As Pei Yi spoke, he came closer, his eyes and eyebrows showing satisfaction, and gently kissed Jiang Se on the lips.
His shirt was unbuttoned, revealing his collarbone at the collar and firm muscles below, faintly visible. The natural intimacy after marriage was even stronger than before.
Jiang Se's legs were still a little weak. When he went downstairs, he took the lunch box and studied it carefully in the kitchen. When he heard her coming downstairs, he took out a box of washed strawberries from the refrigerator, removed the plastic wrap and took a bite of one first to confirm the sourness and sweetness before feeding one into Jiang Se's mouth.
She hugged Pei Yi's waist and asked him:
"How long will it take?"
Neither of them is good at cooking, but he is better and is always willing to study hard. After finishing his work in Xijiuzhou in the future, he will be transferred back to the imperial capital and live with his family, so they will always have to cook.
When he thought of this, he felt a surge of pride in his chest. She stood on tiptoe, resting her chin on his shoulder. He turned his head and kissed her lips:
"Very quickly."
These foods were all semi-finished products. He picked out two boxes, rummaged around, took out an unopened pot, and steamed the food in it.
For Jiang Se, there is not much difference between life after marriage and life before marriage.
Pei Yi's wedding leave was only one month. He had rested for a while before the wedding. After the wedding, he returned to Xijiuzhou reluctantly. Before leaving, he wanted to take Jiang Se with him, but was stopped by Mrs. Pei.
The elders knew that the two were newlyweds, but Jiang Se also had her own things to do. In addition to her career, after marrying into the Pei family, she also had to assume the responsibilities of the Pei family's mistress.
The two-month vacation that Xia Chaoqun left for Jiang Se passed in a flash. At the beginning of January, just after New Year's Day, Jiang Se left home and officially returned to work.
Xia Chaoqun has already secured Jiang Se the endorsement of French Melovin's skincare products and high-end custom clothing. Some details have already been agreed upon. As Jiang Se has been busy with her wedding for a year, the Melovin team has revised the advertising plan again and again, and the two sides have almost reached an agreement.
Although getting the Federer watch endorsement that year was Jiang Se's first step into the fashion circle, this time being able to successfully win the Melovin high-end custom clothing endorsement has many benefits for Jiang Se.
At the "100 Years of Filmmakers" event last December, she wore a Melovin custom dress in a unique style, perfectly interpreting the feeling of elegance and luxury, which made Melovin's top management very satisfied.
Once the film festival was broadcast, when Jiang Se was giving a speech, in addition to the earrings and accessories she wore that day, the dress she wore that night also became a hot topic of discussion in the fashion circle that night.
Jiang Se’s previous endorsement results were obvious to all, and coupled with her special status, Melovin made careful and thoughtful arrangements, and the price offered was also approved by Xia Chaoqun.
Jiang Se is already very familiar with the shooting of advertisements. She is always cooperative in her work and is fast in shooting advertisements. Even though the task is heavy, after nearly half a month of shooting, the promotional brochure for dresses has been almost completed.
In the hotel, Jiang Se's rare work came to an end. Chen Shan and his friend packed her things, leaving Xia Chaoqun and Mo Anqi in the hotel room to talk to her. A nurse was doing hand care for Jiang Se. After the essential oil was rubbed on, a faint fragrance filled the air, making people feel happy and refreshed.
“The rest is the photoshoot for skincare and makeup products.”
The team has been in France for nearly a month, and it is almost mid-February. The filming of this advertisement has been completed, just in time for the French Film Festival in early March.
Jiang Se reaped great rewards from being the spokesperson for Melovin this time. In addition to receiving many Melovin products as gifts, the dresses she will wear to the subsequent film festivals will also be sponsored by Melovin.
"Melovin's skincare concept has always been plant-based. This time, for the shoot of a Melovin skincare series, the Melovin team plans to use rose petals as the theme."
While Xia Chaoqun was talking, he sent the advertising plan customized by the Melovin team to Jiang Se:
"The ordered petals have been shipped from the Netherlands, and the photo shoot is scheduled for next Monday. Just take a good rest and take good care of yourself in the next few days."
Mo Anqi was holding the skin care products given by Melovin, looking excited.
