So angry.

After returning to the dorm, her mood still hadn’t calmed down. She thought back to that sense of loss when she’d first learned that Fu Yu’ao had transferred schools without a word during middle school, and when that collided with the “brain-short-circuiting” twilight kiss from earlier, it transformed into a shame and indignation of being toyed with twice. She sat at the table in the center of the dorm trying to compose herself for quite a while, still feeling wronged. Ten minutes later, WeChat dinged—Fu Yu’ao had finally sent her an apologetic message. Three words: “I’m sorry.”

Just as she was preparing to type out a scolding reply, Jin Yiken’s video call came through. Her fingers quickly pressed accept. On his end, Jin Yiken was sitting at his desk, probably not expecting her to answer the video so quickly—his head was still lowered at this moment as he used a screwdriver to disassemble some small object. Her hand trembled and she blurted out in a low voice: “Damn.”

Jin Yiken looked up.

The small screwdriver spun once in his hand as he asked her: “What are you doing?”

She took an imperceptible breath.

“Getting ready to shower.”

As she spoke, she set her phone on the desk, propping it up with a cup. Jin Yiken’s screwdriver spun another circle in his hand: “Did you look at the translation I sent you?”

“You already finished translating it?”

“I translated up to Chapter 6 for you—you’d be too lazy to read beyond that anyway.”

“Oh, I’ll look at it later.”

She responded with lowered forehead, her gaze not moving toward the video. Jin Yiken looked up at her again, his hands continuing to disassemble the object: “Who made you unhappy?”

“No one.”

“Tell your husband about it.”

“Really, no one. What are you taking apart?”

“A music box.”

“Where’d you get a music box? Which girl gave it to you? You accepted it?”

Three questions in a row. Jin Yiken laughed while twisting the screwdriver: “I made it.”

“You made it?” Long Qi finally looked up, glancing at the video. “Jin Yiken, when did I ever act like a little girl who likes music boxes?”

“I made it for our future kid.”

“…”

“I’m not that busy here anyway,” he said. “Making some toys passes the time.”

“So you’re making it for our daughter then,” her tone softening as she asked, “What if it’s a son?”

He seemed to finally reach his point, saying: “That’s what makes it awesome.”

Setting down the screwdriver, he manipulated the music box. Long Qi watched as the wooden box that had been playing music quickly transformed in his hands with just a few movements and rotations, soon becoming an upright “humanoid warrior.” It was incredibly amazing, like Transformers. The wind-up mechanism in the middle could still move—give it a twist and it changed to an exciting, rousing tune. She laughed: “Dual-purpose?”

“Awesome or not?”

“I’ll give you an A. So if you’ve already finished making it, why are you still taking it apart?”

“Some of the little mechanisms aren’t quite smooth yet, I’m making adjustments.”

“I can’t even tell.”

“Well, my son will definitely be able to tell in the future. I need to give him the most awesome toy.”

She laughed for a long while, then watching him seriously twist the screwdriver, she gradually quieted down. Just then he asked again: “So can you tell me now what made you unhappy?”

“Really nothing, I’m not lying to you. Just had a small conflict with my mom, we argue every day anyway.”

He looked up at her from across the video with raised eyebrows, then continued twisting the screwdriver: “Oh.”

Her fingers tapped slowly on her knee. After five or six seconds of silence, she tucked her hair behind her ear: “There’s something I don’t quite understand. I want to ask you about it.”

“Go ahead.”

“It’s just… if a guy has a girlfriend, really loves his girlfriend, but in that situation he goes and kisses another girl, then regrets it afterward—what is that behavior…”

“He wants to hook up with that girl but doesn’t want to break up with his girlfriend in case the backup falls through. Four words: keeping his options open.”

Jin Yiken answered quickly, still with his head lowered.

Long Qi nodded silently.

But two seconds later, his hand movements paused, his eyebrows loosened slightly. Long Qi looked at him, and immediately the screwdriver was set down with a clatter as it rolled onto the desk. Long Qi knew he’d figured it out. Covering her forehead and inhaling sharply, Jin Yiken leaned back against the sofa, crossing his legs, his head tilted—a standard boss posture: “That guy named Fu?”

“Just for a moment, not even a second. I already talked to him about it.”

“When?”

“…Just now.”

“What situation?”

