Forcing Me to Be Reborn?!

Chapter 93: Chapter 84 Filming in Progress

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The night was deep and silent, as Cheng Zhu lay in bed; he’d just finalized tomorrow’s shooting schedule with Ye Zi.

As usual, they set the time for the afternoon.

He didn’t chat further with Ye Zi, maintaining his usual relatively indifferent demeanor.

Anyway, what she needed wasn’t the pleasure of conversation.

Before sleep, Cheng Zhu scrolled through his WeChat Moments.

It didn’t take long for him to see the photo Ye Zi posted.

In the picture, she wore yoga pants, performing a booty exercise, and took a mirror selfie that captured her peachy behind.

Who could withstand such years of perfection in just one behind?

This Moments post was visible only to Cheng Zhu.

She was telling him that she’d been keeping up with her figure maintenance, a dedicated QQ model with no slacking off lately.

But the caption she gave this photo was: “Reporting recent work to the boss.”

The boss, needless to say, was him.

As if the waist and hips she’d toned were for the boss’s use.

“Autumn has arrived, and it’s the season for the leaves to turn yellow,” Cheng Zhu couldn’t help but sigh.

…

At one in the afternoon, Cheng Zhu met Ye Zi at the hotel, then they took the elevator up to the hotel’s suite.

“There’s no need to wear a mask, is your bare face so unbearable?” Cheng Zhu said with a laugh, looking at Ye Zi in full gear.

He had specially instructed her yesterday not to come with make-up on, to do her make-up in the room instead.

“My bare face is indeed somewhat lacking,” Ye Zi candidly admitted.

She truly was the type of beauty that required artificial embellishment.

If it weren’t for her high compliance towards Cheng Zhu, she wouldn’t even be willing to come without make-up.

“You need to change up your makeup style later; I’ll tell you what to change, try to see if you can do it,” said Cheng Zhu, looking at her masked face.

Ye Zi’s usual makeup was rather heavy, so today it needed to be toned down a bit.

Especially with regards to the eye make-up, they had to put serious effort into it today.

The eyes are one of the key features that accentuate one’s persona.

As it turns out, this was the first time Ye Zi was doing her makeup in front of a man, strictly following his instructions.

The method he described wasn’t the type Ye Zi would normally choose for her everyday aesthetic.

But this mandatory dominance, the arbitrary manipulation of her facial features, the experience of having no say over her own body… it was just too pleasurable for her!

Cheng Zhu had his own expertise when it came to packaging a woman.

After all, in his past life, he ran a live streaming company and had numerous female streamers under his banner.

Each streamer’s style was determined internally by the company, with many details tailored to fit the persona, and make-up and outfits were naturally a crucial part of this.

Sometimes even the voice they spoke with would need systematic practice within the company.

By the time Ye Zi finished her makeup, she was almost disoriented looking at herself in the mirror.

“It really doesn’t look like me,” she said, still a bit uncomfortable.

After switching to the new product, Cheng Zhu began dictating her posing for the photo shoot.

Her own arms and legs were being directed by him, manipulated like a mannequin, yet she found herself feeling ticklish and utterly indulged in it.

“Stay like that, then look up, yes, don’t make your eyes look so charming.”

“No, your eyes seem to be brimming with tears, snap out of it, understand the vibe of Little Lu, right?”

“Give me a look of bewilderment… come on, bewildered, not full of understanding!”

Cheng Zhu knew that today’s shoot would be tough, but he didn’t expect it to be this draining.

Because of the drastic style change from before, Ye Zi had to start adapting anew.

Previously, since it was Cheng Zhu personally behind the camera, and they were shooting QQ products, Ye Zi could just play herself, simply put—be herself.

In front of Cheng Zhu, she was like porcelain fresh out of the kiln, beautifully crafted!

You don’t need to think about how to train her, tell her how to shoot; occasionally, you might even have to ask her to tone it down a bit.

This time, she couldn’t quite grasp the essence temporarily.

“Maybe it’d have been easier to have Guan Jiayue do the shoot,” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

But her figure was too poor, not even considered; he didn’t know how to Photoshop that.

Fortunately, after shooting one set of new products, Ye Zi started to grasp what Cheng Zhu really wanted.

“Do you want me to look a bit more innocent, harmless, and untouched?” she asked.

Cheng Zhu nodded.

“But this is a shoot for QQ products,” Ye Zi was a bit perplexed.

“Just do as I say,” Cheng Zhu responded indifferently, too lazy to explain.

“Oh,” Ye Zi immediately complied and nodded.

As the shoot progressed, Cheng Zhu began introducing props.

“I brought some props; they should help enhance the shoot,” Cheng Zhu said.

“Ah? Props? I… I’m actually not very good with this kind of thing.”

“They’re not the kind of props you’re thinking of.”

Cheng Zhu took out a piece of cake and started smearing the frosting on her face.

After finishing, he was incredibly satisfied.

