Chapter 108

Zhaozhao

When Chao Musheng bent to drink from the milk tea, Xu Chenzhu lost his capacity for ordinary response.

It was only when the Jinghua students climbed out of the car and stared at them in open shock that he came back to himself.

The dark of night. A sleeve pulled in someone's grip. Even Professor Zhang, nearing sixty, would find this strange to witness.

"Xiao Chao." The professor looked at the hand holding Xu Chenzhu's sleeve, paused briefly, then adjusted his glasses. "It's this late — where are you two going?"

Chao Musheng released the sleeve. Xu Chenzhu watched the fabric slowly fall back. Something in his eyes went dim. Zhaozhao is worried about what people will think.

"We're going for a walk." Chao Musheng took Xu Chenzhu's wrist from the other side, and in full view of the speechless professors and students, led him openly past them. "Get some rest, Professor Zhang. Good night."

Professor Zhang watched their retreating figures, then glanced at his watch.

A walk, past one in the morning?

Once they'd disappeared from view, the Jinghua students erupted in a frenzy of exchanged glances. Something was happening — something enormous.

They could hardly imagine what it would look like when this got out. The shock it would send through the business world and the universities alike.

"Everyone, rest." The professor, his own shock having settled, turned to look at his students. "This is unconfirmed. No one is to say a word about it outside."

He rubbed his temples. They were young — they didn't yet understand the scale of Kunlun's CEO's influence. If Xu Chenzhu hadn't chosen to make this public himself, Jinghua would not be leaking a single word.

*

The small town at night was beautiful. The sky opened up and you could see the stars in full scatter. The streets were quiet enough to hear frogs calling in the distance.

"Hold on." Chao Musheng produced two cartoon-printed mosquito patches from his pocket and stuck them on Xu Chenzhu's clothes. "The riverbank is full of mosquitoes. With skin as fair as yours, one bite would leave you a little red present."

The cartoon images on the patches against the fine fabric of his shirt had a particular incongruity about them.

In the hazy moonlight they descended the stone steps to the river.

Hanyue's limited budget showed here — only willows along the bank, weeds and wild flowers growing freely in the verge. Chao Musheng bent down and pulled a small wildflower, held it in his hand, and stopped with a sudden laugh: "This is actually the first time I've ever taken a midnight walk with anyone."

Xu Chenzhu looked back at him.

Chao Musheng came to stand beside him — their shadows nearly overlapping. He took out his phone and tilted his head toward Xu Chenzhu. "A moment like this — it needs a photo."

He held up the small flower. Slowly, carefully, Xu Chenzhu tilted his head. Their hair brushed together.

The shutter clicked.

In the screen: Chao Musheng smiling. Xu Chenzhu's eyes on Chao Musheng's face.

"Mr. Xu." Chao Musheng put his phone away and looked at him sideways. "Next time we take a photo together — remember to look at the camera."

Xu Chenzhu's lips moved. After a pause, he said: "All right."

*

The riverbank was empty at this hour. They walked for a while without seeing a firefly.

"Looks like we won't find any tonight." Chao Musheng stood at the spot where he'd seen them the previous evening, his voice carrying a thread of disappointment. "Oh well — next time—"

From the undergrowth in the distance, countless luminous points lifted and drifted toward them — as though the Milky Way had descended to the earth.

He stood and stared. When the fireflies had drifted close enough to surround them, he finally came back to himself and turned. "Mr. Xu — look!"

The light was small. But in this moment, it was the most beautiful thing in the darkness.

"I see them." Xu Chenzhu looked, greedily, not at the fireflies — but at the joy on the young man's face. The restless things in his chest went still.

Two fireflies had settled on his shoulder. Chao Musheng moved close, very carefully, and wrapped his fingers around Xu Chenzhu's forearm. "Don't move — I want to see what they actually look like."

"All right."

In the moonlight: a man standing still, and a young man leaning close. From any distance, it looked like the softest kind of lovers' embrace.

From further away, a bodyguard photographed it.

The boss is going to want this one.

"So?" When the fireflies left his shoulder, Xu Chenzhu asked: "Are they what you expected?"

"Not quite what I'd imagined." He wasn't disappointed by the firefly's actual appearance. He lifted his gaze and looked directly at Xu Chenzhu's face, close and clear. "But the light they give off is beautiful enough."

He stayed where he was, pressed close, and turned to watch the small lives floating in the undergrowth. "When I saw them last night — do you want to know what my first thought was?"

"What was it?"

"I thought — something this wonderful, it would be so much better if Mr. Xu were here." He looked at him, eyes curved. "Missing out on showing you felt like a real waste."

Xu Chenzhu heard his own heartbeat.

Fast. Loud.

"Now I think — actually, I'm glad you weren't here last night." He gave a soft laugh. "If I'd shown you those few fireflies then, we wouldn't be seeing this tonight."

