Long Qi didn’t inquire about Bai Aiting’s situation, and that incident became the last news Long Qi knew about her. After Bai Aiting’s profile was cleared, there were no new updates.

She was like someone who had vanished in a foreign land, but Long Qi could sense she was burning silently in the darkness.

Days thundered by. In October, late summer turning to early autumn, a month after the start-of-semester atmosphere had faded, Long Qi returned to Long Xinyi’s home.

The weather had already turned slightly cool. She had just finished auditioning for a film, still wearing the camouflage jacket and Martin boots from the audition, her hair dyed with a few scattered red highlights. After getting out of Lao Ping’s car, she walked to the residential building and called Long Xinyi, but the guy didn’t answer right away. She held the phone to her ear while wandering around the building entrance, then vaguely heard a phone vibrating, mixed with some light music drifting through a window crack. Long Qi hung up and the vibration stopped. She called again, and the vibration resumed.

Chewing gum, she followed the sound slowly past the residential building, then spotted Long Xinyi in the backyard of a ground-floor unit without security bars. It was Thursday—he should have been in his university dorm, yet here he was wearing an oversized t-shirt and shorts, pressed against the window crack, peering inside intently. Long Qi slowly pulled her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose and walked toward him. He was completely oblivious.

This ground-floor unit had recently been converted into a yoga studio, with women currently taking a class inside.

She watched him with her arms crossed for five or six seconds, then finally couldn’t stand it anymore and kicked his lower back with her boot. Long Xinyi stumbled sideways but stayed quiet despite his sleazy behavior, making no sound. At first he thought it was someone else and wanted to flee, but hesitantly glanced back, and upon seeing it was Long Qi, his whole body straightened up: “Holy shit…”

He said, “I was wondering why that kick felt so familiar, damn, it’s my sister.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

“I don’t have class. How come you’re back?” He clutched his butt and came over.

“Where’s Auntie?”

“She just got off work, probably on her way. Hey wait, why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”

A voice from inside the classroom called out “Who’s there?” Long Xinyi’s voice trembled, and he immediately crouched down. Long Qi mocked, “You’re becoming more and more accomplished.”

Then she couldn’t be bothered with him anymore and simply reached into his shorts pocket to pull out his keys and left. Long Xinyi crouched and hurried after her in three quick steps.

“Hey, you’re getting more and more beautiful. At first glance you really stunned me, I thought who could it be. Did you dye your hair? What have you been filming lately? Pretty cool look today. Did you get taller?” Long Xinyi was obviously very excited about Long Qi’s return, asking non-stop on the way upstairs until they reached the door, when he finally got to the point: “What are you back for?”

“To take my stuff away, so I can completely sever ties with you, you bastard.”

The key inserted into the lock, twisted with a click.

She went in. Long Xinyi stood at the doorway without entering.

Great, that familiar silence again. Long Qi stuffed her sunglasses into her pocket and took a breath: “Did you auction off my stuff again?”

“No!”

This time he answered quickly, lifting his head from his phone screen, indicating his mysterious silence just now was because he was sending messages. He pointed inside: “Your stuff is all nicely placed in the room, go look, go look!”

A “Do Not Disturb” sign hung on the bedroom door.

Going into the room, the belongings were indeed all neatly arranged, much more organized than before she left, as if specially tidied. She spat her gum into the trash can at the door, ran her fingers across the desk surface, and looked—not a speck of dust.

This was rather odd.

“Where are you moving to? I’m telling you, the big items you can’t take with you, and the small ones—you’ve left them here so long you probably don’t need them. Just leave them here, you can come back and stay more often.”

Long Xinyi rambled behind her. Long Qi ignored him, pulling open the second drawer under the desk. Inside were various old phones she’d used throughout middle and high school over six years. These items were a liability left with Long Xinyi. She packed them in a box, along with some childhood photos stuffed inside. When she finished and turned around, Long Xinyi had just extracted her chewed gum from the trash can, wrapped it in a tissue, and was frantically stuffing it into his pants pocket.

He looked up to find her staring at him.

“This can actually sell for money.” He explained seriously.

