The Alley Was Always This Long – Chapter 50
by Little PandaRainy Night
The final, most difficult choice.
[If one day you miss me, just quiet down and listen to a gust of wind beside you1.]
Cheng Xiang was still trembling when she returned home. She felt she was doing so out of sheer anger.
The soft carpet2 inside the house had long been laid out. Just now, when she hurriedly entered the house to change her shoes, she had not been paying attention and nearly tripped on it.
She grew even angrier, so furious that she kicked the carpet.
What was going on? Every single one of them, why did they all have to act like such moral paragons?
Tao Tianran was like this. Yu Yusheng was too. Ever since she had finished carpeting the entire house, Yu Yusheng had not pushed her soul out of this body even once, and she had not fainted again.
It was as if Yu Yusheng, having made her own stance clear, had left the choice to her.
Cheng Xiang felt a stifling weight in her heart. This kind of feeling was the most agonizing, okay?!
It was like queuing up to buy ox-tongue pastry—well, Cheng Xiang did not actually like ox-tongue pastry, so let’s say she was queuing to buy hawthorn shortbread instead. Someone cuts in line, and you stop them. If that person aggressively starts an argument with you, you will surely jump up and down, arguing back even more fiercely than they do.
But if they politely apologize to you, saying, ‘I’m so sorry, so sorry, my family member is sick and this is the only thing they want to eat, I’m really sorry, please go ahead of me,’ you will definitely lose all your fire in an instant.
It was exactly like that! This very feeling!
Cheng Xiang figured that the news of her going abroad must have reached Qiao Zhiji’s ears. She had thought Qiao Zhiji would seek her out, but Qiao Zhiji had not.
She took the initiative to call Qiao Zhiji.
Qiao Zhiji was busy on the other end. There was the rustle of turning documents and the sound of her giving quiet instructions to a colleague. Then, pinning her phone between her ear and shoulder, Qiao Zhiji asked in a cool, restrained voice, “I’m in the middle of something right now. How about we meet tonight?”
Cheng Xiang said okay.
Since Qiao Zhiji was so busy, she decided to wait in the coffee shop downstairs from her law firm.
The agreed time was nine o’clock. At 8:58, Qiao Zhiji strode in, carrying her Birkin bag3 and walking with a brisk, powerful stride.
She looked more professional than Tao Tianran, who still retained a trace of an artist’s temperament. She wore a dark ash-gray suit, with a lawyer’s badge composed of three interlocking ‘L’ shapes pinned to her lapel. Out of habit, she lifted her wrist to glance at her small gold watch, as if confirming she was not late.
“Are you having an iced Americano?” Cheng Xiang said. “I went ahead and ordered it for you.”
She dipped her chin. “Thank you.”
When the server brought the coffee, she asked for a beef baguette sandwich as well, explaining to Cheng Xiang, “I didn’t have time for dinner.”
Cheng Xiang nodded.
The sandwich was served quickly. Tucking a lock of black hair behind her ear, she put on gloves and ate with swift, neat bites. Now and then, she pressed a tissue to the corner of her lips, utterly devoid of any awkwardness about eating in front of someone else.
Perhaps her pace of work was simply too fast, and she often had to eat working meals like this. Or perhaps she was now completely self-assured, no longer the young girl of the past who could only earn a living by working as a private tutor.
Cheng Xiang waited in silence until she finished. Removing her gloves, she took a sip of coffee and asked Cheng Xiang, “You’re going abroad?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
“Two weeks from now.”
Qiao Zhiji nodded.
“I should have told you sooner.”
“Whether you told me sooner or not makes no difference,” Qiao Zhiji said. “I already knew anyway.”
She raised her hand and tapped near her ear—the ear of a top-tier attorney, capable of ‘hearing in six directions’4.
Cheng Xiang sighed.
She had never seen Qiao Zhiji smile; she always wore such a serious expression. It wasn’t that Cheng Xiang didn’t picture what an eighteen-year-old Yu Yusheng and a twenty-year-old Qiao Zhiji had looked like together. Qiao Zhiji surely hadn’t been as serious as she was now. Had Yu Yusheng been a little afraid of her?
What would Qiao Zhiji look like when she smiled? Would faint crinkles form beneath her eyes, like spring water gently rippling, allowing her features to reveal their original gentleness?
With a bitter ache in her heart, she asked Qiao Zhiji, “Aren’t you going to ask me to stay?”
She had originally thought that once Qiao Zhiji knew the news of her going abroad, she would definitely stop her.
