Zhou Shichen had once recorded a restaurant-themed variety show. Before filming, she’d never lifted a finger in the kitchen and could barely even make instant noodles. But after twelve episodes, she had transformed into a master chef. Whenever the group had no work, she would often cook in the dorm to treat them all to a good meal.
Yan Qi was her most capable assistant.
Having failed to learn to cook due to a lack of talent, Yan Qi was determined to be the most perfect assistant possible. The two worked together in perfect harmony, and the meal was soon flawlessly prepared.
“I’ll go get them,” Zhou Shichen said, walking toward the room Xu Shuyan was currently in. “They’re not even replying to messages in the group chat. Tsk, tsk, tsk. They wouldn’t be getting all lovey-dovey in front of the kid, would they? If I catch them-”
Her voice stopped abruptly.
Yan Qi had just put the lid on the soup pot. Hearing the silence, she leaned back and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Zhou Shichen turned around stiffly and waved for her to come over. Yan Qi set the ladle aside, wondering if Zhou Shichen had walked in on Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan kissing. Then again, she thought, if that had really happened, Zhou Shichen, being a CP fan, wouldn’t be this calm.
Muttering to herself, she walked to the doorway and peeked through the crack.
She let out a soft “wow.”
On the large bed in the room, Xiao Tang Bao was sleeping sweetly in the middle. Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi were sleeping on either side of her, their faces flushed from the warm air, looking peaceful and tender.
“This is a picture of peaceful bliss,” Yan Qi said softly.
Suppressing the excitement in her voice, Zhou Shichen grabbed her arm and stomped her feet silently. “This is the married life of a family of three!”
Yan Qi: “…”
Sooner or later, she was going to have to seriously study Zhou Shichen’s thought process.
Yan Qi asked, “Should we wake them up?”
“Hold on.” Zhou Shichen pulled her phone out of her pocket. “They turned off the camera in the room. I have to record this moment. I can’t let their future wedding documentary be missing such a precious memory!”
Yan Qi: “…Okay.”
As she filmed, Zhou Shichen lamented, “It’s a shame Yan Zhi You Yi has been dismantled now. Otherwise, I could post this on Weibo for everyone to ship… Ugh! Fang Yi! You’d tear down ten temples, wouldn’t you!”
Only after she finished filming did Yan Qi step forward to wake Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan. Lin Yi rubbed her eyes but couldn’t manage to open them. She buried her face in the quilt. “Sleepy.”
“Eat first, then you can sleep,” Zhou Shichen said in a low voice. “You two go eat. I’ll watch the baby.”
“…You guys eat first,” Lin Yi said. “I’ll watch the baby.”
Xu Shuyan reached out and gently stroked her head. “Xiao Yi didn’t sleep well last night. Let her sleep a little longer. We’ll go eat first.”
“Didn’t sleep well?” Zhou Shichen’s shipping radar went into overdrive. Her voice involuntarily rose before Yan Qi reminded her to lower it. She followed Xu Shuyan out, asking nonstop, “Why didn’t she sleep? How did she not sleep well? Give me the details!”
“…Shichen.” Xu Shuyan glanced at the camera. “We’re filming.”
Zhou Shichen waved it off. “It’ll be edited out anyway.”
Xu Shuyan sighed in resignation. “Fine.”
She spread her hands. “It’s exactly what you’re thinking.”
Zhou Shichen: “!”
She bounced on the spot a couple of times. Not knowing what else to grab, she squeezed Yan Qi’s hand forcefully. Yan Qi sucked in a sharp breath. “Careful, or my fans will accuse you of bullying me!”
“I’m just so excited!” Zhou Shichen quickly blew on her hand, apologizing with a grin. “I’m just too excited, you know? Does it hurt?”
Yan Qi shook her head. She was wearing a thin sweater, so Zhou Shichen’s blowing didn’t do much, but for some reason, it still made her heart tickle. Before she could figure out why, she heard Xu Shuyan say, “Shichen’s cooking has improved again.”