With Long Qi’s explosive temper, she immediately grabbed the alarm clock from the desk corner and threw it at him. Long Xinyi dodged quickly. The clock hit the door, knocking down the “Do Not Disturb” sign hanging there. It flipped over, revealing the words “Entry Two Hundred, Photos Four Hundred.”

Oh, so that’s why the room was in such good condition. On the point of a dog never changing its habit of eating shit, he truly never disappointed her. Long Xinyi frantically picked up the sign and threw it toward the living room. She simply asked, “How much have you made?”

“No, listen to me…”

“The usual seventy-thirty split then, I get seventy, you get thirty.”

“Holy shit!”

“Eighty-twenty.”

“Holy shit, seventy-thirty!”

“Ninety-ten, you get ten, I get ninety.”

“Fine, eighty-twenty!” He gestured with his fingers, “Eighty-twenty it is!”

Long Qi then flung the pen holder at him: “You really dare to make money off this! When I die someday, are you going to strip my clothes off at the crematorium and sell them!”

Long Xinyi was too embarrassed to respond now, relying on his status as the older brother to make faces at her. Long Qi found it annoying to watch, so she said, “When exactly is Auntie coming back?”

“Soon, I think. Are you in a hurry?”

She leaned against the desk looking at him. Long Xinyi said, “What’s the matter? If you’re in a hurry, tell me.”

After thinking for a while, she walked past him and took out a thick envelope from her pocket. As soon as this highly suggestive envelope appeared, Long Xinyi seemed to already smell the scent of stacks of money inside. His eyes lit up with energy, his mouth unconsciously forming an “oh” sound. Grinning, he asked, “For… my mom?”

Long Qi looked at him.

He continued grinning: “Give it to me, I’ll give it to my…”

Before he could finish, she stuffed the envelope back into her pocket: “Forget it, I’ll wait for Auntie to come back.”

“Now that’s not very nice of you…”

“Get out, I’m going to take a nap.”

Then she pointed her chin toward the living room and gave him a look. Long Xinyi shut his mouth and sensibly closed the door as he left.

Although Auntie could be fierce and occasionally unreasonable, she was still the one who had looked after her since middle school, which was much better than Long Ziyi. Settling old scores with Long Xinyi was one thing; repaying Auntie’s kindness was another. Later she simply called Auntie, who immediately said upon hearing she’d come that she’d go to the market to buy some groceries and have her stay for dinner. So she slept in the room until after six. When she woke up, it was noisy outside.

Long Xinyi had invited a bunch of classmates from who knows where to gather in the living room.

When Long Qi opened the door, he was pouring drinks for people, shouting “Bank transfer! Bank transfer!” At the table sat over ten male and female students, holding phones set to camera mode and DSLR cameras with long lenses, enthusiastically discussing matters related to her. A guy asked “Has Long Qi had any work done on her face?” Long Xinyi said, “Transfer me five hundred and I’ll tell you. I have photos of her from all periods, I’ll tell you with pictures and text.” A girl asked “Can I take a photo with her?” Long Xinyi said, “No problem, free for girls, two hundred minimum for guys!” She leaned against the doorframe watching him until a male student noticed her and, unable to control himself, stood up with a “thud.” Only then did the whole table look up at her, and Long Xinyi also turned his head.

His phone screen was still on the transfer page, his face greasy. He quickly said, “Hey, these are all my university classmates, we just happened to arrange dinner for today.”

Auntie was busy in the kitchen. There were already a few dishes on the table, but obviously only three portions. The rest were mostly pickled foods and barbecue in takeout bags.

Everyone in the room stared at Long Qi.

Long Qi said nothing and smiled.

Long Xinyi wanted to smile too, but within two seconds she withdrew her expression, walked past the living room into the kitchen without a word, and placed the envelope from her pocket on the counter. Long Xinyi stared at her: “Sit down, what are you going to the kitchen for? Come eat.”

“I’m leaving now, Auntie. I won’t stay for dinner, I’m busy.”

After leaving the kitchen, she headed for the entrance. Auntie couldn’t leave what she was doing inside and didn’t understand the situation, just calling for Long Xinyi to stop her. Long Xinyi was more anxious than anyone at that moment, but just as he rushed to the entrance, Long Qi turned and caught him off guard, snatching the phone from his hand. She opened WeChat, found a recent group chat, and saw the message he’d sent in it.

