Jing Sicun’s tone was extremely calm, merely stating the facts, with no trace of emotion or bias.
Ke Ni still instinctively tried to analyze it with a touch of prejudice:
What’s that supposed to mean?
Is this a “guaranteed winner” showing charity and praise to a little nobody like me?
The reflection of Ke Ni’s increasingly furrowed brow appeared on the metallic wall.
Before Ke Ni could retort, Song Yi had already asked, “How do you know?”
Jing Sicun tilted his head slightly back, massaging the skin at his Adam’s apple to relieve the discomfort in his throat.
He replied, “Your performance was pretty decent.”
Song Yi was still confused.
“How do you know?”
Jing Sicun’s neck was reddened by his own hand.
He cleared his throat and spoke again, saying that during the preliminary audition, Ke Ni was right next to him at the control station.
“You were right beside me.”
Song Yi whipped his head around to confirm with Ke Huo, “You really were right next to him?”
Ke Ni, still a little stunned by “your performance was pretty decent” and Jing Sicun’s gesture, returned to her senses, blinked, and nodded.
“So close!”
Song Yi immediately got excited, let go of Dai Jize, and switched to slinging his arm around Jing Sicun’s shoulders.
“Jing Sicun, what’s your deal, didn’t you say you didn’t see Ke Ni?”
Then came a barrage of rapid-fire questions.
As soon as the elevator chimed and reached their floor, the metal doors slowly slid open.
Song Yi was still hanging off Jing Sicun’s shoulder, questioning him about everything under the sun.
Ke Huo could barely make sense of Song Yi’s words.
The general gist seemed to be that he suspected he’d run into her at the audition venue, so he’d been keeping an eye out for her the whole time but never managed to meet her.
After coming back, Song Yi must have asked Jing Sicun.
Jing Sicun had also said he hadn’t seen her…
Ke Ni’s face was expressionless as she grumbled inwardly:
Didn’t see me?
Who was it staring at me at the competition venue—was that a ghost?
Ke Huo could pretty much guess why Jing Sicun refused to answer—probably just didn’t want to be bothered.
Because Song Yi really was a bit noisy, just like Lin Xirun.
Always digging for the root of things at every opportunity.
Ke Ni had also lazily brushed off Lin Xirun’s questions before, knowing that kind of half-hearted avoidance.
Besides, Song Yi seemed to be even chattier than Lin Xirun.
The four boys had agreed to go to Jing Sicun’s room, so they stepped out of the elevator on the same floor as Ke Ni.
When she reached her own door, Ke Ni politely bid them farewell amidst Song Yi’s endless banter to Jing Sicun: “I’m going in.”
He Zhi said, “Bye, Ke Ni-jie!”
Dai Jize waved slowly.
Song Yi, still saying “Can’t believe you lied to your best bro,” freed up a hand to say to Ke Ni, “See you next time, Ke Ni!”
Jing Sicun, still being pulled sideways by Song Yi, tilted his head and nodded slightly to Ke Ni.
For the next few days, Ke Ni spent most of her days going back to school for classes, occasionally checking out apartments with a broker after class, and then returning to the hotel to rest.
Ke Ni never expected that Jing Sicun, Song Yi, and the others hadn’t checked out of the hotel either.
The four of them were always hanging out in Jing Sicun’s room.
With so many people coming and going on the same floor, it was hard for Ke Ni not to run into them whenever she left for class or went out for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Ke Ni tried to avoid them.
But she really couldn’t fend off the “enemies’” extraordinary enthusiasm: every time they met, they would greet Ke Ni.
When they met in the restaurant, they’d invite Ke Ni to join their table for a meal.
When they ran into her in the corridor, they’d proactively ask if she wanted to grab a late-night snack, get coffee, or play games together…
Under their relentless enthusiasm, Ke Huo had already shared three meals with them.
Even tonight, when she was almost done with dinner, she’d joined them in ordering takeout from a café, with a note asking the delivery guy to leave it at the hotel front desk.
Song Yi was the one who placed the order.
Ke Ni added Song Yi on WeChat to transfer him the money.
Half an hour later, they picked up the coffee at the hotel’s front desk.
Ke Ni couldn’t help but finally ask Song Yi, “Why do you guys keep staying at the hotel?”
There can’t be that many people who have a home but don’t go back, right?
Song Yi pointed at Dai Jize, who was rummaging through the takeout bag for a lemon sparkling Americano.
“Because of Old Dai… Hey! That latte’s mine! Hand it over!”
Ke Ni helped pass it to him.
Song Yi took a sip of the latte and said matter-of-factly, “Old Dai’s school isn’t even in this city. Are we supposed to just leave him here alone? What kind of people would we be?”
Ke Ni thought: Looks like they’re not checking out anytime soon.
Song Yi said, “There’s still the team competition coming up. It’s easier for us to stay together and build some chemistry.”
He Zhi was puzzled. “Song-ge, didn’t you say before it was just to make it easier to play games together?”
Halfway through boasting, Song Yi was immediately called out.
Song Yi glared at He Zhi, speaking through gritted teeth, “Can’t playing games build chemistry?”
He Zhi quickly caught on.
“Of course it can!”
Shu Qin burst out laughing.
“Ha, ha. Ha. Ha.”
Ke Huo noticed that Jing Sicun was the quietest of the four, but at moments like this, he’d still let out a laugh or two.
After laughing, Jing Sicun handed a coffee to Ke Ni.
Ke Ni took it.
“Thanks.”
When they said goodbye on the same floor, Song Yi and the others, while waiting for the announcement of the audition results, even asked Ke Ni if she wanted to play games with them.
Of course, Ke Ni refused.
