“Liu Lu, what are you watching? Tomorrow we have our final exam! Quickly start studying!”

In a four-person dormitory room, four girls were sitting in front of a desk, each of them holding a book in their hands. Yet, one of the girls was sneakily playing on her phone instead of studying. Liu Lu was the brave girl who dared to play with her phone in such a critical period right before an exam; the one who’d bought Sheng Jiaoyang’s sketch.

Although she was wearing a pair of earphones, she was occasionally talking to herself, which was disturbing the other girls. The girl sitting behind her reached over and lightly hit her head with a book.

“Today, the second season of National Supermodel will start broadcasting. I think I saw a familiar person.” Liu Lu stared at the phone, her finger hovering over the screen in an attempt to find the person who was flitting by in the continually changing scenes.

“What's so great about a live broadcast? If you wait a few hours, you can just watch the uploaded video. You should be studying instead! Hurry up and finish reading your book. The Teacher clearly said that if we failed the exam, there'd be a makeup test, but that you’d have to do it immediately after receiving your results.”

“I know,” Liu Liu sighed. But, just as she was about to close the broadcast, her eyes swept over the approaching figure in the video, and she squealed excitedly, “It’s her! It’s really her!”

“Who?” The curiosity of the girl beside Liu Lu was piqued when she saw Liu Lu’s flustered reaction.

“Remember the sketch that I sent you?”

“The sketch that you sold for more than two thousand dollars?”

“Yep!” Liu Lu raised her phone. “The person who drew it is on this show. I never thought she would participate in the National Supermodel competition.”

Listening to Liu Lu getting so excited, the other three girls couldn’t help but curiously surround her.

The scene shown on the phone screen was of a living room mainly decorated in black and white. Sitting on one of the sofas, there was a young man dressed in casual yet stylish clothes surrounded by quite a lot of contestants. Some of the contestants were standing, some were sitting on couches, and some were sitting on the carpeted floor. But, all of them were trying to gain the attention of the man and speak to him.

“Lulu, which one is the person that you mentioned?”

“I just saw her walking into the living room, but then she disappeared. I’ll find her again.” Liu Lu scrolled through them one by one until finally, she found the person that she was looking for at the bar.

“Quick, look! That’s her!”

The roommates gathered around her in a circle and saw the lean back of a short-haired girl standing in front of a liquor cabinet. Her slender fingers were sliding across the rows of bottles like she was inspecting her territory.

“Can you zoom in?” One of the girls reached for the screen, trying to make the camera zoom in. But, by accident, she opened the live comment section and several messages suddenly popped up.

[Reporting to Leader, I’ve caught a drunkard at the live broadcast! How should we punish her?]

[Be obedient and quickly hand her over to the country!]

[The poor girl is all alone; so pitiful. Quickly come to Big Brother’s arms~]

[What did that girl eat when she was growing up for her to be so tall but so thin? It would be nice if she gave those legs to me.]

[I want to know what she’ll do next…]

“Hahaha, these comments are quite silly, but still, they’re pretty amusing. From what angle did they see that she’s a drunkard?” Liu Lu laughed.

“Would a normal person go straight to the liquor cabinet?” one girl asked.

“Can people who don’t drink alcohol endure touching a liquor bottle for such a long time?” another girl piped in.

“I think she quite enjoys it,” the third girl added.

Liu Lu was instantly defeated. After listening to what her roommates were saying, she was also beginning to think that this girl was an alcoholic.

The girl on the camera turned around, and they suddenly caught sight of her appearance, together with the other viewers who were watching the live broadcast.

A pair of glasses perched on her small nose, making her seem quite delicate, and she had a calm expression on her face. It didn’t look like she was there to participate in a competition at all, but as if she was in a place as comfortable as her own home.

Just when everyone wanted to get a better view of the girl, she abruptly took a few steps closer to the bar, grabbed a few tissues from the box on the counter, and started to wipe at something. Behind the bar, the camera in the corner of the room occasionally caught glimpses of what she was doing, and it could be seen that she was wiping a wine glass clean.

[The movements of this girl are a little slow; it feels like I’m watching a sloth. It’s so dull that I’m on the verge of dying! I’m going to watch one of the other live camera feeds.]

[Me too.]

