After envying the cats, it was time to get down to business.
Chi Feiran thought for a while and decided to write songs for love, expressing all his feelings. It would be best if he could sing them to Rong Jin, but if Rong Jin wouldn’t, he’d sing them himself.
Then he’d find an opportunity for a live rendition of the romantic songs. Maybe if the atmosphere was right, this matter would move forward!
Chi Feiran remained very positive and optimistic about this matter. He believed optimism was necessary. If even he wasn’t optimistic about this relationship, what hope could they have?
So Chi Feiran decided to write love songs seriously, laying the groundwork for himself first. In any case, he couldn’t let Rong Jin think he was just acting on a whim, then steadily and surely, he’d win him over.
Once he decided to do something, Chi Feiran’s ability to act was incredibly strong. He grabbed a pen and paper and got to work.
Perhaps because his emotions were in place, this time he was truly overflowing with inspiration, and his creative efficiency was simply astounding.
While he buried himself in creativity, preparing for a fulfilling New Year holiday, a wave of excitement was sweeping across the Chinese microblogging sphere.
Not for any other reason, but on New Year’s Day, the character posters for the male and female leads of “The Chivalrous Bones” were also released!
After a week of buildup by the entire production team, the anticipation was already very high. Moreover, the names of Pang Wen and Rong Jin were prominently displayed in the cast list, which felt like dangling a carrot in front of everyone.
Pang Wen’s development momentum had been very strong in recent years. After winning the Flying Sky Award for Best Actress, she had immediately risen to the top tier among her contemporaries. It was only at this peak of her popularity that she had the chance to co-star with Rong Jin.
Although the two characters had virtually no romantic scenes in the movie, the production team still planned to stir up some gossip about them. After all, there’s no harm in increasing the hype.
The momentum generated by this pre-release publicity, when translated into actual box office numbers later on, wasn’t just empty hype. It was a normal promotional tactic—playing it safe, being both offensive and defensive at the same time.
The PR team was preparing to make some bold moves when they were caught off guard by the fans.
The wind was blowing in the wrong direction!
Initially, there were some comments about how good the male and female lead character posters looked together. Suddenly, a picture emerged that changed everything!
Wanting some sugar: Captioned Picture. The production team is so clever…
Curious onlookers clicked on the picture and sighed in admiration. “Wow, they’re really playing it well!”
This picture was a mash-up of Chu Heng and Chu Bai’s character posters. Without this comparison, one wouldn’t have realized how strikingly different the styles were in the individual photos—the clothing, the background, everything.
One person had a slight smile on their face, dressed in white like a gentleman, surrounded by light. The other held a sword, with a cold gaze, dressed in black like a frosty swordsman. They seemed unrelated at first glance, but when put together, it was clear that they were in the same scene!
Their gazes were directed at each other!!!
Fans of the CP went crazy. What was this! This was official support from the production!
“Kneeling down. This design is really powerful. The movie hasn’t even been released yet, and I’m already imagining five hundred episodes of a drama!”
“Sugar from the official source tastes so good!!!”
“Can’t wait for the release! Just based on this character poster design, I’ll watch it at least three times!”
The head of the PR team asked, “…Who approved this character poster in the end?”
Someone nearby replied, “It must’ve been Director Jin!”
Director Jin was a big shot in the industry. In his productions, he had absolute control. Even the producers had to defer to him. If this first set of character posters didn’t have his approval, then whose decision was it?
The head of the PR team sighed, “Experience really counts…”
It’s not like they hadn’t thought about creating some ‘fujoshi’ content, some saucy moves or something. Nowadays, it’s much easier to generate hype with male-male interactions than with heterosexual ones, because there are so many fangirls!
But all these plans were supposed to be detailed later on; they definitely had to start with the male and female leads. However, no one expected Director Jin, despite his age, to understand how to plant Easter eggs for CP fans. It was simply unbelievable.
What was Director Jin thinking right now?
Director Jin: “…”
Director Jin was actually quite in touch with the trends, despite being an older gentleman. He was proficient in Weibo and WeChat, and he knew that the “boys’ love” genre was quite popular nowadays. He often saw some young folks trying to stir up some hype, but he always brushed it off.
But he truly didn’t expect that what he envisioned as a deep brotherly bond would be seen differently by others!
Director Jin turned to his assistant and asked, “…Is it really that gay?”
His assistant, touching his conscience, reluctantly replied, “…A little bit.”
Director Jin understood. It seemed it was indeed quite ‘gay’…
Even Director Jin’s decades-old straight male heart trembled a bit. He spoke with a somewhat floaty tone, “Then why didn’t anyone tell me about this?”
The assistant just looked at him, implying everything without saying a word.
