Strictly speaking, Long Qi was Jin Yiken’s first love.

She had also obtained many firsts from him, some that could even be called the only time in his life, things that would never happen again—like the ruthless determination he now carried with resentment.

After that dusk, Jin Yiken completely returned to his own world. He reconciled with Bai Aiting, his monthly exam (joint exam) results surpassed Zhuo Qing to top the entire district, the physics competition he’d previously entered won him a major prize and made the city headlines. Everything came effortlessly, yet seemed like the result of long accumulation—as if his life had only truly begun on its proper track after excising Long Qi from it.

If this was his revenge, then it was quite positive in nature.

Meanwhile, Long Qi achieved her destined low score on that same monthly exam.

On the day grades were announced, after school let out, she stayed in the classroom scrolling through her phone. Dong Xi sat in her own seat studying her exam papers. Dusk slipped from the classroom’s front door to the back door, transforming into a magnificent crimson sunset, then into evening twilight. Only when the fluorescent lights in the teaching building’s classrooms sporadically lit up did Dong Xi finally lift her pen from the papers, fold them up, and tuck them into a small notebook.

Long Qi had just finished reading some updates on the campus network. Before Dong Xi could speak, she put away her phone first and asked: “Is what’s in the notebook your problem-solving steps?”

“Yes.”

Long Qi took it to look. Inside the notebook, besides clear and comprehensible problem-solving steps, Dong Xi had also created several additional problems of the same type for her to practice. Quite impressive—she’d immediately identified which problem types Long Qi wasn’t good at. Every question hit the mark.

Outside the classroom, it had grown almost completely dark. Dong Xi said: “Let’s go home first.”

It was now November, the third month since entering senior year, the second month of autumn. The climate was cool, darkness fell quickly, and classes were dismissed early. As Long Qi locked the classroom door, she glanced at several classrooms to the west that were already empty and asked: “Your friends didn’t wait for you?”

“I told them to go ahead.”

After locking the door, she pulled out the key, tossed it once in her hand, and said as she walked: “Then I’ll walk you partway.”

Dong Xi’s footsteps were half a beat slower than Long Qi’s. She replied: “It’s not on your way.”

“That’s okay. You stayed this late because of me, and it’s not very safe for you to go back alone.”

It should have been something to feel happy about, but things didn’t develop according to normal circumstances. When Long Qi left the school gate, she ran into Yu Jingli. Having lost face to her last time, Yu Jingli had specifically found several friends from outside school to team up with, waiting specially for her.

This kind of situation wasn’t unprecedented. With her former temperament, she’d encountered it no less than three times, mostly verbal disagreements between girls. She’d never once come out on the losing end, but it was rare for it to involve students from other schools, and with both males and females present.

After discovering them, Long Qi paused her steps. She wasn’t nervous, just gazed at them from afar for a while, then said to Dong Xi: “You go back on your own first. Be careful. I’ll talk with Yu Jingli and the others about something.”

But Dong Xi could also see quite clearly. As Long Qi was about to leave, Dong Xi grabbed her wrist: “Come with me and take another route.”

“It’s fine. Yu Jingli is a repeater—she won’t dare leave any blemishes this year. Besides, this is right at the school gate.”

She’d just finished speaking when she looked that way again and discovered Yu Jingli had already withdrawn from that group, heading in the opposite direction, while this group of five or six people was walking toward them.

Long Qi sighed, instead holding Dong Xi’s hand and walking from another junction: “Let’s go.”

This junction led to an alley. After passing through the alley, there would be a bustling market. Long Qi’s goal was the crowded market, but first she had to ensure they wouldn’t be blocked in this sparsely populated alley. So after turning several deserted corners, her pace changed from initially steady to uniformly accelerating, because wherever she and Dong Xi went, the people behind followed. The faster they walked, the closer the pursuit.

While looking back to assess the situation, she pulled out her phone from her pocket, opened the campus network, and scrolled through some friends’ status updates she’d just seen, finally settling on one friend’s location status. She then exited the campus network, opened her contacts, found that friend’s number, and quickly dialed.

“What are you doing?”

