Lin Qin clutched her phone, unable to type out a reply for a long while.
Having a crush on Meng Jingnian—aside from being bad for her heart—was fine in every other way.
She had known from the start that there was no hope, so she never allowed herself to fantasize. That was for the best; she could comfortably play the role of his "junior," accepting all his care and praise without complication.
A moment later, Lin Qin saw Meng Jingnian return to the classroom, heading straight for the judges' table. It seemed he had gone to wash his face—the hair at his forehead was slightly damp.
As the second half began, everyone's attention drifted. Xu Shirui played with her phone, Peng Fei rushed to finish homework, and only Yan Mingxuan jotted down each group's topic and score, periodically reporting their team's live ranking in the group chat.
Finally, all the group defenses concluded. The staff took a moment to tally the scores and rankings for all teams. Lin Qin's group placed second, securing a spot in the top five and earning qualification for the provincial competition.
The host called the five qualifying groups to the stage to receive their certificates for the next round.
About twenty people stood in two rows, with each team leader holding the qualification certificate. The host invited the five judges to join them on stage for a group photo. The school's official website and public account frequently posted campus news, so this photo would likely soon appear on the event page.
The five judges ascended the stage, going through the customary round of polite deference before positioning the head judge at the center, with the other four flanking him two on each side.
Because the head judge needed to squeeze into the middle, one group was shuffled to the back—which happened to be Lin Qin's team. The entire formation shifted left, and they filled in at the far right.
During the photo, Lin Qin glanced toward the center. Because of the heat, he had removed his suit jacket in the latter half, wearing only his shirt. Its color was the white of snow on a mountain peak, taking on a slightly faded quality under the overhead lights.
They were so far apart.
Once the photo was done, all of the day's proceedings came to an end. Yet the teams that had advanced to the provincial competition didn't leave. They crowded around the judges, seeking suggestions for improving their projects.
Lin Qin had never been proactive in this regard. In class, if she didn't understand something, she would rather go home and spend several times the effort studying on her own than ask a teacher—despite having so many teachers in her family, they still couldn't cure her "teacher phobia syndrome."
Yan Mingxuan, of course, wasn't one to hang back: "Let's go, let's go! Let's ask Senior Meng for advice too—he's exactly in our field!"
And so Meng Jingnian was intercepted on the stage.
Yan Mingxuan had eight hundred questions stored up, but he started by trying to establish a connection: "Senior, I'm also from the School of Atmospheric Sciences."
Meng Jingnian nodded, then said with a straight face, "In Teacher Tang's Statistical Weather Forecasting, what score did you get?"
Yan Mingxuan froze.
Meng Jingnian: "Just kidding—what questions does your group have?"
When he said "your group," Meng Jingnian's gaze swept briefly over the three team members standing behind Yan Mingxuan, finally resting on Lin Qin for a moment.
Yan Mingxuan: "We just wanted to ask, Senior—where do you think our project most needs improvement?"
With seventeen groups and nearly two hours of defenses, even someone with Meng Jingnian's extraordinary memory couldn't recall every detail. But since Lin Qin was in this group, and the topic was related to his specialty, it wasn't hard to remember.
"The biggest problem with your project is probably that your target users aren't clear enough. There are too many weather apps on the market—where's your differentiation and competitive edge?"
Yan Mingxuan listened as if struck by sudden enlightenment, nodding repeatedly.
"Nothing else," Meng Jingnian said. "The prediction model is well done. Keep it up at the provincial competition."
Lin Qin's eyelashes trembled slightly. She couldn't tell at all whether the compliment he had singled out carried any hint of personal bias.
She thought it probably didn't, because Meng Jingnian in a professional setting truly looked like the standard image of a teacher—his tone gentle, yet carrying its own authority, almost triggering her "teacher phobia syndrome."
She could already imagine what it would be like if he actually became a teacher someday: female students fighting to grab his class the moment registration opened, then furiously cursing him at the end of the semester for refusing to round up even a single point.
Yan Mingxuan: "Thank you, Senior!"
Meng Jingnian hummed in acknowledgment, glanced at his watch—he likely had other plans afterward—so he didn't ask if they had more questions. He left the stage and walked back toward the judges' table.
The four team members returned to their seats to pack up. As Lin Qin stuffed her laptop into her backpack, she watched the figure at the judges' table.
