“Hello? Ding Jiaxin, where are you? Can you be a little more reliable?”
It was the middle of the night, and Ding Yuxi had been standing at the Guangzhou airport so long his legs had gone numb, all to take arrival photos for Ding Jiaxin.
Ding Jiaxin said guiltily, “Sorry, bro, my schedule changed at the last minute and I forgot to tell you. I’ll treat you to a meal next time, okay?”
“Forget it, forget it. I’m not picking you up next time.”
“Don’t be like that, bro.”
Ding Yuxi hung up the phone in frustration and turned around, bumping straight into a sweet-smelling girl.
The light board in his hand clattered to the ground.
“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” The girl, dressed like a little blue fuzzy bunny, crouched down and scrambled to pick up the things on the ground. “Hey, Xin?”
She happily handed the light board back to Ding Yuxi: “Are you a fan here to pick someone up?”
Then she shoved a huge, shapeless lump in her hands into Ding Yuxi’s arms: “Thank you! It’s so late and you still came to pick me up!”
The girl tilted her face up with a sweet smile: “This is a gift I brought for you guys from Zhejiang. It’s late, so you should head home soon.”
Ding Yuxi recognized that the girl dressed like a little blue fuzzy bunny was none other than the female celebrity he hated the most—Yu Shuxin.
But you don’t hit someone who’s smiling at you. Ding Yuxi tried to politely decline the shapeless lump she was pushing toward him. He had no idea what kind of weird thing it was, but it was surprisingly heavy to hold: “Um, thanks, you don’t have to be so polite.”
Yu Shuxin pushed it back to him: “Take it. I bought some local specialties in Yiwu on purpose. They should be pretty tasty.”
“If you feel too embarrassed to take it…”
She raised a finger and tapped the camera hanging around Ding Yuxi’s neck: “Take a few airport photos of me.”
Ding Yuxi couldn’t bring himself to refuse, so he nodded and took out his camera.
Yu Shuxin put on her sunglasses, stepped back a few paces, then walked toward him again, waving and smiling. Back then she was still a nobody, but she looked the part—there was a hint of a big star making her grand entrance.
Ding Yuxi crouched slightly and clicked away at the shutter. His professional habit got the better of him, and he couldn’t help saying, “Take off your sunglasses.”
Yu Shuxin took off her sunglasses and casually ran a hand through her hair.
Ding Yuxi snapped a few more candid shots.
Frozen on the camera screen, the female celebrity wore a blue fuzzy coat, her slightly wavy hair a little messy. The hand she ran through her hair was slender and fair, buried in her dark brown locks.
At this point in her career, Yu Shuxin wasn’t yet skilled at managing her expressions. When she brushed her hair back, her face was blank, her expression a bit cold. Paired with her soft, cute outfit, the contrast was striking—she looked like a villain hiding behind a sweet facade.
Seeing that Ding Yuxi was done, Yu Shuxin bounced over to look at his camera screen.
“Wow…” Her excited voice trailed off into a small “Oh.”
Yu Shuxin looked at Ding Yuxi with a complicated expression: “I didn’t expect you to make me look so, uh, cool.”
Ding Yuxi laughed for some reason. His delicate, sharply defined features rivaled any celebrity’s, and that smile made him look inexplicably devilish.
Yu Shuxin was stunned for two seconds, then smiled and said, “Thanks for the photos. Nice to meet you. Bye.”
…
Ding Yuxi hesitated as he swiped back and forth through the photos he’d taken on his camera. The world seemed to be playing a joke on him—he’d actually photographed Yu Shuxin, the female celebrity he hated the most.
Although Ding Yuxi wasn’t like most of the anti-fans who posted on Weibo, openly mocking Yu Shuxin’s nasal voice and affected mannerisms, he really didn’t care much for this small-time female celebrity.
Also from Shanghai, Yu Shuxin reminded him of the girl he hated most in his middle school class—sweet-talking, scheming, and a master of hidden daggers behind smiles, the kind who could stab you in the back without you ever noticing.
