Gu Yuanting’s gaze drifted unfocused toward the darkness outside the window. It was only when he raised the champagne glass again that he realized it was empty—he had unknowingly finished the entire drink.

He placed the empty glass on the windowsill. As he stood up, his movement nudged the glass, and it clinked and rolled off the edge, landing silently on the thick, sound-absorbing Persian carpet. It rolled a short distance across the empty dark room before coming to a slow stop.

Gu Yuanting glanced at the champagne glass on the carpet. His gaze skimmed over it blankly, and he didn’t bother picking it up.

He went to the bathroom to wash his face, then returned to the room and turned on the light. The switch gave a loud, jarring click in the silence.

The entire room instantly lit up. The stark white light stung his eyes, which had grown used to the darkness.

Under the bright light, the room was spacious.

And completely empty.

Gu Yuanting’s hand was still on the light switch. His index finger trembled slightly. He turned the light off again.

Tomorrow, he had many things to do—many people to meet, many matters to handle, problems to solve, crises to manage. Tomorrow would be even busier than today.

He lay on the bed and closed his eyes.

Time trickled by in the silence. Before he knew it, night had fully fallen in D Country.

Suddenly, Gu Yuanting sat up. He grabbed his phone, unlocked it, opened WeChat, tapped the pinned chat at the top, opened the message box, hit the + icon, and tapped on the video call option. A choice appeared: video call or voice call.

His thumb hovered over the video call button—paused there.

For a long time.

In the end, he didn’t make the call. Instead, he pressed the home button, exited the screen, and threw the phone aside. It landed on the bed with a muffled thud.

Gu Yuanting sat quietly in the dark.

After a while, he reached for the phone again and reopened the WeChat chat window. His thumb hovered over the video call button once more, unmoving.

The top half of the chat still showed the latest messages. He scrolled up:

[Yesterday, 3:13 PM]
My Ranran: Did you land yet?

[Yesterday, 4:20 PM]
Him: Yeah.
My Ranran: Have you arrived at the company apartment?

[Yesterday, 5:11 PM]
Him: I’m here.

My Ranran: Rest well and get some good sleep to adjust to the time difference. Good luck at work tomorrow!
[Hugging bunny rubbing cheeks sticker]

[Yesterday, 6:23 PM]
Him: Mm.

My Ranran: It’s already past midnight here. I’m super sleepy—heading to bed now. You should rest soon too. Good night. [Hugging bunny rubbing cheeks sticker]

He hadn’t replied again.

Gu Yuanting stared at that little bunny emoji, his thumb gently brushing over it. He touched it lightly, staring at the screen for a long time.

Time passed quietly. Morning light began to peek in.

Gu Yuanting hadn’t slept a wink all night.

---

Same day, A City, C Country.

After finishing up at the shop that night, Su Yiran contacted the marketing company’s planner. Seeing that it was already 9 p.m., he figured Ting-ge had landed by now and sent him a WeChat message.

Accounting for the time difference, it should’ve been around 3 p.m. in D Country.

Gu Yuanting hadn’t replied yet, so Su Yiran browsed Weibo and watched TV while waiting for the paid trending topic to go live.

The marketing company had agreed to push his topic onto the hot search list between midnight and 6 a.m.—a wide time slot that took advantage of the “late-night snack scrolling” crowd, while also being the most cost-effective.

Since Su Yiran had gotten up early that morning to take Ting-ge to the airport, he was now incredibly sleepy. His eyelids were drooping as he fought to stay awake past midnight.

Around 12:00 a.m., he refreshed Weibo and saw his topic had already appeared at the very bottom of the “Real-Time Rising Hot Topics” list. It was climbing. The marketing company was clearly working as planned.

He and Ting-ge exchanged a few messages. Ting-ge, likely exhausted from the flight and the move into the company apartment, replied slowly and briefly. Su Yiran didn’t mind—he knew the man must be overwhelmed.

Too tired to keep watching the rankings climb, Su Yiran told Ting-ge good night, reminded him to rest, then turned off the TV, went to bed, and instantly fell into a deep sleep.

---

The next morning, almost 8 a.m.

Su Yiran woke up and groaned. He had meant to get up at 5:30 a.m. to check the hot search results—but had apparently silenced the alarm in his sleep.

He calculated the time in D Country. It should still be deep night there, so Ting-ge was likely asleep.

Still, Su Yiran grabbed his phone and opened Weibo to see how the hot search had performed overnight.

Right away, on the “Discover” page, he saw it:

• #DirtyDirtyBun# — Rank 9
  
• #YiTingDesserts# — Rank 27
  
• #SoyMilkBoxCake# — Rank 34
  

What? He had only paid for low-tier placements between ranks 30 to 40. Did the marketing company push it too hard?