Her feelings toward them were still complicated, especially toward Jing Sicun, whom she’d resented for years.
How should she put it…
Faced with Jing Sicun and the others’ ease, confidence, and playful teasing, Ke Ni often couldn’t control her own inferiority and envy…
Back in her own room, Ke Ni’s mind suddenly replayed Jing Sicun’s words:
“You’ll make it.”
Who asked you! Mind your own business! Are you the judge?
Who cares if I make it or not!
Did God really leave a window open for these smart people?!
Jing Sicun was right.
Ke Ni had indeed passed the first round of the audition.
The notification from the program team came the following evening.
Lin Xirun was the first to call: “Ke Ni, Zhu Yexuezhang still didn’t make it, but you…”
Ke Ni knew what Lin Xirun wanted to ask: “I made it.”
Lin Xirun’s voice was full of joy: “Congratulations!”
“Hearing your tone, you passed too?”
“Yeah, and Feng Zi’an also made it.”
Ke Ni replied, “Congratulations.”
“Did you tell Ke Zheshi?”
“Not yet.”
Lin Xirun said, “Hurry up and call Ke Zheshi—he’ll be so happy. I’m going to call my family with the good news too, talk later!”
Ke Ni stared at the various apartment listings on her computer screen, silent for a long time before finally calling her parents.
They both sounded pleased, encouraging her again and again to keep working hard when she officially joined the show.
Her father said he was truly happy for her.
But…
Was she really happy about it?
What’s the point of working harder, when she’d only have to relive the same old nightmare sooner or later?
The dread for the upcoming competition was like a tide, surging in from all sides, wave after wave, filling the quiet hotel room.
Ke Huo was almost drowning in it.
Why do people have to compete at all?
Ke Ni lay on her bed with her phone, opened her Moments, and found that Song Yi had already posted the notification about them passing the audition.
Yes, not just him—“them.”
Song Yi had combined screenshots of the notifications for the four of them into one image.
Ke Huo didn’t give it a like after seeing it.
But in her heart, she muttered: I’m going to fight it out with you “gifted ones”!
Song Yi’s Moments was just as noisy as he was in real life.
After they’d added each other last night, Ke Ni’s feed was practically filled with Song Yi’s posts.
Just this afternoon alone, Song Yi had already posted several updates.
Screenshots of their win in the Jiangyi competition.
A photo of his lunch.
A border collie he saw at the post office.
A repost of news from the Institute of Technology’s campus.
And some random daily group selfies with Jing Sicun and the others…
Even though Jing Sicun didn’t seem too keen on being in photos, turning his face to the side so only the smooth curve of his jaw was visible.
Scrolling further down, Song Yi had even posted an apartment rental ad—
[For Rent]
Direct from landlord, no agency fee.
Details: 60 square meters, north-south facing, two bedrooms, one living room, one bathroom, one kitchen…
Near the subway, old building, no elevator.
Price negotiable, address…
Ke Ni searched the location on the map—it was somewhere she’d watched her parents visit as a child.
Her father and a few other teachers from the School of Architecture had jointly served as consultants for the subway station design, and for a while, they’d often gone to that area.
She remembered that there was a busy market nearby in the old city district, and an abandoned theatre eliminated by the times.
The address was in the neighbourhood next to her father’s residence and her school, not far away, and there was a subway—it seemed pretty convenient.
The layout in the photos looked decent.
Furnishings were simple and tasteful, and everything looked clean.
Ke Ni had looked at a few apartments in the past few days, most of them dirty and messy—one kitchen even looked as rough as a construction site, which was just unbearable.
If she could rent this place, she could even save on the agency fee.
Ke Ni thought for a moment, then opened a chat with Song Yi.
Aside from her payment and Song Yi’s receipt record, there were no other messages in their chat.
Ke Huo sent Song Yi a WeChat message: “Hello, Song Yi.”
“Is the apartment you posted in Moments still available for rent?”
About eight minutes later, Song Yi replied: “It is.”
Ke Ni continued to ask for details about the apartment.
She soon discovered that Song Yi was surprisingly terse online.
Ke Huo asked: Can the rent be lowered a bit?
Reply: Yes.
Ke Huo asked: Besides rent, are there any other fees I need to pay?
Reply: Property management fee.
Ke Huo asked: Is it okay to pay one month’s rent every three months?
Reply: Yes.
Ke Huo asked: Can I come see the place?
Reply: Sure.
It was a bit of a struggle to keep the conversation going.
Maybe Song Yi was busy playing games with the others and couldn’t type easily, so Ke Ni finally asked if it was convenient to discuss these details over a voice call.
In Ke Huo’s impression, you could talk on the phone while gaming.
Song Yi immediately sent a voice call request.
Ke Ni picked up: “Hello, hope I’m not bothering you.”
“No.”
Ke Ni wasn’t very familiar with Song Yi, Jing Sicun, or the others, so she couldn’t tell whose voice it was.
She seriously discussed the rental, explaining she might not be able to rent long-term, maybe only for a few months.
After this half-semester and summer break, Ke Ni would be going abroad as an exchange student.
Some landlords didn’t like short-term rentals, so she had to make things clear in advance.
Ke Huo originally planned to ask Song Yi if he was the landlord or just helping someone rent the place, but she suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
The room went quiet.
Ke Ni’s phone was pressed to her ear, and she heard two faint coughs from the other side.
Her heart tightened inexplicably.
A flash of memory: someone’s fingers rubbing their reddened Adam’s apple.
There was a sound of swallowing, and Ke Ni tentatively asked, “Are you Song Yi?”
“I’m Jing Sicun.”
Ke Huo’s breath caught. “Why is it you?!”