The Alley Was Always This Long – Chapter 51
by Little Panda“Tao Tianran!”
“I am Xiao Xiang!”
[Want to be the kite runner.
For you, a thousand times over.]
“Hey, watch where you’re going, miss!” Cheng Xiang grumbled and nagged the entire way, her hands slicing the air like blades as she ran at breakneck speed.
Back when Tao Tianran had rushed out to save that little girl on the road, she had cursed Tao Tianran to high heaven in her mind. She had thought, Tao Tianran has clearly never died before. Haha, what a novel thing to say—who else has actually died besides those who experienced soul transmigration?
She simply thought that if Tao Tianran had died even once, she would never have dared to charge onto the road like that. The sensation of a car crashing into you really felt like slow-motion footage in a movie. You could clearly feel the beam of the headlights piercing into the depths of your eyes. You could smell the scent of gasoline rushing at you. You could see the scraped paint on the hood, and the letters spray-painted by some unknown hand along the edge of the black headlight casing.
Your subconscious reaction was not to dodge to the side, but to raise your hand to block the piercing glare of the headlights. Yet, the action of raising your hand only played out in your mind, because the impact of a car hitting you was a matter of mere milliseconds.
And so, you had no time to move, no time to raise your arm, no time to blink. You could only widen your eyes and watch as the front of the car hurtled toward you. What you felt was not pain, but only coldness. You felt your soul, at the instant of the violent impact, blast out of your body, drifting aimlessly and lost as it floated up into midair.
Looking down at the person collapsed on the zebra crossing, a thick, dark crimson pool spreading beneath them, you thought in your heart: Who is that?
Is that… me?
That kind of feeling was something no one would ever want to experience again.
Yet, precisely because she knew no one wanted to experience that feeling, even as she had cursed Tao Tianran to high heaven last time, this time she was running at breakneck speed, wanting to pull that girl back.
Ah, human beings were such contradictory creatures. Especially her. She had been indecisive since childhood; didn’t Director Ma always nag her about it? Even deciding whether to have tomato scrambled eggs or tomato egg drop soup for dinner could occupy her thoughts for half the day.
“Hey, miss!” The rain was pouring down hard. The moment Cheng Xiang opened her mouth, rainwater rushed in. The girl had run out from who-knows-where and seemed completely delirious, utterly deaf to her shouts. Cheng Xiang suddenly thought, Didn’t I also seem to see this girl by the side of the road when I had my car accident last time?
Just then, a blinding glare of headlights flashed.
Cheng Xiang was stunned.
A truck smashed through the central divider, hurtling across the slick, rain-drenched Airport Expressway toward her and the girl in the emergency lane.
Traffic wasn’t heavy in the rain, and the cars behind had enough time to make emergency stops.
In that instant, only three words crossed Cheng Xiang’s mind: No. Way. Right?
Could someone really be this unlucky?
For most people, bad luck capped out at buying instant noodles without seasoning packets three times in a row, right? Could someone actually die in a car crash, transmigrate and reborn, only to encounter another car crash?
Hahaha! Cheng Xiang wanted to mock this trash System: No creativity whatsoever!
But then Cheng Xiang remembered a movie from a long time ago called 《Final Destination》.
She had been a total coward back then. She and Qin Ziqiao had huddled in her bedroom to watch that classic horror film. She had been so terrified that she ended up wrapping her arms and legs around the phoenix tree in her bedroom like a koala.
Qin Ziqiao had cast a glance at her. “Why are you hugging the tree? You can just hold onto me.”
“Hahaha,” Cheng Xiang laughed, a sound like a cry. “I’m afraid you’ll scream. I’ll stick to hugging the tree; trees don’t scream.”
In short, the core message of that horror movie was that once Death marked you, you might escape it today, but you couldn’t escape it forever.
Even if you exerted every ounce of effort to dodge this crisis, the next one—and the one after that—would keep coming until Death finally claimed you.
As the truck barreled toward the emergency lane, Cheng Xiang squinted in the glaring headlights.
For humans, the scariest thing about doing anything is having experience.
Take her, for instance: she had actually developed experience in getting hit by cars. The first time, she could only stand frozen in sheer bewilderment. But during this second crash, in the span of a single spark, she could actually spin her little brain to think.
She actually had two choices—
First, she could halt abruptly and stop moving forward; she might barely manage to dodge it, but the girl running in the emergency lane would be finished.
