“How long have you known Xu Shuyan?” a staff member off-camera asked seriously, holding up a microphone. “What surprise will you give her for this one-day special?”
By the white backdrop, Lin Yi held a mic, rendered speechless by the question.
What?
Was this some kind of “50 Questions for Couples” before a dating show? Who wrote the script for this post-interview? How could a question like this even exist? Even if it was just for fan service, wasn’t this a bit too deliberate?!
Lin Yi opened her mouth, but remembering that the fans would love it, she forced back her flippant remark and answered honestly, “We’ve officially known each other for five years, but I’d actually seen her a few times right after I joined the company. We just never spoke.”
“As for the surprise…” She pursed her lips. “Although I know her pretty well, I’m more inclined to listen to her opinion and see what she wants to do. Whatever she wants is fine.”
She lowered her head and smiled. “It’s a one-day special, after all.”
The staff member, having gotten the answer they wanted, gave her a satisfied thumbs-up. After asking a few more trivial questions, they finally let her go. “Thank you for your hard work, Teacher Lin.”
Lin Yi bowed as well. “You’ve worked hard, too.”
Leaving the temporary interview room, she saw Xu Shuyan sitting on a high stool, legs crossed, playing on her phone. She walked over and kicked Xu Shuyan’s dangling leg. “Don’t cross your legs.”
Xu Shuyan’s swinging leg paused, and she reluctantly uncrossed them. “Interview over?”
Lin Yi hummed in affirmation. “Why haven’t you left yet?”
“Waiting for you, of course.” Xu Shuyan stuffed her phone into her bag. “Shichen and the Captain are here too. We’ll go back together.”
Right now, the public was closely watching to see if the Gu Group could survive. Onlookers were just enjoying the drama, group fans were busy being heartbroken, while solo fans, seemingly eager for chaos, were demanding the group disband. They even tagged their biases, telling them to find a boyfriend and have a beautiful solo career.
“A beautiful solo career?” A prominent group fan reposted. “The entertainment industry is so tough. It must be so hard to go it alone.”
Meanwhile, after a week of rest, the four members of the Gu Group clocked in for work right on schedule, preparing for their upcoming group variety show, just as online discussions about their disbandment were raging.
Since they started work together, they naturally got off work together too.
[Is Chen Yuan not there?]
[She already left the group, so of course she’s not.]
[According to Sweet Melon Entertainment’s Weibo post, Chen Yuan will be taking the next six months to focus on self-improvement. I guess that means preparing for a concert, joining a new film crew, and getting married.]
[Honestly, when I saw the four members of the Gu Group getting out of the van one by one today, I really couldn’t stop crying. Our Gu Group still has a long road ahead, and the four of them have to keep going.]
[Adding a picture of Chen Yuan going to work alone. May you all shine brightly in your different places.]
…
In the van heading back to the dorm at night, Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi were quietly discussing their one-day special. Lin Yi had her headphones on, resting with her eyes closed, while Xu Shuyan used her side account to repost the pictures of them arriving at work from a group fan site.
She looked up and saw Lin Yi in the rearview mirror.
Lin Yi was still wearing her mask. Her thin bangs shifted to the side with the slight bumps of the road, revealing her beautiful eyes. Her thick, raven-feather-like eyelashes drooped obediently. Her breath fogged her mask, and in the slightly stuffy van, her cheeks were tinged with a faint blush.
Xu Shuyan’s fingertips twitched. Before she knew it, she had already reached out and pulled down Lin Yi’s mask.
The movement was light, but it still startled the lightly sleeping Lin Yi awake.
Lin Yi opened her eyes blankly, sat up straight, and looked outside. “Are we here?”
Xu Shuyan pulled her hand back, feigning composure. “Not yet.”
Lin Yi said, “Oh,” and rested her forehead against the window. A row of streetlights on the cross-river bridge was lit up, making the surface of the river they illuminated seem even darker. She belatedly touched her nose and looked at Xu Shuyan. “Did you pull my mask down?”