—My sister’s back. Private message me if you want to meet her in person. We’re eating together, one thousand per person, ten spots, first to transfer gets the spot, hurry hurry!

The sending time was right when she’d just arrived.

So how could it be that they just happened to arrange dinner today? As if. Long Xinyi urgently tried to grab it back, but Long Qi deliberately let the phone slip, and it clattered to the floor. Then she raised her knee and drove it hard into his crotch. Long Xinyi’s whole body curled up and jumped, squeezing out a coarse curse through his teeth. The roomful of people behind watched in stunned silence. She walked backward out the door: “You really are scum from beginning to end.”

The door to the Long family home slammed shut with a loud “boom,” just like the last time she left.

After leaving the residential complex, Ban Wei called her (ever since their last collaboration, that group from Ban Wei’s band loved to hang out with her). As soon as she answered, she heard him say, “We’re at the Zhaohua Pavilion area, come play.”

Zhaohua Pavilion was the city’s art center and concentration of various art universities, with nightclubs piled up around it—a trendy hub, the kind of place that the Jin Yiken of the past and the Ban Wei of the present, these nightclub kingpins, loved to go. Long Qi’s school was also there. She replied instantly, “Not going, I’m annoyed.”

“If you’re annoyed, all the more reason to have fun. I’ve got drinks here, no reporters following, come without worry.”

Long Qi looked back at the building where Long Xinyi lived. No one came out to keep her there. Her anger rose another level.

“Send me a location,” she replied.

The venue Ban Wei chose was super hot, with deafening electronic music and blinding strobe lights. He personally met her at the entrance, then led her through the crowd into the VIP lounge area. Some companions were already there—three band members, two rich playboy types she didn’t know, and five tall, slender women. When Long Qi entered the lounge, all five women stood up to greet her, and the two playboys also stared at her. She walked unhurriedly ahead of Ban Wei, not looking at them.

For celebrities like Ban Wei, coming to nightclubs meant not daring to interact with people outside their circle (to prevent strangers from leaking information). The two playboys were either friends or business partners. The five women were probably models he’d been working with recently. A few looked familiar—they should have all crossed paths with Long Qi at different occasions. One of them was especially beautiful—thin, fair, with particularly memorable almond-shaped eyes, three-dimensional features, exquisite makeup, dressed appropriately, not as revealing as the other four. Long Qi looked at her twice. The girl reacted quickly, immediately breaking into a sweet smile: “Hi Qiqi, I’m Lin Hui. I used to be a reader model at the magazine where you worked. We met twice, but you probably don’t remember me.”

Long Qi didn’t remember.

This Lin Hui was very good at smoothing things over, immediately continuing, “I don’t mind telling you, you’re a goddess I’ve always wanted to get close to. This time I really have to thank Brother Ban Wei for making my dream come true.”

When she spoke, her mouth and eyes were full of smiles, her voice capable of making men go soft all over. No wonder Ban Wei invited her to play—she really held up the scene.

Ban Wei continued, “Damn, I don’t dare call her Qiqi. I call her our Lord Long.”

“Our Lord Long” was a nickname that had recently become popular online, stemming from the towering arrogance in the various fashion shoots she’d done and the dominant aura revealed in her behavior at various events. Some netizens particularly loved this about her and called her that for fun, and gradually it caught on. This was also why she often hung out with Ban Wei but never had any romantic rumors—Ban Wei initially wanted to pursue her, but after pursuing her, he found her personality more manly than his own, so they simply became partners who teamed up to pick up girls.

He called her to hold up the scene when there were no girls.

He asked her to provide cover when there were girls.

In exchange, Ban Wei wrote songs for her for free.

Lao Ping was thrilled.

Long Qi nodded slightly, acknowledging Lin Hui, picked up a drink from the table, sat right in the center of the sofa with an aura written all over her face saying “I’m in a bad mood today, nobody try to hit on me.” The other four women looked at each other and gave up on self-introductions. Ban Wei, this playboy veteran, figured as long as he’d invited this big buddha over, just let her drink. He started making calls to summon more people from the industry who were drooling over Long Qi to come play. After finishing a round of calls, he plopped down beside her, and the whole sofa bounced up and down. He leaned to her ear: “Look at the guy diagonally across from me.”

