As a television journalist, even getting by meant working day and night, with black and white turned upside down.
Another full day of nonstop busyness came to an end.
Mu Qinglin picked up her coffee delivery at the entrance, rubbing her sore neck as she walked back.
“My car’s restricted today. Give me a ride later,” Fu Xiao said, appearing out of nowhere with an arm slung over one of Mu Qinglin’s shoulders, venting. “Old Wang just turned sixty and is already under the retirement office’s jurisdiction, and yet he still has the energy to launch a new program. I got dragged into the conference room for a whole day of arguing. My brain’s still buzzing. So annoying.”
Mu Qinglin shot her a smile and a sideways glance. “Speak for yourself. Having shows means ratings, ratings mean ads, ads mean fatter paychecks. Unlike our team, stuck at the bottom all year, so broke we can barely keep the lights on.”
“Jealous? Then come back. Old Wang dreams of handing his whole operation over to you.” Fu Xiao pulled her hand back and shoved it in her pocket, lowering her voice. “It was supposed to be your job anyway.”
Mu Qinglin smiled and said nothing. The two walked in silence toward the 《Safe Jiangping》 newsroom.
It was nine in the evening. The office had lost its usual frantic buzz. Anyone who spoke could be heard loud and clear.
“At the journalist awards organized by the city committee this year, Sister Fu Xiao won ‘Top Ten Journalists’ again.”
“Yeah, three years running. Not a single young reporter at the station can match her.”
“Sigh. I heard Sister Mu used to be pretty impressive too?”
“Oh yeah, yeah. I heard the same thing. Apparently Sister Mu and Sister Fu Xiao were classmates. They both passed the exam to join the provincial station after graduation and both went to the news center. Both talented, both full of ideas and drive. Especially Sister Mu. Director Wang thought really highly of her and threw every resource and opportunity her way. Before long, she was outshining Sister Fu Xiao.”
“Seriously? If Sister Mu was doing so well at the news center, why transfer to our team? Doing trivial community stories every day, no one values you. The gap with Sister Fu Xiao will only get wider.”
“Who knows? Apparently Director Wang personally talked to our director about Sister Mu’s transfer.”
“No way. How could Director Wang let her go?”
“Whether he wanted to or not, Sister Mu’s been on our team for over a year now…”
“Groundless speculation. Baseless guessing. Is this what you plan to present at your probation defense?” Fu Xiao’s icy voice cut in without warning, scaring the group into scrambling to their feet and dropping the conversation.
Fu Xiao strode in through the entrance, her face dark. “You are journalists, not tabloid hacks! Is ‘apparently’ the kind of word that should come out of your mouths?”
“No…” The group hung their heads, mortified.
Fu Xiao’s expression was grim, her anger undimmed. “Gossiping about your seniors behind their backs, spreading rumors. If your director finds out about this, none of you will pass probation!”
“Sister Fu Xiao, we know we were wrong. It’ll never happen again. Please don’t tell our director.” A girl pleaded, her face pale.
Fu Xiao was unmoved and was about to deliver an even harsher lecture.
Before the words left her mouth, Mu Qinglin walked in, having finished a phone call a few steps behind.
She held her unfinished coffee, her usual smile showing not a trace of displeasure at being discussed.
“You never come to our neck of the woods more than once every ten days. And when you do, you’re in a foul mood. At this rate, I’ll have to start hiding when I see you,” Mu Qinglin said to Fu Xiao with a smile.
Fu Xiao spun around and glared. “Which word did I say wrong?”
“Not a single one.” Mu Qinglin walked up beside her and waved the paper cup. “Here. Cool down. Coffee’s on me.”
“Who wants your leftovers!” Fu Xiao swatted Mu Qinglin’s hand away.
Mu Qinglin pretended to be hurt, sucking in a breath with a hiss. “Since when do we get physical?”
Fu Xiao spotted the red mark on the back of her hand and her anger faded instantly. “You spoil them too much!”
“If I really spoiled them, would I keep them working past nine?” Mu Qinglin shot back with a smile.
Fu Xiao huffed coldly and walked away without looking back.
“Not bumming a ride?” Mu Qinglin called after her.
Fu Xiao: “No thanks. I’m afraid I’ll lose control and smash both you and the car!”
Fu Xiao left. Mu Qinglin walked up to the girl who’d been scared half to death and patted her shoulder. “The news center is high-pressure. The people there have sharp edges. Don’t worry. Fu Xiao won’t actually tell the director about today.”
Mu Qinglin pulled her hand back and addressed the others, who sat frozen in terror. “Go rest. Don’t be late for tomorrow’s morning meeting.”
They mumbled their agreement, but nobody dared to move. Not until Mu Qinglin reached her desk and sat down did they grab their things and bolt like their seats were on fire.
Mu Qinglin didn’t linger either. She drained the last of her coffee, hooked her keys, and headed downstairs.
