Beicheng, autumn.
It was raining outside in the evening.
The sound of raindrops hitting the glass windows was especially sharp and grating. The temperature had dropped noticeably, and there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets.
Inside the GFS Mall, however, a grand beauty event was in full swing — completely different from the cold, wet world outside.
The venue was lively and bright.
Gorgeous lights shone down on the displays without feeling harsh. The products on the counters looked even more tempting under the glow.
Soft, pleasant music flowed through the space — relaxing, never overpowering.
The inner area was packed. Plenty of internet-famous influencers and celebrities were mingling, chatting and laughing happily.
Le Ning had caught a cold. Her head was aching.
Once the main part of her appearance was over, she slipped away to a quiet corner to rest.
She had only been sitting for less than ten minutes when Ruan Qiu walked over from the other side, holding two glasses of red wine.
“Why are you hiding here all alone?”
She handed one glass to Le Ning.
Le Ning took it but set it aside. “Headache.”
Hearing that, Ruan Qiu looked at her with concern. “Your cold still hasn’t gotten better?”
“Mm.” She’d been sick for several days now. Her voice still carried a noticeable nasal tone.
“Then why don’t you leave first? The event’s already in the later stages anyway. You should be fine to go, right?”
Le Ning shook her head. She took a small sip of the wine and said, “…You forgot? I still have an interview later.”
Ruan Qiu: “……”
Right. She really had forgotten.
Le Ning was one of the most talked-about beauty bloggers in recent years. Although her circle was still relatively niche, her popularity was sky-high.
In less than two years since entering the industry, she already had millions of followers each on Weibo, Bilibili, and Xiaohongshu.
More importantly, her fans were incredibly active. Anything she recommended sold out almost instantly.
Because of this, many brands actively sought her out for collaborations.
Today’s event was hosted by one of her frequent partner brands. Not only was Le Ning attending as a guest, she was also one of the official promoters for this event. Afterward, there would be an interview — a chance to give the brand stronger exposure and also a little fan interaction (fan perk), where she’d answer some more personal questions.
Ruan Qiu had no choice. “Then should I get you a glass of warm water?”
Le Ning shook her head again. “No need. I’ll just rest for a bit.”
Her curled lashes trembled slightly. Because she wasn’t feeling well, even with makeup on, her small face looked paler than usual — like a fragile, pitiful little beauty.
Ruan Qiu wasn’t exaggerating at all.
Le Ning had always been naturally stunning. Cold-fair skin, delicate goose-egg face, large round almond eyes that made her look both innocent and seductive at the same time.
Thanks to years of dance training since childhood, her posture was exceptionally graceful. Tonight she wore an off-shoulder dress; her slender swan-like neck and exquisite collarbones drew every eye.
Every small movement she made carried a hint of classical elegance. She was so beautiful it was impossible to look away.
Ruan Qiu stared for a long moment, almost dazed.
Even though she’d known Le Ning for over ten years, every time she looked at her she still felt that fresh rush of amazement.
Ruan Qiu finally snapped out of it. “Alright then. If you need anything, call me right away.”
Le Ning was just about to reply when her phone, lying on the table, vibrated — several times in a row.
She raised a brow. Only a very small number of people would message her like this.
And one of them was standing right next to her.
Ruan Qiu laughed. “Is it Le Luo?”
Le Luo was Le Ning’s younger cousin. He had just started his senior year of high school. He adored sticking to Le Ning — whenever something happened, he never went to his parents first; he always came to her.
Although they were cousins, they were as close as real siblings.
Le Ning didn’t answer. She simply unlocked her phone.
“It’s him.”
Ruan Qiu smiled and sat down across from her. “What did he say? It’s Friday today—he’s probably off school and heading home, right?”
Le Ning opened the messages, read them, and frowned slightly.
Le Luo: [Sis, have you asked for me yet? Is police academy better or military academy?]
Le Luo: [If it’s police academy, which school is better? Have you checked for me?]
Le Luo: [Sis, where are you right now? I’ll come pick you up. I’m staying at your place tonight.]
……
Ruan Qiu saw her expression and was a little surprised. “What’s wrong? What did he say?”
Le Ning handed the phone over for her to see.
After reading, Ruan Qiu burst out laughing.
“Le Luo actually has thoughts like this?” She teased with a grin. “I wouldn’t have guessed. So does he want to be a soldier or a cop?”
Le Ning tilted her head and thought for a moment before giving an answer. “Probably just wants to serve the people.”
Ruan Qiu snorted with laughter.
Le Ning started laughing too, and the bad mood caused by her cold lifted a little.
