Chapter 28: Baby

In front of Jiang Bin and He Huan, saying she minded would make her seem too rude. Saying she didn’t mind would put her in a difficult position.

Previously, if it had just been that, she could have put on a show, added the friend to get by, no big deal.

Later, she could cold-shoulder it, say they weren’t suitable, no feelings, no ideas—any stale old excuse would make the other party back off tactfully.

But she had already tacitly approved of Ming You’s pursuit of her, so she couldn’t two-time. The scene from last Saturday night was still vivid in her mind. If Ming You found out, it would be hard to smooth over.

Yan Ningxi didn’t want Ming You to misunderstand her as someone who stepped on multiple boats and was extremely unserious about relationships because of such a groundless matter.

“Adding me as a friend is fine. I just don’t like chatting and basically never post on Moments. If I don’t reply to messages promptly, please forgive me, Mr. Xu.” Yan Ningxi responded calmly and politely to Xu Qiao.

The literal meaning was easy to understand: add the friend if you want, but I might not reply to your messages, let alone be in the mood to chat idly with you.

Add?

Or not?

Xu Qiao went from full of anticipation to deflated in just a few seconds.

Jiang Bin hurried to smooth things over. “Add her. These days, one more friend means one more connection. You can’t have too many friends.”

That was all he could do to help.

He and He Huan had met through a blind date themselves.

With his background as a retired soldier, outsiders saw him as an uncultured brute. He relied on his family’s decent financial situation, his height advantage, and decent looks to marry a teacher respected by the masses, which was adding luster to his face and family prestige.

With the steps Jiang Bin provided, Xu Qiao still mustered his courage and sent the friend request. But Yan Ningxi didn’t accept it on the spot.

After leaving the restaurant, Yan Ningxi declined Jiang Bin and his wife’s offer to drive her home.

At her age, unmarried, she could understand friends and family indirectly urging her to marry or setting her up with age-appropriate blind dates. But as the person involved, shouldn’t she at least have the right to know?

Yet He Huan and Jiang Bin had arranged a “blind date banquet” without a word of notice, which made her very uncomfortable.

Not long after she got home, He Huan sent an apologetic message.

【Teacher He: Yan Yan, sorry about today. Jiang Bin couldn’t refuse his friend’s request, and I didn’t think it through.】

【Yan Ningxi: I appreciate Mr. Jiang’s good intentions. But I have no plans to get married right now.】

【Teacher He: Got it.】

Having been inexplicably tricked into enduring an awkward “blind date” banquet, Yan Ningxi was so annoyed that she forgot to reply to Qi Xuexin’s message.

【Qi Xuexin: Is she coming back this weekend? I still owe you two a meal.】

【Yan Ningxi: You’ve been drinking and still haven’t added her contact?】

【Yan Ningxi: That’s not like you.】

【Qi Xuexin: She’s the baby you picked up. Without your approval, how dare I add her casually?】

【Yan Ningxi: She has a competition this weekend.】

【Qi Xuexin: What competition? Is it exciting? Thrilling? Can I watch?】

【Yan Ningxi: National University Hosting Competition.】

【Yan Ningxi: Qualifying Round. You should be able to find the latest updates online. If you’re bored and interested, look it up yourself.】

Qi Xuexin didn’t reply for a good while. Yan Ningxi set down her phone and organized her purchases, placing the new mouthwash cup, electric toothbrush, cotton slippers, and such in their proper spots.

She was the only one home, yet it felt like someone else was there too.

Qi Xuexin’s question about whether “she” was coming back this weekend—she wanted to know the answer too. But she wouldn’t ask.

After washing up, it was already ten at night.

【Qi Xuexin: Oh my god! I had no idea until I searched—one search and I was shocked! Yan Huahua, you don’t strike until you do, and when you do, you pick up a one-of-a-kind treasure!】

Right after, Qi Xuexin’s picture bombardment followed in the chat.

Over a dozen photos of Ming You reposted from online, mostly live shots from her freshman hosting competition in her first year and this National University Hosting Competition. A few were candid shots from campus and classrooms.

Qi Xuexin’s last message wasn’t a picture but a short video clip of a few dozen seconds.

The original video was posted in late September. Ming You appeared at the start in a lake-blue little Xiangfeng short skirt suit, her seaweed-like honey-brown long wavy hair cascading over her shoulders and back as she walked down European-style architectural streets.

Then quick cuts every few seconds, each with a new outfit and makeup.

【Qi Xuexin: Seen it? Seen it? Your big baby’s street snaps are beauty bombs!】

Followed by a voice message: “Sharing doesn’t show likes, so let me tell you—Little Pomelo’s original video got over a hundred thousand reposts and likes on the platform! I checked the poster’s page; they shoot all super eye-candy hunks and beauties, average likes over ten thousand per video. Must be some influencer photographer. With Little Pomelo’s one-in-a-million looks and vibe, she’ll go viral easy.”

“Yan Huahua, she pinned your WeChat at the top—what does that mean? It means you’re her number one!”

“You tell me, my love life isn’t any less than yours, so how come no one puts me first?”

Yan Ningxi watched the video over and over three times, confirming it was unmistakably Ming You. But the Ming You in it was different from the one she’d seen.

Ming You was too dazzling.

She was a baby, but not Yan Ningxi’s baby. Ming You was the baby of the broadcasting hosting industry, the brilliant star on stage.

She listened to the three voice messages and believed them, but she selectively ignored Qi Xuexin’s voice notes and only replied to the previous text message.

