Li Jinyu had only met Jiang Luzhi twice. The first time was through an introduction; they briefly met at a coffee shop where it took just a few exchanges to since they didn’t click. Jiang Luzhi had solemnly vowed to make a name for herself in Beijing, her words filled with admiration for the big city. However, everything Jiang Luzhi yearned for had been readily available to Li Jinyu since childhood, and he had long grown weary of that city.
The two didn’t hit it off, and after hastily ending their date, Jiang Luzhi clearly wasn’t impressed with him and even deleted him from WeChat. Li Jinyu hadn’t known about this until that night when the old lady took his phone—whether intentionally or genuinely by accident, he couldn’t intercept it in time—and unexpectedly sent an emoji to Jiang Luzhi. The result was a prompt to add a friend, which was when he realized he’d been deleted.
Li Jinyu never had the habit of deleting contacts from WeChat, so he didn’t reciprocate the deletion.
Unexpectedly, a week later, Jiang Luzhi re-added him on WeChat and rushed back from Beijing, bluntly asking if he would marry her.
Li Jinyu found dating burdensome enough, let alone marriage. He immediately refused.
Jiang Luzhi was puzzled. This man had neither money nor status, yet somehow possessed an inviolable air of superiority. So she defiantly asked, “Why? Can you find someone with better conditions than me in this backwater place?”
They were by a small river at the time, beneath a vast, silent starry sky like an enormous, quiet canopy enveloping them both. Behind them flowed the languid river, its bed thinly lined with smooth, rounded pebbles, while the raucous croaking of frogs filled their ears. Jiang Luzhi still couldn’t believe that in this small, shabby county town where even KFC wouldn’t open a branch, there was a man who would reject her—a flower on a high peak that others wouldn’t dare dream of.
Li Jinyu was leaning lazily against Jiang Luzhi’s car door, leisurely chewing a White Rabbit milk candy, his expression indifferent, truly playing the role of a jerk. He said, “Dating would be fine, but marriage is out of the question. I won’t go to Beijing, and you’re not willing to stay here, so would we have a long-distance marriage? You might not worry about me finding someone else, but I’m afraid I can’t control my lower half. After all, I have no moral bottom line.”
Li Jinyu’s appearance wasn’t that of an extremely handsome, rarely-seen heartthrob; in a crowd, he’d only merit a few extra glances. But his demeanor was unique—though he’d never had a girlfriend, his eyes revealed delicacy and passion, and he spoke like a veteran of romance. She felt this man had hooks in his eyes.
Jiang Luzhi was determined in her pursuits; every effort must yield returns. So she said dating would do; after all, she couldn’t have come for nothing. “Do you know how much I make per hour?” Li Jinyu had wanted to ask if he had invited her to come, but this time he didn’t refuse outright. Instead, he leaned more relaxedly against the car, curiously staring at her for a few seconds, pondering something unknown.
Jiang Luzhi didn’t understand why he was being so standoffish; an outsider might mistake him for some condescending rich young master. Jiang Luzhi said, “You also don’t want your grandmother setting you up on blind dates everywhere, right? Elderly people get anxious as they age. Let’s try first, and we can reconsider if it doesn’t work out.”
Finally, he agreed: “Alright.”
Counting the years, Jiang Luzhi was two years older than Li Jinyu. She was pretty, but not the first older woman to pursue him. In the past, Li Jinyu wouldn’t have considered a relationship with an older woman.
Thanks to his mother, he had a natural fear of women older than him, except for his grandmother. And precisely because of his grandmother, he was quite skilled at coaxing elderly women of his grandparents’ generation.
After they established their relationship, Jiang Luzhi returned to Beijing without a moment’s rest. Apart from occasional phone calls, she never came back once. So how did he suddenly become the “other man”?
So Li Jinyu genuinely didn’t know about this. If it weren’t for the old lady insisting on matchmaking, he wouldn’t have wanted to find a girlfriend. He hadn’t looked for one before and didn’t plan to in the future. Although the psychologist had suggested years ago that he could try dating to improve his interpersonal relationships and alleviate his condition.
What was the use?
At least he was living well now. As long as he didn’t see his mother, who was a perfectionist to an extreme degree, he felt much better than before, even though in many people’s eyes he was just a “loser” working three jobs a day.
The night sky hung high, stars shining, bright and dim celestial points emitting a serene light. The rounded mountain peaks were shrouded in a thin mist, and faintly in the distance, one could still hear the weak chirping of cicadas.
