CH 52

The recording of Paris Fashion Week would be broadcast on TV a few days later.

Before then, fashion magazines would first publish the photos. 

TL Magazine and several other fashion magazines naturally published photos from the fashion shows.

Every year, their editors-in-chief would select the most outstanding photo and publish it on one of the inner pages.

The selection criteria wasn’t just about the clothing. It was also about the overall coordination between the model and the clothes.

Therefore, the photo that was selected was usually that of a famous supermodel. The overall strength of male models tended to be slightly lower than that of female models. Plus, women’s clothing was much more colorful than men’s clothing, so, eight times out of ten, it was usually a photo of a female model. 

Compared to those highly competitive female models, the male models weren’t quite up to par. There was almost a pattern to how often male models were selected. For every five female models, there would be one male model. It was as if they were only there to even the playing field.

Plus, a male model had been selected last year. Even if there was a good male model this time around, it was still probably going to go to a female model.

This was what Charlie thought as he flipped through the magazine.

He was now a designer for KK. He didn’t even need to buy these magazines himself. The benefits of working at this studio were simply unimaginable. They even had afternoon tea.

The cover featured a rising female model. She had short hair, sharp silhouette, a little on the androgynous side. She had the kind of look that the fashion world loved.

Charlie made a quick judgment in his head. Then, he flipped to the inner pages.

He guessed that this year’s queen of the show would be Katy, who had been doing incredibly well lately.

His hand, which had been turning the page, froze. 

The next two pages were entirely covered with photos of models. There was a small line of text at the very bottom—Egyptian Glory, Chinese Model, Gu Qingchi.

This kind of photo spread was rare.

However, even though the photos were blown up to an incredible degree, there weren’t any flaws to pick out. The only regret was the binding in the middle. The editor had already done everything to avoid it, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Charlie sat up straight. He still felt that this wasn’t enough, so he put on his gold-rimmed glasses that he reserved for delicate work. Then, he spread out the magazine on the table in front of him. 

The photo had been a spontaneous shot. It had a wonderful atmosphere and angle to it.

Gu Qingchi was halfway down the runway. His right leg was bent, and his other leg was about to step forward. His eyes were slightly hooded, his body shimmering along with his movements.

There was a small ruby sitting upon the center of his forehead. It was unbelievably gorgeous. His exposed skin was pale and delicate, decorated in gold and rubies. The gems and gold chains upon his body rose and fell with each step. His feet peeked out from beneath the skirt. Even the folds of the clothing were breathtaking.

It was hard to imagine that such beauty could possibly exist in this world. 

He was showered in gold and priceless gems, yet there wasn’t the slightest hint of gaudiness or exaggeration. It was just a little embellishment for him, a bit of decoration.

Just like the name of the design, Egyptian Glory, he came full of glory.

He was a newcomer. He was a man. In fact, he wasn’t even a professional model.

It was essentially breaking all the long-time rules of the fashion world. However, once he got over his surprise, Charlie accepted this to be a matter of course. 

Fashion had always been like this. Old-fashioned. However, when it came to marvels like this, there were always exceptions and no bottom line.

The last time the fashion industry made such an exception was more than ten years ago for a woman named Josephine. She had been famous for her androgynous beauty. However, they rarely made such exceptions for men.

God had always favored women in this regard. Most of his beauty and tenderness was given to them.

However, it was precisely because of this that, when such a beautiful man appeared, it was even more moving. 

This was especially the case for Gu Qingchi. He was simply a miracle. It was as if every inch of his skin had been kissed by god. If a god really did exist, there was no doubt that he would be god’s favorite angel.

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However, he quickly shoved it to the back of his mind. Charlie triumphantly muttered to himself.

“And I’ll be remembered as the person who discovered this diamond in the rough.”

Meanwhile, similar things were happening all around the world. 

The fashion industry had officially turned its attention towards Gu Qingchi. The photos published by the magazines seemed to be announcing his existence to the fashion industry.

