Dammit.

Dammit!

Dammit!

I lost.

Fifteen years of experience, an ultimate gathering technique and my own innate qi expended in the process and I still couldn’t compare to what amounted to a freakish amount of talent.

Whatever.

I swallowed the indignation. Like every exam I fucked up in, every test that I barely passed, every assessment that I half-assed on overnight without a care in the world and received the appropriate grades to show for my work. I swallowed it.

I wasn’t a stranger to failure or mediocrity.

In fact, I specifically did not care about it. I didn’t want to be a martial artist in the first place! It was this fucked up world that forced me into the position, and even then, I had eventually found a way out of it, lived a normal life with normal people, worked for a living, god, I had even married for fucks sake!

I lived a blessed life on Earth. And I had found a way to just barely achieve a blessed life in this hellworld too before Wenhao and my merry band of asshole classmates fucked it all up by killing each other and even involving the omnicidal Heavenly Demon in their antics.

Every goddamn test that came my way was one I never studied for, never wanted to study for. They didn’t take a measure of some innate quality that I cared about. If they did, why wouldn’t I score well? And if they didn’t, why the fuck would I care?

I didn’t care about losing right now.

I only cared about the fact that I was supposed to care. This loss had consequences that would make life more difficult for me.

No Eye of Sages. Wenhao would assume the number one spot. His conceit would continue to grow unabated, until the next time I would have an opportunity to release the built-up pressure of hot air in his head, knock him down the hierarchy and assume the position myself for his own mental health.

It was a mess. At least if I didn’t approach the challenge like a challenger, I would have at least managed to chip away some essential part of Wenhao’s ego. Or maybe it wouldn’t work that way. Maybe a first win would have given his ego even more fuel to reassert itself.

Maybe the play was to never challenge him again? Never give him a reason to get so strong that he would actually rival me?

…that was beginning to feel like an idea.

That still wouldn’t erase the sting of losing out on the Eye.

Whatever. Live and learn as the sages say. I giggled inwardly at that nonsensical thought. Attributing English proverbs to Chinese philosophers was always a fun little private joke of mine.

Look at that. Already, I was beginning to feel better. Goes to show how little this shit mattered to me.

The Alliance Leader had us in a line, and I fought tooth and nail to listen to his words in case there was anything, even a smidgeon, of something important in that field of words, but I came up empty on that front time and time again.

Instead I couldn’t stop focusing on his facial hair. And his face for that matter.

The man looked… there was no easy way to say it, but for a guy pushing eighty, he looked remarkably handsome. In an old and geriatric way, sure. That was strange, because never in my life on Earth had I ever looked at a shriveled old bag and thought ‘I would’.

Well, not really would, as that would be beyond depraved. I shook that despicable thought out from my brain. Yuck.

No. The Alliance Leader bore a perfection in his features, every wrinkle perfectly symmetrical, and his impeccable bone structure even shining through beneath the sagging skin on his face. And then there was his figure. It was impossible to tell his musculature beneath his voluminous robes, which was partially the purpose of such robes, but one could easily tell his posture, and his was straight and upright as any man in their prime. His movements were smooth, like his joints belonged to a man a quarter his age, and they were controlled and precise as well.

Perks of a life spent bathing in the benefits of internal energy, a physique flush with vital energy, and the consequences of stepping into the Supreme Peak level.

The level where I was right before going back in time.

“Contestant number one, step forward,” the man finally said, and Wenhao stepped forward. “State your name.”

“Zhang Wenhao, sir,” Wenhao bowed his head and assumed a martial salute, pressing his injured right fist to the flat of his left hand.

“You fought well, Zhang Wenhao. Contestant number two, step forward.”

I frowned at that. I stepped forward.

“Li Tianming,” the Alliance Leader stated. “You are undoubtedly one of the two strongest students in this cohort, though it is also undoubtable that Wenhao has you beat.” He said it in a way that I knew was him trying to rile me up. Tough for him, I didn’t work that way. Besides, I knew the truth: I had him dead to rights. If it wasn’t for the ring-out, I would absolutely have won. Still, why was I here?

“Initially, it was decided,” the Alliance Leader said, “That the female champion should receive the Crown and the male should receive the Eye, but as it so clearly stands right now, we have two incredible talents of martial arts full of so much potential that it would be a travesty to strip the runner-up of a prize just because the champion was that much more impressive.”

…What?

“Therefore, I award Zhang Wenhao the Eye of Sages, and Li Tianming, the Crown of Unity.”

Bastard!

