Lie? Go on, then

Li Xingqing put her phone back in her pocket. She didn’t know how long she would have to keep this lie going.

And when the lie was exposed, what kind of disappointed look would Yin Yi give her then?

Those thoughts hung over Li Xingqing like the Sword of Damocles. She didn’t know when they would fall, but she knew it wouldn’t be for a lifetime.

Just as she was lost in thought, the little black cat beside her meowed.

Li Xingqing looked over instinctively; the water was gone.

She poured some more into the mineral water bottle. Sure enough, the little black cat lowered its head and drank, no longer paying her any mind.

Watching it, Li Xingqing suddenly thought it seemed pretty happy too.

She rolled her neck and shoulders, and then a familiar figure appeared at the convenience store entrance.

Across the ferns planted in the flowerbed, Li Xingqing met that person’s gaze.

It was Xi Zhen, who had disappeared for several days.

This time, her curly hair had been tied back into a messy bun at the nape of her neck.

Her hair was casually pinned up, but the way Xi Zhen was dressed was completely different from how she had looked at the script read-through.

She wore a light gray silk V-neck blouse. The fabric draped softly, and the sleeves were rolled neatly to her forearms, revealing a slender wrist. Below it were white ankle-length suit trousers with clean lines, paired with nude pointed-toe heels, giving her an exceptionally sharp, capable air.

When their eyes met, Xi Zhen was turned slightly to the side, exhaling a puff of white mist.

Only then did Li Xingqing notice the slim ladies’ cigarette between Xi Zhen’s long fingers. The tip glowed orange-red; without a doubt, she was smoking.

It was hard to describe the feeling, but Li Xingqing’s heart seemed to start thumping.

She didn’t really like smokers; whenever she encountered one, she usually kept as far away as possible. But looking at Xi Zhen with the cigarette in her hand, only two words came to mind.

Sexy.

Yes, Xi Zhen smoking was sexy.

Across the flowerbed, Li Xingqing felt Xi Zhen probably hadn’t noticed her.

She was hesitating over whether to greet her or turn around and leave when she suddenly heard her own name.

“Li Xingqing.”

Xi Zhen’s voice carried the languid weariness of fatigue, mixed with a roughness touched by tobacco smoke. But when she said Li Xingqing’s name, there was an unusual softness to it.

A name was the shortest spell in the world; it held magic.

Li Xingqing gave in at once. She stepped out from behind the flowerbed and walked toward Xi Zhen.

Seeing that she hadn’t mistaken the person, a flash of surprise crossed Xi Zhen’s eyes, followed by self-reproach. She snuffed out the cigarette in her hand and waved it a couple of times.

After eating her fill, the little black cat had followed behind Li Xingqing like it was repaying her for the meal.

Xi Zhen noticed the little fellow and quickly changed the subject, pointing at it as she asked, “What’s this?”

“Xiao Hei. A stray cat from nearby. It’s very clean and very friendly.”

“So you’ve even made an animal friend in just a few days,” Xi Zhen joked, then quickly took a few steps forward to leave the spot she’d been standing in. She hadn’t missed the faint crease in Li Xingqing’s brow when she walked over just now; it seemed Li Xingqing didn’t like the smell of smoke.

“It’s very well-behaved. I like it,” Li Xingqing explained, and then heard Xi Zhen say,

“You like well-behaved ones? Then are you well-behaved?”

Xi Zhen’s question came out abruptly; it was somewhat inexplicable.

Li Xingqing had no idea why Xi Zhen would suddenly say something like that, and the confusion in her eyes didn’t look fake.

“The school convenience store?” Xi Zhen repeated, casually echoing what Li Xingqing had just said.

So she’d heard it all!

Li Xingqing suddenly realized Xi Zhen probably hadn’t recognized her from a casual glance at all.

She had guessed it from the moment Li Xingqing answered the phone.

“I...” Not knowing what to say, Li Xingqing rarely found herself at a loss for words.

Before she could react, Xi Zhen had already apologized.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to listen in on your call. I didn’t expect it to be you.”

With both the nice and not-so-nice words all said by one person, Li Xingqing couldn’t even bring herself to complain.

“It’s fine. Then what about you?”

“Hm?” Xi Zhen seemed not to have expected the question to be thrown back at her; her movements paused slightly.

“You’ve been gone for several days. What about you?”

So that was it. The smile on Xi Zhen’s face deepened.

She’d wondered what it was; it turned out the little one was starting to question her.

“Me? I went with Bai Mo to A City to fetch something these past few days. I just got back.” Xi Zhen explained with complete sincerity. Li Xingqing still had doubts in her eyes, but she believed her anyway.

In keeping with her habit of giving an answer in return, Li Xingqing briefly explained that phone call.

“My family... isn’t in a great situation. My mom doesn’t know I came out to work.”

Xi Zhen hadn’t expected to hear that answer, and her brow rose.

Not in a great situation? It didn’t seem like it.

Li Xingqing had very good skin, and her temperament was especially striking; she was the kind of person who could be spotted at a glance in a crowd. Xi Zhen had never imagined that this was someone raised in less-than-ideal circumstances.

Still, she thought back to the Li Xingqing she remembered—always carrying a black backpack for a laptop, with nothing hanging from it. The clothes she wore day to day didn’t seem to carry any obvious brand name either. So maybe what she said about her family really was true?

Xi Zhen suddenly began to feel sorry for her. No wonder finding a scriptwriter to work with the crew had been so hard at the time; this little one even seemed rather tight-lipped.

When Li Xingqing saw Xi Zhen’s reaction, she seemed to realize she might have made it sound a little too exaggerated. Would she give herself away?

Just as she was wondering whether she should patch it up with a few more words, Xi Zhen seemed to have already accepted her explanation.

