I’m Face-Blind, But I Devoted Myself To Three Guys - Chapter 45

Chapter 45: “He’s Not a Good Person”

The magazine shoot that day went quite smoothly, but just as Chi Hui had predicted, there was no more rest time. New work arrangements were gradually being put on the schedule.

Although Chi Hui was somewhat irritable, he didn’t say much. It was Qi Xu who had the bigger reaction upon hearing that work would continue without a break.

His watery eyes widened, staring fixedly at Xu Changshu. He stared so hard that the 160-pound middle-aged man felt inexplicably guilty.

“This kid really protects you. Last time at the hospital when the cast was removed, he called to blame me. Sigh, I’ve become the villain,” Xu Changshu complained in a low voice, leaning toward Chi Hui to vent his grievances.

Hearing this, Chi Hui looked up at Qi Xu.

He saw the serious young man pursing his lips so hard that his naturally plump lips turned slightly pale. His hands, hanging at his sides, were clenched into fists. He looked like a rabbit about to blow its top.

Chi Hui couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle the top of his head. “What’s the use of staring at him? It’s better to finish early so you can rest.”

Qi Xu pressed down his messy hair and lowered his eyes.

He simply hadn’t expected Chi Hui’s company to be so exploitative, even disregarding his injuries.

This kind of “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs” behavior didn’t seem like they were treating a cash cow that earned profits for the company; it seemed more like they wanted to squeeze out every last drop of value before discarding him.

But since Chi Hui seemed indifferent, Qi Xu, as a small assistant, couldn’t say much.

Since the company wouldn’t grant him rest, Qi Xu became even more attentive to the recovery of Chi Hui’s wrist. He followed Chi Hui every day like a little bodyguard.

Watching the person clinging closer and closer, Chi Hui was initially confused. Later, he realized that Qi Xu was preemptively handling any task or object that might require Chi Hui to use his wrist.

Chi Hui lowered his eyes, feeling a faint sinking sensation in a corner of his heart.

Fortunately, most of the work during this period involved photoshoots, which didn’t require much use of his hands.

The theme of this shoot was “Sport and Color.” Although Qi Xu didn’t understand why they were shooting summer elements in such cold weather, luckily the temperature inside the venue was sufficient.

There seemed to be many people shooting today. Since Chi Hui was currently popular, he didn’t need to wait, but the dressing rooms were all full. To save time, Chi Hui took Qi Xu to the restroom to change into the shooting attire.

Qi Xu stood outside the stall door waiting.

After a while, the stall door opened a crack. Chi Hui pointed at the open front of his shirt: “This piece has a lot of buttons. Come help me with them.”

Qi Xu was a bit surprised. He clearly felt that the number of times Chi Hui asked for his help had increased recently.

“Oh, okay,” he said, slipping inside.

Once inside, the door closed automatically. Standing in the cramped space, the two of them felt a bit crowded. Chi Hui lowered his head, staring at the fluffy top of the head in front of him, and couldn’t help but curl his lips.

Before Qi Xu was even halfway through the buttons, they heard footsteps outside. Neither of them paid much mind, thinking someone was just coming to use the restroom, until someone mentioned Chi Hui’s name.

“What’s the deal with that Chi Hui? Is his status higher than mine? Why do I have to wait?” The voice belonged to a young man; his enunciation and pronunciation were a bit strange.

Qi Xu’s hand paused on a button, and he couldn’t help but look up at Chi Hui.

Chi Hui looked down and met his eyes, his expression as calm as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

Then, another man chimed in: “Lucas, you have a shoot today too? You’re actually ranked behind Chi Hui? He’s in the spotlight lately, but this photography team really doesn’t know how to act.”

Qi Xu couldn’t help but look back toward the door.

He recognized this voice; it was a minor celebrity from the same company as Chi Hui.

“C’est pas juste une gueule un peu plus sympa, quoi (It’s just a slightly more pleasant face, isn’t it?)” the first voice complained again, but this time in French.

The minor celebrity clearly didn’t understand and used a self-deprecating tone: “True. After all, he has backing. Small figures like us can’t compare. Many people in our cohort are dissatisfied with him.”

Qi Xu’s grip on the button tightened significantly because he realized Chi Hui’s situation at the company seemed even more difficult than he had imagined.

However, the subject of the gossip was unexpectedly calm, as if the people discussing him outside weren’t talking about him at all.

Chi Hui lowered his eyes, his gaze and attention entirely focused on the person in front of him.

Qi Xu bit his lip slightly, staring at the door while listening to the discussion. His expression was stern, clearly feeling indignant on Chi Hui’s behalf.

Staring at Qi Xu’s profile, Chi Hui didn’t realize that ripples were gradually forming in the depths of his calm eyes.

“I don’t even know how he became famous…”

Seeing that the minor celebrity was about to continue his slandering, Qi Xu instinctively grabbed the door handle, wanting to open it, but the other person outside spoke up first to interrupt.

“Who are you? What does me talking to my manager have to do with you? At least he has a face that can get famous. What about you? Your foul mouth? Get away from me.” The Chinese accent was stiff and awkward, but the lethality was sufficient.

The minor celebrity outside probably didn’t expect to find the wrong ally when looking for someone to vent to. After being mocked in return, his face turned red and then pale. Finally, he could only give a couple of dry, apologetic laughs and slink away.

“Un visage en plastique. (Plastic face/Plastic surgery freak,)” Lucas muttered before also leaving.

The outside became completely silent. Qi Xu looked up, meeting Chi Hui’s eyes again.

