The recording went very smoothly. The Music Club had its own relatively professional small recording studio — apparently built up single-handedly by the previous club president — and the quality of the recording came out excellent. Xia Zichen was quite satisfied with it himself.
Walking out of the clubs building, the sky had already begun to darken. He took the pedestrian path back toward the dorms and unexpectedly ran into Shen Yicheng coming from the opposite direction.
Seeing him, Shen Yicheng smiled. “Was just about to come find you.”
“What’s up?” Xia Zichen stopped and looked at Shen Yicheng — dressed head to toe in designer labels, radiating the effortless air of a young man of privilege. He couldn’t even remember the last time he had looked Shen Yicheng over from top to bottom like this. It seemed like whenever Shen Yicheng was standing next to him, his attention was almost always on his face.
“Come on, bro’s buying you dinner. Let An Jing and the others fend for themselves at the cafeteria.” Shen Yicheng reached out and draped an arm around Xia Zichen’s shoulder, steering him toward the school gate.
Xia Zichen glanced at him with a slightly puzzled look. Shen Yicheng had taken him out to eat before, just the two of them, but he’d always mentioned it at least a day in advance.
Shen Yicheng smiled. “It’s been a while since the two of us went out to eat together. Taking you somewhere good tonight.”
Xia Zichen didn’t say anything more. He wasn’t much of a food enthusiast and wasn’t picky either — as long as it wasn’t something bizarre, being full was enough.
They hailed a cab and headed to a seafood barbecue restaurant near the city center. Xia Zichen had never been here before. One look at the interior decor and it was clear that dining here was less about the seafood and barbecue and more about the atmosphere — and the price. But Shen Yicheng didn’t mind, and Xia Zichen had nothing to mind either.
Shen Yicheng had reserved a table in advance, and the two were seated by the window. A server handed them two menus, Shen Yicheng ordered, and Xia Zichen said nothing. It had always been this way — whenever the two of them ate out, Shen Yicheng was always the one who ordered. Of course, Shen Yicheng also took his preferences into account and ordered things he liked.
The meat on the grill sizzled with little oil bubbles. A small exhaust hood above it silently drew away the smoke and grease, leaving the surroundings clean. Xia Zichen pushed the cooked pieces over to Shen Yicheng’s side and put fresh ones back on. When it came to grilling, Shen Yicheng — the great young master — was completely hopeless. It was usually him and Tang Hui who handled it, while An Jing was just there to eat.
Shen Yicheng picked up two pieces and placed them in Xia Zichen’s bowl. “Try some, the taste is really good.”
“Mm.” Xia Zichen set down the raw meat he’d just placed and lowered his head to eat.
“I’ve been carrying Feier through dungeons lately and haven’t really checked in on you. You’re not upset with me, are you?” Shen Yicheng kept placing more meat into Xia Zichen’s bowl.
“No.” Xia Zichen’s voice was very quiet. Truth be told, there was always a little bit of an awkward feeling — but upset? He had no standing to be.
“Good.” The smile at the corners of Shen Yicheng’s mouth deepened a little. “Feier’s a girl at the end of the day. When she asks me to carry her, I can’t really just ignore that. Besides, we’re already short on healers in the guild — developing one more would at least take some pressure off the others.”
“Mm.” Xia Zichen gave a quiet acknowledgment. Any explanation, as long as it had the quality of being an explanation, was in some sense reasonable.
After a pause, Shen Yicheng continued, “Are you planning to become Canmo Wuhen’s dedicated healer?”
The movement of Xia Zichen’s hand stalled slightly. The question Shen Yicheng had asked made him feel a little uncomfortable — as though the whole point of this dinner had been this.
“No. He just happened to be looking for someone for the arena, and I didn’t have anything else going on. Running the arena with a healer gives him an advantage, and his mechanics are solid, so I agreed for the time being.”
