Chapter Forty-Five: First Meeting

As she spoke, Lin Ke tossed the two small piglets in her arms directly into the lidless cage, then looked into the camera with an indifferent expression.

Good grief!

This was no longer subtle sarcasm; it was practically blatant mockery!

Liang Feng was certain that these were not words Lin Ke could have come up with on her own. Given the long time he had followed her, she was by no means such a deep, scheming, and ill-intentioned person.

Both sides had done things wrong—what was wrong with mediation? How would such remarks of hers make others feel?

Afraid that the young woman had no inkling of the severity of her video's content, Liang Feng finally felt he could wait no longer.

Opening his direct messages, for the first time, he sent Lin Ke a message asking to meet.

"Are you there? How was your New Year holiday? The fireworks were beautiful; they were the only touch of the Spring Festival atmosphere I received. If you're back, would you like to meet? I'd like to invite you to dinner as a token of my appreciation."

...

Lin Ke's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

She was already in a very high-spirited mood today.

Having just returned to work after the Spring Festival, the first stage of the competition was about to end, and everyone was tallying their top ten performing works to submit for evaluation.

Lin Ke looked over them repeatedly, feeling that she had plenty of videos to choose from and a very good chance of advancing to the second stage.

Today, out of nowhere, trending topics about security guards and food delivery workers popped up, and she managed to piggyback on one—oh no, two trends. After casually posting two videos, her likes had unexpectedly surpassed ten thousand.

These weren't just view counts; these were likes. For such figures to appear in less than a day, that was the kind of treatment only top creators received.

Had the administrative department not suddenly fed her the material, there was simply no way she could have found sentences that matched the trends so perfectly.

Well, truth be told, she didn't quite understand what it all meant, but did that matter? As long as it went viral, wasn't that enough?

Happily putting in some overtime at the office, Lin Ke felt that a million-yuan annual salary was getting closer and closer.

Her mother had messaged her to say that her father had already been admitted to the county hospital and the doctors had scheduled him for surgery. Since they had the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme, she heard that the hundred thousand yuan wouldn't even be fully used.

Being in a good mood already, deep in the quiet of the night upon returning to her rented apartment, she spotted that message in her software's direct messages.

"Would you like to meet?"

Lin Ke felt a tiny flutter of nervousness.

She had been chatting with this fan for over two months. Although the content wasn't extensive, every exchange filled her with anticipation.

Through those aesthetic photographs and delicate, graceful texts, she could completely piece together how transcendent and refined a soul must reside on the other end of the internet cable.

Lin Ke was equally curious about the physical vessel housing that soul, but... she was also nervous.

An anchor meeting a fan was by no means a good phenomenon in this circle.

Not to mention that offline meetings between anchors who accepted heavy tips from fans were practically synonymous with "prostitution," even if she claimed to be completely innocent, how could she guarantee the other party didn't have ulterior motives?

While Lin Ke was still hesitating, Liang Feng sent a new message.

"How about a convenient lunchtime for you, at the cafe located at No. 37 Jinqu Road in the city center? Would that be alright?"

Lin Ke blinked.

The restaurant location Liang Feng sent was right across from the Chrysalis Building. She had participated in Chrysalis's Hundred Butterflies Rising Cloud Anchor Competition, and he should know that. Therefore, did he deliberately choose a spot near her company?

Moreover, meeting at noon, and in a relatively quiet place like a cafe, meant he harbored no crooked intentions?

Her curiosity was thoroughly piqued. Having been through the past two months, her courage had indeed grown considerably, and she finally replied.

"Sure, is tomorrow noon okay?"

...

"So, you really went to see him?"

At the dessert shop, Xu Meiqi bit down on her straw, her face a picture of gossip.

Lin Ke nodded, her pretty face slightly flushed.

Yesterday... at the cafe opposite Chrysalis, she had met Liang Feng.

He turned out to be so young, dressed in a crisp white shirt and jeans. His hair was very neat, his facial features well-defined, and he carried a scholarly aura that was increasingly rare in modern society.

He spoke with reason and behaved with propriety, failing to cause Lin Ke any pressure whatsoever.

"Tsk tsk tsk," Xu Meiqi curled her lip. "Don't tell me you fell in love at first sight? I hope he's not some playboy trying to pick up young girls! When it comes to romance, you've only ever dealt with a stubborn blockhead like Dou Peng; you're basically a blank sheet of paper."

"Nonsense, I wasn't going on a blind date!"

If it wasn't a blind date, that made it even weirder!

A strange man and woman meeting for no good reason—are you going to tell me you share a pure friendship?

Xu Meiqi, who had one foot inside the entertainment industry, didn't believe there were truly untainted good souls in this world, and she looked at her best friend with a wary gaze.

"So what did you guys talk about? Any sensitive topics?"

Lin Ke thought about it seriously: "We didn't talk about much; it just felt very relaxing. Didn't I show him the fireworks from home during the New Year? He asked about how the Spring Festival was celebrated in my rural hometown when I was a kid, and he also talked about the customs in his part of the country."

The conversation had flowed very naturally, revolving around the video Lin Ke posted, expanding to the festive atmosphere of the New Year, childhood, and homesickness.

"Then we talked about why my video style changed, and I said life forced my hand! He said everyone has it hard right now, and they are the same, and even reminded me not to get scammed by others! He probably thought my videos were posted on my behalf by someone else."

Lin Ke chuckled as she spoke, completely oblivious to anything being amiss. Xu Meiqi, however, grew a bit cautious: "Your video was supposed to be posted by the company, right? He probably didn't know you had already signed, and just thought you made it yourself for the competition."

Lin Ke shrugged: "Who knows! Anyway, I've already signed my contract and can't turn back now, so why dwell on it? He saw I wasn't too keen on discussing this and moved on to other topics."

"That's not too bad, otherwise if he kept asking about your work, I'd think he was a corporate spy checking on how you're developing so well in the anchor competition, haha!"

Lin Ke laughed and scolded: "Go on with you! My meager traffic level is hardly worthy of a corporate spy. I might as well debut tomorrow, let me tell you."

"Hahaha, go ahead and debut, nobody's stopping you. I'll cheer you on."

"Stop making fun of me. So many big shots in our company haven't debuted yet. Oh, right, when I met him, I even ran into my colleague—the one you saw last time, Menglu. If big shots like you guys haven't debuted yet, what am I messing around for?"

Xu Meiqi didn't dwell on it too much either. How deep the anchor circle's waters ran was something only insiders like them truly knew. After all, he was just a fan, so it was normal for him to be curious about a sudden change in style.

"Maybe he really wants to pursue you? Next time, dig into his job, education, where he lives, and things like that."

"Nonsense, we're just ordinary friends."

Xu Meiqi wore a smile: "Right, ordinary online friends, ordinary friends, and next time you know, you'll be ordinary boyfriend and girlfriend!"

"Shoo, shoo, shoo, you're so bad!"

The two of them tumbled together in playful banter when suddenly, Xu Meiqi's phone rang at a most inopportune time.

"Hello? Ah? Oh."

The call hung up in less than half a minute. Xu Meiqi sighed with a mixture of helplessness and bewilderment: "Can't play with you anymore, the company suddenly called me in. Who knows what's going on."

"Alright, boss comes first, let's chat another time."

"Mm-hmm!"