She said, “He’s been watching a lot of social news lately. Full of youthful energy—wants to fight for justice for the victims and catch the criminals as soon as possible.”
Ruan Qiu choked for a second, unsure whether to praise Le Luo for his courage or call him impulsive.
After thinking it over, she said softly, “But honestly, the recent social news has been way too brutal.”
Le Ning nodded.
Lately, whether on TV or Weibo, there had been one horrifying story after another that was hard to even look at.
Rape-murder cases, homicides, and all kinds of accidental killings caused by ridiculous reasons—every single one made people’s scalps tingle and left them unable to imagine it happening.
As they talked, Le Ning rubbed her aching head. “Where am I supposed to go ask whether police academy or military academy is better for him?”
Ruan Qiu laughed beside her, then her eyes suddenly lit up.
“Go to the high school group chat.”
She said, “If I remember right, a few of our high school classmates went to police or military academies after graduation. You can ask around—I just can’t remember exactly who.”
Le Ning paused, and a vague memory surfaced—
A boy in a basketball uniform, a little taller than others his age, carrying a bit more presence. He was somewhere between boyish and fully adult.
His face was drenched in sweat as he ran off the court, casually grabbed a clean towel from the side, and wiped his face. When he saw Le Ning, the corner of his mouth lifted, and he drawled in a lazy tone, “Little junior, here to bring me water again?”
He bit down extra hard on the word “again,” making it sound both teasing and full of bad-boy charm.
The people around them hooted and whistled.
Le Ning felt so embarrassed she wanted to run, but she still handed him the water. The boy glanced at it, his voice clear like spring water but lazy in tone: “Thanks, but I don’t need it.”
“…”
“Ning Ning?”
The voice calling her by her ear snapped Le Ning back to reality. She pressed her lips together, instinctively grabbed the glass of wine beside her, and took a big gulp to calm her nerves. She mumbled vaguely, “Is that so? I forgot.”
Ruan Qiu: “…”
Le Ning picked up her phone, hesitated for a second, then looked up at Ruan Qiu.
Ruan Qiu understood immediately and volunteered, “I’ll ask.”
Le Ning had always been the type who kept strangers at a distance. Except for her two close friends—Ruan Qiu and Ji Chuchu—she wasn’t really familiar with most of the class.
It might also have been because so many boys liked her in high school, which sparked jealousy among the girls, so most of them didn’t like talking to her anyway.
Ruan Qiu opened the class group chat, posted the question, and—as usual—threw in a red envelope (a cash gift packet).
In an instant, almost everyone in the group popped up.
Among all the replies, Le Ning accidentally spotted her own name…
It was from Yang Qingqing, the class entertainment committee member: [Asking about this? Ruan Qiu, aren’t you super close with Le Ning? Just ask her. Didn’t she secretly crush on Senior Zhou Ran back then? He went into criminal investigation after graduation—heard he’s pretty famous now at the ** District Bureau. Seems like he’s the one handling that recent murder case.]
After sending that, Yang Qingqing apparently felt it wasn’t enough and twisted the knife a little deeper into Le Ning’s heart.
[By the way, does Le Ning have a boyfriend now? She’s not still hung up on Senior Zhou, is she?]
Le Ning: ……
Hung up on your ass!
Le Ning’s small, pale face flushed with anger from those two messages. She snatched her phone back, ready to fire off a retort—only for Ruan Qiu to grab it away.
“Calm down, calm down.”
Ruan Qiu looked at her. “Aren’t you the one who’s most afraid of people adding you on WeChat? If you send a message now, won’t all the guys in class start harassing you again?”
She had a point.
When Ruan Qiu had added Le Ning to the group back then, almost every single guy—single or not—immediately sent her friend requests.
Le Ning hadn’t accepted a single one, and people called her cold-blooded and unfriendly.
Ruan Qiu and Ji Chuchu had to explain in the group that Le Ning didn’t really use WeChat, barely ever logged in, basically a dead account. Only then did everyone give up.
If she replied today, wouldn’t it blow her cover?
Seeing Le Ning’s face turn cold, Ruan Qiu quickly said, “Don’t worry—I’ll roast her for you. It’s been so long, how is Yang Qingqing still such an annoying little bitch?”
Ruan Qiu typed:
[Our Ning Ning is way too busy. She can’t be bothered with little things like this.]
Ruan Qiu: [Also, what do you mean “hung up on Senior Zhou Ran”? When did our Ning Ning ever secretly crush on him? That was an open, obvious crush, okay?!]
Le Ning, watching the messages in the group: ……
She glanced sideways at the person enthusiastically roasting on her behalf, gritted her teeth, and hissed, “Are you two trying to take advantage of me being sick to finish me off today?”
