“You son of a—” Blue Hair was about to lash out, but upon meeting his gaze, he deflated. “I’m… I’m… I’ll apologize, okay? Why are you pushing me, bro?”
Reluctantly, without even looking at Yun Li, he muttered rapidly, “Sorry,” as if afraid someone might hear him.
Fu Shize didn’t let him off so easily. “Say it again.”
Blue Hair had no choice but to enunciate each word: “I’m sorry.”
Fu Shize smirked, “What’s there to be embarrassed about when apologizing?”
Blue Hair’s lips tightened as he stared at Fu Shize. “I apologize.”
“Are your eyes glued to me?”
“I…” Blue Hair took a deep breath, not wanting to apologize endlessly. He turned to Yun Li and said sincerely, “I’m sorry. My mind isn’t clear right now, and I don’t know why I did that. Please don’t take it to heart.”
Yun Li, still shaken, mumbled a response.
The big guy came out to smooth things over. “Ze-ge, why haven’t you gone home yet? You shouldn’t smoke; isn’t your cold still not better?”
“Mm.”
The big guy continued, “This kid’s just drunk. He’ll realize his mistake when he sobers up.”
Blue Hair protested, “I’m not drunk!”
Fu Shize ignored him and said, “Let’s go.”
Feeling like the whole world was against him, Blue Hair grumbled, “It was this girl who said earlier that if I asked her to come over—”
Before he could finish, the big guy covered his mouth, muffling his protests. Effortlessly dragging Blue Hair away, he called out, “Bro, we’ll be heading off then. I’ll take him to sober up.”
After they left, the already quiet area became even more desolate.
Yun Li wanted to ask about his relationship with them but felt it would be too intrusive. After a moment, she gripped her bag and said, “Thank you.”
Receiving no response, Yun Li hesitated, unsure whether to say goodbye.
Fu Shize suddenly asked, “What did you call me earlier?”
“Huh?” Confused, Yun Li answered cautiously, “Fu Shizhe?”
“Ze.”
“What?”
“Fu Shize.”
Yun Li still didn’t understand and repeated, “Um, Fu Shizhe.”
Fu Shize extinguished his cigarette. “Say it again with your tongue straightened.”
Yun Li suddenly realized her mistake and blushed.
Western people often struggle to distinguish between flat and curled tongue sounds in Mandarin. Yun Li’s fans often pointed this out in her videos. She had tried to correct it, but some words remained difficult for her to differentiate or even hear the difference.
She moved her mouth, barely whispering the beginning of the word, too embarrassed to continue.
However, Fu Shize merely pointed out her error without pressing the issue as he had with Blue Hair. Then, he asked thoughtfully, “How did you know my name?”
Yun Li’s mind raced, certain that he hadn’t introduced himself in their previous encounters. She couldn’t admit to searching for him online.
That would seem creepy, wouldn’t it?
She stammered an explanation, “I-I heard the EAW people mention it. They said you’re their new colleague.”
This reason seemed plausible, and Fu Shize nodded. Glancing at the time, he asked casually, “What brought you to this area?”
Yun Li replied softly, “I wanted to buy some fried rice noodles.”
Fu Shize didn’t inquire further. “Mm.”
“But never mind,” Yun Li said, still feeling uneasy despite nothing having happened earlier. “It seems a bit out of the way. I’ll just go back and order takeout.”
After a brief pause, Fu Shize asked, “Where?”
Yun Li instinctively pointed in a direction.
Fu Shize said, “Let’s go,” and started walking without waiting for her response.
Watching his retreating figure, Yun Li’s heart inexplicably raced. After a moment’s hesitation, she jogged to catch up with him.
The fried rice noodle shop was located in one of the small alleys.
Despite its remote location, it was still bustling with customers at this hour, mostly appearing to be local university students. The bubble tea shop was still open, though its business had slowed down after the initial hype.
They didn’t talk much, with no extra conversation during the wait.
Ten minutes later, Yun Li received the takeout bag.
They walked out together.
Following the street straight ahead, they reached the roadside. Across the street was the square Yun Li had come from earlier, still lively with people dancing and skateboarding.
Fu Shize stopped there and said, “Go home early.”
“Ah?” Yun Li was slow to react. “Oh, okay. I’ll head back then.”
After a few steps, Yun Li couldn’t resist looking back.
He was still standing in the same spot.
The man’s features were dark, his skin pale, exuding a cold aura. Tall and wearing a white t-shirt, his slender frame resembled a solitary pine tree, though not appearing frail.
