Ke Huo rubbed her still aching nose bridge, staring tightly in the direction that person had left, her pupils shrinking for a moment.
Lin Xirun quietly approached, appearing beside Ke Lin without a sound.
With a mischievous smile, he waited for the right moment and suddenly smacked Ke Ni on the shoulder: “Hey.”
The effect he imagined didn’t happen.
Ke Ni wasn’t startled at all. She calmly turned her head.
Lin Xirun looked at Ke Ni’s expression in surprise, then glanced twice in the direction she’d been looking just now.
Not far away, there was only a man dressed in black, his back to them. Lin Xirun pushed up his glasses: “I think I just saw you talking to someone.”
He lifted his chin in the direction of that figure, “Was it that guy in the baseball cap?”
“You know him?”
Ke Lin’s expression was a bit strange, as if serious, but also like she was hiding something.
She quickly denied it: “I don’t know him.”
The coffee shop sign’s fragmented light landed on Lin Xirun’s glasses.
The eyes hidden behind the lenses studied Ke Ni: “Ke Lin, you—”
Ke Lin absentmindedly countered: “Why did you just come over?”
Lin Xirun raised the four cold drinks he was carrying in takeout bags and waved them in front of Ke Ni: “Didn’t you say you were going to the restroom? I wasn’t in a rush, and I passed by a cold drink shop. The prices looked pretty good, so I bought a few cups. We can have them together when we eat later.”
The complicated look on Ke Ni’s face disappeared, replaced by her usual cheerful, playful demeanor.
She took a small step back, mumbling, “I thought the person waiting over here was you.”
Lin Xirun gloated: “What, scared the wrong person?”
“Worse than that.”
“Come on, what happened?”
Ke Ni’s black little leather shoes, still caked with mud, stomped twice by the puddle: “Stepped right in the mud.”
Lin Xirun thought for a second, then burst out laughing: “Ha, did you fall right into someone’s arms?”
Ke Ni was not pleased at all: “Still laughing? If you hadn’t come late, would I have mistaken someone for you? My nose almost broke!”
Lin Xirun shoved a cold drink into Ke Ni’s hand: “Come on, come on, didn’t I buy you a cold drink as an apology?”
“Fine, fine.”
“You’re welcome.”
Lin Xirun studied Ke Ni’s brows, as if probing, “They already went ahead to order.”
When Ke Huo saw the four cups of cold drinks in Lin Xirun’s hand, she knew for sure that tonight, she’d be having dinner with “them.”
Lin Xirun had told Ke Ni about this long ago.
After all, Lin Xirun said that after passing the preliminary selection, the first part of the show’s recording would also be in the form of team competitions.
Rather than picking teammates later, it was better to get familiar with the contestants from their own school.
He said that building good relationships would help with the competition later on.
Seeing Ke Lin hesitate, Lin Xirun nudged Ke Ni’s arm with his elbow, smiling: “You don’t want to go?”
Ke Ni bit on her straw and glanced at Lin Xirun, not objecting, almost as if she’d just realized: “Weren’t you just trying to scare me earlier?”
“You noticed?”
“I saw your shadow.”
Seeing that Ke Huo didn’t refuse, Lin Xirun quietly breathed a sigh of relief and pressed his hands together in apology.
Ke Ni was thinking about something else, muttering, “I’m really calm and mature now, my emotions are way too stable.”
Lin Xirun pushed Ke Ni’s back: “Stop being sentimental, let’s go. They’re still waiting for us at the barbecue place!”
The “they” Lin Xirun mentioned were the other two contestants from their school who came to participate in the first round of the preliminaries.
One of them was a student taught by Ke Lin’s father.
He was two years older than Ke Huo and Lin Xirun, currently in graduate school, named Zhu Ye—a senior who looked like a serious, old-fashioned cadre.
When Ke Ni and the others arrived at the barbecue place, Zhu Ye was carrying a platter of boiled peanuts and edamame out to the large open-air seating area outside the restaurant.
Seeing Ke Ni and Lin Xirun, Zhu Ye waved cheerfully: “Great timing bringing the food out! I was just about to call and hurry you up. Sometimes arriving at the right moment is better than arriving early.”
By contrast, the other “they” didn’t seem very friendly.
He sat with his chin propped up, eating barbecue by himself.
He only glanced at Lin Xirun—considered a greeting—and didn’t even spare Ke Ni a look.
Lin Xirun handed out the cold drinks, then helped with introductions: “This is Ke Ni.”
He pulled out a chair for Ke Lin: “Ke Lin, you’ve met Senior Zhu Ye before, and this is Senior Feng Zi’an.”
Ke Lin smiled and nodded at them.
Feng Zi’an suddenly said, “Ke Ni, right? I’ve heard of you.”
Ke Ni unwrapped the plastic on her disposable cutlery, like someone who’d lost all curiosity, ignoring the “I’ve heard of you” comment: “Is that so.”
Feng Zi’an squinted, giving a fake smile: “I’ve seen you on that show.”
Ke Ni had once participated in a brain challenge variety show, but the results were less than ideal.
It was something Ke Huo had always regretted.
Her hands paused for a moment, then she looked up, expressionless.
Out of the corner of her eye, Zhu Ye was handing out disposable chopsticks to Lin Xirun and Ke Ni, paying no attention to the malice in Feng Zi’an’s tone, still cheerfully discussing with Lin Xirun whether they should go play a round at a board game café after eating barbecue.
