Qin Zhiwei felt a small jolt of excitement.
Since the gaokao ended, this was the first time a girl had reached out to him unprompted.
Nobody needed to know the specifics of how Qin Zhiwei had spent his eighteen years. Romance hadn’t entered the picture. Neither had hand-holding. He’d never so much as brushed fingers with a girl.
You probably know the feeling.
Social Anxiety Patient: ???
Social Anxiety Patient: something up?
Rose Girl: are you free this afternoon? I want to talk.
Social Anxiety Patient: talk to me? you sure?
Rose Girl: yeah.
Social Anxiety Patient: you sure you don’t just want me to bring Xu Ye?
Rose Girl: I’ll be at the bubble tea place by the school gate at three. see you then.
Social Anxiety Patient: fine.
Gu Mengyao stopped replying after that. Zhiwei sat there debating whether to tell Xu Ye. In the end, he decided to wait and see. He was pretty sure this was about Xu Ye either way — he’d find out what she actually wanted this afternoon.
Still an hour to go. Might as well play another game.
He hit the queue button.
In the champion select screen, Zhiwei locked in Yasuo immediately — no hesitation. He was convinced this particular champion, barely out of release, had been designed specifically for him.
“You piece of—, that’s my Yasuo.”
“Relax, I’ll carry you.”
Thirty minutes later—
Teammate 1: trash.
Teammate 2: braindead feeding Yasuo.
Teammate 3: 0/10/6?? how does a human being post that scoreline.
Teammate 4: useless. go play vs bots.
Zhiwei closed the game with the energy of someone who had absolutely no part in what just happened.
Xu Ye slept until ten.
Brushed his teeth, got cleaned up. Zhang Hong had cooked a few dishes before heading to work, so Xu Ye boiled some rice and sat down to eat brunch at eleven.
Mid-June heat was no joke. He stretched out on the couch with the fan aimed directly at him on full blast.
It helped for about three minutes before the inevitable — he could feel his boxers plastering themselves to him again. He shifted, made the necessary adjustment, rolled onto his side.
Two more theory test runs.
First: 93.
Second: 96.
Good enough. He’d ask his dad for money when he got home and get enrolled in a driving school.
After that, he had absolutely nothing to do. He’d deleted all his games. Short-form video wasn’t a thing yet — Douyin hadn’t launched. [TL: Douyin (抖音) is the Chinese version of TikTok, launched in September 2016.] He opened QQ and found he had no desire to talk to anyone.
What’s she doing right now?
The thought surfaced on its own. He opened WeChat, went to Moments, checked — the photo from yesterday was still up. Qingqing hadn’t taken it down.
He opened their chat and typed out a message.
Xu Ye: thanks for the cake last night.
Across town, Chen Qingqing was lying around with nothing to do either, reading manga to pass the time. She picked up her phone when it buzzed.
She thought for a moment, then typed back.
Qingqing: we couldn’t finish it. would’ve been a waste to throw away, so I had Auntie Wang drop it off since she was passing by anyway.
Xu Ye: Chen Qingqing, you don’t have any friends, do you?
Qingqing: what’s it to you.
Xu Ye: that’s basically a yes.
No reply for a while. Xu Ye typed again.
Xu Ye: I was going to be generous and offer to be your friend, given the whole cake thing. but fine.
Qingqing: thanks. not interested.
Xu Ye: suit yourself. what are you up to right now?
Qingqing: ?
Xu Ye: no agenda. just curious what rich people do when they’re bored. I’m dying over here.
Qingqing: reading manga.
Xu Ye: wait, you’re into manga?
Something about that caught Qingqing’s attention. She typed back.
Qingqing: you are too?
Xu Ye: yeah.
Xu Ye: I’m huge into manga. though I guarantee you haven’t read what I’ve been reading.
Qingqing: what do you read?
Xu Ye: Brave New World. Secret Class.
…
Three o’clock in the afternoon.
Qin Zhiwei showed up at the bubble tea shop by the school gate right on time.
He’d expected just Gu Mengyao.
Liu Qian was also there.
Liu Qian had been a fixture in their class — never stopped talking, entirely average-looking, somehow always in the middle of everyone’s business. Her specialty was gossip: who confessed to who in Class 7, who someone from Class 11 apparently checked into a hotel with, whose girlfriend got picked up by a BMW after school.
Every social circle had its clusters. The studious kids had theirs, the gamers had theirs, the romance novel crowd had theirs. Liu Qian forced her way into all of them. She’d latched onto Gu Mengyao specifically because Gu Mengyao was pretty and attracted attention, and Liu Qian had decided some of that attention probably spilled over onto herself. She followed Gu Mengyao to the bathroom, to the school shop, to the cafeteria — everywhere.
Zhiwei spotted her, adjusted his trajectory exactly zero degrees, and walked over with all the enthusiasm of someone attending a compulsory event.
He already had a reasonable idea why he was here. He cut to the point.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
“Sit down first.”
He didn’t sit. He went to the counter, ordered himself a drink, and — noticing neither of them had ordered — added: “Actually, make it three. Extra ice in mine.”
Once he finally sat down, Gu Mengyao got to it.
“Zhiwei — do you know what Xu Ye’s been up to lately?”
“He got a summer job.”
“A summer job?”
Before Zhiwei could say more, Liu Qian jumped in with great conviction: “Oh — I get it. He’s broke, that’s why he’s been ignoring you. Going out costs money and he probably can’t afford it.”
Zhiwei looked at her. “You’re really reaching.”
Gu Mengyao’s eyes sharpened. “Then why did he get a summer job?”
“I don’t know. He’s just been different since the gaokao — won’t game, barely texts. Started the job the day after exams ended. And now apparently he’s been studying for his driver’s theory test.”
“That’s…”
Zhiwei accepted the juice the server brought over, took a sip, and said, “You dragged me out here just for this?”
“Mostly. He just hasn’t reached out in a few days.”
“He used to be around all the time and I didn’t notice you making much of an effort then.”
Gu Mengyao had no response to that.
Liu Qian stepped in immediately. “What — do you think that just because a guy is nice to a girl, she automatically has to say yes to him?”
“If you like someone, be with them. If you don’t, tell them that. He was buying you breakfast every few days — why did you keep accepting it if you didn’t like him?” [TL: In Chinese high school culture, buying someone breakfast regularly is widely understood as a gesture of romantic interest, not just friendliness.]
Liu Qian crossed her arms. “Accepting a gift does not equal consent!”
(End of Chapter)