That night, Bai Xing indeed did not ask Lu Qing to accompany her next door.
Perhaps it was because of Su Ling's watchful gaze, or perhaps she understood that in such a situation, making such a request would only be a burden for her senior.
Her half-joking probe in the group chat had already made it clear that she shouldn't be greedy.
To push further would truly cross the line, risking the hard-earned "territory" turning into an empty city, one by one returning to its original state.
Lu Qing spent the entire afternoon finishing the editing of the video clips and completing the audio portion.
After uploading everything that needed to be sent, he glanced at the live stream room and was surprised to find that Li Mingshi's underlings had returned... lingering in the room as if a gang had set up camp in a succubus's territory...
[Li Ge Wudi 1: xdm, I'm here to check in.]
[Li Zong is my Big Daddy: Hey bro, you're first again.]
[I am Li Zong's Lapdog: Xiao Gang, how much did you spend?]
[Li Ge Wudi 1: Not much, just subscribed for a year, auto-renewal, let's go for 12 months first.]
[Li is my Big Brother: That's not enough. Your income is too delayed; the streamer will have a hard time. Learn from me, start with a Tidu to stabilize things, push the ranking up, so Li Zong will take notice of you, Xiao Gang.]
[Li Ge Wudi 1: Got it, bro.]
[Congratulations to "Li Ge Wudi 1" for becoming a Tidu of this live stream room.]
"...What the hell."
Lu Qing felt dizzy just watching.
He had initially thought these guys were plants, disappearing after one session.
Who would have thought they'd stick around and even treat the live stream room as their gang's base!
With this kind of conversation, even haters wouldn't dare speak up. It was impossible to stir up drama; you'd just get flamed to death, or even doxxed offline.
*Click.*
Lu Qing exited the live stream room.
He felt things were stable now.
As for what came next, he'd let Bai Xing handle it herself. He'd step in to help only if she asked for assistance.
He decided to shift his focus elsewhere for the time being.
...
The next morning.
Lu Qing arrived at school as usual.
A new week, a fresh start. After resolving Bai Xing and Lin Mu's issues, he turned his attention to Tang Hua.
According to his plan, he needed to take Tang Hua out for "a meaty meal" at least once this week. After all, it was her request, and if he didn't spend some time with her soon, she might just melt away.
Thus, visiting her and helping her tidy up her place became part of Lu Qing's "weekly routine."
"Hmm, the cover design isn't urgent yet. The book release date is still far off. Even if I prepare the manuscript for submission, it'll take at least a week, not to mention waiting for responses, signing contracts, and stockpiling chapters. Delaying it by a month or two isn't a big deal... So for now, it's better to focus on the things around me."
Lu Qing was as calm as an old cat, not a hint of impatience.
If it were half a month ago, when the plan for Bai Xing hadn't progressed yet, he might have felt overwhelmed by the sudden pressure from Su Ling's presence in his life.
But now, with the income from the live streams, even if the royalties from his novel were delayed, he could still scrape by without panicking.
—This was the confidence that "cash flow" brought.
And judging by the way things were going, it wouldn't be long before Su Ling could handle things on her own... At the very least, she could free him from the demands of the live streams, taking charge of copywriting, operations, and sound effects. She was a reliable assistant.
Or secretary.
"Sigh, the only problem is, once she opens my safe, she won't be able to resist her curiosity and will definitely peek inside my instrument case... If that happens, she'll discover my past obsession with music... There's no way to explain that."
Although, in the past few nights, after returning the key, Su Ling hadn't opened the safe again.
But Lu Qing believed that, given his sister's personality, she must have already investigated everything that piqued her interest, especially something as suspicious as a musical instrument hidden in a three-cubic-meter space.
His sister wasn't stupid. If she had seen it, she would have realized that he knew how to play instruments, that he had once played the piano quite well, but had sealed it all away at some point.
This raised a big question: why would he have an instrument but not share it with her, instead buying her a new one? This alone proved that he didn't want her to know about his musical past.
One of Su Ling's traits was "hidden curiosity," meaning "the more you don't want her to know something, the more she'll want to find out, and she will definitely uncover the truth."
This was terrifying.
"They say curiosity kills the cat. Well, I can't hide it anymore."
Lu Qing frowned, deciding to delay revealing the truth until the next time she asked, and then gently convey it.
Painful memories didn't need to be revisited, and sharing them would only amount to using someone as a sounding board for irreversible past events, essentially spreading negativity.
Before he left, his psychologist, Old Yan, had solemnly warned him:
"Patients shouldn't interact with other patients. It doesn't provide mutual comfort; instead, it exacerbates each other's depression, dragging them deeper. Be careful."
At the time, Lu Qing hadn't taken it seriously. But now, faced with Su Ling's probing, he felt it was necessary to bury those dark memories deep, lest his sister develop some extreme psychological tendencies, obsessively seeking to "avenge" him.
That wouldn't be good.
Right.
"Let's contact Tang Hua first."
Walking along the cobblestone path on campus, Lu Qing shook his head.
