Later, when Xu Zhinan recalled Lin Qingye saying “Let me like you one more time,” she realized that although he had never spoken loudly to her before, this seemed to be the gentlest he had ever been since she’d known him.

With his pride stripped away, his eyes met hers at the same level. Xu Zhinan touched his true heart for the first time.

Those words were a request.

After a moment of eye contact, Xu Zhinan was the first to look away. “But so many people like you now. You don’t need to do this.”

“But I don’t like anyone else.”

Lin Qingye raised his hand, wanting to touch her face, but it hovered in midair as if he’d thought better of it. His hand dropped slightly and gently rested on her neck.

His palm was slightly cool against her neck and collarbone—bony, delicate to the point of fragility, as if they would break easily if he applied pressure.

“I won’t like anyone else,” he said again.

His hand was large, and Xu Zhinan’s neck was held in his palm.

“I know I deceived you and pulled you into my life without your permission,” Lin Qingye said softly. “That night, I got drunk too, later on.”

“I never intended to deliberately ruin your life. If I hadn’t been drunk, I wouldn’t have done that.” He gradually lowered his head, no longer looking directly at her.

“You don’t need to give me any answer. Just let me like you one more time.” Lin Qingye said, “Ah-Nan, I wasn’t good enough for you before. Let me seriously pursue you again.”

Xu Zhinan felt her neck burning under his palm and couldn’t speak.

Until a phone ringtone broke the silence.

It was her mother calling.

Lin Qingye stepped back, no longer standing so close.

Xu Zhinan took her phone from her bag and answered, “Hello, Mom?”

Her mother asked on the other end, “Ah-Nan, when are you coming home? Don’t stay out too late and get sick again.”

“Mm, I know, Mom,” she obediently responded. “I’m coming back right away.”

Afraid she was just pacifying her, her mother urged again, “Come home and rest soon. I’m keeping the door unlocked for you. I’ll go to sleep after you’re back.”

After chatting for a bit longer, Xu Zhinan hung up. Lin Qingye had already retreated to the table and looked at her, saying, “Let me drive you home.”

“I can take the subway.”

Lin Qingye glanced at the time. “The last train is almost over. It would take you an hour to get home by subway. It’s too late.”

Xu Zhinan remembered her mom saying, “I’ll go to sleep after you’re back,” and hesitated for a moment. She looked through the glass door where Lin Qingye’s car was parked outside, very close.

She shook her head. “People will see us.”

“They won’t.” Lin Qingye put on his mask and hat, covering himself thoroughly, with only a pair of dark eyes showing from under the brim. “I’ll take you. You can get home earlier.”

To be safe, Lin Qingye got in the car first. After confirming no one saw them, Xu Zhinan quickly followed.

The car windows were one-way glass; people couldn’t see inside from the outside.

The summer night had finally cooled down. The window was only cracked open slightly. It was just when nightlife was beginning, and there were many vehicles on the road at this time. Fortunately, everyone was out in groups, laughing and having fun, and no one paid attention to this particular car.

Xu Zhinan sat in the passenger seat, turning her head to look out the window, very quiet.

Yan City was an international metropolis, about to enter a new day but still bustling. The street lights were as bright as daylight, with handsome men and beautiful women coming and going, dressed very lightly.

Xu Zhinan had always felt out of place in Yan City’s nightlife, but Lin Qingye fit in perfectly.

Back when they were at the bar, whenever the Robinia Band performed, the seats were always full. Xu Zhinan was used to seeing him dazzling and uninhibited on stage, with cheers and shouts from below all for him.

Now that he was on the show, he had become the most talked-about singer, still loved by so many people from all over the country.

But now Lin Qingye was sitting beside her and had said those words to her.

Xu Zhinan felt it wasn’t real.

She didn’t speak throughout the journey, and Lin Qingye remained silent as well. After the car drove out of the downtown area, there weren’t as many people around.

However, halfway through the drive, it suddenly started raining. Xu Zhinan realized with dismay that she hadn’t brought an umbrella again, even though the weather forecast had said it wouldn’t rain today.

Raindrops pattered heavily against the windshield.

They were almost at Xu Zhinan’s home, but there wasn’t a convenience store or supermarket nearby where they could buy an umbrella.