Dong Xi had just asked when she suddenly stumbled because she wasn’t watching her feet. Fortunately, Long Qi held on tight—besides scraping her knee, Dong Xi wasn’t hurt anywhere else. This shortened the distance between them and the people behind, who began running toward them. Long Qi pulled Dong Xi up: “Just hold on a little longer.”

The phone connected quickly. Without waiting for the other person to ask, she spoke directly: “Where are you?”

The other person gave a street name. She immediately replied: “I know you’re near my school—I saw your location status—but which direction specifically?”

While saying this, she turned another corner, picking up speed again. Dong Xi was breathing slightly hard.

“Night market? West or east side of the night market?”

The people behind began chasing. Footsteps came like an overwhelming tide. The situation seemed to enter a tug-of-war where every second counted. Long Qi asked again: “Specific store name!”

Just as she heard the answer from the phone, the sparsely populated path they’d been on finally reached its end, switching into the liveliest night market behind the school. Suddenly there was a din of voices and lights bright as day. She’d thought the situation would restrain itself somewhat, but the people behind didn’t hesitate in the face of the bright lights. Long Qi pulled Dong Xi into the crowd, and they too rushed out of the alley entrance, barging through the crowd.

“I see you guys,” she said one last thing into the phone. “Stay where you are and wait for me to come over!”

The final chase lasted only fifteen seconds, but these fifteen seconds were extremely tense. The distance between the two groups drew closer and closer. That pursuit became more and more blatant as their tracks were exposed. At the critical moment, Long Qi finally found the person she’d been on the phone with, then pulled Dong Xi at lightning speed into that person’s small group. It was at this moment, as Long Qi entered this small group while catching her breath, that the aggressive group chasing them finally made an emergency stop five steps away. As soon as they saw the people in front of Long Qi, their faces showed fear, their behavior became awkward, and they hesitated to advance.

She stared at them from behind that person. Dong Xi was coughing.

And the person she’d borrowed as a temporary refuge, who made them intimidated at the sight—Si Bolin hadn’t noticed this situation yet.

He had half a hot dog in his mouth and was looking at his phone, self-absorbed. Only later, when he noticed Long Qi catching her breath behind him, did he follow Long Qi’s line of sight, turn his head sideways, and see this group of people.

That group retreated several more steps with halved momentum.

Standing beside Si Bolin was his girlfriend—Long Qi had called his girlfriend.

She’d seen their location status half an hour ago and knew that where she was, Si Bolin would definitely be, and where Si Bolin was, there was nothing that couldn’t be resolved.

“Help me this once,” Long Qi said, “and I’ll repay the favor double later.”

There was a reason Jin Yiken called Si Bolin a “profiteer.” This person’s hobby was doing various kinds of “business” both inside and outside school. Jin Yiken had never specified what business exactly, but it was definitely not as simple as just money, so his connections inside and outside school were extensive, his level was high, and everyone feared being caught in his grip—even being looked at once by him left them with lingering fear.

Like before, when Si Bolin had looked at Long Qi once, he’d seen that she liked Dong Xi.

And now he looked at this group like looking at a ragtag mob that had emerged from some corner. He could handle this matter, but the prerequisite was that he had to be willing to handle it for her.

After Long Qi finished speaking, he slowly replied: “No need for you to repay. I want Jin Yiken to repay.”

Sure enough, in Si Bolin’s perception, Jin Yiken’s favor was worth more than Long Qi’s. Even before he’d figured out the situation, he’d quickly found a way to make money. But Dong Xi was still there. Long Qi couldn’t say much, so she just glanced at his girlfriend.

His girlfriend, whom Long Qi called Wuzi, was her senior at the magazine company. She was especially beautiful and had a quite good relationship with Long Qi.

Wuzi said a few words in Si Bolin’s ear and stroked his arm, then said softly to Long Qi: “Take your friend to the convenience store to buy some band-aids. I see her knee is scraped.”

***

Dong Xi’s knee had scraped off a bit of skin.

