My Queen, My Rules - 29
Filming
The leisurely week slipped by in no time. Thanks to Cen Sen's last-minute change of plans, Ji Mingshu never returned to the capital and instead spent the entire week enjoying herself in Xingcheng.
Neither of them ever brought up what had happened the night he got drunk.
Cen Sen had apparently blacked out and forgotten every word he'd said. Once he sobered up, he reverted to the capitalist dictator Ji Mingshu always accused him of being. All work and no feelings.
As for Ji Mingshu, she desperately hoped no one would ever bring up anything that happened that day again. Only then could the catastrophic embarrassment of her group chat being exposed finally be buried for good.
Soon enough, it was time for the filming of Designer's Abode to begin.
Three days before shooting, Ji Mingshu received a detailed production schedule from the crew, along with the design challenge assigned to each team.
Reality shows of this scale usually revolved around home renovation, particularly remodeling older properties. Designer's Abode was no exception.
In truth, residential interiors made up only a tiny branch of spatial design. The barrier to entry for home design was low, and the quality of the finished work ranged from the completely ordinary to the extravagantly luxurious.
Renovating a three-hundred-million-yuan mansion counted as home design. So did a fifty-thousand-yuan, all-inclusive renovation package in a small backwater city that even threw in free appliances.
Ji Mingshu had received formal training. Although she hadn't handled many major projects herself, she'd always placed great emphasis on artistic expression, emotional resonance, and innovative concepts.
Gu Kaiyang's first impression of Ji Mingshu's outrageous wealth dated back to their university days. In order to present one of her designs under perfect real-world conditions, Ji Mingshu had supposedly bought an entire luxury apartment just to use as a full-scale showcase. Rumor even had it that the renovation cost twice as much as the apartment itself.
Fortunately, Ji Mingshu later cleared that misunderstanding up personally. Her cousin had already owned the apartment and simply hadn't moved in yet. When he heard she needed a real-life project for class, he let her use it as practice.
As for the renovation costing twice the apartment's price, that was only because, once it was finished, her cousin hung one of his prized Tang Yin paintings inside.
Still, all things considered, Ji Mingshu had never really developed the habit of worrying about renovation budgets. Her designs were indeed very highbrow and hopelessly detached from reality.
The first day of filming took place at the Xingcheng Convention and Exhibition Center. The production crew had built an American-style home interior set there to serve as the primary interview location.
Unlike more conventional renovation shows, Designer's Abode sold itself on the concept of "celebrity designers." Each team consisted of two celebrities paired with one professional designer from outside the entertainment industry. Additionally, every team would later welcome one mysterious special guest.
The first season of Designer's Abode was scheduled to run for twelve episodes. Each team's design challenge would span two episodes, after which the two strongest teams out of the five would join forces for the final challenge.
Officially, the production claimed that the professional designers were the backbone of every project.
But Ji Mingshu suspected their real job was simply preventing the celebrities from improvising so wildly that the finished designs became monstrous abomination.
The teams had already been decided.
Ji Mingshu's partners were one man and one woman.
The man was Feng Yan, an actor known for his solid performances despite never quite becoming famous.
The woman was Yan Yuexing, the ace member of a popular idol girl group.
Ji Mingshu recognized both names, but couldn't have matched either face to the name before today.
Although the teams had been finalized behind the scenes, the producers wanted the first episode to feel like a proper variety show. The director explained that everyone would film a staged lottery to determine the pairings.
In other words, today's main event was pretending they had absolutely no idea who their teammates were while acting surprised and honored by the results.
Putting on a show came naturally to celebrities, and came just as naturally to someone as socially polished as Ji Mingshu.
Among the socialites she ran with, performing exaggerated plastic-sisterhood enthusiasm was practically a beginner's course. Every fashionable young woman had mastered it long ago.
Looking around, Ji Mingshu judged Li Che to be the biggest star on the cast. Everyone else was either a second- or third-tier actor, singer, or familiar variety-show regular.
Feng Yan, her teammate, seemed genuinely pleasant. He greeted her with impeccable manners, never treating her differently simply because she wasn't a celebrity, even complimented her on being beautiful and elegant before asking her to look after him during filming.
