The rooftop parking lot sat at the very edge of the district, with several nearby office towers still under construction. Only a handful of temporary streetlights lit the surroundings, one of which flickered on and off as if on its last legs.

The two of them walked for over ten minutes before arriving. Though visibility was poor, only a few cars were parked across the vast lot, making it easy enough to spot their target.

From several steps away, Ling Chen pressed the unlock button on his car key.

Zhu Wenshu hurried her pace, ran over, pulled the door open, and leaned inside—sure enough, she found her phone on the seat.

She stayed bent over like that, picking up the phone and immediately checking it.

Fortunately, nothing urgent—just a few messages from parents about homework questions.

Zhu Wenshu skimmed through quickly, confirmed there was nothing needing an immediate reply, then slowly straightened up and turned around—

The evening breeze lifted her long hair, brushing it across Ling Chen’s face, which was close by.

In the instant he blinked, Zhu Wenshu, startled, stumbled back a step, her back pressing against the door frame.

She hadn’t realized Ling Chen was standing so close—if she’d turned even a moment faster, she would have nearly walked straight into his arms.

Thinking of this, she stared at Ling Chen in front of her, and her heart suddenly began racing.

The streetlight overhead flickered on and off. Ling Chen felt that strand of hair brush against his throat, faintly itchy.

He turned his face away, his gaze following a small insect wobbling upward through the beam of light, saying nothing.

Not moving either.

Zhu Wenshu, trapped in this narrow space by his frame, tilted her head up and asked, “I should head back now?”

“Mm.”

Ling Chen, hearing this, took a step back, then jingled the car keys in his hand. “Should I drive you?”

That hardly seemed appropriate.

Zhu Wenshu shook her head immediately. “No need, so many people are waiting on you.”

“Oh, alright.”

Ling Chen didn’t insist. After Zhu Wenshu closed the car door, he locked it as well.

On the way back out of the parking lot, neither of them spoke.

Along the way, she received a message from her high school friend Zhong Ya.

[Zhong Ya]: So how much should we give for the wedding gift for Xu Guangliang next week?

[Zhu Wenshu]: I haven’t really decided either… What did you usually give before?

[Zhong Ya]: This is actually my first time attending a classmate’s wedding, I have no idea how to handle this.

[Zhong Ya]: Give too much, my heart aches. Give too little, might not be appropriate either.

[Zhong Ya]: Let’s ask what everyone else is planning. Ugh, I thought you’d have an idea.

Zhu Wenshu had been mulling over this question too.

Xu Guangliang was one of the few high school classmates she still kept in touch with, though they weren’t especially close friends—it was just that he had an outgoing personality and got along with everyone.

So when he’d sent out the wedding invitation three months ago, she saw it was on a Saturday and agreed to attend.

Only now, with the date approaching, she had no experience and didn’t know how large a red envelope to give.

As for asking other classmates…

Zhu Wenshu thought of the person beside her and suddenly glanced at him.

“Xu Guangliang’s getting married next week. Did he invite you?”

Ling Chen suddenly looked up, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.

Zhu Wenshu couldn’t tell whether his surprise was because Xu Guangliang was getting married, or because he couldn’t even place who the person was.

Ling Chen: “No.”

“Oh…”

Zhu Wenshu was a little surprised at first.

After all, in her memory, Xu Guangliang had been a fixture of the back rows in class, and had even been Ling Chen’s deskmate for a while—practically the only person who’d been at all close to him.

So she’d assumed that, given Xu Guangliang’s personality, he’d surely have invited Ling Chen.

But on second thought, no matter how outgoing Xu Guangliang was, he was still an adult with normal thought processes—

When a classmate you weren’t especially close to rose to fame as a huge celebrity, going out of your way, years later, to invite them to your wedding…

carried more than a little whiff of desperate social climbing.

If it were Zhu Wenshu, she certainly wouldn’t be able to bring herself to do it.

