Beijing Airport

It was late October, deep into autumn. The evening light pressed gently and clearly upon the last trace of twilight. The sun had dipped westward. Slender grasses swayed in the breeze, and the mottled poplar leaves fluttered down in reckless abandon, carpeting the ground in a golden-yellow blanket. Mist rose at dusk, rolling in like smoke. The airport bustled with people.

Xiang Yuan^[1]向园 had woken up late. After scrambling to finish the check-in process, she received a WeChat message from her high school best friend, Xu Yuan^[2]许鸢, whose gossiping spirit practically burned through the screen.

【Few and that gaming commentator Xiaoxiao made their relationship public. You’re so close to Few. Did you know about it?】

【Yeah.】 Xiang Yuan replied. She had just asked the lady on the counter for a bag of chips and finished paying when Xu Yuan’s call came in, practically blowing up her phone with urgency.

She carried the chips and headed toward the VIP lounge. Once she got on the escalator, she finally answered the call in an unhurried manner.

Xu Yuan couldn’t wait to dig for gossip. “So? Got any juicy details?”

“Why are you so nosy?” Xiang Yuan laughed softly, head lowered.

Xu Yuan chirped with excitement and mock resentment, “It’s your circle that’s messy, okay? Ever since you trended for quitting the scene a few days ago, everyone’s been going wild trying to steal the headlines. Stuff like cheating, ghost-playing, and domestic violence kept popping up. We bystanders are exhausted, alright?”

Xiang Yuan had always been good at gaming. She played everything from FPS, strategy, tower defense, and even casual puzzle games, as well as WeChat mini-programs. She had OCD-level dedication and always pushed her scores to the top. Her esports ID was Ashers, and she had millions of fans on Weibo. But she never participated in competitions or joined any clubs. No matter how many times she got invited, she declined them all. During livestreams, she never showed her face and used a voice changer. People flamed her, calling her a tranny and saying she was ugly. The trolls had harassed her for years, even claiming she was unpatriotic. When she announced her retirement not long ago, her fans practically lost it.

Entering the lounge, Xiang Yuan exposed her friend’s intentions with a smile, “Exhausted? You look pretty happy gossiping to me.”

Xu Yuan, who worked as an editor for a media platform, had endless insider gossip on the esports scene thanks to Xiang Yuan. But these juicy tidbits were too sketchy to publish on her account, so she could only gossip with her friend for fun. “Is Xiaoxiao really pregnant?”

Xiang Yuan settled into a massage chair, held the phone between her shoulder and ear, and opened her bag of chips. “She’s been pregnant since before the New Year. She’s probably due soon. At the Invitational after-party, Few treated everyone to dinner. We all knew what was going on and just kept it quiet.”

Xu Yuan let out a prairie dog-level shriek. “Holy sh*t! Then Xiaoxiao cheated during her marriage? The child is really Few’s?”

“There’s more.”

“Tell me, tell me!”

“Xiaoxiao’s husband knew about her and Few’s relationship. Word is, Few even visited their home a few times and didn’t bother avoiding him……” Xiang Yuan noticed a child nearby and stopped, gritting her teeth and hinting vaguely.

“Your circle is that wild?” Xu Yuan was so thrilled that her voice could practically be heard through the clouds.

“Xiaoxiao makes tens of millions a year just from livestreams. Her husband’s a regular salaried worker. That kind of income gap would crush any man’s ego. They originally agreed to a divorce, but her husband changed his mind at the last minute and demanded she hand over all of her income from the past few years. He wanted her to walk away with nothing. Of course, Xiaoxiao refused. So now they’re still technically married, dragging things out.”

Xu Yuan, unusually, expressed understanding, “Honestly, I can’t blame either of them. They’re just incompatible. Financial imbalance makes divorce inevitable. That’s why I say, you might as well marry Zhou Yuchen like your grandpa wants. It’s not like you’ll find someone richer than you anyway.”

Zhou Yuchen was a well-known playboy in Beijing’s social scene, changing girlfriends without blinking. Xiang Yuan immediately deflated, her eyelids drooping in disinterest.

Xu Yuan kept prodding, refusing to let go, “You’re a flirt too. If you two get together, you wouldn’t get in each other’s way.”

“Stop calling me. Use a message in a bottle instead.”

Xiang Yuan’s tone suggested genuine irritation, and Xu Yuan quickly softened. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry! But seriously, why did you quit? It can’t be because of those ghost-playing rumors, right? If you just explained it to everyone……”

“I just didn’t want to play anymore. Back then, when Down stopped playing, no one gave him this much grief. But now that it’s me, suddenly it’s all ‘she must be ghost-playing’. I hate to admit it, but in this industry, it’s just easier being a guy.”