Second, she could ride her momentum forward and give the girl a violent shove on her shoulder. The girl would have a sliver of hope for survival, while she herself would be finished.
“Hey, you!”
Ah, that slow-motion movie feeling was back again. In this split second, she could actually hear Tao Tianran shouting behind her.
Cheng Xiang smiled softly.
She lunged forward with her momentum and gave the girl a violent push on her shoulder. Completely off-guard, the girl stumbled and pitched forward.
Cheng Xiang praised herself internally: My hand strength is really something else, hey!
Everything unfolded in the exact same fraction of a second. At the very moment Cheng Xiang heard Tao Tianran’s desperate cry of “Hey, you!” behind her, she also spotted the letters xxybzd spray-painted next to the oncoming truck’s headlights, and simultaneously shoved the girl out of harm’s way.
And at the same time, her brain realized: this was the very same truck that had crashed into her when she died as Cheng Xiang.
Cheng Xiang actually didn’t know how to interpret this—
Should she view it as fate? Some sort of twisted real-life “Final Destination” game?
Or should she hold a materialist view, thinking that this truck had been sold to another driver and, as ill luck would have it, got into an accident again?
In truth, there was no time for any rational thinking in that instant.
Cheng Xiang found that she had actually let out a sigh of relief.
No matter how much she grumbled in her heart, “Who did I ever offend?” or how much she brainwashed herself, “Yu Yusheng was the one who chose to give up, which is why I transmigrated into her body—why should I give her a second chance?”
In truth, she, Cheng Xiang, was simply this kind of person.
She was the kind of person who, when out with Director Ma as a child and seeing a woman kneeling and kowtowing on the roadside to raise money for a sick daughter, would cry even more pitifully than the woman and hand over all her pocket money, no matter how much Director Ma insisted “She’s a scammer.”
She was a very foolish person. She was a very indecisive person. She was the kind of person who would agonize over and over, only to still be a fool in the end.
For some reason she couldn’t explain, in this moment, she saw herself dressed in her Pikachu onesie pajamas, crouching in the residential compound to feed stray cats.
She squatted, hugging her knees, her fine, soft medium-length hair brushing against her fair neck.
Cheng Xiang felt at peace in her heart: she was still herself.
Still the person who would wear onesie pajamas and squat in the residential compound to feed stray cats.
No matter what, she could never leave with a completely clear conscience. No matter what, at the final moment, she would stay. She would cry, she would be afraid, she would be reluctant to let go, but she wanted Yu Yusheng to come back, even though she had no idea how to make her return.
No matter what, she could not watch death happen before her eyes and remain indifferent.
If, right now, her soul was knocked out of her body once more, then Yu Yusheng’s soul could take the opportunity to return to this body, and this body wouldn’t die.
A win-win! Not only would she save the girl by the highway, but she could also let Yu Yusheng return. Cheng Xiang praised herself in her heart, “Beautifully done!”
Or perhaps, it was more than a win-win.
Or perhaps, she also harbored another tiny, selfish motive.
She tried her best to dodge to the side when the front of the truck crashed over, wanting to protect Yu Yusheng’s body as much as possible—this way, once Yu Yusheng transmigrated back, wouldn’t treatment be easier? As she dodged, she turned slightly, though her eyes had no time to lock onto Tao Tianran, who was running toward her from behind.
She only had time to catch a blurry shadow flashing over, running in the rain, her umbrella already thrown aside.
Cheng Xiang laughed and shouted, “Goodbye, Tao Tianran! I am Xiao Xiang!”
Actually, she had wanted to shout so much more.
Like, tell Director Ma and Deputy Director Cheng for me—I’ve peeled garlic for Director Ma, bought liangpi for Deputy Director Cheng, and said goodbye to them properly.
Like, tell Qin Ziqiao for me too—this time, I’ve said goodbye to her properly as well.
But there was no time for any of it.
She could only hope that from her words, “I am Xiao Xiang,” Tao Tianran would hear the so many, many things she had no time to say.
Why was it that only at another parting could she tell Tao Tianran she was Xiao Xiang? In this split second, she probably wouldn’t even have time to pass out, hahaha.
Cheng Xiang smiled slowly. She knew that in an instant, her soul would once again detach from her body.
I love you, Tao Tianran.
The world is cruel; it never grants people the chance to mend their regrets. But I want to treat you gently. I will give you a second chance.
I’m giving you a chance to say goodbye to me properly, face-to-face.
