Chapter 3
Most fans on Lixin Island lacked offline chasing experience and were unaware that, for safety and to reduce trouble, agencies strictly controlled private signings.
The more popular the group, the more chaotic their offline events became. Large crowds made it difficult to identify individuals. Firstly, many scalpers and touts disguised themselves as fans to obtain autographs, then resold them at high prices, scamming fans. Some signatures were even forged. Secondly, some naive, first-time fans would use blank paper for idols to sign on, allowing others to take advantage of the chaos and trick them into signing on blank paper, later forging IOUs or contracts to exploit legal loopholes. It was difficult to guard against, and hard to explain.
For popular groups like Skye, it was usually a blanket refusal for the sake of simplicity.
Berlin stopped and looked at the person approaching.
The girl clearly hadn’t planned this beforehand; she rummaged in her bag for a long time before finally turning her phone around and handing it over.
Berlin looked down. The phone case was custom-made, featuring a familiar image—a screenshot from a variety show where Wu Hengyao and Berlin were eating together, their cheeks bulging like hamsters. Cute cat and dog elements were photoshopped onto their faces, with a big-head effect applied; it looked silly.
Seeing Berlin looking at her phone case, the girl scratched her head and giggled, “Looking at this picture makes me happy; I can eat two more bowls of rice.”
As soon as she said it, she saw Berlin shyly raise his hand to cover his face and smile.
Only when seeing him in person did one realize how tall he actually was. Unlike the image filtered by his motherly fans online where he seemed like a child, he was tall and thin, fresh and sunny, with neatly trimmed fingertips tucked inside his coat sleeves—cute enough to make one faint.
Out of all the Skye members, Berlin was the most approachable in both personality and appearance, especially when he smiled. Seeing him smile up close felt strangely relaxing and heart-fluttering, like a boyfriend.
The fans present noticed Berlin stop, immediately drawing their attention. They turned their cameras towards him, holding their breath and peering.
The camera unintentionally captured Berlin covering his face and smiling, while a motherly fan whimpered, “Help, so cute, I want to eat him up.”
Her voice was very soft; in the noisy crowd, only she should have heard it. But the next second, all four members looked in her direction, startling her so much that she almost dropped her phone.
Han Yuzhe & Hua Yan & Wu Hengyao & Jiang Shura: “…?!”
Eat him up?
Before their nerves could tense up, their gazes locked onto their target, then relaxed instantly.
Oh, it’s a human having a daydream.
After confirming it was just a human, the four members nonchalantly looked away.
Immediately afterward, everyone saw Berlin quickly turn to check where his manager was, then reached out to take the girl’s phone. He winked at the fan, made a “shhh” gesture secretly, and whispered, “Don’t you have a pen?”
Fan: “!!!”
A small scream was about to erupt, but they realized Berlin had just signaled them to “keep quiet.” They immediately became secretive, some even looking out for the manager to keep Berlin informed.
How to confirm the person is a fan and not a scalper or someone with ulterior motives?
Berlin didn’t need to check his favorability rating.
Scalpers or touts wouldn’t use screenshots from a variety show for a phone case. It’s not that they couldn’t think of such a disguise; they were too lazy to bother with such elaborate disguises.
Berlin had always had many fans since Skye’s debut, yet he still found the kindness and care from strangers to be warm and precious.
Fans wouldn’t unstan him for refusing an autograph. However, Berlin didn’t want to be cold towards those who genuinely liked him.
The girl was stunned for half a second, then quickly pulled out a lipstick from her bag and placed it in Berlin’s palm, “Use this!”
Berlin was taken aback, confirming, “Are you sure? The lipstick will be unusable after this.”
The girl nodded without hesitation, her eyes sparkling, “It’s completely fine.”
Getting a positive answer, Berlin didn’t hesitate.
The manager was on a phone call. Berlin quickly signed the phone case and passed it to Wu Hengyao.
The girl’s question, along with the image on the phone case, clearly showed she was a fan of both of them.
As soon as Berlin passed it, Wu Hengyao took it without thinking.
Usually, Wu Hengyao politely but coolly refused, but today he signed without a word.
When receiving her phone back from Wu Hengyao, the girl’s hands trembled with excitement. She handled the phone extremely carefully, fearing she might smudge the lipstick on the phone case.
Phone Case Owner – aka – YaoBai/Cat and Dog Die-Hard CP Fan: Dead…without…regrets. I will only cry tears of happiness from now on!!
Laminating! I’m going to laminate it! Take it home and put it on my bedside table to help me sleep!
Looking at this phone case every night will probably ensure I never have insomnia again, sweet dreams every night.
The manager finished his call quickly. Berlin and his bandmates signed for many fans.
Passersby watching noticed Skye slowing down to sign autographs for fans; their goodwill surged.
Compared to the one-sided, unrewarded online support, their interaction seemed more like “the most familiar strangers.”
They didn’t feel strange even upon their first meeting, more like old friends finally reuniting in reality.