Generally, this kind of thing wouldn’t spread too far. Fashion magazines would publish the latest photos, but it wasn’t mainstream entertainment like movies or television. Most people wouldn’t be paying attention to stuff like fashion shows.

However, the fashion industry knew that the new darling of the fashion world had been born.

Even if it was unintentional, Gu Qingchi made a name for himself in the fashion industry. 

As everyone knew, the fashion industry had always been rather special. They didn’t just focus on fame, and they didn’t just focus on beauty. A beautiful but ordinary face was a minus to them. It would be difficult for a face like that to make it very far.

However, the fashion industry represented brand endorsements. This accounted for a large part of a celebrity’s income, so a lot of celebrities wanted a piece of the pie. They would participate in fashion weeks and do everything in their power to get on the cover of popular fashion magazines.

And Gu Qingchi managed to get all of this with ease.

The cover of TL’s September issue had already been promised to Gu Qingchi. Vano even took the lead in saying that he can make any requests. If his schedule didn’t match, they could even change the time. 

It must be emphasized that Vano was the one saying this.

There was once a famous American singer who kept putting on airs. She asked for a fruit plate and a special drink. She even refused to be interviewed after the photoshoot because of a sore throat.

The staff met all of her previous requirements, but the issue of the interview gave the staff a difficult time. They couldn’t just change the schedule.

Vano had immediately lost her temper with the staff. 

“What do you think you’re doing? You are an employee of this magazine, not her assistant. Tell her to start shooting or piss off.”

In the end, the photoshoot was successfully completed, but TL still ended up removing her part. They even blacklisted the singer from ever working with them ever again.

The chief designer of KK also extended an olive branch to Gu Qingchi. It was a huge difference to his treatment at this year’s fashion week. Gu Qingchi didn’t even receive an invitation and attended as a last minute model. Gu Qingchi would have an actual place at next year’s fashion week.

There were also several other brands watching him. 

Perhaps Gu Qingchi would be able to land himself a good brand endorsement. It might even be a luxury brand endorsement.

Gu Qingchi’s career as a model had been smooth sailing. It went so smoothly that Ye Li couldn’t help but consider adjusting Gu Qingchi’s career plan.

However, after thinking it over again and again, Ye Li held firm.

As an actor, Gu Qingchi’s popularity and fame could only be considered C-list. 

However, all things considered, they were already going pretty strong. After all, he had only acted in a small supporting role. It couldn’t even be considered a third male lead.

This was just the beginning.

There was still a period of time before filming would start. Filming for a new project always took a lot of time to prepare, but Gu Qingchi had already started preparing as the contract had outlined.

For the sake of confidentiality, Gu Qingchi hadn’t received the script yet, but the requirements were clear. 

Latin dance. He needed to learn Latin dance to whatever degree he could. It needed to look at least somewhat presentable.

Ye Li went out and hired a dance teacher for Gu Qingchi. He had already contacted Gu Qingchi’s dance teacher and crafted a tailor-made training plan for Gu Qingchi.

He also started to control Gu Qingchi’s diet.

It was time to prepare for a new role. 

Gu Qingchi had been staying in the company’s practice room for the past couple of days.

Gu Qingchi had practice today, same as always. He needed to practice the basics every day. The only good thing was that he was pretty flexible. He managed to get the hang of splits and toe touches after a couple of lessons.

Although the teacher was teaching him one-on-one, the practice room wasn’t private. Other artists would pop in from time to time.

However, there were a lot of practice rooms in the company, so there were only ever seven or eight people at most. 

The teacher had already arrived. Gu Qingchi was used to arriving a little earlier, but this teacher was clearly even more proactive.

Gu Qingchi preferred the corner of the studio, so they were always situated in the corner. At this moment, the teacher had already set everything up in the corner of the dance studio.

Gu Qingchi had a white towel slung around his neck. He wore black pants that were easy to move in and a black tank top. The collar dipped very low in the back, revealing his beautiful muscles.

