The bedroom window was open, carrying away traces of the intimate atmosphere.
Lin Qingye had just finished showering, his black hair still wet, dripping along his contours.
He leaned by the window, feeling the breeze, arms crossed, looking lazy as he watched the young girl lying motionless on the bed. She was wrapped tightly in the blanket, lying on her side. From his angle, he couldn’t even see her face—just her messy black hair spread out.
Lin Qingye felt satisfied, his cigarette craving gone. He simply watched her for a while before laughing, “Are you really that tired? Like you’ve just run a marathon.”
You have no idea.
Xu Zhinan buried her face in the pillow, inwardly retorting but saying nothing aloud.
She struggled to keep her heavy eyelids open, put on her clothes under the blanket, and finally sat up.
Her hair was disheveled, like a little madwoman.
Lin Qingye’s lips curled slightly, “It’s so late. Stay at my place tonight. Or if you don’t want to move, you can sleep here too.”
Xu Zhinan didn’t dare stay out all night.
Although they had just done something more intimate, she felt it wasn’t right deep down, and was even more afraid of being caught doing something bad.
She puffed her cheeks slightly and said softly, “I need to go back.”
Lin Qingye had suggested she stay before and was similarly refused. Understanding her temperament, he didn’t press further.
“Then I’ll take you back later.”
“Okay.”
Xu Zhinan tidied up briefly. The corner of a page in the Buddhist scripture at the bedside had become folded somehow. She lowered her eyes, smoothed out the crease, and put the book back in her bag.
She put on her socks, then her shoes, completing her outfit.
Despite their relationship having reached this level, Xu Zhinan still didn’t know much about Lin Qingye.
He was popular at school, and there were many rumors about him on the school forum—some true, some false. One mentioned that Lin Qingye’s father was a well-known figure in Yan City, and his family was quite well-off.
However, during her time with him, Xu Zhinan noticed that Lin Qingye didn’t have any young master attitudes.
Sometimes he wouldn’t even return to his apartment, choosing instead to make do with a night in this small, messy studio.
He put on a simple white shirt and black pants, wore his mask, and took Xu Zhinan’s backpack from her hand, “Let’s go.”
“Do you have an umbrella here?”
“It’s not raining outside anymore.”
“It might rain again by the time you come back,” Xu Zhinan said. “The weather has been strange these days, raining on and off.”
Lin Qingye obediently found an umbrella from the room—a long-handled black one covered in dust, clearly unused for a long time.
The alley was very quiet, with hardly anyone around.
Midway, they encountered an open-air barbecue stand. A few plastic tables and chairs were set up on the narrow path, with the air filled with delicious aromas. Oil sizzled on the skewers as the stall owner saw them approach and called out, “Want some barbecue?”
“Hungry?” Lin Qingye turned to ask.
Xu Zhinan was about to shake her head when her stomach growled inopportunely.
Lin Qingye chuckled, “Barbecue or something else?”
“Let’s not eat. I need to get back to the dorm quickly.”
“It wouldn’t be right to let you go back hungry. Eat something first, then I’ll take you back.”
She had closed her shop and gone straight to the bar with Zhao Qian in the afternoon, only eating some bar snacks since then. She was indeed hungry now, so hearing Lin Qingye’s suggestion, she sat down on a stool at the barbecue stand.
Due to the rain, business was poor, and they were the only customers. Lin Qingye took off his mask.
Xu Zhinan maintained a regular, healthy lifestyle. It was already past midnight, and she was extremely drowsy.
She supported her head with one hand while rubbing her face with the other.
Lin Qingye glanced at her, “Tired?”
“Yes,” she obediently responded.
“You’ve regressed,” his voice carried a teasing laugh. “I’ve never seen you this tired before.”
Xu Zhinan froze, then realized what he meant. Her face immediately turned red, the heat spreading down to her ears and neck.
“It’s not that,” she felt embarrassed, lowering her head and saying quietly, “not that kind of tired.”
Ultimately, Lin Qingye had no taboos about such things, but Xu Zhinan couldn’t be the same.
Seeing her reaction, Lin Qingye burst into laughter, commenting, “Your skin is way too thin.”
Only then did Xu Zhinan understand he was just teasing her. She pursed her lips and said nothing more.
The stall owner had finished grilling the meat and asked, “Spicy?”
Lin Qingye remembered that Xu Zhinan couldn’t eat spicy food, so he replied, “Half spicy, half not. Thank you.”
“Alright!” the owner shouted, skillfully dividing the meat and sprinkling chili powder on half before placing the grill plate on their table, joking, “Remembering your girlfriend doesn’t eat spicy—you’re quite attentive, young man.”
Xu Zhinan caught those three words, and her heart pounded heavily. She looked up at Lin Qingye.
His expression remained unchanged. At that moment, his phone rang, and he answered with a “Hello.”
Xu Zhinan lowered her eyes again.
Lin Qingye spoke flatly:
“It’s so late, what’s the matter?”
