Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What do you have there?” 

Yu Tu looked up, startled, as the tickets to the Glory of Kings championship award ceremony that Jing Jing had given him earlier were very unceremoniously snatched out of his hands. 

Zhai Liang stood before him, looking at the tickets in surprise.

“You got tickets to the KPL award ceremony? I should have known, you’ve been obsessively watching the pro matches for weeks already. Wait...there are two tickets...who’s the other one for? It’s for me, right? You have no other friend in Shanghai who would be into this sort of thing - “

Yu Tu sighed and finally cut through his friend’s monologue. “Insulting me is not going to make me want to invite you to come with me.”

Zhai Liang just let out a “Hah!” and then said, “You already bought the tickets, who else are you going to take?” He waved the tickets around. “Besides, I have the tickets now.”

“So are you coming or not?” Yu Tu asked, rolling his eyes. 

Zhai Liang smirked. “I’ll check my schedule.”

“Hey, she’s looking at me!” Zhai Liang said, nodding towards the stage, where Qiao Jing Jing indeed was looking in their direction, smiling widely. 

“She’s not looking at you,” Yu Tu said in a bored voice. 

“Yes she is! Look, she actually just winked at me!” 

Yu Tu just sighed. Deeply. This was, as expected, turning out to be a very, very bad idea. 

And then Jing Jing started to speak, and Yu Tu couldn’t help but glance over to watch Zhai Liang’s expression, which turned from smug delight to gradual confusion.

“Is it just me...or does that voice…”

Zhai Liang turned to stare back at Yu Tu. He frowned with suspicion.

“Don’t you think her voice is a little bit familiar?” 

Yu Tu just shrugged. Omission was always better than outright lying. 

Fortunately, Zhai Liang was not the obsessive type, and as the first match started, he gradually got swept away by watching the game on the big screen.

“Dong Huang Tai Yi is so good!” he exclaimed after Jing Jing made a particularly good move. “She’s a lot better than I would expect!” 

“Isn’t she,” Yu Tu couldn’t help saying softly, mostly to himself. 

Still, it was easy to get swept up in the eventual excitement of Jing Jing’s team easily winning the first match. By the time the final results showed on the screen, Yu Tu couldn’t help himself smiling at both Zhai Liang and Jing Jing’s happiness. 

“If this is just a friendly match, I’m starting to see why you like watching the full pro matches so much,” Zhai Liang said, clapping hard as the two teams convened in the middle of the stage. There, it was announced that, as the MVP of the first game, Xia Xue was to be removed from the second game, and Jing Jing had to choose another player. 

Yu Tu’s stomach twisted - he didn’t know whether it was nervousness, anticipation, or perhaps even excitement - when she asked the MC whether she could choose a non-pro player. Then, her shining eyes turned towards him.

At that moment, not even Zhai Liang could assume that she was looking at him. Of course, he didn’t immediately catch on that Jing Jing was looking at Yu Tu either, because he looked around behind him, hoping to catch some other famous person who might be sitting behind them. 

Then, the bombshell dropped.

“The person I choose is…” - Yu Tu clenched his hands on his armrests - “...Yu Tu.”

If people could become memes, then Zhai Liang’s face in that moment was the spitting image of that “shocked Pikachu” meme. His demand for answers only came out as a flat “What” as he turned to stare at Yu Tu. 

With the spotlight now shining directly at him, Yu Tu simply ignored Zhai Liang and tried to calm his own breathing. Then, he caught Jing Jing’s gaze and for a moment, found himself swept up in the brilliant, shining light in her eyes.

“Move,” he said to Zhai Liang, who wordlessly shifted his knees aside so that Yu Tu could pass him.

Zhai Liang wasn’t sure he caught much of the second match, his mind still in a whirlwind trying to sort out all the new information he had just been bombarded with. 

Yu Tu knew Qiao Jing Jing.

Yu Tu was high school classmates with Qiao Jing Jing.

Yu Tu was friends with Qiao Jing Jing.

Yu Tu played freaking video games with Qiao Jing Jing. 

And he had never said anything to Zhai Liang about any of this. 

It was practically a crime!

The players, including Yu Tu and Jing Jing, were ushered backstage after the second game finished. A couple of minutes later, Jing Jing came out to present an award, but Yu Tu remained elusive. 

Zhai Liang was not at all watching the award ceremony, his eyes now glued to Jing Jing, who he was 99% sure was the Cotton that apparently “could be seen everywhere on the streets” and the Miss Qiao of Romanée-Conti fame. The only question was, why the hell had Yu Tu been so silent about all of this? 

Jing Jing was led to a seat in the front row, and perhaps she sensed Zhai Liang’s eyes on her, because she turned slightly around. As she caught his eyes, she smiled and gave him a little wave, which Zhai Liang hesitantly returned. 

When the award ceremony ended, instead of making her way backstage, Jing Jing actually ascended the stairs and stopped at the row where Zhai Liang was still sitting.

“You are I’m So Panicked?” she asked with a friendly smile. 

“Uh...that’s me,” Zhai Liang answered, smiling back tentatively. 

Jing Jing’s smile widened. “Come with me, Yu Tu’s backstage. Can you bring his jacket as well?”

Zhai Liang picked up Yu Tu’s jacket and numbly made his way to the end of the aisle, suddenly acutely aware of everyone staring at him and Jing Jing. 

How could she look so calm knowing that everyone was whispering or speculating about her right next to her?

“Come on,” Jing Jing said when Zhai Liang arrived next to her, and then led the way down towards the stage and into a corridor leading backstage. When they had a bit more privacy, she turned to Zhai Liang, still smiling. “Did Yu Tu tell you?” 

“Tell me...what?” Zhai Liang asked, still feeling rather shocked at the whole encounter.

“That I’m Hand That Picks Cotton!” 

“Oh...I guess at some point just now I worked that out, but no, he did not tell me that,” Zhai Liang answered, feeling increasingly indignant now. “You really are Cotton? You really are Yu Tu’s high school classmate?”

“Yes,” Jing Jing said, laughing, making the tendrils of hair framing her face bounce and her rabbit earrings catch the light. 

Rabbit earrings. This, combined with the outright flirting she and Yu Tu conducted earlier on stage, made Zhai Liang wonder what else Yu Tu was hiding from him.

After all, Yu Tu drank freaking ten-thousand dollar wine with this girl! In Yu Tu-land, this was practically a wedding ceremony.

“I’m Zhai Liang, by the way,” he found himself saying, belatedly realising that Jing Jing probably didn’t know his real name.

“Hi, I’m so glad you could come,” she said, grinning. Then, looking around, she added, “I’m just waiting for someone to show us the way to the waiting room where Yu Tu probably is.” 

That was the first time Zhai Liang realised that perhaps Yu Tu hadn’t been so obsessed with professional esport that he would go out and buy tickets for the awards ceremony. After all, in the decade Zhai Liang had known him, he had never known Yu Tu to spend money so frivolously.

“Wait, our tickets…did you give Yu Tu our tickets?” 

“Yes.” Jing Jing looked surprised. “Didn’t he tell you that?”

“No...he didn’t tell me anything.”

Before Jing Jing could say anything else, a Glory of Kings staff arrived to take them to lead them out of the backstage area. They arrived at a room where they found Yu Tu sitting alone.

“Hi!” Jing Jing said brightly, bouncing into the room. 

Yu Tu stood up and turned around, looking slightly surprised to see Zhai Liang following in behind her. 

“Where are Ling Jie and Xiao Zhu?” Jing Jing asked. 

“They’ve gone for a meeting,” Yu Tu answered. 

Zhai Liang glowered at Yu Tu as his friend finally glanced over to check on his reaction to all of this, but he didn’t immediately say anything. After all, they would have time to have a very long conversation when they got home. 

“Come on, let’s go home,” Jing Jing said, still smiling and upbeat, while Zhai Liang could already sense Yu Tu withdrawing into himself. He couldn’t help but feel a jolt of concern at this. Things were very strange between Yu Tu and Jing Jing, despite the fact that they were very obviously flirting and smiling at each other on stage just an hour before. 

Then again, if there was anything Zhai Liang knew about Yu Tu, it was that his friend had an unrivaled talent for making the simplest things so very complicated. 

As if to prove that very point, Yu Tu said, “We’re not going in the same direction as you. We’ll just take the subway from here.”

Zhai Liang felt like reaching out and strangling Yu Tu. 

“How can you leave from here? There are loads of people outside,” Jing Jing protested. “I can get the staff here to take us directly to the car through a private route.”

The three of them silently made their way down to the basement of the building, where apparently Jing Jing’s car and personal driver was waiting. On the way down, Zhai Liang’s mind was brimming with questions, but he suddenly was made very aware that the girl he had been playing games with for the last few weeks was a very famous person, and he couldn’t exactly just rudely interrogate her when they met for real 0.5 seconds ago. The person he could interrogate was clearly in a mood that indicated he would remain stubbornly silent, or at least taciturn, if Zhai Liang started asking questions. 

By the time they got down to the car, it seemed as if Jing Jing had caught on to Yu Tu’s mood as well, because her smile was a little dimmer as she said Zhai Liang could sit in the front with the driver. 

For a sudden moment, Zhai Liang considered bailing out of this third wheel situation. Whatever this was about, he was sure he was about to make it a thousand times more awkward with his presence. But then, if he bailed, he would be giving Yu Tu an excuse to bail as well, and right now, that was obviously the last thing Jing Jing wanted. 

He accepted her gifts in the game, clearly this was now the moment to make himself useful. Or at least, make sure Yu Tu doesn’t make more of a mess of this than he already was.

