Xu Lingxin smoothed the poster and then stuck the four corners with adhesive.
Finally, she took a small step back, gazing at the bright and shiny figures on the wall.
She spoke slowly, "People always need some motivation, don't they?"
"Mm."
Wen Tingxue nodded in agreement.
However, she truly hadn't expected Xu Lingxin to be a fan.
So she was a little surprised.
-
Black Hole Bar.
When Wen Tingxue and the others arrived, Chi Zerui was sitting at the bar drinking.
Yu Jie stood next to him, weeping profusely.
Her voice was intermittent.
"Don't break up, okay? Is there anything I'm not doing right? Tell me, I'll change, okay? A Rui..."
She reached out to grab Chi Zerui's arm.
Chi Zerui's eyes showed impatience as he dodged, his thin lips parting to utter two words.
"Get lost."
"How can you be like this!"
Yu Jie cried uncontrollably, "You were the one who pursued me first! You played basketball on the court for me!"
Chi Zerui ignored her, not even looking at her, just downing glass after glass of alcohol.
Que You came from the restroom and found Yu Jie still there.
He couldn't help but advise, "You should go back. A Rui is in a bad mood today, and there's no point in you staying."
"But he wants to break up with me!"
Yu Jie covered her face, tears streaming down uncontrollably.
"He wants to break up with me, how can I leave? I like him so much..."
Que You couldn't stand the woman crying anymore.
He stood with his hands on his hips, biting the tip of his tongue in annoyance.
When he spoke again, he was less polite.
"Can you cry somewhere else? He says he's breaking up with you, and crying until the Great Wall falls won't change anything.
"Have you ever seen one of his ex-girlfriends cry and not break up?"
Can't she read the room? Didn't she see he was in an unbelievably bad mood today?
Around this time every year, no one dared to provoke him.
Not even Brother Yu.
Yu Jie shed tears aggrievedly, refusing to leave.
Chi Zerui drank silently, indifferent to everyone.
Que You had a headache, so he simply walked over and sat next to Yu Wenli.
"Why is he in such a bad mood today?"
Que You mused. Yu Wenli raised an eyebrow, "Don't you know?"
"..."
Que You paused for two seconds and emphasized, "But it's never been this bad."
Yu Wenli swirled the wine glass in front of him noncommittally.
Then he turned to Xing Jiahe and said, "Take her to the dance floor."
Xing Jiahe responded a beat later, "Okay."
Only then did Que You notice Xu Lingxin sitting next to Wen Tingxue, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"Isn't that..."
"Brother Que You, when did you get here?"
Wen Tingxue smiled and gently cut him off.
She was afraid Que You would mention that night and make the class monitor uncomfortable.
Que You understood, withdrew his gaze, and followed Wen Tingxue's lead in the conversation.
Xing Jiahe messaged the DJ, asking them to play a more explosive and energetic track.
Then he picked up a bottle of wine and led Xu Lingxin to the dance floor.
Fearing they would get separated in the crowd, he leaned down and asked:
"Am I holding onto your clothes, or are you holding onto mine?"
His voice was rather cold, and after not speaking for a while, it had a slight hoarseness.
It was very alluring.
Especially in the noisy bar, it was a unique heavenly sound.
Xu Lingxin blinked, then looked up, meeting his glassy pupils hidden beneath the brim of his hat.
They were very pale.
Almost devoid of emotion.
As if he saw everything as empty.
But they were incredibly beautiful.
Like an ink wash painting.
"...Either is fine," Xu Lingxin said.
"Then you pull."
Xing Jiahe didn't waste words and directly handed her the corner of his jacket.
He was wearing a black windbreaker today, the fabric was somewhat stiff and slippery.
Xu Lingxin had to use a lot of force to avoid losing him.
Xing Jiahe quickly realized this and decisively took her sleeve and led her forward.
Due to childhood experiences, Xu Lingxin was quite averse to physical contact with the opposite sex.
At its worst, any touch from a male would make her feel involuntarily disgusted.
Wishing she could wash the touched spot a thousand times.
Sometimes, even contact with the same sex was difficult.
However, over the years, interacting with various debt collectors, she had gradually gotten used to physical contact.
But she still felt a lingering unease.
Yet, Xing Jiahe... didn't give her that feeling.
Perhaps it was because of his pure intentions.
Even when forced to make contact, he tried to avoid her exposed skin, only touching the covered areas of her clothing.
-
After Xing Jiahe and Xu Lingxin left, Yu Wenli also got up with his wine glass.
He sat down next to Chi Zerui, and the boy who had been drinking silently finally looked up.
Wen Tingxue had been watching the situation and noticed that Chi Zerui was still wearing the same vest from the video call earlier.
However, he now had a red hoodie with a zipper over it.
Although Chi Zerui's潔癖 (cleanliness obsession) wasn't as severe as Yu Wenli's, he generally wouldn't wear dirty clothes again.
Unless it was a special circumstance, or perhaps he simply wasn't in the mood to change.
Wen Tingxue suspected it was the latter.
"Curious?"
Que You had a good impression of the young girl, and she was someone Brother Yu liked.
Therefore, he had no intention of keeping things hidden.
She nodded, and he said, "Today is Qingming Festival."
"Hmm?"
"His mother died in childbirth when he was born."
"Ah...?"
"He didn't find out until he was twelve that the mother he had called for twelve years wasn't his biological mother."
"Huh?!"
"But rather his father's first love, his mother's rival for most of her life."
"What?!"
The pieces of information Que You dropped were more explosive than the last.
By the end, Wen Tingxue didn't know what expression to put on.
This was... too unbelievable.
Que You glanced at Chi Zerui, who was still drinking, and sighed.
"Many people don't know much about the Chi family's affairs, so keep what you've heard to yourself."
"Okay."
Wen Tingxue nodded.
Que You took a cigarette out of his pocket, fiddled with it between his fingers, his gaze following the smoke.
"This all started with the Chi family's rules..."
The Chi family was a hundred-year-old family in Jiangcheng, with considerable status, and naturally, many rules.
The most important one was that the heir must bring long-term benefits to the family.
To put it more directly, marriage alliances.
At that time, the Chi family's matriarch had chosen the daughter of the Qiao family in Ancheng as the bride for Chi Zerui's father.
Qiao Yanyan.
That girl had liked Chi An since she was little.
Otherwise, the Chi family wouldn't have been able to secure such a marriage.
But Chi An disagreed, as he already had someone he cared for.
Yin Qingyue, the daughter of the nanny who had taken care of his daily life since childhood.
The Chi family matriarch naturally looked down on her and insisted on separating them.
She even threatened to die if they didn't comply.
Chi An reluctantly agreed to the marriage.
It wasn't that he hadn't resisted, but he couldn't abandon the family, nor could he disobey his mother.
Most importantly, Yin Qingyue also hoped he would consider the overall situation.
At that time, the Chi family was in a state of internal and external turmoil.
His parents were in poor health, and his younger brother was only seven years old.
If he abandoned the Chi family and left, he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Therefore, he could only inherit the company and marry the Qiao family's daughter.
There was one more chapter~