“What are you talking about! Who wants to be your sugar mommy!” Lin Yi scooted to the side. Xu Shuyan’s hand grasped at empty air. It lingered for a moment before slowly falling, her expression turning a little dejected. She was putting on a very convincing act.
Lin Yi watched her, grinding her teeth in frustration. “Do you think this is a film set? Putting on a performance!”
Xu Shuyan was unfazed by her retort. The corners of her mouth turned down into a pout like a little duckling. “Lin Yi? Girlfriend? Baby? Wife…” Lin Yi’s expression softened a little. Xu Shuyan called out even more enthusiastically, “Wife, wife, wife, wife~~~”
“Who’s your wife!” Lin Yi feigned annoyance, but her heart was blooming with joy. She tried to hold back her smile, but a bit of her happiness leaked out. Even though Xu Shuyan was just pretending to be pitiful, Lin Yi still found her heart softening. So, she scooted back, grabbed Xu Shuyan’s wrist, and lifted it. Tipping up her chin, she said, “Here, you can pull.”
Xu Shuyan froze.
Lin Yi glared at her. “What’s with that expression?”
Xu Shuyan smiled. “Wife, you’re so cute.”
Lin Yi: “…”
Her face flushed red as she hissed in a low voice, “Stop calling me wife, ahhh!”
Xu Shuyan played dumb. “Why? Aren’t you my wife?”
Lin Yi fidgeted. “I am…”
Xu Shuyan asked, “Then why can’t I call you that?”
Lin Yi puffed out her cheeks. “Because…”
What other reason could there be! If Xu Shuyan kept calling her that, her heart was going to explode. When Sister Fang came back from her phone call, she would definitely give herself away out of guilt!
But Xu Shuyan wouldn’t let her off the hook, tugging at the hem of her clothes and swaying it back and forth. “So, are you going to be my sugar mommy or not? I haven’t bought a new bag in two months, I don’t even dare to order takeout over thirty yuan, and I’m so broke I can’t even send red envelopes for more than ten yuan. Shichen even mentioned it last time, saying I’m getting stingier and stingier.”
“…I said that too,” Lin Yi recalled. “That time you sent a red envelope, I only got twenty cents.”
“You have to do good deeds to have good luck!” Xu Shuyan said righteously.
Lin Yi scoffed. “You’re just full of excuses!”
Far from feeling ashamed, Xu Shuyan took it as a compliment. She hummed in satisfaction. “So you agree?”
“Fine~ I agree, okay!” Lin Yi turned her face away, the back of her ears burning red. She added in a small voice, “You absolutely cannot let Sister Fang find out, or she’ll jump straight off the roof!”
Xu Shuyan raised an eyebrow. “This floor isn’t that high.”
Lin Yi: “?”
She gritted her teeth. “Xu! Shu! Yan!”
Xu Shuyan immediately straightened her expression. “I absolutely won’t let her find out.”
Then she looked troubled. “But when you like someone, even if your mouth doesn’t say it, it’ll leak out through your eyes.” She pointed at Lin Yi. “Look at you. The way you look at me is so blatant!”
Lin Yi panicked. “Really?”
Xu Shuyan nodded. “It’s written all over them that you love me.”
“…” Lin Yi resentfully pulled the hem of her shirt away again and sat down next to Xu Shuyan, deciding to ignore her. Xu Shuyan knew when to quit while she was ahead. She raised a hand to put her arm around Lin Yi and act cute, but just as her hand touched Lin Yi’s waist, Lin Yi suddenly shot to her feet. “Sister Fang, are you done with your call?”
Her tone was practically dripping with guilt.
Xu Shuyan pulled her hand back, feeling a pang of regret. I really want to hug Lin Yi right now!
Fortunately, Sister Fang had just finished her call and hadn’t quite collected herself yet. She just said, “Ah. I just told the PR department to handle it. By the way,” she asked, “what birthday gifts did you two give each other?”
