“Reunion” concluded its theatrical run with an impressive final box office of 2.001 billion.
The brief “after-sales service” clip Jiang Lin and Li Qianxing filmed for their CP fans went viral, attracting a wave of new followers to the 99CP supertopic alongside the movie. However, as the film left theaters and the hype died down, the CP supertopic gradually returned to its laid-back nature, dominated by core fans of both actors.
Over the next year, no news of future collaborations between Jiang Lin and Li Qianxing surfaced as they joined separate production crews. Nevertheless, the fans had gotten used to chatting in the CP supertopic, so whenever there were any behind-the-scenes glimpses from either side, they would share them, maintaining a steady level of activity.
By the end of the year, as fans reviewed the past months, they suddenly realized that although there hadn’t been any major moments of sweetness, there were still plenty of subtle highlights worth noting.
Firstly, it was clear that the two leads shared a genuinely good relationship behind the scenes.
In the snippets leaked from Jiang Lin’s filming location, Li Qianxing’s figure would occasionally make an appearance in the background. Whenever fans inquired, Jiang Lin would reply, “Li-ge came to visit.” This pattern was consistent across multiple sets.
On Li Qianxing’s side, Jiang Lin was also spotted. However, the filming set Li Qianxing was working on tended to keep leaks to a minimum, yet some were captured by persistent paparazzi lurking around the film studio. The replies from Li Qianxing’s studio were similar: “Teacher Jiang Lin came to visit.”
The frequency of these low-key visits began to add up, making them seem far more significant than those rare occasions when one visit would trend on social media!
Secondly, while Li Qianxing had not participated in any variety shows, he occasionally appeared as a guest in Jiang Lin’s live streams. Upon closer examination, CP fans noticed that aside from the two confirmed set visits when Jiang Lin broadcasted during the day, the other appearances were all at night.
What does this imply? It clearly suggests that even when they weren’t filming, they would still meet up—at night!
Lastly, due to the success of “Reunion,” both actors collected several awards from various film awards throughout the year. While they didn’t attend the minor awards, they made joint appearances at some of the more prestigious ceremonies.
In summary, over the course of the year, even without actively promoting their CP, the laid-back fans were still content to indulge in their ship. As some of the more enthusiastic fans put it, “This steady stream of sweetness feels quite reassuring.”
As another New Year approached, the CP fans eagerly anticipated the release of “Xuanji: Transformation,” which once again revitalized the 99CP supertopic.
Themes of patriotism, thrilling battles of wits, and spectacular displays of supernatural abilities made this commercial blockbuster a massive hit at the box office during the Spring Festival.
Prior to this, both Li Qianxing and Jiang Lin were primarily recognized for their dramatic roles. However, through the graceful portrayal of Liu Nanyue and the brave character of He Jing, the audience was once again drawn to the rarely showcased side of their talents.
Just three days after “Xuanji: Transformation” was released, Guangya announced the plans for its sequel with great excitement.
However, Li Qianxing and Jiang Lin couldn’t relax and enjoy this New Year.
From the first to the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, Jiang Lin was constantly on the move with the film crew, attending roadshows and special fan meetings. He could barely catch a wink of sleep except during travel between venues.
Li Qianxing’s contracts never included offline promotions. He initially wanted to accompany Jiang Lin, but after seeing the grueling schedule, Jiang Lin dissuaded him. Even without participating in events, just the constant travel would be exhausting.
So, Li Qianxing joined his family in C City, spending the New Year at his grandmother’s house as usual.
On the afternoon of the sixth day, Jiang Lin wrapped up his final event. His work was finally completed; he flew directly to C City, briefly visited his parents, then checked into a hotel with Li Qianxing.
Jiang Lin’s parents were both university professors. They were still on winter break and not as busy as usual. Li Qianxing accompanied Jiang Lin for a week in C City, visiting his grandparents and Jiang Lin’s parents, making up for the missed New Year celebrations before flying back home.
*
Back at their apartment complex, the two pushed their luggage into the elevator. Jiang Lin reached out first, pressing the button for his floor.
Li Qianxing asked curiously, “Are you getting something?”
Their apartments had been renovated early last year. Now, apart from a small kitchen downstairs, the lower floor was all functional space, while the upper floor was the living area.
Jiang Lin smiled at him, “I have something to show you.”
Li Qianxing raised an eyebrow but didn’t inquire further.