It was just a bit awkward, bringing this up in front of Ling Chen himself.

She quickly backpedaled, her voice low. “Actually, not that many classmates are still in touch these days. There are only a few people going, might not even fill a whole table.”

—

After dropping Zhu Wenshu off and seeing her into a taxi, Ling Chen took a photo of the license plate.

On his way back to the practice room, phone in hand, his thoughts drifted with the night wind.

Suddenly, he opened that long-unused QQ again.

He searched the name “Xu Guangliang,” and a contact popped up.

Opening the chat window, Ling Chen paused—there really were messages from him.

Two years ago.

[Xu Guangliang]: You there?

Scrolling further up, there were records from four years ago too.

Xu Guangliang had sent him a screenshot—a post from an entertainment blogger, in which someone had submitted an anonymous tip claiming to be Ling Chen’s high school classmate, saying a bunch of bad things about him.

Xu Guangliang, taking on the fight under his own name, had posted his diploma to prove he really was Ling Chen’s classmate, then unleashed a torrent of colorful profanity at the tipster, over a hundred words of it, before concluding: stop treating the internet as some holy land for spreading lies, get your fucking act together, Ling Chen was a genuinely good person in high school, don’t let me find out who you are!

Unfortunately, his comment had been buried in the wave of backlash at the time, garnering only one or two scattered likes.

Below that screenshot, he’d added another line.

[Xu Guangliang]: Ling Chen, fly free, bro! Your buddy’s got your back forever!

Further up still was a record from five years ago, right when Ling Chen had just debuted.

[Xu Guangliang]: Damn, you’re amazing! Never thought you had this kind of talent? Should’ve said something earlier, were you secretly laughing at me every time I signed up for the school arts festival singing contest?

Ling Chen scrolled further, and the last two remaining messages were from the day the college entrance exam ended.

[Xu Guangliang]: Ask your buddy how long he’ll go, and he’ll go however long your heart keeps beating! One day I’ll make it big, and I’ll bring my buddy along for the ride!

[Xu Guangliang]: Everyone remember this: youth never ends, we never part ways!

Ling Chen: “…”

He flicked his finger, scrolling the chat window back to that message from two years ago—”You there?”—then typed a reply.

[c]: I’m here.

A long while later, by which point Ling Chen had already returned to the practice room, QQ pinged with a new message.

[Xu Guangliang]: ?

Seeing that it had taken Ling Chen this long to come back, A Zhe and the others were all staring at him, their curiosity practically ready to blow the roof off.

Ling Chen, oblivious to any of it, kicked the annoying standing microphone out of his way and sat down on the steps, playing with his phone.

[c]: What did you need me for.

[Xu Guangliang]: …?

[Xu Guangliang]: Let me think about that.

The chat box showed typing for a long time, but no words appeared.

In the end, it was Ling Chen who ran out of patience first.

[c]: How’ve you been lately?

[Xu Guangliang]: ?

Judging by the number of question marks he’d sent tonight, he really was quite shocked.

[Xu Guangliang]: Doing great, actually, about to get married soon.

[c]: Congratulations.

[Xu Guangliang]: Haha thanks man, not sure where you’re settled down these days, haven’t seen you since graduation, come have a drink at the wedding sometime if you’re free.

After sending that, Xu Guangliang set his phone down for a bit, occupied with work.

He’d just been making idle conversation, a polite gesture—even thinking about it with his toes, he knew there was no way Ling Chen would actually show up.

Who would’ve thought, a few minutes later, he picked his phone back up—

[c]: Sure.

[c]: Which day?

[Xu Guangliang]: ?

[c]: ?

[Xu Guangliang]: Send me a voice message, let me check you haven’t been hacked.

Ling Chen actually did.

“Which venue, what day?”

Xu Guangliang immediately sent an e-invitation link.

Ling Chen clicked in, looked around for a bit, confirmed the location, and as he was about to exit, saw Xu Guangliang had sent another message.