“I protest that!” Roared Xinyi. “I—” was all she could get out before her knees were forced to the ground and her face paled instantly to a near-deathly pallor.

“You what, girl?” the Alliance Leader said. “You wish to have your gender be given special treatment because of your natural weakness? Yet you still chose to walk down the path of a martial artist? Do you think if you traveled the jianghu, any wandering bandit or brigand would fight at half strength, or a martial artist would limit themselves to five stars of qi, just to accommodate your frailty? Yes, take my word and let this be the first lesson for you girls!” the Alliance Leader swept his hand over the crowd of girls, who were looking at him in terror. “Do you want your prizes? Then pry it out of the hands of your betters, for only then will you be recognized in this world. Girl, stand up.” Xinyi looked up suddenly at the Alliance Leader, who had likely let up the pressure of qi on her, and she stood up. “You want your treasure, challenge Li Tianming for it. Otherwise—”

“You can have it,” I said.

The Alliance Leader closed his mouth and looked at me in surprise.

There were benefits to keeping the Alliance Leader close, of course. And there were better ways for me to go about this, but watching the guy prattle on about things he had no actual understanding of—because truly, he didn’t—well, that just pissed me off.

We were from Earth. Another planet. His job was to integrate us into their ways. But instead, he chose to oppress a portion of us for lacking a quality that was never needed of us in our past lives. I was no different from these girls in my first run, and yet I had never been treated with such contempt and disregard. Not until I had cemented my lack of talent, but at that point my treatment became understandable, although still quite shitty.

This? This was just audacious beyond belief. They couldn’t just rip us from our worlds, ask us kindly to reach some potential they believed we had, and then turn around and declare that half of us were hopeless because of some ridiculous native sensibility.

“Li Tianming,” the Alliance Leader said. “I hope you understand the gravity of your words. The boon you are giving away cannot be traded around. Once it bonds to a user, it is theirs forever.”

Oh, right.

This was also very easy for me because I really didn’t need this thing.

Not in the long run at least. It would take me about a year to get control over my body enough to regain my former grasp of martial arts, which was a tiny frame of time that could be made even shorter with the right mix of alchemical products and cultivation insights.

Ultimately, the Crown of Unity was a training aide given to the girls who were disregarded and effectively thought of as disabled people. It was a crutch, and only sought to shorten the time of training until a martial artist reached their physical potential, but it could not guarantee that the bearer would truly become a legend on par with the Transcendents.

After all, in the end, only Wenhao had reached Transcendent Master. Xinyi had, at best, only reached the cusp of that stage.

I bowed to the Alliance Leader in a martial salute, and spoke in that bow. “I entered this tournament with the hope of winning the Eye of Sages. I lost it fairly, and it would prove too much of a loss of face for me if I were to take the women’s prize from them to make up for my shortcomings.”

The Alliance Leader smiled at that, but it was a strained smile. “Be that as it may, we have a strong suspicion that you would be able to do far more with this treasure than the female champion. There would be no loss of face in this regard because in this world, only the strong are entitled to any sort of advantage.”

“In any case, I would not be able to live with myself if I went through with this,” I said.

“Are you certain of this, then?”

“Absolutely certain.”

The Alliance Leader exhaled harshly through his nose. “Very well then. Girl, step forward and accept your prize.”

A bald peak master approached Wenhao with a tiny chest, and a peak master with a long head of hair approached Xinyi with a silken pillow and a circlet lying on top of it.

The Eye of Sages and the Crown of Unity.

I paid it no mind. I would have my own chance soon enough.

It's In The Details: Interior Art for Kindar [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wEna6T86--o/UT-buNLIw9I/AAAAAAAAAz8/aZy5fbTUYUo/s1600/Interior+Art+Sword.png]

I walked back home to my room only to find Wenhao standing outside of it.

Waiting.

I raised my fists in anticipation, only for him to just open his mouth and… talk.

“I never chose to be strong, you know,” he said to me. I furrowed my eyebrows and lowered my fists. “I know what you guys think of me, that I’m talented.” He gave a hollow chuckle. “I worked harder than you could possibly fathom. Made to work hard at that. All my accolades were for the purpose of my father’s goals.”

Wha—holy shit. I was getting some never-before-seen Wenhao lore! Made sense that I’d make such an impression on him that he’d open up to me.

“Out here it’s different,” he smiled. “No parents. No family. No legacy. Only… us. We have no one to impress. No one we’d really care to impress, because let’s be honest here, those old fucks can go fuck themselves for all I care.”

