CH 14

As soon as he saw the text, Yu Le’s hand tightened around the phone.

He never knew how to act around Zhu Luo.

Both for the original owner and himself now, Zhu Luo was undoubtedly a special existence. Unfortunately, the reasons for being so differed in the most important ways.

The body he was in still held residual love for Zhu Luo, and that strong and painful emotion would surge up whenever he faced him.

He didn’t know what to do with it.

In order to monitor Yu Youzhi, he had been leaving himself with no spare time, perhaps as a subconscious avoidance of the problem he knew he’d have to face eventually. And now that time has come.

Staring silently at the message, he began to reply.

[Yu: I’m free tomorrow night, where do you want to meet?]

The next night, Yu Le could be seen entering a high-end restaurant beside Zhu Luo.

The lights shining above them were dimly lit, and soft piano music floated through the air. Their table was situated next to a glass wall, showing the night view of the city and the shining streets.

In the past, the original owner and Zhu Luo often ate together, eating anywhere from outside stalls to small restaurants without any scruples.

But never anywhere quite as grand as this.

Under the guidance of the waiter, the two of them sat across from each other in silence.

Today, Zhu Luo was dressed very formally; he had even gone out of his way to arrange his hair.

Looking out from the window to his side, his hands were neatly placed one over the other, and an imperceptible trace of melancholy could be seen on his face.

Yu Le suddenly remembered that in the original book, Zhu Luo was described as having natural nobility. He was taken once by Huo Annong to attend a high society banquet and was neither humble nor overbearing, but the perfect example of a high born.

Yu Le finally had a real sense of that natural nobility in that momentary glance.

Sitting there awkwardly, Yu Le eventually ended up breaking the silence first, “Zhu Luo, I’ve never been here before. Do you have any recommendations for dinner?”

Hearing Yu Le, Zhu Luo smiled, and the slight darkness on his face was instantly dispelled, “I do! This is a new restaurant I discovered. The steak is especially delicious, though I think the best aspect of it is the piano.” He pointed over to the front desk, and Yu le looked to see a man sitting on the piano bench, “That blind man is the owner of this restaurant. He only plays three days a week, but the first time I heard him, I instantly wanted to bring you to listen to it too! There are rumours that he discovered his musical talent at a young age but was unable to pursue it professionally because of his blindness. Later, he married a wife who also loves music and they opened this restaurant together. Every time I come here to listen to him, I feel very calm.” As he spoke, Zhu Luo seemed to be immersed in the sound of the music again, squinting his eyes comfortably as he felt the melody in the air, “A Yu, what do you think?”

Yu Le is tone-deaf in the truest sense of the phrase and knows nothing about music. Luckily for him, though, the original owner was the same way, so whatever bullshit he spat out here, Zhu Luo wouldn’t doubt him.

Though he did have to admit, this piano sounded good, but that was also just it. He had no way of remarking on why.

Smiling cautiously, he said, “I don’t know much about piano, but this music does indeed sound wonderful. The player must be a genius, he plays very well.”

“Hmm…” His answer had definitely disappointed Zhu Luo’s expectations, “Forget it, let’s order first.” He began to introduce the dishes here enthusiastically, “I said before that the steak is delicious, but there is also a large seafood platter that I love!”

The waiter had arrived, and not leaving Yu Le time to refuse, Zhu Luo quickly ordered an array of food for them, “A Yu, would you like some wine?”

It was too easy to make mistakes after drinking, so he smiled politely as he refused, “No, it’s better not to drink when you have so many other dishes of food. Water is fine for me.”

“That’s a pity.” Zhu Luo sighed, “I wanted some, the courage would help me speak my mind tonight.”

He seemed to be implying something here.

Maybe it would be fine to drink a little, even if he says the wrong thing, he could always blame it on the alcohol after all.

Yu Le regretted it a little, “Why don’t we—”

“But since A Yu said he wouldn’t drink, then I don’t want to use alcohol as an excuse. I’ll have water as well.”

Yu Le quickly stopped talking, “…um, that’s…no, nevermind.”

After that, the two fell silent.

Zhu Luo was thinking about something and didn’t intentionally speak up, waiting patiently with Yu Le for the waiter to bring their food.

Soon it was delivered.

The steak and lobster seafood platter looked delicious; no, everything besides the vegetable soup and broccoli side looked delicious.

Yu Le was already hungry and swallowed shamefully.

Zhu Luo saw his actions and said with a smile, “Come on, let’s eat.”

At the dinner table, Yu Le was very reserved.

He maintained the frequency of one bite of meat to one bite of vegetables as he ate his food in silence.

Halfway through the meal, Zhu Luo suddenly pointed at the green vegetable soup, “A Yu, your taste has always been quite bland, drink more soup. You don’t have to force yourself to eat things you don’t like.”

Yu Le’s face twisted as he complained, “Zhu Luo, why are you acting like my mother now?”

He now had a first-hand experience of how that little fatty, Lele, felt when his grandmother enforced his diet.

Although he was reluctant, he still filled a bowl with vegetable soup and, with a numb face, swallowed it quickly.

