Chapter 9
The air fell into a deathly silence.
Zhong Yin covered her mouth, exchanging wide-eyed glances with Guo Tao.
After this round finished, Yi Chen left the team. Zhen Shanhu lingered, refusing to go. Guo Tao asked him, “Your brother’s gone, why are you still here?”
Zhen Shanhu licked his lips and said, “I won’t play with my brother anymore. Can I play with you guys instead?”
Guo Tao snorted lightly. “You’re quite calculating. You want to play for free with Yin Yin, don’t you?”
“Hehe.”
Guo Tao was puzzled. “Is your brother really short on money?”
Zhen Shanhu replied, “He’s saving up.”
“Saving up?”
Zhen Shanhu waved off the topic. “Ah, forget my brother. Sisters, will you take me to play games from now on, please~”
Guo Tao couldn’t resist his little brother’s whining. “I don’t get to decide that. You have to ask Yin Yin.”
“Yin Yin sis?”
Zhong Yin agreed, “Of course, as long as I’m online.”
After playing two more rounds with them, Zhong Yin suggested logging off. Zhen Shanhu quickly added her on WeChat. “Yin Yin sis, I’m Gu Min, just next door at Z University. If you have a chance, let’s hang out.”
Gu? That must be Yi Chen’s cousin.
Zhong Yin replied with an OK emoji.
Gu Min: [Uh-oh, I think my brother is really mad. He’s not replying to my messages.]
Zhong Yin: [No way.]
Is he a balloon? Can he really get angry?
Gu Min: [You don’t know, my brother’s temper is as big as a princess’s.]
Zhong Yin chuckled. Actually, that description fit rather well.
Gu Min: [He didn’t play so fiercely before, just showing off just now.]
Zhong Yin: [Showing off?]
Gu Min: [Like a peacock spreading its tail, you know? But he got criticized for it, what a shame.]
Gu Min: [You just need to coax him. He’s easy to appease.]
Zhong Yin, half-doubting: [Should I give it a try?]
She opened her chat with Yi Chen and thought over it. Gu Min might be right.
Yi Chen’s overreaction was probably because his pride was hurt.
So, Zhong Yin sent him an encouraging thumbs-up emoji.
One second later, he replied with a question mark.
Zhong Yin frowned. She felt her message looked oddly vague.
So she typed: [Let’s play games together again next time.]
That should be sincere enough, right?
001: [No way.]
Zhong Yin: ?
001: [Afraid the team will shoot me down.]
Zhong Yin: “…”
Zhong Yin: [Who told you to steal my kill?]
001: [Next time go play against bots.]
Zhong Yin: [ ? ]
001: [If you like feeding kills so much, bots will give you as many as you want.]
One second later, Zhong Yin slammed her phone down heavily.
She waved her hand in front of her face to cool down. Otherwise, she really wanted to jump through the screen and give him a slap.
After calming herself for a while, she picked up her phone again and changed her approach: [Can’t you just let me have it once?]
No reply for a while.
Yi Chen stared at the text, lips moving slightly, then suddenly flipped his phone face down on the table.
What kind of move was that?
Giving up the argument by acting coy.
He got up and took a few sips of water.
Lin Yinian looked at him. “Finished playing?”
Yi Chen asked back, “What did you just say to her?”
He suddenly asked, catching Lin Yinian off guard. “Her? You mean Zhong Yin?”
“Yeah, her.”
Lin Yinian thought for a moment. “I didn’t use the mic much. Why?”
“Nothing. Just asking casually. Did you feed her kills?”
Lin Yinian smiled. “No, she mostly played herself. A few times it didn’t matter who got the kill.”
“You’re pretty good at making people happy.”
“She’s a girl. Letting her win is normal.” Lin Yinian glanced at his expression. “Otherwise, should I do it next time?”
Yi Chen slammed the water bottle down with a bang, turned his back, and said coldly, “You really have nothing better to do.”
“Chen, what’s so fun about mobile games? Use the computer and log in!” Cheng An took off his headphones and urged him.
Yi Chen opened his computer expressionlessly. As it was booting, he glanced at his phone again.
The screen still showed Zhong Yin’s last message.
He frowned.
Girls? Whatever.
That word wasn’t in his dictionary.
He quickly typed: [Let? Let what? Everyone for themselves.]
—
For several days, a gentle autumn rain drizzled over Jing City.
The temperature dropped slightly. Before leaving in the morning, Zhong Yin put on an extra trench coat.
On the way to the teaching building, she held an umbrella while Guo Tao linked arms with her, chattering nonstop.
“So you mean, except for the brief chat with Lin Yinian the other day, there’s been no progress these past few days?”
Zhong Yin silently nodded.
Forget Lin Yinian, she hadn’t even properly talked to Yi Chen.
