GDRG CH41

Although they didn’t do it at night, Shi Xueqing didn’t wake up early either. The unique late-rising spirit of college students was vividly displayed even in Los Angeles. When he opened his eyes from the bed, it was already eleven in the morning.

A rare, sufficient, and non-exhausting sleep. Shi Xueqing dawdled for a while longer before willing to emerge from the quilt. The air-conditioned room was cool and refreshing. He put on a bathrobe and went downstairs yawning.

Shi Xueqing checked Instagram while going downstairs to see who had liked his post and who hadn’t. When he posted on Instagram last night, he was unusually excited. Thinking back to that feeling at this moment, Shi Xueqing thought he would definitely receive a lot of likes.

In fact, the number of likes was fewer than he imagined.
Even a bit sparse.

Shi Xueqing’s heart skipped a beat. He scrolled forward and saw a photo of a classmate sailing in Italy. Venice, private sailboat, expensive outdoor gear, a coach who had won gold medals in international competitions—no wonder there were many likes.

And his LA trip had no Xing Jun’s light Windsor blue Bentley, no luxurious villas in wealthy districts, only a brunch and a few blurry photos in the night. In the eyes of classmates accustomed to wealth and novelty, it was so boring and lackluster.

Even though he was quite happy when he took them.

Shi Xueqing unconsciously searched for an account. Mia—he still remembered this account name.

It was a public account. With nearly two hundred thousand followers, the girl in the avatar had a very sweet smile.

The entire Instagram homepage was very positive and sunny. The bio indicated the school name, with no trace of Ni Youwen’s existence visible. But even if Ni Youwen existed, perhaps it wouldn’t matter much. In the eyes of fans, he would probably be the wealthy second-generation handsome boyfriend of a rich, beautiful, minor internet celebrity.

She also tagged the location “LA”.

Every one of Mia’s posts had many likes, not on the same magnitude as Shi Xueqing or Shi Xueqing’s classmates. In one photo, she drove an Audi. Although not top-spec, the pink paint job was very beautiful.

Someone commented underneath: “The car is dirty.”
Mia replied to that person: “Changing to a new one soon hahaha”

The reply was from three days ago. Shi Xueqing froze, thinking Ni Youwen wouldn’t be buying a car for Mia, would he?

Perhaps this was the adult world of LA. He flipped through pages of feasting and revelry (“red lanterns and green wine”), a bit shocked and unable to look away. Until suddenly, a new message popped up.

“I’m in Los Angeles too. Want to meet up?”

The message pulled Shi Xueqing back to his reality. The sender had a good relationship with Shi Xueqing; he was a big-shot senior in the same major.

Shi Xueqing relied entirely on clinging to his thigh for a major assignment last semester to get materials from the previous academic year. In the end, he got a big A in that notoriously harsh course.

The big shot had done him a favor, but Shi Xueqing was working as a “travel companion” in Los Angeles; how could he neglect public duty for private affairs?

Moreover, having just seen Mia’s homepage, Shi Xueqing felt very unsettled for a moment, a sense of weightlessness like suddenly being dragged back somewhere.

Shi Xueqing pondered how to decline the big shot politely without losing intimacy. He pulled out a chair and sat down, suddenly seeing something on the dining table.

A sandwich, a cup of coffee, and a fruit bowl.

It felt like yesterday reappearing.

…It couldn’t really be yesterday’s, right?

The production date was today. Shi Xueqing opened the refrigerator and found that the leftovers he put in yesterday had already been thrown away.

The rich guy (Fu-ge) asked him to stay home and sign for a package. Shi Xueqing couldn’t go to a new brunch spot. Fortunately, with a task ahead, Shi Xueqing wasn’t picky either. He sat down to drink coffee and took a bite of the sandwich, finally coming up with an excuse to put off the big shot.

While typing, Shi Xueqing tasted that the sandwich was tuna. Shi Xueqing suddenly remembered that the sandwich Xing Jun left him yesterday also seemed to be tuna filling.

What’s the situation? Does Xing Jun himself eat exactly the same thing every day?

Does the rich guy have such low requirements for quality of life? Shi Xueqing thought of Mia’s magnificent homepage and the fragrant clothes and shadows of Beverly Hills again.

Feels not LA at all. Although Xing Jun had a house in the wealthy district here, his style was quite different from what Shi Xueqing imagined LA to be.

It seemed a bit different from Ni Youwen too. Although they were both rich guys.

Shi Xueqing pondered on the sofa for a while, not figuring out why he felt this way. Maybe because Xing Jun’s outfit wasn’t trendy, while Ni Youwen was a very fashionable trendy man.

That should be the reason. Apart from this, they both drove luxury cars, owned companies, and kept canaries.

A message from the classmate interrupted Shi Xueqing’s thoughts: “Okay, won’t disturb you. Good luck with the project.”

“Thank you, Senior.”

“Perform well, maybe you can even swindle a recommendation letter or something from the boss. Could do other projects in the future.”