While they rarely gave out keys to their upstairs living space, the lower floor had a keypad lock. Both their housekeeper and their assistants, Xiao Zhu and Xiao Ding, knew the code.
The elevator quickly ascended. They opened the door and entered.
Jiang Lin pushed their two suitcases to the doorway, only turning on the hallway light before taking Li Qianxing’s hand and leading him inside.
They walked to the spacious practice room, and Jiang Lin opened the door.
Li Qianxing stood at the entrance, scanning the room. He noticed the large mirrors on three walls were covered with fabric, preventing any light reflection. The room was pitch black, with only the vague outlines of five waist-high pedestals visible.
Jiang Lin leaned close to his ear, whispering with a smile, “I think you’ll like this.”
Suddenly, four spotlights illuminated the room, revealing four display stands below.
Li Qianxing’s eyes widened slightly.
On each of the four stands stood a pair of small figures, about 30-40 centimeters tall, forming a complete scene.
He stepped quickly towards the nearest one, bending down for a closer look.
“Are these… wax figures?”
“Yes, scaled-down replicas with maximum likeness to the real people.”
Li Qianxing circled the stand, examining closely. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Amazing… The expressions and demeanor are spot on. The poses are very natural, and the details on the clothes and accessories are very delicate…”
The wax figures on this display depicted their personas from the variety show – Boss Li and Young Master Jiang.
Boss Li wore his elaborate costume with stage makeup. Young Master Jiang didn’t have the appearance of a flamboyant playboy; his posture clearly indicated that he had returned to his original identity. They sat across a table from each other, with a teapot and cups between them, as if engaged in casual conversation.
Li Qianxing almost reached out to touch them but hesitated, worried it might damage the material.
After finishing with this one, he straightened up and moved to the next stand.
This display featured their variety show personas as well – the two police officers whose identities Li Qianxing had ultimately revealed.
The scene was set on that rooftop. Both small wax figures wore crisp police uniforms, leaning against the railing. Officer Jiang was using a lighter for his cigarette, one hand shielding the flame. Officer Li’s cigarette was also extended towards the small flame, the tips of their cigarettes touching.
Li Qianxing’s lips curved into a slight smile. “It’s very true to life.”
Jiang Lin chuckled beside him, “Just the initial composition took quite some time to perfect.”
Li Qianxing glanced at the two lights across the room. Even from a distance, he guessed that those stands must depict scenes from “Reunion” and “Xuanji: Transformation.”
As he walked towards them, he asked Jiang Lin, “When did you start preparing this? Such intricate work must have taken quite some time.”
Jiang Lin replied, “After we got together. I had a vague idea before and was asking around for skilled craftsmen. Finally, I found a wax figure artist. These four scenes took a year and a half to complete.”
Li Qianxing stopped in front of the “Xuanji: Transformation” display.
It captured the moment Liu Nanyue and He Jing formed their blood pact. The two miniatures stood face to face, right hands extended, middle fingers pressed together with a tiny blood droplet visible between them. It was clearly just a very ordinary standing posture, but because of the precise replication of their gestures and expressions, it conveyed intense energy.
As Jiang Lin looked on, he chuckled, “CP fans are already going crazy over this blood pact. Imagine how they’d react if they knew about our life pact.”
Li Qianxing couldn’t help but smile wider.
He finally approached the “Reunion” display, pausing briefly before turning to Jiang Lin. “With a scene like this, the artist must have had some thoughts.”
Jiang Lin squeezed his hand. “The artist is experienced, at least he looked calm and composed. I said it was recreating a movie scene, so they probably think I’m just an obsessed 99CP fan.”
This last scene depicted Cheng Yue and Ji Ming’an’s first intimate moment from the film. Cheng Yue sat against the sofa armrest with Ji Ming’an on his lap.
There was a slight difference from the movie, though. Ji Ming’an wore a shirt long enough to cover his legs. Cheng Yue, while shirtless, still had his trousers on, though a closer look revealed his belt was slightly undone.
Having occasionally browsed the CP supertopic over the past year, Li Qianxing now understood the fans’ mindset better. He joked, “If you posted photos of these four scenes on Weibo, you’d instantly become a top fan in the fandom.”
Jiang Lin laughed, “Better to keep such treasures private. I’ve become quite friendly with the wax artist. We can commission new pieces for our future roles together.”
At this, Li Qianxing turned to look at the unlit stand in the center.
“What’s the last one?”