Without looking up, Xu Shuyan said, “I was afraid you’d suffocate.”
It was a kind gesture.
Lin Yi resentfully swallowed her question but couldn’t help saying, “There are no cameras. You don’t have to be so nice to me.”
“Oh,” Xu Shuyan replied coldly.
She scrolled unconsciously through her phone. The group’s Weibo had posted some daily content at noon, and the fans on her feed were shipping them while watching, searching like they had microscopes for evidence that she loved Lin Yi and Lin Yi loved her.
@YanZhiYouYiGetMarriedTomorrow: Just look at the way Xiao Yi looks at Yanyan. I won’t believe you if you say that’s not love. [GIF]
[But the way I look at you can hardly be called innocent.]
[When you like someone, even if you cover your mouth, the love will spill out from your eyes.]
[Lin Yi’s gaze practically has “I like Xu Shuyan so much” written all over her face, okay? I won’t believe there’s nothing going on between them. Heh heh, my girlfriend looks at me the exact same way!]
Xu Shuyan glanced at it for a second before scrolling past.
Hardly innocent?
She and Lin Yi were as innocent as could be!
Lin Yi noticed that Xu Shuyan was in a bad mood.
She’d been scrolling through Weibo with a cold expression in the car, and after getting home, she’d thrown out a “I’m not hungry” and gone straight to her room, leaving the other three Gu Group members staring at each other in the living room.
Zhou Shichen asked Lin Yi, “Did you two have a fight?”
“Of course not!” Lin Yi quickly waved her hands, distancing herself from the issue. “She was fine when we got off work. I was catching up on sleep in the car just now and barely said two words to her.”
Zhou Shichen was puzzled. “Then what’s going on?”
Yan Qi walked to the dining table. The housekeeper had prepared their meal before they arrived, and it was still warm. She picked up her chopsticks and guessed, “Is she on her period?”
Lin Yi said, “It’s not that time of the month for her.”
Yan Qi and Zhou Shichen’s eyebrows twitched at the same time. They exchanged a look. Yan Qi’s hand holding the chopsticks paused, and she sighed internally. She thought to herself that she’d finally been influenced by Zhou Shichen. It was perfectly normal for close friends to know each other’s menstrual cycles, but for Lin Yi to say it so naturally… she was actually shipping it.
“Forget it,” Lin Yi waved her hand dismissively. “Who cares about her? If she doesn’t want to eat, fine. She’s the one who’ll go hungry!”
“Really not going to do anything?” Zhou Shichen asked deliberately.
“Nope!”
Lin Yi’s declaration was full of bravado, but during the meal, she found it a little strange not to have Xu Shuyan fighting with her for food. Seeing that neither Yan Qi nor Zhou Shichen seemed to be saving any for Xu Shuyan, she hesitated for a moment before sending Xu Shuyan a message.
Afraid that Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi would see and laugh at her, she put her hand under the table to text secretly.
Lin Yi: Get your ass down here and eat.
It was unclear what Xu Shuyan was busy with. Ten minutes passed before she replied: Not eating.
Lin Yi: If you don’t come down soon, it’ll all be gone.
Most Hated Person Ever: Then it’ll be gone.
Most Hated Person Ever: Not hungry.
Lin Yi: …
Lin Yi: Who made the rule that you can only eat when you’re hungry?
Most Hated Person Ever: …
Lin Yi: The housekeeper made your favorite sweet and sour pork today.
Lin Yi: Shichen and the Captain are about to finish it all.
Most Hated Person Ever: Let them.
Lin Yi clicked her tongue, her anger flaring. Was Xu Shuyan going through a rebellious phase? She was being so nice, and here Xu Shuyan was, putting on airs, not knowing what was good for her!
With that thought, she bit into the pork a little more fiercely.
