Countless individuals opened their screen recorders at that exact moment.
The continuously falling petals resembled a flurry of butterflies dancing in the air, scattering the stage lighting as they swirled down to land upon the piano and gently rest upon Zhou Xingyu’s shoulders.
Amidst this shower of petals, Zhou Xingyu remained in constant motion. Without glancing at the audience, he focused entirely on playing the black and white keys beneath his hands, as though the instrument had transformed into the hands of his beloved, dancing along with him.
I will never be complete.
I will never be alive.
I will never change the world.
Until I do.
Until you speak those words and tell me you are willing.
This confession sought no reward; he simply wanted to convey those feelings to that single person.
Without your presence, my love shall never cease.
At last, the piano chords faded until they died away entirely, leaving only the cello to echo the same haunting melody, as if whispering on and on: Love you.
“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! This stage performance genuinely made me cry my eyes out.” “I’m willing, ahhhhh, absolute total weeping mess.” “Our Xingxing was never meant to be anyone’s sidekick!” “Xingxing is finally shining, wuwuwu.” “God-tier performance.” “Even though it’s a talent show, it feels like a full-blown concert.” “Pardon me for saying so, but isn’t this drifting a bit off-topic?”
The young woman who had originally handed Mo Yunyu his light board was already shedding tears, yet her grip on the camera remained rock steady.
A storm of complicated emotions churned inside Mo Yunyu’s chest as well, until Zuo Yan suddenly pinched his hand.
Locking eyes with the simmering jealousy burning in the man’s gaze and recognizing that his possessiveness was flaring up once more, Mo Yunyu lowered his eyes with a guilty conscience, not daring to pull his hand away.
Yet a jealous man is exceedingly difficult to soothe. During the intermission, Zuo Yan bypassed the audience entirely and dragged Mo Yunyu straight out of the venue, driving him straight home.
Right up until they crossed their front door, Mo Yunyu remained in a sullen sulk.
“What? Still reluctant to leave?” Zuo Yan stood right in front of Mo Yunyu, his expression darkened to the extreme.
Mo Yunyu shoved the obstacle out of his path. “I didn’t even get to see the results!”
“Are the results really that important?” Zuo Yan grabbed Mo Yunyu’s wrist, forcing him to meet his gaze. “What matters more, the results or the person on that stage?”
Mo Yunyu wrenched his arm free, revealing a distinct red ring already blooming around his wrist. “What nonsense are you spewing? Stop letting your imagination run wild.”
Ignoring Zuo Yan entirely from that point on, he flicked on the television and mirrored the live broadcast onto the screen.
His timing was impeccably precise. On screen, Orange was in the middle of her countdown, marking the imminent closure of the voting portal.
All nine contestants stood aligned across the stage, the massive backdrop displaying everyone’s tallied votes, which surged upward with every single number Orange called out.
Temporarily shoving his unpleasant exchange with Zuo Yan aside, Mo Yunyu watched with bated breath. Even though Zhou Xingyu’s vote count had already outpaced every other contestant by a massive margin, he couldn’t help feeling tense.
Just as the countdown reached zero, a hand shot out from behind to firmly cover his eyes, while Zuo Yan’s voice overlapped with Orange’s broadcasted announcement.
“Stop looking at him, look at me instead.”
“Let us congratulate them!”
One voice brimmed with overwhelming agitation, while the other carried an underlying tone of quiet supplication.
Zuo Yan could feel the faint, ticklish brush of eyelashes against his palm as the youth blinked. It marked the first time he had ever experienced such utter powerlessness; nobody else could fathom the vast, soul-shaking panic that had seized him the moment he watched Mo Yunyu gaze toward Zhou Xingyu.
It felt as though the other person might dissolve into those falling petals at any second, flying toward Zhou Xingyu with reckless abandon.
The moment Mo Yunyu shifted slightly, he slipped free from Zuo Yan’s hand. Turning around to face the man who looked almost tormented, he spoke with helpless resignation.
“What on earth are you afraid of? You’re already my boyfriend.”
With that, Mo Yunyu pulled Zuo Yan down and stood slightly on his tiptoes.
