Dazzling

The day Xing Wu returned, it was the same group of people who went to the station to pick him up, except there was ultimately one less person—the one he most wanted to see.

After he went home and dropped off his things, Li Lanfang handed Xing Wu an envelope containing three thousand two hundred yuan.

She chattered on beside him, explaining that it was the money he had earned from work, which she had asked Qing Ye to collect. Originally, she had told Qing Ye to keep it for herself, but in the end, Qing Ye had returned it.

Xing Wu clutched the envelope, feeling its weight grow heavier and heavier in his hand. Eventually, he gripped it tightly, his fingertips trembling slightly.

That evening, the group took him directly to a pre-booked restaurant to welcome him back.

A month wasn’t particularly long, yet it didn’t feel short either. Xing Wu had grown thinner since he left, his features more defined. His buzz cut had grown out a bit, and he seemed somehow different overall.

His buddies kept asking him about life in Shanghai—whether he had encountered any famous opponents during the season’s competitions, if anything interesting had happened during the matches, and so on.

As close friends who used to hang out every day, their reunion naturally sparked endless conversation. But everyone was tacitly united in avoiding that one name. They didn’t bring it up, and Xing Wu didn’t ask.

It was as if everything had been a dream that happened here—that dazzling, radiant girl had never come, and their lives had returned to how they were before, as if nothing had changed.

But as bottle after bottle of alcohol was consumed, those vivid memories began to ripple in everyone’s hearts. She had not only come but had subtly changed every person around her. Even after so many days since her departure, they couldn’t simply act as if nothing had happened.

Huang Mao, after drinking too much, was the first to mention her name. He couldn’t hold back any longer. Seeing the faint smile on Xing Wu’s face all evening had been harder on Huang Mao than on anyone else.

Finally, he downed half a bottle of beer in one go and cursed loudly, "If you ask me, Qing Ye is ungrateful, kicking away the ladder after crossing the river, turning her back without a second thought. Otherwise, why wouldn’t she even tell us she was leaving? Were we ever bad to her? Didn’t we all treat her with all our hearts? How could she do this…"

With those words, the deliberately maintained atmosphere of the entire evening finally collapsed. The once noisy dinner table fell silent, and the last trace of a smile vanished completely from Xing Wu’s face.

Pang Hu couldn’t stand it anymore and scolded Huang Mao, "D-don’t, don’t talk about Qing Ye like that."

Huang Mao, fired up, threw his bottle to the ground and retorted, "What? Am I wrong? Forget about us—just think about those teachers at school. Didn’t every one of them look out for her? They even waived her tuition fees, hoping she’d bring home the top provincial score in the college entrance exam this year. Our whole county’s hopes were pinned on her, and then she just ran back to Beijing right before the exams. What kind of loyalty is that?"

Quan Ya lifted his eyelids, noticing Xing Wu’s increasingly dark expression. He frowned slightly and shot Huang Mao a warning glare, but Huang Mao was completely drunk and began spouting whatever came to mind.

This time, Pang Hu was genuinely angry. He stood up, panting heavily, and roared at Huang Mao, "W-what’s wrong with Q-Qing Ye? Sh-she was already top of her class b-before she came here. It’s not like our county trained her. On the c-contrary, she h-helped us so much. How c-can you say that about her?"Huang Mao instantly lowered his head, grabbed his hair, and began scratching frantically. Why did he say those things about her? He didn’t want to speak of her that way. From the very first day Qing Ye arrived in this small town, his life seemed to brighten up. When Qing Ye smiled at him, all his frustrations seemed to vanish into thin air. He didn’t want to say those things about her, but he couldn’t control his emotions. He couldn’t understand it, and his heart felt unsettled. After so many days, he still couldn’t accept the fact that Qing Ye had suddenly left.

Finally, Xing Wu looked at Huang Mao and said in a deep voice, "Qing Ye found out about me taking jobs at Badaokou."

Huang Mao suddenly stopped his frantic movements, lifted his head, and stared blankly at Xing Wu.

Xing Wu then added, "From now on, if I hear anyone gossiping about her, I won’t be polite."

Suddenly feeling ashamed, Huang Mao took out his phone and exclaimed that he wanted to call Qing Ye. He kept saying to Xing Wu, "Brother Wu, call Qing Ye and ask her what she means by this? Is she going abroad right after the college entrance exam? What will happen to you two after that? Ask her, won’t you?"

Xing Wu snatched his phone and slammed it on the table, warning them sternly, "This is the most critical time for her right now. None of you are allowed to disturb her during this period, understand?"

Huang Mao, Pang Hu, and the others all lowered their heads and remained silent.

So, until the college entrance exam, Qing Ye never received any calls from her friends at Zhazha Pavilion. Even the group chat Huang Mao had created fell silent. Sometimes, she would mockingly wonder if those bastards had forgotten about her.