That big-shot senior was a “king of involution” (overachiever). He went offline after replying. It was said his family was just middle class and sold a house to send him abroad. So the senior had always been working hard for scholarships.

What Shi Xueqing wanted to swindle from his current boss wasn’t a recommendation letter, but more practical benefits. On the surface, he was thanking the senior, but in his heart, he was thinking about Xing Jun’s money.

If the senior had as much money as Xing Jun, would he still be so intensely competitive?

Unfortunately, academics had reference books, but being kept didn’t. Shi Xueqing thought back and forth, and Mia, whom he saw yesterday, appeared before his eyes again.

Mia, dressed in Miu Miu, appeared very successful compared to him, a gold digger (“lao zi”) still wearing Uniqlo.

The night had passed, the sun shone down, and some secretive emotions were gone. The liquid swaying in wine glasses in the restaurant and the confused emotions hidden in the cutlery seemed to have disappeared. Those few photos in the night also temporarily disappeared into the likes that were no more numerous than others’.

What Shi Xueqing remembered was only Mia’s luxurious clothing and the shining gems on her neck, ears, and wrists.

These were all bought by Ni Youwen for her. Yesterday at the table, Ni Youwen mentioned he had accompanied Mia to buy a lot of things these past few days and said he was considering investing money in the brand Mia founded.

The scenes in memory thus became even more glittering.

Suddenly, the phone vibrated. It was a message from “Balenciaga Bro.”

Balenciaga Bro: “Eating brunch alone? Just a cup of coffee on the table.”

Shi Xueqing clicked on his homepage to look, and his fingers stopped again.

Balenciaga Bro posted a new Instagram yesterday, wine tasting at a private winery with a few seniors from the student union. The goblets on the table were expensive one by one.

Shi Xueqing: …

What is Balenciaga Bro showing off? Does he know I just got a supplementary card with a limit of three hundred thousand dollars? Shi Xueqing turned off his phone, leaving him on “read” without replying again.

Just then, the phone vibrated again.

Shi Xueqing thought Balenciaga Bro was flirting idly again. For a moment, he couldn’t bear it anymore and wanted to say something sarcastically literary.

But the message came from a beauty avatar.

Shi Xueqing looked down; it was actually Mia.

Mia: Hello~

How does Mia know which account is his?

Mia: Big data recommended you to me~

Okay, thanks to Meta’s big data model.

This was truly “speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao arrives.” Shi Xueqing’s heart suddenly moved. He wondered if Mia counted as his senior in this industry and if he should ask Mia for advice.

But a guy asking a girl for tips on being a canary seems a bit wrong somewhere.

Besides, they aren’t familiar.

While he was hesitating and chatting casually, Mia sent a message: “By the way, can I ask when you and your boyfriend got together?”

“Not long, probably,” Shi Xueqing answered reservedly and vaguely.

“Oh, I thought so. Feel like you look quite young.”

Shi Xueqing’s heart moved, and he chatted with her again, intentionally or unintentionally mentioning Ni Youwen. When speaking of Ni Youwen, Mia didn’t hide anything at all: “He’s quite rich, looks okay too. Generous when buying things but quite stingy giving cash. Doesn’t matter, anyway, I’ve already exploded (extracted) three hundred thousand from his hands.”

Such straightforward words made Shi Xueqing think, Should what I got from Xing Jun be called “exploded over a hundred thousand”? Just then Mia said: “Your boyfriend looks quite generous. Sister, you work hard to explode him. I feel you can explode at least a small seventy from his hands.”

Huh?

Xing Jun is generous? How could she tell? Shi Xueqing temporarily ignored the fact that Mia also started calling him “sister.” Mia added: “Sister, my eyes for people are quite accurate. Your boyfriend looks suitable for long-term combat. The longer you accompany him, the more you explode.”

Shi Xueqing: “…Sister Mia, you are quite straightforward.”

Mia: “I’m not like this with others. You are a guy, our tracks don’t overlap, so I’m straightforward with you.”

She even added a snickering emoji.

Mia was probably bored at noon too and even started sharing her gold-exploding skills with Shi Xueqing. Shi Xueqing listened for a long time and felt there was nothing applicable for him. Mia took the route of pretending to be a cute sweet girl. So he asked: “Then what type do you think my boyfriend likes?”

Mia didn’t hesitate: “Slutty ones, definitely likes slutty ones. Men are all like this. Lower-body animals, you know. I feel between you guys, men and men, it should be more open.”

Shi Xueqing: …

Homepage full of jewelry and treasure, private chat so explicit.

Mia: “Why silent? Don’t believe my theory? I’m professional at exploding rice (money).”

The doorbell rang at this time. Shi Xueqing bid farewell to Mia temporarily to sign for the package.

The item was in hand, a rather large box. Shi Xueqing closed the door and looked at the box, his heart moving slightly.

A Leica camera.

