CH 28

At night, Yu Le’s right eyelid began to twitch wildly in premonition.

At first, he didn’t pay attention. He just washed up and put on his pyjamas as usual. It was only when he was about to go to bed, and his eyelid was still pulsing like a small engine, that he felt something was wrong.

Taking out a small piece of tissue, he soaked it in water and covered his eye, but it didn’t work.

Maybe it was because he hadn’t slept well the night before.

Thinking like this, he further resolved his idea of going to bed earlier. It was at this time that Zhu Luo sent a message.

[Azhu: Are you asleep?]

[Yu: No, what’s going on?]

[Azhu: I just found a letter in the music box?]

[Yu: ?]

[Azhu: I can’t believe some of the things written in the letter; I want to hear you tell me personally.]

[Yu: …Okay.]

Without asking any more questions, Yu Le suddenly felt a little cold in the quiet room.

Climbing into bed, he pulled the quilt over him and looked out the window at the dark sky. His heart, which had been a little restless, cooled down as his thoughts raced.

Sure enough, he was eventually exposed.

[Yu: It’s too late today; I’ve already gone to bed.]

[Yu: There is a tea shop near the university town; I’ll wait for you there tomorrow morning. I can tell you whatever you want to know.]

Thinking about it, he sent one more sentence.

[Yu: Zhu Luo, good night.]

After staring at his phone for ten minutes, Zhu Luo didn’t reply to him again.

The chat interface was motionless, filled with the same dead silence as the night outside his window, and Yu Le’s mind began to race wildly in the absence of other things to occupy it.

This was a world of fiction.

The novel revolved around a genius violinist and a wealthy CEO. In other words, the world existed for them. He, Yu Youzhi, and every plant and animal in the world were only there to make up the background.

The protagonist was just that important.

So, apart from the protagonists, do other things in this world need to exist?

For example, right now, it was pitch black outside his window.

There was no moonlight, no buzzing of insects. In such a still night, a scene without the protagonist’s presence, is there really anything outside? Did the author put that much effort into their world-building? Or is it a black space of emptiness waiting to engulf him if he ever dared to step into it?

Thinking about it, Yu Le shuddered.

But soon, his thinking went astray.

He thought of Yu Youzhi, An An, and that royal blue suit.

The ginkgo tree outside the window, and the music box thrown in the trash.

And the letter that should have long been buried in the memories of the past.

But as his thoughts raced, his mind slowed, and Yu Le fell asleep.

He had a series of messy dreams that night and frowned involuntarily in his sleep. His eyes bulged at the pressure in his head, and even his dreams were squeezed and deformed into suffocating shapes.

Early the next morning, he woke up from his groggy nightmare and found that he had been graced with a cold.

When he left for the tea shop, he brought a small pack of tissue paper with him, and each time he had the urge to sneeze, he was forced to go through the motions of pulling down his mask to cover his mouth before pulling it right back up in one movement.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Zhu Luo walked into the small shop and immediately heard Yu Le’s heavy breaths.

Looking at the red tip of his nose when he pulled down his mask, he couldn’t help but frown.

The other party immediately pulled up his mask, but even through the layer of cloth, he could feel Yu Le smile apologetically, “The Cantonese breakfast here is very good; I have already ordered a few snacks, though I unfortunately can’t eat any myself now.” The young man’s eyes conveyed clear regret as he nodded to him, “Sit down.”

Zhu Luo sat down silently.

Thinking about Yu Le’s eyes just now, they were completely different from his calm, dark eyes before, giving him a vague expectation for this conversation.

Sniffing, Yu Le raised his hand habitually as if he wanted to rub his nose. But noticing the gaze on him, he put his hand down again.

Their eyes met.

The mask covered most of his face, hiding the familiar outline and causing his eyes to stand out particularly strongly.

It was strange.

At this moment, these unfamiliar eyes were looking at him, and the face under the mask seemed to be resigned, “You know, I actually hate eating vegetables.”