Su Yiran tapped into the #DirtyDirtyBun tag and read the trending posts:

【FashionKiki】#DirtyDirtyBun# Omg, I thought it was a new designer handbag or something. Clicked in excited—turns out it’s food. 😂

This one had the most likes and comments. Below were hundreds of replies like “same!” and “+1.”

Other popular posts:

【XieXie】It’s bread? What a weird name. Dirty bread?? Who came up with that? #DirtyDirtyBun#

【DaBaiYang】#DirtyDirtyBun# #YiTingDesserts# #SoyMilkBoxCake# Aaaahhh my handsome streamer made it to trending! Go go go! Let’s hype him up, sisters!!

【CatDreamer2024】#DirtyDirtyBun# What a strange trending tag… and why did I click it without hesitation…

【DogHeadCrusher】#DirtyDirtyBun# I know this one! Remember that billionaire streamer who casually used 10 million purple oil pears? This is his shop’s upcoming new product! #YiTingDesserts#

【WoodenFish】#DirtyDirtyBun# #YiTingDesserts# #SoyMilkBoxCake# OMG I saw Yiyi on trending again! Best boy ever!! @YiTingDesserts

【UserDeleted】#DirtyDirtyBun# #YiTingDesserts# Only a rich guy would buy such an awkward trending spot…

【5:19AM】#DirtyDirtyBun# It does look kinda dirty in the pics, but whatever. Looks like just chocolate and cocoa powder? Why is this even trending…

【FoodieC】#SoyMilkBoxCake# I’ve tried this! Super insanely delicious!!! Can’t wait for the new product! #DirtyDirtyBun#

After scrolling through more posts, Su Yiran understood.

The marketing company had pushed three tags up the ranks, and the odd name “Dirty Dirty Bun” caught people’s curiosity. Tons of clicks drove the tag higher, which drew even more attention in a positive feedback loop.

Meanwhile, influencers who already knew about his shop helped boost the other two hashtags. Regular customers and livestream viewers who saw the trend also chimed in, hyping the brand to newcomers.

The effect had far exceeded expectations. Su Yiran was thrilled.

Still, he knew the morning traffic was light. As the day went on and new content emerged, the tags would drop off unless he followed up aggressively.

He had to seize this moment.

He decided to immediately advance his planned promotions—rolling out cross-platform marketing on Weibo, mainstream websites, WeChat official accounts, local forums, and more. The store itself also needed urgent staffing. With just a few employees, they’d be overwhelmed soon—even with demand, you need hands to make money.

The entire day, Su Yiran was busy with this. He was no longer down or low-spirited like the day before when Ting-ge had just left. He was excited and driven—he’d almost forgotten about Gu Yuanting entirely.

---

D Country

Gu Yuanting hadn’t drawn the curtains. Morning light streamed through the glass.

When he stirred slightly and fully woke up, he realized his body was stiff. The room was already brightly lit.

It was 6 a.m.

He put down the phone and accepted that a new day had begun.

He got up alone. Washed up alone. Got dressed and tied his tie—alone.

Once he stepped outside, he would face many people. People with many faces.

Another busy day passed. He scored several wins.

He felt no joy, no exhaustion. This was normal. This was his life.

But when everything ended, when he closed his door at night and returned to his room—

That unbearable hollowness rushed in again.

The entire room felt empty.

Even the bed felt cold and void.

Lying in bed, Gu Yuanting stared at the dark ceiling. His right hand unconsciously rubbed the empty side of the bed.

His phone, the one he used for his contacts back in China, lay by his pillow. It had remained silent all day.

Suddenly, Gu Yuanting got out of bed to fetch a cigarette.

He sat on the sofa, cigarette between his lips, and lit it. The lighter’s flame flickered out. The cigarette glowed red in the dark.

Then, as if remembering something, he pulled it from his lips and held it between his fingers, slumping against the sofa back. Annoyed and restless, he tossed the lighter aside.

Time passed slowly. The cigarette’s ember flickered as it burned down toward his fingers.

Suddenly, his phone buzzed. A WeChat notification chime.

Gu Yuanting jumped to his feet. The lit cigarette burned his finger. He flung it aside and hurried to the bed, grabbed his phone, unlocked it, opened WeChat.

【Xiao Zhu】President Gu, I’ve arrived in D Country. Just got to the hotel—will meet you soon.

Here’s the information you requested:
[File] [File] [File]

Gu Yuanting: “……”

_

Author’s Note:
Xiao Zhu: (Suddenly shivered—why does it feel like something bad is coming? Hugging myself and trembling…)