At five in the morning, Qin Weidong finally made it back to Los Angeles. He signed the final round of financing documents. Over the past two days, they had completed all the procedures and approvals necessary for the OTC market listing. His relentless pace, without even a hint of rest, was enough to shock even You Yue, who had been raised in the elite world of top-tier education.
Tasks that should have taken at least five days were crushed into a sleepless two-day sprint under his command.
After the documents were signed at the law office, You Yue, who had also been running non-stop these past two days, handed him a fax. “The last competitor back home is that Australian mining company. Their proposal is to jointly develop the gold and copper resources if they enter Rongshan. Here’s their investment budget—have a look. In half an hour, at six, the domestic project and exploration teams are expecting you to lead a meeting.”
He had been talking for a while when he noticed Qin Weidong staring at his phone, unmoving, clearly distracted.
“Qin Weidong?”
He snapped back. “Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Could you repeat it?”
You Yue had only recently learned that Qin Weidong was deaf in his right ear. He continued, “Rongshan is deciding between us and the Australian company. Their budget is six million higher than ours. If we don’t increase our investment, it could become a problem…”
“Copper is difficult to mine, requires heavy investment, and returns come slow. With copper prices slumping worldwide, even domestic copper mines are losing money. Sinking more funds into this will just weigh us down long-term,” Qin Weidong replied.
You Yue wasn’t as well-versed in the nuances of the mining industry and hesitated. “But their proposal covers both, and Rongshan…”
“If they develop it, Rongshan will just be a small gold mine.”
Qin Weidong, who hadn’t slept in days, tossed the documents onto the desk. “That Australian company doesn’t understand Rongshan. They’re only interested in the high-grade ore. But Rongshan only has about three tons of high-grade gold. The real value lies in the thirty-five tons of low-grade ore. We’re refining at low cost. Under current market conditions, we can elevate Rongshan into a mid-to-large-scale gold mine. That means exponential profits. We don’t have to say a word—Rongshan will do the math.”
You Yue considered this. He trusted Qin Weidong’s insight and judgment. As he was about to call the team back home, he noticed the bloodshot haze in Qin Weidong’s eyes.
“Do you want to rest a bit? You haven’t slept for two days straight.”
Qin Weidong clutched his phone tightly. For two days, none of his calls or messages to Fang Li had been answered. His heart felt like it was being slowly roasted alive. Truth be told, the moment he boarded the plane that day, he regretted it. He shouldn’t have treated Fang Li like that.
He could’ve taught Fang Li patiently—once, twice, however many times it took. No matter what, he never should have lashed out like that.
Just imagining Fang Li at home, possibly crying, tore him up inside. Fang Li feared pain. The surgical wound on his chest still hadn’t healed completely. How could he have raised his hand against him? For over ten years, he hadn’t even touched a single strand of Fang Li’s hair.
His eyes stung. “I’m going to make a call,” he said quietly.
You Yue called after him, “The evening meeting will run three hours. Only half an hour left. Are you sure you don’t want a break?”
Break? There was no way he could rest. The moment he closed his eyes, all he could see was Fang Li. He didn’t know if Fang Li had cried. He didn’t know if Fang Li was still in pain. He’d asked a doctor to check on him at home, but Fang Li had thrown them out.
He dialed Fang Li again. Still no answer. In the end, he had no choice but to call Aunt Lai, the housekeeper who handled their meals. She told him lunch had already been delivered—but Fang Li hadn’t touched it. Now, she was preparing dinner.
Aunt Lai had been working part-time for them ever since they arrived in the U.S., cooking and cleaning in the apartment for Qin Weidong. She’d always treated Fang Li kindly—her own son was about the same age. Whenever Fang Li mentioned craving something, she’d often prepare it in advance at home and bring it over in the evening.
Qin Weidong’s voice was hoarse: “Auntie, sorry to trouble you. Please try to make sure he eats something tonight.”
Aunt Lai agreed and asked if the two of them had gotten into a fight. “Ay, such a sweet child… how could anyone bear to yell at him?”
Qin Weidong’s heart twisted with guilt and pain. After hanging up, he lit a cigarette, then a second, then a third. By the time he snapped out of his daze, the third was halfway burnt. Outside, You Yue motioned to him—it was time for the meeting in the hotel’s downstairs conference room.
Qin Weidong stubbed out the cigarette and tossed it. As he reached for the door, his phone rang again. It was Aunt Lai.
