CH 55

Xie Luyu even pulled the mask up a little bit. This big guy was crouching against the corner of a wall. He looked a little pitiful to be honest. He stood there for who knows how long before finally moving, his body a little stiff. He mumbled to himself.

“Social interaction is good. Who doesn’t have a couple of friends?” 

However, his voice was getting smaller and smaller. He didn’t even have confidence in his own words.

The lighting within the restaurant was very soft, a little dim. Gu Qingchi was still the same as usual, but, in this environment, he seems a little gentler.

The two of them seemed to be having a very friendly conversation. The other man leaned forward and said something into Gu Qingchi’s ear. Then, a faint smile appeared on Gu Qingchi’s face.

Xie Luyu tightened his grip on the flowers in his hands. 

“This is a good thing. He has friends. The guy’s probably around his age. People around the same age usually have more in common.”

Xie Luyu kept his eyes glued to the two of them. After he finished muttering to himself, he stood for a while. When he got up to leave, his eyes were still on them. He almost tripped over a trash can.

He looked down and let out a curse. It wasn’t clear whether he was cursing out the trash can or himself.

“Shit!”

After walking a few hundred meters away, he ended up turning around again. He quietly entered the restaurant with an item tucked under his arm.

The receptionist at the front desk was very cordial. When she saw the flowers in his hand, she assumed that it was a couple who wanted to book a reservation. The restaurant’s environment was very suitable for dates and romance. They received countless couples here.

“Welcome. Would you like to make a reservation?”

Xie Luyu placed flowers and a beautifully wrapped umbrella on the front desk. The umbrella hasn’t been opened yet. It was still sitting in the box it came in. It looked more like a work of art than a tool to hide from the rain. 

“No, I’m here to deliver something. It’s the table with the good-looking guy over there. Could you please give these things to that gentleman once they’re done eating?”

Xie Luyu didn’t mention anything about either of their appearances. Both of them were pretty good-looking, but Gu Qingchi was clearly at another level. The receptionist had sneaking glances toward him all evening. She knew exactly who Xie Luyu was talking about.

The receptionist did find the request to be a bit strange. However, it wasn’t a difficult task, so she accepted.

“Sure. No problem.” 

Xie Luyu bowed his head.

“Sorry for the trouble. Oh, one more thing, please don’t tell him I was the one who sent it. Just say that this is an event at the restaurant or something.”

The receptionist hesitated a bit this time. This was the first time that someone had made such a request.

“This… I mean, I suppose I could.” 

Xie Luyu grabbed his wallet, pulled out a few pink notes, and placed them on the front desk.

“Please make sure to deliver it to him. He forgot to bring an umbrella today. If he gets caught in the rain, he’ll catch a cold again.”

After handing everything over, Xie Luyu left. The receptionist called out to him a few times, but she didn’t manage to stop him.

The receptionist hesitated for a while. Then, she collected the money, put the things away, and took this matter to heart. 

Gu Qingchi’s mind was a mess. He couldn’t understand what was going on. His high school memories were already very vague. Even if he tried his best to remember, he could only recall a few bits and pieces.

After those two years of emptiness, his brain seemed to have emptied out everything. The only thing left in his mind was that endless amount of time with which he had nowhere to spend.

He’d been walking down this path on his own, and he left behind a lot of the burdens weighing him down.

So, when he stepped back out into the world, he was still alone. 

He had noticed the differences in himself by now, but the things that he had thrown away could never be recovered. Thus, he despicably tried to steal what it was that he lacked from others.

Cheng Ke could tell that Gu Qingchi was very interested in stuff from high school, so he explained it in great detail.

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The student council system of private high schools mimicked that of foreign countries. Unlike in certain high schools, the student council actually had a great deal of power. They weren’t just in charge of punishing students. They also had a say in how the school would develop.

Therefore, the selection criteria for student council members was incredibly strict. Not only did they need a certain number of votes, but they also needed to be doing well academically in order to be eligible for it.

Anyone that was able to make it into student council was sure to be an elite.

As one of those elites, Gu Qingchi was the focus of everyone’s attention. He seemed really approachable. He was incredibly friendly to everyone. 

However, no one was actually able to walk by his side. He always had that book of infractions in his hands and that student council badge upon his chest. He used to walk past the classroom windows while class was in session.

Every time he walked past the classroom, the students would all turn their attention towards Gu Qingchi, chasing him with their eyes.

Cheng Ke was also one of those people. At that time, he had just entered this high school. He’s already heard of Gu Qingchi from the other students. There were even posts about Gu Qingchi on the school forum.