Xu Shuyan said, “We…”
“We didn’t get any,” Lin Yi cut her off, telling Sister Fang, “That’s just how our relationship is. We stopped giving each other birthday presents a long time ago. On my birthday, she gives me a two-hundred-yuan red envelope, and on her birthday, I send it back to her. It’s just a formality.”
The corner of Sister Fang’s mouth twitched. “Has your relationship really gotten that bad?”
The spot where Xu Shuyan had bitten her the night before still ached faintly, the intimate mark hidden beneath the fabric of her pajamas. Lin Yi nodded without a change in expression. “Yep! Our relationship is terrible!”
She poked Xu Shuyan. “Right?”
Xu Shuyan stared at her fingertip, remembering how it had wreaked havoc on her body. Her throat suddenly went dry. She hummed distractedly and unconsciously repeated Lin Yi’s words, “Terrible, our relationship.”
“It had better be!” Sister Fang was skeptical. She glanced at the time. “Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be going. You two, really… such great news and you’re not even excited with me. I should have just notified you on WeChat!”
“We are, we are excited,” Lin Yi said quickly, pulling on Sister Fang’s arm coaxingly. “You’ve worked hard, Sister Fang!”
Xu Shuyan also stood up to see her out. “We are, we are excited.”
Sister Fang shot them a reproachful look. “Tomorrow, you’re filming the group variety show. Remember to keep your distance. If you let the CP fans get even a single crumb, I’ll dock all of your bonuses!”
“Not even one crumb?” Xu Shuyan protested on behalf of the CP fans. Lin Yi pinched the back of her hand, and she let out a soft yelp before saying seriously, “We absolutely will not leave them a single crumb!”
Sister Fang walked out the door ahead of them, musing, “Well, maybe one or two crumbs is okay. Anyway, you two figure it out. Just interact normally, no major candy. If it’s really a problem, I’ll make sure the post-production team edits it out.”
Lin Yi agreed. “Got it.”
After seeing Sister Fang into the elevator and watching the floor numbers descend, she finally relaxed and went back inside. “She probably won’t pull a fake-out and run back up to catch us in the act.”
“Catch us doing what?” Xu Shuyan thought she’d misheard. “We’re in a relationship, okay? Who’s afraid of her!”
“Can’t I be afraid?” Lin Yi glanced around before closing the door. Seeing that Xu Shuyan was already brushing her teeth, she ran upstairs to grab her toothbrush and join her. After they finished, she continued their previous conversation. “The bonus isn’t much, but every little bit counts. It’s never wrong to save more money. You’re just too much of a spendthrift. You spent twenty-six million and went bankrupt!”
Xu Shuyan nodded meekly. “Whatever the sugar mommy says.”
“What sugar mommy!” Lin Yi said shyly, giving her a push. “What should we eat for breakfast? Should we order takeout? What do you want? Soup dumplings or pan-fried buns?”
“I’m not hungry.” Xu Shuyan followed her, step for step.
“Not hungry?” Lin Yi stopped and spun around to face Xu Shuyan. “If you’re not hungry, why did you brush your teeth? I was thinking of going back to sleep for a bit!”
“To kiss you, of course.” Xu Shuyan opened her arms and wheedled in a tiny voice, “Wife, hug.”
Lin Yi: “!”
Her face instantly exploded in a blush. Before she could think of a reply, Xu Shuyan pulled her into an embrace and nuzzled the crook of her neck. “People are supposed to be affectionate in the morning. This is our second time, and we haven’t been affectionate yet. Come on, let’s be affectionate now.”
Lin Yi stammered, “P-People usually do that in bed!”
Xu Shuyan’s voice was muffled against her neck. “Then shall we go to bed?”
Lin Yi: “…”
If they went, would they ever get out of it!
She refused decisively. “No way. My back is still sore. Aren’t you sore?”
Xu Shuyan let out a long “Mmm.” “A little. My thighs are a bit weak too.” She squeezed the back of Lin Yi’s neck, not stingy with her praise at all. “My wife is so amazing.”
