After the news came down that the school would conduct a large-scale inspection of student appearance on Friday, three-quarters of the students voted on the campus forum, ultimately selecting the person who would definitely be called out and criticized on the campus broadcast next Monday: Long Qi.

The rule stated that students should look like students—shirt buttons must be fastened, ties and bow ties must not hang loosely, skirts must not rise above the knee, and jewelry was forbidden—yet Long Qi was precisely a girl with tattoos.

She always had cigarettes in her pocket, deliberately kept a gap shaved in her right eyebrow, had fair skin, a beautiful face. Since entering her first year of high school, she went from being cool in her class to being cool in her grade, from being beautiful in her grade to being beautiful in the school, and then from being famous in school to appearing in fashion magazines. She was originally supposed to become a magazine’s favored model, but because her aloofness resembled a Rafflesia flower, she was suppressed, resulting in the cold treatment of being given only one photo shoot every six months, with lukewarm reception.

Long Qi’s aloofness was famous, precisely because her extreme beauty was famous. She was hard to pursue, aloof and cold—naturally these were also famous. She wasn’t popular, but there were still people willing to badmouth her online all day. After various nasty rumors spread to the campus forum, they changed in nature. This strict appearance inspection clearly targeted her.

Who didn’t know the higher-ups wanted to discipline her?

Long Qi knew it too.

So after the second period’s bell rang, she packed her bag and left the classroom. When she reached the front door, she was stopped by an especially loud shout. She didn’t even turn around, just glanced over sideways with her forehead. When she looked like this, the entire class held their breath without a sound. Only the female class monitor in the middle row stood up and asked contemptuously, “Where are you going?”

She didn’t respond, but her departure wasn’t the least bit dragging. As she walked, she tied up her long hair, and when she released her hands, the hair tie made a “piu” sound as it snapped onto her hair.

There was commotion in the neighboring class. The class with the best academic performance was being inspected for appearance. The female class monitor followed out and shouted “Long Qi!” Students in that class all turned to look at the sound.

The student council members conducting the inspection also looked over.

Seeing the student council in the neighboring class, the female class monitor immediately went to the window and shouted, “Everyone! Long Qi is skipping class.”

Just as she finished shouting, Long Qi turned around.

The long hair behind her head swayed slightly with the turning force. Her eyes looked at the female class monitor in the corridor. She extended her hand, pointing horizontally at the student council inside the classroom. Her pointing direction passed through the crowd, aiming straight at the student council president in the very center.

“Long Qi, what are you pointing at?” the surrounding female officers questioned.

Everyone was on the same side, only she stood alone in the wind. She said, “I’m pointing at that empty chair your president is blocking behind her.”

Many people looked over. The chair behind student council president Bai Aiting was indeed empty. Bai Aiting had her arms crossed, leaning against the desk edge. She lightly waved her finger to suppress the dissatisfaction of the surrounding officers and walked forward a few steps, moving from behind everyone to the very front.

She walked very slowly. After stopping, she calmly asked, “What about the chair I’m blocking, Long Qi?”

Long Qi put her hand into her outer garment pocket. The wind on the balcony was howling loudly.

“Is someone sitting in this chair?”

“There is someone.”

“Where is that person?”

“Long Qi, it doesn’t matter. What do you want to say?”

She turned around, “If the name of this chair’s owner is being written in your demerit book right now, then I don’t care if you write mine down too. But I’m so afraid—I’m afraid that those with connections can skip class without anyone caring, while those without connections get written up over the smallest things.”

“Long Qi, don’t bring up what shouldn’t…”

“Jin Yiken went to the school store to get me milk tea,” before the female class monitor finished shouting, Bai Aiting said, “The remaining period is for club activities. He can return before the third period. Do you still have any objections, Long Qi?”

The two girls stared at each other through the class’s front window. Long Qi pursed her lips, but her lip-pursing didn’t mean she had no objections—rather, it strongly suggested “you can say whatever you want but you can’t control what I do.” A sharp light gleamed in her eyes, scanning Bai Aiting from head to toe.

She still left.

“What a troublemaker,” the female class monitor complained.

The room Jin Yiken booked this time was in a star-rated hotel five blocks away from school. He was never careless about sleep quality. He didn’t call this burning money, but rather considered it common-sense cleverness, because the more expensive the place, the fewer people there were. After sleeping around in various places, he felt this place had the most comfortable bed and the damn best soundproofing, so he simply booked it for half a year.

He left school earlier than her. When Long Qi arrived, he had already watched a third of the ball game and drunk a bottle of chilled beer in the suite. She tossed the room card to the corner of the bed. Without taking his eyes off the television, he said, “So slow.”

“As long as the interest is still there, it’s fine.”

“The interest is almost gone.”

As Long Qi walked to the bathroom, she pulled off the hair tie. Her long hair cascaded down with a whoosh. The bathroom door blocked the pattering sound of water. After Jin Yiken finished watching half the ball game, he turned off the television, got up and walked to the bathroom, pushing the door open with a click.

…

Three twenty-five should be when the third period at school ended. Half the suite’s curtains were closed and half open. Sunlight slightly projected onto the headboard, onto the muscles of Jin Yiken’s rear shoulder. His arm pressed against Long Qi’s arm. The sounds of their movements were small, precisely because his rhythm was extremely slow. Every time he was this leisurely rather than rushing through things, it meant he was truly in a good mood, which meant the atmosphere was sufficient, which meant she was beautiful enough today. He would look into her eyes, would use his thumb to press her forehead so she would also look into his eyes, and then when emotions ran deep, he would do some unnecessary things.

When his chin rubbed over, Long Qi turned her head away. Their lips didn’t touch. He pinched her chin with his thumb and index finger. Amid the small movements, she frowned slightly, pulled her left wrist back from under his arm, pushed away his two fingers, turned her head and avoided him.

This behavior killed his interest, so afterward there wasn’t much atmosphere left. He finished things as if completing a task. Long Qi also exhaled a breath at the last moment as if completing a task.

While Jin Yiken was showering, she went to the nightstand to get his wallet and opened it. There wasn’t much cash, all cards. She pulled out each card and scanned them one by one, then took out her own wallet from her bag, stuffed his few hundred yuan of cash into it, and took out eight coins from her own wallet to put in his.

Just right—Jin Yiken finished showering and saw this. While opening a beer can, he mocked her. She said, “Leaving you some change to buy milk tea.”

“Milk tea?”

She didn’t say anything. After getting fully dressed, she picked up her bag preparing to leave. He asked, “How much to let me kiss you?”

Long Qi looked back at him, her hand on the door handle. “No amount of money would make me let you, you scumbag.”