She didn’t go straight home. Instead, under the thick moonlight, she turned into Red Gate Alley.
She drank with restraint but also with habit.
The past few days, she’d been too busy. And she remembered Zhou Yi’s instructions to avoid spicy or stimulating things. She’d held back and not broken the rule. But today, she suddenly felt like it.
Nine o’clock in Red Gate Alley was peak hours. The music was deafening, the crowd roaring, men and women leaning into the shadows, flirting without a care in the world.
Mu Qinglin had been here enough times to be unbothered. She walked at a steady pace, occasionally sidestepping to avoid the surging crowd.
“Sis! Haven’t seen you in days. Busy?” A bar server greeted her warmly.
Mu Qinglin didn’t respond. She found a seat, paid, and said, “The usual.”
Server: “Got it. One moment.”
Mu Qinglin sat alone, tuning out the driving electronic music, arms on the bar, head slightly bowed, refreshing a news app on her phone.
The rest of her drinking followed the same pattern. Her eyes barely left the screen. Compared to everyone else who came here purely to unwind, she was an oddity.
Once the alcohol kicked in, time stretched out very slowly.
Mu Qinglin’s pace of reading the news slowed to match. She swiped the screen only occasionally, her reactions to the world around her always a beat behind.
“Little Wu, where’s the cake I asked you to save?” A person in a server’s uniform stood beside Mu Qinglin, talking to the bartender who was wiping down glasses.
The bartender turned sideways and pulled a paper box from below, his tone teasing. “Another one for Little Jiu at the tattoo shop on the east end? Brother Chang, your pursuit game is weak. Two years and you still haven’t closed the deal.”
“Fuck off! She’s my little sister! Don’t drag her into your bullshit!” Lu Chang cursed.
The bartender quickly backtracked with an apologetic laugh. “Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue. I know you look out for her. Go on, deliver it.”
Lu Chang didn’t respond. He kept tapping at his phone.
Halfway through, the bartender suddenly leaned in and whispered, “Brother Chang, the boss is here. Seems like he’s looking for you.”
Lu Chang cursed furiously and pointed at the cake. “You deliver it.”
Bartender: “I’ve got a pile of glasses to wash. Can’t leave.”
“It’s a ten-minute round trip. Get someone to cover for you.”
“I really can’t. Any more deductions and my paycheck this month goes negative.”
“Fuck you—”
“I’ll take it.” Mu Qinglin’s even voice came from the side.
The two froze, then looked at her simultaneously.
“You know Little Jiu?” Lu Chang asked.
Mu Qinglin slid her phone over. The screen showed her WeChat chat history with Zhou Yi.
It was still the one from several days ago. Aside from two photos of the tattoo, the only other thing was Zhou Yi’s parting threat: 【If you tell anyone about my tattoo stickers, you’re dead /smile…】
For that threat, Mu Qinglin had replied with a single emoji: 【/OK】
She really hadn’t told anyone. She hadn’t even opened the chat window these past few days. Showing it now was simply to prove the connection.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. Forgiveable under the circumstances.
Besides, she’d deliberately switched to a busy, dark background that obscured the words “tattoo sticker,” leaving only Zhou Yi’s cat-avatar visible.
“Then sorry for the trouble. Could you run it over?” Lu Chang placed the cake beside Mu Qinglin and explained. “If Little Jiu asks, just say it’s from Lu Chang. She’s been complaining about a bitter taste in her mouth and won’t take her medicine. Something sweet might change the flavor.”
Mu Qinglin: “Her cold still hasn’t cleared?” It had been over a week.
Lu Chang: “No. Started coughing the day before yesterday. Brother Yuanzhou was afraid it’d turn into something worse, so he dragged her to the hospital today for a shot. She hasn’t spoken to anyone since she got back. Otherwise I wouldn’t be scrambling to get her something sweet.”
Mu Qinglin turned off her phone and pocketed it, standing up. “I’ll go.”
Lu Chang: “Thanks. Drinks are on me tonight.”
Mu Qinglin didn’t mention that she’d already paid. Under Lu Chang’s watchful gaze, she carried the cake out of the bar.
The tattoo shop was on the east end. Getting there from the bar meant crossing the entire street.
Mu Qinglin pulled her coat tighter and walked briskly, cake in hand.
This time, she noticed the little alley where she’d first met Zhou Yi was almost directly across from the tattoo shop’s entrance.
So Zhou Yi’s cats and dogs were practically right at her doorstep.
No wonder feeding them took no time at all. She could also hear every word of her conversation with Tang Yuanzhou while returning.
Thinking of the dart that had turned Tang Yuanzhou’s face white as a sheet, Mu Qinglin reflexively touched her own neck.
She’d been sitting with her back to the door at the time.
The back of her head didn’t have eyes.
Having made it to the tattoo shop entrance at top speed, Mu Qinglin suddenly found herself hesitating about whether to go in.