“Huh?” A strange feeling arose in his heart as if something was about to happen. As long as he reached out and pushed open the door in front of him, he knew the answers he received would turn his world upside down. This strange premonition tormented Zhu Luo, and as he spoke, he became even more irritable, “A Yu, what exactly do you want to say?”

“There’s nothing I particularly wish to share,” he held a tissue to his face reservedly, “Zhu Luo, is there anything you want to ask me?”

Zhu Luo breathed out quietly, “Are you really a patient with multiple personalities?”

He was sure that no matter what answer he heard later, he had prepared himself to the best of his abilities.

Yu Le paused before saying, “A Yu was, but I am not.”

This answer stunned Zhu Luo, “What…do you mean?”

“I mean that your A Yu is no longer here.”

The person opposite him said this in a flat tone as if he had practised it deliberately to have no emotions. If his words had changed to say that ‘the weather was good today,’ there would have been no discrepancies at all.

“He had a total of three personalities. The Yu Le that you knew was the main personality,” his friend obviously saw his confusion as he went on to explain, “I think you should have met the other two personalities before, but just didn’t pay enough attention to notice. One of them was very violent and had a dangerous personality, he’s the one Yu Le was worried about the most. The other was a little girl who was very cute, she called herself Yu Beiman. But, all three of these personalities have disappeared now.”

Zhu Luo listened to these remarks quite calmly, not knowing what expression to make. Because of the ridiculousness of the story, he truly couldn’t understand it for a moment, “A Yu…are you kidding me?”

Yu Le just looked at him and asked, “You said you found a letter in the music box…what was written on it?”

“A confession and…” At this point, he raised his head and glanced at Yu Le, hesitating to use the pronoun ‘you,’ “A Yu said that he didn’t actually plan to go study abroad but that he had found a way to treat his personalities and needed to disappear for a while. He was letting me not worry.”

“Fake.” Just after he finished speaking, the young man opposite him interrupted mercilessly, “There was no treatment method at all. He had found a different way to eliminate the second personality.”

“Why…?”

“Since he confessed to you about his personalities, he should have warned you about how dangerous the second personality is.” His face was calm as he said, “The second personality would do anything for control over the body, but he especially was fond of hurting you. So Yu Le decided to kill the second personality before he could kill you.”

Zhu Luo began to tremble involuntarily; his thoughts were still calm, but his voice shook for some reason, “Then he, he did…what?”

“He took a small white pill to weaken the personality, but at the same time, he also weakened himself. In order to protect you, he decided to die along with the other personalities.”

“No, no…” As soon as these words came out, Zhu Luo was obviously panicked, and his calm facade was replaced with his true emotions, “No, aren’t you A Yu? You are clearly right in front of me; how could you have disappeared?” He looked at the other; his eyes seemed to be begging for the answer he wanted, “A Yu, you must be lying to me, right?!”

His eyes were red, and he looked as if he was about to cry.

Yu Le frowned and moved his eyes away.

The unfamiliar emotions in his chest were beginning to stir again.

In fact, like Zhu Luo, he was not as calm as he appeared.

The remaining emotions of the original owner continued to torment and affect him. Even though he tried his best to understand the original owner and convey the long secret love and feelings on his behalf, they still didn’t dissipate.

At this moment, Yu Le really didn’t want to be here.

Zhu Luo was crying, his eyes wet and swollen.

He sat across from him, letting his emotions flow, but not once did Yu Le offer any words of comfort.

The movement in the corner of this small tea shop finally attracted the attention of the guests coming and going. They quietly inquired to others around them and cast a few strange looks before something else caught their attention, and they continued their breakfast.

Among such clusters of gazes, one man looked particularly strange.

Early in the morning, he wore big sunglasses and a hat that shadowed his face well. His table was full of sweet snacks, but no one seemed to be coming to join him.

Even with all the snacks before him, he only took a few symbolic bites before sitting back and playing with his mobile phone.

On the phone screen, a pair of grey pupils were vaguely reflected.

He had been here since before Zhu Luo arrived.

