[Mengmeng]: How do you know I’m in C City? I haven’t posted a single thing about it on my Weibo.
She wasn’t a massive influencer, but she still had a decent following. She certainly wouldn’t expose her location that easily. For this specific show recording, her plan had been to keep things entirely under wraps until right before the air date.
Yet, someone out there already knew her exact itinerary. It was a little chilling. Had she crossed paths with a stalker?
[Li]: I didn’t find out through Weibo. I have my own ways. Let me ask you a question…are you single?
[Mengmeng]: Since you’re capable of tracking my location, how could you possibly not know whether I’m single or not?
Kong Yinmeng tried to bait him into revealing his identity. Having a dangerous, faceless figure lurking in the shadows was terrifying, and any lingering sleepiness she had completely vanished.
[Li]: I’m guessing you’re single, and have been for years. So, how about I offer myself to you?
[Mengmeng]: Look, man, online romance never works out. [Stiffly Rejected.jpg]
[Li]: If you say yes, it won’t be an online romance anymore.
[Mengmeng]: Just tell me who you are. Give me a name so I can at least consider it, right?
She mentally sifted through every man she had interacted with across all the cities she’d visited recently. None of them fit the bill. Whenever she traveled, she naturally gravitated toward friendly, outgoing guys like Chef Big Brother Liu…people who were straightforward, didn’t sweat the small stuff, and definitely didn’t harbor hidden agendas. They were just pure friends.
In the adjacent room, Zheng Yi watched her probing messages pop up on his screen and couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t the right time to reveal himself just yet. He needed to make her genuinely interested in him first.
A real future required mutual feelings. Even though he had zero relationship experience, he knew that unrequited love never ended well.
[Li]: You’ll find out soon enough, but the time isn’t right yet. Consider this a trial run of an online relationship. When the moment is right, I’ll reveal my identity. It’s getting late, get some rest. Goodnight.
Yinmeng came dangerously close to throwing her phone across the room. If she hadn’t remembered there was someone else sharing her suite, she would have unleashed a glorious torrent of curses.
What a joke, she thought bitterly. Acting all mysterious like I’m guaranteed to be interested. In his dreams!
Her mood was completely ruined. Despite a grueling day of filming, her mind was racing, and sleep was entirely out of the question. Left with nothing else to do, she unconsciously started looking up information on Zheng Yi.
Becoming a top-tier celebrity wasn’t a stroke of overnight luck; surviving fame as a teenager was a brutal gauntlet. When his group, R.S., first debuted, he was only sixteen years old. He had to balance intense schoolwork with a demanding career, all while weathering a storm of public skepticism.
Back then, the concept of a homegrown idol boyband didn’t really exist. The debut of R.S. gave people hope, but it also invited immense scrutiny from critics waiting for them to crash and burn.
Over the course of seven years, he had grown up rapidly under the spotlight. Only he knew the sheer amount of blood, sweat, and tears it took. As Yinmeng skimmed through his public history, she had to admit…the man was genuinely exceptional.
If his public milestones were this impressive, she could only imagine how much heartbreak and struggle he had hidden from the world. A sudden pang of guilt hit her. Maybe I really owe him a much more sincere, formal apology?
Setting her phone down, she closed her eyes, but all she could picture was the crestfallen look on his face from earlier. She sighed internally. Karma really is real; you truly shouldn’t do things that weigh on your conscience.
When she picked up her phone again, she didn’t hesitate. She navigated straight to his official Weibo page and sent him a direct message, fully expecting it to get lost in his inbox.
“What I said tonight was based entirely on a superficial, surface-level impression of you. After actually reading about everything you’ve been through, I just want to say: you are truly someone worthy of admiration. Your future is boundless, and I know it won’t stop here. I hope you soar even higher and achieve everything you’ve ever dreamed of.”
The moment she hit send, her heart began to beat wildly against her ribs. She instantly closed the app, shut off her phone, and forced herself to sleep.
