Chapter 83: World Two [53] Part 1

After spending nearly a month on Hildeya Island, Shao Qing finally stirred under Sister Ke’s urging and boarded Jing Ke’s private jet back to China.

The weather in July was scorching. Stepping outside for just three minutes of sunbathing made Shao Qing break out in a sweat all over. She had absolutely zero desire to work and just wanted to lie flat.

But Shao Qing could only think about it. Director Li and Director Hu were both extremely efficient. In just one month, they had nearly finished editing the main features and started the later-stage promotions.

The tribute film Director Hu shot required relatively less promotion. After all, after over a year of pre-release buzz, most young people who followed the internet even a little had already heard about it.

Shao Qing tagged along for several important major city stops, and that basically completed her promotional duties.

But Director Li’s “Jianghu Road” was different. Its official promotion period only started in August. Moreover, since Shao Qing’s screen time exceeded the male lead’s, changing her role from second female lead to one of the dual female leads, she basically had to show up at every promotional event and interact with fans.

“Teacher Shao, I’ve seen a lot of behind-the-scenes footage from ‘Jianghu Road.’ I heard it was Boss Jing who demonstrated the martial arts moves for the male lead. Why was that? Boss Jing isn’t the fight choreographer for the crew, is she?” one fan at the event asked.

“Ah, that. Actually, I started preparing for ‘Jianghu Road’ quite early on. To make my action scenes smoother during filming, I privately studied swordsmanship with Jing Ke. We sparred almost every day, so we developed a certain synergy.”

Shao Qing smiled as she explained: “You could call it a coincidence. To help Teacher Little Xiao get into character, Director Li arranged for Jing Ke and me to serve as the models for the demonstration.”

“So, Qingqing, did that mean you were already with Boss Jing quite early on?” a fan who had snuck into the audience asked.

“Mmm, you could say that. We actually confirmed our relationship around the Spring Festival, otherwise your Boss Jing wouldn’t have chosen to follow me onto the set, right?” Shao Qing said, beaming.

“She’s not ‘our’ Boss Jing, she’s yours, Qingqing waifu! Don’t go casually giving away your own dear waifu, Qingqing waifu!” a certain CP fan shouted at the top of her lungs, sounding like her voice might crack the next second.

“It’s fine. Boss Jing can belong to all of you, but Jing Ke herself will always be mine alone.” Shao Qing was very magnanimous.

Seeing the number of questions related to herself growing, Shao Qing quickly made a timeout gesture, signaling for everyone to ask questions related to the drama “Jianghu Road” itself.

“Excuse me, Teacher Shao, I heard that senior Jiang Qingyi also plays a role in ‘Jianghu Road.’ Is this news true? Is Teacher Jiang making a comeback?” a reporter asked.

“Mhm, Teacher Jiang did collaborate with our production, but the specific role she plays is temporarily confidential. If everyone wants to know the answer, you can follow our official Weibo…” Shao Qing answered every question flawlessly.

Clearly, there were three lead actors and a director standing on stage, yet Shao Qing had to answer half the questions herself.

After one promotional interactive press conference, Shao Qing’s throat was feeling rather dry and hoarse.

“Here, have some water.” Jing Ke, who had been waiting backstage the whole time, immediately uncapped a water bottle and handed it over.

Shao Qing took it and sipped slowly, then let out a long breath. “I think at least a third of the fans who came today were here for you.”

“Oh?” Jing Ke raised an eyebrow. “Then during the next promotional event, do you need me to go on stage and answer some questions for you? That should lighten your load a bit.”

“Better not. If you show up, there’ll probably be even more questions prying into our personal information.” Shao Qing screwed the cap back on the bottle. “I discussed it with Teacher Ji. Next time, we’ll try to deflect the questions to her and give my throat a rest.”

“Right, I also bragged that you, Boss Jing, would arrange a lottery for the fans. You heard that, right?” Shao Qing poked Jing Ke’s toned abdomen. “I can’t go back on my word. I’ll go through my shopping cart later, pick out some things to serve as prizes, and you post the lottery announcement.”

“No problem. A lottery is easy. Let’s just do a direct cash red packet giveaway. No netizen dislikes winning cash,” Jing Ke said. “Plus, that method of prize distribution is faster; it saves the time needed for collecting personal info and shipping.”

Shao Qing gave a thumbs up upon hearing this. “You’re right. The stuff I pick might not be to everyone’s taste, but no one would refuse a direct cash red packet!”

The lottery post Jing Ke typed up word by word was exceedingly simple: just follow Shao Qing and the official “Jianghu Road” account, plus like the post, to enter.

