Xing Wu took Qing to the phone store and had the clerk show them a new model. It was expensive, and Qing simply smiled at the clerk, saying thank you and that they’d look around more.

She then pulled Xing Wu to the domestic phone section, but he grabbed her: “Trying to save me money?”

“Who said you’re paying? I’m buying it myself.”

“Is there something wrong with me buying my girlfriend a phone?”

“There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just unnecessary.”

Xing Wu reached out his long arm and tugged her ponytail, smiling: “Keep your money saved for when you go abroad, understand?”

Despite the crowds of people coming and going, Qing felt an inexplicable wave of emotion at his words.

In the end, at her insistence, they bought a domestic phone for just over two thousand yuan. Since she started using phones, whatever new model came out, her father would buy it for her without ever asking about the price. This was her first time using a relatively inexpensive phone.

To be honest, she was just concerned about spending Xing Wu’s money, so on the way back, she kept showing off all the features of her new phone to him – how convenient it was, how user-friendly, how powerful.

Xing Wu just watched her performance. No matter how powerful this phone model was, it couldn’t compare to her previous high-end device, but he didn’t point this out. After getting off the bus, he stopped at the entrance of Xuan Island and suddenly pulled her close, saying: “Use this for now, I’ll get you a better one later.”

Qing lowered her head, feeling a mix of emotions she couldn’t quite describe.

After getting home, Xing Wu received a call. Something seemed to have happened with the Shun Yi boss, who called them all to come over. Xing Wu immediately grabbed his bag and let Qing know.

Qing stretched out her hand to him: “Give it to me.”

“What thing?”

“The little red box.”

Xing Wu suddenly realized what she meant and said with a laugh: “What do you want that for? You can’t use it anyway.”

Qing replied matter-of-factly: “Right, I can’t use it, but you can. Are you planning to find someone to use it with when you go out?”

Xing Wu threw the item to her while suppressing a smile at the corner of his lips.

He didn’t return until very late, saying Shun Yi might be closing down because the boss had some personal matters at home.

Before bed, they each lay on their bed chatting. Qing told Xing Wu about Fang Lei’s plan to apply to Xiamen University. Xing Wu responded coldly: “If she can get into Xiamen University, I could get into Peking University.”

Qing thought about it and realized he had a point, after all, one had 62 points and the other 65 points – their starting points were quite close.

Xing Wu turned his head when she didn’t respond and asked: “What do you think are the chances?”

Qing stared at the ceiling: “Want the truth? I think zero.”

“Then why did you agree to help her?”

Qing turned her head in the darkness to look at Xing Wu, her round eyes bright and dark: “Haven’t you heard this saying? Never extinguish someone’s hope, because you don’t know how that spark of hope might completely transform their life.”

“Which famous person said that?”

Qing turned to her side and said with a smile: “Me.”

“…”

Then she suddenly spoke seriously: “I want to visit the food factory sometime these days.”

“What for?”

Qing rolled onto her back. She had been thinking about this matter for a while. Both Xiao Ling Tong and Feng Bao had mentioned studying together with Fatty and the others after school. She couldn’t possibly bring everyone to Xing Wu’s house, and going to any of their homes wasn’t practical either. If Fang Lei hadn’t been pestering her these past few days, she might not have planned to find the old geezer yet.

It wasn’t that she had suddenly become altruistic. Before coming to Zhazha Pavilion, she had always been quite self-centered, never caring to meddle in others’ affairs. Of course, most people around her back then were the same way, only concerned with their own business.

But perhaps it was because of Xing Wu – because of his pure nature, his honesty, all the genuine qualities that Qing had never encountered before – that she gradually began to care about everyone around him.

She started to realize it wasn’t that these people didn’t want to study or were willingly letting themselves fall behind. It was just that being born in such an environment, they were all lost together, wandering together, sinking together in darkness, with no way out and no concept of what a way out might even look like.

At most, like Yellow Hair, they would follow in their father’s footsteps to make a living, never knowing what life planning meant.

She wasn’t sure if she had influenced them or if they were slowly influencing her, but she suddenly realized that the college entrance exam was an important turning point for many of them, not just for herself.

For example, Shi Min hoped to escape the fate of having to marry to supplement her family’s income, Fatty wanted to continue his education to not disappoint his family’s hopes, and Fang Lei was striving for her love. Success or failure all hinged on this crucial college entrance exam.

This was perhaps no longer just a simple exam for any of them, but their first life choice as adults. Before meeting Qing, these people from Zhazha Pavilion had all left their fate to heaven, but after meeting her, they realized that “fate” could be firmly held in their own hands. Qing also seemed to have rediscovered the belief in everyone working together toward the same goal, rather than feeling out of place and struggling alone like she did at the beginning of school.