Because Zhai Liang was definitely not imagining it. Whatever act she could have been putting on for the stage aside, even in this private setting, Jing Jing’s eyes shined brightly as she looked at Yu Tu. Yu Tu must see it too - recognising that girls liked him was never Yu Tu’s problem - but he had somehow chosen to not do anything about it. If anything, he was obviously pulling away. Not because he wasn’t interested. That much was clear. Yu Tu was never shy about making it clear when he was not interested in a girl, and Zhai Liang’s previous half-hearted attempts at helping reconnecting him with Xia Qing had only been out of a lack of any other options. He had never actually expected it to work.

And now, there was clearly a chance that it could work with Jing Jing. If Yu Tu would stop being an idiot about it. 

So he sat in the front seat and listened to Yu Tu and Jing Jing’s stilted, awkward conversation in the back, that was a world away from how comfortable they had looked with each other on stage. Zhai Liang wondered if either of them even remembered he was there and could hear everything. 

Zhai Liang didn’t know that Yu Tu had decided to go back to the research institute either, not until he announced it on stage. Hearing Jing Jing ask about it now, Zhai Liang suddenly started to understand why Yu Tu was acting so odd. He understood too well the kind of work schedule Yu Tu had at the research institute. In the years he had worked in Shanghai, he might as well be living half a world away if you considered how many times they saw each other per year, and it wasn’t just due to the fact that before he resigned from his job, he was living near the financial district. If Yu Tu’s work schedule already vaguely bothered Zhai Liang as a friend, a girlfriend would hate it. 

“Please drop me off ahead,” Yu Tu said. “There’s a subway station near here that is convenient for me to go home.”

“Ling Jie has already planned a celebration meal. Surely both of you would come,” Jing Jing protested.

“I should get some early rest to prepare for work tomorrow,” Yu Tu said flatly. Then, apparently remembering that Zhai Liang existed, he added, “Zhai Liang, if you want to go, don’t worry about me.”

The implication that Yu Tu just wanted to mope and that Zhai Liang should leave him alone to do it, was clear. Still...Qiao Jing Jing was Yu Tu’s friend(?), not his, and if he was invited, it should be because Yu Tu was going, not as Qiao Jing Jing’s...internet friend.

“I - uh - “ 

Zhai Liang was still trying to figure out how to get out of this situation in a way that would not make it weird with either Yu Tu or Jing Jing (it was probably too late now), when Jing Jing said, “Please come, it’ll be fun.”

Did she realise that her voice no longer matched her words? 

In the end, Zhai Liang decided to just let Yu Tu have his time to sulk. It would be much easier to talk sense into him after he had had time to mull things over a bit. So he accepted Jing Jing’s offer, who barely heard him as she was too busy staring at Yu Tu’s back as he walked away.

The car started again, but before it had moved more than a hundred metres, Jing Jing called for it to stop. She got out and ran in the direction where Yu Tu had gone. 

Ages seemed to pass, but by Zhai Liang’s phone, it was really only about fifteen minutes. When Jing Jing opened the car door again, she was alone, and even in the dark, Zhai Liang could see the rims of her eyes were red. 

She was no longer wearing any earrings. 

The ride to the restaurant where Jing Jing’s manager had set up the celebration supper was only ten minutes long, but to Zhai Liang in the front seat, it seemed to last ten years. His co-passenger in the back seat spent the ride staring out of the window into the dark roads, and once or twice, Zhai Liang caught her wiping at the corners of her eyes when he glanced back at her.

By the time they got out of the car at the entrance of the restaurant, however, she seemed completely composed, and even was smiling when they entered the private dining room.

“Where’s Yu Laoshi?” an older woman who Zhai Liang guessed with Jing Jing’s manager asked. 

“He’s got work tomorrow morning, so he’s not coming,” Jing Jing answered without a hint of even a grimace. If Zhai Liang didn’t know better, he’d assume she was completely sanguine about the situation. Taking her cue, he only smiled as Jing Jing turned to introduce him to Ling Jie, her manager and the staff from her office. “Zhai Liang is Yu Laoshi’s university friend and a part of our team when we play team games, so he was vital in helping me improve as well!” 

Everyone was friendly enough, that if it wasn’t for the giant ghost of the not-dead-Yu-Tu still between him and Jing Jing, Zhai Liang would actually enjoy himself. As everyone was occupied with sitting down, Zhai Liang asked, “Yu Laoshi?”

He tried to be quiet, but was heard by Jing Jing’s assistant, Xiao Zhu, nevertheless.

“Yu Laoshi has been teaching Jing Jing to play the game,” Xiao Zhu said. “He’s been coming over to teach her everyday.”

Zhai Liang blinked and looked at Jing Jing, who was now concentrating very hard - too hard - on the menu in her hands. 

Well, that somewhat explained why Yu Tu had hardly been around and his cryptic remarks over the last few weeks. Zhai Liang suddenly also recalled that time when “Cotton’s” air purifier supposedly broke down.

“Didn’t you say you live in Pudong?”

Jing Jing looked at him, startled. “Yes.”

Zhai Liang frowned for a moment, considering the hours that Yu Tu kept these last few weeks. Then he involuntarily smiled, though the explanation about what Yu Tu had been doing just made this entire situation even more exasperating.

“What’s so funny?” Jing Jing asked. 

“I’ll tell you later,” he muttered. 

In the flurry of ordering food and everyone being generally happily celebrating Jing Jing’s success, Jing Jing didn’t have time to press Zhai Liang for an answer. She was too busy acting as if nothing was wrong. 

Ling Jie had ordered little small individual cakes for everyone as part of the celebration, and at the end of the night, having found out that he lived with Yu Tu, they all insisted he take one home to Yu Tu. 

Zhai Liang wasn’t entirely sure Yu Tu would even welcome the gift, but he could hardly say that to anyone. Even Jing Jing.

“Let me get the driver to take you home,” Jing Jing said when the party was over.

“There’s no need. It’s definitely in the opposite direction to where you’re going now, and I’m not just saying that. I’ll take a cab, it’ll be fine.” 

Jing Jing hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Then, she let out a long sigh. Zhai Liang wondered if she was contemplating whether this first meeting would also be their last meeting.

Seeing that everyone else had wandered off, assuming that Zhai Liang would see Jing Jing to her car, he decided to just get it all out in the open. 

“Can I say something?”

Jing Jing looked at him, startled for a moment, perhaps because she could guess what he was going to say. She nodded slowly. 

“Yu Tu can sometimes think he knows better than everyone else, that he has all the right answers for everything. But he is wrong more often than he wants to admit, and sometimes he does need a shove to realise that.”

Jing Jing stared at him. It was almost eerie how she could make it seem like she had no idea what he was talking about.

“Look, I don’t know what happened just now and I don’t want to assume. All I can say is, he spent a month making three hour commutes everyday to teach you the game. That has to mean something, eventually, if it didn’t at the beginning.”

This time, his words did get a reaction out of her. She blinked rapidly at him, staring in disbelief. “Three hours?” she asked faintly.

“You don’t know how long it takes to get to his house to the city centre? At least an hour and a half on the subway.”

It appeared that she didn’t know, which must mean that Yu Tu must have consciously not mention it. Probably because he didn’t want her to know he was going through so much trouble for her. But then why would he care so much, if he didn’t actually care for her? 

Zhai Liang watched as Jing Jing was clearly working over these questions as well. 

“I mean, I knew he didn’t live close, ” she said quietly. “Even that first time he came over, it took him ages to get back. I thought it was because it was late…”

“Yeah, well.”

Jing Jing sighed deeply.

“Well, it doesn’t matter anymore,” she said finally. “I’m sure he’ll be glad he doesn’t need to make those trips anymore.”

Zhai Liang was sure he wouldn’t. 

“Listen, Cotton - Jing Jing, Yu Tu’s feelings - “

“It doesn’t really matter what his feelings are, anymore,” Jing Jing cut him off. “I don’t think I imagined anything. Regardless, he made a choice. I can’t - I shouldn’t...question that.”

Zhai Liang sighed, and wished Yu Tu was here, so he could clobber him over the head. 

“You should head back, it’s late,” Jing Jing said quietly. 

Unable to find a reason to linger and prolong their conversation when she was so obviously wanting to end it, Zhai Liang nodded. 

“Thank you for the food,” he said. “I’ll talk to you in the game?”

His last words came out as a question, because he was almost sure he should not expect to see her in the game anymore. At least not as Hand That Picks Cotton.

“Sure,” she said nevertheless, smiling as if nothing was wrong. 

They were standing in front of the restaurant, and at that moment, her car pulled up in front of them. Zhai Liang opened the door for her. 

“Goodbye,” she said. 

“Goodbye.”

When Zhai Liang arrived home, the entrance to the apartment was dark. He could see the light still on through the gap under Yu Tu’s bedroom door. However, it didn’t seem likely that Yu Tu would welcome any conversation from him tonight, so in the end, Zhai Liang only put the cake into the fridge and retreated to his own room.

He pulled out his phone to text Yu Tu.

There was cake at the party. I brought one back for you. It’s in the fridge. 

There was no read receipts in WeChat. But when Zhai Liang woke, late the next morning, the cake in the fridge was gone. 

Chapter Text

“Hey, I’m bored, have dinner with me,” Chen Xue said without any preamble when Jing Jing picked up the phone. 

“When? I’m only free tonight.”

“Tonight is fine,” Chen Xue said. “Seven? Edward’s place?”

Jing Jing glanced at Yu Tu, who was engrossed on his laptop just a few steps away. He had only told her earlier that morning that he was planning to meet up with his university classmates for dinner in the evening at the very same restaurant; that was why Jing Jing was free to have dinner with Chen Xue at all.

