◎I am fine thank you and you◎

Lately, Xu Tiancheng had been stuck in a phase of life where everything felt exhausting.

Well, saying “lately” wasn’t entirely accurate. To be precise, he had been in this state for a year or two now.

Boring.

Meaningless.

Not dark enough to be called black, not light enough to be called white. His days passed in endless shades of gray, each page dull and lifeless, so monotonous it was suffocating.

A guest visiting today was an unusual event for Xu Tiancheng.

A few years ago, he was a party animal, but most of his friends had now settled into married life, and there were fewer and fewer people to hang out with. Over time, he got used to being alone and even found it more relaxing.

That morning, he woke up on the sofa as usual. Sometimes, he couldn’t be bothered to move to the bed and would just spend the night there.

Compared to most homes, his place felt excessively empty.

When he first moved in, Xu Tiancheng had been enthusiastic about decorating and choosing furniture. Take the black leather sofa beneath him, for instance—he had exchanged hundreds of emails with the manufacturer to ensure every detail met his expectations before finally having it shipped all the way from Italy at a hefty price.

The cost was never the issue. Back then, he was willing to put in the effort and wait because he felt it was worth it.

Unfortunately, many of the items he had once been so excited about, but barely used, had been gradually disposed of. Along with them, many things that had once thrilled him had also faded from his life. For example, he used to own multiple cars, but now he had only kept a Jeep Wrangler, the one he felt most comfortable driving. As for motorcycles and mountain bikes, he had sold them all without hesitation.

In his nearly empty home, he welcomed an old classmate, Old Xie.

Of course, despite calling him “Old Xie,” he wasn’t actually old—it was just a familiar way of addressing him.

Old Xie was Xu Tiancheng’s college roommate. Even before graduating, they had started a business together, pooling their money to open their first tiny gym in a rundown building. They had been comrades-in-arms back in the day.

Right after graduation, Old Xie got married because of an unexpected pregnancy. His wife was also their college classmate, and her family lived in a neighboring city. To be with his wife and child, Old Xie moved there, and naturally, he and Xu Tiancheng split the business.

Over the years, they hadn’t kept in touch often, but their bond remained. Now, because of family matters, Old Xie had to sell his gym locations, and the first person he thought of was Xu Tiancheng. He even made several trips in person to persuade him to take over.

Xu Tiancheng had only one response: “I really don’t have that in mind.”

“There are other buyers, but…” Old Xie sighed. “I built these two gyms from the ground up. They’re like my own children. If I sell them just for the money, I won’t feel at ease. But if you take over, at least I know you wouldn’t just cash out and walk away. If I hand them over to someone else, how can I be at peace?”

Old Xie knew Xu Tiancheng had no intention of expanding to other cities, so he could only keep trying to persuade him, making trip after trip.

Xu Tiancheng understood his sincerity and could only sigh. “Let me think about it.”

Old Xie’s two gyms were in a neighboring city, but distance wasn’t really the issue. It was just over an hour’s drive, closer than some people’s commutes within the city.

The real problem was that Xu Tiancheng simply couldn’t find the motivation to do it.

Back when he first opened his own gym, he had painted the walls himself. During renovations, he often spent nights sleeping at the construction site, working alongside the laborers during the day. He never seemed to feel tired, waking up every morning full of energy and determination.

Thinking back to those days now, it felt like a lifetime ago.

After sending Old Xie off, Xu Tiancheng casually prepared himself a low-fat meal. It was convenient—no need to even turn on the stove. Just throw a bunch of pre-made ingredients into a bowl, and that was it. Taste didn’t matter anymore; as long as it kept him from starving, it was fine.

Even though he lacked enthusiasm for anything lately, work still had to be done. He drove to one of his gym branches, the one he had opened just last summer, so he visited it more frequently.

There wasn’t much to say about the work. Every day brought an endless stream of new issues, yet everything still felt monotonously repetitive.

Just as he was about to wrap up his inspection, a young woman suddenly jumped out from the front desk and boldly stopped him. “You’re the boss, right?”

Xu Tiancheng instinctively paused, thinking she might have a customer service issue or complaint. He was just about to address it when he saw her smiling at him. “I asked around, and they said you’re single?”

His gaze shifted past her to the salesperson nearby, silently asking, “Has she paid?”

The salesperson immediately caught on and subtly shook their head—she hadn’t.

So Xu Tiancheng neither confirmed nor denied her question. Instead, he maintained a polite and professional smile. “Is there something I can help you with?”

The woman looked at him with clear admiration in her eyes. She seemed a little shy but didn’t try to hide it. “If you’re single, could you be my trainer?”

She was very attractive, wearing a form-fitting yoga outfit that accentuated her confident figure.

To be honest, most men would find it hard not to be tempted in this situation.

Xu Tiancheng tried to feel something—anything—but to his disappointment, there was nothing.

Whenever he met women who showed interest in him, he could almost see their entire relationship play out from start to finish. They would flirt, then confess, then go through the full cycle—dating, sleeping together, fighting, making up, sleeping together again, fighting again, making up again—until eventually, one fight would be the last straw, and they would part ways.