I nodded at that. He was speaking facts.

“And…” he grinned now. Really grinned. I got an ugly feeling in my stomach at that. “That made it fun.” Oh fuck. “I loved fighting with you. I loved doing it that way, and I loved that even if it was a close fight, I didn’t have my fucking dad there screaming at me that I could have done better. This was just an honest brawl between the two of us, as nature intended. And I fucking loved it, dude.”

I clenched my jaws, but forced out a smile. “What do you want?”

“I want to keep being challenged,” Wenhao said. “Work out, build yourself a nice figure, try to catch up, and then we fight. I’m counting on you, Tianming.”

Then he turned around to leave.

I took deep breaths, expelling as much of my rage and irritation as possible. Great. Fucking great. What? Now I’m some battle maniac’s plaything?

Who the hell did he take me for?

“Wenhao,” I said. He stopped. “It won’t be a contest next time. When I fight, when I put life and limb on the line to put someone in the ground, I don’t do it for some dumb game like finding out who’s the strongest. I fight so that assholes like you will leave me the fuck alone!” I blinked away visions of a war-torn countryside, dead villagers and a mountain of martial artist corpses.

Conquest for its own sake. Seeking strength to defeat those who sought strength. And all the innocent blood that was shed as a consequence to that.

“What are you—” Wenhao tried to say, but I wasn’t finished.

“The next time we fight,” I chuckled. “Eh-Mi-Tuo-Fuo,” I said as I shook my head. “Lord have mercy on you, because I sure as fuck won’t.”

Wenhao’s smile disappeared, and it was replaced with confusion, as well as anger. Didn’t feel so fun being on the receiving end of bloodlust now did it? It’s that lack of real stakes on your part that makes all these fights fun and games, Wenhao.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

But I swear to God, I won’t be your fucking plaything. You step up to me, and shit will get traumatic.

Wenhao’s expression eased up and then he smiled, but there was a nasty edge to that smile now. “Keep that same energy when we fight, Tianming.” He turned and left.

There once was a time when I respected him, looked up to him like so many others did. Until I didn’t. Until he proved himself utterly unfit to receive any respect. Traveling back in time, a part of me assumed that this was the cute and young Wenhao that was just starting off, an Earthling like any other with decent and moral Earthling standards.

That wasn’t true, now. With this single conversation, I was finally certain. Wenhao was always a fucked up little monster. All he needed was the means to enact his despicable fantasies, but that will and intent was always inside him, buried under a mound of weakness and mortality.

My mission didn’t change, however. I just needed to be stronger than him. So much stronger that it broke some essential part of him and prevented him from ever even thinking about overtaking me again.

It's In The Details: Interior Art for Kindar [https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wEna6T86--o/UT-buNLIw9I/AAAAAAAAAz8/aZy5fbTUYUo/s1600/Interior+Art+Sword.png]

On my way to the dinner hall, my hand was grabbed. I looked back to see Xinyi pulling me away to a corridor that was not on the way to the dining hall.

“What do you want?”

Surprisingly, it was Xinyi that asked.

“Dinner,” I replied. “Then some sleep. More importantly, what do you want?”

She folded her arms. “Don’t act cute. I haven’t taken the Crown yet. I just want to know what it is you want, because if it’s me, I’ll just return the Crown. I won’t be bought.”

Wait, what the fuck?

I had half a mind to take back the crown right now actually, and give it to some other girl, one that didn’t think this highly of themselves.

“What could possibly give you the impression that I was making moves on you?” I asked.

Xinyi didn’t hesitate. “What benefit would you receive in giving—”

“Learn some humility, Xinyi. By the lord,” I folded my arms and regarded her with utter disappointment etched on my features. “Seriously, Xinyi, what is the matter with you?”

She froze, mouth open, but no words came out.

I sighed. “Listen, I’ll indulge in your ridiculous fantasies just this once, because I really, really don’t ever want to have this conversation with you ever again, alright?” I shivered. What the hell did she take me for? I felt seriously attacked. “I gave you the Crown of Unity because it was the right thing to do. I want nothing for it from you besides the understanding that you owe me one, and that’s a favor obviously within reason, but nonetheless, you owe me. That doesn’t mean I want to have sex with you—”

Xinyi clamped her hand on my mouth, and I batted the offending hand away in shock. “Don’t pretend to be so indignant!” she hissed.

“Pretend? Xinyi, are you fucking serious?” I groaned. “You know what? Fine. Give me back the Crown. I’ll give it to someone else, with more common sense and a shred of maturity.”

