First Kiss Diary - Chapter 19

Ji Ning never expected that taking a group photo could trend.

It was just Ji Shixian calling her over to take a photo together, and then a big V who usually likes to watch dramas posted a video. Just four words, “Share video,” and the comments below were growing by hundreds every second.

The comments currently seen are divided into three categories. The first is the “salty sister” —

[In variety shows, shipping couples on screen is fine, but don’t bring it to the main actors off screen. This celebration banquet is obviously another publicity platform. The rose crew is done with business after celebrating the first kiss scene. Stop cueing, the handsome guy is busy.]

[Without you saying she’s cold towards a small artist, when you do say it, you start shipping real-life couples. It’s really hard being Ji Shixian.]

Ji Ning’s growing fanbase is also unhappy —

[The fairy is beautiful alone, but after taking the photo, they’ll be separated. If you’re wondering about new dramas, Rose will be waiting for you next month.]

[Ji Ning is really miserable. Clearly she was called over by some movie emperor, and now she’s being mocked by the movie emperor’s fans. We really can’t bear the blessings from the movie emperor.]

[Every time Ji Ning does nothing and still gets accused of riding on someone else’s popularity, just because the male lead is popular, everything is blamed on the female lead? Doubtful but silent.]

Meanwhile, the comments from bystanders like “Friends taking care of each other, what’s wrong with that,” “CP fans and solo fans don’t need to be so exaggerated, why tear each other apart over shipping and interaction?” “There’s nothing wrong with this,” “Does anyone find it sweet?” are drowned in the vast fan circle war.

Ji Ning didn’t see any other comments, just glanced at two and then backed out, making a difficult sound.

Nunu came over and looked at her, saying, “The drama will be airing soon, and it seems like everyone is quite interested in the two of you.”

Ji Ning shook slightly. “Do you think that’s a good thing?”

“We’re getting attention just because Ji Shixian has a large following. Any female artist would easily trend monthly just like you.”

If it wasn’t for her, perhaps Ji Shixian’s CP would be more popular now.

“Relax,” Nunu was optimistic, patting her shoulder. “When do you think you guys will have CP fans?”

Ji Ning revealed her inner thoughts. “I don’t think we’ll have CP fans.”

Up to now, both Xunzhang couple and Jiajiang couple all have CP fan forums, but it’s surprisingly quiet on Ji Ning and Ji Shixian’s side. If it weren’t for the fans of both sides updating their forums daily, people would think they don’t exist in the entertainment circle.

Not only do they not have a fan forum, they don’t even have topics. A search on Weibo only brings up controversies, and there are hardly any fans to be seen.

After all, Ji Shixian has so many fans. Who wants to see him dating, especially with a female artist who has had previous scandals? In the hearts of the fans, no one is good enough for their idol.

Ji Ning suddenly sighed.

Nunu asked, “What’s wrong? Are you getting anxious?”

“No, I’m just thinking if our relationship will cause the program team to lose money.”

Nunu almost wanted to slap her awake. “Why do you worry about useless things every day? Just your relationship alone is enough to attract sponsors, you know?”

Ji Ning propped up her chin. “Will they throw rotten vegetables at us and shut down the variety show on the spot?”

“How is that possible — if it’s a couple, there will be CP fans. Ji Shixian and Pei Hanzhou both have CP fans, why wouldn’t you two?” Nunu didn’t believe it.

To prove it to her, Ji Ning logged out and casually searched, then said, “We do have a fan forum.”

Nunu suddenly became excited. “Really? What’s it called?!”

“#DidJiShixianandJiNingBreakUpToday#, there are even two thousand six hundred fans.” They didn’t even want to use the CP name directly, they just used Ji Shixian and Ji Ning instead.

“…”

“Don’t look at that,” Nunu pressed her phone down. “Read tomorrow’s script.”

After returning to the crew and shooting for a few days, “Warm Inn” extended an olive branch to Ji Ning again, conveniently on a day when she didn’t have any other work.

The previous episode Ji Ning participated in had higher discussions and views than before, so the production team considered collaborating with Ji Ning again.

Seeing that she didn’t have any plans that day, Ji Ning agreed.

The day before shooting ended, she immediately took a plane to the filming location of “Warm Inn.” After resting for a few hours, she arrived early the next morning.

Upon entering the inn, she spotted a familiar face. Ji Ning didn’t expect Lin Luosang to be here, so she put down her luggage and rushed over: “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming too?”

Lin Luosang’s long hair was slightly curled, and she smiled as she pinched Ji Ning’s face: “What’s the point of telling you? It wouldn’t be a surprise.”

