After a long moment, Yu Tu snapped back to reality. "Long time no see."
Qiao Jingjing nodded and replied, "Long time no see."
Yu Tu remained silent for a while before suggesting, "Shall we go check your purifier?"
Qiao Jingjing: "..."
She cleared her throat. "I've been cooped up at home for days without going out, feeling a bit dizzy. How about we take a walk outside first?"
Yu Tu raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Ah~ well," Qiao Jingjing sighed dramatically, though her expression remained lively. "Originally, I planned to use the 'no electricity' ultimate skill, but Ding Chaoqun already used it. Faced with such an adorable purifier, I couldn't bring myself to damage it... So, it's working perfectly fine."
Yu Tu looked somewhat surprised, hesitating before saying, "It's quite cold outside."
Qiao Jingjing was taken aback, following his gaze to her legs. Noticing Yu Tu quickly avert his eyes, she chuckled inwardly.
"Alright, I'll go change."
Just a short walk from Qiao Jingjing's residential complex was the riverside promenade along the Huangpu River. Though just across the river from the Bund, this area was much less crowded.
Qiao Jingjing had changed into long pants, let her hair down, and added a hat, mask, and plain glasses—completely concealing her appearance. However, her years as a celebrity had ingrained in her a naturally striking presence. Coupled with Yu Tu's tall, impressive figure in his trench coat, the pair inevitably drew frequent glances from passersby.
Qiao Jingjing suddenly remarked, "I feel a bit unsafe walking with you."
Yu Tu: "...Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"
He was the one who should worry about being spotted by her fans at any moment, right?
"No, sometimes when I go for walks with Xiao Zhu—the girl from earlier—we don't get this many stares."
Qiao Jingjing rummaged in her large sweater pocket and surprisingly pulled out a mask, handing it to him. "Don't get me discovered; it'll make headlines."
Yu Tu was highly skeptical. Wouldn't a grown man wearing a pink mask attract even more attention? And wasn't it too coincidental that she happened to have a mask in her pocket?
Recalling their recent gaming sessions and how he'd been "tricked" into coming today... Yu Tu was quite certain this wasn't a coincidence. But Qiao Jingjing's outstretched hand was so insistent that he had no choice but to take the mask and put it on.
Then he saw Qiao Jingjing's eyes curve triumphantly, and he couldn't help but smile inwardly. He never expected this high school classmate to be so... playful?
With their masks on, they continued walking. Seeing Qiao Jingjing completely at ease with no intention of speaking, Yu Tu finally broke the silence with his question. "How did you end up gaming with me?"
"Ah?" Qiao Jingjing seemed distracted, turning to blink at him. "You invited me? Was it a misclick? Don't you remember?"
Of course, Yu Tu remembered, but, "How were you in my QQ friends list?"
Qiao Jingjing felt frustrated. Did she really need to explain secretly adding him on QQ back then? She shot him a sharp glance and retorted with full authority, "Do you have amnesia?"
Yu Tu immediately understood, feeling a twinge of embarrassment himself.“Did you still want to ask why I invited you here today?” Noticing the conversation was veering toward awkward small talk, Qiao Jingjing decided to cut straight to the point.
Yu Tu looked at her, waiting for her to continue.
Qiao Jingjing thought for a moment and asked him, “Do you have Weibo?”
Yu Tu nodded. “Yes.”
“Then log in and check my Weibo page.”
Yu Tu glanced at her, took out his phone, logged into Weibo, and found Qiao Jingjing’s profile. There, he saw her latest post.
Qiao Jingjing V:
Just bought an incredibly cute rabbit purifier—works great, and most importantly, isn’t it super adorable?
Below the post was a selfie of her making rabbit ears next to the purifier.
His gaze lingered on the picture for a moment before he scrolled down to the comments. Though the post had only been up a short while, the comments had already surpassed fifty thousand and were still climbing. Most of the replies were along the lines of “Yes, yes, yes! Goddess, you’re so cute!” or “Buying the purifier the goddess recommended!”
Just then, a WeChat notification popped up on his phone screen.
Mu Yi: Wow, are we that rich now? We actually hired a celebrity to advertise?
Yu Tu tapped into the message. The institute’s main work group chat was buzzing with discussion. About three or four people had simultaneously posted screenshots of Qiao Jingjing’s Weibo post.
Wang Chun: How much does it cost for someone as popular as Qiao Jingjing to post something like this? @XieYueYiLun, isn’t your husband at the partner company? Ask him.
A slanted moon: Asked. He said they didn’t hire her! They inquired before, and even minor celebrities charge 300,000 per post—how could they afford Qiao Jingjing?
The crescent moon: My husband said the Taobao shop sold out, and there are tons of backorders. They didn’t stock much—never expected something like this to happen.
Li Lun: Speaking of which, the only promotion before this was having all the employees share it in their Moments, right? This is insane.
Yu Tu put away his phone and looked up at Qiao Jingjing.
“Why?”