Under normal circumstances, Zheng Yi would have missed a DM entirely. He received countless messages every single day and didn’t have the time to filter through them. But by pure coincidence, he happened to be active on the app right that second.
His assistant, Xiao Huang, had just messaged him about a brewing controversy. A newly released commercial photoshoot had fans and anti-fans alike arguing that a mark on his neck looked exactly like a hickey, and his agency needed him to clear the air.
Before he could even draft the clarification post, Yinmeng’s DM popped up. Unlike her nervous anxiety, his mood instantly skyrocketed. He felt an overwhelming urge to call his manager, Chen Yuan, right then and there just to thank him for booking this reality show.
Instead of replying directly to the DM, he decided he wanted to address it face-to-face tomorrow. As he went back to drafting his official statement…explaining that the mark on his neck was actually just a vicious mosquito bite…he couldn’t help but picture her bright smile, even adding a playful emoji to the end of his post.
While Yinmeng’s phone remained powered off, Miaoke’s was wide awake. At precisely eight o’clock the next morning, it blared to life with a call from the production crew.
“Sis Kong, the director wants us to grab a cab and meet up with everyone immediately… ugh, wait… I just want to sleep for five more minutes…” Miaoke groaned out the instructions before collapsing straight back onto the mattress.
Yinmeng, however, was already up. She looked exhausted. She hadn’t slept well at all, plagued by a relentless string of vivid, highly suggestive dreams that had lasted until dawn. To make matters worse, the male lead of those scandalous dreams was currently sleeping in the very next room. The mere thought made her chest tighten.
What did I do to deserve this? she lamented. He’s literally haunting my subconscious.
Stepping into the bathroom to wash up, she wasn’t surprised to see heavy dark circles bruising the skin under her eyes. She desperately wanted to cover them up, but a harsh reality set in…they didn’t have their luggage or any of their personal belongings, which meant absolutely zero makeup.
Miaoke rolled out of bed moments later, realizing the same tragic truth. “Wait… does this mean we have to go on camera completely bare-faced?”
“You’re fine. You’re young, full of collagen, and your skin is great naturally,” Yinmeng replied, her voice laced with profound melancholy. “What do you have to be scared of? I’m the one who should be terrified.” She could only pray the director would show some mercy and keep the camera angles at a distance.
A sudden knock on the door cut her thoughts short, followed by Zheng Yi’s voice, raspy and deep from sleep. “Are you guys awake? I’m ready. Let’s head down and share a cab to the location.”
Miaoke quickly called out a response, then turned to Yinmeng with her face buried in her hands, looking exactly like a smitten fangirl. “Wow, Brother Zheng’s morning voice is incredible. I wonder if Lan Xiao sounds that good when he wakes up.”
“Well, you better work hard then. Figure out a way to actually be there to hear his morning voice,” Yinmeng teased, splashing water onto her face. Since she had slept in her day clothes, everything she wore was heavily wrinkled. She was fiercely determined to get her hands on her suitcase today, if only to change out of this outfit.
When Yinmeng stepped out of the room, she felt a wave of awkwardness looking at Zheng Yi. The dreams from last night had been entirely too vivid, and she couldn’t quite meet his eyes.
Zheng Yi’s gaze flickered away as well. It was as if they were tuned into the exact same frequency; he had experienced a remarkably similar dream himself. For twenty-three years, he had never felt a strong, specific desire for a woman, but last night, he had finally experienced a taste of standard male primal attraction.
Clearing his throat, he broke the silence. “I saw your message last night. Thank you for saying that. I’m happy to give you all the time you need to get to know me better. If there are any industry secrets or insider details you’re curious about, just ask.”
He knew that falling for someone always started with curiosity. He was confident he didn’t have any major character flaws; given enough time, she would inevitably find herself drawn to him.
“Oh, really?” Yinmeng took the bait, throwing a massive curveball right at him. “Then… do you currently have a girlfriend?”