Lin Yi said smugly, “Right?”
She gave Xu Shuyan a gentle push. Xu Shuyan took two steps back and sat down on the sofa. Lin Yi commanded, “Don’t move!”
Xu Shuyan didn’t move. She sat there quietly, watching as Lin Yi hesitated for a moment before straddling her lap. Lin Yi wrapped her arms around her neck, stared at her lips, licked her own, and leaned in to kiss her.
Mint-flavored toothpaste. A coolness spread between their lips and teeth, then slowly gave way to warmth.
Xu Shuyan held Lin Yi’s waist, not daring to apply too much pressure. She knew that beneath the thin fabric, the spot she had pinched yesterday was bruised purple and would hurt at the slightest touch. She tilted her head back and kissed Lin Yi with all her heart, turning this spontaneous good morning kiss from a light touch into something scorching.
She felt like she was a painting. A bland, monochrome, black-and-white painting. And her rose had flown to her from the other side of the distant universe, using its petals as pigment and its stem as a brush, freely leaving bold, rich strokes upon her paper. This black-and-white world suddenly became vibrant.
It was she who needed Lin Yi, who needed to draw love from Lin Yi, who needed kisses anytime and anywhere, who needed confirmation that Lin Yi was hers.
By the end of the kiss, she was holding Lin Yi’s waist as they fell back onto the sofa. She pressed down on Lin Yi, kissing her breathlessly. Lin Yi seemed to sense her unease. She placed a palm on the back of her head, patting it soothingly, and her return kiss was just as focused and affectionate.
When they grew tired of kissing, the passionate kiss turned into a series of soft pecks. She touched Lin Yi’s lips. “We’re dating, right?”
Lin Yi was dizzy from her kisses. Her unfocused gaze slowly sharpened in the fresh air that rushed back in, finally locking onto Xu Shuyan’s face. Xu Shuyan pressed on relentlessly, “Lin Yi, you agreed, didn’t you? You—”
“I like you,” Lin Yi said.
The palm on the back of her head patted her gently. “And I love you a little bit, too.”
Xu Shuyan bit her lower lip. “Only a little bit?”
“You have to love me more, and please me more.” Lin Yi was being openly tsundere. She ordered Xu Shuyan around bossily, “Maybe then I’ll love you a little bit more.”
Xu Shuyan chuckled.
“What are you laughing at!” Lin Yi felt the flustered anger of having her true feelings seen through. She pushed Xu Shuyan. “I’m serious! If you laugh again, I won’t love you at all!”
Xu Shuyan caught her hand and kissed her mouth again. “Alright, you can just love me a little bit for now. But—”
“But what?” Lin Yi pressed.
“But you’d better be careful,” Xu Shuyan said. “I’m so amazing. Since you’re my girlfriend, you’ll definitely pay more attention to me than usual. Be careful not to fall in completely. Don’t love me too much!”
Lin Yi grew even more annoyed. “Xu Shuyan! Stop flattering yourself! You’re the one who shouldn’t love me too much!”
Xu Shuyan lowered her head and nibbled on her ear. “I probably can’t do that.”
Xu Shuyan said, “You’re my wife now. I’ll probably love you more and more each day.”
Then, she watched as the tips of Lin Yi’s ears turned red, bit by bit.
Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi didn’t get back until the middle of the night. They had flown to S City from different cities. Yan Qi arrived first and waited for Zhou Shichen in the VIP lounge for a while before they took a car back to the dorm together.
“Yanyan isn’t asleep yet, is she?” Zhou Shichen pulled off her scarf. “I just saw her side account reposting on Weibo.”
“Then she’s probably still awake.” Yan Qi was already past her bedtime and was worried she wouldn’t be able to wake up on time the next morning. She was in a hurry to remove her makeup. She had just carried her suitcase upstairs when she heard Zhou Shichen let out a small cry.
