After completing the mission, the group returned from the desolate Gobi Desert to Jingcheng. He Chengyu pushed aside his luggage, spread his arms, and took a deep breath: “Finally back, my vibrant world of mortals.”

Song Ziyue slapped him from behind. “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? Don’t block the way here.”

He Chengyu covered the back of his head and was about to blow up, but when he caught a glimpse of the person behind Song Ziyue, his anger instantly vanished. Instead, he beamed an ingratiating smile: “Boss, let’s find a place to relax for a bit, shall we? After going without for months in the desert, my mouth’s so bland it could spit out birds.”

It’s no wonder he complained. The Gobi desert was barren, with a harsh environment—flying sand and rolling stones were everywhere, but birds and beasts were a rare sight, let alone people. What’s more, they were on a mission. Their itinerary and specific landmark locations were confidential; even their communication with the outside world was strictly controlled. Naturally, they couldn’t be too picky about food, clothing, shelter, or transportation.

Finally back in Jingcheng from the desert, He Chengyu thought tonight he absolutely had to unwind properly, while also giving some long-overdue comfort to the organs that had endured months of hardship.

He Cheng Yu looked longingly toward the rear, where a man had just stepped down from an SUV. Dressed in a black windbreaker, with sand clinging to the edges of his leather boots, he looked travel-worn but far from disheveled. His thin eyelids veiled his emotions, exuding an air of aloof, detached coldness.

He put away his phone and responded lightly, “Fine.”

He Cheng Yu immediately cheered, “I know a great Sichuan restaurant. How about we go there?”

The suggestion was ruthlessly shot down as soon as it was made. Song Ziyue scoffed, “Think you’ve got too much life left? Just out of the hospital after an appendectomy, and you’ve got the nerve to hit up a Sichuan restaurant.”

Before returning to Jingcheng, He Chengyu was hospitalized for a few days due to an appendicitis flare-up. The doctor originally advised him to rest for several more days, but he had always been tough-skinned and resilient, with a strong ability to recover. After having his appendix removed, he left the hospital after just three days.

Although his body isn’t facing any major issues now, he is still in the post-operative recovery phase and needs to watch his diet. Spicy and greasy foods are off-limits for the time being.

It just so happens that He Chengyu is someone who lives for spicy food; asking him to abstain is almost worse than killing him.

He Chengyu was still unwilling to give up. “I’m really fine. Eating a bit of spicy food can be good for your health. Bro—“

Before he could finish his sentence, Song Ziyue wrapped an arm around his neck, covered his mouth, and pulled him away. “Enough already. Skipping one spicy meal won’t starve you to death. Stop wasting time here with all this dawdling. Come on, tonight I’ll treat you to some Cantonese food and let you try something new.”

He Chengyu was dragged away, and even from a distance, you could still hear his grumbling voice. “Song Ziyue, you idiot! Let me go, damn it!”

Upon arriving at the Cantonese restaurant, Song Ziyue took He Chengyu to place their orders, while Xie Yunchen didn’t rush inside. Instead, he stayed outside alone and smoked for a while.

The smoking area was dimly lit, with only a single window. The pale moonlight filtered through and fell on him, inexplicably giving off an unrealistic, illusory feeling.

“Xiao Chen, your father’s condition is not optimistic, and there is no one in the family who can speak on his behalf. Don’t you think you should consider the reality of the situation and come back to help?”

“I know your father was in the wrong back then, but he is now advanced in years. Must you really hold a grudge against him until his death?”

He held the phone to his ear, his other hand resting casually on the windowsill. Between his fingers, a cigarette had burned down to halfway, yet he never took a drag. A faint ember glowed softly in the dark night, its smoke wispy and thin, blurring the once-clear lines of his eyes and brows.

…”

“What’s wrong with just studying? Studying is to understand principles and broaden wisdom, not to show off. Work is for survival, so no profession should be considered high or low.”

…

Summer brings much boredom and restlessness; perhaps seeking a breath of fresh air, the opposite wing room had its window propped open. From this angle, one could catch a glimpse into a corner of the room.

