Li Li stood rooted to the spot. He wanted to chase after her, but couldn’t bring himself to — he just kept feeling like Su Man had *changed*.

She’d always had a temper, but she’d never been this petty. Bringing up air conditioning of all things — had she lost her mind?

A few days of being coddled by a man, and suddenly she thought she was a princess?

Li Li was utterly at a loss.

His original plan had been to take her out for dinner afterward, let the conversation flow naturally over the meal, and slowly talk her around. Now she was gone, and eating alone didn’t appeal to him either. So, brow still stormy, he called Wu Xinghai.

“Hey, where are you? Have you eaten?”

Wu Xinghai was mildly surprised to be getting a call from Li Li. “Aren’t you supposed to be at dinner with Su Man?”

“She left,” Li Li said flatly.

Wu Xinghai: “She left? How did she just *leave*???”

Li Li felt too embarrassed to go into it, but the frustration was too suffocating to keep bottled up — so he told Wu Xinghai the whole story.

On the other end of the line, Wu Xinghai fell silent for a long moment.

So long that Li Li thought the call had dropped and called out “hello?” twice — before Wu Xinghai finally spoke, his tone grave and measured:

“My friend, what happened to you today is what you’d call… being defeated by a superior opponent.”

Li Li: “What?”

Wu Xinghai let out a long, mournful sigh.

He genuinely felt, at this point, that Li Li just wasn’t cut out for this. He’d been outmaneuvered and didn’t even realize it. With this level of awareness, how was he supposed to win Su Man back?

It was impossible.

The more he chased, the further away she’d get!

“I suspect that man knew you were asking Su Man to see a movie, so he took her himself first — one step ahead of you,” Wu Xinghai said.

Li Li: “So what?”

“You still don’t get it?” Wu Xinghai pressed on. “Let me ask you — have you and Su Man ever gone to the cinema together before?”

“Of course we have. Why?” Li Li frowned.

He and Su Man had been to the cinema plenty of times — just never one-on-one. Usually they’d gone in a group of friends, and when they were younger, with both their families.

“Let me ask you something else,” Wu Xinghai continued. “When Su Man went to the cinema with you before, did she ever mention drinks, or popcorn, or air conditioning?”

“Of course not — she was never this fussy before!” Li Li’s voice was thick with disgust. “Back then, she’d just say what she wanted, no nonsense. Nothing like this!”

“Right, so do you understand now?” Wu Xinghai said with feeling. “That man took Su Man to the cinema first, treating her with exquisite attentiveness. Then you take her — and it’s like making someone eat a gourmet feast, then sitting them down in front of everyday home cooking. Can you imagine the contrast?”

Li Li: “……”

He was somewhat put off by the comparison of himself to home cooking.

Wu Xinghai continued: “Everything is relative. You know those variety shows that bring kids from impoverished rural villages to the big city — let them experience the glitter and the abundance — and then send them back home? And then the children feel this overwhelming sense of loss and displacement…”

Li Li’s frown deepened. The analogy was getting more and more outrageous.

“What exactly are you saying? That Su Man suffers when she’s with me, like a child stuck in some poor mountain village? And that being with that guy means she gets to live the high life? Whose side are you on?!”

Wu Xinghai chuckled awkwardly. “I’m just throwing out a rough analogy… The point is, that man, in pursuit of Su Man, will go out of his way to treat her well at every turn. And you treat Su Man the way you’ve always treated her — which isn’t bad, I’m not saying that — it’s just that one of you is premium, and the other is… standard… hello? Hello? Hello??”

Li Li had apparently hung up at some point — probably when he’d heard enough.

Wu Xinghai let out another sigh and slowly pocketed his phone. “Honestly, this Li Li — he was just about to invite me for dinner…”

……

—