CH 59

Chapter 59: Coincidence (2-in-1)

Following on any information related to Qiao Dai’s birthday party, when fans heard that the party originally scheduled to be held in a downtown hotel was actually moved to a private island provided by a mysterious benefactor, they strongly supported COCO and Qiao Dai and expressed their heartfelt gratitude.

But this time, let alone a vast number of passersby and various netizens, even Qiao Dai’s fans were surprised—

What kind of people were they chasing stars with?

[A private island? Oh my god, the boss is next to us!]

[Daidai is worth it! This is everyone’s love!]

[Who said no one supported us? We are Daidai’s strongest backing!]

Qiao Dai’s fans were immediately excited. When they realized what kind of idol they were loving, they couldn’t help but be proud of themselves and wanted to tell everybody: Look! It’s so worth supporting Daidai!

But soon someone raised questions. After all, providing a private island for a birthday party was too incredible, straight out of an idol drama! If this was really a present from a fan… this was really surprising!

And immediately, someone ran to Luan Zhen’s Weibo, who was in the same team as Qiao Dai, to ask the truth about this matter. They asked if it was a scheme from COCO to hype up, whether the company was providing the island themselves, they asked if Luan Zhen was uncomfortable with COCO’s obvious bias.

The major marketing accounts could not let this topic go; it was too big of a gossip! They were swarming like sharks smelling blood in the water, waiting eagerly for one of Qiao Dai’s teammates to break and come talk to the media. In their opinion, girls like Lian Zhen were still young and it was inevitable they would become envious at some point; they didn’t believe that when they saw the party’s update, they weren’t jealous at all.

And as long as someone showed the slightest dissatisfaction… gossiping accounts and tabloids could take advantage of the situation right away. Whether the private island was really COCO’s idea or the trainees were unhappy with each other, it was a topic that would attract a lot of views.

Which meant they were now hoping Luan Zhen of Shi Qing would say something, anything, and pursued them. Who knew the two girls would just joke and say: “Is COCO really so rich?”

While COCO was part of the circle and had a bit of a reputation, it was only a small company after all. Nobody could believe they could afford to rent private islands worth hundreds of millions of dollars just for a trainee, as popular as she was. It was just too expensive.

In addition to the COCO trainees, media also ran to the <Pick Eleven> girls Qiao Dai had befriended. Song Yiqi was already pretty famous and they couldn’t help but ask what she thought about the whole situation; everybody knew that she tended to dislike manipulative people. 

Right after the first photoshoot, Song Yiqi had openly mocked the girls who were faking and scheming their way to the top; especially Ruan Tao and Lai You. It could be said that Song Yiqi didn’t like to give face to others which meant many people were counting on her to drop a bomb on Qiao Dai’s party.

But as a reply, Song Yiqi posted photos on her nine mansions around the world and tagged Qiao Dai: [Daidai, next time your sister will help you first to celebrate your birthday. The location is up to you!]

Many people had wondered about Song Yiqi’s family background but it wasn’t until that moment that they clearly realized: Song Yiqi was awfully rich. Looking back at her past performances, netizens realized that Song Yiqi’s arrogance was really logical and the more they looked at her background, the more things they noticed; Song Yiqi was one of the heirs of a large company and at a young age, she had relied on her own funds to invests in several luxurious real estates around the world and had entered the entertainment industry purely for fun.

[I announce that Song Song and Daidai’s CP is locked up! Sister Song really loves Sister Daidai!]

[As expected of our Demon Song Song! She is too strong, I keep saying it!]

Originally, the gossip account had been waiting for anyone to say anything bad about Qiao Dai and her party. But not only Luan Zhen and Song Yiqi weren’t jealous at all, Song Yiqi was also helping Qiao Dai’s popularity, leaving everyone dumbfounded in the wake.

Was it possible that these girls really had such a strong friendship?

People couldn’t help being a little surprised. After all, <Pick Eleven> was a women’s team draft and the girls were all in competition until the final ranking. It was really astonishing that some of them were willing to defend their opponents.

Unlike various tabloids, the fan group of <Pick Eleven> was in an unprecedented high mood and they cheered excitedly about the girls’ relationships.

[The most beautiful friendship!]

[Our little sisters are amazing, it makes me want to cry!]

And when the gossiping accounts were chasing after the other players’ thoughts, many of Qiao Dai’s fans also posted their own net worth and real estate on Weibo. Some directly showed their private collections and some published their account balances…

And soon, they all asked: Who said Daidai’s fans were broke? They were all willing to spend money for their Daidai to have a nice birthday!

With the fans’ spontaneous behavior, the topic rose exponentially. Seeing all the pictures, the netizens were stunned and couldn’t help but wonder in secret: was Qiao Dai’s fanclub becoming the largest networking group in China?

No one realized Ruan Tao’s topic had disappeared and everyone’s attention was focused on Qiao Dai. Anyone who had believed people would go to Ruan Tao’s party instead of Qiao Dai’s to avoid offending the Ruan family saw the guests applaud and join in the fun.

There was no question, people must go to celebrate Qiao Dai’s birthday!

***

After the debate on the Internet came to an end, Qiao Dai’s celebration arrived.

