Lin Tiao had already made it to the bus stop when her mother suddenly called. She explained that there were some issues with a company in the south, and she and Lin Tiao's father had to go there to handle it. They’d be back in a week, and she reminded Lin Tiao to close the doors and windows tightly when she went to bed.
Coincidentally, Meng Xin's parents were also out of town on a business trip this month, so she planned to stay at Lin Tiao’s house for a few days. This was perfect—both girls’ parents were out, presenting a golden opportunity.
Meng Xin had heard from the boys in their class that there was a net café called "Cultivating Oneself" in a nearby alley with a good environment. Minors could enter without any issues, and more importantly, they didn’t have to worry about their teachers coming to check.
The two girls hit it off right away and decided not to go home but to buy two bottles of water at a convenience store across the street before heading over.
Who would have thought?
Who could have predicted that they would run into someone familiar in such a corner of the world?
Next to the bar, there was a jade plant and an electronic lucky cat. The bar was already high, and with something about the height of several dozen centimeters on it, Lin Tiao had no idea there was a person sitting behind it.
At that moment, the person inside stood up, and Lin Tiao looked up.
“…”
Meng Xin, who stood behind Lin Tiao, was equally stunned.
“…”
The three of them just stood there staring at each other.
The atmosphere was silent and awkward.
Lin Tiao swallowed silently, feeling inexplicably guilty. Her voice was low and a bit trembling. “What a coincidence.”
What a coincidence, indeed.
Jiang Yan furrowed his brows and tossed the magnetic card back onto the table. Guan Che, sitting beside him, glanced over and asked, “You know each other?”
“My deskmate,” Jiang Yan replied.
“Well, that’s good. Familiar faces get a 20% discount, and I’ll give you two a 50% discount,” Guan Che said, reaching for the magnetic card on the table. “Come on, ladies, I’ll take you upstairs.”
Jiang Yan kicked him. “No way. Two minors? What are you doing here? Go home and sleep!”
Finally, having such an opportunity, Meng Xin was the first to disagree. “What’s wrong with being a minor? You’re a minor too, yet you’re working like a child laborer!”
Jiang Yan: “…”
What the hell.
“Holy crap!” Guan Che didn’t expect this girl to fight back. He was laughing uncontrollably.
Lin Tiao leaned against the bar, lowering her head, trying not to laugh out loud.
After Meng Xin argued back, she shrank behind Lin Tiao. “Well, we’re just going to play some games. We’re not doing anything minors aren’t allowed to do.”
Jiang Yan looked at Lin Tiao, his eyes soft. “Don’t want to go back?”
Lin Tiao exclaimed, “Huh?” Meng Xin tugged at her sleeve from behind, giving her frantic signals. She nodded. “I don’t really want to go back.”
“Alright.” He turned and reached out to Guan Che, conceding, “The card.”
Guan Che eagerly handed it over, looking at him with curiosity.
Jiang Yan took the card and knocked it on Guan Che’s head. “Keep an eye on it.”
“…”
The private rooms were on the second floor, with a row of closed doors. Unlike most internet cafés that keep the lights low to create an atmosphere, the corridor was brightly lit.
At the end of the hallway was an open window, with a view of the shimmering lights from high-rise buildings across the street, their brilliance dazzling.
Lin Tiao glanced at the figure walking ahead of her.
The boy's back was tall and slender, his steps steady. He wore a simple white t-shirt, and the lines of his shoulders and arms were smooth and attractive. The magnetic card he held was a bright spot under the light.
Lin Tiao kept her eyes fixed on that spot.
Until it stopped, she looked up to see Jiang Yan standing at the door of a room. He raised his hand and swiped the card against the machine, and with a “ding,” the door opened.
Jiang Yan reached for the switch on the wall, turned on the light, and stepped aside to let the two girls in.
Meng Xin was the first to enter.
Lin Tiao followed and took in the room’s setup. It was a small space with a long sofa, two computers, and several potted succulents in the corner.
A window on the wall overlooked the busy street below.
