Chapter 143: Unt.i.tled
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“I’m completely fine.” Ji Zhiyao shrugged as he began to spin his left arm furiously.
Hearing this, instead of relaxing, Mo Huaifeng frowned instead. “Then why did you suddenly become like this?”
“Captain, don’t tell me that you haven’t noticed at all that Brother Xiao is out of sorts.”
Ji Zhiyao sneaked a glance at the door, then said in a low voice, “During the solo just now, Brother Xiao was evidently holding on forcefully. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to control and if I really won Brother Xiao, he would definitely train even harder, by then what would happen to his wrist?”
“It was over this?”
“If not so? I barely managed to come up with this idea, do you think I have it easy.”
Mo Huaifeng looked at Ji Zhiyao’s face that obviously revealed some bit of how pleased he was and really didn’t know if he should give him a good beating or properly praise him.
He sighed and said, “Got it. I’ll have a talk with him tonight.”
Ji Zhiyao nodded. “Yeah, do advise Brother Xiao. I’m just a reserve, not a starter. Everyone is patiently waiting for him, he doesn’t need to be too anxious.”
Mo Huaifeng gave him a long and meaningful glance and sunk into silence.
Ji Zhiyao was suddenly enlightened and snorted out loud, “Captain, what is that expression? I’m not complaining, I’m already very happy that I’m able to compete.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Anyway, even if I do get promoted I don’t get a pay raise, of course I’d be willing to get a salary and be an idle man.”
He really shouldn’t hold much expectations for Ji Zhiyao’s mouth.
Mo Huaifeng twisted the door open with a speechless expression, saying, “You rest first, I’ll send you back to school tomorrow morning.”
Ji Zhiyao nodded happily and remained in his room pretending to be a patient with a strained arm.
After sending Mo Huaifeng out, Ji Zhiyao pulled out his phone from his pocket and laid on his bed, hugging his pillow as he scrolled through the posts.
The matter of Mo Huaifeng and him appearing at the airport had been still been exposed, but because there were only two autographs and no photos with fans or photos taken at the airport, it did not catch the attention of two many people, the fans who knew about this basically only entertained themselves in the interest community on Weibo.
Ji Zhiyao tapped open several pieces of fan fiction about Mo Huaifeng and himself, there were all sorts of plots, slightly painful to read.
He read a few paragraphs selectively, the more he read, the redder he became. At last, he simply decided to drop his phone and wash up for bed.
…
Two weeks later.
Ji Zhiyao walked to ground floor of his dorm building and saw Mo Huaifeng’s car. He slipped off his backpack, pulled open the car door and lifted himself to sit into the pa.s.senger seat.
The moment Mo Huaifeng saw him get on, he switched off the radio in the car and turned on the air-conditioning.
“Are you awake?” Mo Huaifeng had glanced Ji Zhiyao’s expression in the mirror, he looked slightly dispirited, as if he couldn’t pull himself together and hence could not help but ask.
Ji Zhiyao yawned. “Still fine. I had two cold pills this morning, a little sleepy.”
“You can sleep for a while.”
“Never mind, it’s just a 20-minute drive, I wouldn’t get to sleep long.” Ji Zhiyao then asked, “By the way, I left my team uniform at the base, are we returning to the base first?”
“Yes.” Mo Huaifeng replied.
Ji Zhiyao then felt at ease.
Slightly more than 20 minutes later, the car arrived at Mix base. The sun was blazing outside, Ji Zhiyao squinted involuntarily and got out of the car with his backpack.
The battleteam’s van was stopped outside the villa, Ji Zhiyao saw Xiao standing there from afar and waved to him. He ran over in a few steps. “Brother Xiao.”
Xiao patted his shoulder very emotionally. “This is the first time I’ve seen someone who dares to order Captain about, and has yet to be strangled to death by Captain.”
Each time he heard such words, Ji Zhiyao would always become jumpy, this time wasn’t an exception. He threw his bag into Xiao’s arms. “Brother Xiao, help me hold onto it for a while. I’m going upstairs to get my team uniform.”
With that, he dashed into the villa.
The rest was probably already waiting in the van, there wasn’t a single person in the villa. Ji Zhiyao swiftly hauled his uniform out of his closet, then flew downstairs.
Mo Huaifeng happened to have just parked his car and had pulled open the door of the van. Ji Zhiyao ducked in ahead of him, then grinned mischievously, “Thanks Captain.”
Mo Huaifeng threw him a glance resignedly and indulgently before he got in himself and closed the door.
In the van, K “tsk-ed” twice. “Captain, could it be that Noh.o.m.o is really your biological son. If I had been the one to push past you earlier, I reckon I wouldn’t even have a spot in the publicity stills this year, am I right, am I right?”
Mo Huaifeng stole a look at him. “Call me daddy and I’ll consider it carefully.”
“Were the number of times I call you that usually still considered little?”
Mo Huaifeng was thoroughly disgusted.