“Yes, that’s it. Snap it quickly before the cream starts to melt and needs reapplying,” Cheng Zhu urged.

Ye Zi looked at Cheng Zhu holding the camera, now aiming the lens at her, and she spontaneously stuck out her tender red tongue, then curved the tip upwards as if licking the cream that had landed on the tip of her nose.

After licking it, she didn’t immediately swallow, but slowly lowered her tongue and performed some tongue tricks.

Only after that did she slowly draw the cream into her mouth.

Cheng Zhu: “…”

Motherfucker, you just had to show off before shooting?

God damn it, the cream is supposed to melt in your mouth; what’s with the swallowing reflex?

After that smooth little combo, her face suddenly took on a bewildered, naive expression, as if nothing had happened, and she was just craving the taste.

“Damn, I knew you were quick-witted, but I didn’t expect this level,” Cheng Zhu thought to himself.

“Okay, good performance. We’re short on time today, so no breaks in between, let’s finish this shoot and I’ll give you a reward,” he said.

…

Sanjuan Savings, a certain city.

The boss of[Miaomiao Flagship Store], Li Mantang, was sitting in the office having a small meeting with his company’s operations team.

Li Mantang had always felt threatened by a store named[Persistent Visit], worried that one day it could threaten his shop’s ranking in the same category.

[Miaomiao Flagship Store] is currently second in its category, and the strategic goal for these past two years has been to maintain second place while contending for first.

Don’t fucking end up being overtaken by that store and drop to third!

They were one of the earliest to plagiarize the “stepmother skirt.”

In Taobao’s Direct Drive, they had been aggressively competing over the stepmother skirt keyword.

Yet despite that, they were caught off guard by the “Unity of Man and Painting” tactic from[Persistent Visit].

Motherfucker, we’re still playing tricks within the platform, and you just skip outside to pull off stunts?

What’s more outrageous is that it became an instant hit! A jump to internet fame!

If[Persistent Visit]had been slower to break through, they would just continue copying.

Who the hell knows you’re the original and we’re the copycats.

As long as we invest heavily, promote aggressively, and seize various positions, people will see us as an established shop and will more likely think we’re the originators.

Maybe one day, the stepmother skirt, originally your shop’s product, will become ours with proper maneuvering!

—Whoever snatches it owns it!

But now, it’s different.

[Persistent Visit] broke through the circle because of[No-Fap Bar], and became a meme online.

Now, how do some idiot netizens play the meme?

“No-Fap Check-In Day 1.”

“No-Fap Check-In Day 2.”

“…”

“Heh heh! Brothers, let me show you something nice!”

Then bam! They’d post the comics from the[Persistent Visit]shop.

More and more of these internet memes were popping up, and numerous foolhardy netizens began to create mischief spontaneously.

Li Mantang and the operations team could only feel: “They’re not playing by the conventional rules at all.”

For a moment, they couldn’t even tell if the shop was just lucky to have caught fire.

After all, some things on the internet, whether they blow up or not, really seem to be a matter of fate.

But starting with the creation of a taboo product name like the stepmother skirt, then pioneering a new comic drawing style, and leading the market with it… it doesn’t seem like a coincidence! It must be acknowledged that this shop has something special.

After half a day of discussion, the conclusion they arrived at was: they still had to copy!

They had recently been desperately searching for illustrators to pair up comics with their batch of new releases.

If only they knew who[Persistent Visit]’s illustrator was, they would even consider offering a high price to bring that person over to exclusively draw for them; they intended to go all in!

This process did end up delaying the launch of their new releases by several days.

During this time,[Miaomiao Flagship Store] was under a lot of pressure.

After all, they had previously burned through a lot of money, especially in competing for the “stepmother skirt” keyword.

Moreover, their pricing was even lower than[Persistent Visit], thinning their margins even more.

But the other shop’s sales kept sky-rocketing, unstoppable.

After becoming an internet-famous shop, many customers stopped searching for the stepmother skirt and instead directly searched for[Persistent Visit], focusing on the shop itself.

Damn it, they were so jealous it itched!

Shops usually announce upcoming new releases beforehand, informing everyone about the date for new items.

[Miaomiao Flagship Store] has been keeping an eye on[Persistent Visit]’s new releases.

Hurry up and get some of our new products out before they launch theirs.

At the moment, the operations team was still consoling Mr. Li.

“Mr. Li, this kind of external site traffic, although scary at first, might not last long.”

“People are just looking for something novel.”

“My thought is, since we’ve already spent so much money, we need to keep pushing through this period.”

“Soon, their popularity will surely decline.”

“At that time, it’ll be about us truly competing on the platform. With our deep roots and advantages, we can’t possibly lose. We should try to take as many of these popular items as possible.”

“You know, external traffic is inherently unstable and uncertain, and the final conversion rate of orders is somewhat luck-based.”

“Our QQ products naturally have many rules and restrictions; it’s easy to violate policies when marketing.”

“Dancing in shackles, I don’t believe they can keep pulling off impressive performances every time!”

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