Long Qi got her a hot drink from the convenience store, had her sit down, then squatted to look at her knee. She used her thumb to touch the skin around the wound. Her skin was so fair that this small wound looked so shocking. She then looked up at Dong Xi, reached her hand to Dong Xi’s cheek, smoothed back several strands of hair that had become messy from running to behind her ear, and said with furrowed brows: “I’m sorry.”

Dong Xi looked at her, the hot drink in her hand faintly steaming.

Just as the atmosphere was quiet and subtle, the convenience store’s sensor door opened and Wuzi’s voice rang out: “Qiqi.”

She looked over.

Wuzi had clearly spoken before arriving, then immediately afterward saw the scene of the two together. She first looked at Long Qi, then at Dong Xi sitting, at Long Qi’s hand placed on Dong Xi’s cheek. For a second or two she hesitated to speak, then said as if nothing had happened: “There’s a pharmacy next door. I’ll go with you there to buy some disinfectant.”

Having spent so long with Si Bolin, Wuzi’s perception was more sensitive than ordinary people.

When Long Qi was getting medicine at the pharmacy counter, Wuzi told her: “I’ve already handled it for you. Those people left and won’t look for you again.”

“Thanks to your husband then.”

Wuzi focused on reading the instructions on the medicine bottle and said lightly: “What happened between you and Yiken?”

“It’s over.” Long Qi picked up another box of absorbent cotton and replied casually.

Inside the store was a strong smell of traditional Chinese medicine; outside the store were passersby coming and going in the night market. Wuzi wordlessly put the medicine bottle back on the counter and picked up another one. The two each looked at their own medicines.

“And Si Bolin?”

“At the snack shop next door. After finishing talking with people, he got hungry again and is eating noodles.”

“Tell your husband—I’ll handle this matter myself. Don’t go looking for Jin Yiken.”

“He was just kidding.”

“Well, trouble him not to mention it to Jin Yiken. Help me hold him back.”

After Wuzi slowly looked at her once, she withdrew her gaze: “Who’s that girl?”

“My classmate.”

“Bolin says she’s his neighbor.”

“Oh, she’s also his neighbor.”

Wuzi drew in a breath with a sense of “this topic is getting more and more boring, might as well end it here,” then indeed changed the subject: “How are you doing lately? I see your appearances are getting fewer and fewer.”

“It’s senior year, unlike you.” Long Qi continued: “I think it’s quite a pity you quit. You had the best resources in the company. After you left, this magazine really has nothing worth seeing. It’s boring.”

Wuzi smiled: “I’ll send you contact info for a few reliable agents tonight. They all especially want to sign you. If you’re ever tight on money, you can try.”

“No need. I’m also planning to quit.”

Wuzi clearly didn’t take her words to heart and had no reaction at all. The two looked at some more scrape medicines. As Long Qi picked a bottle and prepared to leave, Wuzi called out: “Qiqi.”

“Hmm?”

“In the future, learn to be more careful in how you speak and handle things. People like us, you understand—without protection, it’s very difficult to stay safe in this circle. It’s really a pity you and Jin Yiken are over. He was the best in this regard. If you regret it someday, you might not be able to get him back. People like them—money begets money, profit begets profit—will only get better and better.”

Long Qi shrugged: “Oh.”

“Also,” Wuzi had been hesitant before, but now she set down the medicine bottle in her hand and finally said, “Next time I won’t be able to help you either. I’m telling you something—don’t disbelieve it.”

“What?”

Wuzi looked at her: “Between me and Si Bolin, it’s almost over.”

……

When Long Qi left the pharmacy, she glanced at the snack shop next door. Si Bolin was methodically adding seasonings to his noodles. His young master demeanor was identical to Jin Yiken’s. Two people from such powerful family backgrounds had once come to her and Wuzi’s world with this casual attitude. Now, whether actively or passively, whether without love or with love, the two worlds were ultimately slowly tearing apart. The starting point was the endpoint, and the endpoint had no next starting point.

Dong Xi was also a person from their world.

The mansion complex where they lived was like a great fortress, encircling all the heaven’s favored sons and daughters within, isolating any outsider invasion. Whether people wanting to get in or people wanting to get out, in the end everyone was covered in wounds.