Jiang Yan powered on the computers for them and turned back to Lin Tiao. “If you need anything, just call for me.”
He really did look like a net café attendant.
“Okay.” Lin Tiao nodded. Just as she was about to speak, she noticed a faint gray smudge on his shoulder.
“This here…” She started but then remembered that she had stepped on that smudge while climbing over the wall at noon.
Thinking of that, she decided not to finish her sentence and didn’t ask him why he wasn’t going home after school but instead worked here as a net café attendant.
Before leaving, Jiang Yan reminded her again, “Don’t stay up too late.”
He stood at the door, and the corridor’s light highlighted his fair skin. His amber eyes sparkled like glass as he looked at her with an unusually serious expression.
Lin Tiao instinctively curled her fingers, nodding. “Got it.”
After receiving a satisfying answer, Jiang Yan revealed his first smile of the night, bright and blinding. “Have fun by yourself.”
He turned and went downstairs.
Lin Tiao sat on the long sofa, while Meng Xin leaned forward, staring at her with a teasing tone. “You and your deskmate seem to have some issues.”
Lin Tiao shifted the mouse to her left hand, avoiding Meng Xin’s gaze, and joked back, “Yeah, we’ve got big problems.”
Meng Xin clicked her tongue, shaking her head with a sigh. “Ah, it’s tough for a hero to get past a beauty's barrier. The school bully can’t get past Tiao Tiao’s barrier.”
Lin Tiao: “…”
Jiang Yan went downstairs, and a few familiar boys entered, greeting him. “Yan Ge, good evening.”
He looked up at a boy with dyed purple hair and chuckled, “With hair that color, how come your mom didn’t chop off your head?”
“My mom’s been out of town these past few days,” the purple-haired boy said proudly, blowing at his bangs.
“…”
Once the machines were ready, the group exchanged pleasantries and moved on.
---
Jiang Yan returned to his position behind the bar. Guan Che leaned over with an inquisitive look. “What’s going on with you and your deskmate?”
“What situation?” Jiang Yan picked up his headphones but didn’t put them on, hanging them around his neck instead, while his fingers tapped on the keyboard. “We have no situation.”
“Do you think I believe that?”
Jiang Yan turned to look at him. “Whether you believe it or not is none of my business.”
“Alright, whatever.”
Guan Che didn’t bother to press further. After years of friendship, he knew Jiang Yan too well.
If he didn’t want to talk, even if you put a knife to his throat, he wouldn’t say a word. And if he did want to share, you’d better be prepared to listen with your life on the line.
He valued his life and didn’t want to know.
Upstairs, Meng Xin and her teammates were opening a new instance, defeating a boss and dropping a bunch of rare gear. They were incredibly excited, their fingers flying over the keyboard.
Lin Tiao, not very skilled at the game, wasn’t interested in the mechanics and instead lounged on the sofa watching a movie.
The time in the lower right corner ticked away second by second.
Soon it hit four zeros.
Having not eaten much that evening, Lin Tiao started to feel hungry. She took off her headphones and asked Meng Xin, “I’m going to get something to eat outside. Do you want anything?”
“Malatang!” As soon as they reached the alley’s entrance, Meng Xin caught the delicious smell from a nearby malatang shop, and it made her crave it even more.
“Alright, I’ll go buy some.”
“Ah, let’s go together. It’s late,” Meng Xin said, taking off her headphones and getting up to follow.
The two headed downstairs together.
The downstairs area was much livelier than above, with people sitting in front of the machines. Lin Tiao casually glanced around and was drawn to a boy with purple hair.
For a moment, she lost focus and missed the last step, nearly stumbling forward, but luckily, Meng Xin caught her just in time.
Their little commotion attracted the attention of the two guys behind the bar.
Guan Che took off his headphones first, propping his head with one hand as he watched them with a smile. “Hey, little sister, not playing anymore?”
Lin Tiao steadied herself and shook her head. “No, we’re just going out to get something to eat.”