“What’s wrong?” Yan Qi pushed her suitcase aside, turned back, and called downstairs, “Shichen?”
“Yanyan’s not in her room.” Zhou Shichen took two steps back to where she could see Yan Qi, her face still a mask of confusion. “She didn’t go out with Xiao Yi, did she?”
Yan Qi was about to say that they were supposed to be “uncoupling” recently, so that was unlikely, when the door to a room upstairs opened. Lin Yi poked her head out. “You’re back!”
“Where’s Yanyan?” Zhou Shichen asked.
“Look at you,” Lin Yi came out of the room, complaining in a low voice. “The first thing you do when you see me is ask where Xu Shuyan is. Can’t you show a little concern for me? Do you even care about me anymore? Do you still love me!”
Zhou Shichen was taken aback by her three soul-searching questions. She glanced at Yan Qi, who was still standing on the stairs, and said, “I wouldn’t dare love you. I’m afraid Yanyan would get jealous. Also!”
She put her hands on her hips. “Are you talking so much because you have a guilty conscience? Did you hide Xu Shuyan somewhere?”
“Don’t make baseless accusations!” Lin Yi retorted. Then she remembered that Xu Shuyan was, in fact, in her bed in the room behind her, and she felt extremely guilty. She couldn’t help but babble, “Why would I hide her? We don’t even get along. Don’t look for her here!”
Zhou Shichen nodded thoughtfully. “Fine.”
She took out her phone. “Then I’ll just give Yanyan a call. It’s the middle of the night, it’s not safe for her to be out of the dorm. What if she gets kidnapped?”
Lin Yi: “…”
The insinuation was so pointed, and she felt so guilty!
Then, five seconds later, a phone rang in her pocket.
Lin Yi: “!!!”
Damn it, how could I forget? I was just using Xu Shuyan’s phone to watch a video!
Yan Qi: “?”
Zhou Shichen: “??”
Lin Yi gave a dry laugh, backed away, turned, and was about to make a run for it when she heard Zhou Shichen shout, “Stop!”
Lin Yi: “…”
Three minutes later. The girl group The Notes held an emergency meeting in the living room regarding the in-group “scandal.” The attendees were: Captain and dance lead Yan Qi; all-around ACE and internet surfing expert Zhou Shichen; Chen Yuan, who was not present but attended via video call; and the stars of the meeting—the in-group couple, rapper Xu Shuyan and main vocal Lin Yi.
“Huh?” Chen Yuan was leaning on her desk, looking at the brightly lit dorm on her tablet, and once again asked the question of a straight girl: “Dating? Who’s dating who? Yanyan and Xiao Yi? No way, right?”
Zhou Shichen slammed the table. “Why no way? You’re straight, so you wouldn’t know! The pink bubbles around them are about to overflow from this room!”
Chen Yuan’s voice was soft. “Aren’t you?”
Zhou Shichen: “…I am too.”
She clicked her tongue. “That’s not the point. The point is, I have a radar for real CPs, okay? I’ve discovered the signs of so many relationships in the entertainment industry before they were exposed. I happily shipped them until their relationships went public. I have a track record!”
Chen Yuan blinked. “Okay…”
“Hey,” Lin Yi raised her hand politely to ask a question. “Are we going to start this interrogation or not? We have to film the group variety show tomorrow, shouldn’t we get to bed early?”
Zhou Shichen slammed the table. “Quiet! It’s not your turn yet!”
Lin Yi flinched. Well, the relationship is exposed anyway, she thought. Might as well show off our love. So she theatrically patted her chest and whined to Xu Shuyan, “She was mean to me!”
Xu Shuyan also slammed the table. “Don’t be mean to her. If you have a problem, take it up with me!”
Lin Yi’s eyes welled with tears. “Yanyan!”
Xu Shuyan grabbed her hand. “Xiao Yi!”
Yan Qi: “…That’s enough.”