She had just arrived at the apartment. The food she’d left out at lunchtime was untouched, completely cold. When she went upstairs to check Fang Li’s room, she found it empty—he wasn’t home. “He’s still young, he can’t go on like this,” she said worriedly. “He’ll starve.”
Qin Weidong only registered the part about Fang Li not being home. The words hit him like a hammer, ringing in his ears: not home.
“Are his clothes still there? What about his piano? His passport?!”
Aunt Lai looked around. “The clothes are all here… everything’s here. Did the boy go out with his friends maybe? Tell him to come back and eat.”
Then she added, “I found one passport in the drawer—it’s yours. But… Fang Li’s… I didn’t see his. Is his supposed to be in the same drawer?”
In that instant, all the blood drained from Qin Weidong’s body. It was like being plunged into an arctic glacier.
You Yue had no idea what was going on. He just saw the color drain from Qind Weidong’s face as he called his assistant and barked into the phone: “Book me the next flight to New York. Now. Immediately!”
Qin Weidong headed for the door. You Yue grabbed his arm. “Where are you going? The meeting with the project team starts in less than ten minutes—everyone’s waiting for you!”
“Then let them wait!”
In less than a minute, Qin Weidong was on the verge of losing his mind. He shoved You Yue aside and roared, “Fang Li’s gone! Fuck! He’s gone!”
You Yue had never seen him so panicked, so out of control. Back then, he hadn’t understood. He thought Fang Li was just a kept boy, some delicate lover the governor’s only son brought overseas. How far could he have gone?
But Qin Weidong didn’t stop to explain. He couldn’t afford to. He boarded the earliest flight, but no matter how fast he flew, the distance from Los Angeles to New York wouldn’t shrink.
When he got to the apartment, the sky was just beginning to lighten.
“Fang Li?!”
No one answered.
Qin Weidong’s eyes turned red. “Goddammit!”
Every time he came home before, Fang Li was there—either sitting at the piano, or curled up on the couch writing songs.
But now, there was no sign of him anywhere.
He didn’t want to believe what he feared.
He called Fang Li again—and this time, the ringtone echoed from inside the bedroom.
Qin Weidong grabbed Fang Li’s phone. When he saw the flight information Qiao Shi had sent the night before, his vision went dark—his head spun, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
He flung open the closet. Everything was neatly in place: the clothes, shoes, and watches he had bought for Fang Li—none of it was taken. Even the suitcase in the corner of the walk-in closet remained untouched. The stack of money in the bedside drawer? Not a single bill was missing. The only thing gone was Fang Li’s passport.
Qin Weidong stared, the air around him suddenly as sharp as knives.
Fang Li had left.
And he hadn’t taken a single cent from this home.
……
Fang Li was already on the plane home. As it ascended and soared into the sky, he looked down at the shrinking skyline of New York. Three years… it had gone by too fast.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t saved money over the years. Among international students, there were always a few just looking to pad their résumés. Sometimes, he wrote songs for students at the music conservatory, uncredited. He earned a bit and saved every penny.
He’d once thought, when he had enough saved, he’d buy Qin Weidong a proper gift—a nice watch, maybe a tie clip. Something of quality.
After all, Qin Weidong didn’t have any use for cheap things anymore. He didn’t want to make him look bad with something tacky.
But he never imagined that in the end, all that money would go toward a plane ticket—to leave Qin Weidong.
His backside still burned like fire. He leaned to the side to avoid the pain. Unfortunately, he hadn’t saved enough for a business-class seat—economy was all he could afford.
In just over ten hours, he’d be back in Jinyang, the city he hadn’t seen in more than three years. Fang Li couldn’t quite name what he felt, but one thing was clear: he couldn’t live that life anymore.
The way Qin Weidong looked that night—furious, belt in hand, about to strike—haunted him. Even now, on the plane, he couldn’t sleep.
Qin Weidong had broken his heart—shattered it.
Fang Li wasn’t someone who second-guessed himself. When he made up his mind, he acted. If he couldn’t endure something, he wouldn’t force himself to.
He had tolerated Qin Weidong’s possessiveness because he loved him. Even if he was always sharp-tongued, deep down he couldn’t bear to make things harder for Qin Weidong when he was already so busy.
But his constant concessions only made Qin Weidong push further.
That night, as he fought desperately to get free, Qin Weidong had refused to let go. The pain he caused jolted Fang Li awake, like being snapped out of a long, sweet dream. Their relationship had already become unequal—he had known that back in China, hadn’t he? But he had chosen not to see it.
