Chapter 36

When Song Wenzhou arrived home, his parents were sitting side by side on the sofa watching TV.

When she saw him enter, Ren Suyi briefly turned her head to glance at him, saying “You’re back” before turning back to watch the family drama.

Song Wenzhou responded and sat down at the other end of the sofa to watch with his parents. The drama, which was based on real life, had a mix of absurd and relatable storylines, causing Ren Suyi’s mood to shift along with the plot.

Song Wenzhou wasn’t paying attention to the show. He found Ren Suyi to be easily affected by external things. After watching for a while, he started to zone out, staring blankly at an empty spot.

His mind wandered, thinking about many things, but he kept circling back to the matter of unexpectedly seeing Mu Chi again today.

“I’m so mad!” Ren Suyi’s angry voice pulled Song Wenzhou back to reality. “What kind of parents are these?”

Song Wenzhou gave a faint smile, greeted them, and got up to head to his room.

On his desk lay an open book, the pages stopped at a section he hadn’t finished reading that morning. Song Wenzhou chewed over a somewhat obscure sentence, reading it twice.

Despite the quiet surroundings and no one disturbing him, Song Wenzhou couldn’t concentrate, making his comprehension poor. He read the sentence several times, but still struggled to understand its meaning.

Two minutes later, Song Wenzhou sighed softly, as if giving in, and set the book down. He then opened the drawer below his desk.

There weren’t many items in the drawer, and he quickly found what he was looking for—a faded voice recorder.

He pressed play, and at first, there was a crackling noise, followed by a man’s light cough. “This is a skill I learned these past few days. Let me perform it for you,” he said, and then the sound of a self-played, off-key song followed.

The man’s voice was very familiar to Song Wenzhou, he had just spoken to him an hour ago.

Compared to three years ago, Mu Chi’s voice sounded deeper today, no longer as bright and youthful as before, and not as soft and magnetic as it had sounded through the recorder.

Despite this change, Song Wenzhou could easily recognize Mu Chi’s tone, just like how he could hum along with the song as soon as he heard the prelude.

Song Wenzhou gently closed his eyes. Halfway through the song, he suddenly pressed pause, put the recorder back in the drawer, and pushed aside a few items to cover it.

After doing all that, he picked up the book from his desk, stood up, and lay down on his bed, preparing to read a bit before sleeping.

The Next Day

After finishing the lesson for the day, Song Wenzhou habitually asked his student if there were any questions during the last ten minutes.

The student took out a test paper he had placed under his book, the one Song Wenzhou had marked with key points the day before for him to review. The student pointed to the second sub-question of the second-to-last question and expressed his confusion.

Before assigning the homework, Song Wenzhou had worked through the problems himself using different methods. So, as soon as he heard the student’s question, he immediately understood where the student was stuck, and after thinking for a moment, he explained the solution.

When the class ended, Song Wenzhou said goodbye to the student and left the study with his bag. The student’s mother was in the kitchen cooking. Hearing the door open, she came into the living room to talk to Song Wenzhou and invited him to stay for dinner.

Song Wenzhou smiled politely and declined her kind offer, eventually leaving with his bag as she saw him off.

After leaving the student’s neighborhood, Song Wenzhou walked to the bus stop. He didn’t like looking around while walking, but the sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes lingered in the air, and he couldn’t help but glance at the nearby shop.

That quick glance revealed a familiar figure. Although it had been nearly three years since they last met, he couldn’t recognize Mu Chi just from his back. However, they had sat together from dinner to getting off the car last night, and he wasn’t likely to have forgotten him after just one night, especially since the person hadn’t even changed clothes.

In his moment of hesitation, Mu Chi took the oil-paper bag from the shopkeeper through the glass window. After showing his payment information, he turned around, right into Song Wenzhou’s gaze in the middle of the sidewalk.

Upon meeting his eyes, Mu Chi immediately smiled and said, “What a coincidence.”

It was quite a coincidence, Song Wenzhou thought.

He raised the corners of his mouth in a smile, guessing that Mu Chi was probably here to take care of what he called “very important business.”

“What are you doing here?” Mu Chi asked as he took a step toward Song Wenzhou.

Song Wenzhou didn’t think much and simply replied, “Teaching.”

He didn’t ask “What about you?” because he remembered that Mu Chi had seemed unwilling to tell him what business he had to attend to last night.

Mu Chi let out a long “Oh” and asked, “So, are you heading home after class?”

“Yes.” Song Wenzhou nodded.

To him, this polite exchange sparked by the coincidence seemed like it should end here. He would go home, and Mu Chi would continue his business, and they would part ways.

However, before he could even say, “I’ll be going now,” Mu Chi’s smile deepened. He blinked and said, “What a coincidence, I’m heading home too. How about we go together?”

Although phrased as a question, his tone didn’t leave Song Wenzhou with any room to refuse. Song Wenzhou could only nod in agreement, “Alright.”

Then he added, “I’ll take the bus.”

