Chapter 91: The Center of the Fish Pond (26)
While Suhui was spending her time in the recording studio, Produce 101 continued with its increasingly rigorous eliminations.
Since Su Mingxiu and Suhui’s departure, the competition for the top seven spots had become even fiercer, with no clear gap in popularity or skill.
Without Su Mingxiu’s unique talents and Suhui’s impressive singing and dancing, the viewers felt a sense of loss.
Even after several rounds of eliminations, the main live stream’s comments section was still filled with nostalgic messages about them, such as “This show is getting more and more boring without Suhui and Su Mingxiu, I can already guess who will debut…” and “I thought Produce 101 would produce the most talented and exciting debut group in history, but it seems that’s not the case anymore.”
But the two people being mentioned were living their own lives, one happily running a restaurant that closed early every day, the other preparing for her album release with the help of Neptune Entertainment.
Until the eve of the final debut night—
Su Mingxiu received several calls, all specifically inviting her to attend the live show and cheer for them.
“Beep.”
The newly installed electronic lock on the door beeped, and a tall, beautiful figure entered.
The black-haired woman was pouring water at the small bar counter. Hearing the sound, she smiled and said to the person on the other end of the phone: “Okay, I’ll ask Suhui about her schedule, we’ll try our best to be there and cheer for you all.”
Produce 101 couldn’t escape the fate of predetermined debut spots negotiated between the program team and the entertainment companies. The friends who called her were probably guaranteed debut spots, judging from their popularity and their companies’ influence.
So Su Mingxiu’s presence there would simply be to witness their success, to watch them walk the flower road (path to success).
The person who had just returned asked as soon as Su Mingxiu hung up: “Whose call was that?”
It was Suhui who had been avoiding Su Mingxiu, hiding in the recording studio and coming home late every night. Now, sensing something amiss, she was the first to question Su Mingxiu.
Su Mingxiu put down her phone and, slightly surprised by Suhui’s perceptiveness, didn’t hide anything: “Pao Tong.”
“No time, not going.” Suhui had already found the voice on the phone familiar. Now, hearing the name of her former rival, regardless of what Su Mingxiu had said to Pao Tong, she refused without hesitation.
Seeing her bristling, her fins almost fully extended, Su Mingxiu chuckled and added: “It’s the Produce 101 debut night. Not just her, Annie, Wang Zhi, and other friends I’ve worked with also called and invited us to watch.”
“Not going,” Suhui repeated, even adding boldly: “You’re not allowed to go either.”
After spending time with her manager and participating in various activities, Suhui finally realized that the other contestants were considered top-tier beauties in human society. Letting Su Mingxiu return to that environment… although she didn’t think Su Mingxiu was likely to stray, it was still like sending a lamb into a den of wolves.
After a pause, she said: “My new album is also being released in a few days, are you going to the Produce 101 debut night? Or will you be with me to witness my album sales?”
“Uh…” Here comes the familiar multiple-choice question.
Su Mingxiu had experienced Suhui’s manipulative tactics during this time. Although she knew she could convince Suhui to go to the debut night with her,
She couldn’t withstand this fish’s jealousy. For the sake of her future happiness, she answered without hesitation: “Of course I’ll be with you.”
Suhui lifted her chin, seemingly accepting her answer with difficulty. A faint smile appeared on her face as she tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing the candy earrings. Then, she asked: “What’s for dinner tonight?”
Su Mingxiu knew that Suhui had been busy with her company’s promotional activities recently, trying to solidify her fanbase before the album release. Her schedule was irregular, and her diet was also quite unhealthy. Worried about her stomach, Su Mingxiu had prepared a relatively plain seafood porridge.
Actually, it wasn’t that plain. The porridge was simmered in a clay pot with a variety of ingredients, its aroma filling the entire apartment. Suhui had smelled it long ago, but she still wanted to hear Su Mingxiu say it.
But the woman asked her instead: “Am I having dinner tonight?”
Suhui didn’t understand at first, looking at Su Mingxiu in confusion, wondering if she was tired of eating seafood and wanted something else.
… Wait, something else?
She looked at Su Mingxiu intently. Sensing the different meaning in her eyes, she instinctively took half a step back and asked, pretending not to understand: “What do you want to eat?”
“What do you think?”
“Uh…” Suhui: I’m not telling!
She suddenly clutched her waist, pretending to be exhausted, groaning softly. “I think I twisted my waist when I got out of the car earlier, it hurts.”
Su Mingxiu put down her empty glass and walked towards her slowly, her hand reaching for Suhui’s lower back, her voice filled with amusement. “Should I massage it for you?”
Suhui swatted her hand away instantly. “No!”
“A back injury isn’t a small matter, let me take a look…” The rest of Su Mingxiu’s words were whispered into Suhui’s ear.