Thanks to Jiang Se, Melovin sent a lot of skin care products. She couldn't use so many herself, so she distributed a lot to the staff and team members around her. Mo Anqi has become accustomed to this situation by being with Jiang Se. From small things like various perfumes and lipsticks to big things like jewelry, handbags and brand-name accessories, Jiang Se has almost everything.
Melovin's skin care products are the most expensive in China. Mo Anqi's salary is not low, but it still hurts to buy so many. She got a lot, enough for her to use for more than half a year. She is in a good mood now, and she jokes with a smile:
"This is the biggest reason why I followed Sese and decided to work until retirement!"
She raised the mask in her hand, opened it and applied it on her face, saying:
"The smell is very pleasant. I tried it last night and it was absorbed quickly."
Xia Chaoqun ignored her. After finishing his business, he changed the subject:
"Tao Cen also arrived in France a few days ago."
Although Tao Cen has left Century Galaxy, she is still in this circle. People like her will always be the focus of everyone's attention at the slightest sign of trouble.
Mo Anqi paused in wiping her face, and Jiang Se raised his head. It was not surprising that Tao Cen went to France. After all, the French Film Festival was about to begin, and the film "Criminal Suspect" co-produced by the two would also be exhibited at the French Film Festival in pursuit of the grand prize.
Tao Cen should have taken this award very seriously. That year, both of them had their works screened at the French Film Festival, and they were both nominated in the end, but neither of them won the honor of "Best Actress". It was a pity for Jiang Se, but it should be the same for an ambitious person like Tao Cen.
But even if she wanted to come to France, it shouldn't be at this time. There were still more than 20 days before the film festival actually started, and Huo Zhiming's team hadn't moved yet.
"She comes so early?"
Jiang Se was a little curious and couldn't help asking, "It seems that she is determined to win the award this year."
Xia Chaoqun glanced at her and asked, "You don't know yet?"
"What do I know?"
She was a little surprised when she heard what Xia Chaoqun said, and asked back. Xia Chaoqun lowered her head and took a sip of the coffee in front of her. Her eyebrows were cold and her tone was flat, but the words she said were like a bomb:
"Huo Zhiming took 'Criminal Suspect' to participate in this year's French Film Festival. In the Best Actress category," she paused for a moment, raised her head, and slowly licked the water stains on her lips with her tongue, "he wrote your and Tao Cen's names."
In other words, no matter what Tao Cen and some early Chinese fans who knew about the movie "Criminal Suspect" thought before, and no matter whether Tao Cen decided that Jiang Se would be the supporting actress when he first took on the movie, the situation had been reversed at this time.
Even though the script was initially set up to focus on Shen Xunran, played by Tao Cen, Su Yi, played by Jiang Se, was just a supporting role that appeared to highlight the fearless side of her character.
But as the filming of the movie progressed, Jiang Se almost took the initiative and even suppressed Tao Cen.
No matter what the public thought before, and no matter whether some fans and the media thought this movie was centered on Tao Cen, in Huo Zhiming's heart, it was obvious that Su Yi, played by Jiang Se, was no less important than Shen Xunran, played by Tao Cen.
This situation was extremely embarrassing for Tao Cen.
She is a competitive person. At the new car launch of ELYSEES that day, in order to divert the embarrassment of Mrs. Zhou standing her up, she took the initiative to disclose the news to the media. She mentioned that Jiang Se was going to play a supporting role for her in the movie "Criminal Suspect". At that time, the movie had not been filmed yet, but it had already become a hot topic.
The concept of Tao Cen as the main character and Jiang Se as the supporting character has been deeply rooted in people's minds. Even now, many fans who are looking forward to the acting scenes between the two "goddesses" in this movie believe that Jiang Se is just an important supporting role.
The media interviewed the crew and learned that her role was not as large as Tao Cen's. If Huo Zhiming had filled in the list of two female protagonists when submitting the film for the French Film Festival, it would probably have caused another stir.
It’s no wonder that Tao Cen was anxious given such a big thing.
Jiang Se was stunned for a moment, but quickly came to his senses. Mo Anqi felt happy and wanted to laugh after hearing the good news:
"Really?"
Xia Chaoqun nodded, and Jiang Se asked:
"How did Sister Chaoqun know?"
She smiled as she watched the nurse at the side massage Jiang Se's hand, apply a thick layer of skin care products, put a hand mask on her, and then moved to another position to change the other hand. Jiang Se stared at her, silently urging her to continue with her eyes:
"Have you forgotten about Mr. Luo's investment?"
