Starlight Descends - 3
Night
“The odds aren’t great.”
It was nine at night, the phone screen showed that she was on a call with Ye Qingman.
Qi Yao was working up a sweat on the treadmill. Her fitted leggings traced the long lines of her legs and the rounded curve of her hips. Damp strands clung to her temples, and her bare face was flushed with a clean, even radiance.
“Damn, babe, you’re gorgeous.” On the video call, Ye Qingman cracked sunflower seeds as she watched her, giving her a thumbs-up. “That body, that face. Who wouldn’t fall for you? What do you even need an endorsement for? You could take down your white moonlight in minutes.”
“...”
Qi Yao switched off the treadmill, stepped down, pulled her hair loose, and shook her head. “Keep going.”
“Right, right.” Ye Qingman spat out a sunflower-seed shell. “Fengxing is basically one of the top domestic phone brands, right? Their market share is almost half the market. And this time it’s a brand-new series with their own independently developed chip.”
“I sent you a file. Take a look.”
Qi Yao opened the detailed data report, a variety of charts appeared on the screen.
Ye Qingman’s keyboard clattered. “My assistant sent me this when their AY series was looking for a brand ambassador last time.”
Fengxing Group had built its business in its early years by focusing on information and communications technology. With an extremely forward-looking corporate structure and philosophy, its founder had anticipated opportunities far ahead of others and aggressively recruited talent, riding that momentum to become a globally leading supplier of ICT infrastructure and smart devices.
The group controlled numerous subsidiaries across a wide range of industries, but its primary businesses remained data communications equipment and microelectronics.
“The AY series is positioned around value for money, variety in design, attractive colors, and plenty of options, so they tend to favor traffic stars.” Ye Qingman said, fully self-aware. "Like you, like me."
Qi Yao gave a faint hum. “So did you get it?”
“...Do you even know how to talk to people? Keep that up and I’m hanging up!”
Thinking about how the endorsement that had practically been hers had slipped away because of a scumbag's sabotage, Ye Qingman wanted to grind her teeth to dust. “If it weren’t for that bastard, I'd have had it in the bag."
Qi Yao smiled and dug a set of pajamas out of her wardrobe. “That’s why you shouldn’t be a love-brained.”
The hem of her top shifted with the movement, revealing a flash of pale, toned waist.
Ye Qingman bared her teeth and clicked her tongue. “I’ll see if you still say that once you’re in love. Back to the point!”
“The new X-11 series is positioned as a high-end product from the start. High performance, stability, and the price definitely won’t be low. Probably around one and a half times the average market price, double that of the AY series.”
“I asked around. Since they announced it, several Golden Eagle Award winners have already reached out to express their interest.”
Ye Qingman rattled off several names. All were actresses in their mid thirty with massive national recognition, known for their sophisticated, intellectual, elite images.
“Classic Fengxing smart play.” Ye Qingman clicked her tongue twice. “Everyone has only expressed an interest in working together. They haven’t leaked a single hint about who they actually favor.”
Several barks came through the video. A black-and-tan dog appeared in front of the camera, stretching its neck toward the screen, trying to lick it.
“Good boy.” Ye Qingman picked it up and stopped it from doing so, then earnestly tried to persuade Qi Yao.
“Babe, if you ask me, let's not fight for this one. Save ourself the embarrassment. You'd be passing on a rival's product to chase Fengxing, and end up with nothing."
Qi Yao frowned thoughtfully. “I’ll think about it.”
Ye Qingman sighed. She knew trying to persuade her was pointless. “Fine. Just remember to pick up the dog later."
“Got it.” Qi Yao hung up and headed into the bathroom for a shower.
***
Near midnight, Qi Yao got out of the car carrying a large bag of things, a leash still in her right hand.
A black-and-tan German Shepherd jumped down from the passenger seat, circling around, moving with the grace of a leader patrolling its territory.
Ye Qingman was about to start filming a period drama in some remote mountain location. When she learned Qi Yao had a three-month break, she was so indignant that she decided to give her something to do. So before leaving, she entrusted her beloved "son” to her care.
A dog.
In her exact words: "My baby is very good. More importantly, he’s naturally intelligent and sensitive. He can sense danger before it happens, and he brings good luck in romance.
