Zhang Qinghan went to a local university, a mere twenty-minute drive from home, yet she rarely returned.
It was only because of her elective assignment that she remembered a library book she had taken home earlier and never returned. Now, with the assignment deadline looming, she had no choice but to make the trip back.
In the depths of November, darkness fell earlier by the day. By the time she arrived, night had set in completely. Her car’s pale yellow headlights cut through the quiet, pitch-black street, and the slam of her car door triggered the voice-activated light at the main gate.
Moments later, a border collie reaching up to her knees bounded out from the villa, trotting across the yard and coming to a halt behind the iron gate.
Zhang Qinghan tapped the button on the side gate. “Dummy, open up for me.”
Without needing another word from her, the remarkably clever border collie reared up on its hind legs, pressing its front paws against the wall mechanism to release the gate for her.
Zhang Qinghan gave its head a gentle pat, and together, person and dog walked toward the brightly lit villa—a house full of light, yet devoid of anyone coming out to greet her.
The moment she pushed open the door, a wave of cozy warmth rushed out to meet her, closely followed by the cheerful strains of a “Happy Birthday” tune drifting around the corner from the living room. Zhang Qinghan nudged away Hanhan, who was panting happily and running silly circles around her legs, and kicked off her shoes with an unreadable expression before walking inside.
In the living room, the picture-perfect, festive family of four went still the instant they spotted her.
“Qinghan? Why didn’t you let your dad know you were coming back so I could pick you up?” Zhang Kejian spoke up, a flicker of awkwardness crossing his face.
Zhang Qinghan’s gaze swept impassively across the elaborate three-tiered cake sitting on the table. Her stepmother remained silent, watching her; her stepsister frowned; and her stepbrother, clutching a pair of designer Nikes worth several thousand yuan in his arms, stared up at her with a thoroughly displeased tilt of his chin.
She indifferently turned her gaze away. “I just came back to grab a few things.”
Without taking a single step toward the living room, she headed straight for the spiral staircase and went up to the second floor.
Zhang Kejian’s expression darkened for a moment. But catching the displeased look on his youngest son’s face, he forced a smile again. “Ah, don’t mind your sister. Come on, let’s look at the birthday gift Dad got you!”
The briefly silenced living room quickly burst back into lively celebration.
Returning to her room, Zhang Qinghan went to shut the door, but something blocked it. Turning around, she saw the border collie had followed her up, panting with its tongue out and giving her a happy doggy grin.
“What are you coming to me for? There’s no food here. Go find your master.”
This border collie belonged to her foolish younger brother, Zhang Yuanzhen. Unlike its owner, whose eyes rolled to the heavens or glared in hostility whenever he saw her, this silly dog loved sticking to her side every time she came home.
Zhang Qinghan mocked it for not knowing who its true master was and had gotten into the habit of calling it “Dummy.” Zhang Yuanzhen couldn’t stand his beloved dog being called a dummy, and the two had sparred over it several times. In the end, after she threatened with a cold sneer to cut up all his expensive Jordans,Zhang Yuanzhen didn’t dare gamble and had no choice but to turn a blind eye.
Rebuked by her soft reprimand, Dummy didn’t run off. Instead, it slithered right through the crack in the door and slipped inside.
Zhang Qinghan let out a faint, mocking chuckle. Looking at the dog silly-grinning up at her, she shut the door behind it and left it to its own devices while she began searching for her book.
Originally, with how pitch-black and freezing cold it was outside, she had planned to spend the night. But after witnessing the scene downstairs, her only desire now was to grab her things and leave immediately. Glancing at the winter clothes in her wardrobe, she dragged out a suitcase to pack a few extra items. Yet before she could finish, a sharp knock rattled her door.
Not in the least surprised, Zhang Qinghan set her face into a cold mask, got up, and swung the door open.
