It was probably the first time such an unexpected scene had appeared on a live variety show broadcast. Even though the footage revealed absolutely no useful information, it still shot to the top of the search rankings late at night.
Qiu Chao DVD Player#
Disc Master Yan Muyu#
Pastoral Idyll: Me and My Agent#
Yan Muyu Qiu Chao#
After the live stream ended, Yan Muyu lay on the bed scrolling through her phone. She had no idea how to respond to the mocking messages from Shen Tianqing and Lin Chi.
Shen Tianqing, ever the type to stir the pot without a care, had even forwarded the #Disc Master Yan Muyu# hashtag with a highly sarcastic emoji.
Group chat: Another Energetic Day Today~ (3)
Shen Tianqing: Turns out there are adult DVDs too. Fits your image perfectly.
Shen Tianqing: @Yan Muyu Watching with your ex-sister-in-law must be thrilling, right?
It took Yan Muyu a long time to reply.
Yan Muyu: Get lost.
Yan Muyu: @Shen Tianqing If you like role-playing so much, go act it out with your Meng Heng.
Shen Tianqing: [Shy] Do I really need you to tell me?
Yan Muyu took a deep breath and tossed her phone aside.
Qiu Chao was still doing her hand care routine, the scent so strong that Yan Muyu felt like sneezing.
Seeing Yan Muyu chuck her phone down, Qiu Chao asked, “Who are you chatting with?”
Yan Muyu: “What, now you’re checking up on me?”
Qiu Chao didn’t even lift an eyelid. Her skincare routine was incredibly elaborate, and even in these primitive conditions, nothing could stop her from going through every step.
Yan Muyu flopped onto the bed and reached for a fresh steam eye mask. As she grabbed one from the side, she caught sight of something peeking out from under Qiu Chao’s pillow.
Yan Muyu pretended not to notice.
Qiu Chao’s voice floated lightly: “You can check up on me too.”
Without waiting for Yan Muyu’s response, as if she had eyes in the back of her head, she added, “Why pretend you didn’t see it?”
Yan Muyu: “See what?”
She tore open the packaging on the steam eye mask and lay back down. Qiu Chao immediately scooted closer.
The fragrance from her body was overwhelming, almost seeping into Yan Muyu’s lungs.
The little bedroom was cramped to begin with, and the bed placement was downright unreasonable. Yan Muyu strongly suspected someone on the production team had skimped on the budget.
From what she could tell, all the show’s costs had gone into synchronized post-production and editing.
The women had hardly anywhere to spend money; their daily lives felt more like military training than a vacation.
Yan Muyu: “Why are you scooting over like that?”
Qiu Chao: “That’s how I slept last night. Not allowed tonight?”
The gap between their beds was narrow anyway—barely a seam. Liu Song had boldly pushed them together without a second thought, even on camera, declaring she liked sleeping with Sister Xi.
Pei Wan and Ding Yingxue were even more natural about it—actual sisters whose bond ran so deep the younger had grown up wearing the older’s hand-me-down skirts. Sharing a bed was only logical for them.
Yan Muyu and Qiu Chao, though, had no such excuse.
But sharing a bed had happened once, then twice, then again.
Qiu Chao was incredibly clingy. She was also loud—if Yan Muyu didn’t cover her mouth, the whole group would know exactly what was going on.
And yet Qiu Chao had no shame about it. It was as if those ten years of hard work had swallowed up all the bashfulness she’d once shown Yan Muyu.
Now it was an endless abyss of desire, even drawing Yan Muyu into her wild frenzy.
Yan Muyu sighed. Qiu Chao reached over and tugged off her eye mask.
She slipped under Yan Muyu’s thin blanket, draping her entire body on top, as if trying to meld right into her.
Yan Muyu: “I’m exhausted. Don’t mess with me.”
She squinted her eyes but didn’t push Qiu Chao away. After all, this was the deal they’d agreed on.
But was it really just a deal?
Yan Muyu shied away from that question.
Someone was being annoyingly persistent, messaging in the middle of the night. Yan Muyu felt her phone buzzing under the pillow.
Someone else snatched it out first, tapping the floating bubble to enable Do Not Disturb.
Yan Muyu let out a “Hey!” “Aren’t you being a bit too high-handed?”
Qiu Chao grabbed Yan Muyu’s hand and pressed that thing into her palm. “At least touch me.”
Yan Muyu: “Qiu Chao, you need to sleep. We’ve got a packed day tomorrow.”
Qiu Chao: “You want me to hold out for ten or twenty days?”
She nipped at Yan Muyu again.
Yan Muyu: ……
Yan Muyu: “It’s not that dramatic, is it? I’ve seen…”
Qiu Chao clamped a hand over her mouth. “Don’t mention irrelevant people right now. Put this mouth to better use—on me.”
Yan Muyu was utterly defeated. “You weren’t like this before, were you?”
For some reason, she thought of Qiu Chao’s first love.
First loves sounded like these perfect, beautiful things. Yan Muyu had never had one, but that didn’t stop her from thinking it must be nice.
She recalled how Qiu Chao’s first romance—back when she’d won her debut award—had been hailed as the golden couple.
Casually, Yan Muyu asked, “Do actors on set fall for each other easily because of their roles?”
Her question was offhand as her hand gripped the thing she’d personally designed all those years ago, flipping the switch with practiced ease.
Qiu Chao bloomed over her like twin flowers on a single stalk.
The small bedroom’s window was tiny, a makeshift wooden frame, with a curtain rod that looked like some scavenged dead branch.
The walls were plastered unevenly, and under the dim yellow lamplight, they took on a gritty filter.
