The Wedding

"Xiu'er? Xiu'er?" Yaxiu, who was slumped over the dining table, was nudged twice. With a couple of groans, he rubbed his eyes and sat up, seeing two familiar young men sitting beside him. The one on the left wasn't bad-looking, but he was disheveled and plainly dressed—an obvious shut-in otaku at first glance. The one on the right, on the other hand, was dressed decently enough, yet heavy dark circles ringed his eyes, and a distinct scar ran across his neck, giving him a somewhat terrifying air. "It's only been a few years since graduation, and a little Tsingtao knocks you flat out, Xiu'er?" The shut-in was caught between laughter and tears. "If you can't hold your liquor, go sit at the kids' table!" "Xiu'er pulled an all-nighter at work yesterday, worked all day today, and rushed straight over right after clocking out. It's totally normal for him to doze off from exhaustion," Dark Circles said. "If you really can't keep your eyes open, Xiu'er, take a nap first. We'll wake you up when it's time for toasts." As consciousness gradually returned to his body, like crust in his eyes and wax in his ears suddenly melting away, vivid colors and clamorous noise inundated Yaxiu's senses all at once. He was in a wedding banquet hall, surrounded mostly by guests he didn't recognize. He remembered now. Today was a college classmate's wedding. After all, this was the first time he'd heard of a peer getting married; even though he had just survived a living hell of day-and-night overtime, Yaxiu had hurried over without hesitation. He wasn't particularly close with today's stars, merely wishing to witness a peer step into a new chapter of life and to catch up with his best friends. As it turned out, he had been so exhausted that a mere sip of beer had put him right to sleep. Yaxiu patted his cheeks. Strange. He had clearly downed four pots of coffee while working overtime last night, so why was he still so sleepy? No more coffee next time. He looked at the two men beside him, feeling a slight pang of nostalgia. "Long time no see." The shut-in was Suozai, the one with dark circles was Lezi, and Yaxiu himself was called Xiu'er by them. They had been roommates for four years in college. Every semester, each of them would scramble to scrape together cash, and then go backpacking on a shoestring during summer and winter breaks—chased by dogs, mugged by thieves. Though they hadn't stayed in much contact since graduation, the moment they reunited, all those goofy, boneheaded memories came flooding back. "Xiu'er got into a big tech firm to rake in the big bucks, so of course you look down on us down-and-out buddies. Understandable, totally understandable." Suozai put on a solemn face. "Actually, I also thought about asking you out for a meal, but I was afraid you'd think I was hitting you up for a loan..." "It's just that you're too hard to pin down, Xiu'er," Lezi sighed. "I passed by Shenhai several times and tried to get together with you, but you always said you were busy. Aren't you pushing yourself way too hard? I just heard someone at your company dropped dead from overwork a couple days ago. What was his name again..." "I remember that news too," Suozai said. "Seemed to be called Muma... Who has such a weird name?" "Oh, we usually go by code names at work, so there are a lot of strange names." Yaxiu didn't think twice about it, uttering the words almost reflexively. "Xiu'er, you can never make all the money in the world," Lezi said earnestly. "If it's too much, change jobs. I'm terrified that one day I'll see the news that you suddenly dropped dead." "Yeah, yeah, yeah. The house belongs to the landlord, your life belongs to the boss, but your body is your own," Suozai chimed in. "If worst comes to worst, Xiu'er, just quit on the spot without a backup plan. I'll play games and support you for a couple years!" "No way!" Yaxiu shook his head firmly. "I was just promoted to supervisor of operations, and I'm even leading a major project team. Sure, things have been crazy busy lately, but once I push through it, I'll have everything. Look at the lead planner for our company's other smash-hit game—the same age as us! Not long ago, he was rewarded with a villa in Abyss City..." Lezi sighed. "As long as you know what you're doing." Yaxiu disliked having others worry about him, so he steered the topic away from himself. "What about you two? How've things been lately?" "My routine has been super consistent: sleep at ten, wake up at six," Suozai said. "Though you could also say sleep at 10 a.m. and wake up at 18:00. Then eat takeout, play games, giving it my all every single day just to scrape by until tomorrow." "I've acted in a few movies," Lezi chuckled. "Though none of them have been released." Yaxiu knew Suozai had been