CH 52

That night, Lu Feng took Cheng Yichen to a movie premiere, in which Ke Luo also attended. I was the only one left at home. They asked me to go with them, but I indifferently said that I’d grown up and was not interested in this type of event.

Chasing stars was like chasing clouds to a mature person like me.

In fact, what was more important, I hadn’t finish the thesis that I had to turn in tomorrow.

Life of low-level students was really too difficult in these top elite schools.

Cheng Yichen reminded me repeatedly to order a nutritious takeaway. Rather, I prepared cup noodles and squatted on the stool, flipping through the materials to rack my brains and meet the word count.

To sum it all up, I didn’t believe that I gave up such a big opportunity to join in the fun just so I could finish and hand in my homework.

However, I had gradually grown into the shape of a school nerd.

Life was a grinding machine.

While I was chewing on the soaked noodles and typing on the keyboard with a long sigh, I heard the sound of someone opening the door. I was wondering, was the premiere cancelled? As soon as I turned my head, Zhuo Wenyang and my eyes met each other.

Zhuo Wenyang looked serious, “I knew you wouldn’t eat well.”

I couldn’t help but smile as I was chided, “Why are you here?”

Zhuo Wenyang placed his bag onto the table and replied, “My dad said you didn’t go to the movies with them. I think you may need someone to accompany you.”

“…..”

My firm motto of “fuck love” that I managed to solidify in these past few days instantly collapsed.

Look at how beautiful love was, even unrequited love could be so good!

Even if he casually mentioned a word, it could cause one to ascend and dopamine would be secreted without the need of money.

“Don’t eat instant noodles. I bought a pot of stew and roasted duck from Shuweilou.”

I had to admit, “I’m afraid I won’t be able to turn in my thesis. Professor Fang is really too harsh…”

Zhuo Wenyang looked puzzled, “With me here, why can’t the paper be handed in?”

“…..”

Even if he didn’t have this appearance, his brain alone was truly sexy enough.

Therefore, I had a satisfying meal, continued writing out the paper that was originally about to lay in its coffin, and continued on with my life. I even had time to think about what to do with the rest of my time.

After Zhuo Wenyang supervised my dissertation, he turned on his laptop and began working on his screen.

I wanted to watch TV, but now I felt embarrassed to waste the newfound free time he granted me through his precious time. In order to advance my cultural awareness and get as close as possible to his level, I could only bite the bullet and read this book.

This book that was pulled off from Cheng Yichen’s bookshelf was extremely difficult to read, but with Zhuo Wenyang being here, the dread of reading had become more manageable.

Zhuo Wenyang had become such an existence that could eradicate anything to me. As long as he sat quietly, it felt that numerous prosperities would bloom around him even if he did not speak, move, or look at me. Even this book, that could cause people to feel deep shame after reading just two lines, was covered in gorgeous and brilliant eye-catching flowers.

I leaned back onto the sofa and thought to myself that Zhuo Wenyang was much better looking than this book, but I couldn’t openly stare at him.

I was content with reading while secretly peaking at Zhuo Wenyang. Slowly, my eyelids became heavier and heavier. My consciousness was gradually drifting away, weaving into broken and scattered dreams in the distance.

When the dream ended and my consciousness returned, I realized that I had fallen asleep just now.

I opened my eyes and suddenly got up. At some point, the blanket covering my body slid onto the floor.

Zhuo Wenyang was still sitting at the opposite end. His posture did not change, except that the laptop in front of him was replaced by the book I originally held. Hearing movements, he looked at me, nodded and asked, “Are you awake?”

Visible exhaustion could be seen on his face with a naked eye. I peered at the clock on the wall and discovered that it was almost twelve o’clock.

“It’s so late?” I asked, surprisingly. “Hey, I’ve slept for so long!”

“It’s alright.”

“Why didn’t you go to sleep?” After finishing his work, he could obviously leave to rest up.

He was taken aback for a moment, and he said, “Ah, but if I leave to my room and sleep, you’ll wake up and find that you’re alone. Wouldn’t you feel a little lonely?”

“……”

Despite of how taciturn and reserved he was, how could there be so much delicate and unspoken tenderness?

For the first time, I was truly regretful for my amnesia.

During these forgotten years, there must be some bits and pieces of good memories that were shared between him and me. After all, he was such a good person.

Since I couldn’t expect to have a future with him, it was okay to spend time and reminisce about the past.

I sat on the sofa, hugging my legs and called out, “Zhuo Wenyang.”

“Mm?”

“Can you tell me something about our past time?”

He raised his eyebrows slightly, confused, “When?”

“From my sophomore year in university.”

Zhuo Wenyang was dumbfounded for a moment, as if he was momentarily hesitating.

“What do you want to know?”

I enthusiastically said, “Anything is fine. After all, I don’t even remember.”

That period of my memory was wiped clean like being wiped back and forth with an eraser.

When the doctor explained the rehabilitation plan to me, he spoke about the recovery probability and timing for memory loss. Maybe I would never remember, maybe I would remember decades later, or maybe I would remember all of a sudden.

To me, I really didn’t care at the time.

My life would be more or less in that state. Everyday was nothing more than repetition of routines.

Although a part of my memory was missing, there wasn’t any lack of feeling when connecting the front to the back. It was like a pipe whose head could be seen at a glance, and it didn’t make much of a difference if one or two parts were missing.

However, because of Zhuo Wenyang, I unexpectedly started to care.

It was akin to losing a bag of old things that I didn’t once care about, tossing them in the trash. Yet, once I realized that there were actually a few precious pieces in them, I wanted to go back and find them.

Zhuo Wenyang remained silent, thinking for a while, before saying, “During those times, you often came to my house to do homework.”

I was delightedly surprised, “That’s right!”

I actually still did my homework! I still went to his house!

I was pretty brave back then!

I suddenly thought of something, “So, I met your mother?”

He nodded, “Yes.”

Embarrassed, I said, “Then, I must have caused her headaches. I’m such a scumbag that I kept coming over to harass her son.”

He smiled and said, “That’s wrong. My mother likes you very much and prepared snacks for us.”

“Really?”

“I was always alone in school and didn’t have many friends,” he said, “My mother was very happy since you were the first classmate who came to my door. She always worried if I was autistic. When I was a child, she suspected that I had Asperger’s syndrome.”

“What is Asperger’s syndrome?”

When I asked this question, I reactively had a subtle sense of deja vu, as if I once asked this very same question at some point.

Zhuo Wenyang glanced at me.

I thought that I must have gotten along with Aunt Zhuo. I must have heard her speak and seen her smile, but not simply through photos.

But even that memory was gone.

The feeling of regret in my heart immediately intensified.

I pondered about it and then asked, “Then, have I met Uncle Chen before?”

He was startled for a brief moment and nodded after, “Yes.”

“Really?”

Cheng Yichen never mentioned about this to me. However, even if you met your son’s classmates at home, it wasn’t something that needed to be mentioned specifically. Perhaps, he didn’t even remember seeing me.

“Did we meet when I went to your house to do homework?”

Instantly, Zhuo Wenyang fell into silence. He remained quiet for a long time, almost too long, like he crashed without warning. Then, he slowly answered, “No.”