Behind them, a fish broke the surface of the river.

"Let's go back." Chao Musheng looked at the quiet man beside him and reached out to take his sleeve again. "If there's ever another scene like this — I'll still bring Mr. Xu along to see it."

They walked back side by side. Xu Chenzhu tried to speak, countless times, but each time the fear stopped him.

He had never been afraid of anything. But when it came to Zhaozhao's feelings, he was completely without courage. Too afraid of one wrong step.

They reached the hotel at three in the morning. Xu Chenzhu walked him to the door.

"Mr. Xu." Chao Musheng smiled and asked: "Is there something you'd like to say to me?"

Xu Chenzhu was silent for several seconds. He looked away. "Zhaozhao. Good night."

A barely perceptible exhale from Chao Musheng. "Good night."

*

Early the next morning, Chao Musheng was in the reception car with Professor Zhang heading to the work site. He looked at his classmates — every one of them more worn out than he was — and drank a mouthful of soy milk. "What were you all doing last night?"

They gave him a collective wordless look. An entire stockpile of gossip questions, all suppressed by the presence of the professor and the reception staff.

They'd gotten their hands on something this significant and couldn't sleep — someone had made a group chat and they'd talked until three or four in the morning. Looking at the person responsible, who appeared fresh and dewy as a little white cabbage, they sat there wilting like dried vegetables. They'd all been up late. Why did Xiao Chao look like nothing had happened?

Ignoring the aggrieved looks, Chao Musheng sent a message to Xu Chenzhu.

[Mr. Xu — I've set off for the work site. Heavy rain forecast today. If you head back to the county, please be careful.]

Xu Chenzhu's long fingers opened the message. He typed, and deleted, and typed again — erasing every word that might cause Zhaozhao any trouble.

[Understood.]

Zhaozhao's reply came quickly.

A pouting puppy sticker — both sulking and asking for affection at once.

He looked at it for a long time. Saved it.

He opened yesterday's interview video. The comments were past ten thousand.

[I know shipping real people isn't great, but that photo of the boss and the civilian has so much story in it — I've already imagined a hundred sweet scenarios.]

[And it's not even angsty?]

[You don't understand. That photo just looks sweet.]

He read the comments over and over. Eventually he put the phone down and looked out the window at nothing in particular.

*

The reception staff's anxiety had not eased. For someone with Xu Chenzhu's schedule to stay the night at a small-town hotel — one with unpredictable hot water, at that — was baffling.

"Did anyone on Mr. Xu's team say when he plans to leave?"

A head shake.

Even as a local, there was no honest way to praise this hotel's conditions. How was he managing it?

"Don't think too hard about it." He poured strong tea. "We can't second-guess how a mind like that works. Make sure the township staff do their jobs properly — we can't have anything going wrong right now and damaging Hanyue's reputation."

He'd heard there'd been lunatics stealing sweet potatoes a couple of days ago.

On learning the Kunlun CEO was still in their township and hadn't left, the township staff made their first priority a patrol of the streets — eliminating every possible risk. Even shop owners bathed their cats and dogs, unwilling to let the great boss develop a poor impression of Hanyue's hygiene standards.

*

"I saw it with my own eyes — last night, that man was waiting for a handsome young lad." The old man walked his dog; the dog lay down and slept on the pavement. Several neighbours had gathered to hear the story. "The young man had a very fine face — better-looking than anyone on television."

"That's an exaggeration." Another man was skeptical. "I saw him go to the milk tea shop last night. My son used that same trick when he was chasing his girlfriend. It can't be another man he was waiting for."

"Believe it or don't." The dog-walking man looked put out. "I saw what I saw."

The town was small. Old folk with children mostly working away from home, any new development travels fast, end to end. By the time township officials were making their community rounds and asking residents if they'd noticed anything unusual, someone brought up the handsome man who'd waited two or three hours for a handsome young man.

"That's just young people's personal business — nothing unusual about it," the official said, caught between exasperation and amusement. "Aside from that, has anything happened that felt unsafe?"

"Yes!" one man said. "A few days ago there was a robbery right here in the township."

A robbery?!

The official nearly lost his footing. At a critical time like this, a serious incident like this?

"How many perpetrators, what were the losses, was it reported to police?"

Old man A: "Three or four."

Old man B: "No, more like five or six."

Old woman A: "All young people — ran very fast!"

A gang?!

The official felt his knees go weak. "What did they take?"

"Chen Laowu had seven sweet potatoes taken; Wang Pozi lost a big pumpkin; Sun Laoба lost ten sweet potatoes..."

Sweet potatoes and pumpkins?!

"Besides the produce — did anyone lose anything else?"

Uniform head-shaking.

"Pumpkins and sweet potatoes aren't worth anything. We figured those young people were badly hungry, so we didn't report it."

Badly hungry?

