The Alley Was Always This Long – Chapter 30
by Little PandaGaze
Tao Tianran looked very gentle.
[That day, as I walked to the mouth of the alley, a sudden wave of sadness washed over me.
It turned out that in the place where we once kissed,
people were still wandering, falling in love, meeting, and parting.
Only, among them, there was no longer us.]
First thing Monday morning, Cheng Xiang sat in Yi Yu’s office, staring at the rough diamond Yi Yu used as a paperweight, barely managing to bite back her hesitation.
But she really couldn’t help asking, “What are you doing?”
Yi Yu was playing catch-stones.
It was a game kids in Beicheng grew up playing, usually with pebbles or small sandbags.
At this moment, however, between Yi Yu’s slender white fingers rested an aquamarine, a red diamond, and a yellow topazβ¦
Without even looking up, she said, “Oh, just testing their texture and hardness.”
Cheng Xiang angrily called her out. “You’re just bored!”
“Tskβ¦ What are you yelling for? You startled me so much I messed up my turn.” Yi Yu finally lifted her chin to glance at her. “What do you need me for?”
Cheng Xiang cleared her throat and leaned back in her chair. “I want to resign.”
She certainly wasn’t going to wait for some weekend annual meeting. She had been bluffing Tao Tianran.
She had to run away. If she kept tangling with Tao Tianran like this, she would go crazy.
Without so much as a glance at her, Yi Yu lowered her head and went back to her game. “Thirty thousand.”
“⦔ Cheng Xiang slammed her hand on the desk in outrage. “Do you think you can solve everything with thirty thousand?”
“Then three hundred thousand.”
“Someone as noble as me who treats money like dirtβ¦ huh?”
A petty commoner. Cheng Xiang felt she was still just a petty commoner at heart.
Even though she had now transmigrated into Yu Yusheng’s body and become extremely wealthy, hearing “three hundred thousand” still made her eyes light up involuntarily.
She asked Yi Yu, “Really?”
“Of course it’s fake.” Yi Yu looked up, narrowing her eyes at her. “Do you really take me for a fool with too much money?”
“Tch. If I do a good job with my designs, couldn’t I earn the company back three hundred thousand in the long run?”
“That’s not how it works.” Yi Yu wagged a finger. “Who is the Big Boss of this company? Me! I can’t just shell out that much money for nothing and let you have me by the throat, understand?”
“But you’re still being held by the throat by Teacher Tao.”
“Nothing I can do about that. Who told her to be my biggest cash cow?” Yi Yu caught her off guard with a sudden question: “Are you resigning because of Teacher Tao?”
“Huh?” Cheng Xiang instinctively rubbed her thumb against her index finger. “Yeah.”
“Understandable, understandable,” Yi Yu said. “After all, an iceberg like that is too hard to pry open, right? Facing her all day must be suffocating.”
Cheng Xiang lowered her eyes slightly.
It would be fine if she really were impossible to pry open.
What she feared most was the current situation. As another person entirely, she was afraid of Tao Tianran having no feelings for her, but she was even more afraid of Tao Tianran having feelings for her.
The other day in the dimly lit study, she had leaned close to Tao Tianran. The wavering yellow light of the floor lamp had been like an unsteady memory, casting shadows over the subtly prominent curve of Tao Tianran’s lip.
Cheng Xiang swallowed hard and told Yi Yu, “Anyway, I want to resign.”
“How about this,” Yi Yu suggested. “I’ve been looking into synthetic stone recently, and their factory is at Ghost Laugh Mountain. Go station yourself there for a while and finish this quarter’s designs.”
“You do like jewelry design, right?” Yi Yu asked. “Walking away just like this, without ever having beaten Tao Tianran even onceβare you really okay with that?”
Cheng Xiang pursed her lips.
She remembered leaning on Tao Tianran’s desk during their senior year of high school, her smiles pushing up the fine, puffy ridges1 beneath her eyes: “Who knows, maybe one day the posters for our awards will hang right next to each other. Hey, wouldn’t that be a thrill?”
Back then, she hadn’t doubted Tao Tianran’s bright future as a jewelry designer for a second.
And oh, how much she had wanted to be an amazing manga artist.
Later.
Later, as graduation approached, the manuscripts she submitted were rejected time and time again. She found a regular job, rushing about every day on buses and subways.
She had told Qin Ziqiao, “I’ve suffered the vicious beatings of society. I just don’t have that much time to draw comics anymore. It can’t be helped.”
