Sincerity or pretense
As the summer insects rustled in the evening, a black cat leaped onto the narrow wall and strolled forward with elegant cat steps. The rhythmic clatter of high heels echoed from the darkness.
The noise startled the black cat, which meowed a few times at the person who came. Qingcheng squatted down and gently stroked the soft kitten. The kitten licked its paws and began to paw at the amber-colored wine bottle.
Just as Kiyosumi was enjoying her interaction with the black cat, she caught a glimpse of the blue curtains on the second floor swaying. Kiyosumi snorted inwardly, raised the wine bottle, and teased in a disciplining tone, "No, little kitties are too small to drink alcohol. Only adults can drink. I have something to do. I'll bring you dried fish next time. Bye-bye."
A night breeze swept through the corridor, carrying the sweet scent of perfume. Qingcheng deliberately pressed herself against the wall and hummed a popular tune. As she passed 202, the door suddenly opened, and Gao Junxiao leaned against the door frame with a gloomy expression, his eyes seeming to swallow her whole.
The two were no more than an apple apart. Qingcheng remained completely unfazed, covering her mouth and laughing to herself, "Wow, there's a handsome guy. Why does he have such a long face?"
"You go out dressed like this late at night, and I'm expected to give you a nice look. Where have you been?" Gao Junxiao's gaze swept along her cheeks, down to her collarbone, which was faintly visible beneath her glass-like dress.
Since you enjoy looking so much, I'll let you look to your heart's content. Qingcheng turned around to meet the scrutinizing gaze, the hem of her cheongsam swirling out, the golden butterflies on the black gauze seeming to fly out.
Taking advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, Qingcheng suddenly put her arm around the man's shoulder, turned her head and whispered in his ear in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "Going to dance, huh!"
The atmosphere froze. Gao Junxiao frowned, like a kitten that hadn't eaten its dried fish, and poked at the wine bottle: "Miss He, you always only dance in prime time. What time is it now? You still dare to bring wine back. Haven't you had enough?"
"You make me angry just thinking about this. Are all men so materialistic?" Qingcheng's fingers traced Gao Junxiao's chest intentionally or unintentionally, the ruby on her ring finger shimmering with a lustrous sheen. "I'm just engaged, and they don't even dare to invite me anymore. It's a waste of my time."
"Wouldn't it be better if the ring helped filter out those humanoid males with underdeveloped brains?" Gao Junxiao blinked his deep eyes.
"No, this makes me lose face." Qingcheng whimpered and clung to the man's neck. "Ah Xiao, don't worry about me, go back to sleep, you have to go to work tomorrow."
"I'm off tomorrow," Gao Junxiao corrected him casually.
"Hehe, I almost forgot, if you can't sleep, can you keep me company with a drink? This is premium brandy, you know." Kiyosumi extended the invitation with a smile.
Gao Junxiao almost blurted out, "I won't drink! You smell of smoke, alcohol, and other people's perfume. It's making my nose feel like it's going to fail. Go back and take a shower."
"Hmph, mind your own business." Qingcheng took off a lace glove and threw it at the man's face, but he dodged it. Qingcheng angrily scolded, "You hypocrite, not gentlemanly at all. If you won't drink, I'll drink it myself."
"Whatever, I wouldn't dare to object. You're so domineering," Gao Junxiao muttered.
Seeing his insincere and stubborn expression, Qingcheng quickly turned around and went upstairs, afraid of laughing out loud in front of him. That scoundrel has a pretty keen nose; he could even smell the cologne she had just applied. The more she told him not to interfere, the more he wanted to interfere. She figured Gao Junxiao wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
After Qingcheng finished washing up, the room returned to the quiet of midnight, with only the spinning of the fan overhead carrying a hint of life. Hey, this man's self-control is pretty good. But she had a feeling that he definitely wouldn't be able to hold back. She decided to wait a little longer. Qingcheng opened her notebook; she couldn't slack off on the task assigned by the organization.
