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    Chapter Index

    Countdown

    How could she ever bear to risk it again?

    [Sunrise; sunset;

    Manga with a girl as the protagonist; a puppy by the roadside; the scent of ink drifting from old books;

    The high jump during the sophomore sports meet; the azure autumn sky;

    The fire in the fireplace; the warm popcorn in the theater.

    When I don’t want to say I like you, I ramble on, over and over, seeking out all these reasons why I love the world.]


    Tao Tianran returned home and sat down on the sofa.

    After a long while, she rotated her wrist and glanced at her phone screen. The time displayed was: 23:06, December 13, 2024.

    There were only four days left until the anniversary of the day Yu Yusheng had given up her life in the previous timeline—which was also the one-year anniversary of Cheng Xiang’s death.

    Tao Tianran realized that the faint, underlying anxiety in her heart had never truly vanished.

    She sent Qiao Zhiji a message: 【Is it convenient for us to meet?】

    Without saying much, Qiao Zhiji sent over her home address.

    Tao Tianran stood up from the sofa, grabbed her car keys, and walked out. She drove straight to the gate of Qiao Zhiji’s residential community.

    She texted Qiao Zhiji: 【I’m at the gate of your community.】

    Qiao Zhiji: 【Wait a moment.】

    Tao Tianran held her phone in one hand while her other fingertips tapped aimlessly on the steering wheel, gazing through the windshield at the streetlights lining the green belt.

    About fifteen minutes later, Qiao Zhiji walked out of the community gate.

    She wore no makeup, lending her a rare air of relaxation. Yet, she had still changed into formal attire—a crisp suit paired with a cashmere overcoat, stepping out in high heels. She was only ever comfortable presenting herself to others in this manner.

    Tao Tianran opened her car door and walked over.

    Taking in her rarely relaxed expression, she asked, “Is Yu Yusheng at your place?”

    “Yes.” Qiao Zhiji was entirely candid.

    “Have you two reconciled?”

    “We have.”

    Ever since she had reminded Qiao Zhiji that “more often than not, time won’t wait for you,” Qiao Zhiji had refrained from questioning why she had shown up in the dead of night, or why she was suddenly showing an out-of-character concern for someone else’s relationship status.

    “So, how do you think Yu Yusheng is doing?”

    “What do you mean by that?”

    “Is she happy?” In truth, what Tao Tianran wanted to ask was: Is she truly happy?

    “Why do you ask?”

    Tao Tianran felt a slight dryness in her throat. “In the past, I occasionally felt that she would suddenly seem a bit lost, a bit exhausted, for no apparent reason. I don’t know if it was just my imagination.”

    Qiao Zhiji tilted her chin down slightly. “I understand what you’re trying to caution me about. I know she saw a therapist for a long time. She didn’t hide it from me.”

    “And now…?”

    “Since we reconciled, I’ve taken her for three psychological assessments. Her mental state is good.”

    Tao Tianran nodded.

    So that was how it was. Qiao Zhiji was the core of Yu Yusheng’s psychological distress. Now that they had reconciled, Yu Yusheng’s inner knots should be fully resolved.

    She wouldn’t actively give up on her life again.

    “Then… I’ll head back.”

    Tao Tianran didn’t know why she was walking so quickly, so much so that a stray strand of her usually pristine black hair fell messily across her face.

    Back in the car, she wasted no time driving off. Through her rearview mirror, she saw Qiao Zhiji standing by the entrance of the community in the distance.

    It felt as though she had rarely seen Qiao Zhiji in such a relaxed state—stepping out of her home late at night, bathed in the warm, yellow glow of the streetlamp, her face reflecting the deep contentment of having her lover asleep nearby.

    Suddenly, Tao Tianran spun the steering wheel, pulled a sharp U-turn, and stopped right in front of Qiao Zhiji. Her front tires nearly scraped against the curb, letting out a dull, low scraping sound.

    Sitting in her car, she did her best to control the rising and falling of her chest as she asked Qiao Zhiji, “When you walked out the door just now, what did it feel like?”

    “What?” This question caught Qiao Zhiji entirely off guard.

    “Yu Yusheng is with you, at your place. When you walked out, what did it feel like?”

    Qiao Zhiji took a longer look at her.

    “She is already asleep, her breathing deep and heavy, her body so warm. When she is fast asleep, her lips part just a little, right beside me.” Qiao Zhiji said, “For the first time, I’m so sure that when I step out of my home, there is someone waiting for me to come back.”

