@HalfLoveLetterYZYY1105x0813: |20220520 Group Variety Show Recording, Off Work| Watching the sunrise with you, seeing the sky brighten bit by bit. You and I in the brilliant light, we’re such a good match. 【Pretending there’s a picture of the sunrise】【Dual airport picture】
[Hahahaha, the fansite master is so professional! Absolutely no spoilers before the show airs!]
[I saw it on a certain lawless corner of the internet, they’re so perfect for each other I can’t live, save me! And when Xiao Yi was looking at the morning sun, Yanyan turned her head to look at her, I really %#@!&*~ She loves her so much!]
[Are only Xiao Yi and Yanyan returning to S City? Where did the other members go?]
[Yan Qi and Zhou Shichen flew to B City for a transfer, seems like they’re going abroad to film a variety show. Yuanyuan is getting ready to join her film crew, so she flew to H City, which is closer to the film studio. This flight is just for our little couple!]
[A flight for two is great!]
[Also, it should be confirmed that Yanyan and Xiao Yi are going to be in that drama. The director followed them both last night. They probably don’t have much work after going back this time, just preparing to join the cast.]
[Work hard on your acting!]
[Although it’s a bit much to ask of music academy students, please attend the company’s acting classes properly!]
[Heh, if they’re playing a couple, won’t our Yan Zhi You Yi just be playing themselves?]
Playing themselves?
Lin Yi looked at the red-marked script that had been neglected on the dorm’s bay window for a long time. She pushed her suitcase aside, picked up the script, and flipped through it with a headache. “I have so many lines. How come you have so few?”
“Maybe it’s because I’m pretty,” Xu Shuyan said, laying her suitcase down. “Besides, you’re the one who likes me. Why would I need to say so much to you?”
Lin Yi corrected her, “It’s Le Li who likes Ruan Tang.”
Le Li and Ruan Tang were the couple they were playing in the script, who would eventually get their happy ending.
“Speaking of music theory,” Xu Shuyan paused in the middle of organizing her clothes and tilted her head. “Aren’t our final exams coming up soon? Have you studied music theory?”
Lin Yi: “…Why do you have to switch from one topic I don’t like to another?”
She sat up and started rummaging through her things. “We only went to school at the beginning of this semester. If our regular grades weren’t propped up by practical credits, we’d be sent straight to retake the exam.”
Xu Shuyan deeply agreed. “And then we’d be trending on the hot search #YanZhiYouYiFailUniversityExams#. What are you looking for?”
“My music theory book!” Lin Yi got a headache just thinking about music theory. She was a naturally gifted performer—perfect scores in practical application, but a bit weak in theory. What’s more, music theory involved math, which was practically the death of her. “Here! Found it!”
She flipped through two pages, on the verge of tears. “Why don’t we just have the company prepare the money to take down the hot search topic in advance?”
“…” Xu Shuyan tossed the clothes that needed washing into the laundry basket, very dissatisfied with this self-defeating attitude. “You think you can suppress it? The forums will be flooded!”
“With posts about us both failing?”
“Not necessarily.” Xu Shuyan pondered. “It’ll probably be something like, ‘Let’s rationally discuss, should Yan Zhi You Yi be condemned for focusing on their relationship and not studying?’ ‘Yan Zhi You Yi! Stop dating! Study hard!’ ‘As expected, dating makes top students better and bad students worse. Yan Zhi You Yi, you two slackers, stop dating!’”
Lin Yi: “…”
Xu Shuyan had really figured out how the forums worked.
She thought of another possibility and asked excitedly, “Then do you think if it really blows up like that, the company will make us uncouple?”
That would be a blessing in disguise!
“What are you thinking?” Xu Shuyan shattered her beautiful fantasy. “Does the company not know whether we’re dating or not?”
“Well, even if we were dating within the group, no one would be able to find out!” Lin Yi said righteously. She was flipping through her music theory book when she suddenly let out a cry. “Xu Shuyan, did you know?”
“What?” Xu Shuyan didn’t look up.
“To help me act well in this drama, Sister Fang gave me a tip. She told me to have a secret crush on you.”
