omg hi lovely! it's been a minute, how are you! i hope you've been well 💛

oh my god october has genuinely felt unreal. everyday there's something new dropping, if not MULTIPLE things! between the concert, birthday photoshoot, ep, new project, and all the ambassadorship things in between, i haven't been able to catch my breath, and i'm just a viewer! how does xz do it 😭

anon, you write so beautifully :') it feels wrong that you're asking me questions and not the other way around, because i love how you word your thoughts! i completely agree with and understand what you're saying in regards to his voice. to me, i've always thought his voice is crisp, clear, precise. everything feels so purposeful. i ADORED this ep, dare i say, maybe even more than the first? the first is so beautiful and honest and will forever hold such a special place in my heart, as do all firstborns, but this one is so bold and explorative! we know he likes to experiment based on the wide range of scripts he picks up, and of course that would carry over into his vocal work too! and while we have seen that he doesn't only enjoy slow songs and enjoys a quicker beat (the ICONIC bamboo in the rock performance, for one), i'm so happy that he was able to try something so different this time around! something jazzy, a little seductive, with so much depth.

eee the mv! oh, it was so fun! so glitzy and glittery, with all the glamour! i love that he made a return to dancing, too. as a dancer myself, i always appreciate good choreography, and you can tell he put in so much effort! i always love watching mvs because it's so fun to take a peek into his creative vision. director xiao zhan, when? and i can't talk about the mv and NOT talk about that cozy knit & glasses look. xiao zhan, who on your team is keeping tabs on us 😭 how did you know that would do me over 😭

my favourite song is, by far, What's Distant Isn't Love! maybe it's because of my love of kpop, but it's just so energetic and upbeat and FUN! it feels hopeful and it makes me feel alive (which is so ironic, when you compare the melody and beat with the lyrics sldkfj). coincidentally, my favourite lyrics are also from this song. specifically the chorus, but more specifically, "As long as you leave a light on for me, I have the courage to act out this one-person show." i've noticed that xz is really fond of this concept, of someone keeping a light on for him. he included it in his first ep, and he's including it again now. it's so him – so soft, a quiet love but a sure one, a steadfast pillar you can lean on and know will support you always. it's just so sweet and true :')

as for the phrase i liked best, 10000% 2:15 in Out Of Place. /that/ specific hum. yes. i agree.

how about you! what did you like best! did any lyric stick out to you? 💛

omg no ofc not, i love hearing your thoughts! thank you for sharing them with me :')

ooh i love the mirror one!! i think the b&w ones are so beautiful :') i love the poses and angles!! also i love the way you describe the contrast of the loose outfit vs the background omg. i never thought of that but it's so true! hats off to the team for thinking of such interesting ideas :')

ahh that answer also struck a chord with me! it's so interesting to see how his thoughts change over time, and we get to see that happen in real time! how there was once a time where he thought there are two xzs, and he works for the one that everyone sees. i think it speaks a lot both to his growth as a public figure, and all the work he's done internally/emotionally, to arrive at this new answer he gave this time. i hope in time, you also are able to understand yourself better! with the way you're so introspective and so thoughtful & intentional with your words, i have no doubt you'll get there! 💛

aaa every time the studio drops a new teaser, i get so curious! why did he pick the colour scheme! why the font! what do all the abstract shapes mean? i'd love to be a fly on the wall and just be there to bask in his creative process. what a gift that'd be!! i think the rumours are probably (definitely) very true, and this ep cemented that for me! i think with all the industry rumours but also na jie speaking so openly about it at her concert, it's pretty much a confirmed thing, and now we're just waiting for the official announcement! (which is SUCH a terrifying thought. ticketing will be a bloodbath)

oh gosh, idek what i'd want him to sing, there are so many! aside from his own songs, i'd love to hear him cover the songs he sang earlier in his career! the ones on x-fire, the casual covers he would sing in lives. it would feel so full-circle :') and i agree with you in terms of Satisfied. how fulfilling and full circle would it be to perform that song that he wrote himself so long ago at his own concert! ahh, zhanzhan. you've come so far :')

omg yes! ugh it's always such a privilege and joy to take a short glimpse into his mind. i always find such treasures to carry with me.

my favourite part of the interview was seeing his thought process when evaluating characters/choosing roles. for A Small Town Remedy, he asked himself questions that the audience will probably never know, like what happened to liu zhengliang when he was a teen (which happened off screen!), why he struggles with communicating, why his emotions come harder to him than others, etc. i related to it so much because as a writer, these are questions you ask yourself, too, when building a character! and maybe it'll never come up in the plot and maybe your readers will never know of all this inner work you did, but /you/ will, and /you/ will have all the more knowledge to write your character to the best of your ability, to do them justice and make them feel like a real, living, breathing person you could meet irl. what's their favourite colour? food? do they like pineapples on their pizza? do they even like pizza? i may not be an actor, but i really understood why he asked himself these questions. even if it's not explicitly brought up in the show, it helps xz to play the role better, and it comes through in his actions and dialogue. ugh, xz! your brain!

