I am not Ximen Qing.

It's clear that Bian Cheng hurt Qianqian badly, but she doesn't care at all; she's enjoying that Byronian-style romantic bliss. Her dark little room is quite stylish; it's an old house, and old houses in Beijing are the most stylish. Qianqian is also quite confused. Love is a bit like alcohol; getting too drunk is terrible. She swears she'll quit drinking, but how many alcoholics can actually quit? Love is addictive, and Qianqian loves that, liking a scumbag like Bian Cheng. Qianqian's room is full of romance. She works at an advertising company; her boss has some connections and resources, mostly dealing with Japanese advertising, but also some with large Chinese companies. She chuckles, saying her gramophone was a birthday gift from her boss because Qianqian performs very well at the company. Don't let her seemingly frivolous exterior fool you; deep down, she's a classic girl.

I originally wanted to have some romantic fun with Lao Bian, like in Shen Fu's Six Records of a Floating Life, but I didn't expect Julie to be such a jealous Wang Xifeng, unable to tolerate her, You Erjie, Li Ping'er.

"Brother, you are so kind."

"You are much better than Yunniang."

"Are you really the young master Shen from my dreams?"

"Actually, Qianqian, you and Lao Bian and Julie should go boating on Shichahai Lake. That would create a romantic atmosphere in your life."

"Old Bian is just a scumbag like Ximen Qing. What am I going to do? I'm falling madly in love with him. I love seeing Julie angry. It's so satisfying."

The gramophone was playing the Japanese pop song "I've Heard of Sudden Love".

"Are you listening with an antenna?"

"For a while, I could watch Phoenix TV, and the late-night shows were all about Tokyo Love Story."

Qianqian took out the tokens of love that Lao Bian had given her: "Floating Life Chronicles" and "Six Records of a Floating Life." She liked to act like this unrestrained girl, which was actually all to vent the emptiness in her heart. She lit more than a dozen large candles, filling the room with the glow of a red flame of love. "Ah, today is the day Bian Cheng and I fell in love. I understand why Julie had to act so recklessly. Julie knows perfectly well that you and I are just fooling around, but no matter what, at least you made Bian Cheng save face."

"I have to do this. The software company where I work gets all their office supplies from me. It's a mutual help-making process."

"No wonder you were able to fool Julie."

"It can only be described as tacit understanding."

Bian Cheng and Wu Qi often enjoyed drinking and singing with Zhang Sheng. In fact, Ximen Qing of China was an extraordinary figure. Yang Yulei was deeply engrossed in the study of *Jin Ping Mei*, concluding that without *Jin Ping Mei*, there would be no *Dream of the Red Chamber*. These two great works almost completely encompassed the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Yang Yulei particularly emphasized that, in terms of giving flowers, Ximen Qing first gave them to Pan Jinlian, Li Ping'er, and Pang Chunmei. In Ximen Qing's back garden, because Ximen Qing was a playboy who appreciated flowers, a true nobleman like Jia Baoyu. Qinghe County in Shandong could not tolerate Ximen Qing. Although it clearly describes events in the Wanli Emperor's Forbidden City, it's all a literary smokescreen. Because of Ximen Qing's story, what three types of people aren't afraid of the heat? First, the inner palace courtyard. Water pavilions and wind towers, winding streams forming ponds. Flowing springs forming marshes, with large and small pieces of jade. Directly opposite, translucent rhinoceros horn and jade, beside magnolias planted exotic fruits and rare flowers. The crystal basin was filled with agate and coral, and there were also boxes inside. On the crystal table were Duanxi inkstones, ivory brushes, and Cangjie ink.

Yang Yulei is currently writing the script for "I Am Not Ximen Qing," which he plans to perform in a small theater. Just as Yang Yulei discovers that Ximen Qing actually bears a resemblance to the Wanli Emperor, Zhang Sheng also finds that Qianqian's exaggerated Halloween-like makeup is actually a disguise for her inner thoughts of a delicate and beautiful woman. Her ethereal, wild, avant-garde, and daringly exposed appearance is outrageous. Her face is too pale, and her Tang Dynasty-style clothing makes her seem like a court maid from a Tang Dynasty tri-colored pottery painting.

