Looking back on it afterward, the timing of their reunion was far from ideal.
…Far from ideal was an understatement — it was an absolute disaster.
Zhu Yun received a call from Ren Di in the middle of the night, asking her for a favor: to contact Tian Xiuzhu and have him take a look at the album cover design draft for the band. It was so late that Zhu Yun, half-asleep, thought she was dreaming. But the very next morning, Ren Di called again.
Ren Di rarely took the initiative to call anyone, so Zhu Yun assumed it must be truly urgent. Without a second thought, she pulled Tian Xiuzhu out of his studio.
And that was where she saw Li Xun.
To be precise, she hadn’t actually “seen” him — which was exactly why the timing was such a disaster.
Ren Di had arranged to meet at a café, and Zhu Yun had already found it strange. The Qing Hong Band was enormously popular right now; they couldn’t even stroll down the street without drawing attention — so why would they so brazenly agree to meet at a café? But at the time, Zhu Yun hadn’t given it much thought.
The café was busy. Zhu Yun and Tian Xiuzhu sat at the most conspicuous table by the window, waiting for Ren Di. Tian Xiuzhu was dressed casually, settled into a chair surrounded by trailing vines, looking as clean and refreshing as one of his own paintings.
At that moment, Li Xun was sitting at a table just five meters away.
She hadn’t noticed him at all.
When Li Xun left the café, Zhu Yun caught a glimpse of a dark figure at the door — there and gone in an instant. But even then, she didn’t recognize who it was. She continued chatting with Tian Xiuzhu, yet as they talked, that brief image kept flashing through her mind, again and again.
Each time it flashed, the image grew a little clearer. Gradually, she stopped hearing what Tian Xiuzhu was saying, stopped knowing what she herself was saying — until, with a jolt of disbelief, she found that the figure’s silhouette had sharpened enough to align perfectly with her memories.
Her heart thumped. She still didn’t dare believe it.
“What’s wrong?” Tian Xiuzhu noticed something was off.
Zhu Yun stood and rushed outside. People came and went along the street, but there was no sign of that sharp, striking figure.
Just then, a thin, slight man approached her and asked in a taunting tone: “Looking for Li Xun?”
Hearing that name, Zhu Yun felt a sudden wave of dizziness.
Everything had been confirmed.
Li Xun.
Over the years, she had silently invoked his name countless times — but always as a call into the void, never expecting a response, so accustomed to that silence she had grown. This moment was different. His name rose in her mind and instantly his face and form came into sharp, vivid focus — as if, in the very next second, someone might step out and answer.
Zhu Yun’s palms grew warm. She looked at the man in front of her.
“Who are you, and where is Li Xun?”
Hou Ning’s tone was sharp with barbs. “You couldn’t even recognize him — and now you’re asking where he is?”
Tian Xiuzhu came out of the café and moved to Zhu Yun’s side. His presence softened Hou Ning’s edge somewhat, but the snide remarks kept coming.
“We came to collect money. Who knew his old friends would turn out to be such hypocrites — refusing to pay was one thing, but then they go and…” He glanced over Zhu Yun and Tian Xiuzhu, left the sentence unfinished, and let out a cold, contemptuous snort.
Zhu Yun understood that Ren Di had orchestrated all of this. She had no time to think about Ren Di’s intentions, and asked Hou Ning again: “Where is Li Xun?”
“That’s none of your business. I came back just to scold you dogs — you lot who wronged him.” Hou Ning said his piece, then turned and walked away.
Zhu Yun stood frozen in the street. Tian Xiuzhu’s hand came to rest gently on her shoulder.
She snapped back to herself and caught up with Hou Ning in a few quick steps. Hearing the click of high heels drawing closer and closer from behind, he turned — and was seized by the collar. Hou Ning let out a reflexive shout. Zhu Yun, ignoring the stares of passersby, yanked him toward the narrow alley behind the café.
Hou Ning had never expected Zhu Yun to be so direct. He was small and wiry, barely shorter than her, and she gripped him with such force that he was completely helpless to resist.
Zhu Yun dragged Hou Ning into a corner, shoved him against the wall, stepped in close, and stared him down.
“I’ll ask you one more time. Where is Li Xun?” She held his gaze. “And who are you?”
She asked one question at a time. With each one, Hou Ning grew more unsettled.
It had been only a short walk, yet this woman’s expression was entirely different from what it had been moments ago. From the sunlit street into this cold, shadowed alley — she had changed in exactly the same way. The initial shock and grief had passed, and Zhu Yun’s eyes had turned calm and steady, measuring him from head to toe, weighing and sizing him up.
Hou Ning had no defense against that kind of look. He was used to lurking in the shadows, hiding behind screens — all his emotions lived underground, unfit to be brought into the light.
Just as Hou Ning’s legs began to go weak, Zhu Yun heard a voice behind her —
“Let him go.”
It was a strange feeling. After all these years, Zhu Yun had always thought of herself as the kind of woman others would call dominant. She had excelled academically, and after returning from abroad, she had never joined a company — at first because she wanted to explore domestic projects and build a foundation for her goals, then simply because she had grown too accustomed to freedom to follow anyone else’s arrangements.
All of that dissolved the moment she heard those two words.
Zhu Yun released her grip. Hou Ning immediately scrambled behind Li Xun.
She turned around.
The same black clothes she had glimpsed before. A tall, lean frame. Dark hair that made the angles of his face appear even sharper. Time had left its mark on him — though not heavily. At first glance he seemed greatly changed, but look closely and he was exactly as she remembered, only the edges had been honed to a keener point.
Li Xun stood with both hands in his pockets, chin tilted slightly upward as he looked at her — a posture that made her throat tighten.
Hou Ning tugged at Li Xun’s sleeve, eager to leave. At the mouth of the alley, Tian Xiuzhu stood waiting.
Zhu Yun opened her mouth. The first time, his name didn’t come out. She said quietly: “…Come this way.”
Li Xun followed her toward the deepest end of the alley, leaving Hou Ning and Tian Xiuzhu outside. Hou Ning was still tense — he had said what he wanted to say, called them dogs just to feel good about it, but the woman alone was terrifying enough. What about the man…
“Is that Li Xun?”
Hou Ning flinched, then realized Tian Xiuzhu’s voice was far gentler than Zhu Yun’s. He glanced sideways. Tian Xiuzhu was watching the two figures deeper in the alley and gave a soft, quiet laugh.
“Exactly as she described him.”
It had rained the night before. The ground was muddy and waterlogged, and beads of moisture seeped through the dark, weathered walls.