CH 54

Cheng Xian gave Cheng Ke Gu Qingchi’s contact information.

It took quite a while for Cheng Ke to reply. 

[I already have it.]

Cheng Xian was very puzzled.

[If you have it, why’d you ask me to go get it? Also, how do you know Gu Qingchi? Don’t tell me you’ve finally started socializing.]

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was the case. The future heir to the family fortune met a beautiful celebrity at a banquet and fell in love at first sight. 

Before Cheng Xian could come up with some melodramatic plot in his head, Cheng Ke told Cheng Xian the truth.

[My friend request was rejected. He was my senior in high school, so I know him.]

Cheng Xian immediately sympathized with Cheng Ke.

[I know you don’t really have any friends, but isn’t this a little too miserable?]

Cheng Ke was a high-profile person. He’d been soft and cute as a kid, but, as he got older, he started becoming colder and colder. Other than a few childhood friends, Cheng Ke had spent pretty much all of his school days alone.

Cheng Ke didn’t reply to this message at all. When Cheng Xian sent him another message, he discovered that he’d been blocked again.

Meanwhile, Gu Qingchi had just finished his dance class. He was in the locker room.

After sending Xie Luyu a message, he casually threw his cell phone into his coat pocket. 

Not too long after Cheng Xian had left that day, Cheng Ke sent Gu Qingchi a friend request once more.

However, after being accepted, he didn’t actually try to contact Gu Qingchi.

That was until today. About half an hour ago, Cheng Ke sent him a short and concise message.

[Today at 7:00. Genba’s Japanese Cuisine. Are you free?] 

Gu Qingchi happened to receive this message right after his dance lesson ended. Cheng Ke had thoughtfully considered his schedule and given him some time. The restaurant was also very close to Gu Qingchi’s place. It was so close that he could get there by walking.

Everything was just perfect. It didn’t affect his daily rhythm at all. There wasn’t any reason to refuse.

And Gu Qingchi didn’t. He was also a little curious.

He’d always thought of himself as someone who both did exist and did not exist within this world. 

All of his documents were there, but, aside from the necessary paperwork, there wasn’t any trace of him or his personal connections.

It must be said that, even though he spent those two years alone, even though no one remembered him or paid attention to him, he still left traces of himself behind.

C rajmx bo yliir. C gfmflqa ogbw atf reqfgwjgxfa. Cvnfgalrfwfcar raeoofv lc atf wjliybz ys atf vbbg. Ktf rwjii agffr atja Xe Hlcumtl bcmf qijcafv lc atf ujgvfc.

Xe Hlcumtl mbeiv mbcolgw atja atf vjs Xe Hlcumtl mjwf ab atlr eclnfgrf kjr atf vjs atja “Xe Hlcumtl” kjr ybgc. Ktja kjr atf vjs atlr mtjgjmafg yfujc ilnlcu jcv ygfjatlcu klatlc atlr kbgiv. 

Over the past two years, he had pretty much figured out what the rules were. Physical objects could be arbitrarily generated at will, but feelings and emotions could not be changed. Relationships between people could not be changed.

Now that Gu Qingchi’s role was over, he was no longer dictated by a single line of text. Physical things could be randomly generated, but feelings and relationships couldn’t pop up out of thin air. Thus, “Gu Qingchi” had no past.

Otherwise, why did the character, “Gu Qingchi”, need to be randomly generated to fill in for the plot?

This was to say, if this cannon fodder of a character had friends, those friends wouldn’t actually exist. They would simply be an empty concept. 

However, a so-called high school classmate had now popped out of the woodwork. It really surprised Gu Qingchi.

According to the rules, if there really was a classmate that had memories of him, Gu Qingchi would have those experiences as well.

However, Gu Qingchi had no memory of S High School at all.

This meant that his memory was either erased, or, even worse, his memories belonged to someone else. The very thought of this made Gu Qingchi incredibly irritable. 

It’d be devastating if the latter were to be true.

The door to the locker room opened. Several trainees raucously made their way inside, interrupting Gu Qingchi’s line of thought.

Gu Qingchi came back to his senses.

He threw off those messy thoughts in his head and started changing his clothes in earnest. He’d have the answer after tonight anyway. After leaving the company, he planned to walk to the restaurant. 

It was already evening, but the restaurant was relatively high-end. They hadn’t run out of ingredients for the night. There weren’t very many people in the store. The wooden decorations were very stylish. The tables were pretty far apart. The greenery and wooden shelves created somewhat of a small, semi-enclosed space. It was a great place to talk.

Gu Qingchi gave Cheng Ke’s name at the front desk. Then, the waiter diligently led him to a table near a window. The view was pretty impressive. It was one of the best locations in the restaurant.

There was already a man sitting at the table. He was dressed in a simple white shirt and tie. There weren’t any unnecessary accessories on him. All he had was a nice watch on his wrist. He looked a little cold, a little hard to get close to.

Judging from his appearance, he was still rather young, but his mannerisms were that of a mature and steady man. 

This guy was exactly the type of person to rank first on every midterm exam. He was the top student that was difficult to approach, taciturn and unsociable.

