The day the midterm exam ended was Friday, followed by two days of weekend break. School let out early. This time Long Qi didn’t walk together with Dong Xi. She received a text message—it was Long Ziyi calling her to have dinner at a certain restaurant.

The restaurant wasn’t far from school, just one bus stop away. She planned to walk there. It was at a steakhouse on the same street that she ran into Long Xinyi.

The exterior wall of the steakhouse was made of glass, and Long Xinyi was sitting with a girl at a spot by the glass. When Long Qi first passed by, she gave it a cursory glance, but later reacted and came back strolling to take another look. At first, this guy Long Xinyi still buried his head trying to hide from her, but later, after Long Qi knocked on the glass wall, he was caught red-handed.

When Long Qi entered the steakhouse, Long Xinyi still wanted to put on the posture of an older brother, waving at her from afar like a big shot. Long Qi, hands in her coat pockets, walked to his table and kicked the table leg with her toe. He immediately backed down, saying repeatedly: “Sit, sit, hurry up and sit.”

“Long Xinyi, who is this?” the girl asked.

“Just my little sister.”

That girl had an unfamiliar face and didn’t know Long Qi yet. She seemed to be from another school, but she was actually quite pretty—more than good enough for Long Xinyi. Long Qi swept a glance at her and figured out the general situation. At this moment, the girl also took a brief look at her and said carefully to Long Xinyi: “Your sister looks like a certain model.”

“She is a model.”

“Ah, really?”

The girl looked at Long Qi again, her expression suddenly surprised, as if she remembered that she had indeed seen her in some magazine, but she quickly composed herself and said to Long Xinyi reservedly: “I’m going to the restroom.”

After the girl left, Long Qi sat in her seat, shaking her head and saying: “I’m sitting here now.”

“Why are you copying her?”

“Yo,” Long Qi ignored him, looking at the table full of dazzling dishes. “Pretty wealthy, huh? Having a little steak after school, and ordering all the expensive stuff too.”

“I finally managed to arrange a date, what are you here making trouble for?”

“What, where’s your goddess Bai Aiting?”

“Someone like Bai Aiting, anyone with a normal brain knows you can only talk about her. People need to have self-awareness. How could she possibly like me? Is it worth giving up an entire forest for her?”

“Yo, talking about forests now, as if someone actually wants you.”

Long Xinyi immediately pointed toward the restroom, strongly expressing the meaning of “I do have someone who wants me, and the person who wants me is in that restroom.” Long Qi was dismissive and asked blandly: “Who picked this steakhouse?”

“Her.”

“Who ordered this table of food?”

“Her.”

“Do you think she’s pretty?”

“Pretty.”

“Are there many people pursuing her?”

“Many.” Long Xinyi was complacent.

“Do you know there are three words written on her face?” Long Qi used her finger to trace from his forehead to his lips. “Spend. Your. Money.”

Long Xinyi was unhappy and said: “Well, I’m willing to. When you’re in a relationship, you have to spend money.”

“How much allowance does Auntie give you every month?”

“Never you mind, I’m willing to spend it on her.”

Long Qi didn’t continue speaking, crossing her arms and staring at Long Xinyi. After five seconds of silence in the scene, she finally couldn’t hold back and voiced her question: “What kind of taste do you guys have?”

“Now you’re insulting yourself,” Long Xinyi replied. “Most of us guys are still crazy about your type. I’m your brother so I treat you like grass, but others treat you like treasure.”

“So you just like pretty faces with bad personalities, right? You’re willing to be bled dry financially, right?”

“Yes!”

“High schooler.” Long Qi summed up Long Xinyi simply and clearly in three words. She was about to leave when Long Xinyi suddenly grabbed her bag.

“What are you doing?”

Long Xinyi’s momentum had gone down at this point. While rummaging through her bag, he said with a grin: “I don’t know if the money I brought today is enough to pay for this meal. She wants to go shopping later. Your card number and password are still the same as before, right?”

Without a word, Long Qi took back her bag and left directly, leaving him to fend for himself.

……

Five minutes later, she arrived at the restaurant Long Ziyi had mentioned.

Under the waiter’s guidance, Long Qi entered a private room. As soon as she opened the door, she saw a happy family scene of four. Long Ziyi was cutting cake for her two sons. Her husband, Chu Yaozhi, sat in the seat of honor, still looking serious and unsmiling as before.

“I’m here,” Long Qi said.

Long Ziyi was laughing happily. When she saw her, she immediately had the two sons greet their older sister, saying: “You were only late for a little while, but the two younger brothers couldn’t hold out anymore, so I let them blow out the candles first.”

Long Qi sat down and looked toward Chu Yaozhi: “Hello, Uncle Chu.”

Long Ziyi’s husband was a university professor—young and promising, learned and talented. These words could be applied to him, but taciturn and difficult to get along with could also be applied to him. He was a man who was composed to the point of being dull, even somewhat aloof. Long Qi didn’t talk much with him, and he almost never initiated conversation with her. Usually, after a greeting, there was no further communication between the two of them.

But this time, Long Ziyi brought up something: “You just had your midterm exam recently, right? You’ll be filling out college preferences soon too. When the grades come out, let Uncle take a look. He’ll help you see which schools you can apply to.”

