The Scorching Sun - 86
Yan Lie got his hair cut before the start of the semester. If he hadn't specifically asked for this style, then his barber had simply gone too far. His hair had been cut incredibly short, especially around the back of his head, there was barely anything left but stubble now.
Yet somehow, the haircut didn't look bad on Yan Lie's face. If anything, it gave him a distinctly clean-cut air.
When Fang Zhuo arrived, he was standing beneath the shade of the little grove, running a hand through his short hair, clearly still getting used to it.
He'd changed so much, the first thing Fang Zhuo said when she saw him was, "Did you switch barbers?"
Yan Lie took off his mask. Her question had clearly struck a nerve, he couldn't help running his hand through his hair again. "The shop I usually go to wasn't open yet, and the guy who cuts my hair went back to his hometown. So I just picked a random place."
He asked cautiously, "Does it look bad?"
Fang Zhuo gave him a glance. "No. It looks pretty good."
A narrow path wound through the grove toward a flower bed deeper inside.
Not far away stood a young man with a stack of printed papers tucked under one arm. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, put it between his lips, lit it, and took a long drag. Then, with an almost desolate air, he stood beneath the tree and gazed into the distance.
Fang Zhuo caught the faint smell of smoke drifting over from afar. She glanced in his direction, staring absently at the thin white plume curling upward.
Yan Lie followed her gaze. "You want to smoke?"
Fang Zhuo looked away. "I'm just curious." There was something almost weather-beaten about the way that guy smoked. Then again, maybe his thesis had something to do with it.
"Wait here."
Before Fang Zhuo could ask anything, Yan Lie had already jogged over. He said something to the other guy, took a cigarette from him, lit it with a lighter, and then jogged back.
Fang Zhuo stood there with her mouth slightly open in disbelief. When he came close, she still instinctively reached for the cigarette in his hand.
Yan Lie lifted his hand out of reach. He took a drag himself, then, under Fang Zhuo's utterly bewildered stare, gave a suppressed cough before lowering his head and kissing her.
There was no real taste of smoke on his lips, but the glowing cigarette beside them had an almost overwhelming presence.
In Fang Zhuo's senses, one moment there was the harsh, choking sting of smoke, and the next there was the faint sweetness of Yan Lie's mouth. Part of her mind was still trapped in the shock of what had just happened. It felt like someone had sloshed an entire bucket of water around inside her head, the liquid soft and yielding yet crashing violently from side to side.
Only when the heat of her body had risen with the breath he exhaled against her did Yan Lie finally pull away. He brushed a finger over her damp lips.
Holding the cigarette between two fingers, he flicked away the ash at its tip, then turned his head and asked, "Still want a drag?"
Fang Zhuo's thoughts had slowed to a crawl. For a long while, she couldn't find the right words. She pressed her lips together and was just about to speak when the young man beside them suddenly swore. "Holy shit!"
He strode over, held out his hand toward Yan Lie, and said, "I'm not giving you any more. Give it back!"
With a grin, Yan Lie stubbed out the cigarette and placed it in his hand.
The young man's gaze moved from the cigarette in his palm to Yan Lie's face. He looked back and forth twice, his heart apparently torn to pieces, giving a disgruntled snort as he stalked away.
Once the guy was gone, Fang Zhuo was preparing to lecture Yan Lie a little, but he showed absolutely no self-awareness. He stepped closer, leaned in, buried his face against the hollow of her shoulder, and drew in a deep breath before wrapping both arms around her.
Fang Zhuo waited a few seconds, letting him hold her. Then she patted his back. "Done yet?"
Yan Lie turned his eyes sideways. Catching sight of the faint redness in her ears, he kissed one of them and said with a laugh, "How can you be so heartless?"
Fang Zhuo shot him a sideways look without answering.
A few months of being quarantined at home had taught this man how to be shameless.
After mealtime, fewer and fewer people passed along the main road, and the little grove gradually fell silent.
The temperature after sunset was still slightly chilly. Yan Lie's palm was burning hot as he took her hand and led her to a long wooden bench nearby, sitting down beside her.
At a thoroughly inappropriate moment, Fang Zhuo thought of tomorrow's exam. Using such precious pre-exam time to simply sit around felt unbearably extravagant. After struggling with the idea for quite some time, she decided to invite Yan Lie to study with her. She was still working out how to broach the subject when the person beside her said, "Oh, right. I made a game at home. Can you help me test it?"
