They played games for over two hours.
When they came out of the internet cafe, the alley was mostly empty, and the streetlights stretched their shadows long across the ground.
They split up at the intersection, each of the five going their separate ways.
By the time Xu Shen and Xu Yuan got home, their parents still hadn’t returned. Xu Shen told her to shower first while he went back to check on the shop.
Xu Yuan walked into her room and flopped onto the bed.
Her phone slid out of her pocket. She picked it up and opened the chat on her alt account.
Yan Ting’s last few messages were still hanging there, the final one reading: 【Not replying? Guess I’ll have to find someone else to game with.】
Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then made up an excuse: 【Was doing homework just now, didn’t see my phone.】
After sending it, she felt the excuse didn’t quite hold up.
She thought again, then added another message: 【Summer homework, assigned by our major. Don’t ask—ask and it’s just my miserable fate.】
Yan Ting didn’t reply.
After waiting a while, Xu Yuan set her phone on the nightstand and grabbed her pajamas to go shower.
As the hot water ran over her, she kept thinking—would he think she was lying?
When he said “Xiao Wang” at the noodle shop today, could he have already guessed something?
And later at the internet cafe, his messages coming one after another—was that intentional?
She felt like he was off today, but she couldn’t put her finger on what exactly.
In the end, she concluded: impossible.
There was no way he was that smart.
Her alt account had nothing on it. How could he possibly identify her from just a few random coincidences?
With that thought, she felt much more at ease.
After finishing her shower, she sat on the edge of the bed drying her hair, then picked up her phone to check.
Still no reply.
She draped the towel over the chair back, lay down, and pulled the blanket up to her chest.
The air conditioner was on, making the room chilly, and the curtain swayed gently in the breeze.
She stared at the ceiling, her finger tracing aimless patterns along the edge of her phone.
A few more minutes passed, and finally a reply came: 【Can’t sleep.】
Staring at those three characters, Xu Yuan froze for a moment.
Can’t sleep?
She’d meant to ask “what’s wrong,” but her fingers moved faster than her brain, and what she typed went completely off track.
【I can tell fortunes. Believe me?】
Yan: 【No.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Then let me divine one for you. You can’t sleep because… you’re thinking of someone.】
Yan: 【Who?】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Me, who else could it be?】
Yan: 【.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【See, I hit the nail on the head, didn’t I? No need to thank me—it’s what I do.】
Yan: 【Have you always been this thick-skinned?】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【I’m not thick-skinned. My skin is very thin, actually. It’s just thick only for you.】
Yan: 【Why?】
Xu Yuan stared at the screen, the corners of her mouth curling up.
This guy was handing her a ladder—she’d be doing herself a disservice not to climb it.
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Because you’re worth it. I wouldn’t even bother being thick-skinned for anyone else.】
Yan: 【Your logic is flawed.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【I am logic itself. Questioning me is questioning the truth.】
Yan: 【.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Brother, I have a question.】
Yan: 【Go on.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Before you answer, let me guess—you definitely have them.】
Yan: 【What?】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Does brother have abs? I want to see】
Yan Ting didn’t reply.
Xu Yuan waited two seconds, then kept typing: 【I’m guessing yes. Six-pack or eight-pack?】
Yan: 【What exactly do you think about all day?】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Thinking about you. Who else would I think about?】
Yan: 【.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【So does he have them or not? Six-pack or eight-pack?】
Yan: 【Does it matter?】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Of course it matters. It affects my overall rating of you.】
Yan: 【What’s the scoring criteria?】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Face, body, personality, chat skills—comprehensive scoring.】
Yan: 【What’s the score right now?】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【You haven’t sent an ab pic yet, so points are temporarily withheld. Send one and it’s an instant perfect score.】
Yan: 【Then take your time deducting.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Brother, are you really not going to let me see? Just one look, that’s all—I promise I won’t look a second time. I’ll forget it right after, absolutely no screenshots, no saving, no making it my wallpaper.】
Yan: 【Your words can’t be trusted.】
Wish Upon Xu Yuan: 【Why? I’m so honest and adorable.】
Yan Ting didn’t reply.
