It was hard to say what Zhou Shichen had put Yan Qi through the night before, but the next day, during training for their new song’s stage performance, Lin Yi couldn’t shake the feeling that Yan Qi’s gaze held a hint of woeful resentment. She tried to avoid it, again and again, but the plaintive look never faded.
It got to the point where Lin Yi couldn’t take it anymore. During a break, she slung an arm around Zhou Shichen’s shoulders. “Shichen, come with me to buy a bottle of orange juice.”
“Huh?” Zhou Shichen had barely sat down before Lin Yi hauled her up, practically dragging her out of the practice room. “What’s going on? Lin Yi, be careful. I think Xu Shuyan is glaring at me! Is she glaring at me? I really don’t want to get caught in the middle of your relationship-mmph!”
Lin Yi clamped a hand over her mouth, cutting off the rest of her words. A company executive was walking toward them. Lin Yi smiled sweetly and greeted her, “Hi, Sister Chen.” The woman looked puzzled but couldn’t quite figure out the dynamics of the company’s only girl group, so she just nodded and walked past.
Only then did Lin Yi release Zhou Shichen. She walked over to a vending machine, pulled a few coins from her pocket, and grumbled, “Why don’t you just grab a megaphone and shout that Xu Shuyan and I are having an affair downstairs?”
“I’d love to!” Zhou Shichen plopped down on a nearby sofa. “The way you just covered my mouth was like a kidnapping. Do you think Sister Chen thought you were bullying me?”
Lin Yi was speechless.
She hesitated between orange juice and cola for two seconds before painfully giving up the cola. With a clatter, the orange juice dropped down. She twisted the cap off and said, “I’m the one bullying Xu Shuyan, okay?”
Zhou Shichen looked horrified. “Domestic violence is strictly forbidden!”
Lin Yi took a sip of orange juice, walked over, and said with deliberate nonchalance, “I bully her every night.”
A faint blush crept onto her cheeks after she said it.
…She really wasn’t very good at making suggestive remarks.
“How do you bully her?” Zhou Shichen cupped her face, her eyes sparkling. “Care to elaborate?”
Lin Yi retorted, “…Don’t push your luck!”
Zhou Shichen nodded thoughtfully, then added with a worried expression, “But you youngsters need to learn some self-control. Even if you’re like dry tinder and a raging fire, you should at least remember to go back to your room. Last night, you ran into me. What if it had been the Captain who came out?”
Zhou Shichen sighed. “She’s so young, she shouldn’t have to go through that!”
Lin Yi’s face darkened. “She’s so young? I seem to recall she’s a year older than you, isn’t she? How is she ‘so young’?” Zhou Shichen’s comment reminded Lin Yi of the real issue. “What did the Captain say after you went back yesterday? Did you keep her from sleeping well? She’s been looking at me with such a woeful expression all day!”
Zhou Shichen blinked. “Huh?”
Lin Yi wasn’t falling for it. “Don’t play innocent.”
“Oh!” Zhou Shichen replied.
“She didn’t say much!” Zhou Shichen leaned back on the sofa. “It’s just… I was too excited and accidentally woke her up. She thought it was an earthquake and pushed me into a corner. When she realized it wasn’t…”
This piqued Lin Yi’s interest. “She hit you.”
“The Captain isn’t that kind of person!” Zhou Shichen protested.
“…Alright, then.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“Is it that obvious?”
Zhou Shichen gave her a look. “?”
“Go on, go on!” Lin Yi’s eyes were filled with gossip. “And then what?”
Zhou Shichen rested her head on her hand, recalling. “Then she hugged me, sighed in relief, and said, ‘Thank goodness it wasn’t an earthquake,’ before going back to bed. Just as I was about to fall asleep, she suddenly sat up and asked me what I meant by ‘it’s real’.”
Lin Yi encouraged her to continue. “And then?”
“As if I’d dare answer her question. I just pretended to be asleep and eventually drifted off,” Zhou Shichen mused. “I guess she must have thought about it all night and figured it had something to do with you two. That’s probably why she’s so resentful, right?”
“…” Lin Yi squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth. “The person she should be resentful toward is you!”
Zhou Shichen shrugged. “The Captain is so meticulous, she’d obviously find the real culprits. Why would she take it out on a humble little shipper? And the culprits are-”
Lin Yi’s face was blank. “Alright, that’s enough. You’re getting annoying.”
Zhou Shichen tactfully shut her mouth.
