CH 21

Chapter 21 – Cold And Silent Snow Forest

Then do you think that it’s a pity you’re an idol?

After finishing Pei Tingsong’s photoshoot, everyone gathered in front of the monitor to check the pictures that had been taken, and they were all full of praise. As more and more people kept arriving in front of the monitor, Fang Juexia instinctively started to step back in order to make room for everyone.

He backed up, and accidentally backed right into a person’s arms.

Fang Juexia reflexively lowered his head and apologized. However, his shoulders were seized, and he was pulled into this person’s arms. 

“Do I look good, Juexia Ge?”

Since he had just washed his hands, there was still some water on them, so Pei Tingsong simply set his wrists on Fang Juexia’s shoulders, with his hands hanging down emptily. Fang Juexia didn’t even have to lift his head; upon hearing the three syllables of Juexia Ge, he knew that there was a camera next to them.

“En.” He could only cooperate and show some brotherly love.

Pei Tingsong, however, just came closer to him, step by step, as he asked, “Which picture do I look best in?”

A particular photo floated up in Fang Juexia’s mind, but he still chose to reply with the safe answer, “They all look very good.”

Cheng Qiang was even more satisfied than Pei Tingsong. He kept smiling, and only turned around when he thought of something. “By the way, Juexia, did you stick on some heating pads? It’ll be very cold outside when we have to go out in a bit.”

Fang Juexia nodded and replied, “Stuck some on.”

“Stick more on.”

Pei Tingsong was feeling very playful. “Stuck on how many? Where did you stick them?” He looked down at Fang Juexia’s sweater, trying to discover some clues from it. Relying on the fact that Fang Juexia wouldn’t resist in the presence of the camera, Pei Tingsong’s hand slid down Fang Juexia’s shoulder, caressing his shoulder blade, and then heading further down.

“Found it.” Pei Tingsong’s eyes were curved into a smile, while the palm of his hand impolitely rubbed his shoulder blade as he declared, “Two of them.”

Fang Juexia wanted to resist, but Pei Tingsong’s appearance right now was completely emulating that of a cute Didi, without a hint of malicious trickery. He also couldn’t interrupt his fanservice in front of the camera. 

“You only stuck on two?” Cheng Qiang began to worry again. “Two won’t do, you need to stick on some more ah.”

Meanwhile, Pei Tingsong’s hand continued to slide down as he said, “You definitely have more than that on ba.” His motivation was very simple and very naive; that was, he wanted to challenge the threshold of people like Juexia and wanted to try and break through his guard to make inroads with him. Fang Juexia’s shell was too thick; he nearly seemed fake. 

“There’s more.” Fang Juexia quietly broke away from his half embrace before answering, “I stuck on four pieces, and I have a hand warmer.” His face shrunk down into the collar of the down jacket, and he then looked at Cheng Qiang, trying to change the subject. “We can go now ba.”

“I’ll go ask.”

Fang Juexia accompanied Cheng Qiang. Looking at the way Fang Juexia looked right now, as if he hated the fact that he couldn’t just hide himself away, Pei Tingsong actually found that even more interesting.

After finishing the single person photoshoot, the staff members began to take the set apart. Originally, he had thought that it was a shame for all these flowers to be wasted like this, but unexpectedly, the people in the props group started to take them along with them to the next set as well. They were probably going to be used during the two person photoshoot as well. As they passed by, Pei Tingsong asked casually—

“What’s the name of this white flower?” He pointed to the flower he had just been photographed with.

The props assistant replied, “This one ah, eustoma.”

Eustoma… Pei Tingsong nodded and casually took out his cellphone to search for it. 

It was a pretty nice name.

On the screen of his cellphone, a colorful array of this particular flower appeared. At a glance, the pure white kind still stood out as the most beautiful one. Beneath the pictures was a list of its nicknames, as well as the various meanings people had attached to it.

The ensemble show’s camera came close to him, so Pei Tingsong put his cellphone away, tilted his head at the camera, and then adjusted the small monitoring screen attached to the camera to face himself, straightening his hair as he looked into it.

“Handsome?”

The camera moved up and down.

The magazine staff was almost ready to move to the next location, so Cheng Qiang grabbed their things and said, “Okay, we’ll drive behind them to get there.” He then asked, “Xiao Pei, are you coming?”

By this time, Pei Tingsong had already put on a thick coat, and was going around and around in a circle as he discussed some logic puzzle with the ensemble show cameraman, causing the cameraman to keep having to pan the camera around. Only when he heard Cheng Qiang call out to him did he turn his way.

He wanted to sleep and was just about to say no, when Fang Juexia answered for him, “He doesn’t have to come ba.”

“Yes, it’s cold outside. Then, Xiao Pei, you first head over to the location for the two-person photoshoot and wait for me…”

Pei Tingson stuck both of his hands into his pockets and said, “I want to come.” He purposefully grinned. “During my photoshoot, Gege was nearby. Now that Gege is doing his photoshoot, of course I have to go, otherwise it would be too shameful.”

