Seeing Pei Yan’s fans getting excited, others hesitated to speak up.
"About that... Weren’t you all hating Qin Yun before? Switching sides so quickly? And to be honest, Qin Yun doesn’t seem to have reacted at all. Maybe it’s just your idol having a one-sided crush?"
Pei Yan’s fanbase is so huge, while Qin Yun’s fans are too timid to confront them. Now that they’ve finally got the chance, they immediately chimed in.
"Exactly, exactly. You all used to look down on our Yunyun, and our Yunyun doesn’t even like your idol! Now you want to pair our Yunyun with him? We won’t accept it."
"Right! Just because you say so, doesn’t make it true! Who made the rules!"
"Besides, Pei Yan was just showing a normal expression; why read so much into it? They’re just regular partners who might not even stay in touch after the program. So don’t ship them unless you want to end up with a mouth full of glass shards, instead of sugar."
"Though Pei Yan is impressive, our Yunyun is not looking for any collaborations now."
"Yunyun finally got away from that blood-sucking company and is focused on her career. She doesn’t want to form a CP (couple pairing) for now."
"..."
Qin Yun’s fans’ rebuttal left Pei Yan’s fans awkward, considering they once harshly criticized Qin Yun for clinging to their idol’s popularity and wished she’d stay away from him.
But now, it was Pei Yan taking the initiative, so they couldn’t blame Qin Yun for it.
Moreover, Qin Yun didn’t seem interested in Pei Yan; otherwise, when they were alone in that dark space on a bed, she would have made a move by now.
But she didn’t!
Now, Pei Yan’s fans voluntarily paired them up, but Qin Yun’s fans disagreed.
"Yesterday, you ignored us, and today, we’re out of your reach. Who asked for your idol to make the first move?"
"I’d like to meekly raise my hand and say, even though I’m a fan of Yunyun... I also think they’re really sweet together."
"Right! They are genuinely sweet! Weren’t we just scared of being taken advantage of before? Now we know Qin Yun isn’t like that, and we’re all one big family loving each other! Over time, I’ve observed and found Qin Yun to be pretty nice. I’m ready to make her my second fangirl anchor! If my two favorites get together, it would be perfect!"
"Mainly, we feel assured with Qin Yun! If it was someone else earlier, the news would be everywhere by now. And if our idol acknowledges Qin Yun, we definitely can’t go against him. Life is bleak, yet these two are so sweet together, let’s indulge in some sugar to lift our spirits."
"We criticized Qin Yun before because she was notorious for chasing clout. Now that we know it was just baseless rumors, we apologize for the past and will protect Qin Yun in the future."
"Exactly! If anyone badmouths Qin Yun in the future, we’ll fight back! We’re good at this!"
Qin Yun’s fans never expected that after some rebuttals, they would gain the unexpected support of Pei Yan’s fans.
For a moment, Qin Yun’s fans felt that Pei Yan’s fans were genuinely accommodating.
They even experienced a bit of that "love me, love my dog" phenomenon?
Meanwhile, Qin Yun herself was completely unaware of all this.
"Where were you guys hiding just now? I didn’t even notice you." The NPC staff member asked, looking at them with a complex expression.
Qin Yun replied, "On the bed."
The staff member was silent for a moment before saying, "You two? Both on the bed just now?"
"Yep." Qin Yun nodded calmly.
Just like Pei Yan said, the calmer you act, the less likely fans will think anything’s up.
If you act secretive, people will actually think there’s something to hide.
"..." The staff glanced at the camera, thinking these two really aren’t afraid of stirring up the fans, huh?
Especially Qin Yun, hasn’t she learned from past mistakes? To dare openly lie with Pei Yan like this, isn’t she afraid of being torn apart by Pei Yan’s fans?
"They’re not here yet; should we go check downstairs?" Qin Yun tilted her head to ask Pei Yan.
"Alright." Pei Yan nodded.
Pei Yan gave the staff a steady look, "Sorry to bother you, you go ahead; we’ll check downstairs."
After that, the two headed downstairs.
Wang Sirui pulled Yang Leqi and dashed out. As soon as they were out, they collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, "That scared me to death; lucky I ran fast."
"Maybe we should move farther away; this place feels off. If something comes out, we won’t be able to run." Wang Sirui glanced at the door, still shaken.
Yang Leqi’s hands and legs were trembling, clearly exhausted, but her mind was unusually clear. "Do we need to? I feel like that voice we heard was familiar, just can’t remember where I’ve heard it."
"Now that you mention it, it does sound familiar." Wang Sirui recalled.
"Hahaha, of course, it’s familiar. You record the show together every day; how can it not be familiar?"
"Can I interview the involved parties and ask how you feel now?"
"Poor Leqi, her face is so pale, hands are shaking."
"Silly Sirui, what would he know?"
"Aren’t you two doing the task? Why are you sitting here?" Qin Yun came out and saw the two sitting on the ground and raised her eyebrow to ask.
Hearing her voice, the two were startled reflexively, then immediately recalled whose voice it was.
Yang Leqi exclaimed, "Sister Yun!! So it was you speaking just now!!"
At this, her limbs no longer weak, she quickly stood up from the ground and scooted over to Qin Yun, playfully complaining, "You actually scared us!"
"Not just me." Qin Yun turned around, and Yang Leqi followed her gaze, "Mr. Pei."
Wang Sirui, upon seeing Pei Yan, immediately jumped up from the ground at lightning speed, face flushed, "Mr., Mr. Pei!! Why are you here too?"
Clearly, he didn’t want the idol to see him looking so scared and contorted, so seeing Pei Yan now left him speechless with surprise.
"Mr. Pei and Sister Yun are in a group, duh! Are you stupid?!" Yang Leqi rolled her eyes at him irritably.
Feeling dejected, Wang Sirui asked with a bit of hope, "You were both upstairs just now?"
"Yeah, we were there before you came in..." Qin Yun answered considerately.
"You guys hadn’t come up for ages, she almost dozed off waiting." Pei Yan added meticulously.
A dejected Wang Sirui, "...So, you... saw everything?"
"Saw what? Are you talking about being scared by us?" Qin Yun asked, puzzled.