Long Qi glanced. Ban Wei continued whispering, “His name is Lu Feng. His family has a company that makes records, very impressive. Lao Ping is planning to make an album for you, you should get to know him.”

“No,” she withdrew her gaze, “looks very lecherous at first glance.”

Ban Wei laughed, “It’s fine, he’s not into your type, famously loves innocent girls.”

“Loves innocent girls but comes to this venue.” She glanced that way a second time. The guy wasn’t much older than her, around twenty-two, with rather sharp features but wearing glasses. He didn’t talk much, his gaze constantly fixed on Lin Hui—quite direct. He seemed genuinely interested in Lin Hui’s innocent type.

“Isn’t this for you?” Ban Wei said, his voice dropping lower, “Likes innocent girls, but likes innocent girls he can sleep with even more.”

Long Qi raised her index finger, indicating she refused to hear such filthy topics. At this moment, a new person entered the venue—his friend, a music producer surnamed Pan. Long Qi had met him. After this guy greeted everyone present, he chatted with Ban Wei. His first sentence was, “You don’t usually come to this area. How come you came today?”

“More girls.” Ban Wei didn’t hesitate.

“Brother Ban Wei always wants to meet girls from our school.” Lin Hui joined in with a smile.

The topic was directed.

The producer asked Lin Hui, “You’re a student at a school nearby?”

“I’m Lin Hui from the Fine Arts Department at Zhongyu University. Currently developing toward print modeling as a side job. Teacher Pan, hello, I really like your music style.”

“Oh, Zhongyu University, beautiful and smart.” The other party replied, “Not easy for Ban Wei to invite you.”

Long Qi dropped an olive into her drink, holding the olive stem between two fingers and playing with it.

“Not really. I just happened to have a class gathering nearby today, but when Brother Ban Wei called me, I came since it was on the way.” She directed the conversation to Ban Wei, “I wasn’t close with my classmates to begin with, and this is the first gathering I’m standing them up for. If I can’t fit into the group later, Brother Ban Wei will have to take responsibility.”

The young girl knew how to flirt with words. Ban Wei was extremely pleased, replying, “It’s fine, look at our Lord Long—only went to school once since the semester started, still mixing it up just fine.”

“Qiqi is probably busy with her schedule.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the producer indicated he wanted to have a drink with Lin Hui. Lin Hui gently waved her hand, saying she couldn’t hold her liquor. Ban Wei immediately turned to Long Qi’s ear to show off, “Pretty innocent, right?”

The olive had soaked in enough alcohol. Long Qi picked it up and put it in her mouth. Ban Wei nudged her with his shoulder, “Use your female perspective and tell me, how is she?”

Long Qi held the olive in her mouth. Ban Wei poured her a drink and pulled out a cigarette to hand her.

“How is she?” He persisted tirelessly.

Not until she finished chewing the olive and spat the pit into the wine glass did she take the cigarette he offered: “Of innocent-type women, I only like one. She doesn’t count.”

Saying this, she rose from the group. Ban Wei asked where she was going. She said she was out of gum, going to buy some.

Leaving the nightclub and turning left down the street, there was a twenty-four-hour convenience store. Long Qi, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, entered the store, grabbed a pack of gum, and while queuing to pay, leaned against the counter scrolling through social media. That bastard Ban Wei had probably gotten too high and secretly posted a photo of himself with her back in it online just ten minutes ago, asking fans to guess whose back it was.

Pig teammate.

Earlier he said there were no reporters following, now he voluntarily sold them out. Lao Ping was probably going to go crazy. Long Qi exited the page and turned to ask the clerk, “Do you have fresh-made oolong tea?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have one. Do you have wasabi?”

“Wasabi?”

“Do you have it?”

“No, but there’s a Japanese restaurant next door. If you want to buy a small amount, they should be able to get it there.”

