Chapter 2

"It's Song Ruichi."

Twenty minutes later, at the restaurant, Xu Er looked at his phone and said this to Chen Nan.

Chen Nan stuffed a piece of braised pork into his mouth and asked vaguely, "How do you know?"

On the screen of Xu Er's phone, under the notification that a new friend had been added, were five characters sent by the other party: *Hello, this is Song Ruichi.*

Xu Er replied to Chen Nan, "He sent his name."

Xu Er lowered his eyes and sent a matching reply: *Hello, this is Xu Er.*

Looking back on it now, Xu Er was quite impressed with his own actions just a moment ago. He had been so bold, rushing over to strike up a conversation with someone.

"You were pretty bold," Chen Nan remarked, surprisingly echoing his thoughts. "When did you become such a social butterfly?"

Xu Er gave an embarrassed smile, unsure of how to answer, and let out a chuckle: "Haha."

Chen Nan asked, "What else did you talk about?"

Xu Er shook his head. "Nothing. Just exchanged names."

Actually, when he left the coffee shop, Xu Er had intended to say a polite goodbye to Song Ruichi, and he had lingered on the chat interface for quite a while. But as he walked away, he gradually realized that asking someone for an electronic signature was truly absurd. Consequently, he felt that if he were to follow up on WeChat to ask for that signature, it would be even more ridiculous.

Furthermore, when he thought about the awkward exchange he’d had with Song Ruichi, it was just... bizarre. He had been hesitant, not knowing what to say, and having never proactively asked a stranger for their WeChat before, he happened to hear Chen Nan mention that the braised pork upstairs was good. Tempted by the thought of food, Xu Er had pushed the memory of Song Ruichi to the back of his mind.

Soon, the two were full and satisfied. The first thing Chen Nan did next was call Xu Chen. With his chin tilted up and an incredibly smug expression, his first words were: "Little brother, guess who we ran into today?"

After saying that, he took the phone away from his ear and turned on the speakerphone, setting it on the table.

For the next few minutes, amidst Chen Nan’s long-winded preamble—"Your brother went to watch the sunrise alone," "I went on another damn blind date today," "We didn't say a word to each other," "The braised pork is delicious," "Yes, yes, the coffee shop"—he finally got to the point.

"We took one look and were like, 'Holy crap,'" Chen Nan leaned toward the phone. "Guess who?"

The person on the other end was clearly losing patience. "Are you going to tell me, or should I hang up?"

Chen Nan laughed. "If you keep that attitude, I’m not going to tell you."

Xu Chen: "Get on with it."

Chen Nan wasn't going to rush; he laid another small piece of groundwork. "Let me ask you first, what's your gaming handle?"

Xu Chen: "Zexian Song Ruichi, why?"

Chen Nan smiled at Xu Er and said to the phone, "Buddy, I've given you all the hints I can."

There was silence on the other end.

Chen Nan was even happier, arching his eyebrows at Xu Er several times.

Several seconds later, they heard Xu Chen say, "No way? You guys met Song Ruichi?"

Chen Nan replied with a very smug tone, tossing out a list: "Yep."

"Holy crap!" Xu Chen was as excited as Chen Nan had hoped. "Holy crap! Don't lie to me!"

Chen Nan: "Why would I lie to you? Your brother even got his WeChat."

"Holy crap, holy crap," one could imagine Xu Chen being even more excited on the other side. "Where are you? I'm coming to find you."

Chen Nan: "He left ages ago."

Xu Chen shouted at the top of his lungs: "Why didn't you call me?!"

Chen Nan and Xu Er exchanged a look, the same thought appearing in both their eyes: *Oh, right.*

Chen Nan made a sound of realization, thought of something, and laughed. "Your brother is truly hilarious. When he went over to add him on WeChat, he was so nervous—do you know what he did? He opened his memo app."

"What are you talking about?" Xu Er quickly defended himself. "I was asking him for an autograph."

Chen Nan paused. "An autograph in a memo app?"

Xu Er: "An electronic signature, isn't that what it is?"

Chen Nan burst out laughing, even slapping his thigh. "That's even funnier! So you were asking for an autograph? You really are quite... quite..."

Xu Er was speechless. "Shut up."

Chen Nan kept laughing. "I'm trying to compliment you."

Xu Er remained firm. "Shut up anyway."

Chen Nan continued to laugh.

Was it really that funny?

Well, fine. It did seem a little funny.

Xu Er decided he might as well laugh too.

"Wait, wait, hold on," Xu Chen's voice came through the phone. "What is going on? No, brother, what did you say? How did Song Ruichi end up giving you his WeChat?"

"Oh, right," Chen Nan was also curious. "Xu Er, have you two met before?"

Xu Er shook his head. "No."

Chen Nan: "Then why did Song Ruichi's friend say you two had met?"

Xu Er shook his head again. "I don't know."

"If you were a girl, I’d really think he was being cheesy," Chen Nan said sarcastically, imitating a voice: "'Have we met before?' Wow, that's a line from centuries ago."

Xu Er: "Have you ever used that line on someone?"

Chen Nan was suddenly caught off guard. "Of course not."

Chen Nan cleared his throat and asked again, "Could it be that you actually have met and you just forgot?"

At this question, two figures seen during the sunrise that morning involuntarily flashed through Xu Er's mind. However, before he could dwell on it, Xu Chen's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"So how exactly did you add him?" Xu Chen was impatient. "Can you two answer my question first?"

Xu Er thought for a moment and glanced at Chen Nan. "I just walked over, he asked me what I wanted, and then we added each other."

