Room of Requirement
Luke Lu stopped in front of a two-story building—old-fashioned, yet retaining an air of distinction. The courtyard blazed with roses in pale pink and soft yellow, swaying in the breeze.
Villa 139 Riverside Drive. This was the place.
A few days earlier, Luke had received a call from his college classmate Lynn Yan, inviting him to a reunion. He hadn't wanted to go at first, but when he saw the photos Lynn posted on her Moments—a lavish villa as the gathering spot—his curiosity got the better of him.
Back in college, Lynn Yan had been the very embodiment of "dark, short, and poor." Had she really turned her life around?
He pushed open the unlocked gate and stepped into the spacious foyer. The interior was spotless, yet for some reason, a chill dampness hung in the air—the kind that settles into a house long unoccupied.
Black-and-white checkerboard floors, an ornate marble fireplace, a glittering crystal chandelier, wallpaper with intertwined dark floral patterns. In the grand dining room, three people were already seated: a handsome man with a rogueish glint in his eyes—former campus heartthrob Zach Zhu; a curvaceous woman with seductive features—Wendy Zhou; and the pale, beautiful woman with a cascade of straight black hair—former campus beauty Serena Zou.
The organizer, Lynn Yan, was nowhere to be seen.
Zach sprawled in an armchair, scrolling through his phone, looking thoroughly bored. Wendy bustled about excitedly, peering at everything and snapping photos. Serena sat quietly, poised and elegant.
With so many college classmates, inviting only this handful barely constituted a reunion. Luke greeted them and sat down, full of questions.
"You're all here—welcome, welcome!" Lynn Yan walked into the dining room. Strange—Luke hadn't heard any footsteps. She seemed to materialize out of thin air.
Lynn was no longer the dark, chubby girl from college. She'd become slender and fair-skinned, wearing tasteful light makeup. He almost hadn't recognized her.
A long table covered with a cream linen cloth held a row of large plates, each capped with a hemispherical silver dome.
"Since everyone's here, let's eat!" Lynn clapped her hands. "Ask for whatever you want!"
"Whatever we want?" Zach raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "I've been feeling under the weather lately. All I want is some abalone congee."
Lynn lifted the silver cover, revealing a generous bowl of abalone congee, steam curling upward.
"No way—what a coincidence?" Zach scooped up a spoonful and tasted it. "Delicious!"
"What I want isn't nearly so fancy." Serena smiled demurely. "I'm craving spicy hot pot—the kind from Granny Wang's place by the school gate."
Lynn lifted the second silver dome, and a large bowl of spicy hot pot appeared, radiating fiery aroma.
"That magical?" Wendy's eyes went wide. "I want stinky tofu!"
This time, without waiting for Lynn, she lifted the cover herself. A dozen skewers of freshly grilled stinky tofu were lined up neatly, complete with garlic chili sauce.
Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads. Though all classmates, they hadn't been close enough in their student days to know one another's taste preferences.
"Are you some kind of fairy?" Luke joked. "Or did you hire a Filipino maid who's a master chef and a magician rolled into one?"
Lynn smiled faintly. "I live here alone. Since we're old classmates, I'll tell you a big secret."
II
Lynn had originally lived in her company dorm, but after falling out with her roommate, she'd looked for a new place. This old villa's rent had been suspiciously cheap, but she'd been in such a hurry to move that she hadn't stopped to question it.
A girl's belongings are always numerous and chaotic. She was in the habit of leaving clothes and cosmetics strewn everywhere, then cleaning up all at once when she had time. One Sunday, after returning from shopping, she found her worn clothes washed and neatly pressed, the room swept spotless.
That gave her a fright. Could some pervert have gotten in? Though she'd never heard of a pervert who did housework.
The fridge was empty, and her stomach felt hollow too. She remembered a colleague's Moments post showing off a Sichuan pickled fish dish, and her mouth flooded with moisture.
"If only I had some Sichuan pickled fish," she murmured, sitting in the cold, empty kitchen.
The words had barely left her lips when a steaming, fragrant aroma wafted into her nostrils. Following the scent like a hound, she traced it to the stew pot on the stove. She lifted the lid and found a pot brimming with Sichuan pickled fish.