You don’t have to—Fang Juexia’s head throbbed unceasingly, but he could only recite that in his heart. 

The snow scenery they had chosen for the photoshoot was a spruce fir forest, and after a night of snow, it really embodied the forest of its name. Pei Tingsong, although his words were pretty, started napping as soon as he got into the car and sat down beside Fang Juexia.

“It’s a real pity these photos are for the inside pages.” While saying this, Andy’s tone was exaggerated, but his words weren’t exaggerated at all. Lin Mo, who always had a spiteful tongue, also added, “The expression is pretty good. Generally, prickly people make really good candidates for modeling.”

Cheng Qiang laughed along with him. Fang Juexia looked out of the window in silence and felt as the head of the guy beside him started to continuously droop forward, just like a fishing pole.

The injury at the corner of his eye had still not healed, and if it went on like this, he’d gain another scar on his forehead. If this had happened in the past, Fang Juexia definitely wouldn’t have cared. But before, Pei Tingsong also would not have sat next to him.

When Pei Tingsong’s head started to droop forward again, Fang Juexia’s palm covered his forehead and supported him back, all the way until the back of his head was obediently lying against the seat’s headrest. After finishing this arduous task, Fang Juexia breathed a sigh of relief, and then caught a glimpse of Pei Tingsong’s hands, which were red from the cold. 

“Seize the time to set up all lights and props, hurry up!”

“It’s time to start the shoot!”

Fang Juexia walked step by step into the depths of the spruce fir forest, according to the instructions given to him. Lin Mo took pictures from behind him and then checked them. The composition of these pictures consisted  of the white expanse of the sky and snow, and under clumps of towering black spruce and fir trees, Fang Juexia’s back, dressed in a black sweater, could be seen.

His temperament was really cold, it was almost like he was about to become one with the snow here. 

The photography assistant sprinkled some snow on Fang Juexia’s hair, echoing his white eyelashes. The tip of his nose had turned red from the cold, and the birthmark at the corner of his eye became even redder. In any case, this face was better for close-ups. 

Lin Mo asked him to lay down in the snow. He pointed the camera down, lying it very low, and then photographed Fang Juexia’s side profile as he was lying on his back. The curve from his forehead to the bridge of his nose, and then to the peak of his lips, looked like a continuous snowy mountain range, and at the foot of these snow-covered mountains was a touch of scarlet, like a leftover wound made by spring before leaving. Lin Mo already had an overlapping double exposure composition in mind, with such a curve positioned there, which would then reflect the silent spruce fir forest.

He was right; Fang Juexia was too suitable for winter. 

Pei Tingsong kept on sleeping, when his head turned to the right, fell into empty space, and he suddenly woke up. Upon opening his eyes and seeing that there was no one in the car, he vaguely felt that something was off. As soon as he lowered his head, he saw that his hands now contained a small spherical hand warmer, and it was very warm.

He pulled open the door and got out of the car. The cold wind poured against his neck, and he woke up in an instant. Stepping on the snow, he headed towards the big group of people step-by-step, and Pei Tingsong spotted Fang Juexia, even from a distance. This person stood in the middle of the snowy forest, not looking like a human being, but rather like a deer lost in the snow.

A person’s temperament could actually really be so clean.

The temperature outside wasn’t as warm as that inside the studio, so in the middle of the photoshoot, Fang Juexia had to stop in order to get warm. The assistant handed him hot tea and a down jacket so that he could warm up as quickly as possible. Lin Mo saw Pei Tingsong come over, and said in a very satisfied voice, “You actually are naturally gifted.”

Pei Tingsong asked with a smile, “In what area are you speaking of?” He intuitively knew that what he was referring to was not his expressiveness during the photoshoot. 

“Aesthetic.” Lin Mo paused before continuing, “Perception, creativity.” With that, he handed the camera to Pei Tingsong, lit a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, and vaguely added, “He really is very suitable for winter.”

“And it’s a winter without any aggression.” Pei Tingsong looked at Fang Juexia’s eyes in the photo— they were straight and tough, hiding a hint of moist softness.

“I’ve heard about you from your Jie, and I thought you were a loud-mouthed hip-hop fanatic. I didn’t expect things to turn out like this in front of me.”

“It’s you who is biased against hip-hop.” Pei Tingsong also wasn’t polite. “Its spiritual core is free and profound.”

Lin Mo nodded, making no secret of his attitude. “Then do you think that it’s a pity you’re an idol?”

When he asked that, Pei Tingsong’s first reaction upon hearing this sentence actually wasn’t to think that it was a pity, but remembering a dispute between him and Fang Juexia from before.

[Dreams are the sort of things that can’t be divided into high or low, but only realized or unrealized.]

