Volume 2: Diary

16: Love at first sight

“July 14, 2013, clear weather.

I was working at the barbecue shop, and in the evening, a group of students arrived.

This was the first time I saw Yu Yue.

He looked like a Little Prince, sitting in the light, with an obedient smile on his face.

I fell in love with him at first sight.”

Working at a barbecue shop in the summer is quite a painful thing.

July, the peak of summer, is the hottest time. The barbecue shop usually opens in the evening, but because it was summer vacation, Xu Yuanzhe started helping with ingredient preparation during the day to earn a little extra money.

The kitchen had no air conditioning, and staying there for a little while felt like being in a sauna.

From morning until afternoon, except for a lunch break, Xu Yuanzhe spent the entire day in the kitchen, helping the boss clean up and prepare ingredients for the evening.

By evening, they finally started business.

Xu Yuanzhe came out of the kitchen, set up a few tables, and attended to a table of customers when he heard the noisy laughter characteristic of students coming from the front of the shop.

He turned around to take a look.

He saw a group of students entering the shop, making a fuss, and almost all of them were students he had seen before, from No.3 High School, either in their first or second year, very familiar faces.

But there were also some he didn’t recognize.

For example, the boy on the farthest side, when he was about to sit down, touched the table with his hand, as if he felt the table wasn’t very clean.

Xu Yuanzhe had never seen him before.

When that boy looked up and talked to others, laughing with them, the side of his face was lit up by the light at the entrance of the barbecue shop. In the dim and warm light, his fair complexion and dark eyes were the type Xu Yuanzhe liked.

Soon, they called a waiter.

Holding the paper and pen for taking orders, Xu Yuanzhe went over and stood next to that boy.

It wasn’t intentional, just a coincidence.

When a few of the boys said they wanted to drink alcohol, Xu Yuanzhe’s expression turned cold. Despite their attempts to argue, claiming they were already of legal age, it wasn’t until Xu Yuanzhe mentioned their class teacher…

He felt the person next to him look up at him.

For a moment, Xu Yuanzhe didn’t dare to make eye contact with the person beside him.

He heard the boy say he wanted to drink soy milk, even though they were at a distance, he heard it, and also heard the boy being teased by others.

After noting down the order, Xu Yuanzhe went back and brought a few bottles of soda and a bottle of soy milk.

He opened the soda, placing it on the table.

Only with the bottle of soy milk, after opening it, inserting a straw, did he hand it to the person next to him.

Xu Yuanzhe’s movements were skilled and casual, probably not attracting the attention of the person nearby.

The boy took the soy milk from Xu Yuanzhe’s hand and said, “Thank you.”

Finally, Xu Yuanzhe looked at him.

Unexpectedly, the boy was also looking at him.

Biting on the straw of the soy milk, the boy looked up at Xu Yuanzhe.

The light fell into his eyes, bright, clear, and pure.

Xu Yuanzhe left that table, and later, after working the entire night, all that lingered in his mind were those eyes.

He didn’t know him, didn’t know who he was, didn’t know which school he attended, but he really wanted to get to know him.

Returning to the home in the alley at dawn, washing off the oil and gas that covered him with cold water, Xu Yuanzhe closed his eyes in the cold bathroom. He let the cold water pour over him—uncomfortably cold, yet unable to extinguish the burning flame in his heart.

The flame ignited by those eyes.

The flame ignited by love at first sight.

After changing into clean clothes, Xu Yuanzhe sat in his small study, looking out at the night sky. Finally, he took out a notebook he had bought a couple of days ago, grabbed a pen, and wrote a diary entry.

After finishing, Xu Yuanzhe thought for a moment.

He picked up a pencil and drew a pair of eyes.

After drawing, he wrote a line below with the pencil:

“Will we meet again in the future?”

“——August 29, 2013, drizzling.

I met him at school today.

His name is Yu Yue, and his father is the famous director Yu Jingnian.

He always has many friends around him.

My classroom is below his. He often runs downstairs. Every time I stand at the stairs, I can see him and his classmates coming down from upstairs.

Today it drizzled, and the stairs were a bit slippery.

When he ran down, he slipped, and I caught him. He quickly said thank you and looked into my eyes, seemingly not recognizing me at all.

Well, I only had a chance encounter with him at the barbecue shop.

How could he remember me?”

The rain was drizzling, stopping and starting again.

Unlike the summer storms at the end of summer, it was not pouring heavily.

After school, many students crowded toward the school gate.

When it’s not raining, it’s fine, but once the rain starts, the intersection of umbrellas and their canopies at the school gate becomes very crowded.

Most high school students choose to live on campus, so those leaving the school at this time are either boarders or students trying to have dinner outside.

Xu Yuanzhe was glad he checked the weather forecast before leaving today.

He brought a folding umbrella and walked slowly toward the school gate, holding up his umbrella.

When he reached the school gate, it was “traffic jam” time.

Many students were crowded there, umbrellas touching each other.

Xu Yuanzhe didn’t continue to squeeze out. He followed behind the students, occasionally moving forward a bit.

He glanced at his watch; he still had half an hour before work. There was enough time.

After a while, hurried footsteps came from behind, as if someone was running through the water.