Radio waves are inherently binary code. All communication errors and gibberish are composed of binary numbers. If used as an encryption cipher, binary numbers are not the final numbers, but rather the characters that can be converted to represent the instruction characters.
But first, they need to confirm that the binary data from the receiver is correct. After all, adding or removing a zero completely changes the meaning. For example, they might be able to obtain a specific number through a particular frequency band. Therefore, they must assume beforehand that everything from the telegram to the gibberish, and from the gibberish to the conclusion, is composed of linear sequences.
Time flowed on like a tap left running, and the newly written formulas filled most of the notebook. Qingcheng was completely immersed in the sea of numbers, using an abacus in one hand and taking notes in the other, so engrossed that she didn't even hear someone knocking on the door.
Suddenly, Gao Junxiao's stern voice rang out from outside the door: "He Qingcheng, why aren't you asleep yet?"
"What, you want to chat with me?" Qingcheng suddenly looked up. Hehe, couldn't hold it in, huh? In her excitement, she put away her notebook and abacus, took out the books she had prepared beforehand from the sofa stool and placed them on the coffee table, then pulled out another book and stuffed it into the gap between the sofa and the sofa.
"You're overthinking it. I was just testing if you were asleep. Go to sleep now." Gao Junxiao seemed to be acting like a dormitory supervisor. Qingcheng could even see him through the wooden door with his hands behind his back, looking like he was checking rooms.
"Okay, once I'm drunk, I'll naturally fall asleep." Qingcheng said as she poured herself half a glass of brandy, took a small sip, and exclaimed, "Ugh, so spicy!"
"Stop drinking. Drinking when you're angry will only make you feel worse. They didn't invite you because they're blind. You don't need to make things difficult for yourself. You'll have a hangover and stay up all night. You'll have a headache tomorrow," Gao Junxiao advised.
“I’m not angry. Why do you think there are only female dancers and no male dancers in the dance hall?” Kiyosumi countered.
Gao Junxiao, standing outside the door, finally couldn't hold back any longer and raised his voice two octaves: "You still want male dancers! Fine, fine, go ahead. From now on, you'll chat with male dancers, eat with male dancers, and even when you're sick, you'll go with male dancers..."
Qingcheng interrupted him: "Don't judge others by your own standards. You're just a dance partner."
"Then what am I, a meal buddy?" Gao Junxiao paused for a moment, perhaps embarrassed to say something directly, but after hesitating for a long time, he finally said, "Anyway, we're just meal buddies. You can take me next time, then you won't have to worry about having no one to keep you company."
Qingcheng curled her lip in disdain. That scoundrel of a man was practically ripping her off. She held her wine glass and opened the door a crack, just enough to reveal her entire body.
Gao Junxiao probably didn't expect her to open the door. He coughed softly, his face turning red and white. Qingcheng suppressed a laugh and said, "That won't do. If you doze off at work, those bored people at headquarters will spread rumors that you're doing bad things at night."
“They don’t need a reason to spread rumors.” Gao Junxiao changed the subject. “Since you care about me so much, I’ll send someone to pick you up after your first performance. It’s not to restrict your freedom, but because I’m worried about your safety. After that, it’ll be the era of smugglers and gangsters.”
With a twitch in her eyelids, Qingcheng tilted her head and asked, "Oh my~ Are smugglers that scary? Do they have three heads and six arms? If not, I probably wouldn't recognize them even if I saw them. It's easier to spot the thugs in military uniforms, though. They've done plenty of fighting and kidnapping dancers. I wonder if you've ever gone to bail someone out at night?"
"Yes, I have, so I'm just kindly reminding you that it's not safe at night," Gao Junxiao readily admitted.
What annoying frankness! It's like he practically has curfew written all over his face. Qingcheng wasn't going to put up with him: "Since you have experience getting people out of trouble, I feel much more at ease. In the future, if I encounter any scum I don't like, I'll call the police or the disciplinary team in advance. The dance hall has its rules. If they're not afraid of getting into trouble, go ahead and do it."