“I was taking a walk on the field to clear my head, he came to talk to me.”

“Does he know about you and me?”

“He knows. His girlfriend is even my roommate.”

Jin Yiken tilted his head, full of imposing energy. Immediately he picked up his phone and stood. The chair slid back half a meter with a whoosh. She saw his phone screen switch to a flight booking page and immediately said: “Jin Yiken, don’t be rash. He apologized to me already, and I drew clear boundaries with him. Don’t book a ticket. If you come back, your mom will definitely find out.”

“He tries to hook up with my girl and I shouldn’t come back?”

“Did he succeed at hooking up? He didn’t succeed.”

“He kissed you!”

“But I already had it out with him and made things clear. Right now he’s even more embarrassed than I am. You’re not allowed to book a ticket—exit out of that website!”

Under her rapid-fire string of rebuttals, Jin Yiken finally exited the booking website, but immediately switched to his contacts without a word: “Full name Fu Yu’ao?”

“What are you trying to do?”

He didn’t answer. His phone screen was already on the dial button. Long Qi immediately shouted: “Don’t contact Si Bolin either! He’s in my class, his girlfriend is my roommate. Right now I just want to let this blow over quietly. I’m telling you because I don’t want to hide things from you. Jin Yiken, don’t have Si Bolin get involved in this and embarrass me!”

When Long Qi finished speaking, the call had already connected and was at Jin Yiken’s ear. He stood sideways, his chest rising and falling. She didn’t know how much of what she’d said actually made it into his ears. After a while, Si Bolin must have asked something, because his jaw and temple clearly still carried anger, but he suppressed it, saying into the phone: “Have you eaten?”

Si Bolin replied with a few sentences.

He said: “No, just concerned about your diet. Go eat, it’s nothing, hanging up.”

Long Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

He slid the phone onto the desk after hanging up and sat back on the sofa chair. He clearly still had emotions, the sound of him sitting down was particularly heavy, and he didn’t speak.

“Don’t be angry anymore. I didn’t take it to heart, and I won’t have any contact with him after this. Let’s talk about everything when you come back. Come on, really don’t be angry anymore.”

Moving slightly closer to the screen, she gently smoothed her hair as she said this, coaxing him for five minutes before his angry expression disappeared. Long Qi smiled at this moment: “You just reminded me of something.”

“What?”

“Back in senior year,” she leaned back, drawing up her knees and leaning against the chair, “there was a group of guys in our class who were really bored and disgusting. Back then there were blackboard-erasing duties, right? Guys were tall so usually guys were responsible for it. One time I hadn’t handed in homework and the class monitor wrote my name on the board. I found it annoying so I went to erase it. A guy thought I was his buddy and came up from behind and hugged me. This thing later got back to you—do you remember?”

“I remember,” Jin Yiken said.

“I didn’t see you have any reaction then. You even joked about it gleefully. How come now you’re like you’re wrapped in layers of vinegar?”

“That’s because you didn’t see when I did react. The guy who hugged you was named Li, sat in the row behind you, loved playing ball, was your class’s basketball center, right?” He sat sideways lazily. Without waiting for her response, he continued: “Not tough at all. On the basketball court, his legs would go weak and shaky after losing half a game.”

“What?” She’d been about to grab her cup for water but paused. “You went and played basketball with him then? He mistook me for someone else, and I beat him up for it too. Why did you still go play basketball with him?”

“You really believe he mistook you? In gym class he told his buddies your chest was soft, said getting beaten was worth it. Word got to your man’s ears.”

“…” Pausing two seconds, she asked: “So you beat him up?”

“Pretty much the same as beating him up.”

“And you didn’t say a word to me about it.”

“Was it worth making you unhappy? Back then you’d become so cute after school let out, I just wanted to sleep with you.”

Long Qi immediately threw a crumpled tissue ball at him. Jin Yiken didn’t react in time this time either, his head instinctively tilted to the side, but the chair handle bumped the edge of the desk, knocking over his drink on the table. With a splash it soaked his pants and shirt. He stood up, grabbed tissues, the chair slid backward. Long Qi said he deserved it.

After wiping a few times ineffectively, he simply took off the wet T-shirt and went to the closet to get new clothes. She watched his bare upper body through the video, looking at the tattoos on various parts of his body. Images of when they’d been intimate before suddenly popped into her head—those images of him on top—and her ears imperceptibly heated up. Jin Yiken didn’t notice, just pulling on a new T-shirt. Long Qi looked at the back of his head.