OOH the pictures! my favourite one was actually the one where he was crouching down, one hand on the side of his face, the other on his knee. it's not revealing, it's not a crazy pose, but i think that's exactly why i like it so much. the colours are so soft, the pose is a lil endearing, and the angle at which it was shot was really interesting, too! (but also. i am never opposed to more xz arm. the more, the merrier.) which one was your favourite! did anything stick out to you about his interview :O

oh stop this, thank you so much :( i really tried to depict what yz are like in my mind so i'm glad you liked it!! it's the ultimate comfort and reassurance as a writer to know that i wrote them in a way that made you feel any kind of giddiness! mission accomplished 🙂‍↕️ & oh what a compliment it is to know that i could bring any kind of happiness to your day! i'm so honoured :') i did have a lovely mid-autumn festival! i hope you did, too 💛

quite honestly, it was your prompt that started it all! i believe you mentioned a festival/holiday, and i thought, well, what better festival than the one coming up in a week! and with mooncakes being such a prominent part of the day, i wanted xz to experiment making them. honestly, i wasn't sure if i should go ahead with the idea because we all know he's a great chef and baker, and having him struggle (read: fail) at making something seemed a bit ooc for him 😅 but i figured everyone has their off days, and with xz being so busy lately, it might make sense for him to be short on time and high on stress. so sorry, xz. next time i'll write you excelling at something <3

ahh thank you for the reassurance! i don't dislike it, i just thought it was kinda... boring? not as pretty as i would've liked it? but what a relief that you enjoyed it! that's all that matters 🥰 if you have any other prompts, feel free to throw them my way!! 💛

omg no worries at all!

xz is SO in touch with his own emotions, and i've always thought he's incredibly, highly emotionally-intelligent. not just in regards to his own emotions, but to others' as well. he knows when to say what, how to act based on different situations, he'll slide in and offer an out to people who are clearly struggling. it's so admirable, and makes me want to be more like him :')

it 100% lends itself to his creative processes, and i love seeing it come through in his characters! as picky as he is about his endorsements, he's just as, if not more, picky about his characters, which is how i know that every project he does sign on, it's one i can believe in and look forward to. he's #1 wwx defender forever 😭 the post he made about returning him to the one he loves... sigh, xz, you romantic.

100% the way he spoke about shiying! spoiler alert for The Longest Promise when he died the first time, originally, the script had him saying something along the lines of "don't miss me/don't be sad". but xz sat down with the director and said that it doesn't feel right, that shiying wouldn't say something like that. he argued that he /would/ want his beloved to miss him, that when he's in his final moments, he would want to know his love was worth it. it's also in this moment that i realized just how much xz cares for his characters and wants to do right by them. since then, he's done this with a lot of his projects – sat down and really looked at the dialogue and offered suggestions when things don't feel right. i think it's so rare! i know if it was me, i would just recite the lines, assuming that the writers know best, but xz always takes it one step further and /becomes/ the character.

ahh i think i will, and i'm so excited about it! he has so many thoughtful, wise quotes that it'll be hard to pick only one a day for three weeks, but i can't wait for others to fall in love with his words.

re: his endorsements, it's been joked about by brands/people in the industry that signing xz as an ambassador is harder than getting into tsinghua (one of the top schools in china) HAHA because of just how extremely selective he is, and how much research goes into it! he requires samples, audits, business reports, statistics, the whole nine yards. an insider once said he felt like he was preparing for the gaokao (the national test chinese students take) with how much work went into preparing just to send a proposal to xz and his studio. as hard as it must be for both sides to review material, it really warms my heart that xz does all this :') i'm sure it's to protect himself and his brand, because the last thing he would want is to endorse something of poor quality, but i'm also just as sure that it's in part because he knows his fans' buying power and he wants to make it worth it (which also relates to his quote, "i want to be worthy of my fans' support").

i have so many good xz quotes bc xz says so many things worth admiring! but ooh yes so many! assuming you’re the anon from yesterday, my #1 quote is still his determination to do things well. if i had to pick a second, “i’ve gone from being a normal person to being someone who others like. i know what it’s like to be a passerby, so i hope my fans firstly live a good life that’s their own. no one will like someone for no reason, so you must be worthy of their liking. i hope they can live well. while i get better and better, i hope they do, too.” !!! is this not so indicative of him as a person? for the same reason, this is my favourite interview too, because he got so emotional at the idea of a fan he knew sending him a letter telling him that she got married and is living happily. it’s so clear that he’s a very sensitive, highly emotionally intelligent person who truly cares about his fans. as someone who was once in our shoes, he knows what it’s like to be a fan, and i think that shows in everything he does, but especially his endorsements! this is a bit of a tangent but i’ve always been in awe of just how much work goes into choosing brands to put his support behind, and it’s because he knows of his commercial power. combined with his personal experience of being a fan, he wants his recommendations for fans to be good ones, and i just think it shows so much of his character. he once said he treats this as a job, but i also think he gives so much care and consideration to so many parts of this overwhelming life that others may not even think of, because i think at the end of the day, that’s just in his nature. it’s as much a part of him as the blood running through his veins.