Perhaps it was because it was dark, or perhaps because she was too nervous, that Ding Xiang didn’t suddenly remember until the next day, when Mo Fei, who had returned from sending Xixi to school, took the opportunity—while most students were in class and hadn’t come by yet—to play the piano at the coffee shop.
“Oh my, Sister Fei! Aren’t you that… that…” Ding Xiang couldn’t recall, so she quickly ran to the shelf by the counter and grabbed an album. “Right, this one! The singing star, right?”
Every day while cleaning, she followed Yang Yi’s lead, using a feather duster to sweep the dust off the shelf, so naturally she’d seen many photos of Mo Fei. No wonder she’d found her so familiar!
“Yes, but you can’t tell anyone!” Mo Fei stopped her hands and smiled softly. Actually, she had long foreseen that Ding Xiang would react this way, but what she hadn’t expected was how long Ding Xiang’s reaction time would be.
“Of course not!” Ding Xiang quickly waved her hands and even raised a finger to swear, “I absolutely won’t tell anyone. If I do, then…”
“Alright, alright, don’t be so serious!” Mo Fei laughed and pulled the girl’s hand down, saying, “It’s not a big deal. I just don’t want others to know because I’m afraid it might disrupt our peaceful life.”
Ding Xiang nodded hurriedly.
However, this secret clearly couldn’t be kept from a second person.
Guo Ziyi!
That guy, after finishing his morning classes, rushed excitedly to the coffee shop to find Yang Yi: “Brother Yang, let me tell you, the lineup for our freshman party got adjusted, and my act wasn’t merged by the director—I can still do a solo. Guess who the director is?”
“Who’s the director?” Yang Yi asked, glancing sideways at Mo Fei, who was arranging flowers in the shop with Ding Xiang, and lowered his voice to Guo Ziyi, “Remember, don’t reveal that I’m Mu Zi’ang!”
“I didn’t say anything! I only slipped up once last time and let the senior sister know.” Guo Ziyi was confused but still kept his voice down.
“Just remember that!” Yang Yi nodded. “I’ve already warned Ding Xiang.”
Although Ding Xiang had seen Yang Yi pick songs for Guo Ziyi and knew he’d written songs, she really had no understanding of the entertainment industry. When she recognized Mo Fei that morning, she hadn’t connected the two things, giving Yang Yi a chance to privately caution her.
But Ding Xiang didn’t overthink it either. She had no basic concept of which songs Mo Fei had sung or who wrote them—whatever the boss said, she did.
After their whispered exchange, Yang Yi nudged Guo Ziyi and asked, “So, who’s the director?”
“Oh, the director is Du Yuanlei! That graduate senior I like! Wow, she’s so cool! Brother Yang, you have no idea—when I saw her this morning, my heart almost jumped out of my chest!” Guo Ziyi chuckled. “I think the fact that she didn’t merge my song means she’s interested in me!”
Yang Yi was speechless at his inexplicable self-confidence.
“What do you mean?” Ding Xiang and Mo Fei, hearing the commotion, walked over, and Ding Xiang asked curiously.
“Nothing, I was just saying today’s class was boring!” Guo Ziyi, remembering that the song he was going to sing was also written by Yang Yi and afraid of saying too much, quickly changed the subject.
“This is Guo Ziyi, a friend I’ve told you about, Mo Fei. And this is Xixi’s mom, Mo Fei.” Yang Yi introduced them to each other.
Yang Yi meant nothing by it, but Mo Fei was a bit sensitive to the change in how he referred to her, feeling a faint pang of bitterness inside. Fortunately, Guo Ziyi was a guy, so Mo Fei didn’t dwell on it and simply nodded at him: “Hello!”
Guo Ziyi was stunned the moment Yang Yi introduced Mo Fei. Unlike Ding Xiang, when he looked closely at Mo Fei’s face, he recognized her, and Yang Yi’s words echoed in his mind: “This is Xixi’s mom…”
“Xixi’s mom!”
Guo Ziyi took a deep breath and stammered, “Sister-in-law, is Sister-in-law really Mo Fei?”
“That’s right! She’s the owner of all those CDs on Brother Yang’s shelf. Sister Fei is a star!” Ding Xiang added, introducing her to Guo Ziyi. “But don’t tell anyone, or it’ll cause trouble for Brother Yang and Sister Fei.”
Mo Fei was delighted by Guo Ziyi’s form of address, a smile spreading across her face. “That’s right.”
Guo Ziyi nodded quickly, but a strange glint flashed in his eyes as he glanced back and forth between Mo Fei and Yang Yi.
Mo Fei noticed Guo Ziyi’s look and felt a bit puzzled, but she didn’t think much of it, assuming he was just surprised by her relationship with Yang Yi, given the gap in their status.
Just then, the wind chime at the door jingled pleasantly—a customer had arrived!
Mo Fei quickly excused herself and returned to her secluded booth, while Ding Xiang helped cover for her by enthusiastically greeting the customer.
Finally alone, Guo Ziyi, who couldn’t hold back his words, pulled Yang Yi aside and said apologetically, “Brother Yang, I had no idea Mo Fei was my sister-in-law. Back when her comeback album flopped, I… I even found it funny… Sorry.”
This guy could be pretty straightforward sometimes.
“It’s fine, you didn’t know back then.” Yang Yi smiled, unconcerned.
“But Brother Yang, you’re so good at writing songs—why don’t you write a few for Sister-in-law? And why keep it a secret? Is it because you can only write songs for male voices? That’s okay too—if you explain it to her, she probably wouldn’t mind, right?” Guo Ziyi frowned, finally getting to what he really wanted to say.
“It’s not that. I have a reason for keeping this identity hidden, but I can’t tell you what it is.” Yang Yi laughed at Guo Ziyi. “But how do you know I haven’t written songs for her?”
“Have you? But hasn’t Mu Zi’ang only written songs for Chen Yijie?” Guo Ziyi was confused.
“Go check the entertainment news!” Yang Yi patted Guo Ziyi on the head and walked off with a chuckle.
…
Guo Ziyi had been busy lately preparing his song for the freshman party and had borrowed Yang Yi’s guitar to practice, so he hadn’t had time to look at entertainment news.
When he returned to his dorm, baffled, and searched online, he finally saw articles on some news sites about Mo Fei performing a new song by Mu Zi’ang.
“《Across the Ocean to See You》—just the name sounds so romantic!” Guo Ziyi muttered to himself, clicking his tongue.
He scrolled down with his mouse and nearly popped his eyes out: “Wow, she even wrote twelve songs! This… this is secretly showing off their love!”
Guo Ziyi didn’t realize he was the only one who had gotten a taste of this premium love display.
“But I wonder why Brother Yang is hiding it from Sister-in-law Mo Fei,” Guo Ziyi muttered under his breath. “Still, I think this is a pretty impressive flex, hehehe!”