Chapter 1

It has been more than a year since she last returned to China. When she set foot on this land, Yan Qing was still a little dazed. If the organizer had not urged her, she would have planned to come back at the end of the year.

It's really a furnace. It's only mid-June and the temperature in Jiangcheng has already reached over 30 degrees. If it weren't for the book signing event here, Yan Qing would have wanted to go home to escape the summer heat.

She followed the crowd, picked up her suitcase, and reached the arrival gate. The driver, who was supposed to show up with a sign, didn't see it. Was he stood up?

I found the number and hung up after it rang three times.

The air conditioning in the airport was very strong. Yan Qing stared at the three boxes in front of him, resignedly moved them aside, and began to think of a solution.

Just then, a series of messages popped up. Looking at the familiar names on them, she sat on the box and clicked them.

[Zhou Mingshu]: Have we arrived at the hotel?

[Zhou Mingshu]: I have some good news for you, do you want to know?

[Zhou Mingshu]: [Mobile location] Didn't expect me to be here too? Hahahahahaha.]

Yan Qing looked up and saw a crowd of people at the airport. She stood up and walked to the place where she had just come out and looked straight at the passengers inside.

"Mingshu, are we really going to meet your best friend today? Besides, we just met, do you want to wait a few days?" The man who was speaking was pushing a box with one hand and a lady's bag hanging on his shoulder. He asked the hurried woman in front of him with some uncertainty.

Hearing this, the woman turned around and took his arm: "We agreed when we were little that we must bring our boyfriends to meet each other as soon as possible. I can't be the first to break my promise."

The man nodded thoughtfully, then immediately said, "I'm just worried that your bestie might be prejudiced against how we met and think I'm a bad person."

"She plays games too. Besides, don't you two know each other from the game? Put your mind at ease."

The man took a deep breath and nodded heavily, as if he had made up his mind.

Looking at a man and a woman not far away, Yan Qing opened the camera, zoomed in, pressed the photo button, found the chat box, and sent the photo in one go.

"It's over."

The two looked at each other, feeling hopeless.

Looking at the two people with their heads down and guilty faces, Yan Qing pushed the box and asked coldly: "Where is your car?"

The two people who were chatting and laughing just now were no longer able to laugh. "In the parking lot."

Seeing his suitcase safely in the trunk, Yan Qing opened the back door and sat in.

"Xixi, listen to my explanation." The person outside leaned on the car window and stared at Yan Qing with a flattering look on his face.

In the car, Yan Qing listened to the two people chattering silently. Only then did she realize that this was the first time they met.

"I really underestimated you, Zhou Mingshu, for being in love online."

Yan Qing's icy voice reached their ears. Zhou Mingshu shook off the frost on his body, lowered his head, hugged Yan Qing's arm, and leaned on her shoulder. Fan Zhuoyi, who was driving in front, didn't dare to breathe loudly, for fear of being thrown out of the car by Yan Qing.

The car was completely silent. Fan Zhuoyi wanted to turn on the air conditioner. It was 33 degrees Celsius outside and he felt like he was going to freeze to death.

When they arrived at the hotel, Yan Qing still ignored the two of them. Watching Fan Zhuoyi volunteer to take the three of them's ID to check in, she pulled Zhou Mingshu aside and said, "Come to my room later." After that, she left without looking back.

Fan Zhuoyi, who was multitasking, saw Yan Qing approaching and immediately handed over the room card and ID with both hands. He watched Yan Qing walk away and hurriedly trotted over to Zhou Mingshu, his eyes still lingering in the direction Yan Qing had left, indicating, "How is it?"

When Fan Zhuoyi heard Yan Qing asked Zhou Mingshu to find him, he didn't think much about it. Zhou Mingshu had told her some things about this best friend. The two hadn't seen each other for more than a year, so it was normal for them to want to talk together. So he stayed in the room to rest.

Zhou Mingshu arrived at Yan Qing's room on time. Looking at the table full of takeout, she felt like a god descending to earth. She was startled and asked, "You actually want to eat takeout?"

"I ordered it for you."

She picked up a cup of milk tea and took a sip, wondering, "Is this for me too?"

But Yan Qing snatched it away: "Let's talk business."

