"You seem like... you might actually get to meet your idol."
"?"
Li Yuanjun looked completely baffled.
Xu Xing paused for a moment, then read the Weibo private message aloud as if reciting a textbook.
The air fell into a sudden stillness.
For the next five minutes, the room echoed with Li Yuanjun's wild, heart-wrenching laughter.
Xu Xing almost wanted to offer her some throat lozenges, fearing she might laugh herself into an early grave.
Just as Li Yuanjun was laughing uncontrollably, Zheng Yang's call came through.
Xu Xing, eager to rescue her tormented ears, saw the caller ID and quickly slipped out of the room with her phone in hand.
Out on the balcony, she answered.
"Hello, Xiaoxing." Zheng Yang's voice was as gentle as ever.
"Hey... Lao Zheng."
Zheng Yang chuckled softly, then said, "I thought you might still be asleep. I didn't wake you, did I?"
"No, I'm up."
"That's good. Girls should keep a regular schedule, you know. The way you used to stay up late isn't healthy."
Xu Xing, feeling a bit embarrassed, didn't respond, since she still enjoyed staying up late these days.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, Zheng Yang finally got to the point. "By the way, the reason I called is to let you know I'm heading back to Yongcheng today. I went through your class's contact list last night. I'll send it over shortly."
Xu Xing hadn't expected it so soon and quickly expressed her gratitude. "Thank you so much, sorry for the trouble."
"No need to be so formal. If you ever come back to Yongcheng, don't forget to look me up. You treated me to coffee yesterday, so next time, dinner's on me."
???
***
Treated him to coffee? No way, wasn't he the one who paid yesterday?
Xu Xing felt a bit puzzled, but Zheng Yang quickly shifted the conversation to other topics, and she didn't have the chance to ask.
Not long after their call ended, Zheng Yang sent over a long list of contacts, with Fang Luo's name at the top.
Xu Xing stared at the number for a while before pressing dial.
After a few seconds of silence, the mechanical voice on the other end said, "Sorry, the number you have dialed is no longer in service..."
Disconnected? Xu Xing checked the number and felt confused. She had dialed directly from the list Zheng Yang had sent—there was no way she had entered it wrong.
While she was still puzzled, another message came from Zheng Yang:
"These numbers were saved right after graduation. I'm not sure if anyone has changed their contact info. I still have some classmates' WeChat IDs—I'll send you their business cards."
Ten minutes later, a steady stream of WeChat contact cards started arriving from Zheng Yang. Unfortunately, none of them belonged to Fang Luo.
As if sensing Xu Xing's thoughts, Zheng Yang added one last message: "Fang Luo moved to the capital after graduation. I haven't stayed in touch with her. If you want to contact her, you could ask some of our other classmates."
Xu Xing still replied with a "Thanks," though deep down, she had a feeling that even the other classmates wouldn't have any information on Fang Luo.
***
After more than half a day, Li Yuanjun's excitement over Chu Yi attending the online literature festival finally died down.
Determined not to break her public persona at the event and to leave a lasting impression on her idol, she had overcome her procrastination and started a last-minute crash course in weight loss.
Xu Xing was also somewhat aware of the festival Li Yuanjun was so eagerly anticipating. Not because of Chu Yi, but because she was helping to promote Meng Xizhou, who would also be attending. Meng Xizhou had reposted the official Weibo announcement, and Xu Xing had seen it while scrolling through her homepage.
It had to be said, Huaxing Qicheng certainly wasn't short on funds. The list of invited writers was filled with popular and well-known authors.
But the biggest surprise was that Chu Yi, who wasn't even a web novelist, had also accepted the invitation. He was a reclusive bestselling author who had never shown his face before, and yet he'd agreed to attend.
According to Li Yuanjun's insider gossip, Qicheng had spent a fortune to get Chu Yi to attend.
That evening, there would be a live broadcast of the signing ceremony between Qicheng Film and Chu Yi for the adaptation of his new work, *Fireworks*.
Using a major event like this to broadcast the signing—one could only imagine how lucrative the contract must be. And the day after the festival was the official nationwide release of *Fireworks*. It was clearly a massive publicity stunt designed to stir up buzz.
With such enticing terms, it was no surprise that Chu Yi had accepted the invitation.
Xu Xing couldn't help but recall Kang Chen's earlier remarks about the literary world being like a pyramid. She realized that the novel industry, in many ways, was similar to the entertainment industry. It was also a place where fame could be directly translated into profit.
For some, it was feast or famine.
At the top of the pyramid, the literary gods were besieged with offers, publishing various editions of their works—simplified, traditional, overseas, commemorative, and deluxe.
At the bottom, ghostwriters churning out content for peanuts, haggling over a few yuan per thousand words, producing works they couldn't even sign with their own pen names. And of course, there were those who retained the rights to their works and wrote under their own names, pouring their heart into millions of words only to go unnoticed.
The warmth or bitterness of it all—only those who experienced it could truly understand.
Xu Xing sighed after reading the gossip, but didn't dwell on it further. After all, the event had nothing to do with her, and a literary giant like Chu Yi was worlds away from her.
***
Life had been quite peaceful lately. While Li Yuanjun's weight loss plan continued, Xu Xing was busy juggling her time between home, work, and Green Island.
Ever since Kang Chen had given her the keys that day, Xu Xing didn't quite know how to act around him. When she went to Green Island to cook, she was always a bit self-conscious.
