Roommate Won't Spoil His Pretty Boyfriend? Fine, I'll Do It - Chapter 14

Bai Shijin stepped onto the runway wearing just an ordinary hoodie. As the sound effects kicked in, he paced forward to the beat of the music, his steps steady and straight. When the dolly camera zoomed in right in front of his face, his calm gaze swept across, carrying a hint of arrogance.

He wore the hoodie with the aura of a high fashion couture piece, and his camera presence could easily rival that of a professional model.

Bai Shijin maintained an exceptional state throughout the first half, making Su Yi and the others gasp in continuous admiration. In the second half, however, Bai Shijin suddenly remembered that Mu Nian was sitting right behind the monitor, and fearing that his intense gaze might startle him, his expression instantly transformed into one as gentle as water.

Through the monitor, Mu Nian locked eyes with Bai Shijin. His eyelashes lifted slightly as he immersed himself in the moment, taking quite a while after it ended just to remember where he was and shout cut.

Bai Shijin hopped off the stage, hurried straight over to Mu Nian, and asked, “Brother Mu, was that okay?”

Mu Nian gave a light chuckle and evaluated objectively, “Very good. However, your positioning was slightly off, and your gaze in the first half was great, but later when the camera pushed in for a close-up, your facial expression noticeably weakened a bit. Still, it is no big deal; that is easy to fix and can be improved with more practice.”

Listening to this, Su Yi twitched the corner of her mouth. Thank goodness the Emperor hasn’t been overly poisoned by Concubine Jin’s poison! Even with such a great performance, she can still pick out flaws. That is precisely why she can’t be the Emperor!

If it were her, she would only comment: Terrible, no good, fine, okay, good, very good, extremely good, and so on.

Bai Shijin smiled and accepted all of Mu Nian’s feedback, then asked, “Brother Mu, does this mean I’ve been selected?”

Mu Nian pressed his lips together for a moment and said, “How about this? I know you all feel that Shijin suddenly cutting in is unfair to Ye Qinfan, so let’s take a vote. To be fair, I won’t participate. There are nine of you, one vote per person.”

Su Yi stealthily shuffled over to the side of the fashion instructor and muttered in ventriloquism, “The Emperor is truly the Emperor, so cunning, dumping all the difficult problems onto us.”

The fashion instructor sighed, “Yeah, this is way too hard to choose.”

Mu Nian announced, “Raise your hands if you choose Shijin.”

Su Yi and the fashion instructor raised their hands the fastest, with the others following closely behind.

Mu Nian made a show of counting the numbers. “Alright, passed unanimously. Congratulations, Shijin. From now on, you are a member of our project.”

Although it was well within Bai Shijin’s expectations, he still feigned excitement, thanked every single staff member, and followed Mu Nian to the office to sign the contract.

Since Bai Shijin’s situation was a bit special, as he was still a university student, Mu Nian personally drafted the contract for him.

“The event will take place on the fifteenth of the month after next. We’ll have to fly to Quzhou for about a week. That week…”

“I’ll request leave in advance.”

Mu Nian: “Then you mustn’t let your studies fall behind.”

Bai Shijin: “If Brother Mu is worried, I can show you my transcript after final exams. If I’m not first place, you can punish me however you like.”

“Alright.”

Seeing how confident Bai Shijin was, Mu Nian’s mind was put at ease. “Then starting tomorrow, you need to carve out at least two hours a day for the company because time is rather tight. Try to come over on Saturdays and Sundays as well. Don’t worry about being too lonely, I’ll be working overtime right along with you.”

This was getting too blissful.

Bai Shijin was already beginning to imagine moments of working overtime alone with Mu Nian. His momentary daze made Mu Nian think he was dissatisfied with the contract, prompting him to rush out, “You can bring up any requirements you might have.”

Bai Shijin asked, “How many hours of overtime on Saturdays and Sundays?”

Mu Nian replied, “Definitely no more than two hours. It’s mainly because I have to design and cut the patterns, which takes up a lot of time.”