Qiao Zhiji said instead, “That is your own choice.”
After saying this, she looked out the window at the trees.
She didn’t know when Qiao Zhiji had developed this habit of always looking at the trees. Perhaps what swept through those branches and leaves was never just a meaningless gust of wind.
Cheng Xiang felt quite miserable in her heart. “Why didn’t you stop me?”
“If I stopped you, would you listen to me?” Qiao Zhiji asked.
Cheng Xiang had always been a very sensitive girl, so she noticed that after Qiao Zhiji finished speaking, she very slightly tucked in the corners of her mouth.
Cheng Xiang felt sick with sorrow, clutching the handle of her coffee cup.
Qiao Zhiji checked her watch again. “I must go now. I still have a cross-timezone online meeting when I get home.”
Cheng Xiang opened her lips in vain, unable to utter a single word.
Picking up her Birkin bag, she stood up. Lowering her gaze, she cast one last look at Cheng Xiang and suddenly smiled. “Could you say goodbye to me?”
Cheng Xiang froze.
So when Qiao Zhiji smiled, she really did look exactly as Cheng Xiang had imagined. Someone usually so cold and distant looked incredibly gentle when she smiled.
Cheng Xiang’s shoulders shuddered slightly.
Her eyelashes felt heavy, her hands clutching the coffee cup in front of her tightly. Finally, she lifted her gaze, looked at Qiao Zhiji, her lips trembling a couple of times, and said in a very soft voice, “Goodbye.”
Qiao Zhiji smiled like that.
Finally, standing before Cheng Xiang, she nodded. “Alright. The last time I parted from her, I didn’t even have the chance to hear her say goodbye to me.”
Without looking back, she pushed open the glass door and departed, truly gone. Cheng Xiang’s heart felt as if it were being squeezed to the bursting point by a giant hand. Suddenly, she stood up and chased out the door.
Qiao Zhiji was walking toward her car in the parking lot. Cheng Xiang rushed to catch up. “Beg me…”
Qiao Zhiji stopped her hand just as she was about to open the car door.
“Try begging me, just try it!” Cheng Xiang suddenly tripped on a pebble underfoot and fell, landing hard on the ground.
She didn’t get up, just sitting there dejectedly.
Qiao Zhiji squatted in front of her. “If I beg you, you will find that everyone is equally selfish, and perhaps then you could leave with a clear conscience. So, I will not beg you. I am leaving the power of choice to you. If you feel you can leave with a peace of mind, then go.”
She stood up, opened the car door, and drove away without looking back.
Qiao Zhiji’s hands on the steering wheel were shaking as well. As a lawyer, she had her own schemes. She had not reached out to Cheng Xiang on her own, waiting instead for Cheng Xiang to find her, just so she could hear this speech she had prepared long ago.
She drove away, leaving Cheng Xiang alone, sitting on the ground with her head bowed.
Yi Yu called Cheng Xiang. “Want to go buy some Lao Gan Ma5 and Wujiang Zhacai6?”
“You’re buying some too?”
“Yes, I’m going to Madagascar for two years.”
“Two years? Why?”
“To develop new business. I feel that while synthetic stones7 still have room for development, we can’t let go of natural gemstones either; we must keep researching them. Have you heard of African jade? It’s found near the Kilimanjaro8 range.”
In truth, Cheng Xiang knew what kind of person Yi Yu was. Work was only one aspect of it; primarily, Yi Yu had a sort of indifferent attitude toward everything and hated staying in one place for too long. Having finally stayed quiet in the country for a few years, she was starting to stir things up again.
It was as if her threshold had been set too high from the very beginning, making it difficult for anything in life to truly anchor her.
Cheng Xiang went to the supermarket with her. Pushing an oversized shopping cart, Yi Yu asked Cheng Xiang, “Hey, do you want some luosifen9? I remember when you were monitoring the factory at Ghost Laugh Mountain, Ziqiao and I even delivered some to you.”
Cheng Xiang glanced at the packaging in her hand and shook her head. “It won’t fit in my suitcase.”
Yi Yu tossed it into her own cart.
Cheng Xiang glanced at her overflowing shopping cart. “Will your suitcase fit all that?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt her question was truly redundant.
Who was she dealing with anyway? She was someone who played with diamonds as if they were jackstones. If it didn’t fit in her suitcase, she would just buy another one. If the plane couldn’t fit her luggage, she would charter another plane. Once she landed in Madagascar, this woman could buy two villas—one to live in, and one just to store her luosifen.