Zhou Shichen’s eyes were sparkling. “More, more. I love to see it.”
Yan Qi glanced sideways. She could see that Zhou Shichen’s desire to judge them for their in-group relationship was fake; what she really wanted was to dig up some candy to ship. She sighed internally. The adult world was so difficult.
Lin Yi called Zhou Shichen out. “You just want to ship us, don’t you!”
“Nonsense!” Zhou Shichen sat up straight, her expression serious. “I need to know the specific facts so I can find a better angle to condemn you from! Confess! When did you get together?! Weren’t you still just ‘future girlfriend’ when you went to meet the parents? You weren’t lying to us, were you?”
Lin Yi: “I—”
“Ah! I know!” Zhou Shichen snapped her fingers. “You made it official yesterday, didn’t you? Yanyan’s birthday. Xiao Yi gave herself to her as a birthday present, right? Eww~” She looked disgusted. “You guys are so cheesy!”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
Zhou Shichen asked excitedly, “Am I right?”
Xu Shuyan considered it. “Yes, and no.”
Yan Qi asked, “You made it official yesterday, but Xiao Yi didn’t give herself to you as a present?”
Lin Yi rested her chin on her hand. “The Captain is still the smartest!”
Yan Qi was unfazed by the compliment. “Because Shichen sent me the post where CP fans analyzed what birthday gifts you gave each other. I read it. It was well-reasoned.”
Zhou Shichen asked, “You believed it?”
Yan Qi: “I believed it.”
Zhou Shichen let out a “wow.” “I didn’t even dare to ship that part. After all, a twenty-six-million-yuan Jade and Pearl Necklace is just too ridiculous! No matter how lovesick you are, you can’t just give away—”
“I gave it to her,” Xu Shuyan said.
Zhou Shichen’s voice came to an abrupt halt. Xu Shuyan asked, “Do you want to see it? I just gave it to her. It’s still on the nightstand.”
Zhou Shichen: “…”
The shock of this news was so great that she couldn’t help but hiccup.
On the video call, Chen Yuan was also stunned. She blinked, looking from Xu Shuyan to Lin Yi. Yan Qi, however, had already believed it, so she was very calm. She asked Lin Yi, “So the haute couture earrings are real too?”
Lin Yi said, “They’re real.”
Zhou Shichen hiccuped again.
Lin Yi asked with concern, “Shichen, what’s wrong?”
Zhou Shichen waved her hand wordlessly.
Yan Qi translated for her: “She’s stuffed.”
Lin Yi: “…”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
Chen Yuan: “…”
“Hey, don’t worry,” Lin Yi swore, holding up three fingers. “Even though Xu Shuyan and I are dating within the group, we will be absolutely careful not to let anyone find out! Once we step out that door, Xu Shuyan and I are just regular colleagues. Not close. Not close at all.”
Zhou Shichen clutched her chest. “But how can you hide the look in your eyes when you love someone?”
Xu Shuyan said, “I can act.”
Zhou Shichen: “With your acting skills…”
“Hey, hey, hey!” Lin Yi defended Xu Shuyan. “What’s wrong with her acting? Back when she didn’t like me, the way she looked at me still fooled you, didn’t it? She acted so well!”
Zhou Shichen retorted, “What if she wasn’t acting?”
Lin Yi: “…”
Alright, CP fans were invincible.
“Just be careful,” Yan Qi said, giving her closing statement. She thought for a moment, then added, “Even if you’re not careful, it doesn’t matter. You have a lot of CP fans anyway. They ship you as if you’re already in love, so if everything you do is based on the premise that you’re dating, then that means you can do anything.”
“Of course, don’t go too far,” Yan Qi said. “Didn’t your manager tell you to avoid suspicion?”
Lin Yi hummed in agreement. “Uncoupling.”
Yan Qi nodded thoughtfully. “Tomorrow’s group variety show was planned by Yanyan. Although there’s no script so they can film our initial reactions, I want to ask now, will there be groups tomorrow?”