Zhang Yuanzhen leaned against the doorframe, a cocky, careless grin plastered on his face. “Sister, it’s my birthday. Aren’t you coming downstairs for a slice of cake? I really don’t get it—we’ve been a family for so long now, why are you still pushing us away?”
Zhang Qinghan offered a completely fake, deadpan smile. “You just asked me for a birthday present a few weeks ago. Another birthday?”
“That was my Gregorian calendar birthday. Today is my lunar birthday—how could they be the same?”
She could barely even remember the last time she had celebrated a birthday of her own.
He whistled toward the border collie, “Dashuai, come here!” then turned back to her. “Sis, since you’re back and you’ve seen what’s going on, you ought to get me a birthday present anyway. Otherwise, people are going to say you’re a pretty incompetent older sister.”
“Do you have amnesia? Isn’t the autographed basketball sitting on the shelf in your room from me?” If it hadn’t been for his relentless text bombardment and Zhang Kejian’s tireless, agonizing pleas—“Don’t stir up trouble, I’ll pay for it under your name, just give your brother a gift”—there was no way Zhang Qinghan would have ever bought him that basketball.
“Like I said, that was for my solar birthday. You still owe me one.”
Zhang Qinghan scoffed. “A whole living room packed with gifts, and you’re still desperate for mine?”
“Well, you are the sister who shares a dad with me. Of course yours is missing.”
Zhang Qinghan had no time to entertain a sixteen-year-old boy’s passive-aggressive pettiness and unprovoked hostility. She moved to shut the door and send him packing, but Zhang Yuanzhen barged straight past her, pushing his way inside. Reaching into her closet, he snatched a Chanel bag off the shelf.
“Sis, this bag is just sitting here gathering dust anyway. Why don’t you let me sell it for some cash so I can buy study materials?”
“You’re ranked dead last in your entire school. Instead of spending money on studying, you’d be better off getting your head checked.” She reached out to yank the bag back, but Zhang Yuanzhen only pulled it tighter into his chest.
“Whatever—it’s not like you bought it yourself. Some other guy got it for you anyway. You’re pretty enough; just go coax some more cash out of another man, and you’ll be set.”
Zhang Qinghan’s face went completely cold.
Zhang Yuanzhen sneered, “How much does Dad even make in a year? Yet here you are, carrying around designer bags worth tens of thousands every single day. No wonder people behind your back say you’re out there being a—”
CRASH!
Zhang Qinghan seized a trophy from nearby and hurled it straight at him. The sharp glass grazed his cheek,leaving a welt of crimson blood before smashing hard against the back of the door and shattering onto the floor.
The deafening crash echoed across the second floor. After a brief, dead silence, a violent shouting match erupted throughout the villa.
Half an hour later, the relentlessly blubbering Zhang Yuanzhen had finally quieted down in a corner of the sofa.Beside him, Huo Yan pressed gauze against her son’s injured cheek with heartache, her brows furrowed as she glared viciously at Zhang Qinghan.
Veins bulged on Zhang Kejian’s forehead, his face flushed red with rage as his palm slammed heavily against the polished marble tabletop. “Zhang Qinghan! What on earth did you come back for?! It’s your brother’s birthday—a rare occasion! Must you ruin it and make everyone miserable?! If he wanted the bag, why couldn’t you just give it to him? It’s not like I couldn’t just buy you another one!”
“Dad, I want one too then. I haven’t even carried a Chanel before,” Zhang Yuying chimed in, seizing the opportunity. Crossing her legs as she admired the rhinestones on her manicured nails while gleefully enjoying the drama.
Though her father was a manager at a glass factory, his annual salary was barely over a million yuan. If they hadn’t sold off a few demolished properties years ago to buy their current villa, their family wouldn’t even be living in a wealthy neighborhood, let alone regularly swapping out brand-name bags.
“If it’s such a big deal, Sis, why don’t you just lend me your bags? You’ve got an entire closet full of them anyway,” Zhang Yuying added glibly.