"What's the matter? Didn't you ask me to come here to keep in touch?" Zhou Mingshu picked up the pizza and stuffed it into his mouth without taking it seriously.

The air conditioning in the room was turned up high. Yan Qing took a deep breath, stared at Zhou Mingshu who was enjoying his meal, and said righteously: "Online dating is unreliable, break up quickly."

Zhou Mingshu swallowed the last bite of food in his mouth and looked at her in disbelief: "You think too much, I have known him since freshman year, but we just met today. Don't worry, I won't be fooled, and we were just playing together back then."

"It's fine to be friends, but you were scammed out of three thousand last time?"

Watching Yan Qing recount his embarrassing story in a serious manner, Zhou Mingshu felt that he had a tough battle to fight. "I was deceived because I wanted to buy the appearance. It has nothing to do with him. He is different from others. You know, this is my first time in love. Others can get married after a month of blind dating."

"It's a farce."

Seeing Yan Qing was unmoved, Zhou Mingshu decided to tell her a secret: "Isn't it common to fall in love online while playing games? Who liked you back then?"

"Who?" Yan Qing turned to look at Zhou Mingshu, then thought again that it was a dirty trick Zhou Mingshu came up with to shut him up.

"The coal briquettes I love to eat." Zhou Mingshu peeked at Yan Qing's expression and continued, "Not many people know about this. The gang leader is his college roommate. He told us about it one time when he was drunk and playing games with us. But don't worry, the person involved is not here. The only ones who know about it are you and me who disagreed. Otherwise, there would be another bloody storm."

Zhou Mingshu's voice was still ringing in his ears, but Yan Qing's thoughts had already drifted back to the past.

She came into contact with the game by chance. She wanted to start a new article at that time, but she had no inspiration. At the suggestion of Zhou Mingshu, she stepped into that world. Her acquaintance with that person was also a coincidence. How could she take the things in the game seriously, especially since it had been so long.

Yan Qing snatched the milk tea from her hand: "Don't talk nonsense."

"Forget it, forget it. I won't say anything. It's been so long, who knows what the situation is like now? Don't worry, we will keep this matter to ourselves." Seeing that Yan Qing no longer talked about his own affairs, Zhou Mingshu took the opportunity to slip away.

When I picked up the phone again, it was already dark.

How did you fall asleep?

The message Zhou Mingshu sent her two hours ago was still on her phone: You eat by yourself tonight, we'll go somewhere for the two of us.

Yan Qing didn't reply. He looked at the messy desktop and took a photo to send to the culprit.

The other party replied almost immediately: "Dear, thank you for your hard work. Please accept this small token of your gratitude." This was followed by a transfer of money.

Zhou Mingshu looked at the OK sign in the chat box and told the person next to him with a smile: "Done."

The next day, Yan Qing looked at the two people across from him, eating breakfast expressionlessly. Zhou Mingshu exchanged glances with the person next to him, then mustered up the courage to speak: "I guess you have nothing to do today. Do you want to join our team?"

Yan Qing put down the cutlery, looked up and saw two pairs of nervous and hot eyes staring at him, and nodded.

The three of them looked at the four big words "Closed Today" at the entrance of the scenic area and looked at each other in surprise.

"Ah, well, they didn't say we won't open today." Fan Zhuoyi scratched his head, looked at Zhou Mingshu and Yan Qing with an apologetic look, and paced anxiously.

Yan Qing didn't say anything, and Zhou Mingshu comforted him.

A security guard on patrol passing by saw the three of them and shouted at them from a distance: "It's going to rain heavily, you three should go back quickly."

Yan Qing was so hot that she couldn't open her eyes. Zhou Mingshu and the other two complained, "The weather forecast didn't say it would rain."

"Let's go, everyone else has left." After saying that, Yan Qing walked towards the parking lot.

Seeing that she was soaked all over, a crack finally appeared on Yan Qing's face. She stared at the two silent people in front of her with a look of resentment and sneered: "What an unforgettable day."

After a long day of hard work, they returned to the city. The downpour had disappeared. Zhou Mingshu jumped out of the car and couldn't help complaining, "What kind of weather is this? It's really making fun of me."

Fan Zhuoyi pinched her shoulders: "Don't be angry anymore, I'll take you to eat something delicious."