Lin Yi thought for a moment, then fished out the last of her coins from her dance pants to buy a can of cola. When she returned, she walked straight past Xu Shuyan’s expectant “my wife loves me so much” gaze and went directly to Yan Qi. “Captain, this is for you!”
Yan Qi was stretching her legs. She glanced at the cola in Lin Yi’s hand, then looked away. “The concert is coming up. No carbonated drinks.”
Lin Yi smoothly handed the cola to Xu Shuyan.
Yan Qi was speechless.
While it was true she didn’t want a soda, she couldn’t help but feel like she was just an afterthought in Lin Yi’s little errand. What was that about?
Seeing that Lin Yi had nothing more to say, Yan Qi bent forward, pressing her forehead to her calf and closing her eyes to rest. But she sensed Lin Yi hadn’t left. She opened her eyes slightly, an eyebrow raised. “Is it my turn for our scheduled fan service today?”
“That’s not it,” Lin Yi said.
She squatted down and looked up at Yan Qi. “Captain, did Yanyan and I disturb you last night?”
Yan Qi thought for a moment and confirmed, “The soundproofing is excellent. I didn’t hear a thing.”
Lin Yi flushed with embarrassment and annoyance. “We didn’t do anything either!”
Yan Qi calmly retorted, “Is that so?”
Lin Yi was speechless.
Was this some kind of interrogation?!
“Then why have you been looking so woeful all day?” Lin Yi wheedled in a low voice. Xu Shuyan, who was nearby, heard her and cleared her throat in displeasure. Lin Yi gave her a little push to silence her, then continued, “You didn’t sleep well, did you?”
Yan Qi was honest. “I didn’t.”
She thought last night’s events were absurd. Zhou Shichen had always been prone to overreacting, and her clattering around had made Yan Qi think it was an earthquake. Years of responsibility as the group’s leader made her think of her roommate first, and all the earthquake survival knowledge she’d learned flooded her mind.
But even with her well-practiced emergency response, her heart was still pounding as she held Zhou Shichen in the corner.
She had assumed it was because of the earthquake.
Later, when the alarm was lifted, she went back to bed but couldn’t fall asleep. Her heart was still racing, and Zhou Shichen’s breathing seemed to have a tangible control over her heartbeat.
…It was very annoying.
“It’s nothing,” she said to Lin Yi, her expression serious. “I’ll be more professional and not bring my personal emotions to work. Don’t worry about it. It’s not directed at you.”
Lin Yi was used to Yan Qi’s business-like demeanor, so she didn’t press for any deeper emotions. She just nodded and returned to Xu Shuyan’s side.
Xu Shuyan was sulkily drinking her cola.
Lin Yi poked her cheek with a finger. It felt nice, so she poked it again. Xu Shuyan caught her finger, annoyed. “Are you done yet?”
“It’s fun,” Lin Yi smiled at her. “I feel like something’s on the Captain’s mind.”
Xu Shuyan could see it too. She said softly, “If she doesn’t want to talk about it, she’ll sort it out herself. If it gets bad, we can have Shichen ask her. They’re roommates, so she probably knows more.”
Lin Yi shook her head thoughtfully.
The practice room door opened, and Zhou Shichen walked in wearing a new pair of shoes that squeaked on the wooden floor. She called out, “Xiao Yi, Yanyan, isn’t your drama Sweet Orange about to be released? I was just browsing the forums and saw they released a trailer with you two to build hype.”
Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan’s roles in Sweet Orange weren’t major. They had their own storyline, but it was mainly to advance the main plot. Even so, due to their immense popularity and large fanbases, the production team featured them as much as possible in the promotional materials. The release of their trailer today sent anticipation through the roof.
[Why are Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan in a relationship in everything they do… I’m sick of it! Can’t they film a drama where they fight? I’d bring my whole family to contribute to the viewership!]
[Get lost. I don’t want to see beautiful girls fighting. I just want to see them kissing, hugging, and lifting each other up, hehe.]
[A high school campus yuri drama… so youthful and vibrant. When I saw Xu Shuyan in her school uniform looking expressionlessly at the little sun that is Lin Yi, I wished the two of them would just get a room and go at it all night!!!]
[I’ve read the original novel for Sweet Orange. The male and female leads are terrible at romance. Can Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi please teach them how it’s done?]
[What a great day! A new episode of their variety show is out too. Watching Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan driving down an endless highway, singing songs of freedom. Damn! So happy!]
[The part where they met Shen Yujia on the road was hilarious. Xu Shuyan’s jealousy was so obvious!]
