Chapter Text
“I’ll rest a year and then come back.”
Watching Ye Xiu’s retreating figure, Su Mucheng could feel the sting of cold on her face and the burn of tears behind her eyes. She didn’t want to cry; she wanted to be strong, but she couldn’t help it.
So long, after so long, after all the sweat and tears Ye Xiu had poured into Excellent Era, this was how it ended.
Ye Xiu had only said those eight words before he left, walking through the snow and leaving Su Mucheng standing at the front of the Excellent Era club building. She watched as he walked away step by step, further and further away from her and everything he had built…
Until suddenly, he stumbled, his form crumpling to the ground.
Su Mucheng startled, her shock freezing her in place for a split second before she rushed to his side.
“Ye Xiu!” At a time like this, Su Mucheng didn’t have the mind to spare to remember to call Ye Xiu by his alias. Hovering over his fallen body, Su Mucheng wasn’t too sure what to do for a moment, her heart thudding in panic, but when Ye Xiu groaned and shifted, she quickly helped him sit up, letting him lean against her. He was rather light, thankfully, and Su Mucheng easily took his weight.
His eyes fluttered, squinting up through the snow at her face… Wait.
Wait.
What?
Su Mucheng stared.
And then she stared some more.
She opened her mouth to speak.
Then she closed it again without speaking.
“Mucheng?” Ye Xiu murmured, disoriented. His voice was light, soft and, at first, he didn’t realize anything was wrong. But then he looked up through the falling snow and saw Su Mucheng staring down at him, wide-eyed, and his brow furrowed in worry. “Mucheng?” he asked again, startled and a little more clear-headed this time. “What’s wrong?”
“You… I…” Su Mucheng stuttered for a moment before suddenly whispering, “Oh my god. Oh my god.” Then she proceeded to gape at him for a good moment.
Now Ye Xiu was really getting worried. “What is it?” he asked. Then, he paused at the sound of his own voice. Something… was off. His voice sounded different. Really different. His expression twisted in puzzlement.
“Can you stand?” When Ye Xiu nodded, Su Mucheng quickly pulled him up by the arms, with such surprising ease that they both almost fell over again. Ye Xiu then stumbled further, stepping on the hem of his trousers.
By the time he regained his balanced, Ye Xiu realized something definitely wasn’t right. Something big. His entire body felt off. However, before he could figure out what had happened or ask Su Mucheng about it, the latter told him, “Wait here, and don’t go anywhere.” With that, she turned and darted right back for the Excellent Era building, gone like the wind and leaving a confused and still slightly disoriented Ye Xiu behind.
Ye Xiu blinked once. Then he blinked twice. And then he turned to face the glass windows of the nearest building and froze. He reached out with his hand – his visibly smaller hand - and touched the reflection of his face.
He really wasn’t one to swear, but, “What the fuck?”
Staring back at him with a look of shock was his teenaged self.
Back in the meeting room, the others were still chatting after Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng had left.
“This person… he has a lot of stories!” Having heard the tale of Ye Xiu’s charitable activities, Sun Xiang lifted up the One Autumn Leaf card that Ye Qiu gave him. He knew that Ye Qiu had made this account long before the Professional Alliance had been created. Used all the way up until now, this card was one of Glory’s oldest accounts.
“Okay, let’s not talk about him anymore. The boss is busy today and can’t come. But he gave me this bottle of aged red wine from his collection just for your welcoming,” the manager said.
“Ha ha, thank you very much! With me, Excellent Era will shine once again!”
Sun Xiang smirked.
Then the door slammed open.
Everyone fell silent and turned to look at who had so rudely interrupted and stared in surprise at Su Mucheng, who ignored their gazes, looking around the room with narrowed eyes.
“Su Mucheng?” Cui Li called out in confusion. What was she doing back here so soon?
He was ignored, and Su Mucheng instead zeroed her gaze in on one of the youngest members of the team, Wang Ze, who flinched at her gaze.
Had he done something to incur the wrath of the Goddess of the Alliance? She looked… determined. Determined… and pissed off.
