Chapter 28

Everything happened too suddenly.

So suddenly her newly hatched emotions, her indulgence in solitude, her brief courage, and her presumed concealment all faded into pale insignificance in an instant.

From shyness, shock, helplessness, embarrassment, and sadness to unwillingness, Yun Li realized that a person could experience so many emotions in just one minute.

The gaze that usually made her heart race now felt like the strong and cold tide of the deep sea washing over a reef.

Yun Li took a step back, her eyes red: “I’ll think about it and then decide whether to give up.”

She pretended to be calm, but her every move revealed her distress.

She knew without him saying that he had noticed long ago.

He had noticed. He didn’t want to continue. He didn’t even have the slightest intention of developing further.

He just found a chance to be alone to tell her.

After packing up her camera, she finally noticed the Swiss rolls. The wavy bag was covered in water droplets, reflecting a silent mockery.

She pressed her lips together, lowered her head, and placed the Swiss rolls on the table, controlling the tremor in her voice: “These are for you. I’m leaving now.”

At this moment, she didn’t even dare to make eye contact.

Maybe she should have been bolder, chosen to fight rather than retreat, chosen courage over cowardice.

Forgive her, today’s courage had already been exhausted the moment she confessed.

Fu Shizhe remained silent the whole time, standing in place, looking down at the VR glasses in his hand until the sound of the door closing echoed in the cold, secretive night.

…

A sleepless night, the sound of rain pattering, yet it had no soothing effect. Fu Shizhe lifted the quilt, got up, and took a sip of water from a cup.

Drip, drip.

He looked down, and deep red blood dripped from his palm.

The glass cup he had been using for over ten years had a chipped corner, but he hadn’t thrown it away. For the past year or so, unless he was drunk, he consciously avoided the chipped area. Just now, for some reason, he had been distracted and forgot about it.

From childhood to adulthood, when things broke, “throw-away” was not in Fu Shizhe’s dictionary; he chose to repair them.

To others, it seemed like an extreme form of nostalgia.

He casually wrapped his hand with a tissue, pulled a chair to the balcony, and looked outside as usual. The crisscrossed structures were the familiar scenes he had seen for the past year and a half.

Fu Shizhe took out a cigarette and lit it. The small orange-red flame flickered in the darkness, and the faint gray smoke surrounded him.

It felt like it locked him in a safety zone.

Fu Shizhe smoked absentmindedly. When he felt the chill, he realized that the cigarette pack in his hand was already empty.

He turned his head and thought about what had happened that night.

He opened his phone, downloaded an app from E Station, and entered “Miss Lazy Cloud.” Soon, the two most popular recent posts popped up. One was a nine-grid image that had recently trended. Fu Shizhe swiped through each one; they were all pictures of Yun Li secretly watching him.

His finger paused in the comment section.

The top-liked comment was Yun Li’s reply on the night the post was made.

Miss Lazy Cloud: [Wives, stop spreading rumors!! Don’t tarnish her innocence!!]

The second top-liked comment was also hers.

Miss Lazy Cloud: [Made a typo, it’s him!!!]

Anyone who saw it would think she was a cute girl.

The other post was a video she labeled as a handmade tech robot repair tutorial. Fu Shizhe opened it and watched it carefully from beginning to end.

The girl seriously explained to the camera how she repaired the robot, which was out of place with the clumsy little robot and the screen full of “hahahahaha” comments.

He smiled, finding it funny yet inexplicably bitter.

At 37 seconds into the video, a blue and gold envelope appeared in the corner of the screen.

That was placed by Jiang Yuan.

Tracing back, it should have been when Yun Li finished her college entrance exams. For more than half a month, he and Jiang Yuan saw Yun Li riding a small bicycle to XiFu Sci-Tech University every day, stopping at the Nanxi Square in the school.

Twice, she even had a little boy with her.

It wasn’t hard to recognize Yun Li. Her appearance hadn’t changed much in a year or two, just like on the red track.

She probably didn’t know that on the day of the robot soccer competition, the two of them also secretly watched her game.

