At four o’clock that afternoon, Ban Xia left early.

She carried her bag and pushed her bicycle, strolling out of the residential complex gates, and walking through knee-high grass.

The girl’s mind was in chaos.

It was strange – until she had just gone downstairs, she had been excited and thrilled, but as she drew closer step by step to the Zhongshan Men Street intersection, as time ticked minute by minute toward six o’clock, Ban Xia’s heart began beating faster and faster, growing increasingly nervous.

Would they come? How many people would come?

One? Two? Three?

What did they look like? Were they like Wu Yanzu, Peng Yuyan, or Tom Cruise?

Would they be easy to get along with?

How should she greet them when they meet?

While pushing her bike, Ban Xia imagined someone in front of her, waving at the air, simulating scenarios that might happen:

“Hello, hello! I’m Ban Xia! I’ve been waiting for you!”

No, the girl frowned, not dignified enough.

Then perhaps a traditional greeting with clasped hands?

“Honored friends, I am Ban Xia, and have been awaiting your arrival.”

No, Ban Xia shook her head, too unnatural.

The worn-out mountain bike creaked and rattled as Ban Xia walked alone down the center of the road. The paved asphalt surface was easier to walk on than the sidewalk, which was now overgrown with weeds that might hide snakes.

She kicked aside dried cow dung on the road, watching it crumble into small balls that rolled into the roadside grass.

From the Meihua Manor complex gates to the Zhongshan Men Street intersection was only a ten-minute walk. Both sides of the wide Zhongshan Men Street were lined with French Plane trees as thick as an adult’s embrace. After so many years without maintenance, fallen leaves had accumulated knee-deep on the road surface – step down, and underneath was black muck from rotted plane tree leaves.

Ban Xia pushed her bicycle across the road, then stood still at the opposite corner.

This spot had an excellent view – looking left was the direction of Purple Mountain Peninsula, right was Xuanwu Bay, and directly ahead was the empty Mu Xu Yuan Street.

She took out her pocket watch from her bag and checked the time – four twenty.

Still an hour and forty minutes until six o’clock.

The girl took a deep breath of air filled with the scent of fallen leaves and soil. She looked down at her feet, then up at the luxuriant French Plane trees, as the golden afternoon sunlight filtered through layers of leaves to fall on her shoulders.

She began humming softly.

In the distance, a sika deer crossed the road with its fawn. It noticed the human figure in its vision – that thin white shadow standing by the roadside, under the elevated highway, standing tall with a slender neck like an egret. But I didn’t understand why she stood there so long without moving.

When the wind blew, the tree crown’s leaves rustled, and the speckled light on the girl’s body rippled like water.

Quadratic functions were truly life’s great enemy.

When Bai Yang finished the last quadratic function problem on the practice test, it was already five-fifty in the afternoon.

Seeing the time, Bai Yang thought: this is bad, I’ll be late – betrayed by “Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulation Tests”! He grabbed his phone from the desk and rushed out of his room, hurriedly changing shoes at the entrance.

“Yang, did you finish the practice papers?” his mother asked from her room.

“Finished! I’m heading out now, it’s almost six o’clock, I’ll be late if I don’t leave now!” Bai Yang shouted while pulling on his sneakers, stamping his feet firmly. “Won’t be back for dinner!”

He thought he should at least treat her to a meal – couldn’t let the girl make the trip for nothing.

“Come back early!”

“I know!”

Bai Yang hurriedly left, sprinting down the stairs.

Running from Meihua Manor’s gates to the Zhongshan Men Street intersection, occasional passersby glanced at this young man running as if his pants were on fire, sweating profusely.

Bai Yang held onto the traffic light pole at the intersection, gasping for breath, then lifted his head to look around.

People came and went on Zhongshan Men Street, especially at the intersection with the elevated highway – all sorts of people, men, and women, young and old, walking on two legs, riding bicycles, riding electric bikes, driving old-people-mobiles, coming from and going in all directions. A large crowd was squeezed at the zebra crossing waiting for the light to change, a noisy, messy bunch.

Bai Yang stood on the sidewalk and took out his phone to check the time – exactly six o’clock, thankfully not late.

