After My Rebirth, My Husband Pampers Me Everyday!

Chapter 155: DOES THAT NOT EMBARRASS YOU EVEN A LITTLE?

Guiying looked at him. "I think Shao Mingye knows his brief."

Quinn smiled. "Of course. I just thought since we’re shooting together, we should look like we’re in the same space."

"We are in the same space," Guiying said. "That’s what the camera is for."

Bai Zichen made another quiet sound.

Shao Mingye raised his camera again. "Second position. Mr. Tang, move left. Quinn, stay."

They moved.

When Shao Mingye was adjusting his lens, Quinn lowered his voice so only Guiying could hear. "You really are stunning with the blonde. I can see why he likes you."

Guiying kept his eyes on the middle distance.

"Must be the blue eyes," Quinn continued. "He always did have a type. Shame it never lasts."

Guiying turned and looked at him directly, then looked back at the camera. "Hm."

He filed the comment away. It didn’t hurt. People who said things like that usually revealed more about themselves than about anyone else, and Quinn had just done that.

"Ready," Shao Mingye said.

Guiying faced the camera and gave it exactly what it needed. Whatever was happening beside him stopped mattering.

In front of a lens, Guiying didn’t perform. He became present in a way that pulled focus without trying. Shao Mingye’s camera followed him across every setup while Quinn’s entourage watched from the edge of the studio, keeping their expressions neutral.

By the third setup, Quinn had stopped trying to talk to him. By the fifth, he had stopped looking at him altogether.

During the break, Jiang Wenxi caught Guiying’s eye and gave him a small nod that said everything without words. Guiying nodded back and reached for his water.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He glanced down and saw Liuxian’s name.

"How’s the shoot going?" the message read.

Guiying typed back quickly. "Interesting company."

The reply came almost immediately. "Quinn?"

"Yes," Guiying answered.

"Do you need me to make a call?"

Guiying paused for a second, then wrote, "No. I have it handled."

"I know you do," Liuxian sent back. "Call me when you finish."

Guiying tucked the phone away, a small smile at the corner of his mouth that no one else saw. Shao Mingye called the next setup. Across the studio, Quinn was watching him again with that fixed pleasant expression.

Guiying walked past him without slowing, took his position, and let the camera find him.

The shoot wrapped up at half past three.

Shao Mingye said "that’s a wrap" and set his camera down and the studio exhaled.

Quinn’s entourage converged on him immediately and Quinn accepted it without acknowledgment, already scrolling through his phone, already done with the room.

Or so it seemed.

Guiying was at the styling station handing his last look back to Lin Yansu when he heard it.

"It’s funny," Quinn said, to Xu Zimo, loudly enough for the room. "How some people think a pretty face and a rich boyfriend is a personality."

Xu Zimo laughed. "Right? Like that’s supposed to be impressive."

"TongShu is really scraping the bottom these days," Shen Ruihan said, not bothering to lower his voice. "Anyone with a Liu Corporation credit card can walk in here apparently."

"Don’t be mean," Quinn said, with the tone of someone who absolutely wanted him to continue. "He’s trying his best."

"Is he though?" Lin Zekai said. "Because from where I was standing Shao Mingye spent three hours shooting one person and it wasn’t Quinn."

"That’s what happens when you come with connections instead of talent," Xu Zimo said. "The photographer feels obligated."

"Obligated," Shen Ruihan repeated, nodding. "That’s exactly the word."

"I almost feel bad," Quinn said pleasantly, still not looking up from his phone. "Imagine needing a man’s name just to stand in a room. Some Omegas are just built that way. Can’t help it. Not everyone can make it on their own."

"The blonde is a bit much too," Cao Yifan said from beside Quinn’s styling kit, not looking up. "It’s giving, trying to be something you’re not."

"When you have nothing real to offer," Shen Ruihan said, "you have to use what you have."

Quinn smiled and said nothing, which was its own kind of statement.

Lan Qiuyue had stopped moving entirely, eyes fixed on the floor.

Bai Zichen had gone very still beside the equipment table, his jaw tight.

"He booked this shoot on his own merit," Bai Zichen said, his voice completely flat. "TongShu chose him. Nobody did him any favours."

Quinn looked at him with the patient amusement of someone who found the interruption charming in its futility. "Did I ask you?"

"You were loud enough for the entire room," Bai Zichen said. "So yes, actually, you did."

"Bai Zichen." Jiang Wenxi’s voice came from across the room, low and warning.

Quinn turned back to Xu Zimo with a small smile. "Cute. The staff defending the boss’s boyfriend." He tilted his head. "Must be nice, walking into a room and having everyone fall over themselves for you before you’ve done a single thing worth falling over." A pause, still pleasant, still scrolling. "Some of us had to actually work for that."

Guiying finished putting on his last ring.

He turned around.

The room went quiet.

Quinn looked at him with that fixed pleasant smile, waiting, and Guiying looked back at him for a long unhurried moment, taking complete inventory and finding the total unimpressive.

"Quinn," he said pleasantly. "How long have you been in this industry?"

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Six years."

"Six years," Guiying said. "And the best use you’ve found for your time is standing in a room full of people who have to work with both of us, talking about someone else’s career. Not your work. Not your shoot. Mine." He paused. "Does that not embarrass you even a little?"

Quinn’s smile didn’t move.

"Some Omegas spend their whole careers trying to prove they’re different from everyone else by tearing down the ones around them," Guiying continued, unhurried. "They think it makes them look strong." He looked at Quinn directly. "It doesn’t. It just shows everyone in the room exactly what you’re afraid of."

Quinn opened his mouth.

"And for the record," Guiying said, "I booked this shoot on my own. Whatever I have outside of this studio had nothing to do with that." He tilted his head slightly, his voice dropping into something quieter and considerably more dangerous. "And if you ever open your mouth about me again, I’ll make sure the only thing left of your career is the memory of it."

The smile on Quinn’s face didn’t disappear.

But something behind it did.

He looked at Guiying for a long moment, then picked up his coat and said to his entourage, "Let’s go."