At that time, the girl was focused on the small football field, operating the controller with full concentration, completely unaware that they were right behind her.

When she won, Jiang Yuan credited it to the training ball he had brought over.

Nanxi Square was right next to the academy.

For more than half of June, perhaps out of curiosity, he and Jiang Yuan would take a peek every day, wondering why this little girl, having just finished her college entrance exams, would come to XiFu Sci-Tech University every day.

It couldn’t possibly be just to find a tree to stay under at XiFu Sci-Tech University.

They even made several bets about it.

At that time, Yun Li was sitting under an evergreen tree in front of the plaza, her hair tied back in a ponytail, obediently sitting there all day with two books in her arms. They seemed to see that little girl who spent the whole day training robots on the playground. 

Until that day, Unique held a drone exhibition at Nanxi Plaza.

He was originally leaning on the railing of the open-air balcony on the second floor with Jiang Yuan, both operating drones from above, when he saw Yun Li suddenly jump up, and run to the Unique tent to queue up for souvenirs, looking around as if searching for someone.

When it was her turn to receive the souvenir, the student in the tent asked her to show her campus card.

She wasn’t a student of XiFu Sci-Tech University, and according to the rules, she wasn’t eligible to receive a souvenir. She might have argued for a bit in front of the tent, but the student distributing the souvenirs didn’t agree, and after that, she turned around, took a few steps, and then started to wipe away tears, returning to the tree.

Jiang Yuan asked him, “Looks like she’s our little fan, eh? Should we give her one?”

He nudged Jiang Yuan, “You go.”

“You go.”

“You go.”

“You go.”

…

Later, after losing rock-paper-scissors, Jiang Yuan waved at him and, while Yun Li wasn’t looking, slipped a Unique souvenir into her bike basket.

That evening, when they were having dinner, they noticed she hadn’t left yet, her slender figure standing by her bicycle, holding the souvenir in her hands.

Jiang Yuan laughed, “She won’t think it’s someone else’s and be too scared to take it, right?”

That was quite possible.

At the time, they both thought the little girl was very well-behaved, with a youthful face and demeanor, holding the souvenir with an air of unease.

Jiang Yuan nudged him and said, “Shizhe, I put the souvenir there, now it’s your turn to go.”

“Alright.” He also laughed and pushed Jiang Yuan’s back, planning to go downstairs and talk to her, but then he saw her wrap the souvenir with a handkerchief as if it were a treasure and carefully place it in the compartment of her backpack.

After that, they never saw her again.

It was easy to deduce that for the better part of a month, she had been waiting for ‘Unique’ to show up. She just hadn’t seen the person she wanted to see.

Fu Shizhe naturally assumed she was there to find Jiang Yuan, since he himself had always been sitting in the spectator seats at the playground and had not encountered Yun Li.

He teased Jiang Yuan, “She saw the team uniform on the field and came looking for you.”

Jiang Yuan retorted, “Cut it out, you’re the one who told me to give it to her.”

They didn’t take the matter to heart.

Stomach cramps reminded Fu Shizhe that he hadn’t eaten for a long time, though he couldn’t remember exactly how long. Back in his room, he remembered the matcha Swiss roll in the fridge, still damp on top.

The care of the maker was evident, with several layers of cling film tightly sealed around the packaging box, fearful of any water getting in. The creased ribbon also showed she had tied and retied the blue bow several times.

He scooped a bite with a spoon.

Sweet upon entry, with a bitter aftertaste.

He thought of her red eyes that evening.

Eating didn’t stop the stomach cramps, so Fu Shizhe casually popped a couple of pills.

He took a new pack of cigarettes from the drawer, and fiddled with the lighter but didn’t light up.

He stared at the balcony, littered with cigarette butts and bottles, a complete mess. He looked down at his emaciated wrist, the bloodstain in his palm already dry.

Forget it.

…

In the apartment, Yun Li opened a pack of frozen dumplings, throwing a few into the boiling water, the honeycomb-like white foam spilling out, which she watched absentmindedly for a while.