But Kang Chen seemed unaffected. Sometimes, he'd complain that she put too much salt in the soup. Other times, he'd criticize that the vegetables weren't fresh enough.
Xu Xing began to suspect she had a masochistic streak—somehow, she felt more at ease when Kang Chen was nitpicking her.
In truth, she had been looking at rental listings during this time, but the housing prices in Xingcheng were outrageously high. If she wanted to rent a place close to work with conditions similar to what she had now, her monthly salary would barely be enough to cover the rent.
Her side gig as Kang Chen's cook paid well, but the job was precarious. If she ever managed to completely infuriate Kang Chen, the gig could disappear in the blink of an eye.
The first month's salary Xu Xing received from Kang Chen had already been rounded up and returned to Li Yuanjun.
This meant she currently couldn't afford the first three months' rent deposit.
And there were only three days left until the moving deadline.
With just three days left, Xu Xing was feeling overwhelmed.
As she hurried to class with her teaching materials, still deep in thought, she ran into Lu Ziqian, who was there to drop off his son, Lu Xiaoke.
Lu Ziqian greeted her with a bright smile, "Xiaoxing, thank you for all your hard work."
Xu Xing quickly returned the smile.
After exchanging pleasantries with Lu Ziqian, she gently ruffled Lu Xiaoke's hair, crouching down to ask, "This is our last class today. Will our little Diga miss Teacher Xu?"
Lu Xiaoke beamed, revealing a row of tiny white teeth, and tugged at Xu Xing's coat, playfully saying, "I'll miss you, Teacher Xu! You have to miss me too!"
"Of course I will."
Xu Xing smiled warmly, like a proud mother.
This was the final class of the spring term for Lu Xiaoke's group, and there was a small bonus tied to the end of the course. It was the only bright spot in what had otherwise been a rather bleak period for her.
Lu Ziqian handed Lu Xiaoke over to Xu Xing and said, "Oh, Xiaoxing, I have to catch a flight later, so I won't be able to pick him up after class. Kang Chen will come instead. I'm sorry to trouble you to look after him for a little longer."
Kang Chen is coming... Should I take the chance to mention my moving situation to him?
Xu Xing nodded, acknowledging his words while carrying Lu Xiaoke toward the classroom, her mind still calculating her next steps.
***
Perhaps it was because it was the last class, but Lu Xiaoke was unusually well-behaved, his little face an expression of pure innocence.
Xu Xing was deeply relieved.
When the class ended, she distributed prizes to all the children and handed them off to their parents. Only Lu Xiaoke and a little girl remained, waiting to be picked up, and once they were gone, her duties would be complete.
"Zhouzhou, I need to use the restroom. Could you keep an eye on the kids in the classroom for me? Thanks!"
Feeling a bit of discomfort in her stomach, Xu Xing had asked Teacher Xiao Zhou, who had just finished sending off her own students in the adjacent classroom, to help out.
Xiao Zhou readily agreed.
But when Xu Xing returned from the restroom, the classroom was empty.
Stunned, she immediately went to find Xiao Zhou.
Xiao Zhou was in the office being scolded by their supervisor. Xu Xing, worried about the children, had no choice but to interrupt and pull Xiao Zhou aside to ask, "Where are the two kids?"
"Oh, right. I got caught up when Old Xue called me, so I asked Su Su to watch them," Xiao Zhou sighed, about to vent about her unfair reprimand, but Xu Xing wasn't in the mood to listen. She quickly went to find Su Su.
A sense of foreboding gnawed at her.
When she reached the break room, Su Su was just coming out with a fresh cup of coffee, cheerfully greeting her.
Xu Xing wasn't in the mood for small talk. She cut straight to the point, "Su Su, where are the two kids from room 407?"
Su Su froze for a moment. "They were just there. I told them I was getting coffee and to stay put in the classroom…" She suddenly realized something was wrong and asked, "Wait, are they missing?"
"They're gone!" Xu Xing's heart clenched.
"Don't worry," Su Su tried to calm her. "The parents probably picked them up."
Xu Xing hoped that was the case. Without saying anything, she checked the restroom again.
Finding no one, she anxiously headed back toward the classroom, calling out as she searched, "Xiaoke? Ruoruo?"
Those little rascals hadn't gone outside, had they?
After searching the classroom to no avail, she went downstairs.
The moment she stepped outside, she saw a silver Porsche parked by the curb, its distinctive 11111 license plate catching her eye.
Kang Chen quickly stepped out of the car and walked toward her.
But her eyes were fixed on the back seat.
When no one emerged from the car, her heart sank.
"What's going on?" Kang Chen, sensing something was wrong, asked, "Where's Lu Xiaoke?"
Xu Xing's face went pale. She immediately bent at the waist, apologizing, "I'm sorry, I lost track of him. I'll go find him right now."
Kang Chen had already suspected something was amiss the moment he saw her. Now, he wasn't surprised.
He remained calm and asked, "What happened? Tell me slowly."
Xu Xing quickly explained what had happened, suspecting that the two children had likely wandered off on their own.
Kang Chen nodded, agreeing with her assessment, but before they could split up to search, he received a call.
Even without using the speaker, Xu Xing could hear the woman on the other end, her voice filled with fury. Throughout the call, Kang Chen said nothing, but his expression grew darker and darker.
After he hung up, he opened the car door and said to Xu Xing, "Get in."