“A secret crush on me?” Xu Shuyan glanced up, seemingly not understanding the meaning of the phrase for a moment. After a long pause, she repeated, “A secret crush on me?”
This time her voice was a little higher, her surprise unconcealed.
Lin Yi snapped the book shut. “Yeah!”
Xu Shuyan scoffed. “It’s a miracle you’re not secretly trying to murder me, and you’re telling me you have a secret crush on me? Some secret crush that is. I didn’t notice a thing.”
Lin Yi faltered, then tried to defend herself. “That just means my acting is good! Isn’t that what a secret crush is like? Afraid you’ll know, but also afraid you won’t know. Afraid you’ll know and pretend you don’t. All that bittersweet feeling, tsk tsk tsk.”
“You don’t need to explain it to me.” Xu Shuyan threw the shirt Lin Yi had placed in her suitcase back at her. “As if I’ve never had a secret crush on someone before!”
Lin Yi caught the shirt and muttered under her breath, “Why are you being so fierce? You look so pretty today, can’t you just be a gentle big sister?”
Xu Shuyan’s eyebrow twitched. “…What’s wrong with you now?”
Lin Yi thought to herself that there was nothing wrong with her; she genuinely thought Xu Shuyan looked pretty today. Every time they had an airport schedule, brands would send them clothes to wear in all sorts of styles. This time, the stylist had put Xu Shuyan in a Hong Kong-style outfit.
On the way back to the dorm, she had refreshed her alternate account’s homepage and seen the pictures posted by the group’s fansite.
In the photo, Xu Shuyan was surrounded by a crowd, her black sunglasses exuding a cool vibe. Her lips were a plum red, making her palm-sized face appear even fairer. The wine-red plaid suit jacket gave her a powerful aura, worn over a black knit camisole. The jacket was unbuttoned, revealing a sliver of a slender, snow-white waistline. Her figure was so hot that the comments section was filled with people calling out, “Step on me, sis!”
Step on what! What step on! Put some clothes on!
She viciously liked a comment that said, “The whole country can see it.”
Now, seeing the person from the photo walk out and kneel in front of her to pack clothes with a cold expression, she couldn’t help but sigh. If only Xu Shuyan were a little farther away from her. Distance creates beauty; maybe then she wouldn’t be so infuriating.
Xu Shuyan watched her blush one moment, sigh the next, and then frown. She reached out and snapped her fingers in front of Lin Yi’s eyes. “Stop acting in your head. Save whatever acting skills you have for the acting coach tomorrow.”
She expected Lin Yi to retort, but to her surprise, Lin Yi just gave her a complicated look before lowering her head to organize her books again.
Xu Shuyan: “…”
She really was finding it harder and harder to understand Lin Yi.
The next day, Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi went to work together.
Since they had just finished a job, their assistant had specially coordinated their acting class, moving it from the morning to the afternoon. Lin Yi clutched her script, still muttering her lines in the elevator. She leaned against Xu Shuyan’s arm, only asking when they reached their floor, “Have you finished memorizing your lines?”
Xu Shuyan truly didn’t have many lines; she mainly had to convey her emotions through micro-expressions. This wasn’t easy to act. She had practiced in front of the mirror yesterday until her face was about to go numb. Right now, she could only push Lin Yi away with a deadpan expression. “I’m done.”
“How could you be done?” Lin Yi stood up straight and complained to their assistant as she walked out, “Doesn’t Xu Shuyan look just like one of those top students at school who secretly studies hard?”
“Oh,” she then negated her own statement. “Xu Shuyan is much better than those people. If you ask them, they’ll definitely say, ‘Huh? I haven’t memorized them either! I’m so scared of being called on!’ But then they get full marks on the test!”
Xu Shuyan’s lips twitched. “So my redeeming quality is my honesty, is that it?”
Lin Yi praised her, “You’re pretty good.”
Xu Shuyan couldn’t resist gently pinching her ear. “Not only am I honest, but if I remember correctly, the two of us were memorizing lines together in the same room last night. My hard work was out in the open!”
“Ahhh!” Lin Yi cried out. “Xu Shuyan is hitting someone! Xu Shuyan is hitting someone!”
