Chapter 18
The four of them went up to the second floor and saw a man in a black leather jacket with one hand on the railing, the other still holding a small bottle of liquor.
Ji Wei glanced at the portrait. Well, no need to search anymore. This was the contact person.
Hearing their footsteps, the contact person turned around and looked at the time in surprise. “You guys got here so fast.”
[Director Zhang: This is so hard.]
[Not only were they fast, but they also received gifts until their hands were full. I wonder how Su Wen and the others are doing.]
[Just came from Heavenly Queen Su’s stream. The situation now is that they’ve finally raised enough money for transportation and have started searching instrument stores one by one. It’s not easy under the hot sun.]
[It’s enough to make one cry and break one’s heart.]
[Holy crap, in comparison, Ji Wei’s group, eating snacks and shopping in the mall, looks like a team-building event!]
The contact person found a chair, sat down, and poured himself a cup of tea. “This instrument store has everything, but it’s missing a good zither. If you can find a good zither for me to see, I’ll tell you the next task. Finding a good zither isn’t hard. You just need to help the owner downstairs with tasks like cleaning the store and repairing instruments, and also…” After he finished in one breath, no one spoke.
He took a sip of tea, understandingly. They were probably scared off by the workload. Indeed, the workload was immense. The China Musical Instrument Store covered an area of nine hundred square meters. They had to be responsible for cleaning, wiping the instruments, and repairing damaged goods…
The four of them would probably have to work the entire afternoon.
Suddenly, he heard a young man’s clear voice. “Will this zither do?”
He watched as the young man took a zither case off his shoulder and placed it on the table. He smiled. “I want a traditional guqin, which includes the six complete steps of building the wooden frame, applying the lacquer, wrapping it in cloth, applying the ash paste, applying the topcoat, and stringing it. It’s not the synthetic zithers sold everywhere on the market, where the wooden frame is finished with just one layer of ash-paste glue.”
Such a zither would cost at least tens of thousands. How could someone carry it around with them? Ji Wei opened the zither case. The contact person didn’t pay much attention until the case was fully open and an exquisitely crafted Pei Zither appeared before him. Both the body and the head of the zither were impeccably decorated, and when the strings were plucked, they produced an orthodox metallic, stone-like sound.
The contact person’s breathing grew heavy with shock, which then turned to excitement. He had grown up abroad and was obsessed with the guqin. Although the price of zithers from China often doubled when shipped overseas, he gladly bought them. Sometimes, the truly good zithers were bought up by zither masters in China before they could even reach foreign markets. This was the first time he had seen such a fine zither.
“This should count as a good zither, right?” Ji Wei tilted his head and asked him.
“Of course it does!” the contact person said excitedly, wishing he could reach out and touch the body of the zither.
If this wasn’t a good zither, he really didn’t know what was.
[What can I say besides ‘King of Luck’! It feels like I’m watching a game guide. Speaking of which, I’d love to see Weiwei play ‘Sekiro’.]
[The person above is toxic! That game is so crushing to the point of making me question my life. I want to send the developers a knife. I’m suddenly curious what the production team is thinking right now.]
[Probably ‘Why did we invite Ji Wei on the show?’]
[Hahahahahahaha, I’m dying of laughter.]
After reluctantly admiring the zither, the contact person readily told them the next task. “Your next task is to help the instrument store sell five thousand euros worth of instruments.”
“Five thousand euros?”
Zhao Yue exclaimed in shock, “How is that possible?”
Du Ruosong was also in disbelief. “There are hardly any people who can play Chinese instruments, and the store only has a few customers. I think… robbing a bank would be faster.”
The contact person turned around and leaned against the railing again, with an attitude of “I’ve told you the task, do what you want.” The four of them had no choice but to go downstairs and see what instruments the store had.
“This is no match for the last one,” Du Ruosong said, looking around at the priced instruments.
It was, in fact, far from being a match. Ji Wei looked at the instruments in the store, from the xiao flute and dizi to the pipa and others. They were all basic, entry-level models. The most expensive was just over eight hundred euros, and the cheapest dizi was only ten euros.
Five thousand euros… Ji Wei casually picked up a dizi. He had never worked in sales before. As a child, he didn’t like to talk and was even suspected of having autism. The young man looked up at the sky, for the first time feeling that this was a bit… tricky.
Zhao Yue, however, was eager to get started. He pulled a customer in the store and started his sales pitch. “Look at this dizi, it’s perfect for you, it matches your temperament. It’s a real loss if you don’t buy it, a huge loss…”
Ten minutes later, the customer fled in panic.
[He talked for so long just to scare the person away. May I ask the extent of Zhao Yue’s psychological trauma right now?]
[It should be the extent of the customer’s psychological trauma. Zhao Yue doesn’t look like a proper salesman at all.]
[Huh, are there improper salesmen?]
[Well, you know.]
Feeling the gazes of the others, Zhao Yue was now extremely embarrassed. To maintain the dignity of a top celebrity, he coughed. “There are hardly any customers in the store. We might as well take the instruments to the square to the east and sell them there. If we just wait in the store, will customers come to us?”
[Ignoring Zhao Yue’s previous foolish behavior, what he said makes sense. The square has a lot of foot traffic, so things will definitely sell better.]
[They could take some cheap dizi and xiao flutes over there. Selling four or five thousand of them shouldn’t be a problem, right?]
[Chinese squares are crowded. It’s the off-season for tourism in Nice, so there aren’t many people. I still think it’s a long shot. If Su Wen and the others were here, it would be great. She can sing, and the Old Sir can play the erhu. They would definitely attract a lot of attention.]
