CH 7

The Jiang family’s birthday banquet was no different from a normal family birthday. On the dining table was a table of home-cooked dishes made by Mrs. Xu, next to it was a custom-made cream cake, candles, and a birthday hat that Jiang Zhao decisively rejected.

First, Jiang Zhao is a public figure and is not suitable for publicity. Second, he doesn’t like liveliness at all, so only a family of three and one dog participated in this birthday party.

Xu Xinnan repeatedly complained: “It has to be done once in a lively manner, right?”

Jiang Zhao slowly swallowed a mouthful of steak: “No, I still remember the birthday you gave me when I was eighteen years old.”

When he was eighteen years old, he just went to college. In order to celebrate his birthday, Ms. Xu specially held a grand birthday party in their largest three-storey villa, inviting all Jiang Zhao’s friends and college classmates to participate.

However, Jiang Zhao, as a character who likes to ignore everyone, went to college for two and a half months. Except for his roommate and Qin Youyou, whom he met when he took care of the stray cats in the school, he basically never spoke to anyone.

If it weren’t for Qin Youyou’s talkative tuberculosis, who had been chatting around him, Jiang Zhao’s dislike of socializing would have made him able to escape directly through the window.

But then again, that was also the first time Jiang Zhao saw Xiao Siye in his memory.

Xiao Siye is also their immediate senior brother, who is responsible for helping the new students with their guides in their daily lives. Of course, he was also invited by Mrs. Xu.

At that time, Xiao Siye was not as disgusting as he is now. He was wearing simple white T jeans and his black hair was short and neat. He was particularly out of place among the students who dressed up from head to toe, or dressed up and smelled perfume ten meters away.

The two were not rivals at that time, and Jiang Zhao didn’t look at him that unpleasantly.. Among the flattering gazes surrounding Jiang Zhao, Xiao Siye was the only one looking at him without any purpose.

He still remembered that he managed to escape from the group of classmates surrounding him, and went to hide beside the terrace on the second floor. It was very windy there, and it was winter, so the attendees in small dresses or thin suits would avoid it. Only a tall and thin young man stood there looking out.

Jiang Zhao was stunned for a moment when he saw him. He stepped forward and took the initiative to talk to someone for the first time on the night of the birthday party: “Don’t you want to go downstairs to play?”

Qin Youyou had already brought a group of his classmates downstairs to start dancing. Mrs. Xu admired her very much. She even found a lantern from nowhere, and the dance turned into a disco.

Xiao Siye also turned around, and the moonlight dipped between his eyebrows, making his gentle appearance during the day seem to be coated with a layer of coolness.

But when Xiao Siye smiled at him, the coolness also melted into the moonlight, like Jiang Zhao’s illusion.

“It’s very lively down there, but I’m not used to it,” Xiao Siye also smiled, “I haven’t had time to tell you alone, happy birthday, junior.”

Jiang Zhao looked at him for a moment, then looked away.

“Thank you, senior.”

The short conversation ended here. The two stood silently on the terrace for a long time, until the people downstairs started calling Jiang Zhao’s name and asked him to share the cake.

Now that he think about it, standing on the terrace in November with the cold wind blowing for more than half an hour, what kind of sick behavior is it?

What’s hard to understand is that he had a good impression of Xiao Siye at the beginning.

But good fortune fooled people, the only person who could catch his eye back then became his rival.

Jiang Zhao swallowed a mouthful of sweet and sour pork ribs.

Wait, he must take the role of Qu Zhen.

When he stood on the Golden Orchid Award podium again, the dog had to get off the stage and applaud him obediently.

–

Even if he won the Best Actor award, Jiang Zhao’s rest period was only a few days, and in the blink of an eye, he was back into intense work.

Since he won the Golden Orchid Award, there have been several more luxury brands lining up for his endorsement. Two magazines are waiting for his exclusive interview, as well as invitations from foreign fashion weeks, TV New Year’s Eve party invitations, and so on.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for the shooting of the variety show “Morning in the Country” that he set two months ago.

This is a life-style leisure variety show. The guests will come to a designated village to live together. All necessities of life, including food, need to be solved by themselves, and daily necessities, including food, need to be exchanged with the villagers through manual labor.

During the recording of the program, mobile phones, and other electronic products need to be confiscated, so that the stars can fully experience the slow rhythm and comfort of today’s rural life.

This program has a total of 12 episodes, and will be recorded in four sessions. Each session will only take three to four days to complete. From December to April of the next year, excluding the month of the Spring Festival, it will be once a month. The program team spoke very emotionally in the promotional copy, saying that they wanted to accompany the audience through every morning from winter to spring in the twelve episodes of the program.