But Yu Tu was leaving around 6:15, and it wasn’t like Jing Jing was also having dinner at the same place because of him. It shouldn’t be weird unless she made it weird. So in the end, she shrugged and confirmed that she would meet Chen Xue at seven.

Chen Xue, of course, was chronically late. Half an hour late was considered early for her, and despite knowing this about her friend, for some insane reason, Jing Jing still found herself at the restaurant at fifteen to seven. Not wanting to sit at a table all by herself looking like she’d been stood up, Jing Jing chose a secluded spot at the bar and ordered a drink. 

She didn’t realise that she was sitting close to where Yu Tu and his university friends were sitting, until the sound of someone saying his name drifted over to her from behind.

The more she listened, the more annoyed she began to feel. Jing Jing threw a glance over her shoulder, and saw that Yu Tu was sitting with a table of men who wouldn’t look at all out of place rubbing shoulders with the likes of Su Ye. The one who was not very subtly mocking Yu Tu had a ratty face that was currently lit up with glee. None of the other men looked entirely comfortable with the direction of the conversation, and the one sitting next to Yu Tu looked especially annoyed.

Jing Jing quietly flagged down a waiter and asked him to take her to the owner. 

“Edward, do me a favour,” Jing Jing said, once she had found Edward and had pulled him into a corner for a quiet word. “Do you still have that empty Romanée-Conti bottle that I used to film with the last time?”

“Yes.”

“Can you please fill it with some other red wine that tastes similar enough, and make the bottle look like it’s unopened? Please send it to that table with a charcuterie plate and say that it’s a gift from me to Mr Yu.”

Edward looked at her, intrigued. “I never thought I’d see the day Qiao Jing Jing goes through such lengths. Shouldn’t you be the one receiving expensive wine from secret admirers? And while we don’t have actual Romanée-Conti available, we do have an extensive collection of very good vintages - “

“I’m not trying to impress a guy,” Jing Jing interrupted. “Mr Yu is a friend of mine, and someone sitting with him is being annoying. I just want to shut him up. The wine can just be average, I’m sure they won’t recognise true Romanée-Conti even if we have it, they’ll believe it’s Romanée-Conti if it comes in the bottle.”

Edward looked towards the table that Jing Jing just nodded towards. “Which is Mr Yu?”

“The handsome one.”

Edward laughed. “Be more specific.”

“The one not in a pretentious suit. Black windbreaker.”

“I’m hurt that you think my suit is pretentious,” he said, smoothing down the lapels of his jacket. 

“I didn’t say all suits are pretentious. I’m saying theirs are. Will you do it, please?”

“Yes, just give me a moment.”

Yu Tu was busy calculating the probability that Zhai Liang would make a scene before the starter course was even brought out, when two waiters stepped into the alcove of their table. One of them was holding a bottle of wine and the other a charcuterie board. 

The one holding the wine swept a look around the table, before zeroing in on Yu Tu for some reason. 

“Mr Yu, Miss Qiao would like to invite you to enjoy this bottle of wine, and this small plate, with her compliments.”

Chatter broke out among his old classmates when the waiter set down on the table a bottle of 1974 Romanée-Conti, which even his asocial self knew cost anywhere north of ten thousand dollars. Out of the corner of his eyes, Yu Tu could see Qu Ming turn almost purple. 

Not wanting to pay attention to the excitement at the table, Yu Tu looked around. There, sitting directly in his line of sight at the bar, was Qiao Jing Jing. She was looking every inch the bright, glittering star that she was, in a poison-green, form-fitting dress and red lipstick, her hair falling in dark waves around her shoulders. Right now, she was a far cry from the girl in messy ponytail, fluffy slippers and casual albeit designer sweatpants that he had grown used to seeing. 

Their gazes locked and she smiled at him, holding her drink slightly up towards him as if to toast him. 

“Qiao - That’s Qiao Jing Jing!” Zhao Tian said, while even more excited murmurs came from their classmates as they followed Yu Tu’s eyes and saw her. “Wait, Miss Qiao - Yu Tu, why is Qiao Jing Jing gifting you wine?”

Zhai Liang had not said anything, but this grip on Yu Tu’s arm was enough to convey that he, too, wanted the answers to the questions Zhao Tian was asking. 

Yu Tu didn’t think he could keep a straight face if he looked at Qu Ming right now. He was sure he heard choking noises just now. 

Standing up, Yu Tu ignored his classmates’ frantic questions, and walked over to Jing Jing. 

“Hi,” she said, smiling widely at him. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked, keeping his voice low enough so that they could not be heard. 

Jing Jing placed a hand lightly on his arm and leaned closer to him, supposedly to be heard, but Yu Tu knew exactly how it would look to the guys behind him. “Would you believe me if I say I really wasn’t stalking you, and I really do just happen to have dinner plans here?”

Yu Tu looked around, raising an eyebrow at the obvious fact that she was alone. 

“Chen Xue, my friend, is always late,” Jing Jing said, shrugging. 

“And the wine?”

“Well, he was annoying and I thought it would shut him up,” Jing Jing said, smiling sweetly up at him. 

Seeing her looking at him like that with wide eyes, Yu Tu couldn’t help but give a soft chuckle. “I think you succeeded,” he said, smiling back. 

Her smile suddenly became rather shy. “Do you think I’m being too officious?”

“Am I so narrow-minded?”

Jing Jing’s face brightened. “Does it feel good?” she asked conspiratorially. “Are you happy?”

Yu Tu nodded. “Like the successful launching of a rocket.”

His answer made her splutter with laughter. “Why do I feel that sounds a little dirty?” she asked quietly, still giggling. 

Yu Tu couldn’t help but smile at this. “What are you imagining?”

Jing Jing just shook her head. “Do you want to ditch them and join Chen Xue and me? We’ll be more fun, I promise.”

Yu Tu looked back at his classmates, all of whom were clearly staring and trying but failing to listen to their conversation. As they realised they were caught staring, all of them suddenly broke out into distracted chatter. 

Turning back to Jing Jing, he said, “If I go off with you now, what gossip will be on the internet tomorrow do you think?”

Jing Jing shrugged. “I already sent you a stupidly expensive bottle of wine, if they want to gossip there’s already plenty to say. And pretentious narcissists like that don't usually want to give the spotlight to other people.”

“About that wine - “ Yu Tu started, suddenly feeling guilty about how very expensive it must be.

Jing Jing leaned in close to him again and whispered, “It’s just a 2017 mid-range red, not really Romanée-Conti. It’s the bottle that matters, you know?”

Yu Tu felt a little dizzy when she pulled away and he found himself staring into her eyes. “Really?” he asked, and realised he sounded a little breathless.

She just shrugged. “Do you think I'm foolish enough to invite random people to such expensive wine?” When he did not say anything else, she smiled. “So? Dinner?”

“I probably shouldn’t ditch Zhai Liang,” Yu Tu said reluctantly, then added as an explanation, “I’m So Panicked.”

“Which one is he?”

“The one who was on my left.”

“Oh, I think I heard him speaking up for you.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, let’s not leave him alone with the jerks then,” Jing Jing said, sighing. 

Yu Tu chuckled. “Thank you, Jing Jing. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jing Jing smiled, and, after only a moment’s hesitation, leaned in and kissed him softly on the cheek. The kiss was like the touch of a dragonfly’s wing and was over before Yu Tu really registered it, and when she pulled away, Jing Jing winked at him. 

“Go and enjoy your three-hundred-kuai Romanée-Conti then, Yu Laoshi.”

When Yu Tu turned around to return to his table, everyone was staring at him, except Qu Ming, who was busy glowering at his empty glass of water.

Yu Tu calmly sat back down in his seat and nodded at the waiter who had delivered the wine, who was still hovering nearby. He came over and took the wine from where it had been chilling in an ice bucket to pour everyone at the table a glass.

At the bar, Jing Jing had turned away to greet her friend who had just arrived. Yu Tu vaguely registered having seen her on posters at the movies as well as advertisements and billboards around the city, who must be the Chen Xue that Jing Jing mentioned.

As a waiter appeared to take them to their table, Jing Jing turned to wave at Yu Tu, he smiled and nodded at her before turning back to the glass of wine in front of him, and the classmates who were still staring at him like he was an alien landed in their midst.

“How do you know Qiao Jing Jing?” Zhao Tian asked in a voice hushed with awe. He swirled the wine in his glass and sniffed it, before taking a sip. “This is excellent wine! I can’t believe we’re drinking this for free!”

Yu Tu smiled to himself and sipped his own “Romanée-Conti”. “She’s my old high school classmate,” he said calmly.

“High school classmate?” another classmate called Li Shan said in surprise. “You were high school classmates with Qiao Jing Jing?”

“Wait, weren’t you and Xia Qing high school classmates as well? Does she know Qiao Jing Jing as well?” Zhao Tian added.

Yu Tu turned slightly to find Zhai Liang also staring at him, looking as if he wanted to reach through Yu Tu’s skull and pull the answers out of his brain.

“Yes, we all were in the same high school class,” he answered.

“How come neither of you ever mentioned this?” Li Shan demanded.

Yu Tu shrugged. “It’s a bit poor taste to brag about something like that, isn’t it?” he asked. He was not really intending the words as a jab, even if by the time he said it, he knew everyone at the table was thinking that if it were Qu Ming who knew a celebrity such as Jing Jing, no matter how in passing, he would be trying to cash in on the relationship all over the place.

At that moment, the conversation was interrupted by the waiter appearing again, with the wine that Qu Ming had ordered, but despite their best effort, everyone looked distinctly less impressed with this wine now that they were apparently drinking “Romanée-Conti”. The waiter soon left again with their food orders, and Yu Tu found that the questions from his classmates were yet not at an end.