Zhang Qinghan’s voice turned ice-cold. “My room is off-limits. No one enters or leaves without my permission.”
“Nonsense!” Zhang Kejian slammed his hand down again, furious. “Zhang Qinghan, you’re stepping out of line! Do you even consider this place your home anymore?! Your sister just wants to borrow a bag, so why do you have to be so aggressive? Have I ever mistreated you over the years to make you act so hostile toward us every time you step through the door?!”
“Mistreated?”
Zhang Qinghan let out a cold, mocking laugh, feeling as though all the biting chill of winter had seeped straight into her chest.
It was almost absurdly funny. She looked around at the entire family staring back at her with frosty expressions, treating her like an unwelcome intruder while plotting how to drive this ultimate buzzkill out of their sight. The inferno that had risen in her chest burned fiercely for a brief second, only to abruptly sputter out into cold ash.
After all these years, she no longer had any desire to argue back. She simply threw out a sharp, cutting warning: “Anything in my room—if anyone dares touch it, don’t blame me when I call the police and treat them like a thief.”
“Utterly ridiculous!” Zhang Kejian was so consumed with rage that vision turned black for a second, leaving him gasping for air. “This is my house! Zhang Qinghan, your father isn’t dead yet! It’s not your place to lay down the law in this home! If you’re going to come back every time just to turn this family upside down, then pack up your things and get the hell out!”
“No, I’m not leaving. Half of this house belonged to me in the first place!” Zhang Qinghan turned around and headed back upstairs. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you—if anyone steps into my room, I won’t be polite.”
“Ungrateful! Unfilial! Zhang Qinghan, I know now you don’t respect me in the slightest!”
Zhang Qinghan didn’t even turn her head, completely ignoring Zhang Kejian, who was hopping mad downstairs.
Inside her room, Dummy shrank into a corner, gazing up at her with a pitiful, puppy-dog expression. As if aware that all this commotion was somehow its fault, the border collie pulled its head in, looking immensely wronged and guilty.
Zhang Qinghan exhaled a breath of cold air. “If your master were even half as endearing as you, he wouldn’t be as stupid as a dog.”
After packing her belongings, she turned and caught sight of the jade Buddha sitting inside her jewelry box on the desk.
It was a piece left to her by her mother—not made of any high-grade jade, yet Zhang Qinghan had kept it close all these years. Recalling the dragon-engraved jade ring set into the man’s walking cane, she muttered to herself that its value lay merely in the rarity of the jade itself; its craftsmanship didn’t even match the vivid,lifelike detail of her own Buddha.
She slid the Buddha into an inner pocket of her suitcase before zipping it shut and heading downstairs.
The first floor lay completely empty. Slices of cake remained scattered across the dining table, while the once piping-hot dishes had turned cold. The room, previously wrapped in cozy warmth and lively music, had sunk into a shadowy pitch-blackness—chilly and dead silent.
Her face remained devoid of emotion as she looked away. As she stepped out the door, she gave the border collie’s head a gentle pat. “Go to sleep, Dummy.”
She dragged her suitcase behind her and stepped away from the villa as it dissolved into darkness.
Finding a taxi on a winter night was no easy task, especially in a suburban villa district. By the time Zhang Qinghan finally climbed into a cab, her feet were completely numb with cold.
Her dorm building was already locked for the night. She ran through a list of people in her head before finally dialing Li Yangyang’s number. After a long pause, the line connected, drowned out by the harsh, blasting noise of a nightclub.
Only after Qinghan called out her name three times did a casual voice respond on the other end, completely unbothered: “Oh, stay at my place? Sure, come on over.”
She rattled off a door passkey and hung up immediately.
Li Yangyang was loaded, and everyone knew she owned an apartment near campus. Seeking refuge with her was by far the easiest option.
It was past two in the morning when Zhang Qinghan punched in the keycode and stepped into the warm apartment.
