Originally just casually talking about Clemens, Rong Xu didn’t expect that they would talk about so many things, and that Qin Cheng would know so many industry secrets. 

This man appeared aloof and out of touch with the world on the surface, but who would have thought that he held so much major news that could make paparazzi go crazy.

Gossip is a noble virtue shared by humanity. Under normal circumstances, Rong Xu had no interest in such industry gossip and wouldn’t actively seek it out. 

But now, sitting on a plane, quite bored, and next to a top paparazzi who knew a huge amount of gossip… So, over the next dozen or so hours of the flight, Rong Xu learned many, many entertainment industry secrets from Qin Cheng that he had never known before.

For example, a certain A-list actress actually had a son long ago, but he was always registered under someone else’s name. Or, for example, a certain famous loving couple in the industry had already divorced but pretended to be a loving couple for work.

“Xu Jin loves this gossip,” Qin Cheng sighed helplessly, “He talks too much, always saying things.”

This was said sincerely and truthfully, as Qin Cheng, like Rong Xu, had little interest in such gossip.

Rong Xu curved his lips and asked again, “Then why did Xu Jin investigate Brother Dong, hmm? Is he also interested in Brother Dong?”

Qin Cheng: “…”

The two talked until the end, when they were nearing Huaxia, and returned to the original question. As for why Clemens preferred Chinese people, Rong Xu could probably guess the reason without the person involved needing to say it. After all, Clemens had worked as an assistant director under Elder Liu for several years when he was young, and had stayed in Huaxia for several years, which might have influenced his aesthetic preferences.

Just as the plane was about to land, Qin Cheng seemed to recall something and said indifferently, “Lin Xuan should be too.”

Rong Xu: “…!!!”

“He might be bisexual. Although he causes different dating rumors every few months, Xu Jin used to say that with his extensive experience in gossip, Lin Xuan should also like men.”

Rong Xu, who chatted with the person involved several times a week, recorded songs together, held concerts together, and could be considered the other’s best friend: “…”

This plane trip caused a subversive blow to Rong Xu’s worldview. Rong Xu considered himself quite intelligent, but when it came to digging up gossip, he truly had no talent whatsoever, far inferior to Xu Jin.

---

After returning to Huaxia, Floating Light was soon to be released globally. To promote the new album, Rong Xu and Lin Xuan participated in several music programs together. When meeting his old friend, Rong Xu calmly observed for a long time but still couldn’t find any possibility of Xu Jin’s so-called “also likes men.”

Rong Xu even directly asked tentatively, “I heard you had a new girlfriend last month?”

Lin Xuan waved his hand helplessly: “We broke up. She wanted to go public again and secretly found paparazzi to take pictures of us eating.”

And still gay? He doesn’t even look bisexual!

This question remained unanswered. On May 20, 2047, Floating Light was released worldwide simultaneously. After two years, Rong Xu released a new music album, and this time, the fans’ enthusiasm was even greater than for Rong Yan two years ago.

Floating Light was an EP with only three singles, and its price was nearly half that of Rong Yan. In the past two years, Rong Xu’s popularity had grown increasingly, not only in Huaxia but also accumulating a large number of fans in Europe and America. Coupled with the recent promotion of Zeroth Law, Rong Xu’s popularity reached a peak.

As a result, within just one hour of Floating Light‘s release, sales reached 690,000!

Floating Light‘s total sales breaking one million had already become a foregone conclusion. In fact, under normal circumstances, EP sales are indeed slightly higher than regular albums. But on the first day, Floating Light‘s total sales broke one million, refreshing the global music scene’s EP single-day sales record for the past decade with a terrifying achievement of 1.09 million!

This album contained three songs. The first two were Rong Xu’s solo performances, and the last, the title track “Floating Light,” was a collaboration between Rong Xu and Lin Xuan. The MV for this song didn’t need any special content; just Rong Xu and Lin Xuan singing together in the frame was enough to make fans scream.

Lin Xuan also played the piano. So, a scene in the MV where Lin Xuan played a white grand piano and Rong Xu leaned against it was screenshotted and saved by fans, widely circulated.

