When Yun Qing returned to the dorm, her roommates hadn’t come back yet.
As she took off the suit jacket, she suddenly caught a faint scent. Thoughtfully, she glanced down at herself.
It seemed she had picked up Liang Xiheng’s scent.
Realizing what she was thinking, she quickly shook the thought away, silently hung his clothes in the wardrobe, and went to the bathroom to remove her makeup.
When Ye Feifei returned, she found Yun Qing sitting at the desk with her half-dried hair loose.
“Qingqing, did you not see my messages?” she asked.
“I just finished my shower and only saw them now,” Yun Qing replied.
Ye Feifei closed the door. ”I nearly blew up your phone calling you, and you were nowhere to be found. What could possibly be so important that you slipped away right after your performance?”
With a tone of exasperated disappointment, she continued, ”This was our school anniversary celebration—the audience was full of heavyweight guests. By leaving so quickly, who knows how many opportunities you missed.”
“Just now, after the networking session ended, the director of the National Theater Dance Company wanted to have a chat with you, but you were gone. How was he supposed to talk to you?”
“It’s fine,” Yun Qing said gently. “There will be other opportunities.”
Seeing how relaxed she looked, Ye Feifei sighed. “I suppose so. You dance so well, and you’ve been on TV shows—you’re not short on opportunities at all. It’s just that I saw some people have already signed with dance companies and won’t have to worry about jobs after graduation, so I started feeling a little anxious.”
Yun Qing smiled faintly. “Aren’t you already financially independent, little rich girl?”
Ye Feifei was a social media influencer who had been building her follower base since freshman year. Now she earned quite a bit from vlogs and sponsored ads—sometimes a single ad paid more than a dance company member’s monthly salary.
But at the mention of this, Ye Feifei looked helpless. “My account only took off because of you in the first place. I work day and night pouring my heart into creating content, and yet I still get less traffic than a two-second side profile shot of you.”
At first, her account’s traffic had been mediocre—until Yun Qing accidentally wandered into her frame. After that, her views started climbing rapidly, and gradually her follower count grew too.
It truly proved the saying: good looks equal traffic.
But Yun Qing disagreed. “You’ve been creating content for so long and made so many videos. Your traffic never dropped afterward—that’s your own achievement. Your fans like you; it has nothing to do with me.”
“If you think I can bring you traffic, then from now on, when you film, I’ll just hang around you.”
“We’re only juniors now. We haven’t even finished our studies yet—let’s leave the job hunting worries for senior year.”
Ye Feifei listened to every word, and the phrase “hang around you” made her burst out laughing. Her mood instantly brightened.
She wrapped her arms around Yun Qing from behind and said in a sweet, cutesy voice, “Qingqing, you really are my lucky star.”
Yun Qing said, “As long as you’re not anxious anymore.”
“Mm!” Ye Feifei released her. “I’m going to take off my makeup and shower.”
“Go ahead.”
While her roommate was in the bathroom,
Yun Qing climbed the ladder into her bed and returned a video call to her brother, who was far away in France.
Once the call connected, all she could see was the floor, and the sound of whooshing wind came through.
It was 2:46 in the afternoon in France right now.
“Qingqing.” A gentle, steady voice came through.
She could see moving footsteps, but no person.
Her brother didn’t like facing the camera when video calling people; he habitually used the rearview mirror instead.
“Ge, let me see what it’s like over there,” Yun Qing said curiously.
Then.
The camera on the other end lifted, pointing at a river. The bridge was covered in love locks, and half of the Eiffel Tower was visible in the frame.
Yun Qing immediately knew where he was.
On the Pont des Arts over the Seine.
She was no stranger to this place—her brother had taken her there during a summer vacation years ago.
“We came here the year before last. Remember?”
“I remember.” Yun Qing asked, “Ge, are you filming on the bridge right now?”
“Mm, just got here. They’re still setting up the equipment.”
Yun Qing stared at the still image on her screen, then suddenly said, “Ge, turn the camera around. Let me see if you’ve been so busy you’re skipping meals again.”
“Growing up, are you? Starting to boss me around?”
“Let me see.”
Seemingly unable to withstand her nagging, Yun Zheng turned the camera around.
His face appeared on Yun Qing’s phone screen.
Cool, fair, refined skin, a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, a white shirt on his upper body—his features were so coldly elegant, like a flower blooming on a snowy peak, impossible to pluck.
No matter how you looked at him, he didn’t seem like a man already thirty.
Actually, her brother hadn’t been gone that long.
Counting from the day Liang Xiheng came to visit their home, he had flown off to France to film on the third day, and it had been less than half a month since he left.
In the camera, her brother looked to be in good shape—it was hard to tell whether he’d gained or lost weight.
On the other end, Yun Zheng was also looking at his little sister on the screen. “Is the school anniversary celebration over?”
“It’s over. I’ve already showered and I’m in bed.”
Her bed had curtains hung around it, with a small lamp mounted on top. Once the curtains were drawn, it became a private little space.
“Ge, when are you coming back?” Yun Qing asked.
“Probably at the end of next month, maybe later. While I’m away, take good care of yourself. If you run into any problems you can’t solve, tell me right away. Any contracts related to shows you sign have to go through me first. Understood?”
Yun Qing said gently, “I know. You’ve reminded me several times since before you left the country—word for word the same.”
“Getting tired of my nagging?”
“No.”
Yun Zheng asked, “Is your allowance enough?”
“It’s enough.”
“Is there anything you want as a gift?”
Sweet words came easily to Yun Qing’s lips. “You coming home safe and healthy is the best gift, Ge.”
Yun Zheng’s smile was doting, his heart seemingly melted warm by her. “All right, I’ll take good care of myself. Get some rest early. I’m going back to work.”
“Mm. Bye, Ge.”
With a beep, the video call ended.
Just then, Ye Feifei came in after washing her face and caught the last line. She asked casually, “Your brother called you again?”
Yun Qing nodded. “Mm.”
Ye Feifei asked, puzzled, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of your other family members call you.”
At the mention of her other family, a shadow of gloom flashed through Yun Qing’s eyes.
She said lightly, “Just pretend they don’t exist.”
“Huh?”
Realizing what she had just said, Yun Qing explained briefly, “They don’t care about me. From three years of high school until now, it’s just been me and my Ge living together. If it weren’t for him, I might never have been able to dance. That’s why I’m close to him.”
“Oh,” Ye Feifei said. “So your living expenses now all come from your Ge?”
“Everything I have now comes from him.”
Ye Feifei looked envious and sighed, “I want a big brother like that too.”
Yun Qing smiled.
She didn’t chat any more with her roommates, flopping straight onto her bed.
As if remembering something, she picked up her phone again and sent her brother a WeChat message:
[Bro, send me an address. I’ll mail you some stuff tomorrow]