In 2008, the Hengshui-style education model had yet to sweep across the country, and No. 2 High School was only a district-level school, so life was considerably easier for its students. Many years later, when Shao Wu returned to his alma mater as a geography teacher, he would watch students leave evening self-study at eleven o’clock at night and see little notes stuck to their desks saying things like “Wuhan University, wait for me” and “PKU, wait for me.” The sight always left him with a complicated mixture of emotions.
Back in 2008, No. 2 High School was the best high school in Yongchuan. Evening self-study ended at eight-thirty. Students would leave in groups of three or five, some heading home, some going out for a late-night snack, and some taking off their school uniforms before sneaking into internet cafés. A small river ran right past the school gates. Tall osmanthus and pine trees lined both banks, along with a night market and tightly packed little shops. At night, the whole area came alive. After evening self-study, Shao Wu would leisurely pedal his bicycle home along the river. In summer, he often stopped by a street stall to buy some lianggao, a chilled rice dessert, to take home. His mom liked it.
Sometimes, though, he would sneak into an internet café after evening self-study too.
Not to play games. He went there to download English songs. Shao Wu liked English. During his first year of high school, he saved three months’ worth of pocket money and asked his older cousin, who was attending university in Chongqing, to buy him a Sony MP3 player. It was a small, square black thing with a narrow screen that could not even display lyrics. After downloading songs at the internet café, he still had to copy the lyrics into a notebook line by line.
The first time Shao Wu saw Yang Shuyi was at an internet café. They had not yet been divided into the humanities and science tracks at the time, and the two of them were not in the same class. Yang Shuyi was obviously a regular. At Xinxin Internet Café, customers normally paid before they were allowed to use a computer. Yet when Yang Shuyi walked in and sat down directly beside Shao Wu, the attendant simply turned on a computer for him without being asked.
Shao Wu could not help repeatedly glancing at him from the corner of his eye. For one thing, he had not even taken off his school uniform. Was he a first-year student too? Shao Wu did not think he had ever seen him before. Yang Shuyi started playing Fantasy Westward Journey, a game Shao Wu had seen his cousin play. On the seventeen-inch monitor, Yang Shuyi guided his character back and forth outside Chang’an City. The character wore flowing white robes and held a folding fan. It was only much later that Shao Wu learned the character was called Xiaoyaosheng, a handsome and elegant young gentleman. Much later still, many years afterward, Shao Wu began playing Honor of Kings. His username was Humeiren. One of his friends laughed at him. “What the fuck? Are you pretending to be a girl so you can bait straight guys?” Shao Wu laughed too. He said nothing.
In Fantasy Westward Journey, Xiaoyaosheng’s romantic counterpart was Humeiren.
Elio’s Notes: Xiaoyaosheng (逍遥生) and Humeiren (狐美人) are character archetypes from the Chinese MMORPG Fantasy Westward Journey (《梦幻西游》). Their names can roughly evoke “Carefree Scholar” and “Fox Beauty.” The source deliberately links the two in this memory, giving Shao Wu’s later username a quiet layer of foreshadowing.
Of course, all of that came later.
Shao Wu kept sneaking glances at the screen. Eventually, he became so absorbed that he forgot to hide what he was doing and simply stared openly. The game did not seem to be the sort where everyone just ran around killing one another. The handsome young man in white walked here and there, stopping every so often as dialogue boxes appeared on the screen.
“Do you need something?” Yang Shuyi suddenly asked.
Shao Wu had been watching so intently that he nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked up and found himself staring straight into Yang Shuyi’s half-lowered eyes. Yang Shuyi was looking down at him, his expression distinctly displeased.
“I… uh,” Shao Wu said awkwardly. “What game is that?”
“Fantasy Westward Journey.” Yang Shuyi was going through puberty, and his voice was slightly hoarse.
“Oh, Fantasy Westward Journey… It looks pretty fun.”
Yang Shuyi said nothing.
Embarrassed, Shao Wu withdrew his gaze. The last thing he remembered noticing about Yang Shuyi that day was his arms. Yang Shuyi had pushed the sleeves of his school jacket above his elbows, exposing tan forearms. Whenever he struck the keyboard hard, the muscles along them tightened, making his arms look long and firm.
Before long, Shao Wu had downloaded several English songs and copied down their lyrics. He got up to leave.
When he walked out, Yang Shuyi, though Shao Wu did not yet know his name, was still playing his game with a look of intense concentration.
That night, Shao Wu dreamed about him. It wasn’t that kind of dream. Yang Shuyi still wore that same cold expression. His uniform sleeves were still pushed above his elbows. He stood at the school gates, surrounded by noisy students. Then, in an indifferent voice, he asked Shao Wu, “What’s your name?”
When Shao Wu woke up, he thought regretfully that he should have asked that boy his name. After all… After all, they went to the same school.
Unfortunately, Shao Wu did not see him again until the beginning of their second year, when the students were divided into the humanities and science tracks.