He let out a long breath, and his white breath curled. He wanted to say that it was a pity, and he should say that it was a pity. 

His eyes drifted far away, and ten meters away, he saw Fang Juexia dressed in a thick down jacket. The staff around him was getting ready for the next photoshoot and were making changes to the scenery, while he was stepping on the snow, then stepped on it a few more times, seemingly turning his steps into dance steps. Originally, it was just a few silly steps in the snow, but he suddenly began a small dance. Doing this while wrapped up in a large and wide down jacket made him look exactly like a little penguin sliding around. 

His cellphone vibrated, and Pei Tingsong lowered his head to unlock the screen. It was their band’s groupchat. 

[Just a pretty face: @DalianHunkLu No, I’ve suddenly thought of a move that is very suitable and can be edited into our performance to become the killing part. When I get back, let’s discuss it.]

He had also added an uncool looking sun emoticon. 

So it turned out that when he chatted, he would also use emoticons. Pei Tingsong looked up at Fang Juexia and found that he had continued to stomp out a few small footprints in the snow, until Andy, who needed to touch up his makeup, stopped him, and it was only then that Fang Juexia’s original appearance of being a small iceberg was restored. 

Lin Mo saw that he didn’t answer, and squatted down with a smile, putting out his cigarette on the snow. “Sure enough, you do think it’s a pity ba.”

Who would have known that it was then that Pei Tingsong would open his mouth and say, “Probably not ba.” He kicked the snow and put his hands in his pockets. “I don’t know.” After saying that, he headed in Fang Juexia’s direction, and he could be heard humming some song, which sounded very nice. 

Fang Juexia obediently closed his eyes and allowed Andy to apply transparent lip oil beneath his eyes. Unexpectedly, the back of his neck would suddenly feel cold. He abruptly opened his eyes and turned his head around, just to see Pei Tingsong behind him, who then spoke with a smile, “I threw a snowball in.”

Seeing Fang Juexia’s eyes widen, Pei Tingsong started to laugh very hard before confessing, “Tricked you.”

The shoot went on smoothly. It really was too cold outside, and after just piling up enough snow for a snowman’s head, Pei Tingsong felt so cold that his teeth had started chattering. He kicked at the snowball that he had been rolling together for a long time, then quickly hid himself back in the staff’s shed and sat down there. His eyes were drawn to the pictures being displayed on the monitor. There were two monitors, one on the one left and one on the right. The one on the left was showing pictures straight from Lin Mo’s camera, while the one on the right was from the video being taken for the highlights section of the magazine. 

In the picture, Fang Juexia was seen laying on his back. Unlike the previous group of pictures, his makeup had been changed, and his eyes now looked damp, with some transparent liquid gliding across his cheek, to give an appearance of tears. Eyelashes as white as snow encircled his confused eyes.

His birthmark was red, the tip of his nose was red, and his lips were red as well; they were slightly open, with a glittering and transparent piece of ice that could be seen through the gap, and a cherry frozen inside that piece of ice. 

This picture was too beautiful. Pei Tingsong stared fixedly at it, only returning to his senses when he heard some noise. 

He looked at the screen on the right. In the video, the ice kept melting, and water flowed out from the corner of Fang Juexia’s mouth. When Lin Mo said, “Okay,” Fang Juexia’s turned his face to open his lips, and the tip of his tongue gently pushed the ice out and straight into his hand. He sat up, his hair scattered with snow, the birthmark at the corner of his eye as red as his lips, and his whole person was smiling as he said, “How icy ah.” Having said that, he put his lips against the back of his hand, then pulled it away and brought it back again and again, repeating that action several times. “My lips have even turned numb.”

Pei Tingsong suddenly thought of the sensation he had felt when they had been passing the candy wrapper.

Plainly speaking, it had been a long time, but that sensation had not been forgotten.

“He was really born for this job ah.” A staff member standing not far away behind Pei Tingsong sighed and said emotionally, “This face looks even better than that of a girl’s.”

“Yes ah. If it was just a woman, how beautiful would that be ah. It’s a pity, or else a lot of people would chase after them.” Another male technician’s face showed a meaningful expression as he continued, “No wonder…”

Before he could finish talking, his shoulder was grabbed, and when he turned his head, all he saw was Pei Tingsong’s simple smile.

“No wonder what?” His tone was kind and curious as he asked, “I want to hear it too.”

—

The author has something to say:

My style of writing will be adjusted based on the chapters and characters. Sometimes it will be more flamboyant, sometimes it will be more funny; writing is just that straightforward of a process. These chapters of the magazine shoot are also different; they need a sense of picture, so there will be more descriptions. Pei Tingsong’s character also requires things to be a bit more poetic and romantic. 

If you like the type of fast-paced push progress bar, I’m sorry, but I’m not that kind of style. I hope every reader can find their favorite story and have a good time~