“Fuck, you only told me today that person is your client’s online dating partner!”
It was already Sunday morning when Qin Yu received such a call from Lin Hai first thing.
“Fuck, are you stupid? Check the chat history, I sent that last night.”
Unjustly scolded, how could Qin Yu tolerate this, even if it was his college roommate of four years.
“Huh???” Lin Hai’s tone immediately weakened.
“Then, I shouldn’t have exposed your identity, right?” Lin Hai suddenly felt immense pressure, sweating profusely.
“Probably not, I just pretended to be your boyfriend, staking my claim.”
“But I did mention your name earlier…”
Qin Yu didn’t rush to answer Lin Hai. He placed the phone on the balcony edge, leaning back against the railing, elbows propped on the surface. He now appeared quite leisurely, basking in the sun.
In reality, he’d been anxious since returning from C City to his rental last night, Qin Yu had been holding his breath.
He lightly pinched the cigarette butt between his index and middle fingers, raising his arm to take a deep drag from the lit cigarette at his lips.
Then he exhaled contentedly, smoke swirling, obscuring the even more complex expression in Qin Yu’s eyes.
When he downloaded this app, he knew that while the money came fast, it was fundamentally unethical and involved certain risks.
He had to be prepared for this when earning such money.
“It’s fine.” Qin Yu stubbed out the finished cigarette, maintaining his relaxed posture as he continued Lin Hai’s conversation.
“I’m overthinking it, it can’t be that easy to guess.”
“He hasn’t even seen my face online. But I’ve seen his face, haven’t I?”
Qin Yu reassured himself.
“But in real life, he already knows your name, while you don’t know his name or his surname.” Lin Hai, truly not one to let things rest, blurted out.
“Damn it! Why bring that up?” Qin Yu cursed angrily.
If nothing else, just that sentence broke through his defenses.
“So what are you going to do now?” Lin Hai rarely became serious.
“Keep lying low, I guess.” His tone made others think he didn’t care.
“Anyway, today’s the last day. As long as I’m not exposed in the final moments, we’ll never have any connection again.”
“By then, I’ll have received full payment, leave, delete the app account, save some money, and move out of that place, avoiding that whole string of troubles.”
Qin Yu spoke faster and faster, taking the opportunity to voice his inner thoughts.
After all, this quick money shortcut was recommended by Lin Hai. Now that he’d earned some small change on the first job, to immediately delete the account after earning money without a word of explanation to his friend was really inappropriate.
The other end of the phone fell silent for a few seconds after listening, then said:
“Alright, I think your decision is good. The priority now is to ensure your own safety.” Lin Hai agreed.
“Mm.” Qin Yu quickly composed himself, replying in a deep voice.
Even after hanging up Lin Hai’s call, Qin Yu refocused his energy on his so-called “main job”.
Opening the WeChat conversation with the client’s fiancé, a message had been sent half an hour ago. Qin Yu had set aside replying while on the phone with Lin Hai, but now, driven by necessity, he picked it up again after hanging up.
[My sister flew to C City to see me yesterday, sorry I really didn’t have time to continue our discussion from the day before]
The other party’s message was quite honest, Qin Yu couldn’t help but think.
Thankfully, you didn’t have time. Otherwise, he’d have to look up information to discuss knowledge outside his expertise while eating out. He couldn’t imagine how exhausting that would be.
Qin Yu felt embarrassed.
[It’s no problem, we can continue anytime when you’re free]
Qin Yu typed out this line expressionlessly.
He didn’t know if he was already used to it or what, but the tone of the text he typed in the chat was something he couldn’t even imagine in daily life. Who would have thought that in less than a week, his language skills would reach such a level of mastery.
From initial discomfort, to gradually compromising for money.
[Another day I’ll take you to see my sister, you haven’t seen her in a long time]
[Is that so? I’d love to see her again, I hope next time we can take your sister sightseeing in C City]
Qin Yu lay listlessly on the table, his chin resting on his arm. His eyes were lowered, and he looked at the phone flat on the desk.
[…]
[My sister only returned to the country last year. In my memory, Lin Ke has never met my sister.]
Qin Yu stared at the message the other party had just sent, his pupils slowly dilating. His heart skipped a beat as a thought occurred to him.
He was screwed.
The other party’s latest message appeared before Qin Yu’s eyes.
[So, who are you?]
Leave a Reply