Hungry...

The official stumbled, unable to hear more, and hurried back to the township office to report.

His colleagues received the news as if the sky had fallen.

What era were they living in — people hungry enough to rob sweet potatoes?

They immediately called the hotel reception team.

"Ah, yes." The township reception staff sighed. "Mr. Xu probably doesn't know yet, but the expert teachers from the capital — they were passing by when the residents were discussing this the other evening. They likely heard."

Over. It was all over.

The performance assessments for every township department — finished.

And Hanyue County's reputation — destroyed.

"Don't panic yet," the reception team said, actually consoling them now. "The experts probably took it as a lunatic incident — they wouldn't actually think our residents had no food. Maybe it was a rival county trying to damage our image. Get to the bottom of it. Don't let it weigh on you."

After hanging up, the township staff steeled themselves.

They were going to find out what had happened.

People in this township were not going hungry. That was a fact.

*

"Xiao Juan — you're incredible!"

Ah Peng was tearing into the braised pork knuckle she'd brought back, barely stopping to breathe. "This has such good flavor — hard to come by in a wasteland, right?"

Curly Hair: ...

Fairly easy, actually.

The shop owner had practically glowed when she asked for five.

When they'd finished eating and she tried to collect the containers in a rubbish bag, Ah Peng stopped her.

"Those boxes look useful — save them." He wiped the sweat from his face. "Three days of extreme heat so far, and I'm worried food gets harder to get. If it rains, the containers can catch water."

"It won't come to that." She said. "I'll bring a couple of bottles of water later."

"Xiao Juan — what exactly is going on out there?" Da Chang felt something was off. Yesterday she'd brought ribs and braised pork; today, pork knuckle. The NPCs out there were being remarkably generous with her.

"Nothing is going on." She looked out the window. "In about two hours, it should start raining."

Rain?

All five looked up. Extreme heat — and rain to lower the difficulty?

The system wasn't that kind.

"It will." She knew they wouldn't understand yet. "Once the rain comes, the temperature will start to drop."

"Then where's the survival difficulty?" Ah Peng said. Food, water, and soon — no more heat?

3S level survival, and this was it?

He looked up at the roof. Although — if heavy rain came, would the roof hold?

"Xiao Juan — are you sure it'll rain in two hours?"

She nodded.

Except for the gale at the compound — which the Main God had conjured deliberately — this world's meteorological authority couldn't give advance warning of those. But for ordinary weather, the forecasts were fairly reliable.

And if they weren't...

She leaned out the window and examined the cloud layer. Conditions were right for artificial rain seeding.

If they weren't, the meteorological bureau could fire the cannons and bring it down themselves.

"Did one of the NPCs outside tell you that?"

She nodded again.

Ah Rou's expression shifted. "Xiao Juan — I heard the NPC who took you away was very good-looking?"

The better-looking the man, the better the liar. NPCs were no exception.

"Very good-looking, yes." Curly Hair's energy returned in an instant.

Xiao Chao's appearance was beyond criticism.

Uh-oh.

Ah Rou noticed the look in her eyes. Something in her chest gave a small lurch.

That expression — the kind you had when looking at your savior — had no business appearing when a player mentioned an NPC.

*

"Xiao Chao." The class secretary carried her meal over and sat beside him. "Your efficiency this morning was remarkable — even Professor Zhang said your aptitude was extraordinary."

She and the fourth-year students had all been floored by his ability.

"Without everyone working together, I couldn't have done it alone." He raised an eyebrow. "You didn't come over just to tell me that."

"Ahem." She cleared her throat and lowered her voice. "We know each other well enough — last night, you and..."

"Yes, your guess was right." He smiled and nodded, entirely at ease. "I took Mr. Xu out on a... date."

He — confirmed it?

She stared at him. There was a significant difference between going out and a date.

She glanced at the classmates behind her and lowered her voice further. "No wonder when you were sick, Xu Chenzhu barely left your side — so you two were already..."

"Don't worry." She said quietly. "Before you make it public, I won't tell a soul."

"Thank you." He smiled. "But it wouldn't matter if people knew."

He had never been afraid of others' opinions.

What could possibly matter more than the person you like being happy?

*

Around four in the afternoon, lightning cracked the sky and the rain came down in sheets.

Assistant Yang looked at the rain-blurred window and addressed Secretary Liu, who was leisurely drinking tea. "Secretary Liu — the county is still waiting for us to sign those contracts. Are we really not going back today?"

They'd spent the entire day in the hotel accomplishing nothing.

"No hurry." Liu glanced at the downpour. "In rain this heavy, driving isn't safe."

Outside, wind and rain. Xu Chenzhu drew back the curtain, looked at the white-washed world, and thought about nothing except Zhaozhao's smile standing beside the fireflies.

"Boss." His bodyguard knocked and entered, carrying a thick stack of photographs. "The prints are ready."