Zhou Shichen ladled a bowl of soup and, seeing her eating so hastily, couldn’t help but say, “Yanyan isn’t here. No one’s going to fight you for it. Eat slower.”
Lin Yi mumbled an “oh” sullenly.
Her hand under the table continued to type: Really not eating?
Most Hated Person Ever: .
Most Hated Person Ever: Our phones aren’t being recorded by a camera, are they?
Lin Yi: No.
Most Hated Person Ever: No cameras, you don’t have to be so nice to me.
Lin Yi: “…”
Those words sounded so familiar. Where had she heard them before?
It wasn’t until she lost at rock-paper-scissors and was putting the bowls in the dishwasher that she suddenly remembered she had said those words. In the car, among the few sentences she’d spoken to Xu Shuyan.
…Xu Shuyan was angry about that?
But she wasn’t wrong.
Lin Yi started the dishwasher and leaned against the counter, watching it work. She thought about how she and Xu Shuyan had spent all these years being rivals while also doing fan service. Wasn’t this exactly the model they’d always followed?
Sweet as honey on stage, at each other’s throats off stage.
Even now that the reason for fighting was gone, they were just ordinary teammates. And what kind of ordinary teammate pulls down someone’s mask while they’re sleeping!
Besides, Xu Shuyan was way too narcissistic. When had she ever been nice to her?
Was she concerned about whether Xu Shuyan ate or not? No! She was concerned that if Xu Shuyan got hungry in the middle of the night and got out of bed to find food, she would wake her up! She was concerned about her own sleep!
Lin Yi nodded to herself as she thought, then glanced at the refrigerator and froze.
For a while, Yan Qi had been obsessed with cooking. She’d signed up for an online class, and not only that, she’d used them as her guinea pigs. She printed out recipe after recipe, and even after finally admitting she had no talent for cooking, she never threw the recipes away.
Where were they?
Lin Yi searched for a bit before realizing she could just look it up online. She tapped her head and took out two eggs from the fridge. Her cooking skills weren’t great either; she was afraid she’d blow up the kitchen if she used the stove, so she just made a bowl of steamed egg custard in the microwave.
She timed it perfectly. The egg custard was tender and fragrant, with sesame oil floating on top, looking incredibly appetizing.
Lin Yi placed the bowl on a tray and carried it upstairs. Before she even pushed the door open, she started bragging, “Xu Shuyan, guess what? I found two eggs in the fridge, and the housekeeper left a note saying they were about to expire, so I steamed a bowl of egg custard. Wow! My skills are top-notch, seriously amazing- what are you doing?”
Xu Shuyan was sitting on the bay window seat, drying her hair. She glanced over at the sound of Lin Yi’s voice. “Can’t you tell?”
“Of course I can tell!” Lin Yi kicked the door shut with her foot and demanded, “You actually showered before me. Did you forget I have permanent first-shower rights? You broke the rule, you have to post on Weibo!”
Unexpectedly, Xu Shuyan nodded. “Fine, I’ll post on Weibo that I’m a pig.”
“Hey, hey, hey.” Lin Yi sat down across from her and placed the tray on the table. “You don’t have to post it, as long as you finish this bowl of egg custard.”
“…” Xu Shuyan tossed the towel aside. “Why are you so insistent on making me eat?”
Lin Yi’s long legs dangled in the air. She puffed out her cheeks, wanting to say something conciliatory but unable to get the words out. Instead, she dodged the question. “Anyway, I don’t care. You have to eat it!”
Xu Shuyan took a small spoonful. “Eggs expire?”
Lin Yi: “…Of course.”
Xu Shuyan blew on the custard. “Do they automatically hatch into chicks after they expire?”
Lin Yi’s face darkened. “Can you have a little common sense?”
Xu Shuyan was so exasperated she laughed, but for the sake of the egg custard, she didn’t retort. She tucked her long hair behind her ear and ate the custard in small bites. Lin Yi didn’t leave, just sat there swinging her legs idly, watching her eat.
