Tomorrow was the so-called preliminary round. If Xu Shi hadn’t been chatting with Yu Lingshan, Yu Lingshan wouldn’t have paid it much mind; it seemed like just another ordinary event in life.
The competition wasn’t a big deal. Xu Shi had already heard about the procedures and such from Teacher Zhang several times. There was a time limit: contestants had to upload their work within a specific window on Wednesday morning. Missing it was equivalent to being eliminated.
So, Xu Shi had specifically requested the morning off. She was afraid that if she were at the office, something might come up during that exact time slot.
“Then you can sleep in,” Yu Lingshan remarked after hearing Xu Shi had taken time off.
Xu Shi said, “I don’t sleep in.”
Yu Lingshan looked at Xu Shi on the screen. “Who are you throwing shade at?”
Xu Shi smiled. “No one~ I’m just stating a fact.”
Yu Lingshan scoffed and went back to looking in the mirror. “Xiao Zhi has been something else lately, huh.”
“I heard Ying Jie is participating this time too,” Xu Shi said. “I don’t know which group she’s in.”
Yu Lingshan let out a disdainful laugh. “It doesn’t matter which group she’s in. It’ll all end for her tomorrow.”
Xu Shi understood what she meant. “You’re that certain she won’t pass the preliminaries?”
Yu Lingshan said, “This thing has been held for so many years, and she’s never once passed the preliminary round.”
Xu Shi was delighted. “Scrub.”
On the other end, Yu Lingshan burst out laughing. “Not bad, Xiao Zhi.”
Before Xu Shi could say anything, Yu Lingshan quickly added, “Don’t you dare say I taught you that.”
Xu Shi swallowed her words on the spot.
She asked Yu Lingshan, “So, your period, do you get cramps?”
Yu Lingshan shook her head. “No.”
Xu Shi was surprised. “Not at all?”
Yu Lingshan said, “Not this time. It depends. Sometimes I do.”
Xu Shi said, “Then you have to tell me when you get them in the future.”
Yu Lingshan smiled. “You’re going to take care of me?”
“Of course.”
“What if we’re far apart?”
“Then I’ll call you.”
“Will calling help?”
“I’ll chat with you and distract you.”
Yu Lingshan laughed. “You’re not supposed to say that.”
Xu Shi asked, “Then what should I say?”
Yu Lingshan said, “You should ask me back, ‘Yu Lingshan, are you a contrarian?’”
“Haha, true.”
Yu Lingshan’s expression changed in an instant, and Xu Shi immediately backed down. “Not true at all!”
Yu Lingshan was amused by Xu Shi and laughed. “Let me rephrase,” she said, smiling at the Xu Shi on her screen. “From now on, I’ll try my best to be by your side during my period.”
Xu Shi’s eyes curved into crescents. “Okay.”
After saying that, Yu Lingshan started blow-drying her hair. The sudden loud noise forced Xu Shi into silence. She propped her head on her hand and admired Yu Lingshan.
It took Yu Lingshan over ten minutes to dry her hair. After putting the hairdryer away, she asked Xu Shi, “Can you often not go home to sleep?”
Xu Shi understood immediately. She thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I’ve never done that before.”
Yu Lingshan asked, “What do you say when you sleep over at a friend’s house?”
“I don’t sleep over at friends’ houses. I usually go home.”
Yu Lingshan suddenly looked pleased. “No way, no way. You’ve only ever slept with me?”
Xu Shi’s eyes curved down. “Too bad, that’s not it.”
Yu Lingshan was speechless.
“In the future, if I’m not the only one, please don’t lead in by making it sound so special, okay?”
Xu Shi’s smile deepened. “I know, I’m sorry,” she explained. “I went on a trip with some classmates before, and we all slept together then.”
“Oh.”
“I could have had my own bed, but one of my classmates was really clingy and wanted to do everything with me.”
“Oh.”
“She slept with me for those few days.”
Just as Xu Shi seemed about to share something else, the hairdryer on Yu Lingshan’s end suddenly turned on, and she even blew it toward the camera for a moment.
Xu Shi jumped, instinctively leaning back.
After that interruption, Xu Shi didn’t bring up her high school classmate again. It was already late, and soon, the two said their goodnights and hung up.
Xu Shi shut down her computer. When she returned from washing up, she saw a new message from Yu Lingshan.
Fairy Wife: Xiao Zhi
Just those three words, nothing else.
Xu Shi: Here, here, here
Xu Shi: Just went to brush my teeth
Xu Shi: What’s up?
Fairy Wife: [Video]
Fairy Wife: Okay, I’m going to bed. Good night.
Xu Shi replied with a “good night” and opened the video. The style was the same as the one Yu Lingshan had sent a few days ago—it was recorded by the security camera in Yu Lingshan’s home.
Xu Shi had a bad feeling. She glanced at the timestamp in the corner and realized it was a video of her from the night she got drunk a few days ago.
The entire clip was fifteen minutes long. Xu Shi thought, Don’t tell me we kissed for that long?
As it turned out, that wasn’t it. This video was even more embarrassing.
Unlike the last one, this one had sound. And because the camera was in the living room, Xu Shi’s expression in the video was crystal clear.
She was sitting alone on the rug, her gaze vacant, looking completely dazed.
Xu Shi was speechless.
It got even more speechless-worthy. As she continued watching, she saw herself start to cry.
She cried for about five minutes before Yu Lingshan came back. She sat down next to Xu Shi and asked her why she was crying.
The long conversation that followed made Xu Shi’s skin crawl with goosebumps.
How could she be so capable?
Saying things like that?
And crying so hard.
So cringe, save me.
And that last part… she looked way too thirsty. The thirst was practically radiating from the screen.
