Chapter 1

A circle

All the bad luck started from that rainy Friday night when Lu You met a black cat downstairs of the dormitory.

One night in late summer, Lu You was carrying a bag, braving the strong wind, and riding a bicycle in the rain. The rain wet her short hair, rolling down her cheeks to her chin and condensing into a string of fine beads.

After parking the car at the parking lot next to the dormitory, Lu You hurried back, but was stopped by a cats meow as thin as a mosquitos hum.

She turned on the searchlight on her phone and finally found the source of the sound between the corner of the wall and the ground.

"Are you hiding from the rain here?" Lu You squatted down and took out the little kitten, which was about two months old.

There is an old residential area left over from history in Lu Yous school, and domestic cats and wild cats often appear in every corner of the campus.

But such a small cat is probably not domestic... Lu You lowered his eyes and looked at the little guy in his arms. It was as black as a coal ball, and only a pair of big yellow eyes proved that it was a living thing.

Lu You wiped the water off its body, opened his backpack, and put it in gently.

When entering the dormitory building, Lu You hurriedly avoided the hawk-like eyes of the dormitory aunt. Fortunately, the aunt did not see anything unusual, and Lu You successfully smuggled the little kitten into the dormitory.

Lu You named the cat Lightning.

I thought I had saved Lightnings life, but I never expected that Lightning would have such a bad fate.

Lu You discovered the cats abnormality the next day. It was listless and had vomiting and diarrhea.

Lu You sent it to a nearby pet hospital. The moment the doctor diagnosed it as feline plague, Lu Yous mind "buzzed".

The doctors cold voice came through the mask, "Do you want to treat it? If not, it can probably live for another week."

Lightning lay limply on the table, raised his little face and called out to Lu You. One by one, it was a heart-wrenching desire to survive.

Lu You raised his wet eyes and asked, "Are you saying it can still be saved?"

The doctor took off his gloves, "It can be saved. But you picked up this cat, and its not an expensive breed of cat. The cost of treatment may be..."

"Save it."

Examination, surgery, injections, infusions... Lu You ran to the pet hospital again and again, and finally pulled Lightning back from the brink of death.

What was waiting for her was a hospital bill of 8,000 yuan. The medical fee has been paid, and Lu You is like a poor man.

The salary that he had saved for several months since he started working was gone in a few days like a flood. What he got in return was a little black cat with an unknown date of birth, unknown breed, and unknown health status.

Lu You sighed as he looked at the little guy on the desk, who was looking around and walking unsteadily.

Lu You opened WeChat and complained to her bestie.

Circle: Help, your friend is about to starve to death. Please show mercy and give him a bite of food.

Cha Cha: When did you join the Beggars Sect?

Cha Chas real name is Tang Xin, two years older than Lu You. She is an online friend that Lu You met in the game. It happened that they were both in City B. After meeting once, they became good friends who could talk about anything. Later, the two quit the game because of some things, but this friendship has been preserved.

Circle: Didnt I tell you last time that I picked up a cat? Its a sick cat. I spent 8,000 yuan on the treatment! 8,000 yuan!

Cha Cha: Are you crazy? A guy who complains to me about poverty every day spent 8,000 yuan to save a stray cat?

Cha Cha: Oh no, I should ask if your account has been hacked, otherwise the next step is to ask for money. Nowadays, scammers have so many tricks that its hard to guard against them.

Circle: ... The friendship is over.

Cha Cha: ... Dont you have to pay the rent for the next quarter this month? Is it enough?

Circle: Its a big deal. Maybe I need to ask my senior sister for some leniency.

Lu You is an undergraduate graduate of the Department of Art at C University, majoring in visual communication design. She graduated in June this year, but she still lives in C University.

She knows a married doctoral senior sister. The senior sister and her husband live off campus, and this single dormitory is vacant for rent.

The rent is only 1,200 yuan a month, and the senior sister generously lent her her meal card. Lu You couldnt help but praise his own wit for finding such cheap accommodation in a place like B City where every inch of land is valuable and the cost of living is extremely high.

Although renting dormitories is strictly prohibited in C University. But this doctoral building is co-ed, and many doctoral students are married and have children, so there are all kinds of people coming and going in the building. As long as its not too blatant, the dormitory aunt will turn a blind eye.

Cross: ... Do you want to make some extra money?

Circle:?

Cross: A gay friend of mine is going to publish a book and is in need of an artist.

Circle: Oh, is that your gay friend from Green Libaji Literature City?

Cross: ... Its Jinjiang Literature City, shes looking for someone to draw the cover and inserts.

Circle: But I havent drawn for a long time, Im afraid Im not good at it.

Cross: You have a foundation, you can pick it up quickly. I just showed her the pictures you drew before, and she said she liked your style. Can you two talk?

When Lu You was playing games before, he drew a lot of ancient style fan art about this martial arts game, and he was also a well-known artist in the circle. Cha Cha was a good writer of fan fiction, and Lu You often illustrated her articles. After the two quit playing games, one honestly returned to his old job as a designer, and the other ran to Jinjiang Literature City to write novels.

Lu You added this writer with the pen name "Mi Tu".

Mi Tu: Hello, I like your paintings very much. If I ask you to draw, how much does it cost?

Quan Quan: ...

Lu You refused this kind of inquiry with unknown purpose, unknown size, and unknown precision. But people have to bow their heads under the eaves, who made her short of money?

