YueRui

@Wang Xingyue The more Ricky thought about it, the more upset he felt. He only wanted to empathize with his father and help out in whatever way he could, since there was already a limit to what he could do for his father's campaign, but instead he was brushed off with such harsh words. However, on occasion, his father would talk to his sister about his work. It was so unfair. If Ricky was given a chance, he was sure he'd be able to understand, too. Although days passed, the words his father said to him bounced around in his mind, refusing to give Ricky a second to himself.

He barely registered that the floating brown bag in front of him after a while in the car was for him. Whatever Xingyue said to him moments before was just garbled speech. Moving at the speed of a turtle, Ricky reached out for the bag, peeled apart the opening of the bag, and took a sniff. "I didn't even ask for this," he said petulantly. He eased it half out the bag anyway to bite eat, taking bites that couldn't even rival a mouse's. "Is there extra caramel in my latte today?"

@Shen Quanrui Once the intermittent task of capturing a pawn of the opposing faction was over, Xingyue had to wipe the few dust patches off his pants and then return to work the next day as the social media manager slash errand boy. Right when he arrived to pick Ricky up in the morning though, Xingyue could tell there was something different in Ricky's mood. He looked off, a little glum even. It definitely wasn't the usual haughty mood that Xingyue was greeted with every other morning.

It brought Xingyue great joy to see this, since that also meant Ricky wasn't barking orders at him like he was a dog. When they arrived at the cafe to pick up Ricky's coffee though, the younger still looked downcast, which Xingyue had noticed the entire time in the car ride. The little prince was probably sulking about his latest video not getting enough views or something along those lines. While he went inside to pick up the usual order, Xingyue had a moment of realization. Now was an opportunity to get on Ricky's good side a bit, and hopefully use this opportunity to cheer him up while also gaining his trust. At least that would get him a step closer towards the Shen Manor entrance. Xingyue came out of the cafe with an extra brown baggie in his hands that day, handing it over in the car. "Here, this is for you," he said, reaching behind the driver's seat to hand over the usual latte and a pizza-styled pretzel.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky's father was in a bad mood. He was rarely in a good mood, but it was even more rare he was in a /bad/ bad mood—the type you should keep to yourself. He didn't keep it to himself. Since he received a call in the middle of dinner, presumably with bad news, he returned to the table with a mouth full of curses, full of anger rather than the delicious tofu dish the cook had made for them that day. Ricky kept his eyes down for the most part, as did his mother and sister, but after a long rant, it seemed his father still wasn't ready to let things go. Ricky slowed his eating. "Dad... is everything okay?"

"Of course not!" Mr. Shen snapped. "What a stupid question. But of course, you would't understand. Your brain is good for nothing but videos and trash."

For the rest of the meal, Ricky didn't say any more. He was too busy fighting back tears as he choked down the last of the tofu in his bowl before ambling off, trying to make his departure as casual as possible. He only wanted to share his father's burden, like how his sister could sometimes, but it seemed like after all this time, his father's perception of him still never changed.

@Shen Quanrui As long as it meant Xingyue didn't have to be in front of the camera, he could brave through any other assignment. After that day, he began taking on the role of the main camera guy, learning that to appease Ricky, he had to be able to turn and twist the phone like it was in the middle of a natural disaster.

Though there was still very miniscule progress on getting intel on Mr. Shen from his spoiled son, Xingyue made strides through Vic's intellect. Gu Pengxi, the chief official in the tax ministry, had recently ousted himself for money laundering. He had facilitated the transfer of tax funds that were collected to empty relief funds, and from there, wired the money to an overseas account that couldn't be traced as of now.

When he didn't have to dress the role of a social media manager, Xingyue felt more comfortable donning his set of black clothes from top to bottom. It wasn't difficult to infiltrate through Gu Pengxi's manor in Beijing and arrest him in the middle of the night. Of course, since this wasn't an official arrest warrant that he had from the government on his hands, Xingyue had to take a few backdoor routes to bring him into the MSS for further interrogation.

@Wang Xingyue "Alright, alright, you're not a dancer," Ricky conceded, now that he had seen it for himself. Happy with his refreshed drink, Ricky eyed Xingyue up and down. He was dishevelled, somehow, just from dancing—he would never last a day making short films. How could he suggest something so ridiculous? Remembering how Xingyue had thought Ricky would allow him to appear on his channel, Ricky had to bite back a laugh. His face remained expressionless though, aside from a twitch in his cheek. "Since you can't dance, I guess you should film next time."

