“It’s Song Ruichi.”

Twenty minutes later, in the restaurant, Xu Er looked at his phone and said this to Chen Nan.

Chen Nan stuffed a piece of braised pork into his mouth and asked, muffled, “How do you know?”

At that moment, on Xu Er’s phone screen, under the message “added a new friend” in WeChat, the other party had sent three words: Hello, Song Ruichi.

Xu Er replied to Chen Nan, “He sent me his name.”

Xu Er lowered his gaze and also replied: Hello, Xu Er.

Looking back now, Xu Er felt quite impressed with himself from earlier.

He was pretty bold, excitedly going over to strike up a conversation with someone.

“You’re pretty bold,” Chen Nan said, unexpectedly echoing the sentiment. “When did you become such a social butterfly?”

Xu Er smiled shyly, not knowing how to respond, so he just laughed, “Haha.”

Chen Nan asked, “What else did you talk about?”

Xu Er shook his head. “Nothing, we just exchanged names.”

Actually, when Xu Er left the coffee shop, he had thought about politely saying hello to Song Ruichi and even lingered in the chat interface for quite a while.

But as he walked, he gradually realized that asking someone for an electronic signature was really a bit absurd.

Then he thought that if he followed up on WeChat asking for the electronic signature later, it would definitely be even more ridiculous.

Finally, he reflected on the conversation he just had with Song Ruichi, and it was simply absurd.

Hesitating and not knowing what to say, and since he had never actively asked a stranger for their WeChat, Xu Er’s attention shifted as Chen Nan mentioned that the braised pork upstairs was quite good, making him feel a bit hungry. He pushed thoughts of Song Ruichi out of his mind.

Before long, the two had eaten and drunk their fill. The first thing Chen Nan did was call Xu Chen.

Tilting his chin up proudly, he exclaimed, “Bro, guess who we ran into today!”

After saying that, he took his phone down, put it on speaker, and placed it on the table.

For the next few minutes, with Chen Nan’s lengthy buildup of “Your brother went to watch the sunrise alone,” “I went on another damn blind date today,” “We barely talked at all,” “The braised pork is delicious,” and “Yeah, it’s the coffee shop,” they finally got to the main point.

As they listened, Chen Nan leaned closer to the phone, saying, “When we saw him, oh man, guess who it is?”

On the other end, Xu Chen sounded a bit impatient, “Can you just say it? If you can’t, then just hang up.”

Chen Nan burst into laughter, “With that attitude, I’m not telling you!”

Xu Chen said, “Hurry it up.”

But Chen Nan decided to take his time and added another little buildup, “First, let me ask you, what’s your game name?”

Xu Chen replied, “Ze County Song Ruichi, what’s up?”

Chen Nan smiled at Xu Er and said into the phone, “Dude, I’ve given you such a big hint.”

There was silence on the other end.

Chen Nan became even more amused, raising his eyebrows at Xu Er several times.

After a few seconds, they finally heard Xu Chen say, “No way! You guys ran into Song Ruichi?”

Chen Nan spoke with a smug tone and casually tossed a piece of paper, “Uh-huh.”

“Holy crap!” Xu Chen was excited, not disappointing Chen Nan’s expectations. “Holy crap! Don’t lie to me!”

Chen Nan replied, “Why would I lie to you? Your brother is about to get his WeChat!”

“Holy crap, holy crap,” Xu Chen’s excitement was evident from the other side. “Where are you guys? I’m coming over!”

Chen Nan replied, “They left a long time ago.”

Xu Chen shouted loudly, “Why didn’t you call me?!”

Chen Nan and Xu Er exchanged a glance, both thinking the same two words: “Right, huh.”

Chen Nan exclaimed, suddenly realizing something, and laughed, “Your brother is really too funny. When he came over to add WeChat, he was so nervous that you know what he did? He opened the notes app.”

“What?” Xu Er quickly explained, “I was asking him for a signature.”

Chen Nan paused for a moment, puzzled. “What do you need a signature for in the notes app?”

Xu Er replied, “An electronic signature, isn’t that right?”

Chen Nan burst out laughing, “This is even funnier,” and he slapped his thigh. “So you were asking for a signature, huh? You’re quite… quite…”

Xu Er was speechless. “Shut up.”

Chen Nan continued to chuckle, “I was just trying to compliment you.”

