Chapter 2: Arrival in Dongchuanguang

The year was 2016.

“Dear passengers, the train number PVE951 you are on has arrived at its final destination, Dongchuanguang South. Please collect your luggage and valuables and disembark. Thank you for your cooperation.”

As the train’s mechanical female voice announced, passengers gradually gathered their bags and got off. Since it was early morning, many looked tired.

Those who had slept in the berths were just yawning from waking up too early; the rest—the majority—were the poor souls who had spent the night sitting upright in hard seats, half-asleep or playing cards all night.

“Ugh, I’m dead tired,” I groaned. I was one of those poor souls who couldn’t afford a berth and watched others play cards all night.

“Where’s the exit? Guess I’ll just follow the crowd.”

Ah, let me introduce myself. My name is Li Xiaobai, nineteen, just finished the college entrance exams and got into university. I came to Dongchuanguang for college.

I’m an ordinary guy—average looks, average height, right at the national average. In nineteen years, I’ve never done anything remarkable: never been in a fight, never won an award, stayed single all my life.

Simply put, I’m a typical lame loser.

Now, about Dongchuanguang: it’s one of the country’s key developing cities in recent years, but it’s no longer just developing—it’s grown into one of Asia’s largest international trade centers, a supercity with 30 million people.

The city is divided into five districts: East, West, South, North, and Center. Center is the business district; East, bordering the sea, is the trade district; South and West are residential—I came to the South; North is the industrial zone.

I only got into a university here thanks to busting my ass in my last semester of high school, studying day and night, memorizing politics and history like crazy, and relying on blind faith for math and English.

Somehow I made it. But don’t follow my example—I’m an art student, so my cultural scores were halved. Even then, three years of hardcore study wouldn’t have gotten me in.

“Taxi!” I hailed one at the train station entrance, got in, and handed the driver a slip of paper: “Sir, please take me to this address.”

“Pinghe South Third Road, Number 20. Pretty close,” the driver said.

“How much?”

“By the meter, about 70.”

“Oh.” Damn. Back home, 70 could take me from one end of town to the other.

Well, big city’s different—skyscrapers everywhere, rich guys in fancy cars, lots of pretty girls. Well, I should say the women here all wear makeup; who knows what they look like bare-faced.

“Kid, we’re here.”

“Huh? Oh.” So from the station to Pinghe South Third Road really was like crossing my hometown from end to end. The driver’s idea of “close” was way off from us country folks.

“Here you go, sir.” I reluctantly pulled out a hundred-yuan bill. The driver took it, gave me change, hit the gas, and left without a word. Time is money, I guess.

Pinghe South Third Road Number 20 was an apartment building right next to the university I was about to attend. Actually, there were still two days until classes started.

I came early because I hadn’t signed up for dorm housing—instead, I rented a small room near the school, arranged by a friend in Dongchuanguang. It also added to my financial burden.

“Sixth floor, Room 603. Zhuo Junfeng, you bastard, you screwed me over.” Sixth floor? Me, a shut-in, climbing six floors every day? That’s a death sentence.

I took out the key my friend had mailed me earlier.

Well, a small room is a small room—a bed, a desk, a bathroom—clean and empty.

But it was good enough for me. Why didn’t I live in the dorms? I’m just not cut out for group living. I have a weird cleanliness obsession: I can tolerate my own mess, but other people’s filth drives me crazy.

Plus I’m a light sleeper—any noise not made by me keeps me awake. I’ve got OCD. I lasted one semester in high school dorm, then moved out the next.

“Brring, brring, brring!” My phone rang.

“Hello? Who’s this?” I said.

“Hey! Xiaobai, it’s me! How’s the place I found you? Great, right?” The man on the phone said.

“The place is fine, but the sixth floor? You’re messing with me on purpose. And don’t call me Xiaobai!”

“Come on, Xiaobai—you’re lucky I found you anything at this time. Do you know how many people want to rent here? If I didn’t know the landlord and asked him to hold it, could you have gotten a place near school?”

“Fine, fine, you’re amazing. Where are you? Let’s meet up.”

“No time today—I’m hitting on girls. Call you after midnight.” The man snickered.

“You weirdo, always going out in the middle of the night!” I laughed into the phone.

Zhuo Junfeng—one of my few friends. He’s from Dongchuanguang. In middle school, his family moved to my hometown for some reason. We were classmates, then he moved back after junior high, but we’ve kept in touch. I don’t know what his family does, but they’re obviously rich—a mysterious tycoon.

He’s 1.8 meters tall, handsome, but a real oddball. We clicked because we’re both weird. He’s the only friend I have who I didn’t bond with over games or anime—we both like wandering the streets at night.

“Hmm, where’s the Ethernet cable?”

After hanging up, I took out my laptop from my backpack, plugged it in, and surfed the web a bit. I was getting sleepy. Just as I was about to lie down for a nap…

“Ding-dong! Ding-dong!” The doorbell rang.

“Huh? That idiot Zhuo Junfeng—didn’t he say midnight? It’s only two in the afternoon. Lost his mind?” Grumbling, I got up and went to open the door.

“Bang!” The door swung open. “Zhuo Junfeng, you stu… Huh? You?”

“Um… hello.” At the door stood a startled girl. A stranger, never seen before.

“Hello, you… um… who are you?” After nineteen years of being single, I immediately started stammering.

“I live next door. I saw someone moving in, so I came to see if you need any help,” the girl said with a smile.

Let me describe this girl. She was about 1.6 meters tall, with dimples when she smiled—petite and adorable. She had chestnut-colored, shoulder-length curly hair—gorgeous.

She wore a white dress and carried a small handbag—pure. But all that only worked because she was drop-dead gorgeous. An average-looking girl couldn’t pull off that outfit.

“Oh, um, no, no—I moved in earlier, thanks,” I said nervously.

“Hehe, my name is Wu Xiaowu. We’re neighbors now. Please take care of me,” she said softly.

“I’m Li Xiaobai. Nice to meet you,” I replied. Her voice and smile were so cute.

“Xiaobai, Xiaobai? Your name is so weird,” she said.

“…” Damn, I didn’t even make fun of her name—five little dances—and she’s making fun of mine. Ever since the nickname “Xiaobai” appeared, I’ve been teased endlessly. Today I got hit again.

“Hey, Wu Xiaowu! Are you coming or not?” Suddenly, a domineering, mature female voice came from the stairwell. I immediately turned my head, but the woman had already started downstairs after shouting.

From my years of training in dynamic vision, I saw she was wearing black slim pants and a white shirt, high heels, about 1.7 meters tall, with long black hair.

I couldn’t see her face clearly, but even from her silhouette, she was no less attractive than Xiaowu.

“Xiaobai, I have to go now. I’m going shopping with a friend. Bye!” Xiaowu said.

“Yeah, bye.”

After I spoke, Xiaowu gave me an apologetic smile and turned to leave. But just after two steps, she came back on tiptoe and said, “Xiaobai, are you a freshman at Dongchuanguang Art College?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m a freshman this year.”

“Then you have to call me Senior!” With that, she skipped away happily down the stairs.

Watching the empty staircase where Wu Xiaowu had disappeared, I felt happier than I’d ever been in my life. Senior—what a wonderful word. And a cute senior living next door, with a face that could launch a thousand ships. Hmm, is my spring finally coming? Haha.

“Whatever—I’m sleepy. Let’s take a nap first.” I turned back, closed the door, and went to bed.