Lin Qingye originally wanted to park the car right in front of her house, but Xu Zhinan stopped him: “My mom might be waiting downstairs for me. She’ll see us.”

So he obediently parked to the side. From here, it was about ten meters to run home, but looking at the torrential rain, she would still get wet.

Lin Qingye turned his head to look at Xu Zhinan beside him in her short-sleeved shirt, denim shorts, and canvas shoes.

He looked away and took a jacket from the back seat, placing it on her lap.

Xu Zhinan paused and looked at him.

“Wear the jacket inside.” Lin Qingye also took off his hat and put it on her head, making sure it covered her properly. “Let’s go. Don’t get wet.”

“…Thank you,” Xu Zhinan gradually gripped the jacket tighter and added, “And thank you for driving me home.”

His jacket was a windbreaker, black and large, waterproof. When she put it on, the hem reached the middle of her thighs, completely covering her clothes and shorts.

After thanking him, Xu Zhinan ran straight home.

Her mother was still waiting downstairs. Hearing the noise, she turned to look and was startled: “Did you come home in the rain? Didn’t you bring an umbrella?”

Xu Zhinan stood at the entrance, taking off the jacket and shaking off the water. “Yeah, I forgot to bring an umbrella. It only started raining when I reached the doorstep. It’s fine, I didn’t get wet.”

“Is this jacket yours?” Her mother noticed something was off. “Why is it so big?”

Xu Zhinan paused: “It’s my friend’s. He just drove me home.”

“Little Gu?”

“No, another friend.”

Her mother looked at the jacket in her hand again. It was so big, obviously a man’s. Curious, she asked another question: “Has our Ah-Nan started dating?”

“No, no,” she quickly denied. Then, meeting her mother’s inquiring gaze, her face inexplicably heated up. “I don’t have a boyfriend, just an ordinary friend.”

Her mother smiled, “You’ll graduate in another year. There’s nothing wrong with this topic. It’s time for you to find a boyfriend. Mom doesn’t have any other requirements, as long as he’s good to you.”

On this subject, Xu Zhinan responded with a perfunctory “Mm” and ended it. She took off the hat, which was also wet from the rain, but her hair was still dry.

She lowered her eyes and let her thoughts wander.

Was Lin Qingye good to her?

She wasn’t sure.

“Here, give me the wet clothes and hat,” her mother took them from her hands and urged her, “Go take a hot shower quickly. Don’t catch a cold.”

So Xu Zhinan stopped thinking about it and turned to go upstairs.

Lin Qingye waited outside for a while, driving away only after seeing the light come on in Xu Zhinan’s room upstairs.

By the time he returned to his apartment, it was already past midnight.

Lin Qingye took a shower, wore a bathrobe, and slipped on his slippers. The cowhide paper package from the fortune-teller woman was sitting on the table.

He stared at it for a while, head lowered, then suddenly let out a low laugh.

The apartment was vast and empty. The young man smiled lazily, and the light shining down turned his bangs into a lighter color.

Spending a thousand yuan to buy this thing wasn’t a loss after all.

Early the next morning, it was time for the “I Come for Song” recording. The show was approaching its halfway point, with Lin Qingye’s comprehensive score still ranking first, while Zhou Ji had entered the danger zone.

Lin Qingye chose another original song this time, a slow song, a love song.

He indeed had a good voice—low-pitched, magnetic, and with a nasal quality as if he had just woken up and hadn’t fully shaken it off. Though his pronunciation was crisp and clear, it always made listeners feel a lingering intimacy, effortlessly stirring hearts.

The “I Come for Song” stage not only had top-tier music equipment but also top-tier lighting and filming.

The other contestants were all sitting in the backstage rest area, with a real-time broadcast television in the center of the room.

This time, he didn’t use any instruments, just a standing microphone stand. He stood casually on stage, his slender, bony fingers gripping the mic stand, the smooth lines of his broad shoulders and narrow waist outlined in golden light.

Someone in the rest area raised a hand to cover their eyes: “Oh my, I can’t look! I almost got captivated. I’m going to report to the director! Someone is cheating in the competition! Sending electric currents to the audience below!!”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Although the contestants on “I Come for Song” were competitors, the relationship wasn’t as tense as on ordinary shows. Most contestants were already established singers who just treated the competition as a performance stage, and everyone got along very well.

