The studio chosen by the brand was a rented space. All five floors of the building were commercial studios. To prevent Ming Qi from getting lost, staff were already waiting at the entrance.
The staff member was called Sisi. She had voluntarily taken the job of greeting people for a simple reason—she was Ming Qi’s face fan.
Although she was not very young, she had worked in the entertainment industry for many years and had seen plenty of so-called “world-shaking beauties” online that turned out to be disappointing in real life.
But every time she was fooled, Ming Qi’s face would break that pattern again.
So when she heard Bitter Orange was collaborating with Ming Qi, she rushed over without hesitation.
Standing at the door, stretching her neck to look outside, afraid of missing him, Sisi’s gaze quickly locked onto the black Cullinan… probably not their car, right? Ming Qi didn’t have many works yet, probably couldn’t afford it. Just as she thought this, the reflection in her eyes caught a young man stepping out of the car.
Sisi blinked. Her gaze fixed on his face. A black mask covered everything below his nose, but under the sunlight, his skin looked even paler, like fine white porcelain warm jade.
Ming Qi had noticed the little girl at the entrance very early. He led Meng She forward, and as they got closer, he didn’t miss the work badge hanging on her chest with the Bitter Orange logo, so he politely took off his mask and softly greeted, “Hello.”
Sisi was momentarily dazzled by that exquisitely refined face. She felt a little dizzy and had to pinch herself before snapping back to reality. She quickly bowed and said, “Mr. Ming, hello! I’m a staff member from Bitter Orange. My name is Sisi. I’ll take you to the photography studio.”
“Sorry to trouble you.”
“No trouble, no trouble. This is my job.” Sisi smiled with curved eyes. Soon she led Ming Qi and Meng She up to the 18th floor. While walking down the corridor, she introduced, “Our studio is set in 1803. The studio next door is also being used by someone from the industry for a commercial shoot, but we don’t interfere with each other.”
When she mentioned “someone from the industry,” Sisi clearly hesitated for a moment. Ming Qi didn’t pay much attention to it. Until the three of them passed by 1805, someone just happened to open the door from inside, and the sound of conversation spilled out: “Senior Fang, let’s take another shot of this pose.”
Meng She, sharp-eyed, immediately recognized the person inside and laughed.
He leaned toward Ming Qi and lowered his voice, “It’s Fang Qing.”
Ming Qi: “……”
No wonder Sisi had been so vague.
Ming Qi gave a faint smile and didn’t care much. After entering the studio, he quickly began his work. It was his first time shooting an advertisement, but as a qualified actor, he was not at all afraid of the camera. He fully immersed himself in the role the Bitter Orange brand had given him. In front of the lens, he was confident and composed, and the director was extremely satisfied.
“Good, good. Ming Qi, take a break first. We’ll shoot the promotional photos later.”
Ming Qi smiled and nodded, then said quietly to Meng She, “I’m going to the restroom.”
“Do you know where it is?”
“I do.”
…
Running into Ming Qi in the restroom area of the studio surprised Fang Qing’s agent. He lowered his head slightly as he passed by Ming Qi, his brows tightly furrowed. Although Fang Qing’s previous scandal had nothing directly to do with Ming Qi, the agent always remembered that Ming Qi had been the trigger.
If it hadn’t been for the official Weibo of “Death Notice” mocking them indirectly using Ming Qi, they wouldn’t have ended up so unlucky afterward. So in his eyes, Ming Qi was nothing but bad luck.
When he pushed open the studio door again, he glanced at the sofa not far away—his artist Fang Qing was sitting on Gao Heng’s lap, the young master of Changfeng Group. It proved that clinging tightly to a powerful backer really worked. Fang Qing’s previous huge wave of public backlash had been suppressed by Gao Heng. After that, there were donations, charity work—at least he hadn’t completely crashed.
He walked to the staff and casually asked, “Is the studio next door rented out too? Do you know what they’re shooting?”