“Yu Tu, you said you and Qiao Jing Jing were high school classmates, but you must be close for her give you this wine as a gift!” Zhao Tian said. “I mean, this bottle must be…”

“I helped her with something recently,” Yu Tu said vaguely. “I suppose she wants to say thank you.”

“You suppose?” one of his classmates asked. “You must have helped her with something big for her to send this huge of a thank you gift!”

He was clearly fishing, and before Yu Tu even had time to figure out an answer, Qu Ming’s blunt question pierced the air.

“Are you sleeping with her?”

Yu Tu turned finally to look directly, and calmly, at Qu Ming. If it wasn’t for the fact that the amount of wine in his glass had not budged, Yu Tu might have thought he was drunk. But he had drunk nothing but water the entire evening so far.

From the looks his other classmates were giving each other across the table, it was clear that at least some of them thought the same thing, even if they still retained some semblance of politeness to not say it out loud.

“You cannot imagine I would answer that question,” Yu Tu said evenly when the on-going silence finally forced Qu Ming to look at him.

Qu Ming scoffed, and Yu Tu knew he took the refusal to answer as a confirmation. It probably didn’t matter, Yu Tu thought. Even if he had tried to deny it, probably no one would believe him. He could only hope that Jing Jing was right, that Qu Ming’s ego would be far too mortified at the prospect of admitting that Yu Tu had a connection he could never dream of and because of that, he would never voluntarily stir up gossip about Yu Tu and Jing Jing. If it were Qu Ming, he’d enjoy the public attention too much to ever consider that other people might find it a nuisance.

Yu Tu could have dealt with Qu Ming well enough himself; he had done enough of it throughout university, and while it was always annoying, it was never particularly difficult. Still, he was not sorry when Zhai Liang spoke up instead, for the first time since Jing Jing’s wine appeared, even if his words were far too confrontational than Yu Tu would have gone with.

“Qu Ming, how could you speak so indelicately like that? I said before that Yu Tu is good natured to put up with you, but he really is good natured. I’d want to punch anyone who said such thing about any woman, let alone a friend of mine - “

“It’s a joke, Qu Ming was just teasing, I’m sure,” Zhao Tian cut in before either Qu Ming or Zhai Liang could escalate the situation even further. “Let’s move on, move on.”

Yu Tu turned and gave Zhai Liang a smile. “Let’s eat,” he said, then patted his friend’s arm when Zhai Liang’s expression remained rather stormy.

Zhai Liang turned to the charcuterie plate in the middle of the table, then picked up his fork with a huff. “Yes, let’s eat.”

“Eat, eat, eat,” their other classmates chimed in, apparently too relieved at narrowly avoiding even worse insults – or indeed fists – being thrown that they were now willing to abandon any further attempt at questioning Yu Tu about Jing Jing.

“Qu Ming,” Zhai Liang nevertheless couldn’t help saying provocatively when everyone took up their forks and Qu Ming did not. “Let’s eat. It’s free.”

After what turned out to be a truly exhausting dinner, Yu Tu didn’t fight Zhai Liang when he wanted to take a taxi back home instead of waiting around for the subway. He didn’t initiate conversation in the car, and Zhai Liang uncharacteristically didn’t say much, either.

When they stepped through the door, however, it soon became clear that whatever reservation he had in the cab was simply because it would have been bad to start talking about Qiao Jing Jing when the driver could hear them.

For several minutes, Yu Tu felt Zhai Liang’s eyes following him as he moved around the apartment.

Finally, he turned abruptly to face his friend. “What? Just get it out.”

“Okay, so know that I’m asking this as your friend...are you sleeping with her?”

“You know, you I’d really punch for asking that question,” Yu Tu said.

Zhai Liang threw up his hands as if in surrender. “I mean, I’d totally be happy for you and wish you all the best - “

“I’m not,” Yu Tu said flatly, before Zhai Liang could get too carried away.

“Really?”

Yu Tu sighed. “She’s Cotton,” he said, hoping that Jing Jing would not be too mad him for revealing this. As Zhai Liang’s eyes widened, he added, “You can’t tell anyone about this. But I’ve been teaching her to play Glory of Kings these last few days. That’s why I haven’t been home much.”

“Wait? Seriously?” Zhai Liang was excited for an entirely different reason now. “Qiao Jing Jing is Cotton? We’ve been playing with Qiao Jing Jing all this time?”

“As I said, you can’t tell anybody. Not even Long Wang and Sha Bao,” Yu Tu said more insistently. “Understand?”

“No,” Zhai Liang said bluntly. “I don’t understand. How is she Cotton?”

Yu Tu sighed. It was clear that he really couldn’t get out of giving Zhai Liang a full explanation now. He really hoped Jing Jing would forgive him.

“Remember when her air purifier broke down…?”

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

The gentle rocking of the bus combined with the lack of sleep usually made it easy to fall asleep. In fact, Da Meng was drifting off when soft whispers floated over from his right. 

The sound of a girl speaking was coming out from Yu Tu’s phone. 

A girl!

It sounded too young to be his mother. It was too late for Yu Tu to be calling his mother, in any case. The sound was soft, but in the quiet of the bus, and being right next to Yu Tu, not asleep, Da Meng could hear most things being said. 

Suddenly, he felt wide awake, and mischief ran through him. Since when did the perpetually single, workaholic Yu Tu become friendly enough with a girl to call her at this time of day? This would make the most amusing gossip that Da Meng was determined to take advantage of. 

So, pretending to be asleep, he listened. 

“Where are you?” the girl asked.

“I’m on a bus.”

“Bus?”

“My work unit organised buses to take us all back to different locations,” Yu Tu said. 

“You’re speaking to me now like this, don’t your colleagues think it’s weird?” the girl asked. 

“I’m in the last row. My colleagues are all asleep.”

It took all of Da Meng’s self-control not to burst out laughing. Keeping his eyes closed, he strained his ears to listen. 

“I just wanted to check the signal on your end and volume is turned down very low.”

“The signal is pretty good,” the girl said. “It was just a little laggy in the afternoon because everyone was online, but it’s better now.”

Da Meng remembered how Yu Tu had randomly received some signal boosting equipment to their mission base earlier in the week, and then mysteriously disappeared for a few hours earlier that day. Where on earth was this girl - whoever she was - that Yu Tu had to go install an internet signal booster for her? 

“The director is still thanking me now that they can communicate with their production office,” the girl said, laughing softly. “He has even asked me for your address to send you a gift.”

“You didn’t give it to him, did you?”

Da Meng frowned. Director? Curiosity getting the better of him, he cracked open one eye and glanced over. 

“I told him he can just send it to me.”

Yu Tu laughed, occupied enough with the person on the phone that he didn’t immediately realise that Da Meng was awake. He shuffled closer and felt Yu Tu freeze.

“Who are you talking to?”

As he glanced at the phone, Da Meng at first thought he was actually sleeping and therefore dreaming. After all, the person who was staring back at him out of Yu Tu’s phone was Qiao Jing Jing! The famous actress! Superstar! Celebrity!

“Who - that’s - “

A second passed, before the person on the other end held her phone up higher and said, “Today’s live broadcast is finished now. I hope everyone has learned how to do ancient-style makeup. Have sweet dreams and good night!” 

“Wait, what?” Da Meng turned his head to stare at Yu Tu as the screen went dark. His colleague was still staring at his now black screen with about as much surprise as Da Meng was feeling.

“You - that wasn’t a live broadcast!” Da Meng said, thinking about what he overheard before. “You were actually having a conversation with her! That was that actress, Qiao Jing Jing! How do you - “

Yu Tu glared at him and hissed, “Can you please shut up?”

Da Meng looked around and realised that he had been speaking rather loudly, which made some of their colleagues stir sleepily.

“Whaa - “ the person on Da Meng’s other side mumbled.

“Nothing, nothing, go back to sleep,” Da Meng said, pushing his shoulder. 

He kept quiet for a long moment to allow the swaying of the bus to lure everyone back to sleep, and kept looking at Yu Tu out of the corner of his eyes. Yu Tu was determined to ignore him, staring out of the window. 

Once he was sure that everyone was deep in slumber again, Da Meng tugged at Yu Tu’s sleeve. 

“Why were you on the phone with Qiao Jing Jing?” he whispered. “ How on earth do you know Qiao Jing Jing?”

Yu Tu turned to him, his face expressionless. “You’re mistaken.”

“Am I?” Da Meng demanded. “Do you think I don’t know the difference between a call screen and a livestream screen?”

Yu Tu looked at Da Meng with a peculiar expression on his face, before sighing. Then, he pulled out his phone and a moment later, Da Meng received a text.

Yu Tu: You can’t tell anybody. I was talking to my girlfriend.

Da Meng looked up from his phone and stared at Yu Tu, who looked as if he had just told Da Meng nothing more interesting and shocking than the fact that he intended to pull overtime the next day. If he didn’t just see Qiao Jing Jing on Yu Tu’s phone just now, Da Meng would bet everything he had that Yu Tu was just messing with him. And yet…

Da Meng: Qiao Jing Jing is your girlfriend?????????????

Yu Tu: Yes.

Da Meng looked up to stare at Yu Tu’s still impassive face again, before looking back down at his phone, typing aggressively enough that he almost feared he’d puncture his phone. 

Da Meng: How???? WHEN????? WHAT IS GOING ON????

Yu Tu: It’s been two years.

“What?” Da Meng couldn’t help demanding out loud. As he looked up, he caught a glint of amusement in Yu Tu’s eyes and realised that his colleague was definitely messing with him.

Da Meng: You’re kidding, right? 