After Ye Meng left, Li Jinyu paid the fees and leaned against a stone pillar of the hospital building. Tilting his head back to casually admire the night view, he unwrapped another milk candy, chewing indifferently while carelessly reflecting that being a “loser” wasn’t so bad.
At this moment, from beside him came a soft, “Brother.”
Li Jinyu felt someone lightly tug at the hem of his shirt. He slightly frowned and swept a glance with his peripheral vision. It was a thin little girl, not even reaching his upper thigh, grinning with a sadly toothless smile, pitifully asking if he had any more candy.
Today was truly bizarre—crabs, candy… was he Santa Claus? When would it end?
“Your teeth are already falling out, and you still want candy? Doesn’t your mom scold you?” He smirked, speaking acidly.
The little girl was stunned. She hadn’t expected this handsome brother to talk so harshly, and opened her mouth to cry—
“Guess. If you guess right, I’ll give you one.”
Li Jinyu turned to the side, leaning his back against the stone pillar, pretending to rummage through his pants pockets, then held his fists in front of the little girl for her to choose.
The little girl was clever and saw through his trick immediately, confidently stating, “You’re lying. Neither has any candy. I just saw you take the candy from your jacket pocket.”
“I have candy in all four of my pockets. I’ll show you later.”
“Then… I choose this one.” The little girl pointed hesitantly at his left hand. And there was candy! She happily showed her gap-toothed smile again. Li Jinyu clicked his tongue twice, thinking this child was truly ugly.
“Should I unwrap it for you?” Li Jinyu asked lazily.
“Yes,” the little girl said earnestly, and couldn’t help sincerely complimenting him, “Brother, you’re the richest person I’ve ever met. You have candy in all four pockets. I don’t even have pockets.” She patted the space where pockets would be on both sides of her clothes.
“I was just kidding,” Li Jinyu cajoled and deceived, leaning against the pillar, finishing unwrapping the candy and holding it in his hand for her to come and bite. “This is the last one. Remember to brush your teeth after eating, or tomorrow I’ll pull out the few teeth you have left.”
The little girl was unfazed by the threat and contentedly chewed the candy, then began to make conversation in a pretentious manner: “Which ward are you in? Can I come to find you to play? I think you’re very cool, all dressed in black, just like the cool Grim Reaper from Korean dramas.”
Li Jinyu couldn’t help but laugh. What Grim Reaper?
“You just want more candy from me, right?” Li Jinyu gave her a meaningful look, putting his hands back in his pockets, talking to her like an ordinary friend. “It depends on my mood. I might not be here every day.”
“Alright, I need to go back now. Goodbye, Grim Reaper!” The little girl solemnly bid farewell, then suddenly made a goofy face by pulling at her cheeks, turned around, and ran away unsteadily.
Li Jinyu watched her disappear down the corridor, then simply sat down on the third step of the entrance stairs, stretching his long legs out on the last step. He pulled out another of those supposedly “finished” milk candies from his pocket, unwrapped it leisurely, half-biting it between his lips with a casual air of indifference, and then called Jiang Luzhi. No one answered, and he didn’t bother calling again. He simply hung up without hesitation and sent two concise WeChat messages before shoving the phone back into his pocket, continuing to chew his candy and admire the night view with detached indifference.
J: Heard that big sister got married? J: Don’t you owe me an explanation, hmm?
Ye Meng had been frequenting the hospital lately because Method Yan’s husband was still away on a business trip, so she was pressed into service as a babysitter. The babysitter and the chubby boy in the next bed had become like blood brothers. Occasionally they would play games together; the chubby boy wasn’t very good, but Ye Meng had no resistance to such well-behaved kids. When playing ranked games with friends, she was willing to carry him and let him enjoy the victory.
Now, while the chubby boy was pushing the old lady for a walk, Method Yan maliciously encouraged her: “Hey, are you interested in a nurturing project? This chubby boy has a nice personality.” The chubby boy had quite delicate features and a refined appearance. If he lost weight, he would be a handsome guy. With such a handsome cousin, his genes couldn’t be too far off.
“Method Yan, don’t be perverse,” Ye Meng seriously warned her. “Not only is Fatty not my type, even if he looked like his brother, just the fact that his brother is Jiang Luzhi’s boyfriend—that alone would make me pass on him and everyone around him. No way I’d consider it.”