    Tao Tianran was trembling slightly.

    Countless times, she had thought to herself: surely, warning her this much should be enough.

    Prompting Qiao Zhiji not to waste any more time, to find Yu Yusheng quickly—surely that would be enough.

    And if she went a step further…

    Warning Qiao Zhiji to pay attention to Yu Yusheng’s emotional state—surely that would suffice.

    She had gone through so many loops to find Xiao Xiang again. How could she ever bear to risk it again?

    She hadn’t yet watched Xiao Xiang grow old in peace. She hadn’t yet gone with Xiao Xiang to see the sixty-four seas of the world. She hadn’t yet seen the apple tree Xiao Xiang planted in her garden bloom and bear fruit. There were so, so many past regrets she had yet to mend.

    She wanted Xiao Xiang to be forever prosperous, forever joyful, forever safe, and to grow old in peace. Even if this was all just a fragile illusion1, now that she had made it this far, she was going to hold onto it with everything she had. In the process, she would be a good person if she could; if she really couldn’t, then she would gladly and thoroughly choose to be selfish. What of it?

    Yet, there stood Qiao Zhiji, bathed in the warm yellow streetlamp, saying that right now, there was someone waiting for her to come home.

    Tao Tianran slowly let out a breath. “December 17.”

    Qiao Zhiji frowned slightly. “Hmm?”

    “On that day, cancel all your work. Do not let Yu Yusheng leave your sight.” Tao Tianran looked at Qiao Zhiji. Yu Yusheng had once said that Qiao Zhiji’s left eye was very gentle. Tao Tianran enunciated every single word: “Remember this sentence. It’s extremely important.”

    She drove away.

    Leaving the neighborhood of Qiao Zhiji’s apartment complex behind, Tao Tianran pulled her car over to the side of the road and sat dazed for a while.

    She pushed the door open, stepped out, and walked into a roadside convenience store to buy a pack of cigarettes.

    Stepping back out, the winter wind of Beicheng bit fiercely. The first snow of the year had yet to fall, and a striking chill was brewing in the air. It made Tao Tianran think of her hometown of Gangdao, far away, where it was always humid and warm monsoon winds blew even in winter.

    She had never had the chance to take Cheng Xiang there.

    She had only gone there with the “Yu Yusheng” who housed Cheng Xiang’s soul. She had drawn a map, guiding “Yu Yusheng” toward her old home on the slope.

    Back then, she had stood by the window of an overly luxurious hotel, crossing her arms as she looked out. She felt as if she could see, deep within that slope brimming with the hustle of daily life, cramped old-style residential buildings with baby diapers hung out to dry. Along the road, shops sold freshly baked egg tarts, always wafting a rich, buttery aroma.

    When Yu Yusheng returned from the slope that day, Tao Tianran had stared at her for a long time.

    Yu Yusheng had asked, “What’s wrong?”

    Tao Tianran merely shook her head.

    Only, there had been no crumbs of flaky pastry at the corner of Yu Yusheng’s lips—only the cool, minty scent of ladies’ cigarettes.

    Yet just now, the image that had conjured in Tao Tianran’s mind was of Cheng Xiang sitting on the curb of that sloping road, dangling her canvas-clad feet, exposing her pale, slender knees. She would lower her head to take a bite of an egg tart, repeatedly gasping, “Hot, hot, hot, hot!” while the flaky crumbs from her fingers fell softly to the concrete floor.

    A little bit of it would still cling to her lips.

    Instead of rushing to eat the rest, she would look down to watch a line of ants marching over to carry away her fallen pastry crumbs, shifting her toes slightly to clear a path for them.

    After watching for a long time, she would look up, letting Gangdao’s damp, salty ocean breeze ruffle her wispy bangs. She would tilt her chin up, humming some nonsense tune, only remembering to look down and take another bite of the already cold egg tart after a long while.

    Thinking to herself: Tao Tianran, I’ve finally come to your hometown.

    The scene was so vivid that it made Tao Tianran almost wonder if Cheng Xiang had actually done something like that after their breakup.

    But back then, she had never been willing to lay herself bare. How could Cheng Xiang have ever found her old home on the slope?

    Right now, Tao Tianran stood beneath the streetlamp outside the convenience store. The belt of her long, dark coat was tied loosely, half-hanging as if about to come undone. The white shirt beneath showed through, its tones exceptionally cold in this weather that threatened snow.