Moreover, he was sitting only one partition away, but with it closing them off, neither Yu Le nor Zhu Luo noticed his existence.

When Zhu Luo’s mood finally stabilised, Yu Le handed him a clean tissue and expressed concern, “Are you okay?”

Zhu Luo bit his lips, his eyes red from crying, and he truly didn’t look like he was okay. His voice had turned misty, and when he spoke, he sounded soft and pitiable. Still though, compared to just earlier, he was indeed much calmer, “I’m fine, sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you.” He politely took the tissue and wiped his face with it before throwing it in the trash can next to him, “I still have one last question.”

Yu Le raised his chin slightly, “Ask.”

“If, if A Yu really had multiple personalities and A Yu has really disappeared,” Zhu Luo paused here and seemed to hesitate over the word ‘disappear’, as if he didn’t want to admit it. But in the end, he frowned and ignored his urges as he looked at Yu Le and asked, “What about you then? Who are you as you sit before me right now?”

This wasn’t an unexpected question. If Zhu Luo hadn’t asked it, he would have doubted whether he understood what he was saying at all.

This was also a question that must be answered in order to get rid of the resentment between the past of the original owner and the present Zhu Luo.

Yu Le thought carefully, phrasing his next words carefully, “My name is also Yu Le. I am twenty seven years old this year. I have the same name as your A Yu.”

Zhu Luo’s eyes were burning, but he didn’t interrupt.

“I used to work part time for an online company. During my vacation I was pestered by my cousin to go out with her but we unfortunately had a car accident on the way back. My cousin and the driver were taken away by an ambulance and…I died on the spot. I thought I would become a lonely ghost, but when I woke up, I found that I had become the owner of this body.”

Hearing this, Zhu Luo looked at him strangely, “You mean…you died? And got resurrected to take over A Yu’s body?”

Yu Le nodded, “Yes, generally speaking, that is what happened.”

Zhu Luo looked at him suspiciously, “But you seem to remember many things about A Yu’s past?”

“Well,” Yu Le nodded, “When inheriting this body I did also get some of these memories, but the closer the memories are to when he disappeared, the more confusing they become…For example, I didn’t know the letter in the music box even existed.”

“Hmmm…” Zhu Luo held his head in his arms and seemed to be lost in thought.

Yu Le did not disturb him.

“That…is…” When he spoke again, he seemed unsure how to proceed, as if he wasn’t sure that he really wanted to say it at all, “Actually, there is something I am a little concerned about.”

Yu Le gestured for him to ask.

“You said, the doctor prescribed a small white pill to A Yu, right…It was a medicine for treating mental illness?” He tried to keep a straight face, “Do you know what kind of medicine it was exactly?”

His careful expression made Yu Le realise something, and he suddenly felt a little ridiculous, “Zhu Luo, do you suspect that I am suffering from delusions?”

“No, no…” He immediately denied it, but his expression betrayed him, “It’s not that I don’t believe you, but the things you said are really unbelievable.”

Yu Le nodded to express his understanding, “Zhu Luo, whether you believe what I just said or not, I came to see you frankly today just to tell you one thing. Your A Yu has disappeared. I am not your A Yu now.”

Hearing this, Zhu Luo opened his mouth, some words seemed to be stuck in his throat, and he wanted to refute loudly, but he didn’t know why; they died down in the next second.

His eyes dimmed, “A Yu, if you insist, then I believe you.”

In the end, he could only say this.

He stared at the beautiful eyes exposed over the mask. With the clear sky and white sun, he couldn’t tell the pupils from the iris’; there was just a deep, dark gaze.

He thought that these eyes would always hold a trace of him.

“Do you want me to stop disturbing you?”

“Yes.”

As they left the shop, neither of them spoke to the other.

Zhu Luo just looked at Yu Le with complicated eyes and left silently.

Yu Le felt a pang of sadness.

“That violinist, it seems he doesn’t believe you…” A familiar voice came from behind Yu Le. Waving a greeting with one hand, he called out a greeting, “Good morning Yu Le!”

