Me And My Four Dancers - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Transition
 
Yan Shuo’s words, “Pay back the money,” somehow irritated Chen Ze. Aside from recording the show, Chen Ze had ignored him for over a week.

Yan Shuo thought, it’s only a thousand yuan, so if he doesn’t want to return it, then forget it. After all, he’d offered to give it to her, so asking for it back now would be really rude.

He didn’t really need the money; it was just a joke.

But Chen Ze was acting strangely. Yan Shuo had a vague feeling that Shen Ze wasn’t angry about the money, so what else could it be?

He pondered over it, forming a vague suspicion, but he couldn’t be certain.

To be honest, it was all due to his inexperience. Yan Shuo had been in the industry since he was a teenager, from trainee to official debut. He hadn’t had the chance to date in all those years. Now that he was famous, he couldn’t afford to date easily, or it would be big news.

As a result, he was completely emotionally blank. When subtle, seemingly unrelated emotions arose, he couldn’t grasp them accurately, and even if he did, he was prone to misinterpreting them.

Yan Shuo was very aware of this, and precisely because he was so aware of it, it only exacerbated his suspicions, making it even more difficult to make a definitive judgment about Shen Ze.

Besides, he had already been “self-indulgent” once, and now suspecting Shen Ze of having a crush on him seemed rather forgetful, which wasn’t a good thing.

It’s important to mention that after that night, Yan Shuo wanted to delete Shen Ze on QQ, but when he opened his friend list, he found that the “very annoying” line had disappeared. Shen Ze had already done it, even faster than he had.

Yan Shuo couldn’t vent his anger, and it backfired, leaving him feeling suffocated. He even wanted to add Shen Ze back in and delete him himself.

Unfortunately, he could only think about it for a moment; adding him again would be a sign of mental failure.

Just a few days ago, the first episode of “Superstar” finally aired as scheduled.

Thanks to the extensive pre-launch publicity during this period, the ratings and online buzz were incredibly high, exceeding expectations. Many amusing jokes were spawned on Weibo, and major forums were flooded with discussion threads.

Unsurprisingly, the majority of online discussion about the ten guests was dominated by Yan Shuo and Shen Ze. This was largely due to rumors circulating about them being spotted cuddling late at night on the street, and the show’s release simply added fuel to the fire.

But everything has two sides. Netizens are generally seasoned and have seen all sorts of marketing tricks. Whenever a celebrity’s big news is accompanied by a new drama release, everyone knows: Oh, another hype! Their interest immediately drops.

The same thing happened with Shen Ze and Yan Shuo this time. As a result, while same-s3x rumors failed to materialize, the hype surrounding their relationship became increasingly popular.

As far as Yan Shuo knew, the “Shanying” couple shot into the top three super topics overnight and continued to rise.

The forum was even more lively than the super topic. The entertainment section was completely flooded, with the front page practically 100% covered by related posts. At first glance, there was nothing else.

He browsed for a while and saw the most popular headline, “You thought he and he were just doing business, but they’re actually real.” This thread, which spanned over 200 pages, claimed to be an anonymous Yueshi staff member. She was so moved by the poignant love story of Shen Ze and Yan Shuo that she risked her life at the hands of Li Linjia to expose the story.

The poster explained that Yan Shuo fell in love with Shen Ze the moment he first laid eyes on him. However, the group was a relatively unknown entity, with no popularity at all. To attract attention, Li Linjia arranged for the members to be paired up for hype.

At the time, Qi Haoyu was too young, Li Jin’s straight-man vibe was too strong, and Shen Ze’s aloof style wasn’t suitable. So, she paired Yan Shuo with Fu Xinyan and let them start their business.

In other words, under Li Linjia’s control, Yan Shuo and Shen Ze were torn apart, becoming a star-crossed couple, in love but unable to be together, afraid to even speak of it.

After two years of this repressed existence, Yan Shuo and Shen Ze finally got a chance to be alone: ​​”Superstar.”

On this show, they ostensibly promoted their relationship, but in reality, they were secretly expressing their feelings under the guise of a romantic partner. Unfortunately, the truth was revealed when Yan Shuo got drunk and hugged Shen Ze on the street, leading to Li Linjia’s discovery of their secret relationship.

Li Linjia was a cruel and authoritarian woman who would never allow her artists to risk being exposed for coming out. Therefore, she was determined to break up the couple—allowing them to only work and generate hype, not truly engage in a relationship.

The poster also reported that Yan Shuo was so upset by the incident that he couldn’t eat and had already lost three pounds in the past few days.

Chen Ze wasn’t much better. Aside from reposting promotional posts, he hadn’t posted anything original on Weibo in ages. He was actually busy writing songs. Don’t be surprised if the next song from the duo is a heartbreaking ballad; it’s one Chen Ze wrote for Yan Shuo.

“…”

This thread ran for four days, and Yan Shuo, with the mentality of “Let’s see what else you can do,” followed it daily. Today, the original poster finally finished.

The whole thing was devoid of originality. Even the sadistic romance plot was cribbed from the Shining Super Topic. And he still had the nerve to call himself an internal staff member. What kind of job was he? A water army?

Yan Shuo belatedly realized that it was probably a water army, paid by Li Linjia.

He was speechless and wanted to share this with Chen Ze.

But he held back. He didn’t know if Chen Ze would read these things. Probably not. Chen Ze rarely even went on Weibo, but he was passionate about gaming.

During their recent “cold war,” Chen Ze sat on the other side of the bed, expressionless and playing games, not even sparing him a glance.

Though he’d occasionally glance at him, his expression was indescribable. Yan Shuo occasionally felt that Chen Ze wasn’t simply angry, but rather pondering something, unable to put his finger on it.

After all, who would be so angry? He’d just asked for money as a joke; he should have calmed down long ago.

But it was undeniable that with each passing day, Yan Shuo could sense the subtle tension between them—they truly couldn’t be good colleagues.

Yan Shuo closed the post, hesitated, then opened WeChat.

In fact, he’d wanted to seek advice from someone a few days ago, someone who could offer an outsider’s perspective.

However, on the one hand, he didn’t want to tell anyone about his relationship with Shen Ze, and on the other, relationship mentors were hard to find. After searching through his contacts, he lowered his expectations and decided that talking to Qi Haoyu was the best option.

“Xiao Qi, are you busy?”

As he sent the message, Yan Shuo despised himself. He usually didn’t even think about his brother, Xiao Qi, and only reached out to him when something happened. He was such a nobody.

But Qi Haoyu didn’t mind at all and replied enthusiastically in an instant—

“Not busy, what’s up, bro?”