“Have something sweet,” Xi Zhen said, taking a piece of candy out of the shoulder bag on her back and handing it to Li Xingqing.

She had low blood sugar, so she often kept candy and the like in her bag; now it happened to come in handy.

Li Xingqing opened her mouth several times, but in the end she still kept quiet. Forget it. After this drama wrapped, she and Xi Zhen... probably wouldn’t see each other again, right?

Silently, Li Xingqing took the candy from Xi Zhen’s hand, unwrapped it, and put it into her mouth.

The candy was sweet, strawberry-flavored, but without any of strawberry’s tartness.

Li Xingqing tucked the wrapper into her pocket, her fingers worrying back and forth over the plastic film.

“Thank you,” Li Xingqing said around the candy, her words slightly muffled.

Xi Zhen’s mischievous streak surfaced again. She smiled and asked, “Thank you to whom?”

“Xi Zhen?”

“No, say ‘sister.’ I’m probably a few years older than you, so asking you to call me sister isn’t too much, is it?”

Her logic was so surprising that Li Xingqing’s eyes widened as she looked at Xi Zhen.

She was originally a little taller than Xi Zhen, but now Xi Zhen was wearing heels and standing on a step, clearly in a position to look down at her.

Li Xingqing lifted her head, the eyes hidden beneath her baseball cap meeting Xi Zhen’s directly.

Her eyes were large, carrying a bit of youthful stubbornness.

Like a puppy that had been caught in the rain; it crashed straight into Xi Zhen’s heart and left her momentarily speechless.

“Thank you... sister.”

“Mm, you’re welcome.” Xi Zhen turned her face away a little, as if avoiding something. “It’s late. Go to bed early; don’t you still have work tomorrow? Say goodbye to your cat friend.”

Li Xingqing looked down; sure enough, Xiao Hei was already standing beside her feet.

She crouched and patted its head. “See you later.”

When she stood up, Xi Zhen was already walking ahead.

Li Xingqing took out a wet wipe and cleaned her hands, then hurried after her.

D City’s night was very quiet. The freight truck that had just exposed the fact that Li Xingqing wasn’t at school had seemed like an accident; now the road was empty again.

The two walked side by side, neither saying a word.

Li Xingqing smelled the unique scent of Xi Zhen’s perfume and felt very at ease.

But asking about the perfume would be far too intimate, and it didn’t fit the “poor student” persona she had built for herself.

In that silence, the short stretch of road was quickly finished.

As soon as they reached the hotel lobby, Li Xingqing saw Ke Wei.

The director?

Why was she in the lobby at this hour?

When Ke Wei saw the two of them coming back together, the shock in her eyes was impossible to hide.

In the end, under Xi Zhen’s threatening gaze, she said, “Good evening. Take care of yourselves, and get to bed early.”

“Okay, thank you, Sister Ke.” Li Xingqing spoke first; not realizing the ambiguity in Ke Wei’s words, she went to press the elevator button.

Xi Zhen stayed where she was, giving Ke Wei a gesture to stay calm. Then she followed Li Xingqing into the elevator.

At the door to 1203, Xi Zhen swiped the door open.

“Good night. Sleep early.”

“Good night, sister.” Li Xingqing was getting more and more used to calling her that, which made Xi Zhen feel a little unaccustomed to it.

The door to 1205 closed, and Li Xingqing casually took off the cap on her head.

She rubbed her face, not knowing why she had insisted on telling that lie in front of Xi Zhen. Wouldn’t it have been better not to explain at all?

A wave of annoyance rose in her chest. Li Xingqing ran her fingers through her hair, then reached into her pocket and pulled out the candy wrapper she had just unwrapped.

In the end, she tucked the wrapper between the front pages of the little notebook she liked to carry with her, along with that faint, lingering strawberry sweetness.

Xi Zhen confirmed that the person next door had closed her door, then opened hers again. Ke Wei was standing outside, smiling at her.

“Zhen-jie, why are you acting like a thief? Don’t tell me... you’ve got her?” Ke Wei nudged Xi Zhen with her shoulder.

“Don’t talk nonsense. I just happened to run into her and came back together with her.” Xi Zhen ignored the teasing in Ke Wei’s tone and turned to sit back down on the small sofa in the room. After rushing around for several days straight and still having to deal with those troublesome investors, she was exhausted.

“Thiiis~ wayyy~? Happened to run into her? What a coincidence!” Ke Wei sat across from Xi Zhen and handed her a bottle of water.

“Enough, stop dancing around it. Say something serious. What did you come to me for?” Xi Zhen took the water, took a sip, and put it down.

“What else? So, how did it go? Did you reach an agreement?”

“Ugh, those investors are too hard to deal with. Maybe...” Xi Zhen lowered her eyes, looking drained.

Ke Wei was startled; worry immediately filled her face. “Then what about us...”

“Haha, all right, don’t scare yourself. We’re starting on time, my great director.” Xi Zhen changed the subject, the smile returning to her face.

Ke Wei had just been scared half to death, and her mood had sunk to the bottom. Then she suddenly heard this good news, and she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

She made a show of raising her hand to hit her, but when she finally reached Xi Zhen’s side, she lowered it and said to her, “Thank you, Zhen-jie.”

Xi Zhen hated it most when people were like this, and quickly stood up.

“A-Ke, what are you thanking me for? I asked you to shoot this drama; the fact that you could come is already you doing me a favor. Film it well. I’ve put all my money on this now.”

“Zhen-jie, don’t worry, I...”

“I’m not worried, I’m not worried. No more promises. Go to bed early.”

Seeing tears welling in Ke Wei’s eyes, Xi Zhen hurriedly stopped her.

Author’s Note:

Li Xingqing: My family conditions aren’t very good. (No, they’re too good!)

Xi Zhen: So pitiful. I’m in love, I’m in love.