“I’m telling you, Brother Cha-” Song Xiaotian lifted the lid of his instant noodles and stirred them twice with his fork. “Is your source reliable? Is Lin Yi really meeting her secret lover tonight?”
“My informant heard it with their own ears, it can’t be wrong!” Brother Cha leaped up from his folding chair, raising a pair of binoculars to aim at a pavilion not far away. “Today, I’m definitely getting the shot that ruins Lin Yi!”
Song Xiaotian took a bite of noodles, slurping them down. “But isn’t everyone saying Lin Yi is dating someone within her group?”
Lin Yi, the main vocal of the girl group The Notes, managed by Sweet Melon Entertainment. Ever since her debut showcase, where she went viral for her looks and singing skills, her popularity had been soaring.
And as the saying goes, if a girl group doesn’t do fan service, they’ll flop sooner or later.
Lin Yi’s on-stage partner was Xu Shuyan. They were presented as childhood sweethearts, a perfect match, with the older one being sweet and doting, completely devoted to the younger. Their CP, “Yan Zhi You Yi,” boasted seven hundred thousand fans, permanently occupied the top spots on CP charts, and was crowned number one on the annual “So Real It’s True” CP list by a landslide. They were widely considered the group’s number one Real Couple.
“That’s all just for show!” Brother Cha raised his DSLR, the telephoto lens extending into the fine, lingering rain. He tutted. “CP fans are the dumbest… Holy shit! Lin Yi’s here!”
“No way!” Song Xiaotian quickly dropped his noodles and set up his camera.
“It really is Lin Yi! That’s the exact outfit she was wearing when she got off work from filming today! Acting all sneaky in the middle of the night, she might actually be here to meet a lover!”
In the camera’s view, Lin Yi closed her umbrella in front of the pavilion. She wore a black trench coat and a matching beret, revealing a smooth forehead. Her makeup was cool and exquisite, and the burnt orange lipstick made her small face appear even fairer. Like a BJD doll, she was a particularly pleasing sight in the rain.
The junior paparazzo reached for his unfinished noodles, sighing. “I wonder who could’ve caught Lin Yi’s eye.”
“Isn’t he coming now?” Brother Cha slapped the back of his hand. “Focus!… Tsk, tsk, Lin Yi doesn’t have great taste, does she? This guy is really short.”
“Looks to be under 170 cm, but his fashion sense isn’t bad.”
“A hoodie that costs eighteen thousand yuan on the official website is more than ‘not bad,’ okay?” Brother Cha frantically pressed the shutter button. “But he’s wearing a hood and a mask, so you can’t tell who it is. If this is some guy from a boy band…”
Brother Cha grew excited. “That’s two idols taken down with one stone!”
Thinking about the traffic and revenue this romance would bring their studio, the two of them held their breath. They watched as the man in the hoodie walked step by step toward Lin Yi. Lin Yi went to meet him and said something, and the man slowly pulled down his hood.
“Why’s it someone with long hair? An artist type?”
He took off his mask.
“???”
“The hell is… Xu Shuyan???”
Under the high-definition lens, the person standing before Lin Yi was none other than her on-stage CP from the group, Xu Shuyan.
Xu Shuyan’s role in the group was rapper, with a cool, older-sister vibe. Her usual tags were “fierce,” “cool,” and “ice queen.” But right now, she was wearing an extremely juvenile-looking hoodie, making her seem especially… docile and cute?
Song Xiaotian’s world was shaken. He stammered, “B-Brother Cha, why is it Xu Shuyan? What did your source say?”
Brother Cha was also a bit dumbfounded. “He said that when filming wrapped today, he heard Lin Yi on the phone, telling the person on the other end to dress incognito if they were coming, because she didn’t want to be photographed. And she said it in a coquettish tone!”
Song Xiaotian was baffled. “Aren’t they just a business CP? Why would they be afraid of being photographed?”
During the ten-second silence that followed, Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan had already sat down in the pavilion, their heads close together, doing who knows what. The two paparazzi exchanged a look, both seeing the horror in the other’s eyes-
“Damn it, don’t tell me Yan Zhi You Yi is real?”
But inside the pavilion at that moment, things were far from harmonious.
In fact, the tension was palpable.
