Chapter 54 Why are these CP fans actually able to...?

The next morning, Fang Xingu got up early. After taking a few days off for New Year's Day, he had to continue his busy album production work.

Before he left, Jing Yitong was fiddling with the computer at the dining table again. Fang Xin asked him while eating breakfast, "Haven't you finished reading the documents yet?"

Jing Yitong pinched the bridge of his nose: "Yeah. Why are you up so early today?"

"I'm going to Cao Yangxi's studio. The arrangement of a few songs is almost finished. I need to talk to them. It'll probably take all day."

Jing Yitong closed his laptop and saw him to the door: "Okay, it snowed last night. I don't know how the roads are now. Be careful on the road."

See you tonight.

After saying goodbye to Jing Yitong, Fang Xingu got into Qi Qiu's car and they went to Cao Yangxi's studio together.

As soon as Fang Xingu got into the car, Qi Qiu felt that he looked very different today. He was radiant. Even without makeup, he looked very healthy with red lips and white teeth. His smile made Qi Qiu feel a little embarrassed to look at him.

Qi Qiu asked in surprise, "Why do you look so radiant today?"

"Yeah?"

Fang Xin looked in the car mirror, then couldn't help patting his face, seemingly quite satisfied with his appearance.

Qi Qiu couldn't stand it anymore and reached out to close his mirror: "Alright, stop looking. It's good to be young. Your face is full of collagen and looks so tender."

"What? Didn't you start this conversation yourself?"

Qi Qiu tossed him a sandwich and a bottle of milk: "Shut up, I brought you breakfast, eat it now."

Fang Xingu pushed it back: "No need, I've already eaten."

Qi Qiu looked surprised: "You can make your own breakfast?"

"No, Jing Yitong made it."

Qi Qiu: ...I was just asking unnecessarily.

At this point, Qi Qiu couldn't help but think back to yesterday at the company when Fang Xin asked him to prepare for the worst-case scenario in public relations. Although he didn't go into the details of the reason behind it, Qi Qiu could guess with his toes that it was related to Jing Yitong. Considering the recent rumors online, Qi Qiu felt like he was about to have a heart attack.

Qi Qiu said in a condescending tone, "Control yourself and don't post too many photos taken at Jing Yitong's house."

Fang Xingu looked innocent: "I only posted the one from New Year's Eve, and I only took pictures of a few dishes. What's wrong with that?" He had never posted any of the other photos he took.

Qi Qiu felt the veins on his forehead throbbing: "Don't you know that netizens these days are like microscopes? They've already figured out that the dining table in that photo you posted is Jing Yitong's dining table!"

Fang Xingu was startled: "...Huh?"

Fang Xin's internet speed is not slow, but he had already set his name as a blocked word on various platforms. He usually doesn't see any news related to himself and has no idea that the fact that he and Jing Yi live together has become an open secret in the fan circle.

He opened his phone, unsure where to go for his own gossip, and finally hesitated before clicking into the super topic of his and Jing Yitong's CP. He immediately saw a post that read, "I understand the logic, but is the dining table in Fang Xingu's New Year's Eve Weibo photo really not Jing Yitong's dining table?"

The post included two comparison photos. One was a photo of his New Year's Eve dinner, showing a marble dining table. The other was a photo posted by Jing Yitong a few years ago, which also showed his dining table. Coincidentally, the patterns on the marble dining tables in both photos were exactly the same.

The comments below are even more brilliant:

"This is absolutely brilliant. I'd like to see what these two have to say now."

fxg: No statement is my statement. As long as I don't admit it, who can prove me wrong?

"They've been living together like crazy since they came back from Los Angeles, right? Someone should remind them that same-sex couples can get married in China now, there's no need to go abroad to get it [laughing emoji]"

“Jing Yitong is very virtuous. She prepared a whole table of dishes and waited patiently at home for Fang Xingu to finish work and come back for dinner.”

"She's way better than 90% of all the women in the industry, so you guys should be secretly thrilled [laughs]"

Fang Xingu became increasingly alarmed as he read through the comments section. How could these CP fans actually guess his thoughts?

He let out a series of awkward laughs: "If you don't tell and I don't tell, who can do anything to me?"