“Ah, hungry, are you? There’s food in the internet café too—instant noodles, fried rice, fried noodles, vegetarian fast food. What do you want to eat?”
Lin Tiao glanced at him and mentioned an option that wasn’t available there. “Malatang.”
“Just turn right when you go out; there’s a place at the alley entrance that’s open.”
Lin Tiao smiled. “Okay, thanks!”
---
She grabbed Meng Xin, who was busy texting, preparing to head out, when another person behind the bar stood up lazily and said, “I’ll go too.”
“What do you want to eat? I can help buy it,” Lin Tiao said, holding onto the door.
“I’m picky.”
“…”
Hearing Jiang Yan wanted to join, Meng Xin let go of Lin Tiao’s hand. “Oh, Tiao Tiao, I won’t go with you. My master wants to start a group!”
“Oh.”
Xi Cheng had already entered autumn, but recently, the lingering summer heat was still high, even in the early hours, with the temperature not cooling much, just a bit more humid than during the day.
Lin Tiao and Jiang Yan walked side by side in the long, dim alley, their shadows reflecting on the wet ground, elongated by the light.
There weren’t many shops in the alley; only a 24-hour convenience store had its lights on. However, the alley wasn’t quiet, as a karaoke bar next door blasted music at deafening volumes, resonating from a distance.
From time to time, a few drunken men would pass by, and each time that happened, Jiang Yan would casually wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer.
Lin Tiao suddenly realized why he had chosen to come out with her.
If it were just her and Meng Xin, two girls in such a dark and unsteady alley, they could encounter all sorts of unpleasant situations.
“Do you come here every night?” Lin Tiao suddenly asked as they passed a small alley.
“Not every night.” Jiang Yan looked down at a small puddle on the ground. “I live here with Guan Che.”
Speaking of Guan Che, Jiang Yan remembered he hadn’t introduced him yet and added, “The guy from tonight, he’s from the school next door, No. 9 Middle School.”
“Then don’t you go home?”
“Occasionally now,” Jiang Yan said, turning to look at her, his eyes unreadable. “In the future, if I have the chance, I won’t go back.”
Lin Tiao was taken aback.
Her deskmate was hiding too many secrets.
Although she didn’t know what had happened to him in the past, these secrets must have been built up from many scars.
Lin Tiao didn’t press further, her gaze at Jiang Yan tinged with guilt.
She shouldn’t have asked. She had been stepping on landmines all day.
She really wasn’t being considerate.
When they arrived at the malatang shop, Lin Tiao finally understood why the place was still open in the middle of the night—it was because the business was booming. Even at this hour, when most people were asleep, it was packed.
---
The shop was completely full, with not a single empty seat.
The boss was busy managing the kitchen, while the boss's wife was all smiles as she collected payments.
Lin Tiao took two baskets and handed one to Jiang Yan. The two picked their favorite ingredients and then made separate selections for Guan Che and Meng Xin.
The popularity of the shop meant that both meat and vegetarian options were priced the same.
The boss stacked the four baskets together to weigh them, while the boss's wife quickly glanced at the weight and typed some numbers into the calculator.
“That’ll be eighty-three yuan and twenty cents. Let’s round it down to eighty,” the boss's wife said, setting the calculator down with a smile.
Jiang Yan took out his phone, ready to scan the payment code, but Lin Tiao suddenly reached out and scanned it before him.
Then, with a “ding,” the boss’s phone chimed, “Alipay received eighty yuan.”
Jiang Yan: “…”
Lin Tiao put away her phone and looked at him, awkwardly touching her ear. “I’m just here to eat, so I can pay for myself.”
Jiang Yan frowned, looking a bit displeased. “I don’t have the habit of letting girls pay. Give me your Alipay, and I’ll transfer you the money.”
Seeing his serious expression, which didn’t seem like he was joking, Lin Tiao couldn’t help but sigh. “Classmate Jiang, can’t you tell?”
“What?” Jiang Yan asked.
“I’m trying to cheer you up,” Lin Tiao said with a smile.
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