CH 20

Chapter 20 – Spring Surprise Attack

The feeble winter has been imprisoned in spring

Although the plan had just been modified, they were lucky that there had been heavy snowfall last night. Lin Mo was picky and wanted to shoot real scenes, so the planning team had to seize the time and find a suitable venue. In the meantime, Pei Tingsong would do his single-person photoshoot first, and it had been arranged that Fang Juexia would wait in the rest area. However, for some reason, he wasn’t sleepy, and he kept looking at the paper in his hand several times.

[Rest assured, you may

entertain me with snow:]

It seemed as if there was a voice in his heart, continuously repeating this line from the poem in his mind.

He had always been aware that he hadn’t been born with much of an understanding for gorgeous and romantic words, and was a person completely cut off from literature. But strangely, looking at these words written by Pei Tingsong, Fang Juexia fell into a wild and fanciful reverie in his heart. 

However, he had no way to express how he felt. 

Emotions and thoughts were really complex; things that couldn’t be modeled with or reasoned out mathematically were all very complicated for him.

Cheng Qiang brought in some hot milk and a down jacket. Fang Juexia placed the paper back into his front pocket and then put on the black sweater handed to him by the assistant. Cheng Qiang advised him to sleep for a little longer, since the photoshoot later would be very hard, but Fang Juexia knew that this opportunity was rare. He wanted to have good enough photos taken of him, so he draped his clothes over himself and went to the studio to watch the photoshoot.

Everyone was circling around Pei Tingsong. In order to satisfy the concept of spring, the lighting engineer had tried his best to recreate the warm full light that pervades a greenhouse, thus hitting Pei Tingsong with light from every direction.

“Xiao Pei was really born to do this job,” Cheng Qiang said. “Even if he hadn’t entered this circle, he would still take over an enterprise or something. Then, he would definitely become like that kind of rich second generation who gets onto the Hot Search list because of his good looks ba.”

Fang Juexia nodded, but he couldn’t actually imagine such a scenario. In his mind, Pei Tingsong seemed to have a binding relationship with the stage. 

However, it was true that he was tall and had a face that could appear either domineeringly handsome or sweetly cute; he was the prototypical example of god-given superior talent. Not only was the basic hardware in place, but he also expressed himself very strongly through his fashion, or in other words, people with strong personalities were always very good at expressing themselves. 

All Pei Tingsong had to do was just go stand in the greenhouse that had been set up, and the picture already looked pretty good.

The camera for the ensemble show was also following them, and Cheng Qiang felt that the way the two of them were acting would show that they didn’t have much team camaraderie, so he pushed Juexia and whispered, “You also go over and see Xiao Pei.”

Fang Juexia didn’t really want to do so, but he had already been pushed in that direction by Cheng Qiang. There was no other way out, so he simply gritted his teeth and walked over.

“Adjust the light overhead to make it an area light.” Lin Mo checked the frame and without raising his head, instructed, “Try it out first. Xiao Pei, you are free to move as you like, I’ll take some candid shots to try it out.”

The greenhouse was decorated with all kinds of flowers— clusters of honey-caramel colored roses huddled next to pink tulips and clematises, making for an endless spread of aqua blue summer mixed with tiny spots of grape hyacinth. 

Wrapped in a light gray down jacket, Fang Juexia quietly walked up to Pei Tingsong from behind. He didn’t know how to start up a conversation with him, and he didn’t really want to talk. With his makeup on, he looked just like a silent snow spirit. 

Pei Tingsong, who had his back to him, glanced at the flowers, and discovered a touch of white amidst the overlapping flowers. It had pretty much been squeezed all the way to the inside by the other flowers. He reached out a hand to push aside the other flowers, and the straight green stem of that flower trembled.

He was going to save this white flower.

“Very good.” Lin Mo took a few pictures and checked them. The quirking of Pei Tingsong’s lips was subtle and not easy to detect. He was very satisfied with this feeling.

“Why pick this one?” Fang Juexia suddenly opened his mouth. It was only then that Pei Tingsong discovered his existence. The flowers here were all freshly cut, and Pei Tingsong also didn’t hesitate in pulling out that white flower. His fingertips pinched and twirled the flower’s stem before drawing  it close to his nose, only to discover that there was no ordinary flower fragrance, just a light smell of plants.

He asked with a smile, “Why do you think I did?”

Fang Juexia lowered his eyes to look at the flowers, and this movement dragged at his long snow-white eyelashes, making them look like two trembling petals.

He faintly detected something.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked.” Fang Juexia raised his eyes again.

However, who would have known that Pei Tingsong would merely raise his eyebrows and instead of answering, would hand the flower over, not delivering it to Fang Juexia’s hands, but rather, reaching out towards his face, and then placing it against his face. 