Click! The dorm door suddenly opened.

It startled Long Qi greatly. Wu Yishan came back dragging her suitcase. As soon as she entered she called out to her very dramatically—”Qiqi!” Long Qi didn’t even have time to say goodbye to Jin Yiken, frantically cutting off the video. The ambiguous feelings that had just ignited were instantly doused. Wu Yishan came up to her asking why she’d arrived so early. She made up a reason on the spot: “To have more time to rehearse the play with you all. Aren’t the few of us in the same group?”

“Oh my, Long Qi, you should have told me earlier so I could remind you—Yinling won’t be coming to the dorm on Sundays. She’s staying outside with Fu Yu’ao and only comes to class on Monday,” Wu Yishan said.

Just then, the dorm door opened again. Another roommate, Nalin, had also arrived. Long Qi’s phone rang. While Wu Yishan and Nalin exchanged greetings, she opened her phone. Si Bolin had sent her a message.

“Talk to Jin Yiken more. He’s been so idle lately he’s developed some mental issues.”

…

This person was always most enthusiastic about tattling between her and Jin Yiken.

“It’s almost October, why is it still so hot?” Nalin turned on the bathroom water, preparing to shower. Not long after entering, her voice came out again: “Yishan, my makeup remover isn’t good. Let me borrow yours—which corner did you put it in?”

Long Qi replied to Si Bolin’s message.

…

“Yishan, where did you put it?”

Nalin asked again.

She looked up.

Wu Yishan had gone out of the dorm at some point, probably visiting the neighboring room. She pulled open the drawer under the desk, took out a bottle of makeup remover and some cotton pads, and while replying to Si Bolin’s message, she knocked on the bathroom door with the bottle. Nalin was just shouting for the third time: “Wu Yishan!”

The door opened.

“Wu Yishan went visiting next door. Use mine.” Long Qi didn’t look up, holding out the bottle and saying.

But after three or four seconds, no one took it or spoke. Long Qi finally looked up: “Didn’t you say yours wasn’t good?”

On her hand, the message editing was complete. She pressed the “send” button, put her phone in her pocket, and looked at Nalin. This girl Nalin was quite pretty too, the same type as Ge Yinling, but her features were more delicate than Ge Yinling’s, though her eyes and brows were sweeter. She’d acted in some small web dramas and was a minor beauty blogger with some following on Weibo. Long Qi had previously thought the business of labeling personal items was her initiative, because her cosmetics alone took up the entire sink area—without name labels it really would be easy to accidentally use someone else’s stuff.

But now she felt that wasn’t quite right. This girl had taken the initiative to break the rule of not using others’ things.

“Hm? You called me?” Behind her, Wu Yishan poked her head in the door.

Nalin’s gaze immediately went past Long Qi to the doorway: “Where did you put your makeup remover? I want to try it.”

“At the sink, behind your night cream. I use Garnier.”

Nalin looked back at Long Qi: “I’ve used this brand you have. I want to try hers.”

Bang—the door closed.

“What brand do you use?” Wu Yishan came up to ask. Long Qi’s hand had been held out for ages. She wordlessly put it down and looked at Wu Yishan, who instantly read the “what’s wrong with this person” expression on her face and immediately smoothed things over: “She’s just like that, more sensitive about beauty products. Oh, you use Fire&Gun? Is their makeup good? I’ve always thought the price is a bit steep.”

“Not bad,” she held it out. “Want to try?”

“No need, no need. I’m not wearing makeup today.”

“Then whenever you want to try, just come take it from my desk.”

She put the makeup remover back where it belonged. Wu Yishan made tea and sat down with her: “Long Qi, you’re a Fire&Gun spokesperson, right? So can you just use any of their makeup products freely? Do you have the full set of lipsticks?”

“No, I bought that with my own money.”

“You still have to pay for it?”

“I’m the spokesperson for Fire&Gun haute couture, not Fire&Gun cosmetics.”

“Oh, it’s divided like that?”

“Yeah.”

Perhaps feeling she’d opened up a conversation topic and gotten a step closer in their relationship, Wu Yishan sat a bit nearer to Long Qi: “Let me ask you a rather personal question. If you don’t want to answer, that’s fine—just hear me out first.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you currently single or…?”