The directness of her question caught him completely off guard. He froze, his mind momentarily racing. Does she already like me back?
“No… I don’t. Would you be willing to—” be my girlfriend?
Before he could finish the sentence, Miaoke burst out of the bedroom. “Sorry to keep you guys waiting! I’m all set, let’s go!” Since all three of them were completely bare-faced, Miaoke didn’t feel self-conscious at all. She held up her phone, letting them know she had already hailed a ride and that the car was waiting downstairs.
Yinmeng intentionally lagged a couple of steps behind Zheng Yi as they walked, whispering quietly, “Good, it’s better that you don’t have one. Fangcao begged me to check up on your love life. She said the internet is losing its mind over a hickey in your latest photos.”
Zheng Yi instantly realized he had wildly misread the situation. Her asking about his relationship status wasn’t a confession at all…she was just running an errand for her friend.
Amused, he pulled out his phone, opened his Weibo app, and handed it to her as they slid into the backseat of the cab. “The mosquitoes that day were brutal. They tore my neck up, and the swelling took days to go down. Take a look yourself…is there still a mark left?”
Yinmeng leaned in to look, but the second she saw his neck, a hot blush rushed straight up to her face. How could she have forgotten? The infamous “hickey” wasn’t a mosquito bite at all—it was the exact spot where she had accidentally slammed her head into his neck during their chaotic fall.
This secret needs to go to the grave, she thought frantically.
Hurriedly pulling out her own phone, she opened a blank chat window, typed a furious line of text, and thrust the screen in front of his face:
“This matter stays strictly between us. Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know. Not another soul can ever find out!!”
Zheng Yi took her phone, his thumbs flying across the keyboard before handing it back.
“Which matter are you referring to? The fact that we ended up in the same bed and you held onto me for dear life all night, or the fact that you bit my neck?”
Yinmeng choked on her own breath. The sheer audacity of his text made her want to punch something. What does he mean, ‘held onto him for dear life’?! That meant he had been completely awake and aware the entire time!
“Regardless of which one, absolutely no one can find out! Every little detail about you gets blown out of proportion by the media. If this leaks, literally no one on earth will believe we’re innocent!”
“Are you worried about my reputation? Or are you just regretting that you didn’t actually take advantage of me that night?”
Yinmeng gave up on typing. Violence was the only answer. Shifting her weight slightly, she reached down under the cover of the seats and delivered a sharp, vicious pinch straight to Zheng Yi’s thigh.
“You remember what I said,” she muttered under her breath, shooting him a warning glare. “If a word of this gets out, you’re dead.”
Anticipating a second strike, Zheng Yi moved like lightning, catching her hand in his and locking his fingers tightly around hers. He refused to let go. Fearing that a struggle would draw the attention of the cab driver or Miaoke in the front seat, Yinmeng could only use her eyes to furiously signal him to drop her hand.
Zheng Yi completely ignored her, utterly content. As far as he was concerned, he wasn’t letting go until the car came to a complete stop.
Up in the front passenger seat, Miaoke caught the entire silent battle play out perfectly in the side-view mirror. She mentally congratulated herself for having the foresight to sit up front so she wouldn’t interrupt their romantic progress.
From their subtle body language, she realized something thrilling…Zheng Yi was completely the one pursuing, while Yinmeng was still totally oblivious and playing defense. This was getting incredibly good.
Glancing at the mirror one more time, she couldn’t help but marvel at how visually perfect they looked together. Is it too early for me to start aggressively shipping them? she wondered.
Suddenly, the taxi driver slammed on the brakes with a violent screech. Miaoke gasped, instinctively throwing her hands over her head, while Zheng Yi’s reflexes kicked in instantly…hauling Yinmeng tightly against his chest to shield her from the impact.
“Sir, what happened?” Zheng Yi demanded, his arms tightly wrapped around Yinmeng as he stared out the front windshield.