And Xing Wu didn’t contact her either. After his competition ended, he immediately got his phone back. He had intended to tell Qing Ye that he would be returning soon, but instead, he received the news that she had gone back to Beijing with her father.

That night, the entire club was celebrating, but he, as the main protagonist, went alone to the Bund and stood there in the night wind for the entire evening. In the end, he resisted the urge to go find her.

The only time he reached out was right after he returned to Zhazha Pavilion, when he transferred a sum of money to her—150,000 yuan.

That money seemed to tell her that he was back home and that everything was fine.

…

Sometimes, people are truly strange. Even someone like him, who had always been a poor student, found himself inexplicably influenced by the atmosphere around him in the month leading up to the college entrance exam. Throughout his three years of high school, he had never even attended all his classes properly. Yet, after returning from Shanghai, he started staying late for self-study sessions with everyone else.

He didn’t know if it was because these were their final moments together, or because this was something Qing Ye had fought so hard for before she left, or simply because sitting in the classroom made him feel her presence, as if she were quietly sitting right in front of him whenever he looked up.

As a result, during this period before the college entrance exam, he also studied diligently, memorizing texts and solving problems with everyone else. When he couldn’t figure something out, he would ponder it on his own. Sometimes, while deep in thought, Qing Ye’s voice would seem to echo in his mind. Xing Wu realized that her voice was quite influential to him. Things he thought he would never remember turned out to be things he had secretly retained.

Sometimes, when he couldn’t solve a problem, he would spend a couple of days racking his brains until he figured it out. He would even feel a sense of pride looking at his own handwriting, which even his own mother wouldn’t recognize. If only he had put in more effort back then, perhaps he could have been cut out for studying after all.Although he received numerous competition invitations during this period, it was this season's tournament where his gaming ID "Sniper King" truly made a name for itself. Standing out among all participating teams, he became a rising star in China's FPS competitive scene, and one of his competition photos quickly went viral online. He never imagined that one day he would gain so much attention because of a single photo.

Fortunately, Xing Wu was generally low-key. Aside from various gaming accounts, he barely used social media. After industry insiders learned he hadn't joined any club yet, his phone was bombarded with calls in a short period. Both familiar and unfamiliar clubs extended olive branches to him, some offering conditions that even Xing Wu had to admit were quite tempting.

AEG Club soon sent him a formal invitation to participate in the national tournament during the second half of the year. He didn't give a definite response immediately, only telling them he needed to return home first to complete his college entrance exams.

Having muddled through three years of high school, he felt it necessary to obtain his graduation certificate before planning his next steps.

What made him hesitate even more was that joining a club would mean fully committing to becoming a professional player. This might mean returning home only once a year, and he couldn't bring himself to leave his family behind yet, especially his grandmother who remained hospitalized.

According to Li Lanfang, his grandmother's condition had deteriorated severely during his absence. One night, her heart nearly stopped beating. After returning, aside from attending school, Xing Wu spent most of his time at his grandmother's bedside.

Perhaps there truly exists a magical bond between family members - after Xing Wu's return, his grandmother's condition showed slight improvement.

However, one week before the college entrance exams, on an utterly ordinary morning, as Xing Wu pulled up a chair beside the hospital bed after arriving from home, his grandmother suddenly gazed at him with unusually clear and affectionate eyes. Though Xing Wu knew she had lost consciousness years ago, that morning her eyes seemed to regain their former clarity, looking at him with overwhelming tenderness.

He called out uncertainly: "Grandma?"

She didn't respond. He tried speaking to her a few more times, but she remained unresponsive.

Xing Wu finally gave up and went out to find a nurse for medication instructions. When he returned, his grandmother had passed away - on that ordinary morning, she left peacefully, almost as if with a faint smile gracing her lips.

After the funeral, Xing Wu kept wondering: that night when her heart nearly stopped after he left, had she been holding on just waiting for his return? Perhaps so. The doctors said her cerebral palsy had long deprived her of awareness, but in his heart, he believed she could always sense his presence.

His grandmother's sudden departure felt like the final straw that broke Xing Wu. After handling the funeral arrangements, he locked himself in a hotel room. He didn't allow anyone to inform Qing Ye, nor would he see anyone. No one knew how he endured those days.

...

On the day of the college entrance exams, Beijing was sweltering. Qing Ye wore a light short-sleeved shirt as Qing Hongzhi personally drove her to the exam venue. Getting out of the car, she looked up at the dazzling sun, wondering whether it was equally hot in Anzi County.

Her phone vibrated suddenly in her pocket. Taking it out, she saw a message from Xing Wu containing just two words: "Good luck!"

Qing Ye's eyes instantly reddened. She replied: "You too."

Then she powered off her phone and handed it to her father.

...After the college entrance exams ended, many students from Anzhong High School returned to campus for the massive book-tearing ceremony. Despite repeated reminders from teachers that the books could still be sold as scrap paper for money and shouldn't be torn, everyone was like freed birds at that moment, wanting to shout out the end of their long high school years through this act.