[She was SO obvious! Even the annoyed Zhou Shichen noticed. Zhou Shichen: looks left, looks right, whatever, I’ll just go to sleep.]
…
“Tell me,” Lin Yi said, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, eating snacks while watching their variety show. She watched the rapidly scrolling comments and asked Xu Shuyan, “You already liked me back then, didn’t you? You were jealous, right? You were!”
Xu Shuyan, who was twirling a pen while writing rap lyrics on her tablet, looked up and recalled her feelings at the time. “…Yeah.”
Back then, she couldn’t make sense of her emotions. She was irritable, and seeing Lin Yi being close to someone else felt like a fire building up inside her, ready to burn them both to ashes at any moment.
But then she would think, I like Chen Yuan. Lin Yi can be close to whoever she wants. It’d be better if she fell for someone else. But thoughts were one thing, and emotions were another. Torn between the two, her expression naturally soured.
…She should have taken a few more classes on expression management.
Lin Yi teased her, “So it was that early, huh? Xu Shuyan, you’re so in love!”
Xu Shuyan poked her in the waist with the pen. “Yeah, I’m so in love. What am I going to do? I’ve loved you for so many extra days already. Shouldn’t you show some appreciation?”
The poke sent a tingling sensation through Lin Yi’s waist. “What do you want!”
Xu Shuyan thought for a moment.
Lin Yi immediately said, “Not in the shower!”
Xu Shuyan pouted. “Why not?!”
Lin Yi’s face turned slightly red as she mumbled, “There’s… there’s too much water. Everything gets all wet, and it feels awkward.” She firmed her resolve. “Absolutely not.”
“Fine,” Xu Shuyan said.
That night, their shower time was extended by forty minutes.
In the blink of an eye, the release date for Sweet Orange arrived.
The winter rain that had fallen at dawn turned to snow around ten in the morning. Tiny, translucent snowflakes fell onto the wet ground, disappearing in an instant. It wasn’t until the afternoon that a thin layer of white accumulated, crunching softly underfoot.
“Have you watched Sweet Orange?” a passerby excitedly recommended to a friend as they hurried along.
“Oh my god! I snuck in half an episode during my lunch break. The pacing is fast! The plot is interesting, and the chemistry between the male and female leads is so tense! Help! It’s so good I’m trembling!”
“Really?” the friend replied. “I just remember that Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi are in it.”
“Who?”
“Members of the girl group The Notes.” The friend gestured with their chin. “See that skyscraper? Their company is right there. I can’t believe they just took a random role in a drama and it’s about to blow up like this.”
“From your tone, it doesn’t sound like you’re happy about it.”
“Heh, I’m a fan of their rival group!”
“…Right.”
As it turned out, Sister Fang’s judgment was impeccable. From the moment she got the script, she had predicted the drama would be a massive hit. And just as she expected, Sweet Orange broke viewership records on its first day, landing five or six trending topics. Marketing materials were rolled out, and discussions about the show were everywhere.
It was no wonder the Gu Group’s rivals were green with envy.
[Gu Group fans need to get a grip. It’s a guest role, do you really think it’s their masterpiece? They won’t stop riding its coattails. Surely Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi don’t actually consider this their own achievement, right? No way, right?]
[I don’t even know what number they are in the billing, but they have the nerve to promote themselves. I’m so done with this Yan Zhi You Yi couple.]
[…If you’re going to hate, then hate. Can you not ship them at the same time? Yan Zhi You Yi is fake! Don’t spread rumors, don’t believe rumors!]
[How is it fake? Did you not see the promotional VCR the official account posted? The way they look at each other is no different from how I look at the person I like. And you’re telling me that’s fake? The Gu Group’s house is about to collapse!]
[@Sweet Melon Entertainment, get to work. Someone’s spreading rumors about an in-group romance.]
[I’m so mad I could spit! My roommate listened to me diss Yan Zhi You Yi for half an hour before finally watching Sweet Orange. Before she started, she swore she was just going to see how shameless these two were at riding coattails. After the second episode, she came over and asked me: Do you know what their Super Topic is? Me: ????? Gu Group, you’ve really done it this time! My roommate hasn’t stanned anyone in years!]
[Hahahahahaha, as a Gu Group fan, this is so satisfying! Anyone who gives our Gu Group a second glance will fall under their spell!]
[I know this one! Are you searching for Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi? Welcome to the Yan Zhi You Yi Super Topic. Bio: Even arranged marriages can have true love. No one can resist a ‘marry first, love later’ story [heart]]
[…That doesn’t sound like a very respectable Super Topic.]
