Pei Xiyan was a genuine second-generation star. His mother, Su Cheng, was a household name and a highly respected actress in the industry, while his father’s identity remained mysterious and had been the subject of much speculation.
Some guessed he was Su Cheng’s second husband, a jewelry tycoon, while insiders claimed he was her first husband, a political figure in Beijing circles. These sources also reported that Su Cheng was planning to remarry this political figure soon.
Pei Xiyan became known to the public when, at six years old, Su Cheng brought him onto a parent-child outdoor interactive show. With his outstanding appearance and strong personality at such a young age, the show’s broadcast immediately gained him a large following of sister fans and mommy fans.
Unfortunately, for many years afterward, he rarely appeared in public, only occasionally being photographed with Su Cheng or making cameos in some films, staying on the extreme periphery of the entertainment circle.
Last year, he played the protagonist’s teenage years in the film “The Last Time,” which unexpectedly became a huge hit both commercially and critically. Overnight, the once rebellious and aloof boy re-entered the public eye. Not only had he not grown up ugly, but he had become so handsome it was almost offensive. Naturally, he easily captured countless young girls’ hearts, and his popularity skyrocketed as if on a rocket.
Although Ji Mingshu was no longer a young girl, she was among those captivated.
She wasn’t very familiar with fan culture and didn’t know much about things like meeting celebrities at airports or voting in polls. But last year, to meet Pei Xiyan, she had shamelessly tagged along with her cousin to Director Pei’s house for a meal.
At that time, Pei Xiyan happened to be home. He coldly greeted them and then went upstairs with a bag of cold milk, not coming down for lunch.
If it had been Cen Sen, Ji Mingshu would probably have labeled him with a series of negative tags like “impolite,” “low EQ,” “cold and arrogant.” But with Pei Xiyan, Ji Mingshu only thought: my baby is so full of personality! So rebellious! So edgy! So youthful! Love it, love it!
“Do you think I look better in this? Does it make me look more dignified and professional?”
Ji Mingshu, dressed in a suit skirt, twirled in front of the full-length mirror, then turned to ask Cen Sen.
Cen Sen glanced up and said flatly, “Like a real estate consultant.”
“…?”
Are there real estate consultants this beautiful?
After Cen Sen’s comment, Ji Mingshu took a closer look and felt that the skirt did seem a bit too professional.
She tried on four or five more outfits, but whenever she asked Cen Sen, he would find fault with them.
“Too tight.”
“Color is too bright.”
“Are you going to an audition?”
After being criticized several times in a row, Ji Mingshu’s patience finally ran out.
She dumped all the clothes from her suitcase onto the bed and said irritably, “Then you choose! You choose, you choose, you choose!”
If you can’t pick out a nice outfit, you’d better commit seppuku!
Cen Sen paused slightly, put down the document in his hand, and pointed to a black tracksuit: “This one is nice.”
Ji Mingshu: “?”
“You’re going to do interior design, so of course you should wear casual, convenient clothes.”
Ji Mingshu: “…”
No, I’m not going to do interior design, I’m going to protect my baby 🙂
The second recording was three days later. After much consideration, Ji Mingshu decided to wear the shirt dress that Cen Sen had said was a bit tight.
She felt this shirt dress perfectly outlined her attractive figure with its front curves and back arches, completely overshadowing that little diva from the girl group, while also conveying her professionalism, elegance, and elite status as an interior designer.
However, since Cen Sen had mentioned the dress looked a bit tight, she figured she might have been a bit indulgent with food lately. So she planned a more vegetarian diet for herself and even fasted for a day in between.
On the day of recording, Ji Mingshu changed into the dress at the hotel, turned in front of the mirror, and felt that only two words could describe it: perfect.
She winked at the mirror and made a gun gesture with both hands, one in front and one behind.
Unfortunately, Cen Sen had just come out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping water.
They silently looked at each other through the mirror for thirty seconds. Ji Mingshu suddenly remembered the embarrassing incident at Boicui Tianhua. Perhaps these few days of hunger had lowered her IQ along with her weight, as she randomly asked, “…do you…want to hear me rap?”
“…”
“No, thanks.”
The second recording of “Design Home” involved going directly to the house.
The house Ji Mingshu’s group was renovating was a school district apartment in the old town area of Star City, with a built-up area of eighty-nine square meters. The owners were a newlywed couple.
The house was an old property left by the wife’s parents, and the decor was quite dated.
This newlywed couple’s request was to transform this old house into a sweet world for two with an artistic atmosphere and retro nostalgia, while reserving one room that could be converted into a nursery when they had a baby in the future.
Ji Mingshu had seen the design challenges for other groups. The other groups always had challenging points like “there are sick elderly or children in the family, and their lives must be made convenient” or “the area is incredibly small, but one square meter must still be used as three square meters,” which allowed for deep exploration and showcasing of spatial design art.
In comparison, the challenge assigned to their group had no explosively difficult renovation problems, nor a tear-jerking backstory. It could be said to be utterly ordinary with no highlights.
The cameras followed them from the moment they got out of the car.
It happened to be the time when elementary school students were going to school, and a large group of them were lined up, crossing the road in front.
The little diva Yan Yuexing immediately cupped her face with star-filled eyes and began her performance, talking about how much she missed elementary school life, how interesting it was, and implying a sense of superiority about being popular with boys even in elementary school.
Ji Mingshu felt that in this kind of show, off-topic content would be cut in post-production, so she couldn’t be bothered to engage and only looked forward to meeting Pei Xiyan soon.
Half an hour later, after Ji Mingshu, Feng Yan, and Yan Yuexing had finished inspecting the old house, Pei Xiyan’s nanny car finally appeared at the community entrance.
When they heard the camera crew and directors saying that Pei Xiyan had arrived, Ji Mingshu and Yan Yuexing quietly took out small mirrors to touch up their makeup.
“Pei Xiyan, Pei Xiyan!”
“He’s handsome!”