“Okay, that’s a relief.” Shen Yicheng’s tone was like someone exhaling with relief. “From the day we started playing, you’ve always been my dedicated healer. If you suddenly switched to someone else, I honestly wouldn’t be used to it. Once Feier gets more comfortable with healing after a while, come back and run the arena with me.”
“Okay.” Xia Zichen gave a small nod, though he had no idea when that would actually be.
“Eat up. Tonight when we get back I’ll take you into a dungeon and we can go farm for gems — see if we can get some high-tier ones to socket your gear.” Shen Yicheng seemed to have gotten something off his chest and turned his full attention to eating.
Xia Zichen used the tongs to flip the meat on the grill, sliding the cooked pieces over to Shen Yicheng’s side.
After dinner, neither of them lingered outside. They went straight back to the dorm.
The moment they walked in the door, Xia Zichen was met with An Jing’s knowing, suggestive glance. He didn’t say anything — just set the snacks he’d brought back down on An Jing’s desk. An Jing’s attention immediately shifted, and he and Tang Hui split the snacks between them.
Xia Zichen made himself a cup of coffee, opened his computer, and logged into the game. He was going to help Shen Yicheng round up some guild members to run the gem dungeon.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Oh my, what a coincidence — Chenxi and the guild master both logged on together.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: Don’t tell me you two… are together right now?
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: Now that you mention it, the guild master and Chenxi do log on together a lot.
Ever since the Lian Feier situation, the guild members had unanimously stopped calling Chenxi the guild master’s lady. And naturally the title hadn’t transferred to Lian Feier either. It seemed like everyone had silently agreed not to bring it up again.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Oh wow, are you two together in real life now?
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: The guild master and Chenxi already know each other in real life — so do the two deputy masters.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: Oh right, I forgot about that.
[Guild] [Chenxi]: Has everyone finished today’s daily dungeon? Anyone who hasn’t, form up.
Every time the conversation turned to him, Xia Zichen always felt like the topic was drifting somewhere weird, and he had an instinctive urge to cut it off.
[Guild] [Lian Feier]: Wuqing, a few of us want to go farm the Fanhua Palace dungeon for the healing-stat pendant. Come with me?
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: …Guild master, you haven’t done your dailies either, right? Do them with Chenxi — you’re guaranteed great heals.
[Guild] [Lian Feier]: Oh right, Juhua Guniang, I almost forgot if you hadn’t mentioned it. Wuqing, I haven’t done my dailies yet either.
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: …
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: …
[Guild] [Fujia Hongniang]: Honestly speechless. Every time a piece of gossip comes along to lift the mood, someone has to come along and kill it.
[Guild] [Juhua Guniang]: +1. No further comment.
[Guild] [Lian Feier]: Are you all talking about me? But I run dailies with Wuqing every single day.
[Guild] [Xiao Guai Zui Guai]: Exactly, the guild master and the guild master’s lady running together is the right and natural order of things. Isn’t Chenxi already paired up with Canmo Wuhen? You can put together your own daily party too, can’t you?
[Guild] [Wumei Qianlan]: Oh my god, Chenxi, big sis is teaming up with you for dailies.
“Zichen, go do your dailies first — I need to carry Feier. She can’t put together a group on her own.” Shen Yicheng said.
“Mm.” Xia Zichen acknowledged.
“Once the dailies are done we’ll go farm the gems.” Shen Yicheng hadn’t forgotten what he’d said earlier.
“Okay.”
[Guild] [Chenxi]: It’s fine, I’ll put together my own group. Everyone go do your own thing.
Having two healers in one daily dungeon was genuinely overkill. Since Shen Yicheng was taking Lian Feier, he was obviously the one who needed to step back. But none of that mattered anymore anyway — ever since Lian Feier showed up, he’d gotten used to finding his own groups for dungeons.
The dailies were wrapped up before long. An Jing and Tang Hui were running a ten-person raid with a pick-up group and hadn’t done the dailies with Shen Yicheng’s team. So by the time Chenxi had already moved on to mining ore, Shen Yicheng’s group still hadn’t come out of the daily dungeon.
