A month passed by smoothly, with Ye Meng facing her one million yuan savings and not knowing how to spend it.

Put it in the bank? Too much of a loss.

Buy a house? Although Ning Sui was a small town, its housing prices ranked among the top three in the province. Properties in central areas started at twenty thousand yuan per square meter. If she bought a small commercial space of twenty or thirty square meters, it would just about be enough. But after asking a few friends, she learned that the annual rent in town was only thirty to forty thousand yuan a year, which wasn’t worth it.

What could one million yuan do? One million yuan couldn’t do much. After painful deliberation, Ye Meng decided to deposit the money in the bank and find a job. Jobs weren’t easy to find in the small town, apart from civil service and public institutions, the rest were factory workshops and small businesses, plus banks. Ye Meng had studied journalism but had worked in public relations for four or five years in Beijing, which belonged to the self-media industry. Having to suddenly find a suitable job without direction was quite difficult.

“You might as well work for a newspaper, like Ning Sui Daily or Chuzhou Evening News. They’re short on people now…” Fang Ya En suggested over the phone. “I remember you said in high school that what you wanted to do most when you grew up was to be a reporter.”

The idea of being a reporter came to Ye Meng after watching a documentary about an asylum years ago. A foreign female journalist in the 19th century had successfully gone undercover in an asylum using her superb acting skills, exposing the dark secrets and truths of the asylum. This dedication to truth and defense of reality had deeply impacted her.

So, in a burst of enthusiasm, Ye Meng had plunged into journalism. Although several elders in her family had repeatedly urged her to return to Ning Sui as soon as she graduated, she hadn’t decided whether to go back or stay in Beijing as a drifter. It was only when she received an internship offer from a newspaper that she accidentally decided to stay in Beijing.

Ye Meng had entered the industry with passion and reverence for journalism, but perhaps their understanding of passion and justice differed. Her boss had asked her to write a report on campus violence. She had spent half a month investigating and gathering evidence, restoring the truth of the event in detail, only for her boss to reject it outright and ask her to rewrite it. She didn’t understand—wasn’t this the truth? The words her boss finally snapped at her, pointing at her forehead, still resonated with her:

“A perfectly good article that could have attracted attention, and you write it like this? What are you? The Powerpuff Girls?”

His words pierced Ye Meng’s heart: “This era doesn’t need truth. Empathy! Do you understand empathy?! What you need to do is use your plain and simple words to evoke empathy from the audience, and public opinion will naturally have a direction. Is the truth important? If everything in this world were so clear-cut, then tell me, why is the Earth round? It’s trying to tell you, if you’re a rigid square, how the hell are you supposed to survive!”

…

Ye Meng hadn’t questioned her life because of this, but after the experience, she did keep a respectful distance from the industry. She knew that some people were morally corrupt, while others had no choice.

Of course, she never mentioned these things to people around her. In fact, during those years in Beijing, whenever she faced hardships, she was accustomed to drinking alone at night, slowly digesting her troubles. Because of her mother’s depression, afraid of affecting her emotions, Ye Meng never liked to complain to others. Those ideals, fragmented and shattered by reality, she no longer mentioned to anyone.

Because, no one wanted to hear, and no one could understand.

After hanging up with Fang Ya En, Ye Meng placed a pen between her nose and upper lip, looking at job advertisements from the past few months on her iPad with a serious expression. Unfortunately, there was nothing suitable for her. The only seemingly reliable advertising planning company blatantly stated in bold that they weren’t hiring locals. Just as Ye Meng was about to take out her phone to call and inquire, the screen lit up.

An unknown number.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Is this Miss Ye Meng?”

“Yes.”

“Hello, this is the escape room in the west of town. Do you remember breaking the records of three escape rooms at our shop a month and a half ago? Our boss would like to invite you and your friend to come as trial players for our newest escape room.”

Ye Meng was stunned, taking a moment to recall that half a month ago, she and Fang Ya En had cleared three escape rooms to avoid a blind date arranged by Big Ben.

She hesitated: “But my friend’s foot is injured, so she probably can’t participate. I don’t think I can do it alone, right?”

The person on the other end seemed to quickly consult with someone and offered a suggestion: “How about this, can you join with other players? This season’s escape room requires at least 2 people.”

“That works.”

“Then tomorrow at ten in the morning, I’ve made a reservation for you and another player.”

…

Ye Meng arrived quite early the next day, entering the shop at nine-thirty. The owner recognized her at a glance and smiled: “Young lady, you’re here so early? Your companion hasn’t arrived yet.”

“It’s fine. What’s today’s theme?” she asked while finding a mystery novel and sitting down on the sofa to read.

“Castle Exploration,” the owner said mysteriously.

“Is it scary?”

The owner explained: “Not very scary, just the setting is a bit… I saw you were quite calm during the horror puppet room last time.”

Ye Meng nodded, showing understanding. When playing games, she needed half an hour to clear her mind, otherwise she couldn’t get into the state.

About half an hour later, Ye Meng seemed to hear the wind chime at the door ring, and vaguely heard the owner greeting the arrival in a low voice: “Hey, you’re here?”

Then the man gave a low “Mm” in response.

