The core members of the CP fans chased away Fang Hui and the other two, then immediately reported their achievement to the CP fans leader, Li Mengjiao.
Wen Ying and Li Mengjiao were inseparable at school, yet Wen Ying had no idea that Li Mengjiao had secretly created a CP support group behind her back.
Li Mengjiao’s fans chased stars, and Li Mengjiao chased stars too. After entering the entertainment industry for so long, she had met plenty of performing artists. At first, she would get excited, but gradually she grew accustomed to it and felt nothing special anymore.
Teacher Yuan had said that nine out of ten celebrities were packaged personas, best admired from afar, as close contact would inevitably shatter one’s perceptions. For instance, the domestic diva Hu Man was a glaring example.
Chasing stars?
It was better to focus on building one’s own career.
Li Mengjiao nodded along on the surface, but privately she did not fully agree.
If nine out of ten celebrities were packaged personas, there must be at least one genuine soul left.
However, there truly was no colleague in the entertainment industry who made Li Mengjiao particularly obsessed. Her happiest daily activity now was shipping CPs.
Idol dramas were fake, scripted performances, but the CP Li Mengjiao shipped was real, vivid and captivating.
Li Mengjiao had gathered a large number of like-minded fans at school. Non-CP fans could not get into this group; it was the secret base where CP fans indulged in their sweets.
For most students at the provincial key school, owning a camera phone was no big deal. The QQ group updated daily with candid shots of Wen Ying and Xie Qian’s daily life: in the canteen, in the classroom, in the school corridors, everywhere had joint photos.
An inadvertent glance between them could be interpreted by this group of CP fans into an entire episode’s worth of drama.
Phone snaps were for novice fans; the veteran CP fans even brought digital cameras to school, waving them around under the banner of the school’s student photography society for a frenzy of shots. Every evening, when sharing their high-definition captures, they would receive praise from the group leader Li Mengjiao and flattery from the other members, leaving these veteran CP fans brimming with enthusiasm each day.
The best photos were all saved by Li Mengjiao.
Every day, seeing her collection grow, Li Mengjiao would flash the satisfied grin of a little mouse that had successfully stolen sesame oil.
Xie Shen was using practice papers to torment her a thousand times over now, and she had no way to fight back.
A young girl’s revenge could wait ten years. In another ten… hmph, she would not even need to wait that long. On the day Xie Qian proposed to Wen Ying, these saved photos would become the most beautiful testament to their romance.
These photos had to be “redeemed” by Xie Qian himself at a steep price. If he did not splurge big time once, Li Mengjiao swore she would not provide him with any photo assists.
As for when Xie Qian would propose to Wen Ying or when they would marry, Li Mengjiao never worried about it.
Sooner or later, they would get married anyway.
Wen Ying was so wonderful; Xie Qian would be a fool to let her go.
By the same token, with a male god like Xie Qian by her side, no other boys stood a chance of entering Wen Ying’s heart.
This CP was locked tight in Li Mengjiao’s mind; anyone trying to break it up was her enemy.
Why had this CP support club never been exposed?
Even if Wen Ying and Xie Qian themselves found out, they would have to look at Li Mengjiao in a new light. This daft girl showed extraordinary organisational skills in managing the CP fans. For example, the entry rule was that veteran fans recruited new ones, but if a veteran brought in an unreliable newbie, even the veteran would be kicked out. This approach first ensured the “purity” of the CP fans in the group; only true shippers of this pair had a chance to join.
Moreover, the QQ group shared photos every evening, and some members even wrote little stories based on them. With such high activity and investment of time and emotion, these CP fans naturally grew more and more devoted.
Li Mengjiao had learned seven or eight tenths of Yuan Fenghui’s methods for managing artist fans, and she ran the CP support group with thriving success.
Lately, Li Mengjiao was considering whether to foot the bill herself for a batch of customised souvenirs to reward the active CP shippers in the group. She opened her computer and logged into QQ, only to find the group’s atmosphere a bit different tonight.
Taking a closer look, it turned out a girl was sharing the spoils of chasing off the nosy outsiders today.
Li Mengjiao could not help but smile.
“Well done.”
