The Alley Was Always This Long – Chapter 41
by Little PandaPretty Good
“Teacher Tao wouldn’t happen to be jealous, would she?”
[Ordinary people take it for the wind,
But I inexplicably thought, perhaps it is a soul lingering in the human realm, singing softly.]
Cheng Xiang’s gaze paused for three seconds before lifting from the three characters 「Qiao Zhiji」.
She didn’t dare drop it back onto the face of the Qiao Zhiji sitting in front of her. Instead, it drifted around the conference room before landing on Tao Tianran’s face.
Only to find that Tao Tianran was currently looking at her.
Haha, hahaha. In her heart, Cheng Xiang only wanted to laugh.
What was this feeling of dancing right up to the person herself before she was even ready? No wonder the moment she saw this woman earlier, she had felt every pore on her body constrict and her stomachache flare up. She had assumed her beast of burden soul1 was acting up, making her nervous at the sight of her gold master2.
It seemed this was the instinctual reaction of Yu Yusheng’s body to Qiao Zhiji. Just like how Cheng Xiang reacted whenever she saw Tao Tianran.
Cheng Xiang stealthily glanced at Qiao Zhiji.
Qiao Zhiji’s eyelids were lowered. Her slender wrist lightly spun the disposable paper cup on the table. She hadn’t taken a single sip of the cup of premium Shoumei3, and the rim of the paper cup wasn’t even stained with a hint of lipstick.
She looked about two or three years older than Cheng Xiang and Tao Tianran—very beautiful, and very mature.
Earlier, when Cheng Xiang had asked if her surname was “Jin”…
She probably thought Yu Yusheng was pretending not to know her?
At the very least, Cheng Xiang could be certain that these two hadn’t seen each other in many years.
A heavy silence filled the conference room. Cheng Xiang knew perfectly well that someone like Tao Tianran would absolutely never step in to rescue a social situation. If you didn’t initiate a conversation with her, she could stay silent all day.
Cheng Xiang cleared her throat, pondering what she could say without giving herself away.
But the first to speak was Qiao Zhiji: “Your design draft.”
“Hmm?”
“I looked at it. I only have one small request. Use a Fancy Dark Green VVS1 green diamond to make it.”
Only, one small, request?
A top-tier green diamond with VVS1 clarity—did this sister know how much that would cost?
Cheng Xiang glanced at Tao Tianran.
Tao Tianran’s posture as she held her Montblanc fountain pen was forever calm and breezy. The edge of her middle finger was stained with a faint touch of blue. She wrote down a number in her notebook, drew a horizontal line beneath it, and tapped a dot at the very end—it was her habitual motion.
She said to Qiao Zhiji, “If your budget can reach this number.”
Qiao Zhiji only glanced at it, nodding with the exact same calm breeziness.
Cheng Xiang was astounded: a rich lady, this was a true rich lady! Did law firm partners really make this much money?
Tao Tianran asked, “Do you have any other thoughts on the design?”
“No.”
“Then I will have my assistant prepare the contract.” Tao Tianran waved a hand to call her assistant in. “Because a VVS1 green diamond is of extremely high value, we will stay in contact with you throughout the fabrication process. If there is anything about the physical piece that doesn’t meet your satisfaction, we can make further minor adjustments.”
“Alright.”
The assistant presented the printed contract. Freshly spat out by the printer, the pages were still warm.
Cheng Xiang stared as the woman across from her signed her name. The ink of the three characters 「Qiao Zhiji」 bloomed faintly on the paper, turning into something like the veins of a phoenix tree leaf, exuding a clear, bitter sap.
For some unknown reason, Cheng Xiang suddenly felt a little sad.
Tao Tianran collected the contract and stood up, looking at Cheng Xiang. “You see President Qiao out.”
“Ah? Me?”
Tao Tianran looked at her.
It was likely her instinctual beast of burden soul acting up; in the end, Cheng Xiang couldn’t bring herself to say the words, “I’ll pass on seeing her out.”
Cheng Xiang trailed behind Qiao Zhiji, heading toward the elevator.
Qiao Zhiji wore a tailored suit and a pair of stiletto heels. Her height was about the same as Yu Yusheng’s. But a straight, long black hairstyle really boosted one’s aura. She walked ahead of Cheng Xiang without a single backward glance, the wind lightly lifting the hair at the sides of her face.