@Shen Quanrui Since he had brought the attention to himself, Xingyue not only had to perform in front of Ricky, but the rest of the filming crew as well. Was it humiliating? Yes, but since he had a point to prove to Ricky, Xingyue trained his eyes in front of him and started to move when the music played. He could see how Ricky's eyes were trained on his coffee cup for most of his attempt, which soured his mood even more by the end of it. Seeing how the entitled brat wasn't even showing the most basic amount of respect made that bile-inducing feeling well up in Xingyue's chest again. At the end, he brushed the comment off about his dancing and he answered tersely, "That's it. I told you I wasn't a dancer."

@Wang Xingyue Since he had no faith in Xingyue's dance anyway, Ricky wouldn't mind some entertainment while he fixed his latte. "Sure, go ahead," he said, his eyes completely fixated on his drink rather than the person in front of him. He was trying to peel back the lid of his latte with utmost precision, not wanting even a single drop to latte to land on his skin when he finally managed to get it open. With shaking hands, he transferred the contents carefully to the fresh cup of ice before leaning back to watch Xingyue. His performance was certainly not impressive, but there was noticeable improvement from before. Ricky huffed a laugh when Xingyue finished. "That's it?"

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue wanted to perform when the moves were still fresh on his mind and his muscles could still remember which way to turn at the beat of the music, but of course there was never a moment where Ricky could let things just go smoothly. He eyed the half-drunken latte in Ricky's hand, then nodded as he nodded, "Sure." There was a cafe a few blocks down, so Xingyue decided the best thing to do was to walk instead of trying to drive and find parking two extra times. On the way over, he watched a few more demo videos of the stupid Tiktok dance trend. Once he returned with Ricky's cup of ice, he handed it back to the younger, repeating again, "Should I show you now?"

@Wang Xingyue Ricky had completely forgotten about expecting Xingyue to do the dance until he was taking a break, monitoring the takes, until Xingyue suddenly approached him saying that he'd learned it. "Uh... okay," Ricky said, not having even an ounce of faith or belief in Xingyue's dance. "Show me— Wait, before you do, can you get a new cup of ice for me?" Ricky rattled his half-melted latte in front of Xingyue's face. Not only did Xingyue not tire of being Ricky's errand boy, he had gone and learned the dance after Ricky gave up on him? "It's not cold anymore."

@Shen Quanrui Even with the effort that he invested into learning the dance on the spot, Xingyue was forced to repeat the dance multiple times. By the end of it, the stupid looped music was stuck in his head also. Never as an intelligence agent did he have to commit to such childish and ridiculous tasks, but here he was now: a sellout. Ricky didn't seem pleased by the end of it either, so Xingyue hoped the younger would just learn his lesson and let him be the social media manager that he was hired to be. He didn't expect to be ticked off by three simple words though.

"You're hopeless."

Who the hell was Ricky to judge him? Since filming the actual Tiktok video didn't require Xingyue, then he committed to an entirely different task - learning the damned dance on his own. He had to record himself this time to see what exactly it was that Ricky kept complaining about. When the points of his frigid movements came into view, Xingyue had to note them down. He hated the fact that he was getting so irked by his enemy to the point of learning a dance just to be petty, but Ricky and his family had done Xingyue enough harm, and his pride didn't need to take a hit too. When Ricky returned, Xingyue murmured under his breath, "I learned it. The dance. I learned it."

@Wang Xingyue It was better, but not by much—and definitely not worth any praise. "It's garbage," Ricky said. "Why are you so tense? Are you an elephant walking across the river or the cat walking across the river?" He demonstrated the first few movements again, his expressions matching the cutesy, happy mood before falling flat as soon as he was done his movements. "Go again." Over the course of half an hour, Ricky tried to correct Xingyue the best he could, but it was completely futile. Xingyue had no talent for this at all—it was a wonder how he was able to do all those projects in the past. Finally, Ricky threw up his hands. "You're hopeless. I have to go film now."