Mentioning Down brought a wave of nostalgia. The name might sound unfamiliar now, but for old-school Warcraft players like her brother, he was legendary. Watching him compete gave people goosebumps. But he rarely entered competitions. The only time he did, he wore a mask. No one knew who he was or where he came from. Many clubs had tried to recruit him, only to be rejected. Down’s only response had been a casual, “Not interested.”

“Anyway, I have to board. Hanging up.” Xiang Yuan said lazily.

Xu Yuan snapped back to attention. “Wait, where are you going?”

“Xi’an.”

Xu Yuan knew this was all because of that bet Xiang Yuan made with her grandfather to avoid an arranged marriage. Xiang Yuan had gotten so riled up that she slapped her chest and made a bold claim in front of several board members, saying she would turn around the failing Xi’an branch office. Her grandfather had been amused. A little girl making wild boasts, clearly needing to be humbled. So he made a bet. If she could increase the branch’s revenue by thirty percent within a year, he would stop pressuring her into marriage.

Xu Yuan knew full well that even a ten percent increase in a year was tough for most companies. Xiang Yuan’s grandfather was clearly setting her up to fail. Yet Xiang Yuan had agreed on the spot.

Xu Yuan had never understood why, until Xiang Yuan gave her a bold and carefree reply.

“If I win, I’ll go fish in the deepest seas. If I lose, I’ll go shoot adult films by the sea.”

……

After hanging up, Xiang Yuan sat idly in her seat, watching the child in the massage chair next to her flailing his arms and legs with great joy. For some reason, she found it a little cute. She handed over her snacks to share.

The well-dressed child gave her a sideways glance and coldly said, “I don’t eat junk food.”

Xiang Yuan raised an eyebrow. Kids nowadays really act like little white-collar elites— poker-faced and full of attitude. She reached over and gently pinched his nose. “You should respect every kind of snack in the world. Nothing’s born garbage. That attitude is super uncute. Got it?”

The kid stuck out his tongue and made a face at her. “Bleh bleh bleh—”

He wasn’t particularly lovable. Xiang Yuan ruffled his hair in mild disapproval, played a few rounds of her puzzle game, and headed to the restroom.

Not long after, the child’s guardian returned.

The man wore a light gray knit sweater with the collar of a white shirt neatly folded around his neck. He looked about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, with a tall, lean frame. His features were striking, with sharp brows, a straight nose, and clean lines accentuated by a short, tousled cut of black hair. His appearance was both handsome and bold, with a touch of aloofness at the corners of his eyes. He was chatting with a friend when the child tugged lightly on his sleeve.

“Brother.”

Interrupted, the man looked down and asked lightly, “Who gave that to you?”

The man was genuinely distant. The subtle arc at the outer corners of his eyes, coupled with his thin eyelids, made his gaze appear devoid of emotion when lowered— intimidating, even. But then again, it was typical. Men his age rarely had patience for kids.

Anyway, he was good-looking. So what if he lacked compassion? The women in the VIP lounge didn’t hesitate to come up with a solid excuse for him.

The kid, still holding a grudge, told his older brother, “She’s exactly the kind of woman you hate.”

The friend on the side burst out laughing and ruffled the kid’s hair while scolding, “Xu Chengli, can you stop talking like your brother? Also, how come I don’t know what kind of woman your brother hates?”

The kid tilted up his chin. “The kind who games while snacking and gossiping all the time. Brother, if you ever date a woman like that, I’m running away from home.”

“If your brother here ever falls in love,” The friend chuckled, reaching over to hook an arm around the man’s shoulders, “then I’ll marry my goddess Ashers. With that mouth of his, anyone who dates him is asking for trouble. Though…… there are plenty of women lining up for it. But he’s dead set on ‘marrying’ into a rich family.”

“Run away from home?” The handsome man ignored the friend. Instead, he frowned slightly, looking vaguely displeased. Everyone in the lounge thought he was about to give his little brother a lecture for running his mouth. But instead, he glanced down impassively at the child by his feet, and the corners of his lips lifted slightly.

“That would be great.”

────ρя

This translation is by Pocketrobbin at S h a n g h a i f a n t a s y . c o m

At 8 p.m., the plane landed in Xi’an.

It was the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, its massive city walls steeped in the sighs of centuries. The moat surrounding the old city flowed quietly, like a ribbon studded with starlight winding beneath their feet. Outside the terminal, the autumn wind howled, sharp and biting, as if it wanted to strip the flesh off one’s bones.

Xiang Yuan tightened the collar of her hoodie as she waited by the door to catch a rideshare. She was headed to Lizhou, which had neither a high-speed rail nor its own airport. At this hour, carpooling was the only option.

Before long, the driver came back grinning, leading three people— two men and a child.

