Li Ai occasionally drifted into daze, his eyes as dull as plaster statues, unlit for a long time.
Perhaps it was the lack of desire that made even the creases at the corners of his gentle smile radiate tenderness—a scar, the sharpest kind among life’s rings.
Qin Xiaoyi helped Hu Xiu hail a taxi and saved her home address in his phone.
Just thinking about this made Hu Xiu restless—had he been this considerate to other female players?
What if he turned out to be a creep showing up at her door? How could she return the taxi fare? Could she get his contact info?
Or perhaps... had he truly remembered and liked her?
There was no way to verify any of it. The only certainty was that merely recalling that rainy night felt like downing a dozen depth charges followed by a bucket of cola—the aftereffects lingered for three days, leaving her intoxicated every moment.
Qin Xiaoyi, who had gotten his backpack soaked while holding the umbrella, kept it raised over Hu Xiu’s head as she slipped into the car. From sheltering under the umbrella to getting into the vehicle, she hadn’t been touched by a single drop of rain.
What Zhao Xiaorou had said about not remembering Qin Xiaoyi’s face because she didn’t dare look at him—before getting into the car, Hu Xiu met his gaze earnestly for three seconds and expressed her gratitude solemnly.
In response, Qin Xiaoyi averted his eyes and shyly waved his hand before the car started.
Qin Xiaoyi’s face was firmly etched in her memory—a different Qin Xiaoyi from the one in a suit. Sharp brow bones and deep-set eyes, thin eyelids and tapered corners shaping a bewitching gaze; large, dark pupils flickering like a fawn’s; slightly protruding yet perfectly shaped lips that appeared haughty when pressed together—not conforming to a ruler’s standard, yet intensely distinctive.
His jet-black short hair and sharp angles heightened the contrast of his face. Under light and shadow, his features were cleanly defined, veiling curiosity about the world with aloofness, gentleness, and kindness. In the game, he was dazzling; outside it, he left only silence for others.
He truly didn’t seem like a boy who belonged in this ordinary urban life. Hu Xiu felt his romantic life must be far more extravagant than imagined. This was a face torn straight from a comic book—one that could easily attract admiring glances with the slightest indulgence, experience a thrilling, roller-coaster romance. A gentleman like him would never leave things unfinished—ah, it wouldn’t even matter if it ended heartbreakingly—
After burying his heartaches to cultivate a more storied face, he still had youth to spare.
She and he were from different worlds; she understood that.
Regardless, rounding it all up, Hu Xiu was a woman grazed by the wings of Qin Xiaoyi’s love.
If Zhao Xiaorou learned of this episode, she would embellish it into a tale of passionate kisses with Qin Xiaoyi, on the verge of tumbling into the sheets.
Hu Xiu didn’t dare underestimate the terrifying imagination of this married woman, who might even dress it up as a reader’s submission in her regular emotional videos—Zhao Xiaorou was adept at exercising her imagination on such scenarios.
But after that romantic night, Hu Xiu no longer rushed to buy tickets for the Live Action Role Playing Game—
Perhaps the umbrella Qin Xiaoyi had held against the rain had given her a sliver of confidence.
Perhaps being drenched in that artsy-film-like rain had seeped consolation into her mind, emboldening her. She seriously revised her resume and began job hunting in response to recruitment notices.
Opening Xiaobaihe BBS and entering the translation section’s social recruitment board, Hu Xiu meticulously compared each company’s requirements, tailoring every resume she sent out to ensure precise targeting.During the interview, Hu Xiu had deliberately applied makeup, appearing energetic, composed, and confident. She candidly explained that taking a gap year was to gain social experience and broaden her horizons, emphasizing that extensive knowledge was essential for an interpreter.
She soon received offers from two companies: a pharmaceutical firm in Zhangjiang and a hospital in Huangpu District. Neither role was entirely translation-related. The former offered a higher salary despite being slightly farther away, while the latter provided stability and internal recruitment, with the possibility of securing a permanent position.
At her desk, Hu Xiu clasped her hands and bowed repeatedly toward a tissue stuck on the wall—
It was the tissue Qin Xiaoyi had placed on her forehead that rainy day, which she couldn’t bring herself to throw away.
If better opportunities arose, she wanted to wait, so that when she saw Qin Xiaoyi again, she could face him as Hu Xiu, an accomplished independent woman, with her head held high.
Finding a job with her resume wasn’t difficult. Although many graduated with English majors, few became interpreters.
