The Alley Was Always This Long – Chapter 60
by Little PandaNeon
Tao Tianran said, “You can dare to do anything.”
[First time learning to walk,
First time eating ice cream,
First time bungee jumping,
First time liking you.
These are the things in my life that made me flustered.]
Tao Tianran rested her hand on the table, her index finger gently tapping the surface once before her fingers curled in and clenched slightly.
Only then did she ask, “Are you curious?”
What kind of question was that… Cheng Xiang didn’t even know why she blurted out, “Ah, no, no, no, I’m not curious.”
Her heart began to race, as if she were harboring a melancholy secret. Tao Tianran was her secret.
Tao Tianran glanced at her again, picked up a sparerib, took a bite, paused, and then set it back down.
Cheng Xiang asked, “Aren’t you eating?”
Tao Tianran: “Actually, I’m not very hungry.”
Pfft. Cheng Xiang laughed.
With her eyes curving into crescent moons, she said, “How about I teach you? I’m pretty good at making this dish.”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“No need.”
Well, look who’s acting tsundere. Did all elite types have this kind of pride? A stubborn refusal to lose.
Cheng Xiang said, “You won’t buy twenty pounds of ribs and secretly practice at home every night after I leave, will you?”
Tao Tianran froze, blinking once.
Cheng Xiang: …
No… she couldn’t have actually hit the nail on the head, could she?
Tao Tianran poured herself a glass of white wine, then stood up to fetch a bottle of drinking yogurt for Cheng Xiang.
“Hey,” Cheng Xiang protested, “I can drink, you know.”
Tao Tianran merely shrugged.
“Don’t just drink. It’s bad for your stomach.” Cheng Xiang’s inner Neighborhood Committee Director began to take over again as she nagged, “Have some of this Moo Shu pork; it’s decent. Or try the spinach with peanuts. Oh right, did you blanch the spinach? You have to blanch spinach, otherwise it has oxalic acid.”
Tao Tianran simply held her slender-stemmed white wine glass with a calm expression.
Cheng Xiang suddenly looked up and grinned at her. “Heheh.”
Tao Tianran: “…?”
“Since you’re from Gangdao, could you say something in Cantonese?” Cheng Xiang asked, her eyes sparkling. “Ah, I know it’s a silly request. It’s like when relatives visit during the New Year and my mom forces me to recite poetry. But I’ve never met anyone from Gangdao before. You know, I only ever heard Cantonese in old Hong Kong movies when I was a kid, and I thought, wow—it has so much character!”
Tao Tianran set her wine glass back on the table, giving it a slight twirl. “I don’t like speaking Cantonese.”
“Ah, why?”
“My relationship with my family isn’t very close.”
“Oh, I see.” Cheng Xiang stared blankly for a moment. “I’m sorry.”
“Hmm?” Tao Tianran looked up. “Why are you sorry?”
“Just… I didn’t mean to make you unhappy.”
“I’m not unhappy.” Tao Tianran shook her head slightly. “I rarely go back to Gangdao. They don’t have much of an influence on me.”
“Oh.” Cheng Xiang rubbed the tip of her nose.
Tao Tianran said, “Actually, I’m quite happy today.”
“Ah, well, I can’t really tell.”
“Hmm?”
“You don’t smile or anything.”
Tao Tianran paused, then said, “I’m pretending to be calm.”
Cheng Xiang laughed.
After finishing the meal, Cheng Xiang volunteered to help wash the dishes, and Tao Tianran surprisingly didn’t stop her.
She’s really going to let a guest do the dishes?
Even though Cheng Xiang’s offer to wash up had been sincere, she couldn’t help but murmur under her breath as she held the sponge under the running water, “What’s up with this woman?”
As she spoke, her own lips curled into a smile.
After finishing the dishes, she said her goodbyes. She also offered to take out the trash for Tao Tianran, advising her, “You should eat some snacks tonight. You don’t look like the type who enjoys potato chips or cookies, but maybe some chocolates or dried apricots? You ate too little for dinner.”
“Okay.” Tao Tianran escorted her to the door.