Lu You patiently explained to Mi Tu for a long time, asking her to explain the detailed requirements, otherwise he would not be able to give a price.

After a long time of hesitation, the two finally agreed on the price and reached a cooperation. The cover cost 2,000 yuan and the illustration cost 1,000 yuan. If the manuscript is completed within two months, Lu You can earn 5,000 yuan.

Quanquan: What scenes do you want to draw? Can you describe them to me roughly?

Mi Tu: Lets be more subtle for the cover, with the top holding the bottom in his arms, and make the background more beautiful...

Quanquan: Wait. Top and bottom? You write BL?

Mi Tu: Yes.

Quanquan: But I have never drawn BL...

Mi Tu: Its the same. I like the men in your previous drawings.

After being praised, Lu You was a little flattered and no longer entangled in the question of whether to draw romance or BL.

After all, people with poor ambitions are short.

Quanquan: ...Okay, please continue.

Mi Tu: For the illustrations, lets be a little more unrestrained. The first one is the top and the bottom taking a hot spring bath, without clothes. The second one is the top pressing the bottom in the sea of ​​flowers and kissing. The third one is the one between the two.

Quanquan: Which one?

Mi Tu: That one! Papapapa, applaud for love!

Mi Tu also sent an emoji of Sanpang applauding.

Quanquan: ...

Quanquan: Are you going to ask me to draw pornographic pictures?

Mi Tu: Is it not possible?

Quanquan: The pictures I drew before were all very artistic. Let alone pornographic pictures, I have never drawn pictures of people taking off clothes. Asking an artist to draw pornographic pictures is as shameful as going to the adult entertainment industry!

Mi Tu: If you don’t draw, I will find someone else.

Quanquan: Well, that... is not impossible.

Lu You gritted his teeth and stamped his feet.

Quanquan: You have to pay more.

Mi Tu: ... It would have been done earlier.

So Lu You "went to the adult entertainment industry" at a price of 1,200 yuan per illustration.

But problems followed one after another. Mi Tu is an author who writes modern danmaku, while Lu Yous previous paintings were basically ancient style. It took Lu You a while to find the feeling of changing to a modern style.

Mi Tus setting of the top and bottom is unusual. The top is a young boy, while the bottom is a domineering CEO-like man.

Cold, abstinent, indifferent to worldly affairs, but with a sense of elegance... This is how Mi Tu describes the bottom in the article.

He is supposed to be aloof, but he requires tenderness in his eyes; he is supposed to be abstinent, but he wants to applaud the top for love; he is supposed to be indifferent to worldly affairs, but he gets angry over trivial matters; he is supposed to be elegant, but he is a beast in human clothing...

Lu You has a lot to say, this bottom is just like Cardcaptor Sakura.

This reminds Lu You of the fear of being dominated by various weird requirements of the client when he was designing, such as enlarging this word a little and then reducing it a little, the color of this LOGO should be colorful black, the style should be simple and complicated at the same time... Its really a nightmare.

But since he has taken on this job, he has to bite the bullet and do it no matter how difficult it is.

In addition to work, Lu You has been thinking about the character images of the top and bottom these days. The image of the top was referenced by a popular young actor, and it was quickly finalized.

As for the image of the bottom, no matter how many pictures, videos, and reference books Lu You looked at, it was difficult to write.

It was a rare day without overtime, so Lu You packed up and left work. She was waiting for the elevator in the elevator room, and she kept imagining the image of the bottom in her mind.

The elevator made a "ding" sound, and Lu You lowered her head and walked inside, but she bumped into someone head-on.

"Sorry." Lu You immediately took a step back and apologized subconsciously.

Lu You looked up and saw that the person she bumped into was a tall man in a suit.

The man had short black hair that was neat and tidy, and there was a touch of gentleness between his sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes. His nose was straight and his lip line was straight. From the angle where she looked up, his jawline was clear and powerful, and his protruding Adams apple was particularly sexy.

Lu You stared at the man blankly, and the image of the overbearing CEO bottom in her mind suddenly took shape.

It was him.

"Why are you so reckless?" A familiar male voice suddenly came to her ears, "Lu You, you got off work so early?"

Lu You then noticed that the man next to her was the boss of her company.

After graduation, Lu You went to work at Xiaoguang Design Studio. This studio was established less than a year ago and was jointly opened by a couple. The bosss wife Feng Xiao, like Lu You, graduated from the Art Department of C University. The boss Song Xianguang is a financial man and has nothing to do with designers.

It is said that the studio was a gift from the boss to the bosss wife for their fifth anniversary, because Feng Xiaos dream was to open a studio of his own. Song Xianguang has been working hard in the financial industry for many years and has accumulated a lot of wealth. He provides financial support for the studio.

Lu You whispered: "Todays work is done..."

Song Xianguang: "What do other colleagues think if you leave so early?"

Lu You secretly complained that she worked overtime every day and didnt get overtime pay, but she finally got off work on time once and was caught by the boss.

Lu You turned around and said cautiously, "Then Ill go back now."

The man next to him suddenly spoke up, "She might have something to do, dont force her."

The mans voice was low and elegant, magnetic and clear, quite gentlemanly, and he was obviously a local of City B.

Song Xianguang hurriedly smiled and said, "Since President Cheng has spoken, Lu You should go back today. Remember not to do it again next time."

Lu You tiptoed into the elevator, and Song Xianguang walked out with the man. At the end, he turned back and said, "Lu You, if you are so free, you can take charge of President Chengs job."