Chapter 154 Central Air Conditioning?

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Previously, while participating in "Wanna Swap? Exes," Lu Zhou was fortunate to win two awards for the most compatible partners on the show. One was the opportunity to shoot a cover for E’s Bazaar fashion magazine alongside Ye Fangfei, and the other was to star in a video commercial for the Baiboli brand with Qi Jiajia.

The production team notified him that the Baiboli short video shoot was scheduled for today. Since it was the weekend, Lu Zhou arrived at the set at the agreed time. Qi Jiajia had arrived earlier and was sitting on set, holding a cup of coffee. Upon seeing Lu Zhou, her eyes brightened instantly, and she waved at him with a radiant smile.

"Hello! Nice to see you again!"

She wore a uniquely designed casual short shirt paired with high-waisted jeans. Her short hair appeared freshly trimmed and styled, giving her a more spirited and dashing look compared to her appearance on the show.

Lu Zhou approached her. "Good to see you again."

He opened the conversation with a joke, "You look so well; seems like life has been treating you well since the show?"

Qi Jiajia laughed heartily and complimented him in return, "You too! You look even more handsome. You must be living the good life lately."

Lu Zhou sat beside her and smiled, "Not exactly good life, just busier."

"Busy means money is coming your way, that's a good thing," Qi Jiajia said, turning to hand him an unopened latte. "I grabbed this for you on the way here. Not sure if you like coffee."

Lu Zhou accepted it and thanked her, casually remarking, "You seem to love coffee."

"Haha, it's mainly a habit. I have to drink a cup every morning to wake up," she said, sipping her coffee and looking at him.

They sat together in the resting area, watching the crew arrange details on set.

"How have you been? Work going well? Still crazy working overtime like before?" Lu Zhou asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

Qi Jiajia shrugged with a slightly forced smile. "Just the usual grind."

"But after the show, going back to the company, there have been quite a few changes. Since all my surroundings are ordinary people, maybe because my online popularity rose, my colleagues’ attitudes toward me have become strangely different."

"The company has also put more restrictions on me at work."

Clearly, these were not pleasant experiences for Qi Jiajia. Her comfort at work had decreased after the show—something she had anticipated. Once you become a public figure, such pressures are inevitable. Sometimes, even her most casual words and actions would be scrutinized and misinterpreted.

Though she expected this, experiencing it firsthand was still painful.

Lu Zhou looked at her and smiled faintly. "Once you appear in the public eye, besides praise, there will inevitably be harm."

Qi Jiajia glanced back at him, slightly stunned by his words.

Besides praise, there will be harm.

Her nose tingled, and she almost cried.

Indeed, after the show, she had gained much love from netizens and amassed fame beyond her wildest dreams. But returning to real life was a different story. Formerly friendly colleagues smiled to her face but subtly excluded her behind her back; she sometimes overheard gossip about herself in the company break room.

It was a deeply uncomfortable feeling.

"You have to strengthen your heart and learn to calmly face inexplicable malice. Life goes on, and there’s no need to let these things overly affect your mood."

"Of course, if the hostile environment becomes unbearable, there’s no shame in changing your way of life."

Lu Zhou gently tapped his coffee cup against hers and gave her a warm smile.

Qi Jiajia felt comforted and nodded with a relieved smile.

"Thank you, Lu Zhou. Hearing you say that makes me feel much better. After all, you celebrities have experience with these things."

Lu Zhou chuckled. "Just lessons learned from hard knocks."

Qi Jiajia gave him a thumbs-up. "I’ll learn from you."

At that moment, a crew member handed them the script for the commercial shoot, telling them to prepare their parts.

Qi Jiajia had no experience shooting commercials. Although she had appeared on a reality show, it was unscripted and mostly just being herself, managing her emotions.

Commercial shoots were different.

The brand’s advertisers had a fixed vision for the ad. If it wasn’t achieved, they had to redo the takes repeatedly.

Lu Zhou was an artist—comfortable in front of the camera, quickly understanding what the brand wanted, and effortlessly adjusting his expressions and movements to deliver the desired effect.

Qi Jiajia, however, was another story.

Though she had a good memory, with numerous cameras pointed at her, harsh lighting shining down, and the brand and crew constantly watching and correcting her, she struggled to remember her lines.

When she finally got the lines, her delivery was stiff, her expressions and gestures awkward, and the forced performance looked bad.

Takes kept failing, and the photographer’s expression grew sour.

This was a high-profile commercial; they couldn’t afford to pass subpar shots.

"Jiajia."

During a break for makeup touch-ups, Lu Zhou tried to change her poor performance.

"Do you still remember your voice acting skills?"

Qi Jiajia looked at him. "What’s up?"

Lu Zhou thought for a moment and said:

"Try imagining this scene as a movie you’re dubbing. The character you need to embody is the female lead in this ad."

"Everything around you is just the movie scene you’re dubbing."

Could it really work? Qi Jiajia was stunned but decided to try. She needed to relax, or else continuing to make mistakes and making Lu Zhou redo takes with her would be unbearable.