“I told you the Captain should go on a restaurant variety show,” she said as she ate. “Didn’t a popular national show invite you last time? Why didn’t you go?”
“If I went, wouldn’t the whole country know I can’t cook?” Yan Qi had her reasons.
Zhou Shichen commented, “That’s just an excuse.”
Yan Qi sat down and picked up her chopsticks. “No talking at the table.”
Zhou Shichen exposed her again. “I wonder who it was that kept pulling me aside to talk last night.”
Yan Qi: “…”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
She felt a deep sense of envy, even jealousy, for their ability to openly interact with their teammates in front of the camera. Swallowing her rice, she thought, When we can finally come out, I’ll definitely show off with Lin Yi in front of the cameras to get back at them.
As the saying goes, to dismantle a CP, aside from the direct method of having them not interact at all, a more effective way is to boost another CP. It wasn’t as if there were no fans shipping Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi with other members. With a little push from the company and some hired commenters to stir things up on forums and Weibo, they could get under the CP fans’ skin bit by bit.
That was why for this group show, Fang Yi had instructed Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan to interact more with Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi. Now, halfway through filming, Xu Shuyan finally remembered.
She looked up at the harmonious scene of Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi across from her and was about to say something, but Yan Qi shot her a look.
…Right. No talking while eating, no speaking before sleeping.
Lin Yi usually ate a lot in the morning and was now extremely tired, so she only had a few bites of lunch before putting down her chopsticks. Worried she wouldn’t be in the right state for the afternoon’s filming, she volunteered to take out the trash with Yan Qi. The cool breeze outside woke her up considerably.
But as soon as she returned, she was informed, “The baby is still asleep. It’s nap time now.”
Lin Yi: “…”
So she’d gone out into the wind for nothing?
“Want to go see a movie?” Xu Shuyan suggested.
“If you want to go, then go,” Zhou Shichen said. “The Captain and I can watch the baby.”
Just as Lin Yi was about to agree, an assistant suddenly poked her head out from upstairs, waving Lin Yi’s personal phone. “Teacher Lin, it’s a call from your father.”
“My dad?” Lin Yi instinctively glanced at Xu Shuyan, muttering, “Why is he calling me now?”
Lin Yi wasn’t close to her father. Their only connection after she became an adult was her late mother. It wasn’t the anniversary of her mother’s death, nor was it her birthday. Why would her dad suddenly call?
Muttering to herself, Lin Yi went upstairs.
The small living room on the second floor extended to an open-air terrace. The space was small, with a skylight cracked open. A north wind blew gently in the bright sunlight. Lin Yi took the thermos from the assistant, flipped her phone in her palm, and called back.
The call was answered after just three rings. Lin Yi cleared her throat. “Dad?”
“It’s me.” Her father’s tone was, as always, a mixture of melancholy and calm. He skipped the pleasantries and expected concern, getting straight to the point. “I heard you and Xu Shuyan broke up?”
“Pfft-” The warm water she had just sipped sprayed out. Lin Yi choked and coughed violently. She heard Xu Shuyan call from downstairs, “Xiao Yi, are you okay?”
Without looking back, Lin Yi waved her hand and stepped further out, completely exasperated. “No, wait, you don’t go online or read the papers. No, even if you did, where did you get this news? Who told you?”
Her dad let out a faint “oh.” “I heard it from some students.”
After a pause, he added, “The foot traffic at my little shop is pretty good. Your group’s merchandise sells well. I heard it from the students who came to buy stickers.”
Lin Yi’s mouth twitched. “What did they say?”
Her father recounted without emotion, “The other day, two little girls came to buy stickers. One of them picked up one of you and Xu Shuyan, and the other said, ‘Why are you still getting theirs? They don’t even know each other now.’ The girl with the sticker argued, ‘You’re talking nonsense. They’re secretly dating and just not telling us.’ Then the other one said-”
“Stop, stop, stop!” Lin Yi couldn’t listen anymore. “Don’t say it! I think I get the picture.”
