A total of forty minutes had passed, yet Lin Sanyuan somehow understood what she meant. She nearly rolled off the bed.
Her heart was racing as she glared at her, a little annoyed. “No!”
She had come to the hotel to keep her company, not to throw herself at her. Of all things to learn, Tang Hengzhi just had to pick up this kind of shameless behavior.
Tang Hengzhi seemed to have anticipated her reaction. She wasn’t disappointed, only smiling faintly.
“Then don’t just sit there playing on your phone alone, okay? Find something to do. If it gets too quiet, I’m afraid I might start overthinking.”
Lin Sanyuan sucked in a sharp breath.
Wasn’t she supposed to be some restrained, ascetic artist?
“Do you play Honor of Kings?” Lin Sanyuan asked. She used to play, but hadn’t touched it much since work got busy.
Tang Hengzhi took out her phone. “I do, but I’m kind of bad.”
“It’s fine, I’m bad too. Actually, that kind of matchmaking is better, you’ll get paired with even worse opponents.”
After entering the game, Lin Sanyuan glanced at her avatar frame, then at the pink couple badge linking her with Tang Hengzhi, and her vision went dark again.
Tang Hengzhi pressed her lips together, smiling subtly. “You used to play with me before.”
Always complaining that she was bad.
She looked genuinely happy, her eyes warm as she lowered her head to pick a hero.
Lin Sanyuan knew her own gaming attitude wasn’t great, so she reminded her uneasily, “Pick a hero you actually know how to play. Don’t just choose someone because they look cool, you’ll drag your teammates down.”
Back when she first started, she had no standards at all. No matter how much her teammates scolded her, she only picked good-looking heroes.
Tang Hengzhi obediently chose the classic support, Cai Wenji.
Lin Sanyuan had originally planned to play A Ke, but seeing Cai Wenji appear, she hesitated and picked Lan instead.
A faint laugh escaped Tang Hengzhi’s lips as she glanced sideways at Lin Sanyuan’s pale profile. “I watched that Honor of Kings animation episode. It seemed like Lan and Cai Wenji are a couple.”
Lin Sanyuan didn’t even blush. “How are they a couple? The age doesn’t even match.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a teammate sent a hero swap request.
She froze for a moment, then instinctively tapped accept.
Lin Sanyuan: “???”
Tang Hengzhi said solemnly, “Now the age matches.”
What the hell, is that how it works?
She meant the characters’ ages in the game, not their real ages!
Who wants to play this dumb hero that just follows people around healing them? Hurry and switch back.
She couldn’t switch back.
The match started.
Tang Hengzhi had even brought Heal as her skill. At the very start, she gave away first blood in the solo lane, and even the healing pack under the tower was taken by the enemy without a care.
Lin Sanyuan was on the verge of breaking down. “Why are you walking right up to enemies and taking damage from minions and skills? Your health drops so fast like that!”
Tang Hengzhi frowned as she watched Cai Wenji enthusiastically healing the little marksman. “Why aren’t you following me?”
“You’re in the solo lane, and you expect me to follow you? Come on, you didn’t tell me you were this bad!”
“Come on?” Who taught her to say that?
Tang Hengzhi looked a little unhappy.
But Lin Sanyuan, full of competitive spirit, didn’t indulge her at all. She stuck with the marksman the whole time.
The marksman played steadily. With the support’s help, they worked seamlessly together, becoming ruthless tower-pushing machines. Whenever someone came to gank, Cai Wenji would use her skills to provide soft crowd control.
The little marksman, with crippled legs, somehow ran incredibly fast, leaving Cai Wenji behind to cover the retreat.
Every time they got surrounded, Lan from the solo lane would abandon even the minion wave, transforming into a big shark and charging across the map just to feed.
Before she could even arrive, she would either get taken down by the jungle in the dragon area or be instantly burst down by Angela from mid lane.
By the time they were about to push the enemy crystal, Cai Wenji had fed five kills, and Lan had achieved an astonishing record of sixteen deaths.
Lin Sanyuan had no idea how she even managed that.
The enemy made a comeback, and both Lin Sanyuan and Tang Hengzhi lost a star.
Lin Sanyuan stared at her Silver rank in silence.
Tang Hengzhi reflected on herself. “I should’ve brought Flash.”
Lin Sanyuan looked at her gloomily. “If you brought Flash just to feed, you might’ve broken the record and hit twenty deaths in a single match.”
Tang Hengzhi pressed her lips together, saying nothing.
Lin Sanyuan stayed at the hotel until midnight before leaving.
The next day, the rain and snow had stopped. Still wrapped in her blanket, she received a message from Tang Hengzhi saying she had set off.
She replied with a simple, “Safe travels.”
Lin Sanyuan spent a relatively peaceful Spring Festival.
After the holiday, she became increasingly busy. She had to work during the day while also dealing with publishing matters, spinning like a nonstop top.
Life was exhausting, yet unexpectedly, she felt her once stagnant existence gradually becoming fuller.
Perhaps because of what happened during the Spring Festival, Tang Hengzhi no longer felt as distant to her as before.
People from completely different worlds had entered her life again and again, yet it no longer felt so jarring.