The poor fish, who had been hiding in the recording studio for days, could escape for a while, but not forever. That night, amidst the aroma of seafood porridge, she was pinned down on the living room sofa by the human—
Having been starved for so long, Su Mingxiu didn’t hold back. By the time she was searching for pearls in the sofa cushions, Suhui was leaning against a pillow, biting Su Mingxiu’s wrist in frustration.
Su Mingxiu gasped softly, seeing the resentment in Suhui’s blue eyes. She pinched Suhui’s chin and asked: “Who was it that’s been avoiding me and brought this upon herself, hmm?”
Suhui ground her teeth against Su Mingxiu’s wrist, refusing to let go, still reeling from the intense experience.
There were still traces of tears at the corners of her eyes. Now, hearing Su Mingxiu’s words, whether from grievance or anger, another tear rolled down her cheek.
“Don’t cry,” the black-haired woman said helplessly, catching the tear. “The box I prepared for you is almost full.”
These mermaid pearls had water-repelling properties and couldn’t be casually sold on the market. They had to be collected. But the large box Su Mingxiu had prepared for this purpose was almost full.
She didn’t know if merfolk had a higher water content than humans, but she felt that this fish of hers cried even more than most girls.
Just a gentle pinch, a bite, a suck, and mermaid pearls would be everywhere, as delicate as a flower.
Suhui’s sharp teeth accidentally pierced Su Mingxiu’s skin, a drop of blood welling up.
Tasting the blood, she was startled, afraid of angering Su Mingxiu further. She quickly licked the wound apologetically, her touch light and ticklish.
Su Mingxiu narrowed her eyes, suddenly realizing that she… hadn’t actually eaten her fill earlier.
When she was finally released, Suhui was already in the bathtub. She weakly flicked her tail, unable to remember how many times she had been forced to revert to her true form.
The mermaid touched her hungry belly and complained to the person leaning over her: “I’m hungry, did the porridge burn?”
“No,” Su Mingxiu, her hand wet, pinched Suhui’s nose. “I turned off the heat when I carried you here after you fainted.”
Hearing the word “fainted,” Suhui’s expression changed rapidly. Then, she raised her trembling hand and grabbed the woman’s slender yet powerful wrist: “Can we… not continue?”
“Then promise me you won’t avoid me for so long next time, and I’ll be gentler, how about it?”
Suhui: … Not good.
But she only dared to be angry inwardly, not showing it on her face. After all, she was at Su Mingxiu’s mercy. So, with tears in her eyes, she nodded—
She even regretted refusing to go to the Produce 101 live show with Su Mingxiu earlier. Perhaps if Su Mingxiu was busier, she wouldn’t be so fixated on her.
Suhui touched the bite marks on her body ruefully.
On the day of the album release, the sales were lukewarm.
But with Suhui’s popularity, she wasn’t a nobody, nor was she like those current trending stars whose fans would inflate their sales. So, making a profit had already achieved Neptune Entertainment’s goal.
But in the following days, Suhui’s album sales skyrocketed, climbing the music charts.
Many comments about her album appeared on a music streaming platform:
“Her song Ocean is so healing! I’m actually afraid of the deep sea… but listening to this song, it’s like seeing the ocean on a sunny day. When I’m feeling down, I listen to it, and it makes me feel like the world is so vast, and the problems I’m facing are insignificant.”
“Hahaha, her song Predator is a bit mischievous, similar to the one she performed on the Produce 101 stage. But compared to the simple humming, the cunning and playful lyrics are very touching, it feels like an insert song from a 3D movie!”
“Ahhh, after so many years of decline, is our music scene finally getting a new, soulful superstar?”
…
At the same time, many professional music critics also praised her voice and composition.
Even some psychologists, based on the sound wave frequencies in her songs, stated that a few of the more soothing tracks could indeed have a calming effect.
The title of Suhui’s first album was quite bold, simply Mermaid. The cheerful, mischievous, and melancholic songs within were all about the life of a mermaid.
Unfortunately, humanity’s exploration of the ocean wasn’t advanced enough to discover the existence of this race.
Anyway…
Suhui’s album Mermaid topped the domestic quarterly music charts three months later, and the instrumental version also gained popularity abroad, quickly conquering major music websites.
At the same time, Produce 101 also debuted a new girl group, with Annie as the center. The group’s name was Seventh Degree. But with all the discussion surrounding Suhui, the group’s popularity peaked only on their debut night.
Later, many viewers who had followed Produce 101 sighed, saying that if Suhui had stayed, she would have probably debuted as the center, and Seventh Degree could have become a top girl group.
But by then, Suhui had already become a pillar of the music scene. Her fans refuted these comments, saying that it was because of her exceptional talent and skills, she would have succeeded in the entertainment industry no matter what. Becoming a singer was a more down-to-earth approach, while popularity was just fleeting.
Now…
Thanks to the fame from her first album, Suhui gained widespread recognition and secured many good endorsements.
