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“When you went overseas, we thought that would open up space on the stage for everyone else.” Zhong Yeli shakes her head and points her chopsticks at Tang Rou, who’s laughing, unrepentant. “Why’d you need to come back and shine on Glory’s stage too?”
“Did you miss striving for my records, Zhong-meimei?” Tang Rou teases. “You even had a head start this time!”
Zhong Yeli rolls her eyes. Sometimes, she wishes that Tang Rou had kept to music and left Glory for Zhong Yeli to claim. Other times, she’s filled with the same thrill as when she'd looked at the music awards Tang Rou had won and swore to match Tang Rou’s achievements. In that, at least, their year’s difference in age worked to her advantage; they could claim the same trophies at the same age and be considered almost equals. “Tang-jie, not everyone’s lucky enough to be mentored by a cluster of gods.”
“Heavenly Swords also has one.” Tang Rou picks up a shrimp and deposits it in Zhong Yeli’s bowl, and Zhong Yeli feels herself flush. That hadn’t happened before—even when Zhong Yeli’s parents attempted to arrange her marriage to Tang Rou in their teens, Zhong Yeli had been more exasperated than anything else—but a lot of things have changed in the last four years. Glory, for one. Tang Rou’s whole presentation, for another; her determination has never faltered, but she used to be more reserved.
Studying abroad changed Tang Rou for the better, Zhong Yeli reflects. It’s good to see her so comfortable in her body and surrounded by laughing friends.
Zhong Yeli eats the shrimp, its lemon tang sharp on her tongue. “Sun-qianbei isn’t the same.” She means both We weren’t brought up by a god and Ye Xiu’s on a whole other level.
Tang Rou rests her chin on her hand and studies Zhong Yeli. “True,” she says dryly. “Ye Xiu has a worse reputation.”
Zhong Yeli laughs, as she’s sure Tang Rou intended, and the conversation drifts to other topics. The snake An Wenyi’s raising as a pet. The music idol shows they’d both been following since childhood, knowing that they held one possible future. Gai Caijie and Lu Hanwen’s ongoing meme war in the Season 9 debut’s group-chat. Upcoming charity events their families were attending or throwing. A hundred little things, no different from their conversations in the interminable waits to perform at recitals.
But there is a difference. It’s not in the takeout they’d bought, or the fact that they're hidden away before the final prep of their teams’ Glory match, or even the simple years gone by.
No, Zhong Yeli thinks. It’s that Tang Rou has found a place where she could be herself so fully. It’s that Zhong Yeli herself has found something to strive for that her family didn’t choose for her.
After throwing away their takeout containers, the room is filled with murmuring quiet. Into that space—the theater of possibility, their music teachers once called it—Zhong Yeli says, “I’m glad.”
Tang Rou turns to her, a question in her face.
“That we both found Glory.” Zhong Yeli clasps Tang Rou’s hand. It's warm, and the muscles wrapped around her fingers are soft. “That we didn’t go such separate ways after all.”
This time it’s Tang Rou who flushes. Her graceful fingers—pianist-long, gaming-quick—close over Zhong Yeli’s. “Yeah,” she says with a soft smile. “I’m glad too.”
“We’re still going to crush you.” Zhong Yel knows it’s not true; Happy has been near the top of Season 11’s ranks since the beginning, and Heavenly Swords sits solidly in the middle of the pack. But what’s the point of competition without striving for the top?
Tang Rou’s smile is fiercer now, and sweeter, than when they were young. “I’d like to see you try.”
“You will,” Zhong Yeli promises. “You will.”