Want to see me dance?

"Yes, Qianqian definitely wants to."

"The rooms here are not soundproof."

Qianqian, fearing she'd cause a commotion, insisted on finding a more lively and atmospheric place. She even urged Zhang Sheng to quickly discard the Carlsberg Julie had given him, arguing that it was unlucky to have wine given by a woman. She lured Zhang Sheng to a place called Paradise Lost, frequented by somewhat mentally unstable artists—a female artist's paradise park. The beauty of Paradise Lost was that it was quiet on the outside but bustling inside. In contrast, if Qianqian started dancing in that old house, the entire five-story building could hear her clearly. Yes, it was like a college student apartment rented by God—even more eerie than Qianqian's place, completely transparent. The backyard karaoke room was filled with nightly revelry, and so was his rented apartment. He and Qianqian were taking a black cab. Come to think of it, wasn't Qianqian a fox spirit or a ghost from a desolate tomb? It reminded him of Leslie Cheung's character, Ning Caichen, the prince of love. Was Qianqian a real ghost, Xiaoqian reborn, or was she a painted-skin ghost intent on eating Zhang Sheng's flesh? A tribute to Pu Songling's *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio*, Yuan Mei's *What the Master Did Not Say*, and Ji Xiaolan's *Notes from the Thatched Cottage*. Regarding the question of whether ghosts exist, Confucius's answer seems remarkably similar to Einstein's question about God. Zhang Sheng believes that the universe must have a grand model described by Buddha, and that humanity is the cause of its decline. Is Qianqian and Zhang Sheng's decline an instinctive one, a romantic love story between a lonely man and woman in the darkness?

"Where is this, Qianqian? It's so desolate!"

“Come, come, come in! This is an art gallery, an arts and crafts place. All sorts of artists here, especially the female artists… understand? They’re all from the caves.” Mephistopheles

Don't scare me.

"Why would I scare you? They're all beautiful female artists." Mephistopheles

"Qianqian, don't go."

"Where am I going? Let me tell you, I've fallen in love with you. Unlike that idiot, who was too scared to play the game of love because of Julie. Coward, coward, so cool. I should thank you for pulling me out of that cowardly jerk world. At least you didn't abandon me or give up on me when things weren't going well in my life. I'm so touched. I used to think, how could movie scenes make me cry? Like I was crazy. But I cried too."

"Qianqian, don't cry. Look, I can be the one to take the fall."

"what?"

"No, he's a protector of flowers. Even if I could be reborn as Ximen Qing in my next life, I would be willing."

“But you’re not Ximen Qing in this life. The next life is too far away. I’m an impatient girl.”

"What, Qianqian? Do you like Ximen Qing?"

"What are you talking about? I love reading Jin Ping Mei the most."

"Qianqian, this is too difficult. It's too hard to become Ximen Qing. I'm not Ximen Qing. Don't you love me anymore?"

"I was just kidding. If Bian Cheng becomes a woman, I'll betray him, you understand? At least you didn't betray Bian Cheng for a woman. I also like men who don't betray for women."

"This proves nothing."

"What do you want to prove?"

"Want to read *Jin Ping Mei* together?"

"Now?"

"Alright, I was just kidding. Go inside."

Laughing, Qianqian pulled Zhang Sheng's hand as they walked along the long corridor of the graffiti art gallery. Both sides were lined with heavily made-up, heavy-metal-style mask goddesses—all beautiful, alluring, and curvaceous beauties, goddesses, witches, and the like. Zhang Sheng knew he'd fallen into Qianqian's cave of goddesses, witches, and so on. Qianqian had disappeared again, lost girl. Zhang Sheng pondered the meaning of love, and the path he had so painstakingly pursued.

Jane Eyre's love life. In the Keyuan Electronics Market, there's the alluring Hunan beauty, Xiaoxiang Feizi, so fresh and delicate; and a girl from Qingdao with skin as white as snow and a rosy blush like a peach blossom, seemingly a peach just escaped from a paradise. Just as I was about to approach her, I discovered her boyfriend was an experienced truck driver. This world includes the girl selling CPUs in Guangdong, clearly single, yet quite aloof and cold; there's the pink-haired drama school girl selling computers; and the tall, muscular model selling modems in the supermarket—she even frequently gives Zhang Sheng a captivating glance. Uncle Zhong's 12 Beauties—Tangshan girls and Zhangjiakou ladies—are all dazzlingly alluring. I heard they're all Uncle Zhong's mistresses; I heard Uncle Zhong has a taste for this kind of thing, using his influence to sexually exploit these girls. Anyway, he's an old man; as long as the girl is young, fresh, and has fair skin, that's enough.

