First Kiss Diary - Chapter 26

“I don’t usually talk about love.” Ji Ning almost blurted out these words, but the timing wasn’t right, so she held them back. She looked up and asked Ji Shiyi, “Then, what do you want me to call you?”

After a moment of hesitation, she quickly changed her mind. The definition of romantic variety shows had always been vague. Some CPs believed that they should maintain a romantic relationship during the recording of the program, but once the cameras stopped rolling, everyone should go back to their normal selves. Others believed that love should look like love, both on and off-screen, from the first day of recording until the end. Therefore, Ji Ning’s understanding was also vague, playing it safe. However, Ji Shiyi was a dedicated person who often immersed himself in his character even when acting. So perhaps in his mind, whether filming a variety show or not, they were still in a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. It was normal, and Ji Ning silently accepted and reinvested herself.

Ji Shiyi hesitated for a moment, thinking about the nicknames his fans often used for him. He furrowed his brow and suggested, “Brother?”

“…”

While she had been called “brother” on Weibo before, it was different when transitioning to reality and converting text into speech. Suddenly, she didn’t know how to respond. Ji Ning’s earlobes visibly turned red, and after struggling for a moment, she finally gathered the courage to say, “I can’t do it.”

“In that case,” the man calmly looked at her earlobes and said, “you can call me anything, just not ‘senior’.”

“Okay, seni…”

“Hmm?”

“It seems like there’s a food truck ahead, let’s go eat.” Ji Ning quickly changed the subject.

Ji Shiyi leaned slightly, calmly resting his hands on his knees, and asked her, “Are you going to eat dressed like this?”

Ji Ning looked down and realized she hadn’t taken off her mascot costume yet. She crouched down, intending to place the headgear on the ground to free her hands, but to her surprise, the man reached out and took the headgear from her. Without any doubt, she handed it over to him. Then, as she bent down to unzip the costume, she was interrupted by his voice.

“Ji Ning.”

Ji Ning raised her head in confusion, but before she could react, the man had already put the headgear back on her head. The last image she saw before everything went dark was him smiling with his eyes half-closed, looking three parts rogue and two parts mischievous. Her hands were still trapped inside the costume, and all she could do was mumble in protest, but it only made the man tighten the headgear even more.

“Ji Shiyi,” Jiang Sheng, who was passing by, finally couldn’t bear it and asked, “Are you under a lot of pressure lately?”

Finally freed from the headgear, Ji Ning took a deep breath and heard Jiang Sheng continue, “Let’s pretend that it’s because ‘Autumn Time’ is about to premiere. You must be feeling the pressure from the outside world after not having a new movie for so long.”

Although Ji Ning had already heard the news yesterday, she still pretended to be surprised and said, “Huh? ‘Autumn Time’ is about to premiere?”

Jiang Sheng noticed that Ji Ning was startled by the mascot, and he took two steps back before continuing, “Yes, it’s premiering soon. We have a celebrity premiere group and invited artists from the industry to watch it together.”

Ji Ning replied, “Oh,” but before she could say anything else, someone called out, “Ji Ning, come over! Zhuo Gong wants to see you!”

She emerged from the mascot costume like a cicada shedding its shell and said, “I’m coming…”

Just as she turned around, Ji Shiyi called out to her, “I also need to talk to you.” The girl turned back, looking at him with suspicion. Even Jiang Sheng gave him a strange look as if to say, “How can you still have something to say after causing such a commotion?”

Ji Shiyi said, “The premiere of ‘Autumn Time,’ do you want to go?”

Tickets for the premiere were hard to come by, even the top fans couldn’t get them last night, so it was unbelievable that she was invited now. Ji Ning felt like she could brag for a year.

“Sure, what time?”

“The day after tomorrow, at 10 p.m.”

After verbally accepting Ji Shiyu’s premiere invitation, Jining and Nono checked their schedules when they returned home. Nono had only one assistant, whose main duty should have been to take care of her daily life. However, now she also took on almost half of a manager’s responsibilities, which was quite touching.

“I’m free the day after tomorrow evening, right?”

“Yes, but you’ll be quite busy that day,” Nono said. “From seven in the morning until five in the afternoon, you have Starlight filming, then from seven to nine, you have your script class. Are you sure you still want to rush over by ten?”

“I think it’s just watching a movie, you don’t have to come. It’ll be the same watching it on your phone.”

“That won’t do.”

Premiere day held extraordinary significance for the film, and he attached great importance to it. In the past, she had missed seeing his movies due to conflicting schedules. This time, with finally some free time, she couldn’t afford to miss it.