Apart from Ji Ning and Lin Luosang, the other guest this time was a young actor, Wu Yuefeng.

“Ji Ning is here?” The leading MC, Huang Yan, finished registering the guests and greeted Ji Ning. “Long time no see, is the allergy on your arm better?”

林洛桑’s slightly curled long hair flowed, smiling as he pinched her cheek: “Let me tell you what else is a surprise.”

Apart from Ji Ning and Lin Luosang, this episode’s guests also include a popular actor, Wu Yuefeng.

“Ji Ning is here?” The leading MC, Huang Yan, finished registering the guest information, greeted Ji Ning, “Long time no see, is the allergy on your arm better now?”

“Hello.” Ji Ning bent slightly and replied, “It’s better now, but how did everyone know I had an allergy?”

“In the morning when we went out to buy groceries, we ran into one of your fans. She told us that you are allergic and don’t eat cilantro, so she asked us to take care of you.” Huang Yan took out two ice packs from the cabinet, “She also gave us this, one for each of us, but you have two.”

She never expected to encounter her own fan in life, let alone one who was so emotionally generous, which was simply unimaginable for her in the past.

Does this mean that there are more people who like her now?

Ji Ning couldn’t help but raise the corners of her mouth, her voice brightened by several degrees: “Got it.”

Today, the inn was bustling with guests, and Ji Ning was busy tidying up the beds, cleaning, and registering guests, hardly exchanging a few words with Lin Luosang. Although there was a small competition in this episode, she didn’t care much, so she just wanted to contribute to the inn.

The competition was just a different way of doing the same thing, mainly to see who could please the customers the most. Each guest registered by a guest would be their responsibility, with two heart stickers awarded for satisfying the guest, one heart sticker for an average experience, and one heart deducted for dissatisfaction.

Everyone was in a competitive relationship, and the eventual winner would receive a prize.

Ji Ning and Lin Luosang both adopted a relaxed attitude towards the competition, but the other guest, Wu Yuefeng, was different. Not only did he compete with Ji Ning for guests, but he also deliberately interfered with her service, almost causing her to break a guest’s cup.

Probably because he saw that Lin Luosang had Pei Hanzhou behind her, Wu Yuefeng didn’t dare to be too aggressive, so he only targeted Ji Ning.

Fortunately, there weren’t many guests later on, so Ji Ning sat at the cash register to settle the accounts, while Wu Yuefeng danced in the lobby like a social butterfly, trying to win over their guests.

The guests said that the rule was one person could only vote once, but Wu Yuefeng smiled and said, “Never mind, you can vote for two directors even if you want.”

Wu Yuefeng danced for forty minutes, making a deafening noise, and soon a child began to cry.

The sound was so loud that it seemed to pierce the clouds, like an air raid siren: “I want ice cream!”

“We don’t have ice cream here, and the town is too far away, it would take over an hour to walk there, and there are no cars now,” his mother comforted him, “Let’s have some tomorrow.”

The child cried even louder, “But I want to eat it now!”

The more the child cried, the louder it got, seriously affecting the rest of the other guests. Huang Yan asked, “Who’s responsible for this?”

“Wu Yuefeng.”

Huang Yan looked at Wu Yuefeng and smiled, “Then you’re in trouble. If they can’t get ice cream, they will deduct your hearts. If other guests are affected and complain, they will also deduct your hearts.”

Wu Yuefeng, who was competitive, had a bad expression on his face now.

“Kid, we really can’t make ice cream, can you stop crying?” He patiently tried to coax, but he already couldn’t muster a good tone.

“I want to eat! Waaah!”

Ji Ning finished the accounts and looked up, realizing that the program’s sponsors were a certain brand of instant milk tea and coffee. Suddenly, she had an idea when she remembered seeing instant ice cream pouches from a certain blogger before.

She walked over and patted the child’s head, “Sister will make it for you, so don’t cry.”

The child was stunned, tears hanging in his eyes, “How do you make it?”

She cut open the long instant pouch horizontally, poured the powder into a cup, and made two cups of milk tea and coffee. Then she placed the empty instant pouch in the cup, poured the milk tea and coffee into it, and saw that there was milk in the fridge, so she poured a small bag of milk.

After finishing, she inserted disposable chopsticks and froze it, ready to be taken out.

She shook the cup in front of the child, “There are three flavors in total. I’ll freeze it for you, and you can eat it soon.”

The child stopped crying, staring at her in astonishment, “Really?”

“Really,” Ji Ning lowered her head, “You listen to your mom and do your homework. When you’re done, you’ll have something to eat.”

