Qiao Jingjing knew all the roads leading out of Shanghai—how could she not know the way back to Jing City?
Waking up in her old bed at home the next morning, this thought suddenly struck her, making her feel like her intelligence must have dropped to negative levels the previous night.
And come to think of it, hadn’t he ended up not going to refuel after all?
So it was probably just an excuse he came up with, and then he forgot about it himself?
Lying in bed with her eyes open, Qiao Jingjing thought about how weak and useless she had acted the night before and rolled over in frustration.
As she turned, she noticed a pile of things—no, wait, a person—by her bedside.
The person by the bed noticed she was awake, stood up holding her phone, and said cheerfully, "You’re finally awake."
Immediately after, she lowered her head, her fingers flying across the screen, a delighted expression on her face. "Finally, I can turn the sound on. Playing games on mute just doesn’t feel right."
Soon after, the sound effects of Honor of Kings filled the room.
Qiao Jingjing: "..."
She got up to brush her teeth and wash her face. By the time she returned, Peipei had finished her game and was sitting on the edge of the bed, eyeing her mischievously.
Qiao Jingjing: "...What are you doing?"
Peipei picked up Qiao Jingjing’s phone and waved it. "I didn’t mean to look, but a message popped up on its own. Yu Tu is asking if you’re awake."
Qiao Jingjing: "..."
She took the phone, glanced at the message, but didn’t reply.
Peipei leaned in closer. "Let me see your chat history."
Qiao Jingjing immediately turned off the screen. "No."
"You’re so annoying." Peipei playfully hit her and pressed further, "So, you and Yu Tu—what’s going on between you two now? Hehe."
Qiao Jingjing said, "High school classmates."
Peipei: "...Let me tell you, as your loyal supporter, I’ve been to all your events. Of course, I watched the competition too, okay? When I saw Yu Tu step on stage, my jaw dropped. When did you two reconnect?"
Qiao Jingjing: "Just in the game."
Peipei’s eyes widened. "And then you met up in real life, and he’s actually teaching you how to play?"
If you rounded it up, "Pretty much."
Peipei was instantly thrilled. "The genius student is teaching you how to play games? So your dream has come true?"
...Having a longtime best friend was really annoying—she knew every thought in her head.
Qiao Jingjing changed the subject. "When did you start playing games too?"
"After watching your competition, I thought it looked fun. My husband’s been playing for a while, so he’s teaching me. By the way, do you log in with WeChat or QQ? Your WeChat account, 'Shining Brightly,' hardly ever plays. Do you have another account?"
"I use a side account."
"Add me, add me!"
"Your WeChat? I’m on the QQ server."
"...Why would an adult use QQ?"
"Probably to avoid teaming up with you."
Peipei jumped up. "I’m already in Gold!"
"...Oh."
Cold indifference.
Peipei stayed at her place for a while before heading back for a family gathering. Qiao Jingjing also had a series of gatherings to attend. Relatives took the annual opportunity to admire her, showering her with enthusiasm, and she ended up signing a stack of photos for them.
After dinner on the third day of the new year, Peipei dropped by again. After hanging out in her room for a bit and feeling a little bored, she tried to persuade her: "How about we go out? Jing City has changed a lot over the past couple of years. The area around East Lake has been developed beautifully along the shore."She took out her phone to show Qiao Jingjing the photos. "Some small cafes have a really nice atmosphere, and they all have private booths. You probably won't be recognized if you go in, and you can enjoy the lake view. Want to go, want to go?"
Qiao Jingjing glanced at the photos and felt a little tempted. "Isn't it too late now?"
Peipei was speechless. "It's only seven! Have you been living in a big city for too long? Besides, we're going to see the night view anyway."
Qiao Jingjing thought for a moment. "Alright."
Going out might be better anyway, to avoid staying at home and constantly being tempted to check WeChat. What if she accidentally replied to him?
But once they arrived at the cafe, the main activity was still scrolling through their phones.
It must be because Peipei started playing games after just a few minutes of chatting. Qiao Jingjing irresponsibly shifted the blame onto her best friend.
Amid the sound effects of Peipei's game, Qiao Jingjing idly scrolled through her Moments and public accounts for a while before accidentally opening Yu Tu's WeChat again.
"Hey, you haven't replied to any of Yu Tu's messages?"
What do you mean "so many"? It's just one in the morning, one at noon, and one in the evening.
Wait!
Qiao Jingjing immediately closed her phone and pushed away the head leaning next to hers. "What are you doing? Focus on your game."
"I'm done already."
Peipei tugged at her. "Let me see. When I was dating my husband, didn't I send you hundreds of screenshots of our chats?"
Qiao Jingjing said irritably, "Did I ask for them? They're just taking up space on my phone."
"Stingy." Peipei sat back in her own chair across the table. "Hmph, even if you don't tell me, I can guess. I just found Yu Tu's driver's license in your car."
Qiao Jingjing froze.
Driver's license?