He picked up his black suit jacket, draping it over his arm, removed his judge's badge, and gathered it with the documents on the table. After exchanging a few words with the judges who hadn't yet managed to leave, he exited the classroom.
What Lin Qin hated wasn't just the title "Little Uncle"—she hated the identity itself: she didn't enjoy the practical benefits of true family, where one could drop by unannounced without causing offense, yet she bore the full weight of its ethical constraints.
She hated that even just seeing him had to be justified by some proper reason.
She wondered when the next "proper reason" would come.
It was almost five o'clock. Yan Mingxuan, who had finished packing up first, suggested the four of them go out for a meal together to celebrate this milestone. Xu Shirui called this behavior "popping champagne at halftime."
Yan Mingxuan: "My treat."
Xu Shirui: "Then I'm definitely going."
The four of them walked out together. Just as they reached the door, Lin Qin's phone buzzed.
She pulled it out of her coat pocket and glanced at it, then stopped in her tracks.
mjn: Congratulations.
mjn: Had to leave early. If there's anything else you need help with, you can leave me a message on WeChat.
mjn: Good luck at the provincial competition.
If she didn't know Meng Jingnian well enough, Lin Qin would think he had serious potential to be a first-class player.
He really knew how to handle people's hearts.
Xu Shirui stopped and turned around: "Lin Qin, aren't you coming with us?"
"…I'm coming." Lin Qin snapped back to reality and caught up.
The four of them walked to the food street and picked a barbecue restaurant. The prices were low, but the food was clean and the seasoning was good—the garlic pork ribs were absolutely superb.
The ribs were tossed into the oil trough on one side of the grill, sizzling and filling the air with fragrance.
The beef that had been placed on the grill first was already ready to eat. Yan Mingxuan used tongs to distribute a piece to each person. Having made it past the first hurdle, the four-person team had accumulated a bit of revolutionary camaraderie. The topics of conversation at the meal were finally no longer confined to the competition itself.
Xu Shirui sat on the same side as Lin Qin. She bit into a piping hot piece of beef and said between bites, "Lin Qin, I need to confess something to you."
"What is it?"
"I follow your Xiaohongshu account." Xu Shirui turned to observe her expression. "…I didn't deliberately search for it. One day I was scrolling, and the algorithm pushed you onto my homepage. I saw it was pretty, liked it, and only on closer look did I realize it was you…"
Lin Qin felt a bit embarrassed at being exposed. She took a sip of plum juice and said, "What's your account? I'll follow you back."
"No need. I don't post anything on that account—I just use it to look at handsome guys and pretty girls." Xu Shirui looked at her. "Are you still a model?"
"Not really. It's a side gig, to earn some pocket money."
Xu Shirui said, "You're so impressive."
"No… I just happened to have the opportunity, so I went for it."
Xu Shirui smiled and said, "When you first joined our group, I actually didn't dare talk to you much. Now I know you're not that aloof—you're just a bit slow to warm up… Though it seems you still haven't fully warmed up yet."
Lin Qin smiled.
"Thank you for today."
Lin Qin took a moment to react, realizing she was probably referring to the rehearsal in the next classroom before the competition started. She shook her head and said, "No need to thank me."
They chatted for a while, and by then the ribs were done frying. As usual, Yan Mingxuan distributed them to everyone, reminding them to "watch out, it's hot" as he did.
Lin Qin picked up a rib with her chopsticks and dipped it in plum sauce, listening as Peng Fei asked, "Are you guys planning to work directly after graduating, or go to grad school?"
The other three were all juniors; only Lin Qin was a sophomore.
Xu Shirui: "I'm planning to go abroad."
Yan Mingxuan: "If I can win an award this time, I can get guaranteed admission to grad school. If not, I'll probably just look for a job directly. What about you, Peng Fei?"
Peng Fei said, "I'm also going abroad."
Lin Qin said, "…Guaranteed admission for me."
Yan Mingxuan looked at her: "Your grades are so good. If you keep it up, you could try for recommended admission to another school—Tsinghua or Peking, something like that. There's a summer camp in the summer of junior year; you can keep an eye on it in advance."
Lin Qin shook her head: "I'll just stay at this school."
"What, you have an alma mater complex?" Yan Mingxuan said with a laugh.