Li Mengjiao’s comment thrilled the girl. “I believe if it had been anyone else there today, they would have done the same.”
CP fans did not shun Xie Qian’s solo fangirls; half of the CP fans had been solo fangirls before.
But attacking Wen Ying just because one liked Xie Qian? That would not do.
Even if not a CP fan, Xie Qian’s fangirls did not need such narrow-minded companions.
Li Mengjiao had not taken this little episode to heart at first, but when she scrolled through the photos uploaded to the group today, she could not help letting out an “eh.”
What was this person’s name again? Oh, right, she remembered: Yue Shanni.
Had Yue Shanni not learned her lesson yet? She was actually stirring up trouble for Wen Ying again?
Li Mengjiao was furious and regretted leaving early for the magazine photoshoot. She pulled out the photo and asked the group, “Who took this in the afternoon?”
Someone had just claimed the photo when the girl who chased off the three “monsters” replied instantly. “They were the ones inquiring about Xie Shen this afternoon.”
Li Mengjiao gritted her teeth: Very well, so they were all Yue Shanni’s accomplices. As expected, none of them were any good.
Li Mengjiao saved the photo from the group and printed it the next day to bring to school. During the break, with Wen Ying out of the classroom, Li Mengjiao shoved the photo at Xie Qian.
“Those pests are bullying Wen Ying again.”
Xie Qian had been thinking about this too.
Chen Ru and Wen Dongrong had gone door-to-door forcing these girls to apologise, robbing Xie Qian of the path he could have taken. He could not help pondering what else he could do for Wen Ying.
Li Mengjiao straight-up dumped the photo in front of Xie Qian to tattle, and he pocketed it without asking how she knew. His focus shifted elsewhere. “Where did the photo come from?”
“Snapped, of course.”
“I know it was snapped. I am asking who snapped it.”
Xie Qian tapped the desk with his fingers. “Lately, I have had this constant feeling of being spied on.”
Li Mengjiao’s bravado deflated instantly, her eyes darting away.
“I do not know. It was just a casual shot by someone from the photography society. Anyway, I told you about it, so if you do not protect Wen Ying, I will.”
Xie Qian was tempted to ask what Li Mengjiao planned to protect Wen Ying with, her celebrity charm perhaps?
Looking at Li Mengjiao’s puffed-up face, Xie Qian suddenly felt like laughing.
The hamster’s social circle had long since updated; there was no need to rummage through the past dustbin.
Xie Qian instructed Li Mengjiao, “I will take the photo. These are all annoying rats, so do not bother mentioning them specially to Wen Ying. I will not ask how you got it, but whoever can snap photos like this must be watching Wen Ying every moment. Let them keep a close eye and make sure no ill-intentioned rats get near her.”
Xie Qian had not actually connected it to the CP fans.
Wen Ying was a celebrity now, with plenty of readers at school. Proximity bred opportunity, so it was normal for fellow students who were fans to sneak a few photos.
Celebrities had little privacy; that was a downside but also an upside. With so many readers watching, it was not easy for anyone to plot harm against Wen Ying.
Li Mengjiao felt incredibly guilty.
Did Xie Qian already know the support club existed?
Hmph, if he knew, fine, but she would die before admitting it.
Under Xie Qian’s gaze, Li Mengjiao’s swagger turned into fidgeting. “As if I need you to tell me. I am Wen Ying’s best friend; of course I will protect her.”
Best friend?
Li Mengjiao certainly had thick skin.
Wen Ying came in from outside the classroom. “What are you two saying about me behind my back?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing much.”
Both Xie Qian and Li Mengjiao denied it, leaving Wen Ying deeply suspicious.
Xie Qian was naturally unflappable to his core, while Li Mengjiao deployed all her acting skills to feign composure. Wen Ying recalled the text from Little Newt earlier and had no mind to press further. “Little Newt told me that Rong City Literature and Art Publishing House is sidelining Bao Lixin, but Bao Lixin preemptively resigned. Not only that, he poached several authors too; those were the promising talents we selected through the essay contest. This time, both Spark and Rong City Literature and Art Publishing House have taken a significant hit.”