He planned to set a specific time to meet, so they could discuss the details of the commissioned work when they saw each other.
Just as he picked up his phone to check his messages, a notification lit up the screen.
Seeing it was from a rabbit-eared avatar, his pupils contracted, and he cautiously opened it first.
[Yao Guang: Ah, Qingkong-sensei, sorry, sorry, I just saw your message. I was about to tell you about the IP adaptation we discussed last time... Our business department couldn't reach an agreement. So it's on hold for now. Just focus on preparing your new manuscript and submitting it as usual. Really sorry about this!]
"..."
Great.
Bad news.
Seeing such a message, most people might feel like the sky was falling.
After all, for a newly established author aiming for the platinum tier, this was akin to "a sudden collapse mid-journey," a fatal blow. It would have been better not to know.
But Lu Qing had already braced himself for this.
Aside from the fact that there had been no updates for so long, his personality was such that he always considered the worst-case scenario first, so that when the bad news actually arrived, he wouldn't be shocked or have his mindset shattered.
This pessimistic mindset was directly linked to his condition, but in moments like this, it actually gave him a boost in mental resilience.
[Oh, I see. It's fine, thanks for your hard work.]
He sent the message to Yao Guang, typing with an expressionless face.
"It's just a loss of a few hundred thousand in earnings. After deducting the terrifying taxes and considering the million-word count, the IP fee probably wouldn't exceed 200k. Well, consider it money spent to avoid disaster."
He comforted himself this way.
[Editor Yao Guang: Ah, don't be too disheartened. There's still a chance with your next book. Qingkong-sensei, you must keep going! Even though I'm not accepting many manuscripts now, I'll always accept yours. When you make it big, I'll definitely keep my promise and visit you!]
[I hope so.]
Lu Qing's reply was indifferent.
Honestly, he had never been fond of dealing with people like Yao Guang, so sometimes he just didn't respond to her messages.
As an editor, Yao Guang used a work account, so her tone always felt like it was wrapped in a layer of disguise, filled with formalities and pleasantries, never revealing a hint of genuine emotion.
It was as if all communication was built on a foundation of mutual benefit.
Lu Qing could understand this. To avoid being misrepresented by malicious screenshots, editors needed to protect themselves from attacks, so they had to cut off all emotional ties when it came to work. This was understandable.
But this kind of communication style was something he simply didn't like.
Therefore, whenever something came up, he would simply treat it like a message board, writing out the matter in a long paragraph and then waiting for a response, leaving it at that.
Sending multiple short messages would disturb the editor's rest and increase their workload, so Lu Qing, who knew how to put himself in others' shoes, always conveyed his requests in one go and rarely contacted her.
"It doesn't matter. Let’s just pretend it never happened."
At the classroom door, he stopped, turned around, and headed to the restroom.
He decided to splash some water on his face.
Even though he told himself not to care, losing out on hundreds of thousands in potential earnings was no small matter. The promise of that pie had turned into a mere illusion, leaving him feeling disoriented.
Fortunately, since childhood, he had held onto one truth—
"If you don’t hope for anything, you won’t be disappointed."
This belief had kept him from being torn apart by loneliness during those solitary nights, unlike other children who might cry silently in the dark.
The nights in the countryside were quiet and cold.
Occasionally, the cries of stray animals echoed in the distance.
In his memories, he lived in a spacious house,
with a garden, a vegetable patch, clear water, and a cat.
But there was no family or friends,
and the vegetable patch lay barren, untended.
The only person who cared for him was his older sister next door. She wasn’t a relative, nor had she been entrusted by his father to raise him.
She had simply taken pity on him, a child no one wanted, and on a rainy day, she approached him with a bag full of candies and toys, offering them to him with a gentle, harmless smile.
Her gaze was captivating—
it carried a sense of "stability,"
[With her by his side, all his anxieties seemed to dissipate like smoke in the wind.]
[In her arms, sleep came quickly, and even the most stubborn insomnia melted away under her warmth,
as if fear and unease had never existed, as if the hollow fragments of his childhood could be filled and mended by her presence.]
"Little Qing, what do you want to be when you grow up? Do you have any dreams?"
"Dreams... I don’t know. But for work... if I can, I want to be a writer!"
"A writer? Why?"
"Because my dad is a writer! Even though he doesn’t come home often, he must be amazing. The letters he sends have such beautiful handwriting! I think... I think he must be a famous author, the kind who makes a lot of money! I want to be as great as him!"
"Pfft..."
Young Lu Qing’s words made his older sister burst into laughter.
Back then, he had no idea what kind of books his father wrote, nor did he know where his older sister had gone after he left home. Was she still in that peaceful countryside, where the cicadas sang by the clear pond every summer?
Now, more than a decade had passed.
He had grown up, transformed into a modern college student in the distant Tianhai City.
But where was she, in the countryside, at this very moment?
"How nostalgic."
Looking at his reflection in the dirty mirror,
Lu Qing couldn’t help but feel a thought stirring within him—
"If next summer, I have the chance and time to take a vacation..."
"Maybe I could take Su Ling back to the countryside to relive those memories."
……
……