An uneventful week passed quickly. Because Cen Sen changed plans midway, Ji Mingshu didn’t return to the capital and spent the entire week playing in Star City.
No one brought up that night’s drunken episode again.
Cen Sen probably had a memory blackout after drinking, completely forgetting everything he had said. Once sober, he reverted to being the capitalist dictator in Ji Mingshu’s words, who only talked about work and never emotions.
As for Ji Mingshu, she desperately hoped no one would ever mention anything that happened that day again. Only by doing so could the ultimate awkwardness caused by her identity being exposed in the group chat that day be completely put behind her.
Soon, it was time for the recording of Designer to begin.
Three days before the recording, Ji Mingshu received a detailed recording schedule from the production team, as well as the design challenge each group would undertake.
For variety shows of this scale, the design subjects are mostly home renovations, often involving old-to-new transformation projects, and Designer was no exception.
In fact, home renovation is just a very small category within spatial design. The entry barrier for home renovation designers is very low, and there are no upper or lower limits to the quality of the finished designs.
The renovation of a 300-million-yuan mansion is called home design, while a renovation team in a third-tier city offering a 50,000-yuan all-inclusive package with free appliances can also be considered home design.
Ji Mingshu was professionally trained. Although she hadn’t handled many formal projects, she had always emphasized the expression of art and emotion, as well as the embodiment of creative concepts.
Gu Kaiyang’s initial impression of her as extravagantly wealthy came from the fact that, during her studies, to achieve the best visual effect for her design, she directly bought a large flat to present it in real life. Moreover, it was said that the renovation cost for that flat was twice as expensive as the apartment itself.
Fortunately, Ji Mingshu later clarified the rumor specifically: her cousin had already bought that apartment but hadn’t moved in. When he heard she needed a practical project, he let her use it for practice.
As for the renovation cost being twice as expensive as the apartment, it was because, after the renovation was completed, her cousin hung a Tang Yin painting from his collection inside.
But overall, because she had no concept of controlling post-renovation costs, her design style was indeed very refined and detached from reality.
The first day of recording took place at the Star City Convention Center. The production team set up an American home style photography studio there as the main venue for narration interviews.
Unlike other more serious home renovation shows, Designer’s main selling point was “celebrity designers.” Each group consisted of two celebrities paired with one amateur designer, and each group also had a mysterious special guest.
The first season of Designer was planned to air twelve episodes, with each group’s design challenge taking up two episodes. Then, the two best-performing groups among the five would be selected to collaborate on the final ultimate challenge.
The production team’s official statement was that the design challenges would revolve around the amateur designers as the core, but Ji Mingshu felt that the role of the amateur designers was probably to prevent the celebrities from messing around and ending up with a mismatched, incoherent final product.
The groups had already been determined.
Ji Mingshu’s partners were a man and a woman: the man was the moderately popular, unconventionally handsome, and skilled actor Feng Yan, and the woman was Yan Yuexing, the ace of a certain idol girl group. Ji Mingshu only knew their names and couldn’t match them to their faces.Although the groups had already been determined privately, to create the atmosphere of a variety show, the director said that the first episode would include a segment on the lottery grouping process.
This was the highlight of today's recording—"Even though I already know who I'm grouped with, I still have to pretend to know nothing and act surprised and honored."
Putting on a little act was naturally second nature to celebrities, and for someone like Ji Mingshu, a social butterfly, it was no challenge at all. After all, in their circle, this was a basic course in the art of superficial friendships, and every fashionista was a top student, having mastered it to perfection.
Ji Mingshu glanced around. The biggest star on the show was probably Li Che, while the others were mostly second- or third-tier actors, singers, or familiar faces from variety shows.
Feng Yan, who was in her group, seemed to have a pleasant personality and good manners. When greeting her, he was especially polite, never treating her dismissively just because she wasn’t a celebrity. He even complimented her on her beauty and elegance, asking for her guidance in the future.
