Dejectedly returning to the classroom, Cheng Shixu began his arduous task of working through the test papers. “Ning Shen, how do you solve this problem?”
Ning Shen leaned over to look. “You just need to draw an auxiliary line here. This problem is actually quite simple.” He had heard from the teachers that Cheng Shixu was in the top three of their grade at No. 1 High School, so it was unlikely he could not solve this. He guessed his seatmate was distracted because he had not found the person he was looking for. “Are you still worried about finding him? Maybe… why do you not try placing a missing person advertisement in the newspaper?”
Cheng Shixu thought to himself, Buddy, I really do not know how to do this! Oh my god, being reborn in my senior year of high school is so miserable! He had already suffered through senior year once in his past life, and now he had to do it all over again.
“An advertisement in the newspaper?”
Cheng Shixu’s eyes brightened. That was it! He could post a missing person notice.
However, a missing person notice required a photograph. Where was he supposed to get a photo?
Vocational School, Automotive Repair Class, Grade 2, Class 7.
The teacher was lecturing at the front, while students in the back were sleeping, snacking, or reading novels. The teacher paid them no mind, simply continuing his lecture.
In the last row by the window, the pink-haired boy was engrossed in his novel when he felt someone standing behind him. He looked back and saw the “good student” he had bumped into at the school gate the other day. Startled, he dropped his novel and pulled the lollipop out of his mouth to tap his seatmate. “Brother Lu, Brother Lu! Your husband is here to see you.”
Lu Jian, who had been sleeping soundly, was woken up. “Screw your dad.” After cursing, he opened his eyes and looked back with a hint of anticipation.
Since that day, Cheng Shixu really had not come back to see him. He had finished all the test papers in his drawer and did not know who to ask to grade them. It was annoying.
“Seriously. He is right there in the back.”
Lu Jian lifted his head, a red mark from the desk still visible on his face. When his deep-set eyes caught the person staring at him from the back door, his brows lifted slightly. He kicked his desk aside and walked straight out.
The teacher acted as if he saw nothing.
“What do you want this time?”
Cheng Shixu caught a glimpse of the pink-haired boy peeking out from inside. “Stand a bit further over this way.” He gestured toward the white wall with his chin. “Let me take a photo, and I will give you 5,000 yuan.” Lu Jian would definitely take a deal like this.
Hearing this, Lu Jian’s brows furrowed. He stood silently in front of the white wall, staring at Cheng Shixu with a resentful expression. It was a completely different look from the one he wore when he realized he had mistaken him for someone else and stopped putting on that soft voice.
“Are you going to let me take it or not?”
For the sake of the money, Lu Jian stood still. Cheng Shixu aimed his camera. “Stand up straight. Yes, lean this way a bit. Do not pull faces, and do not keep narrowing your eyes. Just relax.” He muttered under his breath, “You mood-shifter.”
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
After the shutters stopped, Lu Jian tried to start a conversation: “Since you took so many photos, you had better not use them for anything else.”
After finishing, Cheng Shixu took 5,000 yuan in cash out of his backpack. “Don’t worry. I will not come looking for you again.” He turned and left, walking away quickly with a light step, looking quite happy.
Lu Jian stood there, lost in thought as he watched him go.
What kind of person is this? He started things without finishing them. Did he not say he would come every day to grade these papers? Forget it, it is better if he does not come. He could use the time spent on those papers to work a part-time job and earn more money.
But as he walked back to the classroom, his hand brushed the papers in his drawer. He gripped them tightly for a moment before letting go.
He stuffed the money into his schoolbag. The pink-haired boy asked in surprise, “Were you kept by him? Wow, I have always said that since you are so handsome, Brother Lu, why bother working as a mechanic? Would it not be great to just find someone to keep you?”
“Get lost. If you keep talking, go find another desk to share.”
The boy immediately shut up and picked up his fantasy novel, but after a long while, he could not help asking, “Will your husband come to find you again? He has not been here for days. Does he have another little pretty boy?” He was greeted by Lu Jian’s hand, which mercilessly clamped around his neck.
This whole thing was just too funny. He really could not help being gossipy.
After taking the photos, Cheng Shixu squatted at the school gate and downloaded a photo-editing app. With one click, he swapped the hair to a black buzz cut, and the face in the photo instantly turned into the Lu Jian he knew.
Mature, steady, with sharp, piercing eyes.
It was so similar. But this Lu Jian was not his Lu Jian.
After editing, he returned to the dormitory. There was evening self-study, and since tomorrow was the weekend, he could go to the newspaper office early.
In the dorm room he shared with Ning Shen, Ning Shen was lying on his bed reading a book, his soft belly exposed. The ceiling fan, likely in disrepair, creaked loudly with every turn, which was very noisy.
“You are back! How did it go? Did he let you take the photo?” Seeing him return, Ning Shen hung over the railing, looking down with a kind heart. “If you do not know how to edit, I can help. I am a pro at photo editing.”
Cheng Shixu thought he had already finished, but he was surprised. “You are really good at editing?”
“Yeah, yeah! Let me show you.” Ning Shen pulled on his pajamas, hopped off the bed, tapped on his tablet, and turned it toward Cheng Shixu. “Look, is it not good?”
Cheng Shixu was startled by the muscular hunk with an eight-pack in the photo. He looked back and forth between Ning Shen’s round, baby-faced cheeks and the sharp, defined face on the screen. “That is amazing. You are really this good at editing?”
