“…No.” Xu Zhinan hadn’t expected her previous statement would have such ambiguity, so she simply said directly, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Lin Qingye raised an eyebrow, the gloom that had shrouded his brow for days slightly dispersing.

Although upon further reflection, he hadn’t believed that Xu Zhenfan or Gu Congwang would be the boyfriend she might have gotten later, hearing her deny it personally was still more satisfying.

He took off his hat, pulled out the chair beside the hospital bed, and sat down, sitting so close that his knee almost touched Xu Zhinan’s knee.

She pulled her leg inward, then kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed, leaning against the headboard and pulling the blanket up to her waist, completely avoiding any physical contact with him.

Lin Qingye didn’t say much, letting her avoid him while he remained seated in the chair. He didn’t play with his phone, just sat there watching her.

Xu Zhinan had her legs bent, arms wrapped around her calves. After a quiet moment, she finally couldn’t stand it anymore and tried to drive him away again: “Why haven’t you left yet?”

He smiled, leaning back in the chair, chin slightly raised as he looked at her, appearing somewhat roguish: “After your IV is finished, I’ll take you home.”

“No need.”

“Otherwise you’ll take the subway while sick?”

Xu Zhinan just wanted him to leave quickly. First, their past relationship had been special, and now that they’d separated, there was no need to meet again. Second, he was now receiving so much attention, and Xu Zhinan didn’t want to cause trouble—if they were exposed together, who knows how his fans would react.

So she made up an excuse: “My friend will come pick me up.”

He scoffed coldly: “Gu Congwang?”

Three words, just a name. He said it without inflection, yet it sounded like a threat, his long, narrow jet-black eyes slightly narrowing.

“…How do you know his name?”

After Xu Zhinan spoke, she remembered that Gu Congwang had mentioned before that their families seemed to know each other, and they had even shared a meal.

She didn’t want Lin Qingye and Gu Congwang to have any unnecessary connection, especially since Gu Congwang seemed to dislike him quite a bit. Now it appeared that Lin Qingye felt the same way.

“It’s not him,” Xu Zhinan added. “It’s my roommate.”

“Aren’t you afraid of infecting them?”

Xu Zhinan paused.

Having someone pick her up was a lie. No friend even knew she was in the hospital. She had originally planned to take a taxi or the subway home after finishing her IV, not considering the risk of infection.

Summer flu was rampant now.

It would indeed be inconsiderate to infect others.

Xu Zhinan couldn’t help pouting slightly, following his logic: “But if you take me, won’t you get infected too?”

Lin Qingye laughed softly, saying indifferently, “Then let me get infected.”

“…”

“Consider it payback for what you did.” His voice carried a faint trace of amusement. “When you gave me that tattoo, didn’t you deliberately choose a painful spot? So let me suffer for a few more days.”

Xu Zhinan didn’t understand his twisted reasoning: “Why would I want you to suffer?”

“To atone,” he said.

“…”

The hospital room fell silent again. Xu Zhinan hugged her legs, chin resting on her knees. After a good while, she finally said: “Lin Qingye, do you think atonement is that easy?”

She looked at him and spoke slowly and calmly: “You completely disrupted my life before. You knew perfectly well we weren’t from the same world, yet you still chose to pursue me.”

“I always thought everything happened because I got drunk that night, so even if I fell for someone like you, it was my fault. But later I realized that wasn’t the case. Even when Qin Tang was pursuing me, you already knew about me. It was you who dragged me into this situation.”

“Lin Qingye, you should never have pursued me.”

He listened quietly until she finished, showing no reaction, then stood up.

Xu Zhinan realized that one bottle of IV fluid had already been used up. Lin Qingye pulled out the piercing device from the bottle stopper and inserted it into another bottle, adjusting the drip rate again.

“What if I insist?” he said, standing beside the bed.

“I won’t accept it.”

He didn’t speak further, just poured her a glass of water and brought it over, then sat back down.

Xu Zhinan didn’t drink the water he offered. She took out her phone and saw Xu Zhenfan had sent her a voice message.

She directly converted the voice message to text, but whether because of Xu Zhenfan’s gruff voice or something else, the translation was unintelligible.

So she had to adjust the volume and put it to her ear.

Even though Xu Zhinan had turned the volume to the lowest setting, Xu Zhenfan’s booming voice still came through clearly.

“Don’t be upset! I told you this thing is just about cliques, the data isn’t that reliable!”

Xu Zhinan was confused and replied: What?

Xu Zhenfan quickly sent another voice message: “Don’t tell me you don’t know yet? The tattoo design competition voting opened at midnight this morning! Don’t tell me you haven’t checked it even once until now???”

“…”

[Xu Zhinan: I’ve been too busy today, I forgot.]

[Xu Zhinan: I’ll check it now.]

“Sis, you’re too laid-back! You can’t be like that! Go for it!!!”

He quickly sent her a link to the voting channel.