Yes, the key points were that he praised her beauty and elegance and asked for her guidance. She appreciated people like that—not much nonsense, but every word hitting the mark.
However, his unassuming personality probably wasn’t very popular in the entertainment industry. Compared to the other member of their group, a young idol who was active throughout the venue and frequently drew attention to the show’s focus, Li Che, Ji Mingshu conservatively estimated that Feng Yan would get at least half as much screen time as Yan Yuexing after the show aired.
Yan Yuexing, the ace of her girl group, was someone Ji Mingshu had looked up online before coming to the recording. Her impression wasn’t great.
There were plenty of negative news about her—lip-syncing, plastic surgery, and hints at fan fundraising. Not long ago, her supposedly original solo single was exposed as plagiarized, from the song to the music video.
At first, Ji Mingshu thought that online news could only be half-trusted, and the real person might not be as dramatic.
But after meeting her in person today, she felt that online news really could only be half-trusted at most.
Given this little sister’s clingy nature, constantly calling out "Brother Li Che" and "Brother Li Che" as if afraid she wouldn’t latch onto the popular guest, and with only this much negative news exposed, it was either due to excellent public relations or sheer audacity.
After the lottery grouping, there was another segment where each group sent a representative to draw a design challenge—of course, this was also part of the scripted process.
The representative from Ji Mingshu’s group was Yan Yuexing.
What should have taken ten seconds, she managed to stretch into three minutes of extra drama. Ji Mingshu stood outside the camera frame, arms crossed low, quietly watching her performance.
No, just thinking about having to record with this drama queen for a month, Ji Mingshu felt she would inevitably clash with her and end up in a fight.
Ji Mingshu had a vague premonition about this, but she never expected the fight to come so quickly.
After Yan Yuexing brought back the scripted design challenge, as required by the director, the group members had to discuss it.
In other groups, the designers looked at the floor plans and actual photos, then explained their general ideas based on the homeowners’ requirements. The celebrities only needed to nod and agree, waiting to be assigned specific tasks. After all, they weren’t very knowledgeable about the professional aspects, and forcing their way into the conversation would only expose their lack of expertise.
But Yan Yuexing wasn’t afraid to expose her true level at all. Her little mouth kept chattering nonstop, constantly pushing her Mary Sue rural socialite style aesthetic."...I think, oh, this wall can be torn down. The small bedroom and study can be combined, all covered with pink wallpaper. At the entrance, we can hang a dreamcatcher and beaded curtains—that would be more dreamy..."
Ji Mingshu interrupted without even looking up. "This is a load-bearing wall; it can't be torn down."
Was she blind to the thick, solid black line on the floor plan?
Yan Yuexing stiffened for a moment but immediately put on a bashful, blushing expression. "Oh, really? I didn't know that."
If you don't know, then shut up.
But Yan Yuexing clearly didn't pick up on Ji Mingshu's inner thoughts. She stayed quiet for less than ten seconds, giving Ji Mingshu and Feng Yan three lines of dialogue, before starting to share her "expert opinions" again.
Pointing to a spot on the blueprint, she analyzed, "I think the lighting in the dining area here isn't good. If we move the dining area to a place with better lighting, I think it would make meals more enjoyable, and..."
"..." Ji Mingshu, after all, wasn't a professional actress. Hearing this, she couldn't help but give Yan Yuexing a look that said, "Are you an idiot?" "This isn't the dining area; it's the music room."
So this girl had been confidently pointing and criticizing all this time, and she hadn't even realized she was looking at the blueprint in the wrong order. Unbelievable.
Corrected by Ji Mingshu for the second time, Yan Yuexing's expression instantly soured.
She signaled the cameraman to stop recording.
Once the camera was off, she immediately put down the blueprint. Her sweet smile vanished in an instant, replaced by a scowl. A third-rate celebrity inexplicably put on the airs of a top-tier star. "Designer Ji, could you please stop interrupting me?"
