Pei Xiyan was a genuine second-generation star. His mother, Su Cheng, was a household name and a highly respected actress in the industry, while his father’s identity remained mysterious and had been the subject of much speculation.
Some guessed he was Su Cheng’s second husband, a jewelry tycoon, while insiders claimed he was her first husband, a political figure in Beijing circles. These sources also reported that Su Cheng was planning to remarry this political figure soon.
Pei Xiyan became known to the public when, at six years old, Su Cheng brought him onto a parent-child outdoor interactive show. With his outstanding appearance and strong personality at such a young age, the show’s broadcast immediately gained him a large following of sister fans and mommy fans.
Unfortunately, for many years afterward, he rarely appeared in public, only occasionally being photographed with Su Cheng or making cameos in some films, staying on the extreme periphery of the entertainment circle.
Last year, he played the protagonist’s teenage years in the film “The Last Time,” which unexpectedly became a huge hit both commercially and critically. Overnight, the once rebellious and aloof boy re-entered the public eye. Not only had he not grown up ugly, but he had become so handsome it was almost offensive. Naturally, he easily captured countless young girls’ hearts, and his popularity skyrocketed as if on a rocket.
Although Ji Mingshu was no longer a young girl, she was among those captivated.
She wasn’t very familiar with fan culture and didn’t know much about things like meeting celebrities at airports or voting in polls. But last year, to meet Pei Xiyan, she had shamelessly tagged along with her cousin to Director Pei’s house for a meal.
At that time, Pei Xiyan happened to be home. He coldly greeted them and then went upstairs with a bag of cold milk, not coming down for lunch.
If it had been Cen Sen, Ji Mingshu would probably have labeled him with a series of negative tags like “impolite,” “low EQ,” “cold and arrogant.” But with Pei Xiyan, Ji Mingshu only thought: my baby is so full of personality! So rebellious! So edgy! So youthful! Love it, love it!
“Do you think I look better in this? Does it make me look more dignified and professional?”
Ji Mingshu, dressed in a suit skirt, twirled in front of the full-length mirror, then turned to ask Cen Sen.
Cen Sen glanced up and said flatly, “Like a real estate consultant.”
“…?”
Are there real estate consultants this beautiful?
After Cen Sen’s comment, Ji Mingshu took a closer look and felt that the skirt did seem a bit too professional.
She tried on four or five more outfits, but whenever she asked Cen Sen, he would find fault with them.
“Too tight.”
“Color is too bright.”
“Are you going to an audition?”
After being criticized several times in a row, Ji Mingshu’s patience finally ran out.
She dumped all the clothes from her suitcase onto the bed and said irritably, “Then you choose! You choose, you choose, you choose!”
If you can’t pick out a nice outfit, you’d better commit seppuku!
Cen Sen paused slightly, put down the document in his hand, and pointed to a black tracksuit: “This one is nice.”
Ji Mingshu: “?”
“You’re going to do interior design, so of course you should wear casual, convenient clothes.”
Ji Mingshu: “…”
No, I’m not going to do interior design, I’m going to protect my baby 🙂
The second recording was three days later. After much consideration, Ji Mingshu decided to wear the shirt dress that Cen Sen had said was a bit tight.
She felt this shirt dress perfectly outlined her attractive figure with its front curves and back arches, completely overshadowing that little diva from the girl group, while also conveying her professionalism, elegance, and elite status as an interior designer.
However, since Cen Sen had mentioned the dress looked a bit tight, she figured she might have been a bit indulgent with food lately. So she planned a more vegetarian diet for herself and even fasted for a day in between.
On the day of recording, Ji Mingshu changed into the dress at the hotel, turned in front of the mirror, and felt that only two words could describe it: perfect.
She winked at the mirror and made a gun gesture with both hands, one in front and one behind.
Unfortunately, Cen Sen had just come out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping water.
They silently looked at each other through the mirror for thirty seconds. Ji Mingshu suddenly remembered the embarrassing incident at Boicui Tianhua. Perhaps these few days of hunger had lowered her IQ along with her weight, as she randomly asked, “…do you…want to hear me rap?”
“…”
“No, thanks.”
The second recording of “Design Home” involved going directly to the house.
The house Ji Mingshu’s group was renovating was a school district apartment in the old town area of Star City, with a built-up area of eighty-nine square meters. The owners were a newlywed couple.
The house was an old property left by the wife’s parents, and the decor was quite dated.
This newlywed couple’s request was to transform this old house into a sweet world for two with an artistic atmosphere and retro nostalgia, while reserving one room that could be converted into a nursery when they had a baby in the future.
Ji Mingshu had seen the design challenges for other groups. The other groups always had challenging points like “there are sick elderly or children in the family, and their lives must be made convenient” or “the area is incredibly small, but one square meter must still be used as three square meters,” which allowed for deep exploration and showcasing of spatial design art.
In comparison, the challenge assigned to their group had no explosively difficult renovation problems, nor a tear-jerking backstory. It could be said to be utterly ordinary with no highlights.
The cameras followed them from the moment they got out of the car.
It happened to be the time when elementary school students were going to school, and a large group of them were lined up, crossing the road in front.
The little diva Yan Yuexing immediately cupped her face with star-filled eyes and began her performance, talking about how much she missed elementary school life, how interesting it was, and implying a sense of superiority about being popular with boys even in elementary school.
Ji Mingshu felt that in this kind of show, off-topic content would be cut in post-production, so she couldn’t be bothered to engage and only looked forward to meeting Pei Xiyan soon.
Half an hour later, after Ji Mingshu, Feng Yan, and Yan Yuexing had finished inspecting the old house, Pei Xiyan’s nanny car finally appeared at the community entrance.
