When being taken upstairs by Jin Yiken, her head was already dizzy beyond recognition.

She couldn’t remember words spoken half a minute ago, couldn’t clearly see the person in front of her. When Jin Yiken removed her T-shirt, she made no sound. When he swept her hair to the front of her shoulders, kissing the nape of her neck, she also made no sound. Face flushed crimson, entire body burning hot, numb. Only knew to say “turn on the air conditioning,” only knew to lie on the bed, exchanging with him very long, very gentle kisses. The bra was undone by him, the drawstring of her shorts also undone by him. Then the moment the air conditioning started blowing cold air, she felt the soreness and swelling below. Lips briefly separated. She watched him remove his tank top in the pale yellow light, watched his propped-up arms and close-proximity chin. Had propped up on elbows, had pressed foreheads with him, murmuring asking what he was doing, asking what temperature he’d set the air conditioning to, asking if he’d put on protection.

“I did.”

Then her shoulders and body were protected by his arm, lying back down again, held by him. While kissing her, he used force. Knees against his side waist, back lightly rubbing against the bed surface. A breathy moan involuntarily escaped. In her confused state of mind, she looked toward the bedside lamp, then his thumb stroked her forehead. Fine sweat condensed between both their foreheads.

Jin Yiken had never gone to bed with her when she was blacked out before.

He liked cooperation. He said every time she drank too much she was like a puddle of mud melted into the bed, impossibly heavy. At most, he’d take advantage of holding her while sleeping. But this time he said: “Do you remember how many times we kissed in high school?”

“…?”

“Three times,” he said. “You let me kiss you a total of three times.”

“But actually not.” Another forceful thrust. Her breathy sounds slowly became real moans. He said, “I kissed you many times when you were blacked out. You don’t remember any of it.”

“Hair…”

His arm passed under her neck, smoothing the hair pressed beneath her body onto the pillow. The friction between her back and bed surface quickened. She heard his breathing, heard the sounds of their bodies touching. After cycles of receiving force, her forehead suddenly bumped his chin. Their sweat stuck together. Then she was scooped up by him again.

Sitting on top of him, long hair falling onto his arms. Face very red. Jin Yiken watched her while his hand moved from her knee to her calf, positioning properly, then holding her back to prevent her from falling. He smoothed all the hair hanging by her cheeks behind her ears. Noses touching, kissing intensely without sound. Also rising and falling on him without sound. Listening to him speak sweet words, saying her blushing face was too cute, saying her drunk appearance was too obedient, saying he’d never fight with her again, saying how much he’d wanted her these past few days, saying he loved her.

Long Qi’s chin rested on his shoulder. Sweat flowed from the side of her neck to her collarbone. Breathy sounds slowly gasping, telling him to slow down, telling him to be gentle, then calling his name, arms around his neck. Her body getting softer and softer, but held tighter and tighter by him.

…

This night was the first time she climaxed while blacked out.

The words spoken were all forgotten, the words heard were all forgotten, but only this feeling couldn’t be forgotten. Like floating in warm seawater, limbs without strength. Suddenly he grabbed her hand, dispelling the numbness in her blood. Whole body tingling. Fingers clawed across his shoulder blade. Body trembling. Sweat condensed on her eyelash tips, hair stuck to her cheeks. Then for a long time she leaned on his shoulder. As the rise and fall of her chest gradually slowed, she fell deeply asleep.

Just like the night before Jin Yiken first flew to England, he’d also given her an unforgettable night.

So even in the first second of being awakened by her phone ringing in the morning, her mind instantly recalled what happened after two in the morning. Her entire nervous system jolted for a moment, thinking how did she end up sleeping with him. But her eyes still couldn’t open from drowsiness. Her whole body was languid and tingling. She vaguely heard Fang Xuan downstairs banging plates and shouting to eat lunch. Noisy, irritating. She buried her face deeper into the covers, touching Jin Yiken’s hand resting under her neck.

He was slightly sitting up at that moment, freeing his other hand that had been resting on her shoulder to grab his phone. Also just woken, voice a bit tired: “Hello?”

The air conditioning gently blew cold air. She still slept with eyes closed.

The other end was talking. Sounded like Wu’er’s voice. Jin Yiken listened for a while, asking: “Which airport?”

…

“What time?”

…

“…Okay,” he said. “I’ll pick you up on time. We’ll chat about some things on the road.”

The call ended. Phone dropped onto the pillow. She felt the vibration. At the same time, the hand under her neck exerted force, slowly scooping her over. The bed was too slippery. Her back quickly pressed against his chest. Her face still buried in the covers. His other hand also reached under the covers, encircling her again. After greedily sleeping like this for a while, his hand started moving again. Long Qi opened her eyes. While shrinking inward, she responded to him: “…Don’t touch me.”

But damn it, she wasn’t wearing anything on her body. Jin Yiken took this advantage especially smoothly. Then he propped up his arm, making her back feel cold. Done for—looked like he was preparing to concentrate fully on taking advantage of her. But outside the door came the sound of Fang Xuan banging plates again. She’d come upstairs, seemed to be calling Wu Jiakui on the third floor. Then she urged at the doorway: “Have you two inside woken up? Missed breakfast and don’t plan to eat lunch either? Not saving food for you.”