He turned around sharply, “Yu Youzhi, why are you here?!”

The heavily dressed young man looked around innocently, “This tea shop is good, I originally wanted to invite you to have breakfast with me,” he walked around to sit in front of Yu Le at a small table. The face under his glasses raised a rather interested smile, “I didn’t expect to hear something so incredible instead.” His tone was serious as he asked, “Yu Le, are you a monster?”

“Huh?”

What kind of question was this?

Yu Youzhi looked directly at him. There was a table between them, but Yu Le could clearly feel the gaze through his clothes.

“Borrowing a corpse to come back to life, living another life before the one you have now…Humans can’t do this kind of thing, right?”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes, “I’m not a monster.” He felt that he needed to explain, “I didn’t voluntarily get into a car accident, nor was I voluntarily reborn. Generally speaking, I feel that this is not on me. It’s everyone else’s fault.”

These words successfully made Yu Youzhi laugh, “Yu Le, you are even more ruthless than I thought.”

He frowned.

“Although it’s a bit abrupt to say this,” Yu Youzhi was blunt, “but Yu Le, you don’t really think you’re a normal person, do you?”

“…Am I not?”

“Well look,” Yu Youzhi raised a finger, “You pretended to be a woman without any shame. You are a picky eater but prefer to suffer than to let others know. You are even this calm when you encounter a situation like coming back to life in a dead body. Do you think this is how normal people would react?”

When Yu Youzhi said this, Yu Le actually felt that it made sense.

Of course, he would never let him know that.

With a curl of his lips, he retorted, “Aren’t you even more abnormal when you use this kind of thing to scold me then?”

Yu Youzhi thought for a while and generously explained, “After all, you already think I’m a green tea. Even if you think I’m a pervert on top of that, I won’t be angry.”

“…” Forget it; what’s the difference between him and this person if he kept arguing.

Too lazy to pay attention to Yu Youzhi, Yu Le covered his mouth and coughed lightly. His head was too dizzy; he needed to go back and take some cold medicine.

But as soon as he stood up, his legs gave out, and his vision went black.

He was falling to the ground, but a hand grabbed him just before he hit.

Leaning softly into a strange chest, the fresh and delicious smell rushed into his mouth and nose, becoming the only thing he could feel of the outside world at this moment.

It was Yu Youzhi.

“What are you doing?”

Yu Le impatiently tried to shake off the hand that tightly clamped around his wrist but found that the grip was too tight. He couldn’t break free, and as soon as he tried to exert any strength, he felt even more dizzy. He covered his mouth and gasped, coughing as he tried to force out his words, “Let me go….cough…”

“Do you know how hot you are right now?” There was no emotion in his voice, but the moment he opened his mouth, it was obvious just how angry Yu Youzhi was, “You have such a severe fever and are still out so early in the morning to put on such plays? Do you think you are too smart and want to burn yourself into a fool?” Lifting up the shorter man, he almost carried him on his shoulder, “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Yu Le struggled, dissatisfied.

“I’m going to find a heavenly master to exorcise you, so that I can send you, a lonely ghost, to the underworld.”

While Yu Youzhi’s car was driving away, Zhu Luo had already returned home in despair.

The music box, photo album, and the white letter were scattered on his floor.

“Do you want me to stop disturbing you?”

“Yes.”

There was no hesitation in his answer; he didn’t even have to pause to think before he answered.

Zhu Luo had never felt like a failure more than he had at that moment.

He realised that no matter whether the A Yu in front of him was real or not, the person he wanted to see had already left.

Picking up the letter, a wry smile appeared on his face, and he murmured to himself, “A Yu…why did you tell me this?”

His phone vibrated twice in his back pocket.

Glancing at it absentmindedly, he saw two notifications pop up from a strange chat software called Gali. He didn’t take it seriously at first, but once he read it, he had to hold his phone up for a closer look.

[Message from a stranger: Azhu, I have not disappeared.]

[Message from a stranger: Be careful of that person; he is lying.]