Chen Xi had a bizarre dream where Grandpa Guan was catching loaches in the Dang River, and she was restoring murals with her father in the West Thousand Buddha Caves as a child.

Little her sat in the center of the cave, looking up to see countless beautiful caissons changing patterns like a kaleidoscope.

The sound of pages gently turning reached her ears, sounding very comfortable in the quiet room.

Chen Xi twisted her neck, finding a more comfortable sleeping position.

Suddenly, her phone rang abruptly. Chen Xi jolted awake and fumbled for her phone on the sofa.

“Hello?”

Her voice still carried a trace of disoriented confusion. Being woken from deep sleep, her head ached dully.

Qin Lie’s voice came through the phone: “How did it go?”

Chen Xi rubbed her eyes and sat up straight: “Still waiting.”

Qin Lie: “Waiting this long?”

“Has it been long?”

Chen Xi looked out the window in confusion, suddenly realizing that the sky had somehow darkened.

Her heart skipped a beat as she realized she had unknowingly slept the entire afternoon.

She hurriedly looked toward the meeting room across from her—the door had opened at some point.

Through the frosted glass, she could see that the meeting room was empty.

“I can’t talk now, I need to get busy.”

She hung up and got up to walk toward the door.

“Did you draw this?”

A leisurely voice suddenly came from beside her—calm, yet with an indescribable presence.

That feeling was like a devastatingly beautiful woman suddenly walking into a venue of ten thousand people.

Everyone would instinctively hold their breath and watch her, leaving only her footsteps audible in the pin-drop silence.

Or like a beam of light suddenly falling on the center of a dark stage, illuminating only the elf-like dancer on stage.

Chen Xi abruptly stopped and looked back, only then realizing there was another person in the room.

She sat on a single sofa nearby, legs crossed, head down as she flipped through Chen Xi’s sketchbook.

Before Chen Xi could be surprised about where this person had appeared from, she was shocked by the three hair whorls on top of her head.

Chen Xi herself had two hair whorls on her head, and had heard her grandmother chant since childhood:

“One whorl means stubborn, two whorls mean defiant, three whorls mean fearless of death.”

Having lived this long, this was Chen Xi’s first time seeing a living person with three hair whorls.

She instinctively thought: how explosive must this person’s personality be to support three hair whorls on her head?

The woman on the sofa, not getting an answer from Chen Xi, looked up at her.

“You drew this?”

Although she was looking up, her gaze carried a naturally sharp edge—not deliberate, not aggressive.

But that sharpness was impossible to hide, giving her entire being, along with the surrounding air, a weight that demanded respect.

Chen Xi snapped back to reality and nodded quickly: “Yes, I drew it.”

The woman’s sharp gaze lingered on her face for two more seconds, then she lowered her head and continued flipping through Chen Xi’s sketchbook with interest.

Chen Xi curiously examined this person. Her long hair was slightly curled and draped over her shoulders, quite feminine.

But among the chestnut-colored strands were highlights of various shades of green.

Chen Xi thought that even at seventeen or eighteen, at her most rebellious age, she wouldn’t have had the courage to put such a large area of green on her head.

As if stunned by her head of green hair, Chen Xi gradually focused her gaze on her.

She wore a bright red suit with low-top Converse canvas shoes, appearing casual and free-spirited, revealing an orange-red little fox tattoo on her ankle.

Chen Xi’s eyes immediately brightened, thinking that the little fox was beautiful.

Chen Xi stared at this person in a daze, feeling that both her age and temperament were mysteries.

The three words “Fox Sister” suddenly popped into her mind, inexplicably feeling they suited this woman well.

Just as she was thinking this, the other party suddenly spoke: “Sit down.”

Only then did Chen Xi remember she still had important business to attend to.

She quickly pointed to the meeting room across and asked Fox Sister on the sofa in a small voice: “Do you know when the meeting across ended?”

Fox Sister casually said, “Just now.”

