Chapter 36

While they were eating barbecue, Zhai Xingchen's Prince of Lanling dance was already spreading across all the major entertainment forums.

"Did you guys watch the live streaming The Red and Blue Signal did tonight? The one everyone underestimated beforehand, Zhai Xingchen, is actually this season's biggest dark horse!"

"I kinda thought he'd dance well, otherwise the Production Team wouldn't have done a live stream, but I didn't expect him to be this good! I don't even know if it's because he dances well or because he's so handsome I'm wearing rose-colored glasses!"

"It's definitely both. How many dancers look like him? The dance itself wasn't that technically difficult, but damn, it looked so captivating. He's got a gift from heaven."

"Didn't have time to watch the live stream. Can someone post a picture?"

"I got you!"

A bunch of GIFs immediately followed.

The first GIF was the moment Zhai Xingchen spun around, his skirt flaring like a blooming flower, his slender waist, his long, graceful arms, sharp and ethereal.

"Holy shit, that figure is divine."

"Zhai Xingchen is that good-looking?!"

"So ethereal!"

The second GIF was a shot of him spinning with his leg tucked, the crane camera circling around him. His body moved like a marionette on strings, his robes part of the dance itself. The sheer body control was astonishing.

The third GIF showed him supporting his body on one hand, spinning upside down like a corkscrew. When he landed, his robes spread out perfectly like a fan, every detail calculated just right.

The fourth GIF was even more insane. He was on the floor, then his waist arched up as if an invisible hand scooped him, his body swaying like a willow branch before snapping back up. He lunged forward, then pulled back—strength and beauty, power and softness.

But the part that really made people scream was the climax of the whole dance. He leapt from the palms of the other dancers, flipped, landed, robes flying. After landing, he spun three times in succession — each one a Cloud Bridge Spin — and then his body seemed to lose all control, almost pitching forward, but his long sleeve whipped back with a soft 'swish,' pulling his whole body with it as if suspended mid-air.

It was seamless, breathtaking.

His face was hidden behind the mask, only his eyes visible—bright and arresting.

"This last GIF!"

"So fierce!"

"The GIFs are killing me!"

"Zhai Xingchen's divine dancing" quickly trended. The Production Team pushed a short clip from the live stream up.

The comments from the bullet chat were displayed over the video. For the first few seconds, it was all:

"Who's Zhai Xingchen?"

By the middle, the screen was flooded with "Holy shit holy shit holy shit."

Dance, like any art, is cruel. Sometimes ten years of hard work can't compete with a natural gift from heaven. The beauty of dance relates to the face, but even more to the body—leg length, arm length, even the beauty of the hands and feet. These all determine the height of a dance's aesthetic.

Of course, the most important thing is feeling. Some people have perfect technique and the right physique, but what they produce lacks that flowing, effortless smoothness. It just doesn't look alive enough, spirited enough.

To have that perfect tension and release, that fluid beauty, to dance with your own style—that takes innate talent.

Zhai Xingchen's dancing was just too smooth, too comfortable.

"His dancing is so fierce, so beautiful."

"Seriously, with that operatic singing at the end, I almost cried."

"Zhai Xingchen is the legendary beautiful gong, isn't he? Beautiful yet dominant. I apologize—when I first saw his face, I kept imagining him as the shou, and I was even shipping his CP with President Huo!"

"Zhai Xingchen: This gong's identity is now clear!"

What they didn't know was that the beautiful gong Zhai Xingchen they were passionately discussing was currently destroying his own image.

He first looked at the cameraman in the private room. "Don't broadcast this part."

"That depends on your performance," Hu Ying said, unable to contain her excitement. "If you dance as provocatively as this song, they won't be able to broadcast it even if they want to! Hurry up, the song's already been playing for a bit!"

Zhai Xingchen hesitated, then picked up a bottle of liquor from the table and took several big gulps straight from it.

"Take it easy," Huo Cheng called out.