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue didn't think his performance was /that/ bad. It was just some corny movements matched to a song title that was equally tacky, so Ricky's frustration sounded rather unfounded to Xingyue. He bit back another remark and nodded again, "I'll take it seriously. Can you show me again?" he asked. It was better to get it over with an acceptable performance the first time than wasting time through a series of effortless attempts. Xingyue watched Ricky once more, and this time tried to add some vigor to his movements. After the second time, he looked over at Ricky, holding back his disdain from everything but his eyes. "How was it this time?"

@Wang Xingyue Ricky watched Xingyue do it once. He nearly fainted from how horrid Xingyue's execution was. From start to beginning, it was just clumsy and unappealing—did he really have all that experience he claimed to have? "No, no!" Ricky demonstrated the first movement again. It was so simple. What wasn't clicking in Xingyue's mind? "Do it like this. Imagine you're walking on a frozen river... not stomping across a trash heap. And put some freaking pep in your step. Why do you look so dead when you do it? Even if no one's going to see this, you should take it seriously."

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue had to fight back a look of disgust on his face and suppress the bile that was coming up his throat when he saw how /stupid/ the moves of the Tiktok were. He didn't even want to life his arms to just to do the little shimmy. Ricky was far too immersed in the movements that he didn't even seem to notice how Xingyue wasn't following along the first time. Once the video was finished, Xingyue was silent as he watched the video replay in a reel. "Huh..." he murmured, nodding his head. "Okay...I'll try," he said, completely ignoring Ricky's accosting gaze. His movements, though ditzy and uncoordinated, were somehow in time with the music, though he avoided looking at himself in the camera at all costs.

@Wang Xingyue "You don't know anything," Ricky responded naturally. He stood again, beckoning for Xingyue to follow up. Since Ziyi had to find the right angle, Ricky did not mind a demonstration. They played the music at half speed, and the song was danced to at half speed as well, resulting in an extremely smooth end product. Ricky shoved the monitor in front of Xingyue's face. "Look. That's how you do it. You got it yet?"

Ziyi was full of praises for Ricky. "He's a natural cat!" Ziyi exclaimed, excited to show everyone the monitor. Ricky preened at the compliment, and he looked to Xingyue, waiting for him to join the people in singing his praises.

@Shen Quanrui Who in their right mind would /want/ to make stupid 30-second videos of themselves and try to put that on Tiktok for the world to guffaw at them? Xingyue really wanted to spit in response to Ricky's question, but seeing how tense Yutong looked, he knew that his job was on the line if he didn't do this. Victoria's plan didn't seem to be working in the slightest, but there was a part of Xingyue that knew if he lost this opportunity to get more intel out of Ricky now, then another chance would be hard to come by. Thinking quick on his feet, he mustered a pleasant smile and admitted, "Indeed, I haven't tried it out. I'm not much of a dancer, so could you please give me a demo version? And if possible, can I have some time to practice? I didn't know that being a social media manager would include participation in the actual filmography."

@Wang Xingyue "They've all filmed with me before," Ricky said, suspicions beginning to arise when Xingyue refused over and over. "Every single person on this team has, except for you. What's wrong with you? You don't want to do it?" Ricky returned to his seat, intending on finishing his drink before he filmed his own content for the day. "Fine, if you won't do it then you can leave. I don't need a social media manager."

"Ricky!" Yutong exclaimed. She was the only one who was concerned for Xingyue's standing in the group—it would be insanely difficult to find another candidate with a resume as impressive as Xingyue's in such a short period of time. "Remember, he's just here to manage the accounts—"

"I don't care. If he doesn't film it with me, he's out." Ricky sipped at his latte. "Do you not know it or something?"

"Ricky, it's a Korean trend. Maybe he hasn't tried it out." Yutong glanced helplessly at Xingyue, hoping the man would speak up and defend himself instead of putting her in such a tight spot. "Right?"

