That evening, Long Qi sent Lin Hui’s resume and photos to Lao Ping’s email. While waiting for a reply, she connected to a video chat with Jin Yiken.

He’d been busy with something unknown for the past few weeks, particularly hard to reach. The two hadn’t even made many phone calls. But he finally had time this time. When the call connected, he was in his study. The camera angle was from the desk. He sat in front of it with his legs crossed, laptop on his knees. While glancing at the camera, he typed a few words on the keyboard, still looking busy.

“Pretty rushed?”

“Assignment due before midnight tonight.”

“Oh my, aren’t you the straight-A student? The phrase ‘rushing homework’ actually exists in your life.”

“It’s not mine.”

With just that sentence, she knew whose homework he was doing. He added without looking away, “Like I haven’t done homework for people before?”

He’d done so much homework for her in the past. It was hard on him—clearly such a clever, smart brain, yet he had to deliberately get sixty percent of the questions wrong to avoid being discovered.

“I saw your new music video,” he said again.

“Mm.” Long Qi responded, peeling an apple in her hand. After peeling it, she cored it and cut it into four small pieces. She put one piece in her mouth, locked the other three in a container, and put it in the fridge—tomorrow’s portion.

“Pretty beautiful.”

“Thanks for the compliment.”

“You don’t seem to miss me much.”

“You don’t seem to miss me much either.”

Jin Yiken smiled. Long Qi happened to glance over. Every time he smiled, he was particularly captivating, really, really captivating—a bit wicked, a bit careless, like an entangled form of Satan and God, giving life and death. For an instant, it almost extinguished a spark reigniting somewhere deep in Long Qi’s heart. She shifted her gaze. Just then, Jin Yiken brought his phone closer, the camera moving forward, leisurely spinning his pen, looking at her carefully through the screen.

“You have that look, like I just caught you having an affair.”

“Is that so.” She replied, cutting herself another small slice of pear, holding it in her mouth. “If you watched the music video, you must have seen Jian Yizhen too. Back when she and I went to that hotel, her people took photos. Lucky there was no shot of your face in them, otherwise if she recognized you and reported it to your dad, let’s see how you’d explain that situation.”

“You’re still too simple, Qi,” he said. “First, she wanted to sleep with my dad, but my dad didn’t want to sleep with her. She was eliminated by my mom before she could even cast her bait. Otherwise, do you think her being group-attacked by the media this year was due to bad fate? Although my mom lives peacefully now, before she became a wife and mother, she was the female demon of the media world. Second, even if she could contact my dad, he wouldn’t bring this up publicly. Compared to spending energy dealing with me, he’d rather not bother explaining the source. Third, even if Jian Yizhen really recognized me, she wouldn’t come after you, Qi. She’d curry favor with you.”

At that moment, a sudden clatter of breaking glass came from Jin Yiken’s side, from outside the study, like some container breaking. It punctuated his words. Long Qi glanced at the camera, but Jin Yiken was particularly composed, as if he hadn’t heard anything.

“What was that sound?”

“Don’t know. Let me tell you something,” he changed topics smoothly, adjusting his sitting position in the swivel chair. “In a few months, my school here and the physics department of some domestic university have an academic exchange project. I haven’t figured out which university yet. They’ll send some students over to stay for a few weeks. It’s a good opportunity, and I want to compete for it. So for the next few days, your lord here will be very busy.”

She nodded.

He continued, “I want to see you.”

She looked at the screen.

On screen, Jin Yiken was also looking at her.

“Qi, the ultimate purpose of everything I do now is to build a foundation for being with you in the future. I’m serious about you.”

“Okay,” she replied. “Let me tell you something too.”

“Go ahead.”

Long Qi prepared to speak.

But the moment she opened her mouth, her throat went dry. Jin Yiken looked at her. Two seconds later, she changed her mind, “Actually it’s nothing, just recently I want to confirm something. A bit nervous.”

Jin Yiken didn’t interrupt her.

After a while, Long Qi didn’t continue, signaling the topic had ended. Only then did he say, “Just keep it in proportion.”

At this moment, another clatter of clanging came from his side, more scattered than the first sound. Jin Yiken remained indifferent. Long Qi said, “You should still go check, in case there’s something else.”