When they heard the camera crew and directors saying that Pei Xiyan had arrived, Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing quietly took out small mirrors to touch up their makeup.
“Pei Xiyan, Pei Xiyan!”
“He’s handsome!”
“Did you bring photos? We need to get his autograph later.”
“Yes, yes!”
The makeup and wardrobe girls were also whispering and discussing.
Ji Mingshu didn’t blink, staring at the cool youth who was taking off his mask and walking in, her little heart thumping wildly.
Although Pei Xiyan was only sixteen or seventeen, his height was already approaching 1.8 meters. At this growth rate, by the time he finished his college entrance exams, he would probably be 1.85 meters. He had that clear quality unique to young people.
Under the director’s introduction, he shook hands and greeted each of his partners.
When it came to Ji Mingshu, she put on the perfect smile she had practiced for three days, looking at him with a beaming face, her voice gentle and reserved, “Hello, I really like your work.”
Pei Xiyan looked up briefly and responded politely but distantly, “Hello, sister.”
The handshake was just a light, virtual grasp, with barely any tactile sensation. After withdrawing her hand, Ji Mingshu stood near Feng Yan, seemingly casually tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
Ah ah ah! Yan baby! Sister loves you! Mommy loves you! Mommy will never wash her hands again, wuwuwu! This is what it feels like to be electrified! It’s like getting ten years younger in a second!
While Ji Mingshu was burning with excitement internally, maintaining a calm exterior, the director had already begun explaining the upcoming recording content and the simple filming for the sponsor’s advertisement. Ji Mingshu didn’t hear very clearly, as she was still in a dazed, mesmerized state.
Feng Yan handed her the cue card, but she was still absent-minded, first glancing at Pei Xiyan before looking at the card’s content.
“Let design enter your home, Jun Yi Ya Ji, your…”
Wait, what is this?
Ji Mingshu paused and looked carefully.
“This Jun Yi is…?”
Feng Yan helpfully explained in a low voice, “It’s the same Jun Yi as in Jun Yi Zhang Hua and Jun Yi Shui Yun Jian. I heard their group is investing money to sponsor our show to promote their new brand hotel.”
Ji Mingshu: “…”
She remembered now. The issue of naming had been mentioned in that designer hotel document.
At that time, there were more than a dozen candidate names. She hadn’t recognized it at first glance, but now she suddenly recalled that “Ya Ji” was indeed one of them.
In other words, Jun Yi was this show’s sponsor.
Cen Sen’s Cen Group was this show’s sponsor.
Great 🙂 This dog of a man’s mouth was tighter than the ripped holes in sewn jeans. With such secrecy, why didn’t he join the National Security Bureau or become a spy abroad?
Ji Mingshu took thirty seconds to recover, somehow feeling dizzy and nauseous.
After suppressing that discomfort, she tried to look on the bright side—wasn’t this like being a fan at public expense? Not bad, not bad at all.
Ji Mingshu quietly asked Feng Yan again to catch up on what she had missed earlier.
It turned out the director had just said that today’s main task was to determine the initial renovation plan and assign tasks like going to the market to buy materials and finding construction teams.
In principle, the production team would provide a hundred thousand yuan for hard decoration and another hundred thousand yuan for soft decoration, so they didn’t need to worry about renovation costs.
But each family had wished for a new home gift, and the director explicitly suggested, to enhance the show’s appeal, they recommend that the guests earn part of the funds through labor, to be used to purchase gifts for the homeowners when construction was completed.
Ji Mingshu thought she had misheard and confirmed with Feng Yan: “Just two hundred thousand?”
That would be enough for a basic bathroom, yet they said not to worry about renovation costs? How could the production team say that with a straight face?
Feng Yan nodded affirmatively, “Yes, two hundred thousand.”
That dizzy, nauseous feeling came back.
After the director finished explaining these points, the rest was left to their creativity.
As the designer, Ji Mingshu naturally had the authority to assign tasks.
However, these tasks were already scripted. The production team had dedicated scriptwriters to write some plots that could create CP feelings and conflicts, but these were only for reference—they still had considerable autonomy.
Ji Mingshu saw that in the prepared arrangements, Yan Yuexing and Pei Xiyan were supposed to go to the building materials market together.
She reshuffled everything without changing her expression, and finally said with a smile to Pei Xiyan: “Little Yan, why don’t you come with me to the building materials market?”
Pei Xiyan paused slightly, his voice a bit low, “I might be more suitable for finding decorative items and such…”
Understood, immediately arranged.
But when Ji Mingshu suggested going with him to find decorative items, he again declined, saying that as the designer, she was the backbone of the show and should be responsible for more important aspects.
Ji Mingshu was unhappy.
She found herself thinking chaotically: Does Yan’s baby dislike her? Has Yan’s baby forgotten they had met at Director Pei’s home? Wuwuwu, Mommy didn’t do anything wrong, is it because I’m too beautiful and the baby is afraid of rumors about an older sister-younger brother relationship when the show airs? Wuwuwu, it must be this tvt
No matter how she tried to comfort herself, Ji Mingshu’s mood was explosive.
After assignments were distributed, the group went downstairs, ready to depart for their respective destinations.
Ji Mingshu was paired with Yan Yuexing, not wanting to say a single word, huddled in the back seat feeling depressed and gloomy.
But Pei Xiyan didn’t get into his car; instead, he suddenly walked to the side of their car and knocked on Ji Mingshu’s window.
Ji Mingshu lowered the window, her heart suddenly leaping with joy, only to see Pei Xiyan cover his mouth and cough lightly, saying with slight embarrassment, “Sister Mingshu, sorry, Brother Sen hopes that you and I can…keep some distance.”