【Yan Ningxi: Seen it. It’s not like you just found out she’s beautiful today.】

【Qi Xuexin: Farewell.gif】

Finally fending off the chatty Qi Xuexin, Yan Ningxi favorited the video. Back in the chat list, Ming You’s avatar popped up at the top.

10:05.

Five minutes late.

The chat box showed a photo of a clear full moon without blemishes. From Monday to today, four days, every night at ten, Ming You sent her a freshly taken photo of the moon.

【Ming You: The fifteenth moon is fourteen round; fifteenth is round too; sixteenth even rounder.】

【Yan Ningxi: Flowers full, moon round.】

The moon invisible in Huai’an these past nights—Ming You showed it to her. So she sent Ming You a photo she’d taken that night by the neighborhood roadside of blooming osmanthus.

It was the tallest, biggest, lushest osmanthus tree in the neighborhood, with a round streetlamp beside it, the pole a bit shorter than the tree.

In Yan Ningxi’s photo, the dim yellow light glowed like a full moon.

Their nightly chats were never long. Different circles, nothing major to discuss. But Yan Ningxi found that waiting for Ming You’s messages and photos was becoming a habit.

The previous nights, she’d only replied briefly with text. Tonight, she shared her life for the first time. This break from routine pleased her and surprised Ming You.

Dorm curfew was ten-thirty; Ming You’s night runs were usually from nine-thirty to ten.

Just after finishing her run and sitting on the track field, some guy came to chat her up, asking which department she was in, if she ran every day, wanted to join their night run group?

Ming You ignored him, raised her phone to snap the moon, told him not to block the lens—that delayed her a few minutes.

There were more seasonal phrases than just “flowers full, moon round.” She typed “beneath flowers and moon” in the chat, thought it sounded a bit flirty, deleted it, and retyped.

【Ming You: Osmanthus falls mid-moon, heavenly fragrance drifts beyond clouds.】

【Ming You: Sister Yan, in this competition, I’ll win, cut through generals to pass.】

【Ming You: Called ‘winning the laurels.’】

【Yan Ningxi: Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Good luck; I’ll await good news.】

After chatting with Ming You, Yan Ningxi opened “Contacts—New Friends.” Looking at Xu Qiao’s profile photo of himself, she didn’t approve and instead typed a reply: 【Mr. Xu, very sorry.】

…

In the broadcasting hall of Hengyuan Media University, the top five list for the Southwest Division of the National University Hosting Competition was announced.

Six universities, twenty-three contestants vying for five spots—Hengchuan University took three.

After the event, both Ming You and Gu Xirui received flowers from classmates. But Gu Xirui, ill and off-form, missed fifth place by just two points due to her performance, losing her shot at the national finals.

Both Ming You and Lin Yiyang advanced. Lin Yiyang took first in average score, Ming You third—but with a huge lead over fourth.

Fourth was also from Hengchuan, a second-year broadcasting major guy. Score-wise, the top three over ninety points formed one tier, the bottom two over eighty another.

Ming You held back some, aiming for the finals; she wouldn’t steal Lin Yiyang’s spotlight in the qualifying round.

“Third in the division is still great. Bide your time, then flip the script big in the finals—shock everyone, dominate all.”

“Nationals in half a month, and we’re the home turf, so some psychological edge. Ming You, you gotta win big face for Hengchuan!”

“Twenty nationwide spots, Jingchuan has four—just one more than us. Can’t lose to Jingchuan!”

“Ming You, we’ve noticed you’re not so aloof lately. They say joy perks you up—what’s the good news you’re sharing with us?”

“Yeah, spill it. Let’s see which hot guy got so lucky to catch our new department belle’s eye?”

“Yo, nice one, Sister Yu. Crushing studies and love without missing a beat. Can’t hide your boyfriend; declare him publicly so he won’t cheat behind your back.”

Surrounded and interrogated by her chattering classmates, Ming You’s head throbbed a bit, but oddly, she didn’t find them annoying. Amid the external buzz, her heart was exceptionally calm because their words made her first thought Yan Ningxi—not the He Huan that once made her wallow in self-pity.

She chose sweets now, refused bitters.

Gu Xirui, seeing her silent, put on her mask and coughed several times to draw attention.

“Thanks for the flowers, everyone. Don’t crowd; you’ll catch my cold.”

The class president chimed in: “Disperse, disperse. Go on dates if dating, party if partying; if neither, hit the cafeteria for dinner.”

The crowd thinned, but a voice came from the microphone.

“Students still in the hall, good afternoon. I’m Liu Xianhe, third-year broadcasting major at Hengchuan. I invite you all to witness: at the national finals in mid-November, if our school’s Ming You takes the crown, I’ll present her with 999 red roses in celebration. See you at the finals next next week; we’ll await the bloom.”

Liu Xianhe’s words dropped, and the remaining crowd in the hall buzzed.

“Damn! What’s Liu Xianhe smoking?”

“Fuck! Our class goddess—we’ll send our own flowers. Liu, send yours to your class’s Lin Yiyang. Not welcome here.”

“He’s gone nuts chasing her? Traitor—watch his own class shun him.”

“I heard Ming You rejected him already?”

“MD schemer! Totally on purpose. Can’t swallow this. Don’t hold me…”

Gu Xirui’s throat itched; coughing, she said, “This… Liu classmate really opened my eyes going crazy. Ming You, don’t stoop to a nutjob’s level; treat it as a joke. Cough, sigh, but if you really take first this time and he follows through, publicly hauling 999 red roses for you, you…”

Ming You set down her bouquet and certificate, headed backstage without a word. Gu Xirui didn’t stop her. Lin Yiyang, sensing trouble, followed.