“Your phone only has these few apps? How boring. Let me download one for you.”
As she spoke, Xi Jiajia snatched Lin Xing’s phone before he could object. After a few quick taps, a download icon appeared on the home screen. Only then did she stuff the phone back into his hands.
“Follow me once it’s installed. We can tag each other in interesting content whenever we come across something fun,” Xi Jiajia said.
Looking at the small icon downloading on his screen, Lin Xing recognized the app. He had heard of it before, it was quite popular at the moment, especially among young people. The platform was home to all kinds of breakout creators and viral internet celebrities.
“I actually wanted to download it before, but my old phone didn’t have enough storage, so I put it off.”
“If you don’t have enough storage, just get a new phone. Don’t tell me you’re short on money. What are you saving it for, supporting a man?” Xi Jiajia shot him a sidelong glance. They had known each other since elementary school and had attended the same schools all the way through high school. Their parents were familiar with one another, so she knew his family background inside and out.
In fact, it had nothing to do with money. It was simply Lin Xing’s habit, unless a phone started having performance issues, he couldn’t be bothered to replace it.
Before Lin Xing could explain, Xi Jiajia had already steered the conversation toward men. Clearly, this was what she had wanted to ask all along. Smiling, she leaned closer.
“Xingxing, it’s been a whole semester since we last met. Got yourself a man yet?”
Lin Xing took a sip of milk tea and propped his cheek up with one hand, looking thoroughly bored. He pointed at his face and said, “Do I look like someone who’s had any contact with a handsome guy lately?”
Even beneath the dim lights outside the movie theater, Lin Xing still radiated a clean-cut youthful charm. He was the sort of person who naturally seemed approachable, even to strangers.
Looking at his fair face, Xi Jiajia reached out and poked his cheek. As expected, it was just as soft and smooth as ever.
“Oh, come on. You don’t even have a man and you’re already this well-moisturized. If you ever get your wish, who knows how outrageous you’ll become.”
Still not satisfied, she pinched him again. Lin Xing winced and covered his face.
“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t use me as an outlet for your personal frustrations!”
The shopping mall was bustling with people, while the air conditioning kept it pleasantly cool. The two of them sat tucked into a corner of the sofa, waiting for the movie to begin.
Before they entered university, because Lin Xing and Xi Jiajia were very close, both sets of parents had once worried that the two might start dating early. However, neither family was particularly strict, and since both children had good academic performance, the parents simply turned a blind eye. They even reached a tacit understanding in private: even if the two really were dating, they wouldn’t interfere or expose it and risk affecting their studies. As long as they got into a good university, that was enough. If they truly ended up together later, the parents would actually be quite pleased, both families knew each other well, and a formal relationship leading to marriage in the future would be ideal.
Unexpectedly, after the college entrance exams, the two children showed no intention of being together at all and genuinely remained just friends. It wasn’t until they were both in their second year of university that their parents finally began to accept that there had never been anything between them. Ironically, they even started to feel a bit regretful about it, sometimes joking and teasing them with hints of matchmaking.
But those jokes were ultimately pointless, because Lin Xing didn’t like girls at all, so a romantic relationship between the two was impossible. They weren’t ordinary friends, nor were they a couple, they were closer than that, like best friends.
Lin Xing and Xi Jiajia could discuss men together, appreciate handsome guys together, just a glance or a raised eyebrow from one of them, and the other would immediately understand exactly what was being implied.
“I’ve probably only got a few more chances to pinch you like this,” Xi Jiajia sighed. “My mom’s serious this time about dealing with me. She signed me up for a volunteer program, I’ll probably spend my summer vacation in some remote mountain area. Not sure if I’ll even have the energy to scroll online anymore.”
Lin Xing couldn’t help laughing. “You’re actually being obedient for once.”
“Sigh, if I don’t go, I lose my allowance for next semester.” Xi Jiajia lay back in a defeated posture, looking like she had already accepted her grim fate.
She just wanted to enjoy whatever freedom she had left. After the movie, the two of them went for skewers, then wandered around the mall for a long while. Only then did they each head home, arms full of blind-box toys.
When Lin Xing got home, finished washing up, and lay back on his bed ready to scroll on his phone for a bit before sleeping, he finally noticed the app Xi Jiajia had installed earlier at the cinema, quietly sitting in a corner of his home screen.
“Xingxing, your dad and I are going to take a walk in the park. On the way back, we’ll pass by the food street on East Street. If you want anything to eat, send Mom and Dad a WeChat message,” came his mother Li Leilan’s voice from the doorway. From the faint sounds, it seemed the couple were putting on their shoes.
“Okay, got it,” Lin Xing replied loudly.
When Lin Xing was about to graduate high school, he had only just confirmed his sexual orientation. Now, as he was about to enter his third year of university, nearly three years had passed in the blink of an eye. He did want to date, but after entering university, there hadn’t really been anyone around who made his heart move. Occasionally, he met handsome guys who seemed quite good at first glance, but after interacting with them, things never quite met expectations.
There were plenty of good-looking people, but truly rare were those who were both attractive and had a personality that matched his preferences.
Lin Xing lay on his bed with half-closed eyes, thinking for a moment. He was a rather slow-to-warm-up person, and emotionally he was still inexperienced, the longer he waited, the more cautious he became.