After a while longer, whether it was Qin Ziqiao or anyone else asking, “Do you still like drawing comics?”
Her gaze would always dart away evasively.
Every day after work, she still hid in her rented room and drew comics, but it felt like nothing more than an instinct born of habit. Did she still like drawing comics? To be honest, even she wasn’t sure anymore.
It wasn’t as if the thought had never crossed her mind: perhaps “life” was simply her shield.
If the harsh reality of “making a living” hadn’t stood in her way, would she have been forced to admit in a far more direct and bloody mannerβthat she simply had no talent, that she just wasn’t good at drawing comics?
Now, she lifted her eyelashes and asked Yi Yu, “Do you think I like jewelry design?”
“Of course you like it!” Yi Yu slapped the table. “Are you short on money? You’re not! Coming to work when you don’t even need the moneyβwhat kind of spirit is that? It’s the spirit of an absolute moronβ¦ ah, wait, no.”
She corrected herself. “It’s the spirit of a true passion for jewelry design. And that kind of passion is precious, right?”
Cheng Xiang smiled faintly. “Yeah.”
She accepted Yi Yu’s proposal.
“Great.” Yi Yu waved a hand at her. “Then pack up and head into the mountains. Oh, right, since I’m doing you a favor by helping you avoid resigning, this doesn’t count as a regular business deployment. There won’t be a daily travel per diem, got it?”
Cheng Xiang: !!!
Capitalists really were dark-hearted! Was there even such a thing as a capitalist without a black heart?
No wonder Yi Yu was always throwing around “thirty thousand” this and “thirty thousand” that, yet the company still managed to turn a profit.
Cheng Xiang returned to her workstation. She had originally thought that this time, resigning wouldn’t be like when she left the game companyβlugging away half-used boxes of tissues in a yellow Meituan takeout bag. No matter what, she had to find a proper cardboard box this time. If she really couldn’t find one, she would buy one from an SF Express courier!
She was wearing a silk satin shirt with wide-leg trousers now, wasn’t she? She had curled hair, red lips, and stiletto heels, didn’t she? Either way, she had to fill her resignation box with all sorts of exquisite little trinkets, nonchalantly unclip her ID badge and drop it on the desk, and offer a charming, radiant smile to her colleagues beside her: “Until we meet again, sisters!”
Maybe Tao Tianran would step out of her private office.
Tao Tianran would undoubtedly be wearing a crisp shirt, the cuffs rolled up twice to reveal wrists so slender they appeared almost frail, traced with faint, beautiful blue veins.
Tao Tianran would lean against the sleek black metal doorframe, her gaze fixing upon her, piercing straight through the crowd of colleagues seeing her off.
Had her words stirred up any stormy waves in Tao Tianran’s heart?
Would she be able to tell from Tao Tianran’s reaction as she watched her leave?
But Cheng Xiang didn’t want to see it anymore.
This time she didn’t want to turn back. She wouldn’t look back even once. She would hold her cardboard box like one of those glamorous beauties in the old Gangdao TVB dramas she watched as a kid, her high heels clicking as she walked away with absolute flair, leaving Tao Tianran’s gaze firmly behind her.
Sigh. Imagination. It was all just imagination.
In reality, she wasn’t nearly that cool. Because this wasn’t an official resignation, Cheng Xiang didn’t bother packing up her things or anything. She simply grabbed her handbag and quietly slipped away.
Before leaving, she cast one last glance at Tao Tianran’s office. The Venetian blinds were half-closed, but she could faintly make out Tao Tianran’s silhouette sitting upright. Her long, straight black hair cascaded down the side of her face as she spoke with her assistant.
Cheng Xiang couldn’t guess what kind of mood Tao Tianran would be in when she got off work and saw her empty workstation.
In the past, when Xiao Xiang suddenly vanished, Tao Tianran had been completely indifferent⦠right?
Maybe after a year, or two years, or three years, Tao Tianran would suddenly have a fleeting moment of thought: Why did that noisy, chattering girl who used to always hover around me suddenly disappear?
In that moment, perhaps she would be on the street buying an iced Americano.
Perhaps she would be on her way home from work, walking down that stretch of road where the streetlamps looked like a waning moon.
Perhaps it would be an autumn afternoon, the scent of roasting chestnuts drifting through the air, just as she walked out of a museum after hunting for inspiration and ran into a rowdy group of children on a field trip.
Cheng Xiang had no idea if Tao Tianran would ever have such a moment where she thought of her.
And she didn’t want to know anymore.
