11
At nine o'clock in the evening in Beijing, a chilly breeze rustled across the plastic roof of a roadside stall, creating a gentle rustle. A cheap lightbulb hung in the center of the stall, casting a dim glow on the greasy tabletop, highlighting the skewers of meat sizzling on the grill with a particularly alluring appeal. Passersby came and went, their footsteps and voices mingling with the smoky aroma of barbecue, swirling with the fragrance of cumin and chili peppers.
Shen Qingyu sat on a plastic chair, not caring at all about the smell of fireworks. She was dressed casually today, a loose white sweatshirt with black sweatpants, her hair casually tied into a bun, revealing a smooth forehead. But even so, her eyes were still glued to the screen of her phone, her fingers occasionally swiping, staring at the chat interface with "Wuyin" - after the last time in the Internet cafe, before she had time to ask about Wuyin and Yu Wang's relationship, the other party rarely sent messages actively, and only the daily life she occasionally shared remained in the status of read but not replied.
"Here, an iced Coke." Qu Shengsheng placed a bottle of Coke, fresh from the freezer, in front of Shen Qingyu. Water droplets still hung on the bottle, and his tone was filled with speechlessness. "I just finished my exams and asked you out to eat skewers and relax. But you were just smiling at your phone the whole time, treating me like air, right?"
Today was the last day of Qu Shengsheng's final exams at the Beijing Film Academy. She'd pulled multiple all-nighters for this last-minute test, which her counselor had added on. Finally finished, she should have been in high spirits. She'd assumed Shen Qingyu would miss them as much as she did, but upon meeting, the atmosphere between them felt as cold as if there were a film between them. As best friends since high school, Qu Shengsheng couldn't help but feel a little aggrieved.
Shen Qingyu then raised her head, took the Coke, opened the ring, and with a "pop" sound, bubbles came out with a cool feeling. She took a sip, and the refreshing feeling of carbonation exploded in her mouth. Then she smiled and said, "How could I treat you as air? I'm just waiting for you to complain about the exam."
"What a rant!" Qu Shengsheng rolled his eyes. He became furious at the mention of exams. "The instructor insisted on making a huge test on something that wasn't even necessary. It lasted three hours. My hands almost broke from writing! I've been so busy lately that I didn't even have time to video chat with you. I thought you'd miss me so much."
As she spoke, her eyes fell on Shen Qingyu's phone screen. She happened to catch a glimpse of the word "Boundless". Suddenly, she understood, and her tone instantly became sour: "Oh~ So the reason you didn't look at me was because you had an affair."
"What kind of affair is this?" Shen Qingyu reached out and touched Qu Shengsheng's forehead, pretending to be worried and said, "He doesn't have a fever, why is he talking nonsense?"
"Get lost!" Qu Shengsheng shook her hand off, leaned forward, and said word by word: "Wu-Yin-ah..." She winked, her expression ambiguous, "I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you have such a handsome guy like Yu Wang in real life, but you insist on having an online romance. Are you crazy?"
"..." Shen Qingyu was completely speechless. How did she become involved in online romance?
Seeing that she was silent, Qu Shengsheng began to talk non-stop again: "You are the same. You have been single for so many years and now you are in college, but your aunt still keeps sending me messages, asking why you don't find a partner. Last time, your aunt even secretly asked me if you... if you have a special relationship with me."
As she spoke, her eyes suddenly widened and she covered her chest with her hands. Today she was wearing a tight short top, revealing a small piece of her white waist and abdomen. At this moment, this action seemed particularly exaggerated. "You don't really like me, do you?"
Shen Qingyu rolled her eyes at her and said unhappily, "What do you think?"
Qu Shengsheng breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest. "That's good. I don't want to be a lesbian with you." She changed the subject and started to act like a "life mentor" again. "Actually, with our conditions, we have the looks, the figures, and the money. We have no shortage of men. If you don't want to talk, then don't talk. At worst, I can make money to support you in the future and make sure you have everything you need."
"Wow." Shen Qingyu couldn't help laughing, and the bubbles on the Coke almost choked her. "Then I'll rely on you to support me from now on."
She said this, but in her heart she recalled the Shen family's attitude towards her love life when she was a child. Back then, when she was still young, her father sat in the study and said to her with a serious expression, "I don't object to you falling in love, but your partner must be worthy of you, and more importantly, worthy of our Shen family."
At that time, her parents had not yet divorced. Theirs was a typical political marriage, a perfect match, and in the eyes of outsiders, it was a beautiful story. But only Shen Qingyu knew that her parents had almost no affection for each other. Both were busy with their own careers. When she was a child in the United States, she was mostly accompanied by her brother Shen Zichen. Later, Qi Yan joined, and the three of them formed the "Gang of Three", which made her lonely childhood more interesting. Later, she returned to China, Shen Zichen stayed in the United States, Qi Yan went to an international high school, and she entered the affiliated middle school, where she met Qu Shengsheng and studied all the way to college.
In her memory, her mother was always gentle to her and her brother, but also very decisive. Apart from work and children, her mother's only concern seemed to be the photo album in her room. That was a secret that Shen Qingyu accidentally discovered when she was a child in Paris - she and her brother accidentally knocked over her mother's vase, and when they were cleaning up, they saw the leather-covered photo album on the cupboard. There was only one photo in the album, a graduation photo of her mother and a boy at Stanford University. The mother in the photo smiled brightly, a look that Shen Qingyu had never seen before. The boy next to her was sunny and handsome, wearing glasses, full of bookish air, and a completely different type from her father.