His eyes narrowed slightly, as if scrutinising something.

However, until the end, Pei Tingsong did not give out any conclusions. When he took his hand back, the flower, which was in full bloom, brushed against Fang Juexia’s jawline.

“I think you know.” He raised his eyebrows, his tone sure and light, and pulled his hand back. With that, his left hand started to scatter the petals of the flower around one by one. 

Fang Juexia had to admit that he had never felt this kind of feeling before; this kind of push-and-pull conversation had already gone way beyond his barren modes of communication. He and Pei Tingsong were completely different kinds of people; when Pei Tingsong was blunt, he caught people off guard, but when he decided to talk in a roundabout manner, no one could guess what he meant. 

He had to admit that this boy, who was two and a half years younger than him, was a master of game theory. 

“Very good, pretty good state.” After taking his fill of candid shots by the side, Lin Mo changed the angle of the camera and told Pei Tingsong, “A little more gentle, closer to the concept of spring.”

The skepticism in Pei Tingsong’s bones broke out again, but he spoke a smile; the way he looked when smiling, however, was really in line with their so-called “concept”.

“Must the concept of spring be gentle?”

This sentence stunned the staff on the scene a little bit.

Fang Juexia also raised his head and pulled away from his thoughts. He really admired people with the kind of personality where they could express their views anytime and anywhere; it was probably because of Pei Tingsong’s childhood environment.

If one stayed too long in an environment that favored harmony, all skeptics would have lost their edges long ago.

“As soon as anyone mentions spring, they say it’s gentle. A gentle breeze and the warm sun, winter has gone, and spring has come. It seems that the idea of warm spring flowers blooming immediately after winter’s rampage has become a stereotype. It’s really boring, can’t we have some new concepts?” After that, he glanced at Fang Juexia and said, “For example, the feeble winter has been imprisoned in spring, and will never see the light of day again… something like that.”

This was a very meaningful glance. 

Lin Mo stood up straight, not expressing any opinions about Pei Tingsong’s idea for a moment. The other staff members didn’t dare to say anything. Only the magazine editors and the main writer, who were standing at the side, had flowers blooming in their hearts. Besides the fact that it had been easy to get approval for this piece because this StarChart group had become famous, there were no taboo subjects being discussed here, so they were even happier. 

After a while, Lin Mo began to circle around in place, then stopped suddenly and asked Fang Juexia, “What do you think?”

Such photographers were not common; most of the big-shot photographers in the circle were arbitrary. Lin Mo fell into the same category, but probably because his expectations had been overthrown by Pei Tingsong once before, his tolerance threshold had widened. 

“An aggressive spring,” Fang Juexia affirmed the idea, “I like this saying.”

He wasn’t simply falling in line, he was really interested in this concept. What’s more, in his eyes, Pei Tingsong was not a good and honest person, and completely didn’t comply with the setting of warm spring days. 

“Did you know?” Lin Mo laughed and told Pei Tingsong, “The last time someone went up against me and successfully made me compromise was the Grand Slam movie queen. Her aesthetic level was very high, and she had a very proud temperament.”

The implication behind this sentence was clear to everyone, so they let out a breath of relief.

Cheng Qiang’s forehead had even started to gather sweat. Although Pei Tingsong had a good background, taking this child, who feared nothing and no one, around to work was even more difficult than walking on a tightrope. 

The plan was changed again and again, and the final version was 18,000 li away from the original concept. However, none of the staff on-site had not been convinced by Pei Tingsong’s expression. After the official photoshoot started, Fang Juexia left the studio and stood by the monitor.

Pei Tingsong sat lazily on the ground, one leg propped up and the other stretched out straight ahead. Surrounded by flowers, all he grasped in his hands was a lonely white flower. The camera started taking pictures from top to bottom. Pei Tingsong’s hair had been blow-dried fluffy, and a few random strands of hair hung down in between his eyebrows. As soon as he raised his eyes, the shape of his eyes narrowed and elongated, and the shadow at the corners of his eyes almost connected with the petal of the winter-flowering cherry tree.

But the aggressiveness in his eyes was revealed, and he looked just like a dangerous wild animal about to go on the hunt. With the soft, warm, and fragrant flowers all around, this kind of casual ruthlessness became even more obvious.

“Very good. Good eyes.” Lin Mo lowered his body, zooming the camera closer onto his face. The small mole at the corner of his eye inexplicably added some real sense of desire to the picture. Pei Tingsong turned his face to the side, and held the half-bloomed flower up to his mouth. 

Fang Juexia watched quietly. He thought that Pei Tingsong would kiss it.