Therefore, she needed to solve the venue problem, and the only place she could think of was the food factory, so she decided to find time to meet with the old geezer.

The days after winter camp ended felt like suddenly transitioning from scorching summer to bitter winter. Everyone could feel a different atmosphere. Although people were still laughing and joking around, it seemed like everyone had awakened from a dream. The final exams were just over ten days away, and after that, they would only have half a semester left of high school. The vast majority of people had to face the reality that their academic careers were coming to an end.

Perhaps only Xing Wu remained unaffected. He was still busy every day. Shun Yi closed down not long after, and he lost one source of income, so he took on more odd jobs. Sometimes when Qing turned around after class wanting to talk to him, she would find him sleeping on his desk from exhaustion.

At those times, she couldn’t bear to wake him up. Many times she wondered whether her arrival had been good or bad for him. He seemed to have become more tired. To support her studying abroad, he didn’t dare slack off at all. He had told her that although he couldn’t be by her side in the future, having more money prepared would give her more security.

To give her more security, he took jobs during the day and led practice at night, keeping very busy. Qing often wondered what she had given him in return. Fleeting memories? The bitterness and sweetness of youth? It seemed like nothing at all, but she couldn’t think about it too much anymore. For her now, there was no choice but to charge forward with her eyes closed.

After returning from winter camp, Qing spent some effort creating a mind map for Fang Lei, organizing all the question types, directions, and common mistakes, as well as knowledge points that needed to be memorized. This was an extremely difficult mountain to climb, especially the memorization part. Qing couldn’t help her with that; she had to face it alone to secure these easily obtainable points.

But Qing had marked time nodes for her, specifying what needed to be memorized by which day, and made it very clear to Fang Lei that her time was limited. If she couldn’t complete these tasks within the specified time, she would not waste any more time on her.

Fang Lei understood that although Qing was easy to talk to, she was a person of strong principles who would do what she said. She didn’t want Qing to give up on her, so during this period, she worked so hard that dark circles appeared under her eyes. Even when Li Wenxi and the others called her to go to the bathroom during breaks, she would avoid going if possible.

But what surprised Qing was that she had a very good memory and could memorize things quickly. She had always been puzzled about why Fang Lei didn’t choose liberal arts initially. Her answer was: “Afraid of writing.”

“…”

After returning from winter camp, Qing indeed kept her promise to help Du Qiyan transform her appearance. Du Qiyan’s figure wasn’t bad, but her clothes were too rural, always loose and baggy. Like Liu Nian, her pants couldn’t stay at her waist, sagging at the crotch. Even though Christmas was over, she still had trinkets jingling on her like a Christmas tree.

Qing had her remove all those cheap decorations and seriously told her: “If you’re ever unsure what to wear, subtract from your outfit, never add. Understand?”

Du Qiyan wondered why Qing could even connect this to addition and subtraction – perhaps she’d gone crazy from solving too many math problems?

Qing took Du Qiyan to try on a camel-colored leather motorcycle jacket. Du Qiyan initially refused, saying this style didn’t suit her, but at Qing’s insistence, she put it on. Finally replacing those baggy pants with skinny jeans and ankle boots, when they returned to Xuan Island, Liu Nian didn’t even recognize her and asked: “Cut or perm?”

When his gaze moved to Du Qiyan’s face, Liu Nian froze. Qing, watching from the side, smiled at his expression and said: “Perm, straighten, dye black… let me think… best would be black that shows a slight purple tint in the sunlight. You handle it.”

Liu Nian immediately smiled at Du Qiyan, showing his two cute little fangs, which made Du Qiyan feel shy.

Qing went upstairs to work on practice problems. Several hours later when she came back down, even she almost didn’t recognize Du Qiyan.

Perhaps because she had always preferred very puffy hairstyles before, it had given people the impression her head was big. But now with straightened hair, it became clear her head wasn’t big at all, her face was proportionate, and her legs were quite slim. The outfit showed off her figure well – she looked like a completely different person. Clothes do make the person.

For the final step, Qing threw her some makeup remover pads and had her take off that Li Lanfang-style makeup.

Then she spent twenty minutes giving her a very simple everyday makeup look. Done.

Just then, Xing Wu returned from outside carrying his toolbox. He glanced at Du Qiyan’s back before going straight to wash his hands. When he came back, Qing was blocking the back door. He reached out and pinched her face: “Miss me?”

But Qing mysteriously pulled him to the curtain and pointed outside: “What do you think of that beauty?”

Du Qiyan was sitting sideways on a high stool talking with Liu Nian. Xing Wu didn’t recognize her at all and seriously looked her over, asking: “Who is that? Your friend?”

Qing held back her laughter and urged him: “Just say, does she look good or not?”

But Xing Wu grabbed a tissue to wipe his hands: “Is this a trick question?”