@Shen Quanrui Was Ricky trying to reassure him or to mock him? Either way, the standoffish response made Xingyue want to wind up a punch to throw in the other's face. That Zhu Zhengting must have had a barrier of thick-skin, or he was too desperate that he settled for this job, but at the end of it all, Xingyue was truly pitying the poor guy. "But I'm just your social media manager," Xingyue reminded Ricky, "Dancing is your specialty, not mine." To be fair, Xingyue didn't even know what the hell a 'Kitty Walk on a Riverbank' was, much less try to 'do it'. "Perhaps there's a better candidate to film this video with you?" Xingyue suggested, swallowing back his indignance at being bossed around like this by Ricky of all people.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky almost burst out laughing, but he managed to keep it all in behind a stone-faced stare. He eyed Xingyue from the top of his head to his feet, then back up. "Who would want to see you..." he said, pushing his sunglasses back up. "Obviously you're not getting your own video on my channel. I want you to film a video with me. Ting-ge always did them with me." Ricky did not elaborate, but he took one more sip of his latte before setting it down and stepping up to Xingyue. Amongst the crew, only Xingyue was as tall as Ricky was. Ricky sized him up, and he made no effort to hide it. "Well? Do you even know how to do it?"

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue wanted to throw in the towel every day after getting off 'work' with Ricky, but it was his clean record and his personal vendetta against the Shen family that had him going back day after day. Xingyue didn't know how else he was going to make progress, but according to Victoria, he was making good time. So, he could only grit his teeth and push on until an opening presented itself. Before that opportunity could come though, Xingyue found himself facing one of the biggest challenges of his lifetime. To be fair, since his identity had been wiped from all systems, shying away from the cameras and big screens was second nature to him. When he was suddenly tasked to perform, he had to adamantly refuse, "What...what's that?" he asked, "It wouldn't make sense for...your loyal following to see a random stranger," Xingyue said, trying to laugh it off, "Please don't tease me, boss."

@Wang Xingyue Ricky's life went from pretty good to pretty horrible. Wang Xingyue was the absolute worst, and his presence was throwing Ricky off his stride. It was just that... Xingyue did everything Ricky asked of him so perfectly and without a word of complaint nor leer thrown in Ricky's direction. He was supposed to be screaming and crying and leaving by now! Was Ricky not giving him enough to do? Not using him to his full potential? Ricky was already trying so hard. But there was one thing, he realized, that he hadn't made Xingyue do yet. When Xingyue showed up on a fine Sunday morning, Ricky gestured for Ziyi to point the camera at him, all while Ricky himself lounged on the cafe patio seat with an iced latte in hand. "Do 'A Cat Walks on the Frozen Han River," he said to Xingyue, tipping his sunglasses down slightly to see over the top of them.

@Shen Quanrui Every single outburst from Ricky was unreasonable and haughty, and it made Xingyue even closer to plotting the father-son duo's premature murder in his head. He held in his retort though, and instead nodding mutely at Yutong's attempt to help him out. As he turned away to fetch a straw for Ricky, Xingyue could feel the disgust bubbling in his chest, trickling down into his stomach and making it twist and churn.

That was truly an authentic taste of how the next two weeks of being Ricky's social manager went for Xingyue. He had never dreaded a mission as much as he did this one. And what was worse, every day was spent outside. There was practically no time for Xingyue to approach the Shen Manor. And if he did, he couldn't just step foot into the estate for good reason. Instead, he learned that Ricky sometimes hid away in his own apartment that was a ways off from the main home. To have the luxury of two houses without lifting a finger to do a single piece of legitimate work was only an option for the rich no-good kids of corrupt politicians like Shen Tianfeng.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky held the bottle of water he was offered, dumbfounded. Did Xingyue expect him to drink with his mouth to the bottle and mess up his carefully applied lipstick? "Where's the straw?" he asked, looking at Xingyue as if he were stupid—which he was, really. "How can I drink this without a straw?" At Ricky's raised voice, Yutong hurried over, trying to quell the fire that was spreading. "Ricky, he didn't know. He'll go get a straw right away. Won't you, Xingyue?"

"How could he not know?" Ricky countered. "What does he know, then?" With that, he shot a scathing glare in Xingyue's direction. What was Zhengting even thinking, recommending someone like this? "If he doesn't even know this, then he shouldn't be here at all."

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue was lucky that he had dexterous fingers to hold all of the things that Ricky shoved in his way. He held onto the icy, wet latte with one hand, holding up the camera to his eye with the other. He pressed the button to start recording all of the little actions that Ricky was doing, which to be honest, was really over the top and dramatic for him. He had to stay out of the phone camera's way while also not missing a single beat or shaking the camera too much for the behind-the-scene footage. Once the filming, which seemed to take way too long for a thirty second video, was over, Xingyue paused the camera and followed behind Ricky. There was a bottle of water in the bag that he was carrying, but with the camera and latte in his hands, he couldn't exactly hand it over. After he found a safe place to put the camera, he pulled out the bottle of water, holding it out to Ricky, "Here."