Xu Zhinan clicked in to check.

The results were already sorted by vote count from highest to lowest. The first place was Lu Xihe’s tattoo design. Xu Zhinan liked it a lot too, so his taking first place wasn’t surprising.

But looking further down, she quickly noticed something wasn’t right.

Of course, initially she saw that the ones she considered excellent were near the top, but interspersed among them were some of varying quality, making the rankings look jarring as she scrolled down.

Xu Zhinan found herself in the middle-upper section.

In the realistic group, she ranked seventh, not low enough to advance to the next round of competition. However, the gap between her votes and the top three was extremely large.

It didn’t look good.

Xu Zhinan frowned slightly, not because her vote count was low, but because the voting was unfair.

After exiting, Xu Zhenfan sent her two more voice messages.

“Sis, don’t be upset! Anyone with eyes can see these vote counts aren’t right. Even Brother Lu came to talk to me about this this afternoon.”

“They’re all promoting and pulling votes like crazy, after all, winning directly links to future benefits. Share it on your Moments! You hear me!”

Xu Zhenfan seemed more concerned about the voting results than she was, indignant.

[Xu Zhinan: But didn’t the rules state that participating tattoo artists couldn’t solicit votes?]

Xu Zhenfan: “Yeah right, that kind of talk is just to fool people like you who believe in fairness and justice into participating. The tattoo artists in my WeChat are practically posting in their Moments every hour asking people to vote.”

Xu Zhenfan: “Hurry up! Share it! Quick!”

“…”

Xu Zhinan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to share it.

Although everyone was shamelessly soliciting votes, Xu Zhinan still didn’t write anything about asking for votes in her shared content, feeling guilty about it. She simply shared the voting link.

People quickly began commenting on her Moments post.

Zhao Qian: Ahhhhhhh Ah Nan let’s go!!! The voting is out and you didn’t even tell me!!!

Gu Congwang:? What garbage competition is this? Do the voters have no taste??

Jiang Yue: Voted!!! Go Ah Nan!!!

…

Since starting university, Xu Zhinan had joined clubs and student unions, and was frequently invited to host events. Add to that her previous tattoo clients, and she had many WeChat friends. Soon, many people were responding with likes and helping her vote.

The cold IV fluid flowed through the tube into her veins, making Xu Zhinan’s hand cold.

She covered it with her left palm for a while, her phone resting on the blanket, watching as new comments and likes kept appearing.

Suddenly, another like appeared—from Lin Qingye.

His previous contact name had been “Brother Qingye,” but after they separated, Xu Zhinan had changed it to his full name.

And now Lin Qingye was sitting right next to her.

Xu Zhinan turned to look at him, meeting his gaze directly.

Lin Qingye asked, “That guy from last time was your tattoo model?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Will you make it to the finals?”

“I don’t know. Based on the current ranking, I should squeeze in,” Xu Zhinan looked away, replying to messages while speaking, “though I might get pushed out later.”

Lin Qingye raised an eyebrow: “When did you register?”

He asked casually, like friends chatting, so Xu Zhinan could only answer normally: “Last semester.”

He frowned, his voice lowering: “Why didn’t you tell me then?”

They were still in that kind of relationship at that time.

“You never asked, and we hardly talked anyway.”

Lin Qingye recalled that Xu Zhinan indeed rarely initiated contact with him before, nor did she demand company like other girls. Occasionally, Lin Qingye would invite her to dinner, and then they’d go back to the apartment or studio together.

They didn’t communicate much.

After returning, they would get straight to the point, and afterward she would be so tired her eyelids would droop.

In Lin Qingye’s view, during the years Xu Zhinan was with him, he had treated her well and never had any improper interactions with other women.

Growing up in such a family, no one had ever taught him how to genuinely care for others, nor had he considered how to sincerely treat people. Just having someone by his side was enough.

For him, Xu Zhinan had merely satisfied a past obsession; he wanted to keep her by his side.

As for anything else, he truly hadn’t cared.

“Ah Nan…”

Xu Zhinan interrupted him: “The IV is finished. Could you call a nurse for me? Thanks.”

Outside, night had fallen. In the end, Lin Qingye drove her home.

They were silent the whole way. After getting the shot, Xu Zhinan felt drowsy again, leaning against the car window half-asleep, dozing off for a while.

This was the first time Lin Qingye had driven Xu Zhinan home, rather than to her dormitory.

Following the navigation, her home was far from the city center, without the bustling nightlife and the crisscrossing, sky-blocking elevated highways.

As they approached her home, Xu Zhinan opened her eyes.

Lin Qingye parked the car in front of her house. The light in her mother’s room on the second floor was still on.

“Thank you for driving me home.”

After saying this, Xu Zhinan opened the car door to get out.

Lin Qingye grabbed her wrist again, gently pulling her back: “Ah Nan.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Sorry for what?”