“Alright, let’s go then. Many seniors will be there, and you can also expand your network,” Nono added. “You have several scripts on your desk, all recently submitted. Do you want to take a look?”

The popularity of “Roses and the Wind of that Time” had opened up a new chapter in Jining’s career, and she had received a surge in script invitations lately, many of which came with high-quality crews.

She was cautious about accepting roles, not immediately agreeing just because it was a big IP or had A-list actors. She valued good scripts more than star power, so she would spend a long time thoroughly reading each script before making a decision.

It was already ten o’clock when she finished reading a certain fantasy script that evening. Jining unintentionally entered the fan club management group and found everyone discussing offline support issues with her cousin.

As the group discussion heated up, Jining’s mind was broadened by everyone’s ideas. She privately messaged her cousin: “Can you convey a message for me?”

Cousin: “Sure, what is it?”

She always had ideas and wasn’t hesitant to express them: “How about we set a theme for the support, with seven templates under the theme? Fans who collect all seven templates can have a chance to participate in a lottery. The prize pool can include my autographed photos and tickets to my birthday party, etc., to stimulate everyone’s support desire. What do you think?”

Cousin: “I think it’s a great idea! It aligns perfectly with my thoughts! What theme should we set?”

After contemplating for about ten minutes, Jining suggested: “How about calling it ‘Accompany the Little Monster on a Journey’? Since there are more cute-style support banners, the little monster theme would be suitable. Then, the seven banners can be different but part of the same series, like the first one being hatching from its shell, the second one during its infancy, and so on, giving the feeling of the little monster growing up.”

When her cousin relayed the message to the group, someone quickly grasped Jining’s second layer of meaning: “Makes sense, accompanying Ningning to level up and conquer all.”

“Feels like it’ll be a lot of fun, can you reserve one for me?”

“Wow, that’s amazing and creative. If I hadn’t already become Jining’s woman, I might have fallen for you.”

—

The premiere day of “Autumn” arrived quickly, and just before entering, Jining received a call from the company.

Seeing the caller ID, she was momentarily confused, thinking the company finally remembered her existence?

It was Huang Miao’s assistant calling her, as now she was almost completely disconnected from Huang Miao, and even discussing work required going through the assistant.

“Hello, Teacher Jining, we’d like to confirm with you that you don’t have any engagements tomorrow, right?”

Tomorrow, there were no scenes for her in Starlight, so technically she was off, but she planned to read scripts.

“Not at the moment, why?”

Currently, the company had adopted a laissez-faire policy towards her. Regardless of what she did, the company turned a blind eye as if she wasn’t an artist. The jobs she accepted were reported by Nono, and the company wouldn’t respond, but when it came to splitting profits, they were very proactive.

“Well, we’ve received an invitation over here and would like you to…” The assistant hadn’t finished speaking when it seemed someone called out to her, and she covered the receiver, speaking to someone on her end. “Got it, I’ll bring it to you right away.”

“Could you wait for a moment? I need to get something and then I’ll continue with you.” She explained to Jining.

Then there was movement on the other end of the line, and faint voices could be heard from nearby.

――”Since we’ve decided, don’t hesitate. It’s good for both of us, isn’t it? Doesn’t she benefit from it too? Don’t you know how much Li Yujia from next door is worth on variety shows now? Even if she gets criticized, so what? Netizens forget easily, and in a couple of years, she’ll be back in favor.”

――”My main concern is that she’s not suitable…”

――”Who says she’s not suitable? Look at how well it aired before… How can you say those… weren’t useful? It’s not… fault.”

Intermittent voices, Ji Ning couldn’t hear clearly, only catching snippets like “each taking what they need.” Assistant Huang Miao quickly handed over things and continued, “Here’s ‘Unknown Journey’ for you. We start recording at eight tomorrow, remember to arrive early.”

“Unknown Journey,” she knew, was a popular national variety show. Why was the company suddenly assigning her to this? Was it because of the high ratings for “Rose” and other artists being busy tomorrow, so they decided to give her a good opportunity?

Regardless, if she accepted, she’d have to go for the shoot at eight tomorrow. Nono negotiated the specific schedule, swiftly booked Ji Ning’s flight ticket. This time, the shoot was overseas; she’d have to catch a flight overnight after watching the premiere of “Autumn.”

Despite the busy day’s work, Ji Ning’s enthusiasm couldn’t be dampened. She locked her phone, changed clothes, and hurried off to the cinema.

