The flashback ends.
Xu Shuyan wrapped an arm around Lin Yi’s shoulder, grinding her teeth. “No wonder you couldn’t sleep that night. You were tossing and turning, thinking of ways to curse me out, weren’t you?”
“I wasn’t cursing you out!” Lin Yi, caught in her grip, had no choice but to back down. “Actually, it meant ‘Chairman Xu Shuyan’!”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
What a ridiculous stretch.
She ruffled Lin Yi’s hair, messing it up, and smiled dotingly. “Fine, fine. I’ll let you off this once.”
Lin Yi looked up at her from the embrace and smiled. The sun was setting in the west, casting fragmented light across her face. Between the light and shadows, her smile was like a flower in full bloom, impossibly radiant.
【Is luring us single dogs in just to slaughter us the new trend?】
【Does dating within the group count as a scandal… This is very important to me… I feel like my house is about to collapse!】
【I can’t watch, I really can’t watch!!!】
【Yan Zhi You Yi! This isn’t the place for you to be all lovey-dovey!】
【Xu Shuyan, wake up! She called you a big idiot! Anyone else would’ve been punished by now! She just smiles at you and you let her go? You’re hopeless! I look down on you!】
【When Green Origin Island opens to the public, I’m going to inspect every single tree. I refuse to believe Lin Yi only carved this one thing in the middle of the night!】
【Blind guess: xsywan】
【Are you blind guessing? I think you’re starting rumors!】
【Yan Zhi You Yi, seriously, stop flirting! Chen Yuan and Zhou Shichen have already completed the mission and captured the flag. You two are still here being all sticky! Don’t you have any competitive spirit! [Fist]】
【It’s like Chen Yuan and Zhou Shichen are on a completely different show from Yan Zhi You Yi…】
【Chen Yuan and Zhou Shichen are on Extreme Challenge, while Yan Zhi You Yi are on Viva La Romance.】
While the fans were having a blast in the livestream chat, Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi received a video call from Chen Yuan and Zhou Shichen. The production team handed them a phone. On the other end, Zhou Shichen and Chen Yuan were waving. “Yanyan! Xiao Yi! We won… What are you two doing hugging each other!”
Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi froze for a second, then immediately separated.
Lin Yi leaned closer to the phone. “You’ve arrived?”
Xu Shuyan also moved in. “That was fast?”
Zhou Shichen & Chen Yuan: “…”
After all, they had been seriously focused on completing the mission!
Lin Yi saw Chen Yuan wearing the same “I’m shipping it” expression as Zhou Shichen and felt a wave of despair. She never should have let Chen Yuan team up with Zhou Shichen. They were good for nothing but shipping CPs. Shipping a fake couple can be fatal!
Zhou Shichen said excitedly, “You two take your time, no rush!”
Xu Shuyan said, “Oh. Don’t you need help? Isn’t there a party tonight?”
Chen Yuan waved her hand. “No need.”
She panned the phone around. “Everything was already set up here. You two just have fun, don’t feel any pressure.”
Lin Yi’s and Xu Shuyan’s hearts pounded in unison: Yuanyuan is so gentle, so thoughtful, so cute, sob sob sob! I don’t want to fall for her, but she told me not to feel any pressure! And she smiled at me so beautifully!
Even after hanging up, they couldn’t snap out of it for a long time. They looked at each other.
And sighed internally: It’s bad enough the person I like isn’t by my side, but why does it have to be the person I hate the most!
In the eyes of others, Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi’s melancholy was just them being sore losers. A netizen posted about it on a forum with the title, “My rivals are lovesick fools, so I won by doing nothing.”
Main Post: Hi everyone, I’m a member of a certain girl group in the Chinese entertainment industry. Two of my groupmates are dating each other. When we were split into teams for a game, they were so busy being in love that they didn’t even care about the final prize. It let me, a total game black hole, win by doing nothing. Aren’t they being a little too obvious? Are they going to get found out? (This is all just a rumor I made up, no one will believe it, right? Fans, don’t come for me.)
【Oh my god, whose house collapsed?】
【Shocking! A girl group has members dating internally! Tell me who it is! And send me some evidence so I can verify and avoid any landmines!】
【It’s not our Gu Group, is it???】
【They are a bit obvious. Anyway, my best friend and I aren’t like that.】
【This doesn’t look like friendship between besties!】
【OP, I know which pair you’re talking about! I really can’t stand these lovesick fools. Other people are filming an island survival show, but those two are filming a two-day island honeymoon tour. It’s sickeningly sweet!】
…
Since they had lost anyway, and were still melancholy about not being able to see Chen Yuan right away, Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi decided to set up camp right where they were and rest for a bit before moving on.