Wow, she really was a law firm partner. Carrying a Birkin bag, she looked like she was filming an American TV drama.
Cheng Xiang came to a stop behind her at the elevator, standing diagonally behind her and stealthily peeking at her profile.
The moment the corner of Qiao Zhiji’s eye swept over, Cheng Xiang immediately shifted her gaze away.
“It isn’t like the time when I was your tutor anymore,” Qiao Zhiji said lightly.
“Hmm?”
Qiao Zhiji finally turned her head to cast a glance at Cheng Xiang. “Yes. I have money now. A lot of money.”
The elevator doors chimed with a ‘ding’, and Qiao Zhiji stepped inside just as the tail end of her last word fell.
She pulled out her phone and answered a call. Her originally gentle, almond-shaped eyes drifted upward, watching the jumping red numbers on the display. She didn’t spare another glance at Cheng Xiang—or rather, Yu Yusheng.
The second the elevator doors closed, Cheng Xiang suddenly reached out to brace herself against the marble wall outside.
Her chin subconsciously tucked back; her pupils dilated.
In the past, even though Cheng Xiang had been a young girl with thin arms and legs, her health had always been pretty good. She had never experienced such heart palpitations before. It felt exactly like…
It felt exactly like her soul was about to detach from her body. Cheng Xiang lifted her head, cold sweat pouring down, to find that the numbers on the elevator display had completely blurred.
For a split second, she felt like she was floating upward.
Floating into midair, gazing down at this body of Yu Yusheng’s.
The second before she lost consciousness and collapsed to the floor, she heard a colleague who had just walked into the elevator lobby cry out in alarm, “Shianne!”
A crowd swarmed around her. Someone was asking if they should call an ambulance.
Clinging to her last thread of consciousness, she said, “N-No need.”
Mother of god, her transmigrating into Yu Yusheng’s body was already a medical miracle. If they used some high-tech precision instruments to scan her, they might find out she wasn’t even human.
In the final second her consciousness lingered, she heard the crisp clacking of high heels. Her heavily half-lidded eyes reflected Tao Tianran’s cold, clear face.
How had Tao Tianran gotten here so fast? The mug in her hand was full of coffee, making it seem exactly as if she had gone to the pantry, never returned to her office, and just stood in the corner watching this direction.
Her hand tilted. All the coffee in the cup splashed onto Cheng Xiang.
She was trying to scald her to death!
When Cheng Xiang opened her eyes again, she found the surface beneath her surprisingly soft. A faint scent surrounded her, similar to small-leaf bamboo growing on an ice field.
Hahahahaha, this was the second time Cheng Xiang thought: Did I go to heaven?
She slightly twisted her neck. What entered her line of sight was Tao Tianran’s face.
Look, look.
Cheng Xiang had heard before that when people died and went to heaven, the celestial scenery everyone experienced was different.
When Cheng Xiang was alive, she drew comics. She was skinny, so her cervical spine was particularly terrible. Her greatest wish was to lie on a soft, soft bed, for her surroundings to smell a bit nicer, and for there to be no more lingering scent of shredded pork with green peppers. And most importantly, she wanted her favorite Tao Tianran right beside her.
See? Heaven had granted it all, hadn’t it?
So a person really did have to do good deeds. Helping little old ladies cross the street wasn’t for nothing!
Tao Tianran was bent over the desk, still holding that Montblanc fountain pen. Hearing the rustle of the back of Cheng Xiang’s head rubbing against the sofa, she lifted her eyelids.
The tip of her fountain pen still habitually tapped against the drafting paper. Her other hand tucked the long hair that had just fallen loose back behind her ear.
She asked her, “You’re awake?”
Cheng Xiang took another look at her surroundings.
Oh, she hadn’t gone to heaven.
She was lying on the sofa in Tao Tianran’s private office.
She subconsciously raised her own hand and looked at it.
Slender, long, and white as jade. Still Yu Yusheng’s hand.
She was still inside Yu Yusheng’s body.
Tao Tianran set down the fountain pen and walked over to her side. Crossing her arms, she gazed down at her from above. “Why are you looking at your hand?”
Cheng Xiang recommended that all women who were already big shots stop doing this action. Their aura looked too strong. It was scary.
“Ah?”
“I said, why are you looking at your own hand?” Tao Tianran was still crossing her arms. “Does your hand hurt?”
What had she done that her hand would hurt?
“Oh, no.” Cheng Xiang asked, “What happened to me just now?”