Zhou Mingshu stayed in Jiangcheng for two days and then started clamoring to leave. After seeing the two of them off, Yan Qing felt much more at ease. After the book signing event on the 20th, she would also run away overnight.

After the book signing event, the organizers were still enthusiastic and forced Yan Qing to attend the celebration banquet. Seeing a group of people staring at her eagerly, she couldn't refuse. That night, Yan Qing got gastroenteritis. She lay on the sofa, regretting her decision that night.

Hazy, she seemed to see a person, or to be more precise, a game character.

[Yan Qing]: It’s all your fault.

[Zhou Mingshu]: What do you mean?

[Yan Qing]: I dreamed about him yesterday.

[Zhou Mingshu]:?

[Yan Qing]: I will never forget his wealthy and imposing appearance in my life.

[Zhou Mingshu]: Humph, someone just a few days ago scolded me about the dangers of online dating, and today he wants to test the law himself.

[Yan Qing]: No, I hate the rich. The huge hurt that appearance brought to the little me back then is still unforgettable.

Yan Qing looked at the chat box and recalled the first time she entered the game. She didn't know anything. Zhou Mingshu was busy fighting with others and had no time to take care of her, so he handed her over to someone who was said to be the most invincible person in the gang.

"Don't worry, he's proficient in all kinds of gameplay. With him teaching you, I guarantee you'll be able to master the core gameplay within a month. This hard-earned opportunity was obtained by me begging the gang leader for a long time, and the gang leader also begged this person for a long time. Don't let us down."

Looking at the name of the game sent by Zhou Mingshu [Love to Eat Coal Balls], Yan Qing brainwashed herself: the gaming masters in novels are all like this, very disconnected.

When Zhou Mingshu was free to ask her about the progress of the past few days, Yan Qing suddenly thought, "I heard from the gang members that his non-mainstream appearance cost over 100,000 yuan?"

Zhou Mingshu seemed to be eating, and his words were a little vague: "No?"

Yan Qing had just breathed a sigh of relief when she heard another piece of news that was even more unacceptable to her: "About a hundred thousand."

Even now, when Yan Qing thinks about it, he would sigh and say, why buy funds?

But she couldn't understand why such a person would have a crush on her, a crush on someone she had never seen a photo of or met.

The cell phone suddenly rang, and Yan Qing came back to his senses. The screen reminded him that he had to catch a flight.

Looking at the layers of clouds outside the window, Yan Qing thought of the appearance of the set that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, turned on the computer, and typed the first word.

Four hours later, the plane landed, and the well-known novelist Shui Zhiqing published the first chapter of her new novel - "After Parting Ways with the Person I Like."

[Novels? I love reading novels the most]: Wow! Secret love stories, I love the bittersweet feeling of secret love the most, so cool!

[Sad Rose]: It has been 99 days since the last article. Is Mr. Shui hinting at something by posting at this time?

[Seeing me, please let me get rich]: Teacher Shui is in love?

Sitting in a taxi, Yan Qing watched the comments section become increasingly outrageous and quickly stopped them.

[Shui Zhiqing] replied to [Please let me get rich if you see me]: Spreading rumors is prohibited.

[Arrogant-When will the gang leader find himself single?] Group chat.

[Winter]: Family, Teacher Shui has posted a new article! Go check it out!

[Giggle Giggle]: I saw it! Do you think the background of this article is very similar to a certain game?

[Winter]: I was saying! Why does it look so familiar?

Someone in the group showed interest, so Dongri shared a screenshot. Mingxu scratched his ear, ignoring his parents' nagging. He opened his phone and saw over 99 pinned guild group messages. He glanced at them and saw they were all the same old topics.

Ming's parents looked at each other and said, "Come back during the Chinese New Year. Out of sight, out of mind."

The person on the sofa put down his phone, as if he had already guessed: "Where are we going to play this time?"

"What are you talking about? We are going on a business trip and working."

Hearing the somewhat guilty voice, Ming Xu nodded and stood up: "Good luck with your work and have fun."

As soon as he left the house, he received a gloating message from his own brother Mingli.

"Childish." Ming Xu couldn't find a second word to summarize his evaluation of his brother.

After getting off the plane, Yan Qing took a deep breath and realized that he had chosen the right place.