Her dad grunted. “You should have known sooner.”
Lin Yi: “…”
She asked her dad, “And you believe that?”
Her dad retorted, “Why shouldn’t I? You said you were dating Xu Shuyan, but I’ve never seen you post about her on your Moments. Is that what dating is? When I was dating your mother, I wanted to shout from the rooftops that she was mine.”
“…Stop showing off,” Lin Yi said, caught off guard by the sudden display of affection. Then she asked, “You look at my Moments?”
“Occasionally,” her dad said.
Lin Yi replied sullenly, “Right.”
Her dad was old-fashioned and had initially been reluctant to even use a smartphone. It was Lin Yi who convinced him, saying he could post on his Moments whenever he missed her mom. Now, her dad often reminisced about her mom on his Moments, maybe five, six, seven, or eight times a day.
“So you broke up, is that it?” her dad returned to the topic.
Lin Yi hummed noncommittally.
Her situation was a bit hard to explain.
She and Xu Shuyan had been faking it before; they had never actually dated, so how could they have broken up? But now they were really dating. The previous misunderstanding had never been cleared up, and telling her dad so hastily just didn’t feel right. It wasn’t formal enough.
She didn’t want it to be informal.
She wanted to bring Xu Shuyan home, to stand before her dad and her mom, and formally introduce Xu Shuyan to them. She wanted to tell them how much she liked her, how she had slowly fallen in love with her, and how she envisioned their future together.
Since Lin Yi was being vague, her dad took it as a confirmation. “When are you finding the next one?”
Lin Yi’s train of thought derailed. She froze for a moment, blinking slowly. “…Huh? What next one?”
Her dad said, “You need to tell your mom, and then find someone else. You’re not getting any younger. It’s time to date and settle down.”
Lin Yi: “…”
That sounded familiar.
Her head ached. “What do you mean I’m not getting any younger? I’m still young, okay? I…”
She pressed her forehead against the glass window, looking at the river sparkling under the sun. Eager to brush her dad off, she started talking nonsense. “I want to focus on my career right now. Later… um, we’ll talk about it later.”
Her dad said, “Oh? When is ‘later’?”
“It’s-” Before she could invent a timeline, a faint sound came from behind her. Lin Yi froze, turning to see Xu Shuyan standing quietly at the top of the stairs, watching her. She had no idea how much of the conversation Xu Shuyan had heard.
Lin Yi’s heart sank.
She covered the mouthpiece and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Xu Shuyan lowered her eyes, then lifted them again, a faint light in them as she smiled. “I was just checking if you were done with your call. Since you’re not, I won’t disturb you.”
With that, her smile vanished, and she turned to go downstairs.
This is bad.
Lin Yi cursed silently. Judging by Xu Shuyan’s reaction, she must have heard everything.
Feeling anxious, Lin Yi hurriedly hung up the phone and rushed after Xu Shuyan, taking the stairs two at a time. “Xu Shuyan! It’s not what you heard! Let me explain!”
Just as she grabbed Xu Shuyan’s clothes, her hand was gently pulled away. Xu Shuyan’s voice was icy. “Don’t explain. There are cameras everywhere. It wouldn’t be good if we were filmed.”
“If we’re filmed, they can just edit it out!” Lin Yi said, growing frantic. “You’ve misunderstood me!”
“What did I misunderstand?” Xu Shuyan looked at Lin Yi. The camera at the top of the stairs was pointed right at her, capturing her every expression. She blew her bangs out of her face in frustration, reached up to turn off the camera, and said, “I don’t think I’ve misunderstood you.”
“How could you not-”
“You never loved me that much anyway, did you?” Xu Shuyan cut her off. “So it’s perfectly normal that you wouldn’t introduce me to your family. No explanation needed.”
“That’s not it at all!” Lin Yi was exasperated. She softened her voice. “I just didn’t want to say it over the phone. It’s too informal. I wanted to wait until we had time to take you home. To see my dad and my mom, and formally introduce you to them.”