“You’re asking me?” Tao Tianran’s cold, clear voice sounded genuinely like mockery when she spoke in rhetorical questions.
Cheng Xiang blinked twice.
“Didn’t you say you had low blood sugar?” Tao Tianran asked again.
Oh, she had actually managed to blurt out something that quick-witted in the heat of the moment.
Cheng Xiang nodded. “Right, I have low blood sugar.”
A bout of silence filled the office.
Cheng Xiang blinked twice again.
“Shouldn’t you…” Cheng Xiang finally asked. “Give me a piece of candy?”
Tao Tianran lowered her slender but not overly thick eyelashes, filtering out the sunlight shining from behind her. “I don’t have candy.”
Ha, ha, ha. Of course Tao Tianran didn’t have candy.
Cheng Xiang pushed on her hands, wanting to sit up. “You don’t have candy, but you just had to splash a whole cup of coffee all over me.”
But she underestimated the lingering effects of the dizziness from just now.
When she got off the sofa, her heart pounded, and half-losing her balance, she stumbled forward two steps.
Tao Tianran was standing right beside her and subconsciously caught her. Only by resting her hand on Tao Tianran’s back did she avoid falling. It was just that the moment her fingers pressed down, it felt as if a long time passed before they finally touched Tao Tianran’s slender back.
Cheng Xiang blurted out instinctively, “You’ve lost weight.”
Tao Tianran was holding her. An entire cup of coffee had been splashed over her soft satin shirt; its blurred edges formed a map that seemed capable of tracing back past memories.
And so, the person entangled in Tao Tianran’s hands had turned into the scent of nostalgic coffee.
Tao Tianran let go of her. “I haven’t.”
She cast her a glance. Seeing that she could barely stand steady on her own, she turned her head and walked back to the desk.
Sitting down, she picked up her fountain pen again, leaving Cheng Xiang with nothing but the sight of her smooth forehead.
How was she to put it, Tao Tianran.
You really had lost weight.
Cheng Xiang relived the moment she had pressed against her shirt. Her fingertips had felt like a pathfinding stone tossed into an empty valley—surrounded by wind howling through empty caves, falling for a long time without hitting the ground, until her heart grew more and more uncertain, more and more hollow. Only then did she touch Tao Tianran’s overly thin back, rippling with a nearly agonizing echo.
Cheng Xiang realized she felt this way because she had once been incredibly familiar with Tao Tianran’s body.
Even if they didn’t do it.
But she loved holding Tao Tianran, hanging off Tao Tianran.
With Tao Tianran’s single “I haven’t,” how could she say “You just have”? If Tao Tianran asked her why, she couldn’t very well say, “Because I’m very used to touching you.”
Pfft, what kind of hooligan talk was that.
She could only say to Tao Tianran, “Thank you for letting me rest in your office.”
She turned and walked toward the door.
When her hand rested on the door lock, Tao Tianran’s voice sounded from behind her. “Is she someone you used to like?”
Cheng Xiang looked back.
Tao Tianran was still holding her fountain pen, head bowed as she drafted a design, not looking up at her.
Cheng Xiang asked, “Why are you asking?”
“No reason.” Tao Tianran finally put down her pen and leaned back in her chair. Only then did she lift her eyelids. As she looked at her, her thumb flicked the plain band on her right-hand pinky ring. “If she is, then that’s quite good.”
Cheng Xiang stood there for a long moment.
Her lips curled into a smile. “Teacher Tao, you wouldn’t happen to be jealous, would you?”
Tao Tianran lowered her eyelashes, seemingly flicking her pinky ring again unconsciously.
“No.” She looked straight at Cheng Xiang’s currently exquisite features. “If you need things stated clearly: I’m sorry about before. I mistook you for someone else.”
“Who?”
“Didn’t I already tell you?” Tao Tianran picked up her fountain pen again. Lowering her head, she murmured a phrase in Cantonese, “Silly girl.”
Coming out of Tao Tianran’s office and gently closing the door behind her, Cheng Xiang hadn’t expected to be swarmed by her colleagues.
A multitude of gazes looked at her, their eyes sparkling with stars.
“Wh-What…”
Someone slapped a hand on her shoulder. “Amazing, Shianne! You are the first person to ever sleep in Teacher Tao’s office!”
Cheng Xiang gave two dry laughs.