Soft, warm sunlight streamed diagonally through the French windows. The young man in a light-colored suit leaned against the massive piano. On the other side of the piano, the equally clear and elegant young superstar played seriously, occasionally looking up. The two exchanged glances and smiled at each other.

This acit understanding, combined with the beautiful singing, made “Floating Light” the focus of discussion among music fans.

On the day the album was released, Rong Xu personally took out one hundred copies. Some were given away as prizes in a lottery for fans; the other part was given to his friends in the industry, asking them to help with promotion.

For a time, whether it was Wen Xuan, Xia Muyan, or Chu Qi, Jennifer, all began posting this album on their personal social media accounts to promote Rong Xu.

Even the Holt father and son received Rong Xu’s gift. Sr. Holt seized this opportunity to promote Floating Light while increasing exposure for Zeroth Law. 

Clemens also very reluctantly posted a picture of the album, even saying it was “quite nice to listen to.” As for whether he had actually listened to these three songs, or even opened the EP, only he himself knew.

The success of Floating Light once again elevated Rong Xu’s status in the music industry. This young Chinese actor didn’t just achieve such high album sales due to his high popularity. In early June, Liu Xinying, a renowned Chinese music producer and peer of Elder Yang, also published her reflections and praise for “Floating Light” on her blog.

[This song is consistent with Old Yang’s usual style, simple and clear, yet straight to the heart. Rong Xu’s voice is clear and gentle, while Lin Xuan’s voice is more robust and clean. This makes “Floating Light” itself more like a dialogue between two moods of one person. On one hand, chasing past love, unwilling to pull away, unwilling to let go; on the other hand, hoping to end the past and start a new future, wishing her better. My personal favorite lyric is the chorus part, “That’s your light floating in my heart,” which uses the E key…]

The high praise from professionals and the record-breaking sales performance made more and more music lovers genuinely start paying attention to Rong Xu.

In the past few years, due to Rong Xu’s identity as an actor, some music fans had always been unwilling to listen to his songs.

Acting well leads to singing well; singing well leads to acting well.

This phrase describes a very common phenomenon: many actors and singers cross over between fields. Even Lin Xuan once collaborated with Rong Xu on Silent. But for some music fans, they always believed that actors were not professional singers and were much worse than singers. They thought actors sang purely for profit and were not worth listening to at all.

But after so much time, no matter how unwilling these fans were, they must have heard Rong Xu’s songs somewhere. Moreover, this time Floating Light involved Lin Xuan and received so much praise from industry bigwigs. They finally decided to put aside their unnecessary prejudice and listen to this album, and once they listened… they couldn’t stop.

[It’s really good! I didn’t expect Rong Xu’s voice to be so good, very unique, no worse than Lin Xuan’s.]

[I always thought Rong Xu was just an amateur singer, releasing albums to make money, trying to imitate some actors who purely rely on post-production auto-tuning to sing, and whose live singing would be a car crash. I never expected “Floating Light” to be so good! I look forward to Rong Xu’s concert, I believe his live singing must be excellent too!]

[To the fan above, my Rong has sung live several times and participated as a guest at Lin Xuan’s concerts. If you want to hear my Rong’s singing at a concert, I recommend Lin Xuan’s tour concert four years ago. My Rong’s live versions of “Wingless” and “Silent” were truly amazing! Better than the CD!]

---

The global popularity of Floating Light was evident to the naked eye, but beneath this flourishing and enthusiastic scene, some meticulous fans also discovered a strange thing: 

[Huh, Rong Rong’s new album, Er Mu, Empress Wen… even Clemens Holt posted messages to help promote it, but why didn’t God Qin say anything?]

Indeed, for two full days after the release of the Floating Light album, Qin Cheng’s personal Weibo and Twitter had never been updated, as if he knew nothing about it.

Fans knew that Rong Xu had a good relationship with Wen Xuan and Lin Xuan. But compared to them, Rong Xu’s best friend was clearly Qin Cheng. Moreover, Rong Xu and Qin Cheng had just collaborated on a gay film, Zeroth Law, which had romantic scenes. Yet, when Rong Xu released an album this time, Qin Cheng didn’t say a single word?

Haters immediately smelled blood and spread rumors that Rong Xu and Qin Cheng’s relationship had deteriorated due to the filming of Zeroth Law. 