This time, Yu Tu actually laughed and shook his head. Da Meng just stared at him some more. How did he miss the fact that Yu Tu had had a girlfriend for that long? How could Yu Tu have hidden something like that for that long? 

Da Meng: I don’t believe you.

Yu Tu just shrugged. 

Da Meng: Call her again.

Yu Tu: It’ll disturb everyone.

Da Meng: You weren’t worried about that before.

And then, before Yu Tu could react, Da Meng reached over and plucked the phone out of his hand. 

“What are you - “ Yu Tu started, but Da Meng had already held the phone to Yu Tu's face for long enough to open it and was now pulling up the call history. 

He was aware that his mouth was open in shock as the name “Jing Jing” took up over half of Yu Tu’s call history, sitting innocently between other calls with his parents and people from work. He turned to stare, this time accusingly, at Yu Tu, who now only looked resigned. 

“I’m going to look at your photos, is there anything that would shock me?” he demanded.

Yu Tu smirked. “Unfortunately, no.”

Da Meng should not be surprised any longer, but as he looked through Yu Tu’s photos, he still found himself in disbelief to find that it was littered with casual photos of Qiao Jing Jing lounging around in Yu Tu’s apartment, and photos of the two of them together. The photos went back, as Yu Tu had already said, months and months. 

“You’ve really been hiding this for two years ?” Da Meng hissed, still holding Yu Tu’s phone hostage. 

Yu Tu shrugged. “Can’t you understand why?”

“Of course,” Da Meng admitted. Then, the phone in his hand buzzed with a notification. 

Yu Tu tried to tug it out of his hand, but Da Meng held on fast, before opening Yu Tu’s WeChat.

Jing Jing: I don’t think your colleague would believe that, would he?

Jing Jing: Are you still there?

Jing Jing: They’re calling for actors, I have to go now.

Jing Jing: Text me when you get home.

Jing Jing: I miss you already. 

“She really is - “ Da Meng started, looking up at Yu Tu again. 

“Yes,” Yu Tu said shortly, before finally succeeding in wrestling his phone back. 

Da Meng stared as Yu Tu looked down on at his phone and presumably was answering Qiao Jing Jing’s messages. Then, he stared out at the rest of the dark bus in front of him, suddenly feeling like re-examining every interaction with Yu Tu in the past two years. 

A few minutes later, once Yu Tu had returned to looking out of the window again, Da Meng leaned in and whispered gleefully, “Am I the only one who knows?”

Yu Tu looked back at him, an annoying smirk on his face. “No. Guan Zai and Saozi know. And Director Hu and Professor Zhang.”

“What?” Da Meng hissed. “Why do they get to know?”

Yu Tu just shrugged, too clearly enjoying Da Meng’s indignation. “Circumstance.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means this is a need-to-know sort of thing.”

“And I didn’t need to know? Some friend you are!” Da Meng huffed. 

Of course, thinking about it, it wasn’t surprising that Yu Tu would have kept something like this secret, but still, that didn’t mean Da Meng didn’t reserve the right to give him a hard time about it! 

“How about I make it up to you?” 

“How?” Da Meng demanded suspiciously, which just made Yu Tu chuckle.

“Guan Zai is due back to work next month and we’ll have to celebrate. I was planning to bring her along anyway. You can have bragging rights with Xiao Hu and Xiao Yin then.”

Da Meng scrunched up his nose. “Next month? That’s so far away, who knows what can happen in the meantime!”

Yu Tu didn’t seem at all perturbed that Da Meng might have just expressed disbelief that his relationship with Qiao Jing Jing would still be intact in a month’s time.

“She’s in the desert filming until then anyway.”

“Wait...is that where you disappeared to today?” Da Meng asked. “And all the other times you bailed out of hanging out after work?” 

“I see too much of you as it is,” Yu Tu said, shrugging. 

Da Meng huffed. But then before he could interrogate Yu Tu further, the colleague on his other side grumbled, “Will you two shut up? Some of us are trying to sleep!”

Yu Tu grinned at Da Meng, before turning away. Da Meng glared at both people on either side of him, before sighing dramatically. Clutching his backpack to himself, he tried to settle back into his seat and chase the sleep that had long deserted him.

A few minutes later, he texted Yu Tu again.

Da Meng: Don’t think I won’t interrogate you more about this tomorrow! 

Yu Tu: Do your best, you can’t be more scary than the National Security Bureau.

Da Meng sat straight back up and stared at Yu Tu.

“What do they have anything to do with anything?” he demanded. 

Yu Tu only smirked again. “Ssshhh,” he said, looking pointedly at the rest of the bus. 

“Fine,” Da Meng huffed. “You’ve better tell me everything tomorrow, or I’m on strike and you can figure out the rest of Search for God’s fueling problem on your own.”

Chapter Text

Going back to her hometown for the holidays had long become a tedious exercise in dodging questions about her love life. Or lack thereof.

Ten years ago, Xia Qing would never have thought that she would become the kind of woman who agreed with the laments that pervade social media around the end-of-year period about how frustrating it was to have to field endless questions about marriage and kids. She had rolled her eyes at the joking-but-not-really suggestions people gave each other online that someone should sell T-shirts that read things along the lines of “No, I’m not married yet; no, I don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend yet” etc., just to prevent people from asking.

Now that she had hit 30, she was beginning to think, to have one of those T-shirts now would actually be useful. Or, if not, at least entertaining.

Picking up her tea, she sipped it just to have something to do, while smiling blandly at an aunt whose exact relationship to herself Xia Qing had forgotten.

At least she could humble-brag about her salary and no one could say she didn’t earn good money, looking at the gifts she brought back for her parents. If only the insincere admiration about her job didn’t always immediately get followed by reminders that “careers can’t be everything”, and “you modern girls, you can’t put off children too late, you’ll regret it”, and “look at your younger cousins, their children are already in school”.

Xia Qing wished she could tell these busybodies that she could go out and find a boyfriend with a million-a-year salary who would marry her next month if she so wanted, and that wasn’t a brag at all. It was the truth. She was beautiful, successful and highly-educated. It had always been easy enough to make men want her. The fact that she turned so many of them down, and had now developed somewhat of a reputation of being hard-to-get had made some men whose only personality trait was relentlessly conquering women become positively obsessed with her.

Xia Qing didn’t even know why she was holding out on them all. Why, if she went on a date at all, it would always stop at the first date and never proceed beyond that. It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested in more. It was just, somehow, every single one of those dates always seemed to fall so short…

Jin Chen told her that she couldn’t keep doing this. “It might have been attractive to certain men when you’re in your twenties, but it’s not going to work for much longer. Most of them are not worth thinking about, but there must be some acceptable candidates in the bunch.”

If Xia Qing was entirely honest with herself, there were plenty of acceptable candidates in the bunch. It was just that, they all weren’t…

She couldn’t understand why it was so difficult to let go. It wasn’t like she didn’t hear all the things Zhai Liang subtly tried to hint to her the last time they met and what Jin Chen already said straight to her face multiple times.

Hell, he had made it clear enough in their last two meetings, without outright insulting her to her face. He had, after all, turned down a very lucrative job offer in Beijing. Of course, even she was not self-obsessed enough to think that it was all to avoid her, but the fact that he had not even missed a beat before shooting down her hints of reconnecting when she told him the firm was in the same building as her company spoke volumes. And then, their last meeting…

He had apologised to her. But not because he actually wanted to apologise to her, no. He had only said the words because she had dared to imply that Qiao Jing Jing might have relied on skills other than her acting talents to get to where she was. His apology, politely worded though it was, was only to tell her that their entire relationship never meant anything to him. It wasn't even important enough for him to look back with anything that might resemble fond regret. Regret, after all, might imply that it meant something to him once.

There had been none of that in his voice. Just the cold message that he saw through her purpose of going all that way to find him, and that he did not welcome it. He might as well have slapped her in the face.

No, after that evening, she had given up the idea of making a fool out of herself by chasing him again. Even if he hadn't said those words, even if he hadn't been so cold, he would still have rejected her in another way, she saw that now, and what would then be the point of keeping up with it anymore, after he had rejected her so clearly and firmly twice in the space of a month? And yet still, sitting here now, listening to her relatives blather on about how she could not neglect the most important endeavour of her life, Xia Qing couldn’t help but want her phone to light up...that he should be the one to find her, for once.

Her phone did choose that moment to light up with a WeChat notification, and Xia Qing, grabbing at this excuse to extract herself from the mind-numbing conversation with her aunt, stood abruptly up and ran to her room.

Wan Li Mei, the high school class’s class monitor had sent a message to the WeChat group.

It’s been a while since our class had a proper meet up. A few classmates and I are gathering for karaoke and drinks. If you’re free, come over. The address is…

Xia Qing considered the invitation for a moment, weighing the pros of having an excuse to momentarily escape her family and the cons of possibly running into people she might want to avoid.

But did she really want to avoid him?

There was no guarantee that he’d be there anyway. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Would she just be disappointed if he didn’t show up, or would it be awkward if he did?

And...the other person.

But she wouldn’t be there. She never went to these kinds of things. On that front, Xia Qing was fairly sure it was safe.

Noises outside alerted Xia Qing to the fact that probably more relatives had just arrived. That was enough to persuade her to make up her mind. She grabbed her coat and purse, and made hasty greetings to everyone who just arrived, told her parents she was going for a high school reunion, before heading out the door.

It was actually quite pleasant, for the first thirty minutes at least, to catch up with people she hadn’t seen in a while. Of course, because many people hadn’t met in a long time, much of the conversation was comparing jobs and life achievements, and in those things, Xia Qing was confident that she came out more or less on top.

