Before going to bed, Xia Xiqing habitually checked his Weibo account. Initially, this account was only used to share his paintings, but it eventually evolved into a fan account.
“Why are there so many messages?” He was startled. Although he was the most famous painter in the circle and was usually adored by his fans, this time there were so many new messages that Weibo almost crashed.
Xia Xiqing logged out and restarted the app, which made things run more smoothly.
[Little Rabbit]: Tsing! You’re that guy in the white shirt, right?!
[Heng Zong Please Face Up to Me]: Holy crap, is that really Summer? No way!
Has he been discovered? Xia Xiqing furrowed his brows in confusion and scrolled down through the comments. Sure enough, they were all messages from Heng fans, along with countless private messages, almost all of which were about the press conference incident from a few days ago.
It had indeed been exposed. The internet was truly a place where one could hide nothing.
Rather than letting these fans speculate, it would be better to just come clean.
With a “what the heck” attitude, Xia Xiqing casually opened the camera and took a photo of his own face. The distance was too close, and his hair, still damp from the shower, was messy and scattered across his face. The angle from below was also odd. He looked at it and thought it still resembled him, so he hastily posted the photo on Weibo.
[Tsing_Summer]: Sharing a photo.
The moment he posted it, his phone started vibrating nonstop, with new messages flooding in. The excitement of his fans was almost spilling out of the screen, staring straight at his face.
[Universe’s Number One A]: Ahhhhhhh, it’s really S University!! So handsome! The fans of the Heng family are so good-looking!
[It’s a Watermelon, Not a Winter Melon]: Oh my god, he’s so handsome, the mole on his nose is so cute!
[Little Rabbit]: His skin is so smooth, his nose is so straight, his eyelashes are so long, and he can pull off such a tricky angle. He’s definitely a divine fan [kneeling].
[Zhou Ziheng’s First Lady]: I always thought Summer was a divine painter, but now I realize you yourself are a divine being. Thank you for descending to earth. [Crying]
[The Only Fan Who Is Huihui’s Real Mom]: My goodness, with such good looks, why do you even need talent?
…
Soon, Xia Xiqing’s Weibo became popular. His Weibo ID once again entered the top of the hot search list, becoming a new internet celebrity that netizens talked about endlessly. He received a bunch of work offers in his private messages, and even some contract offers.
In this era of exaggeration, good looks have become the most direct and superficial shortcut to success in life.
The phone vibrated again.
[Why didn’t you come to the company to see me when you returned to the country? Come home this weekend; I have something to tell you. —Dad]
The darkness in the room felt like a damp, cold blanket, enveloping Xia Xiqing and suffocating him.
[I don’t have the time to go to your house. Just tell me over the phone.]
After sending the text message, Xia Xiqing walked to the windowsill and lit a cigarette. The grayish-white smoke and the soft, indifferent moonlight mingled together, seeping into the cracks of his brain to fill the void, blurring his consciousness.
Like many netizens, Zhou Ziheng, who was doing makeup and hair for a magazine cover, was also scrolling through Weibo.
On the day Xia Xiqing suddenly became famous overnight, Zhou Ziheng was almost certain that he was just pretending to be a fan to ride the wave of popularity, buying some trending topics to create a buzz, and gaining followers. After all, with his good looks, it’s easy to become famous in this era where appearance matters so much. However, upon hearing from Jiang Yin that he refused to sign a contract to debut, Zhou Ziheng grew skeptical—could he truly just be a fan?
It turned out he really was a fan—and an artist.
However, Xia Xiqing rarely posted on Weibo and didn’t retweet photos from events like other fans. He quietly shared his own drawings, which had a unique style. With just a few strokes, he could perfectly capture the contours of the human body, and even through the screen, one could feel the intense hormonal energy emanating from his artwork.
While scrolling through his Weibo, Zhou Ziheng also glanced at the comments, noticing that besides praising Xia Xiqing as a divine artist, all the fans were saying things like, “I’m so into him! I’m so into him I can’t even close my legs!! I’m just lying here begging for the sun.”
Cough, what’s wrong with these young girls nowadays…
His fingers unconsciously sped up as he swiped through the screen, but suddenly a painting caught his eye, and he couldn’t help but stop and scroll back up.