Holding the trash bag, Cheng Xiang looked back and waved. “I’ll be off then.”
Tao Tianran leaned against the wooden railing near the door. She wasn’t wearing a coat, just her light white shirt and linen trousers. Her arms were loosely crossed as she called out, “Xiao Xiang.”
Cheng Xiang’s heart skipped a beat, thinking she was about to suggest meeting up again or something.
Instead, Tao Tianran said, “It’s not that I can’t speak Cantonese.”
“Huh? What do you want to say?”
At dusk, the horizon was painted a soft shade of orange-pink. Tao Tianran leaned against the wooden railing, the evening breeze lightly tossing her hair. She murmured softly, “silly girl1.”
Cheng Xiang bolted out of Tao Tianran’s neighborhood like a launched quail2.
The moment she cleared the gate, she whipped out her phone and called Qin Ziqiao. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Qin Ziqiao answered, sounding lazy. “What’s up?”
Cheng Xiang lowered her voice to a whisper, cupping her hand over her mouth. “I think… I’ve been targeted by a pig-butchering scam3!”
Cheng Xiang was still wearing a deadly serious expression by the time she sat in the computer chair at Qin Ziqiao’s place, devouring potato chips with loud crunches.
Qin Ziqiao asked, “So you’re saying you actually got to know the yujie4 who showed up at the entrance of your alley last time?”
“Yes,” Cheng Xiang nodded gravely. “It’s a long story. To put it simply, she was there when we went to the bar together last time.”
“With me?”
Cheng Xiang choked. “Well, back then, I didn’t think a pig-butchering scammer had targeted me.”
Qin Ziqiao: “Keep going.”
Cheng Xiang: “And then, one thing led to another, and we got acquainted. We even watched two plays together.”
“How’d you arrange that?”
“Huh?”
“Did you exchange contact info?”
“Yeah.” Cheng Xiang rubbed the tip of her nose. “We added each other on WeChat.”
“Did she ask for it?”
“…Actually, I was the one who asked.”
“You asked? And you still think she’s running a pig-butchering scam?”
Cheng Xiang grew flustered. “That’s because she…”
She had almost blurted out, “That’s because she seduced me!”
But she swallowed the words back down. How did she even seduce me in the first place?
Tao Tianran wasn’t even like Luo Yan; she never engaged in pointless small talk with her.
She thought Tao Tianran brushing her lips was seduction. She thought her saying “silly girl” in that meltingly soft Cantonese accent was seduction. She thought the way she stood under the tree when they watched that immersive play was also seduction.
Was she just overthinking things?
With a sigh, Cheng Xiang put the potato chips aside, pulled out a tissue to wipe her hands, and called to Qin Ziqiao, “Throw me a pillow to hug.”
Qin Ziqiao asked, “So what does she do?”
“I didn’t dare to ask.” Cheng Xiang hugged the pillow and sighed again. “I used to think she might be a university professor. But now… she’s probably selling insurance.”
Qin Ziqiao delivered a soul-piercing question: “You don’t exactly look like you have the spare cash to buy insurance.”
Cheng Xiang glared at her. “Then she must be from a telecom park in Thailand, trying to trick me into going over there to make scam calls.”
“Wait a minute,” Qin Ziqiao said, putting down her post-apocalyptic novel. “Why on earth do you think she’s a scammer?”
“Why else would she want to get close to me?” Cheng Xiang cried out, counting on her fingers. “She lives in a villa, looks incredibly rich, has the body of a model, and is gorgeous.”
Qin Ziqiao chimed in, “Just how good-looking are we talking? Show me her Moments.”
“She doesn’t post on her Moments.” Cheng Xiang thought for a moment. “You know that old-school Hong Kong actress who played the Little Dragon Maiden? She looks a bit like her, but with sharper, more delicate features.”
“Whoa.”
“It’s true, don’t doubt me! I mean, could someone like her actually fall for me? Hahahahaha.” Cheng Xiang burst out laughing at her own words.
“Next time you see her, take a stealth shot for me to see.”
Cheng Xiang received a WeChat message from Tao Tianran a week later.
