#but doing the numbers pinyin required utmost concentration lol

[rongzhi]

About the rose posts tags - could you write out how 520 sounds like "I love you"? Like the pinyin & pronunciation between the two? thank you!!

It is a close homophone but not exact.

520 = wǔ èr líng

I love you = wǒ ài nǐ (我爱你）

N and L sounds are interchangeable in some Chinese accents/dialects, thus why 0 = 你.

521 (wǔ èr yī) also sometimes is used to mean the same thing. It comes from leetspeak which was popular in the 2000s, I believe. There are other phrases that come from numbers that were used when texting first arose. Grabbed these from zhihu:

17 (yao1 qi1) = 友情 (you3 qing2)

↳ "friendship"

1314 (yi1 san3 yi1 si4) = 一生一世 (yi1 sheng1 yi1 shi4)

↳ "A whole lifetime"

0451 (ling3 si4 wu3 yi1) = 你是唯一 (ni3 shi4 wei3 yi1)

↳ "you're the only one"

04551 (ling2 si4 wu3 wu3 yi1) = 你是我唯一 (ni3 shi4 wo3 wei3 yi1)

↳ "you're my only one"

1930 (yi1 jiu3 san1 ling2) = 依旧想你 (yi1 jiu4 xiang3 ni3)

↳ "still thinking about/missing you"

1920 (yi1 er4 san1 ling2) = 依旧爱你 (yi1 jiu4 ai4 ni3)

↳ "still love you"

2030999 (er4 ling2 san1 ling2 jiu3 jiu3 jiu3) = 爱你想你久久久 (ai4 ni3 xiang3 ni3 jiu3 jiu3 jiu3)

↳ “love you miss you always and forever"

0564335 (ling2 wu3 liu4 si4 san1 san1 wu3) = 你无聊时想想我 (ni3 wu2 liao2 shi2 xiang3 xiang3 wo3)

↳ "When you're bored, think of me"

176 (yi1 qi1 liu4) = 一起走 (yi1 qi3 zou3)

↳ "[let's] go together"

1456 (yi1 si4 wu3 liu4) = 你是我的 (ni3 shi4 wo3 de)

↳ "You're mine"

14567 (yi1 si4 wu3 liu4 qi1) = 你是我老妻 (ni3 shi4 wo3 lao3 qi1)

↳ "You're my old/dear wife"

02825 (ling2 er2 ba1 er4 wu3) = 你爱不爱我 (ni2 ai4 bu4 ai4 wo3)

↳ "Do you love me?"

2013614 (er2 ling2 yi1 san1 liu4 yi1 si4) = 爱你一生又一世 (ai4 ni3 yi1 sheng1 you4 yi1 shi4)

↳ "Love you for life plus a lifetime"

2627 (er4 liu4 er4 qi1) = 爱来爱去 (ai4 lai3 ai4 qu4)

↳ "Love comes and goes"

12746 (yi1 er4 qi1 si4 liu4) = 你恶心死了 (ni3 e3 xin1 si3 le)

↳ "You're nauseating/embarrassing/disgusting as hell"

13456 (yi1 san1 si4 wu3 liu4) = 你相思无用 (ni3 xiang1 si1 wu2 yong4)

↳ "Your pining is useless"

1437 (yi1 si4 san1 qi1) = 你是神经 (ni3 shi4 shen2 jing1)

↳ "You're insane/unhinged"

14517 (yi1 si4 yao1 qi1) = 你是我氧气 (ni3 shi4 wo3 yang3 qi4)

↳ "You are my oxygen"

14535 (yi1 si4 wu3 san1 wu3) = 你是否想我 (ni3 shi4 fou3 xiang3 wo3)

↳ "Do you miss me?"/"Are you thinking about me or not?"

As a side note, there is some number based slang that is not from leetspeak as well. For example, 250 (èr bǎi wǔ) is slang for "idiot" but the origins of this is actually a folktale, so it is from olden times. 233 is often used to express laughter but this is because it was the image id of a laughing emoji from a popular sticker pack back in the day.