The Exclusive Bodyguard of the Top Idol - Chapter 26

Ji Qingshi had been spending her free time lately searching for news about Ren Jiao online. Not only had she followed Ren Jiao on Weibo, but she’d also followed the official account of Group S. When she had nothing better to do, she scrolled through all their posts from the past three years since their debut.

After browsing Weibo, she dug up various promotional materials. Official stage performances, fan-recorded clips—basically, whatever she could find, she watched.

Perhaps because of her frequent searches, Weibo’s algorithm began precisely pushing all kinds of Ren Jiao-related content to her, including one that struck Ji Qingshi as particularly odd.

This post about “Peerless Jiao & Jia” linked to a super topic. Ji Qingshi, both confused and curious, clicked in and was immediately stunned.

The entire super topic was about Ren Jiao and her teammate Tan Jiajia.

[“Peerless Jiao & Jia,” the latest-working couple! The other members left in the afternoon, but these two stubbornly stayed at the company until 9 p.m. before leaving “together”! They got into the “same car” and went home “together”!]

Ji Qingshi widened her eyes in shock and scrutinized the photos in the post. It turned out that paparazzi had staked out Huaying’s parking lot and caught footage of Ren Jiao leaving work. The video showed Ren Jiao and Tan Jiajia exiting the company together and boarding the same commercial van.

The paparazzi had captured the video, and fans had screenshotted the moment the two walked out arm in arm before getting into the car one after another.

Ji Qingshi gritted her teeth, thinking: Am I invisible standing right next to her? And Sister Cen was there too, are you all blind?!

Another fan posted a GIF of Ren Jiao and Tan Jiajia walking out hand in hand. When Ji Qingshi zoomed in, she realized they had cropped both her and Cen Shu out of the frame.

The fans in this super topic were bizarre. Most of the content they consumed was images and videos of Ren Jiao and Tan Jiajia together. If the two displayed any intimate behavior, the comments and reposts would erupt with screams of excitement.

Some performance clips where the two vocalists sang to each other would get reposted thousands, even tens of thousands of times.

Ji Qingshi was utterly baffled. Having never been part of fandom culture, she wanted to understand what these fans were so excited about, so she kept scrolling through the super topic.

By the end, she learned a new term. Apparently, the fans in this super topic were called “shippers.” They were all fans of the “Ren Jiao and Tan Jiajia pairing”.

As for what “shipping” meant, Ji Qingshi wasn’t entirely sure. After some thought, she decided to ask someone who would definitely know.

She opened WeChat and found the teammate in her unit who adored Ren Jiao, An’An.

Ji: What does “shipping” mean?

An’An replied instantly: ???????? Are you really my deputy team leader???? Did some demon possess you????

Ji: Your question marks are blinding me! Just answer the question properly!

As an active-duty SWAT officer, An’An had an instinctive obedience to orders. She immediately gave Ji Qingshi a serious explanation: “Shipping” is internet slang for couples, partners, or pairings. Like the male and female leads in a drama. If they’re romantically involved in the show, they’re the official couple. The actors are the on-screen couple. There’s also fan-created shipping, where people think two characters or real-life individuals have great chemistry, so they “ship” them together.

Ji Qingshi stared at An’an’s explanation, her brows gradually furrowing. She returned to Weibo and forwarded the link for “Peerless JiaRen” to An’an.

Ji: [Are these people shipping them as a couple? Meaning, they think they look especially like lovers?]

An’an didn’t even need to open the link to guess. As Ren Jiao’s solo fan, she knew all too well about the “Peerless JiaRen” ship! This was Ren Jiao’s most popular pairing within the group, the ultimate “Emperor” of the entire group’s ships. The sheer number of shippers had given solo fans like her a massive headache, and wars between solo fans and shippers had broken out many times.

An’an: [They’re just delusional! Vice-captain, you mustn’t take it seriously!!!]

From An’an’s perspective, as a solo fan, it was her duty to educate and clarify for their vice-captain who didn’t understand fandom culture. Their vice-captain was too innocent. She’d never been into celebrity fandoms before and didn’t know that most ships were just fans pairing people up themselves. What if she actually believed it? Fake ships had to be debunked! No deceiving more innocent bystanders!

But from Ji Qingshi’s perspective? Hearing An’an so firmly declare that this ship was just shippers’ delusions gave her an inexplicable sense of relief.

Ji: [I understand.]

Seeing Ren Jiao come out of her room, she closed the chat with An’an and reopened Weibo.

Ren Jiao brought out the clothes she’d changed out of, and Ji Qingshi naturally took them from her, tossing them into the washing machine.

In her haste, she forgot to lock her phone, leaving it on the coffee table. Ren Jiao happened to glance over and saw the page still open on the screen.

[“Peerless JiaRen” the couple who always clock out the latest together!]

Ren Jiao: “!!!”

What was going on? Why was she looking at this???

As a girl group idol, having ships within the group was completely normal. Ren Jiao was well aware that she and Tan Jiajia had a massively popular pairing. She’d never had much of a reaction to it. She interacted with Jiajia as usual, neither avoiding her nor deliberately playing up their chemistry.

Though they never actively promoted it, the pairing of the group’s two main vocalists and visual centers was irresistibly appealing to fans. They often discussed songs together, spent the most time together in the group, and had the most interactions. It was only natural fans would love it.

Ren Jiao had never thought much of it. It was just a ship. If fans liked it, they liked it. But now there was suddenly a problem: Ji Qingshi had seen this. Would she misunderstand something?!