Exactly. The key points were him calling her beautiful and elegant and politely asking for her guidance.
Ji Mingshu appreciated people like that. Few words, but every one landed exactly where it should.
That said, someone so straightforward probably wasn't particularly suited to the entertainment industry. Compared with Yan Yuexing, who constantly energized the set and kept steering conversations toward Li Che, the show's biggest draw, Ji Mingshu estimated that once the episodes aired, Feng Yan would probably receive at least half as much screen time.
Before coming to film, Ji Mingshu had specifically looked Yan Yuexing up online.
Her first impression hadn't been favorable.
There were countless scandals involving lip-syncing, plastic surgery, and encouraging fans to crowdfund for her. Not long ago, her supposedly original solo single had also been exposed for plagiarism, everything from the song itself to the music video.
At first, Ji Mingshu assumed internet gossip should only be believed halfway. Maybe the real person wasn't nearly that bad.
After meeting her in person today, she realized she'd been wrong.
The internet had been far too generous.
Watching this little sister's drama-seeking nature, chirping "Li Che-gege" every other sentence while desperately trying to stick herself to the show's most popular guest, Ji Mingshu honestly couldn't understand how she'd escaped with so few scandals. Either her public relations team was astonishingly competent, or she'd simply been absurdly lucky.
After the staged team selection came another scripted segment where each team sent a representative to draw their design challenge.
Naturally, this was just another part of the planned production.
Yan Yuexing represented their team.
A task that should have taken ten seconds somehow became a three-minute solo performance.
Standing just outside the camera's frame, Ji Mingshu folded her arms and quietly watched Yan Yuexing milk every second of it.
She was already starting to lose hope. Just thinking about spending an entire month filming with this drama queen, Ji Mingshu was certain the two of them would eventually end up at each other's throats.
Though she had a vague feeling it would happen eventually, she hadn't expected it to happen this quickly.
After Yan Yuexing returned with the design challenge assigned by the script, the director instructed each team to discuss the project on camera.
The other teams all followed roughly the same pattern. Their designers studied the floor plans and reference photos, then outlined a general concept based on the homeowner's requirements. The celebrities simply nodded along and waited to be assigned tasks.
After all, none of them really understood professional design. Speaking up too much would only expose their ignorance.
Yan Yuexing, however, had absolutely no fear of exposing herself. She chattered nonstop, enthusiastically promoting her fairy-tale country-estate aesthetic.
"...I think we should knock down this wall, combine the small bedroom with the study, then cover everything with pink wallpaper. We can hang a dreamcatcher by the entrance, and maybe some beaded curtains too. It'll feel much dreamier..."
Without even looking up, Ji Mingshu interrupted. "That's a load-bearing wall. It can't be removed."
The thick black structural line on the floor plan was impossible to miss. Was she blind?
Yan Yuexing froze for a second, then immediately clasped her cheeks in feigned embarrassment. "Oh, really? I didn't know."
If you don't know, then shut up.
Unfortunately, Yan Yuexing seemed incapable of reading Ji Mingshu's thoughts. Barely ten seconds later, after generously allowing Ji Mingshu and Feng Yan roughly three lines of dialogue, she launched into another brilliant opinion.
Pointing at another section of the floor plan, she explained, "I think the dining room doesn't get enough natural light. If we move it somewhere brighter, people will enjoy their meals more, and..."
"..."
Ji Mingshu wasn't a trained actress. Hearing this, she simply couldn't fake it anymore. She looked at Yan Yuexing with an expression that practically screamed: Are you an idiot?
"That's not the dining room. It's the music room."
So this girl had spent all this time confidently directing everyone around without even reading the floor plan correctly? Unbelievable.
Being corrected by Ji Mingshu a second time, Yan Yuexing's face instantly fell.
She motioned for the cameraman to stop filming.
The moment the cameras shut off, she tossed the drawings aside. The sweet idol smile vanished in an instant, replaced by an icy glare. A minor third-tier celebrity somehow managed to carry herself like an untouchable superstar. "Designer Ji, could you please stop interrupting me every time I speak?"