The owner of this Cantonese restaurant has a keen sense of ambiance, with elegantly arranged private rooms and courtyard spaces. On the first floor, the backyard features a landscape of rockeries and peculiar stones, while lotus flowers bloom vibrantly in the pond.

The figure across from her was blurred by the lamplight, making it hard to see clearly. In the long summer night, all was silent, so quiet that only the voice of the woman retorting could be heard. Her tone wasn’t sharp—it was clear, gentle, and unyielding, delivered with a calmness that carried far more weight than scolding or anger.

Her words were crisp and powerful, spoken with such precision that they left her opponent disarmed and fleeing in defeat.

With just a few words, she could make others feel utterly ashamed.

“He studies to realize his ideals, and his work is to put those ideals into practice. Those who strive for the development of aerospace technology in our country are people with great love and a broad perspective.”

“……You always bring up the Xie family, but has he ever used the power of his family to defeat you?”

……

“Xie Yunchen, he is truly outstanding, and he never looks down on others because of his own excellence.”

“At the very least, come back to see your father. Consider it your mother begging you.”

……

Two voices intertwined in his ears as the commotion across the way seemed to die down. A young woman with a mask and baseball cap stormed down from the opposite building, her steps hurried and furious. Apparently overcome by anger, she accidentally bumped into a server, spilling food all over her clothes.

The server kept apologizing, but she just waved it off, unsure if she was simply deflated or still seething. As she left, she appeared disheveled and utterly defeated.

Xie Yunchen leaned against the window frame, watching her figure gradually disappear into the distance. The summer night breeze stirred ripples in the air. The cigarette he held had almost burned out, and its ashes fell onto his skin. His fingers trembled instinctively—a faint, almost imperceptible flutter, like the gentle beat of a Siberian butterfly’s wings.

It took him a long time to reply.

“I understand.”

…..

“Oh my little darling, are you heading to a class reunion or off to war? How did you end up looking so disheveled?”

When the agent received the message and rushed over to pick her up, they were nearly scared out of their wits at the sight of her, drenched in soup and broth.

It was just that Qin Sang didn’t want to say more, remaining silent all the way. Wenjie, noticing her mood wasn’t right, didn’t dare to press further. When she got back, Qin Sang took a shower and changed out of her dirty clothes. Then, barefoot, she wandered around the house, pulling out two bags of puffed potato chips from some forgotten corners and digging a tub of ice cream from the fridge.

This isn’t enough—you even dared to open your phone and order takeout, and all the food is high-calorie stuff.

Wen Jie’s eyebrows twitched again and again, finally unable to hold back, she snatched the phone from her. “Are you crazy? Don’t you want a good figure? How dare you eat this stuff so late!”

Qin Sang gave her a pitiful look, grabbed a spoon, scooped a heaping bite of ice cream, and stuffed it into her mouth, mumbling, “Don’t stop me. I’m turning my sorrow into an appetite.”

“Fine, I won’t stop you,” Wen Jie sneered. “Go ahead and eat as much as you want. Tomorrow, that appetite will turn into solid, measured pounds.”

At once, Qin Sang felt her appetite vanish, muttering under her breath, unsure whether to swallow or spit it out.

During this standoff, it struck her that burning off the calories in a bag of puffed potato chips would take at least an hour of exercise, and Qin Sang’s resolve instantly crumbled.

Wen-jie finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Qin Sang calm down at last.

“What’s wrong? You were in such high spirits when you left—why do you look so deflated now?”

Wen Jie wasn’t a fool either; she probably guessed that her sudden emotional outburst was related to the class reunion tonight.

However, she suddenly thought of something else and immediately became jumpy, lowering her voice nervously to ask, “Did you run into a sasaeng fan? Should we call the police?”

Some extreme sasaeng fan group leaders would stop at nothing. When Qin Sang first debuted, she had experienced something similar—harassed for two or three years, and it took her quite some effort to finally break free from that dark shadow.