She slowly reached for her phone on the side, opening the chat history with Fu Shizhe, the nickname still the one she had changed in a moment of affection.

Since that night, they hadn’t spoken again.

She wanted to ask him when he had found out.

She wanted to ask him, he had asked her, yet rejected her, was it because he didn’t want any further contact with her?

Fu Zhengchu, unaware that they had pierced through that layer of pretense, had added her to a small group chat, asking if she and Fu Shizhe would like to play badminton.

She had originally planned to wait for Fu Shizhe to reply first.

But it seemed he had the same idea.

After an afternoon passed with no new messages in the group chat, Yun Li sighed as she stared at the only two lonely messages from Fu Zhengchu: “I’ve been pretty busy lately, no time to go.”

Within fifteen minutes, Fu Shizhe replied as well: “Caught a cold. Not going.”

Upon seeing this message, Yun Li wanted to ask if he was really sick and if she should bring him some medicine.

Her nose tingled again.

He would definitely refuse. He was such a polite person, surely wanting to nip her thoughts in the bud from the moment he realized them.

She had mustered her courage, trembling yet pressing on.

She didn’t want to give up.

Not at all.

She couldn’t imagine being just friends with Fu Shizhe while still harboring feelings for him.

Yun Li scrolled through her WeChat friends list, counting.

This relationship was still okay.

This one was fine too.

This person could probably be considered a friend.

It seemed she wasn’t that short on friends after all.

She knew that the moment Fu Shizhe reappeared, no matter when, she would fall for him all over again.

She couldn’t imagine being anything other than lovers with him.

Feeling gloomy, Yun Li opened E-site to check her fans’ messages.

Might as well chat with the fans.

Without any warning, Yun Li started a live stream.

Maybe because it was nearing 11 PM, the viewer count soared quickly, soon surpassing ten thousand.

Yun Li adjusted her camera and greeted her viewers without looking at the barrage of comments, saying, “Long time no see.”

“Good evening, everyone. Let’s start by reading some fan letters today.”

“No, no, we’re not practicing Mandarin today.”

“Let’s start with some letters that praise me.” Yun Li glanced at the barrage, “Huh? Picking and choosing? – If I don’t pick, more than nine out of ten will be praising me.”

“Alright, the host is about to toot her own horn.”

After reading two, Yun Li felt a bit embarrassed and closed her email, “That’s it, what do you guys think?”

The barrage was filled with sighs.

“Why haven’t you updated in so long? – The host is still in school, need to study for exams.”

The barrage flew by, with a large part asking about the last candid photo. Yun Li intended to ignore it, but the questions grew more frequent, even asking why she was deliberately ignoring them.

“Who’s the guy from the café? – Not very familiar, you guys ask him.”

“Why keep sneaking glances at the guy? – How is it sneaking glances…” she paused, “I was – openly looking.”

“Is wifey going to be someone else’s wife? – Only someone else can be the host’s wife, remember that.”

“My eyes are red today, am I in a bad mood? – Not red, I’m in a good mood.”

The direction of the barrage suddenly changed.

【It does seem rather red.】

【Did you have a fight with the café guy?】

“…”

“When will the little brother and the guy appear? – Are you referring to the café guy?” Yun Li awkwardly rushed through, “Then he probably won’t appear again.”

“But as for the little brother -” Yun Li took out her phone and directly called Yun Ye.

Meanwhile, Yun Ye, who had just gotten home not long ago, saw the notification for Yun Li’s live stream and opened the webpage, just in time to see this scene.

“…”

Yun Ye’s voice came through the phone, feigning ignorance with a youthful clarity, “What’s up?”

“…”

The barrage became very enthusiastic, suddenly unified in confessing to Yun Ye.

【I love little brother!!!!!!】

【The host gives you to us, but the little brother is mine!!!!】

【Little brother, show your face, please wuwuwu!】

Yun Li was at a loss for words: “So, do I have more fans or does Little Brother have more?”

“No wonder my account has more female fans?”

The barrage updated with a large batch of messages, which Yun Li read out one by one.