Then, she immediately turned to vent at one of the assistant directors. "What kind of rude, uncivilized people did your production team invite? How is anyone supposed to keep filming like this?"
Ji Mingshu crossed her arms, leaned back lazily into the sofa, and gave her an indifferent glance.
Before Feng Yan or the assistant director could step in to mediate, Ji Mingshu answered coolly, "Oh? So I should've let you keep pretending to know what you're talking about while you lectured us on your country-estate princess aesthetic?"
"You...!"
"If you don't understand something, keep your mouth shut. And if you don't want to film, then don't. Do you really think you're that important? Before throwing your weight around, maybe figure out where you are... and who you're talking to."
News of their argument quickly reached the chief director. The junior staff panicked and even asked whether the two women should be reassigned to different teams.
The chief director, however, found the whole thing inter. "Switch them? Why would we do that?" he said quietly. "I was just worrying this team didn't have enough selling points. Go calm them down, don't let it get too ugly."
Yan Yuexing had never met an outsider with this much nerve.
She was the ace of her group. Though the group itself wasn't particularly famous, it had a loyal fanbase. She was used to being treated like the center of the universe. Behind the scenes, she mocked and belittled the lesser-known members as casually as if they were servants.
Her company never interfered. The whole group depended on her to bring in money, and her fans were by far the largest and most devoted. Naturally, the one making the money was treated like royalty.
She was furious. But Li Che, the man she wanted to get close to, was filming nearby. She couldn't afford to destroy her image in front of him.
With the assistant directors repeatedly smoothing things over, she reluctantly swallowed her anger and managed to finish the remaining interview.
Ji Mingshu wasn't in a good mood either.
She'd already been restraining herself for the sake of the show. Even when she'd corrected Yan Yuexing earlier, she'd deliberately controlled her tone. During the argument itself, she'd still held back.
As she was leaving, Li Che came over to chat.
Still annoyed, Ji Mingshu found everyone irritating by association. She answered him with cool indifference before, just like last time, walking out of the elevator as if no one else existed and getting into her car first.
For the second time, Li Che's staff witnessed firsthand just how effortlessly aloof and unbothered this so-called amateur designer could be.
The day's filming had been anything but enjoyable.
That night, Cen Sen sat against the headboard reviewing documents. Casually, he asked how filming had gone.
Lying beside him with a sheet mask on and idly scrolling through her phone, Ji Mingshu mumbled through the mask, "Not great."
Cen Sen was just about to respond when Ji Mingshu suddenly received a WeChat message from one of the producers apologizing for the unpleasant experience. The message also revealed their team's mysterious guest in advance.
Pei Xiyan.
Ji Mingshu stared at those three characters for two full seconds.
Then, without the slightest warning, she shot upright on the bed and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Ahhhhhh! Pei Xiyan!"
"My teammate is Pei Xiyan!"
"Waaah! My precious Xiyan! Mommy loves you! Is this fate descending from heaven?!"
Cen Sen: "..."
Pei Xiyan was the son of Director Pei and Su Cheng. Cen Sen naturally knew who he was. What he didn't know was that, besides collecting handbags and diamonds, his wife also had a side hobby of idol worship.
And the idol she chased happened to be a teenager seven or eight years younger than herself.
Ji Mingshu sprang out of bed like a Little Canary taking flight. She ripped off the thousand-yuan sheet mask, and immediately began bombarding Jiang Chun, a fellow "mom fan," with a relentless series of phone calls. Then, still kneeling on the bed, she excitedly babbled nonstop for the next twenty minutes.
"Ahhh! What a divine production team! All my bad mood from today is cured! I was so mad today I even forgot to check who the sponsors were! Oh my god! Which amazing sponsor invited my cutest, coolest baby onto this show?!"
"No! That little drama queen with taste even worse than yours is definitely going to cling to my baby and use him for clout! I have to protect my baby!"
As Ji Mingshu flailed her arms around in excitement, she accidentally swung one hand backward.
Smack!
The document in Cen Sen's hand slapped squarely across his face.
The amazing sponsor: "...”
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