    The smoke rising from between her fingers carried a cool, blue-toned, thin scent as well.

    A late-night pedestrian passed by, catching sight of this tall woman standing beneath the streetlamp, her coat gathered close, two dark little moles gracing the corner of her pale eye. The passerby looked up, almost wondering if a sudden flurry of snow was falling only around her, dusting her shoulders in the mingled lamplight.

    Tao Tianran pulled out her phone and found her fingers trembling slightly.

    She sent Cheng Xiang a WeChat message: 【Do you want to go to Gangdao with me?】

    Immediately, she recalled it.

    Stubbing out her cigarette, she walked back to her car with a blank expression.

    She smacked the heel of her hand against the steering wheel, her fingers gripping it tightly. Tao Tianran realized she had to clench her jaw with all her might just to keep her teeth from chattering.

    What on earth was she doing? What trip to Gangdao? It was as if she were terrified of some impending danger, anxiously trying to make up for some regret in advance.

    Tao Tianran spun the steering wheel sharply and drove away.

    No, she had gone through so many loops to reach this point. She could never resign herself to fate.


    In truth, Cheng Xiang had seen the message Tao Tianran sent.

    Unable to sleep, she had been lying on her side playing a match-three game on her phone after she finished chatting with Qin Ziqiao. Just as her eyes started to ache and she raised a hand to rub them, a WeChat notification popped up.

    Rubbing her left eye, she peered with her right, her lashes fluttering as she read:

    【Do you want to go to Gangdao with me?】

    Whoa, this… Cheng Xiang immediately sat up in bed. Clutching her phone, before she could even sort through her feelings, her screen displayed:

    【The other party has recalled this message.】

    Huh? Cheng Xiang silently lay back down under the covers.

    The next day, she sat perched on the computer chair at Qin Ziqiao’s place, cracking melon seeds. “What do you think she meant by that?”

    Qin Ziqiao looked at her. “Why are you cracking melon seeds today instead of eating potato chips?”

    “Well,” Cheng Xiang plucked a bit of seed shell from her lip, “cracking melon seeds just feels more appropriate for gossiping. Do you think it’s because I talked to her about telling my mom about us, and she suddenly felt a ton of pressure?”

    “So stressed that she’s… not functioning anymore2.” Cheng Xiang cracked another seed, chewing away, and let out a sigh. “Sigh.”

    Her phone vibrated. She patted her hands clean and stood up. “Time to go back, time to go back!”

    Qin Ziqiao gave her a sidelong glance.

    She ran to the door to change her shoes. “She went to my place to find me, hee-hee.”

    Qin Ziqiao put down her novel, walked over, and leaned against the wall of the entryway. “Cheng Xiang.”

    “What?”

    “Why are you always so goofy?”

    Cheng Xiang shook her head. “You don’t get it. This is really hard to come by.”

    “How is it hard to come by?”

    “It’s like how I’ve always loved drawing, but I never dared to admit just how much I loved it. I was always weighing whether to take the art exam or the academic exam for the college entrance examinations, whether to look for a job or focus on drawing, whether to listen to my mom and take the civil service exam. But liking her…” Cheng Xiang raised a hand to touch the tip of her nose. “It reminds me of the high jump during our high school sports meets.”

    “Oh?”

    It was true. Liking Tao Tianran reminded Cheng Xiang of the high jump back in high school.

    Sprinting forward while swinging her arms with all her might, and then leaping high into the air. Falling backward onto the thick, soft blue sponge mat, bouncing a couple of times from the momentum, her chest heaving as she panted heavily, her forehead slick with sweat, eyes wide open as she gazed up at the azure autumn sky.

    Whether the crossbar behind her fell or not didn’t really matter anymore.

    Cheng Xiang bolted out of Qin Ziqiao’s apartment, running in the direction of the bus stop.

    Leaping onto the bus, she swung half a turn around the vertical handrail near the entrance. At this hour, there were plenty of empty seats, but Cheng Xiang didn’t sit down. She gripped one of the hanging straps, one earbud nestled in her ear while leaving her other ear free to listen to the world, her toes tapping lightly against the floor.

    To her surprise, Tao Tianran was waiting for her at the bus stop.

    Cheng Xiang’s lips curved upward. The moment the bus came to a halt, she leapt off, covering the distance between them in three quick strides.