As luck would have it, they ran into the trainees just as their class was letting out. The trainees, who had been laughing and joking in the hallway, all turned to look, their eyes wide with shock. They couldn’t believe they were witnessing a live scene of bullying within their senior group.
The assistant quickly explained on their behalf, “Your seniors are just playing around. They have a really good relationship.”
The trainees all breathed a sigh of relief.
They looked at Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan with a different expression now. It made sense. They had seen it online—the Super Topic for Senior Xu Shuyan and Senior Lin Yi’s CP was ranked so high, with thousands of GIFs, each one proving how good their relationship was. Playful fighting was normal; how could it possibly be bullying!
Xu Shuyan smiled at the trainees, then wrapped an arm around Lin Yi’s shoulders, pulling her into an embrace and whispering in her ear, “See? Can a fight between us be called a fight? It’s called flirtatious bickering!”
Lin Yi gritted her teeth in frustration and stomped on Xu Shuyan’s foot.
Xu Shuyan winced in pain, her grip on Lin Yi’s shoulder tightening. Lin Yi gave her a sweet smile. “Hitting is affection, scolding is love. See how much I cherish and love you? Don’t be ungrateful.”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
The two of them entered the classroom in this loving manner. The acting coach pushed up his glasses and stared at them for a moment. “Separate at once! Get ready to enter your roles. You’re not in a passionate romance; you’re in the innocent phase of a secret crush!”
Lin Yi: “…”
Was there anyone in this world who didn’t ship Yan Zhi You Yi?!
Before the acting class officially began, Lin Yi quickly checked the homepages of a few of her well-known toxic solo fans. She felt slightly relieved seeing posts with tens of thousands of retweets like, “Can a certain rapper with the surname Xu stay away from my daughter? Seeing my daughter’s forced-to-work expression is making me cry,” and “Does anyone not know that Yan Zhi You Yi have BE’d?”
She scrolled further and saw the same toxic solo fan say: “Even if I get together with Xu Shuyan’s top fan, Yan Zhi You Yi will never be real!”
Lin Yi: “?”
Her fans had truly sacrificed too much for her!
Looking back at what she and Xu Shuyan had been doing, aside from feeding the CP fans sugar, all they did was get under the solo fans’ skin. Of course, she couldn’t take all the blame for that. The biggest culprit was Xu Shuyan!
Xu Shuyan, who was silently memorizing her lines, suddenly felt a chill on the back of her neck. She followed the line of sight and asked, bewildered, “Why are you glaring at me?”
Lin Yi blinked. “Am I?”
Xu Shuyan: “You are.”
Lin Yi: “You’re mistaken. This is a look of deep affection.”
Xu Shuyan: “…Save your deep affection for when acting class starts.”
This acting class was mainly focused on running scenes. Since they were both from a music academy and had no intention of pursuing acting careers, they hadn’t taken many acting classes. When they started running scenes, there were so many problems that even the teacher was at a loss for words.
“How about this,” the teacher finally suggested after a long while. “You two point out each other’s problems first, and then I’ll speak.”
When it came to finding fault with each other, Lin Yi and Xu Shuyan were energized. They went back and forth, one after the other. You said my expression was too stiff, I said your line delivery was terrible. You complained my movements were too restrained, I complained your gaze was unfocused and unsteady. You criticized my emotions for not being in place, I criticized you for not being able to catch my cues.
Just as their relationship was about to fracture, the teacher quickly made a “time out” gesture. “Stop!”
Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi instantly became obedient.
The teacher had a headache. “You two, you have chemistry. But the emotional progression in this drama is about chemistry developing from nothing to something, do you understand?”
She rolled up the script and tapped it against the mirror. “But the feelings you two have for each other are already at full capacity. You need to completely become Ruan Tang and Le Li.”
“Not Xu Shuyan, not Lin Yi. You are Le Li, who fell for Ruan Tang at first sight. You are Le Li, who has a secret crush and wants to get closer but is afraid of losing her. And Ruan Tang, to you, Le Li is your roommate. She’s very good to you, and you’re close to her, but it’s the closeness you have with a best friend, a good sister.”
Xu Shuyan obediently raised her hand.
The teacher: “Go ahead.”
