Priest

These last few weeks, Lang Qiao had often remembered Fei Du’s secretive look before he’d left that day. Each day on the way to and from work she’d let her imagination fly; she had already gone through a string of labels like “seizing by force” and “sadomasochistic love,” visualizing a soul-stirring erotic television drama—only there had been too much stress at work lately, so she hadn’t had time to leak any “spoilers” to Luo Wenzhou, one of the main characters.

An autumn rain shower had passed a few days before. Comrade Lang Qiao was so startled by Fei Du’s sudden appearance that she stepped into a pool of water at the gates and nearly fell flat on her face, flailing her limbs and clinging onto the wall.

Hearing the movement, Luo Wenzhou turned to look at her. First, this damn gay guy jeered at her pose. Then he said, “Why are you wearing high heels to work? None of us can see you unless we’re looking down. We all know you’re short.”

Lang Qiao: “…”

She rolled her eyes and straightened out her heel with difficulty, firmly biting back the warning she’d been about to give him. She thought, Well, it’s his funeral.

Luo Wenzhou had frequently worried about him before, although that had been while he’d still been little; since Fei Du had grown into a 360 degree scoundrel without a blindspot, there’d been nothing worth worrying about.

Sometimes when you stood looking out into the street, watching the people pass by, men and women, young and old, you’d feel that they were all about the same. You’re wearing a button-down and pants, and I’m also wearing a button-down and pants; you looked down and saw that the old people jogging by the street and the golden-haired, green-eyed foreigners were wearing the same brand of sneakers, almost giving you an illusion that the whole world was one.

The people living in the sun couldn’t imagine the inescapable and customary torment that the smiling and chatting buddy next to them suffered, while a person deep in depression couldn’t understand that the human figures rushing past them really weren’t forcing themselves to smile.