Lin Xing felt that the saying “give an inch and take a mile” [1]never satisfied, always wanting more once you have a little jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2795325_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2795325_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); described his current state perfectly. At first, he just wanted to avoid social embarrassment. Then he was satisfied simply to get Half Pool’s WeChat. After getting a reply to his contact note, he began hoping he could find a good topic to actually talk to Half Pool about.
For the first time, Lin Xing realized how hard it was to find a proper conversation starter. Would this message bother the other person? Would that one affect how he came across?
In the dorm, the air conditioner hummed loudly while his roommates shouted and played games. Lin Xing’s worries felt completely out of place there, so he simply grabbed his laptop and went to the library’s study room.
Finally in a quiet, cool place, he let out a sigh of relief, then lowered his head and pressed his cheek flat against the desk, lying there lazily.
After a while, he lifted his head again, opened his laptop, and typed “Half Pool” into a search engine. Although Chi Tong had no social-media accounts outside of D, his online presence was still widely discussed.
【Discussion: Why can’t most similar influencers hit the same video aesthetic as Half Pool?】
1F: Is it his editing and filming technique? Anyway, I think his videos feel more “high-end,” like they have million-yuan post-production.
3F: It’s just that “high-end aesthetic” vibe. That kind of thing is actually hard to shoot, if you mess it up, it can turn out really tacky instead.
…
10F: I feel like the sisters upstairs are focusing too much on “technique.” Is it possible that the objects in Half Pool’s videos are just naturally more high-end, so even casual filming ends up looking luxurious?
13F: Hahaha, to some extent, 10F has hit the truth. When I watch Half Pool’s videos, I feel like the only thing I could match with him is the eraser on his desk 【covering mouth, choking with tears】
27F: When I watch his videos, I always think of those streamers who set up a bunch of branded shopping bags behind them, and I cringe secondhand for them.
Lin Xing skimmed through several of the most popular posts. The discussions were all roughly the same—”Half Pool” had become a symbolic online entity, with very limited real, tangible information around him.
For Lin Xing, the only somewhat useful piece of information was that Chi Tong was one year older than him, so calling him “ge” (older brother) was definitely safe.
In reality, of course, getting to know someone directly was a better way to build familiarity.
He picked up his phone and opened the WeChat chat pinned at the top. The most recent message was still from two days ago, the cute, standard sticker he’d sent after receiving Chi Tong’s reply.
Lin Xing pressed his forehead against the desk.
As a “fan,” was he supposed to interact with Chi Tong like this? Or should he ask when the next video would drop?
But asking a habitual procrastinator about updates would probably just create pressure.
Frowning, Lin Xing stared at the timestamp of the last message in the chat window. The more he looked, the more he felt he couldn’t keep going like this.
Either way, it would sting, better to just get it over with.
With that mindset, he typed decisively.
Xingxing the Noob: Bro, when are you free this week? About that meal I said I’d treat you to before.
After sending the message, Lin Xing immediately flipped his phone face down on the desk, leaving everything to fate.
He never expected that just a few dozen seconds after the screen went dark, it would suddenly buzz.
Lin Xing had been spacing out and was startled by his own phone. He put his hand on it, then slowly flipped it over as if preparing for execution.
A WeChat message lay across the unlocked screen.
Chi Tong: I’m free today.
Lin Xing’s eyes widened. His heart felt like it was about to leap out of his chest, and he nearly stood up from his chair in the library.
Xingxing the Noob: Really? Today works?
He didn’t expect a reply so quickly, or an agreement so quickly.
Chi Tong: Yes. Today works.
Lin Xing sent Chi Tong a bunch of restaurants he’d picked out over the past two days that he thought were suitable.
Xingxing the Noob: Pick whichever one looks good to you.
Since it was their first time going out together, Lin Xing felt it was better to defer to the other person’s taste.
If they were together in the future, they could take turns accommodating each other. Lin Xing shamelessly imagined himself and Chi Tong standing next to a street-food stall slurping noodles, and the incongruity of it almost made him laugh. Remembering he was in a study room, he forced it back down.
Unexpectedly, Chi Tong didn’t choose from the list Lin Xing provided.
Chi Tong: You decide what you want to eat. I’m fine with anything.
What an easygoing, considerate person!
Lin Xing quickly packed up his laptop and books, which he hadn’t even opened since bringing them in, and rushed back to the dorm like a gust of wind.
His roommates didn’t even notice his hurried comings and goings.
Lin Xing stepped out of the taxi. When he’d gotten in, the weather had been bright and sunny, but now it had turned overcast. It didn’t feel any cooler, though, instead, the air felt heavier and more oppressive.
But Lin Xing didn’t think it was bad weather. In fact, this sudden change suited him perfectly. He patted the folded umbrella in his backpack. It was big enough for two people, but not so large that they wouldn’t have a bit of space between them.
He couldn’t help grinning to himself, his face full of anticipation.
He was still lost in the fantasy of walking in the rain with Chi Tong when someone suddenly tugged at his clothes.
Lin Xing looked down and saw a little girl, around seven or eight years old, holding onto him.
