On the other hand, after coming out of the building, Lu Chengze calmed down in the night breeze.
The air was filled with the rich fragrance of laurel, sweet to the point of being smoky. He stopped, took a deep breath, and began to regret his childishness and impulsiveness. It was not a chagrin to go on a date in the middle of the night, but to walk away at the drop of a hat and leave Qi Miao alone at home.
He was 27 years old, not a rash young man who had fallen in love for the first time.
But in the heat of the moment, it felt ridiculous for him to stay in front of her for one more second.
Lu Chengze did not turn back.
It was late at night, and few cars were still out on the street. All the way home, Lu Chengze drove very fast, the kind of fast which would result in a fine if it was caught by the speedometer. After parking in the garage, he did not immediately go upstairs. Instead, while leaning against his car in the dim lighting, he took out his phone, tapped at the top of his WeChat, stared for a while, exited the window, opened the contacts page, and found “Wonderful[1]”, but hesitated to press down.
He only looked at it.
His heart ached a little bit, as if it was being eaten up from the outside in.
In the end, he stood up and went upstairs.
Lu Chengze was awake all night.
After getting up, he made a cup of drip bag coffee and packed up carefully, rushing to arrive at the subway station on time. After getting on the train, he looked around, but there wasn’t even a trace of Qi Miao to be seen.
Lu Chengze then felt that the coffee was wasted. The “program code” that had been drilled all night had no place for it’s execution. The chat window, which had been active day and night, was silent, and his spirit was sounding the death knell.
At noon, Lu Chengze made a final attempt. He asked her out to lunch, the woman did not immediately respond—— were it simply just a slow response, he could give himself excuses. Such as, she was working, which in that case, would be acceptable. But in the case of a refusal, like now, there would be no helping it, it could only mean they had reached the end. She no longer wanted to see him again and was indirectly declaring that this was the end of their relationship.
How could there be such a wonderful and beautiful, yet unrefined and cruel person. Lu Chengze couldn’t figure it out/make sense of it, his thoughts were a jumble/mind seemed to be caving/collapsing. What he had thought was inevitable was just chance, and destiny, merely wasted time.
Having already shown a shameful appearance once, he did not want to make himself look even worse, tainting this gem of an experience, leaving a stain for him to look back on.
But depressingly, the days that followed were harder than he thought, especially when he was reluctant to delete Qi Miao’s contact information.
Her life was unchanging and colorful, while he wandered into the dry sea from then on, losing his colors and songs.
He wanted to talk to her, to listen to songs together, to meet her, to rush to her company or downstairs, to think of the starry nights and sunsets they spent together, even if only for a week. He missed her so much, he missed her to death. Read the latest chapters at novelping.com.
Lu Chengze then comforted himself.
Maybe it’s just because he had never met this type of girl; because of how short the time they had been together, there hadn’t been enough time for them to get to know each other more deeply. A greater concentration would be more intense, like a high dose of morphine, addicting after the first time; because of the despicableness of people, what was unattainable would always be what they wanted.
He tried to walk out of her shadow, but every time the glow of the evening sun reached the surface of his desk, the kiss they shared came to mind. It was as if it had reshaped him. From then on, a custom chip was implanted, named “Haunted by Qi Miao”, and when he received its instructions he couldn’t help but move toward her.
Lu Chengze stopped taking the subway and started driving to and from work. For the first time, he felt that his days were so dull that every song was tasteless. He played a song in the car, in the spirit of brainwashing, 《I Don’t Miss You at All》, that’s right, I don’t miss you at all.
“Now I’m sleeping fine
I don’t mean to boast
But I only dream about you
Once or twice a night at most
And it feels so good
Eating alone
Don’t get distracted by your smile
And miss the green lights driving home
No sign of stopping
The house isn’t far
But I think our song is coming on
And now I wanna crash the car
When it ended, the playlist suddenly cut to the one from the day they went to the zoo, which was also downloaded on purpose. Later on, her wake-up alarm became his as well. It seemed like they would eventually share a bed and wake up to the same song.
Lu Chengze turned off the Bluetooth. Damn it, now, he wanted to crash the car.
Lu Chengze continued to comfort himself.
Perhaps, everything would still be fine after forty-four sunsets. There were thousands of roses in a garden, and he would encounter someone else who was equally beautiful, intense, and wouldn’t give him this kind of piercing pain.
But he never expected that two days later, while having a coffee appointment with his colleagues, his Bluetooth suddenly connected to a familiar signal.
In that instant, a shock rippled through his world, brightening it up and sending it rumbling.
Lu Chengze then did not know how to react.
Was it intentional? Or was it unintentional?
The woman did not disconnect.
Don’t turn back, if you turn back, you’ll lose. She dumped you and now she’s coming round again. Lu Chengze admonished himself, like a stubborn teenager who was upset, but he already wanted to see her a million times. Walking out of the cafe, he regretted, why didn’t he look at her then offer a normal friendly greeting, but instead played that song to vent and complain. He looked the same as that night, wanting to cover up and childish as ever.
And how long had it been since he had seen her? It had been less than ten days, just like how they had known each other for less than ten days, an inexplicable coincidence.
What inexplicable coincidence? He was a loser. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
These thoughts haunted Lu Chengze all the way back to his workstation. He tapped into his WeChat Stickies, and roundabout-ly inquired around, finding out that recently, Lifu had a environmental public welfare project which they were marketing, and that the collaboration agency was Yichuang.
He had a difficult time sitting still that afternoon.
When he was patted, Lu Chengze’s heartbeat skipped a beat. Then he realized that he was still using the panda profile image, and she, Sugar, was still at the top of his WeChat. This meaningful gesture of goodwill made his blood sugar spike, bringing him back to life..
How could the magical button fail?
They wouldn’t end. How could chance not be inevitable? The more unlikely it was, the more it seemed like destiny.
He had been staying put, waiting for her to power him on again.
Thankfully, his heart was still in her safekeeping and was not discarded.
He had looked forward to this moment for a long, long time. The computer chip in his body was operating like crazy. He headed towards the closet, took out the panda hat from the drawer, put it on as if putting on his own destiny, and then strode out of the doors of his home, straight to the elevator.
I Don’t Miss You at All, how could it be? His love and longing for her had already spilled out and overflowed, suffocating him like deep water. He had secretly prepared several love songs. As long as she turn around, as long as she was willing, he would play them all for her
【The text is finished.】
The author has something to say:
Many readers have asked about when the physical copy of this work will be released. But the specifics have not been decided, for a follow-up, you can pay attention to my Weibo, @七宝酥废话特别多
QC:
Z!!! I’m happy yet sad at the same time that we’ve reached the end! Maybe more happiness than sadness since it’s 1 project lesser on my list. I love this author so much, her writing is so pretty and it strikes a good balance of satisfying us, the readers, but kinda leaves us wanting a little more! That said, I hope all of you who read this enjoyed it… and may y’all have a pleasant chance encounter like Qi Miao and Chengze~
Ame~ we’re at the end!
Well, damn it. This author is too good at playing with my heart. I read a new novel they’re writing and it’s pretty good.
Index:
[1] Friendly reminder, in Chinese, wonderful is a homonym of Qi Miao.