Xu Er retorted, “Then still, shut up.”

Chen Nan kept laughing.

Is it really that funny?

Well, it did seem a bit amusing.

So Xu Er decided to chuckle a little too.

“Wait, hey, wait,” Xu Chen’s voice came through on the phone. “What’s going on? No way, bro, what did you say? How did Song Ruichi end up giving you his WeChat?”

“Oh right,” Chen Nan also felt curious. “Xu Er, have you two met?”

Xu Er shook his head. “No.”

Chen Nan replied, “Then why did Song Ruichi’s friend say you two have met?”

Xu Er continued to shake his head. “I don’t know.”

“If you were a girl, I’d seriously think he’s being cheesy,” Chen Nan mocked, imitating, “‘Haven’t we met before?’ Wow, that’s such an old line.”

Xu Er asked, “Did you ever use that line on someone before?”

Chen Nan suddenly felt defensive. “Of course not!”

After coughing, he asked, “What if you two actually have met, and you just forgot?”

As soon as he said that, a couple of silhouettes from earlier that morning flashed in Xu Er’s mind as he watched the sunrise.

But before he could think deeply about it, Xu Chen’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

“So how did you end up adding him?” Xu Chen was eager. “Can you two answer my question first?”

Xu Er thought for a moment and glanced at Chen Nan. “Well, I walked over, he asked me what’s up, and then he added me.”

Chen Nan chuckled, “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

Xu Chen was silent for half a second. “That’s it?”

Xu Er confirmed, “That’s it.”

Xu Chen asked, “It’s that easy to add him?”

Xu Er thought for a moment, ignoring the unnecessary details, and concluded that it really was a simple process. “Yeah, it was quite easy.”

“Hey Xu Chen,” Chen Nan was also puzzled, addressing the phone, “Didn’t you say he’s some big shot? How is it this easy to add him on WeChat?”

Xu Chen retorted, “You two didn’t accidentally add a fake one, did you?”

Chen Nan responded, “How could it be fake? We never mentioned Song Ruichi from the start; he brought it up himself.”

Xu Chen made a skeptical sound, still not quite believing it. “Did you check his Moments?”

Chen Nan turned to Xu Er and asked, “Did you look?”

Xu Er shook his head. “No.”

Both voices, one from reality and one from the phone, urged in unison, “Check it quickly.”

At their prompting, Xu Er picked up his phone and opened Song Ruichi’s Moments.

It was only visible for three days, but—

“Nothing’s there.”

“Nothing’s there.”

….

On the second floor of an office building a few kilometers outside City A, a man answered in the same way.

The rain had stopped, and the office building leaned against the river. A cool breeze, untouched since after the Mid-Autumn Festival, blew in through the open window.

After speaking, he placed the freshly brewed coffee on a corner of the mahjong table.

Under the mahjong table, the sound of tiles clattering filled the air, and a hand in the corner reached for the coffee, making a clicking sound with his tongue. He asked, “I remember your Moments are only visible for three days?”

Song Ruichi replied, “Yeah.”

Shi Zi nodded, casually picking up a tile. “I’m telling you, the moment he added you, he definitely checked your Moments first. If you’ve got nothing there, what’s there to look at?”

Song Ruichi said, “I don’t have anything worth seeing on my Moments.”

Shi Zi took a sip of coffee. “Wow, you didn’t add any sugar, huh?”

Song Ruichi replied, “We ran out of sugar.”

Shi Zi wrinkled his brow in disgust but took another sip anyway.

“Whether it’s good-looking or not, you still need to show it to him,” Shi Zi said, looking frustrated. “Just put something out there for him to see—at least something from a month or three months ago.”

Song Ruichi insisted, “There’s nothing worth showing.”

Just as he was about to leave, Shi Zi pulled him back. “Should I play this tile or that one?”

Song Ruichi turned back and tossed out the five of dots from his hand.

Another friend sitting at the table asked, “What kind of person is it that can add Song Ruichi on WeChat?”

“Speaking of that,” Shi Zi laughed, “I’m pretty surprised too. And you know, right?” He tilted his chin at this friend. “That guy hasn’t said anything yet. I don’t even know what happened, and they just added each other on WeChat.”

Shi Zi emphasized again, “Song Song gave him his personal account.”