Someone else said: “Did you know we gave him a nickname in our group chat last time?”

“What is it?”

“Pikachu Lin.” The person answered, imitating Pikachu’s voice saying, “Pika pika, ten thousand volts.”

“Hahaha, that’s quite fitting. It is indeed ten thousand volts. This isn’t just his face giving off electricity—his whole body can make people feel the electric shock.”

The song ended.

Half the audience below was in tears, while the other half continued to boil with excitement, shouting Lin Qingye’s name.

His hand still rested on the microphone stand. He looked up, scanning the audience below. After a moment, he leaned forward slightly, approached the microphone, and very gently curled the corner of his lips, saying, “Thank you, everyone.”

He smiled only slightly, but it was still captured by the fans below. Screams suddenly erupted, almost breaking through the ceiling of the studio.

Even the people in the rest area were shocked.

“Holy crap? Did Lin Qingye just smile??”

“Don’t swear, don’t swear, when the show is edited, they’ll have to bleep out several words in your sentence, although I’m also fucking shocked! Why is Lin Qingye suddenly being friendly!?”

“Didn’t you notice he seemed to be in a good mood when he arrived today?”

Since the show began recording, Lin Qingye had always been in a low mood, and everyone had gotten used to it, thinking it was just his personality and temperament.

Soon, Lin Qingye left the stage and returned to the rest area.

Shen Linlin had been holding a grudge against him for not responding to her song request four years ago. Previously, she thought he was just too wild in character, and even after meeting him on the show, she hadn’t asked him about it. Today, she finally caught an opportunity.

As soon as she saw him return, Shen Linlin raised her hand to greet him: “Hey, brother.”

Lin Qingye paused and stepped toward her: “What’s up?”

“I want to ask you something.” Shen Linlin paused, her index finger pointing at herself. “Do you remember me?”

Lin Qingye’s eyelids drooped as he scanned her: “Shen… Lin… Lin?”

Shen Linlin was now quite established in the music industry, considered one of the most respected female singers. Though not very old, everyone who met her would call her “Sister Linlin.”

But Lin Qingye just called her full name directly. Those three words coming from his mouth somehow had a challenging tone to them.

Fortunately, Shen Linlin didn’t care about these formalities: “I asked you for a song four years ago. Remember?”

Lin Qingye raised an eyebrow, clearly having no memory of this at all.

Shen Linlin nodded to herself.

Good, as expected.

Even though today he was giving off ten thousand volts and smiling, his character remained unchanged.

“Did I write a song for you?” Lin Qingye asked.

Shen Linlin responded with frustration: “…Do you have any memory of writing songs for others?”

He smiled faintly, denying it candidly, “No.”

“…”

Shen Linlin had to admit that Lin Qingye indeed had a face that made it impossible for girls to stay angry, especially when he smiled.

It was simply a travesty.

Shen Linlin let out a breath, waved her hand, and joked: “Be careful or you’ll be shelved.”

“You want me to write a song for you?” Lin Qingye sat down on the single sofa next to her, took a sip of water. “What type?”

Shen Linlin immediately widened her eyes: “Can I ask you for one?!”

The surrounding area erupted in laughter, and Lin Qingye also lifted the corner of his mouth: “If you’re interested.”

“This is too sudden. I haven’t even thought about it yet.” Shen Linlin patted her chest, pretending to be startled.

Song requests involve many details, so in the end, they exchanged contact information and decided to discuss it further later. Having avenged her four-year-old grudge, Shen Linlin looked at him again and couldn’t help but lean forward to ask: “You seem to be in a really good mood today?”

Lin Qingye lowered his head and chuckled softly again: “Mm.”

“Why is that?” Shen Linlin was genuinely curious, rarely gossipy, covering her mouth and lowering her voice, “Are you dating someone?”

He didn’t answer, just leaned back on the sofa, lifting his chin slightly, appearing arrogant and domineering.

“…”

Shen Linlin clicked her tongue internally. That’s youth for you.

Not long after the next contestant went on stage, Lin Qingye was called to the interview room to record a mid-term interview.

The questions were selected from popular fan comments under the show’s official social media account, of course, after being screened for appropriateness. Questions like “Lin Qingye, can I have your babies?” were excluded.

There were six questions in total, not difficult.

Lin Qingye had never feared the stage or cameras, and could answer smoothly even without preparation.