Lin Qin shook her head, took a bite of the rib, and said very calmly, "The person I like is at this school."
Everyone looked surprised. They found it hard to imagine—she really didn't seem like someone with worldly desires. Xu Shirui, in particular, was speculating about the gender of the person she liked.
But judging by her demeanor, she wasn't going to elaborate, so no one pressed further.
The barbecue left them all smelling of smoke and grill.
They didn't actually let Yan Mingxuan pay—everyone transferred their share of the money to him.
They all needed to head back to school, except Lin Qin. She had a photoshoot early tomorrow morning and was planning to stay at the house her parents had left her in the old city district tonight. So after saying goodbye to the three of them, she headed straight to the subway station.
She sat down by the door of the carriage, put in her Bluetooth earbuds, and leaned her head against the handrail beside her.
A German children's audiobook was playing in her earbuds:
Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss saβ vor seiner Hohle und starrte in den Himmel. "Ich will ein groβes Abenteuer erleben!" (The little dragon Coconut sat in front of his cave, staring at the sky. "I want to experience a great adventure!")
/
Lin Qin had originally thought she wouldn't see Meng Jingnian again until May Day—holidays like that usually meant gatherings.
She hadn't expected that before the holiday, her uncle would call and ask if she could come home on Saturday.
Meng Luodi had acute gastroenteritis and hadn't fully recovered. Lin Zhengjun had a forum event on Saturday, and Meng Yingnian needed to travel out of town to meet a client—neither of them was in Nancheng, and they didn't feel comfortable leaving the kid home alone.
Lin Qin had originally planned to go shopping with a photographer friend on Saturday, but it wasn't particularly important, so she canceled it and agreed to her uncle's request. As soon as her Friday afternoon classes ended, she took the subway home.
Meng Luodi was no longer vomiting and having diarrhea frequently, but she was still low on energy, lying limp on the sofa watching TV.
Lin Qin found a thermometer and took her temperature—it was normal.
"What do you want for dinner?" Lin Qin asked.
"Ice cream."
"If you swear you won't rat me out, and you're prepared to have diarrhea for another two days, then I'll buy it for you."
Meng Luodi chuckled. "I was just kidding. You have no sense of humor."
"Be serious. I'm your guardian now."
Meng Luodi sat up, pressed her body against Lin Qin, wrapped her arms around Lin Qin's, and rested her head on Lin Qin's shoulder, whining, "Can we negotiate something, guardian?"
"Say it first."
"So… he wants to come over to see me."
"Who?"
"You know who, why are you even asking."
This childish little "romance" of theirs—surprisingly long-lasting. Lin Qin had seen the boy before. She'd heard he was top three in his grade—clean-cut and handsome, with a gentle, mild temperament, like a slice of low-sugar white cream cake.
She recalled what the kid looked like and suddenly realized—how was it that her aesthetic and Meng Luodi's were so identical?
"If he comes over, don't his parents care?"
"He's top three in his grade, you know. Doesn't he deserve at least this much freedom?"
"Up to you."
"Keep it secret!" Meng Luodi released Lin Qin in a second, grabbed her phone from under the throw pillow, opened WeChat, and sent a voice message: "Come on up."
Lin Qin: "…"
Five minutes later, a knock sounded at the door. Lin Qin wasn't surprised that no one had buzzed the intercom—people were always coming in and out of the building's main entrance, so the kid had probably slipped in with someone else.
Lin Qin told Meng Luodi to stay seated and walked over to open the door.
Her gaze was directed downward, because she expected to see a boy of about ten or so.
But what entered her field of vision was a light gray T-shirt—solid color, clean and neat, like the color of mist drifting through a mountain valley.
From the short sleeves hung arms with smooth, flowing lines, lightly muscled, fair-skinned, holding a white shopping bag.
Lin Qin froze for a moment before she managed to speak: "…Little Uncle."
Meng Jingnian smiled. "Is Melody feeling better?"
"Yeah." Lin Qin stepped aside to let Meng Jingnian in, glancing at his face—her eyes touched his straight nose, and she looked away before meeting his gaze. "…Did Auntie send you?"
"She's still worried about you two kids eating junk." Meng Jingnian lifted the shopping bag slightly. "I'm here to handle meals."