“Wait,” she said. “That’s not necessary. Listen. Tianming. I need to understand the nature of whatever favor it is you want before I allow you to hold this over my head. You can’t blame me for being suspicious.”

Liu Xinyi, dressed in silken finery and so many jewels that it probably weighed her down, walked past me while I was tending to the courtyard garden, having received this duty on a permanent basis on account of my… general uselessness.

I didn’t mind it though. I preferred this over training. Probably why I’d never end up making the cut for the selection, but what did I care? At this point, I felt like I’d sooner just give up on martial arts entirely and take up the whole peasant offer that the Alliance gave us. Seemed like an easy life, honestly. And a life with no martial arts didn’t mean a meaningless life. I could take up any amount of trades and disciplines to keep me busy, maybe learn some ancient instruments or two and try to recreate my favorite songs from back on Earth.

It would be a plan and a way to keep me happy.

I spotted a diamond-studded golden earring on the ground that Xinyi had just walked past. I picked it up and ran up to her. “Liu Xinyi,” I said. She turned around, materialized a spear from thin air, and held the sharp edge to my throat. I backed up instantly, falling on my ass.

“You dare try to sneak up on me?”

What? What a strange assumption to make. “No, uh, I called your name. You dropped this earring.” I stood up and held it before me. She snatched it away, and with a frown, grabbed me by my shirt and slammed me back-first against the wall.

“Where did you find this?”

“Y-you dropped it!”

“You creep, does it look like I’m wearing its matching pair right now?” she asked, and true to form, the kind of earring she was wearing was not one that matched the one I had picked up. “You went into my room, didn’t you? I should have you disciplined for that!”

“I have no idea why you brought it with you, but you dropped it on the floor!” I said. “I would never go into your room!”

Xinyi looked at my face searchingly, and after several tense seconds, she let go of me. “Fucking creep.”

I could, in fact, blame her for being suspicious.

“I don’t have time for your games, Xinyi,” I said. “If you actually intend to return the crown, do so. I don’t want you to suspect me baselessly. I have never given you a reason to think less of me, you know. You think I would excuse this suspicion of yours when it is literally impugning my esteem? How dare you? No, really, because this goes beyond the pale. I am truly disgusted.” She looked aggrieved at that, which caught me off-guard. Maybe I’d been too harsh. She was just a child after all. “Look,” I said. “I’m not asking for the moon here. Just that you take me seriously, and listen when I talk. It’s a simple favor, really: respect. I did you a favor and gave you respect when I handed you the crown. It’s your turn to do the same. Ultimately, I have no interest in cultivating an interpersonal relationship between us. Frankly, I don’t like you very much as a person and I’d prefer it if we kept our distance.”

She sputtered at that.

“If that was all, I really want to get eating.”

She stepped away from me, and I walked back into the corridor, on my way to dinner, trying my best to forget that unpleasant conversation.

Seriously, yuck.

Why were all my classmates so damn unlikeable?

Stop it, Tianming. I could do better than quarrel with a bunch of teenagers. But all of my experiences certainly went a long way to prove that it took a special sort of character to wrangle kids all day.

I had a newfound respect for teachers now.

I arrived at the dining hall and saw Mei Ying monopolize a table on her own. I decided to go sit next to her, probably against my better judgment, but I did feel the need to start making “political” moves, and I figured this was the best way to go about doing that.

A servant approached me soon after I sat down. “What would the young master like to eat today? You have a choice between chicken, beef, or pork as the main meat, along with the standard accouterments.”

“Beef,” I said, because chicken only seasoned with salt and soy sauce was still just chicken with salt and soy. At least with beef, there was a natural flavor that I could look forward to. Sure, chicken had a natural flavor too, but I always felt it was blander than beef. “And I would like a bottle of baijiu for the table.”

“Excuse me?” Mei Ying asked. “I won’t drink with you.”

“Then it’s just for me,” I said to the waiter, and flashed Mei Ying a brief and sarcastic smile.

“Thy will be done,” the waiter said as they walked backwards from the table before turning around to leave with our order.

I saw Wenhao several tables over with his cronies, laughing uproariously with several bottles of liquor on their table. Evidently, they had just figured out that we could order liquor. Probably not the best idea to allow a bunch of untested youth to imbibe a grown-up’s drink, but they’d live and learn eventually, the idiots. I turned to Mei Ying, whose eyes were narrow as she looked at me. “Any reason why you’ve chosen to sequester yourself?” I asked.