In the next take, Qi Jiajia tried Lu Zhou’s method, imagining herself alone in a recording studio, surrounded only by the movie’s images, fully embodying the character she was dubbing, mimicking her actions and voice.

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Unexpectedly, this approach really helped Qi Jiajia get into character.

This take passed smoothly.

After leaving the set, Qi Jiajia sighed deeply.

"You don’t know until you experience it yourself—this job is nothing like I imagined," she laughed and complained to Lu Zhou.

"It gets much easier with practice," Lu Zhou smiled at her, checking his phone. It was almost lunchtime. "Shall we grab a meal together?"

Qi Jiajia readily agreed.

After finishing the commercial shoot, they found a fairly upscale restaurant nearby to eat.

"I just made a big decision."

At the table, Qi Jiajia told Lu Zhou.

"What decision?" Lu Zhou asked curiously.

"I’m going to quit!" Qi Jiajia covered her mouth while chewing meat, answering with a muffled laugh.

Lu Zhou paused mid-bite, looking up at her. "So sudden?"

"Not sudden. I’ve been thinking about quitting for a long time," she smiled.

"After hearing what you said this morning, it made a lot of sense. I’ve come to realize that if I’m unhappy at my current company, I might as well change my lifestyle."

Lu Zhou pondered as he ate and asked, "What do you plan to do after quitting? Start a business?"

Qi Jiajia was surprised he guessed what was on her mind. She widened her eyes. "How did you know I want to start a business?"

Lu Zhou smiled. "It’s not hard to guess."

Qi Jiajia laughed. "I’ve always yearned for freedom, so I’m thinking about trying entrepreneurship."

Lu Zhou reminded her, "Starting a business doesn’t always mean freedom."

"But I’ve never tried. I want to give it a shot."

Lu Zhou watched her silently for a moment, thinking: So in this life, she will still end up on the entrepreneurial path.

"What kind of business are you thinking? Influencer? Or something related to your current profession?"

Qi Jiajia smiled brightly. "I haven’t decided yet. I’ll plan it carefully once I get back."

Lu Zhou joked, "So among the eight of us, you’re the last worker bee, and you’re also going to become a boss."

Qi Jiajia caught his joke and chuckled, "Maybe it’s because you guys tempted me one by one."

Lu Zhou popped a small mushroom piece into his mouth. "I actually have some ideas about entrepreneurship. Maybe we can collaborate."

"Hmm?" Qi Jiajia was surprised. "What ideas?"

Lu Zhou smiled. "No rush. Once you’ve sorted your thoughts and decided to resign and what you want to do, if you’re willing, we can talk in detail."

Qi Jiajia was a bit dazed but nodded.

After the meal, Lu Zhou paid the bill. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone nearby pointing a phone at them.

Without showing it, he turned his head and said to Qi Jiajia before leaving, "Should we take a photo together?"

Qi Jiajia happily agreed, took out her phone, turned on beautify mode, and they snapped a selfie at the table.

During the photo, Lu Zhou quietly warned, "We’re probably being secretly photographed."

"Who???" Qi Jiajia immediately looked around cautiously and spotted a girl at a nearby table wearing a baseball cap, who turned away hurriedly when she noticed Qi Jiajia’s gaze.

Qi Jiajia frowned, guessing it was this person who was taking sneaky photos.

"Could this cause you trouble?" she worried.

"I’ll ask her to delete them!" She stood up to confront her.

But the other person had already left.

Qi Jiajia uttered, "Hey," and wanted to chase after her.

Lu Zhou raised a hand to stop her. "No need to chase. We’re just friends having a meal. If they took photos, it’s no big deal."

"We’ll post on Weibo later about shooting the commercial together today. That’ll clear it up," he said calmly.

Qi Jiajia paused and thought it over.

With a clear conscience, there’s no fear of rumors. They were just working together and having a meal. Publicly posting about the work would suffice.

No wonder Lu Zhou insisted on the photo—it was for publicity.

Thinking this, Qi Jiajia agreed to his plan.

After the meal, they took separate rides.

Lu Zhou had to rush to another job site—his schedule was full today.

On her way home, Qi Jiajia edited the photos of her and Lu Zhou, picked the two best angles, and posted them on Weibo with the caption:

"After the show, today was the first time meeting an old show friend @LuZhou. He’s gotten even more handsome! Today I experienced professional commercial shooting for the first time and realized this job is really not easy! I felt guilty for so many retakes caused by my inexperience. Thank you to my partner for his patience and cooperation—much appreciated! Next time, let me treat you to a meal! @LuZhou"

Shortly after posting, she screenshot it and notified Lu Zhou.

He immediately commented and reposted with, "Food on the table? Then I won’t be polite."

Since “Wanna Swap? Exes” aired, this was their first official Weibo interaction in public, which surprised fans and quickly stirred up the comments:

"Wow! What did I just see? The California CP are interacting after the show! Does this mean they’re a thing?"

"Still hoping? LOL. Qi Jiajia called Lu Zhou an ‘old friend’ in her post... They’re openly interacting on a public platform. Looks like there’s no chance after all."