“Let’s not be so strict about gender.”

“I’m a guy, but I also like little brother.”

“…”

“Let him start his live stream, I’m going to log off.”

Following that, Yun Li turned off the camera without any reluctance.

The call with Yun Ye, however, continued.

After Yun Li turned off her livestream, Yun Ye didn’t close the webpage either. Instead, he left his computer aside, kicked the ground with one foot, and spun his computer chair in place. He casually draped one leg over the other, leaning against the back of the chair, and said, “Sis.”

Yun Li asked, “What’s up?”

“When are you coming home?”

There was a pause.

Reminded that going home was an option, Yun Li fell silent for a while before replying, “Thursday, I guess.”

With the thought of going home in mind, coinciding with the exam week and the adjustment of the winter term internship schedule, Yun Li simply rearranged her work hours for the next week with Fang Yuning, managing to squeeze out a week’s vacation. After informing He Jiameng, she booked a ticket back to XiFu for Thursday.

Still not fully recovered from her recent heartbreak, Yun Li eagerly wanted to return to a place where she felt safe.

Her undergraduate university wasn’t far from home, but this was the first time she had been away from home for so long.

Suddenly, she felt homesick.

Yun Li stared at her suitcase for a while, then sniffled.

The next day, Yun Li was woken up by a call from Yun Ye. Still groggy, she answered the phone to hear Yun Ye’s noisy voice: “Sis! You’ll be late if you don’t get up now!”

Yun Li was startled awake.

She hurriedly got out of bed and stumbled to wash up. Within five minutes, she frantically completed everything from brushing her teeth to getting dressed.

Grabbing her phone and charger, Yun Li dragged her suitcase out the door.

Exiting the elevator, Yun Li looked at the dark blue sky, belatedly thinking to check the time.

6:16 AM.

Great.

Yun Li stood still and dialed Yun Ye’s number. After two rings, Yun Ye picked up.

“Are you crazy, Yun Ye?”

“You told me it was urgent this early in the morning.”

There was a pause on the other end before Yun Ye confusedly replied, “What?” Then he continued, “Sis, hurry up and pack your things.”

“I’ll pack a―” Yun Li felt like she was hitting cotton with a hammer and sighed, “Never mind.”

“I’ll deal with you when I get back.”

Yun Li returned to her apartment as if nothing had happened.

She opened the chat with Fu Shizhe and stared blankly at the words “wife.”

Yun Li pondered over her words, typing sentences and then deleting them letter by letter.

“I’m going back to XiFu, should I bring you some local specialties?”

That would surely be rejected.

“I’m going back to XiFu, I’ll be back next week.”

He probably wouldn’t want to know.

“I won’t give up.”

A nightmare.

After a long thought and having just been rejected, Yun Li closed her phone. Better to find an opportunity to send a message he would reply to.

When Yun Li got off the plane, Yun YongChang was already waiting outside the airport.

Father and daughter tacitly avoided mentioning their previous conflicts. Yun YongChang, with a stern face, took her luggage, his voice stiff, “Dressing so lightly because you want to look pretty, you’ll end up with rheumatism in your knees just like your dad.”

Normally, Yun Li would have argued with him, but at that moment, she found herself unusually missing Yun YongChang’s voice.

Sitting in the car back home, Yun Li felt a genuine sense of returning home.

Yun Li leaned against the window, looking at the buildings passing by.

XiFu had fewer people than Nanwu, rarely bustling, but the buildings were newer, closely packed, with wide and smooth roads.

The silhouette of XiFu Sci-Tech University’s main building gradually came into view.

“Hey, Dad.” Yun Li sat up straight, “I remember the way home doesn’t pass by XiFu Sci-Tech University, right?”

“They started road construction during the summer break,” Yun YongChang, driving with one hand, glanced to the right, “It was finished last month.”

“It was about time,” Yun YongChang grumbled, “We always had to take a long detour whenever we passed by, but now it’s fixed.”

“It’s convenient for your brother when he goes to college and comes home.”