After watching it, Xu Shi collapsed weakly onto her bed. She let out a laugh at the ceiling, then rolled over and buried her face in her pillow.
What was all that? How could she be like that when she drank too much?
No wonder her eyes were a little red when she went to shower that day. It turned out she had started crying that early, and cried like that.
After composing herself in bed for a while, Xu Shi opened her chat with Yu Lingshan.
Xu Shi: Finished watching
Xu Shi thought Yu Lingshan was already asleep, but to her surprise, she got an instant reply.
Fairy Wife: Your review?
Xu Shi: Haha
Xu Shi: I want to go bury myself
Xu Shi continued to ask: So, um, there were those two other times, during the event
Xu Shi: What… did I… do?
Fairy Wife: Use your toes to think about what you did.
Yu Lingshan’s messages were just text, nothing particularly heated, but Xu Shi could feel her temper. She could even imagine the expression on Yu Lingshan’s face right now.
She thought, if she were next to Yu Lingshan right now, her face would definitely be pinched swollen.
Xu Shi: Hehe
Xu Shi: I’m sorry
Xu Shi: You could have pushed me away
Xu Shi: That person was so forward
Xu Shi: You should have hit her
Xu Shi expected Yu Lingshan to go along with it and start roasting her, but unexpectedly, the reply was: Why would I?
Xu Shi: Huh?
Fairy Wife: The kissing was pretty good.
Fairy Wife: But that compliment is limited to when you’re drunk.
Fairy Wife: Think about why for yourself.
Xu Shi: Hahaha I’ll do some self-reflection.
And reflect she did. Xu Shi opened the video again, skillfully fast-forwarded to the end, to the part where she used her mouth to undo Yu Lingshan’s button.
Then she paused the video and set her phone face down beside her.
She had some moves, hahaha.
Xu Shi picked up her phone again: Teacher Yu, give me another chance.
What Xu Shi didn’t know was that on the other end, Yu Lingshan smiled when she read those words.
Fairy Wife: Is it appropriate to be teasing me now? In the middle of the night?
Xu Shi burst out laughing.
Yu Lingshan added: Is one time enough?
Xu Shi: Of course not.
Fairy Wife: Just you wait. I’ll come find you tomorrow and settle the score.
Lying on her stomach, Xu Shi read the message and sighed.
How are you going to settle the score when you’re on your period?
Tomorrow feels so far away. When will tomorrow come?
The next day’s preliminary round was very simple, and the results were out by the afternoon.
There was a small incident at noon. While Xu Shi was eating lunch, a link was posted in her training group chat. The link claimed that Ying Jie’s work this time wasn’t her own—she had plagiarized.
Xu Shi followed the link to Weibo and found that the post was made by a female university student.
A familiar plot, a similar experience. Xu Shi carefully read the entire post.
But when she clicked on the comments, all the text below disappeared. Xu Shi thought her internet was lagging, but when she clicked on the student’s Weibo profile, she found that the post had already been deleted.
Back in the group chat, everyone was also saying they couldn’t see the post anymore.
Xu Shi opened her keyboard, but her mind suddenly went blank. She didn’t know what to say.
But just as she was about to exit, she saw her Senior send three words: A repeat offender.
He added: Right, Xu Shi?
Xu Shi suddenly smiled and replied: Yes.
Others chimed in: People like that are really…
Someone else: So shameless.
…
A scrub and shameless.
Around three-thirty, while Xu Shi was revising something a client had sent over, she received an email from the event organizers. She clicked it open, smiled at the contents, then closed her inbox and continued working.
There wasn’t much to do today, so Xu Shi could leave work on time.
When she got downstairs, she didn’t know why, but a sudden shiver ran through her.
Then she looked to her right, to the spot where Yu Lingshan often parked.
With just one glance, Xu Shi’s eyes instantly curved into crescents.
Yu Lingshan was really there, standing by her car. When she saw Xu Shi’s gaze land on her, she tilted her head and smiled.
No wonder she hadn’t replied to her messages. She was waiting here all along.
Xu Shi’s steps instantly became light. She started walking, then broke into a jog, and finally leaped in front of Yu Lingshan.
“Why did you come sneakily again?” Xu Shi said.
Yu Lingshan asked, “Are you happy to see me?”
Xu Shi was so happy her eyes nearly disappeared. “Of course I’m happy.” She took a step closer to Yu Lingshan. “The results for the preliminary round are out. They came out this afternoon.”
“Oh?” Yu Lingshan said. “How did it go?”
Xu Shi couldn’t help but raise her hands, the joy she had been suppressing at the office suddenly bursting forth. She held up her index finger to Yu Lingshan, smiling as she said, “First place in Group A.”
The moment she finished speaking, Yu Lingshan’s hand suddenly appeared from behind her back, holding a small bouquet of flowers.
“Congratulations,” Yu Lingshan said.
Xu Shi laughed out loud with joy. As she took the flowers, she also wrapped Yu Lingshan in a hug. “So you knew all along, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Yu Lingshan said, stroking Xu Shi’s head. “This was an expected outcome.”
“Hehe.”
Xu Shi’s smile was so infectious that it made Yu Lingshan keep smiling too.
Xu Shi only hugged her lightly before letting go. She admired the flowers for a second, then glanced left and right. Seeing no one around, she suddenly gave Yu Lingshan a quick kiss.
“Thank you, Teacher Yu, and thank you for the flowers.”
She kissed and ran, circling around the car to open the door and dive inside, leaving a trail of words behind her. “I’m treating you to dinner tonight!”
With that, she slammed the car door shut with a bang.
Through the glass window, Yu Lingshan watched the person inside and started to laugh.
This is good.
Xiao Zhi is back.