At that moment, Shen Qingyu suddenly understood why her parents had no love and eventually divorced. Perhaps her mother had sacrificed her entire life for the family, but she had never been able to marry the person she loved. And her mother had only said lightly about her love life: "Just be happy with what you like."
Growing up in such an environment, Shen Qingyu had seen many flatterers—as long as they had a good relationship with her or her brother, they would gain the favor of the Shen family, so she was always surrounded by rich second-generations. At first, she would be flattered, but later she gradually became numb to it, and simply developed a straightforward and even somewhat irritable temper. If she didn't like something, she would directly reject it and never let herself be wronged.
"As for me, I don't want to be in a relationship. My personality is partly the reason, but I mainly think it's unnecessary." Shen Qingyu picked up a skewer of veal, took a bite, and the gravy burst in her mouth. She said thoughtfully, "In this era, there are too many insincere people. If you spend your heart on one person, you might end up getting hurt. It's better to share your heart with many people. They are happy, and I don't feel pressured."
Qu Shengsheng was stunned for a moment, thought about it carefully, and actually nodded: "I don't know why, but I think you are quite right."
"That's right, don't you see who your sister is?" Shen Qingyu raised his eyebrows proudly.
"So this is the reason why you're having an online romance?" Qu Shengsheng immediately grasped the point and refused to let her go.
Shen Qingyu almost spit out a mouthful of Coke and quickly defended herself: "Who told you this is an online relationship? Wuyin and I are just game friends, we just chat occasionally."
"Game friends?" Qu Shengsheng raised an eyebrow and pointed at her phone. "Then you were staring at the chat box for half an hour, your mouth almost stretched to your ears. Were you dating the air?"
"..." Shen Qingyu was speechless.
Qu Shengsheng pressed on: "Are you hoping he'll reply to you right away? Do you want him to take the initiative to chat with you every day? If you don't say anything, I'll take it as your consent."
"..." Shen Qingyu struggled for a moment, her voice getting smaller and smaller, "This...this isn't considered an online relationship, right?"
Qu Shengsheng paused with his Coke in hand, his eyes widening as he stared at her with dismay, "How can this not count? Thinking about him every day, wanting to chat with him, wondering what he's doing, isn't this the hallmark of a girl in love? Five stars of danger!"
"A girl in love..." Shen Qingyu twitched the corners of her mouth, feeling awkward no matter how she listened to it.
"Anyway, you're already in the realm of online dating." Qu Shengsheng took a bite of the grilled shrimp, the shells crunching as she bit them. "Don't blame me for not warning you. Online dating has risks, so be careful when making friends."
"What do you mean?" Shen Qingyu asked curiously. She was actually a little worried. After all, people on the Internet were separated by a screen and no one knew their true appearance.
"Those who engage in online romance, especially those who play games, mostly die in the open." Qu Shengsheng said in a low voice with an "experienced" look on his face, "especially AD carry and jungle players. Do you know why?"
Shen Qingyu's heart skipped a beat—isn't Wuyin just an AD player? This is simply reporting Wuyin's ID number.
"They bring more girls than we kill in-game monsters!" Qu Shengsheng said indignantly, as if he had witnessed it himself. "Today they bring this one, tomorrow they bring that one. They're sweet and flirty, but in reality, they have no sincerity at all."
"..." Shen Qingyu fell silent. She remembered that when she and Wuyin played games together before, he rarely brought other people with him. Most of the time, he played in a duo with her. But Qu Shengsheng's words still made her feel a little uneasy.
"How can you be so sure?" Shen Qingyu stared at Qu Shengsheng and suddenly discovered his blind spot. "Do you have a story?"
Qu Shengsheng's eyes suddenly became vague. He didn't dare to look Shen Qingyu in the eye. The skewers in his hands trembled. "What...what story is there? It's all said on the Internet. I just said it casually."
"Really?" Shen Qingyu raised an eyebrow, his tone full of suspicion, "Why do I feel like you've been cheated?"
Qu Shengsheng's face flushed instantly, not out of shame, but out of anxiety. She clenched the skewers tightly, her voice trembling slightly, "How is this possible! I, Qu Shengsheng, have been in the love world for so many years, how could I be deceived by love... and by someone who plays League of Legends?"
"I didn't say I was playing League of Legends." Shen Qingyu said slowly, with a hint of cunning in his eyes.
"...Fuck! Chen Qingyu, you are trying to trick me!" Qu Shengsheng reacted and immediately became angry and embarrassed. He put the skewers on the plate and turned his head away.
She said, "Oh, I admit it, but I wasn't deceived, okay? I was just... slightly teased." Qu Shengsheng bit into the veal with resentment, his eyes blazing. "Anyway, if I were given another chance, I definitely wouldn't fall in love online! All the guys online are scumbags!" She seemed to remember something and added, "The same is true in real life!"
Shen Qingyu was shocked: "You hate it so much?"
Qu Shengsheng clenched his fists.
"I really despise online dating!"
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