“Let’s get acquainted.”

“I’m Xu Ye — the ‘ye’ as in running wild.”

After finishing Scent of Rice Flowers and handing the guitar back, Xu Ye slipped in a quick introduction.

The girl said nothing. She just reached out and took the guitar.

And at that exact moment, a commercial van parked along the road honked twice.

She slung the guitar over her back, stepped up the stone stairs, and left without a word.

Xu Ye shook his head. “That pretty and she’s a mute. What a waste.”

Her footsteps faltered for just a fraction of a second. The corner of her mouth curved upward — barely there, but unmistakably there. She still didn’t stop, didn’t look back. She got into the van and was gone.

The night had gotten late. Xu Ye yawned and didn’t linger at the lakeside.

Nothing more happened that night.

He slept until past nine the next morning. The moment he opened his eyes, a string of messages from Gu Mengyao was waiting for him.

Rose Girl: xu ye, did you get the wrong idea about me?

Rose Girl: i was with liu qian the whole time yesterday. i only ran into duan qingjun on the way there.

Rose Girl: apparently there’s a new arcade that opened over at Wanda — wanna go together this afternoon?

The first two had come in late last night. The third was from this morning.

Xu Ye read through them, thought for a moment, and typed back.

Xu: you don’t need to explain yourself to me. i’m busy this afternoon. and after that too.

He sent it.

On the other end, Gu Mengyao went completely still.

She sniffled. The urge to cry crept up on her out of nowhere.

She couldn’t make sense of it — the Xu Ye who had practically orbited her for three years, and this version sending two-word replies like she was a stranger. She didn’t want to date him, not really, not right now. But she didn’t want to lose him either.

Because the truth was — what girl didn’t want someone like that around? Someone reliable, decent, always there? Xu Ye had been a steady source of warmth for years, and she’d gotten so used to it that she hadn’t even noticed how much she’d come to depend on it. Until now.

Her eyes stinging, she typed back.

Rose Girl: do you not like me anymore?

Five seconds passed.

A single word came back.

Xu: right.

That was it for Gu Mengyao. The tears came before she could stop them.

Xu Ye felt nothing. He closed QQ, opened his driver’s test app, and went back to drilling theory questions.

In his previous life he’d been a seasoned driver — the practical modules, the road test, none of that would be a problem. But the written exams for modules one and four were worth brushing up on.

He spent the day at home with his phone. Come evening, he headed to Encounter Music Bar.

“Hey, Xiaonuan — where’s the boss?”

“Get to the storeroom, quick. A shipment of liquor just came in and needs to be carried in from the truck.”

Xu Ye nodded and headed over.

Pei Youwei and Zhou Ying were in the middle of hauling crate after crate of beer into the storeroom, both of them straining with the weight. Xu Ye jogged over and took the load out of their hands.

“Boss, I’ve got it.”

He moved through the work easily, one crate at a time, back and forth without breaking pace.

Pei Youwei watched him with a warm smile. “See, this is exactly why a bar needs a guy around. Men and women working together — nobody gets tired.”

Zhou Ying laughed. “But Xu Ye’s only here for the summer. Once school starts he’ll be gone.”

Pei Youwei glanced over. “Xu Ye, what city are you going to for university?”

“Shanghai.”

“Shanghai?”

He’d thought this through already. His goal was money, and Shanghai was the economic heart of the country. There was nowhere better to be.

“How did the gaokao go?”

“Not bad. Standard four-year is locked in — might even crack the top-tier cutoff.”

“Look at you.”

Pei Youwei grinned and let herself lean into the joke. “If I were ten years younger, I might actually fall for someone like you.”

Xu Ye played along without missing a beat. “For the record, boss — I’m open to dating older.”

Pei Youwei’s smile stalled for half a second, then bloomed into something bigger.

“You little troublemaker.”

Red Leaf Estate was the most exclusive villa complex in Jiangzhou. Nothing else came close.

On the second-floor open terrace of one of the villas, a girl sat in a reclining chair, gazing quietly into the distance.

If Xu Ye had been there, he would have recognized her immediately.

Chen Qingqing was the girl from the lakeside. The one he’d called a mute.

Right now, she had her earphones in. The song that came on was Scent of Rice Flowers.

The melody was familiar. So was the voice that surfaced in her memory alongside it.

She found herself thinking about the boy from last night — the one who’d sat down uninvited and played her own song better than she had.

She was genuinely curious. Someone around her age, that fluent with a guitar — how? She was an arts student herself; while her peers had been grinding away at textbooks, she’d had the time to put serious hours into music. Was he an arts student too?

While she was still turning it over in her mind, a woman appeared on the terrace behind her. She looked to be in her mid-thirties — though she carried herself in a way that made it hard to pin down. Her real age was probably a little older.

“Qingqing. Results come out this month — are you thinking Central Conservatory or Shanghai Conservatory of Music?” [TL: Both are the two most prestigious music universities in China. Central Conservatory of Music (中央音乐学院) is in Beijing; Shanghai Conservatory of Music (上海音乐学院) is in Shanghai.]

Chen Qingqing’s voice came out soft, like water over stones. “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Come to Beijing. My company’s headquarters is there — I’m in and out all the time.”

Chen Qingqing didn’t respond.

The woman was Jiang Meilin — Chen Qingqing’s mother, and the China VP of a multinational corporation. The same woman who commanded entire boardrooms had a quiet, almost apologetic quality when she stood in front of her daughter.

Three years ago, she and Qingqing’s father had divorced. Work had swallowed most of what came after — the time she might have spent with her daughter had steadily eroded, and the debt she felt over it had grown in proportion.

Chen Qingqing stretched, arms overhead. Her sleeve slipped back, exposing a stretch of pale wrist. She wasn’t wearing socks; when she stretched, her toes fanned out — ten small, soft toes, round and faintly pink, like little mochi candies. [TL: The original compares them to 旺仔QQ糖 — a popular Chinese chewy candy brand, soft and round, similar to gummy bears but squishier.]

“Mom. My birthday’s in a few days.”

“What do you want this year?”

“Nothing.”

She turned her head and looked up at her mother.

“I just want you to stay home.”

Jiang Meilin had no answer for that.

As VP, her schedule wasn’t her own anymore. Tonight was already a detour — she’d only swung by for one night, and tomorrow morning she’d be on her way to the next province.

Seeing her mother’s silence, Chen Qingqing smiled and let it go.

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

“Qingqing, I’m sorry.”

Silence.

“Should I call your dad?”

“Don’t.”

Chen Qingqing said it quietly, stood up, and went back inside.

(End of Chapter)