The wind rustled the curtains, carrying the whisper of bamboo leaves from the back mountain.
Qiu Chao let out a muffled sound, almost like a sob. Thinking Yan Muyu meant Xuan Zhelu, she gripped her hand tighter.
Yan Muyu sucked in a sharp breath. “Why bite me? I was saying you’ve got some nerve, even biting during the live stream.”
She really loved muttering to herself. “And you hit me too.”
Qiu Chao: “Who do you want to fall for?”
She asked again: “Who are you afraid will fall for whom?”
They were pressed so close it was like they’d grown together.
Even through the fabric, their body heat transferred perfectly; each breath felt like a deep, sucking pull.
Qiu Chao nipped at Yan Muyu’s earlobe, her voice laced with a sobbing lilt, endless grievance: “Are you thinking about Xuan Zhelu?”
Qiu Chao had rarely felt fear in her life.
Even stumbling upon her stepfather’s filthy deeds back then had only left her with hindsight chills.
She’d stayed calm handling her mother’s body.
Qiu Yuan had said more than once, “If only I had a sister as strong as you.”
Qiu Chao had just smiled.
She’d used up all her fear that year, when she’d been utterly alone and helpless.
Even when Qiu Siyuan had asked if she hadn’t thought it through.
Maybe it was the suspension bridge effect?
Qiu Chao had dissected it on countless sleepless nights.
At first, maybe—but those four years of living together didn’t fit the theory.
Yan Muyu’s mere breath made her heart race.
Every bit of care, every unconscious act of looking after her—even if not perfectly attentive—it was enough to show Qiu Chao that, back then, she was number one in Yan Muyu’s heart.
Higher than a girlfriend.
And yet, not a girlfriend.
What Qiu Chao feared most was Yan Muyu suddenly waking up to reality.
Becoming intertwined lovers with someone else.
Like that year when she’d returned to the country to pay off a debt of gratitude, overhearing Xuan Zhelu in the lounge: “Yan Muyu is my girlfriend.”
Xuan Zhelu was twenty-one, not fully out of her group yet. For someone from a privileged background with endless resources, a big debut role like that wasn’t hard to snag.
The entire crew could even wait another year for her.
Xuan Zhelu dated casually—guys, girls, whatever.
As long as she liked them.
Qiu Chao had thought Yan Muyu wouldn’t get over Xu Xue that quickly.
But she’d never imagined the other woman could be so ruthless, plunging heart-first into the next one so swiftly.
And this one sounded dead set on Yan Muyu.
That day, Qiu Chao had lost control.
Even Mai Chen had been worried.
Fortunately, Yan Muyu and Xuan Zhelu had broken up later.
Yan Muyu didn’t like rekindling old flames, but Qiu Chao always sensed variables lurking.
Because of the massive CP fans online, because Xuan Zhelu didn’t need to live in fear without a safety net like she did.
She had a family that openly indulged her—a bona fide princess.
But what about me?
How could she make Yan Muyu stay by her side for the long haul?
Yan Muyu was speechless for a good while, feeling the wetness on her shoulder. “Why are you crying again?”
This was a far cry from the arrogant woman of recent weeks.
Yan Muyu hated to admit it, but this version of Qiu Chao left her utterly flustered.
She was a bit like that little sister-in-law from those four years ago: workaholic, career-obsessed, but curling up at home to wail over kiwis that were too sour.
Those were physiological tears.
But they made her seem like such a little girl.
It hit Yan Muyu with a sudden realization: Oh, she’s the same age as me.
Yan Muyu: “What are you even thinking? What does she have to do with anything?”
After hesitating, she finally reached out and stroked Qiu Chao’s hair.
Female celebrities shelled out fortunes yearly on skincare, but Yan Muyu knew plenty struggled with their hair too.
Hairpieces were a necessity.
Someone like Qiu Chao, with such thick, lush locks, was rare. And they felt like silk, impossible to stop touching.
Qiu Chao: “Which hand are you using to pet me?”
Yan Muyu nearly laughed in exasperation. “Come on, girlie, it’s your own toy—are you calling it dirty now? I didn’t even touch your hair with it.”
Qiu Chao: “What speed did you set it to? It’s too much.”
Yan Muyu: “I didn’t turn it on. Are you delirious?”
She shoved her off, feeling overheated from being stacked like that. She pulled her hand free and wiped it with a wet wipe.
Qiu Chao sat up slowly, pulling the blanket over herself. But when Yan Muyu turned her head, she could see those legs spread wide.
Yan Muyu said, “Don’t you have any shame?”
The bedside lamp cast a faint glow, and Yan Muyu’s silhouette appeared on the wall as she wiped her hands. Even the shadow of her hands looked strikingly elegant.
Qiu Chao watched her without blinking.
“Why are you always staring at me?” Yan Muyu asked. “Yuan Yuan already told me.”
“yuan Yuan?” Qiu Chao blinked. “When did you two get so close?”
Yan Muyu gave her a look. “Aren’t you missing the point here?”
After finishing with her hands, she offered the wet wipe to Qiu Chao. But Qiu Chao just knelt on the bed, draped in a thin blanket, as if laying a deliberate trap.
“Isn’t this above and beyond my duties?” Yan Muyu said.
“Are you this inconsiderate with everyone else?” Qiu Chao countered.
“Depends on the person.”
But Qiu Chao lunged forward anyway, dragging the blanket with her. Yan Muyu’s head knocked against the wall, and she winced in pain, baring her teeth.
Yet the culprit looked utterly innocent as she grabbed Yan Muyu’s freshly cleaned hands to wipe her own legs.