Method Yan knew why. Probably because the Jiang family and the Ye family had similar status in the town; both had once been glorious but were now in decline. But as the Jiang family had been thriving in recent years, the Ye family had gained nothing but gossip.
People in town loved to compare Ye Meng with Jiang Luzhi, saying the Jiang family was about to turn things around because of Jiang Luzhi, while the Ye family remained under a cloud, with no one daring to approach.
Ye Meng rarely quibbled with people, but when it came to finding a boyfriend, she absolutely couldn’t have any connection to Jiang Luzhi. Otherwise, with Jiang Luzhi’s domineering personality, she would surely step on Ye Meng to boast for a lifetime. She would rather die than allow that.
“He’s her ex-boyfriend now.” Method Yan took a bite of an apple and suddenly reminded her.
Ye Meng was looking down, scrolling through a headhunting website. Upon hearing this, she paused, quickly swiping past several job listings, and absentmindedly asked, “Moving quickly, huh? Who proposed the breakup?”
Method Yan raised an eyebrow, chewing her apple and gesturing with her chin toward the next room. Luckily, no one was there. “Who else? Haven’t you noticed he’s been avoiding you lately?”
Ye Meng hadn’t paid attention, but with this reminder, she did recall that whenever she arrived, Li Jinyu wouldn’t stay for more than two minutes before getting up to leave. “Are you blaming me for meddling?” Ye Meng locked her phone and placed it on the nearby cabinet, looking directly at her.
In the dim hospital room, the two spoke in voices as low as mosquitoes, and Method Yan detected the subtext in her words.
“Don’t you think you’ve been acting a bit oddly in this matter?” Method Yan knew Ye Meng’s character; she would go through fire and water for friends but wouldn’t waste time on strangers. “You deliberately wanted to embarrass him.”
“I admit I had bad intentions. I’ve been like this since I was little,” Ye Meng said frankly, with an expression that seemed to say, “I’ve always been heartless; do you have some misunderstanding about me?”
Method Yan understood this well. So that night, when Li Jinyu went downstairs to pay for the extended hospitalization, Method Yan had a premonition that Ye Meng would follow him out, and sure enough, she followed closely behind just seconds later. It was deliberate. Ye Meng didn’t have many virtues; she had been stone-hearted since childhood. Despite her carefree demeanor and shameless attitude with everyone, even after years of masquerading as a cat, a fox’s nature is hard to change. Even Method Yan’s friends from the street had said this girl was someone destined for great things. If not for Method Yan stopping them, they would have sworn brotherhood on the spot.
Method Yan was suspicious: “Just because he’s Jiang Luzhi’s boyfriend?”
“Because I discovered that after I resigned, the company’s legal team also changed, and the new team is Jiang Luzhi’s Chengren Law Firm,” said Ye Meng.
“You suspect she’s behind your troubles?”
Ye Meng calmly retrieved her phone, casually flipping through a few photos before tossing the phone on the bed for Method Yan to see—photos of Jiang Luzhi and her new partner. With a forced smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she said, “Be confident, remove the ‘suspect’.”
“That bitch Jiang Luzhi, she is…” Method Yan cursed.
Ye Meng continued: “Then guess why Gou Kai agreed to let Jiang Luzhi push me out?”
“Why?” Method Yan was completely bewildered; how would she know?
“Gou Kai once had a rich second-generation friend who suffered from depression and attempted suicide, dropping out of college in his junior year. After that, Gou Kai hardly had any friends. When I met him, I had just resigned from the newspaper and was feeling disillusioned. Gou Kai extended an olive branch to me. At that time, I didn’t know anything; I knew I was incompetent, but I was also too lazy to learn and had no desire to work hard, just getting by. In such circumstances, I should have been fired within three days, but Gou Kai didn’t fire me. Instead, he told me, ‘You must maintain this negative and lazy state, don’t work hard at all,’ because he had a friend who worked too hard, and pursued excellence and good manners to the extreme, which caused Gou Kai to grow up in the anxiety of ‘being compared to his friend.’ Seeing me made him feel healed. He said if his friend had met someone like me earlier, perhaps he wouldn’t have attempted suicide due to depression or dropped out. Maybe he would have been an excellent journalist, news reporter, translator, diplomat, and so on.”
Method Yan was quite incredulous. “Is that insulting you or praising you?”