Ren Jiao’s heart was in turmoil as she followed Ji to the laundry room, watching her drop a laundry pod into the washing machine.

After starting the machine, Ji Qingshi turned and saw Ren Jiao standing at the doorway, looking at her with an expression that seemed hesitant.

“What’s wrong?”

Ren Jiao pressed her lips together, suddenly unsure how to bring it up. Ji Qingshi might have just stumbled upon it accidentally and wouldn’t think much of it. She’d never been into fandom before and probably didn’t even understand what shipping meant. If she rushed to explain out of the blue, wouldn’t that seem weird?

Her thoughts racing, Ren Jiao ultimately swallowed the words she’d wanted to say and instead offered, “Nothing, just wanted to tell you we have to go to the company again tomorrow. Jiajia and I still need to discuss the arrangement with Teacher Javen.”

“Oh, that. Got it.” Ji Qingshi waved a hand and smiled. “You go ahead and sleep. I’ll wait for the laundry to finish.”

The two walked out of the laundry room, and Ji Qingshi casually picked up her phone from the coffee table, urging Ren Jiao to go to bed early.

Ren Jiao studied her expression but didn’t notice anything unusual. It seemed the whole CP thing really hadn’t caught her attention.

Relieved yet inexplicably disappointed, Ren Jiao felt a pang of sadness. Ji Qingshi truly had no interest in her feelings. She couldn’t quite describe her emotions, unsure whether to feel relieved or upset.

Perhaps she should feel sorry for herself. The first person she had ever fallen for not only had no thoughts about her but was also someone she could never reach. Thinking of the rumors and malicious comments that had plagued her since her debut three years ago, Ren Jiao felt an overwhelming sense of inferiority in front of Ji Qingshi.

Suppressing her emotions, she took the initiative to bid Ji Qingshi goodnight before quickly retreating to her bedroom, afraid of revealing even the slightest hint of her feelings.

Ji Qingshi glanced suspiciously in the direction of the master bedroom, sensing that Ren Jiao had suddenly seemed down, though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Ah, whatever. Ren Jiao was always overthinking things, and Ji Qingshi had never been able to guess what was on her mind. If she wasn’t saying anything, it probably wasn’t anything major.

Shifting her focus, Ji Qingshi resumed scrolling through online updates. She had zero interest in the CP pairing of Ren Jiao and Tan Jiajia. In fact, she felt a slight aversion to it. So she decisively exited the fan community and searched for Ren Jiao’s solo content instead.

________________________________________

The next afternoon, Ren Jiao and Tan Jiajia met with Javen in the recording studio to discuss the arrangement for their second group song.

For some reason, Ji Qingshi now felt a twinge of sourness watching their interactions. She had never felt this way before, their dynamic was no different from usual. It must be because of that “Peerless JiaRen” CP she stumbled upon last night!

The recording studio wasn’t very spacious. Ji Qingshi sat on the nearby sofa, her gaze subtly lingering on Ren Jiao while occasionally flickering toward Tan Jiajia, her expression unreadable.

After a while, she pulled out her phone and texted An’An.

Ji: I think the fans have terrible taste.

An’An: ?? What’s wrong now, Vice-Captain?

Ji: No matter how I look at it, I don’t see any chemistry in that CP.

An’An felt like she had found an ally in her vice-captain: “Vice-Captain, you have good taste! I’ve always thought those CP fans were blind! But hey, if they enjoy shipping, that’s their business. As long as they’re happy, I don’t mind.”

Ji Qingshi paused before typing again: “How do I stop seeing this CP? I’ve been searching her name too much lately, and yesterday the algorithm pushed this to me. Probably because I clicked on it, now it’s showing up again today.”

An’An was speechless for a moment before replying: “Vice-Captain are you by any chance, a toxic solo stan?”

Ji: ? What’s a toxic solo stan?

Of course, she had no idea.

An’An then explained what a toxic solo stan was.

Ji: I’m not like that. I’m perfectly rational.

An’An thought about it, fair enough. Their vice-captain was too level-headed to have the makings of a toxic fan.

An’An: If it keeps showing up, just tap the three dots on the top right of the post and set a keyword filter. Then it won’t recommend it to you anymore.

Ji: Got it. Thanks.

She returned to Weibo and followed An’An’s instructions to block all keywords related to “Peerless JiaRen.” Instantly, she felt a wave of relief wash over her.

Glancing up at Ren Jiao, who was deep in discussion with Tan Jiajia, a faint smile curled at the corners of her lips. A toxic stan? I might not be toxic, but I’m definitely a devoted listener.

Ji Qingshi stole another glance at Tan Jiajia, reaffirming her earlier thought, those two really didn’t seem like a couple.

Tan Jiajia suddenly shrank her neck slightly.

Ren Jiao looked at her in surprise. “What’s wrong? Are you cold?”

“No!” It’s just that I keep feeling like someone’s glaring daggers at me.

Tan Jiajia leaned in close to Ren Jiao’s ear and whispered, “Is your Ji-jie in a bad mood today?”

“Huh?” Ren Jiao was taken aback and instinctively looked toward Ji Qingshi. At that very moment, their eyes met, and Ji Qingshi responded with a gentle smile.

Ren Jiao’s heart fluttered wildly. Lowering her gaze to suppress the smile tugging at her lips, she whispered back, “Not at all. She seems quite happy.”

“Really?” Tan Jiajia rubbed her neck. “But I keep feeling like she’s glaring at me…”

Ren Jiao: “???”