“Recording starts at six in the morning and ends at twelve in the evening,” Zuo Xiaoqiu said in the nanny’s car. He understand the arrangement and painstaking efforts of the show crew…

Jiang Zhao nodded: “You have said it for the third time.”

Zuo Xiaoqiu has a sad face: “If you can really listen, then I can live another ten years.”

Jiang Zhao looked out the window and pretended not to hear, drinking the cheese berry milk tea he just bought.

This is the first time he has drank milk tea this month. He was ordered to maintain his figure for the cover of a magazine. Since his birthday, he couldn’t even eat more meat. At this time, drinking the rare calorie bomb, he felt as if he had passed away.

Qin Youyou is right, as expected, eating grass is not something that humans can insist on.

It’s a pity that he will go to the village the next day after filming the magazine, and even the milk tea can only be drunk before going to the show group.

Of course, Jiang Zhao would restrain himself even if he had the opportunity to drink it every day. He usually looks lazy, but in fact, he is very strict in body management. He runs and supports on a plank every night, and is always in the best state to prepare for filming.

For his job as an actor, he has never been lighthearted.

The nanny car came all the way to the airport. Jiang Zhao finished his last sip of milk tea and boarded the plane on time.

The plane landed in Y City within three hours. Jiang Zhao took a short nap, and after getting off the plane, he was picked up by the show crew’s nanny car.

From the momen he got into the car of the show crew, the filming started. Jiang Zhao has already adjusted to the business model, and when he saw the camera, he showed a faint smile.

The director sat in the co-pilot and turned his head to greet him cheerfully, “Good morning.”

“Director Du,” Jiang Zhao nodded, “Long time no see.”

The director can pick him up in person, and this time he is the only one of the guests. Apart from him, there are basically no other people who are bigger than him, and this is why Zuo Xiaoqiu is so worried – only Jiang Zhao is embarrassing others, and there is no one who dares to find fault with him.

This leads to Jiang Zhao being accused of “playing a big name” and “poor character” as soon as he shows a little bit of stubbornness in his personality.

The entertainment industry is like this. There are clues and even a moving picture can be drawn up into a small essay with an offensive nature, which in turn creates a lot of public opinions that is not true or false. Therefore, most of the people in the circle have to put on a fake mask and be cautious.

But Jiang Zhao is not someone who likes to set up people. He only distinguishes between his business status and his daily status. After all, his personality is what he should be like. As for Zuo Xiaoqiu’s painstaking instructions…

If he really heard it, Zuo Xiaoqiu wouldn’t have to repeat it over and over again.

After chatting with the director all the way, the nanny car bypassed the twisty mountain road and came to the small village where the filming took place.

When Jiang Zhao got out of the car, he was amazed by the scene in front of him.

The mountains in the distance are hidden in the clouds and mist, looming, and the terraced fields are arranged one after another in the mountains, and the tea trees are green and lush, which is a scene that has never been seen in the north. The girl in ethnic clothes carried a basket of wild mushrooms on her back, while humming a folk song that he couldn’t understand, she jumped from the trail to the mountain. Her singing was as clear as a mountain stream, accompanied by the jingle of silver ornaments.

There is also a continuous stilted building in the village, but unfortunately, it is not the residence prepared by the program team for the guests. The place where they lived was a small bungalow with white bricks and black tiles, and there was a large magnolia tree planted in front of the yard, and its branches had not yet bloomed.

Just as Jiang Zhao walked into the yard with the suitcase, a young man with big eyes came out of a room of the bungalow. As soon as he saw Jiang Zhao, he greeted nervously, “Hello, senior!”

Jiang Zhao nodded: “Hello, I’mJiang Zhao.”

He felt that he should behave quite kindly, but the young man shivered all over, stood at attention in an instant, and opened his mouth to introduce himself: “I’m He Jinuo from the FG group. I’m 23 years old this year, and I usually like to be alone. I play the guitar and sing at home, practice singing and dancing…”

“Please take care of me!” He Jinuo suddenly bowed ninety degrees.

Jiang Zhao immediately understood that this was a social fear.

He pondered for a second: “How about I bow down to you?”

“No, no, no!” He Jinuo got up quickly. Before he was finished panicking, he saw Jiang Zhao calmly reaching out to him, smiling: “Please take care of me.”

He Jinuo flattered and shook his hand.