Mo Anqi looked puzzled, "Mr. Luo is investing?"
Jiang Se reacted immediately, and Mo Anqi seemed to understand, vaguely feeling that she had grasped something, but was just missing the finishing touch.
Xia Chaoqun tried to give her some advice and explained:
"Many people think that Mr. Luo's investment is a gesture of loyalty."
On that day, Tao Cen announced her withdrawal from Century Galaxy, the company that made her famous, and founded Kongzhao Media. The timing was too coincidental, and in the eyes of many people, her departure was inevitably linked to Jiang Se's popularity.
As Jiang Se rises, the two major actresses of Century Galaxy confront each other, and they will inevitably face the allocation and competition of resources.
At the French Film Festival that year, the confrontation between "Demons" and "Accident", and the competition between the two for music scores at the charity dinner held by "Times Style" had already revealed clues. The subsequent competition for ELYSEES endorsement and the vague rumors of competing to film Cesare's movie cast a veil of mystery over the relationship between the two.
When "God's Redemption" was released and Tao Cen declared independence, people would think that she ran away at this time because she might have been forced into a situation with no way out.
She was made famous by Century Galaxy and had been in Century Galaxy for many years. Now that she has ended up like this, some people will sympathize with her, and then they will feel that Jiang Se is taking advantage of her youth and aggressiveness.
At this time, Luo Yin could of course use the contract as an excuse to force her to stay.
But the person who can keep her may not be the one who can keep her heart. Tao Cen is determined to leave, so instead of breaking up with her, it is better to go with the flow.
Her request to leave was agreed, and even half of the company's employees were poached by her.
Such a situation would prevent Tao Cen from creating the illusion that he was "forced" to leave, and would also make people in the industry think that Luo Yin was generous.
Tao Cen took a group of people away, but the impact on the company was not that big. In fact, the party that leaned towards her had already shown signs of emerging, and Luo Yin had been preparing early on and had marginalized these people as much as possible. It was not yet their turn to get involved in the really important decisions.
Although there was no way to prevent them from taking away some connections, resources and customer lists, Century Galaxy had tried its best to minimize the losses.
Afterwards, Tao Cen paid a large sum of liquidated damages. She had earned a lot over the years, but this money, which bought her freedom, still hurt her greatly.
Later, she wanted to set up a company, and in order to make it run, she needed some funds to turn over. At this time, Luo Yin came forward at the right time.
In fact, no matter what people outside say, when it comes to business, Luo Yin is a businessman after all and he cannot do the kind of thing that would sacrifice himself for others.
The money he took out was exactly the amount that Tao Cen used to buy his freedom. He invested it in Tao Cen's company and gained absolute control of the right to speak and the initiative, continuing the original "master-employee" relationship between him and Tao Cen in another way.
"After all, Century Galaxy spent a lot of effort to train Tao Cen. Luo Yin is an old and cunning man. How could he just watch the cash cow run away?"
Xia Chaoqun smiled. Tao Cen was already quite smart. She had been in the industry for many years and was well versed in the tricks of the trade. She was doing very well in the business. But she was only just getting started in the game of capital. How could she possibly escape from Luo Yin's clutches
She thought she was a fish and would turn into a dragon after jumping over the Dragon Gate. From then on, she would be free to roam the vast sea and sky and would never be trapped in that pool of water again. However, she didn't know that by leaving this shallow pool, she was just jumping into another deeper pool.
"Mr. Luo knows that water flows to the lowest place, people go to the highest place, and once your wings are strong enough, you will eventually fly." She looked at Mo Anqi and said these words to Mo Anqi:
"Let's not talk about the stars who need to rely on the company to survive, but people like Tao Cen who are ambitious and capable will have trouble flying. If you want to control them at this time, you can't just suppress them blindly. Instead, you have to find another way to keep them under control."
Agreeing to Tao Cen to take people away was the first step. It was a way of maintaining friendship and doing a favor. Once people told others about it, who would not praise Luo Yin for his broad-mindedness
But what is the reality? Tao Cen paid a heavy price to redeem himself and set up a company, but he was still held hostage by Luo Yin.
The money she invested was the money she used to buy her freedom. Luo Yin was the majority shareholder in the company and had the right to interfere with her decision-making. (To be continued)