Wen Mubai, wearing a white apron, with his long hair lazily tied behind his head and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, was looking at the "thing" in the pot with a worried expression.
"What kind of poison are you going to give me today?" Xu Chacha leaned closer.
Wen Mubai looked up at her and asked, "Up so early?"
"Biological clock." Xu Chacha yawned lazily, slumping against the marble countertop. She stared at the dark, murky stuff in the pot. "You're frying ribs for me this early in the morning?"
Wen Mubai lifted the pot and shoveled the pile of stuff off. "It's scallion pancakes."
Moreover, the dough was made and left by the aunt yesterday. Wen Mubai was full of confidence when she started cooking this morning, but she didn't expect that she would even get a zero score by cheating.
Xu Chacha's mockery was undisguised, "Hahahaha! What am I going to do? If you keep feeding me until I get thinner and thinner, my sister will definitely come after you."
He was fine talking about other things, but as soon as Xu Yanshu was mentioned, Wen Mubai's competitive spirit kicked in, and he said with a straight face, "Before summer vacation, I will definitely gain five pounds of weight from you."
“Wow!” Xu Chacha’s response was extremely exaggerated. “We’ll see, Ms. Wen.”
"Come here." Wen Mubai suddenly beckoned to her.
Xu Chacha approached without warning, only to have someone grab her by the back of her neck and pull her away.
She saw Wen Mubai holding something in his teeth and offering it to her. Before she could react, he flicked his tongue and put it in her mouth.
A burnt, bitter taste spread across her tongue, and Xu Chacha's face contorted in pain. "What is this?!"
"Breakfast." Wen Mubai's smile now seemed a little mischievous. "Want some more?"
Xu Chacha stuck out her tongue and spat out what was in her mouth, "No!"
She happily ran to brush her teeth, and it took her two brushings to wash away the bitter taste in her mouth.
When she finished washing up and came out, Wen Mubai was already sitting at the dining table. On the table were scattered scallion pancakes that couldn't be put together into a whole piece. The only highlight was that they weren't burnt.
Wen Mubai had taken off his apron and was leaning back in his chair, flipping through the newspaper in his usual pose. The kitchen was in complete chaos, but when his gaze fell on this calm and elegant woman, there was a sense of tranquility about her.
Xu Chacha walked over, picked up a crumb, put it in her mouth, and chewed it with a frown.
Perhaps due to the previous preparations, this time it tasted alright; the crust was crispy and the naan was soft, with a subtle aftertaste of scallions.
Is that okay?
Xu Chacha picked up the milk and swallowed it, then took another sip, her cheeks puffed out. "It's alright."
Wen Mubai wiped the crumbs from her mouth and smiled, "Then I'll make it for you again next time."
"No, please." Xu Chacha shook her head. "Auntie is tired from kneading dough and cleaning the kitchen. You should just make egg sandwiches instead."
"...I can also learn to do it myself."
Xu Chacha looked clearly unconvinced. "Then I might as well make it myself."
"How can that be?" Wen Mubai glanced at him sideways. "You're paying for me to cook, so of course I have to take good care of you."
"Well, you didn't serve her well either," Xu Chacha retorted casually.
Wen Mubai finally fell silent. Xu Chacha was about to celebrate secretly when she saw Wen Mubai put away the newspaper and come over.
"What are you doing?" Xu Chacha dodged backward.
Wen Mubai lowered his eyelids, kissed her cheek, and got up to leave. "Pack your clothes and get ready for your trip. Come out after you finish eating. We're going to try on some clothes today."
“Oh, right.” Xu Chacha quickly took a few bites of the biscuit, gulped down some milk, wiped her hands, and followed her. “Let’s finish this quickly. Teacher Yang Zhou was urging me to finish it a few days ago.”
Previously, she and Yang Zhou had discussed outsourcing the styling team to BC. Wen Mubai personally went to coordinate the plan and time with Yang Zhou, and the matter was easily settled.
Yang Zhou took a liking to their dark blue starry sky dress. There happened to be a ready-made one, but it didn't fit Xu Chacha's size. They had been altering the size for a while, and yesterday Jiang Panpan messaged to say that it was done and they would go try it on today.
The advantage of living together becomes apparent here: neither of them has to get up early to meet each other and waste time on the way.
There weren't many people at the studio in the morning. Jiang Panpan and a few of her girls had stayed up all night the night before and wouldn't be coming until the afternoon. Two girls were sitting scattered in the middle, eating breakfast, and they were startled when they saw Wen Mubai come over.
"Have breakfast in the lounge, not here, it smells bad," Wen Mubai pointed at them.
"Yes, boss! I'll be right there!"
Xu Chacha stared at Wen Mubai's sour face and nodded, thinking, "That's right, this cold and aloof look is the one I'm familiar with. The one at home who's always making lewd remarks is a different personality, isn't it?"
Xu Chacha's dress was placed separately in Wen Mubai's office, covered with a black cloth.
She unzipped the dust cover and took out the clothes. "Go inside and change."
The dress was very thick, with three layers inside and three layers outside. The bodice and hem were covered with small rhinestones. The fabric felt very smooth to the touch. Xu Chacha was afraid that her nails were not trimmed properly and would snag on it. She held the dress up in several different positions, not knowing how to safely hold it over.
Wen Mubai couldn't help but laugh at her cautious demeanor. "Afraid you can't afford to pay for it?"
"It's all your hard work, so I have to be careful," Xu Chacha said earnestly, lifting the dress with both hands, then gently carrying it in a princess carry to avoid crushing it.