The whole crew was essentially a one-man show led by Director Jin himself. Whatever he wanted to do, he did it. Others could only offer suggestions at best; they couldn’t even have opinions. They thought he was just trying to catch the trend and appeal to fangirls. Anyway, it was just a bit of fun; it didn’t affect the movie’s screening. What was there to remind him about?
Director Jin understood the look in his assistant’s eyes and felt he needed some time to himself.
Originally, after the hype around “Perfect Vacation” died down, Rong Jin wasn’t the type to keep constantly active online, and the topic of his CP with Chi Feiran had slowly faded. But with this move, the topic immediately heated up again.
This was official business! Could everyone resist having a good time?
In just one evening, Rong Jin collected countless new CP fanart and several new videos online. He was just getting into it when he received a message from Chi Feiran, which startled him.
Rong Jin felt like he had been caught red-handed, feeling a bit uneasy. He opened the message from Chi Feiran and saw…
Rong Jin: “…”
Looking at his phone’s WeChat interface and then at the conceptual computer in front of him, he couldn’t help but suspect that some kid had installed monitoring software on his computer. How else could it be so coincidental? Whatever he was looking at, the other person seemed to be looking at too!
After Chi Feiran shared the link, he sent a mischievous smirk emoji, then tentatively asked, “What do you think, Rong-ge?”
Feeling a bit flustered inside, but not showing it in his reply, Rong Jin pretended to be calm. “It’s edited quite well.”
Seeing his calm response in just five words, Chi Feiran felt like their minds weren’t on the same wavelength. He asked about the content, but Rong Jin gave him a technical answer! How could this work!
So he directly asked, “What about the content? Rong-ge, don’t you have any thoughts? Like if you dislike it or something?”
Chi Feiran felt that for someone like Rong Jin, who had a rather conservative view of relationships, he needed to start with ensuring he wasn’t opposed to homosexuality. Once that foundation was established, they could discuss other things.
Rong Jin read that paragraph and thought Chi Feiran disliked it, feeling a bit disappointed.
After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “So, do you think it’s dislikeable?”
Chi Feiran immediately denied, “No, I’m just curious about how you see it. Don’t you find it strange or dislikeable?”
Rong Jin breathed a sigh of relief, thinking, ‘As long as you don’t dislike it,’ then replied, “What’s there to dislike? In this industry, you encounter many things like this…”
As he spoke slowly, Chi Feiran carefully analyzed each word. By the end, he came to a conclusion and felt a bit elated.
He doesn’t dislike it! And he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with liking someone of the same sex!
Rong Jin said, “I think, as long as a relationship doesn’t harm anyone, then there’s no right or wrong. Love is a beautiful thing, no matter who it’s for.”
Rong Jin thought, some loves should just be kept in the heart.
Listening to Rong Jin’s voice, which seemed to carry a different kind of tenderness, Chi Feiran’s heart softened as well.
Indeed, love is a beautiful thing. Just thinking about liking this person made him feel secretly delighted. How could it not be beautiful…
Chi Feiran couldn’t help blurting out in a soft voice, “Rong-ge, I wrote a song for you.”
But right after saying it, he regretted it a bit. How could he blurt it out like that? He should have let Teacher Shi take a look first. What if it’s not good and Rong-ge sees it? That would be so embarrassing!
So, before Rong Jin could reply, he quickly added, “But it’s not finished yet. I’ll show it to you when it’s done!”
Rong Jin’s mind was full of, “He wrote a song for me again.”
The first thing Chi Feiran did after returning to China was to go to Shi Kai’s studio to meet him, wanting him to help assess the quality of the new songs he wrote.
Shi Kai was quite satisfied with his creative ability. Despite being young, the melodies he composed were quite spirited, showing great potential.
But when he saw those songs…
Shi Kai: “…”
Shi Kai’s heart was complex. It’s easy for young people to go to extremes; the last EP was all about tragic love songs, as bitter as Huanglian. Now, it’s an explosion of sweetness. Look at these lyrics, so sickeningly sweet!
“I want to be the sugar on your tongue, envy the cat sleeping next to you…”
Shi Kai got goosebumps and almost shivered. He asked Chi Feiran, “What movie did you watch this time?”
Chi Feiran: “…”
No, this time he really was inspired! It’s all genuine!
Shi Kai patted his shoulder, “When you’re creating in the future, try to watch movies in moderation. Don’t get too emotional. It’s not good to always watch movies and get all emotional. Understand?”
Chi Feiran said, “Teacher, I didn’t watch a movie this time.”
Meeting Shi Kai’s gaze, Chi Feiran hesitated for a moment, then asked what was on his mind, “Would you consider this early love?”
The author has something to say:
Rong Rong shakes his head vigorously and shouts loudly: It doesn’t count!!!