Pei Xu licked his thin lips, leaned back on the sofa, and stared intently at Zhai Xingchen.

"The Seductive Fox"—Zhai Xingchen had heard this song before. It was said to be one of the three great 'demon songs' of the internet, and one of the songs the Television Station definitely couldn't broadcast.

This was a song he'd thought of on the spot. He could only say that the first time he'd heard it late at night, it had kept him tossing and turning, profoundly shaking his worldview.

Compared to this, songs like "Itchy" were weak.

This was absolutely not a song Duan Yihua would like. Knowing he actually enjoyed this kind of song, Duan Yihua would be deeply disappointed!

He looked at Duan Yihua.

Sure enough, Duan Yihua looked shocked.

He felt he did understand Duan Yihua's aesthetic preferences.

A dignified, proper boss like him would definitely like sharp, upright men. That's why he'd acted that way after the Prince of Lanling dance.

"Dance already!" Hu Ying shouted.

Zhai Xingchen said, "I'm just playing a song to liven things up."

"Pfft, I thought you were serious!" Hu Ying said.

Huo Cheng and the others had already been listening to the song, feeling restless and agitated, their worldviews greatly shaken.

How could there be such a wanton song in the world!

The atmosphere was instantly charged.

Zhai Xingchen changed the music and said with a smile, "Here comes the real thing."

What he was about to dance was the most yin, most feminine dance he'd ever learned. He guaranteed it had not a single shred of connection to the word 'gong.'

It was a dance choreographed by Teacher Zou, called the Fox Dance.

Back then, things like the Chicken Dance and the Rabbit Dance were trending everywhere online, but as dance students, they definitely weren't going to do something so hollow. The Fox Dance that Teacher Zou choreographed was technically demanding and deeply seductive — tender and achingly sensual — telling the story of a male fox and a female fox who meet and fall in love on a spring night, only to be hunted down and die together.

A tragic story, but electric with sexual tension. It was a duet — deeply intimate, tender in that clinging, yearning way — using animals to say everything there was to say about desire and love. As dance students, they were pretty comfortable with physical contact, but when they first started rehearsing this piece, they'd still end up blushing bright red.

Even so, they all fought to dance it.

Because this dance had incredibly strong artistic expression and impact, and had won many awards.

It had a wicked, enchanting quality.

Zhai Xingchen took off his shoes, wearing white socks, and warmed up.

He was wearing jeans and a fitted white shirt now. Without the wide Hanfu to hide it, his figure was fully revealed—slender where it should be, long where it should be, curved where it should be.

He was always very serious when he danced.

He was dancing the opening section, the meeting and courtship part. It was very soft and beautiful. He seemed to transform into a fox—cunning, alert, alluring. Its fur glossy, its whole body fiery red, swaying its beautiful tail, approaching you under the moonlight, testing you, then nuzzling your cheek, bewitching your heart.

A completely different style from the Prince of Lanling. The only commonality was that Zhai Xingchen had an outstanding physique, so the movements were still smooth and fluid.

Zhai Xingchen felt the Production Team was inhuman—they might broadcast anything he danced. So he omitted the overly sensual moves, but even what remained was enough, especially since "The Seductive Fox" had already set the mood.

But the problem was, everyone present had just witnessed his fierce, beautiful style. He already had a radiant image in their minds. Even if he danced like a fox spirit now, no one would completely change their impression because of it.

On the contrary, they were even more focused on the beauty and desire of his body than on stage.

Hu Ying was clapping and laughing at first, but then she stopped laughing.

This was a Zhai Xingchen none of them had ever seen before. The jeans didn't even restrict his flexibility. Without stage lighting, without gorgeous costumes, the focus of the dance was entirely on him.

As a dancer, his body was just too supple. It had its own style—big, expansive movements, perfect control.

This dance shocked Pei Xu and the others even more than the fierce, beautiful Prince of Lanling on stage. Dancing this piece, Zhai Xingchen displayed his body's flexibility and artistic expression almost completely. His body erupted with an ultimate, beautiful sensuality that wasn't vulgar in the slightest. He had an animalistic wickedness, a fox's aggressive allure, a human beauty.