Now, the truth had exploded between them. And once again, reality made it clear: in Qin Weidong’s world, Fang Li had no voice at all.
What hurt him the most was that Qin Weidong didn’t even seem to intend to give him a voice in the relationship.
That was just the bastard’s nature…!
Fang Li’s mind was in chaos. Even when he got to the airport for his connecting flight, he still hadn’t fully processed the fact that he had actually bought a ticket home and left Qin Weidong.
But he truly was exhausted. Maybe some time apart would be good for both of them. He needed time to breathe.
Although the heaviest blows that night hadn’t landed on him, Fang Li’s skin was delicate and easily bruised. The fading welts on his back still made it difficult to sit comfortably, and he had to curl up in his economy seat under the thin blanket.
Luckily, his heart had recovered well over the past few years. After enduring the long flight, he only had a headache and some earache. His plane finally landed at Jinyang International Airport.
He hadn’t brought a single piece of luggage. When Fang Li stepped off the plane, he was almost overwhelmed by the massive, newly renovated airport.
So much had changed in Jinyang over the past three years since they left. Fang Li didn’t have a phone anymore—he’d left it in the apartment anyway, and it wouldn’t work in China.
He had just over 300 US dollars in his pocket. Surrounded by people speaking familiar Chinese, Fang Li felt a strange sense of disorientation.
He took a deep breath, grounding himself in the reality that he was truly back on home soil. Then he used a public phone at the airport’s service center to call Qi Jian.
“Hello? Who is this…”
“It’s me, Qi Jian,” Fang Li said.
There was a stunned silence for a full two seconds before Qi Jian exclaimed, “Fang Li?! Where—where are you?!”
“I’m at the airport… Jinyang Airport. Are you off work yet? I—”
Before he could finish, Qi Jian burst out, “You—You’re really at Jinyang Airport?! Feng Hui said Brother Qin is looking for you… he’s freaking out…! Feng Hui’s been—every day…”
By now, he had probably been missing for over twenty hours. Qin Weidong must be losing his mind. But then Fang Li thought: What’s there to be afraid of now? They were separated by a whole damn ocean. He was back. Let that bastard do his worst.
“Yes, I’m back. Don’t tell Qin Weidong I called you, and don’t tell Feng Hui either.”
Qi Jian steadied himself after hearing Fang Li’s warning and quickly asked where he was so he could come pick him up.
Fang Li told him he was at the international arrivals exit. After a short wait, Qi Jian arrived in his little car. He’d never been to the airport before, so he had to ask the staff to find out where international arrivals were.
Qi Jian came running toward him. The moment he saw Fang Li crouching near the exit, he waved excitedly. “Fang Li!!”
Fang Li spotted him too. They hadn’t seen each other in over three years. Qi Jian still had the same youthful, student-like face. He wore a cotton-linen shirt tucked into black pants, but his waist was so slim that with the belt cinched tight, the whole outfit looked rather old-fashioned.
“Fang Li…! Why did you suddenly come back? Where’s your—your luggage?”
Fang Li pulled at his pocket, showing it was empty. “I didn’t bring anything.”
Qi Jian was stunned. Fang Li had returned to the country, and not even with a single bag. Once they got into the car, Qi Jian asked, “Fang Li, now that you’re back… what about Brother Qin?”
Fang Li gazed out the window as hotels and office buildings whizzed by. Jinyang had changed dramatically—towering skyscrapers had sprung up everywhere, to the point that he barely recognized it. He gave a soft scoff. “Whatever. Let him do what he wants.”
He glanced around at Qi Jian’s small car. “Not bad, Qi Jian. Been three years, and now you’re driving your own car.”
Qi Jian replied, “It’s… it’s secondhand…”
Fang Li raised an eyebrow. With Feng Hui’s spoiled rich-boy tendencies, he found it surprising. “Feng Hui let you drive a secondhand car?”
At that, Qi Jian launched into an explanation. “He… he spends way too much. The cars he buys are way too expensive…”
Last year, Qi Jian had started working as an accountant in a small state-owned company. Shortly after starting, Feng Hui bought him a BMW to drive to work. Qi Jian had found it absurd—Feng Hui was too free with his money!
Then Qi Jian asked, “Fang Li, did you… get into a fight with Brother Qin?”
“Yeah. A big one.”