That painting had once been trending. It depicted his side profile as he made a three-step layup, with sunlight cutting through the shadows scattered across his body, his long fingers tightly gripping the basketball, his red jersey soaked in sweat, and the taut muscle texture covering his entire body.
He exited the Weibo interface, opened his photo album, and found the painting in an album named “fan-art.” He had never noticed before that there was a handwritten signature in the bottom right corner—Tsing.
It turned out he had seen his painting before and even saved it to show off to his friends.
Zhou Ziheng hesitated all night after logging out of his secondary account, but ultimately didn’t delete the painting from his phone.
But something felt off.
Perhaps wanting to capitalize on the buzz, Jiang Yin’s reality show rushed to wrap up the long-delayed planning work, finalized the list of celebrities and ordinary people to be featured, and began filming on Saturday. On Friday, Xia Xiqing checked into the hotel arranged by the production team as requested. That evening, Jiang Yin took the time to visit him at the hotel.
“Are you that afraid I’ll run away?” Xia Xiqing was wearing only a cotton pair of pants, sitting cross-legged on the bed, drying his dripping wet hair.
Jiang Yin glanced at him. His abdominal muscles were well-defined, clearly the result of long-term exercise. He wasn’t particularly strong, just lean, but it didn’t quite match his handsome face, which surprised her a little. However, she remained expressionless as she placed the documents in her hand on the table. “That’s right. Here are some materials for the program. Take a look when you have time.”
“Is there a script?” Xia Xiqing stretched his neck, slipped on a loose T-shirt, and looked like a high school student. “Let me make this clear: I won’t follow your script, so don’t expect anything from me.”
Jiang Yin’s expression was slightly exasperated, but she seemed to have already guessed as much. “I knew it would be like this. Actually, there is a script, but it has nothing to do with you. It was specially written by the program team for the escape room plot.” She then changed the subject, “Although the script has nothing to do with you, we have arranged the character settings, so you need to get closer to them. Anyway, aren’t you very good at pretending?”
This woman always spoke her mind, and Xia Xiqing had almost gotten used to it. “Hmm…” He stretched out his long legs, tossed the towel onto a nearby chair, interlaced his hands behind his head, leaned back against the wall, and spoke casually, “Tell me, what kind of character did you give me?”
Jiang Yin sat leisurely at the table. “Think about it. Since Zi Heng’s transformation, his popularity has skyrocketed, so the company definitely wants to continue with his aggressive persona. If we want to promote a gay couple, what kind of person do you think would be easier to make popular?”
Xia Xiqing, leaning against the bed, stared at Jiang Yin. His slowly blinking eyes resembled a slow-motion camera zooming in. A harmless, innocent smile began to spread across his face, and the mole on his nose added a touch of innocence.
“An angelic persona. Suitable for all ages, innocent and trustworthy.”
Jiang Yin shrugged. “Smart.”
He snorted derisively, no longer the gentle man from before, his expression suddenly filled with disdain.
“It seems like you’ve already decided the roles yourselves.” Xia Xiqing crossed one leg, rested his arm on his knee, and propped his chin on his hand, gazing at Jiang Yin with an ambiguous expression.
“No… it’s just that Zhenheng’s character is… of course, it all depends on what the netizens think in the end.” Jiang Yin was initially flustered; she hadn’t expected Xia Xiqing to raise this question. But upon hearing his words, she suddenly realized that although he was handsome, his aura was truly powerful.
Although Xia Xiqing didn’t hide his true personality in front of Jiang Yin, she didn’t know about his playboy ways, nor did she know that he was always the top, so she could only attribute his comment about the dominant and submissive roles to men’s innate desire for control.
“Oh, that’s fine,” Xia Xiqing curved the corners of his mouth, his gaze softening once more. “I’m easy to talk to.”
In just a few minutes, Xia Xiqing’s expression changed repeatedly, leaving Jiang Yin marveling inwardly. Such talent would be wasted if he didn’t pursue acting. Though she had witnessed Xia Xiqing’s skills, she didn’t understand why he had agreed so readily to her invitation. “You agreed to join the show without even asking about the compensation?”