Long Qi looked up: “Will you post it on your Weibo?”

“I won’t, I won’t.”

“Just purely curious about my relationship status?”

“Want to know a bit. A while back with you and that whoever—Wu Jiakui—oh my god, that vigorous love triangle, I could watch the trending topics for a whole class period. So exciting. And Gao Ningning—is she really with Zhou Yicong? I still don’t believe it. She even got involved in your love triangle back then.”

“I’m not single.” Among the many questions Wu Yishan threw at her, Long Qi answered the simplest one.

Wu Yishan’s eyes lit up instantly: “Your boyfriend is the one studying in England, right?”

“What other one would there be?”

“Otherwise, the one who held the concert? Or the Best Actor? Or maybe the one who had rumors with Gao Ningning?”

“You mean Ban Wei?” She tilted her head. “You actually believe the rumors about me and Ban Wei? The Best Actor is Zang Xipu? Who’s the third one? Zhou Yicong?”

Now she finally understood why the public thought her private life was chaotic.

“Could it be someone who hasn’t been exposed by the media yet?” Wu Yishan’s eyes brightened even more. “Someone outside the industry?”

She wanted to say Ban Wei was pursuing Wu Jiakui, Zhou Yicong was devoted to pursuing Gao Ningning, and Zang Xipu loved his nephew Zang Siming more, but her lips remained sealed in the end. She replied: “I only have that one boyfriend.”

“What about girlfriends?” Wu Yishan blurted out.

Long Qi looked at her silently.

She covered her mouth: “Sorry, I crossed the line with that question.”

“Let me ask you a question,” she gestured with her chin toward the name sticker on Wu Yishan’s cup. “Has your dorm always labeled things like this?”

“No,” Wu Yishan glanced at it. “Just started this semester.”

“Whose idea was it?”

“Yinling’s. She said it’s better for everyone to keep their things separate. Yinling has a bit of a cleanliness obsession.”

“What about freshman year? She just put up with it?”

“Probably. I only found out this semester that she has a cleanliness thing.”

Long Qi nodded: “How’s your script coming along?”

“Mm,” Wu Yishan was eager to speak, swallowing the sip of water she’d just taken. “I wanted to ask you too—have you sorted out your script? Yinling sent us the lines, we’re just waiting to rehearse.”

“I’m done.”

“You’re done?”

“I’ll send you a copy of the file,” Long Qi downloaded the translation Jin Yiken had sent her and forwarded it to Wu Yishan. “Chapters one through five are all there. You can look at your own characters.”

“This is so good.”

…

…

After getting a bit closer with Wu Yishan, during class days from Monday to Friday, she finally had someone to act as a human alarm clock to wake her up.

Performance class was on Friday. In the few body movement and culture classes before that, Long Qi picked corner spots to nestle in. Long Ziyi really could hold back this time—not a single curse at her—but Long Ziyi’s methods were also ruthless. She’d turned off the home surveillance, so the phone couldn’t connect to it. Unable to see Qi Jie and Wukong made her depressed for entire class periods. When she looked up near the end of class, she discovered Fu Yu’ao had come to class.

He and Ge Yinling were sitting in seats toward the front.

It had been like this these past few days—he either didn’t come to class, or he stuck with Ge Yinling. After that apologetic message, he hadn’t sent anything else. No one seemed to have noticed that Sunday evening kiss either, otherwise rumors would have already spread. If things could just settle down like this, that would be fine. She stopped playing with her phone and began studying the novel “Ashes.”

The character Susuo—Jin Yiken’s translation had already provided a very detailed summary of her experiences in the first five chapters. She was a servant of the protagonist’s family, a middle-aged woman with some split personality—shrewd and sharp during the day, but talking nonsense at night. The challenge was considerable. That week she went every day to sit at the entrance of a farmers market three blocks from school, observing the gait and expressions of women nearing forty. She also read many performance books and related films, basically getting a thorough grasp of this character. When she’d initially given the file to Wu Yishan, she’d known Wu Yishan could pass the translation along to everyone on her behalf, saving her trouble. So everyone’s cooperation was very good. Every night at eight o’clock was when the four girls gathered in the dorm to rehearse. Ge Yinling was good with internal emotion and eye acting, using stillness to create motion—very infectious. Long Qi admitted she was quite skilled at that. She’d even “condescended” to send Wu Jiakui a message, “requesting” that the masterful acting actress guide her on how to play a woman with split personality without being overly exaggerated. As a result, Wu Jiakui thought her account had been hacked and blocked her. An hour later, after confirming her identity through Fang Xuan, she added her back and sent one sentence: “Play yourself.”

