8. Xu Bin and His Friends

The car stopped in front of a hotpot restaurant. Xu Bin parked and led Tang Yiyi to a private room on the second floor, where four young people were already seated.

The only girl among them had shoulder-length hair dyed ash-blonde, her face plain and fresh, features gentle and delicate. She wore a dark gray linen deep V-neck camisole, which, when followed down the V, revealed a flat chest, with a faint tattoo peeking out where one might expect a hint of cleavage. Her expression was cold, matching the flatness of her chest perfectly.

The other three men looked like typical office workers, though one of them had a certain boyish charm.

Xu Bin first introduced Tang Yiyi to everyone. Without exception, the men all began calling her “Little Junior Sister” this and “Little Junior Sister” that, while the only girl offered a cool “Hey.”

When introducing everyone to Tang Yiyi, Xu Bin said, “These are all my buddies,” and then went around giving their names.

The girl was called Xiaoxiao. The somewhat handsome one was Wentao. The other two were named Huang Xuan and Wan Moqing.

Tang Yiyi hadn’t expected to be dining with so many people. Although she had no trouble socializing with strangers, eating together like this still felt like a social obligation, leaving her a bit uneasy.

Xiaoxiao barely spoke, and after settling in, began quietly adding food to the pot. Once it started boiling, she simply ate on her own.

The others seemed used to her being this way. Xu Bin kept chatting to her about this and that, and she would just listen, occasionally responding with a word or two.

The three men, perhaps worried that Tang Yiyi might feel neglected, kept finding topics to chat with her about.

By the time the hotpot was nearly finished, Tang Yiyi had warmed up to them.

Wentao was a civil servant at the tax bureau. When he smiled, he resembled some young pop idol, though Yiyi couldn’t recall the name.

Huang Xuan owned a stationery shop selling supplies for traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, especially rice paper, so everyone called him “Rice Paper.” Later, at some point, the girls started calling him “Imperial Edict.” Wan Moqing was a prison guard—his name was simply replaced by his job title.

Wentao was about the same age as Xu Bin, while Rice Paper and the Prison Guard both looked several years older.

Tang Yiyi wondered how these seemingly unrelated people had come together as friends, and so in sync at that. The men exchanged glances from time to time—a raised eyebrow here, a nod there—and instantly understood each other: passing a cup, adding a certain ingredient to the pot, or making an OK sign with their hands.

Xiaoxiao was clearly one of them. Wentao said she was a music teacher at the cultural center.

Tang Yiyi didn’t feel the need to fit in, but she was suddenly overwhelmed with longing for her college roommates from her four years at university. She had once had her own circle, but now everyone had gone their separate ways.

When the meal ended, no one suggested going anywhere else. Xu Bin offered to drive Tang Yiyi home, but she said it wasn’t even eight yet, and, having just eaten, she wanted to walk. She assured him she could find her way home, so everyone said their goodbyes at the restaurant entrance.

Yicheng’s night was lively yet orderly. Eight o’clock was the time when the streets were fullest with people out for a stroll. Tang Yiyi walked alone through the crowd, a deeper loneliness welling up inside her.

She took out her phone and found Wang Yufeng’s number. They had only been apart a few days, but it felt as if they were worlds apart, unreachable. She had once been so sure—he was hers, he was there for her. But now…

The phone rang five times before it was answered. Wang Yufeng’s voice came amid a noisy background: “Hey, Yiyi, I’m out with the guys right now. I’ll call you back later.”

“Oh, okay…”

Could she say it wasn’t okay? Would that let them talk for a bit longer? Tang Yiyi felt a chill settle in her heart. To graduate and immediately lose love—maybe, deep down, she had always known it would end this way.

She walked slowly from Yicheng’s new district to the old city, stopping by Xinhua Bookstore to browse and see if she could find the “Fu Qingzhu’s Treatise on Male Diseases,” a book she had been searching for but never managed to buy.

She glanced over the shelf for traditional Chinese medicine classics, but, unsurprisingly, it wasn’t there. She asked a staff member, who confirmed, “We don’t have it. Others have come looking for it too, but it’s been out of stock.”

Leaving the bookstore, she bought a hairclip adorned with pearls from a night market stall, then paused at a stationery stand to choose a notebook with a faux-wood soft cover.

With all her wandering and stopping, it was already nine by the time she reached Magnolia Lane.

The shops, bustling during the day, were almost all closed except for the small supermarket run by Xu Mingjie at the lane’s entrance and, further in, two glaring yellow LED lights shining out from the front of Qin’s Noodle Shop.

Under the lights, Qin Baike’s tall, upright figure was busy at work.

Tang Yiyi walked into the light and sat down at an empty table nearby.