For the last question—”Everyone loves the song ‘Robinia’ you sang in your first competition. Fans want to know if there’s any meaning behind the lyrics of ‘Robinia’?” the host asked.

Lin Qingye paused.

Because of this song, he had won the Golden Melody Award at 18, but the lyrics were written when he was 17, almost six years ago now.

Seeing he wasn’t answering, the host added another question: “In the lyrics, there’s a line ‘You are the girl, I am the crawling five-legged monster.’ May I ask, is this ‘girl’ a real person?”

Just when the host almost thought he had touched upon a question that couldn’t be answered, Lin Qingye finally spoke.

“This girl—”

He paused for a few seconds, then looked up at the camera. The corners of his long eyes curved into a subtle arc, then he lowered his gaze and smiled helplessly, “I wrote those lyrics when I was 17, so naturally, it was a girl I met when I was 17.”

The host was stunned, not expecting to uncover such a revelation so unexpectedly, and stuttered slightly: “Then what about the latter part? Does the crawling monster refer to yourself?”

“I suppose so.”

“Why is that?”

“Because she was too good, and 17-year-old me didn’t dare approach her.”

For the first time, the young man revealed his past in front of the camera. It wasn’t a particularly difficult decision; it was just that now, he was finally willing to talk about it.

He smiled in resignation: “Back then, I was quite insecure.”

The tattoo design competition’s preliminary voting phase had ended, with Lu Xihe coming in first and Xu Zhinan second.

However, the two were in different groups, so it didn’t affect the semifinals. They both ranked first in their respective groups.

On Friday, the semifinals began at the sports stadium.

This time, Xu Zhinan invited another model who had previously gotten a tattoo at her shop.

The requirements for the semifinals differed from the preliminaries. In the preliminaries, contestants prepared their designs, while in the semifinals, they were given a standard design specified by the competition rules, with room for making detailed modifications.

Each group selected the ten tattoo artists with the highest votes to tattoo the same content, focusing more on tattoo technique and methodology.

After each semifinalist had taken their place at their workstations, the organizers finally revealed the four tattoo designs for this round of the competition.

The realistic group’s design was a lion—a fluffy male lion baring its fangs. Even just as a tattoo on skin, one could still feel the majestic presence of the king of beasts, very lifelike.

But the difficulty was higher. The colors were black and white, with different shading techniques in various areas, testing technical skills significantly.

The designs for the other groups were similarly much more difficult than what most people had prepared for the preliminaries.

As soon as the images were released, many people below lamented how difficult they were.

“This design is great, Ah-Nan, I like it!” the model, Chen Liming, looked up at the big screen and said, “I was worried it might be a portrait. I still don’t want to tattoo a meaningless person on my body, but this lion looks good.”

Xu Zhinan smiled: “Don’t worry, I’ll make it look beautiful for you.”

Amidst voices around her complaining about the difficulty, the young woman’s voice was gentle and calm, not proud but showing a straightforward confidence.

Lu Xihe, as the first place in the totem group, was situated right next to her. Hearing her, he smiled and turned to look at her.

Xu Zhinan met his gaze, and Lu Xihe raised his tattoo pen: “Good luck, little sister.”

Having seen his post-preliminary work, Xu Zhinan also admired him. She smiled and nodded at him: “Good luck to you too.”

Lu Xihe was tickled by her serious expression and threw his head back in hearty laughter.

Soon, the competition began.

Xu Zhinan didn’t rush to start working but first sketched a draft on paper, modifying the design on the screen—she reduced most of the lion image, leaving only the lion’s head.

Although the pattern was reduced, the difficulty increased, meaning higher requirements for details, otherwise flaws would become very obvious. Ordinary tattoo artists wouldn’t dare to do this.

She added a few more strokes. Coming from a fine arts background, Xu Zhinan quickly made the image even more realistic.

“Does this look okay?” she asked Chen Liming.

Chen Liming smiled: “Today is your competition. If you say it’s okay, it’s okay.”

“So I’ll tattoo it like this, alright?”

Chen Liming was amused by her mild temperament and couldn’t help urging: “Hurry up, I see you’re the only one who hasn’t started tattooing yet.”

The lion would be tattooed on her back. Chen Liming wasn’t as afraid of pain as Xu Zhenfan had been, and remained very quiet throughout, not making a scene like last time.

