Blazing fire is hard to extinguish chapter 48
New Territory
Six months later.
Lin Chi woke up in a hotel bed, groaning weakly at the sunlight outside.
He stared at the ceiling for a while before the notification sound from his phone next to him snapped him out of his daze.
It was a message from Huo Yuning, reminding him not to be late for Cora’s dinner party that night.
“Damn…”
Lin Chi let out a weak groan and yawned.
He struggled in bed for a while before reluctantly getting up, wrapped in a sheet.
He threw away the beer bottle from the nightstand, tossed the half-eaten cheese into the trash, and cleared out the dried roses before pulling the curtains open to let the sunlight in.
This was a long-term hotel suite he had rented, but having lived here for two months, it was full of his presence. The open closet was filled with clothes that suited his style, and the corner held paintings he had bought from flea markets.
As he brushed his teeth, he looked at the street view outside. From this window, he had a direct view of the Eiffel Tower.
This was his sixth month in Paris.
In just half a year, what began as an attempt to escape from heartache through a short stay abroad turned into a whirlwind of change after a fashion week.
Biting his toothbrush, he scrolled through various social media on his phone. Yesterday, he updated his Instagram with a photo taken by Huo Yuning.
In the photo, he sat barefoot on a white chair, wearing only a black tank top and pants, with long, messy hair and a lipstick mark on his face, gazing flirtatiously at the camera.
His Instagram was buzzing like an amusement park early in the morning, with people from all over liking his post. A photographer he recently met even left a wistful comment, “Won’t you consider dating me, babe?”
Lin Chi smiled and didn’t take it to heart.
After closing Instagram and switching to a domestic social platform, he was initially browsing his following list, but as he kept scrolling, he came across a video featuring himself.
It was a marketing account, but it could also be from a fan, creating a video montage about him with an exaggerated title—”The Arrival of the Celestial Being.”
The video began with his grand finale runway show at Paris Fashion Week.
There were over a thousand comments below; some were harsh criticisms, but most were praise and admiration.
Lin Chi’s fingers slowed down.
No matter how many times he watched it, he always felt a strange sense of unreality when he saw this scene.
In the video, he was draped in a large black robe with a hood, covering him completely. Yet, beneath the hood was a pale, thin face, with lips painted bright red—a stark contrast, both somber and flamboyant, with a red teardrop mole under his black eyes.
He looked like a vampire waking from a castle.
The hooded black robe he wore was naturally the final masterpiece of Yu Nian.
Yu Nian named it “Day and Night.”
The pure black fabric of the robe flowed like water, luxuriously soft.
Gold and silver threads embroidered mountains, rivers, the sun, and the moon on it, creating the illusion of water waves as he moved.
When Lin Chi reached the front of the runway and showcased the black robe, the next moment, under everyone’s gaze, he held a slender, pipe-like lighter between his fingers, ignited it with a click, and threw it on the floor.
In the next second, amidst everyone’s gasps, flames shot up from the ground, spreading into a continuous blaze, and the front-row audience could even feel the heat.
Lin Chi stood indifferently in the flames, with a few sparks falling on his robe, circling around his body, burning along the golden and silver threads.
The hood slipped from his face.
The duke hidden in the castle had awakened, and amidst the blazing flames, he bowed gracefully to the audience and then turned away without a second glance.
The black robe he wore had burned halfway, and the torn fabric resembled ocean waves—clearly a deliberate design—with a snow-white lining and a sun like flames rising from the night sky.
This scene became the highlight of Paris Fashion Week that year, and the video went viral across major media outlets.
When Lin Chi looked up from beneath the hood, the camera captured him with a half-smile, his red mole under his eyes vividly bright, effortlessly earning millions of likes.
For Yu Nian, this was just one of many brilliant designs. Although it gained tremendous attention and discussion, it didn’t affect him much.
After all, this designer was always temperamental and indifferent to external evaluations.
But for Lin Chi, it was different.
Before this day, he was just a somewhat famous model with a place in the domestic scene.
But after this day, countless praises and attention poured in.
He still didn’t know what had struck a chord with the foreign audience’s aesthetic.
“Oriental beauty,” “a masterpiece,” “the vampire count at Fashion Week.”
