Pandora’s Box

Putting down the mobile phone as I spotted Ke Luo looking thoughtful, I asked him, “What are you thinking?”

Ke Luo replied, “So, should I invite her over to celebrate the winter solstice?”

“…..” The poisoning must had been too deep.

Since he was already terminally ill, I could only pat him on the shoulder. “Forget it, if you can’t let her go, don’t let her go. But remember, if you want to win over her heart, don’t fall in love with her too early, you know?”

“Hmm…,” Ke Luo showed a confusing look of a rookie in love, “Why?”

“Think about it. You haven’t completely surrendered to her yet and she doesn’t care about you right now. If she thinks you’re already under her control, then is it okay? She’s such a veteran in love so if she receives it, will she still cherish what she has?”

Ke Luo furrowed his eyebrows heavily.

“So, you have to maintain an uncaring attitude, okay?” I advised earnestly, “You have to use the old hand’s routine to deal with an old hand. Only magic can defeat magic!”

Ke Luo expressed that he only half understood.

I persistently continued, “Anyway, don’t be a desperate, licking dog. If you get whipped until the end, you’ll end up with nothing!”

During my unsuccessful days of trying to graduate from my single life, Mr. X and I had become acquainted with each other.

Mr. X was a special one amongst my fans. This was mainly due to his maturity compared to the others.

Because of my livestream content, most of the people I attracted were my peers and elementary school students. Amongst a group of young adults who liked to bluff and show off, his successful demeanor was very strange, but there wasn’t a generation gap hindrance.

I supposed he was about 10 years older than me. Aside from acting old-fashioned like Cheng Yichen when he worried about me, he was quite sharp on the weekends and could keep up with a young adult’s pace.

He truly was my biggest fan. Regardless of how bad my gaming may be, he was determined to protect me and never said anything negative about me. He was even more responsive and merciless when blocking those haters in my broadcast platform.

“Humans are not machines. How can they not make mistakes? Those who don’t make mistakes are cheating.”

Or it was “Of course, you’d have shortcomings. A streamer without shortcomings is just humanly created. That’s too fake. It’s cute to have shortcomings.”

Flattery would get you everywhere. I would say that this was very effective on me. Who could refuse such a die-hard fan who understood the right amount of generosity and tolerated me unconditionally?

Mr. X was a very reminiscent person, and he seemed to be very knowledgable about music. Cheng Yichen had collected a lot of books and he had collected a large number of CDs and vinyl records.

After getting closer, he recommended a lot of old songs to me. I listened to music simply to be familiar with trends and join the fun. Overall, I was a simplistic person with little culture. Most of the ones he recommended did not speak the same language as me, but listening to them made me feel special. After a period of time, its touch did not fade out. These music were truly classics.

As ginger remained invigorating, as songs remained nostalgic, people would then remain virtuous.

I gradually found another form of comfort in Mr. X. Some things were difficult to express to the closest people around me and I dared not say it, fearing that they would worry. However, I could easily confide to strangers on the internet.

Through the virtual network, distance made people feel very safe.

I complained to Mr. X about my academic concerns and started to vaguely confess my emotional distresses. He always quietly listened, in which was relieving.

If the other end was DV, I would speak in a secretive manner, withholding names and gender. This would instigate him to ask questions left and right, and he wouldn’t give up if there wasn’t enough gossip material.

Mr. X never asked too much. So much that I couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you want to give me some advice?”

Mr. X said, “Huh? I can’t do that anymore. I’m not good at this. I tried to meddle in other people’s feelings before, but the result was bad.”

I laughed at his honesty. “How bad was it?”

“Very bad,” he said, as if he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, “and I don’t think you really want advice. You’re a very reflective person. You just need someone to listen to you.”

I was taken aback. He probably understood me too well.

Mr. X added, “Although I can’t give you any useful advice, stick to what you want to do. If you like something, keep liking it. If you don’t like it, give it up. No matter what plans you have, I will support you.”

This groundless support from this fan made me feel easier. Perhaps, everyone needed someone who was agreeable without any reason to be.

How precious a die-hard was, I thought gratefully.

Zhuo Wenyang finally returned from a business trip that day. It was just in time for winter solstice eve.

I was very anxious all day, checking the flight status repeatedly because the plane was delayed for more than two hours.

Fortunately, Zhuo Wenyang would send me a message whenever he boarded and took off. Along with the flight arrival notification on the Travel App, his message also popped up, “I landed and am still taxiing.”

After a moment, it was “Getting on the bus. Be home in about 45 minutes.”

I calculated that the time was almost up. I couldn’t stay in the house so I went down early and waited.

It was still quite cold outside and the wind was blowing strongly at the building entrance. I intertwined my hands and hid from the wind behind pillars, bouncing around to keep me warm. It looked comical.

As the car came to a stop, Zhuo Wenyang opened the car door and stepped out. His face was tired and expressionless as usual. When he approached, I rushed out from behind the pillar and gave him a “woof” sound.

Zhuo Wenyang raised his eyebrows in a slight surprise, and then smiled. His smile was a like a spring breeze that would shatter ice. The air in the entire community was instantly brightened and warmed up because of him.

“Why are you here? Are you waiting for me?”

“Yeah,” I was afraid of revealing my thoughts so I rubbed my hands together and said, “I’m in a hurry to receive my present, hehe.”

He smiled clearly, “It’s in the suitcase. I’ll go back and get it for you.”

Heading up the stairs side by side, I was jumping and bouncing along the way. It was strange that even though he appeared so cold, I felt warm around him.

When he got home, he greeted Cheng Yichen, who was busy in the kitchen. After unpacking the luggage, he handed me a wrapped box.

Although I knew it was a pair of shoes, it was still wrapped up so beautifully with ribbons and silk flowers.

I laughed, “You can just give it to me like this instead of paying for the packaging.”

He said, “Ah, people say that I still need a sense of propriety.”

“…..”

I was elated, very happy, as happy as selecting candy to eat. However, with my mouth stretching and cracking to the ear, in order to cover it up, I said, “What sense of propriety do we brothers need?” (again, not real brothers – indication of close friendship)

“…..”

After enjoying myself secretly for a while, I asked again without shame, “Then, is there any progress between you and your crush?”

Zhuo Wenyang was stunned, looked at me and said, “…No?”

“That’s good,” I said, “Oh, no, I mean, that’s fine too. Take your time and let it be. It will work out.”

Zhuo Wenyang agreed, “Yes.”

Thinking about it, I didn’t need to be too wrapped up because there was no room for any entanglements. Zhuo Wenyang was such a determined and rational person, so how could I pry into their corner?

Simply let him love whoever he loved.

The good news was that it looked like it wasn’t going to work out with his crush, in which equated to me not needing to fall out of love.

Thinking about this gave me a sense of joy again.

Cheng Yichen came out with a plate of abalone covered in oyster sauce, followed by Lu Feng who brought out a pot of stewed lamb soup. The table was almost entirely filled up with various Cheng Yichen’s specialty dishes. It was so aromatic that I clicked my tongue in satisfaction, “This abalone is really big! Where did you get the money from? Hey, why are there six abalones?”

Usually, this type of dish was prepared based on the number of people in the family.

Cheng Yichen smiled and said, “Xiao Luo will bring a friend over.”

“Oh-ho!”

I was excited that I was finally able to meet the legendary Little Red.