Even with current gear scores that could steamroll a small dungeon without much difficulty, if the healer wasn’t pulling their weight and the tank kept going down right as mobs were pulled, then no matter how strong the tank was or how hard the DPS hit, clearing the dungeon would be a serious struggle. After all, a BOSS wasn’t just going to let you hit it without hitting back — if your HP dropped faster than it could be healed, all you could do was lie there dead.
After a long wait, they finally emerged from the daily dungeon and turned in their quests. Xia Zichen waited for Shen Yicheng to assemble a group to go farm the gems. But after waiting a very long time, no party invite came.
“Zichen, let’s skip the gems tonight — not enough time. I’m gonna take Feier to farm that pendant first.” The words were directed at Xia Zichen, but Shen Yicheng’s eyes never left his computer screen. “She wants that pendant. I’ll take you another day. If you want to go farm it, should I put a group together for you? Or find you a pick-up group?”
“…No, it’s fine.” Xia Zichen said quietly. The gem dungeon hadn’t even been his idea — it was Shen Yicheng who had suggested it and he’d gone along with it. A perfectly good plan, upended by a pendant.
The pendant Lian Feier wanted only dropped randomly from Fanhua Palace. The stats were decent — for a healer who had just hit the level cap, that pendant would genuinely boost her healing output, though it would quickly be replaced by something with even better stats once she farmed further. So at this point, wanting the pendant was more about the appearance than anything else. The aesthetic of a piece of white jade with a small bell attached was admittedly quite pretty.
As for Lian Feier’s current level, she honestly didn’t even need it. Her mechanics were still rough, yet Shen Yicheng was willing to take her into larger dungeons for better gear — so stat-wise, the equipment on Lian Feier was already fairly well optimized for a new player.
“Little Zhen-zhen wants to farm gems?” An Jing, still mid-dungeon, heard the exchange and glanced over at Xia Zichen, casting a mildly displeased look in Shen Yicheng’s direction from the corner of his eye. “Wait for me, I’ll go with you — should be done in another half hour or so.”
“Mm.” Tang Hui also agreed.
“Let An Jing and Ah Hui go with you. Feier’s a girl — I do need to look after her. I’ll make it up to you next time I’m free.” Shen Yicheng smiled, his tone taking on a few extra degrees of softness. “Tomorrow I’ll take you out to eat. Don’t be upset with me.”
Xia Zichen tried to pull up the corners of his mouth, but it went nowhere. “No need. I don’t have any major needs anyway. We’ll talk about it later.”
He didn’t like it when Shen Yicheng coaxed him with the kind of tone you’d use to placate a girl. He was young, yes, but he was still a guy. If something wasn’t going to happen, just say so directly. This kind of coaxing was genuinely unnecessary as far as he was concerned. He wasn’t an unreasonable person, and he had no desire to argue — most of the time arguing served no purpose, and even if you won the argument, it didn’t mean you’d actually gotten what you wanted.
With nothing to do, Xia Zichen was weighing whether to log off and read or spend the time leveling a new guild member when a message popped up in the private chat channel.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: What are you up to?
[PM] [Chenxi]: Nothing. Just sitting here.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Want to come over? Guild members are setting off fireworks below Tianchi Waterfall.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Fireworks?
There weren’t any in-game events going on right now, and the system wasn’t handing out free fireworks either. The nicer ones sold for quite a lot — unless someone was confessing their feelings, nobody would go out of their way to buy them.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Someone in the guild was leveling their blacksmithing skill, and made a bunch of them while grinding skill levels. Couldn’t sell them. She hit max level today, so she took everything that had been sitting in storage and decided to set it all off.
Xia Zichen hesitated slightly. Even though he and Canmo Wuhen were on good terms, it didn’t quite feel like they were close enough for him to be joining another guild’s internal event. As a member of an opposing guild, his presence might seem out of place.
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Come on. Help them set some off. There are so many, who knows how long it’ll take otherwise.
As he said it, Canmo Wuhen sent a party invite.