He glanced at the clock on the wall and discreetly declined. “I don’t really have time. I was just here for an inspection and need to leave soon.”

A flicker of disappointment crossed the woman’s face, but before she could react further, Xu Tiancheng threw out a tempting alternative. “How about this—next time you come, if I’m around, I’ll definitely train you.”

“Really? It’s a promise then!”

Her eyes lit up with excitement. She shot him a flirtatious glance and happily signed the contract.

Seeing that the deal was closed, Xu Tiancheng signaled to the membership consultant and two trainers. They immediately surrounded the woman, engaging her in conversation, leaving him with a chance to slip away unnoticed.

If he stayed any longer, she would probably ask for his private WeChat.

He had no intention of personally training her. He didn’t have the time or the interest. He only occasionally trained a few long-time members—people who had been with him since his first tiny gym. To him, they weren’t just clients; they were friends.

So, was the verbal promise to the young woman just a lie?

Maybe, but it didn’t matter. It was just a little linguistic trick to close the deal.

Two trainers exchanged whispers in private. One of them said, “What’s going on with Brother Cheng? A girl like that, and he didn’t even react?”

The other trainer looked equally puzzled. “You’re asking me? I’m just as curious! He’s been abstinent for ages; maybe he really plans to become a monk.”

A nearby membership consultant joined in the gossip with a slightly horrified tone. “Do you guys think he suddenly had an awakening about his orientation?”

The three of them collectively sucked in a sharp breath.

Of course, Xu Tiancheng hadn’t become a monk, and there was nothing wrong with his orientation. He just couldn’t quite remember what it felt like to have someone by his side, nor did he care to imagine it.

Recently, he had made a rare few phone calls to Xu Tianyu because of their parents’ trip abroad. Maybe they had fought too much as kids, but even after growing up, they didn’t talk often.

Even Xu Tianyu, who rarely contacted him, noticed that something was off. But given her usual unreliable nature, her suggestion was equally outlandish—she told him to get a girlfriend, claiming it might help with his current state of feeling detached from everything.

Xu Tiancheng rarely agreed with Xu Tianyu, but this time, he admitted she had a point. It wasn’t a bad idea, and the young woman just now had indeed been very attractive.

But never mind. He turned and walked out of the gym without hesitation.

It just wasn’t interesting.

Nothing was interesting.

He had even wondered at one point if he had some kind of mental illness. After seeing several psychologists, the diagnosis was always the same—he was perfectly fine. At most, he was experiencing mild psychological burnout, and the doctors advised him to take things easy.

Fine. He would just endure it.

The emptiness weighing on his emotions needed an outlet, so Xu Tiancheng resorted to the method he was most familiar with—exercise. Sweating profusely every day, pushing himself to exhaustion, collapsing into bed immediately after, all to counterbalance the hollowness of his life after work.

Even though it wasn’t necessary, one day, he suddenly decided to start tracking his workouts. He was always deeply immersed in his training—too immersed, to the point of shutting off his mind and relying purely on muscle memory. Day after day, each one blending into the next, so much so that he sometimes couldn’t even remember what he had trained the day before or what he had eaten.

Xu Tiancheng had always known about the app Xiaofanshu. His gym had an official account on it, and the trainers were encouraged to use it for client engagement. But he had never personally used it.

After dropping his parents off at the airport and watching them pass through the gate, he lowered his head and sent a message to Xu Tianyu.

“Mom and Dad have boarded the plane. I’ll send you their flight details again. Make sure you pick them up on time. They can barely string together a few sentences in English.”

Xu Tianyu replied with an “OK” emoji. “By the way, if you want to know how they’re doing abroad, just watch my vlog. I’m too lazy to update you separately.”

Xu Tiancheng hadn’t expected it. His sister, who wrote random jokes in her spare time between research, had somehow turned into a small-time internet influencer. Apparently, quite a few people found a high-IQ asexual female PhD student pretty cool.

Regardless, he still had to check in on them from time to time. Their parents planned to stay abroad until Xu Tianyu finished breastfeeding before returning. That was a long time. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was worried. Could their broken “I am fine, thank you, and you?” level English really help them navigate a complex and unfamiliar life overseas?

He clicked on the link Xu Tianyu had sent, downloaded the app, registered a new account, and, as an afterthought, started his workout log on it.

If Xu Tiancheng had known that this decision would change the rest of his life, he would have at least put more effort into choosing his profile picture—maybe picked one of those post-workout shots with pumped-up muscles that You Lexin liked the most. Who knows? Maybe she would have noticed him sooner.

No—if he had known he would meet the person who would change his life, he would have skipped all the steps and just bombarded You Lexin’s inbox with a hundred DMs of his abs.

But life doesn’t work with “if onlys.” He had no clue about the fate awaiting him. Meanwhile, You Lexin had sent him so many messages, yet he hadn’t replied to a single one.

Then again, with messages like “Hey, are you there? Look at the abs,” ignoring them wasn’t unreasonable.