His expression didn’t change when he saw Gu Qingchi.

However, Gu Qingchi hadn’t even walked over to the table yet, he was still quite a ways away, but Cheng Ke had already gotten up and pulled back a chair.

After the two of them sat down, Cheng Ke spoke first. 

If Cheng Xian were here, his eyes would have fallen out of their sockets. When has Cheng Ke ever taken the initiative before?

In Cheng Xian’s own words, Cheng Ke’s appearance wasn’t to be trusted. He might look serious and upright, but he was actually quite arrogant. Unless you were actively chasing after him, he wouldn’t even bother paying you any attention.

Cheng Ke handed over the menu.

“I’m not very familiar with this restaurant, so I ordered a few of their specialties. Take a look at the menu. See if there’s anything else you want.” 

Gu Qingchi wasn’t in the mood for food. He took the menu from Cheng Ke’s hands and placed it directly onto the table.

“I’m fine with anything. There’s nothing that I really want to order.”

Gu Qingchi looked up and cut straight to the point.

“It’s Mr. Cheng, right?” 

Cheng Ke didn’t reveal anything on his face, but, in a place where no one could see, his hands nervously tightened their grip on the armrest of the rattan chair.

“Cheng Ke. You can call me Cheng Ke.”

Gu Qingchi was very easygoing, but his manner of speaking was very direct. It could even be said to be a little rude.

“Cheng Ke, to be honest, I don’t remember having you as a classmate.” 

Cheng Ke nodded. Neither of them were very extroverted people. The two of them looked like they were negotiating a business deal.

“Actually, you’re my senior. I was in the year below you.”

Cheng Ke saw that Gu Qingchi had no impression of him at all, so he took the initiative to continue.

“Back then, you were in the basketball club. I was in the basketball club too.” 

Gu Qingchi did join the basketball club in high school. His high school had been imitating the high school systems in other countries. Every student was required to join a club.

Gu Qingchi already knew a little bit of basketball. He joined the basketball club because he was lazy. He was able to skip most of the practices this way.

Was it a coincidence?

Gu Qingchi’s brows were still furrowed. 

Cheng Ke was still talking.

“You were really good at basketball, but I didn’t really see you often during practice. Whenever we had a game, the team captain had to drag over to make up the numbers. You weren’t super active in the club, but you always did your best during games.”

“You might not remember this anymore. You were the one who brought me to the Physics Olympiad…”

Gu Qingchi’s brows slowly relaxed. His face kind of blanked. Everything Cheng Ke said matched up with his high school days. 

He suddenly remembered a tiny fragment of a memory. He was in an office. Standing in front of him was the physics teacher. The man was from Tianjin. He spoke with a bit of an accent.

“Help me take care of Cheng Ke. The kid’s not bad.”

Xie Luyu stood there for quite a while before finally turning off his phone.

“He’s got something to do. It’s probably work. Work is important. Work is important.” 

He was saying this, but he still visibly deflated.

He was like a husky who had painstakingly dug up the bone he had buried weeks ago. He happily presented the bone to his human, waiting for the human to praise him.

However, in the end, he didn’t get the praise he was hoping for. Not only did he not get praised, the bone was also thrown away and he ended up getting scolded. The dog was stuffed into the bathroom and scrubbed several times.

It was an emotional and physical double whammy. 

After being washed up, the entire dog wilted.

At this moment, the streetlights were starting to light up.

“Who knows whether he wore his coat or not.”

It was getting kind of chilly at this time of day. 

The weather had been fine this morning. When Gu Qingchi left the apartment, Xie Luyu stuffed a coat into his arms. Gu Qingchi did bring it with him, but he often left his jackets at the company because he found it bothersome.

Xie Luyu hadn’t gotten too far when he stopped again, muttering to himself.

“He didn’t bring an umbrella. It’s a little rainy today. It’ll be bad if the rain becomes stronger later.”

Xie Luyu turned around without putting too much thought into it and looked around. He planned to find a store and buy an umbrella for him. 

He circled the entire area.

“Why are these all restaurants? Where are the minimarts?”

Xie Luyu’s eyes brushed over a Japanese restaurant. Then, he quickly looked back.

The coat that he caught a glimpse of looked somewhat familiar. It was the same one that he had personally handed to Gu Qingchi this morning. 

There were two people sitting by the window—two men, to be exact—but the glass was a little foggy because of the sudden dip in temperature. There were wooden shelves and potted plants blocking his view, so it was difficult to see clearly.

“I can’t believe there’s someone else with the same jacket.”

Xie Luyu had bought the coat that he gave to Gu Qingchi. It was a niche brand from Spain. It didn’t have any overseas branches. If you wanted to buy it, you’d have to get someone to buy it for you or buy it online. The process was incredibly troublesome, but the material was good for the skin and the style was beautiful.

For some reason, Xie Luyu stood there and watched for quite a while. Finally, the person inside turned his head. It was Gu Qingchi. 

Xie Luyu subconsciously ducked to the side so that the people inside couldn’t see him.