Lin Yi gritted her teeth. “Have you no shame, Xu Shuyan? You told me your birthday gift for Yuanyuan was preserved flowers, and now you’ve suddenly got a custom-made ring. Why don’t you just confess to her at the album press conference tomorrow?”
“I’d love to,” Xu Shuyan replied to the accusation with a dry laugh. “I’m just afraid you’d drop dead on the spot if she said yes.”
Lin Yi scoffed. “Yuanyuan doesn’t even like you. If you manage to confess successfully, I’ll take your surname!” She stood up and paced around irritably, glaring at Xu Shuyan. “I’m so sick of you.”
Xu Shuyan rolled her eyes. “The feeling is mutual.”
That’s right. Although The Notes’ Hegemon CP, Yan Zhi You Yi, were childhood friends who debuted together, and their on-stage chemistry, visuals, and tension made fans ship them to death, off-stage they were love rivals who both liked the same teammate, Chen Yuan.
However mutual their affection appeared on stage, that’s how much they despised each other off stage.
The Notes had recently released a new album and entered their comeback period, preparing for group activities. Tomorrow’s album press conference happened to fall on Chen Yuan’s twenty-fourth birthday, so the company decided to celebrate both at once.
Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi had both agreed wholeheartedly. They then battled a hundred times in the birthday surprise group chat over who would get to push the cake out. Finally, the Captain, Yan Qi, couldn’t take it anymore. “You two will push it together.”
Lin Yi was unhappy. “Won’t our CP fans go crazy over that?”
Xu Shuyan was also reluctant. “Then what makes it special?”
Yan Qi smiled. “If you two don’t want to, Zhou Shichen and I can do it.”
Xu Shuyan & Lin Yi: “We’ll push it together!”
But that wasn’t the end of it. Both were afraid the other would steal the spotlight during the birthday celebration and outshine them. They bickered endlessly over everything from gift selection to their makeup and outfits for the day, from their in-person birthday wishes to their Weibo tribute posts. Finally, exhausted, they reached an agreement-
A temporary truce. The birthday girl comes first.
If their manager hadn’t mentioned receiving a package with a ring for Xu Shuyan today, Lin Yi would have never known that Xu Shuyan had secretly changed her gift.
“I came here to go over the plan for tomorrow’s birthday surprise with you, not to fight.” A fine rain blew sideways into the pavilion. Xu Shuyan pulled her hoodie back on and tapped the bench impatiently. “Sit over here.”
Lin Yi glared at her for two seconds before reluctantly moving closer.
“By the way,” Lin Yi asked, still worried, “no one followed you on your way here, right?”
Outside the pavilion was a river. The streetlights on the opposite bank cast a hazy, indistinct glow, hitting the side of Lin Yi’s face and covering her in a misty filter, like a beauty in an oil painting-albeit a beauty with a very unfriendly gaze.
Xu Shuyan’s expression wasn’t much friendlier. “Of course not,” she said irritably.
“Good. If we were photographed, the CP fans would have more material to work with. The thought of being associated with you makes me want to puke,” Lin Yi said as she opened her notepad app.
Xu Shuyan made a dry-heaving motion. “I’d be the first to gag.”
While Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi were discussing the birthday surprise for Chen Yuan, a post quietly appeared on an anonymous forum. The title- 《Paparazzi Staking Out Lin Yi for a Romance Scoop, But Her Secret Date Turned Out to Be HER?!》
【Before clicking, I thought this was a Yan Zhi You Yi fanfic】
【That “HER” is so suggestive lol】
【Are Yan Zhi You Yi CP fans ever going to stop? All this endless hype, positive and negative.】
【Why hasn’t this trash group disbanded yet? I’m so scared their in-group dating is gonna blow up one day and affect my bias… holy shit the OP posted pics? It’s really Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan meeting in secret?】
【Spreading the news: Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan’s relationship has been exposed】
【Rumor-mongers, get lost! Lin Yi has been focused on her career since debut and has never dated. She has countless fans thanks to her incredible skills. The Notes’ visual and only main vocal. Weibo: @TheNotes-LinYi. Recommended videos: 《Lin Yi – Try Not to Fall in Love Challenge, Once a Day to Prevent Young Love》, 《Lin Yi Stage Highlights Montage, All Hail the Main Vocal》】
【Lin Yi’s fans are so shameless, plugging their idol with fake hype at every opportunity. As if we haven’t all seen Lin Yi’s train wreck performances?】
【Xu Shuyan’s fans can stop talking. No matter how much of a train wreck my girl is, she’s still better than your bias on stage. Rapping all day, but who knows what the hell she’s even saying. You got the guts to show us a performance video?】
【Stop fighting, stop fighting, you’re all equally bad, okay? Can’t you just ship a CP in peace?】
【The album press conference is in S City tomorrow. Xu Shuyan isn’t in her hotel in S City right now, but snuck out to see her wife… Are they that desperate? Couldn’t even wait until tomorrow?】
【I hate people who are slaves to love more than anything.】
【Who is this pair? Never heard of them. Can someone get me into this ship?】
【Here I come! Want to ship a CP but afraid they’ll get exposed? Ship a CP but afraid the company will break them up? None of that is a problem with Yan Zhi You Yi! Free to love, with the company’s blessing! Only loves her wife, never plays the field! A two-way street with no home-wreckers! A visual match made in heaven, a true Hegemon! Their duo stages will make you ship them to death! A real-life sapphic entertainment industry novel! For details, please enter #SuperTopicYanZhiYouYi#】
【Xu Shuyan x Lin Yi, protecting the most beautiful love】
…
On the way back to the hotel, Lin Yi saw the forum post her manager had sent to their small group chat. She opened her chat with Xu Shuyan to demand an explanation: “Didn’t you say no one followed you?!”
Xu Shuyan, whose contact name was saved as “Annoying Person,” replied coolly: “Do you have proof they followed me? Maybe you’re the one who attracted them.”
Lin Yi: “Get lost, get lost, get lost!”
She then sent a random landscape photo she had taken to her assistant: “Help me post this on Weibo. Just write ‘Long time no see’ as the caption.”
Five minutes later, Lin Yi’s Weibo account was updated. Another five minutes after that, Xu Shuyan replied: “Thanks for the late-night snack tonight. See you tomorrow, mwah mwah mwah~”
Lin Yi scrolled down through the comment section, where fans were shipping them to death.
Even though Xu Shuyan is really annoying, she thought, I have to admit she’s a genius at fan service.
At two o’clock the next afternoon, all the members of The Notes girl group arrived for work.
Outside the venue for the album press conference, fans waved their support banners in an orderly fashion behind the barricades. Screams rose and fell, and competing fan chants grew louder and louder, as if in a contest, setting off the alarms of electric scooters parked by the road.
“Ahhhhhh!”
“Xu Shuyan! Wife, look at me!”
“Yan Qi’s new hair color is so pretty today, ahhhh!”
“Lin Yi! Daughter! Damn company, treat my daughter better!”
“Baby Yuanyuan! Can we please not drag our Yuanyuan to this flop group’s events next time? Let her focus on her acting, okay!?”
“Zhou Shichen- I fucking love you!”
Besides the solo fans, the group fans’ fighting power was also impressive, thanks to the group chemistry the company worked so hard to manufacture.
TheNotes, translated, meant Seven Musical Notes.
The official explanation was that it symbolized how the five girls, their music, and the fans who supported them were as inseparable as the seven notes of a scale. The unofficial explanation was that Sweet Melon Entertainment had originally planned to debut seven trainees. They had already picked the name, set the debut date, and booked the showcase venue, but the entire company couldn’t manage to find a sixth trainee.
And so, the group was formed in a hurry.
Netizens couldn’t be bothered to type out the English name. In discussions, they’d say, “This group has fans? Have they been put under a spell or something? Let’s just call them the Gu Group!” The fans didn’t mind, adopting the derogatory nickname for themselves and shouting the slogan: “Our Gu Group puts everyone under a spell, joining the fandom is worth it!”
A random passerby would roll their eyes: What’s there to even stan, so lame. I guess I’ll go take a look… Okay, I’ve voted, thanks.
From then on, the Gu Group became famous overnight. Fans would throw money at them while saying, “Don’t get too close, you’ll become unfortunate.” Yet the group’s popularity grew day by day, until the release of their third album, when they had become the undisputed number one girl group in domestic entertainment.