“Who cares how much it is.” Xia Xiqing leaned back suddenly, flopping onto the bed. “Don’t worry, I can’t guarantee anything else, but I promise the topic will satisfy you.” He suddenly remembered something, rolled over onto his side, and looked at Jiang Yin. “But the character you’ve given me, Zhou Ziheng probably won’t accept it.”
“It’s fine. I’ll handle that side. He’s been acting for so long; he won’t go out of his way to sabotage things.”
Xia Xiqing raised an eyebrow, feeling that things weren’t as simple as Jiang Yin thought.
The next day, Xia Xiqing arrived at the recording site early. He was taken to the makeup room by the staff for a quick touch-up. The makeup artist was a young girl who, despite being used to working with beautiful celebrities, was still surprised to see Xia Xiqing. She asked him about his skincare secrets while applying his makeup. A young assistant named Xiao Jie entered the makeup room. Xia Xiqing smiled at the young man in the mirror, who seemed a bit embarrassed, scratching the back of his head and saying, “Mr. Xia, Ms. Jiang Yin asked me to come and assist you. If you need anything during the recording, just let me know.”
“I feel like only older people are called ‘Mr.,’” Xia Xiqing said with his signature gentle expression. “I look pretty young, don’t I?”
“Ah? No, no…”
“No?” Xia Xiqing smiled, his eyes crinkling like a crescent moon.
“Ah, I mean… Sorry, sorry. You look like a college student. I’m new here and a bit nervous…“ Xiao Jie hurriedly waved his hands, ”Um…”
“Just call me Xiqing.” The makeup was just a light foundation and some eyebrow pencil, much faster than expected. Xia Xiqing stood up, turned around, and shook hands with Xiao Jie, “I’m 25, so I’m a bit older than you, but I’ll need your help and support over the next few days.” ”
“Ah, then I’ll call you Brother Xi Qing.” Xiao Jie held Xia Xiqing’s long hands with both hands. “I also have a lot to learn, so please bear with me.”
So honest. Xia Xiqing was secretly surprised. This was fine. He had thought that Jiang Yin would plant a smooth-talking spy, but it seemed he had overthought it. The recording was scheduled for the evening. In the morning, Xiao Jie took Xia Xingqing into the studio to take a set of promotional photos. After entering the studio, Xia Xingqing met the other two guests who had also come to participate in the recording. Although Xia Xingqing had only recently returned to the country, he had some understanding of the domestic entertainment industry. He recognized both guests. One was Cen Ceng, a solo female singer whose popularity had skyrocketed recently, and the other was Shang Sui, a member of the popular boy band HighFive.
“Am I the only amateur here?” Xia Xiqing turned to ask Xiao Jie.
Xiao Jie nodded, then shook his head. “No, there’s another amateur girl. Apparently, she’s a member of the Mensa Club.”
Xia Xiqing nodded and was soon called over for a photo shoot. Unlike most amateurs, Xia Xiqing wasn’t afraid of the camera. The photographer took a few test shots, reviewed the previews, and was pleasantly surprised. “Have you ever been a model before?”
“Sort of,” Xia Xiqing recalled her strange experience as a model for ready-to-wear fashion shoots at the Fumei Ti Fashion Design Academy. “It was completely amateur.”
“That’s good. You have long limbs and you look good on camera.” The photographer took a few more shots before officially starting the promotional photo shoot according to the program’s requirements. During the final set of photos, Xia Xiqing noticed a tall figure entering the studio.
“Zi Heng is here.”
There was no need to look twice; his radar instantly detected Zhou Ziheng. Needless to say, there was no one else with such a tall figure, let alone the dignified face of an actor.
It’s been a long time. Xia Xiqing’s eyes returned to the camera, and he smiled.
The author has something to say:
Reader: I want to reverse the CP…
Zhou Ziheng: [Covering his mouth] No, you don’t. I’ll officially debut in the next chapter, so everyone stay calm.
Uncle: What can you do even if you debut? You’ll still be teased by me. [Shrugging]
Zhou Ziheng: Those of you in the comments section shouting about reverse CP, you’ve all been locked into the “it’s so good” law.
Leave a Reply