Just then, Cheng Xiang felt herself being violently yanked.
The rain was pouring down in sheets, but Tao Tianran had already lunged to her side, her arm reaching around to embrace her.
Is she insane?! At this moment, she really wanted to swear.
Is Tao Tianran actually out of her mind? Rushing over so recklessly like this, the chance of both of us being saved is infinitely close to zero—it’s basically both of us going down together.
One person going down versus two people going down—which option makes more sense? Isn’t Tao Tianran a top student? Can’t she calculate that in her brain?!
In the glare of the piercing headlights, Cheng Xiang felt Tao Tianran’s arms tightly wrapping around her. Tao Tianran’s gaze was incredibly gentle, and she was smiling. At the moment the truck crashed into them, Tao Tianran shielded her from behind and whispered a phrase in her ear.
Or perhaps Tao Tianran hadn’t had time to say it at all, and Cheng Xiang had simply read it from her eyes.
Tao Tianran was saying: “Look, by the side of the Airport Expressway, there is an apple tree.”
When Tao Tianran woke up in bed, a slender, fair wrist slid out from beneath the duvet, reaching for the phone charging on her nightstand.
She glanced at the time displayed on the screen: December 18, 2023, 6:53 AM.
Tao Tianran slowly sat up, running a hand through her straight, long black hair. Beneath her wrists, the sexually-apathetic style1 lamp-grass grey duvet cover rustled softly.
She got out of bed, stepping her fair ankles into her slippers. As she moved, her obsidian-colored long-sleeved silk satin pajamas slid down her slender shoulders slightly, revealing a section of jade-like collarbone.
She casually adjusted her pajamas and walked into the bathroom to wash up. After putting her electric toothbrush back on the charging dock, she stepped onto the scale to one side.
It displayed her morning weight as: 52 kg.
Stepping off the scale, she headed downstairs and entered the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water. She tore open a tube of cold-extract lemon juice and poured it in, raising her wrist to take a sip. Setting down the glass, she curled her knuckles and tapped them on the cloud-grey marble countertop.
Casting her eyes down at the phone screen beside her, it displayed: December 18, 2023, 7:22 AM.
Tao Tianran scooped the phone into her hand, carefully read the time once more, gently letting out a sigh.
She changed into a crisp white shirt and agate-grey trousers. After buttoning her shirt, she casually pulled her long hair out from the collar with her right hand, shrugged on a charcoal-grey overcoat that was a shade darker, picked up her Bolide, and headed out.
Crossing the path through her residential compound to the garage, a property maintenance worker was climbing on a lamppost frame to carry out repairs. Noticing her, the man nodded. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.”
It was a routine greeting between property staff and residents; he did not recognize her.
Tao Tianran carried her bag into the garage and unlocked her Bentley, placing her overcoat and handbag on the passenger seat.
As she drove out of the garage, she had always disliked putting her phone calls on speaker. After putting on her Bluetooth earpiece with one hand, she made a call to her assistant.
“Hello, Teacher Tao.”
“Hello.” Tao Tianran stopped at a red light, raising her hand to adjust her Bluetooth earpiece. “I’ll be arriving at the office an hour late today. Call me if there is anything urgent.”
“But the Big Boss is looking for you,” her assistant said in a tiny voice.
“She only looks for me,” Tao Tianran said succinctly, “to talk nonsense.”
Wow, her assistant marveled in her heart. Probably only Tao Tianran would speak to Yi Yu so directly.
But there was no helping it. Who else but Tao Tianran was the newly minted recipient of the prestigious AGTA Spectrum Awards2? Plus, with a face like Tao Tianran’s, she was a total weapon against someone as obsessed with looks as Yi Yu.
“Well, our quarterly design discussion meeting was scheduled for ten o’clock anyway. Shall I keep the schedule as is?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, right, Teacher Tao. Shianne is back from her on-site assignment in Wei Province. You’ll see her at the meeting today.”
“Didn’t the Big Boss plan to send her abroad for further studies?”
“It seems she’s not going anymore. I don’t know what they said to each other.”
“Got it.”
Tao Tianran hung up the call. Two minutes later, her phone rang.
Tao Tianran declined it directly.
The phone immediately rang again, persistent and unyielding.
Tao Tianran put her Bluetooth earpiece back on and answered, “Hello.”
