Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [I’m taking them, I’m taking them, stop rushing me.]
Qiao Shutang played a little trick—when taking the mirror selfie, she cleverly used her phone to block her chest.
She sent it to Ling Heng.
In the photo, the girl’s delicate and graceful figure showed alluring contours beneath the soft fabric.
Ling Heng swiped with two fingers, zooming in on her face.
She wore a bright smile on her face, a hint of white teeth showing between her red lips, and a barely-there dimple at the corner of her mouth.
Her fine, jade-like skin stretched from her slender swan neck downward, past her delicate collarbones, spreading out into a field of snow-white.
Yet the spring scenery that should have been there was blocked by the phone.
Ling Heng couldn’t help but press his lips together.
Zero—: [Just one?]
Qiao Shutang really liked this dress. She changed poses and angles, taking several shots and sending them to him.
Beautiful was truly beautiful, but the phone’s position was too fixed.
The more she tried to cover, the more obvious it became.
Ling Heng touched the tip of his nose, curving the corner of his lips.
Zero—: [I want one from a top-down angle.]
Qiao Shutang countered move for move.
She dug out a selfie stick from the cabinet, holding the stick in one hand and cleverly covering her chest with the other.
From the top-down angle, the girl’s face appeared smaller, her eyes larger, and her smile was impishly cute.
But there seemed to be a deliberate distance, as if she was on guard against him.
Ling Heng’s gaze narrowed slightly, his fingertips flying across the keyboard.
Zero—: [Put your hands down, don’t block.]
Qiao Shutang’s ears turned red to the roots.
The other party’s meaning was clear—he wanted to see the unobstructed version.
If she were on stage or at a public beach, Qiao Shutang wouldn’t be so particular about being seen.
But taking photos specifically to send to him made her more or less embarrassed.
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [( · ) No.]
Zero—: [As your boyfriend, can’t I have this little benefit?]
Qiao Shutang used one finger to scold the screen: “You know this is giving benefits too?”
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [I don’t have the energy to take more, maybe next time.]
Zero—: [Then how about a direct video call?]
Qiao Shutang screamed internally.
My god!
Of two evils, choose the lesser.
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [Fine! I’ll eat a Snickers bar and then take it.]
Qiao Shutang reluctantly raised the selfie stick.
In the frame, her curves were full, stretching the fabric to an alluring tension.
She really did feel a bit embarrassed.
Too shy to look at the camera, she squinted and took a photo.
Sent it over.
She didn’t know that it was precisely this hazy gaze that made the entire photo turn seductive.
Ling Heng’s eyes flickered, his Adam’s apple bobbing heavily several times.
He hadn’t expected his little girlfriend’s figure to be this incredible!
He cast his phone screen to the TV, then crossed his arms and walked up close to the TV to admire it carefully.
His gaze traced and outlined every detail of the figure.
Like appreciating a masterpiece by a famous artist.
Qiao Shutang saw no response from the other side for a long while, and tentatively asked.
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [Is that enough?]
Zero—: [Let’s meet.]
Qiao Shutang: Σ(°△°|||)︴
This guy’s way of thinking was way too jumpy!
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [I already took photos according to all your requests, do you still think I’m a liar?]
Zero—: [You’re not a liar, I just want to see you.]
He wanted so badly to see the real person.
A real person he could see and touch.
A real person with body warmth, with flesh, whom he could wrap in his arms and kiss.
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [But my final exams are coming up soon, I don’t have time to meet.]
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [I don’t like boyfriends who are too clingy.]
Cat-Ears Xiao Qiao: [Don’t push me.]
Three messages sent in rapid succession made Ling Heng sigh.
His online love interest refused to video chat and wouldn’t meet in person.
What was he supposed to do with her?
Zero—: [Alright, I’ll wait for you to finish summer vacation.]
There was about a month left. He could wait.
Qiao Shutang let out a heavy breath at the screen.
Another hurdle cleared.
She muttered to herself: “They say every hurdle is hard to pass but every hurdle gets passed—so why can’t the hurdles pass themselves? Why does Tangtang have to pass them?”
Complaining aside, she still had to solve things herself.
Qiao Shutang pulled the chair over and sat down at her desk.
Her fingers flew across the calculator as she checked her little account book.
Her account balance, plus the money from selling secondhand goods, plus a few loans she’d called back in.
Just over 150,000.
Still 1.21 million short of 1.36 million…
Could she pay it all off before summer vacation?
Her small face rolled back and forth on the desktop.