Jin Yiken entered her body at this moment.

Right at this just-awakened moment, right at this moment when she was caught off guard. Held by him, she didn’t make a sound because Fang Xuan was outside. Silently suffering. Then receiving a second thrust. Breathing rapid. Hearing him say by her ear: “Still want you to cooperate a bit.”

Then received a third. By that time, her reactions and state had somewhat returned. Hand clutching the pillow edge, wearily responding: “You wait for Fang Xuan to leave…”

…

When she finished washing up and came downstairs, it was just past twelve o’clock. An hour had passed since Fang Xuan just called them to eat. On the solid wood long table in the living room were seven or eight plates of dishes nearly swept clean. Everyone was present though, sitting on the sides one by one, holding chopsticks in the final stages. Long Qi walked behind Jin Yiken, two steps behind him. As soon as they entered the living room, this group of people at the long table, looking proper, indeed began exaggeratedly sighing. Zang Siming blew a loud whistle. Fang Xuan said: “Didn’t someone say not to let someone come upstairs?”

“Wasn’t someone supposed to lie in the living room all night?” Ban Wei also said.

“How come there was no one around all morning?” Fang Xuan said.

“How did they end up in one room?” Ban Wei said.

“Passionate and fiery.” Fang Xuan said.

“Glowing with spring radiance.” Ban Wei said.

Anyway, everyone was teasing. Jin Yiken was half-indifferent, too lazy to respond, only slowly laughing once. One hand in his pocket, he walked to the table, pulled out an empty chair for her. As she sat down, he poured tea for her. After she sat down, he placed the tea in front of her. Plate, fork all placed in front of her. He even smoothly tucked the long hair by her cheek behind her ear. Anyway, he didn’t let her lift a finger, sitting the whole time like a great-grandmother. With these few actions, Fang Xuan immediately: “Oh my, watching this makes my old teeth ache.”

She gave Fang Xuan a cold glance. Only then did Fang Xuan look like “fine fine I’ll spare you two” and shut up.

Today’s table of dishes seemed to be ordered from down the mountain.

But Xu Yifen was still busy in the kitchen, back to everyone, seeming to be cutting fruit. Knife rising and falling, movements slow. Jin Yiken’s habit came up again—wanting to go to the kitchen to fry her two eggs. When he opened the refrigerator door, Xu Yifen said: “Let me do it.”

“No need.” He replied, closing the refrigerator door.

Long Qi heard all these sounds without missing a word. Didn’t turn around, quietly taking a sip of tea.

After eating lunch, she sat on the swing in the villa’s entrance area. Calf resting on his knee. He was helping her change the dressing, quite seriously. She quietly watched. After a long while, she asked: “Does the apology you admitted yesterday count?”

Jin Yiken glanced at her.

“It counts.”

“You’re not just coaxing me because I fell so badly?”

“You think I’m you?” he replied. “I have a self-regulation system. I also reflect. It’s useless for me to compete with you, Qi. My primal instinct is to be with you. Competing is reverse operation. So after fighting with you, I regretted it on the third day. Otherwise why would I invite you here one day early? Do you understand?”

Before she could answer, he said: “Forget it, you don’t understand.”

These words were quite provocative. She wanted to pull back her calf, but he held it. Couldn’t pull it back. He smiled quite roguishly. After applying medicine, he stood up, bracing his arms on both sides of her body, steadying the gently swaying swing: “After they all leave, I’ll extend the villa booking for another week. You stay. Let’s properly have a vacation. Don’t you want to buy a house? It’s warm in winter and cool in summer here, reasonable housing prices. I know some good properties. This week we’ll go look at houses.”

Looking at him so close before her eyes, and the words almost whispered by her ear, she felt Jin Yiken was quite handsome at this moment. Even knew how to quietly arrange itineraries. She replied: “Then hurry up and pick up Wu’er.”

It was time to pick up Wu’er too.

Before leaving, he kissed her temple. Originally wanted a proper kiss, but heard Fang Xuan’s noisy voice at the doorway, so it turned into a light touch at the corner of her mouth. He stood up, entered the house to get car keys. Then the car parked on the tree-lined path made an unlocking sound.

He left.

When the car drove away, Long Qi sat on the swing, watching him leave.

Gentle breeze blowing.

“Qiqi.”

Xu Yifen’s voice.

Hearing this voice, she sighed softly in her heart. Turned her head to see her standing at the porch entrance. The swing gently swayed. Long Qi sat leaning against the backrest, saying nothing. She said: “I want to talk with you.”

…

Five minutes later, she had Ban Wei move a small round table and wicker chair out from inside. A plate of fruit on the round table. She sat on the swing while Xu Yifen sat on the wicker chair across from her. Hands clasped in front of her body, shoulders quite tense, looking a bit constrained. She said: “First, about yesterday’s incident…”

“Yesterday your emotions were too agitated. I never found an opportunity to formally apologize to you. Does it still hurt?”

“Not too bad,” Long Qi replied.