Then, at one point, Sun Xiu, who was looking at her phone, made a surprised exclamation. “Hey, Qiao Jing Jing is also in Yixing! Someone saw her with Lin Pei Pei near Dongjiu!”

“Really? Tell Pei Pei to bring her over!”

“She’s not going to come, such a big star!”

“Just ask, Pei Pei might make her come. It’ll be fun!”

For a second, everyone had their phones out, and Xia Qing’s own phones started jumping with notifications into the WeChat group. Apparently everyone was texting to tell Lin Pei Pei to bring Qiao Jing Jing, as if peer pressure could still work after all these years.

Lin Pei Pei, however, seemed to be playing dead. For a few moments, Xia Qing felt enormous gratitude to this classmate that she didn’t spare many thoughts for even during high school.

Just as this thought made it through Xia Qing’s mind, Lin Pei Pei decided to take a sledgehammer to Xia Qing’s gratitude with a simple message:

Okay, I’m bringing Jing Jing over immediately! ^_^

Excited chatter broke out in the small room, and suddenly the class group chat exploded with messages from classmates who had been too lazy to come before, now all saying they were coming too, to see the big celebrity.

Xia Qing turned her phone to Do Not Disturb, but couldn’t avoid hearing the chiming from the phones of everyone else in the room.

“I think we’re going to need a bigger room,” Wan Li Mei said.

At some point during the chaos of moving to a bigger room and random classmates arriving and calling each other for directions, Xia Qing overheard Li Ming making a phone call.

“Yu Tu, our class is having a gathering, we’re all at a karaoke place right now. Do you want to come over?” Apparently, he did not want to come over, because Li Ming followed up with, “I knew you’d say that. If you have nothing to do, come over! Even Qiao Jing Jing said she would come...Qiao Jing Jing! The big celebrity! She said she wants to come meet up with everyone!”

Xia Qing knew she was trapped. There was no way short of some genuine emergency could she make her exit now. She couldn’t be seen leaving just as everyone, including Qiao Jing Jing, were arriving. And if...Yu Tu did decide to show up, wouldn’t it become obvious that she was running away…? How would she ever face anyone after that?

Fortunately, while Qiao Jing Jing and Lin Pei Pei were quick to arrive, there was no sign of Yu Tu for a long time. With everyone clamouring to greet Qiao Jing Jing, it was easy enough for Xia Qing to hold back and just smile politely at her from across the room. Faking social niceties weren’t exactly foreign to her, after all, and she doubted it was strange to Qiao Jing Jing either.

“This must be the most lively class reunion we’ve ever had, right?” Qi Ji said at some point after everyone had more or less finished being in awe over Qiao Jing Jing’s presence. “Nearly everyone is here.”

“Where’s Yu Tu? Isn’t he coming?” someone asked.

“I’ve just called him,” Li Ming said. “Apparently he wasn’t checking the group chat. I’ve told him but I don’t know if he’s coming or not.”

“Jing Jing, aren’t you and Yu Tu very close? Why don’t you call him and ask him to come? He’d definitely come if you ask.”

It took all of Xia Qing’s self-control not to let the turbulence in her heart show on her face. Since when did people turn to Qiao Jing Jing to ask after Yu Tu’s whereabouts? Since when was Qiao Jing Jing the draw for him to attend class gatherings?

She was almost surprised when Qiao Jing Jing deflected this suggestion by saying that she wanted to sing instead.

Xia Qing was sitting towards the back of the room, facing the doorway, so she was sure she was one of the first to notice the door open half-way through Qiao Jing Jing’s song. Suddenly, without warning, without time for preparation on her part, Yu Tu appeared, silently, almost like a ghost. He should be looking at her, she should be the first that caught his eyes, directly in his line of sight as she was. And yet, instead, it was as if Xia Qing did not exist, because his eyes were immediately trained on the figure holding the microphone in the middle of the room.

Xia Qing had to force herself to look down at her phone, because if she continued watching him look at Qiao Jing Jing like that, she didn’t think she could take it and very well could find herself storming from the room. She had never thought she’d ever turn to her phone as a crutch in social situations, but at that moment, she was so focused on it that the applause that broke out after Qiao Jing Jing finished her song made her jump. Thankfully, apparently everyone around her was too busy getting excited at the arrival of Yu Tu to pay her much attention. For now, at least. For once, Xia Qing was glad for it.

When she forced herself to look up, Xia Qing couldn’t help but notice that while Yu Tu seemed to be speaking to some of the guys, his eyes and most of his attention were clearly on Qiao Jing Jing...who was very obviously avoiding him by speaking to Lin Pei Pei instead.

If Qiao Jing Jing was acting now, she was very bad at it. How did she ever make a career out of this?

Still, she was ignoring him.

And yet, there seemed to be a new tension in the room now that he had entered. While it looked on the surface as if people were occupied with their own conversations, it was clear that many also had half an eye on Yu Tu, as if noticing that his attention, in turn, was mostly on Qiao Jing Jing. Like Xia Qing, they were waiting to see what he would do next.

Surely, with people watching like this, someone as proud as Yu Tu would not…

Before the thought even completely made it through her head, she heard Yu Tu say, “I have to do something first.”

Yu Tu approached where Qiao Jing Jing was sitting and slowly knelt down in front of her. For a moment, Xia Qing’s body went as still as the room, as she wondered what bizarre spirit had possessed Yu Tu’s body that, in front of everybody, he was - what was he doing?

“Did you come here, because of me?”

His voice was quiet, but the room was now silent enough that you could hear a pin drop, and there was no doubt that everyone heard the words.

In an even quieter voice that she knew must still carry, Qiao Jing Jing answered, “I’m not keeping scores with you anymore.”

There was something in the way Yu Tu was smiling at Qiao Jing Jing now that made Xia Qing’s heart burn. It was like looking into an eclipse. She knew she shouldn’t, she knew it would hurt her and she should look away, but she couldn’t.

She had to keep looking now, because some people were turning their heads to watch her reactions, and she couldn't be seen looking away.

It was as if everything had been blurred out and she could only see the two people in the spotlight. She saw Qiao Jing Jing nudge him with her shoe and told him to sit down.

Amid the gasps of every girl in the room and the shocked stares of the guys, Yu Tu leaned in. This time, Xia Qing forced herself to tear her eyes away. No one was looking at her now, anyway.

It was as if all the years she had known him flashed through her eyes in that moment, and she was forced to recall that he had never once done anything like this for her. The pursuit, the initiative, the public declarations, it had all come from Xia Qing, and he - he was receptive, but it was only in this moment that Xia Qing understood what he meant with his words in their last meeting. He had accepted her all those years before, because it was easy, because she laid it all out for him…

Should she have tried to play hard to get instead? Should she have not tried so damn hard? Would that have made him do something like this?

Deep in her heart, Xia Qing knew he wouldn’t. Twenty-year-old Yu Tu would never have lowered himself to chase after a girl, and risked public humiliation like this. She was sure he had never done anything like this in his life.

Fame really was a very good thing, after all, she thought bitterly.

Xia Qing was sure she only started breathing again after Yu Tu and Qiao Jing Jing had disappeared from the room, and everyone looked around at each other in shock.

“Classmates, was I seeing things just now?”

Xia Qing really wished that was the case.

“Have they resolved their internal conflicts as well?”

Chatter broke out and the room suddenly felt like it had been invaded with a swarm of bees. Amid the chaos, Lin Pei Pei stood up and said loudly, “Everyone, let’s create a group chat for everyone who is here today! I’ll give everyone red envelopes!”

It was clear to everyone what Lin Pei Pei was trying to do, given what they had just witnessed, but no one would say it out loud. Xia Qing felt like she was floating under water, being swept away with whatever current that was flooding the room. A few moments later, as she looked down at her phone, she found that she had been invited into a WeChat group, and there was a notification of a WeChat red envelope.

Xia Qing stared down at the notification, before refusing it. She was sure she would rather die than be paid to keep her mouth shut about how her ex-boyfriend was now dating their celebrity classmate. Who on earth would she admit that to?

As her refusal went through, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Lin Pei Pei’s eyes flick over to her, but Xia Qing was determined to refuse to look back.

Chapter Text

No one ever told Hu Jing Sen when he was younger that the top job at the Shanghai Aerospace Research Institute was just a lot of repetitive paperwork and answering queries from every other government agency in the country. 

Such being the nature of his job, he was not entirely surprised when, on a Tuesday morning, his secretary told him over the phone that someone from the National Security Bureau had called, wanting to speak to him. As he waited for the call to connect through, he wondered which bureaucrat had too much time on their hands and had decided to nitpick the institute’s security system again.

“Director Hu, hello,” a man said on the other end of the line. “My name is Wang Zhi Quan from the National Security Bureau. Yesterday, some of our officers arrested three men taking photos and videos outside the gate of your institute. We have investigated them, and we are hoping you would help verify their story.”

“Of course, what can I do to help?” Hu Jing Sen asked. 

“I am going to email you a secure link to some of the photos they took. Can you please look at them and let us know if you can identify the people in the photo? Of course, I know you won’t know every employee in the institute by face, but I hear that you have facial recognition softwares that should be able to compare the photos against the employee database to identify them. In any case, we would like to speak to the person in the photo to verify the detained’s story.”

“Yes, go ahead and send the photos over, and I will see what we can do to help.”

Lao Hu wasn’t sure what exactly he was supposed to expect to see when he clicked on the link sent by Wang Zhi Quan. He certainly wasn’t expecting to find dozens of photos of Yu Tu taken by long-lens cameras. As he clicked through the first few photos showing Yu Tu around his apartment building, and then walking to work, Lao Hu felt concern flooding over him. What on earth was Yu Tu doing to be tailed by spies? Surely…

No, he knew Yu Tu. He was too straightforward, not to mention dedicated to his work, to get involved in anything murky as this. If spies were following Yu Tu, then somehow they must have figured out what he did, and were tailing him perhaps as part of an intimidation tactic...of course, it was concerning that Yu Tu himself had not noticed that there was someone tailing him, but that was not a moral failing...