@Wang Xingyue Ricky had already spent all night practicing the dance. When he passed Xingyue to head to the spot where all their lights and cameras were set up, he shoved his latte into Xingyue's hand, never mind that the 'social media manager' was holding a camera in the other. Ricky warmed up once, then the camera started rolling. He did the twenty-second dance, over and over again, with the music looping, until he decided he needed a break to review the footage. "Water," he called out in Xingyue's direction as he headed for Ziyi and the monitor, beginning to pick out clips he didn't like and deleting them on the spot.

@Shen Quanrui Everything seemed to be working out with his new position, and Xingyue didn't falter at any of Ricky's requests. Surprisingly, it was the assistant manager who managed to stump Xingyue with a single word. "Brat Summer...?" Xingyue asked. Immediately, he saw the suspicious look on her face, and Xingyue knew better than to continue expressing his ignorance. "Oh of course, I can help with the behind-the-scenes. Which camera should I use?" he asked, looking at the equipment pile to see which one he'd have to tow around. At least Xingyue knew the basics of operating one of those. He was more than happy to oblige to staying out of the camera's lenses though, and nodded, "Right, I have water on hand." he reassured Yutong. And now, the only thing he had to do was find a pocket of time to actually research what 'brat summer' meant.

@Wang Xingyue "Be careful!" Ricky exclaimed when Xingyue started pouring. Xingyue didn't give him a reason to worry, but Ricky had just been hoping to startle him enough that he would actually cause an accident. When it didn't, he took his latte and sat back with a huff. In between trying to trip up Xingyue and filming his videos, Ricky was going to be busier than ever, and so he was going to have to use his time wisely. Once they reached their destination—the ruins of the old Summer Palace—Ricky slipped to the back of the van for his makeup to be retouched. "We're jumping on the brat summer trend today," Yutong said to Xingyue. "You're going to film some behind-the-scenes for our channels, okay? This is our videographer, Wang Xiyi." Ziyi did not spare a glance in Xingyue's direction, so Yutong continued, "Ricky doesn't want you to film the short films, so just do the behind-the-scenes and get Ricky his water when he needs it, alright?"

@Shen Quanrui Xingyue may not have looked like it, but he was always prepared for any accidents to happen while he was on the job, no matter how big or small. Ricky's insistence on having him fill the ice cup with coffee instead of literally any other person in the car was a new stunt, but Xingyue didn't falter. He reached for the cup of ice and popped the lid off, keeping his eyes trained on the red light. With his other hand, he removed the lid of the coffee cup and placed it into the cup holder. With a gentle shaking motion, he transferred the ice into the coffee, then capped it and gave the cup a swirl. "Here you go," he said, handing it back to Ricky without turning his head. Xingyue truly hated working with his enemy in such close proximity already, and he unconsciously stepped on the gas just a bit harder than he normally would so they would arrive sooner at their destination to get the day over with.

@Wang Xingyue Ricky was not pleased with his own progress when Xingyue did all of that without a word of protest–no ‘But I’m not paid to do that’ or ‘I’m a social media manager’. He was clearly not working Xingyue hard enough. Why did Zhengting even have to leave? If Xingyue didn’t exist, then Zhengting wouldn’t know him, and if he didn’t know him he would have no replacement, and then Zhengting wouldn’t have felt comfortable leaving so soon, and without a word, too. The thought of it saddened Ricky deeply. He didn’t think there was a single person out there who knew how he felt. At the stoplight, Ricky both his latte and the cup of ice up to the front. “Why did you give that to me? Pour it in for me, I don’t want it to get on my hands.”

@Shen Quanrui Driving the car wasn't truly the problem in itself. It was the fact that he was being treated like an ordinary taxi cab driver and rapping on the back of his headrest like he was a wooden door frame. Xingyue held back an annoyed huff as he turned the air conditioning up without so much as a word of complaint. When asked to find a coffee shop, he turned and parked parallel to the closest one that was three blocks away. He left the car running as he went inside to buy a cup of ice (to avoid the embarrassment of just begging for some). Then, he brought it out to the car and handed it back to Ricky wordlessly before continuing to drive towards their filming destination.