Guo Tao sighed and shook her head. “Chasing a guy is harder than climbing a mountain for you.”
Zhong Yin was speechless.
They reached the teaching building. Before class started, Zhong Yin suddenly received a message from senior Zeng Ke.
Zeng Ke forwarded some chat records: [The Youth Media Center under the Communist Youth League wants us to shoot a few campus specials for official promotion. Take a look. Finish the first episode by next week, okay?]
Though Zeng Ke sounded like she was asking, Zhong Yin knew her style well: once assigned, there was no room to refuse.
When the bell rang, Zhong Yin quickly replied “Okay” without reading carefully and put away her phone.
Only after class did she read the documents carefully and realized she had taken on a hot potato.
Zhong Yin messaged Zeng Ke: [Senior, do you mean all of this work is on me?]
Zeng Ke dodged the question: [Everyone in the department is your helper.]
Zhong Yin was silent for a moment before replying: [I’ll do my best.]
Finally, no classes in the afternoon, but Zhong Yin still had to attend a meeting.
“Why does Zeng Ke always dump work on you?” Guo Tao lamented. “Look at you—radio station, youth media center, plus classes—you're going to be buried alive.”
Zhong Yin smiled helplessly. “Maybe she’s busy and has no time.”
“If she has no time, why not quit the department? She wants everything but won’t do any herself, just trying to curry favor with the teachers.”
Zhong Yin patted her head. “Don’t worry, after this episode is done, I’ll talk to her.”
Guo Tao blinked, realizing she was overthinking.
Zhong Yin was easygoing, but that didn’t mean she lacked temper. The incident with Yan Hao proved she wasn’t a pushover.
This campus special required several modules to showcase different aspects of S University.
Zhong Yin held a brainstorming meeting with the team.
They agreed on a rough plan.
Four episodes, each focusing on one theme.
“Food can be one episode, promoting our several cafeterias, with random interviews.”
“For sports, we have the upcoming sports meet and basketball tournament, so we can cover that on the spot.”
“Right, also dorm visits—male and female dorms, different majors—all great material.”
“Food, housing, sports, and then study. The last episode will focus on campus infrastructure and academic specialties. How’s that?”
…
Zhong Yin took down everyone’s ideas and felt confident about the upcoming shoot.
The first episode had to be reviewed and uploaded by next week, so the schedule was tight.
She chose to do “Eating at S University,” filming at several cafeterias.
Friday morning, Zhong Yin deliberately came before lunch rush, when fewer people were there, to shoot the main footage.
“Yin Yin sis, are we starting now?” asked Zhu Zhe, the filming team member.
Zhu Zhe was Zhong Yin’s classmate but always called her “sis.” He was severely socially anxious and got uneasy around crowds.
“You’re on camera, so don’t be nervous,” Zhong Yin smiled at him.
Zhu Zhe blushed, nodded like a little chicken pecking, but looked even more nervous.
Zhong Yin could only signal, “Let’s start. The sooner we finish, the sooner we’re done.”
S University’s cafeterias were grand buildings with yellow roofs and red walls, giving an imposing look.
Because of this, many students joked that eating there felt like attending an imperial court.
Beneath the towering buildings, Zhong Yin, with black hair and a white dress, calmly faced the camera.
She started with the history of the S University cafeteria, then moved inside explaining each food stall’s specialties.
She spoke warmly with the chefs and confidently narrated in front of the camera, smoothly delivering several hundred words in one continuous shot.
Zhu Zhe’s nervousness faded, replaced by focus as he followed Zhong Yin’s rhythm.
“This footage is good.”
By noon, Zhong Yin sat in the cafeteria reviewing the morning’s footage on her laptop.
“Only some random interviews left. Once it gets busier, we’ll start.”
Hearing that interviews were coming when more people arrived, Zhu Zhe’s anxiety returned. His face flushed bright red.
Zhong Yin saw his expression and chuckled.
The first wave of students leaving class arrived at the cafeteria.
Cheng An dragged Song Xu along and said, “Not bad escaping class five minutes early. I’m not letting anyone else have the first lunch!”
“Don’t drag me into skipping class next time,” Song Xu rubbed his nose and muttered.
Cheng An was incredulous. “Not enthusiastic about eating? What’s wrong with you?”
Behind them, slow footsteps sounded. Yi Chen strolled in with a bag, lazily saying, “Move further in, don’t block the entrance.”
Song Xu thought of Lin Yinian still in class and said somewhat awkwardly, “The three of us left, leaving Yan Ge alone to cover us. Isn’t that a bit unfair?”
Cheng An smirked, “He’s the class monitor, after all. Right, Chen?”
The two bantered back and forth, but Yi Chen didn’t respond.