There were a hundred prizes in total, each worth eight hundred and eighty-eight yuan. It was plain and unadorned—just straight-up giving money away.

To serve the purpose of promotion, Jing Ke set the drawing time a bit later than usual this time, changing it from same-day to one week later.

The advertising method of throwing money at a lottery was indeed effective. Not only did Shao Qing’s fan count see a certain increase, but the follower count for the official “Jianghu Road” account also surpassed a million—considered an extremely high fan base among TV drama official accounts.

–

Time flew by, and it was August. Shao Qing, now officially signed with New Life Entertainment, became busy.

Besides helping Director Li with promotion, she also received many variety show invitations. The pay offered by each major variety show was very generous, and all included a supplementary clause: if Shao Qing could get Jing Ke to join her, she would receive double the pay.

Earning some extra money was indeed nice, but Shao Qing had no intention of excessively exploiting her girlfriend. So, she rejected all variety show invitations that included that supplementary clause.

Besides variety show invitations, Shao Qing also received olive branches extended by many renowned directors. Additionally, luxury brand endorsements also came knocking proactively.

But this high-end brand endorsement wasn’t obtained by Sister Ke through her connections. It came about because on Shao Qing’s birthday, Jing Ke took her to a fashion show, and bought every single piece Shao Qing had said looked nice.

Haute couture garments are all privately custom-made. To give the customer the best wearing experience, the designers from the major brands all chose to personally handle the fittings, thus obtaining highly detailed body measurements of Shao Qing.

Shao Qing’s figure was already flawless to begin with. Coupled with her bright, bold features, she struck a chord with many designers’ aesthetic sensibilities at first glance.

After a period of communication and interaction, many designers found inspiration through Shao Qing, and ultimately proposed to their headquarters that Shao Qing, the source of their inspiration, serve as a brand ambassador.

A designer’s inspiration is crucial for a brand’s sustainable development. So, after secondary screening by Sister Ke, Shao Qing landed two luxury brand endorsements by the end of August.

One was a brand specializing in shoes, bags, and accessories; the other was a major clothing label with a casual style.

–

After a hectic August concluded, around mid-September, Shao Qing finally found the opportunity to give herself a long vacation.

Shao Qing turned down the suggestion of vacationing at the castle and instead returned to the urban-rural fringe area of Mianyang, planning to spend some time with her grandmother.

The urban-rural fringe area usually had no young people around. The chances of someone as famous as Shao Qing being recognized there were also very low, making it a relatively excellent place to relax.

Jiang Qingyi’s current residence was also still here; she hadn’t moved away. And two days after Jing Ke and Shao Qing returned, Yu Hongjun, having temporarily finished her own work, also brought Jiang Qingyi back with her.

As for Director Li and Boss Hao, they were still doing the final preparations for the TV drama’s release and couldn’t enjoy the vacation yet.

But four people were lively enough. Sunbathing while playing mahjong was a pretty great recreational activity.

Shao Qing’s mahjong skills hadn’t improved much, but with Jing Ke seated downwind deliberately going easy on her, she could still win about three out of every ten rounds.

Jiang Qingyi, joining the card game, was visibly in a much better state compared to the Spring Festival. Her smiles were more apparent, and she initiated conversation more actively.

Most importantly, there was light in Jiang Qingyi’s eyes now. Although she had developed a habit of spacing out, she had completely emerged from the gloom of before.

“Teacher Jiang is preparing to collaborate with Teacher Yu on a movie?” Shao Qing nearly split the pair in her hand prematurely upon hearing this news amid the chatter.

“It’s not exactly a movie, more like a public welfare short film. The runtime is only about forty minutes. We aren’t taking a salary for it.” Jiang Qingyi took the initiative to answer.

“Do you need me to invest?” Jing Ke drew a tile, thought for a second, then discarded it directly.

“Pong~” Shao Qing threw out a useless tile, putting herself one tile away from winning.

“Not for the moment. If only the production costs need to be considered, the director can still afford it. Besides, public welfare short films receive government subsidies. But if we do run short on funds, I will definitely contact you first, Boss Jing.” Yu Hongjun added with a smile.

“Alright.” Jing Ke played a character tile.

After two relaxing hours of mahjong, it was about time for dinner.

Among the five people—Jing Ke and her companions plus Grandma Shao—four were excellent cooks, leaving the one with merely average culinary skills brimming with anticipation for the dinner menu.

But the kitchen space was limited. It was directly commandeered by Jiang Qingyi and Yu Hongjun, leaving Jing Ke, who had intended to show off her skills, with no opportunity to perform.