“When is ‘when we have time’?” Xu Shuyan shot back. “Are you really waiting for the right time, or are you waiting for your own heart, which you can never seem to make up?”
Lin Yi frowned slightly. “What do you mean, my heart which I can never make up?” She felt wronged. “Am I not sure enough? If I wasn’t sure, why would I have agreed to date you? I… yes, I hesitated, but I-”
“Let’s not talk about it for now.” Xu Shuyan adjusted her mic. “If this camera stays off any longer, the director is going to call.”
She gave Lin Yi a deep look. “Let’s focus on work for now.”
Lin Yi opened her mouth, wanting to say more, but Xu Shuyan had already turned the camera back on. The bright lens was pointed directly at them, and the lingering emotions from their unresolved misunderstanding spread between them. Lin Yi bit her lip and finally just managed to say, “Okay.”
Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi were napping with Xiao Tang Bao, leaving the living room empty. After their hushed argument ended, the silence was so profound you could hear a pin drop.
The two of them seemed to have suddenly remembered Fang Yi’s plan to dismantle their CP. After washing the dishes, they sat at opposite ends of the sofa, stubbornly refusing to say a word to each other.
Lin Yi was flipping through a magazine, her mind elsewhere. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xu Shuyan turn on the TV. The weather forecast said that S City would get colder tomorrow, with rain and sleet in the evening, reminding citizens to add layers and avoid catching a cold.
In the past, even if Xu Shuyan couldn’t speak to her in front of the camera, she would have sent messages nagging her about what to wear tomorrow. She would have said things like, Baby, please don’t catch a cold. If you do and pass it to me through a kiss, won’t our relationship be exposed?
At the time, Lin Yi had replied, “If I get a cold, then we just won’t kiss.”
Xu Shuyan had looked at her pitifully. “But I can’t control myself.”
Xu Shuyan had said, “You’re my girlfriend now. How could I possibly control myself from kissing you? Can you?”
As she said this, she had licked her cherry-like lips, their glistening surface an alluring invitation. Lin Yi’s mouth had suddenly gone dry. She had kissed Xu Shuyan’s lips and said, “I can’t control myself right now, either.”
…Well, look at them now. How much time had passed? Xu Shuyan was now completely ignoring her.
What a fragile love!
Lin Yi stared blankly at the person on the magazine cover. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she wasn’t in the wrong. It was Xu Shuyan who, without distinguishing right from wrong, had gone all “I’m not listening, I’m not listening” and hadn’t even given her a chance to explain. Otherwise, she could have coaxed Xu Shuyan into a state of bliss with just a few words, and they’d be flying back to Mountain City to see her parents tomorrow.
If only she’d given her one minute! Lin Yi gritted her teeth. Just as she was thinking about messaging Xu Shuyan on WeChat, a cool voice came from beside her. “Is she pretty?”
Lin Yi was taken aback. “Huh?”
Xu Shuyan stared straight at the TV, her tone still cool. “The magazine cover is quite beautiful, isn’t it? Already looking for your next one?”
Lin Yi: “…”
She lowered her voice. “We’re being filmed!”
Xu Shuyan let out a low humph. So Lin Yi knew they were being filmed, huh? The camera was pointed right at her, yet she could still stare blankly at the beautiful woman on the magazine cover. She really had no restraint at all! It was enough to drive a person mad!
Lin Yi tossed the magazine aside and scooted closer to Xu Shuyan. “I wasn’t…”
A baby’s cry interrupted her unfinished sentence. Lin Yi closed her eyes. This was so annoying. Why was it so hard to say a single word to her own wife?! How many more coincidences had to happen? Would she ever get a chance to clear her name… no, to explain, to explain things clearly?
As it turned out, Xiao Tang Bao would not allow it.
The little girl started crying the moment she woke up and could only be soothed by being held and rocked. Fortunately, she hadn’t reached the age of recognizing faces yet. She calmed down after getting her milk, sniffling with red eyes as she sucked on her pacifier.