Zhou Yi had made it clear: don’t come back unless there’s a reason. If she dug into the tattoo sticker leak again…
Mu Qinglin stepped back a few paces and leaned against the wall. She began silently counting in her head.
If she reached 100 and no one came out, she wouldn’t go in. She’d leave the cake by the door and message Zhou Yi on WeChat to come get it herself.
If someone came out, she’d hand the cake over and ask them to pass it along.
1, 2, 3… 54…
Halfway there, something tugged gently at the hem of her pants.
Soft. Tentative.
A long, drawn-out meow drifted up through the noise of the crowd.
Mu Qinglin looked down.
A clean little black-and-white spotted cat crouched at the base of the wall, staring at her without any fear of strangers.
No, not at her. At the cake in her hand.
“You can’t have this.” Mu Qinglin shifted the cake to her other hand and fished a small packet of cookies from her pocket. “Want some?”
Facai: “Meow…”
That must have meant yes.
Mu Qinglin walked into the alley, crouched down, and set the opened cookie packet in front of Facai. “Eat up.”
Facai pawed at it twice, then looked up at Mu Qinglin. “Meow…”
Wanted to be fed?
Mu Qinglin propped one arm on her leg and tapped Facai on the head, mimicking a certain someone’s signature threatening tone. “Not a chance. This hand only knows how to press heads.”
“Press its head one more time and I’ll chop your hand off.” A stuffed-up nasal voice suddenly sounded above her. The shifting light beside Mu Qinglin, thrown off by passing pedestrians, was completely blocked by the newcomer.
Mu Qinglin’s finger paused. In the shadows, she looked up at Zhou Yi, silhouetted against the backlight.
Her cold really had gotten worse. Even her threats came out soft.
“Not considering the safety of your feline hostage?” Mu Qinglin asked, tapping Facai on the head.
Zhou Yi raised her arm and pitched a big bag of trash squarely into the garbage can with unerring aim. Then she glanced at Facai, who was cowering and afraid to move, and after deep deliberation said, “No. Feeding it so many times a day is tiring enough as it is.”
Well, that complicated things.
Without any bargaining chips, how was she supposed to keep her hand?
Mu Qinglin thought in dismay.
In the blink of an eye, Facai had already slipped from beneath her hand and was climbing up Zhou Yi’s pant leg.
“Did you starve to death in your past life?” Zhou Yi bent down, pinched Facai by the scruff, and set it aside. Her tone was fierce. “Go to sleep! If you come begging again, I’ll pluck out every last whisker!”
Facai sensed the danger, wriggled free from Zhou Yi’s grip, and vanished into the darkness in a flash.
Zhou Yi stood watch for a moment, confirming that Facai wasn’t just faking a retreat and planning to sneak out again once she left. Then she turned back to Mu Qinglin, who was now standing, and said, “Didn’t I tell you not to come back for no reason?”
“There’s a reason…” Mu Qinglin held the cake up in front of Zhou Yi. “A guy named Lu Chang at the West End Bar asked me to bring this.”
Zhou Yi’s brow furrowed noticeably as she took the cake. “Where is he?”
Mu Qinglin: “The boss was looking for him. Couldn’t get away.”
Zhou Yi mumbled an acknowledgment and carried the cake to the entrance, finding a spot to sit on the steps in front of the porch.
“You’ve got a brother?” Mu Qinglin leaned against the wall beside Zhou Yi and asked casually.
Zhou Yi unwrapped the cake and took a bite, her words muffled. “Don’t go nosing into other people’s business.”
Mu Qinglin glanced down at her and thought, She’s right.
She shouldn’t even have delivered the cake.
Truly a waste of time.
The tattoo shop was close to the mouth of the alley, and gusts of wind swept in one after another. Before long, even Mu Qinglin, who wasn’t particularly sensitive to cold, couldn’t help pulling her collar higher.
Zhou Yi, a frostbite victim reincarnated, was even worse off. She’d already made peace with Mu Qinglin and was now shamelessly tugging at the edge of Mu Qinglin’s coat to block the wind.
Mu Qinglin wanted to comment on this. After some deliberation, she decided to stay silent.
The person practically nestled against her leg was probably part hedgehog. Even without provocation, she’d still bristle. If you actually provoked her, you’d probably end up looking like a pincushion.
“Hey…” An elbow bumped into her leg. Mu Qinglin looked down. “What?”
Zhou Yi raised a hand from inside her sleeve where it had been invisible and crooked a finger at Mu Qinglin. “Come here…”
“?” Mu Qinglin didn’t understand, but after a brief hesitation, she bent down slowly in the direction Zhou Yi indicated.
When there was about an arm’s length left, Zhou Yi impatiently grabbed the work ID badge hanging from Mu Qinglin’s chest and yanked her close.
They were so close that even in the dim light overhead, Mu Qinglin could count every single one of Zhou Yi’s lashes.