…

So in this lifetime, her relationship with Wu Jiakui was limited to mutual antagonism. It couldn’t work out, truly couldn’t be friends.

Long Qi later just performed in her own way.

Fortunately, it wasn’t wrong. The effect presented in Friday’s performance class was quite good. The teacher gave a good score and specifically praised their group for thorough pre-preparation work. Near the end of class, the teacher even called out Long Qi’s name, asking if her work was opening these days.

The teacher was referring to “Cold Cicada” that she’d filmed with Zang Xipu.

Long Qi said yes.

The teacher said good, given her performance today, he’d go to the cinema to show support another day.

Wu Yishan immediately nudged her arm: “He’s praising you.”

Everything was slowly getting better.

That night, Ge Yinling unexpectedly invited her to participate in a Friday party organized by the class.

She heard it was held every week, at the lounge bar in Zhaohua Hall—the place where Fu Yu’ao performed regularly. They hadn’t invited her before because they weren’t familiar with her yet. Long Qi received this invitation through Wu Yishan. At the time they were in the dorm. Ge Yinling was already at the lounge bar, Nalin was still in the bathroom doing makeup, Wu Yishan was packing things to go home. Long Qi wanted to avoid awkwardness and wasn’t planning to go. She was busy interrogating Lu Zimu via phone about Long Ziyi’s current state—she was afraid of being beaten to death the moment she got home.

“You’re really not going?” Wu Yishan asked.

She said she really wasn’t going.

The bathroom door opened. Nalin heard Long Qi’s response to Wu Yishan. After picking out an outer jacket from the closet and putting it on, she said: “Yishan, can you do me a favor? Go ask Yan Yan next door to borrow her curling iron.”

Long Qi looked up slightly.

Once Wu Yishan went out, Nalin sure enough leaned against the desk edge next to her: “Long Qi.”

“Mm.”

“Let me be straight with you. Yinling has always minded your past with Fu Yu’ao, but after this rehearsal, her opinion of you has changed. Tonight she wants to talk things out clearly. After all, you’ll be classmates for three more years—no one wants things to be unpleasant. I’m asking you to please go.”

She inhaled irritably in her heart.

She raised her forehead: “What time does it end? I’m staying in the dorm this week, don’t want to miss curfew.”

Six in the evening—she arrived at Zhaohua Hall’s lounge bar.

Previously she’d always gone straight to the nightclub section at Zhaohua Hall. Now that she’d returned to university life, she came to the lounge bar more frequently. Inside was quite lively. Fu Yu’ao was already on stage. The reserved tables were all occupied by classmates from their department, enthusiastically chatting and clinking glasses. Ge Yinling sat in the same old spot from their first meeting. Nalin and Wu Yishan were already at that table chatting. Wu Yishan waved to her. Long Qi wove through the crowd and pulled out a chair to sit. As she sat down, Ge Yinling across the table was quietly looking at her.

On stage, one song had just ended. Light shone on Fu Yu’ao’s head—his eyes, under his lips, the creases in his clothes were all backlit shadows. The venue’s music shifted from energetic to quiet, switching to Karen Mok’s “The Outside World.”

Long Qi ordered a herbal tea.

Wu Yishan was first to break the atmosphere, saying: “Long Qi, you’re not being cool enough. ‘Cold Cicada’ is about to release and we’re all waiting for you to give us movie tickets. We need to go to the cinema to support you.”

“I thought you all weren’t interested in watching.”

“Our teacher already said he’s going to show support, so I’ve got to go observe.” Wu Yishan really knew how to find topics, progressing naturally and smoothly. “Speaking of which, we really owe you for that set of scripts this rehearsal. So impressive, right Yinling?”

She tossed the conversational ball over.

“Yes. People with teams behind them really are different.”

That’s how Ge Yinling caught it.