Qin Sang shook her head in denial. “No.”

“No?” Sister Wen sighed in relief while furrowing her brows, “Then you at least have to explain what exactly happened tonight, right?”

Qin Sang had a bellyful of words she wanted to say. The anger she’d been holding back for so long finally found an outlet, yet just as the words reached the tip of her tongue, they fizzled out. Her mind went completely blank.

She couldn’t quite put her finger on the exact reason.

It was just that when she heard someone belittling Xie Yunchen, her body moved faster than her mind.

It was as if defending Xie Yunchen had become an instinctive reaction for her.

Qin Sang lowered her head, “It’s nothing, really. It’s just that everything went wrong today, and I’m a bit annoyed, that’s all.”

Wen Jie could tell she didn’t want to talk about it, so she didn’t push further. Glancing at the time, she said, “Alright, it’s getting late. You’ve been through a lot today, you should get some rest.”

Qin Sang replied with a sullen “Mm.”

Not long after Wen Jie left, her phone rang.

Liu Chengcheng had called her twice on WeChat video. At first, Qin Sang didn’t want to answer, but when it rang a third time, she finally picked up.

Liu Chengcheng was very worried: “Sangsang, are you alright?”

Qin Sang pretended nothing was wrong, “I’m fine.”

Seeing her expression unchanged, Liu Chengcheng finally breathed a sigh of relief, “That’s good. I was really worried something had happened when I saw you storm off earlier. But you just now really scared me.”

Qin Sang was slightly taken aback: “Did I look that frightening just now?”

Liu Chengcheng shook her head. “It wasn’t scary, but just… quite surprising. I’ve never seen you angry before. Back in school, when Tang Minmin kept targeting you, at most you’d just complain about her in private. But just now, when you confronted the class representative, everyone was too shocked to speak. The class rep himself was left dumbfounded. Even after it ended, he still hadn’t fully snapped out of it.”

“Sang Sang, are you…”

Liu Chengcheng hesitated to finish her thought. Qin Sang’s eyelid twitched uncontrollably, and she hurriedly replied, “I just dislike it when he belittles our own classmates. You know me, I’ve always had a strong sense of justice.”

“The class rep really has a sharp tongue,” Liu Chengcheng nodded in agreement. “I suppose it’s because he’s always been overshadowed by the top student and held a grudge. Now that he sees the Xie family’s empire starting to crumble, he seizes the chance to…”

Qin Sang was taken aback for a moment and interrupted her, “Is the Xie family’s situation really that bad?”

Liu Chengcheng pondered for a moment and honestly replied, “It seems like quite a big issue. I heard that Chairman Xie was taken away for investigation due to bribery, and there’s been no result until now.”

“Now that the Xie family has lost its pillar, the company is in chaos. It’s tough for the top student too—torn between his dreams and his family. And if the investigation confirms it with solid evidence, there’s a high chance he could lose his job because of his father’s actions. Economic crimes aren’t a small matter, after all.”

“Bribery?”

Qin Sang frowned, only knowing part of the story—aware that the Xie family had encountered some issues but clueless about the severity of the situation.

“Yeah, but it’s still in the evidence-gathering and investigation stage. The final outcome remains to be seen,” Liu Chengcheng sighed. “Even if our top student is willing to voluntarily give up his job at the Aerospace Research Institute to go back and clean up the mess, I’m not sure he can turn things around. This time, they might really take a huge fall.”

Qin Sang fell silent, leaning against the windowsill as she gazed outside. The night view of Jingcheng was flourishing, with countless household lights scattered in an orderly manner. A fog had risen in the night, shrouding the cold moonlight in a dense, impenetrable haze. Only a few lonely stars could faintly be seen, hanging isolated in the distance.

“It won’t happen”

She watched as the clouds gradually parted, revealing the bright, pure light of the moon.

“The moon won’t fall. It’s just temporarily obscured from shining.”

“Chang’e’s Diary”

“Surely… it can’t be such a coincidence?”

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