Tao Tianran sent her the address of a malatang5 shop. As usual, she sent the location and fell silent again.
It wasn’t until she was off work that Cheng Xiang received another text: 【Want to go together?】
Cheng Xiang wanted to decline.
She couldn’t fathom why Tao Tianran was trying to get close to her, leaving her completely uneasy.
But first, the other woman had treated her to a meal last time, and had even cooked it herself. Second, she was on a mission to snap a stealth photo for Qin Ziqiao.
So she replied: 【Let me treat you then.】
After work, Tao Tianran drove near Cheng Xiang’s office. Cheng Xiang waited by the roadside.
The Bentley glided to a halt by the curb.
Cheng Xiang walked over, and Tao Tianran rolled down the window. “Get in.”
“Are we driving there?”
“Yes, I checked. There’s a parking lot nearby.”
“Oh.”
Cheng Xiang got in. It was her first time riding in such a luxury vehicle. She quietly glanced around. The interior of Tao Tianran’s car was incredibly minimalist, with a frigid, sexless aesthetic—completely unlike other women’s cars with fluffy decorations. There wasn’t even a safety amulet hanging from the rearview mirror.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I was just noticing that you don’t have a safety amulet hanging in your car.”
“Yeah.” Tao Tianran nodded. “I haven’t found a suitable one.”
Cheng Xiang noticed that Tao Tianran habitually drove single-handed. It looked incredibly cool.
They drove to the malatang shop. This time, it wasn’t a red-tent stall, but a small physical storefront.
As the two walked in, even the lady boss couldn’t help but steal an extra glance at Tao Tianran.
Sigh, Cheng Xiang knew it. For someone like Tao Tianran to appear in her life… how could it not be weird?
This malatang shop didn’t cook everything together in a giant pot. Instead, you took a small plastic basket to select the ingredients you wanted and handed them to the owner to cook.
Tao Tianran’s tall figure stood in front of the vegetable display fridge, her slender fingertips reaching for the bamboo skewers.
Glancing back at Cheng Xiang, she stepped half a pace to the side. “Am I blocking you?”
Hmph, so what if she was a bit tall and wearing high heels! Cheng Xiang curled her lip.
Standing beside Tao Tianran, Cheng Xiang glanced at her plastic basket. “What a coincidence.”
“How so?”
“You happen to not have picked any luffa.” Cheng Xiang grinned. “I hate eating luffa, heheh.”
Tao Tianran nodded. “I know.”
Cheng Xiang shot her a strange look, naturally assuming that “I know” simply meant “Understood.”
After choosing the vegetables, Tao Tianran handed the other plastic basket to Cheng Xiang. “You choose the meat.”
“Why?”
“You look like you prefer meat.”
Well… Cheng Xiang took the basket and asked Tao Tianran, “Do you have any dietary restrictions?”
She looked back, only to find Tao Tianran standing right behind her, holding her palm flat, leveling it from the top of Cheng Xiang’s head to her own nose.
“What is that supposed to mean!” Cheng Xiang dodged. “So what if I’m not as tall as you!”
Tao Tianran curled her lips and smiled.
Once they selected everything, they handed the baskets to the lady boss. Cheng Xiang followed her over to instruct, “Don’t make it spicy, and don’t add too much sesame paste.”
Back at the table, Tao Tianran was inserting straws into two bottles of soy milk.
Cheng Xiang sat opposite her, first tilting her neck back to look at the ceiling light.
“?” Tao Tianran asked, “What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” Cheng Xiang shook her head. “I just think the way the light falls on your face makes you look like a painting.”
She pursed her lips as she spoke. “Um… can I take a stealth photo of you?”
Tao Tianran arched an eyebrow, the two lively moles at the end of her brow dancing with the movement. “Since you’re telling me, does it still count as a stealth photo?”
Cheng Xiang smiled. “Well, if it were a real stealth photo, it would be a bit rude, wouldn’t it?”
Tao Tianran nodded. “Then take it.”
Cheng Xiang took out her phone.
What was with this sudden wave of nervousness?