Ruan Qiu blinked in confusion. “Just mentioning Zhou Ran is enough to finish you off?”
Her eyes widened in shock as she gasped, “No way—you’re still hung up on Zhou Ran for real?”
Le Ning ground her teeth. “Who’s hung up on him?”
She said angrily, “I don’t even remember what he looks like anymore. Who’s hung up on him?”
Ruan Qiu shrank back from the scolding and quickly nodded. “Oh, oh, good. As long as you’re not.”
After a moment, she still couldn’t help asking, “If you really are hung up on him, should I go get his contact info for you?”
Le Ning stared at her, took a deep breath, and said, “Even if I were hung up on a stray dog by the roadside, I wouldn’t be hung up on him.”
Ruan Qiu: “…Don’t jinx yourself.”
Le Ning shot her a glare, and Ruan Qiu immediately shut her mouth.
So tsundere—she won’t even let anyone say it.
After Ruan Qiu finished roasting Yang Qingqing, Yang Qingqing went silent for a while. When she reappeared, she dropped a video.
Yang Qingqing: [Seriously, if I weren’t getting married, I’d definitely go after Senior Zhou Ran myself.]
Soon after, a bunch of classmates chimed in:
[Holy shit holy shit, is this really Senior Zhou Ran? He’s way too handsome.]
[AHHHHHH this is fucking peak hot guy!!!]
[Damn, this is exactly my type. All these years later, Senior Zhou Ran hasn’t aged badly at all—he’s just gotten more charming.]
[AHHHH I’m dead. My ideal man has been perfectly realized.]
Even after graduating from university, when women go crazy, men have no say in it.
All kinds of explicit comments flooded the group.
Ruan Qiu sneaked a careful glance at Le Ning and whispered, “Should we watch it too?”
Le Ning’s face was cold. “What’s there to see?”
Ruan Qiu: “If you won’t watch, I will.”
Le Ning: “…”
She paused, tucked a strand of her long wavy hair behind her ear, and said, “Fine, I’ll reluctantly take a look.”
Ruan Qiu almost wanted to laugh out loud at her attitude.
—Oh wow, how terribly difficult for you.
She tapped open the video. The footage was fairly clear. The camera shook a little at first, but steadied after a few seconds.
In the video, the man was dressed in all black—black shirt, black pants. His posture was straight and tall, broad shoulders, long legs, perfect proportions that could only be described as flawless.
He moved swiftly, vaulting over a railing with one hand and landing steadily right in front of the camera.
The lens zoomed in, fully revealing his face.
His features were sharp and three-dimensional—strikingly handsome and rugged. His brows were slightly furrowed, deep-set eyes half-squinted, making it impossible to read his thoughts.
After a moment, his low, deep voice came through the video.
He spoke to the person filming: “Turn it off. Delete it.”
Short and to the point, his voice was as cold as ever, but now carried more maturity and less of that old delinquent edge.
Ruan Qiu couldn’t help herself—she replayed it over and over.
Le Ning wasn’t as dramatic; she watched it once and stopped.
A while later, Ruan Qiu squatted beside her and let out a sigh. “Seriously, how did you not manage to lock him down back then?”
Ruan Qiu looked her up and down, then asked the deep, soul-searching question: “Back then you were so pure and beautiful, a little shy, blushing the moment anyone teased you. Why didn’t Zhou Ran like you?”
Don’t all guys love that type?
As she spoke, Ruan Qiu suddenly thought of something important.
“Right, you still haven’t told us—how exactly did Senior Zhou Ran reject you?”
Le Ning: “…”
She looked at Ruan Qiu’s gossip-hungry eyes, took a sip of wine, and asked, “You really want to know?”
Ruan Qiu: “Of course!”
Le Ning tilted her head and thought for a second. Recalling the scene of her rejection back then, she found it a little hard to say out loud.
Ruan Qiu stared at her intently. “Come on, tell me!”
Le Ning gave an “oh,” stood up straight, looked down at Ruan Qiu from above, and copied Zhou Ran’s exact movements and tone—slightly colder: “First year of high school?”
Ruan Qiu looked completely confused. “…Yeah?”
Le Ning nodded, swept her gaze over her once, and said expressionlessly, “Too young.”
Ruan Qiu: “…”
She paused, her eyes drifting to a certain part of Le Ning, then suddenly realized. “So that’s why… you’ve spent all these years working hard to make your boobs bigger?”
Le Ning: “???”
Author’s Note:
Le Ning: Back then you said I was too young. The me now? You can’t handle it anymore. [Not really lol ==]