Goodnight, Palm Bear

1

After graduating, Su Wei gets a dead-end job at a game studio. She works overtime until she throws up and stays up late editing images. Looking up from the crowded cubicles, she remembers the dreams she had as a child, now in pieces.

She picks up a pen and sketches furiously on a sheet of paper: "My paper-doll hero is the greatest hero in the world. One day, he'll ride in on a rainbow cloud and marry me."

Her words come true.

When her gaming idol breaks through the fourth wall and stands before her with a faint smile, she thinks he's there to help her find a boyfriend. Instead, he's there to sue her for copyright infringement.

2

The Su and Shi families arrange a marriage between their children.

On their wedding night, Shi Yanzhou moves into the study. "Breakfast at eight every morning. I'll cook on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays; you cook on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays."

"Keep up appearances in public. I'll transfer money to your card regularly. Thanks for your hard work, Mrs. Shi."

"Don't come home later than ten. No pets, no takeout with strong smells, and no asking for a divorce."

Night after night, Su Wei is left alone in their empty home. She thinks that he's still as sharp-tongued as ever, and she still likes him.

After the wedding, they treat each other with polite distance. Su Wei complains to her best friend:

"I have to get a divorce. I don't want to see him for another day. Why don't we live together instead? Who says two women can't build a happy life?"

"We've been friends since we were little. We know everything about each other. Remember when I wet the bed in kindergarten and was afraid the teacher would scold me? You changed my pillowcase. In elementary school, when a classmate bullied me, you got someone to knock out one of his front teeth. In middle school, when I said no one would ever pursue me, you wrote me several love letters. When I did badly on my high school exams and was miserable for ages, you secretly slipped me hundreds of little notes, all full of compliments..."

Her best friend stares at her in shock, her glass clinking against the bar.

"Ah, Shi Yanzhou did all those things."

3

If romance is a lovely bedtime story, then marriage is the goodnight that comes after the story ends.

"Good night, Mr. Palm Bear."

I came to you from a place of broken wells and ruined walls. We said nothing, just smiled at each other, and I felt happier than I ever had.

- Shi Yanzhou

·

Su Wei's emotional journey:

I married the person I've had a crush on, but sadly, he doesn't love me T^T → The marriage-before-love plan failed → Oh, so he's been scheming to win me over all along!

Shi Yanzhou's emotional journey:

She must like me if she used my face to make a character model. Let's go to the Civil Affairs Bureau → I was imagining things... → Why hasn't she figured it out yet T-T

* A cynical female concept artist x a tsundere game developer

* The first draft of the blurb was written on June 12, 2023. The complete version was archived on October 23, 2023. Every version that has been published is archived.

Weibo: @Tan Zhi Qian Chun

Theme: When I talk about love, you are the one I think of