As an excellent agent, it was only natural for Xu Kai to take good care of his artist's food, shelter, transportation and more.
Two hours before getting off work, Xu Kai asked Song Jixing out for afternoon tea.
After asking about Song Jixing's appetite, Xu Kai placed some takeout orders.
Then, watching Song Jixing at the table, he saw her finish all the afternoon tea bite by bite.
Song Jixing ate very quickly, but extremely gracefully, able to eat portions for ten little girls.
Considering the interval since lunch, Xu Kai couldn't help but ask again with concern: "Is this enough? Are you full?"
Song Jixing wiped her mouth with a napkin.
Although not full, it was almost enough.
After taking in spiritual energy, she needed more energy, so her appetite was bigger too.
At home, Song Jixing ate less, mainly because there were many people to feed and she was tight on money. She was afraid that eating more would make her fellow disciples worry about her financial situation.
Also, after taking in the spiritual energy, she would occasionally take a bite.
The spiritual energy was very filling - sneaking a sip could stave off hunger for two days. The only downside was that if she did it for too long, it would run out.
But now that she had a pay raise, eating her fill was clearly not a problem.
"I'm full! Thank you Brother Xu!" Song Jixing expressed her gratitude again.
Xu Kai hurriedly waved his hands, "It's nothing, we're all family, no need to be so polite with me! Don't call me Brother Xu anymore, I'm afraid I can't handle it - just call me Little Xu! If you're hungry in the future, just say so and I'll buy you food. As entertainers, we have to watch what we eat, but health still comes first. You need to eat well to have the energy to work."
As Xu Kai spoke, his words held a certain weight of determination. He had seen people who could eat a lot before - competitive eaters, people weighing hundreds of pounds.
But Xu Kai felt Song Jixing was neither.
After all, despite being a bum, Song Jixing had never had weight management issues, and he had watched her all afternoon without noticing any discomfort after eating. It was as if her stomach was a bottomless pit.
Xu Kai thought about it and figured she must just need more food since she was so active, like athletes.
After experiencing Song Jixing's punctual clock-out demand, Xu Kai felt there was nothing left that could torment him!
It was just a matter of her eating more! Ensuring his artist was well-fed was something he could manage!
Thinking this, Xu Kai pondered some more.
Had Song Jixing been able to eat her fill before?
How did such a bum suddenly participate in a marathon? Could it be because her family didn't have enough to eat at home, so she started working hard to improve herself?
Xu Kai didn't know the real story!
Song Jixing didn't know about Xu Kai's guesses. She just felt being able to eat her fill was a great thing. "I'll still call you Brother Xu! After all, you're older than me and my elder. Thank you for treating me to a meal. I'll treat you when I get my paycheck!" Song Jixing said earnestly.
She couldn't always let her agent pay for her meals. They had to reciprocate to ensure a good long-term relationship.
Seeing how serious Song Jixing's expression was, Xu Kai smiled, "Sure, I'll wait for your treat. But for now, I hope you focus on your work. In the future, if you get hungry while working, just speak up and Little Wang can buy you a meal, or I can too. Don't starve yourself!"
It wasn't the lack of meals he was concerned about. As long as Song Jixing worked a little harder and took on two more shows per week, he would be overjoyed.
Xu Kai knew well not to be greedy. For an old bum like Song Jixing, he had to take it step by step.
After this friendly chat, the two discussed the plans for variety shows and other jobs one more time to finalize Song Jixing’s schedule.
In the end, Xu Kai still advised: “Sister Song, many of these shows are filmed at night, plus you have things going on during the weekends too. If you insist on the 8 hour work day, I feel we could shift the times around a bit, be a little more flexible to match the current work hours.”
Of course Song Jixing knew that as an entertainer, flexibility was often needed to accommodate various shows and events.
But the “8 hour work day” that Xu Kai mentioned was not just the simple clock in and clock out times.
With work sites scattered in different places, just the commute alone would take several hours. Adding makeup, styling, these were mandatory parts of the job.
Previously when she took shows alone, the average commute time was over 2 hours per show. Even for a half hour gig, she’d still need to arrive half an hour in advance to prepare.
An 8 hour work day plus all the other miscellaneous things added up to far more than 8 hours.
She understood this reasoning, she just couldn’t do it right now.
Ever since her fellow disciples had shown up, Song Jixing’s life was no longer as bum-like - she had to juggle school, work and taking care of them too.
First, she had to solve the housing issue! Her current rental couldn’t fit everyone. Staying at a company dorm was unlikely.
She still needed to find and check out a new place herself.
Of course what Song Jixing lacked most now was money!
When Xu Kai brought up the work hours again, Song Jixing didn’t reject it outright.
“Wait a bit, I’m busy with some things recently. After a while will work.” She needed to get the new rental first before promising anything more.
Xu Kai was overjoyed by this response. “No rush, let’s take it slowly!”
He had great confidence in the explosive potential of his artist. Relying not on looks but unique talents not easily replaced, she could maintain popularity and hype for a period of time.
As for what Song Jixing was busy with recently, he guessed it probably had to do with her impending graduation and thesis.
Academics come first!
With Song Jixing’s newfound popularity, the treatment she received from the company had directly shot up several levels.
Aside from assigning her a dedicated assistant, there was also a makeup artist, stylist, driver for transportation, and high-end company housing.
Xu Kai went through each item with Song Jixing one by one: “Here are some of our local company dorms with good privacy, you can pick whichever you like.”
“Let me know if there’s any particular food or drinks you like, we have special nutritional consultants on hand...” Speaking to this point, Xu Kai paused.
Based on Song Jixing’s appetite, they probably didn’t need a nutritional consultant!
“Uh, eat and drink whatever you want! Take a look, let me know if there’s anything you don’t like.”
“Okay.” Song Jixing took the documents and glanced through them, naturally turning down the housing arrangements. With so many people at home already, company housing was out of the question.
When Song Jixing insisted on her own housing, Xu Kai didn’t dwell on it for long. He went over some work details, and when the clock struck 5, reluctantly sent Song Jixing off work!
- Beep! Clock out time!
Xu Kai: “Sister Song, it’s clock out time! Let me give you a ride!” Xu Kai picked up his car keys from the table.
Song Jixing was thinking about grocery shopping on the way back and wanted to turn him down: “It’s okay, I can run back. I want to buy groceries.” At this time nearing evening rush hour, she knew she’d get back faster running than sitting in traffic, plus shopping would be easier too.
Xu Kai: ...
It seemed strange, but made complete sense considering it was Song Jixing.
Still, Xu Kai was not one to admit defeat easily: “Let me drive you to the grocery store, then take you home afterwards. I know where the biggest local market is, I’ll take you there. Plus there were some things left I wanted to discuss on the drive back, some things I didn’t get a chance to chat about earlier since I didn’t want to take up your work time. Indulge me a bit Sister Song!”
Xu Kai shamelessly tried to curry favor, looking expectantly at Song Jixing.