Gao Junxiao's voice remained calm, seemingly unaffected: "I'm just afraid you won't have enough time. If you walk the dark road too often, you'll eventually encounter a ghost, unless... you yourself are the ghost."
"Heh!" A mocking smile appeared on Kiyosumi's lips. She took a step forward, and the two were almost nose to nose, their warm breaths mingling in the air. "I am a ghost, and who are you?"
A faint aroma of wine lingered in the air. Gao Junxiao's expression changed slightly, but he quickly regained his composure: "Of course it's to help the female ghost pass on. I can't let you go out and harm people. I'll suffer a little loss and offer myself as bait. A hundred years from now, I'll surely have accumulated immeasurable merit."
Tch, she knew this would happen. She tried to change the subject with jokes, but Qingcheng, standing to the side, simply kept quiet and stared at him coldly, thinking to herself, "That jerk has the nerve to say he's at a disadvantage. Doesn't he know how annoying he was when he was pursuing me?"
Gao Junxiao looked back defiantly, then suddenly snatched the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp: "You're done drinking. Go back to sleep."
"Tch, who does he think he is?" Qingcheng laughed sarcastically as she looked at the empty glass in Gao Junxiao's hand. "What gives you the right to order me around? Just because you're a man, you have the guts to drink the whole bottle."
"Do you think I'm stupid! This thing is dangerous. Forget it, I'll take it with me. What can I do? I'm kind-hearted." Gao Junxiao said and ran towards the door.
"I wouldn't dare trouble you. Please don't push yourself. It's not worth hurting your health." Why was this man talking to himself? Qingcheng reached out to stop him, but the man took the opportunity to put his arm around her waist, closing the distance between them in an instant. Qingcheng instinctively tried to back away.
Gao Junxiao laughed smugly, "Didn't you just invite me for a drink? Why are you shy now?"
"That was just now, and this is now. It's not convenient right now." Qingcheng's gaze unconsciously drifted backward. Moonlight streamed through the glass into the room, making the entire living room exceptionally quiet.
"Ha, are you hiding someone? Or is there something I can't see?" Gao Junxiao stared at her, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "What secret? I'm determined to find out."
Releasing Qingcheng, Gao Junxiao slipped into the living room. Qingcheng tried to stop him but failed. She watched as Gao Junxiao stood in the center, scanning the room. Soon, his gaze was drawn to the books on the coffee table.
Before Gao Junxiao could make a move, Qingcheng plopped back down on the sofa, skillfully pulling out a Honolulu fan. Gao Junxiao glanced at her, flipping through the books on the coffee table one by one, his eyebrows furrowing slightly, a look of confusion on his face.
"Did I go to the wrong room?" He opened the door and carefully checked the room number before turning to ask Qingcheng. Qingcheng looked completely innocent, propping her face up with one hand, striking a pose like a beautiful woman reclining on a couch.
He closed the door again, walked to the sofa, and looked down at her with a deep gaze: "What are you grinning like an idiot for! 'A Dream of Red Mansions,' 'Jin Ping Mei,' 'The Story of the Foolish Old Woman,' 'Flying Flowers and Erotic Thoughts,' even 'Gu Wang Yan'! Wait, is the economy really that bad lately that the newspaper needs you to write some borderline content to attract readers?"
“You can tell what kind of book it is just by looking at the title. It covers a wide range of topics.” Kiyosumi continued to fan the flames. “But it doesn’t matter. I know the people at the publishing house very well. I have a lot of obscure and banned books that you’ve never read before.”
Gao Junxiao rolled his eyes, reached out to touch Qingcheng's forehead, and said with concern, "You've drunk too much and gone crazy! Sigh, what's wrong with you? Will you ever get better?"
She sat up and shrugged nonchalantly: "What's wrong with me? I'm getting married soon, so I'm just learning some of my best tricks."
