Chapter 114: Side Story 14 (The End)

The hotpot dinner had come to an end, and as they stepped outside, several of them could barely control their own legs.

Xie Lan was half-drunk, leaning his hand on Dou Sheng’s shoulder as he stood by the roadside, letting the wind blow over him. His phone was buzzing incessantly with messages.

Herring (Yu Fei): Safe travels to you both, report in once you land.

Latte Coffee (Dai You): See you in England for the exchange program next year.

Gouzi Wangwang (Wang Gou): Keep an eye on your belongings.

Croissant (Mao Lengxue): Stay safe, definitely stay safe.

Cherries (Che Ziming): Just so you know, it’s easy to turn “gay” in the UK, you two be careful… oh wait, never mind, you don’t need to be careful anymore.

Chen Small-Boat (Chen Ge): Crystal and I will visit you around Christmas; I’m still saving up money.

Xie Lan scrolled through the group chat with blurry eyes, replied with a “cat-OK” sticker, and exited. Then he received messages from Zhao Wenying in the family group—two full screens of nagging instructions. As Xie Lan looked at them, the characters began to fly, dancing wildly on the screen until he nearly collapsed onto Dou Sheng’s shoulder from dizziness.

He rubbed his eyes and tried to force himself into lucidity to reply, but as soon as he typed a few characters, Dou Sheng snatched the phone away.

Dou Sheng pressed the voice message button. “Alright, Mom, we got it. Xie Lan is drunk and sleeping on me.”

Xie Lan’s eyes widened, becoming even more out of focus. “How can you speak ill of me to Auntie Zhao?!”

Dou Sheng pressed Xie Lan’s head back onto his shoulder to coax him. “I didn’t, I didn’t. Your tongue is so heavy from the alcohol, just rest.”

He Xiu and Ye Si had called a designated driver and left. Zhong Chen lowered his head to call a taxi while Jian Zixing waited beside him. Jian Zixing was also quite drunk, his dark eyes misty. After a moment, he looked over at Xie Lan.

With a shared intuition, Xie Lan let go of Dou Sheng. Sure enough, Jian Zixing walked over and opened his arms. “Lan Lan, come here for a hug.”

Xie Lan embraced him. Jian Zixing rested his chin on his shoulder and whispered through the scent of alcohol, “If things with your dad get unpleasant, come back anytime. You and Douzi earn so much money anyway, you don’t need to care about a degree.”

Xie Lan said okay and rubbed his friend’s back. “Visit when you have time.”

Jian Zixing hummed. “Be safe.”

Once all their friends had left, only Xie Lan and Dou Sheng remained by the road. Every gathering was like this: the noise, the dispersal, everything returning to silence, leaving only the two of them.

Dou Sheng put his arm around Xie Lan’s shoulder. “Let’s go too. We’ll go upstairs to grab the luggage; the airport shuttle is almost here.”

“Mm.”

Xie Lan followed Dou Sheng toward the entrance of the residential complex. After a few steps, he couldn’t help but look back. In the hazy night, the bell tower of T University faced him from afar. The solemn architecture required little illumination to remain an eternal light beneath the night sky.

“T-University,” Xie Lan whispered instinctively.

His phone vibrated again. It was a private message from Zhao Wenying.

– Lan Lan, once you’re back in London, give my regards to Langjing.

Xie Lan’s gaze suddenly turned misty. He cleared his throat and sent a voice message back.

“Okay, Auntie Zhao, I definitely will.”

He and Dou Sheng walked home hand-in-hand, ignoring the exploding notifications on Weibo and Bilibili.

• Hello???
• Where are you two?
• What’s the date today??
• Did you forget your Bilibili password again?!
• Flying out at midnight, right? Where’s the livestream?
• Damn it, I really won’t get a 10-million follower livestream?
• Where is the promised JK-Lan?
• Your coins are GONE.

Xie Lan and Dou Sheng both tacitly agreed not to look at their phones. The apartment was already empty. Four massive checked suitcases stood on the floor, alongside two backpacks and Xie Lan’s violin case.

“Goodbye, T-University.”

“Bye-bye.”

Two sets of keys were left stacked on the shoe cabinet. Carrying their heavy luggage, they officially bid farewell to the small rental they had lived in for four years and to T University.

---

2:30 AM.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Flight CAXXXX from Beijing to London is now boarding.”