Usually, he’d tease them with “They asked for it,” but this time he was silent.
“Chen?”
“Chen!”
Seeing no reaction, Cheng An looked in Yi Chen’s direction and exclaimed, “Hey, isn’t that Zhong Yin? Who’s the guy across from her? Chen, didn’t you say she’s chasing you?”
“No idea,” Song Xu shook his head. It was his first time seeing Zhong Yin in person and he couldn’t help but praise, “She’s even prettier than in the videos.”
Cheng An said, “No doubt. The public’s eyes are sharp, right Chen?”
Yi Chen said nothing and suddenly walked away.
“Hey?” Cheng An grabbed Song Xu’s arm and chased after him.
Yi Chen sat far away, almost diagonally opposite Zhong Yin at the window.
Cheng An followed, scratching his head in puzzlement. “Why sit so far?”
“It’s quieter here.”
“Then fine,” Cheng An set down his bag, grabbed his meal card, and rushed to the window, “Braised pork, here I come!”
Song Xu followed. “Chen, aren’t you coming?”
Yi Chen said flatly, “I’m coming.”
He walked last, his steps slow.
Minutes later, the cafeteria grew crowded and seats filled up.
Zhong Yin signaled to Zhu Zhe, “Let’s start.”
Zhu Zhe nodded gloomily.
Cheng An sat down with a full plate piled high, plus a hodgepodge of pan-fried buns and spicy soup.
Song Xu twitched his mouth. “You’re eating that much?”
Cheng An grinned. “I’m still growing.”
Song Xu: “…”
Cheng An ate heartily, then looked over at Yi Chen’s plate—mostly vegetables and mushrooms?
“Chen, you’re only eating that?”
Yi Chen didn’t bother explaining he’d ordered wrong. “No appetite.”
Behind him, the cafeteria noise surged.
Cheng An looked up from his mountain of food to watch the scene. “Look at that table. That guy’s pathetic. Zhong Yin just interviewed him a few questions and he doesn’t even know where to look.”
“Interview?” Yi Chen raised his eyelids.
“Yeah, maybe filming something. The guy earlier was the cameraman.”
Yi Chen glanced sideways.
“Damn, Zhong Yin’s coming this way,” Cheng An straightened his clothes seriously, “Will she interview me?”
Yi Chen shot cold water. “No.”
“…”
Zhong Yin didn’t expect the random interviews to go so smoothly.
She thought most students would refuse or be unwilling, but everyone was enthusiastic.
“One or two more interviews and we’re done,” Zhong Yin reassured the socially anxious Zhu Zhe.
She approached a table and bent forward, holding out a microphone.
“Excuse me, would you mind a quick interview?”
A lazy male voice said, “I mind.”
“…?”
A second later, their eyes met.
“…”
Zhong Yin took back the microphone. “Sorry to bother you.”
“Wait.”
“Ah?”
“Although I mind, I didn’t say no.”
Zhong Yin: “…”
“Then let’s start.”
“The S University cafeterias are always popular. Which stall or dish do you like best?”
Yi Chen said slowly, “They’re all about the same.”
Zhong Yin forced a smile to the camera. “Looks like our cafeterias have so many tasty dishes that this student can’t decide.”
“You misunderstand.”
“?”
“I mean, they’re all about equally bad.”
Zhong Yin: “…”
She expressionlessly signaled to Zhu Zhe, “Cut this part.”
He nodded.
Zhong Yin handed the microphone to Yi Chen again. “What dish are you most satisfied with today? Care to share?”
“Whatever I randomly ordered. Not satisfied.”
Zhong Yin: “Cut this part too.”
She wanted to wrap up the interview quickly, her tone growing perfunctory. “Anything you’d like to say to our S University cafeterias?”
Yi Chen picked at the mushrooms on his plate and raised an eyebrow at the camera. “Besides having a lot of room for improvement in taste, I hope the cafeterias will reflect seriously, especially on food safety and health.”
“I once found three hairs, two insect eggs, and four…”
“Cut! Cut all of that!” Zhong Yin was on the verge of losing it and took back the microphone. Her tone unintentionally sharp, “Yi Chen, if you don’t want to answer properly, just say so. Don’t waste my time.”
The smile on Yi Chen’s face faded bit by bit.
He sneered, “Are you interviewing or silencing? Don’t want the truth?”
Zhong Yin was furious, lips tightly pressed, silent.
Cheng An secretly kicked Yi Chen’s shoe under the table. “Chen, stop it.”
Yi Chen glanced at her.
Her eyes were watery, full of grievance, as if about to cry.
Annoyance surged in his heart. He turned his face away. “Hey.”
“If really no good, I can record it again for you…”
Just then, Song Xu’s voice sounded. “Hey, Yan Ge, when did you get here?”