    She wore a puffy white down jacket, but her scarf was a chaotic mishmash of colors, one end short while the other dangled all the way down to her waist.

    Gazing at Tao Tianran, she exhaled clouds of warm breath from her ruby lips and pearly teeth. She was smiling, her eyes looking cool as they met Tao Tianran’s, seeming to hold stars that had long vanished from the city’s skies.

    Tao Tianran asked, “There were so many empty seats. Why did you stand?”

    She remembered how, in the past, after their first kiss, Cheng Xiang had taken the bus to her university to find her.

    She had finished classes early that day, bidding her classmates goodbye as she waited for Cheng Xiang at the bus stop.

    Cheng Xiang had also been wearing a puffy puffer jacket that day, paired with dusty-blue wide-leg jeans and a chaotic, multicolored scarf.

    It was already late, and there were plenty of empty seats on the bus. Yet Cheng Xiang had stood in the aisle, gripping a hanging strap. The temperature had plunged after the snow, coating the window glass in a layer of white mist.

    Cheng Xiang had leaned forward and wiped an irregular circle on the glass with the heel of her hand. Through that cleared spot, Tao Tianran’s silhouette came into view.

    With her eyes curved, Cheng Xiang locked eyes with Tao Tianran as the bus slowly pulled into the station.

    With a bare face, her expression was calm as ever, fine grains of snow dusting the shoulders of her black coat.

    The moment the bus came to a halt, Cheng Xiang hopped off in a few bounds and ran up to her.

    “Aren’t you cold?” As she spoke, she unraveled her vibrant, multi-colored knit scarf and wound it around Tao Tianran’s neck. “You’ve left your long, white neck exposed like this. I feel cold just looking at it.”

    “Why were you standing?”

    “Huh?”

    “There were empty seats on the bus.”

    “Oh.” Cheng Xiang had laughed, her snow-booted foot tapping against the uneven paving tiles. “I don’t know either. I couldn’t sit still, and I don’t even know what I was rushing for.”

    Now, Cheng Xiang stood in front of Tao Tianran, grinning in the exact same way, though she did not utter the words “I couldn’t bring myself to sit down.”

    She simply gazed at Tao Tianran with a smile and suddenly said, “Sunrise.”

    “Hmm?”

    “Sunset,” Cheng Xiang said, her lips curved. “Manga with a girl as the protagonist. Puppies by the roadside. The scent of ink drifting from old books.”

    As she spoke, she took Tao Tianran’s hand, stuffed it into the pocket of Tao Tianran’s coat, and led her forward. “The high jump during the sophomore sports meet. The azure autumn sky. The fire in the fireplace. The warm popcorn in the theater.”

    Tao Tianran asked softly, “What are you talking about?”

    Cheng Xiang laughed and shook her head, keeping her hand tucked inside Tao Tianran’s coat pocket as she pulled her along.

    Up ahead was the Malatang3 stall near Cheng Xiang’s home, housed beneath a red tent for the winter. An exposed lightbulb generously cast its warm, yellow glow over the space.

    Cheng Xiang stepped inside, pulled out a small plastic stool for Tao Tianran to sit on, and raised her hands to rub her earlobes. “Could you heat up two bottles of soy milk for us, please?” she called out to the lady running the stall.

    She walked over to watch the proprietor heat them, offering a reminder: “Make them nice and hot, the kind that burns your tongue just a bit when you drink it.”

    She carried the two opened glass bottles of soy milk, sitting back down next to Tao Tianran. Her fingers rummaged through the straw holder before she picked out a pretty pink straw and slipped it into Tao Tianran’s bottle.

    She popped a bright yellow one into her own.

    Resting her chin in her palm, she watched with a smile as Tao Tianran took a sip. “Hot soy milk in minus six degrees Celsius weather.”

    Tao Tianran, I don’t want to put any pressure on you at all, so I don’t want to say how much I like you.

    I’ll only speak of the things that bring me joy apart from you.

    And then I’ll look away with a smile, letting my gaze drift.

    Because my eyes have already said that I like you more than all those things combined.

    Cheng Xiang reached out to flick the straw in her glass bottle, then lowered her head to bite down on it, taking a little sip before letting go. “Tao Tianran, I’m actually not in a rush.”

    Tao Tianran asked, “What?”

    Cheng Xiang merely smiled and fell silent. She picked up a skewer of cooked shiitake mushrooms, using the tips of her chopsticks to slide them off the skewer into the warm bowl before Tao Tianran.

