2ndchances 11: Deviations from the ‘Future’

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Chapter 11: Deviations from the ‘Future’

After all that fuss, Wei Mingxin directed Chen Yijun to take Lanlan and go into his private office in order to give them a private space for Lanlan to recover.

Once the models had been sent home and he had given his employees a furious rant stern talking to, Wei Mingxin walked into his office to see Chen Yijun gently rocking Lanlan and soothing her.

“Idiots, all of them. Lanlan, don’t grow up to become people like them, okay?” Wei Mingxin says, raising his hand to pat Lanlan on the back, before hesitating and lowering his hand back down as he sees her try to curl into her uncle’s embrace.

Honestly, Wei Mingxin was an odd mixture of fury and embarrassment.

He had assured Little Yi that he could bring his niece along to Blue Bird Studio keep her safe, but it was his own employees that hurt her.

Chen Yijun smiled thinly as he cradled his little niece.

To be honest, he felt guilty.

Just recently he discovered that Lanlan was harboring a large amount of fear towards … well, towards a lot of things. It sucks that, on this first job that he took, Lanlan had such a traumatic experience.

Of course Chen Yijun logically understood that this wasn’t his fault or Blue Bird Studio’s fault, but emotionally, he was very upset.

With this, Chen Yijun made up his mind.

“Boss Wei, I think I might have to turn down this cooperation. Right now, I just want to raise Lanlan peacefully -”

“Is it because of the mess just now -”

“N-no, Lanlan is, Lanlan is alright!”

Wei Mingxin was cut off as Lanlan tugged on Chen Yijun’s clothes, and the two men looked down at her in surprise.

Her face was full of distress as she pushed back to stare up at Chen Yijun with eyes full of tears.

Before either of the men could say a word, she continued on, saying, “Lanlan doesn’t want to be the reason Little Uncle can’t do the things he wants to.”

Her voice was so quiet that Chen Yijun had the irrational feeling like she would disappear.

His hold on her tightened as he was painfully reminded of how insecure this little girl was.

He didn’t know if it was the innate fear white snakes had of being abandoned, or if it was how the former Chen Yijun had unconsciously acted like his desire to protect Lanlan had conflicted with his desire to act freely on his own whims, but it stabbed him like tiny pinpricks in his heart.

Chen Yijun patted Lanlan’s head gently and cleared his throat.

“Hm… I seem to have said it poorly. This isn’t just because of Lanlan. There are other things we need to consider, and it’s those other things that make me think this might not be a good job for me. Truthfully, you also understand, right Photographer Wei?”

Wei Mingxin’s moustache twitched, but he didn’t say anything, just waited for Chen Yijun to continue.

“Certainly, it seems that I am an effective assistant when it comes to concepts you might have some dissatisfaction with, but I’m not nearly as helpful when you are satisfied with the concept you have in mind. In the first place, my inexperience with photography and cameras should disqualify me as a photographer’s assistant, and I can feel how it limits my ability to make suggestions.”

At that, Wei Mingxin suddenly realized it.

He had been so absorbed in how much Chen Yijun’s minute changes in the group photo had enhanced the concept and even impacted Rong Yan’s solo shots that he hadn’t realized how little Chen Yijun had done for the rest of the shoot.

Chen Yijun’s suggestions all centered around conceptual imagination. This meant that he simply didn’t know enough about photography to be able to give suggestions regarding any other aspect of a photoshoot.

Frankly speaking, Chen Yijun’s abilities lay in directing and conceptualization.

Although photography had need for those two things, what an outside source could provide in regards to them was very limited.

After all the photographer, Wei Mingxin, always had the last say in pose and concept, and during the shoot he was the one doing half of the ‘directing’ while the models shared the other half.

In other words, he would only be relying on Chen Yijun for brainstorming ideas. Not to mention, not all photoshoots would need input from Chen Yijun’s level of interpretation to be able to grasp their themes.

If things were like this, then Blue Bird Studio was getting a photographer’s assistant that needed to be taught maybe 75% of the skills he needed, and Chen Yijun wouldn’t be able to exercise the full range of his talents.

Both sides were losing out.

Wei Mingxin sighed heavily, scratching his head and ruffling his hair badly as he understood what Chen Yijun was saying.

Finally, he glanced at Chen Yijun from the side and said, “… It will be difficult for you to break into the entertainment and arts industry with your credentials.”

Chen Yijun dipped his head a little, embarrassed at the former Chen Yijun’s complete lack of school history. All he had was a GED.

“I’m aware,” he said, “But I’ll admit, I wasn’t expecting to be able to have the option. I have confidence in my physical strength so I thought to do some manual labor while going to a trade school part time.”

People taking ‘online courses’ were the norm in an interstellar era with functioning virtual reality, and no one would care about his lack of secondary education once he got a degree. And if he could juggle the course load with a fulltime job then, well, things would be easier going in the future.

“Manual labor?” Wei Mingxin snorted, “Just what kind of manual labor can you find these days?”

