CH 1

At eight forty in the morning, Qin Zhen sent this to her circle of friends: “Thank you for always being by my side.”

The accompanying picture was a tall man wearing a mask holding a bouquet of bright red tulips as he walked towards her from the airport exit, his eyes showing a smile, doting and helpless.

Shanghai.

East entrance of Beijing A University Conservatory of Music.

Xu Zhi held the phone and tilted her head to look at the turquoise blue sky from the gap of dense balsam fir trees, the sky was cut into countless pieces of turquoise blue, and the early morning sun poured hard into the world from the gap.

Full of thick green, the thick leaves of the balsam fir tree glowed green, green to complement her.

The man on Qin Zhen’s photo was her boyfriend Lu Ming, of two years, he promised to come to her graduation ceremony today, which started at nine o’clock and hadn’t arrived at eight forty.

She called Lu Ming sixteen times, but he was always unavailable.

At eight forty-one, she saw her boyfriend in holding a bouquet of red tulips and walking towards another woman.

There was no wind and no clouds, the sky was blue and endless.

Xu Zhi clutches the phone’s hand very tight, it was a little difficult to breath.

No wonder she couldn’t get through to his phone, Lu Ming’s phone was unreachable because he was on the plane. He had flown all the way from Beijing to Shanghai to look for Qin Zhu during Xu Zhi’s graduation ceremony.

Xu Zhi dialed Lu Ming’s number again, holding her phone as she looked at the east entrance gate that was about to close. The receptionists were already preparing to move the tables and most of the parents who came to the graduation ceremony had entered the school. Her heart sank inch by inch to the bottom of the sea at a depth of 10,000 meters, with no light but boundless darkness.

The phone rang for the sixth time and the other picked up.

“There was an accident with the company’s artist, I am now in Shanghai and cannot attend your graduation ceremony.” Lu Ming’s voice fell over, “I’ll buy a present for you-”

“You went to look for Qin Zhen?” Xu Zhi’s voice held a little tremor at the end, “You were with her?”

“There was a situation on her side, and it was important, so I had to go over.”

“You haven’t attended any of my …… important events, not once.” Xu Zhi pursed her lips and looked at the distant auditorium that was whitened by the sun, “You haven’t missed any of her performances.”

“You think you’re as important as Qin Zhen?” Lu Ming sounded a little impatient.

Xu Zhi’s brain buzzed as if she was standing naked in the sun, and more than that, she was ashamed.

Qin Zhen was the artist Lu Ming was promoting, what was Xu Zhi? A fool who ran after Lu Ming. Lu Ming asked Xu Zhi to write a song for Qin Zhen, and she did, and Qin Zhen became a hit all over the country, but Xu Zhi was just a small signatory on the album.

No one remembered that Xu Zhi was once a singer too, not even Lu Ming.

Lu Ming was with Qin Zhen at all of her important moments. Xu Zhi was unimportant. She didn’t need company.

She was Lu Ming’s shadow, always following him and silently looking at his back.

“Why can’t I be more important than Qin Zhen? It’s because of you that I can’t be more important than her.” Xu Zhi paused, “Lu Ming, what am I to you?”

“This event is very important, if there is a mistake, the company will lose a lot. Xu Zhi, you’re not a child, you’re grown up, you’re an adult, you should be able to tell which is more important. It’s just a graduation ceremony, is it a big deal?”

Xu Zhi’s voice hardened, “You’re with me because of Qin Zhen?”

“Xu Zhi, do you know what you’re talking about?” Lu Ming’s voice clearly had anger in it, “Talk to me when you have a clear head.”

Lu Ming hung up the phone dryly.

Xu Zhi held the phone and looked at the phone screen to return to the home page, the world was suddenly quiet, so quiet that there was not a single sound, she clearly heard her own breathing, one by one.

A minute later, Xu Zhi opened WeChat to send a message to Lu Ming, “Let’s break up.”

Lu Ming: “Are you acting tough with me? OK, don’t regret it.”

Lu Ming didn’t detain her, didn’t apologize, didn’t answer her question, and gave up Xu Zhi.

Xu Zhi wanted to say something. Her throat was choked, making her unable to speak. She paused for a long time and sent a WeChat message to Lu Ming, “Did you like me a little over the years?”

Sending failed.

WeChat reminder: You are not a friend of the other party yet, please open friend verification.

Lu Ming deleted her.

Xu Zhi’s brain was blank, she held her phone and stood in front of the empty school for a long time, until the east gate was completely closed, her fingertips pressed against the phone screen and slid to tap open an email.

” Qin Zhen was Lu Ming’s first love, they were together in high school, they weren’t friends. Lu Ming agreed to have a relationship with you because he bet with Qin Zhen, when she was in a relationship, he had to choose a random person to fall in love with while you were pursuing him, the perfect backup, and you were lucky to get on top. Lu Ming never liked you, he liked Qin Zhen. He was waiting for her. That’s why he wouldn’t disclose your relationship. Every time he left you, it was Qin Zhen who was waiting for him.”

The anonymous email was sent to her at seven this morning with a picture file attached to it, with countless intimate photos of Qin Zhen and Lu Ming together.

Xu Zhi didn’t know who the other party was and didn’t know why they sent this email. The only thing she could be sure of was that this email was real.

She had known Lu Ming for ten years, chased him for a year, and had been in love with him for two years. Lu Ming needed a gentle and obedient girlfriend, so she was the most gentle girlfriend.

She played an absurd one-woman show all by herself.

