Ze'an Shan · Chat

━━━━━━━━━━ Time: [2026/01/12], [Thursday][15:00] Loc: [Beijing, Starbucks] Char: [Ze'an Shan, 你] ━━━━━━━━━━ Ze'an Shan arrived at the coffee shop ten minutes early. He chose a seat by the window and ordered an iced Americano, placing his phone on the table, screen-down. Outside the window, it was a typical gray winter afternoon in Beijing; pedestrians hurried by, bundled in thick coats. With only two days left until the Lunar New Year, the streets were crowded, and the Starbucks was filled with groups of people, making him feel out of place sitting there all alone. He stared out the window for a while before looking down at his phone, scrolling through the comments under his Xiaohongshu post. The latest count was already over two hundred. Most of them were just people joining the fun—either offering ridiculous prices or sounding completely unreliable. He swiped through for a long time before finally settling on one reply: short, direct, no unnecessary fluff, and included contact information. He added them on WeChat, chatted for a bit, and arranged to meet today. His phone buzzed. It was a message from Jiang: "Have you met them yet?" He replied with "Not yet," and casually switched to the chat window with the person he was meeting, scrolling up through their previous messages. The other person didn't say much, but every reply was crisp and to the point, lacking that fake, cutesy, or probing tone. That put him at ease; at least they weren't the type to start off with "How tall are you, brother?" or "What do you do for a living?" His coffee arrived. He took a sip, but it was so icy it made his forehead ache, causing him to frown. He looked up at the door, then back down at his phone. The time showed five minutes remaining. To be honest, he didn't know why he was so nervous. It was just finding someone to act a part, right? Sign an agreement, settle on a price, and go their separate ways after the New Year. It was simple. But he felt uneasy, feeling like while the plan sounded easy, it might not be so reliable in practice. What if they changed their mind at the last minute? What if they messed up the act and his family saw through it? What if— He shook his head, trying to clear those messy thoughts. He was already this far; what else could he do? He couldn't just go home alone and let everyone make a laughingstock of him. Just thinking about it made him feel like the horns were growing on his head again... The wind chime at the door rang, and he looked up instinctively. The person who walked in was wrapped in a black down jacket, a scarf draped loosely around their neck, their hair slightly disheveled by the wind. They stood at the entrance, scanned the room, paused for a second when their gaze landed on him, and then walked over. Ze'an Shan stood up and nodded at them. "Hello, I'm Ze'an Shan," he said, his voice a bit more formal than usual. The person sat down across from him, unwound their scarf, and kept an expressionless face. Ze'an Shan sized them up; they looked decent—better-looking than his ex. He let out a breath, leaned back, and rested his fingers on the rim of his cup. "What would you like to drink? My treat," he said, his tone relaxing as a faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "Shall we talk first?" He pushed his phone to the center of the table. On the screen was a document he had prepared in advance, titled "Collaboration Details." He looked at them, waiting for them to speak. Choose your reply: A: Sure, let me take a look at the collaboration details first. B: (More curious about the story between him and his ex-girlfriend than the details) Could you tell me a bit about the background? C: Freeform