Back then, there were no AI-powered editing tools like in his previous life, yet this photo was edited almost flawlessly. He held the tablet up next to Ning Shen’s face. “I think if you worked out, you would look just like this.”
Ning Shen was not fat, just out of shape, and his baby fat made him look round, but his actual facial features were quite striking.
“I do not want to work out.”
“Fair enough. You are editing these kinds of photos; are you involved in an online relationship?” Cheng Shixu asked. He remembered that when his old classmates and friends dated online, they would often use edited photos or stolen images.
When he asked, Ning Shen suddenly became shy. “Yeah.” He pulled up a photo of a beautiful girl. “Look, is she not pretty? That is my girlfriend.”
In the photo, the girl was wearing a simple white T-shirt and black pants, with a small braid resting in front of her chest. She was leaning against a railing, looking at the camera with a bold, heroic expression.
“She is that pretty? But if you are using edited photos to trick her, will she not find out when you meet?”
Ning Shen took the tablet back, pouting in distress. “I have thought about that. But I really like her, and she likes rabbits.” He pointed to the rabbit he was secretly keeping on the balcony. “Little Pink was a gift from her.”
“You guys have never met; how did she send it to you?”
Ning Shen said bashfully, “We… we send each other gifts. Through the mail.”
Well, okay. Since that was the case, Cheng Shixu did not ask further. After all, it had nothing to do with him, and he was already stressed enough. “I will send you the photo; can you help me edit it based on what I say?”
He had only changed the hair, and it was done sloppily, so it looked terrible.
“Sure! Connect to the Bluetooth.”
After sending the photo, Cheng Shixu pulled up a chair and squeezed in next to Ning Shen. “Black hair, buzz cut. Here, the eyes need to be deeper. Right. And the corners of the eyes should be sharper.”
Ning Shen zoomed in on the photo countlessly. As the details became clear, he suddenly spotted a small cyan design visible on the cuff of Lu Jian’s sleeve. “Eh? Is this a tattoo?”
Cheng Shixu nodded. “Yes.” It was this tattoo that confirmed for him that Lu Jian was not his Lu Jian. He had seen Lu Jian’s body countless times; he only had a few tiny scars. His right arm was smooth, without any tattoos. How could a stuffy traditionalist like him have a tattoo?
Sigh. I miss Lu Jian so much.
He stared at the face on Ning Shen’s screen that was becoming more and more like the Lu Jian of his past life. Husband, where are you? I have searched until the flowers have withered. But this made him reflect; he knew so little about Lu Jian’s life.
He used to think he should give them both space and that if Lu Jian wanted to say something, he would do it himself. He had not pressed for details.
Now, running around like a headless chicken, he wished he could just hold Lu Jian and make him tell him every single little detail.
“Oh, the clothes need to be changed, too.” Lu Jian was a wealthy second-generation heir; he was very rich. “Change it to a YX brand sportswear set.” Whenever they went on picnics, Lu Jian would wear YX sportswear; he had never seen him wear another brand.
Lu Jian’s suits and formal wear were all bespoke with no logos, save for a nearly invisible snowflake pattern on the cuffs. There was no need to be this pedantic, but he could not help it.
“Ta-da! Look, is this right?” Before Cheng Shixu could answer, Ning Shen exclaimed, “Wow, your boyfriend is so handsome. He really does look different from the one at the vocational school.”
Cheng Shixu finally found an ally. “Right? Right?” He touched the familiar brows through the cold screen, his eyes suddenly turning red. Husband, where on earth are you?
That night, he even dreamed of Lu Jian punishing him severely, accusing him of misidentifying someone else. In the dream, he hugged Lu Jian and immediately offered a sweet kiss, only to wake up kissing the cold railing of his bed.
He opened his eyes and stared at the blue metal, speechless.
For some reason, his resentment toward Lu Jian only grew.
A loud sneeze echoed through the newspaper office.
Ah-choo!
“Who is cursing me?”
Lu Jian rubbed his nose, organized the documents, and handed them to the manager. “Are there any other documents sent in today?”
“I want to place a missing person ad in the paper, front page. How much will it cost?” A voice came from the door. Lu Jian turned his head and saw Cheng Shixu. His eyes brightened, then dimmed. He contemplated whether to say hello, but Cheng Shixu brushed past him without even looking. He caught a faint whiff of perfume.
“How long do you want it to run?”
“One month. I can pay in full.”
Listening to the manager and Cheng Shixu’s conversation, Lu Jian held the files and placed them in the designated spot. He should have left, but for some inexplicable reason, he did not move.
The manager looked at the photo, his eyes darting between Lu Jian’s face and the image. “Wait, little student, is this not the person you are looking for?”
Cheng Shixu shook his head solemnly. “No. It just looks a bit similar. It is not the same person.”
Lu Jian interjected, “It is my photo.” Using his photo to find someone else? That was ridiculous. Money should not be wasted like that.
“It is not you.”
“It is!”
“I said it is not, so it is not!”
Lu Jian was so startled by the way he bristled that he took a step back. “Fine, fine, it is not. It is not.” He used to be so gentle and sweet; now, where is any of that attitude left?
He was the one who came to provoke me first, running over to call me his husband out of the blue. How is this any different from being a scumbag?
And I cannot even get angry?
He is even more overbearing than I am.