Besides, meticulously as employees of the institute were educated in keeping classified information and picking up signs that you were a target of espionage and how to avoid it, no one really went around expecting to be followed by spies on a day-to-day basis...

These thoughts swirling through his mind, Lao Hu continued to click through the photos, until he came to some photos of Yu Tu at the airport, with his arms around a young woman. 

Well. This was new. 

Of course, there was no obligation that any of his employees must report to him their relationship status, but Lao Hu supervised Yu Tu’s team closely enough that he was rather surprised he had heard no one mention anything about Yu Tu having a girlfriend. Come to think of it, Zhang Zhi Xue had not mentioned anything either. It was possible that Lao Zhang didn’t know either, even though Lao Hu would be surprised if that was the case. After all, Lao Zhang was Yu Tu's supervisor for both his Master and PhD research and Yu Tu looked up to the man as much as he would a father. It was the kind of thing that Yu Tu probably would share with Lao Zhang, even if he did not share it with Lao Hu. 

Perhaps it was just a very new relationship. 

And it was beside the point. 

Now that he knew the National Security Bureau’s investigation involved Yu Tu, it was probably better than not to at least let Lao Zhang into the loop. The old man would otherwise be very miffed that something of this magnitude concerning his favourite student was happening and Lao Hu had tried to keep him in the dark.

“Can I trouble you to come to my office for a moment?” he said a minute later into the phone. “There’s something I need your opinion on.”

Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Zhi Xue walked into his room. Lao Hu brought his laptop over to the couch. 

“I had a call from National Security today. They told me that they arrested three men taking photos outside the institute yesterday,” Lao Hu said. “They have sent me some of the photos and asked me to identify the person in the photo as part of the investigation. I think you should see this.”

He put the laptop down on the coffee table and turned it towards Lao Zhang and watched carefully as he looked at the first photo.

“Yu Tu?” Lao Zhang looked up, alarmed, at Lao Hu.

“You will share both my professional and personal concerns, then, that Yu Tu had somehow been targeted by these suspected spies,” Lao Hu said, watching as Lao Zhang continued to click through the photos.

“Wait...no,” Lao Zhang said, pausing on a photo taken at the airport. 

He stared at the photo for a long time. Then, much to Lao Hu’s shock, he let out a laugh. 

“Do you know who that is?” Lao Zhang asked, looking up at Lao Hu’s astonished face. 

“Who are you talking about?”

“The young lady.”

“Should I know?” Lao Hu asked. “I suppose if Yu Tu has a girlfriend, he would be more likely to tell you first, if he tells either of us at all.”

“I - well, I did not know that they were together,” Lao Zhang said with amusement in his voice. “I suppose I should be glad at least he listens to me still.”

“What are you talking about?” 

“If this is what I think it is,” Lao Zhang said, looking positively gleeful now, “then I doubt we have to worry about actual espionage.”

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about right now.”

“I have met the young lady, but I don’t think they were together at the time. Though, come to think of it, my wife did wonder if we were interrupting a date between them that day.” 

“Will you please get to the point?” Lao Hu asked impatiently, now feeling very confused about what on earth was so amusing to his colleague. 

“The young lady, who you obviously do not recognise, is called Qiao Jing Jing.”

Lao Hu frowned. “Qiao Jing Jing? Why does that name sound familiar?”

“According to my wife, she is a very famous actress, who just happens to also come from the same hometown as Yu Tu, and was also his high school classmate. My wife and I came across Yu Tu and her at a restaurant a few months ago, and they even invited us to have dinner with them. Well, in the end, we didn’t, and my wife only realised who the young lady was later. Based on my brief interaction with her, she is very bright and she and Yu Tu seem close. Clearly things had progressed between them. My point is, I think the target of the photographers may well be Qiao Jing Jing, and not Yu Tu at all. Or, at least, not in his capacity as an aerospace researcher possessing classified national secrets and high-level technical expertise.”

“Wait, are you saying that these are paparazzi photos ?” Lao Hu asked in astonishment. “Of the actress? And Yu Tu just happened to get caught up in them because they are together?”

“Very likely,” Lao Zhang said, still looking absurdly delighted. “You said the National Security Bureau has already launched an investigation of the photographers? They didn’t tell you what the photographers have said?”

“No, but then that’s standard,” Lao Hu said. “It’s an on-going investigation, they would not say much. They just asked us to identify the person in the photo.”

“And I suppose the protocol would be they would wish to ask Yu Tu questions once we identify him?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I don’t think there should be too much harm in that,” Lao Zhang said. “If you look at these photos at the airport, it’s clear the focus is much more on the young lady than Yu Tu. If they were indeed spies following Yu Tu around, what use would they have for so many photos of his girlfriend?”

“Blackmail?” Lao Hu guessed. 

“One photo with her face would suffice in that case, don’t you think? I do wonder if these aren’t all the photos the National Security Bureau managed to confiscate and they are just giving us the bare minimum to identify Yu Tu. There may be others that confirm these are simply paparazzi photos that the Bureau may be choosing not to supply to us in case it distracts us from the thing they want from us, which is only to identify Yu Tu.”

“What you’re saying makes sense, of course,” Lao Hu said thoughtfully. “I suppose we should hope this is the case, shouldn’t we? It would be much less hassle.”

“For the institute, certain,” Lao Zhang said. “I’m not sure how much less hassle it would be for Yu Tu. Then again, what do I know about what these youngsters even get up to when dating these days, let alone when one of them is a famous actress?”

“She really is a famous actress?” Lao Hu asked, curious now that it seemed there was less cause for concern than he suspected before.

“Yes, once my wife pointed it out to me, I suddenly couldn't stop seeing her face everywhere. On the sides of buildings, in elevators, bus stops, subways. She seems very, very famous indeed.”

“Interesting. What’s her name again?”

“Qiao Jing Jing, though I admit I don’t recall which characters specifically.”

“I see…” Lao Hu said slowly, glancing down at the photo currently open on his laptop again. “Well, I suppose I’ll tell the National Security Bureau that I’ve identified the person in the photo as they asked.”

“If they do come here to talk to Yu Tu, you will let me know, won’t you?” Lao Zhang asked, standing up, still smiling widely. 

“Aren’t you a little old to be chasing gossip?”

Lao Zhang shrugged. “I am simply concerned for my student.”

Lao Hu chuckled and promised that he would continue to keep Lao Zhang aware of the situation.

A few minutes later, alone again in his office, Lao Hu typed the pinyin name “Qiao Jing Jing” into his search engine. Apparently Lao Zhang’s wife had been correct that she was a very famous actress indeed, because without even needing to know the exact characters for her name, Lao Hu was able to very easily find everything that could be possible to know about her. Scrolling through her Baidu page, Lao Hu finally began to understand why Lao Zhang had been so amused earlier. After all, if all this did turn out to just be the products of overzealous paparazzi, it would be the funniest thing that Hu Jing Sen ever had to keep secret. It would certainly be a relief from all the serious secrets he otherwise had to keep. 

Once he had identified Yu Tu to the National Security Bureau, two officers descended on the institute that very afternoon, requesting to speak to Yu Tu. 

That was how Lao Hu found himself sitting opposite Lao Zhang, inviting Wang Zhi Quan and Sun Zhe of the National Security Bureau to tea, while waiting for Yu Tu to arrive.

“Close the door,” Lao Hu said once Yu Tu stepped into the room. “Yu Tu, these two gentlemen are from the National Security Bureau. They have a few questions for you, please answer truthfully.”

A look of concern passed through Yu Tu’s face before he nodded. Wang Zhi Quan clearly saw it, as he said as Yu Tu sat down opposite him, “You don’t have to be too nervous. We just have a few questions.”

“Who were you with from last Friday to Sunday?” Sun Zhe asked. 

Lao Hu caught Lao Zhang’s eyes as they both turned to watch Yu Tu’s face carefully.

“My girlfriend,” he answered easily enough.

“Your girlfriend’s name is…?” Sun Zhe prompted.

Yu Tu hesitated for a moment, the expression on his face clearly asking how this was relevant to anything. When the officers in front of him only looked on expectantly, he answered, “Qiao Jing Jing.”

Lao Hu felt a sudden urge to laugh when Lao Zhang very suspiciously began coughing, which obviously also drew Yu Tu’s notice as he glanced over at his teacher before turning back to the officers.

“You mean, the actress Qiao Jing Jing?” Sun Zhe asked. 

“Yes.”

Lao Hu looked towards the officers, if only to stop himself from staring at Lao Zhang’s inexplicably smug face opposite him and putting himself in too much danger of laughing out loud. 

“She stayed at your house all these three days?”

“Yes. On one of the days, she attended a brand promotional event and we were together.”

“You didn’t notice that someone was following you?” Wang Zhi Quan asked. Yu Tu frowned, and before he could say anything in reply, Wang Zhi Quan continued. “According to them, they followed you and took photos for three days. On Monday morning, they followed you to work and took many videos. After that, they were arrested as spies.”

“What will happen to them?” Yu Tu asked. 

“Since what they said matches your words, we probably would just investigate a little more,” Sun Zhe said. “Once we establish that there’s no other problem, we’ll probably just lecture them a little and let them go. We have already confiscated all the photos and videos.”

At these last words, Lao Hu could see Yu Tu visibly relax. It was clear that, to Yu Tu at least, the photographers in question were really just paparazzi wanting to make quick money from exposing a famous actress' love life and not some master spy intent on uncovering national secrets.  