Ye Meng continued smoothly: “But later I changed too. I wanted to establish myself in Beijing, began to work overtime frantically, and kept a pair of high heels in my bag ready to meet clients at any time, wishing I could stretch twenty-four hours into forty-eight. Gou Kai felt I was no different from other Beijing drifters. He said, ‘You’ve been assimilated, so why not find someone from a prestigious university? Why choose someone from a third-rate college like you? He doesn’t lack talent.'”
“Do all rich people have a bit of…” Method Yan found it incredible that there was a boss who complained about employees being too hardworking.
“Heaven knows how much I want to lie around and get paid, doing nothing at all.”
“Right, why doesn’t he just pay you a salary and let you be negative and lazy all day?”
“The interesting part is,” Ye Meng solemnly shook her head, “when you receive income that doesn’t match your effort, people fall into anxiety. Within a year, you’d be depressed and anxious because you have no idea how long such days can last. But if he gives you wages equal to your effort, how much money can you earn in a month in that negative and lazy state? It would be better to pack up and go home—why waste time there? Gou Kai essentially wanted to see how good my attitude could be. He wanted to see me blow up, then go back to doing nothing and being his lapdog. But I can’t help it; I have no other merits except for my extremely good mindset.”
Method Yan once again sighed that rich people were simply too idle, lamenting: “But this has nothing to do with Li Jinyu; you shouldn’t take your anger out on him. Now he doesn’t even want to see you.”
“I know,” she leaned back and sighed as well. “I originally wanted to subtly inquire, but his narcissistic appearance was so irritating that I couldn’t help but burst his little bubble. I’ve been trying to find an opportunity to apologize to him these past couple of days, but I didn’t expect him to avoid me.”
“Why do you always think he’s narcissistic? I think he’s just a bit cold, where’s the narcissism?”
“To me, coldness is narcissism. Chubby is the real angel.”
“You’ve been pampered since childhood, so when you meet someone who doesn’t pay attention to you, you call them narcissistic,” Method Yan fell back, no longer bothering with her. “You should just go with your Chubby.”
As evening approached, the hospital room grew dim. Method Yan was on the verge of falling asleep when she suddenly heard Ye Meng ask: “Which bar did Chubby say he sings at?”
“Jiu Bao Shi,” Method Yan poked her head out from under the covers. “Are you going to crash the place?”
“I’m going to support him. Although he said he’s garbage, and although I’m not a good person either, I still need to apologize for my rashness.”
Jiu Bao Shi was located on a hillside farthest from town, surrounded by a serene environment and lush greenery. At its center stood a stone-built cabin with octagonal sides, all emitting some brilliant light. Around it was a swath of colorful lights, softly laid between the trees, exceptionally peaceful—not like a bar, but more like a quiet bar.
The operating hours of bars in the small town typically ran from 6 PM to 3 AM.
There were hardly any customers before 9 PM, so when Ye Meng appeared at Jiu Bao Shi at 6 PM, the staff around thought it was strange that someone would come so early to queue for this small bar.
When Ye Meng called to inquire, the staff said she needed to queue for a number to enter.
Fine. Ye Meng drove all the way, speeding along, and now stood alone at the entrance with number 1.
Beside her was a mongrel dog wearing number 2, panting with its tongue out, smiling at her.
“What would you like to drink?”
A waiter came over with a menu, warmly greeting her.
Ye Meng said directly: “I’m looking for Li Jinyu.”
“Brother Yu hasn’t arrived yet. What would you like to drink?” The waiter explained with a smile, “He’s usually still sleeping at home at this time.”
Ye Meng casually ordered a Long Island Iced Tea and closed the menu: “What time does he come?”
“His show is at 8:30, so he’ll probably come at 7 for rehearsal.”
“Oh! Brother Yu, you’re here!” The waiter’s eyes bubbled with confusion.
Ye Meng turned her head to see a tall figure walking in through the door, a large black guitar case slung over his back. The mongrel dog with the number 2 tag was pawing at his leg.
Li Jinyu crouched down to let it lick his hand, his face showing no trace of coldness. The bright and open youthfulness, even in an ordinary sports outfit, was vibrantly touching. The clear and distinct collarbone lines beneath his slender neck were visible, and Ye Meng noticed the faint scar on his Adam’s apple, which from a distance looked like a freshly planted kiss mark, casual and unrestrained.
Ye Meng didn’t know why she suddenly thought of what Gou Kai had said—
The youth grows unbridled, thus possessing infinite possibilities.