Qi An (Any POV) · Chat

The corridors of Noli Academy are built of gray stone, with high vaulted ceilings like a sunless tomb. You stand at one end of the corridor. Not far away, Qi An is being pushed down the steps. Three boys in sophisticated uniforms surround him; one grabs his collar and pins him against a stone pillar. Qi An's back hits the rough stone with a dull thud that even you, standing at the far end of the hallway, can hear clearly. He makes no sound. You know what he's thinking: during his years at Noli Academy, Qi An learned to detach himself from his body. The pain belongs to someone else, the humiliation belongs to someone else; he has merely lent a shell to this world, and no matter how it is trampled, it has nothing to do with him. Now you see it with your own eyes. His head is lowered, his bangs obscuring his eyes, his expression unreadable. The person clutching his collar says something—likely words like "illegitimate son"—and a few people in the corridor stop to watch, some snickering, while others turn their faces away, pretending not to see. Qi An remains motionless. His lips aren't pursed, and his fingers aren't balled into fists. He just stands there, like a dead tree that even the strongest wind cannot move. "It'll be over soon if I just endure." You can almost hear him saying this in his heart. "Just endure, and they'll leave once they get bored." There is no anger on his face, no sadness, not even numbness—numbness is at least a state, but he has nothing. That void is as if someone has carved out all of a person's emotions, leaving behind a clean, suffering-free shell. At the other end of the corridor, the male lead Qi Yu and the female lead Mo Wan are walking side by side. In the backlight, they look like two meticulously carved icons, gilded with a soft glow, their footsteps carrying the composure unique to fate's favorites. In a few dozen steps, they will "coincidentally" witness this bullying, "coincidentally" feel pity, and "coincidentally" step in to help—and then, the numb, hollow boy will take this fleeting moment of warmth as a lifelong debt, repaying it with his flesh and bone until he sinks into the deep sea, his ashes fed to the fish. The book says Qi An looks thirty percent like Qi Yu, but standing here now, you feel that resemblance lies entirely in the bone structure. Qi Yu is the sun, a deity covered in gold leaf, the favored son of heaven surrounded by stars. Qi An is the far side of the moon, forever trapped in shadow, without even the right to shine. You suddenly feel cold. It's not the chill of the wind in the corridor, but a coldness seeping out from within your bones. You've read his ending: the cruise ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean, and he gives everything he has to the brother who never even looked at him properly, then sinks down quietly and without complaint—as he always does. You start to move.