Secondary CP Chapter 3: The Encirclement of Two Beauties
When the rain stopped, Azhe was sitting on a bench by the river, his heels stained with muddy water mixed with grass scraps. The river breeze, swirling with moisture and a hint of late autumn coolness, blew his hair into a mess. His phone vibrated countless times in his pocket, but he didn't answer it, staring at the river—the ripples from the passing freighter rippled outward, resembling the online insults against him, seemingly dispersed, yet always lurking somewhere.
Only when dusk settled in, painting the river a gray-blue, did he slowly pull out his phone. Ninety-eight missed calls filled the screen, seventy-three of them from Sister Zhang. The rest were from the crew, brands, and one unfamiliar number, the note "Su Man."
This name sounded familiar. Azhe thought for half a minute before remembering it - it was Lin Yu's ex-girlfriend, who played the third female lead in a low-budget online drama last year and was on the hot search at the time because she looked like Meng Yao.
He called Su Man back. It rang twice before the call was picked up. The other party's voice was deliberately calm: "Teacher Azhe? This is Su Man."
"Is there something?" Azhe's voice was a little hoarse, like sandpaper blown by the river breeze.
"I know you're feeling very uncomfortable right now," Su Man paused, as if weighing her words. "Actually... I know who Lin Yu is better than you do. When he was with Meng Yao, he was still in contact with me."
Ah Zhe raised an eyebrow. He wasn't interested in hearing about other people's emotional entanglements, but Su Man's next words were like a stone dropped into his stagnant heart.
"Three years ago, he broke up with me, saying, 'I need to focus on my career now, so I can't make our relationship public.' But then he turned around and got back together with Meng Yao." Su Man's voice cooled. "He even came to me last week and said, 'I've lost my feelings for Meng Yao, but she just has something on me.' You see, he always has an excuse, and he always clears himself of all charges."
Ah Zhe was silent, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the orange wood pick. He remembered how during night scenes, Lin Yu would disappear for half an hour at three in the morning, returning with a strange perfume. He remembered the day Meng Yao visited the set, when Lin Yu smiled at her, then turned around and snapped at his assistant, saying, "I'm so annoyed." He remembered the wrap party, when Lin Yu, drunk, pulled him aside and said, "Actually, I don't want to do gay dramas at all. The company forced me into this."
It turns out that those scattered doubts had already been strung together.
"What do you want?" Azhe asked.
"I don't want to do anything," Su Man laughed, a little self-deprecatingly. "I just can't stand his face. Doesn't Meng Yao like to play the victim? Didn't she say you were tying her up for publicity? I have photos of the two of them going to the hotel together last year, and the chat records where Lin Yu complained to me about Meng Yao's 'materialistic' nature... If you want to turn over the cards, I can give them to you."
Ah Zhe stood up, shivering in the river breeze. A distant streetlight flickered on, its dim light falling on the river like a sprinkle of gold. He thought of Yunheng's orange tree, which should be laden with green and yellow fruit by this time of year. Grandma would climb a ladder to pick them, placing them in a bamboo basket on the eight-immortals table in the main hall.
"No need," he said. "I can handle my own affairs."
After hanging up the phone, he sent a message to Sister Zhang: "Don't worry, I'm fine." Then he opened Weibo. The hot search list had changed, but #阿哲束林煜# was still at number 23. When he clicked on it, the one at the top was a long article posted by Meng Yao two hours ago.
The long article was written with tears in his eyes. He said that he had "worked silently for three years and never disturbed Lin Yu's work", and that "some colleagues took advantage of Lin Yu's kindness and deliberately created the illusion of intimacy." Finally, he attached a few screenshots - they were stills of the two-person drama sent by Azhe, with the accompanying text circled and marked in red pen with "malicious guidance".
In the comment section, Meng Yao’s fans were posting “I feel sorry for my sister”, Lin Yu’s fans were posting “Stay away from my brother”, and only a few fans of the drama were shouting “Both sides are bad people”.