[Yeah, I see Su Wen and the others are about to arrive. Maybe Su Wen’s group will complete the task first.]
Not long after Zhao Yue finished speaking, a blonde girl in a denim miniskirt entered the store. Her gaze first fell on Lu Shenxing’s face, her eyes filled with deep admiration. Perhaps feeling he was unapproachable, she then looked at Ji Wei. After a few seconds, she reluctantly tore her gaze away. Suddenly remembering something, she took out her phone, looked up at Ji Wei again, and her mouth formed an “O” shape.
“Can I take a picture of you two?”
The blonde girl secretly glanced at Lu Shenxing and mustered up the courage to ask.
[The young lady’s thought process was probably: she walks in, ‘oh, this one is handsome,’ ‘oh, that one is also handsome,’ and after thinking for a long time, she decides to ask for a photo of them together.]
[She has the potential to be a CP fan. As the head of the CP fan club, I hereby grant you fan status. Report with the picture immediately.]
[I vaguely remember Zhao Yue being hyped as the ‘visual’ when the show was announced.]
[Zhao Yue is actually quite good-looking, otherwise he wouldn’t have attracted so many fans. But you can’t compare people. When they stand together, he’s just outshined.]
Faced with the blonde girl’s request, Lu Shenxing faintly agreed, “You can.”
A look of admiration appeared on Du Ruosong’s face. Sometimes, he had to admit that Lu Shenxing’s fame was not without reason. With his status, he could have easily refused such a request, yet he was always so approachable. Then, Lu Shenxing added, “You have to buy something first.”
Du Ruosong was speechless.
[Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, Du Ruosong’s expression is priceless! I can’t wait to make it into a meme.]
[Film Emperor Lu’s move is so slick.]
[I laughed so hard my phone hit my face. Why does Film Emperor Lu show no shame when he says that?]
[That’s probably why he can be a Film Emperor and you can’t.]
[Film Emperor Lu: I feel attacked.]
As if afraid Lu Shenxing would go back on his word, the blonde girl immediately bought the dizi in Ji Wei’s hand and asked gleefully, “Can I take the picture now?”
After collecting the money, Ji Wei walked to Lu Shenxing’s side and made a peace sign. The blonde girl looked at the camera. They seemed a bit far apart, and she couldn’t get a full-body shot, so she asked, “Can you get a little closer?”
Ji Wei took a step closer to Lu Shenxing. It still seemed a bit far. The blonde girl said, a little embarrassed, “Can you get a little closer? Just a little bit.”
Ji Wei nodded. Just as he was about to take two steps towards Lu Shenxing, the man suddenly wrapped an arm around his shoulders. His center of gravity shifted to the right, and his body unexpectedly fell into the man’s embrace, his back hitting the man’s firm chest. The man was extremely close to him, almost pressed against him, his chin faintly touching the top of his head. He asked in a very low voice, “Is this okay?”
Ji Wei’s face burned. He told himself to calm down; it was just to quickly fulfill the girl’s request, nothing major. The blonde girl was speechless. …Actually, you don’t have to be this close.
But she still took the picture with a click.
[One picture is not enough! Take ten, young lady, I’ll send you film rolls.]
[Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, this old auntie has a knowing smile on her face. Did Lu-Wei do business today? They did!]
[The young lady is really good at this. ‘A little closer,’ ‘a little closer still.’ Oh, so shy. Just tell him to wrap his arm around him, wouldn’t that solve it?]
[The stream has been taken over by CP fans.]
As soon as the blonde girl took the picture, she excitedly uploaded it to Twitter, tagging the location of the China Musical Instrument Store and also posting a picture of her first dizi. She immediately got a dozen replies.
[AdelineAdele] Isn’t that the boy who paints traditional Chinese paintings??!! Is he an employee at the China Musical Instrument Store? I kind of want to go buy an instrument. Anyone want to go?
[Zink] China Musical Instrument Store, is it? I’m in! I’m nearby. Let’s go together after class. He’s so cute.
[Caitin] Did anyone notice that the man next to him is also very handsome? They look like a couple.
[Damara] I have a feeling this will be a popular tweet.
***
After the blonde girl left, an elderly couple came into the store to inquire about instruments. They couldn’t speak English, and among those present, only Lu Shenxing could speak French, so he was responsible for serving them. He talked for a full half hour before the couple was persuaded to buy two rather expensive guzheng.
But even so, they were still three thousand nine hundred euros short of their five-thousand-euro goal. “Let’s just go somewhere else,” Zhao Yue shook his head. “Otherwise, how long will this take? I just went to the west side and saw an underpass. The foot traffic there is also quite heavy.”
Du Ruosong sighed. “That’s the only way.”
Ji Wei also nodded. He put on his backpack and started packing things up with everyone, putting the instruments in their cases. As he walked over to Lu Shenxing, he suddenly noticed the man’s dry, somewhat pale lips. He subconsciously handed the bottle of mineral water from his side pocket to the man. Just as he handed it over, Ji Wei remembered that he had taken a sip from it at noon. He very embarrassedly pulled his hand back. “I’m sorry, I forgot I drank from it. I’ll go buy you a new bottle right away. You seem to like sweet drinks, right? Do you want juice or soda?”
But Lu Shenxing seemed too thirsty to pay attention to his words. He took the bottle from his hand, easily opened the cap, and took a small sip. “No need.” The man then looked up, straight at him, and licked his pale lips. “This one is quite sweet.”