Shu Yan

Biodata

Background / History

Life Before the France Shoot

Shu Yan maintains an international music career, holding concerts in China and frequently visiting France. Before the show’s Lyon stop, his French visits usually kept him in Paris rather than other cities 111 114.

His attachment to Nuowente reaches back five years: while questioning whether to trust him again, Shu Yan remembers the cold streets of Paris and Nuowente’s warm embrace when he was lost and helpless 150.

Filming in France

Shu Yan meets Shen Xingcan during the group’s arrival in Paris and later joins a team with him and Xie Linchuan. He initially keeps his relationship with Nuowente away from the cameras, declining to share Nuowente’s room because of filming. Privately, he believes Nuowente does not love him, despite remaining deeply attached to him 104 106 111.

At the family’s Provence castle, Shen Xingcan places Shu Yan in a suite ostensibly described as Xie Linchuan’s room. Its rabbit decorations, pink hydrangeas, and custom crystal piano reveal that it was prepared for Shu Yan. Shen Xingcan also has a lock installed on the connecting door to Nuowente’s room so Shu Yan can choose whether to admit him 117.

Exploring further, Shu Yan discovers a bedroom arranged like his Paris home, a music room, and an empty walk-in closet awaiting his belongings. Nuowente later confirms that the piano belongs to him, calls him special, and gives him a violin brooch while promising to design a ring 122.

Breakup with Nuowente

During rehearsals for the final performances, Shu Yan hears Elias making suggestive sounds and calling Nuowente’s name behind an ajar door. Believing Nuowente is with him, Shu Yan flees and falls down the stairs. He subsequently avoids Nuowente’s kiss, unable to separate his affection from what he thinks he witnessed 141.

Their confrontation escalates when Nuowente grips his chin and forcibly kisses him despite his resistance. Shu Yan bites his tongue while struggling to get free. After their argument, Nuowente leaves, and Shu Yan spends the night crying 142.

In Paris, Nuowente explains that Elias staged the encounter while he himself was in a video conference. Shu Yan nevertheless insists on breaking up: the incident was false, but his insecurity over Nuowente’s previous romantic entanglements was not. Nuowente agrees without trying to stop him 143.

Recovery in S City

After returning to China, Shu Yan loses enough weight to alarm Shen Xingcan during a video call. At Shen Xingcan’s suggestion, he buys a ten-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, which gives him something absorbing to focus on besides the breakup 140 144.

Shen Xingcan visits ahead of Shu Yan’s birthday, bringing four violins and more puzzles. Nuowente also sends a pink diamond ring, but Shu Yan initially asks Shen Xingcan to return it. Shen Xingcan explains that the diamond had been intended for him long before the breakup and cheers him up during an outing around S City 144 145.

Reconciliation and Proposal

Nuowente arrives on Shu Yan’s twenty-fifth birthday and announces that he will stay in China for six months to court him again. Shu Yan remains afraid to trust him, even after Nuowente promises exclusivity and offers marriage with an infidelity clause transferring his assets to Shu Yan 147.

Nuowente moves his belongings into Shu Yan’s home and provides a fingerprint-locked device through which Shu Yan can monitor his location, speech, and activities. Their reconciliation develops through Nuowente’s apologies and Shu Yan’s admission that loving him has become frightening and painful 149 150 151.

Shu Yan’s insecurity persists into the side story. Nuowente acknowledges responsibility and offers to move his work to China rather than make Shu Yan return to Paris unwillingly. Shu Yan later travels to Provence himself, publicly displays his pink diamond ring, and reveals his music room during a livestream. After Nuowente joins him, he accepts a proposal with a ring bearing the Konoh family crest 158 159.

Appearance

• Fair complexion: His cheeks, ears, and neck visibly redden when he is embarrassed, particularly by Nuowente’s teasing 122 124.
• Weight loss after the breakup: Both Shen Xingcan and Nuowente notice how much thinner he has become 140 147.