At that moment, something broke free from its cage.
A flower, long reluctant to bloom, sprouted unnoticed. Timid and small, yet enticed by the moonlight, it chose to step into the human world for a glimpse.
Yun Li forgot her fear of social interactions, forgot her usual tendency to avoid strangers. At this moment, only one thought occupied her mind.
If she didn’t take a step forward now,
This might be the last time they’d see each other.
But she hoped,
There could be a next time.
Yun Li swallowed, her palms slowly closing. “Um, could I… could I get your contact information?”
Fu Shize looked up.
Doing this for the first time, Yun Li fumbled for an explanation, “I heard you have a cold. I know of an effective brand of cold medicine I’d like to recommend…”
He didn’t answer immediately, seemingly waiting for her to finish.
After a moment, Fu Shize said flatly, “Thanks, but no need.” Then, after a brief pause, he added, “I forgot to say, I hope my friend’s behavior won’t affect you.”
This simple statement shattered Yun Li’s fantasies and misinterpretations.
She didn’t need to think deeply to understand his implication.
His earlier actions weren’t due to any special interest in her.
It was merely because his friend had offended her tonight. Since an apology has been made, it should serve its purpose.
He didn’t want this incident to affect her original plans.
On this endless night, on this bustling yet desolate street, the road seemed to cut the world in half. The surrounding sounds faded away, replaced by a sharp ringing and a sense of collapse.
An uncontrollable feeling of embarrassment washed over her.
Yun Li managed a forced smile and said softly, “It’s fine. Never mind then… I hope your cold gets better soon.”
With that, Yun Li forgot even to say goodbye, only wanting to leave this place quickly. As she turned away, her nose tingled. She glanced at the oncoming traffic and hurriedly crossed the road.
…
Back home, Yun Li kicked off her shoes and tossed the bag onto the dining table. She took three quick steps to the living room and collapsed onto the sofa, sinking into it.
Wanting to pretend nothing had happened, Fu Shize’s expression kept replaying in her mind.
From beginning to end, there hadn’t been a hint of emotion.
It was as if tonight’s impulsiveness and retreat, caused by him, only concerned her. Even when rejecting her, he felt no need to apologize for potentially hurting her feelings.
Because he simply didn’t care.
Covering her face with a cushion, Yun Li bit her lip hard.
How embarrassing.
How awkward.
Why did she do such a thing?
Yun Li desperately needed to confide in someone, to have someone empathize with her, yet she didn’t want to mention it to anyone. After a long while, she picked up her phone and started searching online: “Asked for someone’s WeChat and got rejected.”
Many people had similar experiences.
It seemed like a common, trivial occurrence that shouldn’t matter.
But regardless, most people still wondered if they were that bad when the other person showed no interest in getting to know them further.
After browsing others’ stories for a long time, Yun Li finally began to recover. No longer wallowing in self-pity, she listlessly sat at the dining table and opened the long-neglected box of fried rice noodles.
She took a bite.
It had gone completely cold.
Yun Li swallowed and muttered dejectedly, “Even my heart isn’t as cold as yours.”
She put the box in the microwave to reheat. While waiting, Yun Li opened the E-site. She had been too busy lately and had taken a break, not posting videos for several weeks.
The comments below were all clamoring for her return, begging the missing person to come back, with some even giving her nicknames.
Amused by a few comments, Yun Li thought for a moment and typed out a status update.
Xian Yun Di Da Jiang: Please stop calling me Salted Fish Di Da Jiang, I beg you. New update this Saturday night.
As soon as she posted it, hundreds of comments flooded in.
Scrolling through them, Yun Li found that besides urging her to update, some reminded her of the promised 500,000 followers milestone reward she hadn’t delivered yet. She had previously asked for suggestions, receiving requests for various themed videos, so diverse it was dizzying.
But the most popular response was for her to do a live stream.
Yun Li rarely live-streamed. Her first attempt was out of curiosity, but she ended it after just a few minutes. Feeling that her impromptu reactions were poor and that the stream would be boring, she had been reluctant to try again.
The few times she did were at her fans’ insistence.
But for some reason, they seemed to enjoy it.
Noticing it was already late and there probably wouldn’t be many viewers, and feeling emotionally down and wanting to talk to people, Yun Li hesitated. She returned to the living room sofa, checked her appearance and angle in the camera, and after confirming everything was okay, she started the live stream.