Qi Yao had snorted at that and dismissed it completely.
But she hadn't expected that in the time it took her to put something in the trunk, the supposedly intelligent little dog would disappear.
She stood outside the building, mouth opening and closing, but couldn't bring herself to call the name. In the end, she could only follow the winding paths and search as she went.
Qiao Nian had found this apartment for her. Prime real estate, a flat with two units per floor.
The landscaping and property management were both excellent, security was tight, and privacy was well protected. Quite a few people in the industry who were registered residents of C City owned a place here.
Following the security guard’s directions, Qi Yao made her way out of the residential compound and around to the back alleys.
The main road was packed with traffic. In the narrow streets, late-night food stalls were buzzing with voices, alive with noise and laughter.
Barbecue stalls lined up in a row, blue plastic stools and portable tables set under banyan trees. The hiss of opening cans and the clink of glasses rose and fell continuously.
A barbecue stall owner sprikled cumin over sizzling skewers, plated them with three bottles of beer, and hurried to the first table with a grin. “Sorry for the wait. Busy tonight. These are on the house."
"That's too generous. We're regulars here!" Zhou Qi rubbed his buzz-cut hair and waved a hand. “Thanks!”
Da Bai pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and grabbed several skewers of pork belly. “Man, finally two days off. Once this collaboration wraps up, I’m sleeping for three days and three nights.”
"Might as well just climb into a coffin. You think you're the most tired?” Zhou Qi gave him a look of disgust and lifted his chin. “My Ge here hasn’t even said a word, and you’re already claiming credit.”
Zhou Qi opened a video app. “Ge, you’re taking two months off, right?”
Yu Jiashu had changed into a black hoodie. He wrapped one hand around the cold beer bottle, hooked his index finger through the tab, and pulled it open without a care. White foam bubbled vigorously over the rim, wetting his fingertips.
“We’ll see.”
He leaned forward and pulled out a tissue. His long, sharply defined fingers spread and crossed over one another as he carefully wiped each fingertip dry.
“Shu,” Da Bai said around a mouthful of ribs, clicking his tongue and shaking his head in amazement. “Even sitting at a barbecue stall, you look that good."
Yu Jiashu tossed the tissue into the trash. “Not the best out there, but definitely way better than you.”
“...” Da Bai couldn't argue at that, scowling as he tore the meat off the bone. “So what? I have a wife. You don’t.”
Yu Jiashu raised an eyebrow and drawled, “Then why are you still out at this hour instead of going home?”
“...Because I’ll get yelled at if I go home.” Da Bai immediately deflated, muttering under his breath.
Yu Jiashu smiled lazily and leaned loosely against the back of his chair. His gaze fell on a German Shepherd wandering along the street, stopping every so often to look around. It shook its ears, then circled around his trouser leg.
Zhou Qi ate while furiously typing on his phone, still finding time to fire back.
“You don’t understand. Good-looking guys like us just find true love a little later. How could a married thirty-year-old man like you understand the joys of single life?"
“Oh, please. You stare at the streaming app waiting for your goddess's drama updates every day. You really think that’s going to lead you to true love?”
The German Shepherd sniffed at Yu Jiashu's trouser cuff, scraped its front paws against the ground twice, tentatively caught the dangling fabric with one paw, then quickly let go.
“Hey, you really don’t get it.” Zhou Qi bristled and turned his phone sideways, shoving the screen in front of the other two. “You see this?! Nothing compares to the ocean, no cloud rivals the peak! When you've liked someone like this, how could you ever like anyone else?"
Childish bickering. Not interested.
Better to watch the dog.
Yu Jiashu couldn't be bothered to look at them and glanced down. The dog had a collar. He bent over, picked up the leash, and loosely winding it around his hand. From Da Bai’s plate, he selected several larger pieces of meat and tossed them to the dog, earning an immediate furious roar from Da Bai.
The German Shepherd didn't eat at first. Its eyes were dark and steady as it stared Yu Jiashu down.
Smart dog. Yu Jiashu clicked his tongue.
"See him?" He pointed at Da Bai, who was currently devouring a skewer of lamb with his whole face."He can eat. So can you."