Jiang Lin looked over, reaching into his pocket to switch on the final spotlight.
The soft light revealed a cloth covering the stand.
Jiang Lin led Li Qianxing to the stand and lifted the cloth.
On the stand was a small open box.
Inside lay two small, shining silver rings.
Li Qianxing blinked in surprise, looking up at Jiang Lin.
Jiang Lin gazed back, his eyes full of tenderness and, unusually, a hint of nervousness.
“Qianxing, will you continue this journey with me?”
Li Qianxing blinked again, turning to examine the rings closely.
They had a simple design – plain bands with their names engraved inside: Qianxing & Lin.
Li Qianxing carefully examined the rings, picking up the larger one and smiling at Jiang Lin.
The nervousness in Jiang Lin’s eyes gradually faded as he raised his left hand.
Without hesitation, Li Qianxing took Jiang Lin’s left hand and slipped the ring onto his ring finger.
At that moment, he thought he heard Jiang Lin take a subtle deep breath.
In truth, Li Qianxing wasn’t as composed as he appeared.
From the moment he saw the rings, his heart had started racing uncontrollably. If he hadn’t put the ring on so quickly, Li Qianxing suspected his hand might have trembled.
Now, he could feel warmth rising in his face.
Jiang Lin picked up the other ring and took Li Qianxing’s outstretched left hand.
He slid the ring on more slowly, as if afraid of hurting the hand he held.
After pushing the ring to the base of Li Qianxing’s ring finger, Jiang Lin lowered his head and placed a kiss on it.
Li Qianxing felt a wave of warmth envelop his heart, his eyes growing slightly moist.
He chuckled, “Why kiss it? Shouldn’t you be kissing me?”
His voice, however, was a bit husky.
Jiang Lin looked up, replying with an equally husky laugh, “Alright, I’ll kiss you.”
He opened his arms, and Li Qianxing naturally did the same.
They embraced tightly, sharing a deep kiss.
After what seemed like an eternity, when they were nearly breathless, they reluctantly parted slightly, staying close as they caught their breath.
Li Qianxing put his arm around Jiang Lin’s waist and pressed firmly against his lower back. “Let’s go upstairs. You know what I want to do now.”
Jiang Lin chuckled softly, teasing him, “Read scripts?”
Li Qianxing looked up. “We can if you want.”
Jiang Lin conceded instantly, backtracking, “No, you’re far more interesting than any script.”
Hand in hand, they walked out. Jiang Lin used a remote in his pocket to turn off the lights.
As they walked, Li Qianxing said, “Speaking of scripts, I actually found one interesting before the New Year.”
Jiang Lin pleaded playfully, “I was wrong. Can we drop it?”
Li Qianxing laughed softly, “I’m not asking you to look at it now. I just remembered and wanted to mention it. It’s a period detective story with two male leads, but it’s a TV series. Since we’re on break, take a look in the next couple of days. If you like it, we can do it together.”
Jiang Lin conceded, “If you think it’s good, it should be fine. But TV series take longer to film. If we decide to do it, we should start soon. Given the current momentum of ‘Xuanji: Transformation,’ I expect the second part will begin production this year.”
Li Qianxing replied, “That’s not a problem. The production team is already assembled. Even if we don’t take it, Xingyi will still make this series. It’s just a matter of casting now.”
Jiang Lin said, “Alright, I’ll look at it in the next couple of days. But…”
Li Qianxing asked, “What?”
Jiang Lin continued, “For the two male leads, can we add a romantic subplot?”
Li Qianxing laughed again, “You’ve been browsing the CP supertopic for so long, don’t you know? Sometimes ambiguity is even more enticing to fans than explicit romance.”
Jiang Lin persisted, “But I still want to play a couple again.”
They continued talking in low voices as they pushed their luggage out the door and took the elevator back upstairs.
That night, they went to bed very late.
◇◆
On the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year, the Lantern Festival, 99CP fans suddenly received a big surprise.
“Xuanji: Transformation” was still showing in theaters. The love-hate relationship between Liu Nanyue and He Jing had caused another surge in the 99CP supertopic’s followers over the past two weeks, sending CP fans into a frenzy.
During the evening peak traffic hours, a marketing account suddenly posted a video in the CP supertopic with the caption: [Is this acting or real? #Xuanji Transformation He Jing Liu Nanyue Jiang Lin Li Qianxing Passionate Kiss#]
Such a shocking hashtag immediately drew all the CP fans to click on it.