Long Qi paid and left with the oolong, turning into the Japanese restaurant next door. As soon as she lifted the curtain, the restaurant’s characteristic soy sauce smell mixed with the bustling noise hit her face-on. Most of the diners were young university students from nearby schools, and it was peak business hours. Long Qi bought two small tubes of wasabi from the staff, put the tea on the counter, and squeezed one entire tube into it. The staff member stared at her wide-eyed. She glanced at the staff, and the staff immediately looked away.

After finishing, she prepared to leave and took out her phone from her pocket. Just as two young women entered through the curtain, she leaned slightly to slip past them, sending Ban Wei a voice message: “I brought you oolong to help with the hangover.”

“I heard Dong Xi is coming today too.”

The “whoosh” sound of the voice message sending overlapped with the two women’s conversation, accompanied by a “click” like a flower bud blooming. Long Qi’s foot had just crossed the threshold but froze, along with the fingertips holding the oolong tea cup, which trembled.

She turned her head back.

“Really? Dong Xi is hard to arrange to meet. The guys are going to be excited now.”

“Originally thought that for this department gathering, Lin Hui would come and Dong Xi wouldn’t, but it turned out the opposite.”

Her chest rose and fell imperceptibly. The two women entered the corridor. A server guided them to a large private room. Long Qi’s gaze followed silently and noiselessly as she turned around and removed her sunglasses.

The wooden door of the private room slid open to both sides. The women waved inside, and cheerful laughter immediately greeted them from within. Amid the lively greetings, at the far end of the long table, Dong Xi sat there.

Dong Xi, sitting there.

The women greeted in her direction. She quietly looked up. This scene was so real that one could even see the process of each of her eyelashes lifting. At that moment, there was no wind in the store, but in Long Qi’s heart, a wind carrying wet rain blew, howling, covering up all the noise inside the store.

Until three seconds later, a message notification came on her phone.

She looked down—Ban Wei had sent a voice reply. When she looked up again at that spot, the server had slowly closed the wooden door. The space where Dong Xi was located grew smaller and smaller. She was looking at the newly arrived women, a very faint smile at the corners of her mouth. And Long Qi took a step backward.

She did nothing else.

Didn’t go forward, didn’t speak, didn’t express any emotion about this unexpected reunion. She simply put her sunglasses back on and, like any of the many diners in the store who finish eating and drinking and leave, turned and walked out through the curtain.

Ban Wei had already started drinking.

He’d ordered a lot of alcohol, drinking enthusiastically with several friends who’d arrived one after another. Lu Feng had moved to a position closer to Lin Hui, but he still didn’t seem to have initiated conversation. Lin Hui was chatting with the producer surnamed Pan from earlier. When Long Qi returned, a bunch of people who knew her and didn’t know her all stood up to greet her, except for Lu Feng.

Long Qi placed the oolong tea on the table. Ban Wei said, “I haven’t even drunk my fill yet and you’re already giving me hangover tea.”

She didn’t reply, just sat in the corner of the sofa, hugging her knees cross-legged, lighting a cigarette, returning to that initial “don’t mess with me” aloof state, completely ignoring the greetings one by one. At this point, Lin Hui exchanged seats with the producer surnamed Pan, moving one seat away from Lu Feng, next to Long Qi.

Long Qi ignored her, but when flicking ash, because the ashtray was a bit far from her, Lin Hui moved it closer before Long Qi could move. Long Qi glanced at her for this, and Lin Hui smiled at her.

Then, as if intentionally, she said, “I’m not familiar with them. It’s a bit awkward chatting with them.”

Long Qi didn’t respond. Lin Hui didn’t continue either. Others were making noise, but their corner was quite quiet. Probably because Long Qi carried a high-risk aura naturally, no one came to chat up Lin Hui either.

Only Lu Feng still stared at Lin Hui.

“You deliberately chose to come here instead of a perfectly good class gathering.” After a long silence, Long Qi said.

Lin Hui looked at her, somewhat confused, but still smiled on her face, shrugging, “I can meet people I like here. Besides, at the class gathering, they ultimately want to see another girl more. Whether I go or not doesn’t make much difference.”

“Another girl.” Long Qi repeated faintly.

“Another girl?” Ban Wei plopped down beside them with a puff. The sofa bounced violently, causing ash from her cigarette to fall on her clothes.