Personality

Shu Yan is gentle, considerate, and easily embarrassed. He expresses concern about Shen Xingcan’s recovering foot injury and is initially reluctant to accept a room he believes belongs to someone else. The narration repeatedly compares his softness to a little white rabbit 114 117 122.

His love for Nuowente makes him reluctant to voice his needs. Although he wants an exclusive relationship, he initially fears that asking for more will make him seem greedy or cause Nuowente to abandon him. His decision to maintain the breakup even after Elias’s deception is exposed marks a firm refusal to continue enduring that uncertainty 122 143.

Around Shen Xingcan, Shu Yan becomes more openly cheerful and playful. He laughs at his antics, praises him as a “little sun,” and later enjoys watching him provoke Nuowente. Even after reconciliation begins, Shu Yan increasingly answers Nuowente with teasing complaints rather than silently yielding 125 148 151.

Abilities & Skills

Musical Performance

• Maintains a concert career involving travel between China and France 111 114.
• Improvises a polished instrumental duet with Shen Xingcan and performs their piano-and-violin collaboration on the castle’s rooftop stage 124 129.
• Performs several songs with Shen Xingcan during their later Provence livestream 159.

Variety-Show Challenges

• Partners with Ye Ran for the overseas business task 109.
• Teams with Song Tiantian during the vineyard competition; together they surprise and eliminate Shen Xingcan and Xie Linchuan, taking their paint-filled water gun 118.

Equipment / Items

• Four Aosefu violins — Personally made for Shen Xingcan and later given to Shu Yan. He brings them back to Provence and identifies their origin during his livestream 144 159.
• Custom crystal pianos — Nuowente commissions three: one for Shen Xingcan, one for Shu Yan’s Paris home, and another for Shu Yan’s castle suite 117 122.
• Violin brooch — A birthday gift from Nuowente, featuring a white-gold frame, colorless diamonds, a ruby scroll, and platinum strings set with tourmalines 122.
• Pink diamond ring — An emerald-cut pink diamond in a simple platinum setting, sent after the breakup. Later identified as the Unique Pink, it becomes part of Shu Yan’s public acknowledgment of their relationship 145 158.
• Konoh family proposal ring — Bears the family’s golden eagle crest and is placed on Shu Yan’s ring finger during Nuowente’s proposal 159.
• Monitoring device — A wristband-and-display system commissioned by Nuowente, accessible through Shu Yan’s fingerprint; its audio device is set to destroy itself after three failed unlock attempts 149 150.

Relationships

• Nuowente Konoh — Lover, former partner, and eventual fiancé. Their relationship changes from Shu Yan’s fear of being merely “special” among others to Nuowente explicitly promising exclusivity and accepting responsibility for his insecurity 122 143 147 158 159.
• Shen Xingcan — Close friend and musical collaborator. Shu Yan gives him a sun-shaped necklace; Shen Xingcan supports him after the breakup and insists their friendship need not depend on Nuowente 129 140 144.
• Xie Linchuan — Fellow show guest and friend through Shen Xingcan. He checks Shu Yan’s wishes before agreeing that he should leave with Nuowente and later brings him a birthday gift 142 146.
• Elias Voss — Nuowente’s former romantic connection. His staged encounter deliberately upsets Shu Yan and precipitates the confrontation leading to the breakup 142 143.
• Song Tiantian — Vineyard-challenge partner; they eliminate Shen Xingcan and Xie Linchuan together 118.
• Zou Yanshu — Rehearsal partner whom Shu Yan is going to meet when he overhears Elias 141.

Personal Preferences

• Likes rabbits, pink hydrangeas, and pink; these preferences inform his room decorations and Nuowente’s choice of diamond 117 145.
• Dislikes mushrooms and has a sensitive stomach, prompting Nuowente to ask Shen Xingcan to take care when ordering lunch 114.
• Keeps several cats. His favorite is the little tabby he adopted first; the others came into his care through later encounters 141.
• Brings both his cats and his four gifted violins to Provence because he intends to remain in France for a long stay 159.

Notable Quotes

“I need to work and make money.” 122

“But if you love me, why did you make me so sad?” 150