She had no interest in studying Li Yangyang’s interior decor, which looked like something straight out of a hotel showroom. Pushing open the guest room door, she slipped a cover over the duvet, washed up, and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
Shortly after, a heavy thumping sound dragged her awake.
Opening her eyes, she stared at the white ceiling and black-and-grey wallpaper, taking a few seconds to orient herself before flipping back the covers and stepping outside.
“Oh, you’re here,” Li Yangyang mumbled, kicking off her high heels as she staggered toward her. She reeked of alcohol, smelling as if she had just been pulled straight out of a wine barrel.
Zhang Qinghan instinctively knitted her brows. “How much did you drink?”
“Pfft, just a little… just a few bottles of Wusu.”
Even as the words left her mouth, she keeled straight over toward Zhang Qinghan and promptly went lights out.
Zhang Qinghan: “…”
Big Wusu—the beer notorious for knocking people flat in a single round.
She dragged Li Yangyang back into her bedroom, pulled off her shoes, tucked her under the covers, and wiped away her heavy makeup before heading into the kitchen to put a pot of porridge on the stove.
Dragging her suitcase along, she was just about to leave when her supervisor’s call came through.
“The water pipe next to your dorm burst yesterday—did Zhu He tell you?” the supervisor said. “All the bedding in your room got completely soaked, so you’ll need to come back and clean up your spot. But there’s an issue with the drainage system, so it’s going to take some time to repair. You know how tight student housing always is; a few local students in our department have already moved back home to free up space for Zhu He and the others.” The supervisor let out a small sigh. “Qinghan, I know your family lives locally and it isn’t far from campus. How about you stay at home for a while? The dorm’s completely flooded right now, and it’s going to take some time before anyone can move back in.”
Zhang Qinghan, luggage in hand, froze right in front of the elevator doors as they slid open. “…Alright, I understand, Teacher Feng.”
That evening, having finally slept off the alcohol, Li Yangyang spotted the pot of porridge in the kitchen. She warmed it up and gave Zhang Qinghan a call while sipping on it.
“Baby, you are so, so, so sweet!”
It wasn’t that no man had ever cooked porridge for her after a night out, but her wallet usually took a heavy hit in return.
Zhang Qinghan glanced at the time—it was already past six in the evening. She sighed with helpless resignation. “Take it easy on your body.”
“Got it, got it, I know~ Anyway, why’d you leave again? I thought you were gonna stay at my place long-term.Finally, some company!”
Zhang Qinghan hesitated, tempted by the suggestion. Taking a look at the utter mess of a dorm room around her, she briefly explained the situation with the burst pipe.
“Then come on over! What is there to even hesitate about?!”
Without further hesitation, Zhang Qinghan packed up her remaining belongings from the dorm and left campus once more.
And so, the two began living under one roof. Yet despite supposedly being roommates, over the entire week after Zhang Qinghan moved in, the two of them barely even crossed paths.
One was up early and out late, running off to classes and catching up on coursework at the library; the other spent her days asleep and her nights out at bars. It was a rare weekend overlap when Zhang Qinghan,watching runway walk tutorials at home, ran into Li Yangyang as she staggered through the front door—oblivious to a long, smeared streak of bold red lipstick across her lower face.
Zhang Qinghan handed her a tissue. Catching a glimpse of her desk, Li Yangyang teased, “Oho, so our department beauty is actually a hardworking super-nerd? Honestly, if you just lived off your looks, what couldn’t you have? What’s the point of hitting the books? At the end of the day, you still gotta sleep with men.”
She froze mid-sentence. Realizing what she had just blurted out, Li Yangyang caught herself with a jolt and laughed awkwardly. “Hahaha, I’m just talking trash, don’t mind me! I’m just used to talking with no filter around my usual crowd.”
Her explanation only made the atmosphere feel all the more awkward.
Zhang Qinghan let out a half-amused, cold smile. “Even if you sleep with a man, it has to be a rich, high-maintenance one. You can’t just sleep with anyone—otherwise, how are you going to get a good price?”