“When is your flight?”
“Tonight.”
“Huh?”
“Why else would I ask you out to buy them today? Isn’t the shelf life the freshest this way?” Yi Yu glanced at the roast ducks in the deli counter again. “Do you think I can bring this roast duck? Will it leak oil?”
After bidding farewell to Yi Yu, Cheng Xiang hailed a cab and headed straight to Qin Ziqiao’s home.
Qin Ziqiao had the day off. She was wearing her Bulbasaur onesie pajamas. When she opened the door and saw Cheng Xiang holding a bag filled to the brim with Lao Gan Ma and Wujiang Zhacai, she paused. “I don’t have any steamed buns at home.”
“Buns? What buns!” Cheng Xiang panted. “Hurry up and change your clothes, come with me.”
Qin Ziqiao stood at the door.
“You don’t have to change either. With how grumpy your face is, wearing this onesie is the epitome of contrast cute10 anyway.” Cheng Xiang reached out, wanting to pull Qin Ziqiao along.
Qin Ziqiao dodged her, taking a step back.
Cheng Xiang realized something. “You… you already know Yi Yu is leaving?”
“I know.” Qin Ziqiao turned and walked inside, sitting cross-legged on the sofa and picking up an apocalyptic novel.
Cheng Xiang grew anxious, changing her shoes and hurriedly following her in. “Her flight is tonight. If we head out now, we can still catch her.”
“Why catch her?”
“To tell her you like her!”
“Who said that?”
“I said so!”
“What right do you have to say that?”
Cheng Xiang almost pulled out a bag of Wujiang Zhacai to throw at Qin Ziqiao. She thought to herself, Who are you trying to fool, pretending to be a big-tailed wolf11? Just on the basis that the two of us grew up running around the alleys in split-crotch pants together! On the basis that we’ve been best friends for fifteen years, from kindergarten all the way through high school! One look at you and I know you genuinely like Yi Yu! For someone like you, if you didn’t like Yi Yu, how could you ever have entered any physical relationship with her!
Cheng Xiang couldn’t say any of these things, so she could only speak to Qin Ziqiao with earnest patience, “She’s going to Africa for two years, and she might not even come back after that. If you don’t go find her now, there won’t be another chance.”
“I know.” Qin Ziqiao nodded. “I didn’t plan on her coming back anyway.”
“Then you should go all the more!” Cheng Xiang ran quick little steps in place, not caring whether this action matched her current elegant, mature face. “Let’s go, quickly!”
“I’m not going.”
“Why? You probably don’t understand Yi Yu. Someone like her, if she didn’t have at least some thoughts of you in her heart, would have flown off without saying a single word. She wouldn’t have gone out of her way to let you know she was leaving.”
Qin Ziqiao suddenly asked, “Do you know how old she is?”
“Huh?” Cheng Xiang was startled. “Early thirties?”
“She is thirty-four.”
Oh, then Yi Yu had kept herself quite well-preserved! As expected, being completely carefree was indeed the best cosmetic treatment.
Wait, was that the point right now?
Cheng Xiang frowned and asked Qin Ziqiao, “What do you mean?”
“She is thirty-four, and I am twenty-eight. Her family’s background is high and untouchable, while I am just a capybara zookeeper in a zoo. She has no intention of talking about feelings, and I silently fell in love with her at first sight.” Qin Ziqiao lifted her eyelids to look at Cheng Xiang. “What do you expect someone like me to say to someone like her?”
Qin Ziqiao shook her head as she spoke. “I don’t want to take risks, I don’t want to invest myself, and I don’t want to be a big fool like Xiao Xiang12.”
Cheng Xiang stood in place, silently thinking in her heart: But the foolish one now isn’t Xiao Xiang anymore.
Tao Tianran had fallen in love with her, but she was the one who didn’t want Tao Tianran anymore.
She stood where she was, thinking about how to persuade Qin Ziqiao. “Listen to me…”
Qin Ziqiao suddenly frowned. “Can you stop meddling in my business? Suddenly bursting into my home to make me go confess. I’ve wanted to say this from the very beginning—who on earth are you? I didn’t even know you before, so why do you always act like you’re so close to me?”
Cheng Xiang suddenly fell silent.
Qin Ziqiao sat with the apocalyptic novel face down on her knees, her chest heaving violently.
Cheng Xiang paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Um, I’m sorry.”
Actually, Qin Ziqiao was right.