But…
Ding Yuxi gnawed anxiously at his fingernails. The airport photo he’d taken today really did turn out stunning. It wasn’t Yu Shuxin’s usual sweet style; instead, it perfectly captured the more dominant, cold, and commanding side beneath her sugary exterior. The look in the photo could easily pass for a scheming female CEO without any dissonance.
He glanced at the mysterious object propped in the corner of the room—the “gift” Yu Shuxin had shoved into his hands. It was absurdly heavy because it was a five-pound Jinhua ham.
Who on earth gives a fan a five-pound Jinhua ham as a gift?
After a long pause, Ding Yuxi sighed, resigned to his fate. He transferred the photos to his computer and began editing, using sharper contrasts of light and shadow to emphasize Yu Shuxin’s commanding aura in the shot.
He thought to himself, I’m doing this to expose her persona. She’s clearly a fierce ice queen pretending to be a sweet girl. When her image crumbles, her already dwindling fanbase will scatter, and she’ll fade into obscurity.
…
In the early hours of that day, a new fan account for Yu Shuxin appeared on Weibo: silence | Yu Shuxin.
The account’s first post read: Airplane (emoji), with a photo of Yu Shuxin seemingly just off the plane, casually running a hand through her hair. Her cold, commanding expression paired with her tall, slender figure radiated pure ice-queen energy.
The first person to spot the post was Liuliu, a fan living in a different time zone and one of Yu Shuxin’s biggest supporters. She froze for a second, then let out a piercing shriek!
Oh my god, it’s my cold-faced husband!
She immediately reposted the tweet with the caption: Holy crap, it’s cold-faced husband!!
The next day, when Ding Yuxi saw that his post had been shared over a thousand times, he began to seriously question his original intentions.
The photo was worlds apart from the cute image Yu Shuxin usually showed on TV dramas and variety shows. So why were her fans even more excited? Some had even come to follow him, calling him the ancient Greek god of cold-faced husbands…
What the hell is wrong with these fans?
They’re chasing after someone so two-faced and calling her husband? Weren’t you all calling her your adorable daughter before?
Ding Yuxi was starting to sweat.
After posting that one update, his hastily created fan-account alt had already gained over a thousand followers.
That was already several hundred more than his main account, “Director Ding Yuxi.”
Ding Yuxi sighed, moving his mouse away from the deactivate account button. Forget it—there’s plenty of time. Once these foolish fans realize Yu Shuxin’s true nature, they’ll stop liking her.
Yeah, that’s definitely how it’ll go!
Yu Shuxin also came across the post. She read the account name aloud: “Silence.”
Silent and still—it did fit the vibe of that handsome guy she’d seen yesterday, she thought with a chuckle.
Yesterday, Yu Shuxin had just wrapped up filming and taken a red-eye flight to Guangzhou to record Youth With You.
She’d noticed that many celebrities gave small gifts to fans waiting at the airport, so after looking around, she’d bought some local specialty—Jinhua ham.
After landing, she sent her assistant ahead to get the car while she handed out gifts to the fans who’d come to greet her late at night.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
No fans had shown up.
Yu Shuxin trudged toward the parking lot with a somewhat melancholic air, her mind completely blank, when she collided head-on with a young man who had suddenly turned around.
The moment she said, “Are you a fan here to pick someone up?” Yu Shuxin realized something was wrong.
Because the light board in front of her was pink—her fan color was red, and pink was the color for her rival, Ding Jiaxin. The two of them had appeared together on the variety show Freshman Year, and with similar ages, both having “Xin” in their names, and both being from Shanghai, many people considered them destined rivals.
But by then, Yu Shuxin had already blurted out the foolish question, “Are you a fan here to pick someone up?” She had no choice but to steel herself, put on a cheerful and lively demeanor, and shove the surprisingly heavy Jinhua ham she was carrying into the hands of this handsome, dashing male fan of Ding Jiaxin.
Yu Shuxin read it aloud again: “silence | Yu Shuxin.”
She rolled around on the bed, utterly delighted. How could anyone be this honest? Not only did he get mistaken for a rival’s fan, but he even gritted his teeth, took the photo, and went on to become a fan site operator!