How To Say I Love You

Ji Mian and Lin Le Yang had made plans at 11 o’clock to interview his “young female cousin”. As the interview time neared, click-clacking of high heels could be heard from outside the door. Ji Mian raised an eyebrow and had a faint smile on his face.

“Hello CEO Ji. I am Lin Le Yang’s cousin Lin Le Le, 20 years old as of this year. I am currently studying in university, and have a year left till I graduate. I am here to audition for this company’s trainee”, Lin Le Yang said nervously as he introduced his role after entering the office. The secretary poured him and Chen Peng Xin some coffee.

“Having an audition as a trainee at 20. Seems a bit too old.” Ji Mian followed the regular procedure and said whatever that needed to be said, without any mercy.

Lin Le Yang took a peek at his phone and noticed that the live broadcast had a big reaction. Some people began dissing that his name was made too casually, some people dissed that his actions weren’t natural, but there were only praises given regarding their God Ji.

God Ji isn’t any different in real life and on-screen, always serious, grim, doesn’t even blink when there are super-hot beautiful girls, his working attitude couldn’t be any better. Hip hip hurray! Let’s shower praises to God Ji!

Seeing the number of praises increasing quickly, Lin Le Yang’s eyes sparkled a little. The power of Ji Ge is strong as expected! No, I can’t keep looking at the phone anymore, he will start feeling suspicious. If he found out I have started a live broadcast, won’t he be angry? He thought to himself as he quickly hid his phone in the bag.

At the same time, the joy in Ji Mian’s eyes started to slowly dim, but his expression remained serious. Therefore, nobody could sense any abnormality. He continued, “Even though your age is a bit old, you have the looks. If you have outstanding talent, it would be worth training you. I’m sure you have something prepared for today, right?”

Lin Le Yang bit the bullet and said, “I am going to play and sing a song.” Chen Peng Xin immediately handed the guitar to him.

“You can start now.” Ji Mian casually waved his hand.

Lin Le Yang was not bad at playing the guitar, that gave him an advantage. However, as he had to act as a girl, he had no choice but to sing in a higher pitch, which didn’t sound that good.

Ji Mian scrunched his eyebrows as he was listening. The fans in the live broadcast were all laughing hard and felt sympathy towards God Ji. This year, apparently there’s someone that will die while singing.

After the song, Ji Mian said honestly, “I’d advise you against going into the music industry, you won’t have any future there. Besides singing, do you have any other talents? Like dancing?”

How can Lin Le Yang dance in heels? He shook his head in embarrassment, “ CEO Ji, I don’t know how to dance.”

“Then do you know how to act?”

“This I can do.” Lin Le Yang said with his chest out, which made him look confident, but after seeing the two high lumps, flatten again. He became depressed in an instant. This action of his made all the fans laugh hysterically, while Chen Peng Xin kept moving in the office, all because he wanted to get the best shot, he even had a close-up of Ji Mian’s face.

Ji Mian glanced at Chen Peng Xin with a calm face, “Then why don’t you act a crying scene.”

Hmm? Lin Le Yang was at a loss, then shook his head firmly, “No, I can’t cry.”

“Why?” Ji Mian asked patiently.

“My make-up will be a runny mess.” If my makeup runs then won’t I be found out?

Yes, that should be a strong enough reason, I give 101 points! Giving myself an extra point and not afraid that it will make me seem too proud.

The fans all burst out laughing and were looking forward to God Ji’s reaction.

Ji Mian walked to the door, gentlemanly extended his hand and said, “Then you can leave. You can’t sing or dance and you are scared to ruin your image while acting. If this is the way you are then we really can’t train you. If you still want to join the entertainment industry, I recommend you to be a still model.”

Le Yang, God Ji is implying that you are a flower vase[1]! Hahahaha, as expected of God Ji, he doesn’t need to use rude words while criticizing somebody. He is still calm while facing this type of beautiful woman, only treating this as business. That is some willpower and determination! Let’s give God Ji ten thousand likes!

Comments like these flooded the live broadcast, the number of likes even broke a record.

Chen Peng Xin kept staring at the phone’s screen, he was so excited that he almost had a seizure. F*ck, only a few minutes of the audition, and he had already earned such a large sum of money, as the old saying goes – lying on a big tree is cooling[2]!

But Lin Le Yang wasn’t even a bit happy, he walked to the side of the door and stopped abruptly. Grinding his teeth, he said, “ Ji Ge, actually I am Le Yang. This was an assessment.” He suddenly used his normal male voice and talked, the contrast of before and after made the fans laugh till they almost died.

Ji Mian raised an eyebrow and had a shocked expression.

Li Le Yang bluntly took off his wig, and said again, “ Ji Ge I am Le Yang. Teacher Huang asked us to practice our acting, and the topic that I drew was- woman.”

Only after the explanation did Ji Mian take back his shocked expression, and laughed, “So that was it, I thought you had a crossdressing fetish.”

Seeing his smile allowed Lin Le Yang to finally relax, he gestured to Chen Peng Xin, “Okay, you can turn off the live broadcast, the assessment is over,”

Chen Peng Xin turned off the live broadcast amidst fans screaming, and went backstage to check his earnings first, then went to Weibo[3] to check the number of Lin Le Yang’s fans, and found out that it had increased a few ten thousand, words could not describe how proud he felt.

