He held Shen Zihao’s gaze without blinking. "I’m going to get a licensed gun specifically because of you. I’ll shoot you just out of spite, that’s how much I despise you. Don’t test me. Don’t think that because you’re crazy I’m not crazier... I don’t tolerate this and I never have."

He took one step forward. "And don’t even think about going feral on me, because you’ll find yourself in jail before you finish the thought. You shouldn’t forget who my partner is."

Shen Zihao looked at him.

His cheek was red where Guiying’s palm had landed. His expression had gone through several things in the last thirty seconds and had settled somewhere harder to read than the smile had been, something with more layers to it, and he laughed.

Quiet and short.

"How could I forget?" he said. "He made sure I remembered it." He straightened, unhurried, smoothing his jacket. "Have a good day, Tang XiaoYu." His eyes moved across the room briefly. "All of you... we’ll be seeing each other often."

The studio held its collective breath for a moment after the door closed.

Then Guiying became aware that Quinn hadn’t moved.

He was still standing near the entrance, his expression the particular kind of controlled that meant whatever was underneath it was the opposite.

His eyes were on Guiying with a fury that had nowhere to go right now and knew it.

Quinn’s assistant stepped forward, clearing his throat, and turned to Jiang Wenxi with the practiced composure of someone whose entire job was managing situations exactly like this one.

"My apologies for the disruption.." he said. "I wanted to inform you that Mr. Quinn has been transferred to TongShu for the next three months by order of the CEO. He’ll be working here for the duration of ninety days. CEO Shen’s visit today was to confirm the additional investment he intends to make in TongShu during this period." He paused. "We hope the transition will be smooth for everyone."

Ninety days?

Quinn at TongShu for ninety days..

Instant trauma.

Quinn took one step forward.

He didn’t lower his voice.

"You’re fucked, bitch," he said, pleasant and clear, a smile sitting on top of the words that didn’t reach his eyes at all. "I hope these ninety days with you are very fruitful.."

The studio was very quiet for a moment after Quinn’s words landed.

Guiying looked at him. Quinn looked back, that smile sitting on his face, pleasant and entirely without warmth, the kind that existed purely to communicate something it wasn’t going to say out loud.

Guiying looked at him for a long moment, the kind of look that took its time and didn’t apologise for it.

Then he laughed. Short and quiet, the kind that had nothing warm in it at all.

"Ninety days," he said. "Quinn, I’ve survived things that would’ve broken you in the first five minutes... you standing in front of me with your little threats is the least interesting thing that’s happened to me today." He tilted his head slightly. "And just so we’re clear... the next person who comes for me in this building, whether it’s you or anyone else, is going to regret it the same way Shen Zihao is going to regret it." His eyes stayed on Quinn’s face, steady and completely unbothered. "Enjoy your ninety days. I know I will."

Quinn held his gaze for a moment longer, that smile tightening almost imperceptibly at the edges.

Then he turned and walked out.

The door closed behind him.

The studio absorbed the quiet for a moment.

Then Jiang Wenxi turned to Quinn’s assistant, who was still standing near the entrance with the composed expression of someone bracing for whatever came next.

"Ninety days," she said. Her voice was even. "Starting when?"

"Tomorrow," the assistant said.

Jiang Wenxi looked at him for a moment. "And the CEO’s investment... is that conditional on Mr. Quinn’s presence here?"

"The investment is separate," the assistant said carefully. "CEO Shen’s intention is to increase TongShu’s budget regardless. Mr. Quinn’s transfer is... a personal arrangement."

A personal arrangement.

The words sat in the room with the particular weight of something that everyone understood and nobody was going to say out loud.

"I see," Jiang Wenxi said. "Thank you."

The assistant left.

The moment the door closed Bai Zichen turned to the room with the expression of someone who had been holding things in for the last ten minutes and had reached his absolute limit.

"A personal arrangement," he said. "Did everyone hear that? A personal arrangement." He looked at Pei Jiahao. "You know what that means right?"

"We all know what that means," Pei Jiahao said quietly.

"Quinn got transferred here because of him," Bai Zichen said, gesturing toward where Guiying was sitting at the styling station. "Shen Zihao saw Tang XiaoYu and put Quinn here to——"

"Zichen," Jiang Wenxi said.

He stopped.

She looked at him steadily. "We have a shoot to finish," she said. "Whatever CEO Shen’s intentions are, whatever Quinn’s presence here means, we deal with it when we have to deal with it. Right now we have work to do." She looked around the room. "All of us."

Nobody argued with that.

’She’s right,’ Bai Zichen thought, even as he closed his mouth.

He looked at Guiying’s back.

’Who even is this person,’ he thought again, for what felt like the fifth time that morning. ’Normal people don’t just... recover from that. Normal people don’t slap Shen Zihao and then sit back down in a styling chair like nothing happened.’

Lin Yansu appeared at Guiying’s shoulder with the next outfit, and Guiying stood without being asked, and the shoot moved forward the way shoots did when the people running them were professionals who understood that the work was the work regardless of what happened around it.

Shao Mingye raised his camera.

Guiying stepped back into the shooting area.

The lights were still warm, the setup was still exactly where it needed to be, and when the first flash went off Guiying was already exactly where he needed to be too.

’Good,’ Shao Mingye thought, watching through his lens. ’Whatever just happened... it didn’t touch him. Not where it matters.’