Chapter 9

Cai Lingling and Zhang Chun walked side by side through the crowds on West Street. Afternoon sunlight filtered through plane-tree leaves, dappling them with light and shadow.

“I still think Ou Chen is the best. He’s domineering but devoted. Why can’t Xia Mo see how good he is instead of getting tangled up with Luo Xi?” Absorbed in the plot of Summer’s Desire, Zhang Chun waved her milk tea indignantly.

Cai Lingling murmured an absent “Mm.” Her thoughts were nowhere near the novel. She kept replaying the scene at Armani: Liu Xun, who’d pursued her for three years and come running whenever she called, had spent over ten thousand yuan on clothes without blinking. His effortless manner had made him seem like a different person from the Liu Xun who’d only ever bought her Bifengtang milk tea.

She’d lain awake all night thinking about it. He had said his parents worked down south, but who said that meant they were employees? What if they were bosses? Perhaps they’d been strict, refusing to let him spend freely in high school for fear it would hurt his grades. Now that he’d made it to college and escaped their supervision, he could finally be himself.

He might really be a rich kid hiding in plain sight. What ordinary family could afford to shop like that? She admitted she’d felt little for him before. Now, suddenly, she thought he was rather nice.

“Lingling, are you even listening?” Zhang Chun nudged her in annoyance.

“Huh? Oh, yes. Ou Chen is pretty good.” Cai Lingling answered perfunctorily, her gaze drifting across the crowd ahead. Then she spotted a familiar figure, and her eyes lit up.

Ignoring Zhang Chun’s ongoing analysis, she dropped her friend’s arm and hurried over. “Liu Xun!” She waved, putting on what she considered her sweetest smile.

He stopped, surprised to see her. Then he lowered his gaze and casually took Li Qian’s hand. Li Qian went rigid, so startled by the sudden move that her mind went blank. Liu Xun bent close, his warm breath brushing her ear, and whispered for her alone, “New assignment. Pretend with me.”

From Cai Lingling’s angle, his lips appeared almost to touch the girl’s cheek. Their closeness was painfully intimate. Her smile froze. The shopping bags in their hands felt like slaps across her face.

Why? Those things should have been hers!

Her nails dug into her palm. She refused to believe Liu Xun had found a girlfriend on his first day of college. It had to be fake. He’d brought a girl to act with him on purpose, to make her jealous. That was how it always happened in Taiwanese dramas!

She approached, forcing a smile. “Liu Xun, is this your girlfriend?”

“Not my girlfriend.”

Cai Lingling had just begun to relax when he added, “My wife!”

“You…” She choked on the word. She studied Li Qian from head to toe, her heart sinking. Even the mask and baseball cap couldn’t conceal the girl’s cool bearing. And her curvaceous figure was far beyond Cai Lingling’s still youthful, undeveloped shape. Looking at their joined hands, Cai Lingling felt as if her world were collapsing.

Zhang Chun caught up, breathless, and stared at the scene. Then her eyes widened at the watch on Liu Xun’s wrist. It wasn’t the moment to make things worse, but she couldn’t keep quiet. She leaned close to her friend. “Lingling! That’s a Rolex! It costs tens of thousands!”

“I told you Liu Xun was rich, but you wouldn’t believe me!”

“Stop it!” Cai Lingling hissed. Yet Zhang Chun’s words rekindled her unwillingness to give up. So what if the girl really was his girlfriend? She and Liu Xun had three whole years of “history.” He’d always done whatever she wanted. How could he just stop caring?

“Liu Xun, you’re being ridiculous, you know that?”

“How am I being ridiculous?”

“I only asked you to wait! Who starts a relationship the moment college begins? I was testing you!”

“All right. I failed your test. Sorry to disappoint you.” His tone was light, a faint smile at his lips.

Cai Lingling’s eyes reddened. She bit her lower lip, her voice trembling. “Liu Xun, you’ve changed. You weren’t like this before.”

He looked at her wounded expression without the slightest stir of emotion. “Yes, I’ve changed. I was blind before. Now I can see clearly.”

Her face went white. Liu Xun ignored her and turned to Li Qian. “Honey, let’s go. I’ll take you somewhere good to eat.”

Li Qian stood stiff as a board. It was the first time a boy had ever held her hand. Where their palms touched, Liu Xun’s warm fingers brushed the back of her hand, intentionally or otherwise. The faint sensation traveled through her nerves, making her fingertips tremble. She didn’t know what to say. She tried to lift the corners of her mouth.

“…Okay.”

Satisfied, Liu Xun led her away without another glance at Cai Lingling. Cai Lingling watched their retreating figures, feeling as though something had been gouged out of her chest.

Zhang Chun had been observing Li Qian and found her reaction strange. Wouldn’t a normal girlfriend confront a woman bothering her boyfriend and stake her claim? She whispered her suspicions to Cai Lingling, but her friend was in no state to listen.

After Liu Xun and Li Qian had walked some distance, he leaned down and said quietly, “Your acting was too fake. We’ll practice when we get back, make it more convincing.”

Still flustered, Li Qian blinked at him. “How?”

“However an ordinary married couple would. That’s how we’ll practice!”