The child’s mother thanked her a few times and led the child back to their room to do homework. Ji Ning hid her deeds and returned to the counter to check the accounts.

When Lin Luosang passed by, she gave her a thumbs-up.

The comments in the live broadcast area started to increase again:

“Ji Ning is so kind, even helping when she’s being disturbed, unlike Wu Yuefeng, who has no gentlemanly demeanor at all.”

“She’s beautiful, kind-hearted, and smart!”

“Wu Yuefeng is really noisy, I’ve just muted it.”

“Different treatment makes people feel uncomfortable. He probably doesn’t dare to mess with Lin Luosang because her husband is awesome? He’s just a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong.”

Unfortunately, Wu Yuefeng was oblivious and still jumping around there. Ji Ning saw that the time was almost up, so she took the things and prepared to deliver them to the guests.

Certainly, here’s the text with spaces between paragraphs:

“Let me do it, let me do it, you take a break!” On the surface, she’s eager to work, but in reality, she’s just angling for credit.

Ji Ning shrugged. “Be careful, don’t spill.”

Later, when the filming ended and it was time for the guests to show their appreciation, technically only one person could stick to each guest, but several guests chose to stick to Ji Ning.

When it came to crying children, one child even gave both of their hearts directly to Ji Ning.

Wu Yuefeng saw that the risk of his assigned guest was his own responsibility, yet the benefits went to Ji Ning. He couldn’t help but feel unhappy. “Hey, kid, at least give me one. After all, I was the one who brought the stuff up!”

“You’re so mean, I won’t give you one.” The child took two steps back and pointed at Ji Ning. “You even bullied my sister.”

Wu Yuefeng: “…”

“Do you have any sense of reason?”

The child said, “You snatched the popsicle from my sister’s hand, I saw it.”

Wu Yuefeng’s temper flared a bit. “What did you see? Kids shouldn’t talk nonsense.”

Huang Yan stepped forward. “Yuefeng, let’s just admit defeat.”

With the seniors having spoken, Wu Yuefeng didn’t dare to say anything more. He rolled his eyes to the side, pretending to be magnanimous. “Forget it, I don’t want to argue with a brat.”

Later, when the results were announced, Ji Ning undoubtedly ranked first, Lin Luosang was only a few votes behind her, but Wu Yuefeng was at the bottom with very few votes.

As they left the scene after taking off their microphones, Ji Ning heard Wu Yuefeng mutter angrily, “What a crappy show, I’m never participating again!”

――

After finishing filming at the inn, it was another day of shooting. Ji Ning was exhausted, even forgetting that “First Kiss Diary” was premiering that day. She fell into a deep sleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

That night’s hot search topics undoubtedly followed the trend closely: #JiShiyan’s Love#, #Ji Ning Drunk#, #JiShiyanJiNing# took turns trending.

Ji Shiyi also casually opened his phone, only to find… a scene of chaos. Both fanbases were at odds, and even neutral comments were full of question marks and doubts.

Fans were more wary than their idols and had more opinions. Ji Shiyi looked at the comments filled with “Take away Ji Shiyi and Ji Shiyi edit”, wondering why there was such a big deal…?

Isn’t it good to ship Ji Shiyi and Ji Ning?

He threw his phone aside and went to bed.

What neither of them knew was that the #DoubleClickCouple# topic quickly emerged half an hour after the broadcast began, with a resolute determination to face the backlash.

Although there were few people discussing the topic, the introduction was straightforward: Listen, the sound of getting slapped.

The only Weibo post was: [It’s not convenient to fight here. Click on CP to join the group, PM me for the group number.]

Like a group of underground agents, but also a bit like MLM.

Although it was unreasonable to admit, there was indeed a hierarchy in the fan circle. OnlyFans looked down on Double-Stan Fans, Double-Stan Fans looked down on CP Fans, and CP Fans looked down on freeloaders.

Freeloaders usually didn’t reveal themselves, just brushing up on idol-related content every day. While humble CP fans just posted a blog to record, “My ship is real,” they would attract disdain or even abuse from both sides. Because in the eyes of some fans, being in the same frame as my idol is just sucking blood and riding on the heat, they don’t allow such things to happen.

The combination of top stars and controversial rising stars was terrifying. Those who surfed the internet knew it well. The two fan bases were now actively avoiding suspicion, so how could CP fans openly promote their ship? And since they hadn’t seen DoubleClickCouple fans show up yet, no one dared to be the first to be targeted by the barrage. They could only secretly indulge.

