He waved to Yu Minlan. "You keep her company. I have something to take care of."
"You stay inside this circle, don't come out," Xue Rui joked to the young girl, echoing the words Tang Monk once said to Monkey Sun.
Yu Minlan scoffed under her breath. 'He's the one who insisted on bringing her out, and now he's ditching her,' she thought. 'And he won't even let her leave the circle? He must be planning to message some other girl.'
Xue Rui found a spot to watch Lin Ruoxi quietly from a distance, then took out his phone to check a new message.
Qiu Mengze had sent him a photo of two hands intertwined, taken in what looked like a movie theater.
The photo was captioned with a single phrase: "Fingers intertwined."
Xue Rui's brow furrowed. He texted back: "Why don't you post this on social media? What are you flexing on me for?"
Qiu Mengze replied: "Qin Tong won't let me."
Xue Rui scoffed. 'What a fucking pushover,' he thought.
