hello anon and welcome to the fandom!! 🐢✨ i hope you've been enjoying your stay so far c: this is a great question and 100% warranted confusion because i experienced the same thing back when i was a new fan!

the truth is there is no real way to verify that lrlg rumours are legitimate, because like many other such rumour houses on weibo/the internet, the poster is anonymous. but lrlg's posts hold a lot more weight to many turtles because they have (on multiple occasions!) recounted something that made absolutely zero sense at the time of posting, but turned out to be true or reflected in some way in a future public schedule some weeks or months later. that's why a lot of people think yz are aware lrlg exists, and/or they are someone who is working with them or in their inner circle. (i can't find the post anymore — maybe someone who comes across this ask will be able to supplement it — but if i remember correctly, lrlg also posted a picture of a red packet once for chinese new year, and people commented that the handwriting on the red packet greeting was pretty similar to xz's.)

they also don't really sensationalise things? the common belief is that if someone is cooking these up, chances are they'd try to slip in something that's particularly juicy or salacious, but lrlg's posts are really just incredibly mundane daily conversations that serve no real purpose to be made up, if that makes sense...?

something else that people also talk about but is far more subjective: they really do capture yz's black cat-golden retriever quarrel dynamics really well in their conversations!!! like it is very similar to the kind of banter we see in the reams of behind the scenes footage from cql

this tumblr post sums up all the speculation pretty well imo c:

tbvvvvh i believe that even among cpfs, everyone has (and is entitled to!!!) different levels of belief in lrlg! some people treat it like the gospel. some treat it like a fun surprise and sweet stories they get to read. some believe it's basically "two truths, one lie" i.e. there are true stories in there, but also some false ones in order to ensure the entire post has plausible deniability. some just straight up don't buy them at all. like most everything else in turtledom, you should come to your own conclusions about them, and not feel pressured to think the same as everyone else if you're personally not comfortable with it ♡

(i'm in the two truths one lie camp personally! hehe)