Chen Xi breathed a slight sigh of relief and asked again: “Do you know where Ms. Leng’s office is?”

Fox Sister looked up at Chen Xi, her gaze carrying a trace of faint amusement.

“What do you want with her?”

Chen Xi: “To show her my drawings.”

After saying this, she was silent for a moment, then added: “We had an appointment.”

Fox Sister flipped two pages of the sketchbook on her lap, her gaze falling on the little rabbit spirit Chen Xi had finalized yesterday, then looked up at Chen Xi.

“You’re here to apply for the art design position for Crescent Town?”

Chen Xi nodded.

Fox Sister smiled: “The characters for this animation have already reached the final draft stage. Why are you only coming now?”

Chen Xi didn’t want to explain too much, just smiled and said: “Personal issues. I hope it’s still not too late.”

Fox Sister relaxed into the sofa, examining Chen Xi with interest.

After a long while, she slowly said: “An entire team, two months of sleepless work, five design drafts—drawing, revising, revising, drawing, until today’s version.”

She looked at Chen Xi, her gaze sharp but her voice calm and pleasant.

“What makes you think you can overturn everyone’s previous efforts?”

Chen Xi had originally been eager to find Leng Ran, but this question made her pause and think.

After thinking for a moment, she said quietly: “Some things can’t be achieved through effort alone.”

In the quiet reception room, the two women faced each other in a strange standoff—one sitting, one standing.

Chen Xi looked at her and said, “Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a need to revise to the fifth version.”

Fox Sister smiled and swayed her crossed legs: “You’re quite arrogant.”

Chen Xi didn’t know how that audacious remark had slipped from her mouth.

Probably this burst of inspiration had excited her to the point of being brazen.

She smiled awkwardly and said softly, “Sorry, um, I’ll go find Ms. Leng.”

As she spoke, she reached out her hand, wanting to get back her sketchbook.

Fox Sister, on the sofa, looked at Chen Xi without saying a word.

After a long while, she suddenly stood up, still holding Chen Xi’s sketchbook.

“Let’s go.”

She smiled at Chen Xi and walked straight toward the door.

Chen Xi was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed.

“Thank you.”

She said while taking out her phone to use as a mirror, tidying her appearance.

The two walked through the corridor to the elevator.

The receptionist saw them both and quickly stood up, about to say something, but was waved off by Fox Sister.

The receptionist quickly closed her mouth and watched them enter the elevator with curiosity.

Chen Xi followed Fox Sister on the elevator directly to the first floor.

Chen Xi was a bit confused and asked bewilderedly: “Does Ms. Leng work on the first floor?”

Fox Sister smiled and suddenly asked Chen Xi, “Are you hungry?”

Chen Xi was immediately confused, looking at her with surprise.

Fox Sister strode toward the outside of the building, touching her growling stomach: “Meeting all afternoon, I’m starving.”

She muttered in a voice Chen Xi couldn’t hear:

“What garbage did they show me?”

Chen Xi hurried to follow her: “But I need to see—”

One strode ahead with large steps, the other followed behind in complete confusion.

Outside the building, the cool autumn breeze blew toward them.

In the twilight were Beijing’s brilliantly lit streets.

Fox Sister pointed across the street to a small jianbing guozi shop and said to Chen Xi with a smile: “Come on, I’ll treat you to jianbing guozi.”

Without caring about Chen Xi’s series of “buts,” she skipped lightly across the overpass and rushed into the jianbing shop.

Chen Xi had no choice but to follow, still puzzled.

“Smells so good.”

Fox Sister bounced into the shop and asked Chen Xi, “Youtiao or crispy wafer?”

Chen Xi: “Oh—”

She instinctively hesitated between adding youtiao or crispy wafer.

A moment later, she suddenly realized what was happening and said somewhat desperately: “I still have an interview.”

Fox Sister smiled and said, “Eat first, then talk.”

Chen Xi: “But—”

Fox Sister: “Listen to me. Youtiao or crispy wafer?”

Chen Xi: “Then, youtiao.”