Bai Shijin’s face fell.

Mu Nian, who excelled at reading micro-expressions, immediately offered, “One hour is fine too.”

Bai Shijin: “Can we add time from eight in the morning to eight at night? I have nothing better to do while idling in the dorms anyway.”

Mu Nian: “Ah?”

Mu Nian almost thought he had misheard. “It doesn’t need to be that long.”

“What I mean is,” Bai Shijin said with a straight face, “all the time on Saturdays and Sundays belongs to you. Brother Mu can dispose of it however you please.”

“Oh, oh, so that’s what you meant.”

Mu Nian’s heartbeat inexplicably quickened. He hastily lowered his eyelashes and continued discussing the contract terms: “Salary payments are settled in a lump sum after the event concludes. The company’s main source of revenue comes from orders generated while models showcase the clothes during live streams, so there are two calculation methods. The first is a guaranteed base pay of twenty thousand, and once it’s paid out, the cooperation ends. The second is a commission structure, where you take a percentage of the orders.”

“Many rookie models are afraid of low order volumes and worry that their commissions won’t exceed the base pay, so they choose the base pay directly. But I suggest you choose the commission structure. Our company brand is quite trustworthy, and coupled with your good looks, most people will place impulsive orders. Exceeding the twenty thousand base pay will be very simple for you.”

Mu Nian said a whole bunch of things, but Bai Shijin didn’t hear a single word; his attention was entirely focused on the small mole on the bridge of Mu Nian’s nose.

“Shijin? Shijin!”

Trembling his eyelashes, Bai Shijin snapped back to reality. “Brother Mu, I don’t need a salary. As long as I can help you, that’s enough.”

“That won’t do. You’re a student, classes are already so exhausting, and you’re coming to help me out. Taking nothing simply isn’t right.”

Bai Shijin thought for a moment. “Then let’s go with the base pay.”

He’d rather let Mu Nian keep the commission earnings.

Mu Nian felt that with Bai Shijin’s conditions, choosing the base pay was a massive loss since the commission could easily net him over fifty thousand. Just as he was about to advise him further, Bai Shijin had already picked up a pen, signed his name, and pressed his fingerprint.

Helpless, Mu Nian had no choice but to stamp the company seal. The contract signing was officially complete.

Impatiently reaching out his hand, Bai Shijin finally reached the step where he could openly hold hands with Mu Nian. “President Mu.”

With a raised brow and a smile, Mu Nian grasped his hand. “Happy cooperation, kid.”

Mu Nian’s hands were always cold; both times he touched them, they felt like this.

Bai Shijin wanted to warm them up, but he didn’t have the status yet, so he had to let go after a couple of seconds.

Actually, he didn’t really like being called a kid, as it gave off a feeling of an insurmountable gap in status.

Clearly, Ye Qinfan was the same age as him.

Bai Shijin suddenly asked, “Brother Mu, why did you date Ye Qinfan? What do you like about him?”

The topic jumped too abruptly. Mu Nian froze slightly, then half-jokingly replied, “He’s young and good-looking.”

Bai Shijin’s brain short-circuited for a second, and he blurted out, “I meet those conditions too.”

Mu Nian was baffled, and a moment later spoke in a muffled voice, “What do you mean?”

Gazing into Mu Nian’s surprised eyes, Bai Shijin experienced for the first time a feeling of things slipping out of his control. Anxiety gripped his chest like a tightly knotted ball of yarn.

Reason reined Bai Shijin in, forcing him to smooth over the ambiguous statement. “I mean, there are many young, handsome people in the world. Brother Mu shouldn’t just limit yourself to Ye Qinfan. He might not be as good as you imagine.”

Mu Nian couldn’t figure out why Bai Shijin held such deep hostility toward Ye Qinfan. Was he trying to talk him into breaking up?

Weren’t the two of them good friends? Could it be that the fight last time had genuinely created a rift between them?

Pondering for a moment, he said, “Qinfan is a good kid, just a bit immature and childish. I’m willing to accompany him as he grows up.”