Her response was brutally blunt and raw. She supported Li Yangyang into the bedroom, adding, “Unless you’re aiming for alcohol poisoning, you should drink less.”
“Got it, got it~” Li Yangyang muttered with a bit of a guilty conscience, stealing a glance at her face. “That eligible bachelor I offered to introduce you to…”
She shook her head. “Out of reach.”
Li Yangyang gave a couple of awkward chuckles. “I mean, he’s just a divorced guy anyway—not even that great.”
Mumbling to herself, she faded out and stopped responding altogether.
Zhang Qinghan set down a glass of water for her, stepped out of the room, and closed the door behind her,quickly putting the entire conversation out of her mind.
If she hadn’t made the reckless mistake of picking fashion design as an elective back then, she wouldn’t be pulling all-nighters right now just to grind out design concepts. By the time she finally finished her initial draft,she realized she hadn’t crossed paths with Li Yangyang for several days straight.
She let out a soft sigh just as her class academic secretary rang her phone. “Tomorrow’s the awards ceremony—don’t forget about it, okay?”
Recently, the school hosted a Fashion Week competition, inviting Fashion and Art students from major universities across Jiangsu province to participate. Zhang Qinghan had secured first place as her department’s representative, and tomorrow she was scheduled to take the stage to receive an award from the university leadership.
This was hardly her first time winning an award, so she didn’t treat it with much gravity. Getting up early the next morning, she had a relaxed breakfast and completed her body alignment and posture exercises before leisurely making her way toward the stadium.
She hadn’t expected to see red banners fluttering in the wind from far away, signaling a massive turnout and an unexpectedly grand setup.
Zhu He’s phone calls came bombarding in: “Where are you?! I’ve already saved a seat for you!”
Their university stadium was the largest among all higher education institutions in Southern Jiangsu. Typically,when large-scale events were held here, filling two-thirds of the capacity was already considered a huge turnout. Yet by the time she arrived, the place was packed to the brim with a sea of people. The entrance was choked so tightly it was completely impassable, and a venue she could usually walk into in two minutes took her over twenty minutes just to squeeze through.
Taking a seat next to Zhu He, she asked in surprise, “What’s going on?”
Shi Huiju shouted back over the noise, completely helpless: “My dear overachiever, could you please pay a little attention to campus news while you’re grinding away at your coursework? In order to boost off-campus investment for the upcoming institutional evaluation, the school invited a ton of big business tycoons to today’s event—didn’t you know? They’re calling it an awards ceremony, but in reality, it’s a school-enterprise partnership pitch for investment!”
Zhang Qinghan was temporarily rendered speechless. Just then, her phone rang—it was the class academic secretary asking why she hadn’t arrived backstage yet.
She checked her watch. There was still half an hour before the event started, plus opening performances arranged by the school beforehand. It would easily be over an hour before it was her turn to go on stage. Even so, she didn’t say anything, simply agreed, stood up, and made her way backstage.
Upon arrival, she found everyone acting as if they were facing a formidable enemy. Models from the fashion department who had participated in countless competitions were all stiff-faced, and a few were even nervously biting their nails.
“Didn’t you know?!” Hearing Zhang Qinghan tell him to just keep a calm mindset, Gao Teng—a star model from a Northern Jiangsu university—cried out, “Your school is insane! They managed to invite Zhao He! Zhao He, do you know who that is?! He might be the one handing me my award!”
“Ahhhhhhh!” The towering 190 cm man nearly jumped up and down backstage. “Tell me, if I get insanely lucky and he happens to present my award, what pose should I use to take the flowers so I can catch even a tiny fraction of his financial luck?!”
Zhang Qinghan: “…”
“Zhao He?” The name struck a faint chord of familiarity.
“Yes! Zhao He!”
“The most sought-after, eligible divorced bachelor in all of Su Nan—no, scratch that, in all of Jiangsu province—Zhao He!”