However, his lips just brushed against it like a dragonfly skimming over water, and then he opened his mouth, and his teeth bit the tender petals. The corners of his mouth drew up, making him look like a beast that had successfully bitten the arteries of its prey. The revelry of a successful hunt was boiling in his eyes and blood.

The camera shutter kept ringing.

Fang Juexia was a little distracted. He could almost feel the dull pain that the petals would experience the moment Pei Tingsong sank his teeth into them. 

Somehow, he felt for the flower. 

Lin Mo was very satisfied, satisfied to the point that he didn’t have time to talk anymore, and just constantly kept clicking down on the shutter whenever Pei Tingsong moved.

“Darling,” Andy’s voice appeared again, and pulled Fang Juexia away from his wandering thoughts. He held a powder puff in his hand. “I’ve been looking for you for a long time, and it turns out you were here ah. Your group has such a good relationship with each other ah.”

Their relationship was really not very good. Fang Juexia’s eyes turned, and he guiltily smiled at him. Andy fixed his make-up. “The snow scene has already been found. They said there is a park nearby, and the scenery there is very beautiful.” He touched up his make-up, then stood a little further away and looked him up and down before stating, “Perfect.”

Andy had probably put on some cologne when he had gone out, but the cologne’s smell was incredibly heavy, as if he had emptied half the bottle onto himself, and this heavy scent choked Fang Juexia and made his nose itch. He squinted and bowed his head, enduring for a long time, but finally, still ended up sneezing.

“Achoo.”

The noise made by this was actually very quiet, but Pei Tingsong’s attention was immediately drawn by this small sneeze, and he raised his head. Fang Juexia also turned his head after sneezing, and their gazes accidentally collided.

Pei Tingsong laughed. 

As luck would have it, this scene was also captured by the camera. His chin and lips were covered with torn flower petals, but the curve of his smiling eyes was very bright. 

“This picture is blurry, but it’s very alive,” Lin Mo expressed his satisfaction.

He was a photographer who liked to shoot isolated parts of models. This time, his target was Pei Tingsong’s hands. Against the background of flowers, which were in a multitude of colors, Pei Tingsong once again drew out a white flower, his fingertips teasingly brushing along the petals that were so tightly overlapped that it seemed nearly closed, and then he grabbed the petals and tore them apart roughly. They are brutally forced to separate from the cyan colored sepals, and only the stem of the flower was left to stand there alone, as it trembled and shook. 

Obviously, it was a scene of destruction, but from within the lens of the camera, and also in the eyes of Fang Juexia, this scene appeared to be one of desire in full bloom. 

The rapid sound of the shutter took on the metaphor for breathing. The pure white petals were crumpled into translucent folds, as if they had been bruised. Light doesn’t lie, and it shone out of these tiny wounds. The fibers inside were all illuminated, and these were the capillaries of the flower.

“Scatter them.”

Following the photographer’s instructions, Pei Tingsong stopped his rampage, and his fingers loosened without any regret. Petals, like broken butterfly wings, drifted down from his fingers and palms, completing their mission.

The staff had brought over a small bowl of bright red cherries. Originally, it had been a prop from the original design. When it was brought over, Fang Juexia saw that the small bowl was very delicate; it was a translucent, white piece of crackle-glazed ceramic.

“This is very nice.” Fang Juexia couldn’t help complimenting it.

Who knew that Pei Tingsong would walk over and take the bowl from the staff member’s hand. 

“What is nice? This?” With an  innocent expression on his face, he sat cross-legged on the ground, and then held the bowl in both hands, as if getting ready to smash it on the ground.

Fang Juexia went into a rare panic. “Hey—”

Seeing that his prank had worked, Pei Tingsong laughed just like a child who had gotten his own way. He then took his hands back, and placed his index finger, which was smeared with liquid from the flowers, into the bowl, and started to stir the small cherries around. 

Lin Mo, who was currently checking the pictures that had been taken, suddenly caught a glimpse of this scene and ordered, “Wait, you keep going.”

The camera was pointed at him again.

His fingertips reached deep into this soft redness and stirred it. Pei Tingsong selected a plump and juicy cherry and brought it to his lips. His teeth bit into this perfectly round, agate fruit, and the points of his teeth pierced into its skin, making the fruit look full and plump as its surface tightened. Bright red and sweet juice covered his teeth, and then seeped along the corner of his mouth.

“Very good!” The photographer’s high and unstinting tone showed his satisfaction with the scene. 

In the monitor, Pei Tingsong raised the back of his hand and wiped off the bright red juice from the corners of his mouth, smiling very wickedly all the while. Unconsciously, Fang Juexia’s larynx shifted up and down.

In the last frame of this scene, Pei Tingsong’s satisfied eyes almost seemed to pierce through the screen—

Straight up to biting at his throat.