Then Wu Yishan had nothing more to say. Long Qi began to feel that Nalin’s whole spiel had purely been to trick her into coming here to be mocked. She laughed briefly, grabbed her phone and prepared to stand. Just then Ge Yinling spoke again: “So before the formal rehearsal, I thought you were someone who relied on your team.”

…

She paused.

Perhaps because the lighting was dim at this moment, perhaps because the melody was melodious, perhaps because of the song Fu Yu’ao was currently singing, or perhaps because Ge Yinling had drunk a few small glasses of alcohol beforehand and was in a tipsy state, seeming rather emotional—the completely sober Long Qi looked at her, listening as she said: “From childhood I’ve most despised one type of person—those who have conditions but don’t work hard, don’t work hard but still get opportunities, get opportunities but waste them. Long Qi, I used to think you were that type of person.”

…

“I’ve also always had reservations about you, but not because of Fu Yu’ao—not that kind of petty reason about who likes whom. What I’ve most failed to understand about you is why someone like you who doesn’t work hard gets a whole bunch of opportunities—a whole bunch of opportunities others can only dream of, yet you dismiss them with disdain.”

Ge Yinling’s neck was flushed from the alcohol. She really had drunk too much, spilling out her真心话. Nalin and Wu Yishan were both watching the two of them. Long Qi didn’t speak.

She remembered Ban Wei saying Ge Yinling was Director Shao Guo’an’s niece, and also remembered Ban Wei saying Ge Yinling had a small role in “Border.”

Small role. Small role.

Previously, on Zang Xipu’s recommendation, Director Shao Guo’an had reserved a female supporting role for Long Qi in “Border,” but at the time she’d refused because she didn’t like the script.

So she understood the resentment behind Ge Yinling’s words. Long Qi’s fingers tapped once on the table surface: “Opportunities also vary in quality and suitability. You don’t understand me from your position, just as plenty of people in their positions don’t understand you. Your foundation and conditions are so good—accumulate steadily and who knows, in the future who’ll be more successful than whom.”

Ge Yinling laughed once—quite brief, carrying the force of alcohol: “I can’t out-talk you when it comes to official speak.”

In that instant it reminded Long Qi of her high school self.

Proud, lonely, stubborn.

“Anyway, Long Qi,” she stood up, “from now on, let’s consider that we’re meeting for the first time. I apologize for my previous mistaken prejudice against you. I can’t drink any more alcohol—I’ll substitute tea for wine and toast you.”

She poured half of Long Qi’s still-undrunk herbal tea into her own cup. This action looked exactly like something a drunk person would do. Ge Yinling’s wrist also looked a bit unsteady. Long Qi even felt this girl was like her—emotional at this moment, but after sleeping it off tomorrow she’d forget everything and treat her like an enemy again.

That’s what she thought.

But when Ge Yinling propped herself against the table and clinked her cup toward hers, she still wordlessly drank the tea.

On stage, Fu Yu’ao’s song reached the chorus. In the slightly melancholic tune, drum beats sounded. Ge Yinling drank down the tea amid the bright lights and wine, then as if this conversation had ended, she swept up the hair from her forehead, looking somewhat weary as she pushed through the crowd, no longer caring about the people at this table, and walked toward the stage up front.

“Is Ge Yinling in a bad mood today, or is she on her period?” Long Qi put down her cup and asked.

“I don’t know, but I also feel she doesn’t seem quite normal today.”

Wu Yishan said this while looking at Nalin.

Nalin was taking selfies with her phone. After a while, she responded: “Fu Yu’ao fought with her.”

As she said this, Ge Yinling had already walked onto the stage, interrupting Fu Yu’ao who was singing. As if dizzy, she hugged his shoulder, resting her head by his neck. Fu Yu’ao stood and supported her. Students at surrounding tables were all cheering. Fu Yu’ao spoke into the microphone: “You all keep having fun.”

Then he helped Ge Yinling off the stage, the two heading upstairs to the lounge bar’s second floor.

“They’ve been fighting over big and small things lately. Fu Yu’ao used to always give in, but now he gives in less and less. Before you came they had another fight,” Nalin said. “Over something really small. The more they fight, the bigger it gets. He thinks Yinling is oversensitive and unreasonable. Yinling thinks he picks fights for the sake of fighting, finding fault with her.”

After finishing, pausing two seconds, Nalin looked at Long Qi and added: “Yinling knows there’s a problem in their relationship.”