Qing rolled her eyes, and Xing Wu laughed: “Whether someone looks good depends on their face.”

Qing immediately called out, and when Du Qiyan turned around, Xing Wu was startled: “Holy shit.”

Qing had removed all of Du Qiyan’s self-proclaimed beautiful packaging and restored her natural appearance with some refinements. While she couldn’t be called stunning, she looked much more pleasing than her original style.

So after saying goodbye to Xing Wu, she and Du Qiyan went to the food factory.

With Du Qiyan’s makeover, removing all those low-quality rural elements, she now only had three colors on her entire outfit. Finally not looking like a Christmas tree, she appeared clean and fresh, even a bit cool when standing still. Of course, this was only if she didn’t speak – once she opened her mouth, the effect was ruined.

Indeed, Du Qiyan got many more looks than usual today. When buying water, a young man even tried to chat her up. It was probably her first time being approached like this – she not only gave him her WeChat but remained excited about it for a long time.

So on the way to the food factory, Qing lectured her the whole way about not giving her WeChat to strangers when she didn’t know anything about them. Even if she did know who they were and was interested, she shouldn’t give it out so easily.

Du Qiyan thought Qing made a lot of sense – women shouldn’t be too forward, they should be reserved. Then she asked: “So when do you usually give out your WeChat?”

“…” Qing fell into a mysterious silence, as she seemed to recall that she had been the one to actively ask Xing Wu for his WeChat. This was awkward.

Qing had originally thought the old geezer would discuss rental fees for the venue with her. She had already estimated a price in her mind – it was only for a few months anyway, and as long as it wasn’t too expensive, she could ask everyone’s opinion about splitting the cost.

But unexpectedly, the old geezer was very warm towards Qing when he saw her, probably because she had recently helped move two batches of goods and earned him some money. This food factory was already on the verge of closing, with hardly anyone there during the day, let alone at night. So when the old geezer heard they wanted to use the factory building for evening self-study, he generously agreed. Probably because he was familiar with Du Qiyan’s family, he didn’t mention any fees, only asking them to pay for their electricity. Then he continued asking Qing about her customer sources.

Although Qing had never done business herself, growing up watching her father had given her some business sense. She knew that discussing customer resources was taboo between distributors and manufacturers, so she was very vigilant about this. Although she didn’t think the old geezer could poach her customers, she still kept some information to herself, especially regarding the local resources that Liu Nian held.

Just as they were leaving the food factory and passing by the back door of the target factory, a group of thugs were squatting by the roadside smoking. As Qing and Du Qiyan turned the corner from Zone 2, the group’s eyes locked onto them like wolves.

Following a call of “Hey beautiful,” Du Qiyan noticeably became uncomfortable, but Qing turned to meet the person’s gaze. Looking over, she saw a familiar face – wasn’t that Yang Gang the widower? After not seeing him for several months, his hair had grown long, making him look like Dick Cowboy, except that his face full of acne was too eye-catching – even those without trypophobia would develop it just by looking at him.

Qing pulled Du Qiyan, who stopped uncertainly. Qing nodded towards the group.

When Du Qiyan turned to look, she suddenly startled Yang Gang. He stood up in disbelief, staring intently at Du Qiyan before throwing away his cigarette and walking over with big steps, his face full of surprise and uncertainty: “Yanyan?”

Du Qiyan still seemed timid facing Yang Gang. Qing gave her a pat on the back, forcing her to straighten up and seemingly giving her some courage. She asked Yang Gang: “What do you want?”

Yang Gang looked her up and down and smiled: “You’ve become beautiful.”

Qing coldly watched him. While Du Qiyan had indeed become prettier after her makeover, this widower had become increasingly painful to look at. He wore a raggedy striped shirt with a lock hanging from his belt. Qing squinted carefully to confirm she wasn’t seeing things – it was a genuine lock as if he had a gold mine in his home’s vault and was afraid people wouldn’t know about it. Or was it now trendy in this county to hang locks from belts? What an anti-fashion trend.

In any case, he had a row of jingling decorative trinkets around his lock, like wearing a street stall. She suddenly understood why Du Qiyan had chosen Yang Gang from among all the people before – apparently, they both shared the beautiful vision of being Christmas trees.

Yang Gang changed his previous attitude and asked Du Qiyan how she’d been lately. Du Qiyan casually told him she was working, the same as before, and then this shameless Yang Gang started asking her to go play in the county town tomorrow.

Just as Du Qiyan was about to speak, Qing pulled her hair from behind. Her words caught in her throat, and she affected an attitude, saying: “Not free.”

Then she lifted her chest proudly: “Yesterday you ignored me, today I’m out of your league.”

“…” Sister, you’re overdoing the act.

The two of them walked away proudly, leaving Yang Gang cursing behind them.