The staff looked up in surprise. Someone answered, “I know. I just saw Sisi—it’s Bitter Orange over there shooting a commercial.”
“Bitter Orange? What’s that?” the agent frowned. “Never heard of it.”
The staff almost laughed out loud and explained, “A niche perfume brand.”
The agent: “……”
That made sense—he really hadn’t heard of it.
“Why are you asking this?” Fang Qing turned around after hearing the noise.
The agent stepped closer and chuckled, “I just saw Ming Qi. He seems to be filming next door.”
Fang Qing took a moment to react when he heard Ming Qi’s name, then curled his lips and muttered, “Online, they hype him up like he’s amazing. I thought he was really something, but he’s just taking ads for some brand nobody’s ever heard of.”
He sneered with obvious disdain and quickly stopped thinking about Ming Qi.
In contrast, Gao Heng narrowed his eyes, a faintly meaningful smile appearing on his face.
Around four in the afternoon, Ming Qi finished today’s shoot. The person in charge from Bitter Orange discussed tomorrow’s seaside shoot with him and asked, “Are you really not coming with us? Our boss has plenty of money, no need to save it for him.”
He shook his head. “I won’t go with you. I still have other people with me. I don’t want to trouble you.”
Hearing that, the person in charge didn’t insist and just said, “Alright. I’ll send the location to Meng She later. If you need us to pick you up when you arrive, just call us anytime.”
“Okay.”
After saying goodbye to the staff, Meng She said, “Mr. Yu is already here. You can go down first—I’ll go to the restroom.”
“I’ll wait here for you.”
Meng She nodded and ran into the restroom.
Ming Qi stood by the corridor. Staff members from Bitter Orange came and went, greeting him one after another, and he politely responded. A few seconds later, the door of the next studio opened, and a man walked out. He smiled slightly at Ming Qi.
“Hello, Mr. Ming. I’m Fang Qing’s agent. Would you mind coming inside for a few words?”
Ming Qi’s hand holding his phone paused slightly. He only asked gently, “Is there something you need?”
He didn’t think he had anything to say to Fang Qing’s agent.
The people passing by and the staff nearby all cast meaningful looks at them, clearly aware of the tension between both sides.
“This…” the agent glanced around, seemingly hesitant. After a moment he said, “It’s private. You’ll understand once you come over.”
Ming Qi replied calmly, “Sorry, I don’t think there’s anything private between us to discuss. I have something to attend to, so I’ll leave first.”
He nodded slightly at the agent, then turned and walked toward the elevator. The doors closed, cutting off the agent’s figure. Feeling the smooth descent of the elevator, Ming Qi lowered his head and texted Meng She, telling him he went down first.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened.
Ming Qi instinctively looked up.
The screen showed it had stopped on the eighth floor, but no one entered for a moment. He frowned slightly and pressed the close button.
The next second, a foot suddenly blocked the gap between the elevator doors.
That simple action alone made Ming Qi’s heart tremble violently. He tightened his grip on his phone, unlocked it without expression, and quickly opened his contacts.
In this silence, a laugh came from outside.
“You’re really quite alert.”
Jiang Haoze walked up to the elevator door with both hands in his pockets. Behind him followed two bodyguards, staring coldly at Mingqi.
Mingqi’s fingertips moved slightly. He looked at Jiang Haoze and asked him, “Jiang Haoze, you brought two bodyguards to block me. What do you want to do?”
“What do I want to do? I thought you understood very well.” Jiang Haoze’s gaze lingered over Mingqi’s body. Today he was wearing a casual-style shirt, the collar lowered to expose his collarbone, the two sides connected by a delicate silver chain. With his body’s slight movements, the chain swayed gently, casting a faint shadow over that pale, almost creamy skin.
“Mingqi, don’t you think it’s kind of interesting? When we were kids, I only scolded you a couple of times, and your two fathers and Jiang Rui treated me harshly. And now? Even if I cripple you, I don’t think anyone can do anything about it anymore, right?”