He took them. Every one was a photograph of him and Zhaozhao.

Zhaozhao's smile bending at the car door to greet him. Zhaozhao's focused expression pointing the phone camera up at him from the platform below. Their two figures walking under the path lights, shadows overlapping.

And — the last photograph.

Zhaozhao bent close, face tilted up toward his.

But he distinctly remembered — in that moment, Zhaozhao had been looking at the firefly on his shoulder.

He hadn't been looking at the firefly at all. He'd been looking at him.

He set down the photographs. He walked out of the room.

"Boss — where are you going? The rain is too heavy to go outside—"

He was standing there.

And he — was going to meet him.

*

"What a downpour." The class secretary looked at the rain-streaked window and yawned. "We finished early for once and the weather does this."

She'd slept far too late the night before. All she wanted was to go back to the hotel and sleep. No more gossip, ever.

She turned to Chao Musheng and found him already packing up. "Xiao Chao — you're leaving now?"

"Yes." He retrieved his phone from his bag. "I have somewhere to be."

He swiped his work card at the gate, said goodbye to security, and walked quickly out into the rain.

The sound of it was enormous. He refused the staff's offer of a solo escort, took out his phone to call a car — and then made out a familiar figure in the curtain of rain.

"Mr. Xu?"

"Zhaozhao." Xu Chenzhu raised the umbrella's edge, crossed the distance, and held it over his head. "The rain is too heavy. I came to get you."

The car couldn't enter the inner courtyard. The two of them shared one umbrella and walked into the rain.

Rainwater that couldn't drain fast enough had formed a current along the path. Chao Musheng looked down and saw Xu Chenzhu's shoes and trouser hems completely soaked through.

How long had he been standing out here?

"In rain this heavy — why didn't you wait in the car?"

"I was afraid if I stayed in the car, you wouldn't see me."

Something in Chao Musheng's chest went soft and melted, like a marshmallow on a fire. Warm, a little sticky, and aching slightly in a way he couldn't name.

This was his own fault. He'd assumed that someone like Mr. Xu — who had everything, feared nothing — would simply speak when ready. So he'd been waiting for him to speak.

But he'd forgotten. Feelings aren't a transaction. You don't receive them just because you've paid the price.

The more you love, the more afraid you become.

He took Xu Chenzhu's hand. He straightened the umbrella, which had been tilted mostly over his side. "Xu Chenzhu. Your shoulder is completely soaked."

"It doesn't matter." Xu Chenzhu quickened his pace, keeping the umbrella over Chao Musheng as he stepped into the car.

When he folded the umbrella and bent to get in himself, his hair and lenses were instantly soaked. Once inside, he shifted sideways to avoid dripping on Chao Musheng.

"Zhaozhao, your hair is wet." He bent down to retrieve the dry towel he'd brought and held it out.

"You dry it for me." Chao Musheng leaned toward him, listing sideways, as if toward his chest.

"Zhaozhao." Xu Chenzhu's fingers, when they touched the ends of Chao Musheng's hair, were trembling faintly.

"Never mind." Chao Musheng caught his fingertips, sat back up, and took the towel. "Let me do yours."

Rainwater trailed down Xu Chenzhu's face. Chao Musheng lifted his glasses from his nose and found himself reflected, clearly, in the other man's eyes.

He raised one finger. The pad of it wiped the raindrop from his jaw.

Like a god, fallen from some high place — and finally leaving a tear.

Xu Chenzhu looked at him. "Zhaozhao, I..."

I want to be with you.

All Zhaozhao needs to do is stand in the sun and wait for him to come to him.

The words had not yet formed when the young man before him leaned in, suddenly, close to his face.

A warmth at the corner of his mouth.

Brief as a hallucination.

"Xu Chenzhu — your lips are a little cold." Chao Musheng laid his hand on the rain-soaked shoulder and looked at him, warm and smiling. "Are you cold?"

Xu Chenzhu's eyes trembled. He reached out and took Chao Musheng's wrist, his voice roughened. "I'm not cold, Zhaozhao."

He was burning. An open fire in his chest.

"Ah." Chao Musheng smiled and sighed. "If you were, I could hold you."

The wanting he'd been forcing down — like a demon released from a cage — found it could no longer be contained.

He reached out both arms and pulled him in.

He wanted to hold tight — only that would prove this wasn't a dream — but when his arms drew close they were impossibly gentle. He was afraid of hurting him, afraid the rain would soak through to him, afraid he'd be unwelcome.

And most afraid — of being pushed away.

"Zhaozhao."

Zhaozhao. Zhaozhao. Zhaozhao.

Chao Musheng rested his head on the shoulder offered to him, and gave a quiet sigh. "I'm here."

Given that answer, Xu Chenzhu's arms slowly tightened.

And he finally had: a complete, whole, soaking-wet embrace.