Xu Shuyan: “In summary! I’m straight!”
The teacher: “…Yes.”
Lin Yi raised her hand high, waving it frantically to get the teacher’s attention.
The teacher: “Go ahead.”
Lin Yi: “In summary! I’m gay! A gay person in love with a straight person! Completely mesmerized by Xu Shuyan’s—oh, no, Ruan Tang’s little straight-girl tricks!”
The teacher: “…”
Xu Shuyan hooked an arm around her waist. “Excellent summary. Don’t summarize ever again.”
Lin Yi dodged her. “What are you doing? I’m clearly telling the truth! I’m nice to you because I like you, but you’re nice to me because you see me as your best friend. I hug you, hold you, even kiss you, and you think it’s all normal. Tsk tsk tsk! The tricks of a straight girl!”
“What kiss me?” Xu Shuyan flipped through the script. “Where is that scene?”
Lin Yi wore a profound expression. “This is something you wouldn’t understand. When an actor gets into character, they might improvise. Many improvisations have become the highlight of the show!”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
The teacher said in a deep voice, “Just stick to the script.”
Lin Yi: “…Yes, teacher.”
They ran scenes one after another until dusk was approaching. The teacher assigned them homework and then left for the day. Lin Yi’s head was spinning from all the acting. She collapsed onto the floor, unwilling to get up, whining and groaning, “I feel more tired than after dancing for a whole day!”
Xu Shuyan sat in front of the mirror, her forehead pressed against it, staring at her reflection. After a long while, she said, “Yuanyuan is really amazing.”
Lin Yi was stunned for a moment, then mumbled, “Yeah, she is.”
Then she felt a little indignant. “But everyone has their own specialty. Yuanyuan was always talented, she joined the company’s film and television department, and she got into the acting department in college. When it comes to rapping and singing, we’re definitely the better ones.”
She suddenly sat up. “Xu Shuyan, look at this practice room. Isn’t this the one you slept in at the company when you ran away from home?”
The topic jumped so quickly that Xu Shuyan didn’t react at first. After a slow moment, her face darkened, and she glared at Lin Yi’s reflection in the mirror. “Didn’t we agree not to bring this up?”
Xu Shuyan officially signed with the company in her second year of high school. At that time, a certain platform was holding a rap competition. Xu Shuyan was very interested, but her family didn’t want her to pursue the arts and refused to budge.
Xu Shuyan was stubborn too. Without even telling her cousin, she ran away from home. But unfortunately, she had no money in her pocket. In the end, she used her familiar face at Sweet Melon Entertainment to sleep at the company for a night, only to be discovered by Lin Yi, who had come in early for training.
“Who agreed with you?” Lin Yi went back on her word. “You said you’d treat me to hot pot to keep my mouth shut, but you never did!”
Xu Shuyan was just as righteous. “I didn’t have any money back then, did I?”
Lin Yi retorted, “You didn’t treat me after you got money either!”
“Later-” Xu Shuyan choked. She sat up straight and said irritably, “By the time I had money later, we had both fallen for Yuanyuan. Who the hell would want to treat you to hot pot!”
Lin Yi: “Heh!”
She rested her head on her hands, her bare feet pressed against the wall. After a moment of silence, she turned her head to look at Xu Shuyan. “That was at the end of December, right?”
Xu Shuyan got annoyed and lunged over to tickle her. “Ahhh, I told you not to bring it up!”
“Why not! Why can’t I bring it up!” Lin Yi shouted even louder while dodging her attack. “Yes! That’s right! December twenty-fourth, Christmas Eve! It was sleeting that morning!”
The festive atmosphere in the big city was thick, and it happened to be a weekend. The quiet, empty plaza in the early morning had a huge Christmas tree. The fairy lights hadn’t been turned off and were twinkling, accompanied by a soft “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way~,” which couldn’t help but lift one’s spirits.
Lin Yi hummed along to “Jingle Bells” as she entered the building. The heating inside wasn’t on yet, and she stomped her feet from the cold, watching the elevator climb floor by floor, thinking about the questions she had saved up for a week to ask her music teacher.
Breath control. High notes.