She slipped away quietly.
Leaving to station at Ghost Laugh Mountain wasn’t happening for another week, so Cheng Xiang suddenly found herself with a week of absolute idleness.
Cheng Xiang had experienced days like this before, right after she resigned from the game company. However, her circumstances back then had been a bit more pitiful; with no money to spend, she could only hunker down at home every day.
Now, at least, she could sit by the side of the street and drink a fancy coffee.
With lots of cream and lots of sugar.
Not afraid of getting her expensive trench coat smudged with dust, she sat casually on the curb, just like the old Cheng Xiang used to do. She lifted her eyes to glance at the hazy sky. It looked as though it were about to rain, resembling the massive flocks of pigeons from the hutongs of the past, flapping their wings as they swept across the heavens.
When she and Tao Tianran used to hide in her bedroomβthe one with the parasol tree outsideβand kiss, flocks of pigeons just like those would fly overhead.
They couldn’t be seen through the roof tiles, but the flutter of their wings could be heard. It was as if their light gray down floated right into a person’s pupils, softening even the hardest gaze.
In certain moments, the look in Tao Tianran’s eyes had seemed so very gentle.
Suddenly, a rubber ball rolled over to Cheng Xiang’s feet.
Cheng Xiang lifted her high heel and stopped it.
A chubby-cheeked little girl with pigtails ran over to her, picked up the ball, and gave her a lingering look. “Why are you crying?”
Cheng Xiang froze for a moment, then smiled. “I’m not crying.”
She reached up and wiped her face. She really wasn’t crying; her skin was completely dry.
What did she have to cry about! Goodbye and good riddance, Tao Tianran!
Qin Ziqiao was quite speechless.
Because this Eldest Miss, who hadn’t come to harass her in a long while, was once again squatting on her computer chair.
She was eating a bag of White Rabbit candy-flavored potato chipsβcrunch, crunchβand dropping crumbs all over the seat again. Even though this person would always clean up properly every time, seeing the mess still made her OCD flare up, causing her to frown.
“Why are you here again?” she asked.
“I’m bored.”
Heh, well that’s honest.
Cheng Xiang asked, “What are you planning to do tonight?”
“Going to a class reunion.”
Cheng Xiang was shocked. “Really?”
Qin Ziqiao had never gone to class reunions before. Actually, Cheng Xiang never wanted to go either. In Qin Ziqiao’s words, what was the point of losers like them going to a reunion? But she could never withstand Director Ma’s constant instigating.
She asked Qin Ziqiao, “Are you really going?”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“Then I’m going too.”
“No.” Qin Ziqiao rubbed her aching head. “It’s our class reunion. Why are you going? Are you my classmate?”
“To be the sucker who pays the bill,” Cheng Xiang said with a cheeky grin.
Class reunions were often stages for successful people to show off.
Especially those who hadn’t done too well back in their student days.
Take today, for instance. The reunion was booked at a massive seafood restaurant. The one who made the reservation was a chubby guy who used to stutter constantly during their school days, but who was now the boss of a real estate company.
Cheng Xiang actually did tag along with Qin Ziqiao.
The private dining room fell silent for a moment before someone seemingly snapped back to reality and asked Qin Ziqiao, “Who is this gorgeous beauty?”
“I don’t know.” Qin Ziqiao gave up, dropping her bag and taking a seat. “Picked her up off the street.”
There was one good thing about Cheng Xiangβshe had an easy time mingling with people.
Having inherited Director Ma’s warm-heartedness, she asked about this and that, acting as if every major and minor event in the world was her business. She could spend half the day asking questions just because someone’s cat had diarrhea.
After all, who wouldn’t like a warm-hearted, gorgeous beauty?
Just as the atmosphere in the private room was growing even hotter than the lobster on the table, someone pushed the door open.
The first face to appear belonged to the ushering waiter. Then, Tao Tianran walked in.
Instantly, a dead silence fell over the room.
It wasn’t like the quiet when she first entered the room. Nor was it like the chilling silence when Tao Tianran walked in.
The silence Tao Tianran brought with her was as if she were wrapped in a layer of frost and snow, causing the entire world to chill in her wake.
Your eyelashes felt frozen as her face reflected in your eyes.
Cold, pale skin; fine, delicate eyelashes; pupils of a rare, deep ink-black; and thin, sharply defined lips.
Finally, someone called out, “Tao Tianran.”
Tao Tianran nodded and chose an empty seat.
