Wei Zijin's interview series was still being updated.
It had become a habit of his. He watched every one of Wei Zijin's videos at least two or three times.
The video interviewing Wang Fen was pinned prominently at the top. It had already passed six hundred thousand views, making it her best-performing video.
The comments had a little of everything.
Most praised Wei Zijin's beauty, while others said Wang Fen sang wonderfully.
Wang Xiaoliang scrolled past, uninterested.
His finger stopped on another video.
The thumbnail showed Zhao Shengkai and Chen Xiaoying nestled close together, both smiling smugly.
Wang Xiaoliang had only watched this video once.
It was simply too nauseating.
He didn't know whether Wei Zijin had arranged it deliberately or the couple had requested it themselves, hoping to flaunt their "success" and "love" to more people at this special moment in graduation season.
He opened the video, and Zhao Shengkai's triumphant face filled the screen.
"Our future, Xiaoying's and mine? Of course we've already planned it all out."
His smugness was obvious at a glance.
"I've already received an offer from a Fortune Global 500 company. The prospects are excellent. Once we pass probation and settle down, we'll get married."
The camera turned toward Chen Xiaoying. She looked at Zhao Shengkai with adoration and added,
"Shengkai has always been outstanding. I believe he'll definitely make something of himself. I'll work hard too."
What followed was practically a showcase for the two of them.
Zhao Shengkai went on and on about how he had overcome one hurdle after another, beating out countless competitors to secure that precious offer.
Chen Xiaoying kept praising Zhao Shengkai's talent, hard work, and thoughtfulness toward her.
Wei Zijin didn't even need to prompt them. Once they got going, they wouldn't stop showing off their bright future.
Wang Xiaoliang dragged the progress bar to a segment where they discussed married life.
"We're planning to buy a spacious, single-story apartment downtown first. It needs to have a good view."
"Mm-hmm, I like floor-to-ceiling windows."
"As for a car, we'll start with a BMW 5 Series to get around, then upgrade later."
Seeing the certainty on their faces, as though they had their entire future under control, made Wang Xiaoliang uncomfortable.
He remembered the fleeting contempt in Zhao Shengkai's eyes when he had seen him that afternoon.
He also remembered the words in the Book of Fate: if you feel aversion and unease, leave at once.
Keeping his distance was the right thing to do.
Still, he really wouldn't have many opportunities to see them anyway.
He smiled self-mockingly. Perhaps he was just jealous.
He opened the latest video.
At the beginning, the footage shook a little, and Wei Zijin's trembling voice came through.
"How... how much time do you have left?"
A clear female voice answered, her tone unusually calm.
"About three months. That's what the doctor said."
The image steadied, and the camera focused on a young woman.
She was thin, terribly thin. Sitting on the hospital bed, she looked even smaller in her oversized hospital gown.
Her face was pale, almost translucent, but her eyes were bright, and two faint dimples appeared when she smiled.
"Hello, everyone. My name is Nono. I'm an ordinary college girl who's about to graduate-and about to say goodbye to life."
Her introduction instantly froze the atmosphere on the other side of the screen.
She loved laughing and joking around, as though laughter came naturally to her. Yet hearing her tell her story only made people want to cry.
"In my final year of high school, I pushed myself so hard. I slept only four hours a day, and all I thought about was practice questions and exams. Back then, I thought getting into a good university would make my life complete."
She smiled, her eyes shining.
"Back then, I also had a crush on the boy who sat beside me. He was really good at basketball, and he had these little pointed canine teeth that showed when he smiled. My biggest dream was to get into the same university as him, then tell him how I felt."
"In the end, I got in, but he didn't. We went to different cities."
"Once I started university, there was nobody to keep me in line, so I completely let myself go. Especially in my first year. Every day, I ate and drank to my heart's content and stayed up binge-watching all sorts of classic shows, making up for everything I'd missed while preparing for the entrance exams. In six months, I went from forty-five kilos to almost seventy."
In the video, she showed a photo from that time. She was round and plump, smiling without a care in the world.
"Then, of course, I started losing weight. Girls all want to look pretty. And I wanted a relationship even more. My methods were extreme: dieting, weight-loss pills, making myself throw up... I tried everything. They worked really well. I got thin again, even thinner than before."
She pointed at herself as she was now and smiled self-mockingly.
"After that, my health started going wrong. At first, it was just stomach pain. Then... they found it."
She didn't say what the illness was, but everyone understood.