By six in the afternoon, the sky had already darkened, and cars on the road had their headlights on. Bai Yang craned his neck, looking hard for that girl – the one wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, carrying a black backpack, pushing a mountain bike, with a ponytail.

Many girls wore white shirts.

Quite a few wore blue jeans.

Some carried black backpacks.

Sisters pushing bicycles existed too.

But Bai Yang couldn’t find anyone combining all these features.

Perhaps she hadn’t arrived yet?

Bai Yang considered.

Then he’d just stand here and wait for her a while.

The red light turned green, and crowds waiting on both sides of the road began moving at once, crossing paths as they traversed the intersection, passing Bai Yang one after another.

After thirty seconds the green light turned red, and after a minute the red light turned green again. Crowds gathered and dispersed on both sides of the road, only Bai Yang stood motionless, nailed to the spot like a stake. The flow of people split around him as he stood under the traffic light, his gaze scanning the crowds one by one, but he couldn’t find anyone matching the description.

He somewhat regretted not getting contact information – could have called or sent a WeChat message when he arrived. What was the point of just waiting like this? But then he remembered that girl didn’t even have a phone number – truly bizarre.

“Sister, where are you?”

Bai Yang sighed, checking his phone again – six thirty already.

Could she be stuck in rush hour traffic?

That was possible.

But didn’t she know about taking the subway?

If she took the subway, she might come from the direction of Mu Xu Yuan station.

Bai Yang looked toward the subway station direction, seeing only the brightly lit city and streets in the night, endless streams of cars – half the city’s people heading home, half heading out. He hoped a young girl would appear in his vision, carrying a black backpack, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, and pushing a bicycle.

The night grew deeper.

Ban Xia looked at her pocket watch – it was already seven thirty in the evening. She had waited here for three hours, waited until both moons had risen.

But until now, no second person had appeared.

Her teacher had warned her never to go out at night. Today was the first time Ban Xia had broken her teacher’s rule – she had ignored everything else for the chance to contact other survivors.

But the other person had stood her up.

Why?

Had they encountered some danger?

Ban Xia was very worried, concerned that they had met with misfortune on their way to the meeting. But she didn’t dare leave, afraid that if she left, she would miss them.

The bicycle leaned against a French Plane tree trunk. The night was dark but the moonlight was bright. Something howled faintly in the distance. The girl grew tired of standing, so she slowly crouched down with her bow and arrows under the thick pillar of the elevated highway.

She had never stayed out this late before and now felt somewhat frightened and uneasy. Ban Xia stared at the road surface in the moonlight from afar.

“Why didn’t you come to meet me…”

That day, at the intersection of Zhongshan Men Street and Mu Xu Yuan Street, Ban Xia never met the person who was supposed to come.

That small shadow crouched in the darkness, fingers gently tapping the ground tiles second by second, as time flowed through the entire universe and her heart.

This was Qinhuai District, Nanjing City.

Today was September 8th, 2040.

“Hello? Mom? Alright, alright, I’m coming home now, I know it’s eight thirty, I know…”

“The person? No, nothing at all, she never showed up, stood me up.”

“I stood there like an idiot at the intersection for two and a half hours… Food? Haven’t eaten, haven’t eaten anything.”

“Is there still dinner at home? Okay, okay, I’m coming home right now.”

Bai Yang hung up the phone.

Leaning against the streetlight, he scratched his head.

If He Leqin and Yan Zhihan found out about this, they’d laugh themselves to death.

Being called out to wait on the street for two and a half hours, only to be stood up – what kind of situation was this?

“Bai Yang, ah Bai Yang, you’re truly an idiot.”

Bai Yang jabbed the streetlight pole hard.

“Going home! Going home right now! Still have school tomorrow!”

He stomped on the sidewalk tiles vengefully.

That day, Bai Yang also never met the person he was waiting for at the intersection of Mu Xu Yuan Street and Zhongshan Men Street.

He returned along his original path, his silhouette gradually disappearing into the city lights.

This was Qinhuai District, Nanjing City.

Today was September 8th, 2019.