Before Xu Yuanzhe turned around, he heard a voice softly sigh, “The rain is still not small. If only I had brought an umbrella in the morning. Auntie said it would rain today, but I didn’t believe her.”

It wasn’t the first time Xu Yuanzhe heard this voice.

Every time he stood at the stairway and Yu Yue walked past him, he could hear this voice.

It was Yu Yue’s voice.

Very boyish, with a hint of innocence, a clean and clear teenage voice.

Xu Yuanzhe turned around, holding his umbrella.

He deliberately used the umbrella canopy to cover half of his face, as if he thought that by doing so, he wouldn’t be discovered by Yu Yue that he was watching him.

Yu Yue held a notebook in his hand, covering his head, and the rain soaked his school uniform.

Next to him, presumably his good friend, also held a book to shield his head.

The two followed Xu Yuanzhe together, slowly walking outside.

Xu Yuanzhe subtly moved closer to Yu Yue.

His umbrella wasn’t large, so he had to get quite close to tilt it toward Yu Yue.

Finally, when Xu Yuanzhe’s shoulder was about to touch Yu Yue’s, he could use his umbrella to shield Yu Yue from the rain.

But Yu Yue seemed not to notice.

This tilted umbrella only lasted for a few short seconds.

Because Yu Yue quickly ran out of the school gate with his friends.

At the school gate, Yu Yue got into a black, sleek, high-end car.

After getting in the car, he rolled down the window, waved to his friend with a smile, and said, “Byebye.”

Xu Yuanzhe, holding the umbrella, stood at the school gate, watching the car Yu Yue was in gradually disappear in the rain and mist.

He wondered how many years it would take for him to afford such a car.

Or, he thought, if he didn’t have a car, would Yu Yue be willing to walk with him in the rain, sharing an umbrella?

But soon, Xu Yuanzhe felt he was overthinking.

“——October 17, 2013, clear weather.

At two o’clock this morning, Yu Yue came to the barbecue restaurant where I work.

He was in a bad mood, so I treated him to a barbecue.

I hope the next time I treat him, it will be at a fancy restaurant.

I also hope there will be a next time.

(PS: These diary entries were added later. My grandmother fell ill, I accompanied her for over a month, and I owe a lot of money. I wasn’t in the mood to write diaries.)”

The originally calm days were shattered one night.

Grandma suddenly fell unconscious and was rushed to the hospital. In order to cover the surgery costs, Xu Yuanzhe borrowed thirty thousand yuan from the thugs on that street. He didn’t know they were loan sharks, and he was even less aware that the subsequent repayment of fifty thousand yuan would leave him humiliated in front of Yu Yue.

Xu Yuanzhe didn’t want to dwell too much on what happened next.

Perhaps during that time, his mood wasn’t great, and his diaries seemed a bit chaotic.

When Yu Yue flipped through these pages, he saw that on one blank page, Xu Yuanzhe had scrawled a sentence diagonally:

“When will I ever have fifty thousand yuan?”

This sentence was hastily crossed out with a black pen.

Below, there was another line:

“Do I have to earn fifty thousand yuan every month to have a chance to be with Yu Yue?”

In the following pages, every inch of space was filled with the income from part-time jobs.

Xu Yuanzhe seemed to be calculating how he could earn fifty thousand yuan a month. After a long calculation, it seemed impossible no matter how he tried. So, he tore up the paper where he had written down his graduation plan.

Later, for some reason, he stuffed that paper back in.

On that paper was written “Graduation Plan.”

The first item on the plan was:

“After graduation, confess to Yu Yue.”

The second item on the plan was:

“Save up to fifty thousand yuan.”

After tearing up this paper, it seemed to have been crumpled or rubbed by its owner; there were creases all over it. Later, the paper was taken back and tucked into the diary.

“After graduation, confess to Yu Yue” was crossed out and changed to “Wait for Yu Yue to graduate and confess to him.”

“Save up to fifty thousand yuan” was also modified to “Save fifty thousand yuan within two years.”

After a line break, there was a bold line written:

“On June 7, 2015, I saved up to fifty thousand yuan.”

It was evident that this was written two years later.

Looking at this paper, Yu Yue couldn’t help but recall the night he received a call from Xu Yuanzhe when he and his friends were traveling abroad after high school graduation. Originally, he thought he wouldn’t remember, but now, he surprisingly remembered it vividly—it was on June 13th.

He thought Xu Yuanzhe was just genuinely concerned, but it turned out to be the beginning of a two-year confession from Xu Yuanzhe.

As he reached this part of the diary, Yu Yue’s eyes unexpectedly welled up with tears. He lowered his head and gently smoothed out the creases on the crumpled paper, but due to the long time passed, the folds had become permanent.

Yu Yue remembered asking Xu Yuanzhe that night if he had come to borrow money.

Continuing to flip through the diary, the timeline went back to two years ago.

“On June 5, 2013, the weather was clear.

We graduated, and the school organized a graduation ceremony for us.

There was a chorus performance singing ‘Phoenix Flowers Blooming at the Intersection.’

I saw Yu Yue.

He stood in the front row, seeming to be the lead singer.

Grandma was taken away, and I’m the only one left at home. No one wished me a happy graduation, so I’ll consider the song Yu Yue sang as a blessing for my graduation.

But I don’t want us to go our separate ways.

In two years, I will work hard to find him.”