The plan—Tang Fan got distracted, typical—the breakdown of the plan is this: he and Sui Zhou will invite Wang Zhi for a final dinner at the brothel. Then they will ask him if he might wish to join them thereafter. They will make it clear that Wang Zhi is very welcome to share their bed for the night.

The boys have some fun at Joyous Brothel at the end of a long, hard case.

"There is nothing truly new on earth, they say. There was a time Wang Zhi believed that." Tang Fan and Sui Zhou have brought new experiences, sensations, and feelings into Wang Zhi's life since the moment he met them, and even after several years of friendship, things can still be new. (A story set several years after canon, exploring the physical side of the trio's growing romantic relationship.)

Wang Zhi looked back -- more men. It was blocked. He lectured himself. He truly did deserve death for his carelessness. Incognito, Tang Fan had said. Clearly not enough if they were being targeted like this. The men at the ends of the alley advanced in. “Alright Huang Zhifeng,” Wang Zhi muttered, voice dripping irony over Tang Fan's pseudonym, “how are you going to write your way out of this one?”

It should be easy enough to share. But Sui Zhou knew that sometimes, things can be a little more complicated.

What Tang Fan wants, Sui Zhou wants to give.

Surprisingly, Sui Zhou is the one who writes to him first. Less surprising is that Tang Fan gets involved too (they always did seem to come as a set). -- Wang Zhi, Sui Zhou, and Tang Fan do their best to express themselves via letters where verbally they couldn't.

It’s Wang Zhi’s first visit back to the capital in three years. It’s sobering how little has changed, yet he feels like a different person.