Ke Ni still replied to Feng Zi’an with just two words: “Is that so.”
Lin Xirun sensed the tension between the two: “Wow, this barbecue place was Zhu Ye’s pick, and it smells great! Come on, let’s eat more.”
Only then did Zhu Ye notice the subtle atmosphere at the table, and exaggeratedly tried to liven things up: “Wasn’t it your choice? How come you’re praising yourself?”
Anyone who made it through the first round of preliminaries wasn’t a fool.
Even the seemingly honest and simple Zhu Ye was a top student at a prestigious university, a favorite in the eyes of the teachers.
No one needed to flatter anyone.
Because Feng Zi’an looked at everyone as if they were trash, the atmosphere at the meal was stiff.
The more they ate, the more it felt like they were just sharing a table with strangers, each eating their own food.
The dinner didn’t achieve the “unity” that Lin Xirun had hoped for, and the board game café plan also fell through.
After the meal, Zhu Ye dragged Feng Zi’an to catch a cab and left first, while Lin Xirun accompanied Ke Ni on a walk back to the hotel.
Lin Xirun spent the whole way smoothing things over: “Feng Zi’an is a bit arrogant, but he’s really strong. Even Mr. Ke said his personality isn’t easy.”
Ke Lin had met plenty of strong people.
From what Ke Huo knew, someone as strong as Feng Zi’an probably wasn’t qualified to be that arrogant yet.
Suddenly, an image flashed in Ke Ni’s mind—a pair of calm, emotionless eyes.
As she remembered those eyes, she also recalled the faint herbal scent of manuka that clung to him.
A rumble of thunder exploded in the night sky, heralding the coming downpour.
He had already walked into the hotel’s parking lot.
Ke Huo, distracted, almost bumped into a pillar.
Lin Xirun quickly stopped Ke Ni, then turned and joked with her: “What’s with you today? Hugging a stranger wasn’t enough, now you want to hug a pillar too?”
Ke Lin didn’t say anything.
Ke Ni wanted to explain to Lin Xirun that the person she’d hugged by mistake wasn’t a stranger to her.
She knew his name—Jing Sicun.
Lin Xirun had no idea what Ke Ni was thinking, assuming she was just annoyed by Feng Zi’an’s words.
When they parted at the hotel elevator, he didn’t forget to remind her: “Ke Lin, Feng Zi’an is just like that, a bit rude. Don’t mind him. Get some rest when you get back, we still have the competition tomorrow afternoon.”
Ke Huo waved her hand: “Got it.”
Ke Ni had a hotel room to herself.
After showering, she climbed into the spacious double bed in her bathrobe.
Her phone buzzed on the mattress for a long time before she snapped out of it and answered her best friend’s call.
Her bestie asked, “What is our little Ke Ni up to?”
Ke Lin buried her face in the blanket: “Lying in my hotel room.”
“Why did you take so long to answer? Who were you with?”
They often joked like this:
“Thinking of you.”
“Missing you.”
They’d had this kind of exchange hundreds, if not thousands, of times, but today Ke Ni was suddenly at a loss for words.
Her best friend quickly picked up on it, laughing and teasing: “Be honest, Ke Ni, are you thinking about some handsome boyfriend?”
Ke Ni was confused: “I have a handsome boyfriend?”
“Lin Xirun!”
“He? Mhm.”
“No way.”
Her friend’s voice was shocked: “Lin Xirun is so good-looking, and he wears glasses!”
Ke Ni was even more confused: “What does wearing glasses have to do with being handsome?”
“Gentle! Scholarly!”
“Come on, that’s just average.”
Her best friend was confused too: “Even someone like that is just average to you? If I had a handsome guy like Lin Xirun with high IQ and EQ around, I’d definitely have a crush!”
“Not interested.”
“Really not?”
“Yeah, I always felt it was Lin Xirun who had a crush on you.”
Lin Xirun and Ke Huo had known each other for more than half a year now.
Their friendship was basically Lin Xirun squeezing his way into Ke Lin’s life with 120% enthusiasm and sincerity.
To outsiders, it probably did seem a bit strange.
Ke Lin knew the reason, and joked casually: “Come on, Lin Xirun cares more about the preliminary questions and the later rounds than he does about me.”
“If not Lin Xirun, then who…”
Her friend brought the topic back: “So who are you really thinking about?”
It started raining outside.
Ke Ni fell silent, holding her phone.
Just now, Ke Ni had been thinking about Jing Sicun.
She didn’t know if Jing Sicun’s looks fit her friend’s idea of a “handsome guy.”
Thinking back carefully: seeing him up close, Jing Sicun’s features were clearer than they were years ago when she’d seen him on TV—
Sharp brows, a straight nose, and those calm, unfathomable eyes.
If Ke Ni had never known of Jing Sicun’s existence, maybe seeing him for the first time, she might have thought he was a little bit striking?
But the role Jing Sicun played in Ke Lin’s life was just too special.
So special that…
She could no longer separate her past impression of him, couldn’t judge his looks independently anymore.
Under her best friend’s persistent questioning, Ke Ni let out a sigh: “No handsome guy, just someone I used to dream about getting rid of when I couldn’t sleep.”
The psychological shadows Ke Ni carried from her past—Jing Sicun was definitely one of the culprits.
She still held quite a grudge against him.
After their unexpected encounter tonight, the fact that Ke Huo didn’t slap that emotionless face of his was, in her mind, already proof of just how mature and steady she’d become.