Yu Jiashu picked up a skewer of ribs without seasoning and casually dangled it in his hand.
This time, the German Shepherd moved. It lifted its hindquarters from the ground and came forward to take the rib with impeccable manners.
"Damn it! What's your problem?"
Zhou Qi burst out laughing. He finally tore his eyes away from the early-access episode on his phone to appreciate Da Bai’s humiliation, only to suddenly freeze.
“…Holy shit.”
His gaze shifted from his phone screen to the scene before him, then back again, repeating several times.
The person in the drama was standing right in front of him.
More precisely, she was standing in front of Yu Jiashu.
"Am I so lovesick I'm hallucinating?"
Qi Yao was dressed casually, a loose gray knitted sweater draped over her, one corner tucked into a pair of flowing white wide-leg trousers.
She seemed to have just showered. She wore no make-up, her bare face clear and luminous, the ends of her hair still slightly damp. Her long, soft light chestnut hair fell loose down her back.
The kind of beauty you'd spot instantly in any crowd.
The German Shepherd was completely absorbed in its ribs. Its chewing was rough yet strangely meticulous. Once it had swallowed all the meat, it began cracking the bones apart with sharp, brittle bites that sounded like a burst of snapping twigs.
The alley was alive with noise. People greeted one another, laughed and played around, complained about their lives. Voices boiled everywhere.
As though sensing something, Yu Jiashu raised his head and looked at her.
Their eyes met.
Qi Yao froze.
The world around her seemed to suddenly sucked into a vacuum. Everything stopped at once. Voices, car horns, the clink of glasses, every sound seemed suspended in the air, floating somewhere far away, then near, then gone.
Silence stretched.
“Your dog?” he asked at last.
Qi Yao’s mind was still blank. Her body reacted before her thoughts could catch up, and she gave a soft hum.
Yu Jiashu reached out and gently stroked the German Shepherd’s neck. The tiny mole on his middle finger disappeared into its warm, soft fur. He lowered his head to spoke to the dog. “Is this your mom?”
He looked slightly lazy, his voice soft, the final syllables drifting weightlessly through the air. Casual, yet unexpectedly seductive.
The German Shepherd didn't even turn its head. After finishing the rib, it continued rubbing against his trouser leg, behaving as though Qi Yao were a complete stranger.
Yu Jiashu considered it for a moment. The young woman didn't seem like a liar. “Try calling it?”
Qi Yao visibly paused. She opened her mouth and hesitantly called, “...Doggy.”
All three men frowned at once, looking at her with strange expressions.
The German Shepherd did not react.
Neither did anyone at the table.
Da Bai: “...Is that really your dog? It doesn’t even have a name?”
Qi Yao thought, You think I don’t know its ridiculous name? I just can’t bring myself to say it.
She fell silent for a long moment, then called out, "Son."
The German Shepherd remained completely unmoved. It scraped one hind paw backward and began circling Yu Jiashu’s chair.
The man sitting there said nothing. His fingers tapped twice against the tabletop, then leaned back with an air of leisure.
Is this girl messing with me?
They stared at each other for a long moment.
At the skewer shop next door, several young women had already started glancing repeatedly in their direction. One of them even secretly raised her phone to take pictures.
Second by second, time ticked away.
Zhou Qi watched as his goddess maintained a perfectly composed expression, yet the tips of her ears slowly turned red, followed by a delicate flush spreading across her cheeks. In a soft voice, she finally said:
“...Husband.”
“...”
One second. Two. Three.
Complete silence.
The air itself seemed to stop. The three men looked as though someone had pressed pause. Da Bai's meat rolled from his open mouth to the ground as he stared in shock at the man being nuzzled by a dog.
Zhou Qi stared at Qi Yao’s face. Her peach-blossom eyes shimmered with watery light, innocence mixed with unmistakable shyness. His soul left his body for a good two seconds. Feeling moisture beneath his upper lip, he reached up blindly, and wiped it with one hand.
Holy shit.
His nose was bleeding!
---
Author’s Note:
Ye Qingman: I used my mystical powers to calculate that my son would bring you good luck in love.
Yao: Let me just say thank you. [folds hands in gratitude]
---
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