Oh, she wanted to try rapping this week. The last time she heard someone in the recording studio next door, it sounded really interesting.
Lin Yi’s thoughts wandered. It wasn’t until she got off the elevator that she remembered she had left her sheet music in Practice Room A. When she turned back, the elevator had already closed and was descending. She had no choice but to take the stairs. It was too early, and there was no one else in the company. Her footsteps echoed slightly in the hallway.
“To be honest, I was a little scared back then.” Lin Yi grabbed both of Xu Shuyan’s hands and raised her legs to clamp them around Xu Shuyan’s waist. Xu Shuyan couldn’t tickle her anymore and could only glare.
After a long moment, she gave up and said sullenly, “But did you have to belt out a high C after opening the door!?”
Lin Yi’s legs slid down from her waist, and she very naturally shifted the blame to Xu Shuyan. “It’s all your fault for putting the mat by the door. I pushed the door open and saw a small lump huddled together. It even moved when it heard a sound. How could I not scream?”
The main vocal, with her powerful lung capacity, had woken up the entire city.
Of course, the first to bear the brunt was Xu Shuyan.
She was used to being pampered at home and couldn’t sleep well even on a slightly subpar bed, let alone a mat. The heating had turned off in the middle of the night, and she had tossed and turned until almost dawn before falling into a light sleep. Lin Yi pushing the door open had woken her up.
A single scream nearly blew the top of her head off.
She shot up and made eye contact with Lin Yi, who was outside the door, having finished her scream and preparing for another. Fearing for her eardrums, she didn’t think twice before pulling Lin Yi inside and clamping a hand over her mouth.
Lin Yi: “Mmph mmph! Mmph mmph mmph!”
“It’s me!” Xu Shuyan explained in a panic. “Xu Shuyan! Don’t you remember? My cousin taught you before! You’ve even sat in on my rap class! Remember?”
Lin Yi nodded frantically.
She remembered, she remembered. The pretty girl who was incredibly nimble with her tongue when she rapped!
Xu Shuyan let out a sigh of relief. “I’m going to let you go now, but you can’t scream again, you hear me?”
Lin Yi blinked furiously. “Mmph mmph!”
Xu Shuyan gently released her hold on Lin Yi. Lin Yi stumbled onto the mat where she had slept the night before, her puppy-dog eyes blinking as she finally came to her senses. She lowered her voice, “What are you doing here?”
Running away from home was too embarrassing, so Xu Shuyan mumbled, “I came early, just catching up on some sleep.”
Unexpectedly, Lin Yi actually believed her. She said, “Oh,” then added with frustration, “I thought I came early enough. I even rewarded myself with an extra egg for breakfast. I didn’t expect there to be someone even more hardworking than me!”
Xu Shuyan gave a dry laugh. “…Haha.”
Lin Yi was very serious. “Don’t laugh at me!” She hesitated for a moment, then took the initiative to confess, “Actually, I was planning to reward myself with hot pot tonight, but now it seems I don’t deserve it at all!”
Xu Shuyan’s mouth twitched. She changed the subject. “Are you here for class?”
“Yeah.” Lin Yi yawned and frowned in distress. “I’m in my second year of high school now, so I have to go to supplementary classes on Saturdays. Sunday is my only free day for lessons. I wanted to warm up my voice before the teacher arrives to save some time.”
Xu Shuyan said, “You work so hard.”
Lin Yi quickly waved her hands. “No, no, no, you’re the one who’s hardworking. You’re the most amazing!”
Xu Shuyan felt a pang of guilt. Just as she was about to speak, her stomach let out an inopportune gurgle. Her face instantly turned red. Lin Yi heard it too but didn’t laugh at her. “Are you hungry? I haven’t eaten the egg I rewarded myself with yet. Do you want it to tide you over?”
Xu Shuyan’s face turned even redder.
“You were quite kind back then.” Xu Shuyan came back from her memories. She lay down next to Lin Yi, her leg draped over Lin Yi’s, swinging it gently. “You believed whatever I said and even gave me your egg.”
Lin Yi pulled her leg out from under Xu Shuyan’s, rolled over, and propped up her chin to condemn her. “You were full of bad ideas even back then, tricking me and my egg!”