Instantly, users flooded in.
Yun Li composed herself and greeted everyone. Watching the screen, she began reading and responding to comments: “Why the sudden live stream? — Oh, this is part of the million followers reward. I’m doing a trial run.”
“Why has the background changed? — I moved. It’s not fully set up yet. I’ll make a nicer background later.”
“What are you eating? — Fried rice noodles.” Yun Li opened the box, turning it into an eating broadcast as she ate and talked.
“This is boring. Do a talent show or something. What’s the point of this stream?” Yun Li replied calmly, “I don’t have any. You can switch to another stream if you’d like.”
“Why does Salted Fish seem so withdrawn today? — You’re mistaken.”
This comment triggered a flood of memes in the chat: [It’s ‘withdrawn’, not ‘with-drawn’.]
“…” Yun Li immediately thought of Fu Shize’s correction earlier and took a deep breath, certain she couldn’t have mispronounced this word. “Don’t twist my words. I said it correctly.”
The chat then began sending her words, tongue twisters, and other challenges, as if giving Yun Li’s Mandarin a devilish training session.
Perhaps wanting to play along with her fans, or maybe to prove herself, Yun Li carefully pronounced each word. For some phrases, she even improvised, creating nonsensical sentences on the spot.
This went on for about ten minutes.
Yun Li finished her fried rice noodles and scanned the screen, catching a word among the endless stream of comments.
— Shi Ze-
As Fu Shize left the sugar water shop, his phone rang in his pocket.
He glanced at the caller ID and answered. Xu Qingsong’s voice came through: “Where are you? I’ve already got the car.”
Fu Shize: “I’m out.”
“Alright, come to the bus station.”
“Mm.”
Fu Shize hung up, picked up a bag, and walked out to the street again. Finding Xu Qingsong’s car, he got into the passenger seat and placed the bag beside him.
Xu Qingsong glanced over while driving: “Who did you buy that for?”
“My dad.”
“The old man’s still not asleep at this hour?” Xu Qingsong asked casually, “So, are you heading back to North Mountain Maple Forest now? Or want to go somewhere with me?”
Fu Shize’s eyes drooped, looking exhausted: “No.”
Xu Qingsong shook his head, sighing: “With your personality, it’s surprising how popular you are with girls. I’ve received several messages these past few days, all asking for your WeChat.”
Fu Shize seemed not to have heard.
Seeing him so listless, Xu Qingsong didn’t say more. He reached out to turn off the phone’s navigation. At the same time, a notification from the E-site popped up at the top of the screen: Your followed @Xian Yun Di Da Jiang started a live stream 15 minutes ago.
Xu Qingsong accidentally tapped it.
He didn’t notice at first until the quiet, enclosed space suddenly filled with some background noise. Xu Qingsong instinctively looked at his phone and saw a somewhat familiar girl on the screen.
He Jiameng had previously shown Xu Qingsong the list of influencers chosen for EAW’s promotion and given him an account with the following list of all the participating content creators.
To show his responsibility, Xu Qingsong logged into the account. But too lazy to watch, he had only glanced at it briefly. However, the app kept sending notifications, and he had accidentally clicked on them several times by now.
Xu Qingsong was about to close it when he suddenly realized: “Ah Ze, isn’t this the girl who sat next to you the other day?”
Hearing the noise, Fu Shize barely lifted his eyelids.
He saw the girl he had just met appear on Xu Qingsong’s phone screen. She was sitting on a sofa, still wearing the clothes from earlier. Her face was small and fair, looking much the same on camera as in real life.
The girl’s eyes were large and bright, looking directly at the camera, seeming less restrained than when she was in front of him.
Then, the girl spoke, repeating a word without context: “Shi ze, shi ze…”
It was the middle of the night, during the Ghost Festival, on a cold and empty street. An accidentally clicked live stream, and the streamer’s voice echoed like a spirit call, repeatedly saying a word that sounded like his companion’s name.
“…”
The scene felt somewhat eerie.
Xu Qingsong paused: “Is she calling your name?”
Before Fu Shize could respond, the girl ended her “repeat mode.” Then, staring at the camera, she quickly said: “He seems like a wolf.”
She paused, then slowly added: “—but is a dog.”
The car fell silent.
Three seconds later, Xu Qingsong reacted. He had only caught the last part clearly and turned to ask: “Did she just insult you?”
Fu Shize didn’t understand: “What?”
“She said you’re a dog.”
“…”