Wen Yin didn’t overthink it. She slit open the envelope and pulled out the blue paper inside. It smelled faintly of tobacco.
To Wen Wen —
I know I may have missed you for a long time, but I hope I still have a chance.
— Lu Ziqiu
The livestream exploded.
[Oh my god, I’m dying for the younger brother! He came back way too late!]
[I don’t feel bad at all — didn’t Lu Ziqiu stand with Wen Zhi when the first necklace went missing and people blamed Wen Yin?]
[Right? If you liked someone all along, why wait until now to feel sorry?]
[Our boy looks so soft but when it comes to feelings he’s really clueless.]
[Honestly, I prefer a younger-sibling romance to those multiple-flame things.]
[This is so sweet, I can’t handle it!]
Wen Yin’s face gave no ripple. No anger, no fluster. She read the name as if the note had been written by a stranger.
To be honest, when she’d first come back, her heart had been full of hate — for Lu Ziqiu, Xiao Mo, and the other man who’d made her life a rerun of someone else’s. She had raged at the unfairness: why had fate chosen her to be the stand-in, the one who smiled while someone else lived? Why had she been cast as Wen Zhi’s substitute for so long?
But now, looking at their names, the hatred had softened into something like pity. To be toyed with by three people who didn’t even know the heart of the woman they played with—how lonely and awful that must be. That feeling, however, was not hers to shoulder. Wen Yin wanted one thing only: to live a life that belonged entirely to the name Wen Yin.
She moved on to the next envelope.
May moonlight always rest in your eyes; Ah Yin, may you always shine like this.
— Shao Yinan
She thought of the ferris wheel tonight, the way he had leaned close enough to make the air between them sizzle. Color crept up her neck; her ears warmed. For a moment she felt like something that had been boiled and blushed through — small and ridiculous and incandescent all at once.
The chat went wild.
[AAAAHHHHH!]
[The “only crush” is real! I don’t care anymore!]
[Who wrote that last one to her?!]
[Shao Yinan is such a flirt, she’s totally embarrassed!]
[Can you believe the iron-blooded kid is turning soft so fast?]
[If Wen Yin becomes our sister-in-law, Shao Yinan’s married into the big house!]
[Is Shao Yinan going to be Mrs. Wen someday?!]
[Someone dig up the necklace from tonight!]
[It was gorgeous. I want one so bad.]
[It looked like it held a thousand stars.]
[I saw it!]
[That exact necklace!]
[What? Tell me more!]
[It’s a top-tier luxury piece — supposedly the only one of its kind, and she was wearing it!]
[No way! One-of-a-kind?]
[It must be worth a fortune!]
[So Shao Yinan can afford this? He’s an idol, but…]
[Guys, are we looking at two rich families here?]
[How many surprises are these two hiding from us?!]
The hashtag #WenYinNecklace shot up the trending list. The conversation pivoted; curiosity about Wen Yin’s background morphed into attempts to investigate Shao Yinan’s.
Wen Yin kept opening envelopes. She wondered, with quiet amusement, who else might have taken the trouble to write.
Hope you keep being carefree. Stay happy every day.
— Jiang Shihuai
Her eyes flickered. Jiang Shihuai had written to her. For a beat she thought he must have taken leave of reason.
That realization set the chat ablaze again.
[No way! A battlefield of suitors has descended on Wen Yin!]
[What kind of script blesses one woman with all these admirers?]
[Please, don’t gatekeep gender, I’m here for it.]
[I can’t believe Jiang Shihuai’s attracted to Wen Yin!]
[Wasn’t he into Wen Zhi before? He used to ignore Wen Yin! How did his attitude flip so fast?]
[This dating show is a real eye-opener about how fickle men can be.]
[My impression of Jiang Shihuai took a nosedive. That turnaround is jarring!]
On the other side, Wen Zhi’s fans couldn’t sit on their irritation. Seeing all the praise pour in for Wen Yin, they lashed out.
[Why does she get attention? No work, just a pretty face — what’s the appeal?]
[These male guests must be blind if they can’t see Wen Zhi is ten times better!]
[Let them have her; we’re not worried.]
[And to those who called Wen Zhi a “sea empress” before — where are you now? Stop the double standards!]
[Wen Yin is opening my eyes, I’ll say that much.]
Wen Yin folded the envelopes neat and tucked them aside without another glance. She didn’t need to parse why Jiang Shihuai had written to her; he’d been a familiar stranger since before her return — close enough to be known, distant enough to be unreadable.
Wen Zhi’s fans, stung, took to calling Wen Yin names online. But the tide had turned: Wen Yin’s newfound viewers were far more numerous and ferocious than before. They swarmed in to defend her. Before long, Wen Zhi’s supporters found themselves on the back foot.
The next morning the production team gathered the nine guests.
“Today’s theme is—date swap,” the host announced. “In short, the two groups will exchange dates.”