“That girl is very impressive,” With Ban Wei’s arrival, Lin Hui’s chatting attitude was obviously more enthusiastic than before. She propped up her chin and patiently replied, “Although our department is the Fine Arts Department, her professional grades rank in the top five in the whole city. She’s really that kind of smart girl, and beautiful too.”

“Beautiful?” Of all that long-winded sentence, Ban Wei only remembered those two words.

“Yes, gentle personality, beautiful, that innocent kind of beautiful.”

Ban Wei slowly nodded. At this moment, Lin Hui paused and stood up, “I’m going to the restroom.”

As soon as she left, the venue changed to an electronic track—it was Ban Wei’s song. This made him thoroughly happy. He whistled loudly, and the whole venue was deafening.

And during the time Lin Hui excused herself to the restroom, this girl did something very “clever.”

She returned twenty minutes later, walking into the lounge area with a smile, someone following behind her. She held that person’s hand, saying to Ban Wei, “Brother Ban Wei, let me introduce my friend.”

Ban Wei looked over, Lu Feng looked over, and Long Qi also looked over languidly. Just as she paid attention there, the strobe lights in the area flashed a blinding white light. Between bright and dark, that person’s hand slid from Lin Hui’s hand, and Lin Hui’s hand immediately grasped the other’s wrist instead. Not until the electronic music reached a climax and the white light suddenly brightened did the two people’s appearances clearly present themselves to everyone’s gaze. Lin Hui was whispering in Dong Xi’s ear. Dong Xi listened while frowning slightly because of the blinding white light.

In the span of twenty minutes, Dong Xi had gone from the Japanese restaurant to this place filled with frivolous and illusory sensory stimulation.

Lu Feng stood up from the lounge area.

Dong Xi’s gaze swept the entire venue following Lin Hui’s whisper. Just before it landed on Long Qi, Ban Wei happened to greet her, and her gaze was intercepted, returning to Ban Wei.

Long Qi poured herself a drink, didn’t drink it, just held it and swirled it.

Dong Xi was quickly persuaded to stay by the people present.

When she sat down in another corner of the sofa, Long Qi slid her drink glass across the table surface. Ban Wei asked her what was up, did she know her? She didn’t respond. And everyone present began chatting up Dong Xi one by one. Lin Hui answered for her each time. Finally, Lu Feng, who had been sitting diagonally across all along, asked, “Your name is Dong Xi, which Xi character?”

Lu Feng spoke for the first time in this venue.

Just from this first sentence, you could tell his prey had already shifted from Lin Hui to Dong Xi. Long Qi sat silently in her own area, leisurely spinning her lighter. Ban Wei beside her drank and laughed with others.

“Xi as in east, south, west, north.” Lin Hui answered for Dong Xi.

“You don’t come to these kinds of places much?”

“She doesn’t come much.”

Lu Feng smiled and extended his hand toward Dong Xi.

“Give me your hand, I’ll do a magic trick for you.”

Dong Xi didn’t extend her hand. Lu Feng continued, “I want you to relax a bit. Give me your hand.”

In the flickering lights, Dong Xi maintained prolonged silence and impassivity. She clearly shook her head, but Lu Feng still held out his hand, staring at her intently.

Even after three seconds of testing, he actively touched Dong Xi’s hand resting on her knee: “It’s okay, give it to me.”

Dong Xi’s body clearly stiffened. At this moment Long Qi spoke up, “Why don’t you just directly ask her if she has a boyfriend?”

Lu Feng looked toward the sound. This sentence didn’t let him hear clearly who was speaking, but he probably thought someone was assisting, so he really asked Dong Xi, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“She does.” Before Lin Hui could speak, Long Qi answered without hesitation.

Lin Hui looked toward the source of the voice. Lu Feng also finally looked her way. The cigarette between Long Qi’s fingers was burning. She wasn’t looking this way, but her words were clearly and plainly directed this way.

The whole venue unknowingly quieted down a bit.

But Lu Feng could still respond. He forced a smile, “Oh, then what’s your boyfriend’s surname? Let me calculate if your astrological signs are compatible, if I have an opportunity to…”

“Surnamed Long.”

Once again, Long Qi interrupted him.