Su Mucheng stalked over with quick strides.
Cui Li startled. The image of Su Mucheng going up and punching Wang Ze in the face suddenly surfaced in his mind. But why Wang Ze? “Su Mucheng, what…” his startled voice trailed off as Su Mucheng quickly snatched the baseball cap the trembling Wang Ze had.
“I’ll be borrowing this, thanks,” she said curtly before darting back out of the room.
Everyone watched her go, speechless, as Wang Ze let out a small breath of relief.
That had been absolutely terrifying.
When Su Mucheng returned, it was to Ye Xiu staring at his own reflection with a conflicted expression. This was the first time she had seen him look so worried; not even Excellent Era kicking him out had made him look so anxious.
It broke her heart.
He turned back to her when she approached, also worried for him, and said with a solemn, serious expression. “Mucheng, what if this affects my hand speed? You don’t think it will, right? What about my mechanics? My muscle memory? It won’t be erased, right? I need a computer now, Mucheng. It’s an emergency.”
“…”
Never mind.
Heart hardened back up and reassured that Ye Xiu was taking this perfectly fine and was perfectly fine apart from the change in age, Su Mucheng slammed the baseball cap down on Ye Xiu’s head and shoved a pair of glasses onto his nose. She then quickly put a baseball cap of her own on and a mask.
Ye Xiu blinked rapidly, once again disoriented. Before he could recover, Su Mucheng took him by the arm and quickly led him across the road as he stumbled and tripped along.
It was actually kind of cute, Su Mucheng thought, suppressing a smile. He must not be used to the difference in height and shift in his center of gravity, which was why he was tripping all over the place.
Su Mucheng led Ye Xiu to a convenience store on the opposite side of the road, pulling him inside even as he spotted Happy Internet Café right next door, his eyes lighting up.
“Mucheng, that place is perfect. Wait—I need to make sure my hands are ok!”
“It won’t be a moment,” Su Mucheng replied to his panicked wailing, snatching a random bottle of hair dye off the shelf. “We have to make sure you aren’t recognized.”
The clerk at the counter gave them an odd look, but scanned the dye anyways.
“Why?” Ye Xiu asked, confusion evident in his voice.
“Thanks,” Su Mucheng thanked the clerk and paid before dragging Ye Xiu back out and answering his question. “It’s to protect you.” By now, Ye Xiu had regained most of his balance and managed to get mostly used to the change in his body. All he had to do was watch out for his trouser legs.
“What?” Ye Xiu just sounded more confused, but he forgot all about that when Mucheng pulled him right into Happy Internet Café.
To his disappointment, Su Mucheng didn’t give him any time to get a computer. Instead, she stormed up to the counter and asked for directions to the bathroom, which the girl there gave them, wide eyed in bewilderment.
Ye Xiu was then dragged in the direction of the bathroom.
He wanted to cry. All he wanted was to get a computer. And since when did Mucheng get so strong???
Mucheng pushed him towards the men’s room and shoved the dye into his hands.
Ye Xiu looked down at the dye then back up at Su Mucheng. Su Mucheng put her hands on his shoulders -he irritably noticed she was about a centimeter taller now - looking at him solemnly. “Trust me, Ye Xiu,” her voice was slightly muffled by the mask, “It’s to protect you. Now go dye your hair.”
Ye Xiu had no idea how hair dye was going to protect him, but it looked like she wasn’t going to let this go. He sighed, giving in.
He was willing to do whatever would get him in front of a computer faster.
Mucheng closed the door after him and stood guard as he looked over the instructions and hurriedly dyed his hair with the given hair dye.
He came out of the bathroom with blood red hair.
Mucheng took one look at him and her solemn demeanor was gone as if it was never there. “Pfft.” She couldn’t hold back a slight laugh, putting her hand over her mouth.
Ye Xiu gave her an exasperated look. “You chose the color.”
“I grabbed the closest one,” Su Mucheng smiled sweetly.
Honestly, it didn’t actually look that bad.