"Really? Should I praise you for being so sensible?" Gao Junxiao narrowed his eyes, his tone tinged with suspicion.
"Believe it or not." Kiyosumi casually raised her hand, gently placed it on the man's shoulder, and said softly, "You'd better learn it too."
The words were too blunt, and Gao Junxiao jumped back as if he had been electrocuted: "I don't need it!"
"Hey~ why are you reacting so strongly? These books are bestsellers, which means you guys like to read them. It's not like you haven't read them before, so why are you acting like a monk? Reviewing what you've learned is better than cramming at the last minute." Qingcheng glanced down at him teasingly.
The teasing made Gao Junxiao's face burn instantly. He quickly distanced himself from Qingcheng and cursed helplessly, "This is outrageous! It's getting more and more ridiculous. Things will work themselves out. You'll understand naturally. I have time to look at this mess of junk. What kind of international joke is this?"
"Hehe, what a pity. You missed learning an important skill, so I'll have to be the vanguard in the Wind and Romance Formation first..." Qingcheng didn't finish her sentence.
"Shut up!!" Gao Junxiao suddenly lunged at Qingcheng, half-angry and half-reproachful.
Qingcheng, having anticipated this, playfully dodged and tossed a cushion at Gao Junxiao: "Why can't I say it? The ancients said that food and sex are human nature. You, a modern youth, are more feudal than the ancients. Or do you have some hidden ailment?"
Upon hearing this, Gao Junxiao's eyes reddened. He grabbed her calf and dragged her towards him. The difference in strength between the two was too great. During the struggle, the pillow and fan were scattered all over the floor. Qingcheng was pressed down on the sofa and could not move. Moreover, her mouth was covered, and she could only protest with "woo woo".
They were close together, their rapid breaths rising and falling, carrying the scent of brandy. Through her thin nightgown, she could feel her skin growing increasingly hot beneath it.
The atmosphere suddenly became awkward. Gao Junxiao's Adam's apple bobbed as he reluctantly let go of her hand: "That's enough. Stop fooling around. I'll get angry if you keep doing that."
"So you're not angry now, you're just being coquettish? Hahaha..." Qingcheng tilted her head back, her eyes brimming with the shimmering light of the summer river.
Her fragile nerves were stirred up again. Gao Junxiao then pinched her flushed cheeks and said through gritted teeth, "Laugh, laugh, laugh. What are you laughing at? Trying to rebel in the middle of the night? Aren't you ashamed? What good can those messy books be? Confiscate them all later."
Qingcheng's eyes curved into crescents, with a touch of naivety: "Collect them, collect them. These are just dross. Look at which one was written by a female author. They're all just the delusions of poor, ancient scholars. They should be thrown into the furnace and burned to ashes."
"Pretty arrogant, huh? You're a female writer, why don't you write something? Maybe it'll become a timeless masterpiece." Gao Junxiao joked along with her.
"I wrote it. Do you dare to read it? Actually, we're about to become husband and wife. There's nothing to hide. If I don't talk to you, who else can I talk to?" Qingcheng held her fiancé's hand openly.
“Sure, but I think you’re too hasty. We need to take it step by step; you can’t rush things. Reading too many of those kinds of books will affect your spirit and energy. It’s better to read some positive and uplifting stories,” Gao Junxiao said.
“These books are positive too, it just depends on your perspective when you interpret them,” Kiyosumi said meaningfully.
"Nonsense, looking for gold in a garbage dump, where does the enthusiasm come from?" Suddenly he pressed down on me, his hot breath tickling my earlobe, and then pulled a book out from between the gaps. "What's this? A calming mantra?"
"Ah—" Qingcheng panicked and grabbed Gao Junxiao's hand, stopping him. "This book can't be read."
However, Gao Junxiao had already turned to the inner pages, his expression gradually becoming serious: "He Qingcheng, you're just putting up a false front and daring to make annotations, you're really something."
"I told you not to look, but you insisted on looking anyway." Kiyosumi turned her head, a triumphant glint in her eyes, but it vanished in an instant.