After Yi Yu handed over the project to Cheng Xiang and Tao Tianran over the phone, she had finally flown abroad. Cheng Xiang hadn’t managed to see her during this trip to the company either.
She went downstairs and turned into the milk tea shop from earlier.
“I’d like to order.”
“What flavor?”
“A massive social death4 scene of rolling my eyes back and passing out in front of the person I like.” Cheng Xiang thought for a moment, then added, “Oh right, if I remember correctly, when I collapsed, it was in a spread-eagle shape.”
The cashier gave her a side-eye and rang up a cup of Triple Mountain Super Rich Matcha for her.
Cheng Xiang sat in a soft chair to the side to wait for her milk tea. Only now did she have the time to process the scene of her fainting.
That feeling was as if Yu Yusheng’s soul wanted to seize back control of this body.
Why?
Because she had witnessed Qiao Zhiji leaving with her own eyes?
Cheng Xiang felt that the real Yu Yusheng was incapable of watching Qiao Zhiji leave.
So, Yu Yusheng’s soul hadn’t faded away entirely either.
Even though she had once wanted to choose to give up, she still had attachments to this human realm.
Today, Cheng Xiang had seen her attachment. She had a very beautiful name, “Qiao Zhiji”; true to her name, she seemed like a wooden bridge by the edge of a rush-filled river, the sun emerging after a snowfall, standing within a veil of tranquil mist.
When Cheng Xiang walked out of the milk tea shop, she glanced at the phoenix trees lining the street. Their winter leaves had nearly all fallen, the sparse remaining few rustling gently.
Ordinary people thought it was the wind.
But Cheng Xiang knew they were souls wandering the human realm, unwilling to leave. They sang softly toward their attachments in the mortal world, but those people could no longer hear them, treating it only as the wind.
Cheng Xiang thought silently: Yu Yusheng, is that you?
You chased Qiao Zhiji out of the Kunpu building, watching her get in the car and drive away. Are you sitting on this branch, mournfully singing a song you both once loved?
Cheng Xiang returned to the Yu residence, feeling quite conflicted.
She had wanted to figure out why she had transmigrated into Yu Yusheng’s body. Her original intention had been to let go of Tao Tianran and properly live the life she now possessed.
Who would have thought it would just become a mess—an even bigger mess.
It looked like the level of complexity between Yu Yusheng and Qiao Zhiji was no less than hers and Tao Tianran’s.
She opened her laptop and followed the business card Qiao Zhiji had provided, searching the internet.
This time, it was very easy.
Qiao Zhiji, twenty-nine years old. Rising to prominence in Beicheng’s law firm circles, hailed as one of the youngest partners in the industry. Specialized in commercial dispute litigation, with almost no losses in the cases she handled.
Cheng Xiang also found an exclusive interview with her in 《Style》 magazine. The photos were taken in her apartment—an overly minimalist black, white, and gray aesthetic. It was ridiculously cold. She really ought to have Director Ma go over with her bustling, earthy warmth and wreck the place a bit.
She didn’t shy away from discussing her origins, because she now had enough confidence to do so.
In the interview, she talked about the mountain of her childhood. Every day, she had to walk ten kilometers to the town for school. There was only one internet cafe in town. When she filled out her university application choices after the college entrance exam, she sat amid the foul, billowing cigarette smoke of the young men on her left and right.
Cheng Xiang did the math.
She should have been Yu Yusheng’s tutor during her third year of high school.
There was also a very strange point in Qiao Zhiji’s resume: she had dropped out of a very good domestic university during her sophomore year. The reason was unknown; it simply stated “incomplete.”
Then she had bounced around before going to Spain to study law at a renowned university.
Cheng Xiang closed her laptop and leaned against the headboard, recalling Tao Tianran’s tone when she said “quite good.”
The fact of having someone you used to like—where exactly was the good in that?
Tao Tianran was also thinking about her own tone when she spoke the word “like.”
She had been busy all afternoon, busy drafting designs, busy in meetings, so she hadn’t thought about it.
She had also been busy in the evening, eating a light meal with HR, discussing what style of designers they should hire next, so she hadn’t thought about it then either.
The HR representative asked, “Teacher Tao, you’re eating so little?”
“Am I?”
HR watched as Tao Tianran cut a single piece of lettuce leaf into three sections, stuffing them into her mouth one tiny piece at a time.
Yet Tao Tianran felt she had been constantly putting things in her mouth; how could she be eating little?