She casually hung her exorbitantly expensive handbag over the back of the chair, draped her discarded blazer over it, and rested a slender wrist on the edge of the table, glancing at the crowd.
“Hi,” she said.
At that moment, Cheng Xiang was holding a piece of lobster meat in her chopsticks. Having just heard that the other person’s cat always got diarrhea stuck in its butt fur, she had offered some advice and found the whole thing hilarious; the smile hadn’t completely faded from her face yet.
Tao Tianran’s gaze swept over the crowd and landed on her face.
Cheng Xiang’s movements paused slightly.
She didn’t know why Qin Ziqiao had come to the reunion. She didn’t know why Tao Tianran had come to the reunion. She didn’t even know why she herself had come.
Or perhaps, their reasons for coming were all the same.
Cheng Xiang was dead.
Cheng Xiang slowly shifted her eyes, watching Qin Ziqiao raise a glass with a classmate. In truth, Qin Ziqiao wasn’t very close to any of these people; Cheng Xiang was the one who had been close to them. Qin Ziqiao used to just walk beside Cheng Xiang with her hands shoved in her pockets, occasionally throwing in a sentence or two.
Cheng Xiang silently observed her old friend’s face. She felt Qin Ziqiao was getting a bit drunk; a rare flush had spread across her cheeks.
Cheng Xiang then turned her attention to Tao Tianran.
Tao Tianran was also holding a wine glass. But she gave off such a strong sense of distance that no one dared offer her a toast. A glass of dark red wine, looking like pigeon’s blood, was clasped between her pale fingers. Cheng Xiang couldn’t tell if she was drunk or not; her face remained a cool white as she cast her eyes down at the tiny bubbles rising and falling in the liquid. No one knew what she was thinking.
Cheng Xiang cast her gaze further out, sweeping over the people at the table.
They had all once been her high school classmates.
Back in high school, she had been familiar with all of them. They had messed around between classes, and she had loyally let them copy her homework. When they ran away from home over early romances, she had taken them in, hiding them in her bedroom by the parasol tree to pour out their hearts.
But after graduation, they had naturally drifted apart. It seemed the only times they called her or tagged her in the group chat were when they needed to borrow money or didn’t have a place to stay: “Xiangzi, Xiangzi.”
“Xiangzi, Xiangzi.”
“Xiangzi, Xiangzi.”
Cheng Xiang slowly held her breath.
Her life used to be so lively. But now, less than two years later, she had arrived at the reunion under another person’s identity, and there wasn’t a single soul left who mentioned “Xiangzi.”
It was as if she had never existed.
As if Class 3-2 had always only had forty-nine student IDs.
Perhaps Qin Ziqiao and Tao Tianran’s reasons for coming to the reunion were exactly the same. Only in an environment like this could they momentarily forget Cheng Xiang.
The piece of lobster meat she had been holding in her hand for so long had gone completely cold. When she put it in her mouth, it fought against her teeth, yet the smoky flavor was startlingly pungent and spicy.
Cheng Xiang coughed violently and grabbed her wine glass to take a gulp. Just as the chubby guy who was treating them declared, “Order whatever extra dishes you want, it’s on me”β
She smiled. With a deeply alluring gaze, she stared at Tao Tianran’s reflection on the wall of her crystal glass.
“Ah, my apologies,” she said, lifting her eyes to look at the host. “I’m going to have to steal your tab today. Because Cheng Xiangβ”
The moment those two words left her lips, the entire room plunged into an absolute dead silence.
It wasn’t like the quiet when she first entered the room. Nor was it like the chilling silence when Tao Tianran walked in.
She continued, “Because Cheng Xiang and I invested together and made a great deal of money, I thought it was only right for her to treat everyone at this reunion today. I’ve already paid the bill in advance. Eat up and enjoy yourselves, everyone.”
Her voice was very soft.
After two more seconds of dead silence, the room erupted back into noisy chatter.
People raising toasts. People chatting. People throwing their arms around each other’s shoulders and pitching business deals.
When a topic became too heavy for anyone to bear, the instinctual, unspoken consensus was simply to ignore it.
Cheng Xiang looked at Tao Tianran once more.
It was too weird for someone like Tao Tianran to attend a class reunion, really.
She belonged sitting amidst the glittering light of cold gemstones. Or in a temperature-less office constructed of solid marble. Or even standing by Victoria Harbour, her trench coat fluttering in the salty, chill sea breeze. Whatever the case, she did not belong sitting in the middle of a noisy, bustling mortal realm, faced with a mound of Australian lobster, scallion-braised sea cucumber, and garlic scallops.
