The table was quiet as everyone ate their noodles.
Yan Ting glanced at Xu Yuan from time to time, each look seemingly casual.
But every time his gaze swept over, Xu Yuan was either talking to Tang Shuqing or smiling at him.
When she spoke to Tang Shuqing, her voice was especially soft, and her smile was especially gentle.
He glanced over two more times, then his brow furrowed slightly.
Could he have guessed wrong?
Not the same person?
The noodles suddenly lost all flavor. He turned his head and looked out the window.
Outside, an old man was walking his dog. The dog lifted its leg by a utility pole, and the old man waited.
He watched the dog, and a thought suddenly popped into his head: “Little Wang.”
Xu Shen looked up from his bowl, following his gaze, a noodle still hanging from the corner of his mouth: “How do you know its name is Little Wang?”
At that, the others also looked at Yan Ting with confusion.
By all logic, this was Yan Ting’s first time here—how could he possibly know a dog’s name was Little Wang?
Only Xu Yuan’s heart tightened.
Yan Ting didn’t look at them. His gaze remained fixed on the dog.
The dog finally finished peeing, and the old man led it forward slowly, its short legs bouncing with each step.
“It’s Old Wang’s Little Wang?” Yan Ting asked.
When Xu Yuan heard this, her hand gripping her chopsticks trembled.
Oh no.
She had just said it casually back then, trying to find some topic to talk to him about. She never expected him to remember it.
He couldn’t remember other things, but he remembered this of all things.
Xu Shen didn’t sense anything wrong at all. He nodded: “Yeah, Old Wang’s dog. Walks it down this alley every day. Why?”
Yan Ting didn’t respond. His gaze slowly shifted to the person across from him.
Xu Yuan quickly lowered her head, stirring her chopsticks around in her bowl.
Yan Ting watched her for a few seconds, and the corner of his mouth curved up slightly.
Then he withdrew his gaze and picked up his chopsticks: “Nothing. Just that someone once told me the story of Old Wang and Little Wang.”
Xu Shen went “Oh” and continued eating his noodles.
Li Meng understood immediately. She shot Xu Yuan a meaningful look: “The story of Old Wang and Little Wang? That sounds so cheesy.”
Xu Yuan gave her a covert glare, signaling her to shut up and eat.
Tang Shuqing didn’t get it, but didn’t ask, and continued eating.
Xu Yuan stirred the noodles in her bowl around and around, going three full circles without taking a bite.
Until Xu Shen called out to her: “The noodles in your bowl are about to turn into paste. Are you going to eat them or not?”
Xu Yuan looked down. The noodles in her bowl had indeed been stirred beyond recognition—broken into pieces, the broth murky.
She set down her chopsticks: “I’m full.”
Yan Ting didn’t look at her again. It was only then that he noticed the braised beef and pickled cucumbers on the table.
He picked up a piece with his chopsticks. Mm, the flavor was indeed quite good.
When they came out of the noodle shop, the sky hadn’t fully darkened yet.
The streetlights were already on, casting orange light across the bluestone pavement. A few flying insects circled beneath the lampshades.
The evening breeze blew over, carrying the scent of gardenias from the neighboring courtyard, mixed with the aroma of beef soup drifting out of the noodle shop.
Xu Shen turned to Yan Ting and Tang Shuqing: “Want to hit the internet cafe? Play a few rounds?”
Tang Shuqing checked his phone. It was still early: “I’m in.”
Yan Ting didn’t say anything, but he didn’t say no either.
Xu Shen took that as a yes.
Xu Yuan stood off to the side. She wanted to go, but if Yan Ting was going, she wasn’t so keen anymore.
She was just about to say “I’ll head home first” when Li Meng beat her to it: “We’re coming too.”
The internet cafe was at the corner of the alley, its storefront modest in size.
Xu Shen knew the owner well. After a quick greeting, he got five computers set up in a row.
The five of them sat down. Xu Yuan had Li Meng on her left and Xu Shen on her right.
Next to Xu Shen was Tang Shuqing, and next to him was Yan Ting.
The five screens lit up, casting blue-white light across their faces.