Chen Nan chuckled. "Yeah, that's about right."

On the other end, Xu Chen was silent for half a second. "That's it?"

Xu Er: "That's it."

Xu Chen: "He's that easy to add?"

Xu Er thought about it, ignoring the extraneous details; the process really was that straightforward. "He was pretty easy to add."

"Hey, Xu Chen," Chen Nan was also puzzled. He asked the phone, "Didn't you say he was some big shot or something? Is his WeChat really that easy to get?"

Xu Chen wasn't about to lose face. "You guys probably added a fake."

Chen Nan: "How could it be fake? We didn't mention 'Song Ruichi' at all from start to finish; he said it himself."

Xu Chen scoffed, still looking unconvinced. "Did you check his Moments?"

Chen Nan asked Xu Er: "Did you?"

Xu Er shook his head. "No."

Two voices spoke simultaneously, one in reality and one from the phone: "Check it now."

Xu Er picked up his phone and opened Song Ruichi's Moments.

It was set to only show the last three days, but—

"There's nothing there."

"There's nothing there."

In an office building a few kilometers away in City A, a man on the second floor gave the same answer.

The rain had stopped. The office building leaned against the river, and the wind from after the Mid-Autumn Festival blew in through the open window, cool and refreshing.

After saying this, he placed his freshly brewed coffee on a corner of the mahjong table.

The mahjong tiles clattered inside the machine. A hand reached out from the corner to pick up the coffee, letting out a "tsk" from the mouth. "I remember your Moments are set to three days?"

Song Ruichi: "Yeah."

Shi Ziyi nodded, drawing a tile. "Let me tell you, the moment he added you, he definitely checked your Moments. There's nothing there for him to see."

Song Ruichi said, "There's nothing worth seeing in my Moments."

Shi Ziyi took a sip of coffee. "Wow, you didn't add sugar for me."

Song Ruichi: "We're out of sugar."

Shi Ziyi frowned in disgust but took another sip anyway.

"Whether it's worth seeing or not, you should let people see it," Shi Ziyi said, sounding frustrated by Song Ruichi's lack of effort. "Just open it up for him; at least set it to one month or three months."

Song Ruichi still said, "There's nothing worth seeing."

He turned to leave, but was pulled back by Shi Ziyi. "Should I discard this one or that one?"

Song Ruichi looked back and threw out the five-bamboo tile from his hand.

Another friend sitting at the table asked, "Who is it? To be able to add Song Ruichi on WeChat."

"Speaking of which," Shi Ziyi laughed as he heard this. "I'm very surprised too. And you know what?" Shi Ziyi tilted his chin toward the friend. "The guy hadn't even said anything yet—I didn't even know what was happening—and they had already added each other on WeChat."

Shi Ziyi emphasized, "Song gave him his private account."

The three friends at the table, other than Shi Ziyi, all looked at Song Ruichi with confusion.

Song Ruichi seemed not to notice, or perhaps chose to ignore it, and turned to walk away.

"Song," Shi Ziyi called out toward him. "Did you check his Moments?"

Song Ruichi: "No."

Shi Ziyi suddenly clapped his hands. "Oh! I know, I remembered where I saw him before!" He grew excited. "Wasn't it this morning, Song Ruichi? When we were watching the sunrise, the guy standing in front of us—was that him?"

Although Shi Ziyi was excited, he didn't expect a confirmation from Song Ruichi. He didn't think Song Ruichi would remember a boy who had briefly drifted through his peripheral vision.

But Song Ruichi said, "Yes."

Shi Ziyi was stunned. "It really is him?"

Song Ruichi: "Yeah."

Shi Ziyi was a bit surprised. He clapped his hands. "No wonder! I was wondering why you were, why you were..."

Shi Ziyi got lost in his own mahjong game halfway through his sentence; his hand was terrible, and it hadn't improved for several rounds.

After much deliberation, he discarded a one-ten, and immediately heard Song Ruichi's voice drift over from the bar area: "Why was I what?"

Shi Ziyi was taken aback. "Why were you what?"

Song Ruichi: "...Never mind."

Shi Ziyi remembered. "Oh, I was saying, you were actually quite polite and gentle when you talked to him."

Song Ruichi didn't respond to this, but instead asked, "Do you guys want more coffee?"

The three replied in unison: "Yes."

Shi Ziyi stared at the table. "I knew it. How could you two have added each other so smoothly? So you recognized each other." He smiled. "You're quite something, playing these little games right under my nose."

Song Ruichi brought over two more cups of coffee. "What did I do?"

It was Shi Ziyi's turn to draw a tile. "You didn't do anything."

The conversation quieted down for a while.

Ten seconds later, Shi Ziyi discarded a tile and then picked it back up.

Shi Ziyi: "That little guy was quite proactive."

Shi Ziyi: "But he looked like a shy one, too. When he walked over, he didn't know what to say, so he just stood there smiling."

Shi Ziyi: "When he asked Song Ruichi what he was drinking, I nearly died laughing."

Shi Ziyi: "But I have to say, he's really handsome."

Shi Ziyi: "You know that kind of handsome? Like a first love from campus—you guys know what I mean?"

Shi Ziyi: "He's quite fair, his hair isn't pitch black, it's soft and fine, and he looks quite well-behaved."

Shi Ziyi: "Tsk tsk tsk—hey! I'm calling that, don't draw your tile!"

Just as Song Ruichi brought over the other two cups of coffee, Shi Ziyi grabbed him and asked, "Right, what did he talk to you about?"