There were already five or six trainees in the practice room chattering away, but, as soon as Gu Qingchi walked in, the conversations in the entire practice room muted itself. Several pairs of eyes traveled along Gu Qingchi’s body. 

Gu Qingchi simply minded his own business and walked over. It was as if those lines of sight did not exist.

He was neither good nor bad at dancing, but, after practicing for such a long time, he managed to get the gist of it.

The teacher was a petite woman who spoke in a soft voice. She held a pointer stick. Whenever she spoke, she subconsciously went onto her tiptoes.

“Mn, we’ll do the same thing as yesterday. Let’s warm up first. Massage your legs a bit. Then, we’ll go through the basics.” 

Gu Qingchi hummed in response and started to massage his legs.

Meanwhile.

Cheng Xian’s agent felt like he was going crazy. He took a few steps to catch up with Cheng Xian’s long legs.

He lowered his voice and spoke frantically to Cheng Xian. 

“This is not our company. We are signed under Starlight’s competitor. Why do we have to come all the way to some other company’s practice room?”

Cheng Xian hissed in annoyance, but his footsteps didn’t stop.

“I already talked a big game. I’ve got to at least maintain my image as an older brother.”

Every practice room was made with transparent glass. It didn’t take much effort to go through them one by one. 

Cheng Xian finally reached the place that he was looking for and knocked on the door directly.

Everyone in the practice room looked over at him. Cheng Xian clasped his hands together and bowed. He didn’t feel very shy and smiled brightly.

“Sorry to disturb everyone. I have an urgent matter with Mr. Gu.”

Gu Qingchi first looked at his teacher. 

The dance teacher waved him off before he could speak.

“You go ahead. I can wait.”

“Sorry for the inconvenience.”

Gu Qingchi pursed his lips. 

“Teacher.”

Gu Qingchi seldom referred to her as teacher. She still looked as gentle and sweet-tempered as ever, but her face reddened. She was internally screaming to herself.

Gu Qingchi then walked over to the door. He was still wearing dancing shoes, so he didn’t plan to leave the room. He simply stood by the door.

Cheng Xian didn’t care either way and got straight to the point. 

“Mr. Gu, I want to add you on WeChat. I have a lot to tell you. It’s inconvenient to talk here, so let’s talk later.”

Gu Qingchi didn’t add other people on WeChat. He tilted his head and wiped the sweat from his chin with his towel. Then, he earnestly replied.

“You should ask Ye Li if it’s about work.”

“No, no, no. Of course it’s not about work.” 

Cheng Xian leaned forward and lowered his voice.

“S High School. Mr. Gu, you’ll definitely be interested.”

Gu Qingchi stopped and glanced at Cheng Xian.

Among the few documents that Gu Qingchi had was a high school graduation certificate. The name of the high school on the certificate was S High School. 

He glanced at Cheng Xian. Then, he grabbed his phone from the table and pulled up a QR code.

Cheng Xian scanned it and accepted the request on Gu Qingchi’s phone.

Then, Cheng Xian whispered something into Gu Qingchi’s ear.

From an outsider’s point of view, the two of them looked very close. They were leaning in towards each other and tapping on each other’s phones. 

At least, in Xie Luyu’s point of view, the two of them were very close.

Ever since Gu Qingchi started staying at the company practice room, the number of times Xie Luyu visited the practice rooms increased significantly.

Today, Xie Luyu was humming a little tune as usual. When he turned the corner, he was met with this scene. His entire mood dimmed.

He was like a husky. He happily went to check on the huge bone that he had buried, but, when he got there, he discovered that the bone had been dug up by another dog. The look in his eyes had subconsciously turned dark. 

After Cheng Xian finished talking to Gu Qingchi, he looked up and just so happened to make eye contact with Xie Luyu.

Xie Luyu was still his senior, so Cheng Xian politely greeted him.

“Hello, Mr. Xie. Are your eyes cramping?”

Xie Luyu: Fuck.