Fang Zhuo hesitated. "Me? I don't really play games. I don't know what standards you guys use, I don't even know if I can beat it."
"No problem. It's a single-player game, it's not very difficult. Just mess around with it." Yan Lie said, "I'll send it to your email. Take a look when you get back."
Fang Zhuo had no choice but to say, "All right."
"Getting eager to head back, huh?" Yan Lie knew her too well. He smiled. "Go on, then."
Yan Lie gave her one last hug before walking her to the bottom of the dormitory building.
Fang Zhuo unlocked the security door with her key. Yu Qingjiang looked up from her book, apparently about to ask where she'd been, but one look at Fang Zhuo's expression told her everything she needed to know, she wisely shut her mouth.
The room was quiet. Everyone was busily turning pages, there was no time to waste on idle conversation.
Yu Qingjiang had been sitting at the desk opposite Fang Zhuo, copying notes from one of her roommates. When Fang Zhuo came back, she sought her help again.
Fang Zhuo tidied up her desk, pulled out the notes for her major from a row of workbooks, and pointed out the key sections for her.
Yu Qingjiang simply dragged her chair over and claimed a tiny corner beside her, furiously copying everything down.
Fang Zhuo opened her notebook, logged into her email, cleared out the junk mail, and found the game Yan Lie had mentioned.
The game file really wasn't very large, which suggested the mechanics weren't particularly complicated. Perhaps afraid she wouldn't know what to do, he'd even attached a foolproof installation guide.
Once the download finished, Fang Zhuo followed Yan Lie's instructions and launched the game.
Yu Qingjiang wasn't deliberately snooping. She happened to catch sight of the screen and couldn't resist asking, "What's that?"
"Study," Fang Zhuo urged. "Hurry up and review."
Yu Qingjiang was in no position to argue. She suppressed her innate human curiosity and lowered her head in misery.
The plugin finished loading.
It was a 2D single-player game with a fairly detailed pixel-art aesthetic. Once in full-screen mode, the main scene was a stark white room with a tiny girl in a dress standing in the middle.
Compared with the roughness of the background, the little character had clearly received far more attention. She was rendered with such clarity, she seemed to belong to another dimension altogether. Unfortunately, there wasn't much she could actually do.
Fang Zhuo guided the little character around the room and soon realized it wasn't her imagination. The layout of the map was exactly the same as Yan Lie's home.
The artwork might have been rather rough, but the details were surprisingly well done. Fang Zhuo tried a few things and discovered that even the cabinet doors and similar objects could actually be opened.
She was still exploring the details when a quest prompt suddenly appeared in the upper-left corner.
[Please keep the player safe at home throughout the quarantine period!y
[It's raining outside today. You're sitting in your room watching a horror movie when the world suddenly goes dark, frightening you badly. What should you do?]
Fang Zhuo was speechless. What on earth was this?
The television was still playing. If the lights had gone out, then obviously the bulb had burned out. What else could she do besides replace it?
She searched through the interface for ages before finally finding something resembling a phone beside the bed. The moment she opened it, an array of delivery options appeared. She smoothly ordered a light bulb.
The game time jumped straight to the next day. The lighting brightened, and Fang Zhuo stood in front of the lamp trying to replace the bulb. Yet no matter which text option she selected, she couldn't get it to work.
Just as Fang Zhuo began to suspect she'd made a mistake somewhere and was about to search online for a complete tutorial on changing a light bulb, a prompt box flashing with golden light abruptly appeared. As if afraid she might not see it, its thickened border practically swallowed the screen.
[You seem to be having a little trouble. Would you like to call in powerful backup? Lie Lie's help? Payment is only one bowl of rice.]
Fang Zhuo: "..."
Call, call, call.
Good grief.
She clicked confirm with deliberate indifference. A little stick figure wearing a red cape dropped from the sky, flickered through a burst of pixelated chaos in front of the light, and announced that the quest had been completed.
[You send Lie Lie away and breathe a sigh of relief, intending to sit on the sofa and rest for a while. But then the coffee table splits apart, startling you all over again. What should you do?]
Was she a kangaroo or something? Why was she always bouncing around?
She ought to be throwing her mouse at the screen by now.
Fang Zhuo couldn't help wondering if Yan Lie had made this game specifically to mess with her.