Xia Zichen didn’t hesitate this time. He clicked accept, then flew directly to the map where Tianfeng Yage’s members were gathered.
The party was just the two of them. The moment he appeared on the map, Canmo Wuhen had already mounted up and was riding over to meet him. Xia Zichen could have found the location himself, but since the other party was already heading his way, he didn’t decline.
The two met up, and Xia Zichen followed Canmo Wuhen riding toward the waterfall.
Tianchi Waterfall was one of those spots in the game that scenery enthusiasts absolutely had to visit. The waterfall plummeted straight down, sending up layer after layer of white mist — a truly spectacular sight.
All fifty-plus online members of Tianfeng Yage were gathered here. Fireworks bloomed in layer after layer across the open ground in front of the waterfall, shimmering against the mist — strikingly beautiful.
[Nearby] [Xiangrikui]: Hey, isn’t that Chenxi?
[Nearby] [Yiji Zhanluo]: It really is. Canmo actually managed to pull her over here.
[Nearby] [Baicao Zhe]: I knew Chenxi would come.
If Chenxi had just wandered through on her own, nobody would have paid much attention. But riding in side by side with Canmo Wuhen made it nearly impossible not to draw notice.
[Nearby] [Chenxi]: Hey everyone.
Even if they weren’t familiar with each other, given the connection through Canmo Wuhen, a greeting was naturally in order.
[Nearby] [Xiangrikui]: Welcome!
[Nearby] [Yiji Zhanluo]: Warmly welcome!
[Nearby] [Sanjian Zhongqing]: Enthusiastically welcome!
…
The members of Tianfeng Yage expressed their welcome enthusiastically. Chenxi sent a smiling emoji and dismounted alongside Canmo Wuhen. Yiji Zhanluo then traded him a generous stack of fireworks. Chenxi thanked her.
Crowded among the group, Xia Zichen was looking around for a less packed spot to set them off from. Just as he was scanning around, the long whip coiled around Chenxi’s waist, and with a shift in perspective, Chenxi was pulled right to Canmo Wuhen’s side. Canmo Wuhen was standing on a small rocky outcrop positioned right between the waterfall and the shore.
Xia Zichen had no idea when he’d made his way over there. Compared to the crowded area in front, this spot was noticeably peaceful and clear. And it was just the right size for two people.
[Nearby] [Jianlang]: Canmo, you really know how to pick a spot.
With Jianlang saying that, the others noticed the two who had separated themselves from the crowd.
[Nearby] [Xiangrikui]: Guild master, what they’ve got is called a world of their own. We can’t compete with that.
[Nearby] [Yiji Zhanluo]: True. Though I just realized — a Duanyuan Sect member and a Jingning Hall member standing together actually looks really good.
[Nearby] [Xiao Shuipao]: They do look good together +1.
[Nearby] [Lianli Zhi]: +2…
[Nearby] [Xiangrikui]: I feel like… the right way to put it is that Canmo and Chenxi look good together.
[Nearby] [Sanjian Zhongqing]: Xiangrikui speaking the truth!
[Nearby] [Yiji Zhanluo]: Agreed!!
…
[PM] [Canmo Wuhen]: Don’t mind them. Set them off here.
[PM] [Chenxi]: Mm.
Xia Zichen didn’t pay much attention to what others were saying. Even though his character was a girl, he was still a guy at the end of the day — he had no interest in deliberately playing the part. And he and Canmo Wuhen were just friends. He opened his inventory and activated a firework. Bursts of multicolored light shot into the sky in an instant, lighting up everything around them. Canmo Wuhen stood steadily beside Chenxi the whole time, not setting off any fireworks of his own — just standing there quietly.
Perhaps it was the liveliness of so many people gathered together. Perhaps it was the noise of dozens of fireworks going off at once. Whatever the reason, the gloominess that Shen Yicheng had left in him that evening faded away without him even noticing. All he felt was that even with Canmo Wuhen doing nothing at all — just the two of them standing side by side like this — it was pretty nice.