Romantic scenes between two grown men were already a great test of friendship. The director even said the movie would have kissing and bed scenes, so it wasn’t impossible for Qin Cheng to be disgusted with Rong Xu because of these.

Upon hearing this, Rong Xu’s fans immediately became indignant: [My Rong just filmed a movie, do you understand what professionalism means? Rumor-spreading haters, why don’t you ascend to heaven?]

Qin Cheng’s fans were also quite angry: 

[How could our God Qin be such an unprofessional person? Not to mention that director Lance Holt previously said at the launch press conference that God Qin very much hoped Rong Xu would film this movie and strongly recommended Rong Xu to director Holt. Even if the co-star this time wasn’t Rong Xu, but an unfamiliar actor, our God Qin would not be disgusted or angry just because he had to film kissing and bed scenes with a same-sex partner!]

As for CP fans, they had long been calm: 

[Cheng Rong have been good friends for so many years. The Zeroth Law crew even posted a tweet showing their affection yesterday, using Cheng Rong for movie promotion. The funniest joke I’ve heard this year is that Cheng Rong’s relationship has deteriorated, and God Qin dislikes Rong Rong. Hahahaha, too funny, I’m going to laugh for a whole year.]

The haters, of course, wouldn’t give up easily and directly asked: [Then tell us, why didn’t Qin Cheng promote Rong Xu’s new album?]

Fans also couldn’t answer this question. Qin Cheng hadn’t been working for the past few days and had been resting since finishing Zeroth Law. It couldn’t be said that he was too busy with work to remember to promote Rong Xu’s new album. But it was even more impossible for fans to admit to the haters’ claim of Qin Cheng and Rong Xu’s relationship deteriorating.

[God Qin and Rong Rong’s relationship worsened? Haters might as well say they’re not haters, then everyone might actually believe you with their eyes closed, hahahaha.]

Fans didn’t know how to refute, but that afternoon, Qin Cheng posted a message on all his social media accounts—

[Qin Cheng: @RongXu’s new EP is very good. Retweet this Weibo, and 1,000 fans will be randomly selected to receive an album; another 100 people will be selected to receive a signed album (my signature, not Rong Xu’s). [Image]]

In the image, the handsome man was holding a pen, signing his name character by character on the Floating Light lyric booklet. Qin Cheng had been incredibly lazy over the years, rarely signing autographs for fans, and had never held any sweepstakes. Who would have thought that his first sweepstakes would be to promote someone else’s album, and he even signed a hundred copies directly!

Additionally, sharp-eyed fans immediately noticed: 

[Honestly, God Qin, it’s fine that you’re signing your name on Rong Rong’s album, but why do you keep signing over Lin Xuan’s name? Hahahaha, I’m dying laughing, God Qin, don’t tell me it was unintentional, a hundred albums, I’ve looked at all of them, you signed over Lin Xuan’s name on every single one, completely covering Lin Xuan’s name!]

This fan never expected that one minute later, Qin Cheng would actually reply to her.

[Qin Cheng replies to @ZouXiaoyan: Oh, it was an accident.]

[ZouXiaoyan: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! //@Qin Cheng…]

Fans instantly understood: 

[We know, it was an accident, absolutely an accident. God Qin totally wasn’t jealous 23333]

For the fans, all they saw was that Cheng Rong, the good friends, were showing off their affection again. They had been flaunting their affection daily for years, for a decade. No wonder the host David at the Golden Bear Awards ceremony even used them as a running joke. And of course, they didn’t think about why Qin Cheng suddenly started promoting Floating Light three days later.

In fact, on the first day of the album’s release, a certain super-rich fan bought 10,000 copies of the Floating Light album.

---

Qin Cheng didn’t hide this from Rong Xu. After learning that the man had actually bought 10,000 more copies of his album, Rong Xu sighed heavily. Before he could speak, the other raised his hand and said, “All my income from Zeroth Law goes to the foundation.”

Rong Xu was slightly stunned and said helplessly, “I’m not blaming you. As long as you’re happy, that’s fine. You don’t need to give all your salary to the foundation.”

The rich fan calmly embraced his beloved and whispered, “But helping those children… Xiao Xu, you’ll be happy.”

