Ke Ni felt as if she’d been splashed with boiling oil.
In the searing, almost illusory pain, she lifted her eyes in confusion, meeting Jing Sicun’s gaze once again.
Jing Sicun quietly studied Ke Ni.
Her skin prickled as if stung.
Ke Ni hurriedly looked away, her gaze falling onto the dining table covered with a red checkered cloth.
The four-person tables in the restaurant felt much cozier than the large round ones.
Next to the vase of artificial flowers was a neat row of condiments.
The small bread Jing Sicun had brought back was pinched at the waist by tongs and now sat quietly on his plate, exuding a tempting aroma.
Ke Ni quickly composed herself, raised her head again, and smiled, “No, thank you.”
Jing Sicun said nothing more and quietly ate his breakfast.
The food he’d chosen was all classic Western breakfast fare: grilled chicken breast, bacon with broccoli, fried eggs, small bread rolls, and coffee.
Ke Ni recalled a conversation between her parents from years ago—
Her mother had casually asked, “Why hasn’t that Jing Sicun participated in TV programs again?”
Her father replied, “I saw online that he was invited by a prestigious foreign university to further his studies abroad.”
Ke Ni immediately regretted it:
When asked why they were staying at a hotel, Song Yi only said that Dai Fanze didn’t have a place to live here.
But from the hints in the conversation between Song Yi and He Zhi, Ke Ni had assumed Jing Sicun was their schoolmate.
She realized she’d fallen into a mental rut again; she’d actually just asked Jing Sicun if he had morning classes.
How foolish.
Ke Ni had looked it up herself—the judges in the show Jing Sicun participated in included professors from renowned universities.
One was a finance professor from MIT, another was a math professor from Stanford.
Maybe…
Truly heights unattainable for ordinary people.
Ke Ni picked up half a breakfast sausage from her plate with chopsticks and chewed it tastelessly.
Out of the corner of her eye, Jing Sicun picked up a small bread roll, eating it slowly and silently.
The smell of toasted bread was genuinely sweet and tempting.
The hotel’s breakfast menu rotated, and small bread rolls weren’t available every day.
Ke Ni had been staying here for a week and had only once caught freshly baked small bread rolls.
At eight in the morning, the restaurant was at its busiest.
Lately, it seemed some team was holding meetings here, making the place as lively as it had been on the day of the preliminary competition.
In the blink of an eye, the small bread rolls were all taken by other hotel guests.
Behind the glass, the baker beamed with satisfaction as a server came over and took away the deep brown wooden tray, now left only with oil-resistant paper.
Exceptional talent and good luck.
Jing Sicun’s life seemed almost enviably smooth.
Ke Ni swallowed her breakfast sausage with a hint of resentment, then picked up her ceramic spoon to sip her rice porridge.
Her hand trembled slightly.
Without Song Yi and the others’ banter, a certain awkward tension lingered between her and Jing Sicun.
Neither spoke, each focused on their own meal.
Thankfully, He Zhi called—it sounded like he was asking Jing Sicun about a game theory problem.
Ke Ni couldn’t hear He Zhi’s reasoning.
She could only hear Jing Sicun’s calm guidance, explaining how to verify the hypothesis in the question, and whether the subject could increase their survival probability by unilaterally changing their strategy.
Ke Ni swallowed another mouthful of porridge.
Was that the Nash equilibrium?
Jing Sicun ate his bacon, then moved on to the broccoli.
He solved the probability problem as he ate.
Jing Sicun effortlessly worked through a string of calculations, and by the time Ke Ni had subconsciously worked through most of it herself, he had already spoken the answer aloud.
Back when her father had made her watch Jing Sicun’s TV show for comparison, Ke Ni had felt the urge—
To smash her pen or snacks right into Jing Sicun’s face on the screen.
Now, Ke Ni felt the same impulse.
She wanted to fling her spoon at his face.
But what really bothered Ke Ni wasn’t just the game theory problem, the mental math speed, or the freshly baked bread rolls.
Maybe it was because she hadn’t slept well last night?
Her attention was hard to focus, always drifting toward Jing Sicun.
Ke Ni bit into her fried egg and paused.
Had the chef forgotten to add salt?
She sorted out her messy thoughts and reached for the salt shaker by the food counter, but her fingertips brushed against something warm—not the glass bottle.
Ke Ni looked up in surprise.
Jing Sicun had one hand holding his phone to his ear, the thumb and forefinger of his other hand already pinching the salt shaker.
Jing Sicun was still discussing the problem with He Zhi.
He glanced at Ke Ni and set the salt shaker by her plate.
He made a polite “after you” gesture.
Ke Ni sprinkled salt on her egg, but her emotions grew even more tangled.
Even in a crowded hotel restaurant, she still felt as if she couldn’t handle being alone face-to-face with Jing Sicun.
Was it her pride acting up?
Distracted, Ke Ni finished her corn and egg.
Jing Sicun hung up the call and suddenly said, “Ke Ni.”
Ke Ni paused, chopsticks poised over her salad—this was the first time Jing Sicun had called her name.
His voice had recovered, no longer hoarse, still a bit low, with a lazy, casual tone.
Ke Ni looked at Jing Sicun.
“What is it?”
“Do I annoy you?”
Ke Ni froze.
Under Jing Sicun’s probing, serious gaze, Ke Ni felt a restless discomfort, as if she had nowhere to hide.
In her heart, she thought, “Yes, yes, yes,” but her mouth denied it: “Of course not.”
