The liquor’s aftereffects were severe.

Chen Xi collapsed into bed as soon as she returned to her room, not even hearing Bai Yuning’s phone calls.

She was tormented by chaotic dreams all night.

Sometimes she dreamed of following her father to restore murals at the Mogao Caves when she was little.

Sometimes she dreamed of catching grasshoppers with Yang Shan on the Gobi Desert, following Yang Guan.

The scene shifted.

She was riding her motorcycle with Bai Yuning to see the Earth Child sculpture, but could never reach the destination.

Later, Bai Yuning got angry and refused to ride her motorcycle anymore.

The two of them stood on the desolate Gobi Desert.

Chen Xi grabbed Bai Yuning’s hand and said, “Don’t leave, we’re almost there.”

But Bai Yuning shook his head and gently touched her face.

He said, “Chen Xi, there’s no need for anyone to sacrifice their whole life for someone else.”

Chen Xi woke up in a daze, lying in bed with her eyes open for quite a while.

Today was the weekend.

From the courtyard came the sounds of Sensen and San Huang chasing and playing, along with Fan Mingsu crushing plastic bottles.

Chen Xi reached for her bag on the nightstand and pulled out two bank cards.

One was Yang Guan’s, the other from Yang Shan and Han Susu.

The money in them totaled two hundred thousand.

Adding her savings of two hundred thousand, it was enough to pay the rent.

Chen Xi held the two bank cards up to her eyes, staring blankly.

The rent problem was solved, but she didn’t feel relieved.

Something was weighing on her heart.

She didn’t want to face it and didn’t even want to get out of bed.

Her phone suddenly rang in her bag.

Chen Xi took out her phone and glanced at it – it was Bai Yuning calling.

She looked at the phone but didn’t answer for a long time.

Until the ringing finally stopped and the screen gradually darkened.

Chen Xi pulled the blanket over her head and decided to stay in bed.

After a while, San Huang’s barking in the courtyard changed.

Chen Xi could tell immediately that Bai Yuning had arrived.

Chen Xi’s first reaction was to shove the two bank cards under her pillow.

After hesitating a moment, she took the cards back out and left them beside her pillow as before.

Bai Yuning knocked on the door, and Chen Xi made a sound of acknowledgment.

With a creak, Bai Yuning pushed the door open and walked in.

He was wearing a white T-shirt today, looking fresh and clean. He walked to the bedside, bent down, and pinched Chen Xi’s cheeks.

Chen Xi unconsciously took a deep breath.

His faint scent of disinfectant mixed with face cream smelled quite distinctive.

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

After pinching her cheeks, his hand moved under the blanket.

Chen Xi laughed and turned away to dodge, but was caught by Bai Yuning again.

“That’s what you get for not answering my calls.”

Bai Yuning suddenly grinned mischievously, raised his knee to kneel on the bed, and bent down to tickle Chen Xi’s armpits.

Chen Xi was most afraid of being tickled and immediately struggled while dodging and explaining.

“I drank too much with Yang Shan and Han Susu last night. I fell asleep as soon as I got back and didn’t hear your call.”

Bai Yuning was relentless, “You should at least say goodnight before sleeping.”

Chen Xi was tickled to the point of gasping and laughing, so she could only beg for mercy.

“I was wrong, I’ll change next time. Hey, stop tickling, don’t let Grandma hear.”

Bai Yuning finally stopped and sat on the edge of the bed, his gaze falling on the two bank cards beside the pillow.

He picked them up and looked at them, asking casually, “What are the bank cards for?”

Chen Xi leaned against the headboard and smoothed her messy hair.

Looking at Bai Yuning’s refined, handsome profile, she suddenly fell silent.

It took Bai Yuning a while to notice Chen Xi’s silence.

He turned to look at Chen Xi and asked with a smile, “Why aren’t you talking?”

Completely unprepared, he met Chen Xi’s gaze that had somehow become quiet, and his heart inexplicably tightened.

Chen Xi looked at Bai Yuning, and after a moment of silence, she finally spoke.

“This is money Yang Shan and the others pooled together for me…”

Bai Yuning asked somewhat blankly, “Pooled money… for what?”

Chen Xi replied, “To pay rent… I negotiated the VR arcade deal. I can rent half the space.”

Bai Yuning looked completely bewildered, staring at Chen Xi as if he couldn’t understand what she had just said.

Chen Xi said nothing and looked at him quietly.

After a long while, Bai Yuning seemed to find his voice again.

He coughed lightly, his tone carrying a trace of exaggerated nonchalance.

“Oh, that auto repair shop… You still want to open it?”

Chen Xi nodded, “Mm… I still want to open it.”

She finally said it out loud.

Though it was difficult, the mass of something blocking her heart quietly dissipated with that “mm.”

She instantly felt that even her breathing became smoother.

