Chapter 184 - Step On Me

Feng Xuan did not want to be nervous that was why she shoved all the negative emotions she had been feeling to the bottom pit of her stomach. 

Finally, Wang Yimin stood up from the make-up table and was fixing the slim flower crown on top of her head. "How do I look?"

"You look absolutely stunning," said Feng Xuan to her. They both stepped on their small stage. The photoshoot was being held in the small sanctuary in the middle of the The Kingly Hotel grounds. It was a glassed-domed garden. 

While the photographer was preparing behind the camera. Feng Xuan said, "I still can't believe you've embroidered these dresses in just two days."

Wang Yimin widened her eyes. "I haven't slept! I had to take a sleeping pill to make sure I had eight hours of beauty rest."

"Okay, let's take trial shots," said the photographer.

Feng Xuan and Wang Yimin smiled at the camera. Neither of them were professional models. But it was their grandfather's idea to make them the faces of this brand.

**

It had been five days ago when they came to their grandfather. Thankfully, he was in the country while his B-list actress wife was taping somewhere a drive away. They had tea in the afternoon at the living room. 

"Yimin told me that you two have a business proposal?"

"Yes," Feng Xuan answered, feeling confident. "We're going to get started."

Their grandfather was nodding all the way to the presentation and as each nod went, the cousins' confidence grew. When they finished, their grandfather finished his whole teapot.

"So you need funding?" their grandfather asked, wrapped in a silk robe—his latest everyday wear recently. 

"Yes," they both nodded.

"Then what the hell are your husbands doing?"

The cousins looked at each other. It was Feng Xuan who answered, "We actually want to own something that is just ours. You know? Just in case things get rocky--like you and grandma--then we would have something to fall back on aside from our alimonies."

Their grandfather raised his eyebrows at them. "What?! Are your marriages in trouble? Should I beat those kids up? Teach them a lesson?"

"No, no!" Wang Yimin said. "We just want to stay with family this time. We'll be partners of some sort."

"Ah, you're only needing partial investment."

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you say so?!" their grandfather asked loudly. "We could've saved all that time if I know I was only paying for a third of it."

"So you're going to…" Feng Xuan said.

"Of course, anything for my girls," he said like it should've been obvious. "But I have two conditions."

Feng Xuan already saw this coming. Their grandfather would bait them into agreeing. He was a businessman after all, there has to be something else for him other than just money.

"One, you're going to use my wife as one of your models."

She saw Wang Yimin pursed her lips then plastered a smile on her face. "You just read our minds! Of course, we'll find something for her."

"Second," he looked at his girls and sighed. "Use the family name. If you're going to reference to it, use it instead. Your family name has power. Change the name to Yang. It will definitely add value to your brand."

When she was laying awake that night, she realized her grandfather was right. They had to use their family name.

**

Along with their grandfather's idea of using the Yang name as the brand, he also requested for his own grandchildren to be the face of it. "It gives a more personal feel to it," he had said.

"As much as grandfather was right," Wang Yimin said now, "I don't really want Kimmy in this catalogue."

"That's the terms, cousin," Feng Xuan said, trying to keep the smile on her face for the test shots. "We can't do anything about it, let's give her two outfits and that's done."

"I know she's just going to ask for those dresses because she was the only one I know who could fit in those because of her humongous b.o.o.b.s."

Feng Xuan laughed lightly just as the photographer said that they were ready. The two posed and tilted their heads at every possible angle for a few minutes.

"Can you two put your faces, like, really close together?" asked the photographer. Cheek-to-cheek the cousins looked at the camera. "That's it! Absolutely the perfect shot. Now, a few more."

There was a change of setting because Wang Yimin liked to have options. So while the equipment are being transferred, Feng Xuan saw that Qing Chen was actually there looking at the screen where the pictures were immediately processed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked with accusingly.

"It's my hotel, of course, I'm here."

"You're gonna make me feel really self-conscious now."

"It doesn't show," he beamed at the screen with her face on it. He already told the photographer that he would be getting a copy of all the pictures. 

"Why don't you just look at the real thing?" she smiled as he lifted his head from the screen.

"You look really beautiful, wife."

"I always hear that. Another adjective, perhaps?"

Qing Chen steered her away. "What do the young people say nowadays? Step on me?"

Feng Xuan laughed. "I'll step on you tonight if you want me to." She held his face in her hands. "So, are you going to tell me why you're really here?"

"Right," Qing Chen's smile faltered a little. "I have to go tonight to a project."

"Aw, that's sad," she said.

"Do you want to come with me? We'll be back in two days time."

"It'll take that long? But the launch is in three days."

"Yeah, I know, but there was no one else that could get sent there."

Feng Xuan pouted and Qing Chen kissed her lips. 

"I'll be back in no time. Don't cause too much trouble without me."

She smiled. "I'll try not to."