He's Not My Shadow Guard, He's My Lover Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Promotional Photos

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Rattie

“Is everything ready?” An Jiu entered the bedroom.

“Mn, it is.” Xia Qian'an zipped up the suitcase and stood up.

An Jiu went to pick up the luggage and said, “Let's go.” 

One by one, they took care of the luggage, bringing only the necessary things. They could buy everything else there.

Outside the villa, the two personal a.s.sistants had been waiting for them for a long time. After seeing them come out, they stepped forward to take over their luggage.

“Mr. An, this afternoon's schedule is to go to the theatre group to familiarize with the environment and to meet the co-actors.” An a.s.sistant with gold rimmed gla.s.ses gave a report of today's plans.

“Well then, let's go.” An Jiu's face was blank.

Having to meet strangers in the theater, Xia Qian'an was inevitably nervous, and the more nervous he was, the less expressions he had on his face. Xia Qian'an's only a.s.sistant glanced at Xia Qian'an sitting in the back through the rear-view mirror. He couldn't see any emotion. It was better not to be nervous.

An Jiu held out a hand to hold Xia Qian'an's own. If he didn't have to care about the two people in front, he would have hugged Xia Qian'an to comfort him, but it was not appropriate now. When An Jiu held his hand, Xia Qian'an was stunned and smiled to himself. Only An Jiu paid attention to his emotional changes and comforted him so quickly.

Drama Group

“Director Li, the two leading actors…” They were half an hour late. Why hadn't they arrived yet?

“What's the hurry?” Li Fengyi looked at them impatiently. They were only waiting. What's with your expression?

The a.s.sistants and actors were getting worse and worse. They couldn't even wait. The director's a.s.sistant, who was far away, sneezed and didn't know why. Who was badmouthing him?

“No, Director Li, you misunderstood. I was just worried if something happened to them on the way,” the young actress explained.

“What could happen to them?” Li Fengyi glared at her. Good words didn't mean bad ones, but they took great efforts to invite bad juju.

Li Fengyi's stomach ached at the thought of signing many unequal doc.u.ments with Xia Mujiang. As expected, the Xia family was good.

The young actress didn't dare say anything more when she saw the director's face was bad. Li Fengyi had a very high position in the entertainment industry. Although he was a new star director and had not done many movies, he was a ghost in the field of director. Basically, every film he touched would get one or two awards.

Every drama he made was excellent, and he made many actors popular. So, even if his temper was not good, no one dared to go against him. After all, no one wanted to have a bad relations.h.i.+p with him in the future.

Director Li was trying to shoot a new type of drama. As soon as people outside heard about it, they had been waiting for Li Fengyi to produce it. Li Fengyi didn't reveal anything to the general public because he wanted to keep a sense of mystery, but the crew already knew that their director wanted to make a h.o.m.os.e.xual drama.

When they heard the news, the crew and actors were all confused. They didn't expect that the director would choose such a theme—was this really okay? Although online literature was popular and most people were fine with h.o.m.os.e.xual love in the United States, there was not a film or drama about h.o.m.os.e.xuality in China.

The greatest reason why most people loved romance novels was that when they read novels, they would fill in the plot in their minds. The main characters' faces were completely imagined by them. They could be beautiful if they wanted them to be.

Just like watching a TV series, their first impression of the work was to see the beauty of the actors. If the actors were not good-looking, the work would not have a positive response. Most people focused on such beauty.

So, how about the beauty of the two stars? This was a very serious question. The whole cast was looking forward to seeing them.

"They're here…"

“Xiaoxie, what are you doing? I don't remember you being so rude.”

“This time, it's different. Look up to the right. Those two are gorgeous!” Yan Gou said to the people beside him in a low voice, which could not hide his excitement.

“Really… my G.o.d, look how handsome they are.” One of the girls on the side was stunned. She looked as though smoke was coming out of her ears. 

“What are you looking at? Hurry up and get moving.” Li Fengyi saw that all the people in the room were being stupid and said this in a rather annoyed tone. As soon as the staff heard the voice of their director, a spirited man immediately responded, and continued to bow his head and tidy up the things quickly, but he still looked there from time to time.

“Come here. I'll familiarize you with the environment first. By the way, how are you doing? Are you getting used to it?” Li Fengyi walked over, smiling and letting the other people fall behind him. This… was this really the director they were familiar with? Did his soul get switched?

The living environment of the crew was naturally inferior to their living environment at home. He just hoped that Xia Qian'an could adapt.

“We're fine,” An Jiu replied. The style of their clothes was the same, they were dressed in black and white, and to the others, their casual clothes and hats looked just like a couples' outfit.

“G.o.d, they're not a couple in reality, are they?” Some of the people on the other side saw the two holding hands and whispered excitedly.