Ji Zhiyao directly smashed his fist onto K’s back. “I take down one sobbing dog with each punch.”
K felt his sadness welling up. “Did Captain give you an extra set of salary, why are you so protective of him? I was evidently working for the welfare of the entire team and I still had to get hit.”
“Well, he is my dad.”
K had no reply to that.
And neither did the rest.
Mo Huaifeng coughed once and Ji Zhiyao’s sitting posture instantly became much more obedient.
Half an hour later, the group of them arrived at the studio in a merry atmosphere. The moment they stepped in, the makeup artists who were already waiting swarmed forward and entered the dressing room with the boy that they were each responsible for.
Ji Zhiyao and Xiao were placed in one dressing room, one makeup artist each.
The table was filled with a heap of bottles and containers, Ji Zhiyao had only seen that much cosmetics in the shopping mall and could not help but swallowed nervously.
Once he lifted his head, the makeup artist’s powder puff began to tap on his face. Ji Zhiyao dodged backwards but eventually could not escape from the uncomfortable feeling deep down and spoke up to negotiate with the makeup artist. “Sister, can my makeup be lighter? Like this powder, don’t apply so much, just a bit will do.”
“That won’t do.” The makeup artist shook her head with a smile. “The lights in the studio are very bright, when shone on your face, your makeup becomes especially unnoticeable. If you want to live up to your looks, we must make the makeup a little heavier.”
With that, the makeup artist all of sudden used her hand to anchor Ji Zhiyao’s jaw, making him unable to move at all. Her other hand continued to dab at his face with the powder puff.
Ji Zhiyao didn’t want to live on.
Xiao had originally wanted to resist too, yet when he caught this scene in his peripherals, he instantly behaved.
Ji Zhiyao only felt that his face had been coated with one layer after another, and almost went stiff entirely.
Yet his base was relatively better and he had been very well-behaved with his jaw being held by the makeup artist, hence for the later segments, the makeup artist almost did everything very simply.
The more pitiful one was Xiao.
Xiao asked, “Is this a pencil? Why is it being used to draw on faces?”
His makeup artist replied, “It’s an eyebrow pencil – the shape of your eyebrows is a little weird, using a pencil to draw them will make you look better.”
“… I feel like I was already quite handsome.”
The makeup artist pretended to have not heard that at all, after a while, she started to paste double eyelid sticks onto Xiao’s eyelids.
“I don’t think there’s a must for deep double eyelids, looks weirdly feminine.”
“Your inner double eyelids are slightly swollen today, if you don’t stick these on, you will appear sleazy in the photos.”
“Sleazy?”
“Yes.”
Ji Zhiyao suppressed himself so hard that he was about to snort out loud, his makeup artist also simmered with laughter as she finished applying lipstick for him in a few strokes and said, “You’re done.”
Ji Zhiyao tried his best to ignore the sticky feeling on his lips and picked up his clothes, saying with a smile, “Brother Xiao, I’ll go get changed first, you do hurry up.”
Xiao was already half-dead from being manipulated around and replied feebly, “Go ahead, go ahead.”
The changing room was next door. Ji Zhiyao pushed open the door and entered, there wasn’t anyone there, he also didn’t know if the rest were done with their makeup and had changed their clothes.
He changed his top very quickly, just as he was about to put on his pants, the door of the changing room clicked and was pushed open from the outside.
Ji Zhiyao frantically picked up his pants and covered a certain part.
If it was someone from the team, things would still be easy to handle, they were a bunch of boys anyway. If it was a female staff, or Captain… that wouldn’t be good.
He lifted his head and realized that it was Heng at the door, also looking at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“What are you covering, who doesn’t have a c.o.c.k?”
Ji Zhiyao rolled his eyes and quickly pulled on his pants. “I was worried that it would be a lady.”
Heng snickered. “Wake up won’t you, didn’t you see the sign on the door? The changing room can only be used by our team for now, that would be too good to be true.
Ji Zhiyao also didn’t dare to say “I was more worried that the one entering was Captain”, and could only keep his grievances to himself and left the changing room, closing the door for Heng while he was at it.
Then he realized that his Captain was seated on a couch not too far away, already changed.
Ji Zhiyao only took one glance and he already completely could not move his eyes away. He felt as if a magnet had been fixed under his feet as he involuntarily moved in Mo Huaifeng’s direction.
He had not walked far when Mo Huaifeng sensed his closeness and looked up.
This glance, caused Ji Zhiyao to be seized with a sudden impulse to swallow his saliva.
At that point, he had to admit, that the fans who had once commented “Noh.o.m.o you’re only a little step away from Fi-G.o.d” under his Weibo posts were so very wise and far-sighted.
After all, even someone like him, who was used to reason to make decisions and has never paid attention to others’ appearance felt compelled to exclaim, Mo Huaifeng was really so d.a.m.n handsome.