It seems that Senior Jiang, who is said to keep strangers away, is not so scary.

and……

While Jiang Zhao was looking around, he secretly glanced at the other party. Jiang Zhao himself is even more amazing than in the camera. The face looks like it was carved by an artist, his eyes are full of affection, the ends of his eyes are slightly lifted, and there is a small red mole at the corner of his left eye, which adds to this perfect cheek. A touch of unique style. Even without makeup, he looks so beautiful that you can’t take your eyes off him.

Jiang Zhao shook hands and asked, “Where is our residence?”

For some reason, he felt that He Jinuo was a little bit inexplicable, and he volunteered to show him the way.

There are two dormitories for them, men and women are separated, and the boys’ side is a row of connected shops, which can accomodate seven or eight people, so there is no need to worry about crowding.

Jiang Zhao is not dissatisfied with this environment. He has experienced many environments worse than this when he was filming. Back then, it was common to have a sleeping bag in the wild.

After he packed the things he brought into the cupboard one by one, the program crew brought two more people. One is Wang Zuosi, a popular streamer, and the other is Jiang Han, a new-generation hostess of Taotao TV with a cheerful personality.

Jiang Zhao was not familiar with them. After greeting each other, he walked out of the house with He Jinuo to hang out.

But after they were almost familiar with the environment in the yard, the last person still did not come.

Jiang Zhao recalled the names Zuo Xiaoqiu had mentioned before, and the last guest…it seemed to be the girl who didn’t have a good relationship with Qin Youyou.

Wang Zuosi and Jiang Han had already packed their belongings, and the four of them had nothing to do, and sat and chatted together in the yard. Jiang Zhao speaks less and basically listens to other people’s chats. He also noticed that Jiang Han and Wang Zuosi interact a lot. He has brushed the new dramas of these two on the hot search, and they are probably preparing to fry CP.

After half an hour, the last person finally arrived.

“I’m really sorry,” Xu Qingqing, wearing a big-name short skirt, pushed open the door and entered the courtyard. “There was something wrong with the car on our side, which made everyone wait for a long time.”

Although she was apologizing, there was no hint of being apologetic on her face, and the first thing she saw when she entered the door was Wang Zuosi who was sitting on the side, but she didn’t give Wang Zuosi a look at all, and went straight to Jiang Zhao: “This is the first time we met, Brother Jiang, how are you?”

As soon as Xu Qingqing approached, there was a fragrant blowing from her body. This perfume can kill a few mosquitoes in summer.

Jiang Zhao nodded expressionlessly: “Okay.”

His eyes didn’t stop at Xu Qingqing. Xu Qingqing realized that she was being ignored and her expression was a little stiff, but then she went to greet the others with a smile.

Xu Qingqing’s attitude naturally makes other people a little dissatisfied, but the entertainment industry is full of people, even if the psychological activities are ever-changing, it will not show much.

After Xu Qingqing finished packing, it was finally time for the program team to assign tasks.

The director held a very rustic loudspeaker with a towel around his neck as if he was ready to work in the field at any time: “Everyone’s task this morning is to help our villagers to work, and earn money according to the quality of your tasks. Today’s food. I have a total of five task cards here, and I will start to randomly draw them now.”

Jiang Zhao took a random card along with the others, turned it over and looked at it, “Helps Uncle Wang at the entrance of the village to feed the geese.”

Goose?

The first reaction in Jiang Zhao’s mind was to stew the goose in an iron pot.

Although he has never fed them before, he has had the experience of feeding pigeons in the square before. By analogy, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

What satisfies Jiang Zhao most is that this is the only task that can be done alone.

The mission of Wang Zuosi and Jiang Han is to “help the villagers pick tea leaves”, while He Sinuo and Xu Qingqing are to “help the villagers to dry the tea leaves”. The five people separated at the door and went to their respective mission locations.

Jiang Zhao was walking on the road. He looked at the continuous terraced fields not far away, and felt the tranquility of the four directions. He was instantly relaxed and happy.

Living here for a few days, there is no flash, no paparazzi to follow, and no annoying rival.

It seems… that is also a good thing.

–

At the same time, another nanny car was driving towards the village.

“The first task of the flying guests is to choose any one of the existing tasks, and cooperate with the guests who received the task before to get the final reward.”

The man in the back seat nodded slightly: “Understood.”

The staff asked again: “Then which task do you plan to choose? If you can’t choose it, you can also randomly select it from the task card in my hand.”

The man took off the sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, revealing a pair of magnificent amber eyes: “Thank you, no need. I think the third task sounds very interesting, and there is just one person missing.”

As he said that, a faint smile appeared on his lips, warm like a spring breeze, which perfectly covered all his hidden thoughts:

“So, I choose Jiang Zhao.”

Translator’s note:

I guess everyone can guess who this guest is.