Even if she was indeed Cheng Xiang herself, and even if she was Qin Ziqiao’s best friend since childhood, she actually had no right to meddle in Qin Ziqiao’s life.
She was just too sad and too anxious.
She had resolved to let go of Tao Tianran.
She was just thinking, why were there always so many, many regrets in this world.
How wonderful it would be if Qin Ziqiao and Yi Yu could end up happy together. It would be like sewing a colorful patch onto this regret-filled world, making it just a little more whole.
But Qin Ziqiao was never under any obligation to bear her expectations.
She smiled, waving the bag in her hand, and said to Qin Ziqiao, “I just came to tell you that I’m leaving too.”
Qin Ziqiao lowered her head, her gaze falling back onto the book pages. Only after she turned a page did she ask, “Where to?”
“Going abroad for further studies in design.”
“Oh.”
“I might stay and work abroad afterward and not come back.” Cheng Xiang forced a grin. “In the future, there won’t be anyone to scatter potato chip crumbs all over your computer chair anymore.”
“Yeah.”
“Then, goodbye.”
Qin Ziqiao didn’t respond.
Carrying the bag, Cheng Xiang walked toward the door. She changed her shoes, and as she finally closed the door for Qin Ziqiao, she looked back at her.
Qin Ziqiao sat cross-legged on the sofa, her head deeply bowed. Her fingers repeatedly stroked the edge of the page, not turning it for a very long time.
“Goodbye, old friend.”
Cheng Xiang thought, This time, I have also said a proper goodbye to you.
That night, there was no storm and no torrential rain; Yi Yu’s flight took off smoothly. Qin Ziqiao didn’t chase her to the airport to explain her feelings.
Next, it was Cheng Xiang’s turn to set off.
She packed her suitcase, often facing the empty air around her, wanting to say something yet unable to open her mouth.
What else could she say?
Her heart was stifled the entire time.
The gradually filling suitcase gave her a sense of reality: Was she really leaving?
Was this her final choice?
Everyone had left the final, most difficult choice to her.
Cheng Xiang felt that her occupying Yu Yusheng’s body was indeed a bit underhanded. Otherwise, when she and Yi Yu were departing only a week apart, why was the day of Yi Yu’s departure bathed in sunshine, while she departed in a torrential downpour?
There were 132 people ahead of her in the queue for a ride-hailing car; Cheng Xiang was completely out of options.
Her phone suddenly rang.
Cheng Xiang glanced at it and picked up.
Tao Tianran’s clear, serious voice came through, “Has the flight been canceled?”
“Probably not.”
“Then come downstairs. I’ll take you to the airport.”
Cheng Xiang hadn’t expected she would see Tao Tianran again, but now was not the time for sentimental melancholy. The matter of her studying abroad was all settled… right?
After all, only in this way could she let what could pass, and what couldn’t, both become things of the past.
She pushed her suitcase and hurriedly went downstairs. Tao Tianran had registered at the neighborhood security gate and driven the Bentley13 into the residential complex, parking it right below Cheng Xiang’s building.
Tao Tianran held a large black umbrella with one hand. Today’s heavy rain had caused the temperature to plunge, and she wore a long, ink-black trench coat.
Seeing that Cheng Xiang wore only a thin, soft shirt, she reached out to help push her suitcase while tilting the umbrella over Cheng Xiang’s head, asking, “Are you cold?”
Cheng Xiang said, “I’m not cold.”
She nodded and said nothing more. Folding her umbrella, she worked together with Cheng Xiang to stuff the suitcase into the trunk.
The rain was too heavy; in just that brief instant, both of their shoulders were completely wet. Without stopping their steps, they climbed into the car, and Tao Tianran turned on the heater.
She asked Cheng Xiang, “Then, let’s go?”
Cheng Xiang was silent, then nodded.
Tao Tianran started the car. No one spoke, and only the low humming of the heater could be heard.
Cheng Xiang’s phone vibrated. She fished it out to look; it was a message from Qiao Zhiji: 【Have a safe trip.】
Cheng Xiang looked down and typed in the dialogue box: 【Thank you.】
Then she deleted it, character by character.
Putting away her phone, Cheng Xiang turned her head to look out the window. The rain hitting the windowpane painted the city into a blurry postcard; the lights reflected on the glass, like reflections on a winding river.
She thought of when Tao Tianran had first bought the car. One night, a sudden heavy rain had also fallen like this.
They had just finished eating hotpot with Qin Ziqiao and were on their way home.
