Esta Noite Atravessando para Hong Kong

At that time, she was still very young, unaware that every gift bestowed by God came with a price tag, and ignorant of the fact that a person’s capacity to love was limited. It wasn’t until many years later that she realized fate had already sealed her destiny.

—

Beijing, Deep Autumn, 2017.

Chen Xi had just left the library when she received a call from her current boyfriend, Xie Nanzhou.

After a whole day of studying, her head felt dizzy and disoriented, unable to tell directions clearly.

Stepping out of the building, Chen Xi gazed at the gradually darkening sky, momentarily lost in a daze as if her memories had returned to a certain instant in the past.

Back then, she was too young to distinguish between love and ambiguity, naive enough to hope that one day her prince charming would come riding a rainbow cloud to marry her.

Later, she realized it was nothing but an idol drama.

On the phone, Xie Nanzhou’s gentle, youthful voice slowly penetrated her eardrums: “Xixi, have you finished studying?”

Standing at the library entrance, Chen Xi hugged a stack of books, her weary eyes fixed on an old locust tree not far away. She turned sideways to avoid passing pedestrians and lowered her voice deliberately: “Just got out of the library. What’s up?”

The seasonal change had caught Chen Xi with a cold; her voice was nasal, and her mood was low.

Xie Nanzhou paused briefly, deliberately ignoring her slightly hoarse voice, and enthusiastically invited her: “My buddy’s birthday is today. We’ve booked a private room at a