They kissed amidst the roaring cheers echoing from the television set.
Having successfully pacified the jealous person, Mo Yunyu immediately went off to check on the kitten.
“Mimi, wake up and play with me.” Mercilessly poking the tiny cat awake, Mo Yunyu felt zero pangs of guilt.
Zuo Yan’s heart was already flooded with honey. Watching the youth revert to his childish antics, he squatted down beside him to inspect the pitifully mewing kitten.
“Shouldn’t we give it a name?” Zuo Yan watched Mo Yunyu’s teasing movements with intense focus.
Looking bewildered, Mo Yunyu replied, “We’ve been calling it Mimi all this time, so of course its name is Mimi. Let’s call it Mo Mimi!”
Noticing the look of supreme satisfaction on the man’s face, Zuo Yan could only apologize silently to the kitten inside his mind. As long as Yunyu was happy, Mo Mimi it was.
Though calling it by its full first and last name did sound rather bizarre.
Long accustomed to an early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine picked up during his trainee days, Mo Yunyu skipped the online celebrations, washed up early, and turned in for the night.
Yet in the dead of night, a single photo popped up in the Shining Stars super-topic community, startling an entire colony of night owls.
@Huahua Doesn’t Draw: Is this really not Yunbao? The moment I saw him at the venue I thought he looked super identical! Did he actually come to the live show too?!!
[Image]
Awakened in the middle of the night by a frantic call from the marketing department, Zuo Yan listened to the person on the other end without a single crease forming on his forehead, no doubt owing to his exceptionally cheerful mood.
“Just keep an eye out and make sure no negative publicity circulates. Good work, your department’s bonuses are doubled this month.”
The night-shift manager on duty had been terrified she would incur the boss’s wrath by waking him at this hour, but upon hearing those final words, her spine snapped straight. “Understood, thank you boss!”
As soon as Zuo Yan disconnected the call, she marched briskly out of her office to broadcast the glorious news at the top of her lungs, “The boss said everyone’s salary is doubled this month!”
Instantly, a wave of jubilation engulfed the entire department.
When he woke up the next morning, Mo Yunyu’s still-groggy consciousness snapped fully alert the moment he laid eyes on the trending topics, plunging him into a profound silence.
Even with such an elaborate disguise, how on earth did he still get spotted?
Near the top of the hashtag feed sat a high-upvoted post that Mo Yunyu identified the account owner of in precisely 0.01 seconds.
Wasn’t this that enthusiastic girl who had sat right next to him and handed him a light board?
@Aowu A Bite: Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!! Are you telling me the person sitting right beside me the whole time was Yunbao??! I can die happy now! Come to think of it, the light board he was holding was one I shoved into his hands… Mama I’m sorry for ruining your baby’s pristine image orz
[Light Board Image]
“Crying out of sheer envy.” “Envy +1” “Envy +10086” “So he came to the finals and even witnessed Xingxing’s confession!! Xingyun shippers can die happy now too.” “Can the floor above stop inserting ships into everything?” “Original Poster: By the way, there was a guy sitting right next to him who looked exceptionally intimate.”
The subsequent replies devolved almost entirely into fan wars between solo stans and shipping stans, completely burying the original poster’s remark.
Mo Yunyu let out a sigh. Fortunately, Zhou Xingyu had already debuted in first place as the group’s main vocalist, meaning this incident wouldn’t deal any real blow to his career.
Then again, given that he was already officially retired from the entertainment industry, why was he even stressing over this?
Shaking the chaos of Weibo out of his head, Mo Yunyu crawled out of bed, rushed through a quick wash-up, and went off to cuddle his good son.
While aggressively petting Mo Mimi, Mo Yunyu decided to perform a good deed, purely out of consideration for the long months Zhou Xingyu had spent acting as his loyal lackey.
Snapping a photo of the round, fluffy kitten, he opened Weibo once more and drafted a post:
@Mo Yunyu: Went to watch yesterday’s finals! Wishing everyone who participated in the show boundless success and soaring careers. I’d like to emphasize here that Zhou Xingyu and I are just ordinary friends; I already have a boyfriend, so everyone can stop bickering over this (pointing fingers).