“I was too scared at the time, instinctive reflex… I’m sorry. I regretted it afterward, couldn’t sleep all night. I’d rather have been the one who fell.”

“Mm.”

She responded.

Probably responded too simply. A bit of an awkward silence. After three or four seconds of silence, Xu Yifen continued: “Also… there are some things I want to clarify. I feel you have some misunderstandings about me in certain aspects.”

“Which aspects?” Long Qi looked at her.

Xu Yifen said: “Romantic relationship aspects.”

“…”

“I only realized it yesterday through your emotions after falling—you seem to have some hostility toward me in that regard. You think I’m interfering between you and Jin Yiken, right? Long Qi.”

She turned the question back on her.

Turning the question around made the conversation atmosphere somewhat unclear. Saying yes would be strange, saying no would also be strange. Either way was passive. So she didn’t open her mouth. Xu Yifen continued: “Actually, I’m not.”

“Moreover,” she said, “actually if you look at it objectively, replace Jin Yiken with Ban Wei or Zang Siming to look at it—there’s actually no difference. My contact with him is all based on my politeness and principles in treating people. To speak privately, yes, because he’s the investor and also the person who specifically named me, I do have a bit of gratitude psychology, wanting to take care of him a bit more. I think this is human nature. Put yourself in my shoes, you’d do the same. But this has nothing to do with romantic feelings. So aren’t you being a bit sensitive? Qiqi.”

…

Every time she heard Xu Yifen speak, there was a feeling of being brainwashed. As if she had an extremely powerful self-logic system, gently smashing over, imperceptibly drawing people in. Following along for seven or eight miles before discovering something seemed wrong. Long Qi quietly listened to her finish, looking at her interlaced index fingers placed on the table. Sitting up a bit straighter, she said: “I didn’t think you were interested in him.”

“You didn’t?”

“No. I simply just don’t quite like you.”

Xu Yifen froze for a moment.

“I don’t quite like how you always act like you took what’s mine but still want me to cooperate with you to whitewash peace. Why should I? I also don’t like how you apologize to me every day, because what I should hear isn’t ‘sorry’ but ‘thank you.’ You should thank me for the resources I gave up, thank me for cooperating with Lao Ping’s public relations, thank me for my forbearance toward you, thank me for giving you a fair competition opportunity. Not ‘sorry I took what’s yours,’ ‘sorry I made you unhappy,’ ‘sorry I made you misunderstand.’ Do you understand?”

Before Xu Yifen could answer, she said: “Forget it, you don’t understand.”

…

…

Watching her face redden slightly, as if there was a reverse brainwashing effect. Two or three seconds later, she finally heard her say: “Thank you.”

Then she pulled back her chair and stood up. Looked like the conversation was over and she was preparing to leave. But after not even three steps, she turned around again.

“I came this time very simply because I like a production, wholeheartedly wanting to fight for a role suitable for me. People and things outside the production are not on my list. I don’t want to be eliminated for strange reasons, or even without being given a reason, without even a chance to prove I worked hard,” reaching this point, her eyes were already starting to turn red. Actually starting to tear up. Voice also choked: “I also want to ask why. Why do I become the sacrifice of you two capitalists throwing tantrums? Why give me an opportunity then take it away? In this entire villa, I’m the only one wholeheartedly here to audition. Everyone here has better conditions, better backgrounds, better family circumstances than me. Everyone looks down on me. What am I doing here, serving you all like a servant, carefully watching your expressions? From beginning to end, I just wanted an audition opportunity!”

Speaking too emotionally, voice raised a bit. Ban Wei stuck his head out to pay attention. Long Qi still sat on the swing. After her chest rose and fell slightly, she said: “No one here asked you to be a servant. We order food from down the mountain, buy things from down the mountain. It’s you who habitually think you must give to receive. It’s you who first put yourself into a class circle, placing yourself at the very bottom. It’s you who look down on yourself. In terms of family background, mine is the worst in the whole venue. Did I force myself to be a servant?”

“Also,” she stood up, pulling a tissue from nearby, “after saying so much, aren’t you just afraid the audition will be canceled? What’s the rush? The car already went to pick up Wu’er. Stop acting like I’m suppressing you every time, okay? Did I deprive you of opportunity? I clearly gave you so many opportunities and you’re still crying.”

But Xu Yifen’s tears just fell like that. Emotions collapsed. Really looked like she’d been bullied into crying by Long Qi. Fang Xuan’s head poked out behind Ban Wei, coming over to watch the excitement. At that moment, really didn’t know what to say. Tissue stuffed into Xu Yifen’s hand. She didn’t wipe either, just kept crying. Listening got a bit irritating. Right at this moment, Zang Siming came out spinning car keys. On the tree-lined path, his car unlocked with two “beep beeps.”

“Where are you going?”

Long Qi asked.

“Down the mountain, meeting some friends.”

She immediately walked toward Zang Siming: “I’m going to the beach to clear my head. Give me a ride.”

Hearing this, Zang Siming paused. Car keys spinning on his finger round and round. He looked toward Xu Yifen still crying by the swing, whistled low, then tilted his head toward the car, signaling her to get in.