    She cautioned her, “Careful, it’s hot. Eating food that’s too hot is bad for your esophagus.”

    Tao Tianran picked up a triangular-cut slice of mushroom. “I’m not in a rush either.”

    “Yeah.” Cheng Xiang nodded, her eyes curving. “So let’s take our time. We have plenty of time.”

    Tao Tianran gazed at Cheng Xiang.

    The bare bulb hung right above Cheng Xiang’s head, casting a soft, fuzzy glow over her thick eyelashes. She took a bite of a mushroom herself, blowing on it to cool it down.

    Tao Tianran raised her hand, intending to smooth Cheng Xiang’s hair. But Cheng Xiang’s hair wasn’t messy at all, so her fingertips gently brushed across the tail of Cheng Xiang’s brow instead.

    “Xiao Xiang.”

    “Hmm?” Cheng Xiang was eating a meatball, her cheeks puffed out.

    “What are you doing next Tuesday?”

    “Next Tuesday?” Cheng Xiang was slightly taken aback. “Drawing my manga as usual. What else would I be doing?”

    “Stay with me, okay?”

    “Don’t you have to work?”

    “I’m tired,” Tao Tianran said. “I’m taking a day off.”

    A touch of amusement crept into Cheng Xiang’s eyes.

    Sometimes, Tao Tianran really was a little spoiled, wasn’t she?

    “Sure,” she agreed with a nod. “How about I take you for a massage? I just found out that our alley has hidden talent. There’s an old TCM doctor who’s supposedly the fourteenth-generation heir to some medical school.”

    “What lineage was it again…?” She tapped her cheek with the tip of her chopstick. “Well, anyway, his bone-setting is amazing.”

    “I’m not going,” Tao Tianran said. “I want to stay home with you.”

    “Stay home? Heh-heh-heh.” Cheng Xiang suddenly burst into giggles.

    After finishing their Malatang, Tao Tianran walked Cheng Xiang back to her siheyuan4.

    From the main street in the distance, the sounds of celebratory laughter from a crowd drifted over.

    Cheng Xiang asked, “Do you know Christmas Eve is coming up?”

    “Mmhmm.”

    “I was originally going to give you an apple, but since I’ve already gifted you an entire apple tree, let’s skip the superficial gestures. Oh, by the way, do you know why people give apples on Christmas Eve in China? Pfft, foreigners probably have no idea. It’s a homophonic pun5.”

    With her hand still tucked inside Tao Tianran’s coat pocket, she lightly tickled Tao Tianran’s palm. “In any case, you’ll definitely stay safe. I asked the seller, and they said if the apple tree is well-cared for, it’ll start bearing fruit in two years.”

    As they reached the entrance of the siheyuan, Cheng Xiang said, “I’m heading in, then.”

    Tao Tianran held her hand and didn’t let go.

    Cheng Xiang smiled and asked, “What is it?”

    Tao Tianran’s hand shifted slightly inside the coat pocket, and Cheng Xiang felt a faint, cool sensation slip onto her pinky finger.

    Pulling her hand out to look, she saw that Tao Tianran had slid her own pinky ring onto her pinky finger.

    Cheng Xiang was stunned. “What are you doing? Giving this to me?”

    “Yeah.”

    “But today isn’t even a holiday.”

    “I just wanted to give it to you.”

    Cheng Xiang looked down, twisting the simple plain-band pinky ring around her little finger a couple of times. She sniffed, raised her hand, and curved her lips at Tao Tianran. “I won’t lose it.”

    “Good. Go on inside.”

    Tao Tianran turned and walked toward the exit of the alley.

    Walking under the second streetlight, she stopped, staring down at her shadow cast over the manhole cover, her hand clenching into a tight fist inside her coat pocket.

    She wanted to turn back.

    She wanted to call Cheng Xiang out.

    She wanted to be with Cheng Xiang, in her bedroom or in the car. She wanted to park at the end of a deserted alley and make love with wild intensity. She wanted to press her hands against a fogged-up car window with Cheng Xiang behind her, staring out at this wintry world with a vacant gaze, her entire body slick with sweat.

    Or she wanted to do nothing at all—just sit in the front seats with Cheng Xiang, holding hands, watching a withered leaf fall onto the windshield. Cheng Xiang would say the sound was like a poet writing poetry, or like the crisp crunching of potato chips.