He clearly didn’t particularly want to move. Long Qi urged him, “Hurry up.”

Only then did he get up. The video chat on his phone remained on. He left the study.

After that, Jin Yiken didn’t come back.

Long Qi waited at the other end of the screen for fifteen minutes. He never returned to the study. Later, losing patience, she hung up the video and sent him a message. Jin Yiken’s reply came five minutes later: Nothing’s wrong, it’s pretty late there, go to sleep.

She replied good night.

He also replied good night.

Just as she was about to lock the screen, a banner notification popped up at the top of the phone screen. Lao Ping had replied to her email. She clicked in. It contained a line of text: Pretty good qualifications, but not outstanding, needs someone to mentor her.

Followed by a “Note”: It’s past midnight, sleep quickly. Tomorrow I’ll settle accounts with you about mixing it up in nightclubs with Ban Wei.

Long Qi called Lao Ping back. As soon as he answered, she said, “That photo shoot project I’m about to start—doesn’t it need girls for several dual-beauty themes? Don’t pick from elsewhere, just use her.”

Lao Ping sounded like he was still busy at some event, but he heard her clearly and replied, “You want to mentor her? What’s your relationship?”

“This girl is quite humble. Consider it.”

“Being humble isn’t enough to decide this,” he said. “Your popularity is high right now. There are quite a few rising starlets who want to collaborate on photo shoot themes with you to ride your popularity and hype up couple pairings. Just now I got a call from an agent strongly pushing their artist. I just had someone look into this girl. She’s been on magazine interior pages a few times, she’s a small-time model. She’s beautiful, sure, but has no popularity base. Her social circle in the industry is basically the ‘play with whoever’s popular’ routine. What do you see in her?”

“You already admitted she’s beautiful.” She leaned against the kitchen counter, taking a grape from the fruit bowl, tossing it up and down.

“I can admit it, but being convinced is another matter.”

“Fine, tomorrow I’ll bring her to see you. You can decide after seeing her in person.”

Speaking of tomorrow, Lao Ping immediately fired up, “What’s this about you and Ban Wei clubbing and posting it online? Do you know you two are in the top three trending searches right now? You just turned eighteen, your debut positioning isn’t stable yet, and as soon as you enter university you start drilling into nightclubs. What do you think the traditional public will think? Killing me with work here.”

“A few more times and the public will get used to it.” She bit into half a grape, found it sour, and tossed it in the trash, pulling out several tissues.

“Hao Shuai is busy writing PR copy for you now. He and I must have owed you in a past life.”

“Then tomorrow’s settled.”

“I’m busy tomorrow. Only free between eight and eight-thirty in the evening. Have her come at that exact time. If she misses it, there won’t be a next time.”

Tossing the tissue in the trash and putting away the cutting board and knife used for fruit, she replied, “Tomorrow I’ll pick her up myself and deliver her to you personally.”

After hanging up, she left the kitchen, turning off lights with one hand and opening WeChat with the other. She found Hao Shuai’s account and sent him a large red envelope.

On Friday, around four or five o’clock, there were far more students with luggage heading home from the university gates than usual. Long Qi sat in the car, a new script on her lap, knees against the front seat back, chewing a low-fat gummy, turning a page of the script, biting off a section of candy, chewing slowly. The driver sat in the driver’s seat reading the newspaper, reporting the time to her every ten minutes. If a message came to her phone, he’d also check it for her and relay it orally.

She’d just finished an album signing event at Ban Wei’s place, arriving here ten minutes ago.

Students passing by inadvertently glanced at the car window, then seemed to see something, but weren’t quite sure, just muttered a few words to those around them and continued on their way.

Zhongyu University was a famous comprehensive university nationwide. The campus was in the southeast corner of Zhaohe Pavilion, covering a very large area with six gates in total. The west gate where Long Qi’s car was parked was closest to the Science Department and the School of Arts, so students coming out of this gate had rather polarized styles—either checkered shirts with glasses for STEM students, or stylish young artistic types. The three otaku top students who’d previously tutored Long Qi were also senior students at this school. They’d now become veteran members of Long Qi’s fan support team, constantly bribing Hao Shuai to get her latest schedule. This time coming to Zhongyu, she didn’t tell Hao Shuai, to avoid complications.

When the driver reported the time as four-twenty, she closed the script, removed the earphones from her ears, ate the last section of candy, took out a container from her bag, picked out a slice of cucumber and put it in her mouth, then put on her coat, hat, and bag. While opening the door, she told the driver, “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

The door closed with a bang. The wind outside was quite strong, her clothes hem and hair flying with the wind. She walked straight toward the school gate without looking aside. Students around the car made small-scale turning and glancing movements.

The message sent to Lin Hui received a reply when she reached the bottom of the teaching building: Sorry, Qi, the teacher is taking attendance after class. I’ll have to wait until class ends to come out~

In less than three seconds, another message came: Have you arrived? If you have, I’ll come out right away.

She didn’t reply.

Entering the teaching building, climbing the stairs, walking all the way to the classroom Lin Hui had mentioned before, the entire corridor was empty, only distant lecturing voices coming through classroom doors. She listened to the forceful lecturing while leaning against the wall outside the classroom, the earphone cord winding methodically between two fingers. She waited silently.

Five minutes later, the end-of-class bell rang through the floor, permeating the entire corridor.

The front and back classroom doors clicked open. Students with bags filed out following the bell. Footsteps and noise instantly filled the entire corridor, surrounding her eardrums from far to near. Long Qi was managing her earphone cord. Students walked, chatted, looked at her as they passed, then whispered in others’ ears with questioning tones. She remained focused with indifference until a somewhat quick footstep came out the front door, rushing to her front at a light jogging pace, exhaling slightly chaotic breath mixed with some nervousness and excitement: “Qi!”

She put the earphone cord in her pocket, looked at Lin Hui, withdrew her right leg leaning against the wall and touched ground. While walking forward, she tilted her forehead toward Lin Hui. Lin Hui immediately followed her direction.

“Have you eaten?”

“Dinner? Not yet.”

“Then I’ll take you to eat later. You’re not on a diet, right?”

“Haha, no.”

Lin Hui laughed very brightly. At the end of the corridor, light came through the window, abundant light. Both were tall. Both walked in the light. Long Qi’s black t-shirt, Lin Hui’s berry-colored lipstick. Long Qi’s cool style, Lin Hui’s light Harajuku style. Both high in looks, complementing each other.

At the front door where crowds surged, Dong Xi was the fifth from last to exit the classroom. The lecturer was chatting with her. A few girls behind hurried forward, lightly brushing her shoulder. She instinctively looked in the direction they excitedly pointed.

“Is that Long Qi? Is it Long Qi? Is the one talking to Lin Hui Long Qi?”

“Oh my god, Lin Hui knows Long Qi.”

“When will your mural project be completed?”

Her attention returned due to the lecturer’s question. She answered, “Probably still need another month, but we’ve all adjusted our schedules to coordinate. We should make it in time for the school anniversary.”

Her steps gradually passed the murmuring girls. The voices from that direction mixed with the lecturer’s voice, sounding simultaneously.

“Long Qi’s figure in person is quite great.”

“Then you’ll have to work hard during this period. This project is creative and thoughtful. I’m very optimistic about it.”

“She’s really so cool. Hey, I like those boots of hers.”

“If you need any help with connections or guidance, you can come talk to me.”

She turned her head to look at the lecturer, “Yes, thank you, teacher.”

In the light, Lin Hui and Long Qi walked. In shadow, Dong Xi and the lecturer walked. Around them was noise, restlessness, cold light beams, hot worship. Their figures gradually went down the stairs. The soaring discussion didn’t earn Long Qi even one look back.

At eight-fifteen in the evening, at Lao Ping’s studio, Long Qi leaned diagonally on the sofa, feet against the armrest, chewing gum, her phone screen showing a Doodle Jump app game. Lin Hui stood in the center of the office. Lao Ping rubbed his chin, circling around her, sizing her up.

Long Qi’s thumb pad tapped on the screen bit by bit. Inside, the spring monster kept jumping upward, making “duang, duang” sound effects. But soon enough came a “whoosh” falling sound effect, then “play again,” then the cycle repeated with “duang, duang.”

“Little princess, could you mute that?” Lao Ping turned around.

“Not really.”

Lin Hui smiled.

Lao Ping’s phone rang. While answering, he opened the office door and waved at Long Qi. Long Qi got up and followed him out. Lao Ping closed the door. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, continuing to play the game while Lao Ping talked on the phone.

She kept failing to beat Jin Yiken’s game record.

After Lao Ping ended the call, he asked, “Have you definitely decided on her?”

“My decision doesn’t matter. You need to decide. Aren’t you in a hurry to start shooting?”

“Let me hear your thoughts.”

…

Inside, Lin Hui looked around, examining the various artist posters on the walls, the rows of awards on the bookshelf behind the desk. Then she noticed a large leather-bound album on the desk. She picked it up—it was quite heavy. She held it with her arm and opened the cover.

Turned out this was a photo album.

The album mostly contained greenhorn photos of artists from their early debuts or even before debut—some circulated online, some never made public, including student photos, childhood photos… When she turned to the middle pages of the album, Lin Hui saw a photo of Long Qi.

This photo was larger than all the other photos, taking up the entire album page.

In the photo, Long Qi stood at a busy intersection. The surrounding pedestrians were blurred, only she was clear and striking. She was still a high school student then, wearing her uniform—white shirt tucked into a plaid skirt, a loose knit cardigan tied around her waist, the bow at her collar hanging askew. She was tousling her hair, revealing her forehead, lifting her long hair. She seemed to be candid-captured, not looking at the camera, just staring absently at somewhere, a trace of worry and melancholy in her eyes. Among the crowd she appeared tall, lonely, yet stunningly beautiful—like a movie poster, like a magazine cover. But she was just a female student from a nearby school who’d just gotten out of class, leisurely and lazily waiting to cross the street.

Because the photo was large, it was particularly clear. Lin Hui saw the “Beifan High School” embroidered on her white shirt pocket, and also saw on her arm with the rolled-up sleeve, a down-to-earth peachwood bracelet.

The peachwood seemed to be in the shape of a dragon.

Lin Hui laid the album flat, took out her phone, and photographed the photo.

The sound of the office door opening wasn’t very loud. Lin Hui didn’t hear it. Long Qi walked up with crossed arms, watching her photograph. Not until Lin Hui locked her phone screen and the black screen reflected the person beside her did she suddenly react, immediately turning her head, “Ah, sorry, I just thought this photo of yours was so great. I won’t spread it. I can delete it now if you want.”

“You can upload it too, this photo isn’t new online.”

Long Qi turned to lean against the desk edge, flipping through the album. “These are all photos of when Lao Ping first ‘saw’ us. He wanted to sign people because of these photos.”

“Is this a portrait from your high school days?”

“No, I was secretly photographed. Can’t remember the name, seems like a fairly well-known photographer. He followed me for half a month, only contacted me when he was about to post the work online. I beat him up. He gave me a sum of money. I figured the amount was pretty good, so I forgave him.”

But Jin Yiken didn’t forgive him.

At the time this photo was taken, Long Qi was on her way to a tryst with Jin Yiken. Naturally, various photos of her pulling his tie on the street and him hugging her waist were also captured. The composition was all good, the looks all appealing, the post-processing was first-rate—it was like a youth romance movie blockbuster. But Jin Yiken exploded. He didn’t want to be skinned alive by the old man. He didn’t want to be famous online. So even though a crowd of female netizens who saw his photos at the time were stunned by his handsomeness and begged for his name, account, and to sleep with him, he ruthlessly removed all photos infringing on his portrait rights overnight, leaving only Long Qi’s solo photos. Then he gave Long Qi double the money to prevent her from selling him out again when she needed money in the future.

At that time, Beifan High School was in the tense period of stage exams. Not many students noticed this little episode online. Bai Aiting naturally didn’t know either. Long Qi had become somewhat popular online in a small circle at that time, then caught Lao Ping’s attention and was pursued by him.

She closed the album and tilted her head toward the door, “Let’s go, I’ll take you to dinner.”

Before coming, because she was afraid of looking bloated after eating dinner, Lin Hui had deliberately delayed her dinner time, treating it as a late-night snack instead.

Long Qi took her to a Korean restaurant downstairs from Lao Ping’s studio, ordered some barbecue and vegetarian food, and asked if she wanted to drink beer.

Lin Hui shook her head and asked for a vanilla-flavored canned soda.

Long Qi held her phone in one hand looking at messages, while with the other hand she pulled open a can tab with a crack and placed it in front of Lin Hui. Then she opened a canned beer. With each light pop of carbonation, there was a bang of the pull tab hitting the table. She pressed the can body with her thumb and middle finger, index finger on the tab. When she moved the can away, the ring on her finger slid onto the table. Then she opened a second one—the technique smooth and practiced.

“Thank you,” Lin Hui looked at her. “You’re so good at taking care of people.”

“What?”

Long Qi wasn’t paying attention. Her gaze moved from the phone screen to Lin Hui’s face. Lin Hui smiled.

“Opening drinks for your dining companion, and yesterday, helping my classmate deflect alcohol.”

“Oh,” she responded faintly, putting her phone on the table and picking up chopsticks to examine the dishes on the table. “How did your classmate turn out later?”

“She’s fine. She didn’t drink alcohol, just returned to the dorm a bit late. But I was even later than her. She opened the door for me.”

“Same dorm room?”

“Yes.” Lin Hui responded, lowering her voice a bit, saying tentatively, “Yesterday Brother Ban Wei drank too much, but one thing he said caught my attention.”

“Go ahead.”

“He told me not to get too close to Lu Feng. He said… Lu Feng’s methods of pursuing girls aren’t very clean.”

Long Qi was picking vegetables from a plate of meat, lifting them up, putting them in her mouth, chewing slowly, seemingly listening to Lin Hui speak, yet seemingly in her own thoughts.

Thinking Long Qi hadn’t heard, Lin Hui was about to change topics when she replied, “Then be careful.”

“Mm…” Lin Hui responded this way, then asked, “Qi, are you and Dong Xi close? Last time you said you two went to the same school.”

“I know her well, she doesn’t know me well. Her grades are good.”

A few brief sentences summarized the relationship. Lin Hui nodded thoughtfully, “In high school, students with excellent grades do receive more attention.”

Long Qi poured beer into a glass, holding the glass and shaking it, “Does she have a boyfriend?”

Lin Hui looked at her, thought for two seconds, “Oh… recently she has been getting closer to a senior student.”

“Senior student.”

“A very excellent senior. He…”

Long Qi’s phone vibrated. She didn’t seem attached to this topic either. Her gaze glanced at the phone screen, then asked, “Do you have a lot of classes next week?”

“Next week?”

“If you don’t have many classes, take leave from school. If you have a lot, there’s no way around it. Pack up tonight, meet at the airport at seven tomorrow morning.” As she spoke, she took Lin Hui’s phone and dialed in it. “This number I’m giving you is my assistant. Send her your ID number and she’ll buy your plane ticket for you.”

Lin Hui’s reaction was still a bit slow. Long Qi called the waiter to pay the bill. After swiping the card and signing, the pen spun between two fingers, “Lao Ping approved you. Tomorrow you fly with me to Los Angeles for a photo shoot. Ten days.”

Lin Hui didn’t make a particularly surprised sound, but one could feel the air around her heating up, getting hotter. She smiled. Long Qi gave the receipt to the waiter. Only then did she glance at her and smile back.

But after reacting, Lin Hui showed a trace of hesitation, “But next week, I have to rush a team project…”

Yet quickly continued her own words, “But it’s fine. The group won’t be short without me.”

Long Qi wasn’t really listening. She took her coat from the seat. While replying to phone messages, she told her, “You don’t need to rush. Eat your fill before going back. I’ll chat with Lao Ping about something. My assistant will take you back later.”

Turning to leave, she remembered something. The phone spun once in her palm, “Oh.”

Lin Hui looked at her.

“Just call me by my full name instead. More appropriate. As for Qi, usually only my boyfriend calls me that.”

Perhaps because the indoor air was stuffy, the air conditioning overhead suddenly kicked into higher gear. Cold air poured vertically into the back of her head. Lin Hui still looked at her. The smile in her eyes unknowingly withdrew just a little bit.

“I see, so you have a boyfriend.”