"You dare to read Engels's articles? Don't you know they're banned books?" Gao Junxiao held up the book, his expression showing concern.
“Don’t make a fuss, these are forbidden books.” Qingcheng said matter-of-factly, taking out a handkerchief and rubbing it on Gao Junxiao’s forehead. “Why don’t you have a drink to calm your nerves? Look at you, you’re covered in sweat.”
Then Qingcheng poured herself a glass of wine. Her gentle yet firm demeanor was like a breeze, breaking the heat and tension in the room.
"If you want to get me drunk, a bottle of brandy probably won't be enough." Gao Junxiao looked warily at the glass.
"What good would it do me to get you drunk? What if you use alcohol as an excuse to do something violent... Don't glare at me, I just want to help you relax. You're too tense." Qingcheng handed over the wine glass and casually squeezed Gao Junxiao's shoulder.
After taking a sip of his drink, Gao Junxiao calmed down considerably: "Just say what you want to say, don't beat around the bush. Why did you think of reading this kind of book?"
Qingcheng replied with a smile, "Because I'm curious. It's said that people have seven emotions and six desires, but it seems that ancient novels don't distinguish between emotions and desires, whether they are popular novels or erotic novels."
"Let alone the ancients, even a hundred years from now, few of us can tell the difference." Gao Junxiao pressed Qingcheng's hand, a slight smile spreading across his face.
Qingcheng glanced down at their hands: "Great minds think alike. The female characters in male writers' works and the male characters in female writers' works are not exactly unrelated to real people, but they are also completely unrelated. Seeing too much of this makes me feel uncomfortable."
"Feeling hot? Drink more water," Gao Junxiao teased. "If you're going to study literature, then study it properly. What does it have to do with you reading Engels?"
Qingcheng rested her chin on the man's shoulder: "It's just about studying academics. I wondered why I felt uncomfortable, so I looked for a lot of papers to find the answer. Unfortunately, only Engels did related academic research, such as the relationship between marriage and private property, the relationship between marriage and love, and the relationship between love and desire."
Gao Junxiao took a swig of wine in a daze. Qingcheng continued, "After reading it, I suddenly understood. It turns out that there are no women in the erotic book. There are only a bunch of terracotta figurines that look like humans. They have no souls. The poor scholar just plays with those terracotta figurines like he's playing house. He doesn't really like dolls. He's more like looking in a mirror, reflecting his deep-seated desires."
"I'm truly impressed by you. You're reading a romance novel and you've even come up with some philosophical insights," Gao Junxiao couldn't help but chuckle.
“Why not? What you see is the romance in the tent, the darkness of officialdom, and the decline of morality, while what I see is exploitation, the cruel crushing of the lower classes by feudal ethics. We just have different perspectives.” Qingcheng locked onto Gao Junxiao, her confident eyes deeper than the night outside the window.
Gao Junxiao raised an eyebrow, neither agreeing nor disagreeing: "Your thoughts are too complicated. A poor, pedantic scholar probably just wants to write some sensational and entertaining things to satisfy the lowbrow tastes of the masses and earn some writing fees. Why do you have so many profound principles?"
"Are you sure? The complexity of thoughts is relative. I've thought about it, but you haven't, so of course you think I'm complicated. It's much easier to criticize others than to think for yourself." Qingcheng's sharp gaze was like an awl, piercing directly into the man's heart.
The room fell silent. After a long while, Gao Junxiao touched his nose and said, "I'm sorry, I was being shallow."
“Don’t underestimate yourself. I can see your criticism of feudal ethics and your respect and compassion for women. It’s just that you can’t get rid of the social environment of the past thirty years and its subtle influence on you.” Qingcheng cupped Gao Junxiao’s cheeks. “If you want to break through the bottleneck and be reborn, you must first fight against yourself, especially the way of thinking you’ve used for thirty years.”