She recounted it all calmly, as though telling someone else's story.
"I've thought about a lot of things while lying in this hospital bed. I see my classmates posting graduation photos, farewell dinners, and job offers on their feeds."
"Most of them are complaining. They don't want to go back to their hometowns, jobs are hard to find, their workplaces are too far away, the pay isn't high enough, they'll have to be long-distance with their college sweethearts, or they'll break up after graduation... all kinds of worries."
Her voice grew quieter, and a film of tears clouded her sparkling eyes.
"I'm so envious of them."
"I envy them for still being able to have worries."
"They're just moving from one starting point to another. But I can already see the end of my life, perfectly clearly."
Wang Xiaoliang's grip on his phone tightened unconsciously.
Half a bowl of instant noodles, left over from dinner, still sat on the table in front of him.
At that moment, the bowl seemed especially glaring.
In the video, Nono took a deep breath and smiled again.
"But I've come to terms with it. I only have this much time left anyway. Crying won't help, so I might as well be happy."
"What do you love most in life?" Wei Zijin asked cautiously.
"I love the breeze on summer evenings, freshly baked egg tarts, the feeling of that first sip of ice-cold cola, and the fat cat downstairs called Big Orange."
"I love my friends. They take turns telling me jokes to cheer me up, but every one of them ends up crying."
As she laughed, tears suddenly began falling without warning.
"And I love... my mom and dad..."
At that, she could no longer hold herself together.
The girl who had kept smiling so bravely covered her face and broke into sobs.
It was a collapse she had held back for far, far too long. Her sobs were filled with reluctance to let go, guilt, and despair.
"I'm so sorry to them... they raised me all these years... and I haven't had the chance to do anything for them yet..."
The camera trembled a little. Only faint sobbing could be heard.
Wang Xiaoliang's heart ached for this girl, and even more for Wei Zijin behind the camera.
She must have been crying too.
A few seconds later, the video returned to Nono's face.
Nono raised her head. Her eyes were red and swollen, but she forced a smile.
"Sorry. I lost control."
"But getting it all out feels so much better."
She looked into the camera and said sincerely,
"Thank you, Zijin. Thank you for giving me this chance, and thank you for agreeing to let me be on your show."
Wei Zijin appeared at the edge of the frame. She shook her head and handed over a tissue.
"Is there anything else... you regret most?" Wei Zijin's voice was thick and nasal.
Nono took the tissue, wiped her tears, and thought for a moment. Then she began counting earnestly on her fingers.
"First, what I just mentioned: I don't have time to properly repay my mom and dad. That's my biggest regret."
"Second, I've never had a real relationship. See, nothing came of my crush. Then I got fat, and nobody pursued me. Once I got thin... I got sick. I still haven't experienced what it feels like to be cherished by someone."
At that, she even stuck out her tongue playfully.
"Third..."
She leaned toward the camera and lowered her voice, a mysterious, mischievous smile on her face.
"Well... I want to have a little adult exercise with someone I truly like."
The video, steeped in sadness and death, suddenly took a turn here, revealing the most primal, vibrant spark of life in a young woman.
At the end of the video, Nono waved brightly at the camera.
"If you're watching this and worrying about something, stop worrying. As long as you can still breathe, still eat, and still see tomorrow's sun, nothing is that big a deal."
"Live well for me."
The video ended.
The screen darkened, reflecting Wang Xiaoliang's slightly dazed face.
He opened the comments beneath the video.
Only a few hours after it had been posted, the comments and likes had already exploded.
The comments section had become a sea of tears.
"Girl, I'm a six-foot guy, and I'm crying like a fucking idiot in my dorm."
"I've been miserable because I failed the graduate entrance exam. After watching this, I've decided to look for work tomorrow. You're right. It's not that big a deal."
"I just fought with my boyfriend over something trivial. Now all I want is to go hug him right away."
"Hang in there, Nono! There will be a miracle!"
"I've already booked a flight home. I don't want to wait anymore. I want to see them right now."
Wei Zijin's follower count was also soaring visibly. It soon passed ten thousand and kept climbing at a furious pace.
The video had gone viral.
Wang Xiaoliang silently liked the video, then hit share.
Looking at the warm, sorrowful, empowering words in the comments, he held his finger above the screen for a long time.
Finally, he typed a line into the comment box, one word at a time.
"Nono, tell the person you like how you feel! Maybe he likes you too."
Before you continue