“Tao Tianran.”
“Mhm.”
“This car of yours is really expensive, right?”
“?”
“If I want to doodle on the car window with my finger… will it leave any marks on the glass?” Tao Tianran’s car had only been driven out of the dealership for a few days, and even the paper floor mats had just been removed.
The leather seats gave off a faint scent of natural leather. Sitting in the passenger seat, Cheng Xiang always felt a bit constrained.
She stuffed her hands under her thighs, staring at the lucky cat14 she had made, which hung below the rearview mirror, swaying back and forth.
Tao Tianran dipped her chin and uttered only a single word: “Draw.”
Wow, so like an overbearing president!
Cheng Xiang curled her lips in a smile, lifting her slender fingertip and pressing it against the window glass.
Actually, she hadn’t thought about what to write or draw. Write her and Tao Tianran’s names? That would be too silly. Draw a heart? Uh, too cheesy.
So she silently pulled her fingertip back.
The small spot where her finger pad had just pressed against the window turned into a small, faint circle, imprinted on the white fog steamed up by the heater.
Tao Tianran turned her head slightly to glance at it, saying nothing.
She just thought in her heart: Like a period15.
Cheng Xiang sat beside that cute, tiny period, calling her name softly, “Tao Tianran.”
“Mhm.”
“Tao Tianran, Tao Tianran, Tao Tianran.”
“Mhm.”
Actually, Cheng Xiang had nothing to say. After thinking for a long time, she finally curled her lips and blurted out, “We’re going home together.”
That was even just a house they had rented together.
Looking at that tiny “period” on the glass once more, but in her heart, she suddenly thought: Perhaps my drifting can stop here. Stop right here with Cheng Xiang.
At this moment, Tao Tianran held the steering wheel, letting out a low breath from her chest.
Why hadn’t she realized back then that it was actually a love as vast as the deep sea?
She loved Cheng Xiang.
Starting from a very, very long time ago.
Cheng Xiang kept turning her head to look out the window; of course she could hear the subtle change in the rhythm of Tao Tianran’s breathing.
What was Tao Tianran thinking?
She didn’t dare to ask.
The car drove smoothly until there was a sudden, sharp slam of the brakes.
Tao Tianran’s driving skills were excellent, and such a situation had never occurred before. Cheng Xiang braced her hand against the side armrest, feeling her chest violently squeezed by the seatbelt.
Tao Tianran said, “The car seems to have malfunctioned.”
“…” Cheng Xiang was a bit dazed. “Isn’t yours a luxury car?”
“Do luxury cars never break down?” Tao Tianran said. “Sit for a while, I’ll get out and check.”
“Huh?”
As she spoke, Tao Tianran had already put on her trench coat and got out of the car, opening the front hood to inspect it.
Cheng Xiang hurriedly took the umbrella from the back seat, opened it, and walked up behind Tao Tianran.
“Can you fix it?”
“Something is probably blocking the sensor, let me open it and look.” Tao Tianran said succinctly, “It should be fixable.”
Cheng Xiang stood to the side holding the umbrella.
She was heading to the most remote airport in Beicheng. Now, the car was parked on the emergency lane with its double hazard lights flashing. Large cargo trucks were passing by around them, in the middle of nowhere, and it was raining.
If Tao Tianran’s car really couldn’t run, she would definitely miss her flight.
The way Tao Tianran fixed the car was truly cool. Her slender and agile fingers fiddled with the parts near the sensor, creating a strong contrast, just like when she wore protective goggles and held that heavy gemstone cutting machine.
She had always been this kind of woman: cold, indifferent, yet possessing a sense of strength.
Behind her, Cheng Xiang suddenly called, “Teacher Tao.”
Perhaps not hearing her, Tao Tianran didn’t respond.
Cheng Xiang called out again, “Tao Tianran.”
“Mhm.”
“Live well in the future.”
Tao Tianran quietly continued her repairs. The rain pitter-pattered against the umbrella Cheng Xiang held, sliding down the edges.
“Losing someone you like is no big deal, right? There are plenty of broken-hearted people in this world,” Cheng Xiang grinned.
The temperature was getting lower and lower, and her lips were clearly trembling, making her words sound a bit slurred.
It was hard for her to tell whom she was saying this to. To Tao Tianran, to Qiao Zhiji, to Yu Yusheng, or did she want to convince herself?
Yes, the world changes so fast; everyone has learned to say, “you can cheat my feelings, but you cannot cheat my money,” and those who invest too deeply in their feelings are regarded as fools who aren’t very smart.