There was inevitably a trace of disgust in his eyebrows, but Zhu Luo, who was preoccupied with his own meal, obviously didn’t notice.

Eating and eating, time flew by.

Yu Le was disgusted by the vegetable soup and put down his tableware early after finishing a small bowl of it.

“Why aren’t you eating any more?”

He made an excuse, “Well…I had some instant noodles before work today, and I’m not too hungry now. What I just had was enough for now.”

“You’re working?”

“Yeah.”

The two fell silent again.

This awkward silence had finally become a problem that needed to be addressed.

Yu Le took a sip of his water as he spoke up, “Zhu Luo, didn’t you say you wanted to talk to me?”

The young man’s eyes dimmed, “That’s right. I did say that.” A certain determination flashed in his eyes, and the next second, he opened his mouth to ask, “A Yu, do you…like me?”

Yu Le choked on the mouthful of water he’d just swallowed, “Cough cough cough cough cough cough!” Although he already had a premonition, he truly hadn’t expected Zhu Luo to be so straightforward, “Ahem, Zhu Luo, why are you asking this?”

He really wanted to deny it, to say that no, he didn’t like him.

But at this time, in front of Zhu Luo, there was a sour emotion in his chest, and his emotions began to surge, trying to break through his defences and flood his mind.

He covered his chest irritably and wiped the water from his face as he shook his head in denial, “No, Zhu Luo, I don’t like you.”

“A Yu…” Zhu Luo’s expression changed as he heard these words, the answer to a question that he had been asking for so long, “Since you don’t like me, why don’t you dare to look me in the eyes as you say that?”

Exhaling violently, Yu Le raised his head to stare directly at Zhu Luo and repeated himself, “Zhu Luo, I do not like you.”

Being denied again, Zhu Luo felt an anger rise in his heart. Becoming agitated, he demanded, “A Yu, since you don’t like me, why did you send me flowers every day?”

Flowers?

Yu Le frowned.

The flower delivery was exposed?

How?

He immediately thought of that annoying little boy; it must have been that he betrayed him.

“No, Zhu Luo, those flowers…” Yu Le wanted to explain but saw Zhu Luo’s burning eyes and realised there was no point in denying it. He had been found out. “Well, that was from me,” pursing his lips, he added, “I saw you throw them all away.”

“I’m sorry A Yu, if I had known they were from you from the start, I wouldn’t have.” Zhu Luo calmed his excited emotions as he explained, “I misunderstood and thought they were from someone I’d met at the concert. Maybe a crazy fan. The name you signed had thrown me off, but I know it was just a pseudonym because you weren’t sure how to face me.”

Yu Le froze.

At this moment, a white light flashed in his head.

What pseudonym? He obviously had signed Huo Annong’s initials.

Zhu Luo, why did you interpret the signature so casually?!

“That, actually…”

He had only delivered the flowers for Huo Annong, or maybe they were delivered to the wrong house by accident?

Each and every excuse that flashed through his mind fell flat. His mouth closed as he let his words trail off. Even he couldn’t convince himself that they made sense.

Seeing Yu Le’s twitching mouth as he struggled to explain, Zhu Luo felt more and more uncomfortable.

He was angry, sad, puzzled, and something more that he didn’t fully understand.

Finally, he couldn’t hold back and asked, “A Yu, if you don’t like me, why did you silently collect my things? And why…did you throw them all away?”

Yu Le was stunned once more in his seat. He hadn’t even fully recovered from the first hit yet, and Zhu Luo threw the second one at him?!

Seeing this, Zhu Luo laughed self-deprecatingly, “Do you still remember that last time I heard that you were going to study abroad, so I came over to ask what was going on? You were packing up that day, you said you were throwing out trash…But I saw everything inside those bags. It was all mine.”

Yu Le still couldn’t function well enough to form words.

This was really too unexpected; he was completely caught off guard.

Waiting silently for an answer, Zhu Luo lowered his eyes and continued talking, “Actually, it’s really impressive how many things you had collected. That old music box, I’d even forgotten about it, but I think I gave it to you as a gift back when we were kids, right?”

Yu Le nodded slowly.

“There was also that photo album!” Zhu Luo couldn’t help laughing as he thought of it, “I was so surprised when I flipped through it, there were so many different expressions! You even had a photo from when we first met. How could you just throw it all away? A Yu, you were really too ruthless.” With that, Zhu Luo’s expression faded, “A Yu, I’m sorry. When I first saw that you threw that all out and even called it trash, I didn’t know how to face you. It wasn’t until you came to my concert for the first time in so long that I realised our relationship had changed so much. You’ve met new people without me, made new plans, and now it looks like you’re ready to move on from me too.” He smiled sadly, “A Yu, I’m not ready to let you leave me behind. Please, were you really planning to cut off contact with me when you threw away all those things?”

The author has something to say:

Facing Zhu Luo’s questioning, Yu Le quickly began to think about countermeasures.

The CPU is loading…

Yu Le: Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Let me think about it again, just one more time!

Under CPU load…

Yu Le: Ahhhhh! How am I supposed to explain this?!

The CPU exploded…