Zhai Xingchen ended standing on one leg, the other leg almost in a full split. He leaned forward and grabbed a bottle of liquor from the table. The bottle became his prop; he finished by performing a drunk fox. He felt just being soft and beautiful wasn't enough—he could also be a little silly.

Soft beauty and silliness—both had nothing to do with the word 'gong'!

So he imitated a fox, suddenly collapsing as if drunk, then bouncing back, extending his limbs mid-air, his long neck stretching, trembling.

A drunk fox was cute—the kind of cute that makes you want to grab it, pull its tail, and bully it hard.

Pei Xu suddenly thought of rabbits.

Zhai Xingchen's favorite rabbits.

Rabbit ears are long, rabbit tails are short.

The Production Team next door sighed, "This could go to a competition, couldn't it?"

More artistic than the Prince of Lanling focused on stage presence, with higher technical difficulty, more like what a professional dancer should be.

"Damn... this tops the Prince of Lanling, right?"

"You can tell from the look in Huo Cheng's eyes!"

"Just how many surprises does Zhai Xingchen have that we don't know about? This is a style we never imagined. The Prince of Lanling was as gong as it gets, the fox is as shou as it gets—and he actually pulled off both!!"

"Suitable for both gong and shou—confirmed!!"

When Zhai Xingchen finished dancing, the whole room fell silent.

Zhai Xingchen was panting, feeling a little shy.

He'd really gone all out today.

He looked at everyone.

Even Hu Ying, who'd been egging him on earlier, didn't speak. Her expression was strange.

Zhai Xingchen really hadn't expected this reaction after he finished.

He'd danced this piece in a joking atmosphere. If Hu Ying had started cheering now, or whooped about how sexy it was, everyone could have laughed and it would've been over.

But the atmosphere was eerily strange. No one made a sound.

Duan Yihua shifted the jacket covering him lower, lay on the sofa, and stared blankly.

Zhai Xingchen's face flushed red with embarrassment. He sent a distress signal to Hu Ying: "So, how was it, Hu-ge?"

Hu Ying cleared her throat lightly, crossed her legs, and said, "Pretty good."

Damn, that wasn't the answer he wanted.

Too serious!

Huo Cheng felt like a complete bastard.

He'd always been afraid of appearing too lustful, so much so that when the show aired, netizens would criticize him for being too... that.

Although he thought it was normal for a man to be a bit lustful.

But right now... this really wasn't his fault.

He really couldn't hold on anymore.

A room full of men in their twenties, having drunk, their hearts overflowing with affection, having watched such a dance... for about half an hour, no one dared to stand up.

Even Lin Qingning, who had zero thoughts about Zhai Xingchen, was affected now.

Zhai Xingchen endured the most awkward half-hour since joining the show, silently eating.

Yan Zhi and Huo Cheng were both peeling shrimp for him to eat.

"Um... it's getting late, let's head back," Zhai Xingchen said.

Yan Zhi, Hu Ying, and the others stood up one after another.

Everyone started grabbing their phones and jackets, preparing to leave.

Only Pei Xu was still sitting there.

Zhai Xingchen glanced back at Pei Xu.

Pei Xu was embarrassed.

Every time he got hard, it took him a very long time to calm down.

So he picked up a bottle of liquor beside him and gulped down several large mouthfuls.

The baijiu was pungent. The burn sent all his attention straight to his throat.

He stood up and wiped his mouth.

Zhai Xingchen said, "What are you doing? You're supposed to drive."

You didn't drink all night, and now right before leaving you chug like that!

Pei Xu didn't speak. He was covered in the fragrant scent of alcohol, which stung his eyes red.

He reached out, hooked his arm around Zhai Xingchen's neck from behind, pressed down hard once, then let go, and patted Zhai Xingchen's back.