Xie Lan opened Bilibili the moment he sat down on the plane. “It should have passed review by now, right? My app is about to explode.”

“Probably. It’s been seven or eight hours since we posted it before dinner.” Dou Sheng fastened Xie Lan’s seatbelt and gave a muffled laugh. “It’s really going to explode after it passes review.”

Xie Lan shot him a glare. Dou Sheng immediately looked away with a smile and pulled out his own phone. His long fingers tapped on the “Little TV” fan app and dragged down to refresh.

“Eh, the review just cleared. What a coincidence.”

The UP you follow, @XieLan_em, just submitted a video.

《10-Million Follower Benefit | 18-Hour Limited JK-Lan | Deleting Upon Landing in London》

Despite having locked himself in a room and forced himself to watch the video ten times until he reached a state of mental numbness, Xie Lan still instantly pulled out his noise-canceling earplugs the moment he heard Dou Sheng’s sharp intake of breath.

“I’m sleeping. No matter what the chat says, do not poke me.” He decisively plugged his ears, pulled down his eye mask, and turned his head away with his arms crossed—acting like a righteous ostrich with his forehead against the cabin wall.

“Understood.”

Dou Sheng nodded, put on his headphones, and started enjoying the video with a mysterious smile.

The one-minute short film was Xie Lan’s final stand. No livestream, no live reaction—even knowing it would be recorded and redistributed, he firmly chose a “limited 24-hour broadcast.”

The BGM was a violin solo he wrote in his sophomore year. The style was fresh and gorgeous, with many rhythmic “hit-points” that became the editing cues for the video.

It opened on a black screen. A spotlight hit a deep black curtain, in front of which stood a youth with a cool expression.

First Outfit: Late Spring.

A pale pink collared shirt, a pink-purple small-plaid pleated skirt, and a matching diagonal-striped tie. The camera stayed below the knees; the youth’s legs were fair and slender, his waist so thin it could be circled by hands, looking perfectly natural. The tip of the tie swayed against the skirt, an indescribable beauty. Xie Lan tilted his chin slightly at the camera. At the music’s cue, he suddenly flared the skirt to one side.

The camera suddenly lost focus, wobbling as it zoomed in until it found focus again on a high-definition close-up of his face. The moment it focused, the indifferent youth gave the camera a “business-fake” smile, then instantly switched to the next outfit on the beat.

The bullet comments were already rolling in so fast that Dou Sheng had to limit the on-screen count.

• HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP HOLY CRAP
• Pink JK, I’ve made a profit
• The skirt flare!
• Damn, this is a massive win!!
• Man, Lan-zai really is much more slender than Douzi
• Props for not wearing a wig!
• I officially announce my love for short-haired JK

Second Outfit: Corridor of Time.

A white cropped shirt with a row of buttons, paired with a blue-green pleated skirt. The high waist further accentuated his thin waist and long legs. Xie Lan walked from one side of the frame to the other; in the next frame, a DSLR camera appeared in his hand. He skillfully adjusted the focus and aperture, then raised the camera toward the lens.

A click sounded, followed by a dazzling white flash. Next outfit.

Third Outfit: The Seine.

A white wave-collar shirt with a fallen-leaf brown mixed-plaid pleated skirt, tied with a plump, rounded bow at the collar. A violin, radiating a honeyed luster, rested by his leg. Xie Lan followed the rhythm, bringing the violin to his neck and drawing the bow. The live sound blended harmoniously with the BGM. Highlighters had been applied to his collarbones, which shimmered under the camera alongside the violin. A gust of wind blew, sending the skirt flying, and the youth’s lush black hair brushed against his ear. While the music and the skirt were composed, the tip of his ear peeking through the hair was flushed a deep red.

• RIP A-WEI (I’m dead)!!!!
• Where can I marry a wife like this!
• Do you not have your own wife? Why are you eyeing mine?
• JK and Violin, don’t know where to look, beautiful together!
• The edges of the violin are glowing omg
• Lan-zai’s collarbones are glowing omg
• Hinting that the violin is his true form!!!

Xie Lan wore this outfit the longest; the violin made him much more comfortable. He played elegantly in profile until the final twelve seconds of the video.

With a rest in the music, the frame gave a sharp jolt. In the next frame, a tall, handsome figure in a black suit suddenly appeared behind him. A single button was fastened, causing the fabric to cinch perfectly at the waistline. The trousers draped low-key, and the straight, long legs exuded masculine tension.