Yet none of that greasy, earthly smoke clung to her face. When she heard the words “Cheng Xiang,” she lowered her eyelashes.
She simply stared at the wine in her glass for a long time before tipping her wrist and taking a massive gulp.
Cheng Xiang exhaled a breath.
Suddenly, she wondered: Would the scenario she imagined earlier actually come true?
Amidst the aroma of coffee, in the halo of a streetlamp, or wrapped in the autumnal scent of sugar-roasted chestnuts, would Tao Tianran ever have a fleeting moment where she thought of the girl named “Cheng Xiang”?
She didn’t want to obsess over this anymore.
Cheng Xiang stood up, grabbed her handbag, and left.
Qin Ziqiao didn’t chase after her. Tao Tianran didn’t chase after her either; she hadn’t even asked why “Yu Yusheng” was at the Class 3-2 reunion.
Cheng Xiang had just revealed something that only the old “Xiao Xiang” could have known. In that short amount of time, there was no way Tao Tianran could wrap her head around it.
Hah! Dwell on that, Tao Tianran.
Now it’s your turn to rack your brains.
On the day she departed for the mountains, she still sent a message to Qin Ziqiao: γYour sister is off to station at Ghost Laugh Mountain. Catch you later!γ
Qin Ziqiao didn’t reply.
Cheng Xiang dragged her suitcase out of the Yu family’s overly luxurious villa, with no one to see her off.
Transportation was incredibly inconvenient. The company car dropped her at the foot of the mountain, where she transferred to a small pickup truck that the factory used to haul materials down.
She sat in the cargo bed, her fingers digging desperately into the rusted sideboards, terrified that one wrong bump would send her tumbling out.
She grumbled inwardly, Such a perfectly fine mountain, yet it just had to be named Ghost Laugh Mountainβ¦
If it were named something like γBixia Peakγ, she could have at least fantasized about some grand martial arts tale of love and vengeance playing out in the overly dense jungle. Now? Forget it. She knocked on the partition to ask the driver, “I heard the owls around here sound like children crying when they hoot, real scary-like. Is that true?”
The driver gave an enigmatic smile. “You’ll know once you hear it.”
Mother of godβ¦
That night, hiding in her dorm room, Cheng Xiang clutched her blanket tight. Owls⦠they really, really do sound like that.
Due to the poor transportation, there were very few vegetables here, save for some wild greens of unknown species growing on the mountain.
Most of the meat was smoked bacon or canned goods for easy preservation.
Within a week of arriving, Cheng Xiang developed a massive blister on the corner of her lips.
Yet she never once thought about going down the mountain. Not even once.
She didn’t want to be found by anyone anymore. Not by the Yu family, and not by Tao Tianran.
Just like that, she stayed in the mountains for a month.
Without proper care, her naturally alluring curly hair had seemingly gone a bit straight, dry and somewhat like thatch. Her soft satin shirts and wide-leg trousers were unwearable, let alone her stiletto heels.
Instead, she wore baggy flannel shirts layered over cotton-padded jackets, paired with cargo pants. She had bought the shirts when the workers went down the mountain for the market fairβfifty-five yuan for two. The fabric had a slightly unpleasant, harsh smell that wouldn’t wash out no matter how many times she scrubbed.
Aside from the squat toilets being truly, utterly filthyβ¦
Cheng Xiang felt she was gradually adapting to the place. There was no TV here, no internet, and cell service was spotty at best. More importantly, there was no Tao Tianran.
She became fast friends with the workers. On days when the sky cleared after a rain, she would follow them into the mountains to forage for wild mushrooms.
She carried a neon-green plastic basinβthe same one she used to wash her hair. Now she brought it along, tossing in whatever mushrooms she picked.
She was a bit concerned. “Are these poisonous or not?”
The worker was very open-minded. “Just eat them first. If you’re still alive fifteen minutes later, then they’re not poisonous.”
Cheng Xiang: β¦
The fallen leaves in the mountains had piled up over the years in countless layers. The topmost layer still carried a hint of green; beneath that were the withered leaves of last autumn, and deeper still lay the rotted roots and moods of the past. Stepping on them produced a loud rustle, like a sudden burst of rain.
Cheng Xiang looked up, glancing at the sky that had been sliced into fragments by the branches.
Suddenly, she remembered sitting by the road drinking coffee before heading into the mountains, and a little girl asking her, “Why are you crying?”