The students were always posting on the forum. There were already a lot of posts on there, and each one was a hot topic spanning dozens of pages. 

Cheng Ke had thought of it as ridiculous at first. No matter how mysterious or incredible this guy was, he was still just a student. Later, he inexplicably started chasing after him.

However, unlike his other classmates, Cheng Ke didn’t just chase after him with his eyes. He followed Gu Qingchi into the student council and, later, the basketball club.

Before high school, Cheng Ke had never even touched a basketball. He’d always been a quiet child in the eyes of adults. The thing he interacted with the most was the violin, but, now, he was taking the initiative to practice this highly competitive sport he’d never even tried before.

As long as he was able to take another step forward, it was nothing. 

Eventually, Cheng Ke became one of the basketball club’s top players.

Cheng Ke tried his best to make his account as objective as possible. He didn’t add any of his personal opinions. Rather, he chose to talk about any experiences they happened to share in high school.

Cheng Ke talked about a lot, and Gu Qingchi slowly calmed down.

He still didn’t understand what was going on. Regardless, he managed to find a shadow of himself in those stories, and that was enough. 

His life still belonged to him. Even if it was a terrible life, Gu Qingchi was still Gu Qingchi.

As long as this was true, Gu Qingchi would have the confidence to go on, no matter how awful things were, because at least he had the right to end it. All it would be is a ridiculous ending to an absurd story.

Gu Qingchi visibly relaxed.

Xie Luyu had only bought one umbrella. Just as he left the restaurant, rain started to fall. The rain wasn’t very heavy. Xie Luyu didn’t have the energy to care, so he walked back in the rain and returned home soaking wet. 

Candles were arranged on the cabinet. The cake was hidden in the kitchen. A new tablecloth was draped over the dining table. His half-finished dishes were ready to be cooked.

“He’s just meeting a friend. What’s the big deal with that? If today’s no good, we can just do it another time.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at himself.

“Ah, Xie Luyu, Xie Luyu. Just how long are you going to keep lying to yourself?” 

Xie Luyu couldn’t be bothered to cook today, so he packed everything up again. He placed the things that could be stored away in the refrigerator. The things that couldn’t be stored were thrown away.

By the time he finished, the trash can was full.

The cat’s special cat food was gone as well. It had to make do with a bowl full of kibble for today. After tasting the luxury that was cat food, it no longer wanted the kibble. It meowed angrily at the cat bowl.

Xie Luyu was unmoved. He took a pot, which had been simmering all afternoon, off the heat. Then, he lifted the lid and looked at it, planning to pour it out later. 

“Just eat it, okay? That’s all you’re getting. You’re just going to have to make do for today. I’m really not in the mood. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”

It wasn’t clear whether the cat understood or not. After meowing for a bit, it became clear that Xie Luyu wasn’t going to budge. It stewed in anger for a bit before crunching away on its kibble.

Xie Luyu stood there for a while. He contemplated leaving things like this, but, in the end, he couldn’t help himself. He rolled up his sleeves and cleaned everything up. Then, he picked up the garbage bag, intending to throw it away.

He had just finished changing his shoes when the door opened. Xie Luyu looked up. 

It was Gu Qingchi. The two of them just so happened to meet at the front door.

Xie Luyu glanced at his watch. It’d only been ten minutes since he got back. The two of them had practically arrived right after each other. However, Xie Luyu was positive that the food had yet to arrive during the time that he was at the restaurant. It was a little strange for him to be back already.

Xie Luyu was both surprised and happy.

“Why did you come back so early?” 

“Well, I finished everything on my end.”

Gu Qingchi casually placed the umbrella against the shoe cabinet. There were still a lot of water droplets on the umbrella. The water seeped into the wood grain.

It seemed that it had rained quite a bit.

Xie Luyu glanced at the umbrella against the shoe cabinet. Wooden cabinets weren’t supposed to come in contact with water. This was common sense, but Gu Qingchi didn’t care nor did he particularly want to. 

It was just like how he would always dump his clothes onto the floor. Even if he needed to spend more energy cleaning it up the next day, this habit of his would not change.

He always seemed to be like this. He couldn’t be bothered to give anything a second glance. Nothing particularly mattered to him.

All that mattered was comfort. It was never very neat or orderly, but, fortunately, he didn’t really have a lot of things to begin with. It was fine if he was living alone.

Xie Luyu knew that, as long as he mentioned anything once, Gu Qingchi would remember. He would obediently apologize, and he wouldn’t argue back. Xie Luyu had never seen him make the same mistake twice. 

