10:00 AM. A hotel executive suite.

The furniture had been temporarily cleared, and three cameras were set up.

Lu Zhixian sat on a single-seater sofa, wearing VALENTE's latest season dark-patterned suit, no tie, with his collar open.

The first media outlet was the Italian edition of Vogue.

The reporter was an Italian girl in her twenties, blonde and dressed professionally.

She flipped open her notebook and spoke quickly, with a distinct Italian accent.

"Mr. Lu, how does it feel to become VALENTE's first Asian global ambassador in ninety-seven years?"

A standard question. A formulaic start.

According to the standard answers in the domestic entertainment industry, one should say, "I'm honored," "thank you for the brand's trust," and "I will continue to work hard."

Lu Zhixian looked at the camera and paused for a second.

"To be honest?" he began.

A rich London accent, with extremely standard pronunciation and enunciation, yet his tone carried a sense of nonchalant relaxation.

The female reporter was stunned for a moment before nodding. "Of course."

"It feels like a door that should have been opened long ago." Lu Zhixian leaned forward slightly, hands crossed over his knees. "I'm glad to be the one to push it open, but I hope I won't be the last."

The room fell silent for a moment.

The female reporter's pen paused on the paper for a beat. She looked up, glanced at Lu Zhixian, then lowered her head to record quickly.

She immediately threw out a second question, following up closely, concerning the situation of Asian artists in the international fashion world.

Lu Zhixian spoke at a steady pace, deconstructing the problem clearly in a few sentences with a poised and dignified attitude.

Lao Zhao stood in a camera blind spot, holding an iced Americano.

He had failed the CET-4 three times and was currently listening in a daze.

But he wasn't blind. He could see the foreign reporter nodding frequently, her eyes even lighting up.

He could also see Marco, the brand's VP of Public Relations, sitting behind the monitor with a satisfied smile on his face.

A great answer. Lao Zhao took a large gulp of his iced Americano, his heart finally settling back into his chest.

Fifteen minutes were up. Next person.

The second one was GQ.

The male reporter was in his early thirties, wearing black-rimmed glasses; the atmosphere changed the moment he sat down.

"There's a voice online. They say you're a music producer, a singer, but not a fashion icon. What makes you think you're qualified to sit in this position and take on this role?"

The question was tricky, carrying an obvious provocation.

Lao Zhao, standing nearby, understood "music" and "fashion." Sensing the other party had no good intentions, his brow furrowed.

Lu Zhixian didn't frown. He even let out a small smile.

He leaned back against the sofa, shifting into a more comfortable position.

"Qualification?" Lu Zhixian repeated the word, his tone flat. "I believe fashion and music are essentially the same thing."

The male reporter raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"They are both arts that make people feel something without saying a single word." Lu Zhixian looked into the other man's eyes.

"A good song can make you cry even if you don't understand the lyrics. A good piece of clothing can be beautiful even if you don't know the brand. I create feelings, and VALENTE creates feelings. That is the qualification."

The male reporter stared at him for three seconds.

Then, he lowered his head and drew a large exclamation mark in his notebook next to his recording pen.

For the next ten minutes, the male reporter's questions completely deviated from the original outline as he began to discuss the boundaries of artistic expression with Lu Zhixian.

Lao Zhao's iced Americano was now empty. Watching Lu Zhixian chatting and laughing with the foreign reporter, a question popped into his head: Did this kid secretly sign up for a training course behind my back?

The third one was the culture section of Reuters.

The reporter was an English man in his fifties, with gray hair and sharp eyes.

His questions were sharper than the previous two combined.

"Mr. Lu, we must face a fact."

"On the internet, especially on Western social media, there is immense skepticism about whether a Chinese pop singer can represent a century-old top European luxury brand."

"Many believe this is just a commercial show compromising for the Asian market. How do you respond to these doubts?"

The air in the room cooled instantly.

Lao Zhao didn't understand English, but he understood the expression on that old English man's face.

Marco straightened up behind the monitor.

The brand hadn't vetted the media questions in advance; that was the risk.

All cameras were focused on Lu Zhixian.

Lu Zhixian didn't speak immediately. He was quiet for two seconds.

In those two seconds, he showed no anger at being offended, nor any impatience to defend himself.

"I don't respond to doubts." His voice wasn't loud, but it was highly penetrating.

The old English man frowned.

"I respond with action." Lu Zhixian looked directly into the camera.

"When people see VALENTE's campaign this season, they won't go searching for where I'm from."