The video quality wasn’t great, and the audio was poor. It was clearly shot on a phone with wind noise in the background.
However, the content was incredibly explosive!
The scene picked up after He Jing had sacrificed himself to save Liu Nanyue.
The original rescue and detoxification scene in the movie was already quite intense, especially Liu Nanyue’s complex gaze at He Jing at the end.
This new video clip perfectly fulfilled the CP fans’ imaginations about the pair’s subsequent relationship.
The shot was a side view of their upper bodies, capturing both Li Qianxing and Jiang Lin completely, with their expressions clearly visible.
The setting was chaotic, just a pile of rocks without proper lighting, but it couldn’t overshadow the excellent performances of the two award-winning actors. Even with the poor audio quality and low volume, their clear enunciation and explosive dialogue delivery were evident.
Liu Nanyue, furious, pushed He Jing against a rock and spoke menacingly.
“You still owe me three years, don’t think you can escape your debt by dying!”
“Until you’ve repaid it, remember, your life isn’t just yours. It’s mine too!”
He Jing tried to reason with him.
However, mutual suspicion was a chasm between them.
He Jing lost control for a moment, and for the first time, his expression changed as he grabbed Liu Nanyue.
“Do you know how I felt when I saw that crossbow?”
Liu Nanyue, unpredictable as ever, responded with a direct kiss, forming a life pact.
“Is giving you my life enough?”
“I’ll say it again—your life is mine!”
He Jing’s emotions exploded completely as he grabbed Liu Nanyue and kissed him fiercely.
The two battled with lips and teeth, as if trying to bite each other to pieces, swallow each other whole, to become one entirely.
When they finally parted, gasping for air, their glaring eyes continued their silent confrontation, seeming to strike sparks in the air between them.
Then, the video abruptly ended.
CP fans once again experienced the frenzy of last year.
[What! Is! This!]
[Liu Nanyue and He Jing! They really are a couple!]
[Last year ‘Reunion’ gave us after-sales service, is this the same?]
[It doesn’t look like it. It seems to be secretly filmed.]
[I’ve looked closely, the background is a mess. It doesn’t look like a proper set.]
[But they’re in costume and makeup. Even if it’s not an official shoot, it might be a rehearsal caught on camera by someone nearby.]
Given that they were in full costume and makeup, fans didn’t even consider the possibility of Li Qianxing and Jiang Lin improvising a continuation. They immediately assumed it was a deleted scene and started flooding the production team’s social media.
[How can you cut such a powerful—no, such a brilliant scene? Production team, do you have any heart?]
[If just a rehearsal has this much tension, after official filming and post-production… God, I can’t even imagine! I’m already having a nosebleed!]
[Hurry up and release the deleted scenes!]
[Did they have to cut it because He Jing and Liu Nanyue overshadowed the main characters? They should at least release it as behind-the-scenes footage!]
[I want to see high-definition close-ups! How can such an amazing emotional outburst only exist in a blurry phone video!]
The 99CP fans, who had been quiet for two years, launched their first large-scale campaign. Combined with “Xuanji: Transformation” already being a hot topic, the video quickly went viral. #Xuanji Transformation He Jing Liu Nanyue Jiang Lin Li Qianxing Passionate Kiss# rapidly rose to the top of the entertainment rankings and high on the overall trending list.
Netizens, always eager for drama, joined the CP fans in flooding the official Weibo account, tagging everyone from the production company, director, and screenwriter to the producer and other notable crew members repeatedly.
The official Weibo account’s social media manager had to post to appease the fans: [@Xuanji Transformation Movie: Everyone, please calm down. I’ll go ask for behind-the-scenes footage right away [cute emoji].]
However, the director and producer were busy with other projects, so they could only reach the screenwriter, Tang Yu.
Tang Yu had been in seclusion, perfecting the script for the second part of the “Xuanji” series. When she heard about this, she quickly checked Weibo to assess the situation.
After seeing it, she was stunned.
She reposted the official account’s reply: [@Tang Yu: This scene isn’t in the script! They improvised it themselves! Now I just want to hand these two masters a pen and let them add to the script!]
Tang Yu had been on set during filming and often posted frontline reports from the production as promotion on Weibo. CP fans had camped on her account for such material before.
Now, seeing her response, the fans were equally stunned.
Raine: Whew! We’re down to the last chapter. I will post it in a few hours. Let me get dinner first.
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