Suddenly, on a whim, she said, “Let me blow-dry your hair!?”
Xu Shuyan looked up, about to refuse, but Lin Yi had already run off excitedly to get the hair dryer. It was the model they endorsed. While not completely silent, its low hum was better than nothing.
Which made all the other sounds clearer.
The rustle of fabric as Lin Yi knelt behind her. The light scrape of fingernails against skin as Lin Yi rested a hand on her shoulder for balance. Lin Yi lifting her long hair, bringing a gust of hot air, making it impossible for a moment to tell if it was Lin Yi’s scorching breath or the hair dryer.
She unconsciously took a bite of the egg custard.
Too much salt seemed to be concentrated in that one bite, but she chewed and swallowed as if she couldn’t taste it. She heard Lin Yi hooking her fingers through her hair, her voice full of envy. “Xu Shuyan, you have so much hair!”
Xu Shuyan asked, “Jealous?”
“So jealous I could die.” Lin Yi, like a dedicated “Tony” hairstylist, chatted with her customer while diligently drying her hair. “The group variety show is about to start filming. Besides trying on wedding dresses, what else do you want to do? We can’t spend the whole day trying on dresses, right?”
Xu Shuyan said, “Oh. Haven’t I told you?”
Lin Yi asked, “What?”
“That day is a Saturday, and the Strawberry Music Festival is happening,” Xu Shuyan said lightly. “I want to see it live. You’re taking me.”
Lin Yi’s eyes lit up. “A music festival! I want to go too! Okay, okay, okay, let’s go, let’s go!”
Xu Shuyan finished the last bite of egg custard. “But the tickets…”
Lin Yi was still excited, even blow-drying her hair with a certain rhythm. Hearing her speak, she said, “Ah? What tickets? For the music festival?”
Xu Shuyan nodded. “They’re sold out.”
Lin Yi’s smile vanished instantly.
Fifteen minutes later.
Lin Yi sat in front of the computer, scrolling through her WeChat contacts. Finally, she looked up at Xu Shuyan with a pitiful expression. “I really don’t know her that well.”
The chat window on the computer was open to a certain singer in the industry who was performing at the festival. Lin Yi had met her once on a restaurant-themed variety show.
“What do you mean you don’t know her well?” Xu Shuyan leaned against the desk, watching her, her long fingers brushing through Lin Yi’s smoothly dried hair. “Didn’t you two hit it off on that variety show? I watched that episode… for a senior rapper I like. I saw everyone else working while you two were chatting and laughing. You were practically hugging.”
“Really?” Lin Yi tried to recall. “But we’re not close enough that I can just ask for tickets!”
Xu Shuyan replied slowly, “Really?”
Lin Yi nodded frantically.
Xu Shuyan said, “Just ask.”
Lin Yi couldn’t win against her. She typed furiously on the keyboard: Sister Chenchen! You there you there you there [puppyrollingaround.gif]
Xu Shuyan’s face darkened.
Coquettish, cute, and rolling on the floor—a whole routine. And she still claimed they weren’t close?
She said, “Retract it.”
Lin Yi was eagerly waiting for a reply and didn’t react for a moment. “Huh?”
Xu Shuyan said, “Unsend the message.”
“Why?” Lin Yi didn’t understand, but she did as she was told and retracted it. “I already put my pride on the line to beg her, and now you want me to unsend it? Why are you so difficult?”
Xu Shuyan straightened up. “It’s embarrassing. Forget it.”
Lin Yi asked, “Then what about the tickets?”
Xu Shuyan said, “We’ll have the production team get them.”
As she spoke, she walked to the vanity, picked up her sleeping mask, and halfway through applying it, she turned back to ask Lin Yi, “We’re not asking her anymore, so what are you still staring at the chat window for?”
Lin Yi said irritably, “She can still see that I retracted it, okay? Don’t I have to explain myself?”