Qi Qiu sneered: "Keep deceiving yourself. Once or twice is a coincidence, but what about three, four, five, or six times? Even a fool would know there's something wrong with you two!"

Fang Xin touched his nose: "But there really is a problem between the two of us..."

Qi Qiu clicked his tongue: "Fine, then you'd better explain to me clearly today what exactly is going on between you two."

Fang Xingu glanced at the crowded morning rush hour in Beijing through the windshield. Although there was no snow on the road, Qi Qiu was swerving wildly through the bustling streets with one foot on the brake and the other on the gas. Fang Xingu nervously swallowed, thinking that if he honestly told Qi Qiu about his relationship with Jing Yitong, he would probably lose his life here.

Out of concern for his own and Qi Qiu's safety, Fang Xingu said quietly, "Never mind, I'll talk to you in a safer environment next time."

Qi Qiu: ?

Qi Qiu felt cold sweat dripping down his back: "Please, please stop scaring me!"

Fang Xin chose to tell a white lie: "...It's nothing serious, drive carefully."

Qi Qiu sighed inwardly, thinking that what else could it be but a conversation with Jing Yitong at most.

Fortunately, Jing Yitong is a man. Although same-sex marriage is legal these days, most people would just see two people of the same sex getting along well and living together as friends. It's one thing for CP fans to like shipping, but when it comes to the general public, people don't really think much of it.

Especially in the entertainment industry, homosexuality is actually very easy to hide. As long as they are not married, even if kissing photos or bed photos are leaked, they can be forcibly explained away.

Qi Qiu felt more and more at ease as he thought about it, and thus managed to convince himself and get away with it.

A moment later, Qi Qiu parked his car near Cao Yangxi's studio.

This is Fang Xin's first official collaboration with Cao Yangxi. His album has a total of twelve songs. Apart from the two songs he prepared to arrange himself, the remaining ten songs were arranged by Cao Yangxi's studio.

Although it was Cao Yangxi's first time meeting Fang Xingu, he was not shy at all. He greeted Fang Xingu as if he were meeting an old friend: "Hello, Teacher Fang. Seeing is believing. We finally meet. Are you free today? I have finished arranging several songs. What do you think? There are also a few others that I need to finalize the direction of the arrangement for."

Fang Xingu was overwhelmed by his rapid-fire speech and finally replied with a brief two-word reply: "Okay."

Cao Yangxi is a bit of a free spirit. After saying that, he immediately changed the subject: "The song 'Silence Has a Voice' that you sang at the New Year's Eve party a couple of days ago is also going to be included in the new album, right? You composed this song yourself? It's very good!"

"Yes, but the arrangement isn't finished yet; the version shown at the gala is only version 1.0."

"Wow, I'm really looking forward to the official version. If you need any help with mixing or anything like that, you can ask our studio for help. I'll definitely give you a friendly price."

"Okay, definitely."

Cao Yangxi finally got back to the main topic. He selected a song with a completed arrangement for Fang Xingu to listen to: "I just finished revising this song last night. It's fresh off the press. I also added some clever touches. What do you think?"

Fang Xingu listened carefully once, and on the second listen, he added the lyrics and hummed along. He was generally satisfied, but there were still some things that needed to be changed: "The bridge needs to be adjusted. The current transition is not quite what I envisioned. I want a bridge that builds up layer by layer, with the emotions gradually increasing. The current one is too flat."

Cao Yangxi explained: "I know this is a good place to make a bridge that goes from soft to loud, but if we push the pitch to the chorus, it will be too high and the vocals and breath will be hard to reach. I'm worried that the accompaniment will overshadow the vocals."

Fang Xin, seemingly unperturbed, replied: "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing with my own songs."

Cao Yangxi really liked this kind of singer. He clapped his hands and laughed, "Okay! Then I'll go all out and do it."

Fang Xingu spent the whole day at Cao Yangxi's studio. By evening, the arrangement direction of all the songs had been roughly determined. Fang Xingu had also become quite familiar with Cao Yangxi. He decided to try his luck and asked the question about "Silence Has a Voice" that had been bothering him for a long time.

