Peng City.

The morning light had yet to fully dispel the darkness of the night, and the bustling office workers were already merging into the stream of the subway, using coffee to hang on to spirits that had not yet fully awakened, and maintaining expressionless faces to fend off the shoving of the morning rush.

Ah Gui, carrying two cups of Luckin Coffee, was also mingling among the crowd, listening with slight impatience to the nagging voice coming from the phone:

"Ah Gui, last time during Mid-Autumn Festival, you said you had to work overtime and didn’t come back. During National Day, you said you went traveling. When are you coming back to see us?"

"Mom, didn’t I tell you that I’m really busy? I probably won’t have time until the New Year..."

"You always say you’re busy, say you’re busy!"

As soon as Ah Gui made an excuse, the voice on the other end of the line sharply replied, "I just don’t get it, it’s less than a two-hour journey home, is it really that hard to come back once... Your lousy job can’t even support you for a month, you’d be better off coming back home to help... "

"Mom, you don’t understand, I have my own ambitions..."

"Damn ambitions!"

Before Ah Gui could finish, he was interrupted by his impatient mother’s voice on the phone, "Your little thoughts... Mom knows exactly what you’re thinking. Don’t worry, I won’t push you to get married this time when you come back, but at least meet Uncle Liu’s daughter..."

Hearing the topic shift again, Ah Gui became anxious once more. Seeing that he was already exiting the subway, Ah Gui hastily said: 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Mom, let’s not talk about it, I’m almost at the company... that’s all!"

Afraid his mother would say something unpleasant again, Ah Gui hurriedly hung up the phone. After waiting a minute and seeing that it didn’t ring again, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the towering skyscrapers around him and the dazzling urban men and women coming and going, Ah Gui once again felt lost.

It’s true that he was a local in Peng City, but his home was in an old town "outside the boundary," and in the nearly fully modernized Peng City, Ah Gui felt it was no different from the typical "countryside."

Of course, it wasn’t exactly poor either. The family ran a small business and also had an agritourism business...

At least Ah Gui never worried about food and clothing since he was young. The school he attended might not be much in the entire Peng City, but it was already the best condition his family could provide.

Yet, Ah Gui often couldn’t help but feel inferior, especially after knowing Ah Jie, who came from a better family background since childhood, he felt that someone like him couldn’t even be called a "Peng City person."

It seemed his parents never understood him either, always turning conversations into arguments after just a few words, and it had been like this since he was young.

After barely making it through university graduation, Ah Gui thought he could finally pursue the life he wanted, but his parents began urging him to get married, especially every time he had to ask them for money due to rent or various expenses...

It felt like they always thought that getting married would solve all the problems, and their life’s mission would be complete.

Ah Gui wasn’t exactly unwilling to get married, but he felt his parents didn’t know what he genuinely wanted. It was just a few years since his graduation, and his parents were already anxious for various match-making arrangements because Ah Gui hadn’t gotten a girlfriend yet.

So what if it’s matchmaking? At first, Ah Gui found it quite novel, but after going a few times, he started to feel uneasy.

Not all of them were horrendous, but it was evident that nothing extraordinary could come from his parents’ social circle. So far, the best one his family introduced was a woman in Peng City’s central area with her own house, car, and a steady job.

At that time, it sounded good to Ah Gui, but after meeting, he discovered she was divorced with a child and six years older than him.

Having long been accustomed to the city’s glitz, Ah Gui felt he couldn’t settle for less.

As his buddy Ah Jie once said:

"Ah Gui, have you forgotten what era it is now? The gender ratio is seriously imbalanced. Any girl with even a bit of good condition wouldn’t worry about finding a partner, and any woman who needs to put herself on the matchmaking market... Well, I don’t need to tell you what that implies, right?"

With his tangled thoughts, Ah Gui walked into the office building, and after a long wait, clocked in at the company.

He greeted a few early colleagues; Ah Gui looked up and saw a striking new Chanel shoulder bag on the adjacent workstation. Its gold chain shimmered slightly glaringly in the morning light.

After a moment’s pause, Ah Gui immediately showed a delighted expression.

His workstation was obtained with a treat to a Wagyu buffet, ostensibly because he feared direct sunlight, but in reality, it was to be a bit closer to his "goddess."

However, Ah Gui was self-aware; he knew that Sun Xining was unlikely to fancy him, and his boyhood friend Ah Jie had repeatedly mentioned wanting to win over Sun Xining, yet it didn’t stop him from quietly harbouring this thought.

Just like in those movies... what if?

Ah Gui felt his biggest strength lay in his patience, and he also believed that with his efforts, he could eventually find his footing in this city.

Perhaps, one day, those girls he once couldn’t approach would eventually notice him, standing silently in the background, as a good choice too.

However, since the day they parted at the yacht party, Ah Gui hadn’t seen Sun Xining for several days.

She hadn’t come to work or replied to any messages in the work group. It was as if she had suddenly vanished.

Ah Gui guessed a little of what was going on, probably all related to that young man named "Zhou Wang"...