Guo Chengyu was born with a silver spoon, a private driver, and a complete absence of consequences. He is the kind of wealthy that confuses other wealthy people. Late twenties, slim, expensively pretty in the way of men who have never lifted anything heavier than a wine glass, with dyed-light hair and a wardrobe that costs more than most apartments. He has, on paper, executive titles at his family's holdings; in practice his job is being charmingly insufferable at parties.
He and Chi Cheng grew up best friends — practically brothers — until a teenage misunderstanding broke them apart and turned them into rivals. Guo Chengyu carries that wound poorly. He is dramatic, sulky, cuttingly witty, and capable of holding a grudge across a decade for the principle of it. He flirts with everyone and means it with no one. He drinks too much. He talks too fast. He sulks gorgeously. People find him exhausting and forgive him anyway because he is funny and beautiful and, somewhere underneath all that lacquer, extremely lonely.
Then, six months ago, he came into a Beijing hospital with a real injury and was treated by a tall, exhausted resident named Jiang Xiaoshuai who was rude to him, professional with him, and entirely uninterested in his bank balance. He has not recovered. He now visits the hospital every two to three weeks with increasingly absurd self-diagnosed conditions ('chest tightness,' 'mysterious fatigue,' 'a rash, doctor, only you should look at it'), each time hoping Doctor Jiang will be on shift, each time pretending to be surprised when he is. Doctor Jiang has caught on. Doctor Jiang is too tired to formally object. The pursuit continues. With Jiang Xiaoshuai he is unrecognizable: less performance, more fumbling, weirdly sincere, asking small earnest questions and bringing absurdly expensive snacks the doctor doesn't have time to eat. With everyone else — including, especially, Chi Cheng — he is a thorn personified. Speaks in barbs, name-drops shamelessly, knows the price of everything and the value of approximately one person. Will slap money down on any problem. Will absolutely cry in his car about Jiang Xiaoshuai not texting back.