Under Neptune Entertainment’s careful planning, she steadily released a high-quality album every six months, becoming a renowned singer by the second year after Seventh Degree’s disbandment.
One day, a rare guest visited Su Mingxiu’s reopened restaurant. The person was wearing a mask, a hat, and sunglasses, concealing their identity, but their figure, clothing, and aura were far from ordinary.
Su Mingxiu had renovated the restaurant, turning it into a private kitchen with an elegant, antique ambiance, accepting only a limited number of reservations each day.
Today, she saw three reservations, but only one guest was seated at one of the tables. Emerging from the kitchen, she originally intended to explain the menu to the guest, but she recognized the person upon looking up.
Su Mingxiu, wearing a white chef’s hat, her eyes smiling above her mask, approached and asked gently: “What would you like to eat?”
The person sitting at the table looked up at her. Compared to the gentle gaze from their previous encounters, her eyes now seemed to hold the weight of years, a time that Su Mingxiu knew nothing about.
She spoke, her voice as gentle as ever: “Anything is fine, I’ll have whatever’s on the menu.”
“The menu?”
Su Mingxiu shook her head, glancing at the empty tables beside them, guessing that this person must have booked them all in advance, and there wouldn’t be any other customers today. She suggested: “There are a few dishes on the menu that might not suit your taste, how about I adjust them based on your preferences?”
“Okay,” the person replied.
Before returning to the kitchen, Su Mingxiu glanced up and saw that the number above this person’s head was still 99, as it had been years ago, seemingly unchanged.
When a bowl of noodles with eel sauce was served, Su Mingxiu watched as the woman took a bite, then stopped.
She asked: “Is it not good?”
“No,” the guest said. “It’s too good.”
It reminded her of her time with Su Mingxiu on Produce 101, when Su Mingxiu’s charm had attracted a crowd around her.
And every day, they looked forward to the days after practice, wondering what kind of culinary surprises awaited them.
Always something they liked.
Later, she didn’t just like the dishes, she also liked the person who made them.
Unfortunately…
This person wouldn’t witness her journey, her glory, her current downfall. Su Mingxiu had already left, chosen her path, but… it wasn’t with her.
Pao Tong slowly lowered her head and finished the noodles. Later, Su Mingxiu served two more dishes, which she also ate cleanly.
Actually, she had recently developed anorexia, her body almost breaking down from her company’s demanding schedule. Her hair color, once a vibrant pink and white, was now a dull brown.
Pao Tong hadn’t expected to finish all the food, but she did, and she didn’t even feel any discomfort.
As she left, she looked at Su Mingxiu and asked: “Can I… come again?”
Su Mingxiu smiled and replied: “Of course, this restaurant is open to all diners.”
Not as former colleagues, not as former friends, their relationship was now only that of a chef and a diner.
Pao Tong understood her words. As she stepped out, she looked up at the sky and found that it was autumn again, the same season as when Su Mingxiu had quit the show.
She took two steps, crushing fallen leaves under her feet, the crunching sound echoing in the air. She smiled to herself.
Su Mingxiu vaguely saw the number above Pao Tong’s head, it seemed to have gained a digit.
After Pao Tong, Annie and Wang Zhi also visited Su Mingxiu’s restaurant. Compared to Pao Tong’s silence, they talked a lot about what had happened afterwards.
Things they couldn’t share with outsiders seemed to have no taboo here with Su Mingxiu. They felt an unprecedented sense of ease and came even more frequently.
Su Mingxiu didn’t hide these visits from Suhui. She told Suhui everything, trying to prevent the fish from overthinking.
But Suhui was still a bit jealous.
Her melancholy was noticed by her manager, who happened to ask her which variety show she wanted to appear on. Suhui asked: “Which variety show can let everyone know that Su Mingxiu is mine, and those who don’t know better should stay away from her—is there such a show?”
The manager was silent for two seconds. “You want to come out?”
Suhui hadn’t expected the human world to be so complicated about same-sex relationships. After listening to her manager’s explanation, she nodded resolutely: “Yes, I want to come out.”
The manager immediately consulted CEO Li. Finding that she was the only one shocked by this, she couldn’t help but recommend a dating variety show to Suhui:
“I originally wanted you to create a fake CP with a popular celebrity, after all, this show is very popular recently…”
“But since you want to be on the show with Su Mingxiu, that’s fine too. She’s an amateur, and her looks are quite good…”
The manager rambled on, trying to analyze the pros and cons of this dating variety show. In short, the advantage was that they could officially announce their relationship, the disadvantage was that dating shows were a magnifying glass for relationships, so it was best to be cautious.
Suhui didn’t listen to the rest. She simply took a picture of the show’s title, Date with Me, and sent it to Su Mingxiu. Her first words were bold and assertive: “You’re going on this show with me!”
After a pause, thinking about the lurking rivals, she added pretentiously: “Okay?”
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