After class, Lu Qingyan slung her bag over her shoulder and called a taxi like a little urban ghost fleeing from the land of complex equations and group presentations.
When the car pulled up, she slid in, buckled up with a sigh that could extinguish a candle, and whipped out her phone to battle the beast known as Boredom.
She boarded the car and opened WeChat out of boredom, but soon discovered that there was a new contact requesting to add her as a friend.
—Jing.
Lu Qingyan squinted at the screen.
This name... she'd seen it before. In that WeChat group with all the top scorers and Olympiad contestants—the one where she never said a word but silently lurked for juicy academic gossip. She immediately realized: this was Wang Jingyuan.
The big boss himself.
After she saw his username, Lu Qingyan suddenly realized that she had never changed her own username.
Ah—
She had just remembered.
Her WeChat username hadn't been changed in centuries.
Still proudly displayed: "Big Brother's Little Cotton-Padded Jacket."
As a result, she followed her own wishes and quickly changed the name to "Yanyan Wants to Get Rich Quick".
She even made the profile picture matched by changing it to a portrait of the God of Wealth. It was very festive.
Her WeChat moment's signature became "lose oneself in learning; getting rich is the dream; turn knowledge into money; an emotionless machine that answers questions."
Now came the dilemma: should she accept his request?
On one hand, she didn't want to deal with him more than necessary. But what if… what if there was a group project, or a math emergency.
Fine. She clicked "Accept."
The WeChat screen displayed—
[You and 'Jing' are now friends. You can start chatting.]
She hesitated.
After a few seconds of deliberation, she chose a safe icebreaker—a sticker of a little cartoon girl holding her hands together and giving a polite greeting.
Seconds later, a reply arrived.
No sticker. No emoji. No punctuation.
Jing: Wang Jingyuan
Lu Qingyan stared at the screen.
"…I mean, yeah? I know???"
What kind of cold robotic intro was that? Did he send that to everyone? Did he not believe in the power of memes?
After returning home, she had just taken out her keys when she felt that something was off. Then the door soon opened from the inside.
And there, standing like a ghost from a distant past, was a woman with hair the same honey blonde as hers, and the same hazel green eyes as her that could make a emerald feel insecure.
Elegant. Imposing. Like a queen who didn't need a crown to command loyalty.
Ivy.
Her mother.
Lu Qingyan was slightly taken back. When she finally reacted, she said, "Mom."
After such a long time, Lu Qingyan finally met Ivy.
Ivy voice was just as cold and indifferent as her personality. She pulled open the door and asked, "Have you eaten?"
Lu Qingyan nodded her head and entered the house.
There was an extra person in the house, which she wasn't used to, but luckily Ivy didn't talk to her much.
When Lu Qingyan was prepared to go upstairs, Ivy, who was sitting on the sofa in the living room browsing finance news on her phone, said to her, "In a few weeks, we're going to the Qinhu area for a meal."
Lu Qingyan didn't know if it was her misconception, but Ivy's voice seemed to pause slightly, "With your brother and them."
Lu Qingyan made a sound of agreement.
Lu Qingyan arrived at her room and finished her homework for the day in an orderly manner. Then she went downstairs and ran around her neighborhood garden for a while. Whenever she had time to rest, she would go for a run.
She went home after she finished her run. She then spent the remaining time preparing for the upcoming course material for math, chemistry, and physics.
In passing, she wrote down the math competition content that Wang Jingyuan explained to her today into her notebook.
After busily finishing her tasks, it was already 1 o'clock. It was pitch-black downstairs, Ivy was probably already asleep.
Lu Qingyan poured herself some water before she went to take a shower.
When she was blow-drying her hair, her WeChat rang. She was a little surprised, wondering who would message her so late in the night.
It can't be Wang Jingyuan, right?
She glanced at the screen and froze.
It wasn't Wang Jingyuan.
It was worse.
"Dear Big Brother".
Lu Mingxuan.
What kind of sick joke was this? Hadn't he blocked her?
Lu Qingyan was startled. She wondered in her heart, didn't Lu Mingxuan block her?
Why was she taken off of the list?
Dear Big Brother: Do you know about the plan to go to Qinhu for a meal?
Dear Big Brother: I might go this time.
Dear Big Brother: Before, my hand slipped and I blocked you. I happened to notice today and re-added you.
Lu Qingyan stared at the phrase "my hand slipped" with a deadpan expression.
Slipped???
Was this man performing gymnastics while messaging people?
Just as she was about to reply with a sarcastic sticker, the message vanished.
Message recalled.
Then another.
And another.
The only one left was the "Do you know about the plan to go to Qinhu for a meal?"
Lu Qingyan stared at that message for a moment. Sure enough, in another moment, even this one message was recalled by the sender.
"…"
Lu Qingyan: ??
She narrowed her eyes at the screen.
So he came into her inbox, dropped a few half-hearted lines, recalled them like a regretful ghost, and left her hanging?
She sat there for a beat.
Then: "Tsk. Drama king."
Lu Qingyan decided not to reply to him right now, in case he decided to try something new later.
She tossed her phone aside with a thump, finished drying her hair, and finally relaxed on her bed. Her limbs sank into the mattress like it owed her money.
But a few seconds later, she sat up, opened WeChat again, and clicked into the chat box.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Typing…
Paused.
Recalled.
Typed again.
Recalled again.
That was when she finally opened her WeChat to send a message. She clicked on the chat bar and started typing a reply.