Xu Shen organized the team, pulling everyone into a five-player lobby.
He played marksman, Tang Shuqing went top lane, Li Meng played mage, and Xu Yuan was naturally assigned support.
Yan Ting played jungler, the same position he always played.
The game started quickly.
Xu Yuan guided her character down to the bottom lane, following behind Xu Shen, her hands much tenser than usual.
Normally when she played support, she liked to click around, send out signals, and occasionally type messages to interact with the enemy team.
But today she didn’t type a single word, didn’t send a single signal. She just obediently followed the marksman, healing when needed, blocking skills when needed.
Li Meng beside her was playing quite relaxed, occasionally shouting: “Someone come help me, their mid has no flash!”
Her voice was loud enough for the entire internet cafe to hear.
Xu Shen commanded over voice chat: “Support, stick with me. Don’t wander off.”
Xu Yuan: “Mm.”
Her fingers pressed the skill keys on the keyboard. Her mechanics were still smooth, but half her attention wasn’t on the game.
Her peripheral vision kept drifting to the right, past Xu Shen and Tang Shuqing, landing on Yan Ting’s screen.
On his screen, the jungler hero was clearing monsters in the jungle, moving at a fast pace, every step precisely timed.
At the eight-minute mark, Xu Yuan’s phone suddenly buzzed.
She was in the middle of a team fight and couldn’t step away, so she didn’t look.
Not long after, it buzzed again.
It was a WeChat notification.
Taking advantage of her character recalling to base, she picked up her phone and glanced at it.
On WeChat’s secondary account, two messages, both from Yan: [What are you doing?] [Want to play a game?]
Xu Yuan bit her lip, unsure how to reply.
If she said “yes,” how would she even play? She couldn’t split herself in two.
If she didn’t reply, would he find it strange?
She usually replied to his messages within seconds. If she suddenly went silent, he’d definitely overthink it.
She thought for five seconds, then flipped her phone face-down on the desk, pretending she hadn’t seen it.
In the game, her character had fully recovered and was ready to leave the fountain.
She moved her character toward the bottom lane, but her finger rhythm was completely off.
She missed the skills she should have cast, didn’t take the positions she should have taken. The enemy jungler caught her once, and her screen went dark.
“What’s wrong with you?” Xu Shen turned his head to look at her. “Lagging?”
“Yeah, a bit laggy.” She lied.
Li Meng glanced at her from the side but said nothing.
The game continued.
After Xu Yuan respawned, she headed toward the bottom lane. Halfway there, her phone buzzed again.
She didn’t look at it, just switched it to silent.
Then a third time, a fourth.
Like someone was deliberately sending messages over and over.
Xu Yuan caught the screen lighting up and dimming, dimming and lighting up again. Her fingers grew stiffer and stiffer on the keyboard.
Her character wandered into a bizarre position in the river, got caught by the enemy, and her screen went dark again.
“What’s going on with you today?” Xu Shen frowned at her. “Bad connection?”
“Maybe the internet at the internet cafe isn’t great.” Her voice lacked conviction.
Yan Ting lounged lazily in his gaming chair, one hand resting on the keyboard, the other on the mouse. In the game, his jungler weaved through the jungle with fluid grace.
He looked completely focused, except for the slight curve at the corner of his mouth—the expression of a hunter watching prey step to the edge of a trap: amused, and utterly in control.
Then a line appeared in the team chat.
Yan: Support, follow me.
Xu Shen muttered in the voice chat: “Why do you want her to follow you? She’s my support.”
Yan Ting ignored him.
His jungler stood still in the river, as if waiting for someone.
The camera shifted, and he saw her little avatar at the top right corner, trailing behind him at a steady distance.
He pinged a signal in the enemy jungle.
She followed.
Yan Ting drove his character into the jungle, took down the enemy jungler with a clean combo, then headed toward the enemy’s bottom lane without looking back.
She didn’t fall behind, sticking close. Her skills weren’t perfectly executed, but every single one landed on the right target.
Two minutes later, she had three kills.
The curve of Yan Ting’s lips remained, but it had shifted from “fox” to “cat”—the kind of cat with its tail tip curling up.