Jing Sicun said lightly, “Really?”
The atmosphere was so strange that Ke Ni hurriedly finished the rest of her salad in three bites, put down her chopsticks, and made a hasty exit.
Jing Sicun looked at the empty seat beside Ke Ni, where she’d left her canvas bag.
The pattern on the canvas bag was quite unique.
From afar, it looked like a puddle of melted ice cream or wax, soft and wispy.
Only upon closer inspection could one tell it was actually a little girl, eyes tightly shut, body curled up, hugging herself with both arms.
As Jing Sicun stared at the canvas bag, Ke Ni rushed back in a fluster.
Ke Ni snatched up her bag, maintaining a polite smile.
“I have something to do, I’ll go first!”
***
For the next two days, Ke Ni had no time to dwell on her complicated feelings toward Jing Sicun.
She was busy nonstop.
Back to school for classes;
House-hunting with Song Yi, meeting the landlord, Uncle Zhang, and signing the lease;
Taking her best friend to see the new place;
Having dinner together with her best friend…
Ke Ni’s father also invited her home, and she had a “family dinner” with her stepmother and her stepmother’s elderly relatives.
For two days straight, Ke Ni only returned to the hotel late at night, so she didn’t see Jing Sicun and the others again.
On the day she checked out of the hotel, Jing Sicun was still absent, but Song Yi and the others enthusiastically offered to help her move.
Song Yi said that Jing Sicun had a car, and they could use it to help Ke Ni transport her luggage.
Uncle Zhang’s place didn’t have an elevator, but with so many of them working together, each carrying two or three trips, they’d be done in no time.
Ke Ni shook her head.
“Thanks, but no need. I don’t have much stuff, and my friend will help me.”
Song Yi leaned bonelessly against Dai Fanze’s shoulder, nibbling on spicy sticks.
“Alright, if you need anything, just let us know. See you in a few days!”
And in a few days, Ke Ni would indeed see them again.
The show’s production team had notified them.
Next Wednesday, all contestants were required to meet with the program’s managers.
Apparently, it was to discuss the next stage’s content, and to sign various contracts and confidentiality agreements.
Before signing the contract, Ke Ni didn’t see Jing Sicun, but his name was everywhere in her life—
After all, it was because of her parents that she’d had to move, so her stepmother felt quite guilty and insisted that Ke Ni come back home for a few days.
Her stepmother personally cooked delicious food for her every day.
Ke Ni hid in the kitchen, helping out while snacking on freshly baked shrimp.
Ke Ni’s father had heard from Lin Xirun and the others about Jing Sicun’s participation in the show and kept telling Ke Ni he’d ask his colleagues to give her and her friends extra lessons.
Ke Ni was so startled by the shrimp that she shuddered.
“Dad, please, there’s no use cramming at the last minute.”
Her father said, “Why not? The show won’t finish filming in one day, there’s still plenty of time!”
“Alright.”
“Listen to me—Jing Sicun is very strong, you can’t take it lightly.”
So Ke Ni spent a few days listening to her father’s nagging, with Jing Sicun’s annoying name buzzing in her ears.
Every day when she opened her eyes, it was Jing Sicun, Jing Sicun, Jing Sicun…
But when the day came to meet the production team, Ke Ni didn’t even see a shadow of Jing Sicun.
After arriving at the location from the text message, Ke Ni was led upstairs to the conference room.
By the time she entered, about half of the seventy-plus contestants had arrived.
Song Yi, Dai Fanze, and He Zhi were all there. He Zhi sat upright, blushing as he waved to Ke Ni.
Ke Ni sat down and noticed that Song Yi and Dai Fanze were secretly playing games under the table.
The relaxed vibe was palpable.
The meeting was scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
Around 1:10, Lin Xirun and Feng Zi’an also arrived.
At 1:20,
The staff member in charge of liaising with the contestants came in and greeted everyone: “Except for one contestant who can’t make it for personal reasons, everyone else is here. Please take this time to get to know each other.”
Someone asked, “Who’s missing?”
The director said, “You might have heard this contestant’s name—Jing Sicun.”
Discussion broke out in the conference room.
Amid the noisy chatter, Ke Ni wondered: Could Jing Sicun have already gone abroad?
Was he unable to make it back?
Ke Ni didn’t ask Song Yi and the others about it.
After signing the contract, she was swept away by the excited Lin Xirun before she could say much.
The next time she saw Jing Sicun was half a month later.
Once again, the production team had sent a notice for some contestants to come and take promotional photos.
Ke Ni entered the makeup room at the film studio and spotted Jing Sicun at a glance.
Jing Sicun had already changed clothes, legs spread, sitting in the chair before the vanity mirror.
He wore a loose, casual shirt with several buttons undone, the collar open all the way down to the xiphoid process, where it could ease chest tightness.
The makeup artist was joking with him: “Just leave the shirt like this, why bother buttoning up?”
Jing Sicun smiled, “Are you sure this is for a brainpower competition? Did I wander onto the wrong set?”
His outfit was disheveled.
So casual.
So unruly!
Ke Ni glanced warily at Jing Sicun’s chest but didn’t greet him.
As she followed her makeup artist to an empty spot inside, she heard the makeup artist say, “Don’t button up just yet, I need to clip two accessories onto the buttonholes.”
Jing Sicun replied with a laugh in his voice, “I have to button up, or else people will say I’m indecent again.”