Offline chasing was very tiring. Sometimes, you’d wait for hours in the cold wind, from dawn till dusk, just for the few minutes from the passageway to the car. Chasing someone’s back for a long time without a response could be depressing, discouraging, even unbearable. But Skye wasn’t like that, especially Berlin.
Berlin would always smile first when facing the camera.
Fans who dug up his past could find videos of Berlin chatting with fans while walking.
They were busy with schedules all year round. Except for Han Yuzhe, who was always slow, the other members were always energetic; they didn’t look tired, and didn’t even have dark circles, as if they never got tired.
Only Berlin sometimes looked so sleepy he seemed about to fall over, yet he would still respond to fans filming him, vaguely drifting forward, speaking unclearly like he was rambling, not knowing what he was saying.
The video known as the “treasure of the fandom” showed Berlin wrapped in a thick down jacket, wearing a fluffy woolen hat, looking like a snow globe, tired and sleepy, dragging his head as he walked towards the airport exit. Fans held up their phones and asked him questions; he still answered every single one, although his mind was not working, and he didn’t know what he was saying.
A fan asked him what he had for dinner, Berlin mumbled indistinctly: “Uh…fried noodles and grilled eggs.” A fan asked how long he hadn’t slept, he struggled to keep his eyes open, blinking blankly, tilting his head and answering that he didn’t know, he drank four cups of black coffee yesterday, and he’s two seconds away from not sleeping for ten years.
Later, Berlin’s head bobbed up and down, relying solely on sheer willpower, answering questions obediently with his eyes closed, muttering incomprehensible Martian words &%￥%#￥%.
Every time it’s watched, it makes one faint from cuteness.
This treasure video had been watched countless times, and today they finally saw him in person.
The fans who were chasing Skye offline for the first time watched them leave. Even when Berlin walked far away, he turned back and waved to the fans. The fans didn’t bother them, only loudly said goodbye.
Skye’s filming location wasn’t hard to guess. The only famous thing on Lixin Island was its natural scenery. Undeveloped areas were difficult to reach by vehicle and had potential risks, clearly a special beach near the port.
The sand here naturally had a pale pink hue, looking like it had a filter from afar, even more dreamy up close; the sand was fine and soft.
The beach was an open space. Even if the filming crew used barriers, they couldn’t prevent cameras from focusing on it, leading to leaks of content. They could only rely on mutual respect and the subsequent prompt reporting and deletion of online leaks to prevent them from spreading.
Without the short interaction with Skye, the fans might have wanted to follow them to the filming site. After all, if they didn’t go, passersby might, Skye’s fame and popularity were very high, even non-fans were curious and loved to look at handsome guys!
But after this short contact with Berlin and the others, they unanimously gave up on this idea and decided not to disturb the filming.
Perhaps, truly liking someone means not wanting to cause them trouble or disappointment.
The fans watched Skye’s backs, their eyes bright, silently saying in their hearts.
‘We’ll meet again on a bigger stage in the future.’
The filming crew acted quickly, immediately setting up the scene and adjusting the camera positions.
The sky was clear now. If they worked efficiently, they could finish filming before sunset, avoiding having to drag it to the next day and get a good night’s sleep.
The members of Skye changed their clothes in a tent. The overall style was unified, a fresh summer look.
They were filming a commercial for Quan Yue brand hawthorn juice today. News like endorsements was difficult to keep completely secret, especially for a group like Skye whose every move was closely watched, so they weren’t worried about being seen. Fans would tacitly keep quiet and pretend not to know, cooperating with the publicity schedule.
Berlin took the hawthorn juice from a staff member, opened the cap and took a sip, thinking about how to drink it more effectively.
He sat on a folding chair prepared by the staff, thinking while changing into the beach shoes prepared by the costume designer.
Han Yuzhe slowly walked over: “Berlin, do you have…”
Hearing the voice, Berlin looked up and replied, “Hmm?”
The next second, Han Yuzhe stopped suddenly.
At the same time, Berlin belatedly felt a sharp pain. He looked down; he had accidentally stepped wrong while putting on his shoes.
Careless, the sand was soft, but the waves washed up pieces of shells.
The wound was very small and shallow; he was just scratched by a shell fragment.
It wasn’t a big deal for Berlin, but he quickly realized something, looked up towards a certain direction.
Hua Yan, also holding a bottle of hawthorn juice, stood under a sun umbrella, stiffly turning her head, staring intently at him.
…Oops.
Author’s Note:
Extra chapter tomorrow, muah!
Thank you to the little angels who gave me rewards or poured nutrient solution between 2022-11-06 22:31:51 and 2022-11-07 22:31:05!
Thank you to the little angels who threw grenades: 54035599 1;
Thank you to the little angels who poured nutrient solution: Picking Oranges, Yan Yan 20 bottles; ??, Come on, let’s have some brilliant texts, Hello, Zhu Yilong’s little baby 10 bottles; A Sheep, Chuya 6 bottles; Free-flying pigeon, Mi Buyou Chu, Ziyou 5 bottles; Qin Jiaxiaojiuya 3 bottles; Keyi, Cicada, Sky Blue After Rain, Miaomiao Fei 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!