Dou Sheng curled his lips into a light smile at the camera, embracing Xie Lan from behind and taking hold of the hand that held the bow.

• AAAAAAAAH!
• What a god-tier treat!
• A duo? Is it a duo!
• AAAH Douzi is going full ‘Alpha’ from the front!
• Husband, allow me to call you husband for one second!
• Husband! Wife! Hello! I’m going crazy hahaha

The screen was plastered with comments as the BGM reached another rest—two beats of silence before the climax. Suddenly, Dou Sheng’s voice rang out in the headphones, sounding as if he were pressing his lips against the ear. It was the magnetic voice of a young man, matured from the youth of years past.

“One.”

“Two.”

Then he guided Xie Lan’s hand to strike the bow. The live performance and BGM exploded simultaneously, pushing the gorgeous, romantic notes to their peak.

Then, a pause.

Dou Sheng let go of Xie Lan’s hand and reached toward the lens. Xie Lan’s gaze followed the guidance of his arm, looking straight into the camera. With a crisp snap of his fingers, a golden, withered plane tree leaf appeared between Dou Sheng’s fingers.

The lens refocused. The features of the two boys, the sexy black suit, and the long-awaited JK uniform all blurred away. Only that tiny, golden leaf became increasingly clear. Its veins were dense, its edges serrated, its texture thin but resilient, with a slender yet spirited stem.

“Phew—”

Dou Sheng held the leaf before his eyes and gave a soft blow. In the frame, the leaf spiraled toward the camera until it covered the lens completely.

One minute, exactly.

Screen black.

---

In the dead of night, this video appeared silently yet slaughtered the charts with extreme madness. Views grew explosively; even Dou Sheng, who was used to viral data, felt his scalp tingle looking at the surging numbers.

“Finished?” Xie Lan, his head still turned away and muffled under the eye mask, asked irritably. “How’s the data?”

“I’d call it a cosmic disaster.” Dou Sheng reached out and removed one of his earplugs. “I can only say it’s a catastrophe more tragic than you expected.”

“Hmph.”

Xie Lan’s ears turned red. He waved a hand in the air—but since he was wearing an eye mask, his intuition failed and he swiped at empty air.

Dou Sheng proactively moved his hand closer, letting Xie Lan grab the earplug to put it back in.

“I told you we can’t limit it to 24 hours. 10 hours max. We delete it when we transfer flights.” Xie Lan mumbled, rolling over to try and sleep again. “Don’t mention this video to me again. When the 24 hours are up, log into my account and delete it. Out of sight, out of mind.”

“As you command, Master,” Dou Sheng said with a beaming smile. “Your AI boyfriend Douzi has received the command. Scheduled to auto-delete this incredibly cute video in 23 hours and 55 minutes.”

Xie Lan snorted and ignored him. A flight attendant came by to remind them about airplane mode, and Dou Sheng whispered, “Right away.”

He glanced at Xie Lan, who was securely masked, and quickly gave the video a “one-click triple,” shared it to his feed, and started a background cache of the ultra-clear 4K version. A one-minute video cached very quickly. By the time the attendant walked to the back and returned, Dou Sheng had already tucked his phone away.

The connection to the world was severed. The views soaring toward millions and tens of millions, the spine-tingling comments and coins, the page shares… until they got off the plane, they would see none of it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the crew members of DS Airlines have the pleasure of welcoming you aboard. We will be taking off in a few minutes. Hope you enjoy a pleasant flight.”

The plane dragged its massive white wings along the runway, accelerating. The turbines swirled massive amounts of air, and the engines outside the cabin raised a solemn roar.

The moment they left the ground, Xie Lan, who appeared to be fast asleep, secretly lifted his eye mask. He stole a glance at Dou Sheng, who was resting with his eyes closed while holding Xie Lan’s hand, and then looked out the small window.

In late September, the early autumn sky of the capital was high and clear. Even at midnight, there was a brilliant sea of stars.

He had returned to his motherland on a bright, crisp spring day years ago, and now he was leaving temporarily on a refreshing autumn night.

But this time, he had the person he loved by his side.

The person he loved would make even that foggy city of London appear bright and vivid.

---

Author’s Note:

Lan-Egg: Dou-Egg is my most important egg.

Dou-Egg: Mm. Lan-Lan is too. Always.

(The End)