
Wen Jiexi revealed a lot of surprises for them today. Each action only needed to be practiced once or twice before she perfected them. Although there were some flaws, they were easy to fix. Overall, it was very easy to work with Wen Jiexi. Unlike previous commercials where the invited artist acted like a little ancestor. An actor who is beautiful, hard-working, and had an easygoing temperament was a diamond that was hard to find. Tsk, tsk, even those big companies might not have someone like her.
Wen Jiexi wiped the sweat off her forehead. Her hair and clothes were completely soaked.
"Come, come, drink some juice. Oh, your brother called earlier but I told him you were playing basketball and would call him back later once things settled down." Li Lingmeng shook the phone in her hand and reminded her.
"Ok, I understand." Wen Jiexi gulped down a big mouthful of juice, the slightly sweet and fruity taste helped make her hungry stomach feel full. She felt much better with something in her empty stomach.
"You've worked hard today." Zhao Ya came over and handed the USB flash drive directly to Wen Jiexi, "This had today's shooting in it."
"Thanks." Wen Jiexi passed it to Li Lingmeng. In the past two days, while she was working, Li Lingmeng took on a lot more tasks that an assistant would have and so her amount of work gradually accumulated.
"In two days, we completed the filming for the entire commercial. Two days! That's the fastest I've ever seen!" Zhao Ya laughed, her eyes full of praise. Before Wen Jiexi took on the job, Team Two had taunted them and mocked them, but now? From what she heard, they had to wait hand and foot on that great diety they had housed in their temple. Apparently they haven't even finished half of the photos yet. So what if you have a powerful father? If there is no finished product, a powerful father was practically surely. They only had three days left until the deadline and Zhao Ya couldn't wait to see what they were going to do then.
"Oh, right, Sister Zhao, when will the commercial be put on the air?" Li Lingmeng asked, taking out a small notebook she had been bringing with her since yesterday.
Seeing Li Lingmeng's serious look, Zhao Ya laughed.
"It's expected to be broadcasted next Wednesday. Be sure to watch it. Ah, you'll also receive your payment on that day."
"I see." Li Lingmeng nodded as she wrote everything down.
"Remember to watch it, this is the first fruition of your hard work." Zhao Ya patted their shoulders. Her words revealed that she believed that the competition was a done deal and that their finished product would be chosen.
"We will remember to do so." Wen Jiexi looked at the time, "Sorry but we should go now. It was nice cooperating with everyone. Thank you, Sister Zhao, for your guidance."
"No, no, thank you! I hope there will be a chance for us to cooperate again in the future." Zhao Ya waved her hand. As she watched them leave, in her heart, she firmly believed that these two will bring a new type of freshness to the entertainment industry.
T/N note:
[1] Basically saying that it's for mutual benefit, we strive our best to get the success we want.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone