After drinking, this sleep lasted until noon the next day. She only woke after Lao Ping pounded on the door vigorously.
By then, information about her online had already exploded, but she was still in a daze. The moment she opened the door, Lao Ping bombarded her with several questions: “How old are you this year? The habit of hiding at home whenever you cause trouble is really handy now, huh? You really think the whole world is your daddy?”
He came aggressively, nagging while forcefully closing the door: “I’m telling you, if you push me too far I won’t bother with you anymore. How many times has this been?! My positive packaging of you can never keep up with your own negative news. If this continues, we’re terminating the contract!”
Lao Ping delivered this set of scoldings from behind. Long Qi walked ahead turning a deaf ear, walking to the sofa edge, bending her knees to lie down, pulling the blanket to continue sleeping.
Lao Ping’s steps paused by the coffee table, his face darkening: “What do you mean by this?”
Then catching sight of the phone by the wall, he asked: “Serious this time?”
Lao Ping had clearly read through those exposés one by one.
Speaking of her falling out with Jin Yiken, someone who probably felt the loss most keenly could also include Lao Ping. He had just negotiated numerous above-board and under-the-table deals with Jin Yiken. Now all that effort was for nothing. The plot twist came too fast. He couldn’t accept it. He even twisted the knife: “Weren’t you preparing to pack up and move to his place just a couple days ago?”
“I cheated. He found out and dumped me.” Before Lao Ping could ask the next question, Long Qi stated this calmly, her hand reaching under the sofa feeling for a beer can. Just as she was about to drink, Lao Ping reached out and took it away.
“Who did you cheat with?”
She didn’t answer. He immediately guessed: “Ban Wei?”
…
“How far did this cheating go?”
“Ban Wei’s heart must be so cold. In your eyes, he’s just left with the impression of stealing someone’s partner.”
Lao Ping seemed to breathe a sigh of relief: “You smashed your phone. How are people supposed to contact you? Do you have any old phones you can use temporarily?”
Now his emotional intelligence was online. Actively changing the subject. She pulled open the coffee table drawer. Inside was a pile of old phones she’d brought back from Long Xinyi’s house. Lao Ping picked the newest one, helping her change the SIM card.
“I’ll give you a suggestion,” he said, “at a time like this I won’t arrange work for you. You’re also not suitable to show your face at this critical juncture. But don’t stay home either. That drama of yours is about to start filming. Go to some training classes these few days. Female actresses in the same crew with fewer action scenes than you still attend more diligently than you. Don’t let yourself be compared unfavorably.”
Then patting her shoulder, stuffing the old phone in her hand, he turned to dial the phone to have someone come pick her up.
The phone had just powered on when a bunch of message notifications popped up. Those numbers she’d saved and those she hadn’t all scrambled to send her false or gloating condolences. One was particularly outstanding. Just two characters.
—Serves you right.
From a strange number she had never saved.
It seemed her gossip, big and small, continued to endlessly feed the mediocre lives of thousands of students at Beifan High School. The slightest wind or movement about her and Jin Yiken nearly made these people explode. She said: “Help me change my number, Lao Ping.”
Then with one click deleted all the messages, exited the page. The phone wallpaper immediately appeared before her eyes, illuminating her cheeks.
Her finger paused half a centimeter from the screen.
A photo taken just before graduating senior year. An evening lighthouse by the coast. Her propping her cheek facing the camera and… Jin Yiken, half his face covered by her raised hair, completely unaware of the camera.
This was a photo Jin Yiken had always asked her for, while she found it annoying and never sent it to him. The image carried the seagull cries of that time, rushing toward her face together with the salty sea breeze, stirring up some indescribable emotion. After looking at it twice, she pressed the lock screen. The phone went dark with a click.
“I don’t want to go out.”
“What? Not going out, what do you want to do?”
She felt under the sofa for the hidden cigarette pack, pulled out a cigarette. Lao Ping wanted to intervene. She lit the cigarette instead. Then with a click, slid the lighter back under the sofa.
“Think.”
“Think your…”
Lao Ping clearly wanted to curse. Long Qi stared at him expressionlessly. Then perhaps considering she’d just been dumped, his finger pointed at her several times in midair, squeezing out a sentence: “Then don’t even go downstairs. There are plenty of people waiting for you down there.”
“What about his place?”
“Don’t ask me.”
Lao Ping paused, still impatiently saying: “Currently only exposed as a rich second generation. Not much real information can leak. You also know his family background. If he doesn’t want to show his face, the gossip media may not be able to follow this story.”
“Compared to him,” he continued asking, “what’s the situation with that girl? In the video, what were you two saying? Chatting with such sorrowful faces.”
The room was quiet for about two seconds. Lao Ping turned his head to stare at her.
“Don’t tell me your cheating partner is…”
Long Qi flicked cigarette ash into the beer can, looked at Lao Ping, tilted her forehead toward the entrance.
Lao Ping said: “Fine, I’m leaving.”
For the entire afternoon that followed, she smoked two packs of cigarettes, drank five cans of beer. Unplugged the phone line, drew the curtains. She sat in the living room without noise, legs crossed, fingers holding a cigarette hanging at her knee edge, watching daylight from the crack move from east to west. Smoke around her body grew thicker and thicker. The whole room filled with a lonely, desolate smell.
At two in the afternoon, Ban Wei called once. She didn’t answer.
At three, Lin Hui called. She didn’t answer either.
Long Xinyi made a call.
Hao Shuai made two calls.
The school counselor made a call.
The film producer made a call.
Reporters whose numbers she’d saved made five or six calls.
Various unknown numbers she hadn’t saved made dozens of calls total.
She didn’t answer any.
Past seven o’clock, she went out once. At the 24-hour convenience store downstairs, she bought a plastic bag of beer and several vegetarian meals. The store’s hanging TV was broadcasting entertainment news about her. Outside the store, there really were a few guys on stakeout photographing her through the glass. At that moment, her phone was vibrating in her pocket again. The clerk smelled the alcohol on her, quietly glancing at her. She lazily raised her eyes. Only then did the clerk lower her head to tally.
The phone kept vibrating.
She put her hand in her clothing pocket, pressed the lock screen button on the side of the phone body, hanging up the incoming call.
“Do you have herbal tea?”
The clerk glanced at the empty beverage cabinet: “Herbal tea… oh, herbal tea sold out today. The vending machine outside the door has canned ones.”
The convenience store’s automatic door closed behind her. The cold night wind blew into her neck in waves. She looked at the beverage prices in the vending machine, digging coins from her pocket. She only found one yuan coin and a hundred-yuan bill. Her five fingers exposed to the air were frozen red. She glanced at the transparent glass. The glass reflected her face, also reflected the two paparazzi beside her eagerly approaching.
“Hey Long Qi,” the paparazzi held up a camera, greeting her with ulterior motives, “buying drinks downstairs? Seems like you don’t have enough coins. Should we lend you some?”
She didn’t respond. Her gaze swept to the QR code payment area below the coin slot. She took out her phone from her pocket.
“Boyfriend’s not here? Say something. Look, we’ve been staking you out so long. It’s so cold.”
On the lock screen was a notification for the missed call from earlier. She didn’t look, directly entering the scanning page after unlocking the screen. Fingerprint payment. The vending machine immediately responded with a “thud.” She took the herbal tea can from the “dispensing port” and turned to leave.
The two paparazzi still followed behind her, making conversation sporadically. She scrolled through her phone screen with her head down. Only now did she slowly click open the call log. The instant the page switched, her footsteps stopped at the convenience store entrance. Night wind blew her hair to one side. The plastic bag in her hand rustled. She looked at a name at the very top of the missed call list.
Jin Yiken.
A breath exhaled into the cold air, condensing into white mist. She stood in place. The convenience store door opened and closed because of her momentary standing. The counter employee looked outside. Behind her, the paparazzi rubbed their hands together approaching her. And in that one second of reaction, her ears grew warm. Her thumb unconsciously moved toward the callback button.
But just as she was about to press it, another incoming call rushed in.
So unexpected, approaching a conditioned reflex. In a second, her thumb pressed the latter between the red hang-up button and the green answer button. Only after the call connected did she see clearly the two characters “Dong Xi” at the top. She was stunned for two seconds. Wind blew fiercely, blowing her nose tip ice cold.
“Hello?”
Then, she asked.
Click. The other party hung up.
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
…
The paparazzi were photographing behind her. She still stood in place.
Her thumb hesitated on Dong Xi’s callback button. But in no more than three seconds, she switched back to the original page, calling back Jin Yiken’s number.
Phone placed at her ear, she heard the voicemail system prompt from that end. Couldn’t get through. She dialed again. What came back was the system prompt that it was already powered off.
Dialing the third time, she looked back at the intersection, raising her hand to hail a taxi that happened to be passing. The paparazzi’s camera shutter frequency grew faster and faster. She opened the door and got in the car: “Go to Yiming Bay.”
—Hi, this is the owner’s iPhone voicemail. The owner is unable to take your call right now. If you need to leave a message, please press 1…
All along the way, she made dozens of calls, listened to the system answer dozens of times. She pressed “1,” leaving a message: “Are you at Yiming Bay right now? I’m on my way to your place. We need to talk again. Call me back.”
But no matter how many times she called, Jin Yiken’s response to her was always the system reply. Later she got a bit angry. After paying the driver, while closing the door and getting out, she left another message: “I’m already downstairs at your place. Even if you really want to break up, you have to give me time to pack my things. It’s the dead of winter. All my clothes are at your place. I also have to return your house key to you, and you have to return my place’s key to me, so we don’t have to change locks later!”
After hanging up, she felt a bit regretful. She exhaled a breath. Immediately dialing again: “Jin Yiken, it’s raining now, and it’s quite cold. I’m also wearing quite little. I don’t have your door card here. Can’t get in. You decide when you want to let me in…”
She paused, walking, breathing, getting rained on. She continued: “I’ve thought seriously for a whole day. Now I just want to properly explain everything to you. About breaking up, let’s wait until after we’ve talked about everything, then…”
Before she finished speaking, her mouth was suddenly covered. A force suddenly attacking from behind hugged her entire body backward. The scene of the residential complex entrance before her eyes jolted. The force gripping her arms and waist was so tight she couldn’t move. Her feet were nearly off the ground. The person behind her carried her from a surveillance blind spot all the way to beside a car. Her calls transmitted through finger gaps, divided into intermittent muffled groans. Few people and cars around, heavy rain pouring. Cold sweat on her forehead was diluted by rainwater. That person threw her onto the back seat. Her phone fell under the seat. The voicemail hadn’t closed yet. She immediately turned back, seeing the heavily closed car door and Gu Mingdong walking around the car tail toward another door.
Alarm in her heart.
Instinctively opening the car door, Gu Mingdong behind her had already gotten in the car, yanking her backward in one motion, pulling until even her sweater collar made a tearing sound. The sound of locking came from inside the car cabin. The rain was fierce. The windshield wipers in front of the car operated with “click-clack” sounds. She turned and gave Gu Mingdong a slap: “What are you doing, pervert!”
The force of this slap was fierce, splitting his lip with a bloody mark. Gu Mingdong didn’t even pause for a dazed moment. His eyes transmitted a cold light, pressing her hand against the window glass: “Originally wanted to stake out Dong Xi. Didn’t expect to stake you out. Even better!”
Then pulling the belt from his waist, using his knee to press against her waist and abdomen, once, twice, three times tightly tying her hands together. His upper body leaned toward her body. Long Qi used her elbow to block him, shouting: “Are you crazy?! Let me go! Scum!!”
“Who do you think Jin Yiken is with right now?” Gu Mingdong’s gaze glanced outside the car window, pulling her shoulder upward. Long Qi gasped for breath looking outside. Dong Xi’s figure just came out from the residential complex entrance. The force of her struggle instantly slackened. Outside the glass window was full of rain marks. Inside the glass window, a thin layer of fog covered it due to the two people’s breathing. The field of vision was hazy and unclear. Gu Mingdong pressed close to her ear, harshly dropping words, “Do you know how long Dong Xi stayed at his place? The two chatted so compatibly. Neither wants you anymore, you know? A greedy woman like you only deserves to be with scum like me!”
Gu Mingdong’s last sentence was harsh, through gritted teeth. Then he pressed her down. She struggled to recover: “Gu Mingdong, whatever I’m like has absolutely nothing to do with you. Who gave you the face to interfere in my affairs!”
“If you want to blame someone, blame Jin Yiken.” This sentence, Gu Mingdong said to her while pressing her down hard. Then yanking at her sweater collar so forcefully, pulling until several strands of her hair broke. She groaned in pain. Gu Mingdong immediately brushed aside the hair on her face and bit her lip hard. The blood from his mouth and the rainwater on her face mixed. She forcefully turned her head aside, spitting saliva at his face. Gu Mingdong didn’t wipe it, directly taking off his upper T-shirt to stuff in her mouth.
Torrential rain pounded heavily on the car roof. The window glass was a sheet of water marks. In the warm car cabin, the bare-chested Gu Mingdong pressed down on the disheveled Long Qi. They glared at each other. His chest rose and fell forcefully.
“You need to remember, today’s matter is because Jin Yiken provoked me. It’s because he refused to use a simple way to settle things between us three that led to you, on his car’s back seat, being taken by me, Gu Mingdong.”
As the words fell, a roll of thunder sounded at the horizon. Gu Mingdong’s hand propped beside her neck. The other hand explored from below into her sweater. In his hand was a blade as thin as a cicada’s wing, slowly sliding across her lower abdomen. Then slashing downward, the button on the shorts under the sweater suddenly loosened. Long Qi’s voice stuck in her throat, breath like gossamer.
The air inside the car grew thinner and thinner.