Chapter 32: Being Haunted (1)

Translator: Sissy That Walk

White and Whiter: Why do you stop talking? Are you angry?

White and Whiter: Sorry, I was too self-assertive before. I shouldn’t have gone to Red Guest to look for you.

Having received another two messages, Di Qiuhe calmed down quickly and looked over all the messages He Bai had sent in complete earnest as if he was doing the reading comprehension section in the college entrance examination. Finally, he came to a conclusion that He Bai had paid a visit to Red Guest to look for him, the “buyer” in his eyes!

Red Guest, cousin… Jiang-Xiu-wen! How come He Bai considered Jiang Xiuwen more reliable than him?!

Diu Qiuhe’s brow furrowed. He typed angrily, and his eyes swept across the French window before sending the message over. Seeing the much thinner figure of him, Di Qiuhe paused for a moment and quickly deleted the text that was already edited. Rubbing his forehead and keeping silent for a few seconds, he switched to another mode and typed slowly.

A Bird Born in Autumn: It doesn’t matter. I know you care about me. ^-^

A Bird Born in Autumn: Please don’t stand on ceremony with me. If you feel embarrassed to accept my present, we can exchange gifts.

A Bird Born in Autumn: Wait a minute, I have something pressing.

On convincing He Bai, Diu Qiuhe dialed Jiang Xiuwen’s number immediately and asked as soon as he got through, “What did you say to He Bai?”

Jiang Xiuwen: “… hmm.”

Di Qiuhe: “?”

Ten minutes later, Di Qiuhe who got a good scolding put down the mobile phone indifferently and cast a look at the darkening sky outside. It’s quite thrilling to have ups and downs in life. As social practice declined day by day, people as kind and civilized as He Bai were hard to find.

Drawing a long sigh, Di Qiuhe picked up the phone again and made a call to the greengrocer, telling him to prepare one more box of fruit and send it to Red Guest Photography in B City. After that, he turned off the mobile phone reluctantly and slumped down in a chair listlessly. In view of the fact that his sockpuppet was likely to be revealed, Diu Qiuhe found that he couldn’t contact He Bai at will … it could only be done when the time comes!

He Bai waited for a long while but received no words like “I’m back” from the buyer, only to be in receipt of another box of fruit by express delivery next afternoon. He Bai’s mouth twitched slightly when he looked at the seemingly larger box. He took the cell phone out to call Di Qiuhe.

“Sorry, the subscriber you dialed is powered off.”

“……”

So when he went to discuss cooperation matters with Yi Ka, its staffers were all taken aback by the “bribe” fruit in heaps the young photographer took with him with effort.

“It’s really kind of you.” Lin Xia was at a loss how to react. She had never seen one who gave fruit to his cooperative partner on their first meeting before. If you called it ingratiation, it didn’t make sense for this cooperation was proposed by Yi Ka and the party which needed to fawn was nobody but Yi Ka’s members. As to bribery, it’s quite unnecessary for He Bai to offer bribes, and such amount was far from enough. In addition, no way he just brought the fruits as a gesture of appreciation. After all, it was obviously not cheap, and this seemed way too generous for a gesture.

“My friend sent me a lot of fruit, but I can’t finish it by myself. So could you do me a favor and take some?” He Bai looked embarrassed and raised his hands in a requesting gesture, “I know peeps in fashion design industry pay much attention to your diet, so my request may put you in an awkward position. But it’s a pity to let such fresh fruit go to waste, so… Sorry to trouble you. I really appreciate it.”

He Bai gave a pretty good reason for sharing the fruit, thus winning the affection of everyone in the conference room, who got more and more friendly with the young adorable lad.

Seeing how her “art-obsessed” subordinates readily captured by a bag of fruit, in surprise, Lin Xia’s brow furrowed. She glanced at He Bai, smiling, pat the table and said, “The lunch break is just over. I’m afraid that everyone is still in food coma, so how about having afternoon tea with Mr. He and getting down to business in an hour?”