[Good Son Image]
The moment the post went live, countless shipping stans shattered their hearts into pieces and ripped off their fandom tags right on the spot. Furthermore, because Mo Yunyu made no mention of returning to the entertainment industry, roughly half of them migrated over to become Zhou Xingyu’s solo fans.
Mo Yunyu found this outcome thoroughly satisfying, just as Zuo Yan, now officially stamped and approved with the title of boyfriend, found it equally delightful.
Logically speaking, converting half of that massive shipping base into his own personal fanbase should have left Zhou Xingyu ecstatic.
Yet staring at Mo Yunyu’s Weibo account, not a single trace of joy registered on his face.
Unfortunately, a grueling schedule packed with promotional activities and brand endorsements left him zero spare time to meet up with Mo Yunyu for a proper conversation. He could only fire off messages into the void, which met the silent treatment of a sinking stone, eliciting not a shred of response.
Zhou Xingyu wasn’t alone in this predicament; Shi Jingchi faced the exact same wall.
What they remained unaware of was that, taking advantage of Mo Yunyu’s inattention, Zuo Yan had long since set their chat threads to Do Not Disturb.
If he hadn’t feared provoking Mo Yunyu’s wrath, he would have blocked and deleted them outright.
Ordinarily, Shi Jingchi might have seized an opportunity to track Mo Yunyu down, but he was constantly thwarted by a certain individual playing dirty, specifically, someone leaking fabricated media reports pairing him and Zhou Xingyu in a forced romance.
The fallout left him hounded by swarms of paparazzi the moment he stepped outdoors.
Dropping by to see Mo Yunyu was technically feasible, but he dreaded exposing Mo Yunyu to the paparazzi lens, particularly the omnipresent, unprincipled variety.
Driven into a corner, Zhou Xingyu and Shi Jingchi had no choice but to rein in their impulses and bide their time, quietly waiting for an opportune window to strike.
Never had they imagined that the wait would stretch past a single month. The sole silver lining during this period was successfully re-establishing contact with Mo Yunyu.
Zuo Yan, who had spent a full month playing forced shoveler to the kitten litter box after getting caught red-handed playing dirty tricks, decided it was best to maintain a stony silence.
Time flew by. Late autumn arrived swiftly, plunging temperatures into a sharp nosedive. As a corporate executive, Zuo Yan could no longer afford to neglect his duties, having already sacrificed far too much work time on his pursuit of a spouse.
Observing Mo Yunyu lounging comfortably on the sofa, snuggled up closely with the rapidly growing kitten, dark schemes slowly germinated in Zuo Yan’s mind before he resolutely scooped up both human and animal and hauled them off to the office.
Mo Yunyu had visited Zuo Yan’s corporate headquarters in the past, though those visits rarely lasted beyond a quick tour.
This time, however, the dynamic was entirely different; he was attending in the official capacity of family. Using the excuse of taking Mo Mimi out for socialization training, he grandly began strolling through the building floor by floor.
Even though the craze surrounding Shining Stars had been eclipsed by newer programs, the passionate summer memories forged by the show remained deeply etched in many people’s minds.
Thus, as expected, the company internal chat channels blew up into a frenzy.
It wasn’t until someone mustered the courage to greet him and received a friendly acknowledgment that surrounding employees swarmed forward, spontaneously carving out a respectful vacuum perimeter around Mo Yunyu.
Given everyone’s enthusiastic reception, Mo Yunyu played along graciously, even tossing in a round of impromptu signatures.
His mini-tour was cut short, however, when a wind-blown Zuo Yan tracked him down and unceremoniously hauled him back to the executive office.
Too lazy to talk back to this reincarnated jar of vinegar, Mo Yunyu simply wiped down Mo Mimi’s pink little paws and buried his face deep into the fluffy belly for a satisfying dose of cat therapy.
Meanwhile, having just received the tip-off, Zhou Xingyu abruptly wrapped up his ongoing schedule under the pretext of returning to company headquarters to finalize a contract.
The towering luxury of the Zuo Corporation building presented no barrier; Zhou Xingyu merely flashed his face to clear security and rode the elevator straight to the top floor.