Zhou Shichen suggested, “Captain, why don’t you… read her some economics again?”
Yan Qi: “…”
“Captain must be tired, right?” Xu Shuyan wrapped her arm around Yan Qi’s and smiled at her. “Don’t read anymore. Tang Bao isn’t crying now anyway. What if our Captain gets tired?”
Yan Qi: “…?”
Lin Yi: “?”
Zhou Shichen: “??”
What the hell? Why did she suddenly feel like her ship was in grave danger?
Yan Qi said, “I’m not tired.”
Xu Shuyan looked at her with a smile. “Really?”
Yan Qi: “…”
Why did she get the feeling that if she said yes, Xu Shuyan would throw her out the next second?
Seeing her silence, Xu Shuyan didn’t mind and suggested, “If there’s a task later, I want to be in a group with the Captain. I want to be with the Captain! I feel like I could learn a lot!”
Lin Yi: “…”
If you used her for dipping dumplings right now, the flavor would probably be excellent.
Zhou Shichen: “…”
She got it now. Not only had her ship sunk, but her CP had also been stolen.
Although Xu Shuyan’s method of implementing Fang Yi’s plan-finding another CP to dismantle the current one-was a bit clumsy, a bit obvious, and the CP she was pushing was a bit hard to ship, at least Yan Qi got the message. She nodded, sacrificing herself. “Okay, we’ll be a team.”
Zhou Shichen: “…”
The one destroying her ship was the person right beside her!
Lin Yi: “…”
She was about to cry from anger!
Lin Yi looked at the baby drinking milk in Zhou Shichen’s arms, fuming. How dare she, that Xu Shuyan! The moment she finished fighting with her, she even accused her of looking for someone new. From the looks of it, Xu Shuyan was the one who couldn’t wait to find a new partner.
And of all people, she had to pick Yan Qi.
Does anyone even ship that?
She was just asking, does anyone even ship that?
Lin Yi poked Xiao Tang Bao’s soft cheek. Xiao Tang Bao smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. Lin Yi forced a smile back and secretly took out her phone, searching on Weibo: Xu Shuyan, Yan Qi.
A Super Topic popped up: Yan Yan.
Lin Yi: “…”
How could there actually be a Super Topic for them!
The Super Topic description read: Your surname, my name.
There weren’t many people in the Super Topic, around twenty or thirty thousand, which was nothing compared to the number of followers in her and Xu Shuyan’s Super Topic. Of course, Lin Yi thought. Who doesn’t like a good ship? The people in this Super Topic must have strong teeth to be able to chew on something this tough!
[The way Yanyan looks at the Captain, I really can’t take it. She loves her so much!]
…What’s so shippable about a normal glance? Isn’t the way Xu Shuyan looks at me a million times more shippable?
[The Captain is so biased. When it was time to pick partners, her first instinct was to choose Yanyan, and Yanyan happily ran to her. Ahhh, I’m dying from the sweetness!]
She remembered that part. It was for an adventure challenge where someone had to be chosen to suffer, and Yan Qi had decisively chosen Xu Shuyan. People could ship this?
Taking things out of context. It had to be, right?
[Honestly, I really think the Captain and Yanyan are the real deal hahaha. The other teammate seems more like a best friend with Yanyan!]
Haha, was this “other teammate” her?
Best friends?
Best friends who’ve slept together?
Lin Yi scrolled through the Super Topic, filling herself with rage. She looked up to see Zhou Shichen staring at her in horror, her voice hushed. “You jump ship way too fast. You can even ship this?”
Lin Yi was too tired to explain. “It’s not…”
Zhou Shichen accused her, “You were completely engrossed! And you still say you’re not shipping it?!”
Lin Yi: “…”
She glanced over and saw Xu Shuyan talking to Yan Qi about something. Just as she was irritably trying to think of a way to interrupt them, there was a knock on the bedroom door.
It was the production team with a task.
They needed to assign two members to go out and buy necessities for the baby.