He paused, enunciating every word.

"They will only remember the imagery, the person, and the feeling they brought. That's enough."

The interview ended.

The cameras were turned off, and the lights went out.

The old English man stood up, walked over to Lu Zhixian of his own accord, and extended his hand: "A wonderful answer, Mr. Lu. I look forward to your performance."

Lu Zhixian shook his hand: "Thank you."

The crowd dispersed.

Marco walked to the corner and pulled aside Lao Zhao, who was packing up.

"Zhao, I have to be honest." Marco's expression was one of disbelief.

"The things your artist just said... our entire PR team could spend a week and not necessarily write such beautiful rhetoric. Especially that last part."

Marco paused and lowered his voice: "Which top PR firm did you use when preparing the script?"

Lao Zhao was stunned.

"We didn't." Lao Zhao spoke the truth. "You added the interview yesterday on short notice. Where would I find a PR firm to write a script?"

Marco's expression became extremely subtle.

He glanced at Lao Zhao, then turned to look at Lu Zhixian, who was chatting with the makeup artist, shook his head, and left.

That evening.

The brand's editing team was highly efficient; the first version of the video footage was sent directly to Lao Zhao's email for the team's confirmation.

Lao Zhao sat at the computer in his hotel room and plugged in his headphones.

He clicked on the video.

This time, there was no ambient noise, only clear audio.

Although Lao Zhao's English was poor, he used translation software and listened sentence by sentence while watching Lu Zhixian's lip movements in the video.

He listened to it three times.

Taking off his headphones, Lao Zhao turned his head to look at Lu Zhixian, who was sitting on the sofa playing games.

His gaze was like he was looking at a complete stranger.

"Your English..." Lao Zhao spoke, his voice a bit dry.

"What about it?" Lu Zhixian didn't even look up, his fingers tapping frantically on the screen.

"It's not just a 'good' level." Lao Zhao swallowed. "You sound like you were born and raised in London. When did you learn?"

Lu Zhixian tossed his phone aside and took a sip from the water glass on the table.

"Talent," he uttered.

Lao Zhao stared at him for half a minute.

He clearly didn't believe a single punctuation mark of it.

"Fine." Lao Zhao didn't press further and pointed to the computer. "The video is fine. I've replied to the brand."

The brand moved even faster than Lao Zhao had imagined.

Just two hours later.

VALENTE's official overseas account directly released the video of the Reuters interview.

There was no extra hype; it was just a one-minute and twenty-second pure version.

Lu Zhixian sat on the sofa, answering entirely in English with prominent English subtitles at the bottom.

In the first hour after the video was posted, the view count exceeded five hundred thousand.

Four hours later, it broke three million.

Within twenty-four hours, the view count directly broke the eight million mark and was still climbing at a terrifying speed.

The comments section completely exploded.

"Gosh, his accent is so sexy! I couldn't even tell he was Asian!"

"That answer about feelings is textbook-level PR! He's so brilliant!"

"I take back what I said before about him not being worthy. Based on this interview alone, he deserves this position."

The fire on the international web burned fiercely and swiftly.

Back home, due to the time difference, most people were still asleep.

But there are always "cultivating" night owls.

A few fan leaders studying abroad saw the video immediately.

"Holy crap! Father Lu is slaying!"

Since there were no official Chinese subtitles, these students took matters into their own hands, stayed up all night to produce a bilingual subtitled version, and promptly reposted it to Weibo and Bilibili.

The title was extremely eye-catching: [VALENTE Global Ambassador Lu Zhixian Interviewed Entirely in English, Taking on Foreign Media Head-on, Peak Human Confirmed!]

7:00 AM.

The domestic internet welcomed a new day's morning peak.

This video exploded across all major platforms.

The view count skyrocketed exponentially, its speed even surpassing yesterday's official VALENTE announcement.

The bullet chats were dense.

"Kneeling from the first word! Is this the kind of English a domestic male star can actually speak?"

"Badass! This London accent—if I closed my eyes, I'd think I was watching Sherlock!"

"Where are the haters who called him a 'dropout'? Come out and take a walk! His vocabulary and logic are miles ahead of yours!"

"'I don't respond to doubts, I respond with action.' Damn, that line is so hype! Father Lu, please accept my bow!"

"Say no more, I've already downloaded this video and am preparing to use it as English listening material."

The trending lists were dominated once again.

#Lu Zhixian Entirely English Interview#

#Lu Zhixian London Accent#

#I Don't Respond to Doubts#