Chapter 22

After Shining Five’s first album dropped, not only did it top the online charts, but physical sales also pulled far ahead—and after Hi Fight aired, sales surged even more, shooting straight to number one on the physical album charts.

Fans proved to their idols with action: We will never let you flop!

Suddenly, it seemed like Shining Five’s songs were playing in every street, every restaurant, every coffee shop.

The main reason was that Look Me was genuinely well-produced—it had been in the works for a long time. The lyricists and composers were all well-respected industry veterans. The musical style hit the mainstream aesthetic perfectly, with strong rhythms that made people hum along after just a few listens. The songs spread like wildfire.

That New Year, Zhao Yu spent it in Korea.

She didn’t really get much of a holiday break anyway. With skyrocketing popularity came an even more relentless schedule. At events, Zhao Yu could clearly feel the difference in how she was received.

Korean media called Shining Five the breakout group of the year, predicting they would become the next generation’s national girl group.

Anything related to Shining Five quickly trended online, drawing more and more viewers to the group. The more people learned about them, the more they found that the group had talent, visuals, and even entertaining variety appearances.

The five girls were beautiful in their own ways—whatever your type, they had it. Their work and skills spoke for themselves: the main dancer’s charisma was unmatched, the main vocalist’s technique rivaled professional singers’. Investing in them was a win-win.

The popularity they’d built up over more than half a year seemed to explode all at once. Even Zhao Yu was caught off guard by how fast they were blowing up.

Before, only two assistants and an agent accompanied them. Now, the company had assigned a personal assistant to each member and hired dedicated security guards for their protection.

Event after event, Zhao Yu watched that once-tiny patch of pink expand—from scattered specks of light into a brilliant, tender sea of pink.

And so, that field in her heart, which had once only bloomed with the flower of unrequited love, was now covered in pink poppies too.

Zhao Yu’s birthday was in May. The company held a small birthday party for her with a thousand fans in attendance. Originally, the company wanted to make it bigger—a venue for at least five thousand people, with entry selection based on fan fundraising rankings.

Zhao Yu turned that down.

Instead, the fan club randomly selected a thousand lucky fans from her pure fanbase to bring their best wishes to the venue, celebrating her first birthday after debut.

Kristen and Lin Zhinan’s birthdays were both in June, so the company couldn’t play favorites and held birthday events for them too. July was Heya’s, and August was Lin Xiuxi’s—Shining Five ended up hosting birthday parties for four months straight. Netizens joked that birthday parties were their monthly routine, and it even made trending topics.

In reality, public birthday parties were still performance-oriented. The real celebrations happened in private.

Lin Xiuxi had always thrown a party for her birthday every year. Last year, because their schedule was too packed, she hadn’t, so this year she made up for it. After the daytime birthday event, she hosted a party that evening at her family’s villa.

Not many industry people were invited—besides Shining Five, only two or three other artists. The rest were her non-celebrity friends she’d grown up with.

She was a conglomerate heiress, so her friends were naturally second-generation heirs too. Zhao Yu leaned against a pillar, holding a wine glass and nibbling on a small dessert, while Lin Zhinan whispered introductions for everyone present.

“The one in the blue suit—eldest son of Tongyun Airlines. A Seoul National grad and a scholar.”

“The one in glasses—chairman of TD Mall. I’ve seen him in magazines. His eyes are really small in person.”

“Hey, over there—the kinda good-looking one hitting on that girl—third son of the Fangxing Group. Let me tell you, he’s super trashy. He’s been linked with tons of female celebs. You know Song Yiran, right? She’s the spokesperson for their beverage line. They got exposed dating, and I heard she even got pregnant—but as soon as the scandal broke, he dumped her and refused to acknowledge the kid.”

Zhao Yu stuffed the too-sweet pastry she’d just bitten into Lin Zhinan’s mouth. “Didn’t I tell you to spend less time online!”

Lin Zhinan munched on the pastry. “Hey, it’s my only hobby. Don’t take that away from me.”

As they chatted, the very subject of their gossip—the third son of Fangxing Group—walked over with a glass of red wine and a smile.

He was decent-looking, didn’t seem as trashy as the rumors suggested. When he reached them, he gave a slight nod as a greeting, then clinked his glass against Zhao Yu’s. “Hello, I’m An Zewen. First time meeting you—I really like you.”

Zhao Yu: “…Hello.”

An Zewen took a sip of wine and leaned in naturally, practically wearing “I want to get with you” on his face. “You’re absolutely mesmerizing on stage. The ‘human fairy’ title is well deserved.”

Zhao Yu: “…You flatter me.”

Lin Zhinan silently nibbled her cake, ears perked up for gossip.

An Zewen tossed off a few more compliments, then pulled out his phone with a grin. “How about we exchange contacts?”

No one ever refused the third son of the Fangxing Group.

Zhao Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, finished her wine in one gulp, and smiled. “I’ll accept the compliments, but no need for the contact. After all, we have no reason to stay in touch privately.”

With that, she gave a small nod, grabbed Lin Zhinan—who was still gnawing on her cake—and walked away.

Lin Zhinan stuffed the last bite in her mouth, turned back, and gave An Zewen a polite smile in farewell. When she turned forward again, she whispered, “He looks pissed.”

Zhao Yu snorted.

Lin Zhinan warned her, “Don’t let him fool you. That kind of playboy is the worst—once he’s bored, he’s gone. He’s not serious. Guys like him are all destined for corporate marriages.”