Xu Shuyan said, “Oh.”
Looking at the empty bowl on the small table by the bay window, her mood improved slightly.
The production team got the music festival tickets.
They were delivered to Lin Yi the day before the shoot. At the time, she was wearing glasses and studying the dresses from the bridal shop they were going to, thinking every single one was gorgeous and would be perfect for Xu Shuyan to try on.
The show’s follow PD aimed the camera at her. “Do you want to try them on with Teacher Xu?”
“Me?” Lin Yi looked up, pushed her glasses up, and thought for a moment with a frown. “We probably shouldn’t try them on together, right? It would cause so many misunderstandings if it aired.”
Follow PD: “What kind of misunderstandings?”
Lin Yi gave her a look that said, “Do I really have to spell it out?” then lowered her head again, pretending to look at the dresses, and mumbled, “Just let her be the beautiful one.”
The follow PD turned off the camera and reminded her, “We’re filming you waking up tomorrow.”
Part of this group variety show was set in their dorm. A camera was mounted on the wall, aimed directly at their two beds, specifically to capture the most authentic waking-up scene.
Lin Yi got up earlier than Xu Shuyan. She had specifically set an alarm, driven out to buy breakfast, and even picked up a bouquet of flowers when she passed a flower shop.
The bright yellow blossoms bloomed in her arms.
To ensure it was the first thing Xu Shuyan saw when she woke up, Lin Yi simply sat by her bed holding the flowers, waiting for her to wake. She didn’t wait quietly, either—she poked here and there and even used her voice to imitate an alarm clock, finally “annoying” Xu Shuyan awake.
Before even opening her eyes, Xu Shuyan sneezed. Lin Yi quickly asked, “Are you okay? You’re not catching a cold, are you?”
Xu Shuyan opened her eyes. “…”
She paused, closed her eyes again, then opened them. “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to wake up, Your Highness.” Lin Yi eagerly presented the flowers. “I picked these all myself, to help you start a beautiful day.”
Xu Shuyan was silent for a moment. “I was wondering what that strong smell was.”
Lin Yi was displeased. “Are you dissing the flowers I got you?”
Xu Shuyan retorted, “Are you questioning the princess?”
Lin Yi: “…”
She really wanted to just quit!
Remembering they were still filming, she took a deep breath and endured it. “It’s my fault. I didn’t consider that the fragrance of the flowers would disturb your sleep. Please, please don’t blame me!”
Xu Shuyan: “…Please don’t make me sick.”
Clearly, Lin Yi was grossing herself out too. But the camera was mounted by the door, and her back was to it, so she took the opportunity to make all the faces she wanted, knowing they wouldn’t be caught on camera.
Xu Shuyan pulled the blanket up higher. “Cover the camera. I need to change.”
“You got it!” Lin Yi put the flowers on the nightstand. “Your wish is my command. No. 0813 at your service~ Mwah, remember to leave a five-star review!”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
She had a feeling this was not going to be an easy day.
This sense of dread continued all the way to the breakfast table.
Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi’s group was filming on a different day, and Chen Yuan had gone to the company, so the only people in the house were the two of them and their two follow PDs, who were diligently filming them—filming Lin Yi fawning over Xu Shuyan.
It went on until Xu Shuyan couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you a kindergarten teacher or something?”
Lin Yi readily agreed, “And you’re my little kid.”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
Regret. The person in question was currently filled with regret.
She took a bite of bread and squeezed out through her teeth, “Don’t make me turn on you in front of the camera.”
Lin Yi stuck out her tongue and stopped teasing her. She obediently ate her breakfast and, at the right moment, presented her with a glass of warm milk, silent like a hardworking, uncomplaining little wife.
Xu Shuyan couldn’t help but soften a little. She initiated a conversation. “We’re going to the bridal shop later?”