Jiang Haoze asked with a smile.
Mingqi was adopted from an orphanage by Ming Yun and his partner. But they were busy with work and couldn’t always stay by Mingqi’s side, so they often entrusted him to their friend Jiang Rui, who was also Jiang Jianian’s father.
Jiang Haoze’s father and Jiang Rui were biological brothers, and Jiang Haoze often went to Jiang Rui’s house to play as well. But Jiang Haoze actually didn’t like Jiang Jianian. Although Jiang Rui was his father’s younger brother, their business abilities were worlds apart—Jiang Rui started from nothing and built the Jiang family into something beyond reach. Other children would often say:
“Your younger brother is the young master, and you’re just your younger brother’s follower.”
Hearing such things too often made people truly start to feel unbalanced inside. Jiang Haoze grew to dislike Jiang Jianian more and more. Every time he played with Jiang Jianian, he deliberately bullied him. Ironically, Jiang Jianian was someone without much awareness and just let himself be bullied.
Until Mingqi’s arrival changed everything. Mingqi was older than Jiang Jianian. Every time, he protected Jiang Jianian and glared at Jiang Haoze.
At first, Jiang Haoze actually quite liked Mingqi, because he discovered Mingqi was even more pitiful than him—abandoned by his biological parents at birth and raised in an orphanage for several years. Although he had been adopted later, it didn’t change the fact that he had been discarded at birth. Plus, Mingqi was good-looking and cute, and he originally wanted to be friends with him.
But Mingqi’s every action gradually made him feel disgusted. Over time, his attitude toward Mingqi became the same as toward Jiang Jianian. When he bullied Jiang Jianian, he also bullied Mingqi, even going so far as to stab at his heart with harsh words—calling him born of a mother but not raised by one, calling him a jinx.
These words were heard by Ming Yun and his partner and Jiang Rui, and they punished him for a long time.
Grudges were like seedlings—once rooted in childhood, they did not disappear when grown, but instead became even more vigorous. The only fortunate thing was that a few years after Ming Yun and his partner died in a plane crash, Jiang Rui was in a car accident, and the Jiang family’s backbone collapsed.
He began to take revenge on Jiang Jianian.
Now, looking at Mingqi, remembering those childhood days, he wanted even more to take revenge on Mingqi.
“I know you’ve always looked down on me,” Jiang Haoze’s lips curled into a malicious smile. “But now, as long as I want, you’ll have to kneel at my feet like a dog and bark at me.”
Jiang Haoze lifted his hand. The two bodyguards behind him immediately stepped forward.
The two bodyguards were clearly trained professionals. Their thigh muscles tightened as they moved, and they reached out to grab Mingqi. Mingqi quickly scanned the narrow elevator door and knew he had almost no chance of escape. He gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and instead of resisting said, “Don’t touch me. I’ll walk myself.”
Jiang Haoze raised his brows, smiling meaningfully, but didn’t say more. “Then walk yourself. The last room. Go in.”
The last room was near the emergency exit. Mingqi’s eyes flickered slightly. However, just as his gaze was about to land on the safety passage, Jiang Haoze said, “Forgot to tell you. The emergency exit also has bodyguards guarding it.”
Mingqi walked forward a few steps and indeed saw the open safety door and a burly man standing at the entrance facing him.
However, unexpectedly, he fearlessly turned and ran toward the emergency passage.
Seeing this, Jiang Haoze let out a cold laugh. “Stop him.”
Bang.
Before the two bodyguards could react, the burly guard at the door suddenly flew out from beside Mingqi and crashed heavily into the cold, hard wall.
A tall, slender figure entered his vision. One hand grabbed Mingqi’s thin wrist and pulled him behind. Then he slowly unbuttoned his collar, his eyes cold and heavy, but a faint smile lingered on his lips.
Yu Qinzhou asked, “Who are you trying to stop?”