Yi Yu’s volume caused the phone’s speaker to hiss with static. Tao Tianran frowned slightly, hearing Yi Yu shout over the line: “Teacher Tao! My dearest Teacher Tao!”
Tao Tianran remained silent.
“Getting bold, are we? When your Big Boss wants to see you, you just take an hour off just like that?”
“Any actual business?”
“Can’t I look for you if there isn’t?”
“No.”
“Still no.”
Yi Yu curled her lip. “Where are you going anyway?”
“I have something to do.”
“Taking time off during work hours to run errands is certainly a first for you.” Over the line, the sound of something rolling clattered.
Tao Tianran reminded her: “Don’t play.”
“Oh,” Yi Yu grunted, reluctantly putting down the diamond she had been flipping between her fingers with some disappointment. She asked again, “Do you really have somewhere to go?”
“Yes.”
“What’s the matter?”
“Something very important.”
Tao Tianran hung up the phone.
While she resided in a secluded villa district hidden within the city, and the Kunpu office building sat in Beicheng’s most prestigious central business district, she now drove entirely in the opposite direction, heading toward the western part of Beicheng.
This area was crisscrossed with alleys of all sizes. Tao Tianran drove deeper into the grid, passing elderly men walking their mynas, aunties holding chopsticks as they went to the alley entrance to buy fried dough cakes, and bicycles and tricycles parked haphazardly along the roadside.
An old uncle watched her drive and called out in alarm: “Hey, watch out with that expensive ride! Don’t let it get scratched!”
Tao Tianran drove her car all the way to the entrance of an alley and stopped.
On the dark grey brick wall, a blue road sign with a white border bore the four small characters 「Hundred Flowers Alley」.
Walking into the alley, it was a straight, narrow path like a sheep’s intestine, with straight, light grey utility poles echoing the wild grass on the grey tiled eaves. Every few steps, the front gate of a siheyuan appeared, pasted with last year’s New Year paintings and spring couplets that had been washed somewhat dusty by time.
A girl with slender limbs dashed out from the courtyard: “Mom, I’m off to work! Tonight make that tomato scrambled eggs—no, wait, tomato egg soup! Ah, forget it, still tomato scrambled eggs.”
“Alright, alright, alright,” she waved her hand as she spoke. “I’ll think about it some more. I’ll WeChat you this afternoon to tell you!”
She spoke rapidly, carrying the classic erhua accent4 of someone raised in the alleys. A faint smile graced her face, casting two delicate, thin love bands under her eyes in the pale morning light.
A woman with short, permed, curly hair chased her out of the siheyuan: “Xiao Xiang! Cheng Xiang!”
She waved a book in her hand: “Did you hear me about taking the civil service exam? I’m telling you, working for the Neighborhood Committee5 is fantastic! That crummy job of yours has absolutely no future, do you hear me?!”
The girl just ran off with her bag.
She wasn’t short, standing at 1.67 meters, but her limbs were slender and her features were faint. Her soft, fine, mid-length hair fell over her shoulders in a translucent chestnut hue under the sunlight. Her thick, long eyelashes framed wide, round eyes, giving her a fuzzy, fluffy appearance.
She wore a short milk-brown puffer jacket paired with light blue wide-leg jeans. A little bear pendant hung from her off-white canvas bag, swaying to the rhythm of her running steps.
She ran past Tao Tianran’s side, casting a slightly curious glance at her.
She probably found Tao Tianran’s elegant, sophisticated attire somewhat out of place in such an old, weathered alley. But since they were strangers, she said nothing and quickly sprinted away.
Running all the way to the bus stop, because of a “battle” with Director Ma this morning, she had left the house a bit late.
Seeing that the bus was about to close its doors and leave, she sprinted wildly with her canvas bag hanging half-off her forearm:
“Driver, wait for me!”
She finally made it on. Now she would still have time to buy a jianbing6 downstairs from her office building.
“What flavor do you want, miss?”
“Shredded pork with green peppers—no, double eggs with pork tenderloin.” Cheng Xiang lightly patted her mouth. She blamed the persistent smell of green pepper shredded pork boxed lunches in her office building; now, whatever she ate tasted like green pepper shredded pork.
Carrying the jianbing upstairs, she sat down at her workstation, humming a little tune as she booted up her computer, and casually poked the solar-powered flower on her desk. As long as there was light, it would gently sway its leaves.
She snapped a photo of the jianbing and sent it to Qin Ziqiao as a matter of routine.
