Director Yuan had said before that he intended to use the “Tan-Xue CP” topic to stir up publicity for the movie. Director Yuan was a successful businessman—he always took advantage of every exploitable means to maximize benefits and secure the most profitable results.

Modern Huaxia had already legalized same-sex marriage. Although thousands of years of traditional beliefs couldn’t be changed overnight, the entertainment industry did have one or two openly gay couples.

Since it was all about hyping CPs anyway, whether it was a heterosexual CP or a male-male CP, it was still just hype. As long as it could bring attention to the film, Director Yuan didn’t care about things like morals.

However, because of Qin Cheng, Rong Xu never agreed to Director Yuan’s more excessive CP hyping strategies. Otherwise, based on what Director Yuan suggested, he even wanted Rong Xu and Bai Xiwen to perform some flirtatious scenes in public during the film’s promotional tour. If that had really happened, Rong Xu couldn’t imagine how jealous a certain man might get.

After all, just yesterday morning, a certain man had flown straight to City B from Milan and gone to watch The Lost City in the cinema. After watching it, he only sent Rong Xu six dots.

[Qin Cheng: ……]

At the time, Rong Xu didn’t understand what was going on. He just replied with a smile:
[Back in the country? I’m on a promo tour in G Province. I probably won’t be back until the week after next. Since Silence also wrapped last week, Director Xu is starting promotions too. I still have to promote Silence next week, so I probably won’t be in B City for long.]

Yet once again, Qin Cheng replied with:
[……]

This time it was Rong Xu’s turn:
[……?]

[Qin Cheng: …………]

[Rong Xu: ………………]

[Qin Cheng: ………………………]

[Qin Cheng: ……………………………]

[Rong Xu: You’re jealous ^_^]

[Qin Cheng: ……]

This time, Qin Cheng directly sent over a photo. It was a movie ticket stub for The Lost City—just one ticket, for a showtime that started two hours earlier, which meant he had just finished watching it. Looking at the ticket stub, and thinking of how much a certain man had dotted him just now, Rong Xu suddenly understood:
[You’re jealous?]

Before long, a phone call came through. A deep and magnetic male voice came through the earpiece, inexplicably sounding even more elegant:
“When are you coming back?”

At that moment, Rong Xu had just finished putting on his makeup. In a little over ten minutes, he would be attending a variety show. He walked to a quieter area backstage, phone in hand, and looked up at the clear blue sky outside the window—as if through that sky, he could see the man standing beneath the same sky somewhere else.

“The week after next. I just said that,” the young man said with a hint of a smile.

“The week after the week after next… remember?”

Rong Xu paused:
“The week after the week after next?”

After a moment, the man’s voice came, suppressing a light chuckle:
“I have something very private to tell you. There can’t be anyone else around.”

In the next second, Rong Xu understood immediately:
“Your birthday!”

October 27 was Qin Cheng’s birthday.

Half a year ago, just as Rong Xu had joined the The Lost City crew and filming hadn’t even started yet, his chances of being alone with Ren Shuzhi were constantly interrupted by calls from a certain man. Back then, Rong Xu had already faintly sensed that there was some ulterior motive behind Qin Cheng’s calls. Now, thinking back…

“Back then, did you keep calling me on purpose so I couldn’t spend time with Ren Shuzhi?”

What responded was steady breathing on the other end of the line, and a low:
“Xiao Xu…”

Some words didn’t need to be said. Just the memory was enough to feel warm and sweet.

They chatted a little more before hanging up.

After that, Rong Xu left the backstage area with the The Lost City crew to join the program recording. And back in faraway City B, he naturally didn’t know that a certain man was currently looking down at a few sharp, dashing, dark military uniforms. His gaze slowly swept across the belts at the waists and medals on the shoulders… until a faint smile curled on his lips.

Birthday present, huh… What would be good?

Five minutes later, user “LotusPasteOrangeFilling” posted a Weibo.