    Even as she thought of these things, Tao Tianran quickened her pace and walked forward.

    She did not know what she was holding out for.

    From the moment she woke up that morning, she had wanted nothing more than to stay with Cheng Xiang and do absolutely nothing. Yet, she had gone to the office to work overtime as usual, attended meetings as usual, and drawn her design drafts as usual, only going to find Cheng Xiang for dinner after her overtime was finished.

    It was as if adhering to her set schedule proved that she wasn’t afraid.

    It proved that both Cheng Xiang and Yu Yusheng would continue to remain safely in this world.

    She had thought about warning Cheng Xiang to stay safe.

    She had wanted to send a WeChat message, but her phone’s battery had immediately drained to zero and shut down. She had wanted to write it down on paper and take a photo to show Cheng Xiang, but the Montblanc fountain pen she had used for years had suddenly begun to leak ink profusely.

    She could not speak the truth. Every attempt was an exercise in futility.

    At noon the next day, Tao Tianran pushed open the rooftop door.

    She knew Yu Yusheng would occasionally come up here to smoke, staring blankly at the vast world.

    As she pushed the door open, the wind on the roof was incredibly fierce, violently whipping her coat hem and long hair. Yu Yusheng was leaning against the rooftop railing, holding back her thick, wild desert-rose curls with one hand so she could clear an eye to see Tao Tianran.

    “Teacher Tao? What brings you up here?”

    Yu Yusheng knew Tao Tianran didn’t smoke.

    “Just getting some fresh air.” Tao Tianran walked over with her hands tucked in her coat pockets.

    “It’s freezing today.” Yu Yusheng shrugged. “I thought I was the only one willing to come up to the roof.”

    “How is your brother’s case going?”

    “The trial starts in a week.”

    “Aren’t you taking leave?” Tao Tianran glanced at her through her wind-whipped hair.

    “The Big Boss suggested I take some time off, but honestly, there’s no need.”

    Tao Tianran followed Yu Yusheng’s gaze downward. They were on the thirty-second floor; the low-lying buildings below had shrunk into tiny matchboxes, and the pedestrians crawling like ants were barely visible. The wind was exceptionally cold, so much so that it made one wonder if the building itself was swaying slightly in the wind.

    “Yu Yusheng.”

    “Yes?”

    “How are things with President Qiao?”

    “Teacher Tao, you really are acting strange.” Yu Yusheng looked over, her lips curving upward. “Just because you’re in a relationship now, you’ve started fussing over everyone else’s love lives?”

    “We’re doing great.” Yu Yusheng offered a captivating smile, the pale blue smoke from her cigarette drifting around her always-striking face. “I don’t actually mind that she sued my brother. If anything, it might be a good thing for me. It made me realize that the ‘good’ my parents always talked about might not actually be good at all. Their version of correct isn’t necessarily the truth.”

    As she spoke, she narrowed her cat-like eyes with a touch of playfulness. “We’ve reconciled. Being with her is so much better than anything I ever wanted, expected, or even dreamed of.”

    “Is that so? That’s wonderful.”

    Yu Yusheng looked down at the street below. “Teacher Tao, New Year’s Eve is coming up. What’s your New Year’s wish?”

    Tao Tianran was silent for a moment.

    Then, she shook her head. “I don’t make wishes.”

    “Why not?”

    “I’ll make one when the clock strikes midnight.” Why make a wish in advance? It would feel as if she were in a state of dread, worrying about something, urgently trying to finish something as if there weren’t enough time.

    Yu Yusheng laughed, tucking her wind-swept curls behind her ear. But her hair was too thick, and it quickly broke free to dance in the wind once more. Her smile peered through the stray strands:

    “You’re right.”


    Footnotes

    1. From the Chinese idiom jinghua shuiyue (镜花水月), meaning flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water—a beautiful but fragile illusion or a mirage.
    2. From the Chinese bu xing le (不行了), a colloquial slang meaning cannot go on or impotent/incapable.
    3. Malatang is a popular style of spicy street food where various ingredients are boiled in a hot, spicy broth.
    4. A siheyuan is a traditional Chinese courtyard residence featuring a central courtyard surrounded by four buildings, typical of historical Beicheng architecture.
    5. On Christmas Eve (Ping'an Ye, meaning Peaceful Eve) in China, it is popular to gift apples (pingguo) because the first syllable sounds like peace (ping), symbolizing wishes for safety.

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