Xu Shuyan said, “Yes.”
“Then when it’s time to form groups, you’ll be with Shichen, and I’ll be with Xiao Yi,” Yan Qi said. “It’s getting late, hurry up and go to sleep. Remember to put on a face mask before bed.”
She glanced at Zhou Shichen, who still hadn’t recovered, and said, “Meeting adjourned.”
Zhou Shichen insisted on seeing the twenty-six-million-yuan necklace. Without even moving her luggage, she followed them upstairs. Upon entering the room and seeing the two beds pushed together, she couldn’t help but click her tongue. “Living together already?”
“…We’re just being roommates again,” Lin Yi said.
Zhou Shichen completely ignored her and continued to click her tongue. “Sharing a blanket? Isn’t this progressing a little too fast? Be safe.”
Lin Yi: “…”
Actually, they had progressed even faster than Zhou Shichen imagined. But afraid that Zhou Shichen might die from shipping too hard in the middle of the night, Lin Yi decided not to say anything for now.
Lin Yi couldn’t bear to wear the Jade and Pearl Necklace, so she had placed it carefully in a jewelry box, where it glittered with tiny specks of light under the lamp. Zhou Shichen didn’t take it out either, just looked at it for a while before turning to Xu Shuyan. “You love her so much.”
Xu Shuyan, sitting on the edge of the bed, nodded. “I love her so much.”
Zhou Shichen then looked at the earrings. After a moment, she turned to look at Lin Yi. Lin Yi beat her to it, saying, “I love her so much.”
Zhou Shichen: “…Don’t steal my line!”
“Alright!” Lin Yi wrapped an arm around hers. “Now that you’ve seen it, hurry up and go to sleep. Don’t worry, from now on, I will never pass up an opportunity to show off our love in front of you. I’ll show off so hard for you!”
Zhou Shichen asked, “Really?”
Lin Yi nodded. “Really!”
Zhou Shichen was happy now. She patted her shoulder. “Our youngest has grown up. She knows to give her big sister candy now. I’m so gratified!”
With that, she left happily.
Lin Yi closed the door and met the gaze of Xu Shuyan, who was still sitting on the bed. “What a day! In the morning, we saw off Sister Fang, who doesn’t want us to date, and at night, we saw off Shichen, who wishes we’d do it right in front of her. Does our relationship have to be this schizophrenic?”
Xu Shuyan beckoned to her. “Come here.”
“What is it?” Lin Yi walked over without any defenses up. The moment she was close enough, Xu Shuyan grabbed her wrist and pulled her down onto the bed. Lin Yi didn’t struggle, falling obediently. The hem of her nightgown fanned out on the bed. She laughed. “What are you doing, Xu Shuyan?”
Xu Shuyan’s nose was touching hers, her breath brushing against her face, but she didn’t kiss her. “After you saw Sister Fang off this morning, what did we do?”
How could Lin Yi not know what she was talking about? But she deliberately glanced upward. “Let me think.”
“I’ll give you ten seconds.” As Xu Shuyan spoke, her lips moved slightly, lightly brushing against hers. The tantalizing closeness made Lin Yi want to chase after them, but Xu Shuyan pulled back just a little.
“Ten, nine, eight…” As Xu Shuyan counted down from ten, Lin Yi quietly listened to her heartbeat for those ten seconds. It thumped wildly, out of rhythm—proof that Xu Shuyan loved her, that she liked her.
The countdown ended.
Lin Yi said, “Come closer.”
Xu Shuyan moved closer.
Lin Yi said, “Even closer.”
Xu Shuyan did as she was told.
And then Lin Yi’s lips captured hers.
Lin Yi wasn’t a skilled kisser, but her clumsy innocence was alluring. She kissed her delicately and slowly, a sweet smile melting between their lips. Xu Shuyan heard Lin Yi say, “I kissed you.”
In every quiet, deserted place, she wanted to kiss her.
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