This wasn’t something achieved by memorizing vocabulary in a grove at 5 a.m. or passing the TEM-4 and TEM-8 exams alone. It required intensive practice.
It was an honor reserved for those with a touch of linguistic talent and the ability to keep impatience and anxiety from showing in their tone.
Only two people in her entire major became interpreters—the other was her roommate, a girl from the Pearl River Delta influenced by Hong Kong culture, who could effortlessly secure scholarships even by cramming and watching IMDB films daily.
Hu Xiu’s abilities were earned through sheer, dedicated time. She never felt she had anything that came without effort.
Another person didn’t think so either, but the thought had barely crossed her mind when the phone rang.
The nuisance always managed to intrude into her life every now and then. Answering the call, she wondered how long this round of mental strain would last.
"Dad…"
"Dingding, I’ve come to Shanghai. Let’s have dinner together one evening next week. I’ll introduce you to a friend."
With concise instructions delivered, Hu Xiu’s next tasks were clear: book a nice restaurant with a suitable atmosphere for father-daughter conversation, preferably with a live band playing piano or saxophone; quickly confirm a job offer, since her father might want to visit her workplace; and swiftly tidy her new home, disposing of broken cardboard boxes and old clothes—her father couldn’t stand clutter.
After cleaning the room, she glanced at the tissue secured on the wall with pink planner stickers. Hesitating for a moment, she decided to leave it there; removing it might tear it, and her father’s attention was unlikely to fixate on her desk.
A week later, they met at Jing’an Temple. From afar, Hu Xiu spotted her father, looking travel-worn.
His temples had grayed, but his posture remained upright, sharply framed by silver glasses. His greeting felt like a leader meeting foreign dignitaries.
Sighing inwardly, Hu Xiu took his briefcase, knowing without a doubt it contained sheet music—
He must have been paid to tutor art students again. Apart from her, it seemed all his students ranked among the top entrants to music conservatories. Those accomplished girls were his pride. Sitting across from him, a strange thought flickered through Hu Xiu’s mind—
After years without contact, a solitary music teacher in his fifties, with such an aloof demeanor, couldn’t possibly be without admirers."Maybe Dad also has a young and beautiful girlfriend, she just doesn't know about it."
"Dingding, it's been a year. How are you now?"
"Pretty good, working as a translator."
"Where do you work?"
"In Huangpu District, at a hospital." Hu Xiu thought for a moment - if she said Pudong or Zhangjiang and her father wasn't familiar with those areas, he might think she wasn't doing well in the big city.
"What exactly do you do?"
"Translation work..." Hu Xiu didn't dare to move her eyes, only quickly running through the job requirements in her mind: "But it's mainly administrative work. I only do translation on weekends or during medical conferences. Most translation jobs are side income."
"How's the pay?"
"Not bad, about twenty thousand a month." After saying this, Hu Xiu felt somewhat insecure - her bank account only had enough left for ten more visits to see Qin Xiaoyi.
"That sounds decent. You're my only daughter. Although I usually don't interfere with your life, you can't end up like your mother - that morally bankrupt whore."
"Don't say that..." Hu Xiu said unhappily.
"What? Defending your mother? The year you turned eighteen, she brought her affair home. It took me ten years to teach her a lesson, and I've given her enough dignity."
"I'm really afraid you'll become like your mother, scheming in marriage. Dingding, you need to be an upright, moral girl. Understand?"
Hu Xiu didn't speak, only nodded slightly.
"Two students I recently tutored are now in the piano department at the Conservatory, and another got into the composition department. They're all from Nanjing Foreign Language School."
"Good genes plus proper tutoring always make life smoother than others. You probably just had bad luck."
Dad wanted to smoke but was stopped by the waiter. He coughed a few times to save face: "So getting married early would be good for an average girl like you."
"I..."
"Accept reality sooner. I invested the most effort in you, yet you only became an ordinary administrative worker doing translation gigs on weekends."
"Twenty-seven is still a good age for marriage. Any later would really be too late. One of my student's parents has a younger brother working in Shanghai, living in Minhang. They've already sent me his WeChat. He's about six years older than you, but it sounds like he has a house and car. Contact him after dinner."
"Huh?"
"Can you speak in complete sentences? You've stuttered since childhood. Don't learn that from your mother."
"I probably was fooled by her clumsy act back then, only to later discover it was all an act. You might be that kind of girl too - advancing by retreating, playing dumb to catch the wise."