“Is it any of your business?”

“No, but this is a dinner table, and I’m just trying to get a conversation started,” I said. “I’m not quite burning with the curiosity to figure you out.”

“I wouldn’t tell you anything either way,” she said, and I smiled a little.

“You probably shouldn’t be burning bridges if everybody hates you,” I said with a brief chuckle. A servant lowered a bottle and two glasses onto the table, poured one glass, and then left. I took a sip from the glass. “How were your fights?” I asked her.

“What am I supposed to say to that?” she asked. “That it was glorious or exhilirating?”

I bristled at her words. “Well if you said any of that, I’d have no choice but to hate your guts.” She frowned sharply at that. “I don’t think there’s a single person with their head screwed on right that actually enjoys that sort of barbarity.”

“You were plenty barbarous, you know that?” she said. “Never would have pegged you as that.”

I chuckled. “What do you really know about me anyway?”

“More than most,” she said. I raised an eyebrow at that, but she didn’t elaborate.

“In any case,” I continued, “I didn’t exactly dance to the tune of the Martial Arts Alliance just for compliments from a group of dimensional kidnappers. I just figured that if this really is our situation, it would be better to have the dominant thought be one of common sense and temperance, not…” I tried to think for a moment, grasping for a political spin on what I really wanted to say, but I came up empty. “Not Wenhao.” I just settled, because I really didn’t have a reason to speak confusingly.

“He does seem made for this place,” Mei Ying said. “But here’s the thing: so do you.”

I laughed now. “I want nothing less than to curl up in a corner and read a nice book or listen to my favorite songs right now. I hate this situation more than you can imagine, and…” I hate the fact that I can’t even trust any of you children to steer yourselves towards a less awful fate. I drank a big gulp of the baijiu, feeling my sorrow and anger dull at the edges. “This is good stuff,” I said. “Almost makes you forget that we’re now soldiers in training.”

She took the bottle and poured herself a measure of the drink, took a gulp from her glass, and started hacking. With a slight constitution like hers, it’d do her well to take it easy on the drinks.

“What is common sense to you?” she finally asked. “You want to be at the top because you think you have what it takes to lead. And what is that? What is your end-goal?”

“Avoiding war,” I said. “Avoiding violence.”

She snorted. “Really, now? Isn’t that a little naive?”

“It is what it is,” I said. “And it is what I believe. And if enforcing that peace takes the strongest martial artist to accomplish, then I’ll be the strongest. But what about you, Mei Ying? What do you intend to do in this world?”

She scowled and took another gulp from her glass, and then took a moment to stop herself from throwing up. It took her long seconds before she collected herself. “What’ll I do?” she stopped for a moment, then looked towards a table. I followed her gaze and saw her look at Xinyi. “Fuck if I know. Right now, though, I just wanna crush that pick-me into dust.”

Pick-me? What was that? Whatever. “What’s your quarrel with her?” I asked.

She looked at me like I was stupid. “Yeah, I suppose you might be one of those guys so far down the food chain that she’d never even interact with you enough to let you know how much of a cunt she is,” she spoke the curse world loud enough that Xinyi turned around and looked back at Mei Ying, who just smiled now. Xinyi glared daggers at her. “Yeah, bitch,” Mei Ying muttered. “Just get over here right now.”

“Mei Ying,” I said loudly. “Calm yourself.” She looked at me with wide eyes, clicked her tongue and just looked away bored. “As a matter of fact,” I said. “I just had the displeasure of talking to her right before arriving here. I’m not too sure why she regularly gives people a bad impression of her.”

“You too?” she asked, shocked. “Didn’t you give her that grand prize? Why would she bitch at you for that?”

I threw my hands up in defeat. “I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t even interact with her enough that she would form such an opinion of me in the first place, and quite frankly I’m above getting to the bottom of that childish and one-sided feud. You too should focus your efforts somewhere more productive.”

“Yeah,” she chuckled derisively. “Thanks to you, she’ll be the top girl in class without having to put in nearly the same amount of work. Just like before. You never should have given her that crown.”

“Would you steal it from her?” I asked her. She frowned at me. “Or if you don’t have the stomach for it, I could go over to her and ask for it back, and then give it to you. Make it a big public spectacle.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “What would you do that for?”

“Plainly put, I want a circle of people I can trust to put childishness aside for a greater goal,” I said. “Xinyi has got her own delusions of grandeur that she needs to deal with, Wenhao is largely the same, and Jingshu is going through a crisis of faith, that faith being the one he has in himself.”

