"Since a long time ago, I’ve told you guys. Lay is really slow with his reaction. Everyone thought that I was just casually joking along with the fans, so let me say it now, in all seriousness: Zhang Yixing is really slow with his reaction.

Of course, this slow reaction doesn’t reflect on his work, nor his daily life. It’s his thinking. 

It is really difficult for me to explain what kind of things he actually went through for him to become a person to always pause and think twice about what he’s going to say before expressing it. 

It is also really difficult for me to explain to everyone what kind of habits and ways led him to become a person who rarely looks into the person’s eyes when he speaks to them.

I rarely try to stir emotions when I reveal information. I also rarely try to convince you guys that “idols really had it hard.” Because I often feel that this is the job and dream they chose for themselves. Anyone, not only them, have got to put in hard work and sacrifice many things in life to get what they want. 

But I still want to say something — This name was given to him too damn well. Zhang Yixing, he, is really Lay. (Tired)
 

If I have to describe and summarise his trainee period in a very simple and literal sentence, it would be: “Going to a restaurant, but still brought along his own drinks.”

In actual fact, everyone can see that the company doesn’t approve of Lay’s history as a child star. Among all the debuted SM artistes, there are many child stars, but the ones that they truly highlighted and promoted them as — there’s very little of that. It’s a very simple logic. News and exposure are all about the “focus”. What we’re facing right now is the present real life. You can’t immerse yourself in the dreams of the future, neither can you immerse yourself in the memories of the past. Most importantly, a person is most afraid of “comparing myself to how I was like in the past”. He already had this label slapped on him so early back then. Regardless if it’s during the trainee period or after debut — it’s all the same, an invisible burden.

There’s actually a very simple way for fans to get closer to Lay’s inner world, that is to change “Work hard, work hard and work even harder” (his weibo username) to “Persevere, persevere and persevere even more.”

What is Zhang Yixing’s perseverance, then? This kind of perseverance doesn’t come with the thirst to win anyone, but the undy