CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 51: BECOMING THE DIVA’S PHOTOGRAPHER?

Xia Ling suddenly perked up: "Xingyu, the roses at your house are absolutely beautiful, even Ziheng said so! Can I come over to your place often in the future?"

Su Xingyu felt a headache approaching; if this talkative girl visited often, the household might never have peace.

However, faced with her expectant gaze, Su Xingyu inexplicably nodded: "Sure, but don’t climb the walls again, be careful not to fall."

The girl cheered: "I won’t fall." Completely forgetting who had recently fallen flat on her face.

She affectionately held Su Xingyu’s hand: "Xingyu, you’re so nice, recently Ziheng’s been busy with work and doesn’t play with me, I’m dying of boredom alone! By the way, what do you do, how come you stay at home every day? Are you like those socialites or ladies who don’t work?"

That question hit Su Xingyu’s struggle right on the mark.

"I’m just taking a break at home temporarily," she said softly, "actually, I’m a photographer." Even if Lu Shifeng forbade her from working, so what? No one could prohibit her desire to touch this world with her own hands. She would never forget she’s a photographer; even if trapped, she would persist.

"A photographer?" Xia Ling was delighted, "You’re a photographer? That’s wonderful, can you teach me how to take selfies? They all say my selfies are ugly, sob sob."

Su Xingyu found it incredulous: "You’re a big star, you still take your own pictures?"

People like Xia Ling probably have a dedicated team catering to them everywhere they go; even posting on Weibo likely involves makeup artists, photographers, and lighting technicians all together, why would she need this?

But Xia Ling said, "I just want to learn how to take selfies! It’s so much fun. Xingyu, can you teach me how to take selfies with two people? The photographer I usually use is a guy, Ziheng doesn’t let me get too close to him." When taking selfies with two people, you have to get really close; evidently, Xia Ling had some barriers in this regard.

Su Xingyu felt a slight stir in her heart.

Ziheng?

The frequency with which this girl mentioned that name was strikingly high.

"Pei Ziheng?" she asked. Although she had just moved in recently, she had some understanding of the neighborhood residents; besides Lu Shifeng, the most prominent figure in the area was Pei Ziheng, the Chairman of Emperor Entertainment Group, a business legend in his early twenties. It was said that Xia Ling was a girl he adopted.

Xia Ling nodded vigorously: "Yeah, I want to take selfies with Ziheng, but they always turn out unattractive."

Su Xingyu glanced at her a bit longer, pondering what exactly their relationship was. Who could blame her for overthinking it; if she didn’t know about the adoption, merely observing Xia Ling’s affectionate manner when mentioning that man, one would definitely assume they were a happy and sweet couple. However, that’s their personal matter.

The ambiguous thought lingered briefly in Su Xingyu’s mind before fading away, she asked Xia Ling: "Do you have a phone? I’ll teach you."

Idle anyway, utilizing her photography skills to help someone pass the time wasn’t a bad idea.

Wasn’t Lu Shifeng forbidding her to take photos? She wanted to see if he could remove her from her job at Cloud, but could he deal with a girl under the Emperor Chairman’s wing?

With a bit of spite, she taught Xia Ling meticulously.

Xia Ling was very smart; once she seriously learned something, she was quick to master it. Enthusiastically, she pestered Su Xingyu for many tips and, within a few days, returned: "Xingyu, Xingyu, what you taught me really works, the pictures I took with Ziheng look so much better now! By the way, are you interested in being my exclusive photographer? The one I’m using now is awful, can’t take good pictures like you do."

Su Xingyu was taken aback, the invitation was rather significant.

Don’t be fooled by this girl’s seeming naivety, climbing walls and falling; in the entertainment circle, what’s her status? Let’s put it this way, her singing was hailed as a heavenly voice rare in a century, every news article could make front-page headlines, her popularity broke the Guinness World Record a year ago; if she claimed to be second, no one would dare claim first.

For such a super star, the position of her photographer must be highly coveted, many would fight for it.

Why was it given to her with just a few words?

Su Xingyu was somewhat tempted, but she smiled and politely declined: "Thank you, I’m not suitable."

"How are you not suitable?" Xia Ling hadn’t expected someone to refuse her, very displeased, "Do you find me not good-looking? Or is my singing not good enough? How could you possibly find a more outstanding shooting subject than me? To refuse to shoot me, what are you thinking, humph." The girl, now upset, turned her body aside in a bit of a huff.

Su Xingyu comforted her like a child: "Because you’re too beautiful, that’s why it’s not suitable. Shooting you lacks challenge, my goal is to help more people who are not as beautiful." This indeed was one of her reasons for declining, but more importantly, she had heard how busy an exclusive photographer for a big star was — nearly 24-hour chaos following the star wherever they flew, tough and tiring, not to mention having no personal time or space to shoot anything else, seeming glamorous, but in reality, the photographic style would narrow down more and more.

She didn’t want that.

Xia Ling was still unhappy, Su Xingyu coaxed her gently with soft words.

After much coaxing and making her happy again, the girl looked at her with sparkling eyes: "So, Xingyu, what have you been shooting lately?"

Talking about this made Su Xingyu bitter, her expression dimmed: "Haven’t you seen me idle at home lately? I’m under house arrest." Both being young girls, after chatting back and forth, they became acquainted, Su Xingyu roughly explained how Lu Shifeng didn’t allow her to take pictures and had her confined at home.

Xia Ling was indignant: "He’s too much! How can he be so unreasonable?! How is there such a bad man in the world, Xingyu, divorce him!"

Su Xingyu hadn’t yet spoken when she heard a man’s voice coming from the hallway: "Divorce?"

Her heart skipped a beat, and she turned her head in unison with Xia Ling to see Lu Shifeng.

The man had returned home at some unknown time, the usual black suit jacket had been taken off, and he was only wearing a white shirt with the collar slightly open, exposing a small patch of firm and well-built chest. He looked at Xia Ling with extreme coldness, like he was looking at some sort of monster about to be eliminated.

Xia Ling was so frightened that she shrank behind Su Xingyu, muttering softly: "So, this is your husband, huh, he’s scary."

Su Xingyu really wanted to cover her mouth, Xiaoling, I know my husband is scary, but don’t make things worse, okay? Doing this will only make him scarier...

Sure enough, they heard Lu Shifeng say, "Miss Xia, isn’t it? It doesn’t seem very nice to intrude into someone’s home. Please leave. Don’t come again, I will have high-voltage wires put on the courtyard wall."