Night rose from the river. The lights of Saixing District shimmered on the Moonochuan across the water. I stood before the floor-length mirror, brushed my fingertips across the armlet. The floating interface lit up, the livestream automatically activating.
I wore a black maid dress with a white apron. Dianzi stepped out of the bathroom in a light pink maid dress with a white apron. She spun around, the hem of her skirt flaring up and settling back down.
"Zhao Dayong is already waiting downstairs." She picked up her light pink chain bag. "This girl here is going out in a maid outfit for the first time."
The elevator descended. In the lobby, Zhao Dayong stood beside the revolving door. A deep blue shirt, black backpack, camera slung across his chest. His gaze landed on me, then shifted to Dianzi, pausing for a beat before flicking away.
"Little misses."
The floor-to-ceiling windows of the Cloud Summit restaurant took up an entire wall. Modu's skyline spread out below. When Zhao Dayong sat down, the chair leg scraped against the carpet. He set his camera bag at his feet.
I handed him the menu. He opened it. His eyes stopped on the price column. His hand pulled back. I took the menu from him and closed it.
Dianzi turned sideways. "You can turn back anytime on this road. If something feels wrong, tell this girl here. This girl here will stop."
Zhao Dayong's lips moved slightly.
I looked into his eyes. "From now on, listen to me. I'll make you forget all your troubles."
He rubbed his fingers along the edge of the table. "I've thought it through. I don't want to live a life without money anymore."
I pushed a glass of champagne toward him. "Thinking it through is enough. My name is Jieyang Hanzi." I tapped the chest strap pendant. "This girl here is Jieyang Dianzi. She's the older sister. This girl here is the younger sister."
Zhao Dayong nodded. "Zhao Dayong."
Dianzi pulled the squirrel from her bag and set it on the corner of the table, facing him. "This girl knows you already introduced yourself. But today is different. Today you agreed to us. So this is the first time you're saying your name with a new identity."
Zhao Dayong glanced down at the squirrel's black-bead eyes. His lips moved. He didn't speak.
Dianzi turned the squirrel to face herself and imitated its voice. "Lychee says he remembers. The last time you said it was your name. This time, it's a promise."
Zhao Dayong picked up his glass and took a big gulp, choking slightly. He set the glass down. "Will you really take care of me?"
"Of course. You won't have to worry about anything from now on."
"Darlings, this girl here is at the Cloud Summit restaurant today." I panned the camera across the night view outside the window. Cargo ship lights pulled into red and white ribbons on the river.
[chat] Here we are
[chat] The maid outfit is unreal
[chat] The night view outside is so beautiful 😭
[chat] What are we eating today
The server brought the first dish. A white porcelain plate. A semi-transparent sphere lay at the center, a small pinch of ginger-yellow powder beside it. "Hairy crab soup dumpling. The skin is made of seaweed gel. The filling is crab roe consommé. Bite into the whole thing."
Zhao Dayong tried to pick it up with chopsticks. The sphere rolled a half-circle on the plate. He changed his angle and tried again. The sphere deformed at the tips of the chopsticks. The moment he bit into it, his jaw stiffened for a beat.
"What's it like?" Dianzi tilted her head.
"Like a soup dumpling. But the skin is cold and the filling is hot. Like eating a raindrop stuffed with soup dumpling."
Dianzi's hand slipped, knocking over an entire dish of ginger vinegar mixed with super-spicy mustard into Zhao Dayong's cuff and wrist. She hurriedly handed him a tissue, her syrupy voice drifting through her fingers.
"Oh dear, this girl was just so happy you agreed to Sister, her hand slipped. See? Even the dipping sauce got so excited it jumped up. Is it faster than your heartbeat?"
Zhao Dayong looked down at the vinegar stain on his cuff, then at the tissue Dianzi was offering. He took the tissue and pressed it twice against his cuff. "Faster than my heartbeat. I can endure a heartbeat. Can't endure this." He rolled his cuff up one fold.
The liquid nitrogen foie gras was served in a cloud of white mist. The ice shell cracked open, the liver flavor slowly blooming. The caramel lollipop — a bite, sweet, then savory, then sweet again.
When the Longjing-smoked salmon arrived, he picked up a slice and narrowed his eyes. "Like drinking tea, but biting down into fish. The smoky flavor hits first."
Finally, the glutinous rice bill. Zhao Dayong bit off a small piece from the edge. The rice paper dissolved between his teeth. "The taste of paper. After swallowing, it turns sweet."
He swallowed. His eyes rested on the empty plate. "Before coming here, I thought my life would always be underwater. Now, it feels like I've floated up just a little."
——What's inside the shell — no one knows until they bite through. But once they bite through, they can never go back.
Dianzi set the squirrel back in front of Zhao Dayong. "Lychee says, it's good that you floated up. Once you float up, you can see the shore."
[chat] Molecular gastronomy is so fancy
[chat] Lychee
[chat] Floated up 😂
Zhao Dayong looked at the squirrel. "But I don't know where the shore is."
"You don't need to know. Just follow."
He was silent for a few seconds, then looked up. "Those dishes — each one had to go in whole. Every one tasted different after you bit through it. Why."
"The real flavor isn't on the surface. It's inside the shell. If you don't bite through, you'll never know what's inside. Once you bite through, you can never go back."
Zhao Dayong looked at his own hands. He pulled them back from the edge of the table.
The server approached and placed the bill folder at the corner of the table. I pulled out a black card from the Lingguang Armlet, its edges rimmed with silver. The server took the card and inserted it into the terminal. The screen lit up once and dimmed. He returned the card to me with both hands.
[chat] ????
[chat] Black card
[chat] Is that a black card 😱
[chat] The unlimited credit kind???
I returned the card to the Lingguang Armlet. Zhao Dayong's eyes followed it until it vanished into the cold light. He didn't ask, but his Adam's apple moved once.
Dianzi put the squirrel back in her bag. I stood up. "Darlings, this girl here is signing off for today."
[chat] Goodbye Daughter
[chat] When's the next stream
[chat] Waiting for you 👏
I brushed my fingertips across the armlet. The floating interface dimmed. The livestream shut off.
The elevator descended. Beyond the car, the city spread out in the night. Most of the cubicle windows in the office towers were dark. Zhao Dayong stood in the corner, looking down at his camera bag. The faded keychain on the zipper hung quietly.
The car was quiet, only the faint hum of movement. The elevator doors opened. Moonlight flooded in through the lobby's floor-to-ceiling window, spreading a sheet of silver across the cold floor.