Deep affection was viewed as an outdated product from the end of the last century, to be ridiculed, forgotten, discarded, or replaced.
“You’re so rich, could you still fail to live your life well?” Cheng Xiang’s lips continued to tremble as she grinned. “So like I said last time, just treat me as her for now and say a proper goodbye. Once I go abroad, you won’t have this kind of opportunity again.”
Tao Tianran, busy with the hood, looked back at her. “But are you her?”
She turned back to continue her repairs.
Cheng Xiang pressed her tongue against her upper palate, falling into silence.
The rain was still drizzling down, and from time to time cargo trucks would whoosh past them. Cheng Xiang turned her head to take a look.
Wait… what was going on?
Why was there a girl walking along the edge of the highway?
She was very thin, with long hair draped over her shoulders, drenched wet in the rain, swaying as she walked, looking very cheerful.
…Where did this girl come from?
Could… could it be a ghost…
Hahaha, Cheng Xiang wanted to laugh. She seemed to have forgotten that she had also been a ghost for quite a while, drifting and floating in the air. Could she have run into a colleague—pfft, one of her own kind?
Shivering, she pointed at Tao Tianran’s back. “D-Do you see a person over there?”
Tao Tianran raised her eyes, temporarily stopping the movement of her hands. “Yes, I see her.”
It really was a person!
Cheng Xiang called out toward that retreating figure, “Hey! That’s dangerous!”
The girl turned a deaf ear.
Cheng Xiang grew anxious, stuffing the umbrella into Tao Tianran’s hand. “Hold it yourself for a bit.” Then she ran forward along the emergency lane herself.
“Hey, you!” Tao Tianran gripped the umbrella in her hand tightly and chased after her with swift steps.
Footnotes
- Rúguǒ yǒu tiān nǐ xiǎng wǒ le, jiù jìng xià lái, tīngting shēnpáng de yīzhèn fēng (如果有天你想我了，就静下来，听听身旁的一阵风). A comforting, poignant message about finding presence in the wind after departure, serving as the chapter's thematic epigraph.
- Ruǎn dìtǎn (软地毯). Thick, soft carpets Cheng Xiang ordered for her apartment to prevent injury when she faints during her soul disputes with Yu Yusheng.
- Bójīn bāo (铂金包). A luxury Hermes handbag carried by Qiao Zhiji, symbolizing her high professional status as a partner at a prominent law firm.
- Wén tīng liù lù (闻听六路). Literally 'hearing in six directions', a classical idiom describing someone with extremely sharp hearing or who is alert to rumors and news from all sides.
- Lǎo Gān Mā (老干妈). A globally famous brand of Chinese chili sauce, often brought abroad by Chinese travelers to combat homesickness with familiar flavors.
- Wūjiāng Zhácài (乌江榨菜). A popular brand of Chinese pickled mustard tubers, known for its crunchy texture and often eaten by Chinese travelers as a staple comfort food.
- Rénzào shí (人造石). Lab-created synthetic gemstones used during the variety show competition, representing the modern industrial side of the jewelry business as opposed to natural stones.
- Qīlìmǎzhāluó Shānmài (乞力马扎罗山脉). Kilimanjaro, a massive volcanic mountain range in Tanzania, East Africa, near where Yi Yu plans to seek natural gemstones.
- Luósīfěn (螺蛳粉). A famous snail rice noodle specialty from Liuzhou, Guangxi, known for its extremely pungent aroma derived from sour pickled bamboo shoots.
- Fǎnchāméng (反差萌). Contrast cute or 'gap moe', describing the endearing quality of someone acting or dressing in a way that contradicts their usual serious persona.
- Zhuāng dà yǐba láng (装大尾巴狼). A colloquial idiom meaning to put on airs, pretend to be sophisticated or innocent, or act hypocritically.
- Xiǎo Xiàng (小巷). An affectionate nickname for Cheng Xiang, used here by Qin Ziqiao to refer to her friend's past history of chasing after love foolishly.
- Bīnlì Tiānyuè (宾利添越). Tao Tianran's glacier white luxury Bentley Bentayga SUV, reflecting her family's immense wealth.
- Zhāocái māo (招财猫). A beaded car ornament handmade by Cheng Xiang, representing a traditional lucky cat symbol.
- Xiàng yīméi jùhào (像一枚句号). A metaphor representing finality, closure, or a place where one's wandering can stop.
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