Fang Xingu, holding a teacup, asked, "Teacher Cao, I have a question for you. There is a song of mine that is very emotionally demanding. When I sing it the first time, my emotions are very full, and it sounds just right. But later, my state of mind changes, and when I sing it the second or third time, I just can't find that emotion again. The result is only passable. Do you have any way to find that emotion again?"

"Huh?" Cao Yangxi scratched his head. He wasn't a singer either, only responsible for arranging music, so he really didn't know how singers find their emotions when they sing. "I really don't know. From my perspective, I can only say that if a singer's singing emotion is not in place, then perhaps they can put more effort into the arrangement and express the emotion in the background music."

Fang Xingu pondered for a moment, then nodded in agreement: "Okay, thank you, Teacher Cao. I've bothered you today, so I'll be going now. Goodbye."

"Keep in touch anytime, bye-bye."

After finishing his workday, Fang Xin was sent back to Jing Yitong's home again.

He came home a little late today and had told Jing Yitong in advance not to wait for him to come home for dinner. But as soon as he opened the door, Fang Xingu saw that Jing Yitong had still prepared a table of dishes to wait for him to come home, and there was also a bouquet of flowers on the table in a very romantic way.

Hearing the door open, Jing Yitong turned to look at him: "You're back?"

Under the warm yellow light, the room was cozy. Fang Xin smiled, feeling that the two of them were living a very comfortable life.

"Why did you buy flowers? What's good to eat today?"

"Seeing your dried rose that's still drying in the wind, I suddenly wanted to buy some fresh flowers to decorate the house," Jing Yitong pushed the bowls and chopsticks toward him. "Eat first, these are all your favorite dishes."

Fang Xingu thought for a moment and said, "Actually, it's what I like to eat every day."

Jing Yitong laughed and said, "You know that's good. I've put a lot of thought into this."

Fang Xingu chuckled quietly. The two quickly finished their dinner. Fang Xingu cleaned up the leftovers. As he put the pots and pans into the dishwasher, he looked out the window and saw snowflakes falling from the sky.

It's snowing again.

The snow had been falling on and off all day, and there was already quite a bit of snow in the neighborhood. Fang Xin was thinking about going downstairs to throw out the trash when Jing Yitong followed him out.

Fang Xin: "Why did you come along?"

Jing Yitong waved the hat in his hand and put it on him: "I brought you a hat. I noticed you seemed to have headaches often before. Don't let the cold wind blow on you anymore."

“It’s just a few steps away,” Fang Xingu laughed. “Be careful, it seems like people online have found out I’m staying at your place. It’s my fault for giving that photo away on New Year’s Eve last time.”

Fang Xingu explained the whole story, and Jing Yitong laughed uncontrollably: "Luckily, the security in my neighborhood is good, so no entertainment reporters should be able to come in and take pictures."

The two chatted and laughed as they went downstairs. Jing Yitong glanced at the heavy snow outside, decisively took the trash from Fang Xingu, and pressed him down at the entrance of the building: "I'll take it out. You wait here."

So Jing Yitong carried the trash into the snowy night. The snow in the north was dry and wouldn't melt if it fell on him, so Jing Yitong didn't use an umbrella, but just put on the hood of his down jacket.

As Fang Xin watched his retreating figure, he felt that the scene before him kept overlapping with the night eight years ago when he and Jing Yi went skiing abroad and then parted ways in haste.

That night, it was snowing heavily again. Jing Yitong had to return to China temporarily to participate in art exam training, so he left in a hurry. And just like now, he stood downstairs watching Jing Yitong go. He wanted to call out to him and ask him to stay, but he lacked the courage. In the end, he could only watch Jing Yitong walk away step by step in the heavy snow.

Although the scene was similar, Fang Xin knew that everything was different.

This time, Fang Xin finally uttered the call that had been eight years overdue: "Brother!"

"Huh?" Under the streetlight, Jing Yitong turned around. Before he even heard Fang Xingu speak, he had already started walking back. "What's wrong?"

Fang Xingu smiled. Sure enough, as long as he called out to Jing Yitong, Jing Yitong would definitely come for him.

This nightmare that had plagued Fang Xingu for many years was finally easily resolved by Jing Yitong at this moment.