"Aren't your arms tired?" Wen Mubai simply lifted the skirt up and hung it on the hook in the dressing room for her. "It won't break."
"Oh." Xu Chacha went inside.
Wen Mubai leaned against the door. "I'm right outside. If you can't put it on, just call me and I'll help you."
"You can't fit into it!" Xu Chacha slammed the door shut.
The skirt came with a built-in corset, which Xu Chacha wrapped around her waist first, and then lifted her foot to slip herself into the skirt.
As soon as she put on the dress, her shoulders slumped several degrees.
It was too heavy, like a small mountain was pressing down on me, especially the skirt, which seemed to drag bricks forward with every step.
She opened the door and said to Wen Mubai, "It seems alright."
Wen Mubai raised his right hand and circled it in the air. "Turn around and take a look."
Xu Chacha obediently turned around, waiting for the person behind her to say something, when she heard footsteps approaching.
A pair of hands placed on her waist, circling her to show her weight. "You've lost weight again."
"Do we need to revise it again?" Xu Chacha was a little worried that the timeline wouldn't be right.
"No need, it's almost the same. I'll try it with a safety pin." Wen Mubai opened the cabinet and took out a round ball from somewhere, covered with tiny needles.
Xu Chacha waited quietly for Wen Mubai to fasten her skirt. She could feel that Wen Mubai's movements were very practiced, and the skirt around her waist was gradually tightened.
"Alright." Wen Mubai tapped her vest with his finger. "Try bending over."
Xu Chacha did as she was told, squatting up and down a few more times, saying, "It's not tight."
"Okay, let's do it this way then. You write back to Teacher Yang." Wen Mubai put the safety pin back. "Just say we can start filming soon."
...
Yang Zhou's team worked very quickly. From taking the photos to editing them, it took less than three days. On the day the photos were released, after confirming with Xu Chacha that they were correct, they posted a teaser image of the back view on the official Weibo account for promotion.
Xu Chacha's main account reposted that Weibo post and specifically tagged BC Studio.
[Okay, okay, the clothes are really nice, but I still can't afford them.]
[Teacher Xu is so beautiful, I want to drool over her!]
[Wow, this is so spicy!]
In the photo, Xu Chacha is lying on a dark blue floor. The background light is dim, with scattered star-shaped lights. She is wearing a dark blue wig, and her long, smooth hair, like a waterfall, falls from her waist to the floor. She stretches out one hand forward, pointing in the direction of a star. Her face is slightly turned to the side, and only her straight nose and long eyelashes can be seen.
The shadow of her eyelashes fell on the background wall, like a butterfly fluttering its wings, just like the red birthmark on her back.
[Is this a birthmark or a drawing?]
[It's a birthmark, Cha Bao responded to it on Weibo before.]
[Are even the birthmarks of beautiful people so unique?]
Xu Chacha never imagined that one day she would become a minor celebrity because of her birthmark.
A week later, the magazine was officially released. The physical magazine was snapped up and sold out within five minutes of its release, and the digital version also sold far more copies than before.
There was even a hashtag #XuChachaButterflyBirthmark# that climbed to the top 20 on the trending topics list.
Yang Zhou even sent her a message to congratulate her. Xu Chacha originally thought that this matter would be like before, and would only be a hot topic for a while before disappearing. However, one afternoon when she was typing in her study, she suddenly saw an email.
At first, she thought it was spam, but after a quick scan, she noticed the suffix "TY".
Good heavens?
Chapter 63 Hahaha
Xu Chacha practically held her breath as she read the email. After finishing, she pinched her arm to make sure she wasn't dreaming; she was almost bursting with joy. [Note: The last sentence appears to be an unrelated advertisement and has been omitted from the translation.]
TY wants to invite her to walk the runway!
The other party also has a branch in China. This email was sent from the Z country region. Xu Chacha checked the time and they should still be working. So she dialed the number in the email, and the other party answered after two rings.
Xu Chacha introduced herself and explained her purpose directly. The other party did not expect her to reply so quickly, and seemed very interested in this cooperation. They quickly arranged a time to discuss the details.
After hanging up the phone, Xu Chacha relayed the matter to Wen Mubai.
Jiang Panpan got some work for the studio, and they've been working late into the night to finish it. Xu Chacha's message didn't get an immediate reply.
It was almost dinnertime when Wen Mubai finally came back, saying he understood and that he would be back early tonight.
Xu Chacha sent a string of cute emojis, then put her headphones back on and sat back down at her computer to start typing.
Actually, if she hadn't discussed with the editor that she had to update only once every six months, she could have continued to slack off. But when you're out earning money, you have to have some professional ethics, so she's rushing to write this sponge-like in the last week.
Wen Mubai had already exposed her true colors long ago, and after learning about this, he even offered to give up his study.
Sitting amidst a pile of books, enveloped in an atmosphere of tranquility, and with headphones blocking out all noise, Xu Chacha remained clueless. Half a day had passed, and only two lines of text remained on her computer.
Frustrated, she tossed aside the mouse and picked up her phone to chat with Chen Qianqian and the others in the group chat.
Xu Chacha: I'm dying, I just can't write anything.
Chen Qianqian: Why don't you watch some movies or read some novels to find inspiration?
Xu Chacha: That seems like a solution.
Chen Qianqian: Watching something exciting can inspire more creativity. Do you want some? I'll send it to you!
Xue Miaomiao: Calm down, don't spoil the tea too.
Xu Chacha: ?
Despite being dissuaded, Chen Qianqian sent Xu Chacha the best items from her Baidu Cloud archive and urged her to watch them quickly.