Li Xun took his phone out to the corridor beyond the private dining room, where waitstaff came and went with dishes. He paused for a moment, then walked to the far end and pushed open the emergency exit door.
At the turn of the staircase, a cook was crouched against the wall smoking. He looked Li Xun up and down as he came through.
Li Xun ignored him and took out his own cigarette.
The door swung shut. The stairwell fell into darkness.
He finally answered the call, his voice low. “Hello?”
Silence from the other end.
Li Xun made a quiet, amused sound. “What — you’re expecting me to start the conversation?”
A few crackles of static came through the line, followed at last by a stunned voice —
“It connected?!”
Li Xun: “…”
He was speechless. On Zhu Yun’s end, she had fully come back to herself.
“Li Xun, I fell asleep this afternoon!”
“Mm.”
“My phone died and switched itself off.”
“Mm.”
“I didn’t ignore your calls on purpose.”
“Mm.”
“…”
Zhu Yun was scratching at the walls on her end — he was so obviously in a mood.
“Where — where are you all having dinner?”
Li Xun gave her the hotel address. “Coming?”
“Of course.” But she had something more pressing first. “Actually — after dinner, are you free?”
Li Xun leaned against the wall, phone in one hand, cigarette in the other, his long legs crossed at the ankles. At Zhu Yun’s question, he curved the corner of his mouth in the darkness and said, casually, “Busy.”
Zhu Yun immediately asked, “Doing what?”
Li Xun: “Xu Lina wants to see me.”
“…”
All that careful preparation, undone in one ill-timed nap.
Zhu Yun gripped her phone tightly. “Where does she want to meet you?”
Li Xun rested the back of his head against the wall and glanced upward, then named a location.
Zhu Yun said, “Isn’t that the lakeside where she took us all to dinner last time?”
“I suppose.”
Zhu Yun’s voice had taken on a distinct edge of urgency. “Are you going?”
“Of course I’m going — she said she has something to tell me.” He glanced idly at the time. “We arranged to meet early, actually — there won’t even be time to eat here first. I’m heading over now.”
Zhu Yun’s voice shot up. “What?!”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Don’t — Li Xun! Li Xun, I also have something I need to tell you—”
Before Zhu Yun could finish, Li Xun had already hung up. He stood there holding his phone, leaning against the wall with the look of someone who had just done something deeply entertaining, laughing to himself and unable to stop.
“Shameful.” The cook crouched in the corner across from him pointed at him, speaking in a thick regional accent. “Talking to your girlfriend like that.”
Li Xun gave him a sidelong glance. “Not yet.” He tucked the phone back into his pocket and added, more to himself than anyone else, “But I need to shake her up a bit…”
He turned and walked back, rubbing the back of his neck — whether he was speaking to the cook or thinking aloud, it was hard to tell.
“It’s been too long. I’m starting to lose patience…”
When Zhu Yun tried calling Li Xun again, he didn’t answer.
Struck down before the battle had even begun. Zhu Yun put the phone down with no tears left to cry.
But her low spirits lasted approximately three minutes before she was already pulling herself together and getting ready to leave.
Never mind her own feelings for the moment — just based on how much she’d spent today, this business could not be allowed to end like this.
For the sake of speed, Zhu Yun changed into her trainers, packed the heels into her bag, and the moment she was out the door, she hitched up her skirt and sprinted the whole way. She flagged down a car at the school gate and headed for the place where they’d had the gathering that other night.
The sky was darkening. Zhu Yun looked out through the car window.
A dazzling world out there, lights and shadows flickering and interweaving.
At some point during the journey, Zhu Yun had the sudden feeling that she was doing something remarkable — something that surpassed, by quite some measure, every decision she had made in all the years before this.
That thought made the fire in her chest burn even brighter.