However, Gu Qingchi wasn’t actually changing, and he didn’t actually recognize what he did as wrong. He only apologized because this wasn’t his apartment. In other words, it was a reminder that none of this belonged to him.

In someplace out of sight, he was still doing as he pleased.

He was like a cat that napped on your lawn every day.

One day, you told the cat that the grass wasn’t clean. You told the cat that it shouldn’t take naps here. 

The reason you stopped seeing the cat wasn’t because it changed. Rather, it ran off to nap in someone else’s lawn.

The cat was very careful when expanding its territory. It slowly stretched its foot out, little by little, trying to test the owner’s bottom line. It slowly filled the place with its own familiar scent, slowly placing the lawn in its comfort zone.

However, it was very easy for it to leave.

Thus, Xie Luyu didn’t say anything. He knew that, as long as he spoke up, his cat would immediately abandon ship and run back to its own territory. 

Xie Luyu could pick up all of his clothes and umbrellas. It wasn’t a big deal.

Xie Luyu didn’t want to change a single thing about Gu Qingchi.

He’d spent so long trying to lure this stray cat over to his side. It wasn’t for the sake of placing a collar on it and turning it into a pet.

He just wanted the cat to live a happy and carefree life. 

The garbage bag was somewhat transparent. Gu Qingchi glanced at it, surprised.

“Is that a fish?”

Xie Luyu lifted the garbage bag.

“Ah. Yes, it’s gone bad. There’s still some more in the fridge. Do you want some? I’ll go and make it for you.” 

“Mn. I also want to eat some ribs.”

Gu Qingchi’s taste was very Chinese. He preferred food with a lot of flavor. The food at the Japanese restaurant was very traditional, very natural, but it was a little too bland for him. Plus, he hadn’t really been in the mood, so he didn’t eat much.

Gu Qingchi had walked back from the restaurant. Earlier, he had a little bit of sake and tried a little bit of the sashimi. He was a little hungry now.

Xie Luyu left the garbage bag in the corner and placed a pair of slippers by Gu Qingchi’s feet. 

If Gu Qingchi was alone, he would probably take off his shoes and step onto the floor barefoot.

Gu Qingchi stood there without any intention of bending over to take off his shoes. He just subconsciously lifted his foot. Xie Luyu froze for a moment. Then, he helped him take the shoes off.

His cold feet were stuffed into a pair of soft cotton slippers. Just as Xie Luyu was about to get up, Gu Qingchi stepped back and accidentally touched something.

There was a small pop by the door, and the confetti started to fall. 

Gu Qingchi and Xie Luyu were covered in it.

Then, a cheerful birthday song started to play. It was especially obvious within the quiet living room.

It was Xie Luyu singing it. He had practiced it several times before recording it.

Xie Luyu finally reacted and stood up to turn it off. 

He was one step late.

The song had ended. There was one last sentence at the end of the recording.

“This is my gift to you. Happy birthday, Xiao Gu. I hope every day from now is full of happiness.”

Gu Qingchi raised his head, a little hesitant. He looked towards Xie Luyu for confirmation. 

“My birthday?”

Then, he looked into the living room.

Xie Luyu was a little embarrassed. He was still carrying a bag of garbage in his hand.

He’d planned for so long, he’d imagined countless scenarios, but he never thought that it would turn out like this. Gu Qingchi was supposed to be surrounded by gifts, and the table was supposed to be full of delicious food. 

Not like this. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. There was nothing on the table. The living room hadn’t been cleaned up. The cat bowl was still sitting on the cabinet. It wasn’t pretty at all.

However, the recording had already started replaying.

Gu Qingchi carefully looked around the room. There wasn’t any hint of a smile on his face.

Xie Luyu could understand why. This was a little too foolish. He wanted to muddle his way past this. He thought about shrugging his shoulders and brushing this off as a joke. 

Before Xie Luyu could speak, Gu Qingchi turned his head.

“Where’s the birthday cake? There’s supposed to be a birthday cake.”

Xie Luyu’s words got stuck in his throat. In this messy room surrounded by confetti and ribbons, he replied.

“In the kitchen. I’ll go get it.” 

Once Xie Luyu returned, he saw Gu Qingchi sitting at the dining table. When Gu Qingchi heard Xie Luyu walk out, he looked up.

Xie Luyu suddenly realized that Gu Qingchi didn’t care. Gu Qingchi was looking forward to it.

Gu Qingchi was truly looking forward to this. He was looking forward to this tiny cake and those ridiculous little streamers.