Then she turned her anger on the assistant director. "What kind of rude, uncultured people did your show invite? How are we supposed to keep filming like this?"
Ji Mingshu crossed her arms, leaned back into the sofa, and lazily glanced at her.
Before Feng Yan or the assistant director could step in to mediate, Ji Mingshu casually mocked, "Oh, so I shouldn't interrupt you? Should I let you keep pretending to know what you're talking about, spouting nonsense, and then go on about your 'countryside socialite' style?"
"You!"
"I suggest you keep quiet if you don't know what you're talking about. If you don't want to film, then don't. Do you really think you're some big shot? Are you sure you're picking the right place and person to throw your tantrum?"
Their argument quickly reached the chief director. The staff, inexperienced and flustered, even asked if they should swap the two into different groups. But the chief director found it amusing and whispered, "Swap? I was just worried their group lacked a selling point. Go mediate, but don't let it get too ugly."
Yan Yuexing had never met a regular person with such an arrogant attitude!
She was the ace of her group. Although the small, obscure group wasn't widely known, it had a lot of die-hard fans. Used to being the center of attention, she treated the other unknown members like maids, mocking and belittling them in private.
The company didn't care—the whole group relied on her to carry them. She had the most fans and the most passionate ones, so of course, whoever made money was treated like royalty.
She was furious, but Li Che, whom she wanted to get close to, was nearby, so she couldn't afford to ruin her image too much.
With the assistant directors trying their best to smooth things over, she swallowed her anger and reluctantly finished the follow-up interview.
Ji Mingshu was also quite angry.
Today, she had been mindful of the filming and tried not to be too overbearing. Earlier, she had controlled her tone as much as possible when reminding Yan Yuexing, and even during the argument, she held back a bit.When leaving, Li Che came up to make conversation. Ji Mingshu was still nursing a small grudge in her heart and found everyone irritating. She answered coldly and indifferently, then, just like last time, walked out of the elevator as if no one else was there and got into the car first, once again letting Li Che’s entourage feel the unbridled and cool demeanor of this amateur designer.
Today’s recording was far from enjoyable. That night, as she was getting ready for bed, Cen Sen leaned against the headboard reading documents and casually asked about the recording. Ji Mingshu, wearing a face mask and playing on her phone, replied in a muffled voice, “Not great.”
Just as Cen Sen was about to respond, Ji Mingshu suddenly received an apology message from the producer, along with an early notification that the mystery guest for their group was the second-generation star Pei Xiyan, whose popularity was skyrocketing and nearly rivaling that of a top-tier celebrity.
Ji Mingshu stared at the three characters “Pei Xiyan” for two seconds, then without warning, sat up on the bed and screamed, “Ahhh!!!”
“Pei Xiyan!”
“My partner is Pei Xiyan!”
“Wuwu, Yan Zai, mom loves you! What kind of heaven-sent fate is this!”
Cen Sen: “…”
Pei Xiyan was the son of Director Pei and Su Cheng, so he naturally knew who he was. But he had no idea that his wife, aside from buying bags and diamonds, also had a side gig as a fan—and she was chasing a star who was seven or eight years younger than her and still a minor.
Ji Mingshu shot up from the covers like a golden canary, tearing off her thousand-yuan face mask in the process, and immediately made an urgent series of calls to Jiang Chun, who was also a mom fan. She then remained kneeling on the bed, chattering excitedly for twenty minutes straight.
“Ahhh, what kind of divine production team is this? All my bad mood from today is cured, wuwuwu! I was so angry today I forgot to check the sponsors! Wuwu, what kind of sponsor daddy is this, actually inviting my most adorable, most aloof baby!”
“No way, that little drama queen with worse taste than you will definitely cling to my baby to ride on his popularity! I have to protect my baby properly!”
As she spoke, Ji Mingshu began waving her hands animatedly and, with a “smack,” accidentally slapped the documents right out of Cen Sen’s hands and onto his face.
Sponsor daddy: “…”
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