However, not every artist could emulate Donghuang Qingyan’s resilience. Few could remain so steadfast and composed after enduring a month of intense online harassment, then rely on their family’s charm and their partner’s sharp wit to reverse public opinion.
Even fewer could withstand such pressure.
For that reason, Yin Chengjue never dared to make his relationship public, he refused to expose Rong Yu to any potential harm.
Donghuang Qingyan was a living example, making artists who entered the industry later more cautious with their words and actions, afraid of falling and shattering completely into powder.
"What were you talking about just now?" Donghuang Qingyan carefully looked the person in front of him over, then reached out to pull Xi Bei into his embrace. Only then did he turn his gaze to Yin Chengjue and Rong Yu.
"President Yin, I've long heard of your great name."
"Mr. Donghuang, the pleasure is mine."
The four of them had little interaction—after a brief and polite exchange, they went their separate ways, incidentally promising to keep each other’s secrets.
After walking a few steps, Rong Yu couldn't help but look back at the pair of adults holding the children's hands, seeming somewhat emotional. "They are really good."
Rong Yu was silent for a moment, then added, "Brother, do you like children?"
Since Yin Chengjue realized he liked men, he had never thought about raising a child one day. Hearing this, he was stunned for a moment and said uncertainly, "I don't know. I'm not very good at interacting with children." He felt those small creatures were fragile and would break at a touch.
"Is that so? I actually think Brother is very good at interacting with children. You will definitely be a father very popular with children in the future," Rong Yu said with a laugh.
Yin Chengjue patted Rong Yu's butt with one hand. "Me, a father? Who's going to give birth for me? You? Can you give birth for me?"
Rong Yu: "...Of course I can't give birth, and that's not what I meant either."
Yin Chengjue: "Then what did you mean?"
Rong Yu: "It's... like them."
Yin Chengjue shook his head. "A surrogate? That's really not necessary. "Children are indeed the fruit of love—but the fruit of two people, not something involving a third or fourth person. Even with a surrogate, your genes and mine cannot truly blend. The child would still be biologically separate from each of us, and on the contrary, it would introduce others’ genetic material… Of course, this is just my personal view. But if you want a child, I will raise a child with you."
Rong Yu thought carefully and shook his head. "Then forget it. I'll listen to you, Brother. Having you is enough for me."
Yin Chengjue smiled and shook his head. "What do you mean, having me is enough? Don't you still have parents and an older brother and second brother at home? You said that before."
"I will be filial to them and fulfill all my obligations and responsibilities." Rong Yu rested his chin on Yin Chengjue's shoulder and sighed. "Brother, my parents are very good people. My big brother and second brother are also very good to me, but... how should I put it? Let me use something I overheard my mom say..."
"She was talking to someone else at the time, and I happened to be hiding behind a cabinet playing hide-and-seek, so I accidentally heard it."
Rong Yu: "She said that I was very strange since I was little, my personality was very strange, different from other children. So, it was very difficult for them to treat me the way they would treat a normal child."
"In their eyes, I was special, strange, not quite normal. Fortunately, they are very, very good parents, so they tried hard to get close to me, willing to spend more patience to educate me, hoping to teach me to be like a normal child."
Yin Chengjue found Rong Yu's way of speaking, as if removed from the matter, somewhat strange. He unconsciously slowed his pace, quietly listening as Rong Yu continued.
"But even so, on my first day entering kindergarten, I still exposed how I was different from other normal children." As Rong Yu said this, he slightly lowered his head, his fragmented hair hiding his eyes in shadow.
"That day, a knife-wielding intruder entered the kindergarten. He had disguised himself as a parent coming to pick up a child and mixed into the kindergarten." Rong Yu said: "I was very young then. The specific details, I actually don't remember clearly. I also overheard my mom saying that the intruder at that time was a gambler. Because he lost too much money and was driven into a corner, he wanted to drag a few people down with him before going to the yellow spring. He was small and thin, didn't dare to target tall men, and wasn't sure if he could attack women, so he could only set his sights on defenseless children. As soon as he entered the kindergarten, he slashed and injured many kindergarten teachers and security guards, and stabbed defenseless children. He was splattered with blood all over, his knife dripping blood all the way. He had killed until his eyes were red."
[下黄泉 (xià huángquán): lit. to descend to the Yellow Springs; fig. to die or journey to the underworld in Chinese mythology.]
"When the police, alerted by the emergency call, arrived at the scene, the kindergarten resembled a living hell. Everywhere the eye could see was blood. The walls painted with cartoon graffiti were covered in blood, the ground painted with pretty patterns was blood... But upon seeing the police, he panicked again. He didn't want to be caught, he didn't want to be executed, he didn't want to die, his desire to live returned abruptly. Without a moment’s hesitation, he seized a child as a hostage.
"And that child, very unfortunately, was me. I was caught by the intruder and became his hostage. He used me to threaten the police, to let him go."
😦😦
ReplyDelete