[@LotusPasteOrangeFilling: #LostCity##RongXu# Love Rong Rong, love Professor~ OVO [image]]

Clicking on the picture, it showed a floor completely covered in countless movie ticket stubs! Many of them were even stacked together, making them hard to count. Yet one determined fan painstakingly counted them all and then replied in shock:
[Holy crap! 529 tickets! A total of 529! Don’t tell me… Did Orange Goddess rent out every screening room showing The Lost City in an entire cinema all at once?! Aaaaah!!!]

When rich people do things, it’s always on another level.

Many fans were amazed by LotusPasteOrangeFilling’s wealth, while others noticed the location of the theater on the tickets.

[Eh? It’s in B City? I go to this cinema all the time! What a pity I watched The Lost City yesterday. If I’d gone today, maybe I could’ve seen the Orange Goddess!]

[Aaaaaah it was this screening time?! I wanted to go to that exact show to rewatch my darling Rong Rong’s Professor Xue, but when I opened the app, not a single ticket was left! So it was all bought out by the rich beauty! Wuwuwu, she eats the meat, and we don’t even get the soup. Too cruel, wuwuwu!]

To everyone’s surprise, three minutes later, this fan actually got a reply from LotusPasteOrangeFilling—

[@LotusPasteOrangeFilling replied to @LittleMonster: B City local? I’ll treat you to the movie. DM me. // @LittleMonster: Aaaaah it was this screening time?! I…]

At this, every fan:
“……”

But the story wasn’t over yet!

LotusPasteOrangeFilling immediately made another Weibo post:
[#LostCity##RongXu# Today, anyone who reposts this tweet and is from B City will receive a The Lost City movie ticket. No limit.]

Instantly, the fans went wild.

The Lost City’s tickets weren’t particularly expensive. In this era, 2D movies had long been phased out, and the most basic format was 3D. Since The Lost City didn’t have many action scenes or special effects, there was no need for 4D or 5D—just a regular 3D movie.

A 3D movie ticket cost about 70 yuan, and if bought through an app, it might be 10–20 yuan cheaper.

It wasn’t a high price—normal viewers could afford it—but LotusPasteOrangeFilling’s gesture wasn’t just simple generosity—

She was giving away tickets, but at the same time, she was promoting The Lost City for free.

If someone had already seen The Lost City, they’d be happy to repost and get a free ticket to watch it again. And for those who hadn’t watched it yet? No harm in reposting, and they got to watch a movie for free!

In the distant future, when Xu Jin found out, he was utterly speechless:
“Giving away movie tickets? Why aren’t you promoting your own film? Betrayed by beauty! Betrayed by beauty! You’re showing such favoritism!!”

In just three hours, that Weibo post by LotusPasteOrangeFilling had over 50,000 reposts!

Among them, 20–30,000 were B City locals. Many reposted out of curiosity, thinking, “Why not try?” Some even added sarcasm:
[Oh, I’m from B City too. There are tens of millions of people in B City. You think you can really treat us all? Talking big without drafting first. So cocky, lol!]

However, very soon, those people came back with horrified expressions and replied:
“[Holy sh*t! That LotusPasteOrangeFilling girl actually made it so that if I show this Weibo post at a certain cinema, I can watch the movie for free… I’m speechless (:з」∠) Honestly, is LotusPasteOrangeFilling the heiress of some film conglomerate or something? That kind of generosity—seriously rich!]”

Naturally, LotusPasteOrangeFilling’s Weibo post was quickly discovered by Rong Xu’s fans. The fan leaders were all sighing in amazement—this LotusPasteOrangeFilling was seriously loaded. With a wealthy fan like this around, they suddenly felt like they were the ones clout-chasing.

Meanwhile, Luo Xi had also noticed what LotusPasteOrangeFilling had done, but before she could tell Rong Xu, Director Yuan happily said:
“Rong Xu, your fan is amazing! Do you think we’ll have a chance to work together again? My next film is a historical martial arts piece, about the Jinyiwei. What do you think? Want to collaborate?”