Lin Yi’s cheeks were puffed out with food. She nodded, swallowed hastily, and said, “I’ve already spoken with the owner of the bridal shop. We’ll arrive at ten-thirty in the morning. Our show won’t blur out their store name; it’ll be free promotion for them.”
The bridal shop was in the same commercial district as their company. It was a private, custom-order shop with strong privacy measures, and each customer had their own dedicated consultant. So even on the busiest Saturday, they could be in the huge shop without running into other customers.
The weather was beautiful that day. The rain that had been falling for days finally cleared up. Blazing sunlight enveloped all of S City, sweeping away the rain from the past few days, evaporating it, drying everything, and gradually taking on the harshness of summer.
Originally, the assistant had picked out two matching outfits for Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan. But before leaving, Lin Yi changed into something with a bit more of a Hong Kong vibe. With her sunglasses on and her wavy hair bouncing on her shoulders, she looked like a girl straight out of Victoria Harbour. She checked herself in a small mirror. “I feel like going for this style today.”
The assistant called her willful. “You’re supposed to be doing fan service.”
Lin Yi whined, “Aiya, isn’t going on a date enough fan service? Do we have to be so meticulous about it?”
The assistant couldn’t resist her whining and let her have her way.
They took Lin Yi’s car to the bridal shop. Although Lin Yi had bought a car, she didn’t drive it often. The wine-red Ferrari was flashy, turning heads as it drove through the city.
The production team sent along one cameraman and no one else.
So when they were greeted by a consultant at the bridal shop—one who hadn’t received the message from the owner due to a shift change—she thought they were filming a wedding documentary. She hesitated, then asked politely, “Are you two… here to try on wedding dresses together?”
“No, no.” Lin Yi pushed Xu Shuyan forward. “She’s trying them on, just her.”
The consultant had a moment of realization. “So you two are best friends.”
Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan said in unison, “No!”
They exchanged a look.
Who’s best friends with her!
The consultant was confused again. “Huh?”
Lin Yi was the first to recover. Afraid the consultant would overthink it, she said, “Oh, we’re sisters.” She nodded, gave Xu Shuyan a light pinch on the waist to keep her from blowing their cover, and emphasized, “Close sisters.”
Xu Shuyan’s lips twitched. “Mhm.”
The consultant understood now. “Then please, follow me.”
The shop was decorated in a palatial style. In a magnificent, rectangular room, the cabinets on all four walls were filled with all kinds of wedding dresses, the tiny diamonds on them sparkling under the lights.
Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi were dazzled, their indecisiveness kicking in. So Xu Shuyan unceremoniously pushed the task of choosing a dress onto Lin Yi. “You choose.”
Lin Yi’s head ached. “But every single one here is so beautiful!”
Xu Shuyan agreed. “That’s why you’re choosing.”
Normally, Lin Yi would have retorted immediately. But thinking about her task for the day, she clenched her fists, swallowed her pride, and went to find the consultant. “Excuse me, could you please bring out the most expensive dress you have in each style: strapless, A-line, mermaid, off-the-shoulder, V-neck, and long train.”
The consultant asked, “Would you like to see them first?”
Lin Yi waved her hand grandly. “No need!”
The consultant said, “Alright.”
After asking for her size, she called an assistant to get the dresses.
Lin Yi clapped her hands proudly, then turned to meet Xu Shuyan’s hesitant gaze. “What’s wrong?”
Xu Shuyan shot back, “What’s wrong? I should be asking you what’s wrong! What are you doing?”
Lin Yi said seriously, “Only the most expensive is good enough for you!”
Xu Shuyan: “…That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Lin Yi tilted her head. “Then what is it?”
Xu Shuyan couldn’t take it anymore. “You had her bring out so many styles. Are you playing Miracle Yanyan here?!”
Lin Yi: “…”
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
![How to Escape from the Hands of Yandere [QT]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/images-94.jpeg "How to Escape from the Hands of Yandere [QT]")