“What time?”
“We’ll see. I’m not sure if I’ll be free.”
…
After just a few words, he hung up and tossed his phone back on the table, picking up a skewer and taking a bite.
“Do you have something else to do?” Xu Zhinan asked.
“No, just a program director.”
Xu Zhinan blinked, “For the show you might participate in?”
“Nothing’s decided yet.”
“…Oh.”
They quickly finished eating. Zhao Qian had sent her another message asking why she wasn’t back at the dorm yet. Not daring to linger any longer, she walked toward the school with Lin Qingye.
At this hour, the campus paths were almost deserted.
Lin Qingye wore his mask and cap, but Xu Zhinan was still worried about being seen. She unconsciously quickened her pace, walking ahead of him.
Lin Qingye understood and didn’t catch up, instead walking behind her with his hands in his pockets.
Only when they reached the dormitory entrance did she turn back to look at Lin Qingye. The young man stood under a streetlight with a cigarette between his lips.
Xu Zhinan waved goodbye to him, then swiped her card to enter the dormitory complex.
“Hey, student, wait a moment!” The dormitory supervisor rushed out from the security office. “Why are you back so late? What year are you in?”
“Junior year,” Xu Zhinan replied. “I had some things to take care of, so I was delayed.”
The supervisor looked at her and knowingly waved her hand, “A young girl like you shouldn’t be out so late next time.”
“I understand. Thank you, auntie.”
Xu Zhinan glanced toward the dormitory entrance from the corner of her eye. Lin Qingye had already left.
Tomorrow is Sunday with no classes. Her dormmates, all night owls, were still awake. The lights were out, but they were chatting.
Jiang Yue had decided to prepare for graduate school entrance exams and was still reading under a desk lamp. Zhao Qian was lying in bed using her phone while talking. Their other roommate, Ruan Yuanyuan, wasn’t there.
Hearing the door open, Zhao Qian poked her head out from the bed, her black hair hanging down.
Before she could speak, Jiang Yue looked up and saw her head suspended in midair, immediately screaming, “Zhao Qian! You scared me to death!”
Zhao Qian was also startled by her unexpected scream, “You’re the one scaring people to death!”
Xu Zhinan closed the door again and smiled, “What’s going on?”
Zhao Qian: “You finally came back, Nan. It’s so late now. What kind of customer makes you work through the night to fix a tattoo design? Couldn’t they wait until tomorrow? It’s so unsafe for you to come back this late.”
Xu Zhinan put down her backpack. “Yuan isn’t here either?”
Zhao Qian snorted, “She shouldn’t be. If she were here, I’d have to be mindful of her while chatting with Yue. We couldn’t talk freely.”
Ruan Yuanyuan lived close to the school and often went home on weekends. Because of her princess syndrome, she had quarreled with Zhao Qian and Jiang Yue several times, making their relationship unpleasant.
Xu Zhinan belonged to the same camp as Zhao Qian and Jiang Yue, but with her good temperament, she had never truly shown displeasure toward Ruan Yuanyuan.
Xu Zhinan went to the bathroom for a quick wash. As soon as she stepped out, she heard the core of their conversation—Lin Qingye.
As a campus celebrity who was now a senior about to graduate, Lin Qingye had become an even greater topic of conversation. Even the school forum had several threads about him.
Zhao Qian: “I heard Ruan Yuanyuan might be planning to confess to Lin Qingye before he graduates.”
Jiang Yue: “Really?”
“That’s what I heard. Hasn’t she liked Lin Qingye for a long time? When we were freshmen, didn’t she say she chose Pingchuan University because of Lin Qingye?”
Nearly three years had passed, and Jiang Yue didn’t remember this, “Huh?”
“Your brain! How can you have such high test scores but not remember this?”
Jiang Yue replied discontentedly, “Wait, did she know Lin Qingye in high school?”
“Of course! Think about when Lin Qingye became famous. I think you’re the only girl in our university who doesn’t know.”
Jiang Yue snorted, “I’m sure Nan doesn’t know either.”
Suddenly mentioned, Xu Zhinan was arranging her things, preparing to climb into bed. Her hand gripped the ladder a little tighter before she continued climbing up.
The two were chatting enthusiastically as Zhao Qian explained Lin Qingye’s rise to fame to Jiang Yue.
Lin Qingye formed the Locust Tree Band at 16.
The band had four members: besides lead vocalist Lin Qingye, there was drummer Guan Chi, keyboardist Shi Si, and bassist Ji Yan—three men and one woman.
All four attended Yan City’s No. 7 High School. No. 7 was known locally as the high school with the lowest rate of students entering first-tier universities, famous for its poor performance. By all accounts, no one from there should have been able to get into Pingchuan University.
Xu Zhinan, on the other hand, attended No. 1 High School, which had over 90% of its graduates entering top universities.
