After Sharing Senses with the Paranoid CEO, the Infamous Starlet was Forced into Pampering Chapter 25
Chapter 25: A Personal Demonstration
“That’s exactly what I’ve been wishing for,” Xia Mu smiled, lifting his eyes. “I’ll just be troubling Yi-jie, then.”
It was only after looking at the trending searches yesterday that Xia Mu realized how difficult it would be to just “wash himself clean,” let alone propel himself to true stardom.
But since Yi-jie hadn’t given up, he definitely wouldn’t give up either.
Over the two-hour journey, Xia Mu thoroughly memorized both sets of commentary in less than half an hour. He even proactively suggested shooting both proposals so they could see which one yielded better results before finalizing it.
This efficiency and attitude left Xu Wenyi secretly clicking her tongue in amazement. Having worked in the industry for over a decade, she had managed quite a few artists, but she had rarely seen someone with such outstanding capabilities as Xia Mu.
If he was this fast with the commentary, wouldn’t he be the same with script dialogue? Xia Mu was naturally born to eat from this bowl of rice.
Upon arriving at the beach, a professional team determined where the probability of rip currents was highest, and the group hurried over to film. The shoot for the first proposal was very simple; after the camera crew framed the shot, Xia Mu stood in front of the lens and delivered the commentary. It just needed to be spliced together in post-production.
Proposal two required Xia Mu to change into swim trunks and personally demonstrate it. On the way there, professionals had already explained to Xia Mu how to escape, and several lifeguards were already stationed by the shore before filming began. If anything looked wrong with Xia Mu, they would immediately go in for the rescue.
After changing into his swim trunks in the van, Xia Mu stepped out wearing a long down jacket over them. Once he walked onto the sand, he took off the down jacket and handed it to the temporary assistant beside him.
The winter wind was piercing to the bone. The biting gale sliced across his exposed skin like an ice blade, instantly raising a layer of goosebumps. Xia Mu couldn’t help but clench his fists. His rapid breaths condensed into puffs of white mist before his eyes, only to be quickly torn apart and swept away by the frigid wind.
The winter sea had lost its summer azure, adopting a leaden gray hue instead. The waves churned, rolling up massive swaths of sea foam, crashing fiercely against the shore with a dull, thunderous roar.
Xia Mu was freezing so much that his teeth couldn’t stop chattering. Xu Wenyi walked to his side with a worried expression:
“Xia Mu, the first proposal’s version is already good enough. The weather is too cold right now; don’t go in.”
“Yi-jie, since we’re already here, shooting one more version is no big deal.” Xia Mu smiled at her.
“This isn’t just about ‘already being here.’ What if you freeze and catch a cold…”
“But I haven’t even tried yet, right? Don’t worry, just treat it as me experiencing winter swimming.”
Although Xia Mu’s lips were curved in a smile, he actually had no confidence in his heart. He didn’t know how much he could endure. Just standing on the beach, he already wanted to hug himself and curl into a ball, let alone stretch his body out to swim.
Furthermore, speaking of swimming, Xia Mu had actually taken lessons, but he could only swim a lap or two in a pool. He was completely clueless in the sea. Just like last time, his mind had gone completely blank; no matter how hard he swam, he couldn’t reach the shore.
But now Xia Mu understood. Back then, he should have swum parallel to the shore in the direction of the breaking waves, rather than panicking and fighting against the ocean current.
Xia Mu took a deep breath and looked toward the camera with a smiling expression. He forcefully endured the bone-piercing cold, his voice trembling slightly from the chill, yet he clearly explained everything about rip currents.
Then, the professionals pointed out the direction of the rip current to Xia Mu. Gritting his teeth, Xia Mu strode over. The moment he stepped into the seawater, Xia Mu realized the cold he felt on the shore was nothing; being soaked in the seawater was the true bone-piercing chill.