“It’s only because there are no other groups in domestic entertainment. Otherwise, would it be their turn?” Zhou Shichen-the group’s only all-around ACE, a natural-born idol who could capture everyone’s attention without much effort-spent most of her free time shipping CPs and browsing forums.
She glanced at Lin Yi, who was getting her makeup touched up, and said, “That’s not wrong!”
Lin Yi gave a perfunctory, “Mhm, mhm, mhm. Why are you on the forums again with this little bit of free time?… Sister, could you help me remove the glitter from the corner of my eye, thank you.”
“Why remove it?” Zhou Shichen sat up from the sofa. “Isn’t that the couple’s makeup you did specially to match Shuyan?”
Now that she mentioned it, Lin Yi got angry.
For the final stage look, only her and Xu Shuyan’s makeup clearly marked them as a pair, sparkling with glitter as if afraid the fans wouldn’t get the hint. The birthday surprise for Chen Yuan, who was currently performing her solo, was about to happen, and she had no intention of pushing a birthday cake out with Xu Shuyan while wearing this makeup.
Sure enough, when Lin Yi left the dressing room, she saw that Xu Shuyan had also removed her glitter. The two of them exchanged a knowing look and headed toward the room where the cake was being kept.
They walked shoulder to shoulder, seemingly intimately, jostling each other in the not-so-spacious hallway.
“What are you planning to say for your birthday wish?”
“What about you?”
“I asked first.”
“I’m not answering.”
“Fine, don’t answer. I’m sure mine will be more heartfelt anyway.”
“We’ll see about that.”
The on-stage birthday surprise wasn’t anything new. The lights suddenly went out, confetti suddenly rained down, and amidst the cheers of the fans and a chorus of off-key “Happy Birthday,” Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan pushed the cake onto the stage.
Chen Yuan looked pleasantly surprised. “You guys…”
Lin Yi’s heart softened: Oh! She’s so cute.
Xu Shuyan’s heart pounded: Oh! She’s so beautiful.
The CP fans in the audience: Oh! Yan Zhi You Yi look so good together.
Fans frantically snapped pictures from below the stage. High-definition photos of the two of them were uploaded to Weibo, and soon, a shipping frenzy erupted.
“Ahhhh the little couple is here to push the cake for the birthday girl! Why does Yuanyuan have to watch a public display of affection on her own birthday! Yan Zhi You Yi! This is not the place for you to be making eyes at each other!”
“Does Xiao Yan’s gaze have to be so affectionate! She’s making Xiao Yi blush!”
“I know you’re not supposed to ship based on just looks, but with a gaze that deep, that possessiveness just waiting to burst out, who wouldn’t ship it? I ask you, who wouldn’t ship it?!”
“Their birthday wishes for Yuanyuan are so similar. Did the little couple plan them together in bed?”
“They’re dating. They are definitely dating!”
…
In the dressing room backstage after the press conference.
Lin Yi threw her jacket on the floor and glanced at Xu Shuyan. “You copied my birthday wish, didn’t you? You copied me, right?”
Xu Shuyan raised a hand to tuck her long hair behind her ear, retorting, “Do you have proof? I could say you copied me. Why didn’t you even bother to change the order?”
Lin Yi was furious. “You’re twisting the facts!”
Xu Shuyan shot back, “You’re making baseless accusations!”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, you two!” Their manager pushed the door open, saw the jacket on the floor, and quickly picked it up, patting it down. “This is haute couture! You just throw it on the floor like that?”
Lin Yi glanced at it. “Xu Shuyan put her arm around me in it. It’s not clean anymore.”
The words had barely left her mouth when Xu Shuyan took off her own thin top and threw it into the trash can. Under the manager’s gaze, she shrugged. “Lin Yi touched it. It’s dirty now.”
They looked at each other.
Simultaneously: “Gag!”
言之有意 (Yán Zhī Yǒu Yì): The official “ship name” (CP名) for the characters 徐抒言 (Xú Shūyán) and 林意 (Lín Yì). The name is a portmanteau, combining “言” (yán) from 徐抒言‘s name and “意” (yì) from 林意‘s. It is also a Chinese idiom meaning “words have meaning,” alluding to the perceived subtext in their interactions.