Xing Wu remained seated at his desk, staring blankly at the empty seat in front of him. Normally, no one would dare touch Xing Wu's belongings, but that day was exceptionally chaotic - they even dragged away his desk and randomly tore most of the brand-new books from his drawer.

The chaotic scene gave Xing Wu a headache. He kicked his stool aside, shoved his hands in his pockets, and wandered toward the music classroom. As he approached, the smell of smoke drifted over, and he spotted Huang Mao leaning alone on the balcony, puffing away.

Xing Wu raised an eyebrow and ambled over, suddenly shouting: "Boo!"

Huang Mao nearly burned his hand in surprise. Recognizing Xing Wu, he relaxed immediately. Xing Wu smirked and said, "Getting bold, smoking right in the school building."

Huang Mao offered the cigarette to Xing Wu, who glanced down briefly before turning away. "Quit," he said flatly.

Huang Mao stared at him incredulously. "Seriously? You actually quit?"

Xing Wu shrugged indifferently. "There are only two kinds of things in this world for me - those I don't want to do, and those I decide to do."

Huang Mao chuckled at Xing Wu's tone before suddenly laughing. "You've been influenced by Qing Ye."

Xing Wu froze momentarily, only then realizing his words did carry some of Qing Ye's characteristic disdain for convention. He lowered his head and laughed along.

Huang Mao glanced at him and couldn't resist asking, "Wonder how she's doing now? Did she perform well on the exams? Wu Ge, do you think... she might already be preparing to study abroad?"

Xing Wu removed his hands from his pockets and rested them on the balcony railing, gazing silently at the distant sun hanging in the sky.

He didn't know what studying abroad required, but he figured the college entrance exam was just the beginning for Qing Ye. Preparing to go overseas must involve numerous complicated procedures.

He sighed and turned to leave. Huang Mao called after his retreating figure, "Where you going?"

"Home to sleep."

From returning from competitions to preparing for college entrance exams to his grandmother's sudden passing, he hadn't had a proper rest in ages. With the exams over, exhaustion suddenly overwhelmed him. He crashed at home and didn't emerge for two full days, sleeping around the clock.

Before the exams, Xing Wu had already checked out of the hotel. The first floor of his house was mostly finished, though the second floor's interior decoration remained incomplete. At night, Xing Wu would curl up alone on the first floor. During these two days post-exams, he slept like the dead - Li Lanfang couldn't rouse him for meals no matter how she tried. Several times, she quietly approached him, crouched down, and checked his breathing, worried he might have actually passed away in his sleep.

He was utterly exhausted. After the sudden release of long-accumulated physical fatigue and mental pressure, his subconscious entered a two-day recovery state.

On the third morning, when Li Lanfang woke up, she was startled to find Xing Wu had cooked a table full of dishes. "What time did you get up?" she asked in surprise.

"Four-thirty.""Why cook so many dishes? We can't finish them between the two of us."

"Bored."

Li Lanfang was amused by his response: "If you're bored, go check on the factory."

"I'll go later."

Xing Wu and Li Lanfang shared a harmonious breakfast in the courtyard, after which Xing Wu rode his scooter through the streets and alleys to Sunny Valley Food Factory.

He parked his motorcycle in the yard and glanced back at the character "Qing" on the factory's entrance sign. Quan Ya had recently hired someone to redesign it, adding dazzling flames around the character that gave off a fiery vibe. Though flashy, Xing Wu found it rather appealing.

The busy day began in the morning. Xing Wu gradually familiarized himself with everything Qing Ye had left behind. Sometimes he would stare blankly at the notes she'd left before departing. In the days following the college entrance exams, he was occupied from morning till night, only returning home to share a meal with Li Lanfang.

Life had suddenly become monotonous. At some point, that girl had become the beam of light in his life—just seeing her made existence feel vibrant and meaningful. But with her gone, he seemed to have lost his direction.

Pang Hu, Fang Lei, and others were at home awaiting their exam results and busy selecting colleges. Meanwhile, those who never expected to get into college had been contacting Xing Wu, asking if the factory needed workers. With only Liu Nian, Du Qiyan, and Quan Ya currently at the factory, they indeed needed a stable workforce. Thus, this modest food factory provided employment opportunities for a group of high school graduates.

Life always pushes people forward. Xing Wu, originally a carefree maintenance technician, began seriously learning about business management.

To keep the factory running smoothly, he recently visited a bookstore in the county town and bought several books to study production and business models.

However, the material sometimes proved too dull, and he would often doze off on the recliner while reading. Quan Ya always teased him for being a rough guy pretending to be cultured, asking if he could even understand what he was reading.

Whether he understood or not didn't matter—he suddenly found himself enjoying the process, much like how she had always held books in her hands.

One afternoon a few days later, the maintenance technician was once again napping on the recliner in the yard with a book when he heard Huang Mao's excited shouts in his sleep: "Brother Wu, Brother Wu, look who's back?"