At first he thought she was a lost child, but then she pulled a bouquet of flowers out from behind her back. “Big brother, are you on a date? Do you want to buy a bouquet for your girlfriend?”
The girl had thin arms and big eyes, looking a bit pitiful.
Lin Xing had just messaged Chi Tong that he’d arrived.
“But,” Lin Xing said softly to her, “I’m here with a boy today.”
He thought that would make her give up, but unexpectedly, the girl adapted instantly. “Then buy a bouquet for your boyfriend.”
Lin Xing immediately looked at her with admiration. If she didn’t get rich, who would?
Moved by the word “boyfriend,” Lin Xing prepared to take out his phone and pay.
The little girl, though young, was an experienced flower seller. She noticed the change in Lin Xing’s expression and loosened her grip slightly, no longer afraid he’d run away.
At that moment, Chi Tong’s footsteps stopped beside Lin Xing.
Lin Xing sensed someone had paused next to him and turned to look. Seeing it was Chi Tong, he hadn’t even had time to smile when the flower-selling girl suddenly dropped a bombshell.
“Big brother, is this your boyfriend?”
It felt like Lin Xing had been punched in the chest, he nearly coughed up blood and fainted on the spot.
“I never said he was my boyfriend!” Lin Xing blurted out, then immediately felt guilty, he hadn’t actually denied it earlier either.
Flustered, he quickly stuffed his phone back into his pocket, pretending he hadn’t just been about to pay.
When it was only Lin Xing there, the little girl had been bold enough to tug at his sleeve and refuse to let him leave without buying something. But when she looked up and saw Chi Tong, she suddenly felt a bit timid.
Chi Tong was very good-looking, but his kind of beauty was different from Lin Xing’s. From Lin Xing’s appearance and manner alone, one could easily guess his gentle, mild personality. But Chi Tong showed very little emotion, like a bottomless, dark pool.
The little girl suddenly felt that whether she sold this bouquet or not didn’t matter so much anymore. She took a small, hesitant step back. “Th-then, if you’re not buying, I’ll go.”
Lin Xing still hadn’t fully recovered from his embarrassment, but he quickly stopped her. “Wait, I’ll buy it.”
If she left just like that after what she’d said, wouldn’t that make him look even more guilty?
In Lin Xing’s mind, silently thinking about the word “boyfriend” and actually saying it out loud were two completely different things.
Hearing there was still a sale, the girl finally stopped trying to run. She opened up the simple bundles of flowers in her hands for Lin Xing to choose from, while sneaking glances at Chi Tong from the corner of her eye.
Chi Tong looked down at Lin Xing as he picked out flowers. Noticing the girl’s gaze, he glanced back at her. The girl immediately withdrew her eyes, staring straight ahead obediently and falling silent.
In her mind, she recalled a nature documentary she’d watched the night before, in which a clumsy little calf had wandered into a lion’s territory. Right now, she felt like that foolish little calf herself.
But she also found it strange, this big brother picking flowers was clearly a calf like her too, so why didn’t he seem to sense any danger at all?
Earlier that day, before coming here, Chi Tong had just seen Chi Yu again.
Chi Guangxu had taken a step back in order to advance [2]yielding now as a tactic to gain the upper hand later jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2795325_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2795325_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, bringing Chi Yu to the house to apologize in front of Old Master Chi, all to make it seem as if they were the wronged ones.
Even though Old Master Chi saw through everything clearly, since his son had gone this far, he still had no choice but to smooth things over.
Chi Yu finally found a chance to speak to Chi Tong.
“Was that person the friend you were with that day?”
Chi Tong couldn’t yet define what his relationship with Lin Xing was. Chi Yu, standing at a distance as if talking to himself, casually pointed it out: “He probably isn’t your friend, right? He’s too different from you.”
Only then did Chi Tong look at him.
Chi Yu’s face was still slightly swollen, making him look somewhat ridiculous, but what he said was something Chi Tong couldn’t refute.
The difference between Lin Xing and himself was indeed too great. It wasn’t a superficial difference visible at a glance, but something rooted in their bones, in their upbringing, in their very essence as people, ultimately coming down to the nature of what it meant to be human.
Chi Tong’s nature was gloomy and obsessive, cold and hard to like. No matter how much he tried to mask it with his outward appearance, the pathological tendencies hidden within him constantly drove his dried-out soul, reminding him of it at every moment.
Chi Yu knew it. Even the little flower-selling girl they’d just met had sensed it.
But Lin Xing seemed not to have noticed.
Chi Tong stared at the back of Lin Xing’s neck as he crouched down, delicate, thin, seemingly fragile enough to snap.
Among all the flowers, Lin Xing chose a bouquet of baby’s breath. The moment he paid, the little girl ran off.
The words about “buying it for a boyfriend” still lingered in the air. Lin Xing had wanted to give it to Chi Tong, but he felt too embarrassed. Now, whether he handed it over or not, it felt awkward either way.
Lin Xing looked up. He looked at Chi Tong, Chi Tong looked back at him.
Silently, Lin Xing stuffed the bouquet into his backpack.
“L-let’s go,” he stammered.
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