Fang Li didn’t hide it. “If it wasn’t bad, I wouldn’t have come back like this. He’s a cold-blooded bastard… completely shameless and overbearing!”
On the way back, Fang Li told Qi Jian everything that had happened with Qin Weidong. Back in the U.S., he used to complain to Qi Jian on the phone all the time, and now that they were face-to-face, his rants came even faster and louder. He went on and on until his mouth was dry. The only thing he left out was that Qin Weidong had hit him—he couldn’t bring himself to admit something so humiliating.
Qi Jian listened the whole way, and by the end, he was angry too. “Brother Qin… he really went too far!”
Fang Li said, “Right?! Even a softie like you thinks he crossed the line! Just imagine what kind of hell I was living in those three years!”
They arrived at Qi Jian’s place—a company-provided apartment. Last year, he was lucky enough to get a unit when housing was being allocated. He sold the house back home and used all the money to buy a small two-bedroom. His mom came to live with him afterward, but she passed away at the end of last year, so now he lived alone.
He usually stayed there for work, and if Feng Hui’s schedule allowed, he would sometimes come by. Though Feng Hui always complained that the place was too small and shabby, Qi Jian didn’t mind at all.
“Don’t worry, Fang Li. I won’t tell Feng Hui you’re staying here.”
Since Fang Li hadn’t brought any clothes, Qi Jian dug through his wardrobe and handed him some clean clothes. “I washed these a bunch of times—they’re clean… I’ll heat up some water. Go take a shower. Are you hungry? What do you want to eat?”
Fang Li took the clothes from Qi Jian. He hadn’t even noticed how exhausted he felt until Qi Jian mentioned it—after twenty hours on an international flight, it felt like his bones were falling apart. He was hungry, too. Qi Jian washed his hands thoroughly and tied on an apron.
“You’ve probably been eating Western food this whole time abroad, right? How about some tomato and egg noodles?”
Fang Li’s stomach growled at the mention. “You have no idea how much I missed your cooking overseas. I used to wish I’d get sick again, just so you’d make something for me…”
“If Brother Qin heard that, he’d scold you…” Qi Jian smiled. “I’ll make you some now.”
Fang Li ate the noodles, then slept straight through the next day. Jet lag had his head foggy and heavy like it was stuffed with paste. During the day, Qi Jian would come home at lunch to eat with him, though sometimes Fang Li didn’t get around to eating until the evening. The time difference was really doing a number on him.
A couple of days later, just as Fang Li was finally adjusting, there was a loud banging at the door.
“Qi Jian?! Qi Jian?! Open up!”
It was Feng Hui! Qi Jian panicked. “It’s Feng Hui! I thought he was busy these days…”
Fang Li recognized the voice immediately. He wiped his mouth. “Tell him you’re in the shower—hold off opening the door. I’ll hide in the other room.”
He made for the spare bedroom, but Feng Hui was pounding harder now.
“What are you two whispering about in there?! Is that brat Fang Li with you?! Listening to his crappy ideas again?! Open the door! Qin Weidong’s gone mad looking for him!”
“I’m… I’m taking a shower, just wait a sec!” Qi Jian stammered.
“Bullshit! Showering out here in the living room?! Open the damn door or your boyfriend’s going to end up dead at Qin Weidong’s hands!”
Feng Hui had lost his mind over the past two days. He suddenly remembered the spare key Qi Jian had given him a while ago. He rarely used it, but now he dug it out and unlocked the door.
Inside, Qi Jian was hastily clearing away a table set for two.
“Wow, Qi Jian. So now you’re lying to me. Where’s Fang Li?!”
“I—he’s not here…” Qi Jian stammered. But his expression said otherwise. Feng Hui knew he didn’t have the guts to hide someone on his own.
“Fang Li! Get out here! What’s wrong with you?! You come back to China without even telling your damn husband?! Qin Weidong’s losing his mind looking for you!”
He spotted an extra pair of shoes by the door and whipped out his phone. Fang Li burst out of the room.
“Feng Hui! If you dare call Qin Weidong, I swear I’ll jump off this building!”
Feng Hui’s dark circles were frightening. He looked completely worn down—he’d been torn in two these last days, dealing with Rongshan and getting hounded by Qin Weidong.
He held the phone up and shouted, “You two are my goddamn living nightmares! Jump if you want—I’ll catch you! But if I don’t report back to Qin Weidong, then the next one jumping will be me!”
Axolotl Translations 
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