“Xu Zhi!” A figure came straight under the sun, running with her bachelor’s hat half crooked, Xia Qiao braked sharply in front of Xu Zhi, gasping, “Your boyfriend hasn’t arrived yet? Why is he so late? Traffic jam?”

“Her boyfriend is controlled by the main wife and can’t leave the door.” The tall, thin boy who was carrying the table to leave spoke up and scowled at Xu Zhi, “Isn’t that right? Xu Zhi.”

The next few boys looked at each other and laughed out loud.

Xia Qiao’s face turned red with anger and she pointed at the tall, thin boy, “What are you talking about? Disinformation is illegal, wait for the lawsuit!”

Xu Zhi pulled Xia Qiao’s hand, and slowly raised her eyes to look over, she had a very beautiful face, black eyes like a clear lake dipped in thin ice, There was no flaw from her eyebrows and eyes to chin. Even wearing the most common graduation uniform, her beauty was extremely obvious.

The wind blew her long black hair at her waist, her long black eyelashes moved slightly, and the shadow swept over her white skin. She looked straight at Shen Yao.

“OK! You have a serious boyfriend. Your boyfriend is the boss of Tomorrow Media.” Shen Yao widened his eyes and sniffed, “then you should invite your boyfriend.”

“It’s Boss Lu of tomorrow’s media.” Xia Qiao said, “He will arrive soon. You are sick! When you can’t eat grapes , you make rumors to sour the grapes, it wasn’t like this when you chased grapes – no , it wasn’t like this when you chased Xu Zhi.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Shen Yao rolled up his sleeves and rushed towards her, a few male students next to him jumped up and pulled him down, “There are still a few hours left before graduation, why bother? It’s not worth it to get a demerit, let’s go.”

“I was blind before!” Shen Yao said, “Disgusting gold-digging girl.”

“You’re the one who’s disgusting.” Xia Qiao scolded back, “A villain with no manners.”

Shen Yao was dragged away from the east gate, Xia Qiao frowned, “The quality is really bad, fortunately you didn’t accept his pursuit.”

Xu Zhi was crowned goddess the first day she entered University of A. At the opening ceremony, she wore a black dress with waist-length hair and sat in the center of the stage to play a symphony of fate with a piano solo, a song that became famous.

At that time, there were many people chasing her, and Shen Yao was one of them.

Xu Zhi was high and cold, and didn’t pay attention to the pursuit of others.

Two years ago, Xu Zhi was picked up by a luxury car in front of the school, declaring that she had a boyfriend. The people who pursued her first scolded her for being a gold-digger, and then started a rumor that she was being backed by a rich man. No one knew about Xu Zhi’s family, only that she had a summer job and wore ordinary clothes, but since she was picked up by a luxury car, luxury items began to appear on her body.

Xu Zhi’s boyfriend never showed up, a normal relationship couldn’t last two years without showing off, unless it was an abnormal relationship.

Xu Zhi wrote Lu Ming’s name on the graduation ceremony guest invitation list, the relationship written boyfriend. The group of students immediately pulled out countless small groups to discuss this matter, Lu Ming was also considered a half celebrity, who didn’t know him? He was a big name in the entertainment industry.

Many people were watching, if Xu Zhi’s boyfriend was really Lu Ming, they would come to add Xu Zhi as friends. After all, they were all studying art, and there were many who wanted to enter the entertainment industry through a relationship.

If not, Xu Zhi’s joke would be very good.

“Don’t pay attention to them, they’re jealous.” Xia Qiao held Xu Zhi’s hand, she was very trustworthy good friend, she looked toward the door, “What’s going on with Lu Ming? There’s still half an hour before the parents will enter, will he make it in time?”

“We broke up.” Xu Zhi wanted to explain, but as soon as she spoke, her throat hurt, her eyes were wide, she was confused, like she was placed in the wilderness, “He went to Shanghai, just now I mentioned the breakup.”

Xia Qiao opened her mouth for a long time before she spoke: “Ah? Is that why he can’t come?”

If he didn’t come, Xu Zhi would be embarrassed.

Xu Zhi clutched the phone, the sweat in her hands dipped in the glass screen and cut out a hazy fog.

Lu Ming wasn’t coming.

Nearing nine o’clock, the temperature began to rise from the ground, the blazing heat gradually enveloped the entire land, the shirt inside the bachelor’s uniform was soaked with sweat and stuck to her skin.

“Do you have any other male friends? Can you pull one to make up the number?” Xia Qiao was confused, when she came over just now, those people in the class said that Lu Ming wouldn’t come, and that she was probably lying. They were betting that Xu Zhi would muddle through and make an excuse on why he wasn’t able to come, the most bets were on that they broke up, when in fact Xu Zhi probably didn’t even know Lu Ming, she just pretended to get attention. Xia Qiao had never met Xu Zhi’s boyfriend, so this situation made her a little flustered. She lowered her voice, “A fake is OK, otherwise how will it end? They’ll say that you lied or that you used his name , and there is no such person at all. Otherwise, should I me ask my brother come? Let him dress well, rent a luxury car, and act the part.”

Xu Zhi tilted her head to look at the sun, the harsh glare made her eyes sore.

“Xu Zhi?” Xia Qiao frowned and waved her hand in front of her, “Come back to your senses, okay?”

Her phone rang, Xu Zhi lowered her eyes to look at the phone, a news message popped up in the message alert: “Qi Cai returned to China, now in Beijing airport ……”