As luck would have it, Xia Zhi had the car stop right on this street.
The location was roughly between Jing’an and Changning. Passing through the alley to the right of the convenience store led directly to the lòngtáng where Xie Ning lived.
Whenever the term lòngtáng came up, people, due to regional differences and lack of familiarity, tended to layer it with their own romanticized filters.
What they imagined were century-old concession villas or the quaint, artsy lanes of Tianzifang;
Or perhaps the dreamy scenes from short videos, where guides speaking pidgin English led netizens to experience local culture, turning a corner to casually push open the door of a Michelin-starred restaurant.
But those were not the lives of ordinary S City residents. Well, at least not Xie Ning’s life.
Take this alley behind him, for instance. It was like a starkly defined boundary.
Step out, and you entered an international metropolis of towering skyscrapers packed with high-end malls;
Duck in, and you found yourself in cramped corners where laundry never fully dried and over a dozen households shared a single vegetable-washing sink.
But Xie Ning liked walking this alley.
Walking through the unlit lane felt like treading upon the torn wound between the world of light and the world of darkness.
Yet at this very moment, a princess of the most delicate and noble sort appeared upon this wound.
Xia Zhi stood precisely at the edge of the alley, half in shadow, looking at Xie Ning with a pitiful, teary-eyed gaze,
Her hand extended toward him, on the verge of weeping.
Her presence abruptly stitched together two worlds that had never intersected.
Xie Ning lowered his gaze, looking at the hand before him, more delicate than flower petals, feeling it was unreal.
Back in elementary school, his foster mother had hanged herself at home over some wretched business involving ‘men’ or ‘love.’
The house was that small; the roof beam was also the only place in the entire home where one could hang anything.
When Xie Ning opened his eyes the next day, he first saw that old, broken ceiling fan, and then, immediately after, his foster mother’s wide-open, unseeing eyes.
And so, from that day forward, Xie Ning never interacted with girls.
He detested everything related to ‘love.’
During those teenage years when posturing was the norm, Xie Ning had even considered having ‘Love Not Welcome’ carved as his epitaph a century later.
But, well, youth.
No one could resist Xia Zhi.
The young miss trod the world under her feet, utterly indifferent to distinctions like ‘light and dark’ or gaps like ‘class and wealth.’
All she cared about was the puddle currently beneath her high heels.
So dirty.
The pampered young miss, because of a mere puddle of stagnant water, wept as pitifully as pear blossoms bathed in rain.
Extending her hand toward the shabby, lower-class man before her, her eyes held a natural coquettishness and petulance,
“Xie Ning, what do I do…”
Her voice was so soft it made Xie Ning’s heart clench.
Reason and pride in his mind immediately donned their hypocritical formal attire, announcing to him,
‘I’m just repaying her for the help the other day.’
And so, Xie Ning asked Xia Zhi with a smile,
“Shall I carry you?”
The young miss didn’t hesitate in the slightest.
As if Xie Ning were some prince on a white horse come to rescue her, she trustingly offered her hand to him.
How could he refuse…
Xie Ning crouched down and silently helped Xia Zhi undo the straps of her high heels.
He had barely stood up when she already wrapped her arms around his neck.
With their height difference, Xie Ning’s right arm encircled Xia Zhi’s waist and back, lifting her effortlessly.
The young miss kicked off her high heels, her entire body becoming weightless in the air.
As if by instinct, Xie Ning caught the bend of her legs with his left arm, cradling her horizontally against his chest.
Then he turned, carrying her away from that puddle.
Xia Zhi’s skirt fluttered lightly, spreading into a charming arc as Xie Ning turned.
The red and yellow patterns, at first glance, resembled a rainbow.
The rainbow unfurled in the air cleansed of exhaust fumes after the rain, covering the worn-out tiles beneath their feet, covering the puddles…
Covering all evidence of the dark world.
And so, in that fleeting moment, Xie Ning briefly stepped into the city’s side of light.
Xia Zhi pursed her lips tightly, not looking down at Xia Zhi in her arms.
With lips pressed together, she carried her to the convenience store by the roadside.
At the entrance of the convenience store stood a plastic bench, old but smooth and clean.
She intended to place Xia Zhi on the bench, but as she bent slightly, the young lady in her arms reflexively tightened her grip on her shoulder.
As if unwilling to get down.
“Hmm?”
Xie Ning frowned in confusion.
After a moment’s thought, she understood.
This young lady, who even found the small ads plastered on walls dirty, would surely find this public bench, sat on by countless people, even filthier.
It was normal for her not to want to sit, but Xie Ning couldn’t keep holding her like this forever.
Xie Ning lowered her gaze to Xia Zhi, giving only a cursory glance.
She was like a pearl made of tofu—fair, soft, and radiantly beautiful.
The waist in her hands was slender enough to be held in one palm, and even the curve of her leg resting on her arm was so smooth it couldn’t be ignored.
The young lady was unapologetic, without a hint of affectation.
She looked at Xie Ning with delicate, pleading eyes, as if they could speak,
‘I don’t care, figure something out!’
Well, everyone ought to serve her.
Xie Ning averted her gaze.
“Hold on tight.”
She suddenly crouched down beside the plastic bench.
“Ah…”
Xia Zhi gasped in surprise, feeling Xie Ning’s descent and immediately clinging tightly to her shoulders and neck.
The next moment, Xie Ning withdrew her left arm.
She turned the back of her left hand downward and pressed it against the ground.
“Step on it,” she said into Xia Zhi’s ear.
Step on what?
Step on her hand?
It seemed… yes.
Without Xie Ning’s arm to support her leg, Xia Zhi’s entire body was briefly suspended, as if hanging from her.
Losing her balance, she had no choice but to land.
Tentatively, she stepped onto the palm of Xie Ning’s left hand.
Holding onto her shoulders, she wobbled unsteadily as she stood up.
Xie Ning glanced at her, her expression seeming to say,
‘How are you so light?’
At the same time, with her right hand alone, she swiftly pulled the white T-shirt over her head.
Shaking her hair, she spread the T-shirt over the plastic bench beside them.
“Sit. I just changed into this after a shower.”
Xia Zhi’s eyes lit up, immediately understanding her meaning.
The young lady curled her lips into a satisfied smile and sat on the man’s T-shirt.
Xie Ning stood up as well, casually brushing the dust off the back of her hand.
No one thought there was anything unusual about what had just happened.
Late August, the middle of a summer night.
Xie Ning had come out to buy cigarettes in the middle of the night, still wearing slippers on her feet.
Her pants were the standard light gray sweatpants for male university students, very loose-fitting.
The T-shirt she wore bore the full name of Fudan University—a cultural shirt issued by the school.
Now, that cultural shirt was cushioning the bench for the young lady, and Xie Ning stood to the side, unabashedly bare-chested.
Without the cover of the oversized T-shirt, the waistband of her sweatpants hung loosely and conspicuously.
The two drawstrings in front were still untied, casual to the extreme.
Xie Ning stood at 185 centimeters tall, without an ounce of excess fat on her body.
Only smooth skin, taut lines, and the lean muscles of a spirited twenty-year-old.
Against the backdrop of his striking features, the dark hair that fell over his brows, the expression that kept others at a distance, and the red mole beneath his eye…
Xie Ning stood at the entrance of the shabby, worn-out alley, like a high-end erotic oil painting.
Xia Zhi glanced at him and sighed inwardly once more.
Someone like this—if he were to die young, it would truly be a shame.