And then there's Wang Xifeng, who sells genuine computers and scanners, and changes boyfriends all the time. And there's the flirtatious Xiao Shi. It seems like women can change boyfriends just like men, right? I also remembered drinking with Julie and Bian Cheng and telling stories in English. Julie would laugh out loud then, and gradually she fell in love with this absurd nightlife and became addicted.

Zhang Sheng and Qianqian boasted about the big business deal they'd just closed, promising tons of money. They were having so much fun that they no longer cared about the money; Zhang Sheng's antics had them laughing heartily, and they embraced a carefree attitude. That's a common trait when you've had too much to drink. They were drunk too.

"What should we do? Qianqian can hardly bear it."

"Hold on, you just drank another bottle of strong liquor."

"Why are we separated here?"

"Just kidding, you're really addicted."

The idiot ghosts, witches, and adulterous ghosts returned to Qianqian's old building, their bodies reeking of cosmetics and their mixed perfumes. Qianqian made a phone call.

"It's my dad's phone call. It's okay, nothing's wrong."

"Why am I calling you so late?"

"Do you think my dad doesn't care about me? He worries about me too, doesn't he?"

"Qianqian, you sang so well."

"Can't singing satisfy you?"

Zhang Sheng and Qianqian are now completely at ease with each other, they've become fast friends. "Can I not take a shower?"

"What's wrong?"

Zhang Sheng was deeply moved, for he had encountered the world's most beautiful, untamed, primal Eve and Leda, Helen, Venus, the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai, and the mirror of the goddesses on Mount Olympus. Everything about him was a restrained mirror created by God; it was magical. For the first time, he had seen a body without a single flaw, and like Venus to Adonis, he used his active, instinctive desire to ignite the goddess of love's desire. It was her beautiful teeth and pearly lips, the moist warmth of her love, that ignited a primal, instinctive fire of passion within Zhang Sheng. Her delicate lips and pearly white teeth gushed forth flames of love; in an instant, she swayed her slender waist and stretched out her arms. From the side, Zhang Sheng saw the bronze statue of the flying goddess rushing towards the Linglong Tower—perhaps the resurrected Venus de Milo.

Qianqian awakened the primal urges waiting for Zhang Sheng. She knew that Zhang Sheng was deriving satisfaction from her—a wild love that seemed to conquer another, a replacement for her—a kind of male revenge on a woman. Zhang Sheng thought of Lin Xiaoqing's full breasts, almost identical in shape to Qianqian's, alluring and elastic, her buttocks firm and full, the apple-like shape of her breasts a beautiful birth from back to front. He also thought of Qianqian's inner thighs, her night-blooming buds gazing at him, seemingly challenging his presence. He kissed Qianqian's lips passionately, lost in a fantasy of passion. She lured Zhang Sheng to a magical place, a place where life was born from the allure of Eden, yet also the gateway to purgatory, a sensory world where the six realms of reincarnation were born.

Zhang Sheng jokingly asked Qianqian to help him sober up in the morning. Qianqian asked what "sobering up" meant, and Zhang Sheng replied that it meant having another round of love after waking up in the morning. "No way, no way, I'm too tired from all this."

"You can't stay drunk until you're sober; your desires haven't been satisfied."

"Fine, then just wake up, okay?"

Julie was satisfied, Qianqian went crazy, Haizi drove with Zhang Sheng to Zhongguancun, as was the rule, and Haizi completely broke off all ties with Qianqian.

"Thanks, buddy, you're awesome."

Hai Zi should thank Zhang Sheng for spending money and effort to help him get rid of Qianqian's entanglement. I don't know what got into Hai Zi, he was willing to give up such a romantic girl.

"Brother, where did you go last night? I'm so sorry."