Various flattering compliments were showered upon him as if they were free.
Collaborations came pouring in like snowflakes, and he even received an olive branch from top jewelry brand VEN, making him a brand ambassador.
Even Lin Chi himself found it exaggerated.
He had never so clearly felt the impact of Yu Nian’s words before stepping onto the stage.
The tall, lean designer looked at him and said, “Becoming famous in a single battle can sometimes take just a few seconds. This is an era of traffic; as long as you have distinctive features, the whole world will love you.”
Later, when reviewing work plans with Huo Yuning and receiving exaggerated praise and invitations from others, he often recalled Yu Nian’s words.
This era is full of miracles.
From an unknown rookie to both fame and fortune, maybe it only takes a few minutes.
A glance, a turn, can be enough to put him on a high stage.
….
But the cost of being famous is indeed a bit heavy.
Lin Chi sat on the windowsill brushing his teeth, and the sunny weather outside couldn’t heal his mood.
He hadn’t slept well for two months, and the price of fame was increasing pressure and work, making him busier than a spinning top.
Not to mention him, even workaholic Huo Yuning was going crazy; he even heard Huo Yuning arguing in less-than-fluent French yesterday.
After brushing his teeth, he stood in front of the mirror, dressed simply in a shoulder-baring shirt and jeans, with sunglasses on, and went out.
That day he had no work, and he had arranged to meet Yu Nian.
Since that big show, he had inexplicably become friends with Yu Nian.
Yu Nian was twenty-eight, five years older than him, but in terms of maturity, he felt they were on the same level.
When they first met, Yu Nian seemed very imposing, with a beautiful but cold face, a tall figure, and an aura of disdain for everything, highly favored in the fashion world.
But after Lin Chi experienced being chased by dogs on the street with him,
Losing his wallet while buying ice cream,
Confidently claiming he was great with directions, only to almost end up in the suburbs…
His filter on Yu Nian was completely shattered.
What he thought was a genius designer, a young CEO—was essentially, just a high-maintenance boyfriend needing constant attention.
Oh, right, boyfriend.
As Lin Chi drove to the meeting place, thinking about Yu Nian and his world-renowned boyfriend, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy.
Maybe it was because his own love life was struggling, seeing Yu Nian and his boyfriend so stable and close, like soulmates, made him feel a bit envious.
“How unfair the heavens are.”
Lin Chi parked his car at a traffic light and thought leisurely, how come some people have good family backgrounds, successful careers, and even smooth sailing in their love lives? It’s like they don’t want others to live at all.
As he was thinking this, his phone vibrated.
He opened it, thinking it was Yu Nian urging him to hurry up, but instead, he found a news push from China.
Maybe it was because he had accidentally granted some permissions yesterday.
Just his luck.
The news was about Changhe Group donating an observatory and library to C University, and they were holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
There was no frontal photo of Li Tingyan in the news, just a side profile, but it still made Lin Chi’s heart skip a beat.
He got out of the car, thinking casually how modern phones really are thoughtless. He would get rid of this lousy app sooner or later. The overseas internet is already unstable, and he has to bypass the firewall.
But then he thought, after being apart for half a year, his career was on the rise, and Li Tingyan hadn’t been idle either.
Not only was his career flourishing, but last week, Yu Nian also mentioned that Chenhai Group was considering an alliance with the Li family.
Lin Chi pushed up his sunglasses, unable to describe what he felt inside.
He and Li Tingyan had already parted ways.
Theoretically, he shouldn’t care about anything concerning Li Tingyan.
But at the moment he heard this news, he still felt like his heart was stabbed again.
Damn it.
He silently cursed, showing none of the qualities a modern young person should have.
He thought with a straight face that it would be best if Li Tingyan’s car tire blew out tomorrow.
Author’s Note
Although Li Tingyan didn’t appear in this chapter, he still made an impression on Lin Chi. 😆
But Lin Chi and Li Tingyan really don’t need such heavy terms as “reconciliation.
Firstly, Mr. Li didn’t get the number plate of love (just kidding).
Secondly, they can only be described as having an indeterminate connection.
True “reconciliation,” you know, doesn’t happen unless they’ve been separated for seven or eight years…