For a moment, Lin Yi forgot about the show’s effect and blurted out, “Don’t we have all this already? What else do we need? I’ll just get a delivery runner.”
The staff member: “…”
Lin Yi: “Sorry, I forgot we were filming a show.”
The staff member: “It’s okay. That was great for the variety effect.”
Zhou Shichen asked, “So who’s going out?”
Yan Qi said, “Yanyan and I can go. You two can stay home and watch-”
“No!” Lin Yi shot up. No, absolutely not, she thought. If Xu Shuyan went out with Yan Qi, she couldn’t imagine what the Super Topic would be like when the show aired. All that “she loves her so much” and “she’s so biased” nonsense. It was practically fraud.
Yan Qi asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lin Yi said, “I’ll go with Xu Shuyan.”
Yan Qi blinked, glanced at Xu Shuyan, then at Lin Yi, and finally asked directly, “Are we not dismantling the CP anymore?”
Lin Yi said awkwardly, “We can just film a few shots and then turn off the camera.”
She then said to Xu Shuyan, “If you want the screen time here, you can go with the Captain. I’ll stay home.”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
What screen time did she want? She just wanted to be with Lin Yi.
Even if the atmosphere was bad, even if every word was barbed, even if in that limited time, two people who were fighting found everything about the other annoying, she still wanted to be with Lin Yi.
So she blurted out, “We’ll go together.”
Lin Yi’s eyes lit up.
Zhou Shichen’s eyes also lit up. “!!!”
It seemed her grand villa was being rebuilt from the ground up!
Yan Qi, however, was a little disappointed. She hadn’t even had a chance to use the fan-service techniques she’d learned from Zhou Shichen on Xu Shuyan before Xu Shuyan decisively dismantled their CP.
Why were all people in love like this?
Just a moment ago when they entered the room, they were glaring at each other as if they were mortal enemies. Now, a single glance between them was sparking with electricity. What was that saying? Yan Qi tried to recall. Fans said that people with CP chemistry didn’t even need to speak; you just had to see them standing together to know they’ve definitely done it.
Wasn’t that Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan right now?
Although the misunderstanding hadn’t been cleared up, Xu Shuyan had chosen her without hesitation, which made Lin Yi’s heart leap. She reined in her expression a little for the camera, but she still couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her face.
But she never would have imagined that their attempt to prevent CP fans from getting any material-by having the cameraman film only a few establishing shots before packing up-would become something for the CP fans to ship that very night.
In the evening, a piece of news titled “Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan Spotted Shopping at a Baby Store” spread like wildfire online.
[You must be mistaken, right? Isn’t the Gu Group filming their show at the dorm today? Scalpers, stop trying to scam people.]
[Was there an outdoor shoot? I didn’t hear anything about that.]
[Could it be that they claimed to be filming the group show but were actually a little couple sneaking out for a date? That’s outrageous! Using work time for dating is despicable! Can someone film it so I can properly condemn them!?]
[But what kind of couple goes to a baby store on a date…]
[Didn’t they say the theme of this group show is taking care of a child? Maybe they’re buying things for the kid?]
[They said a child, but a baby store implies an infant, right?]
[Family, I’m on the scene! I never expected to run into Yan Zhi You Yi. They were checking out right in front of me. I saw what they bought-diapers, formula, pacifiers, stuff like that. I’d guess it’s for a three or four-month-old infant. I didn’t see any cameras following them, so I don’t think it’s for the group show?]
[!!!]
[This is getting a little scary…]
[What is this, what is happening! Weren’t we just analyzing how they were in the ambiguous stage a while ago? How did a baby suddenly appear today??? Yan Zhi You Yi! Will I ever be able to figure you two out!]
What started as a sweet moment circulating within the CP fandom fermented and was carried over to public forums by troublemakers. As it spread, the story became distorted. By the time a major Xu Shuyan solo fan, who had been offline for two hours for some reason, came back online, she saw a private message from a fellow fan and her vision went black-
【Sis! It’s over! Yan Zhi You Yi secretly got married and had a baby!!!】
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