He really didn’t know when he would end up dating someone. It wasn’t to the point of anxiety, but every now and then, when he thought about it, he couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional.
Shaking his head, he cut off his train of thought and opened the newly downloaded app.
The app, called D, was centered on short videos. Its users were spread all over the world, and the content was fresh and entertaining. Relying on big data recommendations, almost everyone could find content suited to their interests.
Although Lin Xing had heard of this app for a long time, after registering he still spent quite a while exploring his homepage, mainly because many of its layouts were different from the apps he was used to, it was quite unique.
After roughly figuring things out, a WeChat message from Xi Jiajia popped up.
“By the way, my account is 192***. Search for it and follow me.”
She sent over a string of numbers. Lin Xing copied it, returned to the app, tapped search, and soon a unique account appeared under the search bar.
The account was called “Banchi.” The profile picture was very minimalistic. Although it was somewhat different from the style Lin Xing associated with Xi Jiajia, he didn’t think much of it. After all, across so many social platforms, Xi Jiajia’s usernames and avatars had never really matched each other anyway, maybe she just wanted a different style here. Besides, a directly copied account shouldn’t have any issues.
Lin Xing didn’t examine it closely at all. Otherwise, he would have noticed that the ID “Banchi” was followed by “1001,” and at the end there was also a small “w,” positioned in a slightly odd way.
As expected, two days later, Xi Jiajia was sent onto a plane by her mother to a relatively remote and underdeveloped city, where she would participate in a one-month volunteer program.
On the first day there, she was so exhausted she fell asleep as soon as she lay down. After that, although things weren’t as dramatic as she had originally claimed about going completely offline, the frequency of her communication with friends did drop significantly.
As a result, even the content Lin Xing tagged her in on the newly downloaded app never received any replies. Still, Lin Xing didn’t mind tagging her at all, he was quite entertained by it.
As expected of big data, after only three to five days of use, the app’s recommendations became noticeably smarter. The content pushed to Lin Xing’s homepage became more and more tailored to his tastes. The app, which he had only downloaded under Xi Jiajia’s semi-coercion, unexpectedly became his favorite within a week, and he spent at least two hours on it every day.
Big data had completely figured him out. The main types of videos recommended to him fell into a few categories. One was cute animals: fluffy sheep, soft little kittens, clever puppies, playful parrots, nothing was missed. Every time he saw something that made him smile, he would tag Xi Jiajia’s account.
Seasonal Little Xingxing: @Banchi, this one looks so good to pet! Some malls seem to have these little sheep you can interact with for kids. Next time we should go together and touch them! As long as we’re thick-skinned enough, it won’t be too weird even surrounded by kids 【wry smile】
Another category was food. These would often appear at night like something temptingly evil, to the point that recently, every time Lin Xing saw them, he would ask his parents to bring back late-night snacks from East Street. But since there were so many food streets named East Street across the country, they couldn’t possibly cover everything, so there were still plenty of dishes he wanted but couldn’t eat, as well as cooking tutorials.
Seasonal Little Xingxing: Ah!! I really want to eat this, babe! Make it for me, please please please!! @Banchi
Aside from these, there was also the occasional late-night emotional “zone,” where Lin Xing would appear. When his emotions flared up, thinking about years of friendship with Xi Jiajia, he would write long heartfelt paragraphs without hesitation, pouring out his feelings, completely unfiltered, full of sincerity and emotion, sobbing and all.
Aside from the cute animal videos, food clips, and occasional late-night emotional posts, the content that truly dominated most of Lin Xing’s tagging activity on Banchi’s account was nearly all borderline thirst-trap handsome guys.
Seasonal Little Xingxing: “Mom-type guy 【drooling】, good things must be shared, babe @Banchi”
Seasonal Little Xingxing: “【Crying】 I really love this waist @Banchi”
Even for someone who knew him well, it would be difficult to imagine what Lin Xing was like in private. The key point was that his sexual orientation had never been made public. Many classmates and friends didn’t know he was gay. Lin Xing also had no intention of making such a private matter widely known, so his longtime friend Xi Jiajia became almost his only outlet where he could freely express himself.
On top of that, Xi Jiajia was outgoing by nature and had always talked about everything with him. Between the two of them, there were no real boundaries. With privacy settings in place, there was no worry about running into acquaintances online.
And so, over the course of a single summer, Lin Xing tagged Xi Jiajia’s account extensively. Although it was a bit strange that he never received any replies, it didn’t trouble him much. After all, this was a friend who was far away, posting volunteer work on social media, only replying to messages after long delays, and had completely transformed from a pampered young lady into a tough, down-to-earth volunteer. This minor lack of response only surfaced in his thoughts a few times before he quickly forgot about it.
In many cases, tagging friends wasn’t about getting a response, it was simply an outlet for the desire to share.
That said, despite his supposedly indifferent and detached attitude, Lin Xing still insisted on picking her up at the airport, only to immediately demand, “When we get back, you’re going to go through everything I shared with you!”
Unexpectedly, Xi Jiajia yawned and looked at him blankly.
“Ah… what did you share?”
It was around this point that something started to feel a little off.