Chapter 25 Part 2

[Xu Zhinan: Yes.]

[Xu Zhinan: Did you need me for something?]

Relying on the fact that Xu Zhinan had once said she would be responsible for him, he replied slowly: Let's meet today.

[Xu Zhinan: Okay, is there something you need?]

In just these few sentences, Xu Zhinan had already asked him three times if he needed something. He could just imagine how reserved Xu Zhinan must be, holding her phone and replying.

Lin Qingye deliberately teased her: To cultivate our feelings.

The other end went quiet. A good while later, she replied: Okay, can we go to the library then?

'Cultivating feelings in a goddamn library.'

Lin Qingye leaned back, holding up his phone: No.

Xu Zhinan replied in a negotiating tone: Then where would be more convenient for you?

At that moment, Lin Qingye was sitting at his desk in the studio arranging music. He had originally wanted to ask her to come directly to the studio, but thinking the girl was quite guarded and probably wouldn't dare, he changed his mind.

[Lin Qingye: Let's go to the bar. There's an event this afternoon at one o'clock.]

[Xu Zhinan: Okay, I'll be there on time.]

The stage at 'Ye Bar' was beautifully built. In front of the circular stage was a T-shaped runway. At that time, the venue had been rented out during the day for a modeling event, and there was a runway show.

Since there would be scattered customers on the bar's first floor during the day, the two of them went directly to a private room on the second floor, which was normally closed during the day. A translucent curtain outside blocked the view from below.

Xu Zhinan wasn't very interested in the runway show and didn't know what to talk about. Lin Qingye also showed no intention of starting a conversation, so she took a Buddhist scripture out of her schoolbag and opened it to read.

That was the first time Lin Qingye had seen someone of this age reading a Buddhist scripture. He squinted in surprise and asked, "What's this?"

"The Surangama Sutra," she said seriously.

"..."

"This thing—" He reached over and picked up a corner of the book's pages. "Doesn't looking at this make you dizzy?"

He picked up the book and tossed it onto the sofa next to them. Xu Zhinan's gaze followed the book intently, like a mother cat watching her kitten being carried away.

"Does it still hurt?"

"What?" She was still looking at the Buddhist scripture on the sofa, not realizing what he meant.

Lin Qingye didn't explain further. He just chuckled, but the laugh was ambiguous, tinged with a bit of playfulness and a mischievous smirk.

Xu Zhinan froze for two seconds, then understood. Her face instantly turned beet red, as if voice-activated. Her gaze lowered, her dark lashes trembling, and then she stood up, moved to the sofa, and hugged the Buddhist scripture back into her arms.

"What you did was greatly disrespectful," she said with her head down.

Lin Qingye pulled his thoughts back to the present, looked at the charlatan, walked forward again, and took out his phone. "Where's your QR code?"

The charlatan snorted. "You think buying it makes it not disrespectful!"

"So are you selling it or not."

She pulled out the QR code and slapped it down in front of him. "Why wouldn't I sell it? The gods and Buddhas need incense money too. If you're not sincere, you're the only one who loses."

Seemingly annoyed by Lin Qingye's attitude, the female charlatan's tone wasn't very good either.

As Lin Qingye was using his fingerprint to approve the transfer, he was still puzzled. He clearly knew this charlatan, asking for five hundred one moment and a thousand the next, was definitely scamming him, and there was no way he would actually ingest this powder without even knowing if it was poisonous. Yet, he was still willing to throw this thousand yuan down the drain.

After he paid, the female charlatan pulled a ballpoint pen from her pocket and wrote on the kraft paper: Take with warm water, all at once. Inner demons will be severed, fated love will come quickly. So say the spirits of heaven and earth.

She placed the powder packet in Lin Qingye's palm. "Welcome again next time."

"..."

This shabby stall didn't even have a door, yet she had the audacity to say 'welcome again'.

Having wasted some time at this shabby stall, it was already very late when Lin Qingye got home.

He took a shower and, with a bath towel wrapped around his waist, walked to the mirror.

The muscles on his body were well-proportioned and fluid, conveying a sense of strength without being overly bulky. He was exactly the type people describe as "slim with clothes on, muscular with them off."

Water droplets on his shoulders, not yet wiped dry, slid down the roguish, clean lines of his body.

Lin Qingye turned his body slightly to look at the tattoo on his right shoulder blade.

He had applied that ointment four or five more times. The inflammation was gone, and it had scabbed over a few days ago. The scab had recently fallen off, so it should have healed properly.

On his protruding shoulder blade, the name 'Ah Nan' was inscribed in a beautiful, flowing semi-cursive script.

He had to admit, Xu Zhinan's tattooing technique was indeed excellent. Even with two conventional characters, her handiwork gave them an unusual beauty.

Lin Qingye leaned one arm on the sink. A few strands of his bangs, wet from the shower, hung down as he opened his phone.

Since he posted on his Moments, many people had helped share it. Although their initial intention wasn't to help but to join in on the fun, after all, it was rare to see Lin Qingye take the initiative to do something for a girl.

His post already had many comments underneath, but he couldn't be bothered to read the teasing remarks and clicked directly on the link.

Xu Zhinan's ranking had already risen from seventh to fifth, and she was only about forty votes away from fourth place.

He thought, 'getting "Ah Nan" tattooed on my back really isn't much of a price to pay.'

'His Ah Nan... in the future, one might have to queue up and make an appointment to get a tattoo from her.' He considered it a gain for himself.

Because she had gotten a shot and taken cold medicine, Xu Zhinan slept very deeply that night, dreamlessly, until she was woken up the next day by a series of vibrating texts from Xu Zhenfan.

She groggily opened her eyes. The glaring sunlight streamed into her bedroom. She squinted as she opened her phone.

[Xu Zhenfan: Sister!!! You're in fucking second place!!!]

[Xu Zhenfan: That wave of shares was too fucking awesome!! As expected, people have good taste! Go, go, go! The next target is first place!!!]

Xu Zhinan was stunned for a moment. She clicked the link. This time, she didn't even need to scroll down; she found herself right on the first page.

Compared to last night, the number of votes had grown exponentially.

Xu Zhinan naturally knew the reach of her own Moments. Even if a few friends had helped her share it, it couldn't possibly have reached this level.

She exited the webpage, clicked back into her Moments, and scrolled down a bit, where she was startled to see Lin Qingye's name.

"..."

At the same time, a news notification popped up at the top of her phone screen—

<'Here for the Song's' Rising Star and Golden Melody Award Winner Lin Qingye Suspected of Participating in School Bullying, Victim from Back Then Steps Forward to Testify!>

Since the show began airing, Lin Qingye's fame had spread at an extremely rapid pace, and he gained fans incredibly quickly. Only a few episodes had aired, and the number of followers on his Weibo account, on which he had never posted anything, was already approaching ten million.

As soon as this news broke, it quickly sparked heated discussions.

Xu Zhinan clicked on the news, and a video popped up. It was the same clip of the fight that had been discussed back when he first won the Golden Melody Award.

He was wearing the No. 7 Middle School uniform, his fists smashing down again and again on the face of the person beneath him. On the ground was blood spat out by the person being beaten.

And Lin Qingye's face was indifferent, sinister and ruthless, as if he hadn't seen the blood at all.