2:00 AM Beijing time.

VALENTE's global official account posted a thread.

It was just one image: a black background, a male silhouette, with the Milan Cathedral skyline unfolding behind him.

The caption was a single line in English.

"The star is coming."

There was no name, no @ mention, and no tag under the post.

Then, the comments section exploded.

The first wave consisted of European fashion bloggers who repeatedly asked in English: "Who is this?" The brand's official account didn't reply to a single one.

Back home, most people were already asleep at that time.

At 3:00 AM, a blogger specializing in fashion content was still awake.

He scrolled past the post, stared at it for a few seconds, took a screenshot, and began comparing it.

His points of comparison were very precise: the curve of the hairline, the shoulder-width ratio, and the profile of the jawline.

After twenty minutes of comparison, he found the source material: a backstage clip from the semi-finals—the guitar, the overhead lighting, the giant screen under the night sky.

The angles matched perfectly.

At 6:00 AM, he posted three comparison images on Weibo with a single sentence.

"If I'm not mistaken, this silhouette from VALENTE is Lu Zhixian."

Then he went to sleep.

While he slept, the repost count on that Weibo post kept jumping.

By 8:00 AM, the topic hit the trending search list.

Lu Zhixian had just woken up and was brewing coffee in the kitchen.

He didn't actively check the trending searches; it was only when his phone vibrated four times in a row with push notifications that he picked it up to take a look.

Trending #1: #VALENTE New Spokesperson Silhouette#

Trending #3: #Lu Zhixian VALENTE#

The people outside didn't know yet that the official announcement was set for 1:00 PM. They were busy dissecting that silhouette from every possible angle and with various measurement tools. They were very serious about it, and while their conclusions were basically unified, they were still missing an official confirmation.

This feeling was a bit like when he was a producer in his past life waiting for the first-day data of an album; the numbers were jumping, but you had to wait for them to finish.

He took a sip of coffee and went to prepare today's breakfast.

Throughout the morning, domestic netizens split the discussion into three layers.

The first layer was the fans. Their screams hadn't stopped since 8:00 AM, and the Super Topic data was skyrocketing. Someone sent twenty Weibo posts in one breath, with the last one containing only a single word: "Ah."

The second layer was the passersby. Their reactions centered on one question: What is VALENTE's stature?

People looked it up and found that in the fifty-three years since the brand's founding, there had only been five global spokespeople in total, all of whom were Westerners. The youngest among them was already an award-winning Hollywood actor at the time of signing.

This background information was repeatedly cited throughout the morning. Every time it was posted, a new batch of shocked passersby joined the comments section.

The third layer was the skeptics.

"How long has he been debuted? Why him?"

"Is VALENTE just eyeing his popularity to ride a wave in the Asian market?"

"Is it possible he's just a tool? The brand wants to open the Asian market, so they just found a random traffic star?"

These three layers of discussion happened simultaneously all morning, each side talking past the other, with no one able to convince anyone else.

The trending search terms remained steady throughout this process, never dropping.

At 1:00 PM sharp.

VALENTE's global account released the official announcement.

A black suit, two buttons undone at the collar, eyes looking directly into the camera.

The caption: "VALENTE welcomes its first Asian Global Ambassador—Lu Zhixian."

"First Asian Global Spokesperson."

In the thirty minutes after this message was posted, the domestic internet experienced a fairly structured minor earthquake.

The Weibo servers lagged twice: the first time five minutes after the post, and the second time eighteen minutes after. Both were caused by peaks in repost volume.

Four of the top ten trending searches were occupied by related terms.

The group of skeptics went quiet for a while after the official announcement was made.

Then, people from the fashion industry began to speak up.

An editor-in-chief who had been in fashion media for twenty years wrote a long article listing VALENTE's previous global spokespeople, noting their industry status, representative works, and market influence in Europe and America at the time of their signing. Finally, they wrote a paragraph.

"Lu Zhixian didn't just break a single brand's selection record. He broke the industry's unspoken rule that has stood for decades: that Asian faces are not suitable to represent the global image of top-tier international brands."

This passage was widely reposted after 2:00 PM, drowning out the voices of doubt.

It wasn't that the skeptics were convinced; it was that they couldn't find a new angle to continue their argument.

The facts were right there.

Old Zhao's phone rang from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM without stopping.

Media outlets wanted interviews, peers were calling to fish for info, and PR from two competing brands sent messages to test the waters under the guise of "just chatting."

He set his phone to silent and sent a message to Lu Zhixian.

[Congratulations. From today on, I might have to re-evaluate your commercial value.]

Lu Zhixian replied with one word: [Mm.]

Then he sent a second: [Did you buy the plane tickets?]

Old Zhao stared at these two messages for a few seconds.

He turned back to continue coordinating with the law firm over there. He couldn't suppress the curl of his lips, but since no one was around to see him, he didn't bother trying.

Shen Yihang's manager posted a screenshot of the official announcement in the work group without saying anything.

The group remained silent for a long time.

Shen Yihang clicked into VALENTE's account and looked at the promotional photo.

He put down his phone and picked up the itinerary lying next to him, flipping to next week's page.

He knew one thing very clearly: endorsements like this aren't something you can get through hard work alone.

Some doors are open for certain people, but for others, no matter how much effort you put in, they simply won't budge.

He put the itinerary back and didn't look at his phone again.

When Lin Shiya's message arrived, Lu Zhixian was researching Milanese ingredients.

He was being serious.

[I saw it, congratulations.]

[Thanks. Any recommendations for good food in Milan?]

[You're going there for an endorsement, not for a vacation.]

[My cooking skills are very good; I want to go there to study the cuisine.]

Lu Zhixian set his phone aside and continued looking at his page of ingredients.

On Lin Shiya's end, she stared at the message for two seconds, unable to figure out if he was being serious or joking.

The night before departure, Lu Zhixian packed his luggage.

Passport, copies of contracts, a change of clothes—the standard setup.

He opened the system inventory and glanced at the pile of daily necessities from his three hundred consecutive draws.

The forty-five boxes of toilet paper were still there, the shampoo was still there, and the mop was still there—all untouched.

After a moment's thought, he found two rolls of toilet paper from the descriptions and put them into the side pocket of his suitcase.

He zipped up the suitcase.

He stood up and checked his phone. Old Zhao had sent tomorrow's departure time and a check-in reminder, adding one last sentence at the end.

[VALENTE's Creative Director said she's looking forward to meeting you. She speaks English very fast, so be mindful.]

[It's fine, my English is decent.]

He stood in the bedroom and thought for a moment.

With Master-level Culinary Arts, he should theoretically be in his element in Milan.

Under the buff of this skill, he should technically be able to make better use of the local ingredients than the locals themselves.

He let that thought sit in his mind for a few seconds before moving on.

He'd see when he got there.