“Qi, want to go on a date?”
“How did you know I was home?”
“I asked Xiao Meng, darling. It’s been over a month since we’ve seen each other. If you don’t ask me out soon, I’ll forget what you look like.”
“Hold on, let me change and come pick you up.” Qi Qi answered the phone as she walked into the walk-in closet.
“Don’t forget to bring your motorcycle. You said you’d take me for a ride, and I’ve been waiting a whole year for that.”
“Keep dreaming. Can’t ride it—my brother locked it up.”
Qi Qi rifled through the row of identical shirts in her closet, grabbed a white one and put it on, then threw on a trendy hooded jacket over it. She gathered up half of her shoulder-length hair and tied it loosely.
“Qiqi, you’re going out?”
“Yeah, picking up Lin An.”
Qi Qi glanced at the two people sitting in the living room watching the news, then sneakily opened the cabinet by the entrance, grabbed the keys hidden at the very back, and slipped out.
This Kawasaki H2 was a birthday gift Gu Cheng had given Qi Qi when she graduated from university.
When she’d said she wanted a motorcycle, Gu Cheng had been taken aback—probably wondering why a girl like her was so into this kind of thing.
The roar of the engine sounded, and the two in the living room exchanged a helpless look when they heard it. They knew she’d stolen the keys Gu Cheng had hidden away again.
The black motorcycle roared past, drawing glances from passersby.
The girls were probably looking at the rider,
The guys were definitely looking at the bike.
The bike pulled up at the entrance of the residential complex. Qi Qi took off her helmet and got off, ignoring the girls taking photos around her, and waved at the gate.
“Qi!”
Lin An came running over and jumped straight onto her, nuzzling against her.
Qi Qi caught her waist with one arm: “So energetic? No livestream today?”
The two had been in the same department in university, except Lin An hadn’t gone into forensic medicine after graduating—she’d switched careers to become a singing streamer.
The girl had real talent. Over three years, she’d gone from a dozen or so fans to a major streamer with millions of followers.
“I value my life. Money doesn’t matter—as long as I’m alive, that’s what counts.”
Qi Qi glanced at the meaningful looks from the people around them, put a helmet on her, and pushed her onto the bike.
Lin An was a real chatterbox too, yapping on and on, and whenever she got the chance, she’d take a jab at Gu Cheng.
“Why don’t you come work with me? That face of yours is a guaranteed fan magnet. Then who cares about Gu Cheng? Guys taller and better-looking than him would be yours for the picking.
You can’t just hang yourself from one tree, you know what I mean? Try a few different ones, and you’ll find out—no matter which tree you pick, you still end up dead.”
“…” That was some beautiful consolation.
Seeing that she wouldn’t stop rambling, Qi Qi told her to wrap her arms around her waist and gunned the throttle.
“Holy shit! You can’t speed in the city!”
A voice that nearly tore through her throat echoed through the air as the motorcycle sped off.
After the fear came the thrill.
Unable to resist Lin An’s nagging, Qi Qi took her to the deserted road she usually went to when she had nothing to do.
The road was a bit far from the busy areas, with basically no cars or people around.
Once they got there, Qi Qi was like a cheetah unleashed from its shackles.
The motorcycle kept picking up speed, the wind howling past her ears, trees whipping by like a blur as they fell behind.
Maybe that was why Qi Qi loved motorcycles.
Whenever she twisted the throttle and sped up, all she could see was the road ahead, all she could hear was the wind by her ears, and she didn’t have to think about anything else.
At this moment, this was the real her—living for nothing and no one.
As the speed picked up again, the restless agitation inside her finally found release.
Remembering that Lin An was still behind her, Qi Qi gradually slowed down.
Just then, several more roars sounded from behind.
The two turned their heads.
Several guys on motorcycles rode up, and one of them shot her a provocative look before twisting the throttle and roaring off.
Before Qi Qi could react, Lin An was already unable to sit still.
“Damn! Little brats, daring to provoke your big sister—today I’ll teach you a lesson, Qi, race him!”
Luckily she was wearing her helmet, or her ears would’ve been deafened by this girl’s shouting.
Qi Qi glanced at the young boy making gestures at them, a slight smile curling at the corner of her lips. With a twist of her wrist, she sped up again.
Dressed in black, she seemed to merge with the black motorcycle, darting like lightning through the empty road.
Her modified Kawasaki, when truly pushed, was no worse than a sports car.
Watching the motorcycle fly past them, the young boys stopped their bikes, staring dumbfounded at the two figures receding in the distance.
“Damn, that sister is seriously cool.”
The two played around for most of the day before remembering to eat.
They parked in front of a restaurant.
Qi Qi took off her helmet and walked over to the woman hunched over the trash can, vomiting. Speechless, she patted her back.
“Your face is already this pale, and you still insisted on racing those kids.”
After throwing up for a while, Lin An hung onto her and was dragged into the restaurant.
“Didn’t you say your brother locked up the motorcycle?”
Qi Qi: “I stole the keys.”
“Aren’t you afraid of getting caught?”
“Don’t worry, he doesn’t have the time to bother with me right now—he’s busy keeping Jiang Yu company.” Qi Qi said calmly, lowering her head to eat.
Lin An knew exactly how she was feeling.
It was precisely because she knew Jiang Yu had returned that she was worried this silly girl would overthink things, which was why she’d asked her out.
Lin An sighed. “Qi, listen to me—give it up. Why do you have to make yourself so humble like this? This isn’t like you at all.”
Qi Qi’s hand holding the chopsticks paused, but she said nothing.
“A crush is just unrequited love. Why bother?”
Qi Qi didn’t look up, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
Ever since she entered the Gu household at age seven, she had been with Gu Cheng day in and day out. From the age of fifteen, when her girlish feelings gradually began to show, to now at twenty-seven, she had loved Gu Cheng for a full thirteen years.
This kind of feeling wasn’t so easy to give up.
Qi Qi didn’t want to discuss such depressing matters when she was in a good mood.
“Qi—”
Just as she was about to order some dessert to cheer herself up, Lin An suddenly called her name.
Qi Qi looked up and saw the girl holding her phone, looking at her with a complicated expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lin An asked out of nowhere.
Qi Qi was baffled. “What exactly is going on?”
Lin An glanced at the phone screen again, then turned it directly toward her.
It was Gu Cheng’s Moments feed.
Lin An was Qi Qi’s only friend, and Gu Cheng had proactively added Lin An on WeChat so he could easily get in touch in case anything happened to Qi Qi.
At this moment, his feed—which he rarely ever posted to—displayed a photo plainly for all to see.
The person holding the phone to take the photo wasn’t him—it was Jiang Yu, who had suddenly returned from abroad.
Jiang Yu faced the camera with an elegant smile. Beside her, Gu Cheng was picking up fruit for her.
It must have been a candid shot—Gu Cheng maintained the posture of handing over the fruit, casually glancing at the camera, with Qiu Sheng and the others laughing happily in the background.