"Look at the background—they’re filming the Baiboli endorsement? That’s the partner compatibility award from the ex-show, right? If I’m not mistaken, Lu Zhou’s first award was the E’s Bazaar cover with Ye Fangfei! Ah! Does this mean Lu Zhou and Ye Fangfei will soon be appearing together too? I’m so excited!"

"Dang! The Feizhou couple CP fans are triggered again! Help, I have hope now!"

"@LuZhou @YeFangfei When are you shooting the E’s Bazaar cover? I’m so looking forward to it!"

...

Outrageously, before long, a strange topic trended:

#E’sBazaarMaleFemaleDualCover#

Under the topic, Feizhou couple CP fans eagerly debated what poses they wanted for the cover shoot. Some talented artists even drew their imagined scenes.

Some creative comics hit the CP fans’ sweet spot. Everyone actively tagged and urged E’s Bazaar official Weibo to share. Gradually, the topic surged onto the trending list.

The E’s Bazaar promo team, seeing this unexpected burst of magazine hype, rejoiced. It seemed their sponsorship of the male and female cover stars was spot on, likely to boost magazine sales!

With that in mind, E’s Bazaar staff began collecting the Feizhou couple CP fans’ ideas for the shoot.

Elsewhere in the city, at the Jooin Piano Training Studio—

Li Jiayan finished her piano lesson and, with some free time, opened Weibo. Noticing a new notification in her special follows, she curiously clicked it and saw Lu Zhou’s latest post.

Yes, she followed all the contestants from the exes reality show on Weibo and had set Lu Zhou as a special follow.

Seeing the photo instantly made her frown. Lu Zhou and Qi Jiajia??? Why were they together?

Reading the caption carefully, she realized they had gone to shoot a commercial together and sighed with relief.

But then she noticed the comment section was full of discussions about when Lu Zhou and Ye Fangfei would shoot the E’s Bazaar fashion shoot, which unsettled her.

Other female contestants naturally had work interactions with Lu Zhou after the show, but she felt unable to grasp any connection to his work, finding it difficult to create new opportunities for interaction.

Leaning back in her chair, gazing at the blue sky outside the floor-to-ceiling window, she pondered ways to intersect with his work.

She checked her own follower count on Weibo. Since appearing on the exes show, she was somewhat of an internet celebrity.

However, she didn’t understand how to manage online presence well. Besides posting videos of herself playing piano at the studio and some pretty selfies, she didn’t know how to promote herself.

After thinking seriously for a while, she decided to seek advice from Xu Junze.

...

At this moment, Ye Fangfei had just finished shooting and returned to the resting area at her workplace. Her assistant handed her a glass of water and reported:

"Today’s shoot is done. Tomorrow, you have a meeting with the music producer about your new song. The day after tomorrow, you’ll shoot the E’s Bazaar photos."

At this, Ye Fangfei paused mid-sip, then nodded. "Okay, got it."

Assistant added, "The E’s Bazaar cover shoot with you and Lu Zhou is getting quite a bit of attention online. It even trended just now."

Ye Fangfei frowned. "What? Why would it trend for no reason? Did someone leak the schedule?"

"No, it’s just that your CP fans are very excited about your collaboration," the assistant replied.

Ye Fangfei checked Weibo and found the trending topic was triggered by the friendly interaction between Lu Zhou and Qi Jiajia.

Watching their amicable online exchange, Ye Fangfei felt puzzled.

Why did he seem to get along well with everyone?

A phrase popped into her mind: “Central Air Conditioner.”

If that were true... it would be ridiculous...

Could it be? Could he really be a central air conditioner?

Ye Fangfei turned off her phone and leaned back, inexplicably mulling over the question.

Having no experience, she couldn’t tell.

She turned her phone back on and sent a message in her close friends group:

Fifi: [How do you tell if someone is a central air conditioner?]

Bing: [???]

Xue: [Oh? Is there news?]

Fifi: [No, I just overheard my assistant talking about it and got curious about your criteria.]

At that moment, the assistant sitting next to Ye Fangfei chuckled.

Ye Fangfei: "…"

The group chat lit up with messages—

Xue: [Curiosity is the beginning of everything.]

Bing: [You mean you want to know if Lu Zhou is a central air conditioner?]

Xue: [Cut her some slack, @Bing.]

Bing: [Oh.]

Ye Fangfei stared at the screen silently. "…"

Bing: [A central air conditioner type is a guy who crosses boundaries, a super warm man who likes to give warmth to women around him, sometimes exceeding appropriate limits. That kind is basically trash.]

Xue: [If a man is equally nice to you and other women, no need to overthink—it’s not the kind of guy to keep.]

Fifi: [What if he can be friends with many people?]

Xue: [That depends on his behavior boundaries. If it’s just normal friendly communication without crossing lines, then no. But if he especially likes to make female friends, be cautious.]

Fifi: [Oh.]

Xue: [Looks like little Fifi has some emotional troubles, huh?]

Fifi: [Nope.]

Bing: [Want us to secretly handle him for you?]

Fifi: [...]

Ye Fangfei chose to leave the group chat.

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(The chapter ends)