Her hand shook slightly, and to be honest, the photo came out a bit blurry. Against the backdrop of the slightly greasy white wall, Tao Tianran looked like a graceful, indistinct silhouette on Xuan paper.
She sat with her chin slightly tucked, playing with the straw in her soy milk bottle as the bright white light washed over her face.
Embarrassed to take another one, Cheng Xiang hid her phone under the table and quietly sent the photo to Qin Ziqiao.
Qin Ziqiao replied with just four words: 【It’s a pig-butchering scam.】
An absolutely certain tone.
Cheng Xiang sighed quietly in her heart. Just as she thought.
Putting her phone away, she stared at Tao Tianran, sniffled blankly, and asked tentatively, “Um… I’ve never bought insurance before.”
Tao Tianran tilted her chin up. “?”
“Do you have any recommendations?” Cheng Xiang thought to herself, Is this considered fishing?
“I bought critical illness and savings insurance in Gangdao a long time ago. I haven’t looked into policies on the mainland. If you need…”
Cheng Xiang waved her hands frantically to cut her off. “No, no, no, I don’t need any.”
She… she wasn’t selling insurance?
Tao Tianran simply watched Cheng Xiang chew on her straw, looking somewhat melancholy.
The malatang was served, and Cheng Xiang busied herself with rinsing the bowls and scraping the wooden chopsticks.
Tao Tianran started a conversation from across the table. “I’m about to go on leave.”
“Annual leave?”
“Mm.”
“That’s nice. How long do you get?”
“A week.”
“Wow, I’m so jealous. I’ve never taken annual leave before.”
Cheng Xiang’s company not only failed to pay the full social security and housing fund, but their annual leave was also a measly three days—and even that was just on paper. In any case, Cheng Xiang had never been able to take a single day off since she joined.
“Why don’t you try asking for some time off?”
“Uh, I think it’d be hard. Our boss is pretty stingy. You know, if we go to the restroom during work hours, he sometimes checks his phone to time us. It’s terrifying.” Cheng Xiang stuck out her tongue. “Besides, I don’t really have a solid reason to take leave. My life is pretty boring, actually. You might not believe it, but I’ve never been abroad in my life.”
“Want to go on a trip together?” Tao Tianran asked suddenly.
“Huh?” Cheng Xiang went blank.
“If you can get leave, and since I happen to be off.”
“Where… where would we go?”
Tao Tianran deliberated.
At this stage, Cheng Xiang would definitely refuse to let her cover the expenses, so she had to consider a destination Cheng Xiang could afford on her income.
Tao Tianran tilted her head. “Thailand?”
Cheng Xiang’s eyes snapped wide open.
Tao Tianran: “…?”
“Um, I—I—I—actually, like I said, our boss is really stingy. Like, super stingy. There’s no way I can get leave. And although I talk a lot, I’m actually really bad with words.” Cheng Xiang felt like her smile looked more like a grimace. “I’m really bad at making phone calls.”
Tao Tianran: “…………?”
“Anyway, the malatang is getting cold. Let’s eat!”
After they finished eating, Cheng Xiang quickly scanned the QR code to pay the bill, slung her bag over her shoulder, and fled.
The moment she turned the corner of the alley, she immediately whipped out her phone to call Qin Ziqiao. “I’ve cracked the case, Qiaozi!”
“What’s up?”
“It’s definitely a pig-butchering scam!” Cheng Xiang was on the verge of tears. “She—she—she asked me to go to Thailand with her!”
Director Ma returned home after doing square dancing with her old sisters and gossiping for a long time. Seeing Cheng Xiang sitting upright and tense in the living room, she said, “Oh? You didn’t run back to your room to fiddle with your manga today?”
“Mom,” Cheng Xiang said with absolute gravity. “Has your Neighborhood Committee been doing any safety awareness campaigns lately?”
“Of course we have.” Director Ma counted them on her fingers. “Electric scooter batteries catching fire—taking lives in just a hundred seconds; using natural gas safely—preventing fire hazards…”
Cheng Xiang raised a single palm toward Director Ma.