Yu Qingjiang glanced over a couple of times during a lull. She quickly lost interest and said with a cold laugh, "This game is obviously packed with hidden agendas. Girl, is this how straight guys try to win girls over these days? Using this kind of boyfriend-material routine? It's a little too cheesy."
Fang Zhuo couldn't exactly argue with her. Fortunately, she had plenty of patience, so she continued working through her single-player quests.
As she explored further, Fang Zhuo called in powerful backup, Lie Lie the Stick Figure, several more times. Each time, he appeared with boundless enthusiasm and spent the following moments fixing her table, repairing her computer, dealing with an unexpected visit from an elder, cooking an elaborate dinner, and so on. He was the perfect lover.
Well, to be precise, he was the perfect lover for the game's NPC, not for her.
With Yan Lie's cooking skills, calling anything he made an elaborate dinner was generous. She'd be impressed if he could safely cook something all the way through, Fang Zhuo wasn't exactly looking forward to it.
At the end of the game, the system asked her whether she wanted to keep this all-purpose stick figure by her side.
Fang Zhuo deliberately chose [No]. The stick figure immediately burst into loud sobs on the screen, his tears soaking his cape so thoroughly that he couldn't fly away and had no choice but to stay home.
Fang Zhuo was charmed by the sheer childishness of Yan Lie's thought process, and with that, the game announced its conclusion.
The system displayed one final main quest.
[What is the greatest thing you've gained from completing this game? (Note: Your answer will be sent to the game developer. Please answer seriously!)]
Fang Zhuo smiled and typed a line into the input box.
[Yan Lie is an idiot.]
A huge red X immediately appeared on the screen.
[Wrong answer!]
Fang Zhuo typed:
[This game is guilty of spreading rumors and making things look better than they are. Yan Lie can't cook at all.]
The red glow grew even brighter.
[Wrong answer! You have one final chance to answer!]
Fang Zhuo stopped, resting her chin against her hand as she seriously considered her answer.
Yu Qingjiang had been emotionally wounded by the interaction between the two of them. She suddenly felt that, given her personality, she might never be able to fall in love in her entire life.
After all, if it were her, she'd probably just type into the input box three times: [Damn you!]
Then she'd charge downstairs, weapon in hand, and beat the boyfriend who made this game into the ground.
Yu Qingjiang ranted furiously to herself, so thoroughly distracted that she couldn't study at all. Then she saw Fang Zhuo's fingers move, entering her third and final answer.
Just two simple words.
[Miss you.]
The screen suddenly flashed with a wash of blue light, then gave way to an expanse of clear blue sky.
Under a bright, lucid sky and the glow of early morning light, accompanied by soft, rhythmic background music, the scene shifted to darkness.
Photographs flickered past in a revolving sequence. Empty streets. Tree shadows swaying in the wind. Stretched-out pools of lamplight. A dim night sky.
A solitary black shadow cast across a white wall. Windows pressed close against a dining table, stretching on as though there were no end to them.
It was plainly a cramped little room, yet the world somehow felt unbearably vast and empty.
[Every morning when I can't see you, I miss you.]
[But I don't like missing you from far away.]
Then various old photographs of Fang Zhuo flashed across the screen.
The winding footprints the two of them had left in the sand. Their elongated shadows leaning against each other beneath the night sky. The sleeping profile of her face in the shifting light of summer. Her slightly awkward smile.
The photographs Yan Lie had processed were gentle not only with the moon, but with the light itself. Every brilliant color that had gathered there seemed to settle into Fang Zhuo's eyes, so that for anyone she looked at, the world was bright.
[I want to share my photo album with you.]
[Would you share your future with me?]
Yu Qingjiang watched the final scene without missing a single frame. By the time she regretted it, it was already too late. It felt like a clot of blood had lodged in her chest, aching with every breath, and the words burst out of her before she could stop them. "Fuck! What did this dog ever do to deserve this?!"
Fang Zhuo lifted a hand to cover her face, her thoughts fluttering like a leaf stirred by the night wind high in the branches.
Soon, her phone vibrated twice.
They Call Me Lie: Yan Lie can cook now. [Serious]
They Call Me Lie: Yan Lie also taught himself all kinds of life skills. He can take good care of his girlfriend.
Little Sun: [Oh]
Little Sun: [Face]
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