When he heard the first part, Rong Xu was a bit confused. But the moment he heard “Jinyiwei,” he could only shake his head with a wry smile and said,
“Director Yuan, I don’t have any plans to take on a Jinyiwei film in the near future. But if there’s another chance to work with you, I’d love that. Please think of me if you have a good script.”

Director Yuan laughed heartily:
“Definitely, definitely! It’s a deal—don’t forget!”

Seeing how enthusiastic the director was, Rong Xu already had a feeling that something must have happened—something that had to do with him. And sure enough, after dinner, Luo Xi told him about LotusPasteOrangeFilling’s stunt. When he heard that her post had already been shared more than 80,000 times—and that at least 40,000 of those people were from B City—Rong Xu simply said:
“……”

Hmm. This rich fan of his sure knew how to make waves.

So, after a few months of silence, that very night, Rong Xu opened LotusPasteOrangeFilling’s Weibo again.

After all, she was just a fan—and one who had always maintained a strangely distant attitude toward him—so Rong Xu didn’t see the need to constantly check up on her posts. But now, he scrolled through her recent activity.

As expected, her Weibo feed still only featured two types of posts:

1. Love confessions and check-ins for him.
   
2. Lovey-dovey posts about her boyfriend.
   

Most of them were in the first category. This LotusPasteOrangeFilling had incredible patience and still maintained a consistent habit of posting three times a day, like scheduled meals, just to confess her love to him. Rong Xu just skimmed through those without paying much attention. As for the hashtags like #IWantToSleepWithRongRongEveryDay, he didn’t even glance at them.

He’d seen far crazier things from his fans. Forget about just “sleeping” with him—some fans were already fantasizing about having his babies!

Rong Xu looked more carefully at LotusPasteOrangeFilling’s lovey-dovey posts. Somehow, he had this vague sense of familiarity about the “Lotus Paste (Lianrong)” she kept mentioning. After all, if she was posting about her boyfriend, it was only natural for her to drop a few details.

From her words, this “Lotus Paste” was adorable, good-looking, and incredibly gentle.

A bad cook, but she liked his food anyway.

Sometimes he made her jealous—but she was happy to be jealous for him.

She also once wrote—

[LotusPasteOrangeFilling: He really really really loves baby. Even if he doesn’t say it, baby knows—he wishes he could be with baby every single day 2333333333]

Beneath this post, many netizens left comments like “More couple mush again,” and “My skewers and grill are ready,” but others asked:
“[It really seems like Lotus Paste likes Orange Goddess a lot—was it Lotus Paste who chased after you first? Ugh, I’m so jealous, Orange Goddess. Someone loves you this much and treats you so well—he must be super sweet and obedient, right? A total 24/7 boyfriend? Jealous!]”

To everyone’s surprise, LotusPasteOrangeFilling actually replied to this comment!

[LotusPasteOrangeFilling: ^_^~ @Han Yi: ‘Feels like Lotus Paste really likes Orange Goddess’……]

Rong Xu: “……”

That’s basically a confirmation!

Why does this feel… oddly cold?

Staring at that “^_^” emoji, Rong Xu felt an eerie sense of familiarity. That was an expression he himself liked to use—a lot, especially in chats. Now, seeing someone else use it…

Could that cold feeling be because of the emoji?

This time, Rong Xu couldn’t help himself and clicked into the Weibo registration page to make a burner account. But just as he finished entering a new email, Luo Xi knocked on the door. He had set his phone aside, and by the time they finished discussing next week’s promotional event for Silent, it was already 1 a.m.

Rong Xu ended up turning off his phone and forgot all about registering the alternate account.

The next morning, Director Yuan was still happily talking about his upcoming Jinyiwei film. But by the afternoon, he suddenly understood why Rong Xu had turned him down.

[“Zhuang Hua Luo (Brocaded Silk)”: With graceful and intricate hands, one melody wins his heart. Beneath the eternal moonlight, blood stains the brocaded silk.
December 18—Zhuang Hua Luo, coming just for you!
@DirectorLaoLiu @Qin Cheng @Huang Lei @Liao Zhengchang @Rong Xu @Chen Qifeng… [Image]]