Zhao Yu rolled her eyes at her, with an expression that said, “You think I need you to tell me that?”

But a few days after the birthday party, Lin Xiuxi came to ask her: a friend of hers really liked Zhao Yu and wanted her contact info—could she give it to him?

Zhao Yu, in the middle of applying a face mask, asked casually, “Who?”

Lin Xiuxi said, “An Zewen from Fangxing Group.”

Zhao Yu: “No.” She pressed down on her mask and turned her head. “Captain, please don’t. I don’t want trouble.”

Lin Xiuxi shrugged. “OK.”

Zhao Yu also told the others, “Even if anyone else asks about me, don’t give it out.”

Even though Lin Xiuxi was the official leader of Shining Five, given her personality and temper, Zhao Yu was often the one calling the shots both inside and outside the group. The others usually listened to her, nodding in agreement.

An Zewen, having hit a dead end through his friend, didn’t rush to contact Zhao Yu through other channels. Instead, he started “coincidentally” showing up whenever Shining Five had a shoot, popping up in front of Zhao Yu, buying drinks, sending flowers—just making his presence known.

Zhao Yu found it annoying, but he was still a wealthy heir, so she couldn’t outright snap at him or kick him out. Most of the time, she just cold-shouldered him.

After pursuing her for a while, An Zewen realized this “human fairy” was seriously hard to get.

Then he stopped chasing.

Lin Zhinan hadn’t seen him around for a while and whispered to Zhao Yu, “Turns out trashy men are the same everywhere.”

Zhao Yu asked, “Have you nailed your third-part blocking yet?”

Lin Zhinan: “Wah.”

At year-end, Shining Five was invited to the highly prestigious Fashion Music Awards ceremony, performing the opening number as the show’s kickoff.

Everyone who attended the Fashion Music Awards was a senior artist with both talent and popularity. Shining Five had a shot at winning Best Group of the Year—one of the industry’s highest honors for a group. If they took that award, their status would be completely solidified.

They’d recently released a new single, which would serve as their opening performance piece, and were rehearsing diligently.

Two other girl groups were also in the running for the award. It was hard to say who would win, and online discussions were buzzing—though most thought Shining Five had a strong chance. Their second album, released in summer, had dominated the charts and crushed competitors across the board.

All year, Shining Five’s songs had been the ones everyone heard most. They were just missing that one big award to cement their status as a national girl group.

It snowed on the night of the red carpet.

Zhao Yu had grown used to wearing dresses outdoors in freezing weather. The five girls walked the red carpet in their gowns, smiling and waving to the media and fans on both sides.

Since they were opening the show, their red carpet slot was very early. After walking it, they headed backstage to the green room for makeup and styling.

Occasionally, faint screams drifted in from outside. After finishing their makeup and changing into stage outfits, there were only about ten minutes until the show started. Zhao Yu finished her throat-warming hot water and followed the staff to the waiting area.

The atmosphere was already electric.

A beam of white light slowly illuminated center stage. The rising platform brought the five girls up, and the awards ceremony officially began.

The VIP section was filled with celebrity guests, while the back rows were packed with fans. As the spotlight blazed, the entire venue began chanting “Shining Five.”

Zhao Yu’s voice came in first—deliberately low, with a seductive rasp, exploding across the arena along with the music.

Looking out, pink lights dotted the crowd everywhere. To have so many Yu Meiren present at such an event was already impressive.

At one moment, as Zhao Yu turned her head, her pupils suddenly contracted.

Fortunately, the performance was near its end. After the final pose, the five girls bowed and left the stage. As soon as they were off, Lin Zhinan said nervously, “What happened just now? You almost missed a beat—thank god you caught up. You scared me.”

Zhao Yu stared at her in horror.

Lin Zhinan: “?”

Zhao Yu said, horrified, “Am I hallucinating? Why did I just see a light sign with Shen Junyi’s name?”

Lin Zhinan: “???”

Zhao Yu was genuinely losing it. “Is he on the guest list?!”

Lin Zhinan: “…I don’t know. We’ve been so busy rehearsing, I didn’t really check. Probably… not?”

As the staff led them through the side entrance to their seats, Zhao Yu spotted the person who’d been making her anxious in an instant.

Shen Junyi was sitting in the front row, wearing a black suit and an expensive-looking watch, his dark hair neatly combed. He leaned back in his seat, elbow resting on the armrest, head propped on his hand. The ever-energetic youth looked unusually refined tonight.

This past year, they’d only been back to China for two events—both rushed trips, barely enough time to see her parents, let alone Shen Junyi.

Her schedule was unrelenting: endless variety shows, endless recordings, endless dances. Sometimes she was so busy she’d momentarily forget why she’d stepped onto this stage in the first place.

She never expected their sudden reunion to happen tonight.

Zhao Yu felt completely unprepared. As she made her way to her seat, her head was buzzing. Their seats were two rows behind Shen Junyi’s—close enough to see the back of his head.

Lin Zhinan watched her and clicked her tongue. “Good thing you didn’t see him beforehand. If you’d known, you probably wouldn’t have dared to go onstage.”

Zhao Yu sat frozen and hissed through gritted teeth, “You—are—full—of—shit!”

After the curse, she unconsciously swallowed.

Just now, onstage, she had looked…

Sexy, right?