Ah… that was the downside of an interstellar era.

Chen Yijun couldn’t help but admit he had forgotten that a lot of things that didn’t require special expertise had long since been automated. Construction jobs used robots to do the heavy lifting, warehouse jobs had long since become obsolete …

Well crap. What was a person without any qualifications supposed to do in these times?

He could always follow in Sister Lan’s footsteps and use his physical appearance to his advantage … no, forget it! This Chen Yijun’s face is too thin to be a host or a model or anything that required him to flaunt his the former Chen Yijun’s beauty!
^{<thin face – easily embarrassed; thick face – shameless>}

“… I’ll figure something out,” Chen Yijun finally said as he shifted Lanlan’s weight in his arms.

Since Wei Mingxin didn’t know that Lanlan’s mother was a high-ranking hostess at a very high-class hostess club and was sending them more than enough for their living expenses, his heart felt sour as he looked at the uncle-niece pair.

“Look, I’ll keep your information on file. We can continue to treat you like a contractor and call you in on a case-by-case basis. At least this way, you can build up a portfolio,” Wei Mingxin finally said.

Oh, that’s … Chen Yijun hesitated.

Although his main priority was to distance Lanlan from Blue Bird Studio to give her time to heal her traumas, when Wei Mingxin put things like that, he couldn’t help but think about exactly how rare this opportunity was.

But he wasn’t a freshly graduated art student that could barely make ends meet anymore, sleeping on his friends’ couches to save money. He had a second chance at life and no worry for money or living expenses.

The exchange for such a luxury was to protect the little girl in his arms.

Only idiots would expect a free lunch without any need for compensation.

Chen Yijun wasn’t someone who didn’t recognize the duties he’d undertaken when accepting his second life.

Besides, people lived, like, forever in this era. Although they also had to undergo a longer time through puberty (thank god he missed that), for Chen Yijun who was used to an 80-100 ish year lifespan, an interstellar human’s lifespan was at least three times that, and had more than enough time for him to putter about and still develop a career later on.

Ah, wait, he’s a spirit beast, so he’d live even longer…

When he awoke as the new Chen Yijun, he had fully planned on devoting the next 31 years on Lanlan’s growth and safety until she came of age. It was just a fraction of his lifespan, and because of that Chen Yijun had decided to just find a job, no matter the industry or level, that would assure child welfare services that he was a capable guardian.

Right, no matter how good an opportunity…

“Little Uncle…”

Chen Yijun looked down as Lanlan tugged on his shirt.

“What is it?” he asked gently.

“Little Uncle should do it. Lanlan… Lanlan doesn’t want to get in Little Uncle’s way.”

Chen Yijun wanted to say something like, ‘Lanlan doesn’t need to worry about Little Uncle,’ but as he looked down at her eyes, he realized … she was being very serious. In fact, it was almost like she was pleading with him to accept Wei Mingxin’s good will.

Haa… Chen Yijun didn’t know if it was a good thing that Lanlan was stifling her own feelings in order to make Chen Yijun happy, but … it wasn’t a bad thing that she was trying to face her traumas.

If it really was only once in a while, then maybe it would be good for Lanlan to ease back in and overcome her traumas? But, what if it made things worse?

Chen Yijun wanted to hold his head with all the uncertainties that existed no matter which path he chose.

So this is why overprotective, neurotic parents exist!

Chen Yijun remained silent for a moment before quietly saying, “Thank you very much, Photographer Wei. I’ll have to impose on your kindness.”

Wei Mingxin could only sigh loudly again before ruffling Chen Yijun’s hair.

“You two are good kids. It’s fine to rely on others once in a while. I’ll make sure to include inconvenience payment for this job’s wage for you.”

“Eh? This commotion wasn’t started by Blue Bird Studio, though. To make you pay for it is…” Chen Yijun said.

“Don’t worry, this will come out of the bonuses of the people who helped that Lu girl turn this into a bigger fuss than it had to be.”

Chen Yijun really felt the overbearing aura of a Big Boss coming from Wei Mingxin as the photographer grinned menacingly.

Nothing he said was going to change the photographer’s mind, so … guess he should accept?

With all of that settled, Chen Yijun stepped out of Wei Mingxin’s office with Lanlan still in his arms.

“Haa…”

Chen Yijun sighed. The emotional stress outdid all the busy stress he had from helping with the photoshoot, and although he wasn’t tired, he was tired.

“Little Uncle… is it okay?” Lanlan asked quietly.

“Hm? What is okay?”

“To … not be an employee.”

Chen Yijun resisted telling her that it wasn’t something she had to be worried about. Clearly, this was something she was going to worry about, and telling her not to seems to have just made her feel more insecure.

Just because a child is only 4 doesn’t mean he can just say whatever to end the topic, huh?

Chen Yijun definitely didn’t want Lanlan to grow up with a shadow in her heart, constantly suppressing her desires.

He smiled down at his dear little niece.