Looking at the HR representative’s expression, she paused. “Perhaps my stomach aches a bit.”
“Is it serious?”
Tao Tianran shook her head.
The most terrifying thing in life was “having free time.” When Tao Tianran was with Cheng Xiang in the past, she had never noticed this concept, because Cheng Xiang was always chattering, crying, and laughing—impossibly lively.
Cheng Xiang would say, “Hey, what can I do, my mom is a Neighborhood Committee Director!”
It wasn’t until now, as Tao Tianran drove her Bentley out of the company’s underground garage, that she felt it. The city’s night was very similar to its dusk, because countless neon lights created an illusory daylight, dragging along a portion of the daytime’s liveliness and refusing to let it leave.
Little did they know, this refusal to let go was a very pathetic posture.
Tao Tianran rolled down the window, letting the winter wind rush in, mixed with the neon glow.
Neon lights were not cute. They were like the overly shrewd eyes of city dwellers.
Daylight could conceal a person’s loneliness. But neon lights illuminated it.
Tao Tianran looked toward the side of the road. Every single person walking beneath the neon lights wore a lonely face.
She was also thinking about the question Cheng Xiang had pondered: why had she said “quite good”?
Having someone you used to like—where exactly was the good in that?
The night wind blew until the left side of Tao Tianran’s face grew stiff, yet for some reason, she refused to roll the window up.
Perhaps this distinct chill awakened her sense of touch, suddenly making her realize why she had said “quite good.”
Whether it was ‘like’ or ‘used to like’, at the very least, Yu Yusheng and Qiao Zhiji still lived beneath the same sky.
Even if they would never be together again.
But the wind that brushed past Qiao Zhiji’s lips would drift into Yu Yusheng’s left ear. The neon lights that shone upon Qiao Zhiji would illuminate the side of Yu Yusheng’s cheek.
Just this alone was enough to make Tao Tianran feel that it was quite good.
She was envious. And she was jealous.
Because if Yu Yusheng wasn’t Cheng Xiang, then she and her Xiao Xiang would never have an opportunity like this again.
In Italy, Yi Yu called Cheng Xiang, sounding weak and exhausted. “I really can’t take it anymore.”
It was nearing the Spring Festival then, and everywhere outside the window was decorated with lanterns and colored banners.
Cheng Xiang snorted. “What is it?”
“It’s the white truffles here. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you, a plate of pasta is half truffles. It’s sickeningly rich; it’s killing me.”
This made Cheng Xiang angry just hearing it. “You’re seriously begging people to hate the rich when you act like this, you know?”
No matter who she transmigrated into, she would forever preserve the dirt-poor beast of burden soul.
Yi Yu continued, her breath as frail as a thread. “Right now, I just want a bite of chive pockets.”
“Get out. Please, get out.”
“Alright, down to business.” Yi Yu rallied a bit. “I have to say, you really do bring wealth to the company. Even after resigning, you can still make me a profit. Ah, no, two profits.”
“What does that mean?”
“President Qiao introduced another client to us. A major client.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“You have to take it! It’s your design style that they like. Teacher Tao will assist you.”
“Teacher Tao assisting me? I don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve that.”
Cheng Xiang thought to herself: If the three of us get thrown together—ah, no, maybe four people, who knows when Yu Yusheng’s soul might come to usurp this body—it would be an absolute madhouse.
“Let me put it this way,” Yi Yu said, putting on the air of someone with deep pockets. “How many thirty-thousands will make you deserve it?”
“No amount of thirty-thousands will make me deserve it.”
Cheng Xiang hung up directly.
She was currently sitting in the kitchen. She really couldn’t stand eating takeout every single day, so she waited until the dead of night when everyone was asleep to sneak downstairs and cook herself a bowl of noodles.
Her noodle-cooking skills were taught by Director Ma. Old Beicheng zhajiangmian. Not the kind made with sweet bean paste outside, but made by frying yellow soybean paste until fragrant, then tossing it evenly with the noodles.
It was unbelievably aromatic.
Sigh. Cheng Xiang sniffled. She missed Director Ma a little.
With that thought in mind, Cheng Xiang washed her bowl and chopsticks, threw on her coat, and headed out.
Having already missed the last bus, she hailed a cab, got off at the mouth of the hutong, and walked all the way deep inside.
Director Ma and Deputy Director Cheng should already be asleep. Only then did she dare to sneak outside her old home for a tiny peek.