Oh right, she had moved to the front seat yesterday, and Yu Tu's driver's license had been left in the back seat. She had completely forgotten about it.
But why didn't Yu Tu remember to take it back either?
"I didn't look on purpose. I just saw it when I put my down jacket in the back seat. I thought it was yours, so I opened it to take a look. Ah~ I haven't seen the genius student in so long. He's still as handsome as ever in the photo." She sighed, then her tone shifted. "So, Miss Jingjing, may I ask why you were in the same car, and what were you doing in the back seat?"
Qiao Jingjing: "...Nothing happened."
Yesterday, after he drove her to her doorstep, he left first. Later, when her parents came out and didn't see the driver, they kept suspecting she had driven back herself.
But this answer clearly wasn't enough to convince Peipei, who had already imagined who knows what. She said sulkily, "Forget it, forget it. I won't pressure you."
"Actually, I think it's kind of satisfying. When have we ever seen the genius student like this But Jingjing, do you actually like him? If you do, don't keep leaving him hanging. The genius student is pretty proud too," Peipei reminded her.
Qiao Jingjing took a sip of her juice, thinking to herself that she wasn't leaving him hanging that much—she was just planning to leave him hanging for two months.
Unable to dig up any gossip, Peipei had no choice but to go back to playing on her phone.
The small booth grew a little quiet.
Qiao Jingjing remembered their school days, when they would find a place to do homework together, read novels together, and share their secret thoughts during holidays.
Back then, Peipei had also liked a boy. Later, though, she married someone else and lived a happy, fulfilling life.
She had once thought that Yu Tu would never be part of her life again.
If she didn't end up with Yu Tu, would she be happy?
Of course she would. She would make sure to live well.But somewhere, something felt different.
Peipei suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my god! Jingjing, we've been spotted."
Qiao Jingjing snapped back to attention, "What happened?"
"Seems like someone took photos of us and posted them on their Moments, and they got forwarded around until they reached our class group chat. Everyone's discussing you now and even @ me." She pushed her phone over for Jingjing to see.
Qiao Jingjing glanced down and saw messages rapidly scrolling in their high school class group chat.
"@Peipei, are you with Qiao Jingjing?"
"Where are you? I heard the photos were taken in the underground parking lot near Dongjiu."
"@Peipei, a bunch of classmates are gathering at KTV singing right now, tell Qiao Jingjing to come join!"
"Yeah yeah, it's been over ten years since we've seen everyone."
"Stop joking, a big star like her wouldn't come anyway."
Qiao Jingjing scrolled up to check the KTV gathering list, then handed the phone back to Peipei without much concern.
Peipei took the phone and declared firmly, "I'm going to pretend I'm dead."
After idly tapping on her phone for a while, she suddenly had an idea, "Jingjing, let me play on your King Tier account for a bit. I want to see what it's like in high-level matches."
Qiao Jingjing: "...Are you trying to ruin someone's game?"
Peipei protested, "I'm actually pretty decent, okay? I just haven't been playing Ranked Matches consistently. Please"
Qiao Jingjing was genuinely worried she'd get her account reported, but seeing her pleading expression, she reluctantly opened the game and handed over her phone. "If you can't handle it, give it back to me."
As soon as she said it, she froze. This was exactly what someone used to say to her—she never expected to be saying it to someone else today.
"Got it, got it." Peipei happily snatched the phone.
But despite her brave words, after browsing through Qiao Jingjing's profile, she chickened out, "Never mind, I'm too scared."
She wandered through Qiao Jingjing's account, occasionally making comments. "Your ID is so weird, what's with 'Picking Cotton'... Wow, your Ranked win rate is this high... Shanghai's 10th Baili Shouyue... Hey, you even have two five consecutive legendarys."
Qiao Jingjing was startled, "What?"
"Five consecutive legendarys, did you forget you did them yourself?"
Puzzled, Qiao Jingjing took her phone back.
The "Battle Records" section displayed various combat statistics for players, with the bottom showing counts for Most Valuable Player, triple kills, quadruple kills, five consecutive legendarys, and godlike sprees. All her other stats were normal, but next to "five consecutive legendarys" was indeed the number 2.
This meant she had achieved two five consecutive legendarys.
But before the entertainment match, that number had been zero, and after the competition ended, she hadn't played the game since.
Where did these two five consecutive legendarys come from?
A vague memory flickered in her mind. Qiao Jingjing urgently opened the "Match History."
Then her gaze froze.
"Jingjing? Jingjing?"
A few minutes later, seeing her still staring at the game interface, Peipei couldn't help but wave a hand in front of her face.
Qiao Jingjing looked up, her eyes seeming to sparkle, "The classmates are gathering at KTV tonight?"
Peipei nodded, "Yeah."
Qiao Jingjing said, "I want to go."
"Huh?" Peipei stared at her blankly.
"Give me your phone."
Peipei numbly unlocked her phone and handed it over. Qiao Jingjing took it, opened the class WeChat group, and sent a message.
Peipei:
Okay, I'll bring her over right now ^_^ @everyone
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