Lin Le Yan rubbed his hands, and asked anxiously, “Ji Ge, Teacher Huang Zi Jin asked us to record the whole assessment process, that’s why I turned on the live broadcast, you aren’t mad are you?”

“It’s fine, but tell me in advance next time.” After Ji Mian returned to his office desk, he waved him off and said, “ I still have some documents to settle, you should go back home.”

“I can sit here and wait, should we have lunch together?” Lin Le Yang obviously felt that the time he was able to spend with Ji Ge had reduced.

“You want to have lunch with me while looking like that?” Ji Mian looked at him from head to toe.

That was only when Lin Le Yang realized that he was still holding onto his wig, silicone stuck onto his chest, wearing a mini skirt and high heels. Don’t even mention eating, staying like this for more than a second was torture. He ran out immediately as if there was a ghost chasing him. Chen Peng Xin said goodbye to CEO Ji cheerfully and followed him out.

After the both of them left, the smile on Ji Mian’s face disappeared. He lit a cigarette and inhaled slowly, eyes hiding behind the smoke, looking weary.

After a while, Fang Kun knocked on the door and entered, pointing at the trending searches on his phone and said, “You and Lin Le Yang did a live broadcast? What level are you at, huh? Actually doing this kind of broadcast? And being kept in the dark the whole time, the endorsement company almost burst my phone with calls? Even though your fans are happy, but your image is all gone. He is just using you to be more popular, using you for publicity!”

“ It’s okay, it’s fine to be brought down to earth sometimes, it’s not as serious as you think.” Ji Mian said calmly.

One he didn’t get seduced by beauty, two didn’t go easy on anybody and was serious the whole time, behaving professionally, all these were positive attributes. The feedback that the netizens gave him were all not bad, the small number of anti-fans didn’t catch anything, the aftermath really wasn’t that bad. Fang Kun who sat opposite him was left speechless.

“I don’t understand,” he said after contemplating for a long time, “You are strict to yourself, why are you so lenient towards Lin Le Yang till this extent? If anyone else filmed a live broadcast of you, would you still be this calm? Aren’t you afraid that if you let him off so easily, he will backstab you when he gets famous?”

Ji Mian put out his cigarette, and said with a deep voice, “Since I decided to start a relationship, I won’t end it so easily, so don’t worry, I have my own limits.”

“I don’t even dare to meddle in your business now, as long as you know what you are doing.” Fang Kun took out his phone and looked at it, he laughed coldly, “Young people nowadays really know how to hype themselves up and sell themselves. Lin Le Yang live broadcast just ended, Jesse and Jin Shi Jun started following him. Fuck, isn’t this fast food restaurant opened by Lao Zhao’s daughter[4] in law?”

Ji Mian followed the internet comment’s and found the two live broadcasts, and sees Jesse dressed up as an old person walking in front of a fast-food restaurant, saying that he has amnesia, and can’t find the way home.

The fast-food restaurant’s boss immediately put down his business to help him find his family, making the fans feel touched. But the truth is, that fast food restaurant is operated by Guan Shi Entertainment’s employee, and the boss was not being kind, but just acting along.

Is this giving out positive energy or just lying to the audience. Ji Mian couldn’t tell, not just disgust, he also felt annoyed.

Jin Shi Jun also had the same gimmick, a disabled person taking the subway, and met a kind woman who helped him buy a ticket, and sent him home. The young woman didn’t only have a beautiful face, her heart was even more beautiful, which earned a lot of likes from the audience. But what they didn’t know was that this young woman was a trainee in the company, and would be debuting soon.

“The ways to make hype is getting better as if they were storytelling.” Fang Kun looked through the comments, and wondered, “They have a total of 4 people in the class, and 3 of them released the assessment video, now there is only Xiao Jia Shu left. He has such a great team, the hype making would be even greater.”

Ji Mian immediately looked through the entertainment news but hadn’t found any news about Xiao Jia Shu, his hardened face suddenly became more gentle. He waved his hand and said, “Why are you worrying about other people’s matters? Let the Public Relations (PR) Department pay attention to the real-time news, don’t ruin everything for Le Yang.”

“I know when to stop.” Fang Kun shook his head while pushing the door, “ Making a scene but don’t know how to make it look realistic, one is helping Lao Zhao’s daughter in law to advertise their fast food restaurant, another one trying to create some publicity for the trainee, it will all go downhill when the fans find out in the future. This is just trying to create trouble for themselves.”

Ji Mian didn’t even lift his head, obviously losing interest in what is happening. He worked on files until 8.30 in the evening. As he prepared to go home, he faintly membered something after passing by a petrol station, he drove towards the Nan Men Plaza which was further.

The lights were shining bright at night in Beijing City, there were a lot of people walking around, and behind the busy streets, there were more people that were wandering around with nowhere to go home to. They had shabby clothes, looked haggard, don’t know where or when their next meal would be and don’t know where they are heading tomorrow. They muddled along in life, living without any hope.

Ji Mian parked his car, walked about the plaza. He observed every beggar’s face but ended up shaking his head smiling after not finding anything. What was he trying to do? Who exactly was he hoping to find?

[1] Flower vase: pretty but hollow. Essentially, have a good face but is useless.

[2] Lying on a big tree is cooling: it’s good to have someone to rely on.

[3] Weibo: Social network service in China akin to Twitter.

[4] Lao Zhao = Old Zhao