Four days later, Sun Fang was beginning to resemble an actual person again. Sure, he was still spending most of his days watching brain-melting dramas on TV, and he was eating lots and lots of chips and popcorn and candy, and drinking way more soda than was healthy, and also so much ice cream. So. Much. (But the emptiness he’d half-feared would sink into his bones and never leave was starting to make way for actual emotions again, and he called that progress.)
He yawned as the drama’s hero fell down a long, long flight of stairs, kicked down his sect’s mountain. Sun Fang’s were half-mast, his hand half-heartedly raised to cover his mouth. There was a bowl of popcorn on his lap, partly eaten.
The drama’s hero had been betrayed by the shijie he loved, tossed aside for a more powerful cultivator. It was an idol drama, but the acting was actually pretty good. Sun Fang had already watched fifteen episodes of this drama (there were ninety-two in total) and he found hatred boiling in his gut when thinking of that treacherous shijie.
Wang Fenqian was the hero! The protagonist! He was destined for greatness! Better yet, he didn’t even have a cheat! He was just, really, really hardworking and good at making connections with people (it even kind of veered into manipulation territory, but Sun Fang was cool with that) and was really fucking good at budgeting. Sure, he didn’t have a powerful background, but the budget they kept showing was fucking beautiful! That shijie was never going to do better than Wang Fenqian!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The protagonist rolled to a stop at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the sky with a heartbreaking gaze. Then he pushed himself up and limped off into the woods surrounding the mountain, determination beginning to fill him as the music swell and—the episode ended.
”Aww,” pouting, Sun Fang picked up the remote control and skipped right passed the credits, starting the next episode right away. The opening credits instantly began rolling, a slow music rising in intensity, with hand-drawn pictures of the characters flashing across the screen.
Ivy was sitting by Sun Fang’s feet, having moved the coffee-table in order to make room for boxes and piles of stuff. It was diligently packing things away, and would occasionally look up at him as if to check that he was alright. Sun Fang smiled at Ivy when it looked up now, his eyes softening. He nodded to the screen, ”Have you been watching?”
Ivy hummed a confirmation, and Sun Fang smiled wider, leaning forwards as he said, ”Fenqian is so pretty, don’t you agree?”
”He is aesthetically pleasing, yes,” Ivy said. Sun Fang grinned, scooting forward. He nudged his foot against Ivy’s shoulder, and Ivy’s eyes flickered to the bare skin, and then back up to his eyes. ”You didn’t like this actor’s last role,” it noted.
Sun Fang laughed, a somewhat weak sound. But he was pleased enough to just find out that he could still laugh, that he hadn’t shattered irreparably. He waved Ivy’s words away and said, ”He was a really poor fit for it, and he absolutely wasn’t believable in the least. But he must have been taking lessons, because he’s much better now. And he is pretty and I’m weak to beauty, don’t you know, Ivy?”
”I am aware,” said Ivy dryly. Sun Fang’s lips twitched into a smile and he ducked his head as warmth coursed through him. Ivy was just… the best.
No doubt.
The opening song ended, and Sun Fang’s focus returned to the screen. He scooted back on the chair again, grabbing a fistful of popcorn and plopping them in his mouth, crunching down on them instantly. Wang Fenqian was now walking through the forest, limping from his injuries, and being hunted by bandits. Bandits who revealed in some painful exposition conveyed through talking suspiciously loudly with each other that they had been hired by somebody from Fenqian’s sect. Sun Fang wondered if it was the shijie, or the man the shijie had abandoned Fenqian for.
When Fenqian was saved by a mysterious savior, who had long, luscious hair in a high ponytail and a mask over the lower half of his face. The way the mysterious stranger looked at Fenqian… the intensity… Sun Fang was sure there must be history there!
He spent another two hours watching the show, but eventually his bladder defeated him. And to think, he was felled by a part of his own body. The betrayal. The unfairness. The utter treachery. Shaking his head a little, he stood from his seat and waved off Ivy when it seemed to want to follow him. ”Just going to the toilet,” he said, keeping his mouth shut on the and not going to cry words that almost made their way out.
Because he wasn’t. Going to cry, that was.
Taking a deep breath, he paused the show before he left. In the hallway, he stopped for a moment, staring at the other end. More and more things were getting packed away, but the furniture at large would be left behind. They still owned this place, after all. It wasn’t like they planned to never return.
Sun Fang trailed a hand on the green wallpaper as he walked to the bathroom. He felt the bumps and bruises on the wall; the previous owners had been very good at breaking things. In his mind, he replayed the moment when the handsome and mysterious man saved Fenqian from those bandits.
”Really too pretty,” he muttered to himself, picturing Fenqian’s face. Then he imagined the way Fenqian and the mysterious stranger had been looking at each other. It must have been a case of love at first sight, he decided.
Nodding, he hooked his lips into a smile and walked into the bathroom. As soon as his bladder freed him from its incessant cries for attention, he returned to the living room and unpaused the episode. Ivy looked at him as he sat down on the armchair, and Sun Fang ruffled its hair. The narrowed-eyed glare he got in response was pure perfection.
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