Tapping his forehead, Gao Junxiao let out a long sigh: "Miss He, you're making things too difficult for me. Thirty years, not three years. I just want to improve, but I don't know where to start."
"It's okay, I'm here. If you want to break down an old order, you need a new theory to replace it." Qingcheng put her arm around Gao Junxiao. "I love sharing what I like with the people I like. You can take all the books here if you like."
Hearing Qingcheng's seemingly plausible explanation, Gao Junxiao stared at her meaningfully for a few seconds before speaking: "He Qingcheng, are you trying to harm me or save me?"
"Of course I'm saving you. Rather than climbing the mountain alone, I'd rather see more people riding the wind." Qingcheng replied with a half-smile. "The novel is very exciting. Don't read too late, okay? You still have to buy me breakfast tomorrow."
"What a lousy breakfast! If you can get up before noon tomorrow, I'll admit defeat." Gao Junxiao looked aggrieved. "Hmph, you only think of me when you're eating. You just want a meal buddy. You have no respect for me at all."
Qingcheng nestled in the man's arms and said coquettishly, "How could that be? We're lifelong dining buddies. Meals only taste better when you're with me."
"I'll believe you if you want me to." Gao Junxiao paused for a moment, "but you have to kiss me first."
"You scoundrel!" Qingcheng blushed and was furious. She swung her fist and punched the man in the chest. Gao Junxiao was becoming more and more unsteady.
"Yes, that scoundrel is cooking and heating up your meals, he's practically ready to tear his own face off and roast it for you!" A glint flashed in Gao Junxiao's eyes.
"There's this dish too? I'm afraid I won't be able to chew it." Qingcheng chuckled and couldn't help but pinch the man's cheek.
"You can try it. If you like it, consider it a snack. I won't charge you extra." Gao Junxiao grinned mischievously and moved his face closer, his intentions couldn't be clearer.
"Hey, you know what, you really can't deny it, that's exactly how it feels." Qingcheng muttered to himself, "Ever since I was old enough to understand, that blind fortune teller behind our house has been soliciting business like this every day, telling fortunes by reading characters, and if he's wrong, he doesn't charge me."
Gao Junxiao didn't take it seriously: "It's just swindling and cheating. Even that blind man Mao at the entrance of our alley who can't even read all the characters can do it. What's wrong with me setting up a stall at the entrance of Longhua Temple as a side job? I can even draw talismans."
“Haha, no problem. It’s a good side job for you, so it’s good to refresh your mind.” After Qingcheng finished speaking, a thought flashed through her mind. She seemed to have overlooked a very important thing: Tao Sanjin, the female owner of the house in Crow Slope, was illiterate, and almost all of the tobacco vendors were also illiterate.
Could they possibly understand such complex calculations? Definitely not! She tugged at Gao Junxiao: "Don't just stand there like an idiot, help move the sofa."
The coffee table, sofa, and other items in the living room were pushed against the wall. Qingcheng spread out sheets of draft paper one by one on the open ground and weighed them down with heavy objects.
A moment later, the draft papers on the ground formed a huge matrix, but the seemingly enormous structure contained only two types of numbers: 0 and 1.
"Hey, what kind of decorating style is this? It's all about scientific lines, showcasing a mad beauty!" Gao Junxiao teased.
Knowing he was being ignored and unhappy, Qingcheng explained with a smile, "This is binary, the language of machines. It can be translated into any language in the world, but you don't understand it."
Gao Junxiao, standing beside him, curled his lip and said, "Are you obsessed? After you calculate this, are they going to give you money or give you a prize?"
“No, not at all. Unlike you, I’m not so materialistic. I enjoy the process of calculation.” Qingcheng said seriously, her expression looking exceptionally sincere. Gao Junxiao squatted down without saying a word, his bright eyes filled with appreciation.
Each stroke of her pen brought her closer to the truth; she could feel victory within reach. Suddenly, Qingcheng burst into wild laughter. She had overcomplicated things; the answer was actually quite simple.
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