Ah Zhe stared at the circled still—it was a shot of Gu Yanchen shielding Lu Shi from the rain, his hand on Lin Yu's shoulder, the worry in his eyes genuine. Lin Yu had a fever that day and went to the hospital after filming the scene. But now, this photo was accused of "malicious misinformation."
He suddenly found it funny. What was wrong with this industry? Real things were called fake, while fake things were praised as treasures.
At eleven o'clock at night, Su Man sent another message, this time a compressed file. Ah Zhe hesitated for a few seconds, then clicked to unzip it. Inside were dozens of photos and screenshots of chat logs—Lin Yu, his arm around Su Man's waist, standing outside a hotel, dated last Christmas; Lin Yu sending Su Man a WeChat message: "Meng Yao is too noisy, you're more sensible"; there was even a recording of Lin Yu's drunken voice saying, "When this show becomes a hit, I'll break up with her, and then..."
The rest of the sentence was not finished, but it was enough.
Azhe forwarded the compressed file to his secondary account, then opened the chat box with Lin Yu. The last message was still from Lin Yu: "Sorry." He stared at the two words for half a minute, then typed the next line: "Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock, see you at the usual place by the river."
That was where they filmed the breakup scene between Gu Yanchen and Lu Shi, and it was also the place where he felt for the first time that "Gu Yanchen's pain seemed real."
The next morning, when Ah Zhe arrived, Lin Yu was already there. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, a hat, and a mask. His expression was unclear, but the white fingers gripping the coffee cup betrayed his nervousness.
"What do you want from me?" Lin Yu's voice sounded a little muffled through the mask.
Azhe didn't say anything, but just turned the phone screen towards him - it was a photo sent by Su Man, the one where Lin Yu was hugging Su Man.
Lin Yu's pupils suddenly contracted, and he almost dropped the coffee cup: "Where... where did you get it?"
"Someone gave it to me." Ah Zhe put away his phone and said calmly, "Lin Yu, how many girlfriends do you have? Or do you just stick with whoever is useful to you?"
"It's not what you think!" Lin Yu took off his mask, his face as pale as paper, "Su Man did it on purpose! She has always wanted to take revenge on me..."
"What about Meng Yao?" Azhe interrupted him. "Did she do it on purpose? When she posted a long article scolding me for tying you up, what were you doing? Were you clapping beside me?"
Lin Yu opened his mouth but couldn't say anything. The wind blew his hair up, revealing his smooth forehead. He looked completely different from the flamboyant Lu Shi in the drama.
"Do you know how important this drama is to me?" Ah Zhe's voice was soft, yet it carried a heavy weight. "I was put on ice for three years. When I couldn't get any roles, I sang in bars every day until my throat bled. I begged the director for this drama. I lost 15 pounds and filmed the rain scene with a high fever, not so that you could use me as a stepping stone for your girlfriend."
He recalled that three years ago in the training camp, he was holding a guitar and revising "Moonlight Rose" for Yunheng. It was so simple back then. Good was good, bad was bad. There was no need to guess, no need to be on guard, and no need to be afraid that his sincerity would be taken for granted.
"I know I'm sorry," Lin Yu's voice lowered, pleading, "but what do you want me to do? Meng Yao is very emotionally unstable right now. If I get angry with her, who knows what she'll say..."
"So you're going to sacrifice me?" Azhe laughed. "Lin Yu, you haven't changed at all. You only think about yourself."
He turned to leave, but Lin Yu suddenly grabbed his wrist with frightening force: "What do you want? Do you want me to apologize to you publicly? Or do you want me to break up with Meng Yao? Ah Zhe, don't force me..."
Ah Zhe shook off his hand, leaving a few red marks on his wrist, like scars from being strangled. He looked at Lin Yu and suddenly felt that the person in front of him was very unfamiliar - he had played such a passionate role before, so how could he be so cold in real life?
"I don't want to do anything," Ah Zhe said. "I just came to tell you that from today on, we're done. I'll go to the show's promotions, but don't expect me to act out some brotherly love scene with you. Also, take care of your girlfriend and don't bother me anymore."