She wasn’t early when she arrived. Just as she entered, she was struck by the scene before her. Many female celebrities seemed to be there for a fashion show. Their evening gowns were even more formal than those on the red carpet. Ji Ning looked like she was going to a movie, holding a bucket of popcorn.

Although she knew many tickets were given out by the media, everyone with a bit of fame associated with Ji Shiyan wanted to shine at this opportunity, but this dominance… seemed a bit too exaggerated.

Ji Shiyan, sitting in the front row, sensed something and turned to see a girl in a T-shirt holding a bucket of popcorn, looking bewildered, like a rabbit lost in a fairy tale. It was somewhat amusing.

Beside him, Fu Xuan asked, “What are you laughing at?”

“I don’t know,” the man replied emotionlessly, lowering his gaze. “Maybe I’m just happy that the screening is about to start.”

“Autumn” was set in the Republic of China era, telling the story of the male lead, Fu Shiqiu, from rags to riches. Originally a box office poison, the addition of Ji Shiyan and a top director instantly made it popular.

Ji Ning restrained herself to just one popcorn, sighing conventionally. Just ten minutes in, she could already see signs of a box office champion. Whether it was the tone of the shots or the actors, everything was just right. The passionate scenes were passionate, the melancholic ones were melancholic, reflecting many of the helplessness and chaos of that era.

During the final climax, when the male lead parted with his beloved wife, some media personnel with cameras approached the actresses’ area where Ji Ning was seated to start filming.

The actresses, who had just been exhausted from overwork moments ago, instantly transformed into seasoned veterans, crying tears of sadness as they watched the separation scene unfold.

This surreal scene forced Ji Ning’s tears back. No, Ji Ning, no matter how well your husband acts, you can’t cry, or else you’ll become part of the show.

Unexpectedly, she avoided the showbiz storm, but couldn’t evade the media’s trap backstage.

Since this was a celebrity screening, some well-known artists would go in batches for interviews, which weren’t long, about seven or eight minutes.

Coincidentally, among those who entered with Ji Ning were the group of actresses who had just displayed their “amazing acting skills.”

“At the end, we all noticed everyone was crying. Why were you the only one who didn’t cry?” the reporter asked.

Actress A, whose V-neck almost reached her stomach, said, “I was truly moved by that spirit of sacrificing oneself for the greater good.”

Well said. Who would have thought that before shedding tears, you had fallen asleep in your chair?

Actress B, wearing pearl earrings worth millions, sponsored by a wealthy patron, said, “I don’t know either. Tears just suddenly came out. Ji Shiyan’s performance really has a kind of magic.”

Magical enough to make you spend thirty minutes picking crystals from your nails?

Actress C said, “Parting is for a better beginning. Shiqiu loves his wife very much, but for the sake of the country, he had to temporarily leave this love behind. I think it’s true love.”

Yes, just like when you were searching for plot summaries on Baidu a moment ago, it was also for a better interview, right?

When it came to Ji Ning, the host changed the question: “Why were you the only one who didn’t cry?”

Ji Ning simply felt like someone had dug a hole in front of her, and no matter how she jumped, it was hard not to fall. Saying I don’t want to be as fake as them won’t work, but if I say I wasn’t moved, I’ll probably be criticized and become a hot topic again.

But after so many years of being harassed by the media, Ji Ning still has the ability to adapt to situations. She smiled slightly at the camera and sincerely said, “Foundation one thousand, mascara five hundred, inner eyeliner pencil three hundred, eyeliner pen five hundred, concealer four hundred, lipstick eight hundred.”

“Too expensive, can’t afford it.” While Ji Ning was “can’t afford it,” the other lead actor was also being interviewed. Fu Xuan, who wanted to steal the spotlight on the red carpet, wouldn’t give up any opportunity to shine.

Besides dressing up enough to stand out, she kept mentioning Ji Shiyan, trying to ride on his popularity. “Before, I was wondering why he had so many fans, but after working with him, I realized he’s someone worth liking.”

The host also chimed in, “So, after working with so many male actors, who do you think is the most handsome?” Fu Xuan gave a mysterious yet not-so-mysterious smile and said, “That’s definitely the person next to me.”

“Not only handsome but also dedicated. He arrives early on set every day and discusses the script with me until late.” Ji Shiyan, who didn’t know why he was “discussing the script with her until late,” furrowed his brows.

Seizing the moment, the host asked, “Among the actresses Ji Shiyan has worked with, who do you think is the prettiest?” “No doubt.” The corner of the man’s lips curled as he glanced at Fu Xuan beside him.

“Of course, it’s Ji Ning.”