“Do you want scallions, cilantro, and spicy sauce?”

Chen Xi nodded, and her stomach suddenly growled rebelliously.

Fox Sister shouted to the old man behind the counter: “Grandpa, two jianbing sets, one with youtiao, one with crispy wafer.”

“Oh right—”

She turned back to ask Chen Xi, “Do you want spicy gluten strips?”

Chen Xi still looked lost: “Sure.”

Fox Sister shouted to the old man, “Add extra spicy gluten strips.”

The two walked out of the shop with their jianbing and sweet soy milk.

Fox Sister led Chen Xi straight to the curb and sat down.

“Come, try it.”

Chen Xi sat beside her, opened the jianbing wrapper, and took a bite.

Fox Sister smiled and asked her, “How is it? Delicious, right?”

The jianbing was made with millet flour, and the youtiao was fried to crispy perfection.

The rich sauce soaked into the spicy gluten strips, paired with the egg pancake—for two starving people, it was simply heavenly.

Chen Xi nodded: “So delicious.”

She took another big bite.

Fox Sister ate her jianbing in big bites while watching Chen Xi with interest.

“Where are you from?”

She suddenly asked.

Chen Xi said while eating, “Dunhuang.”

Fox Sister nodded thoughtfully.

“No wonder your color schemes immediately remind people of Mogao Caves murals.”

Chen Xi smiled with some pride: “This is something in our Dunhuang people’s blood.”

Fox Sister: “I see the scenes and characters in your sketchbook are drawn a bit roughly.”

Chen Xi nodded: “I started drawing at one o’clock last night. The time was too rushed.”

Fox Sister was drinking soy milk and nearly spat out a mouthful when she heard this.

She swallowed the soy milk and coughed twice.

“You started drawing last night?”

Chen Xi: “Yes, I drew a version the previous two days, but it wasn’t good. I had given up.”

“Last night I fell asleep and suddenly dreamed of a set of comic books my mom gave me as a child. Inspiration suddenly came.”

Fox Sister stopped talking, sucking soy milk through her straw.

Chen Xi focused on eating, thinking about asking Fox Sister to quickly take her to see Leng Ran after finishing.

Under the streetlights, people going home rode shared bikes, passing in front of them one by one.

Chen Xi thought: Beijing has so many shared bikes.

Fox Sister’s calm voice suddenly reached her ears.

“Where do you think the future of Chinese animation lies?”

Chen Xi glanced at her, seeing her staring blankly at the bikes passing under the streetlights, her expression vacant.

Chen Xi: “I don’t know either.”

After a moment of silence, she couldn’t help but say: “Actually, I think although animation stories are difficult, regardless of style and national boundaries, there’s ultimately a clear path to follow.”

“The future of Chinese animation still lies in exploring style.”

Fox Sister turned to look at Chen Xi, a trace of faint appreciation floating in her sharp eyes.

“So your design approach is to abandon existing 2D styles?”

Chen Xi nodded.

“Without destruction, there can be no construction. If we don’t work harder, in the future our children will probably only have Japanese anime aesthetics.”

She looked at Fox Sister and said seriously, “I just refuse to accept it. We have such a good foundation.”

Fox Sister: “Aren’t you afraid the market won’t buy it?”

Chen Xi shook her head.

“Young people nowadays have high expectations for national trends and domestic animation. As long as it’s a good story with good production, we don’t need to worry about Chinese people not supporting it.”

Fox Sister suddenly looked at Chen Xi. Under the streetlight, her light-colored eyes sparkled with fine glimmers.

“I have good stories.”

“Good production—I have money to throw at it.”

She looked at Chen Xi and said word by word: “What’s left, you need to fight tooth and nail to create for me.”

Chen Xi stared at Fox Sister in a daze. Gradually, her eyes widened more and more, as if understanding something.

“You are Leng—”

She said in surprise.

Fox Sister smiled and extended her hand to her.

“Chen Xi, I’ve been looking for someone like you all along.”