Every inch of his muscles tensed and quivered in the sea. Xia Mu tried his best to open his arms, swimming toward the edge of the rip current. He had just found his footing when the fine sand beneath his feet was suddenly sucked away. A stream of icy water silently wrapped tightly around Xia Mu’s legs, dragging him outward.
Even though he was merely recreating the scene from the day before yesterday, Xia Mu still instinctively panicked. The surrounding seawater suddenly grew colder, as if ice water was pouring straight into his internal organs.
A familiar sense of suffocation continuously rushed over him. Xia Mu closed his eyes, intending to recall the maneuvers the professionals had taught him, but Li Yan’s tall and straight figure suddenly surfaced in his mind.
The warm embrace, the powerful arms, the soft lips, the wet and slippery tongue, and that uniquely pleasant scent belonging to him.
Xia Mu’s heart pounded wildly. He didn’t know if it was due to the terror of being swept away by the sea, or because of the sudden fluttering in his heart.
But the seawater was too icy. Xia Mu didn’t want to shoot multiple takes. Recalling the essential techniques, he fought with all his might to swim parallel to the coastline. Just as he was nearing exhaustion, the force of the water current finally dropped sharply.
Xia Mu struggled to swim back to the shore, eventually dropping to his knees in the shallows, letting the freezing, fine sand slip through his fingers.
The temporary assistant nearby quickly draped a bath towel over Xia Mu’s shoulders and used another towel to help wipe the seawater off his body.
Li Yanzhou had just finished a meeting. After Qin Yu completed the meeting minutes, he routinely reported Xia Mu’s schedule to him:
“He’s going to the beach for a shoot this afternoon. Calculating the time, they should have just started filming. President Li, should we head over…?”
“Head over? He’s almost done shooting, what is there to see? No. Just send me a copy of the final video… Actually, forget it. Send me everything regarding Xia Mu,” Li Yanzhou said, taking a sip of his coffee.
He had just had an accident at the beach yesterday; would something happen during today’s shoot? He wondered if Xia Mu would be okay facing all of that alone.
Qin Yu’s foot hadn’t even stepped out of the office when he heard Li Yanzhou suddenly say:
“Prepare the car.”
“Where are you going, President Li?” Qin Yu asked almost reflexively.
The corners of Li Yanzhou’s mouth stiffened for a moment. “Where is Xia Mu?”
“Understood. I will inform the driver to get ready; we leave immediately.” Qin Yu grasped the situation in a second.
As they were nearing the beach, Li Yanzhou suddenly felt a wave of bone-piercing chill. Even with his excellent physical constitution, he couldn’t help but shiver.
“Xia Mu needs to go into the water for this shoot?” Li Yanzhou’s voice could hardly conceal his shock.
“He shouldn’t? Teacher Xu said there were two proposals for the shoot. They should be using the one where he only explains without entering the water.”
When Xu Wenyi had spoken to him about it, she only mentioned worrying about Xia Mu having psychological trauma. Li Yanzhou had assumed he would only need to stand on the beach.
“What was the other proposal?”
“A personal demonstration.”
As soon as those words left Qin Yu’s mouth, Li Yanzhou felt as if his brain had suddenly exploded with a boom.
“It’s winter, the temperature is already below freezing! It’s not like the weather in Sanya where the temperature was suitable. What was Xu Wenyi thinking, letting him use the second proposal?”
Qin Yu was instantly flustered as well. “That shouldn’t be the case. It’s so cold; how could they possibly let Mr. Xia demonstrate it?”
“Even if we ignore the weather, he just nearly drowned the day before yesterday. Ren Zhilin even said he needed to be observed for another three days.” Li Yanzhou rubbed the center of his brows, feeling a headache coming on.
“President Li, I’ll confirm with Teacher Xu. They might not necessarily be using the second proposal…”
“No need.” Li Yanzhou let out a shudder. His body was explicitly telling him that Xia Mu had indeed gone into the water.
Before Li Yanzhou could even adapt to the chill, an even more piercing cold swept over his entire body. Li Yanzhou felt all his muscles go completely rigid.