My G.o.d, they couldn't wait to see the drama. It was not about the plot, it was about the actors' beauty.

“Their faces… I could lick the screen for a year,” a senior fujos.h.i.+ female staff member said excitedly.

Because the situation of Xia Qian'an was a little special, Li Fengyi told the staff and the actors not to gather around Xia Qian'an as much as possible, and that they shouldn't stare so much. They were seen as rookies, but they were indeed handsome, so the other actors thought they were about to make a debut. They wanted to talk to the new people and exchange pleasantries, but when they heard the director's words, they stopped.

Since the director took charge of them personally, they were surely no small fries. People in the entertainment industry knew how to read expressions, and to act according to that.

“We're going to start taking photos tomorrow, is that okay, Xiao An?” Li Fengyi's voice was a little softer. Now, Xia Qian'an was like a porcelain doll in his eyes. He should be careful.

“Er… Okay." Xia Qian'an was briefly taken aback and he replied softly. He didn't think that the director would ask him. All the questions before were directed to An Jiu.

After that, Li Fengyi took them to the shooting site, most of which were around. They were familiar with the environment, and almost everyone else had seen them.

Seeing Director Li introduce the shooting environment to them in a pleasant way, everyone knew these two people must have a great beginning. They didn't know if they were easy to get along with and the  group of stars who were supporting actors thought about their inner feelings.

The second day

“Okay, let's take some promotional photos first,” Li Fengyi said, his voice tinted with excitement. His vision was on point. They were the most suitable candidates. “Well then, just follow your feelings and think about the relations.h.i.+p between master and servant.”

Xia Qian'an and An Jiu looked at each other for a while, and then set up their poses according to the way they got along back in ancient times, when they didn't show their inner feelings to each other.

At this time, they are wearing ancient clothes, Xia Qian'an was wearing white robes, and An Jiu was wearing black ones. The shooting set was a small bamboo forest. The general content was to play the guqin in the bamboo forest, which was suggested by An Jiu.

After taking a few photos, recording a few minutes of the preview video. Li Fengyi planned to put the photos on the Internet first for some fan service. When the shooting process was half-way through, he'd put the preview video up to bait them.

It was a preview video of Xia Qian'an playing the Guqin. Li Fengyi didn't expect Xia Qian'an to be able to play the guqin and he thought he would need to modify it later, but when he heard the guqin being played, he and others were stunned. Fortunately, they acted like professionals, and they quickly responded.

Director Li's eyes indicated that the shooting team should pay attention. He had found a treasure. He felt the guqin was being played by a master who had practiced for many years.

However, the boy was only eighteen years old, so he had either practiced from childhood or was born with a strong musical talent. Even if he didn't become an actor, he could get famous in the future through his guqin skills. He didn't know whether the Xia family would nurture his abilities. 

Li Fengyi saw the results of the shooting and smiled with satisfaction. That was the feeling he wanted. To act like a master was an easy task. More importantly, the actor in the role of the shadow guard had to give off the feeling of subconsciously protecting his master and following his master whenever they were together.

Before that, Li Fengyi was only interested in An Jiu because he clearly had a subconscious need to protect Xia Qian'an, but he was more awe inspiring and didn't dare to look directly at his master (these are the contributions from Xia Qian'an, ⊙ω⊙).

He thought it would be difficult for him to play the role of the shadow guard and didn't expect that the result would be so good. It seemed he was born for the role. The distance between the master and servant was not large but he never dared to look at his master directly. From inside to outside, he exuded the feeling of being a lowly servant.

Li Fengyi thought that An Jiu had the talent for acting, but in fact, An Jiu was only being himself. His duty was as his master's shadow guard, which did not need to be performed. He was his master's shadow guard. He remembered that now, there was only one more layer of his ident.i.ty as his “master's lover”.

“Very good. Have some rest. Xiao An, you two go change your clothes first, and then we will officially start shooting.” Li Fengyi clapped his hands, then he ordered, “Xiao He, upload those photos online.” 

“Yes, director Li.”

Half an hour after the photos were posted on the Internet, the fans were losing their minds. The shadow guard made entertainment headlines. One reason was that Director Li has a great reputation, and the quality of his films left people speechless. The other reason was that the two people in the photos had almost perfect faces.

[It's enough for me to lick the screen for a year!]

[I've decided. They are my husbands. No one can rob me!!! Who robs me should fear for their life!!!!!]

[Good noodles, aren't they little fresh meat?]

[What little fresh meat?]

[Isn't the name  'little fresh meat' worthy of their faces?]

[My screen is wet!]

[Mom asked me why I knelt and licked the screen!]

…

Netizens on the Internet have exploded. Microblogs and friend circles were frantically spreading the pictures. Most people took screenshots and saved them on their computers, or made them into their phone background photos.