His foundation he had on wasn’t thin, his makeup was similarly heavy, but he didn’t seem gay at all, instead he had sharp brows and dazzling eyes, a very manly handsomeness. It was evident that the makeup artist especially favored him, such that he even got his hair done.
Ji Zhiyao reached out and touched the few strands of stray hair on his head, feeling extremely bitter.
“Captain, did you pay extra money for your hair? Why is it that even your hair looks so good?”
Mo Huaifeng originally wanted to say something, now that he was interrupted like this, he completely forgot everything. He involuntarily copied Ji Zhiyao’s action and also touched his own hair. “Looks good?”
Ji Zhiyao nodded fervently.
“As long as it looks good.”
Then he resumed his blank expression and did not give a direct answer to Ji Zhiyao’s question.
Ji Zhiyao’s big eyes were filled with deep questioning towards life.
Was he really Mo Huaifeng’s boyfriend?
“My Captain, Noh.o.m.o, both of you quickly come over to take the photos!” Yuan Wei ran over obediently from the corner. “What are you guys doing hiding? Rendezvous?”
Ji Zhiyao guiltily pushed Yuan Wei and pushed him while walking towards the area where they were shooting. “What rendezvous, have you been secretly watching romance dramas again? If I dare to have a rendezvous with Captain, I’m probably asking for death.”
Yuan Wei replied, “What you said made a lot of sense. You’re still young, why take things so hard.”
“Exactly.”
These two people, did they take him as a dead person?
The remaining people were all standing in front of the background board that bore the Mix team logo and was discussing their positions with the photographer. When Nuo and Xiao saw Ji Zhiyao and Mo Huaifeng walk over, it was as if they’d seen their saviors. Nuo pointed at Ji Zhiyao. “There’s still him, now there’s enough for three in the front row.”
Ji Zhiyao looked confused.
Mo Huaifeng observed this stance and could more or less guess what was going on, and said succinctly, “Standing in the back row gives more cover, both of them have grown fat.”
Ji Zhiyao was suddenly enlightened.
XIao covered his face. “Captain, could you not say it so directly. Nuo and I still want our faces.”
Ji Zhiyao decisively showed his contempt for them. “You’re already pus.h.i.+ng me out to s.h.i.+eld you, what face do you still want?”
Mo Huaifeng snickered in agreement.
Xiao and Nuo were pressured by Mo Huaifeng’s despotic power and bowed their heads in feigned shame.
The photographer did a headcount and said, “Okay, three at the back, four in front. The thin ones in front, at the back the tallest one in the middle and the two fat ones at the two sides.”
Ji Zhiyao almost laughed out loud, he stole a glance at Xiao and Nuo’s expressions, it was indeed very entertaining.
As a matter of fact, both of their figures were very up to standards when placed among average people, but were quite different from their previous slim manner, so they couldn’t be blamed for being so mindful.
At last, the team formation was settled, in the front row, from left to right was K, Heng, Xiaofei, Ji Zhiyao, whereas in the back row it was Nuo, Mo Huaifeng, Xiao. Nuo and Xiao stood slightly outwards, and only had half of their bodies s.h.i.+elded by K and Ji Zhiyao while the other half was exposed. s.h.i.+elding their chunky bodies but not blocking their faces.
The team formation was settled, the photographer put out his request while gesturing. “There must be the feeling where you are fighting a fated battle in your eyes, imagine that all of you are part of the martial arts scene, battling for a certain secret scroll. Then bring in some imposing stance of contempt for the world.”
Xiaofei asked, “Like this?”
The photographer glanced at him. “Do you not feel that you’ve become cross-eyed?”
The photographer continued to gesture. “First row, the one right at the side won’t do, you don’t have a single bit of a lethal look in your eyes.”
Ji Zhiyao with no “lethal look” had nothing to say.
For just this look alone, the photographer worked for a total of an hour and had taken many unusable photos. They eventually really could not hit the standards and only managed to take a few photos.
Then it was time to shoot the two pairs of starters and reserves in the team.
This time round, the photographer didn’t even make any requests and directly arranged them in a suitable angle, then clicked away on his camera.
Just as Ji Zhiyao thought that everything had ended, Yuan Wei put up a suggestion. “Noh.o.m.o just joined the team, let’s have some individual photos of him taken.”
“… Can I say no?”
Yuan Wei was about to flare up. “Do you still…”
” ‘Do I still have dreams’ – I knew it was this line. Okay, take take take!”
Hence under the guidance of the photographer, he embarked on his journey of pretentious posing.
What almost brought him to tears was that, as he was posing, Mo Huaifeng along with K and Heng, three of them stood by the side, watching on.
The curses in his heart, could not be suppressed no matter what.
When he was done with his individual shoot, Ji Zhiyao walked towards them in an aggressive manner and rolled up the sleeves of his uniform. “K, Heng, solo tonight, I must thrash you guys till you call me daddy!”
K stared at him.
Heng was caught off-guarded. “What the f*ck, seated at the side and the invitation to compete fell from the sky?”