[I want to know what she’ll do next. Maybe she’ll mix drinks!]

[This girl is really concentrating on what she’s doing. If just wiping down a few wine glasses requires such meticulous work, is she that pedantic in real life too?]

[I guess this girl must have an obsession with cleanliness and OCD!]

[OCD +1]

The comments on the screen gradually increased.

“This won’t do. I’m going to start reviewing what I’ve been studying,” one girl said as she moved back to her chair.

“That was a waste of time. I can’t believe I actually watched someone wiping a few glasses clean for so long,” another girl said as she also sat back down.

Liu Lu looked at the last remaining roommate, and asked in surprise, “Why haven’t you gone back to studying too?”

“I want to see if she’ll concoct a drink or not,” the last roommate said honestly.

“Why do you think that she’ll make a drink? She’s a painter!” Liu Lu stared at her roommate with an unfathomable gaze. She was utterly baffled as to why her roommate would have such an idea.

“Is there a rule that says painters can’t mix drinks? Besides, she just finished wiping down the utensils used to concoct drinks. Why on earth would she do that if not to mix a drink?” The remaining roommate shrugged.

Liu Lu choked on a retort before she turned back to look at the screen, noticing that there was now another person at the bar. The woman had long hair and was very beautiful.

“What are you doing?” the beautiful woman asked as she sat down on a bar stool at the counter.

“Do you drink?” The short-haired girl snapped out of her thoughts.

This scene caused the viewers to feel gratified, and the comments instantly became like this:

[Cheers! Congratulations to the little host for gaining a friend~]

[The girl’s voice is really nice!]

“Give me a glass; we’ll celebrate,” the beautiful woman with long hair said as she laughed.

The short-haired girl raised her hand to push her glasses down her nose as she examined the long-haired beauty. Then, she turned around to get the alcohol from the liquor cabinet.

With a measured speed, she focused on methodically arranging the bottles that she’d placed on the counter. There was a kind of languidness to her actions that was exceptionally pleasing to the eye, and although she wasn’t doing anything fancy, people found it near impossible to take their eyes off of her.

While she concocted the drink, the comments on the screen were completely silent; not even one appeared. But, once she pushed a magnificently coloured cocktail before the long-haired beauty, the comments exploded like crazy.

[Oh my goodness, she’s so cool!]

[She really can mix drinks!]

[Am I the only one who suddenly wants to drink that cocktail?]

[The colour of the cocktail is so pretty~ I really want to drink it!!]

[Hey, the young girl with long hair, you seem like a person who can’t handle alcohol. Put it down and let me drink it on your behalf!!!]

-

Occasionally, there were some negative comments mixed in with the positive ones, saying that she knew perfectly well that there were cameras in the room and that she was deliberately showing off. Also, some comments spitefully said that she looked ugly and that her movements were utterly uncoordinated.

“You’re all only shouting sour grapes because you can’t eat them, hmph!” Liu Lu was somewhat disdainful of those who’d left negative comments and snorted adorably before immediately adding a comment of her own.

[A supermodel who can mix drinks on top of being a good painter…Jiaojiao, I didn’t know you were such a talented person!]

“It seems so tasty!” the remaining roommate said like a glutton.

The cocktail was a pretty colour, and judging by the long-haired beauty’s pleased expression after she tried it, the taste seemed to be quite delicious.

“Oh? So her name’s Xu Jiaojiao.” Liu Lu, who’d been reading the comments, remarked when she saw someone mention the names of the two people in the latest comment. Finally, she knew the name of the little painter who’d made a fortune for her.

At this moment, a bunch of girls joined the two at the bar.

Yet, the reason Sheng Jiaoyang had ended up at the bar was due to a straightforward reason.

After the dinner party prepared by the program organisers had ended, Sheng Jiaoyang had gone for a stroll to explore her surroundings. Once she’d finished looking around, she’d finally entered the living room. Upon seeing that the sofa in the living room was already occupied by a group of girls surrounding Zhuo Yiyan, she’d decided to go somewhere else. Yet, when she’d passed the bar, she was attracted by the liquor cabinet filled with various types of alcohol, and she couldn’t help but walk over to take a look at all the liquor lined up within the cabinet. As she examined the many different types of alcohol available, she found that all six base liquors[1] were present. Furthermore, there were wine glasses and bartending equipment placed under the bar, giving her a craving to suddenly reach out her hands. In the past, she’d had to restrain herself because of her physical condition. However, she was now happy and carefree; she could try whatever she wanted without any worries.