[Xu Guangliang]: I just remembered what I wanted from you two years ago.

[c]: ?

Actually, back then, after Xu Guangliang realized Ling Chen wasn’t going to reply, he’d had enough self-awareness not to keep bothering him.

It was just that he still liked to show off in front of friends sometimes, claiming to be Ling Chen’s classmate. Like his current wife, for instance—she’d heard he was Ling Chen’s classmate and had actively added him on WeChat to ask about Ling Chen’s high school days.

Back then, he’d also had the bad habit of bragging in front of women, and hadn’t been able to help himself, saying he and Ling Chen were tight—only for her to ask if he could get her a signed photo.

Having already talked himself up, Xu Guangliang couldn’t back down, so he’d gone and messaged Ling Chen again, only to never get a reply.

That whole incident had cost him some face, and he’d been bothered by it at the time, so he hadn’t completely forgotten either.

[Xu Guangliang]: My wife’s actually a fan of yours. She wanted a signed photo back then.

Ling Chen was about to say that was no problem—

[Xu Guangliang]: But don’t worry! She’s off the fandom now! She won’t do anything crazy at the wedding! I’ll keep it discreet too, haha!

[c]: ?

[Xu Guangliang]: So… see you next Saturday?

[c]: Mm.

—

Zhu Wenshu had just gotten home when Xu Guangliang pulled her into a group chat.

[Xu Guangliang]: Heehee! There’s going to be a secret VIP guest at the wedding!

A group chat with dozens of people—Zhu Wenshu didn’t even need to type anything before several people asked who it was.

[Xu Guangliang]: Heehee, not telling.

[Xu Guangliang]: You’ll all be shocked when the time comes!

[Xu Guangliang]: My wedding is going to give you all bragging rights for life!

Reading this, Zhu Wenshu already had an inkling of an answer in her heart, though it still seemed hard to believe.

She’d literally just asked, and Ling Chen had said Xu Guangliang hadn’t invited him.

Harboring her doubts, Zhu Wenshu set her phone down on the shoe cabinet, wondering whether to ask Ling Chen directly.

Just then, a voice call rang.

Zhu Wenshu’s instinct told her it was Ling Chen.

She picked up, and sure enough, it was him.

“Hello?”

Zhu Wenshu changed her shoes and headed toward her room. “What’s up?”

Ling Chen: “Are you home yet?”

“Yeah.”

Zhu Wenshu pushed open her bedroom door. “I was just about to check in with you, and you called first.”

Ling Chen said “mm.”

Zhu Wenshu glanced at the time. “So… I’ll go wash up if there’s nothing else?”

“Wait.”

Ling Chen suddenly spoke. “Xu Guangliang’s wedding—how much should I give as a gift?”

“So it really is you?”

Zhu Wenshu laughed. “I saw Xu Guangliang made a group chat saying there’d be a secret VIP guest, and I was thinking, who could possibly be more VIP than you.”

Ling Chen: “…”

“But as for the gift amount, I’m not too sure either. I talked it over with my mom on the way home.”

Zhu Wenshu thought about Ling Chen’s income situation and said tactfully, “Well… the renowned scholar Yi Ao once said, how much we get to eat doesn’t depend on how much rice we have, and how much rice we have doesn’t depend on how much land we’ve farmed.”

Ling Chen: “So?”

“So… don’t give too much, it’ll put pressure on people.”

Zhu Wenshu took off her coat, casually hanging it behind the door. “Later, when we get married and have our wedding, people are supposed to give it back in kind.”

On the other end of the line, Ling Chen fell silent for a long while.

Zhu Wenshu waited, hearing no sound, and after a moment of confusion, finally realized what she’d just casually said.

Her eyes went wide, and she was about to say she hadn’t meant it that way—

“Oh.” Ling Chen said flatly. “Then I’ll give the same amount as you.”