“For not taking you seriously before. It was my fault. I’ll explain everything clearly to Qin Tang and my other friends. I won’t let them look down on you.”

Xu Zhinan’s lips curled slightly: “It doesn’t matter anymore. I won’t have any more entanglements with them, so how they see me isn’t important. Besides, this kind of thing can’t be clarified with just a few words from you.”

Xu Zhinan brushed off his hand, got out of the car, and before closing the door, looked at him and said softly: “Still, thank you for taking me home today.”

“But I hope this is the last time we see each other.” Xu Zhinan smiled gently, looking very obedient. “You’re Lin Qingye, so that should be easy to do.”

With that, she slammed the car door.

She walked toward the house with her bag, never looking back.

The young woman’s back was straight, her shoulders thin, looking both fragile and proud. Then she pushed open the door and went inside, never once looking back. The door closed again, and Lin Qingye could no longer see her.

“Ah Nan!” Hearing the noise, her mother came out of her room. “You’re back?”

“Yes, Mom, you should go to sleep.”

“Why are you back so late? I thought you were staying at the dorm again tonight.”

Mother Xu walked to the staircase. First, she noticed the mask on her daughter’s face, then lowered her gaze and saw the white IV patch on the back of her hand. She immediately frowned and quickened her steps downstairs: “What happened? Did you go to the hospital today?”

“Yes, just a cold, it’s nothing,” Xu Zhinan changed into her slippers. “Mom, don’t get too close to me, I might be contagious.”

Mother Xu still walked to her side, placing the back of her hand against her forehead: “Has your fever gone down now?”

“Yes.”

“See if it comes back tomorrow. Even if the fever’s gone, you still need to go to the hospital again.”

“I know.”

“It’s so late, who brought you home? Xiao Gu? Why didn’t you invite him in…”

“No, it wasn’t him,” Xu Zhinan interrupted her. “It was another classmate.”

Fortunately, Mother Xu didn’t ask further, just urged her to rest quickly before going back upstairs.

Xu Zhinan finished washing up and returned to her room. She had slept a bit at the hospital and dozed off in the car, so now she wasn’t sleepy at all.

She opened WeChat Moments and saw that many more friends had liked her post. The comments were filled with encouragement and support. Xu Zhinan replied with a uniform “thank you” to everyone, then clicked the link to check again.

Her votes had increased by more than two hundred, but since the gap with the person ahead had been large, she remained in seventh place.

Xu Zhinan closed her phone and pulled a Buddhist scripture from the bookshelf.

Her mind calmed again. After reciting the scripture for half an hour, she realized she hadn’t removed the IV patch from the back of her hand, with a small spot of blood seeping through.

Xu Zhinan peeled it off. The area where the patch had been was whiter than the surrounding skin, with a shallow needle mark. The bleeding had stopped, making it look like a tiny cinnabar mole.

She threw the IV patch into the trash can.

Having sat for a long time, she massaged her neck, tilting her head back, then slowly stretched.

Her gaze swept past the window and suddenly froze.

Lin Qingye’s car was still there, very eye-catching—a black sports car.

His window was open, half an arm resting on the window frame, fingers holding a cigarette, with pale blue smoke drifting out of the car.

Xu Zhinan checked the time. More than an hour had passed since she entered the house.

Why hadn’t he left?

She watched from upstairs for a while. Lin Qingye, seemingly sensing her gaze, actually looked up.

Xu Zhinan’s fingertip hesitated, then she stopped looking, got up to close the curtains, and went to bed.

Lin Qingye had lost count of how many cigarettes he’d smoked.

Only after Xu Zhinan’s room light went out did he shift his gaze.

He recalled her calm yet resolute words: “But I hope this is the last time we see each other.”

Lin Qingye smirked self-mockingly, leaning back in his car seat, appearing somewhat dispirited.

As humble as he had been on that winter night when he first met Xu Zhinan, he had been equally arrogant when he possessed her. Now he was knocked back to his original state.

He tilted his jaw upward, closed his eyes, and recalled that winter night, the argument with Fu Xueming before he slammed the door and left home.

His birth mother, Fu Xueming, had hysterically hurled all sorts of humiliating words at her.

She told him to get out of the house.

She called him a plague, a murderer.

Her eyes were full of disgust.

Xu Zhinan’s words that “he was so pitiful” weren’t wrong, but at that time, he refused to accept it.

Her clear eyes looking at him in the darkness reminded Lin Qingye of a line from a movie—he looks like a dog.

Lin Qingye’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, but when he opened his eyes again, all emotion had vanished.

Then he picked up his phone, clicked into Xu Zhinan’s Moments, copied the voting link, exited, and clicked into the Acacia Band’s chat group.

The three of them often chatted in this group, though Lin Qingye rarely spoke. Now that he was participating in “I Come for Music,” he spoke even less.

At eleven-thirty at night, Lin Qingye sent a message to the group.

[Lin Qingye: Web link]

[Lin Qingye: Vote.]