Sheng Jiaoyang had just finished wiping the utensils clean when the long-haired beauty, Luo Yi, had walked in. So, in the end, she’d made Luo Yi and herself a cocktail.

As they were about to toast, a bunch of contestants came over and joined them. At the head of the group was Zhuo Yiyan, attracting them like bees to nectar.

“Can you give me a glass as well?” Zhuo Yiyan asked with a chuckle.

“Me too!” “Give me a glass too!” “I also want one! Thank you!” One by one, the group of contestants abruptly requested Sheng Jiaoyang to make them each a cocktail.

Luo Yi wrinkled her brow as she glanced at Sheng Jiaoyang, apparently wanting to say something. Ultimately though, she decided to keep quiet.

“Okay!” Sheng Jiaoyang grinned. “It’ll be fifteen dollars per glass!”

“What? Isn’t that a mistake?!”

“You’re demanding payment? Is money all that you can see?!”

“You got the alcohol from here, so why are you charging a fee?!”

Sheng Jiaoyang’s words caused the other contestants to be filled with outrage.

Faced with the accusations of the crowd, Sheng Jiaoyang tilted her head, her lips curving upwards into a smirk. “My expertise is costly. You want to drink something that I make, but you don’t want to pay fifteen dollars. Have all of you grown up as freeloaders?”

[If this group were judged on how much they were just ridiculed, I would give a score of 100 points 23333333[2]

[Pftt! They’re arguing over fifteen dollars~ ]

[I was eating dinner when I read that, and when I laughed, I sprayed chewed up food all over my dad’s face. Help me! My dad said that once he’s finished washing his face, he’ll come back to beat me!!]

The viewers’ comments blew up like crazy.

Being seen as a member of the group being ridiculed, Zhuo Yiyan wasn’t angry at all and instead found the situation interesting. So, he curiously asked, “I haven’t tasted it yet. How do we know if it’s worth it?”

“Yeah!” Agreed some of the contestants.

“Fine. In that case, I’ll give you a glass to sample.” Sheng Jiaoyang pushed over her glass of wine that she was supposed to drink.

“What about us?” A few of the other contestants who were ignored voiced their dissatisfaction.

“Pay fifteen dollars for a glass,” Sheng Jiaoyang said rather wantonly as she spread out her hands.

“Heh! Who would bother to pay?!”

Some of the girls angrily turned around and walked away, while the ones who remained nervously rubbed their hands on their sleeves.

However, concocting a drink wasn’t such an easy task, and making a tasty and beautiful cocktail wasn’t as simple as just mixing several kinds of alcohol. You needed quite a bit of knowledge regarding which liquors could be paired, what proportions to use, the order to combine them, the technique used to mix the drink, as well as creativity and sensitivity towards alcohol. A bartender couldn't make a successful cocktail unless they knew all of these things.

Sheng Jiaoyang stepped out of the bar and gave way to the contestants who wanted to try making a cocktail. On top of that, not only did she step aside, but with both hands cupped towards the brave person attempting to make a drink, she shouted, “Good luck!”

If it were just an ordinary shout of encouragement, the others wouldn’t overthink it. However, with the addition of such a ridiculous action, it seemed like she wasn’t the least bit sincere and that she was looking forward to watching a show. The brave contestant who’d just picked up a cocktail glass was furious. If Zhuo Yiyan wasn’t here, along with all of the cameras spread around the house, it was highly likely that she would’ve already leapt at Sheng Jiaoyang, tearing her to shreds.

Sheng Jiaoyang, who’d previously experienced many battles of wit, had developed a skill that allowed her to move about freely.

As long as she wanted too, she could give you a pleasant feeling as if you were being refreshed by a cool breeze. On the other hand, she could also easily irritate people to the point that they wanted to cough up blood.

1. The six base liquors are gin, whiskey, vodka, rum, brandy, and tequila.

2. 23333333 is Chinese Internet slang for laughing, like lol.