That night, every campus forum, school bulletin board, and class group chat was flooded with posts about a certain good-looking guy named Xu Ye.

Xu Ye only found out he’d gone viral when he spotted his own classmates talking about him in the class WeChat group.

Yang Fei strutted around holding up his phone, tiptoeing over to Xu Ye who’d already climbed into his bunk. “Master Xu, quick interview — how does it feel to become famous overnight?”

“Doesn’t feel like much.”

“My WeChat keeps blowing up with friend requests. It’s driving me insane.”

“What are you trying to take photos of — send one single thing and you’re done for, I’m warning you.”

“You ungrateful little — Zhang Xinzhou, don’t you think Xu Ye deserves a smack right now?”

Zhang Xinzhou was already in bed too. He leaned over the edge and looked down. “You’re the one who deserves it. Can you please stop wandering around the dorm in those red underwear?”

While Xu Ye was contemplating what to do about the flood of friend requests, a message from Chen Qingqing came in.

Chen Qingqing: Dumb pig, why haven’t you talked to me today?

Xu Ye: Was out watching the welcome party just now.

Chen Qingqing: Was it good?

Xu Ye: Not as good as looking at you.

Chen Qingqing: This week went by so fast.

Xu Ye: It really did.

Qingqing looked at that message, lips pressing together in silent frustration. This dumb pig — can’t he take a hint? Is he not planning to come see me this week?

She was a little put out.

Xu Ye: You have any plans tomorrow?

She replied quickly. Chen Qingqing: No.

Xu Ye: So… this weekend I’ve got something I need to take care of. Might not be able to make it out to you.

A pause on her end.

Then, after a moment: What are you going to be doing?

Xu Ye: Making money.

Chen Qingqing: Are you that strapped for cash?

Xu Ye: Not really. But I want to make more.

Chen Qingqing: Why?

Xu Ye: The bride price in our area is pretty steep. I’m worried your parents are going to hit me with a number I can’t cover. [TL: 彩礼 — a traditional monetary gift paid by the groom’s family to the bride’s before marriage, still commonly practiced in many parts of China and often a significant sum]

Back in her dorm room, lying in bed, Qingqing’s face went hot.

She typed furiously. You’re talking nonsense again!

Xu Ye: Me and my roommate are planning to open a fruit shop together. We’ve already signed the lease. Tomorrow I’m heading to the wholesale market, and we’re hoping to do a soft opening the day after. Once I’ve got everything sorted out next week, I’ll come see you.

Xu Ye: Do you actually want to see me?

Face still warm, she typed back: I’m going to sleep. Goodnight.

Xu Ye: You still haven’t answered my question.

Chen Qingqing: I’m already asleep.

That made Xu Ye laugh out loud.

When she stopped replying, he turned his attention back to the friend request problem. After thinking it over, explaining himself one by one seemed like too much effort. So instead, he simply changed his WeChat display name.

His new name: Taken.

After that small update, the incoming friend request alerts slowed down considerably.

Meanwhile.

Back in Jiangzhou, in the Red Leaf Estate.

Jiang Meilin was curled up on the sofa, a glass of red wine in her left hand, phone in her right, about to check Xu Ye’s Moments feed. But the moment she tapped on his profile, her finger stopped.

He’d changed his display name.

Taken?

What did that mean?

Had he and Qingqing made it official?

She couldn’t figure it out, and couldn’t think of who to ask — so in the end she just messaged him directly. “Xiao Xu, why’d you change your name?”

Xu Ye hadn’t expected Jiang Meilin to be the first person to ask. He screenshotted the friend request screen and sent it over.

“Auntie, too many people were adding me.”

He left it at that, figuring she’d understand once she saw the screenshot.

Jiang Meilin opened the image and found herself looking at a long list of girls trying to add Xu Ye. She found herself genuinely puzzled. He’s this popular at university?

It sent a small flicker of unease through her. She typed quickly: “Xiao Xu, are you going to see Qingqing this weekend?”

Xu Ye: Not this weekend, I’ve got to go somewhere else — I already told Qingqing.

Jiang Meilin: Mm.

Xu Ye: It’s getting late, I’m turning in. Goodnight, Auntie.

Jiang Meilin: Goodnight.

…

Bright and early Saturday morning.

Xu Ye dragged Zhang Xinzhou out of bed and out the door. They switched between subway lines and buses for over two hours before finally arriving at the wholesale fruit market in Baoshan District.

“This place is massive.”

“Let’s walk around first, get a feel for it. I’ll call Uncle Chen and see when he’ll be here.”

“Sure.”

The two of them wandered through the market while Xu Ye got Chen Jianjun on the line. Produce here arrived in full truckloads from all over the country — the variety was almost impossible to take in. Grapes alone came in well over a dozen varieties.

Xu Ye asked around at a few stalls and found that nearly everything was significantly cheaper than retail price at a typical fruit shop. Most items carried a margin somewhere between thirty and fifty percent. Sell well, sell fast, and a fruit shop was a reliable money-maker.

Once the two of them had done a full lap, they waited another half hour before Chen Jianjun finally showed up.

Xu Ye got right to it. “Uncle Chen, I’ve had a look around. I’ll write up a list tonight — any chance you can bring a load over tomorrow afternoon?”

Chen Jianjun asked, sounding genuinely curious, “You two are really opening a fruit shop?”

“Yeah.”

“What about your studies?”

Xu Ye smiled. “College has a lot of free time. Besides, studying is just a means to making money anyway.”

“If you’ve both made up your minds, then I’m absolutely in,” Chen Jianjun said. “This is literally my job. Tell you what — I know a few stall owners here pretty well. Let me introduce you, you can add them on WeChat, and from here on you can just place orders directly through them. Price-wise, don’t worry — the people I know are honest dealers.”

“Really appreciate it, Uncle Chen.”

“Ha, you did me a big favor, I’m doing you one back. Call it even.”

Things went smoother than Xu Ye had dared hope.

Thanks to Chen Jianjun’s introductions, he added a whole string of wholesale stall owners on WeChat — which meant he could now place orders from campus and have Chen Jianjun drive the goods over. No more making the long trip out here every time.

Xu Ye and Zhang Xinzhou made it back to the shop just before noon. The afternoon was packed: the sign installation team was coming, the display chillers were being delivered, and someone was dropping off the business license.

A lot of moving parts. The two of them were on their feet inside the shop for the entire afternoon.

By the time the sun went down, they were both completely done for.

Yang Fei had heard about the rented shop, and that evening he wandered over on his own. He found the new sign already mounted above the door, the display chillers already in place inside — he surveyed it all with a grin, then asked with exaggerated helpfulness, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Xu Ye, utterly drained, replied, “You’re a real piece of work, showing up right as the sun sets when all the hard work’s done.” [TL: the original line is a deliberately flowery, literary-sounding insult that Xu Ye deploys with heavy sarcasm — dressed up in poetic language but amounting to: “you’ve got all the elegance of someone who strolls in right after the battle’s over.” The phrasing 彼阳的晚意，初生的东曦 evokes evening twilight and new dawn light — loosely: “the glow of a sun that’s already setting, the brilliance of a sun just being born” — the joke being that Yang Fei missed all the actual work and showed up only for the afterglow]

(End of Chapter)