The crowd looked stunned and burst into cheers. Thanks to He Bai, they could take half an hour more break.

Overwhelmed by their enthusiasm, He Bai was integrated into the team after a little chat.

Lin Xia looked on, with an affectionate smile on her face, while plenty of thoughts crossed her mind. No wonder that Mrs. Ke spoke highly of He Bai. Young as he was, the guy was skilled at drawing others in by untactful but extraordinarily effective means, which could achieve much more remarkable success than that of socialites. Given that he was really a master photographer, such a capable and adorable person would be in great demand in the future.

Wining and dining, they spent half an hour in idle chit-chat and completed the rest work efficiently in an atmosphere of harmony and warmth.

“That’s all. Before signing the contract, you shall shoot a set of sample photos for assessment. I hope you can understand, Mr. He.” Lin Xia laid down the last condition of her company when she covered the folder.

He Bai closed the contract and nodded in agreement, “That figures. You make me a generous offer. Given preferential treatment, I’m supposed to hand in an utterly convincing work in return. Thanks ever so much for giving me this opportunity, Mrs. Lin. May I ask when the sample photographs will be taken?”

Lin Xia looked at the time, her smiled broadened, “If possible, I hope you can start now.”

“Now?” He Bai was astonished by her words because it was nearing four o’clock.

“Yes, it’s now.” Lin Xia stood up and gestured towards the door, “The studio is ready, and models and costumes are all in place. Please follow me.”

They seemed well prepared.

He Bai couldn’t help laughing. He stood up in a natural and poised manner and picked up the camera bag.

Mr. Xu once told him the shooting skills requirements varied greatly, depending on your focus. When you focused on models themselves, you could use whichever skills you wanted, provided they photographed well. However, most of the skills became redundant when the focus was on their dress, and your goal was nothing more than to restore and explore the beauty of clothing.

As a clothing giant, Yi Ka had many sub-brands, including luxuries designed for high-income groups and medium-end brands aimed at well-off families. The Little Mermaid he’s going to shoot today was a new attempt by Yi Ka, which was a light-luxury brand targeted at teenage girls in high-consumption family.

There was a considerable number of photographers able to shoot luxury brands, few of whom, however, corresponded to Yi Ka’s brand style. He Bai was aware that what Yi Ka sought for was more his “style” than skills, so his task today was to reproduce the style Yang Fu’s photos presented in the costumes.

“The target market of Little Mermaid is girls at the age of 12 to 18, so its style features fantasy and innocence. Now the brand has yet gone on market, so your photos will serve as the first major hits, which counts for much.” Lin Xia explained to him and handed over a document, “Today you’re going to shoot the princess series, our mainstay costumes. Here are the sketches as well as the original, revised and final versions of the series. Also, the cloth details, the characteristics of its decoration and its design elements are included within … You have fifteen minutes to get to know them and this studio. A quarter later, the shooting will begin on time. Come on, I look forward to your work.”

Taking the document which symbolized trust and expectation, He Bai gave Li Xia a confident smile, “Thank you. I will try my best to hand in photos that satisfy you all.”

A smile spread across Lin Xia’s face. Giving He Bai a pat on the shoulder, she tactfully retreated from the studio, leaving him a quiet working environment.

The document was thick, and the content complex, with which He Bai were quite unfamiliar for he shot landscapes mainly in his previous incarnation, but he found it roused his enthusiasm. It’s not only a daunting challenge but a rare opportunity for his development.

When Lin Xia called him the other day, she only asked whether he would like to take costume photos for a newly launched girl brand, not mentioning that the positioning of the brand was light luxury. Light luxury, which means his photos were very likely to be printed on a variety of platforms accessible to high-consumption groups and served as a major boost to his development given that his photos were adopted by the brand. Besides, if he constantly occupied the post of Little Mermaid’s costume photographer, he would gain entry into the fashion circle of photography and rose from an obscure photo-taker to become a real photographer in name and in fact!