She couldn’t bear to hear the word “tianran” right now; it made her head throb. Even the “tianran” in “natural gas” was too much.
“It’s not just that. What about telecom fraud? Telecom fraud!” Cheng Xiang slapped the small table, bang-bang! “Have you guys been promoting safety awareness against telecom scams?”
“Naturally!” Director Ma recited the slogans from memory. “Stay calm and verify everything; be extremely cautious when it involves going abroad.”
“Mhm, mhm.” Cheng Xiang nodded solemnly, stood up, and paced with her hands behind her back.
Returning to her bedroom, she threw herself onto the bed, clutching her pillow.
That was terrifying! She had even been to Tao Tianran’s house!
How had she been targeted? Just because she was a chatterbox?
She knew a stroke of good luck like this could never happen to her. She was someone who had never even won a “free second pack” from an instant noodle bag since she was a kid.
The next day, Cheng Xiang went to work as usual, cautioning every colleague she met: “Be on guard against scams! Telecom fraud lately is absolutely terrifying!”
On Friday at noon, Tao Tianran sent her a WeChat message, asking if she wanted to go see a play that evening.
Cheng Xiang replied: 【Uh, I’m not really interested in the theme of this play.】
She considered blocking Tao Tianran, but after staring at her phone for a while, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
On Tuesday, Tao Tianran selected another play and sent it to Cheng Xiang.
Cheng Xiang replied: 【Actually, I’ve been really busy lately, working overtime every day and losing clumps of hair. You don’t need to invite me out anymore.】
Holding her phone, Tao Tianran frowned slightly.
The phone vibrated in her palm. Tao Tianran’s brow twitched, and she looked down.
Cheng Xiang had sent her a screenshot of her buying anti-hair loss shampoo on Taobao.
Tao Tianran: …
She put her phone aside, only to realize that Yi Yu was looking at her and smiling with her arms crossed.
Tao Tianran asked, “What exactly are you doing lingering in my office?”
“I’m bored,” Yi Yu said, her grin practically stretching to her ears. “No, but seriously, why is your expression so priceless? If you’re unhappy about something, do share so I can have a good laugh.”
Tao Tianran glared at her.
“After all, for an iceberg like you to actually show a crack…” Yi Yu tapped on her desk. “I’m dying of curiosity.”
Tao Tianran simply capped her fountain pen, crossed her arms, and leaned back in her chair. “Do you think I’m the type of person people like?”
Yi Yu answered without a shred of hesitation, “Nope.”
“I haven’t specified what kind of liking.”
“In any sense. At first glance, you’re extremely cold. But if someone takes a closer look, you’re actually colder than you seem. As for being friends—do you think I’m lacking friends? As for dating—well, if I were looking for a relationship, I definitely wouldn’t choose you.”
“Why?”
Yi Yu clutched her chest. “A heartbreaker like you would shatter my heart.”
Tao Tianran knit her brows slightly.
“Not that kind of toxic,” Yi Yu waved her hand. “I mean you’re just too cold, like a precious gem. Normal people don’t have the confidence to break through your shell. Pouring one’s heart out to you for too long will only lead to heartbreak.”
“Then what type is likeable?”
Without a second thought, Yi Yu replied, “Gentle, obviously.”
When Tao Tianran returned home, she tried to sketch design drafts for a while, but found it difficult to concentrate.
This was a rare occurrence for her. Giving up, she set down her pencil, turned on the projector, and casually selected an old movie, 《50 First Dates》.
“Things loved at first sight will still be loved upon seeing them again.
People fallen for at first sight will still be fallen for upon meeting again.”
Tao Tianran curled up on the sofa, shifting her slender legs clad in dress pants. Suddenly, she felt unsure of those words.
The next day after work, Cheng Xiang was walking downstairs with a colleague when she suddenly ducked behind her. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she hissed under her breath.
Confused, her colleague asked, “Did you take out an online loan? Did a debt collector corner you?”
No debt collectors had cornered her.
The person standing at the entrance of Cheng Xiang’s office building was Tao Tianran.