At 18, Lin Qingye suddenly became famous with his song “Locust Tree,” but this fame was solely due to the song. In the entertainment industry at that time, no one had heard of Lin Qingye, and no one had seen him.
He didn’t even appear at the Golden Melody Awards ceremony.
Xu Zhinan loved reading and knew of many examples, both domestic and foreign, where an author’s representative work was more famous than the author’s name.
Lin Qingye was like that at the time.
“Locust Tree” became famous, but no one cared about Lin Qingye’s name.
Until an entertainment reporter went to “Wild,” the bar where the Locust Tree Band performed. At the time, it was an obscure little bar in the luxurious metropolis, with business being slow compared to other bars.
That video captured Lin Qingye singing on stage.
He was different from all the personas cultivated in the entertainment industry. He had a very unique temperament that could effortlessly capture everyone’s attention.
Flamboyant, unrestrained, roguishly bad.
Yet also cold like the bright moon, unapproachable, neither here nor there.
The video went viral instantly, a phenomenon of its time.
Lin Qingye had a Weibo account that the award organizers had specifically created for him, complete with real-name verification, but he never posted any content himself.
After that day, his Weibo followers skyrocketed from the original 90,000 pure music fans to a million.
Ironically, that Weibo account had never posted a single thing, which was quite a marvel in itself.
Simultaneously, “Wild” became the hottest bar in Yan City.
Lin Qingye’s sudden fame brought various industry players extending olive branches to him. Countless music producers, program directors, and talent agencies came looking for him, but all left disappointed.
Although he didn’t agree to enter the entertainment industry, he did enter Pingchuan University because of this.
The Golden Melody Award was highly prestigious, and because “Locust Tree” was written, composed, and performed solely by Lin Qingye, Pingchuan University sent their direct admission notice only to him.
The other three band members had barely passing grades and eventually gave up on school. Fortunately, after becoming famous, the bar paid them very handsomely to keep these money-makers.
He would still release new songs for free on music apps. Each one garnered top-tier play counts and over 100,000 comments, but he never released an album or participated in any programs.
Fans grew increasingly curious about him, but with no fresh material, they began digging up any related information they could find.
Initially intending to find endearing qualities about their treasure brother who remained pure and untainted by commercial greed, they instead uncovered a string of negative news.
Real scandals that couldn’t be whitewashed.
Because there was video evidence—
A fighting video.
Lin Qingye was wearing a No. 7 High School uniform, his expression cold and grim as he repeatedly pounded his fist into a boy lying on the ground. He seemed devoid of sensation and consciousness, his face emotionless.
At the end of the video, the boy on the ground coughed up blood, and then the video suddenly cut off.
This video was posted on No. 7 High School’s online forum.
Beyond this, there were many rumors about Lin Qingye, which could be summarized as: though handsome, he was a terrifying person who showed no restraint when angry.
Fame invites criticism.
Barely two weeks after Lin Qingye went viral, he began to be criticized and mocked by many, but his fans refused to believe it.
As his fans said, they couldn’t understand the cause and effect of the video from years ago and couldn’t make judgments based solely on that. Besides, their brother had never entered the entertainment industry, so he shouldn’t be criticized that way.
Now, four years later, Lin Qingye was a senior with several million followers. Despite constant criticism and mockery, he could still be described as universally adored.
He was like a rare evergreen tree seen once in a century.
Requiring no watering or fertilizing, yet always bearing abundant fruit.
“So,” Zhao Qian concluded, “that was when Lin Qingye was at the peak of his fame, and that’s when Ruan Yuanyuan chose her university preference because of him.”
Jiang Yue: “But would he accept her confession? Even though Ruan Yuanyuan is quite pretty.”
“Of course not!” Zhao Qian rolled her eyes disdainfully, “Is she prettier than our Nan?”
“Then isn’t she just humiliating herself?”
“This is called leaving no regrets, since she might never see him again afterward.” After saying this, Zhao Qian couldn’t help laughing, “But it’s not certain if Lin Qingye will even graduate.”
“Why?”
“Our Modern History course—Lin Qingye probably failed it before, so he’s in the same class as us this semester.”
Jiang Yue was confused, “But I’ve never seen him.”
“That’s why it’s uncertain if he’ll graduate. He’s never shown up! If he fails again, he’ll probably have a delayed graduation. I think he’d be the first in our school unable to graduate because of Modern History.”
Xu Zhinan lay in bed, paused for a moment, pulled the blanket over her head, and opened her chat with Lin Qingye on her phone.
[Xu Zhinan: Qingye Ge, there’s a final exam for Modern History next week. Don’t forget to attend.]
She silently read the message once more before sending it.
Zhao Qian and Jiang Yue’s conversation grew deeper, with even Jiang Yue sighing, “I think girls who truly fall for Lin Qingye must have it rough. He seems like the type no girl could hold onto.”
Xu Zhinan sent the message and waited for about ten minutes, but he didn’t reply.
She softly exhaled, turned off her phone, put it under her pillow, and closed her eyes to sleep.