Qin Ziqiao was her best friend since childhood; the two of them spoke this kind of meaningless nonsense to each other every day.
Cheng Xiang: 【jianbing_guozi.jpg】
Qin Ziqiao: 【capybara.jpg】
Cheng Xiang was amused: 【Are you eating capybara this morning?】
She took a bite of her crepe and sent another text to Qin Ziqiao: 【It snowed yesterday, and it’s quite cold today. Want to come over to my place tonight to eat liangpi? I bought some for my dad at the market last night, and it’s still that same taste, no complaints.】
Qin Ziqiao: 【Is there any causal relationship between today being quite cold and eating liangpi tonight?】
Cheng Xiang: 【None, just talking nonsense with you, hehe.】
On the other side, Tao Tianran drove back to the Kunpu office building.
Carrying her Bolide upstairs, she returned to her private office. Her assistant knocked twice on the door and poked her head in: “Teacher Tao, you’re here. Remember we have a meeting at ten o’clock.”
“I know.” Tao Tianran lowered her chin: “Go ahead and step out, and close the door for me.”
“You got it.”
After her assistant went out, Tao Tianran sat quietly by her desk alone. After a long while, she raised both hands and buried her face deeply in them.
She had succeeded.
Snow fell into the dirt, nurturing the life of another spring. Jointing sprouts desperately absorbed the moisture in the soil, and through photosynthesis, transpired along with the sun-drenched rivers, lakes, and seas, transforming into another cycle of summer rain.
Life, for the most part, existed within such a continuous loop.
Tao Tianran did not know how many times she had already come to this small, white room.
The room was empty, with no doors and no windows; she stood there completely alone.
So when that voice suddenly sounded, distinguishing neither male nor female, like a voice from beyond: “Human Tao Tianran, do you know why you are here?”
“I do.” Tao Tianran nodded. She was wearing a white shirt soaked through by the rain, her left cheek stained with blood, her left shoulder suffered a comminuted fracture, and she looked very battered. “I died.”
This was a space where death was judged.
“You came here because you vainly attempted to interfere with the normal cycle of life and death. You also failed to save Cheng Xiang’s life with your own life. You failed.”
“Is that so?” Tao Tianran nodded.
“Human Tao Tianran, preparing the life restart program…”
“Wait,” Tao Tianran said calmly.
“Human Tao Tianran, life restart program paused.”
“I want to do it again.”
“Human Tao Tianran, please repeat your wish.”
“I want to do it… one more time.”
The System fell silent for a moment, attempting to understand and record the human brainwave activity at this moment: “Why are humans willing to experience death time and time again? Restarting life is a brand-new opportunity.”
“Because,” Tao Tianran was as calm as an iceberg that would never shift: “If life is restarted, Cheng Xiang will no longer be Cheng Xiang, and I will no longer be myself.”
She tried to shift her left shoulder blade, pulling a sharp pain through her heart. She knit her brows, wanting to try taking a couple of steps forward, only to find her left leg was also broken.
She dragged her left leg like that, walking forward with difficulty; inside the seemingly seamless, bare white space sat an invisible door. Tao Tianran made her way over, slamming her hand onto the door, the blood from her trembling hand stained the door seam, slowly seeping in, as if nurturing a brand-new opportunity with her own life force.
Living toward death.
Because of her broken ribs, her every inhalation was a sharp pain. Exhaling shallowly, she asked, “Who decided her life was just over like that?”
“I’m asking you, who decided her life was just over like that?”
She suddenly let out a low laugh. Her chuckles echoed through the vast, empty white chamber, sounding like an iceberg creaking and cracking with layer upon layer of fissures.
“Answer me!”
The System was only indifferent, inquiring in a mechanical tone: “Human Tao Tianran, you are certain you wish to forfeit your opportunity to restart life and enter yet another death loop?”
“Yes.”
“Human Tao Tianran, the System kindly reminds you: based on scientific calculations of vehicle speed and collision angles on a rainy night, the probability of you sacrificing yourself to save Cheng Xiang’s life is approximately one in a thousand.”
Tao Tianran smiled again.
Speaking such cruel words, yet calling it a 「friendly」 reminder.
“One in a thousand?” She raised her head, a cryptic smile playing on her lips: “But what if… what I want is not even just one in a thousand?”
“Human Tao Tianran, please refrain from inputting invalid commands. The System cannot comprehend. Repeat. Human Tao Tianran, do you confirm the restart of the death loop?”