Her colleague noticed her too. After all, dressed in a sleek suit and stiletto heels, Tao Tianran stood out starkly against the backdrop of the old office building. In a hushed whisper, Cheng Xiang asked, “Did she see me?”
“Uh, I think so. You’re hiding behind me, but your legs and butt are sticking out.”
Sighing, Cheng Xiang stood up straight.
If it was a blessing, it wasn’t a curse; if it was a curse, it couldn’t be avoided.
Cheng Xiang told her colleague, “You go ahead.”
She walked toward Tao Tianran.
Behind her, her colleague whispered, “Who is that, Xiangzi?”
Without turning back, Cheng Xiang waved her hand, signaling that she would explain later.
Cheng Xiang approached Tao Tianran, who looked down at her. Then, curling her lips, she actually offered a gentle smile.
Whoa! For the first time, Cheng Xiang realized how terrifying an icy beauty’s smile could be.
Cheng Xiang’s smile still looked like a grimace. “H-How did you end up here?”
“I had some business nearby this afternoon.”
“D-Did you need something from me?”
Tao Tianran glanced at Cheng Xiang’s colleague, who was turning back to look every few steps, and asked, “Where were you two planning to go just now?”
“To get milk shaved ice.”
“Then,” Tao Tianran raised her hand to tuck her dark hair behind her ear, her face softening into another gentle smile, “shall we go?”
“No, no, no, let’s not. My stomach suddenly hurts. Ouch.”
Realizing she was clutching a bit too high up, she shifted her hand an inch lower. “Ow, ow, ow.”
Tao Tianran simply watched her.
Cheng Xiang let her hand drop and sighed.
Tao Tianran asked softly, “Are you avoiding me?”
Despite her tall stature, standing in high heels beneath the neon lights of the office building, she asked this with a hint of vulnerability.
The vulnerability made Cheng Xiang feel a pang of guilt. Looking up into those ink-black eyes, she said, “Sigh, to be honest… I’m really bad with phone calls.”
Tao Tianran’s brow slowly knit into another “?”
Cheng Xiang: “Even if you trick me into going to Thailand, it won’t do you any good. I won’t meet any of your performance targets and will only drag you down.”
Tao Tianran fell silent for a long moment. Suddenly, she laughed.
“No, seriously!” Cheng Xiang grew a bit anxious. “Did you watch that movie 《No More Bets6》? It was super popular for a while. My mom’s Neighborhood Committee even handed out free tickets and organized a group viewing. What I’m saying is… everyone is highly vigilant nowadays, you know?”
Around them, crowds of people streamed out of the office building. As Tao Tianran stepped aside to avoid a pedestrian, the Bolide bag in her hand lightly brushed against Cheng Xiang’s leg.
“You couldn’t really be thinking that, could you? Hmm?” she murmured, her voice dropping.
Her tone rose slightly at the final syllable.
Under the neon lights, Cheng Xiang lowered her head, revealing her downy nape. “How else was I supposed to think?”
Tao Tianran echoed her words. “How else were you supposed to think.”
Cheng Xiang scuffed the toe of her shoe against the faux-marble pavement, muttering, “How would I even dare to think otherwise?”
Tao Tianran went quiet for two seconds. Then she said, “You can dare to do anything.”
Footnotes
- shā nǚ (傻女); an intimate Cantonese term of endearment meaning 'silly girl.'
- ānchún (鹌鹑); quail. A common Chinese metaphor for someone cowering or tensing up in anxiety or fear.
- shā zhū pán (杀猪盘); literally 'pig-butchering scam.' A form of romance financial fraud where victims are lured into investments or travel under false romantic pretenses.
- yùjiě (御姐); a modern subcultural term originating from Japanese 'onee-sama,' referring to a cool, elegant, mature, and authoritative older-sister figure.
- málàtàng (麻辣烫); a popular Chinese street food consisting of various vegetables, meats, and noodles boiled in a spicy, numbing broth.
- No More Bets (《孤注一掷》); a blockbuster 2023 Chinese crime thriller about individuals lured to Southeast Asian nations and forced into cyber-fraud rings.
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