“Ugh~” she let out a despairing wail.
Zong Muli and Jian Chu ran into each other downstairs and walked back to the dorm together.
The moment they stepped through the door, they heard that ghostly howl.
“Oho, got dumped?”
Zong Muli didn’t even bother setting down the flowers and gift bag in her hands, heading straight to Qiao Shutang’s side.
Qiao Shutang weakly lifted half her face.
Glancing at her.
“Come on, don’t gloat, okay?”
Jian Chu stood on her other side and asked in surprise: “What happened? That box of Harry Potter merch—was that a breakup gift?”
Qiao Shutang gave the same excuse she’d told Ning Zhenzhen.
“Yiwu goods, they’re fake.”
“And I didn’t get dumped—I lost money. Your girl here is currently missing the element of gold. If any of you hear of a money-making opportunity, keep this poor little thing in mind, okay?”
Jian Chu and Zong Muli exchanged a knowing glance.
Both assumed Qiao Shutang was short on money because of her parents’ lawsuit.
Zong Muli said: “If you’re in a real hurry, I’ve got twenty thousand I can lend you.”
Jian Chu said: “You know my family isn’t well-off. Two thousand is the most I can lend you.”
A drop in the bucket, but Qiao Shutang’s corpse was still warm.
“Thanks, sisters. I’m not that desperate,” she made a Fighting gesture. “I can still stand on my own two feet.”
Jian Chu said: “Aren’t you going to the basketball court tomorrow to interview for that voice acting gig? Want me to come with you?”
Zong Muli let out a soft “tch.”
“If you want to go look at hot guys, just say so.”
Qiao Shutang draped herself over the chair back and looked at Jian Chu.
“Jian-bao, did you and that ambiguous guy of yours ever make it official?”
Jian Chu spread both hands: “Ha, I don’t even have a single piece of Yiwu goods.”
“That guy actually asked me—if he doesn’t spend money, does that mean he can’t win me over?”
Zong Muli analyzed: “If you say yes, he’ll slap the gold-digger label on you. If you say no, he can justifiably get it for free.”
Jian Chu was so angry her teeth itched.
“If I were digging hundreds of thousands out of him, fine, he could call me a gold-digger. But these days, even a few dozen bucks gets you called a gold-digger—absolutely ridiculous!”
Qiao Shutang’s gaze drifted down to the tops of her feet.
The gold-digger topic wasn’t one she had the right to participate in.
After all, she really had “dug” over a million out of someone.
Monday, basketball court.
Qiao Shutang linked arms with Liang Jiaxin as they walked in together.
Lv Boyuan and his teammates were warming up on the court.
Seeing them arrive, he grabbed someone and jogged over.
Through the stands railing, he first gave Liang Jiaxin’s hand a tug.
He introduced to the people around him, “This is my girlfriend, Liang Jiaxin.”
Then he pointed at Qiao Shutang, “Jiaxin’s best friend, the broadcasting department’s talented girl, Qiao Shutang.”
Next, he reached over and playfully punched his teammate in the chest.
“This is Biaozi, Hu Wenbiao. His voice acting studio just landed a big client. What was it called again?”
Hu Wenbiao said, “Longyuan Interactive Entertainment, the top one in overseas games.”
He grabbed the railing and vaulted up, landing across from Qiao Shutang.
“Hey, how’s your spoken English? I’m in desperate need of an English voice actor.”
Qiao Shutang scratched her hair, not too confidently, “It’s alright, I guess.”
“Then say a couple of sentences for me to hear.”
Qiao Shutang was mortified.
Liang Jiaxin then walked off with Lv Boyuan.
Hu Wenbiao looked at her with burning eyes, “Just say anything, I want to hear your pronunciation.”
Qiao Shutang thought about her bank account balance and reluctantly recited a passage from a textbook.
Hu Wenbiao gave her a thumbs up.
“Overall, pretty good, especially the emotional expressiveness. Worthy of the broadcasting department’s talented girl.”
He changed his hand gesture into a handshake.
“Nice to meet you, Qiao… classmate.”
“Qiao Shutang.” Qiao Shutang smiled brightly as she shook his hand, “Nice to meet you too, Boss Biao.”
Hu Wenbiao, putting on an air of authority, cleared his throat lightly.
“Your, um, certain pronunciations could still use some refinement. Try to get closer to a native speaker’s level. Come to my studio in a couple of days to record a demo for the client to hear.”
Suddenly, a stern shout came from below the stands.
“Let go of my girlfriend!”