“I have one more question.”
“Human Tao Tianran, please enter your question.”
“Xiao Xiang… she won’t feel pain, right? Because she passed away very quickly, so the only one who hurts is me.”
“System reply: Yes.”
“In that case,” Tao Tianran raised her chin with a low laugh, her left cheek also stained with blood: “what is there left to be uncertain about?”
Her low voice slipped from her lips: “Human Tao Tianran confirms the restart of the death loop.”
For a time, the System was silent, as if silently recording the flow of human brainwaves at this counter-intuitive instant.
Then, that voice from beyond that distinguished neither male nor female disappeared. Replacing it was a more mechanical and cold voice, like stereo surround sound, wrapping around from all sides:
【Human Tao Tianran, re-entering the death loop.】
Within the closed space that was seamless just a moment ago, the door stained with Tao Tianran’s blood slowly opened.
Dragging her broken left leg, Tao Tianran slowly walked toward the doorway.
Standing still inside the door, she slowly exhaled a breath, until the door slowly closed, and the mechanical, cold voice from before declared: 【Death loop initiated.】
Time and time again, she returned to that period of life between Cheng Xiang’s two deaths.
With every failure, she could not retain the memories of the previous time.
Every time she returned to this small room, the only clue she grasped was: the one that crashed into Cheng Xiang both times happened to be the exact same truck. The heavy rain falling during the second death was perhaps a cycle of the early snow from the first death.
To expand her design thinking, Tao Tianran had thoroughly read all kinds of miscellaneous books, including physics.
She knew that all things in the universe had gaps or cracks, and this basic law applied to time as well. Time also had subtle cracks, and empty spaces smaller than molecules or atoms were called quantum foam7, where wormholes existed.
Achieving time travel through wormholes was once resisted by scientists because any macroscopic object passing through it would inevitably cause the destruction of causal relationships.
In recent years, however, scientists simulated quantum particle time travel for the first time using two photons, finding that a photon either interacted with its former self through a wormhole, or interacted with a photon stuck inside a closed timelike curve through a wormhole.
If she achieved the second path, she could return to the past in her own present tense and change the outcome of Cheng Xiang’s destiny.
But activities on the quantum scale would not follow the rules of classical mechanics; she could not find any patterns and could only try again and again, hoping she would enter the second time-travel mode.
Returning to the time of the first death, if she could stop that truck from crashing over, Cheng Xiang would be spared.
She rushed to Cheng Xiang’s side time after time, accompanied Cheng Xiang through the experience again and again, and only then could she return to this white space to make the choice to open the next loop.
The System, which attempted to record all human brainwave activity, had once asked her in bewilderment: “Aren’t you afraid that in one of the loops, you won’t recognize her?”
Tao Tianran replied, “I won’t.”
The System asked again, “Aren’t you afraid that in one of the loops, you will choose self-preservation and not rush to her side?”
Tao Tianran still replied indifferently, “I won’t.”
Stained with blood on her left cheek, her left shoulder shattered and her left leg broken, she stood inside the doorway of the loop opening once more, watching the door—which had an indefinable, possibly metallic texture—slowly close before her eyes.
Tao Tianran’s entire body was trembling; closing her eyes, she swayed on her feet as she drew in deep, shaky breaths of air.
But.
When the System’s cold voice announcing 【Loop initiated】 echoed in her ears, she slowly opened her eyes, the expression on her face still calm.
Bring it on, Tao Tianran thought.
For the sake of Xiao Xiang, a smile slowly curved her lips—a thousand times over.
Footnotes
- Xing lengdan, literally meaning frigid or sexually cold, refers to a minimalist, muted-tone aesthetic popular in modern East Asian design.
- The AGTA Spectrum Awards is a prestigious real-world jewelry design competition hosted by the American Gem Trade Association.
- Three Wan is a Mahjong tile. Yi Yu is playfully yelling Mahjong discards while playing with diamonds.
- Erhua refers to the rhotacization or 'r' sound added to syllables in the traditional Beicheng dialect, typical of local alley residents.
- The Neighborhood Committee is a grassroots-level community administrative organization in China that handles local resident affairs.
- A jianbing is a popular traditional Chinese savory street crepe made of grain batter, eggs, crispy crackers, and various sauces.
- Quantum foam is a concept in quantum mechanics that describes the microscopic, turbulent fluctuations of spacetime at the incredibly small Planck scale.
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