…
Sweet Orange released five episodes a week, and its popularity left other dramas in the same time slot in the dust, far exceeding the production team’s expectations and becoming the season’s breakout hit. With its success came business opportunities, and Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan were scheduled for a duo livestream to interact with the drama’s fans.
“You’re interacting with the fans!” Sister Fang reminded them in their three-person group chat. “Don’t just focus on interacting with each other and forget about the fans watching the stream.”
At that moment, Lin Yi was sitting in the VIP lounge at the airport. She accepted a coffee from a flight attendant and typed a reply with one hand: “Got it! Are Xu Shuyan and I really like that? When we do fan service-I mean, fan service for the fans-we’ve always been very professional, okay? Don’t a lot of anti-fans say we’re especially good at pandering to fans?”
“Idols are supposed to pander to fans!” Xu Shuyan replied in the chat.
Lin Yi tagged her: “Why aren’t you back yet? You didn’t get your advance and go buy another bag, did you?”
Xu Shuyan: No!
Lin Yi: The exclamation mark gives you away! You’re guilty!
Xu Shuyan: …
Xu Shuyan: I’m just looking, not buying.
Xu Shuyan: Mwah mwah mwah
Lin Yi: Heh.
Sister Fang: That’s enough! I’ve had it with you two! Is this a romance chatroom now?!
Lin Yi: Yes.
Sister Fang: …
System: Sister Fang has left the group chat.
System: Lin Yi has invited Sister Fang to the group chat.
Lin Yi: My bad.
Lin Yi: No more romance.
Lin Yi: In front of you.
Sister Fang: Heh.
Sister Fang: Have a good concert.
Lin Yi: You got it!
The flight from S City to H City was two and a half hours. Despite the unusual weather on both ends, the flight was surprisingly smooth and arrived in H City right on time. As soon as they landed, they went straight to the stadium for rehearsals, which didn’t end until late at night.
Snow fell softly on the bare branches, piling up in a thick layer. When someone passed by, it would fall off, landing with a soft thud in the snow below.
New snow covered old, and under the streetlights, the entire city glowed brightly.
The snow continued to drift down.
All four members of the Gu Group had grown up in the south. Unless they were traveling north for work, they rarely saw snow, and every time they did, it felt like a novelty. After rehearsals, they didn’t even need to discuss it; a single glance was enough to know what the others were thinking.
“You want to play in the snow again?” The group’s manager, a northerner, couldn’t understand it. “Can’t you wait until after the concert?”
Zhou Shichen wheedled, “We won’t play, we won’t. We just want to walk in the snow.”
Lin Yi chimed in, “Yeah, yeah! Look, there’s no one outside right now, and the snow is untouched. It would feel so amazing to walk on it. I really want to experience it!”
Xu Shuyan said, “Lin Yi is right.”
The manager turned to the usually most level-headed member, Captain Yan Qi. “You think so too?”
“I don’t want to walk in it,” Yan Qi said.
The manager had finally found an ally and was about to lay down the law. “See, we should listen to-”
“I want to make some little snowmen,” Yan Qi interrupted, pulling a small yellow duck mold from her pocket. “A fan recommended it to me before I came. It’s very cute.”
The manager was stunned. “Isn’t that for making little snow ducks?”
Yan Qi lowered her eyes. “Indeed.”
The manager was speechless.
That wasn’t an affirmation!
“Fine, fine.” The manager waved a hand, exhausted. “Go if you want. It’s cold outside, so bundle up. Hats, masks, and scarves are all mandatory. And the hats have to cover your ears, you hear me?”
Lin Yi responded by reflex, “Yes, sir!”
Xu Shuyan put on her hat with a hint of disdain. “It feels like she’s talking to kindergarteners.”
The manager glanced at the little yellow duck mold in Yan Qi’s hand and scoffed. “Look at what your captain is holding. I’d say your collective age doesn’t exceed five. Who objects? …Oh, and remember to post on Weibo. The fans love to see it.”
Yan Qi nodded seriously. “I will. After all, a fan recommended it.”
Outside, the snow had lightened up, and the wind had died down. The stadium plaza was still empty of fan support banners, with only the pull-up banners on the lampposts fluttering in the wind. There were solo shots of the four members, group shots, and even duo shots, finally making the upcoming concert feel real.
Occasionally, a car would drive by, its horn carried on the whistling wind.
Lin Yi stomped her feet. “It’s so cold.”
“Should we go back?” Xu Shuyan buried her face deeper into her scarf. “In this cold, I’m suddenly regretting this. I’d rather be back at the hotel taking a hot shower and getting a good night’s sleep.”