“Ziyi, talking about these things at dinner isn’t appropriate for Qiqi.”

“It’s fine,” Long Qi interrupted the conversation, using her chopsticks to place some food in her bowl. “My grades aren’t at the bottom to the point of being inedible. They won’t ruin anyone’s appetite.”

“You’re still not at the bottom? You’re in the last-ranked class, you big dummy.” The younger of the twins jumped out with this sentence and got smacked on the forehead by Long Ziyi.

Long Qi didn’t mind and called out to Chu Yaozhi: “Uncle Chu.”

Chu Yaozhi was watching his younger son. At the sound, he slowly looked toward Long Qi.

“When is the recommendation student exam at your university?”

He sized her up and replied: “Mid-month.”

“Then do you know if Beifan High School’s recommendation spots have been decided?”

“I’m not very clear about recommendation student matters, but if the comprehensive level of applicant students is similar, the school generally decides based on midterm exam grade rankings.”

“Oh.”

“Why are you interested in asking about this?” Long Ziyi asked.

“A friend happens to be applying to Uncle Chu’s university.”

“Oh, looks like your friend has very impressive comprehensive qualities. Your uncle’s university is really very difficult to get into.” Long Ziyi had just finished this serious statement when she continued: “Hold on tight to that friend. There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of their help in studies.”

Long Qi couldn’t be bothered to respond to her. At this moment, Chu Yaozhi placed a considerably thick red envelope on the table, pressing it with his index finger and slowly pushing it in her direction.

Long Ziyi chimed in: “We didn’t help you celebrate your birthday last time. Your uncle wrapped a red envelope this time. Take it.”

Long Qi lifted her eyelids for a glance. Chewing food in her mouth, her jawbone moving slowly, she put down her chopsticks expressionlessly, took out two red envelopes from her bag, pressed them with her index finger and pushed them toward the twins: “Here, for them.”

Then, leaving Chu Yaozhi’s red envelope on the table, she picked up her bag and stood up saying: “I’m full, I’m leaving.”

After she left, three seconds later Long Ziyi followed her out. She had just walked into the noisy hall when Long Ziyi called her name in a low voice and grabbed her. She lazily shook off Long Ziyi’s hand. Long Ziyi’s tone was no longer as flippant as before, carrying a bit of the helplessness of disappointed expectations as she asked: “Why do you always refuse to give him face?”

“He’s not short of face from me, and I’m not short of money.”

“Then at least take it, just consider it living expenses from me, okay?”

Long Qi crossed her arms: “I haven’t sunk to that level of lacking awareness. He doesn’t like me, he looks down on me from head to toe, and I’m still supposed to use his money? Am I made of wood?”

As soon as she finished speaking, a text message arrived on her phone, vibrating in her bag.

“He doesn’t dislike you,” Long Ziyi replied. “Long Qi, I really think your personality problems are too severe. You don’t respect people at all, you know? You don’t even respect elders.”

She lowered her head to take out her phone from her bag, swiped to unlock it, and a bank text message alert popped up: Your savings card account ending in XXXX had a consumption expenditure of RMB 18,888.00 yuan on December 3rd at 18:20. Current balance…

After reacting for two seconds, she immediately opened her bag, opened her wallet to check all her cards. Long Ziyi scolded: “Are you even listening to me? Long Qi!”

“Mom, I’ll listen to you scold me later. I have something urgent right now, really urgent.” She finished speaking quickly and rushed out of the restaurant without a moment’s delay.

On the way, she called Long Xinyi five times. That beast rejected every call. When she rushed to the steakhouse, she found it empty. Gasping for breath, she scanned the crowd outside, then rushed to a block with the most luxury brand stores. She still couldn’t find him, but her phone kept jumping with text alerts.

—Your savings card account ending in XXXX had a consumption expenditure of RMB 5,287.00 yuan on December 3rd at 18:35…

—Your savings card account ending in XXXX had a consumption expenditure of RMB 20,111.00 yuan on December 3rd at 18:52…

—Your ending in…

Later she finally remembered that Long Xinyi knew a guy at a certain video game store who specialized in helping people “swipe cards” to convert to cash. When she rushed there at top speed, Long Xinyi had just come out the front door and hailed a cab. He spotted her from afar and was nearly scared out of his wits. He quickly urged the driver to go. Long Qi crossed the road through speeding traffic. Long Xinyi opened the rear window, cupped his hands to make a megaphone and shouted at her: “I’ll pay you back next time! I won’t use it all! Just using a little!”

“You swiped fifty thousand in one hour and you call that a little? Long Xinyi, get out of the car, get over here, kneel down!”

“Hey, then you tell me, how much total do you have in your card! My fifty thousand was just casual swiping. I didn’t think it would actually go through. Mom didn’t give you living expenses, your mom didn’t give you living expenses either. How can a student like you make so much money? How much more is in your card? I’m eyeing it!”

It was precisely because she could make money that Long Xinyi always had no bottom line in treating her badly. When Long Qi was still more than half a street away from him, his car drove off. The piercing sound of car horns and the traffic police’s whistle repeatedly forced her steps to stop. She gave up storming through the traffic, staring in the direction where the taxi disappeared in the dust, breathing, panting, being blown by the cold wind. Finally, she pushed back her disheveled long hair and tiredly squatted down in the middle of the road.