Qiao Jingjing’s eyes sparkled. “Well, I don’t have any endorsements in this category anyway, so it’s not a conflict. Just showing some support for the aerospace industry.”
Yu Tu watched her for a moment, then suddenly smiled. “Thank you.”
With that, he continued walking.
Qiao Jingjing was stunned. “…Wait!”
She caught up to him and noticed the slight curve at the corner of his mouth. Realizing she’d been tricked, she felt a bit annoyed. “That wasn’t very nice of you.”
“I thought ‘not nice’ was tricking me into thinking the unit was holding an Honor of Kings competition.”
Qiao Jingjing felt a twinge of guilt but quickly justified herself. “It wasn’t really a trick. I really am going to compete in an Honor of Kings match.”
Yu Tu raised an eyebrow slightly, expressing his confusion.
“Did you know I’m an endorser for Honor of Kings?”
Yu Tu nodded. “For a while, there was an event in the game where you were giving out Runes.”
“Oh~ Anyway, in about a month, I’ll be competing on stage with professional players.” Qiao Jingjing didn’t bother explaining further. “Just scroll back through my Weibo, and you’ll see.”
Three minutes later, Yu Tu finished scrolling. “…So next month, you’re competing live at the KPL? With selected lucky players?”
“Five lucky players, plus me—that makes six. There will also be four professional players, but that part hasn’t been announced yet.”
Yu Tu fell silent.
Qiao Jingjing asked nervously, “What do you think of my gaming skills? If I go compete…”
Yu Tu deliberated for a moment before offering a polite assessment. “Even with one more of you on the team, I doubt we could win.”"……" Qiao Jingjing glared at him in frustration.
"So," Yu Tu pondered, "you want me to teach you?"
Talking with smart people really saved effort. Qiao Jingjing pretended to be nonchalant: "Is that okay? Not like those online sessions before—those weren't very efficient... It'd be best to teach in person. Since you're on vacation, it shouldn't interfere with your work, right?"
Qiao Jingjing suddenly felt a bit shy inside, though her expression remained flawless and perfectly calm!
Yu Tu seemed hesitant.
"I've never watched the Professional League, so I don't know what their skill level is like. I'm not sure if I can teach you."
"That shouldn't matter. It's not like I can find anyone else to teach me, you know."
Having just watched her get utterly defeated in the video, Yu Tu understood what she meant. However, he looked at her intently, "You trust me?"
"Ah?" Qiao Jingjing was puzzled. "You're my classmate." Besides, there were no conflicts of interest between them.
What else could Yu Tu say? He sighed inwardly, suddenly finding it somewhat amusing.
He recalled a long time ago, during their first year of high school, when a girl suddenly approached him and declared arrogantly, "Yu Tu, teach me math. I'll treat you to KFC."
How similar.
He couldn't remember why he had refused back then, but now there didn't seem to be any reason to refuse. Plus, he really had nothing better to do, so he nodded and said, "Alright."
Surprisingly, Qiao Jingjing was taken aback. Although she had been confident that he would agree once she asked, was it really this simple?
"Really?"
"Mhm."
"And you're willing?"
Yu Tu nodded.
Qiao Jingjing brightened up immediately and started heading back. "Then let's not stroll anymore. Let's go back and play games."
Yu Tu could hardly keep up with her pace. "Won't it be inappropriate with your parents around?"
"Who said my parents are here? They're back in our hometown." Qiao Jingjing immediately erased the previous script and said cheerfully, "Only the rabbit purifier is at my place."
The way back was completely different from the way there—there was no awkward silence because... Yu Tu kept asking her various questions about the game.
Qiao Jingjing was a bit dazed. Was he already switching into genius student teaching mode?
It wasn't until they reached her building that Yu Tu stopped questioning her. He said somewhat helplessly, "How did the person who taught you before explain things?"
Qiao Jingjing felt the disdain from the genius student and said gloomily, "Do you actually study all this when you play games?"
"You don't need to study it. You can figure it out after a few rounds. These details can sometimes decide the outcome." He glanced at his watch. "It's too late today. I won't go up."
Qiao Jingjing saw that it was already ten o'clock and nodded.
"Then tomorrow, say, 9 a.m.? You come over?" Qiao Jingjing sought his opinion. "You know it's not very convenient for me to go out."
Yu Tu actually felt it was a bit improper, but there didn't seem to be any other place to go. After a moment's thought, he still said, "Alright."
"Then... goodbye." Qiao Jingjing waved at him.
"Goodbye."
Yu Tu politely pressed the elevator button and waited for Qiao Jingjing to enter before turning to leave.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, Qiao Jingjing nearly cheered.
"Xiao Zhu!" She bounded happily into her home. "A dream from my teenage years has come true!"
Xiao Zhu was excitedly curled up on the sofa, reporting the details to Ling Jie. Hearing this, she quickly put down her phone: "What dream?"
Qiao Jingjing: "The genius student is teaching me math!"Xiao Zhu: ???
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