It certainly wouldn’t feel good to be discussed privately like that. Fearing he would be sad, Qi Xu took the initiative to explain: “Lucas was praising you for being good-looking.”

Chi Hui was stunned, but he soon frowned, looking at the person in front of him with suspicion: “You can understand French?”

Qi Xu suddenly realized he had almost blown his cover. He immediately pursed his lips and gave a sheepish smile: “…Actually, I was just making it up.”

Chi Hui: “…”

“But you really are good-looking,” Qi Xu added, scratching his cheek as he looked at the man who was speechless because of him.

“…” Chi Hui was so speechless he almost wanted to laugh.

However, the originally gloomy atmosphere was dispersed by Qi Xu’s nonsense. Both of them tacitly refrained from mentioning the incident further.

After Chi Hui finished his hair and makeup, the shooting began. Qi Xu stood to the side staring into space, wondering if he should contact his sister to ask about Chi Hui’s situation, when his neck suddenly felt heavy.

“It really is you! Minou (Kitten)!”

Qi Xu was bent over by the weight. After a long while, he turned to look at the person who had crashed into him from behind.

“I thought I saw your back just now, but I thought I was mistaken,” Lucas said excitedly.

Qi Xu stole a guilty glance at Chi Hui, who was still shooting, and pulled Lucas to a corner.

“Lucas, long time no see.”

Lucas had a baby face but a muscular physique that didn’t match it. He looked at Qi Xu with the grievance of a “tough guy”: “Yeah, it’s been so long since I could reach you. Did you forget about me?”

Qi Xu scratched his neck awkwardly. After all, it had been two or three years since they last met.

He was surprised Lucas could still recognize him, although he had also remembered the other after hearing the name in the restroom earlier.

Their first meeting had also been in a restroom. Lucas has half-French blood and lived abroad with his grandmother since childhood, only returning to China after the elder passed away. Because his voice and appearance were good, he was signed by Fenghua.

However, he was young at the time, had just lost a loved one, and didn’t speak Chinese well, making it impossible for him to adapt to life in China.

When Qi Xu went to the company to find his sister, he encountered Lucas being ostracized by his cohort, secretly crying alone in the restroom.

It just so happened that Qi Xu had lived in France for a while with his aunt and knew some French, so he offered a few words of comfort and gave him a pack of tissues. Since then, Lucas had clung to him like he’d found a savior.

Until Qi Xu’s studies in his senior year of high school became busy and he rarely went to his sister’s company anymore, and Lucas’s career gradually took off, the two hadn’t met again.

Qi Xu felt he was just doing a small favor at the time, but Lucas seemed to have a bit of a “baby bird” attachment to him.

Even though this “bird” was now much bigger than him.

“Ça me fait vraiment de la peine quand tu fais ça. (It really hurts my feelings when you do that,)” Lucas couldn’t help but burst into his mother tongue when excited.

Qi Xu gave a sheepish smile.

At this point, Chi Hui finished a phase of shooting and took a short break. Xu Changshu stayed by his side and handed him water.

Chi Hui didn’t see his “little follower” and instinctively looked around, only to see his little assistant being pestered by someone else.

“By the way, Minou, why are you here?” Lucas clung to him again, his arm around Qi Xu’s shoulder, looking a bit curious.

This scene happened to be seen by Chi Hui. The man drinking water couldn’t help but frown.

Sensing something, Qi Xu turned his head to look. Their eyes met from a distance.

Lucas followed his gaze and saw that face he disliked.

“Il n’est pas gentil. (He’s not a good person,)” he said crossly.

Qi Xu didn’t know why Lucas was so hostile toward Chi Hui and turned to ask him in confusion: “Why do you say that?”

“I used to quite like his songs. Once, when I participated in an event with him, I greeted him and even praised his singing, but he ignored me.”

“That’s it?” Qi Xu didn’t expect Lucas’s reason for holding a grudge to be so simple.

“It’s very mean, very impolite. He doesn’t have people in his eyes.”

Qi Xu paused for a second before realizing he meant “supercilious/arrogant” (literally “having no one in one’s eyes” in Chinese).

Although Chi Hui was a bit sharp-tongued in private, seeing how friendly he was to fans at the fan meeting, he shouldn’t go as far as giving Lucas special (bad) treatment.

As he was thinking, Chi Hui had already walked toward them.

Knowing Lucas’s identity and fearing he might let something slip, Qi Xu sealed his mouth in advance: “Don’t tell anyone I’m here, and don’t tell anyone about my family situation.”

Before Lucas could ask why, Qi Xu had already brushed off his hand and walked toward the other man.

Chi Hui glanced at the person Qi Xu had abandoned, recognizing him as the other person discussing him in the restroom earlier, and couldn’t help but scowl.

“What did he want with you?”

Qi Xu pursed his lips, thinking it was better to pretend not to know Lucas. So, he had a flash of inspiration, preparing to ease the relationship between the two: “He said there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding between you.”

“What?” Chi Hui was confused. He didn’t remember having any interaction with this Lucas.

“He said he heard your songs before and even praised you, but you didn’t acknowledge him, so he feels aggrieved.”

Chi Hui frowned: “When did I…”

He originally wanted to ask when he had ever met this person, but then he remembered that during an event two years ago, they did indeed seem to have met once.

But at that time, the other’s Chinese wasn’t this fluent, and his voice was deep.

Chi Hui couldn’t help but glance at the person being called away for shooting and commented heartlessly: “He sounds like a cow mooing when he speaks. Who could understand that?”

“…”

Qi Xu was suddenly glad Lucas wasn’t here, otherwise, hearing that, he would probably let out a “moo” and burst into tears.