Xu Shuyan shot her a look. “Didn’t I confess everything to you after I ate the egg?”
Lin Yi thought about it and realized it was true. They were both young then, sixteen or seventeen. Sharing an egg was enough to form a bond. As Xu Shuyan talked, she even started to cry. Lin Yi had hurriedly comforted her, patting her back and saying it was okay, that she supported her, that her rapping was amazing, and that her parents would surely agree if she just communicated with them more.
The girl’s embrace was soft, and her voice was soft too, making Xu Shuyan think that this girl was so nice. But it would be even better if she didn’t spread this story around and ruin her image.
Thinking of this, Lin Yi sighed. “I was so stupid. I was really so stupid. I was bought off by you for a single hot pot meal.”
She paused, then pounded the floor. “One that was never even redeemed!”
“…” Xu Shuyan said, “Stop pounding. You’re going to break the floor.”
Lin Yi ignored her. “I’ll pound if I want to! I’ll pound! You think I don’t know my hand hurts? You think I care if the floor breaks? You think pounding the floor is easy? Can you sleep? I can’t sleep! The moment I think about that unredeemed hot pot, my heart aches. And you have a problem with me pounding the floor? You might as well just kill me!”
“Are you performing a meltdown right now?” Xu Shuyan was speechless. “I’ve never seen you memorize your lines this fluently.”
Lin Yi stopped pounding the floor and started drawing circles instead.
Xu Shuyan sat up. “I’m scared of you, okay? We’ll go eat hot pot right now, is that good enough?”
Lin Yi leaped to her feet. “You said it! I didn’t force you! Let’s go, let’s go, let’s eat at that place with the good service. I want to order two portions of crispy fried pork! Hurry up! My mouth is watering!”
Xu Shuyan: “…”
She had a feeling she was about to be eaten into bankruptcy by Lin Yi.
Fortunately, Xu Shuyan was no longer the broke sixteen-year-old she used to be. After being thoroughly fleeced by Lin Yi, she still had enough money left to buy a new designer bag. The two of them didn’t bother with disguises and didn’t hide when they ran into passersby. Photos of them soon spread all over the internet.
Xu Shuyan and Lin Yi didn’t care, treating it as extra fan service.
Full and satisfied, they returned to the empty dorm and parted ways harmoniously at the top of the stairs—Lin Yi had been sleeping in Zhou Shichen and Yan Qi’s room while they were away.
“Well…” Lin Yi suddenly felt like she was on a date and had just walked someone to their door. She looked down at the tips of her shoes, feeling a little unnatural. “I’m going to bed then?”
Xu Shuyan was engrossed in her new bag and replied without looking back, “Remember to memorize your lines.”
It was like a bucket of cold water had been poured over her. Lin Yi snapped back to her senses, gritted her teeth, and retorted irritably, “Just worry about yourself!”
After showering and lying in bed, she got angrier the more she thought about it. She used her alternate account to post a dozen tweets saying “Yan Zhi You Yi have BE’d.” Unexpectedly, she ended up on the public timeline and was hunted down by CP fans, who flooded her entire comments section with their latest sweet moments.
They even called her a toxic Lin Yi solo fan. “You must hate seeing your precious daughter being all lovey-dovey with Xu Shuyan! Don’t get so worked up! After their shopping trip, Yan Zhi You Yi have probably already done a round by now.”
Lin Yi: “…”
What were these young girls thinking about all day?!
Done a round? They hadn’t even had a single fight today. The only thing in Xu Shuyan’s eyes was that bag of hers!
Lin Yi couldn’t be bothered to argue with them. She logged off and went to sleep in a huff.
For a long time after, Lin Yi regretted going to bed so early that night. She should have at least enjoyed the calm before the storm, which would have been better than waking up from a good night’s sleep to countless unread messages.
And news alerts pushed by every major app—
The Notes’ Chen Yuan’s Relationship Exposed: Secret Late-Night Rendezvous with Boyfriend, Kissing in Car, Idol Disqualification and Scandal Confirmed!
Trending #1: #ChenYuanRelationship#
Followed by a large, bright red character for “Explosive.”
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