What she wanted, what she longed for – she couldn’t lie to herself.

She looked at Bai Yuning with mixed emotions, waiting for him to speak.

Bai Yuning was stunned for quite a while before he managed to speak.

But what he said was, “Why didn’t you ask me for money if you needed it?”

Chen Xi looked surprised, about to say something, when Bai Yuning suddenly stood up.

“Get up quickly. I bought your favorite sweet rice ball soup and apricot tea.”

Chen Xi called, “Yuning…”

Bai Yuning hurried toward the door, “Oh, and steamed cake. Get up and eat quickly, it won’t taste good when it gets cold.”

Before Chen Xi could speak, Bai Yuning had already stridden out of the room.

After washing up, Chen Xi walked to the dining table and sat down.

Bai Yuning was chatting and laughing with Fan Mingsu, looking perfectly normal.

Seeing Chen Xi approach, he pulled over a stool for her to sit beside him.

“Eat quickly, everything’s getting cold.”

His voice was calm, but his eyes were evasive.

Chen Xi bent her head to drink a few sips of sweet rice soup, wanting to continue talking with Bai Yuning about something.

But Bai Yuning was busy chatting with Fan Mingsu and never gave Chen Xi a chance.

Chen Xi inexplicably felt relieved, at least for the moment.

Because she didn’t know what to say either.

After eating, Chen Xi asked Bai Yuning what he was doing today. Bai Yuning said he was going to the hospital to prepare for a major surgery tomorrow.

The two parted at the courtyard gate.

Bai Yuning drove toward the city hospital without asking what Chen Xi was doing today.

Chen Xi mounted her motorcycle and headed toward the bank, also not saying what she was doing today.

Chen Xi paid the rent, then went home and buried herself in her room to draw for a day and night, consecutively producing designs for the fourth and fifth characters.

Though she was rushing the work, her inspiration flowed surprisingly smoothly. Each character was completed in one breath, as if she had unlocked some special ability.

Dawn was breaking outside the window.

She couldn’t spare time to catch up on sleep. She splashed cold water on her face and went to find Qin Lie.

She wanted to discuss something with Qin Lie – more precisely, she needed to ask him a favor.

Following the address Qin Lie had sent, Chen Xi went to a teahouse outside his residential complex.

Qin Lie hadn’t arrived yet.

Chen Xi ordered a pot of apricot peel tea and sat by the window, drinking alone.

She habitually glanced at WeChat – her chat window with Bai Yuning was completely quiet.

Since they started dating, they had never gone this long without contact.

Chen Xi sighed, picked up her phone to type, “What are you doing?”

Her finger hesitated for a moment, then she deleted the words character by character and changed it to, “Are you angry?”

Knowing it was an obvious question, she deleted what she had typed and changed it to, “Let’s have lunch together and talk properly.”

But what would they talk about?

Whether she should compromise or he should give up?

Chen Xi sighed and deleted what she had just typed again.

A shadow fell overhead.

Chen Xi looked up to see Qin Lie with half-dry hair, sitting down across from her.

He still carried the faint scent of soap, very light, unable to mask his rough masculine aura.

“You’re here.”

Chen Xi darkened her phone screen and poured a cup of apricot peel tea for Qin Lie.

Qin Lie leaned back lazily in his chair, one hand resting on the table. “What’s the matter?”

Chen Xi opened her sketchbook and pushed it in front of Qin Lie.

“I’ve drawn the other two characters. Take a look at how they are.”

Qin Lie said casually, “So fast?”

He glanced down at the drawings in the sketchbook and unconsciously sat up straighter.

He turned to the second page, looked silently for a while, then looked up at Chen Xi.

Only then did he notice the big dark circles under her eyes and a trace of anxiety in her gaze.

“How are they?”

Chen Xi’s voice unconsciously carried a hint of tension.

Qin Lie nodded and said honestly, “Very good.”

Chen Xi breathed a sigh of relief, took a sip of tea, and leaned forward slightly.

Qin Lie leaned back lazily in his chair, waiting for Chen Xi to speak.

Chen Xi’s gaze wavered for a moment, then became determined again.

“I want to discuss something with you… Could you advance me the design fees for these five characters?”

She had never asked anyone for money before.

As soon as she finished speaking, her cheeks unconsciously grew slightly warm.

But quickly, the hesitation in her eyes disappeared, replaced by steadiness and determination.

Half a year of running around everywhere, resigning under questioning gazes from all directions, getting into fights, and ending up at the police station.

Step-by-step calculations and efforts, developing tensions with someone she liked so much…

Having come this far in pursuit of what she wanted to do, cutting through all obstacles, how could she not even be able to lower her head?

Qin Lie looked at Chen Xi. Her face was pale, her eyes bloodshot.

Her condition this morning really couldn’t be called good – describing it as haggard wouldn’t be excessive.

