When Su Yurou first entered the live-streaming circle, Lin Qian had taken her to several red-carpet events to help boost her profile. Back then, Su Yurou’s attitude toward Lin Qian was both docile and humble.
However, when the two ran into each other just now after getting out of their cars, Su Yurou acted as if she had suddenly gone blind. She completely ignored Lin Qian, instead pulling a few other, more popular young celebrities aside to chat.
"Uncomfortable?" Lu Yuanzheng walked over, holding an umbrella.
"Wanting success has never been anything to be ashamed of." Lin Qian’s mouth curled slightly. "It’s a good thing I changed outfits today. Otherwise, if I’d dragged mud all over the place, it would have been hard to explain to the brand when returning the clothes."
"Go on, it’s your turn." Lu Yuanzheng took Lin Qian’s coat and watched her walk all the way to the end of the red carpet.
She could finally sit down and rest for a moment. Lin Qian followed the seating chart Lu Yuanzheng had given her to find her spot.
Only to find someone already sitting there.
"Excuse me, you’re in the wrong seat."
"Oh, who’s talking? I can’t hear a thing," the male influencer with the obviously overfilled face turned his head to snap back.
Lin Qian noticed that the filler in his nose was about to burst through the skin, looking like a greasy loaf of bread that was starting to sprout.
"If you're deaf, see a doctor. This isn't a handicap-accessible seat."
Lin Qian placed her bag on the chair, but the "Bread Face" reached out and shoved her bag onto the floor.
"Oops, where did this trash come from?" He even nudged her eyebrow pencil, which had rolled onto the ground, with the toe of his shoe, covering his mouth in a performative display of shock.
Many celebrities had already taken their seats. Thanks to a recommendation from the Deep Space Matrix, Su Yurou’s seat was a row in front of Lin Qian’s.
Hearing the commotion, Su Yurou turned her head. After making eye contact with Lin Qian, she quickly turned back around, whispering something to the young celebrity beside her, and the two of them burst into laughter.
It was a good thing she hadn’t forgotten her basic training; the information she had memorized earlier was already proving useful.
"You’re the relationship streamer Kevin, aren’t you? Your seat is in the sixth row, and this is the third. Shall I go ask the show coordinator to clarify the situation?"
"You think I’m afraid of you?" Kevin stood up.
"So what if you married into a wealthy family? Your era is over. With no fans, no traffic, and no husband backing you up, you’d better figure out how to compete for status with the streamers under your husband’s company."
Lin Qian suddenly trembled.
It wasn't out of fear, but muscle memory from the many times she had experienced situations like this.
It was the thrill of an impending battle, where even the mere imagination of victory could make her skin prickle.
"Are you gay? Are you a bottom or a top?" Lin Qian narrowed her eyes.
"None of your damn business." Kevin’s voice was much quieter now.
"Let me apologize first. I have no intention of discriminating against any sexual orientation. All my hostility is directed solely at Mr. Kevin here."
Lin Qian might as well have had a disclaimer tattooed on her forehead.
She extended a finger and pointed it right between Kevin’s eyes.
Because she was so close, Kevin’s attempt to focus his eyes only made him look even less intelligent.
"What’s your name on your ID? Zhang Jianguo or Wang Qiangjun?"
"Judging by your reaction just now, don't tell me you’re too cowardly to even come out to your own parents?"
"With such a shallow experience of love, why do you think you’re qualified to give advice on the marriages of heterosexual couples?"
"And I forgot to say—you’re the ugliest bottom I’ve ever seen."
"Besides being able to fart, poop, and leak mysterious fluids, do you really think that by running an account under the banner of 'Friend to Women,' you can actually pop out a baby just like a woman can?"
To kill a snake, you must strike it in the heart. If you’re going to curse someone, don’t start unless you’re going to pierce their lungs.
Bread Face’s nose was crooked with rage. Just as he was about to unleash a string of profanities at Lin Qian, the show coordinator rushed over.
Lin Qian smiled and waved at her.
"Hello, my seat has been taken by this Mr. Kevin."
Stealing seats is a major taboo at fashion shows; it is an open provocation to the brand. However, for the show coordinator, her priority was simply calming the situation.
"I am so sorry, Ms. Lin. It is our..."
"I don't need anyone's apology. Considering he seems to have some issues with his brain, I’ll accept being reseated."
It was rare to run into such an easy-going celebrity outside of the cameras.
The coordinator let out a long sigh. "One moment, please. Let me go ask and see where there are open seats."
"One small thing," Lin Qian pointed at the eyebrow pencil lying on the floor with its cap slightly cracked.
"Mr. Kevin used this brand’s eyebrow pencil to vent his anger just now. I wanted to touch up my makeup later, so if there’s a spare one in the back, could you please bring me one? Dark brown."
The coordinator looked at the wreckage on the floor, then turned to look at the ashen-faced Kevin. "Sir, the show is about to start. Please sit down and refrain from shouting."
"As for you, Ms. Lin," she squeezed out a professional smile, "I will arrange to have a new one sent to you immediately."
Two meters away, a man in a suit pressed the camera-flip button on his phone.
"Mr. Gu, that is the situation on-site. Should I contact the brand?"
"............"
"Understood. I will handle it immediately."
Just as the influencer Kevin continued to occupy Lin Qian’s seat, enthusiastically social-climbing to make more connections, he was abruptly "invited" out by several tall, burly, dark-skinned security guards.
Thus ended his one-third-of-a-day tour of the Paris fashion show—the last one of his life.
The coordinator hadn't returned yet. Lin Qian, whose feet were aching from not being used to such high heels, picked up the items scattered on the floor, stuffed them into her bag, and sat down to rest.
An eyebrow pencil was extended toward her. "Use mine for now?"
Lin Qian turned her head. It was Yang Yan, the rising starlet whom Lu Yuanzheng had repeatedly warned her was difficult to deal with.
Before leaving, she had worried about the rain, so her makeup artist had applied three layers of sealant to her eyebrows; there was no way they would smudge.
But whether or not she touched up her brows was a minor detail. The key was that she needed to acknowledge this rare gesture of goodwill since her return to the spotlight.
"Thank you," Lin Qian said, taking it and pretending to touch up her brows in her compact mirror.