Although there were less than a hundred fans in the Super Topic, the group quickly gained thousands of members within an hour. Everyone was excited and passionate, like experiencing a second youth.

While Weibo was filled with arguments and fights, the group was surprisingly harmonious and filled with love bubbles. Everyone discussed while watching.

Some newcomers to the group were almost moved to tears: [I thought I was the only CP fan in the world! I didn’t dare to say anything after watching the behind-the-scenes footage, but there are so many sisters standing with me for DoubleClick, 555 so happy.]

[Of course, DoubleClickCouple saved my life.]

[I witnessed it, I’m from the Civil Affairs Bureau.]

When Ji Ning got drunk, the group started to talk nonsense even more. “The little coward who only opens up when he’s drunk and Ji Liaoliao, who wouldn’t love them? The monkeys in the zoo are a sign from heaven, give birth to monkeys immediately!”

Of course, the most abundant thing for CP, which was criticized by the whole network before, was the face-slapping fans:

“I used to say I would die, die outside, jump from here, and wouldn’t take a bite of DoubleClickCouple’s sugar! Now: really sweet.”

“Me too, I seem to have figured out this pair.”

“The True Fragrance Law was proposed by our famous psychologist and mathematician Wang Jingze. No living being can violate the True Fragrance Law. Testing has shown that all living beings that violate the True Fragrance Law will be slapped in the face.”

As the program ended in the commercials, the lively group showed no signs of quieting down. The undercover agents who secretly indulged in CP renamed themselves “Mouse Girls” – Double-click, isn’t that a mouse?

The group owner posted the airing time of the next episode in the group announcement. Despite the late hour, the tumultuous group showed no signs of calming down. If they couldn’t sleep, they’d vote instead. The Mouse Girls found that Ji Ning and Ji Shiyi’s Super Topic was still a bit far from completion, so in order to reunite their CP, they rolled up their sleeves, turned their excitement into motivation, and began to collect data for Ji Ning.

Enough said, it’s worth it.

――
Ji Ning was completely unaware of the tumultuous events around her, sleeping soundly through the night and ready to get back to work as soon as she woke up. She had a rare eight hours of sleep last night, enough for a female celebrity to feel generously bestowed upon, and she began shooting “The First Kiss Diary” feeling refreshed. This morning, they were making a drink to commemorate their memories together.

Standing in the beverage shop, they listened to the shop owner’s introduction: “In front of you are various flavors of concentrated fruit juice such as lemon, passion fruit, lychee, sea salt, etc. Add freely according to your feelings about this relationship, and finally create a special drink for the two of you. We’ll also replicate ten bottles for your fans.” Ji Ning stole a glance at Ji Shiyan and muttered to herself.

“Can I really have fans for our couple pairing? Am I worthy?”

With that thought, she raised her hand to add something, and Ji Shiyan also reached out his hand at the same time. Raising his eyebrows, Ji Shiyan motioned for Ji Ning to go first. Ji Ning stepped forward and added a hint of sea salt, reminiscent of himself, cool and steady with a faint sweetness. She then added a few drops of lemon juice, symbolizing the connection between the two.

Ji Shiyan only added a bit of blueberry juice. After they finished adding to the water, the machine automatically shook the mixture and pushed it out a few moments later, flashing its completion signal. Ji Ning asked, “Is this good?”

“Maybe a bit more…”

The owner wanted her to add more, but Ji Shiyan interrupted, “It’s fine if you think it’s good.”

Glancing at Ji Shiyan, the owner said, “Alright, then try it.”

Ji Ning opened the lid and took a sip, but there was too much plain water, so the drink barely had any flavor, just a slight sweetness after drinking. No wonder the owner wanted her to add more. She was about to suggest another round when the owner pointed to Ji Shiyan, starting to anticipate the scene: “Let him try.”

Subconsciously, Ji Ning wanted to find another cup to pour into, but both the owner and Ji Shiyan’s gaze followed her, and the camera was focused on them. She couldn’t possibly give Ji Shiyan a new cup, or it would seem like she was snubbing her idol. Ji Ning nervously handed over the cup she had drunk from. Ji Shiyan took a sip and pondered for a moment, “There’s a hint of… peach.”

The owner was surprised, “That’s not possible, you didn’t add peach.”

Ji Ning was also pondering, and suddenly, she remembered something, a jolt of realization running from her spine to her ears. She pursed her lips and looked at the spot where Ji Shiyan’s lips had touched.

If she remembered correctly…

Her lipstick today seemed to be peach-flavored.

Author’s note: Ning, a peachy little girl
The mouse girl never gives up! I, Lu Ling, am the first to raise the flag and shout!