Suddenly, a glaring beam from a flashlight shone toward her. “Who goes there? Give the password. King of Heaven subdues the Earth Tiger—5“
Cheng Xiang brought up her forearm to shield her eyes, instinctively answering: “Chicken stewed with mushrooms.”
“Pagoda suppresses the River Demon—”
“Mushrooms with chili.”
This password was something Cheng Xiang had made up with Director Ma when she was little. Back then, the security in the hutong hadn’t been as good as it was now. There was frequent petty theft, so Director Ma would carry a flashlight out at night to patrol, repeatedly warning Cheng Xiang not to run around.
“There are a lot of bad guys.”
“Mom.”
“What?”
“If I run into someone in the hutong, how do I know if they’re a good guy or a bad guy?”
“You just exchange the password with them. You say, ‘King of Heaven subdues the Earth Tiger—'”
Little Cheng Xiang had no idea what this was referencing. She had just learned about rhyming in language arts class, so she blinked twice. “Ch-Chicken stewed with mushrooms?”
Their family had just eaten it tonight.
“Hey, that’s right.” Director Ma laughed so hard she trembled. “Then, Pagoda suppresses the River Demon—”
Cheng Xiang blinked twice again. “Mush-Mushrooms with chili.”
“Hey, yes, yes, yes.” Director Ma laughed even louder, carrying her flashlight and walking outside. “You just say that from now on. All the good people in our hutong know this password.”
Later, as Cheng Xiang gradually grew up, she realized Director Ma had lied to her a lot.
Lied to her that the good people in the hutong all knew this nonsense password. Lied to her that Chinese children didn’t celebrate foreign holidays. Lied to her that Mom and Dad didn’t like eating her favorite chicken wings so they were leaving them all for her. Lied to her that their family would be together forever.
Cheng Xiang sniffled. She watched as Director Ma clearly saw a magnificent face belonging to Yu Yusheng, then lowered the flashlight.
She let out a barely audible sigh.
Cheng Xiang opened her mouth. “Are-Are you still patrolling? Aren’t there security cameras installed all over the hutong now? Could there still be thieves?”
Director Ma turned off the flashlight. “No.”
Where would there still be thieves?
It was nothing more than a mother who had lost her daughter, unable to fall asleep at night, aimlessly walking in circles around here.
Director Ma passed by her, taking the rare initiative to call out to her: “Miss.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you have someone you want to see?”
“I…” Cheng Xiang stared at the graying hair at Director Ma’s temples.
Did her mom have this much white hair before? Not in her memory.
Even more rarely, Director Ma smiled at her. “If there’s someone you want to see, go see them more.”
Director Ma pushed the door open and walked into the siheyuan. That slightly hunched back seemed to be saying:
If you keep waiting, and waiting… perhaps the person you thought you’d always have a chance to see again will, suddenly, never be seen again.
Cheng Xiang stood alone outside the wall for a long time.
She pulled out her phone and called Yi Yu. “Hello.”
“Hello?” Yi Yu answered the phone while simultaneously screaming hoarsely in Italian: “Non! Non truffle!”
It nearly made the grieving Cheng Xiang let out a ‘pfft’ of amusement. What the hell was with the word ‘truffle’ still being in Chinese?
She said to Yi Yu, “I thought about it. I’ll take the client President Qiao introduced.”
A phoenix tree poked its head out from what was once Cheng Xiang’s bedroom. In early summer, it would grow lush with foliage; Cheng Xiang and Tao Tianran had once secretly kissed beneath its shade.
In winter, the leaves withered and fell. Brushed by a gust of night wind, its branches rustled with a gentle sway.
“I know, Yu Yusheng,” Cheng Xiang said softly. “I’ll take you to see Qiao Zhiji.”
Footnotes
- A self-deprecating modern Chinese internet slang term, literally 'beasts of burden,' used by overworked and exploited corporate employees to describe themselves.
- Internet slang for a financial sponsor or major client. The original Chinese term 'jinzhu' literally means 'gold master.'
- A type of premium white tea.
- Short for 'social death' (shehui xing siwang), internet slang for an intensely embarrassing, dignity-destroying situation.
- A playful parody of a bandit secret code from a classic Chinese novel. The standard response is 'Pagoda suppresses the River Demon,' but here it is playfully rhymed with a famous Northeastern dish, chicken stewed with mushrooms.
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