Early that morning, Tao Liangliang sat on a stone stool in the courtyard, his messy hair looking like a chicken's nest, smoking and chatting with Wang Yan and Little Northeast.
Tao Liangliang let out a huge yawn. "You really got the girl, Brother Yan. Even now, it feels like a dream when I think about it. How long has it even been? You're already on a completely different level from us, yet you're still willing to squeeze into a basement with us."
Wang Yan smiled. "The main thing is to let you see how I made my way out step by step. That way, the joy of my success doubles. After all, you knew how poor I was when I first came here, so you can understand the hardships involved.
Other people can't. All they see is my success. Even if they hear about how I got started, they'll come up with all kinds of reasons to prove that my success was inevitable. What's the point of something that fake?"
Tao Liangliang took a drag wrong and broke into a harsh coughing fit. "Brother Yan, even if you're right, that kind of hurt me."
Little Northeast waved it off without concern. "That just means your cultivation isn't deep enough. What's there to be hurt about? You perform in bars and busk in underground passageways all day long—what are you getting hurt over? What, you think you can compare yourself to Brother Yan?"
"What, so you're saying you're not jealous?" Tao Liangliang shot back without ceremony.
But Little Northeast did not continue arguing. He merely let out a long, quiet sigh. "I think I've finally figured it out lately. This world is just one big play. Some people are destined to stand under the lights, at the center of the crowd.