“I’m your fourth option then?” she asked.

“Second,” I said. “The first two I stated are not options. Just obstacles.”

She still looked at me with doubt and skepticism.

“I’m not looking to boss you around,” I said. “You’re free to not listen to me or anything, I’m not interested in making you into a servant. I just feel like your gratitude would actually mean something, as opposed to Xinyi’s, who I’m certain won’t remember the favor I granted her when it really counts.”

“She won’t,” Mei Ying confirmed. “Especially if you’re aligned against Wenhao. You do know she’s got a massive crush on him, right?”

I raised an eyebrow. “I suppose that explains things.” They had maintained a pretty close-knit alliance throughout the Civil War.

“And on that note,” she continued. “You just walk up to her demanding the crown back and she won’t return it. You know that, right? And I’m reasonably certain she has it on her somewhere, so you won’t just find it in her room.”

“She offered to return it to me,” I told her. “Just in case my giving it to her was an attempt at courting her.”

“She was saying that to be a bitch,” Mei Ying told me without missing a beat. “Either you'd admit that you were doing it to get in her pants, and she’d just call you a creep and leave, or you’d deny it and she’d make you feel like you owed her a favor for not considering you a creep.”

“That’s a nonsensical binary,” I said. I didn’t feel like I was going to fall into either option at all. “I just let her know how disgusted I was, and threatened to take the crown back anyway because I felt disrespected. Then I felt stupid for even engaging her in the first place and walked off.”

“In any case, you won’t be getting your hands on that thing without a fight,” she said. “A fight you’re not likely to win, since her friends, and probably a bunch of guys at that, will mob you before you ever get to her. Your best bet was when she cornered you for that stupid shakedown of hers.”

Mei Ying underestimated just how easily I could take it from her if the crown was really on her, but the ramifications of doing that would probably be worse in the long run.

“You don’t need the crown anyway,” I said. “I heard the masters talk,” I lied. “They consider it to be a crutch. They were giving it to the girls because they felt you needed it.”

“I knew it!” she hissed and I shrugged.

“I suppose that’s how things are done in this world. For what it’s worth, I’ll fight to defend the women for as long as you guys remain defenseless. But I can tell that won’t be for very long.”

“You shouldn’t be saying stuff like that,” she said, looking away. “You don’t look nearly handsome enough for that to come out as badass as you hoped.”

I frowned at that. How dare she? “Girls like handsome boys. Women like capable men. And I’m not aiming to impress girls here.”

“Are you commenting on my body?” she asked, scandalized.

I reached over and poked her forehead. “I’m commenting on that,” she tried to bat my hand away, but I was too fast. I put the finger back, and she tried to bat it away again. I dodged again. After several attempts, she just decided to scoot her chair back, huffing all the while.

“Idiot,” she muttered. “Don’t touch me.”

“Hey,” I said, and she looked at me. “The good thing about a martial arts world is you get to punch away your frustrations. You’ll have your chance against Xinyi soon enough. You just have to train up to it.”

“I don’t…” she paused and took the glass of baijiu and took another gulp. “I’m never going to see my friends and family again. I can’t punch that away, can I?”

“They would want you to lead a life of meaning here,” I said. “Make new connections. New friends and family. But for what it’s worth… I’m sorry.”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything else. “Thanks,” she said. “You’re… a good person, Li Tianming. As surprising as that is. You always struck me as someone who didn’t care about other people. Nice to see you’re not as antisocial as you appear.”

I smiled. “Don’t go falling in love with me now,” I said. “I won’t be able to deal with that hassle on top of everything else.”

“You look plain as rice, and you’re seriously short,” she said. “Please don’t ruin a good moment with your delusions.”

I frowned. “My height is average, you know that?”

“So are your looks. Nothing to be proud of, is it?”

“Way to prove my point,” I said. “Girls go for looks—”

“We’re the same age, you dumbass! Do you really just have a fetish for older women? That’s seriously weird.”

“Is it so shocking to you that people can be attracted to maturity?” I asked. “Girls these days are doomed if that’s really the case.”

She reached for more alcohol, but I took the bottle away. “You should probably wait until after we’ve eaten before you take any more. I’d really hate to pry you off from Xinyi in the event that you pick a fight.”

“Fine,” she growled.

“Go easy on the stuff anyway,” I said. “Tomorrow’s another day. Don’t start it off feeling like crap. If you’re serious about your new life that is.”

She stared resolutely at me. “I’m dead serious.”

I smiled. “Good.”

Our food finally arrived.