“Heh. What are you being so noble for? How much money did A-Xu spend on you? What right do you have to make him sad? Do you not even understand the principle of being indebted to those who feed you?!”
Jin Yi, “Damn, what are you saying?!”
“Jin Yi.” Lu Jian called a stop. “I can pay him back tomorrow—the 300,000, plus the money for the phone. I will not have any more contact with him, so you do not need to judge me from your high horse. From beginning to end, I never pestered him.”
He Yu pointed at him, holding back his anger. “You had better mean it. Otherwise, you will not be able to accomplish anything. Mark my words.”
Returning to the ward, Lu Jian’s already swollen face turned redder. Jin Yi scolded while applying medicine for him. “Tell me, why bother? Even covered in injuries, you can still beat that white-faced coward. Cheng Shixu is truly…”
Lu Jian looked at him quietly, then changed the subject. “Where did the 300,000 come from?”
“Did we not fight the Fat Bear yesterday? I won. I placed a lot of bets. You did not win?” Lu Jian concocted an excuse. He had not placed any bets because he did not have enough money; every cent he had, he was saving to return to Cheng Shixu.
“That is not right. The swap happened last minute, the bets should have been voided. Was there another gambling ring?” Jin Yi picked up the scissors to cut the bandage wrapped around Lu Jian’s palm, and it started bleeding again. “Bear with it.” He sprayed on the disinfectant alcohol, and it quickly bubbled white. He washed it clean with a paper towel.
Lu Jian looked away. “Mm. The other ring had higher multipliers; I knew I would win. There was some money left over. Go buy yourself some new underwear.”
Jin Yi said, “Just give me the ones you do not want.”
Lu Jian was speechless. “You are gross.” Once bandaged, he raised his hand to look, then took out his phone. “Look at this phone and tell me how to open the camera; I have been studying it for a long time and do not know how to play with it.”
“Eh? This is the latest smartphone, right? Did Cheng Shixu give it to you?”
“Mm.”
They studied it for a long time before they found the camera. They really did not know how to use a smartphone. After learning a little, Jin Yi was very happy. “If I find a partner in the future and go on a blind date, if someone asks what my specialty is, I will just say I know how to use a smartphone. Is that not cool?”
“Gross.” Lu Jian said the word again. “I will be discharged tomorrow. I will go buy a new phone; consider it a gift from Brother Lu. Did you get hurt just now?”
Jin Yi stretched his limbs. “No, that white-faced coward only knows how to use his legs. My muscles are hard; he could not hurt me. I bet he will be sore all over when he gets home. I specifically aimed for his back, butt, and face. Hahahaha.”
School Dormitory.
Ning Shen watched Cheng Shixu, who had buried himself in his bed the moment he returned, licking his popsicle. He asked in confusion, “What is wrong with you? You went out for a trip; why are you like this when you got back? Did something happen? Do you want to eat a popsicle with me? I found it at the canteen today, it is delicious.”
“No thanks.” A muffled voice came from Cheng Shixu’s bed. He turned his head and looked at Ning Shen below. “Did you finish your test papers?”
Ning Shen nodded. “Finished. Hurry up and come down to do them; it is getting late, and if you do not do them, the Chinese teacher will scold you tomorrow.”
Cheng Shixu climbed off the bed with a dead look on his face, dutifully taking out the English multiple-choice paper to work on. Fortunately, English was not too difficult for him; it was something he had to deal with daily after starting work in his previous life. He often had to help his boss translate emails sent back from abroad. After he graduated from university in his past life, He Yu went abroad for further studies for a period, and he had gone too.
His oral English was quite good that was the only good news.
By the time he finished, Ning Shen had already fallen asleep. He lay in bed tossing and turning, his mind filled with the words Lu Jian had used to rebuke him in the ward. He was reflecting on himself.
Yes, I truly have been too entitled. But I really have gotten used to it.
I have gotten used to having Lu Jian by my side.
I really want to go back to my past life. I want to take a huge whiff of Lu Jian’s chest muscles to be happy again.
He took out his phone, staring blankly at Lu Jian’s phone number, wondering if he had eaten dinner, wondering if those injuries were any better.
A message popped up at the top of the screen.
[Mother: A-Xu, remember to come home next week; we are celebrating your sixteenth birthday, and it is going to be a big one.]
[Cheng Shixu: As you command, miss you, Mom.]
[Mother: [Transferred money] Out of money, are you not?]
Cheng Shixu: “…” Seriously, can I not just miss her without it? He also missed his dad’s sweet and sour pork ribs.
Mentioning sweet and sour pork ribs, he thought of how Lu Jian loved eating his dad’s sweet and sour pork ribs most of all. Just like him, he could eat a whole plate clean every time. Every time Lu Jian was scheduled to visit, his dad would make two big plates.