Her birthday was to be held on a private island provided by a mysterious fan. This small island had a pleasant climate and beautiful ocean scenery. Although the island was not open to the public and was only used for private vacations, it was entirely livable; facilities and accommodations were available, as well as various entertainment measures and staff, which surprised every guest.

“Daidai, your fan is too rich!”

The dazzling light of the sun illuminated the green leaves of the palm tree. Their feet in the golden warm sand, everything they could see was an endless sea. Shi Qing sighed; she knew some very wealthy people would have their own islands but it was the first time seeing one like that. It was so beautiful like it had come straight from a movie. The ocean breeze, the few clouds in the sky… everything was fabulous and people felt lighter just being there.

After everyone had gone off the boat, the person in charge led them to the private villa in the center of the island. The party was scheduled to start in the evening and there was time for everyone to visit and play before that.

The girls put on swimsuits and went to play on the beach. As they laughed, Qiao Dai was lying on a beach chair with a colorful drink in her hand. The warm sunlight fell on a snow-white skin and she basked happily, feeling a little sleepy on this comfortable day.

“Are you going to dive? The corals around here are so beautiful!”

Lu Ying was accompanied by a diving instructor and had already finished a full dive. She was excited to introduce everything she had seen to the other girls and her eyes were shining.

“Daidai, do you want to go?”

Shi Qing was a little scared and turned her head to look at her friend. Qiao DAi stood up immediately and took her hand before walking to the shore: “It’s okay! I will go with you!”

Lu Ying ran over when she saw them. She smiled and grabbed Qiao Dai’s other arm: “Then I want to go too!”

Considering safety issues, the instructor only took the three of them to carry out diving training nearby. Once they went deeper, they had to change into professional diving gear and after a bit of apprehension, the instructor was not too worried about them.

“You did amazing!”

The instructor was a young man in his twenties. After they finished diving, he walked to Qiao Dai and gave her a thumbs up. It was the first time he had seen someone with such a light posture and relaxed expression on a first dive, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he had just met a water fairy.

Qiao Dai swam happily in the water for a while more. Although this sea was not the ocean she was familiar with, the salty scent of the water made her extremely relaxed. She could feel the exhaustion of these last days being washed away and while she couldn’t shift to her sea otter form, she was already very satisfied.

“Daidai, we should go back!”

Everyone played on the beach for a while and someone came to remind them it was almost time to go back to the villa; they had to prepare for the evening party, have their makeup and hair done, and the girls reluctantly left this little paradise.

“I want to stay there a bit longer.”

Seeing Qiao Dai’s lazy and happy expression, her friends stopped urging her; there was staff around, there was no need to worry too much about safety. So they left Qiao Dai to play by herself for a while. It was her birthday, after all, she could do whatever she wanted.

Qiao Dai was basking in the sun when her phone rang. She quickly took it out and saw Cheng Su had sent her a location with only two words: “Come here.”

Come here?

Why?

Although she was a little confused, Qiao Dai walked to the destination. It was another beach only a few hundred meters away and a staff member hurriedly followed her when he saw her leave alone.

As soon as she reached the location, Qiao Dai realized this was a little port. Cheng Su was on a yacht and he seemed to have been waiting for a while. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed but he relaxed right away when he saw Qiao Dai appear and said: “Come on up.”

“Miss Qiao, this…”

Qiao Dai immediately walked toward Chen Su when she heard him. The staff member behind her moved forward anxiously upon seeing this but after a couple of steps, he saw the man and stopped in his tracks. He closed his mouth and when Qiao Dai turned around to look at him as if waiting for him to speak, he faced Cheng Su’s sharp gaze, swallowed his words, and said respectfully instead: “I will be waiting for you here.”

“Okay.”

Qiao Dai nodded and stepped onto the yacht before asking in a somewhat surprised tone: “Why are you here?”

The staff member was startled: This is his island, Miss Qiao!

Then he heard Cheng Su reply: “Coincidence.”

Staff member: … No, didn’t you invite Miss Qiao to come?

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TL note: I am back! I finally won against covid! Not going to lie, I have been sleeping about 15 hours a day for about ten days… I was soooooo tired, and feverish, and sick, and it was annoying. I had most of this week’s chapters translated but getting on my laptop seemed like… hiking a mountain. Covid, amirite? Husband tested positive first, the day of our booster’s appointment!

Thank you everybody for the health wishes and for your patience. We’re back normally, I shouldn’t get sick for a while now, ah.

And back to work.

So I’m bored.

Yay.

TL second note: There was a WordPress update while I was sick… they made everything more complicated, I don’t like it!

Sea otter facts of the day:

► Sea otters can reach speeds of 1.5 kph (0.9 mph) on the surface and 9 kph (5.6 mph) underwater.

► Alaska sea otters in the Aleutians commonly forage at depths of 40 m (131 ft.) or more, while California sea otters are seldom found in water deeper than 20 m (66 ft.). Sea otters usually remain submerged for 52 to 90 seconds; the longest recorded dive was 4 minutes, 25 seconds. Such extended dives are probably a response to danger. The deepest confirmed dive for a sea otter was 97 m (318 ft.).