He looked at the box for a while and sent a message to Xing Jun: “Brother Xing, your camera arrived.”

Thinking about it, he added a scheming sentence: “I’m going to the Installation Art Museum this afternoon. I’ll take photos with my phone to show you when I’m back.”

Xing Jun replied in a moment: “Take photos with the new camera.”

“Brother Xing, isn’t that your camera?”

“Bought for you.”

Four words declared success. Shi Xueqing was in disbelief for a moment, then ran to find a paper cutter to unbox happily.

When unboxing, he glanced at the purchase receipt; over ten thousand, nearly twenty thousand dollars.

Why did Xing Jun suddenly buy him a camera? Was it because the photo he took of Xing Jun at the bench yesterday made Xing Jun too satisfied?

Shi Xueqing naturally couldn’t imagine the reason was that at the observatory, he took one extra look at the tourist holding a Leica camera.

At least the camera he held now was a high-end model among Leicas.

Literary youth going out must have a camera by their side. Walking the city with a camera hanging around the neck—how City, how retro. Posing in the mirror with the camera for a few shots, Shi Xueqing thought of Mia saying men all like slutty ones.

But he wasn’t slutty last night, just a little literary.

Mia’s message came again: “What did you sign for?”

She’s quite gossipy. Shi Xueqing replied: “A camera.”

“Camera… what? Did you guys go to the observatory last night?”

“Mmn…”

After a long while, Mia replied: “I might have thought wrong. That guy of yours might actually like the pure, homey, long-term holding type.”

Huh?

Mia: “Not chatting anymore, I’m going out. But Sister, I really feel you can explode quite a lot of rice from him. Wishing you a Porsche soon.”

Mia left, leaving only a comforting blessing. Shi Xueqing held the camera and phone for a long time, dazedly thinking about the phrase “pure and homey.”

Xing Jun likes pure and homey? He glanced at the half-eaten sandwich on the table. Shi Xueqing took a few bites, felt it tasted bad, and stopped eating.

At this moment, thanking Xing Jun for exploding gold coins was a bad strategy. Going to the Installation Art Museum to take photos and send them to Xing Jun was a mediocre strategy. Shi Xueqing thought for a long time and chose the best strategy.

Mia looked so successful. She said Xing Jun looked like he could be exploded for at least seventy thousand, and long-term combat could explode even more. Accompanying Xing Jun for three years could count as long-term, right?

Shi Xueqing stopped thinking about that Instagram post with not so many likes. He actively dug out the household items bought yesterday, arranged them everywhere, and ran to the nearby high-end supermarket to buy some flowers.

Roses, lilies, and the like. Supermarkets in City M also had flowers. Roses were 14 dollars a bunch on Valentine’s Day, 10 dollars usually. When Shi Xueqing passed by the supermarket usually, he always thought they looked very nice. Buying roses to photograph with letter paper, or with breakfast, would look very nice.

Although the price of ten dollars wasn’t very excessive, thinking that flowers wouldn’t bloom after a few days, Shi Xueqing had never brought himself to buy them.

Shi Xueqing didn’t like the feeling of throwing away things he owned that had once been beautiful.

Fortunately, now he had a lot of money. While swiping the card, Shi Xueqing thought this way. With Xing Jun here, from now on, he could buy flowers every day.

So after checking out, Shi Xueqing couldn’t help but buy a few more bunches of flowers. He took an Uber home holding the flowers, got off early at the intersection, and walked a short distance.

The summer wind was warm. He let his chin sink into the flowers, smiling with curved eyes.

After getting home, he found there weren’t enough vases. Shi Xueqing rummaged around and found a Saint-Louis blue vase in the corner of the cabinet. Shi Xueqing searched online; it was actually a limited edition with only 250 pieces worldwide.

This has to be taken out and used beautifully. He washed the vase clean and put the extra flowers in. Two hours left until seven in the evening. Shi Xueqing looked at the scented candles and flowers he prepared, put on an apron, and prepared to try cooking some food.

Cooking failed quickly. Shi Xueqing poured the pile of weird goo into the sewer. After being depressed, he calmed down quickly.

There is specialization in professions. A literary gold digger like him is born not knowing how to cook.

Moreover, the biggest difference between humans and animals lies in using technology. Shi Xueqing made a phone call, and takeout arrived at the door.

The two-hundred-dollar takeout was placed on even more expensive Wedgwood dinner plates. Shi Xueqing even plucked some flowers to place beside the plate. The old habit of loving to take photos struck again. He was holding the camera and taking photos happily when he heard the sound of the door opening.

Wait, it’s only six today. Why is Xing Jun back so early?

Didn’t Xing Jun say he would come home at seven?

Bathrobe not changed, music not on, and most crucially, the takeout bag hadn’t been thrown away. Shi Xueqing only had time to stuff the takeout bag into the cabinet hurriedly, then dragged his slippers and trotted all the way to the door.

“Brother Xing, you’re back.”

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