After saying this, he left without looking back. The sunlight shone through the clouds, stretching his shadow very long, and falling on the river surface, like a road that would not turn back.
At 3 p.m., Su Man's lengthy post suddenly became a trending topic. She didn't include any photos, but simply wrote a "memoir" about her four years with Lin Yu, from his humble beginnings to the present day. She said, "He always said he'd make our relationship public when he reached the top." Then, she ended with a twist: "But he turned around and started dating someone else, saying, 'That's how actors' relationships are; take advantage of them whenever you can.'"
The comment section exploded instantly. #Lin Yu cheated# #Meng Yao knew the third party was the third party# rushed to the hot search, and was squeezed together with #Azhe Liangqing#, like a melee.
Meng Yao reacted quickly, immediately denying the rumors on Weibo, saying that Su Man "turned love into hate and deliberately spread rumors." She also posted chat records between herself and Lin Yu to prove that "the two were in a stable relationship." However, netizens noticed that Lin Yu's replies in the records were always perfunctory, with the most common words being "stop it" and "got it."
Even more interesting is that someone dug up an interview Meng Yao did last year in which she said she was "single and focused on her career," which completely contradicts her current "three-year relationship." #MengYaoLie# has become a new hot topic.
Ah Zhe huddled in his apartment, watching the bloody scene unfold on his phone, feeling nothing. Sister Zhang sent a message saying, "The brand isn't pursuing the matter for now, and they'll see how it develops." He replied with a "hmm."
In the evening, Yunheng sent a video call. On the screen, an old man was picking oranges in the yard, his bamboo basket piled high, the yellow oranges looking like little suns.
"Azhe, your grandma asked me to ask you, when will you come to eat oranges again?" Yunheng's voice was filled with laughter, and grandma's shouting could be heard in the background.
Ah Zhe's Adam's apple moved, and he suddenly felt a little homesick. He smiled at the screen and said, "Soon, I'll go after I finish this."
After hanging up the video, he opened the chat box with Su Man and typed a line of words: "Thank you."
Su Man replied immediately: "No need to thank me, I just can't stand them. Oh, by the way, Meng Yao contacted me privately and said she would pay me to delete my blog. Guess what I said?"
Ah Zhe didn't reply, but he could probably guess. People like Su Man never want money, but a sense of security.
That night, he dreamed he was back in the training camp. Yun Heng was playing "Moonlight Rose" on guitar, and he was lying next to her, changing the sheet music. Moonlight shone through the window, falling on the music like a layer of silver powder.
"Azhe, what do you think will happen to us in the future?" Yun Heng looked up and asked him, with a bright light in her eyes.
"It will be a hit." He patted his chest and said, "The songs you write will be a hit, the dramas I act in will be a hit, and we will both be in the brightest spot."
When he woke up, it was still dark. Azhe pulled out his phone and saw Lin Yu's Weibo post: "I'm sorry for the inconvenience this personal matter has caused you. I'll handle it, and I hope everyone will pay more attention to my work."
The comments below have completely gotten out of control.
"Handle it? How to handle it? You're trying to clean up your act by playing both sides?"
"I feel sorry for Azhe, he was badly screwed by these two!"
"I suddenly felt that Azhe was so clear-headed. He cleared the air so early!"
Ah Zhe put down his phone and walked to the window. The sky outside gradually brightened, and the clouds were dyed a light pink. He remembered Gu Yanchen's line: "Some fires, once they are burned, can't be put out."
I used to think it was about love, but now I understand that some accounts, once settled, are not so easy to settle.
He turned back to his room, turned on his computer, and pulled up the arrangement file for "Moonlight Rose." The software interface, which he hadn't touched in three years, felt a little unfamiliar, but the moment his fingertips touched the keyboard, he suddenly felt at ease.
Maybe it's time for him to write a new song. Something about betrayal, about sobriety, about how not all storms are worth riding together.
The river breeze picked up again, rustling the curtains. Ah Zhe stared at the dancing notes on the screen, his lips curling up slightly.
Since they were going to make a scene, he would go along with it. But this time, he had to write the script.
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