He let out a heavy sigh in his heart.
I should get used to it. I have to get used to the fact that this is not my past life, and Lu Jian is not that good husband who indulged me in everything and never said a harsh word. Better just focus on getting into West University first.
For the next two weeks, apart from going home once to celebrate his birthday, Cheng Shixu stayed at school and studied hard. He did not go looking for Lu Jian again. He figured they both needed some space; he truly did not know how to get along with Lu Jian anymore.
When the midterm exams ended, Cheng Shixu looked at his significantly improved scores and let out a long breath. It really had not been in vain that those two professors had taken turns tutoring him. He had always been around 140 for English; he had gotten a 120 on the math test before, but this time he had gotten a 131. It went without saying that Chinese had always been his strong suit, at 135.
Thanks to the remedial classes, physics and chemistry had finally reached 200. But he was still a few dozen points short of West University. In his past life, he had scored 665 to get into the Software Design major at West University.
West City University of Technology was a famous engineering university, and the scores for science and engineering majors were always very high.
Stubborn brain, he thought. Why could I not just remember the college entrance exam questions? Otherwise, I could have just done those. Alas… I just spent the time after the exam fooling around—horseback riding, racing, drinking, and playing cards every day. When would I have had time to memorize the exam questions?
However, although these scores were not enough yet, they were getting close. As long as he worked a little harder, he could get into West University. It would just be tough on the professor aunts and uncles who would have to help him tutor for another half year or so.
As autumn neared its end, Cheng Shixu put on his autumn school uniform and prepared to look for Lu Jian. He thought about it, and it was normal for Lu Jian to have no memories and be annoyed by him. If he backed down now, would he and Lu Jian ever have a future?
He could not just keep walking the path of his past life, waiting to fall in love at first sight during a blind date, right?
But when he went to the second class of automotive repair at the vocational school, Jin Yi told him that Lu Jian had dropped out.
“Dropped out?! Which school did he test into?”
Jin Yi took him to the dormitory and handed him a striped hemp sack. “I forgot earlier. Brother Lu told me to give this to you. 300,000, plus the money for the phone. He said to tell you never to come looking for him again.”
Cheng Shixu looked at the heavy sack, finding it somewhat familiar. “Where did he get so much money? Did he return to the Lu family?”
“What Lu family?” Jin Yi pushed him. “Go on then. I am very grateful to you for this 300,000, and I apologize for the rude things I said to you earlier. Do not contact us again after this; Brother Lu does not want to see you anymore.”
This sack…
He remembered. In his past life, on his twentieth birthday, his parents had thrown him a grand celebration at a hotel. He had received many gifts, and after the banquet ended, his mother was taking inventory when she discovered a sack tucked in among the various exquisitely packaged gift boxes—it had stood out quite awkwardly.
After opening it, it was filled with cash. After counting, it was exactly 300,000. Receiving cash gifts was not strange—Cheng Shixu received many cash envelopes from uncles and aunts every birthday—but it was very strange to have them stuffed in a sack.
He asked around, but no one knew who had sent it; there was no signature.
It had been stuffed in exactly this kind of striped hemp sack.
Was it Lu Jian?
In his past life, Lu Jian had exchanged his necklace for 300,000 to cover the surgery fees for the dean. He had always wanted to pay it back and did not save up the 300,000 to return until he was twenty. How had it happened so much earlier?
How had he managed to earn so much money?
He squatted down and searched through the sack. After searching for a long time, he found a card with the words “Wishing you a smooth journey in the future” written on it. The handwriting was beautiful, exactly the same as the writing from his past life.
Lu Jian had taken the necklace and returned the 300,000 to him, did he think this would settle everything between them? Was that what he thought in his past life, too? If so, could he assume that Lu Jian did not have a crush on him before he turned twenty, and apart from “gratitude,” he had no other feelings for him that he only developed other feelings after paying back the 300,000?
Leaving the vocational school, he deposited the money into the bank first, then called Fu Chenming. “Brother Chen, did Lu Jian return to the Lu family?” Could it be that he went back to inherit the family fortune?
Fu Chenming was puzzled. “I have not heard a whisper of it; Old Man Lu is still searching.”
“Help me check where Lu Jian is.”
Fu Chenming: “Okay.”
In modern society, it was too simple to check someone’s whereabouts.
Less than half an hour later, Fu Chenming brought news. “He is an apprentice at an auto repair shop in Dongcheng.”
He had left West City without telling him. Was he determined not to have any more contact?
Cheng Shixu opened his phone, intending to buy a ticket to Dongcheng to ask him clearly. But then he thought of how clearly Lu Jian had spoken in the ward last time. What else could he ask?
He was Lu Jian, yet he lacked the memories of the five years they had been in love.
He was like an intruder who had broken into the original trajectory of Lu Jian’s life.