But in her eyes burned two fierce flames, almost coating her entire being with a halo of light.

Qin Lie was inexplicably reminded of that rainy night at the VR arcade.

When she mounted the racing game, bent forward, her back slightly arched, like a little leopard ready to pounce.

He had never seen such primitive yet vigorous vitality in anyone else.

Seeing Qin Lie staring at her without speaking, Chen Xi felt compelled to explain.

“Don’t worry, I’ll put my full effort into drawing the remaining five characters well. The VR equipment dismantling and installation fee – could I use the five completed characters to cover it…”

She had prepared a lengthy explanation, but just as she began, Qin Lie interrupted her.

“Sure.”

His voice was flat, as if it didn’t matter.

After speaking, he stood up, looked down at her, and asked, “When do you need the space?”

Chen Xi was stunned for a moment, then quickly said after recovering, “In the next few days, the sooner the better.”

Qin Lie nodded, picked up the sketchbook from the table, and handed it to Chen Xi, “The remaining five characters – keep it up.”

Chen Xi almost wagged her tail and quickly stood up to take the notebook.

“Don’t worry, I guarantee quality and quantity.”

Qin Lie worked quickly. In less than two days, he had cleared out half the arcade west of the racing games.

Chen Xi was so busy these past two days that her feet barely touched the ground.

She found a small renovation crew.

The main work involved creating a partition between the two spaces and simply treating the wall marks left by equipment removal.

The renovation money was pooled together by Qin Zhan and Liu Boyang, who also came to serve as free labor.

To save money, Chen Xi personally handled all the work she could do herself.

Qin Lie’s side was also unusually busy for several days.

After all, each piece of equipment was valuable and delicate, so he supervised the entire dismantling and installation process.

This afternoon, Chen Xi and Qin Zhan were standing on a scaffolding, painting the wall.

Qin Lie strolled over from the small door in the corner of the partition wall to see Chen Xi and Qin Zhan standing on the scaffolding, painting the wall.

Chen Xi wore old jeans and a newspaper hat on her head. With her long arms and legs, she held a roller in her hand.

While working, Qin Zhan’s mouth never stopped moving – he rolled the wall while talking.

“Sister Xi, why have you seemed so listless these past two days? Everything’s been settled, what else is there to worry about?”

Chen Xi shook her head and painted the wall stroke by stroke without speaking.

Qin Zhan continued talking to himself, “Oh, right, I have an idea. For this partition wall between the two arcades, let’s not do any decoration.”

“When you have free time, take a big brush and paint a whole mural on it. Wouldn’t that be incredibly cool?”

Chen Xi stopped the roller in her hand and turned to look at the plywood partition wall, thinking Qin Zhan’s idea wasn’t bad.

Qin Zhan suddenly chuckled.

“Sister Xi, let me tell you, you should paint one for my brother’s side too. He has plenty of money – squeeze a hefty manual labor fee out of him, and we’ll recover our renovation costs.”

While he was chuckling, a half-amused voice came from the arcade.

“How much would be appropriate?”

Qin Zhan replied, “At least a hundred or eighty thousand.”

After saying this, he suddenly realized and quickly turned to look down, nearly falling headfirst.

“Bro, how did you get here?”

Qin Lie ignored him and walked around the arcade with his hands in his pockets.

Just as he was about to return to his side, he saw Liu Boyang walk in carrying a bag of boxed meals and a bag of milk tea.

Seeing Qin Lie, Liu Boyang smiled and greeted him.

“Brother Qin Lie, you’re here too. I happened to buy an extra meal – let’s eat together.”

Qin Zhan was already hungry and quickly climbed down the scaffolding to see what delicious food Liu Boyang had bought.

“Hey, you even bought milk tea.”

Qin Zhan smiled as he pulled a cup of mango pomelo sago from the bag.

Liu Boyang said, “Brother Yuning brought the milk tea.”

Chen Xi suddenly stopped what she was doing, turned around, and looked down at Liu Boyang. “Where is he?”

Liu Boyang replied, “Outside. I invited him to come in and hang out for a while, but he said he was busy and wouldn’t come in.”

Chen Xi threw down her roller and climbed down the scaffolding using her hands and feet, running toward the entrance.

In her haste, she kicked over a paint bucket but didn’t even glance at it.

The three men looked puzzled as they watched Chen Xi run out of the arcade.

Through a layer of tinted glass.

She tripped on a stone on the ground, fell, got back up, and ran to the roadside, staring blankly as a white car drove away.

After quite a while, she returned to the arcade.

Qin Zhan glanced at Chen Xi’s expression and said carefully, “Sister Xi, time to eat.”

Chen Xi walked past them with downcast eyes, saying quietly, “You eat first.”

Then she climbed back up the scaffolding and silently resumed working.