“You guys can go back if you want!” Zhou Shichen ran toward a patch of untouched snow, leaving a trail of footprints from one end to the other. “Xiao Yi, take a picture for me!”
Lin Yi pulled out her phone. “Coming!”
Meanwhile, Yan Qi was squatting on the ground, wearing thick gloves and packing snow into her mold. Soon, a row of tiny snow ducks lined the ground beside her. The first few were a bit lopsided due to her inexperience, but they got progressively better until the last one was nearly perfect.
Zhou Shichen’s interest was piqued, and she joined Yan Qi in making little ducks, completely oblivious as Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi quietly slipped away to a deserted corner.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Shuyan crunched the snow under her feet and touched the corner of Lin Yi’s exposed eye. “So cold.”
Lin Yi tilted her head up. “If you kiss it, it won’t be cold anymore.”
Xu Shuyan glanced around. “What if we get caught on camera?”
“It’s dark, and this is a blind spot. Who’s going to know what we’re doing?” Lin Yi tried to tug on the corner of Xu Shuyan’s coat, but her gloves made it impossible, much to her frustration. “Are you going to kiss me or not? If you don’t, I’ll…”
Xu Shuyan kissed the corner of her eye.
The warmth of her lips spread across Lin Yi’s skin, and her heart pounded.
“Yanyan? Xiao Yi?” Zhou Shichen noticed they were gone and called out for them.
Lin Yi panicked slightly and wanted to go back with Xu Shuyan, but Xu Shuyan seemed addicted, placing kiss after kiss on the corner of her eye. The warmth mingled with the cold snow, melting it quietly and causing a brilliant flower to bloom.
It was Xu Shuyan’s little rose.
…
By the time Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan returned, Zhou Shichen was on the ground making snowballs. Xu Shuyan walked over calmly. Zhou Shichen looked up and asked, “Where did you two go? Don’t tell me you were hiding somewhere making out.”
“Nope.” Xu Shuyan shook a nearby tree branch, and snow came tumbling down, landing in Zhou Shichen’s collar. “We just touched a little.”
Feeling a bit guilty, Lin Yi ran over to watch Yan Qi make her ducks. Yan Qi directed her to arrange the snow ducks into a formation, and she spelled out “The Notes.” They held their hands up above it in a V-sign for a group photo, which Yan Qi then posted on Weibo.
That same night, however, two pictures surfaced on a certain forum.
One showed Zhou Shichen squatting in the snow, looking up at Xu Shuyan, who was looking down at her. The photo was clear, and a filter had been added, giving it a very atmospheric feel.
The other showed Lin Yi and Yan Qi squatting together. Lin Yi was holding up a small snow duck for Yan Qi to see, her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled. Not only did this one have a filter, but text had been added: “Captain, look!” Although Yan Qi’s face wasn’t visible, it left much to the imagination.
As soon as the post was made, it attracted countless viewers.
[Holy crap? So the ‘Yan’ in Yan Zhi You Yi is actually Yan Qi’s ‘Yan’!]
[Looking at it this way, these two pairs are actually quite shippable. Have I been shipping the wrong couple all this time?]
[Yan Zhi You Yi CP fans are heartbroken tonight.]
[Captain x Main Vocal, whose DNA is stirring?]
[…Ship something better!]
[You’re shipping them based on just these two pictures? Yan Zhi You Yi has ten thousand pictures, okay?]
[So the little snow ducks Yan Qi posted on Weibo were made with Lin Yi. I’m dying, I’m dying. She’s subtly declaring her sovereignty!]
[I’m telling you, stop with the damn shipping! Xu Shuyan just posted on Weibo!]
[Holy crap???]
@TheNotes-XuShuyan: Playing in the snow [V-sign emoji] [SnowySelfieWithLinYi.jpg]
[???]
[Hahahaha, tremble, you ship-wreckers! The main ship herself is here to shut down the fakes!]
[Looking back at the original post now is hilarious. To those who tried to break up Yan Zhi You Yi, does your face hurt? I’m asking, does it hurt?]
[Xu Shuyan: The ‘Yan’ in Yan Zhi You Yi can only be Xu Shuyan’s ‘Yan’.]
[Subtly declaring sovereignty? Nope! Our Xu Shuyan declares her sovereignty loud and clear!]
[Damn, I feel like Xu Shuyan is provoking us. I feel like this selfie is blatantly screaming four words: Wife, mine.]
[You annoying couple! Take my blessing and go get married!]
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