gaming ever since graduation—a game streamer, apparently. But Lezi becoming an actor came as a bit of a surprise. "What roles did you play? What movies? Once they come out, I'll definitely watch them." "You'd better just catch up on sleep," Lezi said, rubbing his dark circles. "I played an undercover agent, a wicked young noble, and a teacher. As for which movies... I'd rather you watch them because you're interested in the film, not waste ninety minutes just for my sake." "By the way, Xiu'er, that new game your company put out recently is insane," Suozai said. "It's topped the best-seller charts for months in a row. I've already poured tens of thousands into it. When's the next version event dropping? What sorcery faction is the new operator? Are there any limited operator reruns?" Yaxiu said helplessly, "Whatever can be revealed, we've already teased in the PVs. Whatever can't is confidential." "It's not like I'd go blabbing it to anyone!" "How about this: got any porn sites?" "Yeah, why?" "Go browse porn to pass the time. I don't feel like answering your questions." Just as Suozai furiously locked Yaxiu in an armbar, the banquet hall suddenly dimmed. The wedding had finally begun. Today's bride was their college class monitor. Led in by the hand by her father, every light bore down on her. Perhaps because he had drunk too much coffee, Yaxiu couldn't even remember the monitor's name, but watching her tonight in her wedding gown, he thought that this might be the most beautiful moment of her life. The ceremony itself was unremarkable, the master of ceremonies mediocre at best, so Yaxiu and his friends could only offer polite applause. What was worth noting, however, was that during the vows, while the groom answered with full resonance, his delivery sounded rather recited; the bride's voice, by contrast, was brimming with emotion, even carrying a faint hint of tears, her excitement and joy radiating through the sound system to touch every guest in the hall. "Since when was the monitor so emotional?" Suozai asked, quite puzzled. Lezi: "Seriously, Suozai, go watch porn. Even if plenty of people find weddings troublesome and superfluous these days, there are still many who deeply value the ceremonial sense of it all, sparing no effort no matter how much thought it takes. What's more, this is often a girl's only chance in life to wear a wedding dress. The vast majority of girls have dreamed about what they'd look like in one." Suozai reflexively started to reply, "Actually..." But he still had some sense left, knowing the occasion, and swallowed the words caught in his throat right back into his lungs. Watching the newlyweds on stage, Yaxiu felt a strange, tangled mix of emotions well up inside him—both yearning and guilt. Yearning was understandable enough; although he couldn't wear a wedding gown himself, a wedding was a major main-quest line in the game of life. It was only natural for an able-bodied young man in his twenties to yearn for a family. But the guilt was bizarre. What did he have to feel guilty about? Once the ceremony concluded, waiters served the dishes and the feast began. But Yaxiu had barely swallowed a bite of some atrocious fish when his phone suddenly buzzed with a message. He glanced at it. "Ah, an issue came up with the project. The four bosses called me back for overtime. I've gotta run." Lezi: "The four bosses?" "Four bosses," Yaxiu said helplessly. "Our company has four bosses, and they're the direct superiors I report to right now. If they think there's a problem that needs fixing, all I can do is head back obediently and pull overtime." Suozai: "Can't you make your subordinates do the overtime?" "It's been so long since clocking-out time—who'd willingly come back if I called them? Plus, if they do a poor job or take too long, I'm the one getting chewed out anyway. I'd rather just go in myself." Yaxiu threw up his hands. "That's middle management for you: taking crap from above and taking flak from below." "I'm off. Let's catch up again when we're free." Lezi: "At the rate you're working, I reckon the next time we meet will be at your funeral feast." Suozai: "I'll send you a few porn links. That's about all a brother can do for you." "Get lost, get lost, get lost." Yaxiu went outside and hailed a cab. He shut his eyes for a moment in the back seat; when he opened them again, he had already arrived at the company building. Seen from outside, the company building resembled an enormous transparent fishbowl, brilliantly illuminated and swarming with people—proof that the backward eight-hour workday was no longer suited to the development of the new era. Passing through the security checkpoint and facial recognition, a cold female voice sounded from the machine: "Touch Supervisor, welcome back."