Ye Meng instinctively turned her head to look, and saw Li Jin Yu standing at the door, still wearing that black work jacket from that night at the hotel, with sweatpants and a pair of Converse shoes, making his long legs look slender, with ankles thin yet strong. He didn’t look twenty-seven at all, more like a young man in his early twenties.

At that moment, two girls who had just emerged from the escape room exit, still immersed in the complex puzzles they had just solved, were excitedly recounting their experience in loud voices, making quite a commotion. As soon as they caught sight of Li Jin Yu, their eyes filled with amazement, and they immediately lowered their voices in embarrassment, even stomping their feet in frustration.

The owner led him over and enthusiastically introduced them: “This is Li Jin Yu, who has helped me plan several escape room themes. He’s our regular trial player. Those escape room records you broke before, they were all his—”

“No need for introductions, we know each other,” Li Jin Yu interrupted directly. “Please go ahead with your business.”

“Uh,” the owner was only stunned for a moment, quickly realizing how small the circle in this town really was, where you could find high school classmates anywhere you went. He tactfully left, saying, “Alright, you two chat.”

The wind chimes outside the door swayed as another customer came in. Ye Meng put down the book in her hand and smiled at him, “What a coincidence.”

Li Jin Yu sat down on the sofa next to her, sprawling his legs casually, also curling his lip in a slight smile. “Last time I heard the owner say someone was so free that they cleared escape rooms all evening and broke all my records. I didn’t expect it to be you. Don’t you need to work? Planning to live off that million yuan of yours?”

The two sat side by side, looking quite like a couple who had just gotten together. Everyone who came in couldn’t help but glance in their direction as if they were two living billboards. The two female staff at the service counter also occasionally glanced in their direction, whispering, “Little Yu and that sister look good together.”

The two involved were completely oblivious, sitting shoulder to shoulder.

“Last time was an accident. I was avoiding a blind date arranged by my grandmother, had nowhere to go, so I came to do escape rooms,” Ye Meng asked in return. “Aren’t you free too, having time to do escape rooms?”

Li Jin Yu leaned back against the sofa, smiling casually: “I’m here to make money. Do you think trial playing is so easy? I have to help fix bugs.”

Ye Meng stared at him for a while, curious, and asked: “Li Jin Yu, can I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“Did you go to college?”

Li Jin Yu was taken aback, his smile fading as he turned his head to look back at her. His natural height advantage meant that whether standing or sitting, he was always a bit taller than her, unconditionally dominating as he looked down at her: “Why do you ask?”

She pursed her lips, indicating he should answer first.

Li Jin Yu’s back suddenly left the sofa as he leaned forward to pick up the overturned cup in front of him and poured himself some water. “No, I didn’t.”

“High school graduate?”

He took a sip of water, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he leaned back against the sofa, saying coolly: “Is middle school graduation okay?”

Ye Meng nodded, knowing he wasn’t telling the truth, but didn’t pursue it further.

The owner had almost finished preparing the escape room and gestured to Li Jin Yu that they could start. Li Jin Yu stood up, took one last sip of water, and drawled mockingly: “What, a prestigious university graduate looking down on us middle school graduates?”

Ye Meng also drank some water and stood up, hurriedly shaking her head: “Not at all. I didn’t graduate from a prestigious university either. Your Jiang Lu Zhi graduated from a prestigious university, and even she didn’t look down on you, so why would I look down on you?”

“We’ve already broken up,” Li Jin Yu emphasized.

“Fine, your ex-girlfriend then.”

Ye Meng didn’t know if she was being too sensitive or if she had hurt his pride. It was truly amazing how she and this younger man seemed to have naturally incompatible energies. No matter how gentle and calm their opening conversations were, they always ended up with a hint of gunpowder.

The owner had already opened the escape room channel and announced the start of the game. “Come on, I put some effort into this scene. It’s also my first attempt at this kind of immersive script. Help me check for any bugs and give valuable feedback. Thank you, both experts. Let me first introduce some background. The position you’re in now is the entrance to the castle. Ye Meng, you are the maid of this ancient castle. Jin Yu, you are the young master of this castle. There are some secrets hidden in this castle that few know about. You two should play your roles…”

Both were wearing blindfolds and couldn’t see each other’s expressions, but Ye Meng felt that he was smiling.

Ye Meng: “…Next time, write a more creative script, like a princess and a farmhand.”

Li Jin Yu: “Let’s just start.” His voice carried a hint of amusement.

The owner coughed, “Then I’ll make it brief. Jin Yu, take off your blindfold, then lead Ye Meng to an iron cage near the stairway. The maid is in a locked state. The young master needs to find a way to unlock the maid, and only then can you two solve the escape room together—”

After Ye Meng was locked in the iron cage, Li Jin Yu was in no hurry to look for clues. Instead, he sat on the sofa, tilting his head to look around, and eventually even started playing table football on the television. He played a couple of rounds casually, truly acting like a young master.

“Never played before?” Ye Meng asked, looking at his back.

“I have,” he answered honestly.

“Had enough yet? Does sister look like she has a lot of patience?” Ye Meng said.

“The master is annoyed too,” Li Jin Yu was fully into his role, truly like a young master, with one hand on his waist, and the other holding a map he had found somewhere, quickly making notes before casually tossing it aside. He sighed and said, “The owner just told me, there’s a power outage outside.”