By the last sentence, Hu Xiu was actually amused by her father's psychological pressure. He must have gotten a new girlfriend - young, fond of using trendy phrases - which put him in the mood to visit her.
Her attention shifted to that last phrase - advancing by retreating. Her disheveled appearance in the rain really did resemble a female lead in an idol drama.
If Qin Xiaoyi remembered her, it would indeed seem like she was deliberately playing pitiful. After all, the gentlemanly Qin Xiaoyi would never fail to help a lonely girl late at night.
Dad, who had asked to see her apartment, was relatively satisfied with the open layout, particularly with the desk piled with materials and the tidy wardrobe.
But Murphy's Law struck unexpectedly - that tissue stuck on the wall was abruptly torn down by her father: "Why stick this crumpled tissue on the wall? It's an eyesight sore..."Hu Xiu had barely taken a few bites of the local Shanghainese dishes during dinner with her father, yet didn't dare take leftovers in front of her prideful dad. With an empty stomach, she rushed to REGARD to eat the leftover cakes from Li Ai, still mourning the braised pork and squirrel-shaped mandarin fish she'd scarcely tasted.
Li Ai always ordered extra slices of cake, much like the cat food left in the back kitchen for stray cats, waiting specifically for Hu Xiu.
With Zhao Xiaorou unusually absent, Hu Xiu could relax in the café sipping coffee. The single Li Ai never shooed her away, instead willingly keeping her company.
In Li Ai's words, Hu Xiu was heaven's gift to this dull and barren city - an ideal.
Though she appeared like a girl attempting to move mountains, she always made people's eyes brighten with clarity upon seeing her.
Hu Xiu never dared dwell on these words - too cheesy, and she felt... unworthy.
Like today, when her father had declared her mediocrity and ordinariness with such resounding finality.
"Please don't tell Zhao Xiaorou about my dad's visit today. I don't need more people criticizing me right now."
"I won't say anything. You girls should keep some secrets between yourselves."
"Thanks..."
"But I don't quite understand why your father is so fixated on whether you're outstanding or not.
If you were my daughter, I'd be truly proud of you. And your life hasn't been easy either."
"He just thinks he's figured society out." Hu Xiu brushed the stray hairs from her forehead, coffee stains still visible around her lips. "After all, for ordinary people, getting married and having a stable family practically equals happiness. Those living extraordinary lives - most people haven't experienced that, can't even imagine it."
"Just because that's the conventional wisdom doesn't mean you have to accept it." Li Ai spoke leisurely while grinding coffee beans.
"It wasn't until high school that I learned girls could live such luxurious lives - asking their dads for pocket money, going to amusement parks, quitting piano or dance lessons yet still buying pretty dresses, where even their pains and grievances came trimmed with pink lace.
The greatest gift my father gave me was cultivating me to be exceptional. I failed to achieve that, so he continues paving paths for me. In that regard... I understand."
"Heavens..." Li Ai unconsciously adopted Zhao Xiaorou's tone. "You've endured too much hardship."
"Since Zhao Xiaorou isn't here, let me tell you a joke. There's a former name on my household register - guess what it is?"
Li Ai cupped his ear.
"Hu Ding..." Hu Xiu leaned heavily against her chair. "Originally Hu Ding, but Dad thought it lacked grandeur and changed it again."
Hu Ding - 'as good as one's word' with the ding character, yet homophonic with 'top,' hoping I'd become outstanding.
When enrolling in kindergarten at three, Mom thought it sounded awful and secretly changed it once, infuriating Dad who insisted the name would bring no success.
But Mom threatened divorce if he changed it back to Hu Ding. Back then... they still truly loved each other."
Instead of offering comfort, Li Ai waited until other customers left before whispering: "Since Zhao Xiaorou's not here, I'll share a secret too. The day my wife died in a car accident, she'd just had an ultrasound revealing we were having a daughter.
She meant to surprise me, stopped halfway through a text message, wanting to tell me in person. Only - I never got to hear it."The steam continued to drift out of the humidifier like fine threads. Hu Xiu didn't speak, only watching as Li Ai quietly wiped a cup with a tissue. The spoken words solidified in the air, black and white, as if smeared by floating dust before being scattered by the light.
When Li Ai occasionally spaced out, his eyes were as dull as those of a plaster statue—they hadn't been lit up in a long time.
Perhaps it was because he lacked desire that even the laugh lines at the corners of his eyes emanated a gentle tenderness—a scar, the sharpest kind among the rings of time.
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