In truth, she really hadn’t been crying.
Her current “family” hadn’t contacted her. Not her parents, not her oldest brother. But Yu Yuluo would use her kids’ smartwatch to text her, blabbering on about which cartoons were good to watch.
To her great surprise, however, she received a message from Qin Ziqiao: γIf there are any supplies you’re short on, spit it out now. I’ll bring them to you.γ
Cheng Xiang knew Qin Ziqiao had very complicated feelings about her current self.
Because she reminded Qin Ziqiao of the old Cheng Xiang. It made Qin Ziqiao want to draw closer, yet simultaneously want to run away.
She replied to Qin Ziqiao: γComing all the way into the mountains just to deliver things to me?γ
γDo you love me that much?γ
Qin Ziqiao: γIn your dreams.γ
γI’m coming on a business trip.γ
Ghost Laugh Mountain was far removed from civilization, and its flora and fauna included quite a few species unique to Beicheng. The staff from Qin Ziqiao’s zoo would occasionally head up the mountain to collect samples.
Cheng Xiang: γThen I won’t hold back.γ
Qin Ziqiao: γKeep it brief. Space is limited, I can only bring one suitcase.γ
Cheng Xiang: γThen bring me a whole box of luosifen2.γ
[Image: Luosifen]
Qin Ziqiao: γ???γ
This person didn’t want shampoo, body wash, or sanitary pads, but just wanted an entire box of luosifen?
Qin Ziqiao: γAre you sure?γ
Cheng Xiang: γOh, wait.γ
Qin Ziqiao breathed a sigh of relief.
Cheng Xiang: γIf you can still cram it in, squeeze a bag of spicy strips into the cracks.γ
Qin Ziqiao: β¦
Three days later, sure enough, Qin Ziqiao arrived.
She ran over with a bright grin. Lugging a suitcase, Qin Ziqiao shot her a look. “You look like a savage.”
Parked behind Qin Ziqiao was a gleaming silver SUV, looking incredibly cool.
Cheng Xiang asked, “You know how to drive now?”
The driver’s side window rolled down, revealing Yi Yu’s faceβas elegant as a dancer’sβand her sharp, pretty chin. She raised a hand at her. “Ciao~”
Cheng Xiang stared, dumbfounded. “Big Boss, you’re treating me way too well.”
Yi Yu fiddled with the amber pendant resting against her chest and didn’t speak for a moment.
Because the mountain roads were so notoriously difficult, driving up during the day meant heading back down would inevitably involve navigating in the dark, which was far too dangerous.
Qin Ziqiao and Yi Yu had no choice but to stay the night.
Cheng Xiang gave them the tour. “The factory workers live over there, and I live on this side. These makeshift container prefabs are the dormitories. I don’t know if you’ll be able to get used to it.”
Qin Ziqiao: “Yeah, it’s fine. Stubborn Chinese women never admit defeat.”
Yi Yu: “Same.”
Cheng Xiang pulled out her keys and opened one of the rooms. “I’m the only one staying on this side, so you can pick from any of these empty ones. Showers are cold water, and if you want drinking water, there’s an electric kettle to boil it yourselves. Do you think this room works for you?”
Qin Ziqiao: “Works for me. I’ll stay here.”
Yi Yu: “Same.”
Cheng Xiang turned to Yi Yu. “Big Boss, come with me to this room over hereβ”
But Yi Yu had already raised a hand with a smile. Tossing her another “Ciao~”, she swiftly and cleanly shoved Cheng Xiang right out of the prefab room and deadbolted the door.
By then, dusk was falling heavily. Cheng Xiang stood blankly outside the door, staring off toward the dense woods where the owls were still dozing.
Why did these two⦠want to stay in the same room?!
And why on earth⦠did they lock the door?!
Her brain was about to explode!
Unable to hold back, she spun around and pounded on the door. “Big Bossβ”
The door cracked open just a sliver, revealing half of Yi Yu’s face. “Shh, don’t speak, and don’t ask.”
“Thirty thousand.”
With a heavy slam, she shut the door again.
The author has something to say:
Pushing the plot forward with a rumble~
Thank you to all the classmates who show up to the classroom on time every day! Sending you all finger hearts~
Footnotes
- Literally 'lying silkworms,' referring to the small, puffy ridges just below the lower eyelashes that become more prominent when smiling, considered an attractive feature in Chinese beauty standards.
- A famously pungent Chinese street food consisting of rice noodles in a spicy broth flavored with river snails and fermented bamboo shoots.
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