She finished speaking. The room fell silent. The story was too bizarre to believe.
Luke laughed. "Didn't know you had a talent for fiction."
"It's not fiction. If you don't believe me, try asking the house for something." Lynn's smile was playful and charming.
He took her up on it: Hennessy, a Rolex, Cuban cigars, the Transformer toy he'd lost as a child...
Each item appeared on the dining table, one after another. When the rusty Optimus Prime with the missing leg materialized out of thin air before him, Luke nearly fell out of his chair.
Zach, Serena, and Wendy wore expressions suggesting their entire worldview had been demolished—they were terrified.
"What are you afraid of?" Lynn chuckled. "I happen to be going out of town for a few days. Why don't you house-sit for me? Enjoy the life where food appears when you're hungry and clothes when you need them. How about it?"
After the initial terror passed, Luke admitted that a dream buried deep inside him—a dream shared by nearly all humanity—had come true: something for nothing. The feeling was exquisite down to the finest creases of his pores, his body and soul blooming like fireworks.
"Enjoy yourselves." Lynn set a key ring on the table, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly—a cryptic expression that flashed and vanished.
The moment she left, Zach leapt up, whooping, and high-fived Luke. Luke was buzzing with excitement too. Staying in a house that granted your every wish, with no nagging wife around—this was the dream vacation he'd always wanted.
Serena and Wendy gathered armfuls of expensive designer clothes and jewelry, and dashed off to another room to try them on, giddy with delight.
Before long, Zach lay sprawled on the living room sofa, bleary-eyed, holding a bottle of Macallan single malt whisky and drinking straight from the neck. The coffee table was lined with premium liquors of every variety.
In college, Zach had been detained multiple times for drunken brawls. But girls had always gone for handsome, bad-boy types. He cycled through girlfriends at a dizzying pace—including, for a time, Serena. As for Luke, he'd played the devoted backup to various goddesses, never once earning a promotion.
Serena and Wendy paraded in and out in various luxurious outfits, twisting before the mirrors, laughing and carrying on. Women were so easy to please—put them in new clothes and they became blissfully innocent, carefree.
Serena wore a blue silk dress, ethereal and alluring. She'd gained a mature elegance since their student days—like a pillar of light in the darkness, her beauty arrestingly breathtaking.
Luke's wife, Tammy, had been petite and pretty before they married. But after getting pregnant, she'd let herself go, her weight shooting up, and she now wore only baggy, drab clothes. Luke understood his wife's hardship, yet he couldn't help being drawn to the radiant Serena.
He forced his attention back to the miraculous house. After numerous experiments, he gradually figured out its rules. It couldn't produce cash, real gold or silver, or living creatures. Nor could it conjure large items like cars or private jets.
Beyond those restrictions, the house truly delivered on its promise. Luke found himself at a loss for what to ask for next. His wife was pregnant—maybe he should request more baby formula and infant supplies. Sigh—sitting on this mythical treasure trove, and all he could think of were mundane errands. Must be his wife's endless nagging wearing him down.
Eventually, he asked the house for a matching set of diamond ring, earrings, and necklace, and slipped them into his pocket. When they'd gotten married, they'd been so broke he'd never bought Tammy anything. He had to find some way to make it up to her.
The group caroused through the night, finally selecting bedrooms to rest in as dawn's first light crept in. Each bedroom was decorated differently, but all featured the same dark wallpaper with intertwined floral patterns.
Collapsing onto the wide, comfortable bed, Luke felt exhausted, but sleep didn't claim him immediately. What was Tammy doing right now? She'd be lying at the foot of the bed reading—that was her unshakable habit. True, the present Tammy resembled a meatball, but her figure used to be curvaceous and alluring; she'd lie on the bed with one pale, shapely leg kicked up, adorably charming.
And what about Serena? Maybe she was chatting with Wendy, or perhaps rekindling an old flame with Zach.
The thought unsettled him. Tammy's image and Serena's silhouette overlapped, wavering and indistinct. He drifted hazily into sleep.
Before long, a strange commotion jolted him awake. He opened his eyes—and his heart nearly stopped.
III