“Young people shouldn’t get too muddle-headed when dating. Did you forget all your security trainings? You weren’t on guard at all,” Wang Zhi Quan said.

This reprimand was, of course, necessary, given what had occurred, and Lao Hu was simply thankful that Yu Tu took it with grace. Lao Zhang still looked far too amused by this entire scenario, that upon catching his eyes, Lao Hu had to look down briefly to keep his own solemn expression in check.

“We’ll also reprimand them, to let them know that there are certain boundaries. They can’t just go around taking photos of a high security unit like this,” Wang Zhi Quan concluded, before the two officers took their leave. 

Lao Hu was thankful that Lao Zhang managed to wait until the two officers had left to let out a soft chuckle. 

“I’ll get back to work now,” Lao Zhang said, and patted Yu Tu on the shoulder as he left. 

Left alone with Yu Tu, Lao Hu finally let himself smile. It was still rather funny, even if he could not let on so much to Yu Tu. 

“This is a good thing, but it is better to be a little low-key. No need to publicise it so much. Of course, this is a natural thing, so there is also no need to deliberately conceal it,” he said.

Yu Tu simply nodded, and Lao Hu patted his shoulder as well, before sending him away.

Yu Tu had thought that the meeting with the officers from the National Security Bureau would be the end of it. The very next morning, however, he received an email from Director Hu informing him that Sun Zhe, the younger of the two officers he met the day before, wanted to speak with him in a meeting room.

“I am here for two reasons,” Sun Zhe said once Yu Tu met him in the meeting room and they had finished exchanging greetings. As they sat down opposite each other, Sun Zhe pushed a folder towards Yu Tu, which contained what looked like a report. “This is a summary of our conversation yesterday. Please review it and sign for our records.”

Yu Tu pulled the folder towards him and read through the documents. Other than his personal details at the top, which he assumed was taken from his employee information at the institute, the rest of the document was a standard enough summary of his exchanges with Sun Zhe and Wang Zhi Quan the day before. He looked up at Sun Zhe, nodded and signed the document, before pushing it back.

“The second thing, we have identified that it is necessary to determine if Ms Qiao would also corroborate with the story provided by the detained and by yourself yesterday,” Sun Zhe said. “I assume you will be able to help us contact Ms Qiao?”

“Do you want to have her phone number, or are you asking me to call her for you?” Yu Tu asked, wondering if part of this whole process was also a not-so-subtle way of confirming that he actually knew Jing Jing. As if whatever photos the paparazzi had already taken of them were not enough evidence?

“If you could call her and I could speak to her to ask a few questions, that should suffice,” Sun Zhe replied. 

Yu Tu smiled and took out his phone. Glancing at the time on it, he said, “I can call her if you require, but she might be filming and won’t come to the phone, and we might just get her assistant. In that case, I suppose you could just get her assistant to set up a time when you can speak to her.”

“Yes, that would be fine as well.”

“Also, I suppose I should tell you that I have also told her about our conversation yesterday. So if your purpose is that she answers without any prior knowledge of the situation, that probably won’t be possible,” Yu Tu said.

“That won’t be an issue. We just want to make sure we all have the same understanding of the situation, that’s all.”

Yu Tu nodded. He called Jing Jing and put the call on speaker before placing the phone on the table. 

“Yu Laoshi, it’s Xiao Zhu,” came the answer on the other line, as Yu Tu had expected. He glanced up at Sun Zhe, who at least seemed to note that it was clear that the other end of the line at least knew who was calling the moment she picked up the phone. 

“Xiao Zhu, is Jing Jing busy?” Yu Tu asked.

“No, she’s just on standby and speaking to someone right now. Let me get her for you. Hold on.”

There were background noises as Xiao Zhu seemed to be making her way through a crowd, then they heard her call Jing Jing’s name.

“Telephone,” Xiao Zhu said, before there was the noise of the phone exchanging hands.

“Hey, this is a strange time for you to call,” Jing Jing said. 

“I need to talk to you about something. Can you go somewhere you can’t be overheard?”

“Yes, let me get to my trailer.”

As the noise around her started to fade away, Yu Tu said, “You’re on speaker, by the way, and next to me is Mr Sun from the National Security Bureau.”

“What? Oh, is this about the paparazzi thing yesterday?”

It was Sun Zhe who answered her. “Yes, Ms Qiao, hello. This is Sun Zhe, I work for the National Security Bureau. I would like to ask you a few questions as part of our investigation.”

“Yes, of course,” Jing Jing said. There was the sound of a door closing. “We can talk freely now.”

“In that case, Ms Qiao, we will turn on the video call,” Sun Zhe said, before looking towards Yu Tu, who did as he requested and propped the phone against a plastic name plate on the meeting table. “Ms Qiao, I am going to ask you a few questions, you just need to answer as truthfully as possible.”

“Yes, of course,” Jing Jing said. 

The first few questions were simple enough questions about her name as well as details like date of birth and contact details.

“What is your national ID number?”

“Oh, uh - I have to find my assistant,” Jing Jing stammered. “She has my wallet with my ID in it.”

“The ID number is 301032199012215628,” Yu Tu said. 

Jing Jing stared at him through the phone. “How do you know?” she demanded.

“I saw it once.”

“And you memorised it?”

Yu Tu shrugged. “There’s actually not much to memorise. The first six digits are standard, identifying the province, city and district of birth, mine is the same, after that is your birthday. You really only have to remember the last four digits.”

Jing Jing blinked, before addressing Sun Zhe again. “I guess what he said.”

“I would appreciate it if you would check, Ms Qiao,” Sun Zhe said. Despite his efforts to keep a straight face, Yu Tu could see the corners of his lips twitching slightly. 

After Jing Jing had found Xiao Zhu and confirmed her ID card number, Sun Zhe asked her some questions about her activities over the weekend. 

“I suppose you are aware by now that there was someone following you, taking photos and videos throughout the whole weekend. Ms Qiao, did you realise at any point that you were being followed?”

“Actually, at the time I was aware of the possibility that we might have been followed by paparazzi,” Jing Jing said. 

Yu Tu, who had so far left Sun Zhe to ask his questions, now couldn’t help interrupting in astonishment. “You knew?”

“Ms Qiao, could you please elaborate on that? How did you identify them?” Sun Zhe asked, as if Yu Tu had not said anything. 

“Well, there was a guy hanging around the elevator when we first arrived at Yu Tu’s apartment, and he looked kind of familiar. I’ve probably seen him before in industry events and things like that. I also caught sight of someone who looked like him in the audience at the brand promotion event I attended.”

“And why didn’t you mention anything to Mr Yu?” Sun Zhe asked.

“To be honest, I just didn’t want to have to deal with them at the time,” Jing Jing said. “I pretty much knew they were paparazzi and I thought I’d just let them have their pictures. I guess I thought they’d only be interested in photos of us together and it didn’t occur to me they’d follow Yu Tu to work. I suppose I should have remembered that it wouldn’t be good for Yu Tu’s job if those photos actually get out either way, so that was an oversight and I apologise about that.” 

Sun Zhe asked a few more questions, before finally nodding. “Thank you, Ms Qiao, that should be all. We don’t expect we will need to contact you further. Thank you for your time.”

Sun Zhe quickly gathered up his things and nodded a final goodbye to Yu Tu, before leaving the room.

As soon as she heard the door close, Jing Jing laughed. 

Yu Tu sat back down in his chair and picked up the phone so he could look at her. 

“Did he just want to make sure we actually knew each other by having you call me, do you think?” she asked. 

“Probably. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t noting how we interacted with each other as well.”

Jing Jing giggled. “I guess in that case, the fact that you just casually know my ID card number should be enough proof of our relationship, right?” 

Yu Tu nodded. Then, thinking over the conversation, he couldn’t help groaning and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What?” 

“I just can’t believe that you actually took notice of the paparazzi and I didn’t,” he said. “They were right to lecture me on not noticing anything yesterday, considering how many trainings I’ve been through for this exact type of thing.”

“I wouldn’t beat myself up about it, if I were you,” Jing Jing said comfortingly. “After all, you might have been trained theoretically in recognising when someone is following you, but how often have you actually had someone following you around taking your photos?” 

“I’d say never, but now I’m starting to question it,” Yu Tu muttered. 

“Well, unlike you, I’ve had way too much experience with it that it might as well be a sixth sense now,” Jing Jing said with a laugh. “I suppose if you want to put your training into practice, I can guarantee being with me will give you all the practice you need.”

“You’re probably right,” Yu Tu said, chuckling. Then, more curiously, he added, “You really were just okay with them putting those photos out if they weren’t caught?” 

“I guess I thought...we’ve been lucky so far, and I wanted to see how far we could push that luck?” Jing Jing laughed. “Now, I guess we know it’s pretty far.” 

Yu Tu couldn’t help laughing with her at this realisation.

More seriously, she said, “Actually, I think sooner or later I would have remembered that it would be bad for you for those photos to be all over the internet. Then Ling Jie and Dan Dan would just have to do all the work of buying them back and taking them down. So the National Security Bureau really did us a favour there and saved us quite a bit of hassle. I should send them gifts or something.”

“I’m pretty sure that would be considered bribery,” Yu Tu pointed out.

Jing Jing laughed at this. “Well, I guess we should hope this is the end of it.” There was a pause, then she sighed. “I probably have to get back to work soon, I’m surprised no one’s come looking for me yet.”

“I have to get back to work too,” Yu Tu said reluctantly. 

“I’ll call you tonight,” Jing Jing said. “I miss you.”

Yu Tu smiled. “I miss you too.”