That glance was quite pointed. Long Qi looked silently at the empty herbal tea cup on the table. After sitting like this for about ten minutes, it was almost time for her video call with Jin Yiken. She signaled the server. The venue was too noisy. She got up with her bag and phone, speaking into the server’s ear: “I’ll pay for this session.”

“This session is a private booking,” the server reminded.

She nodded: “I’ll pay.”

“Alright, payment is this way.” The server gestured please and led the way. Long Qi said goodbye to Wu Yishan and Nalin, following the person through the center of the venue. Her phone rang—Jin Yiken’s video call came right on time. She reached into her bag for her phone.

But just then, someone grabbed her arm.

An extremely forceful and abrupt力道, thin fingernails digging painfully into her arm. She was suddenly pulled backward, followed by an angry shout that pierced through the venue’s music: “Long Qi!”

Bang!

The force also caused her phone to fly from her hand, sliding to the floor two or three meters away. The crowded群 instantly scattered to the sides, then quickly surrounded her in a circle. This was the first time in her life she’d been intercepted like this. The fire instantly flared up. Standing before her was Ge Yinling with tear tracks on her face, her neck flushed red from alcohol allergy. The girl who’d just been all conciliatory态度 now pushed her shoulder with one palm: “Did you sleep with Fu Yu’ao or not!”

A question that came out of nowhere. Stunned for a second, she shook off Ge Yinling’s tightly grasping hand: “What the hell is wrong with you!”

Outside, Fu Yu’ao arrived, pushing through the crowd toward them. Long Qi pointed at him: “Fu Yu’ao, did you tell her again…”

But before she finished speaking, she was pulled back by Ge Yinling again. She had a强硬 attitude of wanting to lay everything out on the spot: “Last weekend, you both stayed on campus, right?”

Long Qi looked back at her.

Person against person, eyes looking into eyes—one flushed red, one frowning. Under the direct lights they faced each other, breathing colliding, chests rising and falling, surrounding people holding their breath and staring.

“Sunday night, you two kissed on the school field bleachers, right?”

Ge Yinling continued questioning, a tear falling and sliding down her already wet face. Surrounding嘘声 arose. Long Qi’s shoulder and body heated under the lights as she slowly glared at Fu Yu’ao.

His chest was also rising and falling, forehead sweating, meeting Long Qi’s gaze.

“You don’t dare speak?” The corner of Ge Yinling’s mouth curved up, carrying a hint of tragic bitterness, raising her arm to point at Fu Yu’ao. “But he admitted it.”

“What did you admit to?” Long Qi glared at Fu Yu’ao again.

“He admitted he loves you,” Ge Yinling replied, biting out three key words: “Again! Anew! Completely!”

“What ‘anew,’ what ‘completely’? What the hell are you two doing?”

“We’re in the middle of breaking up!” Ge Yinling shouted.

From the surrounding crowd, Nalin shouted toward Fu Yu’ao: “You’re too much of a scumbag! Yinling’s been with you for three years!”

Fu Yu’ao, having been publicly exposed by Ge Yinling like this, had already adopted a completely giving-up attitude. His face pale, he stood silently in the crowd. Long Qi suppressed a rising anger, slowly nodding, her gaze on Ge Yinling’s: “How he behaves is his business. I haven’t done anything that can’t be brought into the open. Before you come demanding I take responsibility, first figure out the full story.”

“Just tell me if you slept together or not.”

“Do you have any basis for asking that question?”

“You already kissed—wouldn’t you go one step further? Hm?”

“Why would I sleep with him?”

“So you did kiss, right?”

“That was his brain short-circuiting!” Long Qi glared at Ge Yinling, raising her arm to point directly at Fu Yu’ao. The two suddenly drew close, sparks igniting.

“So you welcome all comers!” Ge Yinling was fierce too. “You’ll play with anyone! Sleep with whoever catches your eye! That’s the kind of person you are!”

Long Qi reached out and grabbed Ge Yinling’s collar: “I haven’t hit you because you’re drunk right now. If you insult me one more time, these three years of university I’ll fucking go to the end with someone like you who can’t keep their mouth shut!”

“That’s why you got AIDS.”

Ge Yinling stared at her just like that, word by word, biting out each syllable, speaking aloud.