“Lanlan, don’t think too much about things. Little Uncle wouldn’t refuse the position if he really didn’t want to. Besides, Little Uncle isn’t looking for a ‘forever job’ right now. Little Uncle and Lanlan haven’t been interacting with others before, so Little Uncle was thinking about working a job to meet lots of nice people and integrate into society a little at a time. Although the earring situation helped Little Uncle make up his mind, he was already thinking about it before it happened.”

“… Really?”

“Yes. None of this is your fault. Didn’t Uncle Wei also agree? He’s going to cut the bonuses of those people who were mean without reason as their punishment for being the people who were in the wrong.”

Although he thought that Lu Qiu was the one who really should be punished, but Chen Yijun was powerless over that.

As Chen Yijun and Lanlan left Blue Bird Studio, Lanlan seemed to have regained some of her spirits, giving a tiny wave as the people who had worked with Chen Yijun swarmed to say goodbye.

They all seemed genuinely worried about Lanlan, which seemed to help her relax and open up a bit. Just a tiny, tiny bit.

When they finally went outside, prepared to call a suspension car, Chen Yijun was startled to find Du Lingyu standing there, looking like she had been waiting for him.

“Chen-ge, I wanted to to thank you for earlier. Not only did the photo you took help me get a chance to debut, but you also helped me out a lot on set.”

Twisting her hands together shyly, she approached Chen Yijun and Lanlan, stopping at a respectful distance and dipping her head a little to show her sincerity.

Chen Yijun’s heartrate went up.

Oh yeah, he forgot about all of this mess with Du Lingyu.

Although he had tried to keep some distance between the two of them during the photoshoot, in the end he couldn’t help but watch out for her a little. He’s not the Chen Yijun she fell in love with, but he kind of saw her as a little sister, by extension of his strange connection with the former Chen Yijun.

And so, Chen Yijun could only give a wry smile and say, “No, not at all, it was my job after all. And the photo really was just luck…”

It’s annoying that it seems like Du Lingyu, and everyone else, didn’t seem to believe him at all. She just smiled as if to say, ‘Okay, that’s what we’ll say it is.’

“Um… I overheard it earlier, but this little girl is your niece? She’s very cute.”

Du Lingyu’s voice was a bit hesitant, but she smiled at Lanlan.

Chen Yijun perked up a bit.

Hm? If he played his cards right, could he nip the little romance right in the bud now?

The former Chen Yijun had been hesitant to let others know about his relationship with his niece, or letting them know about her at all, so he had only made vague references to his ‘sister’s daughter’, allowing Du Lingyu to become much more romantically attracted to him before she found out about it.

By then, she was become invested in their relationship and was blindsided by the unexpected child.

Since that was the case, couldn’t owning up to raising Lanlan right away change Du Lingyu’s trajectory from potential love interest to just a friend?

Without mincing words, Chen Yijun said, “Yes, although you can consider her as my daughter as well, since I’m the one raising her. Her name is Lanlan.”

Du Lingyu looked like she got whiplash as she jerked her head to stare at Chen Yijun, wide-eyed, but she was still relatively composed.

35 years old was just way too young for most people to choose to have a child in the interstellar era, after all.

“O-oh! Is that how it is? Hello, Lanlan. It’s nice to meet you.”

Lanlan gave a shy half-smile before turning her head and burying it into Chen Yijun’s shoulder.

Chen Yijun gave a bit of an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, she’s a bit tired from all of that…”

“That … that earlier was ridiculous! A grown woman bullying a little girl like that and other people letting her!”

Anger appeared on Du Lingyu’s face as her true feelings exploded out of her. She couldn’t help but stamp her foot, puffing out her cheeks as she remembered that farce that went on right when the photoshoot was ending.

Although Du Lingyu and her agent had decided to hide in the studio room until it all blew over, steering waaay away from whatever the hell was going on, of course they had overheard the commotion.

What the heck was going on, and why were the employees of Blue Bird Studio letting it happen? Du Lingyu and her agent had exchanged flabbergasted looks before memorizing the name ‘Lu Qiu’ as someone they should avoid as best they could.

From inside the studio room, the conversation occurring in the corridor had sounded ridiculous, and they wanted no part in any present or future dramas surrounding it.

“Yes…” Chen Yijun hesitated a moment before saying, “I decided not to become a full-time employee there because it’s hard to work in a place when I’m not sure the other people don’t have my back. Right now, I want to focus on raising Lanlan.”

Du Lingyu smiled, looking at the little girl, “Lanlan is very cute, so I think you’ve made the right decision. You need to protect her well, Chen-ge.”

Chen Yijun smiled as Lanlan peeked up at him.

“Yes, I have to.”

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<a/n: Waaaah, preamble done. Although it’s not really a ‘prologue’ in terms of story construction, to me this is all build up. Although it technically isn’t so you probably shouldn’t expect the amount of exposition to go down all that much. Eh…
… It’s no use trying to understand what goes on inside my head. It be a dark and treacherous place.>