Xu Yuan waited a few seconds, then sent another message: 【Not answering means you admit you have them.】
Yan: 【Do you prefer eight-packs or six-packs?】
That question was like someone asking you “do you prefer Mercedes or BMW”—the premise being you actually owned one.
The corners of her mouth lifted as she typed rapidly: 【I prefer yours.】
Yan: 【I don’t have any.】
Xu Yuan didn’t believe it: 【You definitely do. How could someone who plays basketball not have them? Just let me see, brother, just one look.】
Yan: 【No.】
Xu Yuan was about to keep pushing, but then she thought—fine, if he won’t show, he won’t show. It wasn’t like she had nowhere else to look.
【Fine then, I’ll go look at someone else’s.】
After sending that, she rolled over and really did go look at someone else’s.
She opened the short video app and scrolled through a few clips.
The algorithm had already figured her out—the third video was a handsome guy dancing.
In the frame, the guy wore a loose white tank top. His frame was lean, but the lines of his body were clearly defined.
When the music started, he moved a few times. The movements weren’t big, but every shift of muscle was perfectly visible.
Xu Yuan watched it twice, took a screenshot, and kept scrolling.
The fourth video was a guy walking shirtless on the beach. The fifth was someone lifting weights in front of a gym mirror.
She picked the one with the best angle—the light cut right across his waist and abs, half-hidden, half-revealed. More tantalizing than full exposure.
She sent the screenshot to Yan Ting.
With the caption: 【If you won’t show me, I’ll go look myself.】
Yan Ting didn’t reply.
She kept scrolling, waiting a bit, then waiting a bit more.
Before, when he didn’t reply, she hadn’t cared this much. But today, for some reason, the longer he didn’t respond, the more she wanted to send something.
And when she sent something and got no reply, she wanted to send even more.
【Brother, you’re not mad, are you?】
【I was just looking. It’s no big deal.】
【You’re not jealous, are you?】
After sending the last one, she laughed at herself.
Jealous? Yan Ting? As if.
He probably just didn’t want to reply—was tired of her.
She knew when to stop and didn’t keep bothering him.
That guy was unpredictable. If he actually deleted her, her twenty thousand yuan would go down the drain.
Remembering that, she started thinking about the real matter.
How was she going to win over Tang Shuqing this summer?
She rolled over and bundled the blanket into a ball, hugging it to her chest.
Chasing Tang Shuqing was different from chasing Yan Ting.
With Yan Ting, she could just pester him relentlessly—no need to take responsibility, and getting rejected wouldn’t hurt.
But Tang Shuqing was different.
She picked up her phone and sent Li Meng a message: 【You awake?】
Li Meng replied instantly: 【No. What’s wrong with you now?】
【Help me think—how do I get Tang Shuqing to come out?】
Li Meng’s side showed “typing…” for a while, then finally came back with: 【I don’t know.】
Then another message: 【But you need to get him out to do something. Don’t just stay at the noodle shop. Change the location—somewhere with just the two of you.】
【Where should I take him?】
【Movie? Dinner? A walk in the park? Whatever. The point is being alone together, so you get your chance.】
【Okay. Let me think.】
She put down her phone and tossed and turned in bed for over ten minutes, then finally worked up the courage and opened Tang Shuqing’s WeChat chat.
At the same time, Tang Shuqing was with Yan Ting.
Yan Ting leaned against the railing of the second-floor terrace of the villa, holding a can of ice-cold beer. A layer of condensation had formed on the can’s surface, trickling down along his fingers.
The night breeze blew over, carrying the particular coolness of a summer evening.
Tang Shuqing stood beside him, also leaning against the railing, holding a can of beer as well.
When Yan Ting couldn’t sleep at night, he’d call Tang Shuqing over for a drink. The two villas were right next to each other—just a few steps away.
Neither of them said much, silently drinking and enjoying the night wind.
Suddenly, Tang Shuqing’s phone buzzed.
He picked it up and looked, the corners of his mouth curving up: “That little girl. She’s really something.”
Yan Ting turned his head to glance at him, seeing Tang Shuqing typing on his phone, the smile on his face not fading.
He looked away, gazing into the distance, raised the beer can to his lips, took a sip, held it in his mouth for a moment, then glanced at Tang Shuqing again.
His tone casual: “Who is it?”