But that was also because everyone now knew Xu Zhinan’s true abilities from the voting page and didn’t foolishly try to tease a master.

Xu Zhinan was very focused when tattooing. The tattoo needle fell stroke by stroke, and the lion gradually appeared under her hands.

The realistic style was so difficult that fewer people had originally signed up for it. The ninth and tenth place contestants had only made it to the semifinals through frantic vote-gathering. Now faced with this highly difficult design, it was normal that they couldn’t handle it.

They never expected to win awards or prize money anyway, purely participating for fun, and their models were just close friends.

Two hours into the competition, a sudden shout came from the back of the venue: “I’ll kill you, I swear! What the hell is this thing you’re tattooing?! Is it a tiger or a cat?!”

The tattoo artist slapped his butt: “Don’t move! I’ll pay you extra!”

“Stop right now! Stop! I’m done with this! What do you mean by tattooing a cat on my precious ass?!!!”

The two went back and forth, not really arguing but just friends bantering.

The crowd around them burst into laughter.

However, this conversation made Chen Liming a bit nervous. With the tattoo on her back, she couldn’t see it and didn’t know how it was turning out.

Lu Xihe had already finished and came over to look. He nodded, commenting: “Hey, not bad.”

Chen Liming relaxed.

As a tattoo enthusiast, she had naturally heard of Lu Xihe’s reputation. With his “not bad” comment, she had nothing to worry about.

When the tattooing was finally complete and Chen Liming looked in the mirror, she was thoroughly amazed.

This wasn’t just “not bad”—it was incredible!!!

She would have been willing to pay over ten thousand yuan for this design. Agreeing to be a model this time was truly a gain.

The semifinals didn’t use voting but had professional judges scoring directly on-site. Among the judges were the overall champions from the two previous tattoo design competitions.

During the scoring process, the 40 semifinalists sat together.

Xu Zhinan became the center of attention. She had already taken photos of the lion tattoo on Chen Liming’s back with her phone, and a group of people gathered around her, extremely curious.

“Excuse me,” a man reached out his hand to her. “My name is Wei Jing. I ranked first in the School group in the preliminaries.”

The man looked to be only in his twenties, with a black headband around his forehead bearing a hook symbol. Unlike most tattoo artists who had many tattoos all over their bodies, his exposed skin only had an eagle pattern on his right arm.

It was a common element in the old school style.

Xu Zhinan shook his hand: “Hello, I’m Xu Zhinan.”

Wei Jing smiled and scratched the back of his head: “I know. I noticed you during the preliminary voting. Your work is really good.”

“Thank you.”

Wei Jing took out his phone from his pocket, about to ask for her contact information, when suddenly from the other side: “Ah-Nan, little sister.” Lu Xihe waved to her. “Come over here for a moment.”

Xu Zhinan responded and apologized to Wei Jing before walking toward Lu Xihe: “What’s the matter?”

“Be careful with that bastard,” Lu Xihe spoke crudely, lifting his chin to indicate Wei Jing. “That guy is no good.”

Xu Zhinan paused and looked back again. Lu Xihe had not attempted to hide his words, and even though Wei Jing couldn’t hear them clearly, he could guess they weren’t complimentary. Yet he still smiled at Xu Zhinan and raised his arm in greeting.

Lu Xihe snorted again.

Xu Zhinan turned back and asked: “What’s wrong with him?”

“He used to work at my shop. Came for three months, stole a batch of clients, and then directly violated his contract and left.”

“…”

That was quite unethical.

Xu Zhinan didn’t know how to comment on such matters and just nodded before walking away. She took out her phone from her pocket and turned it on.

As soon as it powered on, it started vibrating continuously.

Zhao Qian had sent her a string of messages.

[Zhao Qian: Holy shit!]

[Zhao Qian: What kind of scumbag is Lin Qingye? He even revealed having some kind of “pure love” from when he was 17.]

[Zhao Qian: I’m so angry I could explode. What did he take you for before???]

[Zhao Qian: Thank goodness you broke up with him!! No matter how handsome he is, it doesn’t matter!!!!]

At the bottom was a link.

Xu Zhinan clicked on it—

“Lin Qingye talks about the ‘Robinia’ girl: A girl I met when I was 17.”