“Me too.” Mu Chi said, handing over the oil-paper bag he was holding to Song Wenzhou, “Here, have some.”

Song Wenzhou looked down and saw that the bag was full of sugar-coated chestnuts, all of them cracked open and steaming hot.

“Thank you.”

Just as Song Wenzhou was about to reach into the bag, Mu Chi grabbed his wrist, turning his palm upward, and placed the heavy bag onto his hand.

Mu Chi gave him all the chestnuts, only taking one for himself as he pulled his hand back. While peeling the shell, he said, “Hold it to warm your hands.”

Song Wenzhou held the bottom of the bag for a few seconds in a daze, until the warmth from the freshly cooked chestnuts heated his palm. He curled his fingers to hold the bag more firmly.

Mu Chi ate the chestnut meat, tossing the split shells into a nearby trash bin from a distance. He turned to Song Wenzhou, who hadn’t moved, and asked with a smile, “Why aren’t you eating? Don’t like them?”

Song Wenzhou shook his head, “No, it’s just not convenient to peel them on the road.”

“Then…” Mu Chi paused, “Take them with you and eat them later.”

He had originally thought to say, “I’ll peel them for you,” but after thinking for a moment, he changed his phrasing.

As they walked to the bus stop, Mu Chi casually asked, “Are you tutoring?”

“Yes.”

“Do you finish at this time every day?”

“Yes.”

“How many classes a week?”

“Three.”

“What days of the week?”

Song Wenzhou lifted his eyelids and glanced at Mu Chi.

Mu Chi, feeling guilty under his gaze, touched his chin and said, “Let’s just chat casually.”

Song Wenzhou responded with a simple “Oh” and said, “Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.”

“Alright.” Mu Chi nodded seriously.

Over the next two weeks, every time Song Wenzhou finished his class, he would “accidentally run into” Mu Chi and be offered various roadside snacks.

Song Wenzhou had suspected this might be too much of a coincidence, but whenever he asked, Mu Chi would say he was here for some business, and over time, Song Wenzhou stopped asking. He just accepted that they would always walk home together after class, even starting to count down the minutes before class ended.

The student sitting at the desk, who was reviewing, couldn’t help but notice. Seeing Song Wenzhou glance at his watch for the fourth time, the student whispered, “Teacher, if you have something urgent to do, you can leave first.”

Song Wenzhou remained calm and said, “It’s fine, I’m not in a hurry.”

However, when class ended, he hurriedly opened the door and left. The student’s “Goodbye” almost went unnoticed.

Yet when Song Wenzhou reached the spot where he had previously “coincidentally” run into Mu Chi, he scanned all the shops and stalls along the street, but he couldn’t see the familiar figure.

Song Wenzhou slowed down, walking until he was almost out of the street without hearing anyone call his name.

He blinked, letting out a sigh, and gave a light chuckle to cover up the disappointment in his heart.

Yes, Mu Chi hadn’t made an appointment with him. The previous times, Mu Chi had probably just been here for business and happened to come across him.

Now, maybe his business was finished, and Mu Chi didn’t need to come here anymore, so they wouldn’t run into each other.

He had originally thought…

Song Wenzhou sniffed, feeling the cold wind that had blown into his nose as he walked too fast, making the tip of his nose redden.

After taking one last look at the shop, he walked towards the bus stop at his usual pace.

He hadn’t gone far when he suddenly heard a hurried voice calling, “Stop here, stop here,” and a taxi pulled up diagonally in front of him.

Mu Chi pushed the door open the moment the taxi stopped, and upon seeing Song Wenzhou, he sighed with relief. He quickly walked and almost ran to him, apologizing, “Sorry, I’m late.”

Song Wenzhou furrowed his brows and glanced at the taxi that was driving away, murmuring, “Where did you come from?”

Mu Chi paused, realizing that in his rush earlier, he had accidentally let something slip. He sighed and admitted, “I came from home, there was traffic on the road.”

An idea popped up in Song Wenzhou’s mind, but he couldn’t believe it. He asked Mu Chi again for confirmation, “What exactly were you doing here these past few times?”

Mu Chi didn’t want to make any more excuses. With a self-deprecating smile, he said, “I came to pick you up and take you home.”

Song Wenzhou’s eyes widened, and his chest rose and fell with his breath.

So, the “coincidences” were indeed fake, and his expectations weren’t just him being delusional.

Every time Mu Chi appeared here, he had specifically taken a taxi before Song Wenzhou finished class and walked to this spot, then they would take the bus home together.

Mu Chi was really… insane, wasting money on taxis.

And besides, he didn’t need to be picked up to go home, he wasn’t lost.

“Why?” Song Wenzhou’s voice trembled slightly.

Mu Chi looked straight into Song Wenzhou’s eyes. “Can’t you tell?”

“What?” Song Wenzhou instinctively avoided his gaze.

This time, Mu Chi didn’t let him dodge. He said directly, “I’m chasing you.”