Last month, while filming Zeroth Law, Rong Xu also took some time off to return to Huaxia for a funeral. The Rong Yan Foundation, established over two years ago, had expanded from initially only building Hope primary schools to now addressing children’s medical issues.

Last month, the first child with congenital heart disease helped by the Rong Yan Foundation passed away due to complications, six months after a successful operation. This child was only eleven years old and loved Rong Xu’s songs. Even though a suitable heart was found, he still left.

Rong Xu and Qin Cheng were not doctors, much less God. They couldn’t save a person’s life. All they could do was to enable more children to have the possibility of being saved.

They gave hope, but they couldn’t decide the future.

However, at least they could allow more people to gain hope, opening doors that might lead to a future.

Of course, back to the main topic: why did Qin Cheng buy the album on the first day but only post on Weibo on the third day? That was entirely because Mr. Qin never expected that not only did his Rong Rong collaborate with Lin Xuan on a song, but in the MV, they even hugged and stood so close!!!

Isn’t that infuriating?

Isn’t that infuriating?!

It was so infuriating that it took until the third day for Rong Xu, between laughter and tears, to finally smooth down the ruffled feathers of a certain man.

And Lin Xuan, of course, didn’t understand what he had done for Qin Cheng to target him so much. The Floating Light album sold incredibly well, naturally leading to a celebration banquet. At the banquet, Qin Cheng looked down at the table, not glancing at anyone beside him. However, Lin Xuan, at the same table, sat ramrod straight, feeling as if he was being stared at by some beast, his hairs standing on end.

After the celebration banquet, Lin Xuan even pulled Rong Xu aside and whispered, “What’s wrong with Crazy Qin today? I’m shivering all over. When I talk to him, he… his eyes are so strange, and he’s been so sarcastic to me today. He used to be sarcastic, but today he’s even more so. Rong Rong, how did I offend him?”

Rong Xu smiled but didn’t speak: “No, you’re fine, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

A bewildered Lin Xuan: “Then why does he keep targeting me?”

Not answering the question, Rong Xu slowly restrained his smile, thought for a moment, and asked, “…Er Mu, what’s your opinion on homosexuality?”

His body suddenly stiffened. After a moment, Lin Xuan also looked up at Rong Xu seriously and asked, “Why are you suddenly asking about this?”

Rong Xu shook his head and said with a smile, “Nothing, I just suddenly wanted to ask your opinion on homosexuality. You know, some people really dislike homosexuals, and if a friend is gay, they might even break off their friendship. I’m curious, Er Mu, if I were gay, what would be your attitude?”

Lin Xuan suddenly burst out laughing: “If you were gay, then I’d be gay too, hahaha.”

Rong Xu: “…No wonder we’re friends.”

“Huh?”

Rong Xu raised a hand to his forehead: “Nothing.” Because we’re both gossip-immune, and we’re so close, you still can’t tell I’m gay?

---

After the sharp increase in the first three days, sales of Floating Light gradually stabilized. Although daily sales dropped significantly, it still held firmly at the top of the weekly sales chart, with nearly double the sales of the second-place album.

At the same time, Zeroth Law also began intensive promotion. Clemens arranged for publicists to release many behind-the-scenes photos from the set, deliberately withholding official stills and trailers, thoroughly piquing the fans’ curiosity. However, no one expected that at this very moment, a video would suddenly appear on a popular marketing account’s Weibo.

The video was clearly shot secretly from a distance. The picture was very unclear; only a slender figure could be seen sitting by a window in the distance, looking up and talking to someone. After five minutes, he suddenly stood up, and another figure emerged from behind a wall.

The two walked closer and kissed lightly. Simultaneously, the person filming the video kept whispering in English: “Hey, that’s Rong Xu, what’s he doing… Oh, that’s Qin Cheng. Hey… hey hey? They’re kissing? Rong Xu and Qin Cheng are kissing?!”

Within five minutes of its release, the video garnered over a million retweets and a billion views!

---

Author’s Note:

Qin Chengcheng: Tell me, isn’t it infuriating? Isn’t it infuriating?! Baby wants to sing with Rong Rong too, okay!!!

Rong Rong: First, tell me, why did Xu Jin investigate Dong Zheng? ^_^