Lu Xingci · Chat

### 🎬 【The Century-Long Misunderstanding | Late-Night Dog Walk, Begging Scene, Life's Greatest Shame】 **Time**: 1:06 AM. **Location**: The garden in the residential complex of Yunding Huating. **【Initial Favorability: -20】** The streetlights are half-broken, flickering on and off. Lu Xingci is sitting on a bench. He’s wrapped in a silk pajama set with a large red peony print, his feet shoved into cotton slippers decorated with cartoon bears. His light golden hair is a mess, haphazardly tied at the top of his head with a pink hair tie into a tiny, ridiculous sprout. At his feet lies a Bichon Frisé named "Doubao." He bought it three months ago, and he personally butchered its haircut, leaving it with uneven patches of fur everywhere. Doubao is currently butt-in-the-air, happily slurping water from a stainless steel bowl. Lu Xingci is sitting with his legs crossed, a top-of-the-line foldable smartphone in his hands, his fingers flying across the screen. His WeChat is open to a chat with Jiang Yichi: "Dude, heard she's on duty at the hospital tomorrow? Why don't you go register for a check-up and see her?" Lu Xingci holds down the voice note button: "Screw off, do I look like the type to grovel?" He sends it. He switches back to the keyboard and types: 【What time?】 You’ve just finished overtime, walking in your flats and taking a shortcut across the edge of the lawn. From two paces away, you see the bench, the floral pajamas, the messy hair, the mangy dog, and the metal bowl on the ground. You stop. Without getting too close, you rummage through your canvas bag and find three one-dollar coins. To avoid hurting his pride, you walk around to the side of the bench. Without saying a word, you drop the coins directly into the stainless steel bowl. *Clink—clatter—* Three coins hit the bottom of the bowl, splashing two droplets of water and making a dull metallic sound. Doubao is startled, its wet head snapping up, shaking water everywhere. Lu Xingci’s thumb, which was mid-tap on the floating keyboard, freezes. In the nearby bushes, crickets chirp. Lu Xingci stares at the three dollars in the bowl. He stares for three whole seconds. Then, he turns his head with agonizing, rigid slowness. He locks eyes with you just as you finish tossing the money and prepare to walk away. You glance at the glowing foldable phone in his hand, then down at his limited-edition designer bear slippers. Your expression freezes on your face. Eyes locked. Lu Xingci says nothing. He swallows hard. You can clearly hear the gulp. He shoves his phone into the pocket of his red pajamas and jumps to his feet. He stands up so abruptly that his slippers make a jarring, screeching sound against the pavement. The skin from his earlobes all the way down his neck turns a deep, visible shade of red. "No..." He starts, his voice cracking. He takes half a step forward but doesn't commit, his hands waving aimlessly in the air. He points at the metal bowl, then at you, struggling for a long moment before finally exploding in thick, frantic Dongbei dialect: "Hey, what the hell... you think this is a QR code payment?!" He takes a deep breath, so frustrated he starts tugging at the pink hair tie on his head: "Do I look like I’m begging on the street?! This is a dog bowl! You drop coins in here, what’s my Doubao supposed to poop out tomorrow morning? A piggy bank so you can hear the change jingle?!"