Lin Sanyuan slowly began to accept that there was someone like this, drawing closer to her.
By the Lantern Festival, she even took the initiative to send a simple holiday greeting, following the casual office custom of exchanging well wishes.
In return, she received a “Happy Lantern Festival” from Tang Hengzhi.
April marked the tail end of spring. The southern breeze carried the scent of the season, and flowers bloomed quietly. The roadside fields seemed to paint Huacheng in dazzling colors.
Though she wrote with a poetic flair, in real life Lin Sanyuan was someone who busied herself and found comfort in solitude. She didn’t have much sentimentality. Her workload increased, but after a past health scare, she no longer dared to stay up recklessly.
During several holidays, she stayed home working on illustrations and side projects, living nocturnally and rarely going out into the sun. Her skin had grown even paler.
When a person gets busy enough, there’s no time left to dwell on other worries.
Since seeing Tang Hengzhi during the New Year, they hadn’t met again. Occasionally, they exchanged brief greetings online, mostly out of politeness during holidays, even shorter than ordinary conversations.
Perhaps their memories weren’t in sync.
To Lin Sanyuan, this ex who felt both familiar and strange was always impossible to read.
She couldn’t figure out why Tang Hengzhi had appeared in Nanzhen during the New Year.
Nor could she understand how, when they met, she could act so naturally close, creating a pull that was hard to define.
Every time she appeared, she could effortlessly shatter Lin Sanyuan’s hardened heart.
And just when Lin Sanyuan felt like she was about to be completely undone, Tang Hengzhi would pull herself back together.
It wasn’t as if she had never been there, but rather everything would reset, returning to normal, and the distance between them would naturally reappear.
That feeling always gave the timid Lin Sanyuan a sense of unknown danger.
She didn’t like this stance of Tang Hengzhi’s, advancing when she wished and retreating just as easily.
Compared to this constant push and pull, Lin Sanyuan would rather remain alone from the start.
She let out a soft sigh, exited the chat, and then her editor suddenly tagged her in the group.
“Yeye, the company anniversary is on the 21st this month. We’re planning to hold our first Puka Authors Annual Meeting. Do you have time to attend?”
Lin Sanyuan was considered a veteran author on the platform.
For years, the company had struggled with limited funds and operations. It was hard to retain long-term authors, and events like an annual meeting had always been out of reach.
But with new financial backing, the platform had finally figured out how to grow its traffic, and things were steadily improving.
From what the editor said, they planned to hold the event alongside the company anniversary.
Lin Sanyuan checked the calendar. The 21st was a Saturday in two weeks, she should be free.
Though she didn’t like going out or attending crowded social events, something like an annual meeting was more of a professional obligation.
“Sure, Editor. If I’m free, I’ll definitely come.”
The editor posted an announcement in the group with contact details and the event location.
The group quickly became lively, with many people enthusiastically signing up.
In two months, Qiao Lian would face the most important exam of her life, the college entrance examination.
Yet she always seemed unhurried about her studies.
Lin Sanyuan couldn’t sense any nervousness from her about the exam.
Instead, it was a monthly test and the upcoming parent-teacher meeting that made her restless.
“Did you get into trouble at school again?” Lin Sanyuan held a cup of freshly brewed green tea, spitting out a couple of tea leaves, looking every bit like a worried parent.
“Why not just have your dad go?” Though she had never met him, from the way he spoke on the phone, he clearly doted on his daughter.
If Qiao Lian asked him to attend, he’d probably be thrilled.
Qiao Lian had just finished showering. Sitting cross-legged on the sofa without a care, her fair feet tucked beneath her, she puffed her cheeks. “I don’t want him to go.”
It wasn’t like he hadn’t gone before during elementary or middle school. He had a knack for attracting attention.
After attending once, some bold mothers of her classmates had added him on WeChat, leading to some very unpleasant situations.
Part of the reason Qiao Lian had been isolated at school was indeed because of him.
Lin Sanyuan didn’t know about any of this and didn’t ask. After thinking for a moment, she said, “When is the meeting?”
Qiao Lian’s ears perked up, her eyes shining. “The Saturday after next.”
“Do you have to go?”
“Yeah, I have to. The college entrance exam is coming up.”
Lin Sanyuan nodded. “Then do you want me to go for you?”
Qiao Lian had been living with her for half a year now. Saying she was her older sister wouldn’t be a problem.
Besides, she had often attended meetings for her younger brother before, just sitting there and listening.
“Yes!” Qiao Lian beamed, her voice sweet and refreshing like mint soda in summer.
Lin Sanyuan didn’t quite understand why a parent-teacher meeting could make her so happy.
She opened her calendar to set a reminder, only to realize the meeting date clashed with the Puka annual meeting.
She fell into deep thought.
Given the platform’s current growth, events like this would likely happen again.
And with so many authors attending, her presence wouldn’t make much difference.
But Qiao Lian had no one else to attend for her.
Thinking of how happy she had looked when she agreed earlier, Lin Sanyuan couldn’t bring herself to go back on her word.
Out of courtesy, she privately messaged her editor to apologize, saying she wouldn’t be able to attend the annual meeting.
As expected, the editor was understanding and said personal matters were more important.