Xiang Yuan was curled up in the front passenger seat, playing a puzzle game and tugging her hoodie strings tighter against the wind. She glanced up at the sound of movement, and then froze.

It was that brat from the lounge earlier.

A group of people was standing by the crosswalk, waiting for the light to change. The child was restless, red-faced, and straining forward as if to dash across against the light. The shorter man behind him was struggling to hold him back, his face anxious and helpless, clearly wanting to smack the child but not daring to.

Until a tall, lean figure entered Xiang Yuan’s line of sight. The man had just finished a phone call and slipped his phone into his pocket as he wove through the dense crowd. He glanced down at the unruly kid with barely any emotion, then, without hesitation, reached out and grabbed the kid by the hood, dragging him back unceremoniously.

The child’s neck reddened where the collar choked him, and he let out a few sputtering coughs, but the man didn’t bat an eye. He simply frowned in annoyance and flicked the kid hard on the head. “I’ll buy you insurance tomorrow. If you get hit by a car, I’ll get rich.”

Yep, definitely his real brother.

The car was parked just a few meters away. Xiang Yuan leaned back in the front seat, unable to stop herself from studying the man.

He wore a clean gray sweater underneath, a crisp white collar folded neatly against his neck, and a black windbreaker thrown loosely over it. The hood was haphazardly pulled over his head. He was looking down, tapping out a message on his phone. His outfit wasn’t flashy, but he had the kind of build that made anything look good. Even standing in a crowd at the crosswalk, he stood out like a crane among chickens.

Good bone structure attracted attention not just in women, but in men as well. Upright, clean-looking, and quietly confident. He had presence.

Now and then, as he typed, the man would glance up at the light. The streetlamp cast a hazy glow around his head, and for a brief second, his face was faintly illuminated.

Xiang Yuan’s eyes lit up, interest piqued.

His chin was angular and masculine, not narrow or sharp. The jawline was tight and defined. He probably kissed well.

She’d already retired from that life years ago, but guys this exceptional were still rare.

The light turned green.

People began pouring across the street, wave after wave.

As the man drew closer, Xiang Yuan’s expression froze.

Even though it had been years and she hadn’t recognized him earlier, his face was now clearly exposed under the streetlights. She couldn’t not recognize him. He had the same simple, tousled hair, and his face had slimmed down. The indifference and distance in his expression had only deepened with time, and from head to toe, he radiated impatience. That pair of thin, refined glasses perched on the bridge of his nose gave him a strangely ascetic air.

It was Xu Yanshi.

A fated disaster if there ever was one.

Xiang Yuan reacted instantly. Before the group got into the car, she yanked the drawstrings of her hoodie at lightning speed, burying her entire face inside. Her whole head disappeared into the hood. To cover her tracks further, she even tied a neat little bow at the neck with slow, elegant precision.

The entire motion played out under the watchful eyes of the driver and the three new passengers.

The corner of Xu Yanshi’s mouth twitched slightly, while the others burst out laughing.

As he got into the car, the driver couldn’t help but advise her, “Girl, if you’re cold, just wear more layers. Why wrap your head up like that? It’s the middle of the night. You’re gonna scare someone.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Xiang Yuan decided to fake it with her very limited Cantonese.

Everyone else in the car: “……”

────ρя


Night had fallen. The streetlights glowed in overlapping halos, soft and white like clouds of cotton candy. Outside the car windows, the roadside nightscape was surprisingly vibrant.

Her phone buzzed wildly in her pocket. Xiang Yuan took it out and peeked through the slit in her hoodie. The driver chuckled again at her antics. She had already resigned herself. So long as Xu Yanshi didn’t recognize her, she could act as ridiculous as she wanted.

【Xu Yuan: You really went to Xi’an? Are you crazy? You’re not gaming anymore? Why the hell are you getting a day job?】

【Xu Yuan: I’m telling you, the in-car navigation market is dying. Everyone just uses their phones now since it’s faster and easier. Tons of companies like that shut down last year. What do you think you’re going to change? Did you forget what you majored in?! Broadcast hosting!】

【Xu Yuan: Be good. Buy a ticket, come home, and apologize to your grandpa.】

【Xiang Yuan: Do you still remember Xu Yanshi?】

【Xu Yuan: Of course. That guy you got caught with in the woods back then, right?】

Xiang Yuan silently looked up at the ceiling of the car. Not wrong, technically.

Xu Yuan then began digging up every detail of the past.

【Why bring him up all of a sudden? Didn’t he transfer schools later? If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t have broken up with Feng Jun. You really were a disaster. You dated Feng Jun while flirting with his best friend, tearing their friendship apart. Xu Yanshi was trash too, stealing his buddy’s girl! Spill it! What were you two really doing in that grove that day?】

……

Why had Xiang Yuan even brought it up?