Outside the camp was a blue sea and sky. A seagull skimmed past, disappearing over the horizon in the blink of an eye.
Lin Yi browsed the forums, watching netizens spout all sorts of nonsense and ship CPs. She checked her bank balance and silently reminded herself: It’s all for the money. In this world, who has it easy making money? Isn’t everyone just enduring humiliation and getting by-
System: You have a new message from The Person I Hate.
The Person I Hate: Can you stop tossing and turning and sighing?
Lin Yi: .
The Person I Hate: Are you this depressed just because we lost?
Lin Yi: You’re so annoying.
The Person I Hate: What a coincidence, me too.
The Person I Hate: The livestream might be off, but the cameras are still rolling. Be a little more professional.
The Person I Hate: Also, when we see Yuanyuan, don’t be all gloomy. She’s easily influenced by others, so don’t send any negative energy her way.
Lin Yi: You think I need you to tell me that?
Lin Yi: Don’t you forget, I liked Yuanyuan first!
Lin Yi: Love at first sight, who gets it?
The Person I Hate: …
The Person I Hate: Who wasn’t?
The Person I Hate: It was just because you arrived five minutes earlier than me when we all gathered that day!
Lin Yi: That still means I’ve liked her for five minutes longer than you.
Lin Yi: Nyeh nyeh nyeh.
The Person I Hate: [Oh.jpg]
The Person I Hate: [Link: “Hot Girl’s Dance Cover of ‘Mojito,’ Who Died From This Satisfyingly On-Beat and Fiery Dance?”]
The Person I Hate: Want to dance to this later?
Lin Yi: This is way too spicy!
The Person I Hate: Yuanyuan likes to watch this kind of thing.
Lin Yi: Let’s do it!
Lin Yi was a fast learner. She and Xu Shuyan watched the video two or three times and were able to get the moves down. The sequence might not have been perfect, but it wasn’t a formal stage performance. It was more than enough to warm up the crowd.
It was nearly dusk when Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi reached the final location.
The sunset by the sea was breathtakingly beautiful. The crimson sun sank into the ocean, dyeing the sea and sky in brilliant colors. The production team had set up a long table for them on the beach, covered with a white lace tablecloth and adorned with a vase of vibrant, blooming roses.
From a distance, Lin Yi kicked off her shoes and ran onto the sand. “Yuanyuan! Shichen! Captain-“
Then she threw herself into their arms for a big hug.
For some selfish reasons, she held on to Chen Yuan for longer, until Xu Shuyan pulled her away from behind, hugged Chen Yuan herself, and touched her head. “How did you get thinner?”
Chen Yuan let out a little “Ah?” “Have I?”
Xu Shuyan looked her up and down. “You have.”
Lin Yi couldn’t stand seeing Xu Shuyan look at Chen Yuan so affectionately. She tugged on her and said, “Let’s hurry up, everyone’s waiting for us to warm up the stage!” She then asked Chen Yuan, “Yuanyuan, was it you who wanted to see me and Xu Shuyan dance?”
Chen Yuan clapped her hands. “Yes, I do!”
Lin Yi pinched her cheek. “If you want to see it, we’ll dance for you!”
A small stage had been set up next to the long table, decorated with a string of fairy lights that made it look dreamy and beautiful. Chen Yuan and the others sat below the stage, waving light sticks and shouting Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi’s names. “We’re so excited! Wooo~”
Lin Yi threw a wink to the audience and snapped her fingers. “Music!”
The hype crew in the audience: “Wooo~”
Chen Yuan cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone. “Lin Yi! Xu Shuyan! Go, go!”
Her cheering fired Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi up even more. They danced sensually, bodies close together. The louder Chen Yuan’s cheers from below, the more energetically they danced, making the viewers’ blood boil and cry out that they were dying from shipping them so hard!
When the dance was over and the atmosphere was heated up, Lin Yi jumped off the stage but couldn’t find Chen Yuan.
She paused, then asked, “Where’s Yuanyuan?”
Zhou Shichen, her eyes sparkling from all the shipping, said, “She went to take a phone call!”
Xu Shuyan jumped down too. “When?”
Zhou Shichen was too busy shipping them to death to notice the time. It was Yan Qi who remembered clearly. “When you two were doing that non-stop spinning waltz part.”
Xu Shuyan & Lin Yi: “?”
Wasn’t that right after the dance started???
Lin Yi didn’t give up. “She’s still not back?”
Yan Qi tilted her chin toward the sea. “Still on the call.”
Xu Shuyan & Lin Yi: “…”
So who the hell were we showing off for?!