At the table, Shi Zi’s three friends looked at Song Ruichi with curiosity.

Song Ruichi seemed not to notice—or maybe he just chose to ignore it—as he turned and walked away.

“Song,” Shi Zi called out after him, “Did you check his Moments?”

Song Ruichi replied, “No.”

Shi Zi suddenly clapped his hands. “Oh! I remember where I’ve seen him! It was this morning, Song Ruichi. We were watching the sunrise, and he was the one standing in front of us, right?”

Although Shi Zi was excited, he didn’t expect Song Ruichi to confirm this. He didn’t think Song Ruichi would remember such a fleeting boy who had passed by in his peripheral vision.

But Song Ruichi said, “Yes.”

Shi Zi was taken aback. “It really is him.”

Song Ruichi affirmed, “Mm-hmm.”

Shi Zi was a bit surprised and clapped his hands again. “No wonder! I was wondering how you…”

Shi Zi trailed off, becoming immersed in his own cards. His hand was truly awful; he had been playing for several rounds with no improvement.

After thinking for a while, he finally discarded a one-thousand-point tile. Just then, he heard Song Ruichi’s voice drifting over from the bar, “What do you mean by ‘how’?”

Shi Zi was momentarily stunned. “What do you mean ‘how’?”

Song Ruichi said, “…It’s nothing.”

Shi Zi suddenly remembered, “Oh, I meant to say, you were quite polite and gentle when talking to him.”

Song Ruichi didn’t respond to that but instead asked, “Are you guys drinking?”

The three of them replied in unison, “Yes.”

Shi Zi stared at the table. “I thought so! You two added each other on WeChat so smoothly because you recognized each other, right?” He chuckled, “You’re pretty clever, doing such sneaky little things right under my nose.”

Song Ruichi sent over two more cups of coffee. “What did I do?”

As Shi Zi started to pick up his tiles, he replied, “You didn’t do anything.”

The topic fell silent for a moment.

Ten seconds later, Shi Zi discarded a useless tile and picked it back up.

Shi Zi said, “That little guy is quite proactive, too.”

Shi Zi said, “But he seems like a shy guy, too. He walked over without saying a word, just standing there smiling.”

Shi Zi continued, “I almost died laughing when he asked Song Ruichi what he was drinking.”

He added, “But seriously, he’s quite handsome.”

Shi Zi elaborated, “You know, that kind of handsome—like a high school sweetheart. You guys know what I mean?”

He described, “He’s pretty fair-skinned, his hair isn’t black; it’s soft and fine, and he looks really sweet.”

Shi Zi exclaimed, “Tsk, tsk, tsk! If I bump into you, don’t touch your tiles!”

Just then, Song Ruichi brought over the other two cups of coffee, and Shi Zi grabbed one, asking, “By the way, what did he talk to you about?”

Song Ruichi replied, “He didn’t talk to me.”

Shi Zi exclaimed, “Don’t hold back!”

Song Ruichi said, “We didn’t chat.”

Shi Zi squinted his eyes. “Come on, just say something.”

Song Ruichi was clearly getting a bit impatient. “He didn’t talk to me; can’t you understand?”

Shi Zi let go of the conversation. “Alright, alright.”

Song Ruichi pointed at the two tiles in front of Shi Zi. “I’m leaving; you guys play.”

“Are we having dinner together tonight?” Shi Zi asked as he discarded the two tiles.

Song Ruichi replied, “You guys go ahead; I have a client.”

Shi Zi said, “Alright.”

As Song Ruichi turned around, Shi Zi continued speaking, “He’s definitely going to come looking for you. Who just randomly asks for someone’s WeChat, right?”

When Song Ruichi reached the stairway, Shi Zi added, “That boy is really quite adorable. Now that I think about it, his eyes really do smile.”

These words seemed no longer directed at Song Ruichi. “Oh, if we’re talking about our brother Song he just went out to watch the sunrise and managed to charm another one.”

He grew more excited as he continued, “He’s clearly such a shy person, yet he took the initiative to ask for WeChat. He even brought a friend along for support—how can you not love that?”

By the time Song Ruichi reached the corner of the staircase, he lightly touched the corner of his mouth as if to suppress a smile.

Taking two more steps, he pulled out his phone.

It wasn’t easy to find, but he eventually located the setting to change his Moments visibility from three days to six months.