Chapter 126

As soon as Qin Cheng agreed to go to Dangtu, Anhui Province, Professor Zhu told him that they would leave on Friday, in three days.

Once he left, Qin Cheng would have to stay there for at least one year. As he would officially graduate in June, Qin Cheng thought of talking to the owner of the rented house and breaking the rental contract. Then, he packed some necessary clothes for the trip and decided to mail the rest of his things back home.

On Thursday, Qin Cheng went to visit Wu Hai.

Wu Hai returned to the University some time ago, so when Qin Cheng arrived at the door of Wu Hai’s dormitory, he found him packing up his things. The dormitory had been cleaned from top to bottom, leaving behind only a bed without sheets.

Qin Cheng was already quite tall, so when he stood in front of the door, it appeared as if a wall had blocked the light from outside. Noticing this change, Wu Hai, who was still packing his things, looked back. Upon discovering that it was Qin Cheng, Wu Hai said nothing. He simply nodded his head casually, turned around, and continued packing the books he had stacked on a table.

Qin Cheng didn’t know what to say either. If that wasn’t enough, the dormitory was filled with suitcases and boxes, so Qin Cheng couldn’t go inside either. The only thing he could do was to awkwardly stand in front of the door and wait. Once Wu Hai had finished packing, Qin Cheng asked: “Why are you packing now? Are you ready to go home?”

They were in their 20s, so even though they had fought and got angry with each other, they could always work things out. Besides, it had already been a month since the fight, so the initial anger had long since dissipated.

Wu Hai pulled a chair aside and pushed it toward Qin Cheng, indicating for him to find a place to sit.

“I signed a contract with the Museum near my house, and they asked me to go these days.” Wu Hai sat on the bed, took out a pack of cigarettes, and offered one to Qin Cheng. “Since I’ve already finished my graduation thesis, and I don’t have much else to do at the University, I thought it would be good to go back sooner.”

Qin Cheng took a cigarette and lit it. After taking two puffs, he asked: “Why are you suddenly thinking of going back…..and working in a Museum? I remember that what you wanted to do most was to stay on the Archaeological Team.”

“It’s not that I suddenly want to go back…” Wu Hai exhaled a smoke ring and continued, “After Xiaomei died, I’ve been seriously thinking about this all the time. If I had paid more attention to her back then, maybe she wouldn’t have had to go down that path.”

“When you lose that person who has always been with you, and you’re left alone, you realize that life is something that can be lost pretty easily. Suddenly, living another 70 years isn’t really that much.”

Wu Hai sighed lightly and continued: “Besides, my parents are also getting old, so I want to go back to take care of them. Xiaomei only had her mother, so I also thought that I should take care of her in the meantime. After all, if I were to stay on the Archaeological Team, I wouldn’t have as much free time compared to working in a museum.”

Qin Cheng nodded: “That’s true.”

“I heard that you will be leaving the University early.” Wu Hai smiled and looked at Qin Cheng. “Is it true that you will be leaving in the next two days?”

“Tomorrow, actually.” Qin Cheng laughed. “Was it Zhang Jun who told you?”

“No, I heard it from the owner of the apartment you were renting. After all, I was the one who got you in touch with the landlord. Of course, since you only rented the place for a few months, the landlord wasn’t happy, and called me to reprimand me for recommending an unstable tenant.”

Qin Cheng smiled, flicked the ash off the cigarette, and didn’t say anything.

“Where will you go?” Wu Hai asked.

“Professor Zhu invited me to go to Dangtu, Anhui Province.”

“Is it that ‘Imperial Mausoleum’?”

Qin Cheng nodded: “That’s right. I’ll work there for a year, and after that, Professor Zhu will write me a letter of recommendation to study for a Ph.D. at Oxford.”

“Zhu Jianmin will recommend you to Oxford?!” Wu Hai asked in disbelief. “If he offered that position to you, then all those students he’ll bring with him will hate him to death!”

In the entire University, there were only two senior Professors with such high academic standing. Therefore, Vice Principal Zhu Jianmin possessed a quota to recommend the best students, although it was known that this quota was only given to those students brought by Zhu Jianmin himself. Yet, this time, Zhu Jianmin was willing to offer this position to none other than Qin Cheng…..

“So it’ll be next year.”

Qin Cheng couldn’t help, but laugh when he heard the same answer from Wu Hai that he himself had thought back then: “This year’s quota has already been given. Professor Zhu said he won’t take any senior students next year, so he will give that quota to me.”

Those were the exact words Professor Zhu gave to Qin Cheng. However, in spite of that, Qin Cheng and Wu Hai belong to the same University, so they are more than aware of the tradition in the University. If Professor Zhu decided not to take senior students with him, it was basically already determined that he had already decided to whom the quota would be given…… And yet, next year’s quota has now fallen into Qin Cheng’s hands.

“It looks like Professor Zhu wants to cultivate you.” Wu Hai shook his head and sighed.

Anybody would like to get an opportunity like this, but not everyone has the ability to have it offered to them. Not to mention, needless to say, that it was the Vice Director himself who had offered Qin Cheng such an amazing opportunity. Of course, it’s impossible for Wu Hai to deny that he doesn’t have the slightest trace of jealousy in his heart. ….

However, Wu Hai also understood why Qin Cheng would be considered, given Qin Cheng’s attitude towards archaeology and his boundless obsession with history. Wu Hai can already see Qin Cheng’s future in archeology, and as long as Qin Cheng doesn’t give up, Wu Hai knows there will be a place for him in the archeological field…..

‘ No…… ’

Suddenly, the memory of Qin Cheng’s lost notes surfaced inside Wu Hai’s mind, and his heart skipped a beat. ‘If that piece of history went to see the light of day, it would be considered an archaeological miracle…. An archaeological miracle that would turn history upside down….. ’

‘ However….I fear that when that happens, Qin Cheng will regain his memories of that ghost and lose all interest in his own life….. ’

“Professor Zhu is really kind. Until his proposal, it had never even crossed my mind to leave Xi’an.” Noticing that Wu Hai seemed to be lost in thought, Qin Cheng reached out his hand and waved it in front of Wu Hai’s eyes: “Why have you suddenly gone into a daze?”

“It’s nothing.” Wu Hai shook his head. “It’s just that I….um, I heard that you and Xia Tong have been getting quite close lately. Is it true?”

Qin Cheng didn’t expect Wu Hai would be going to bring that up, so he froze in surprise for a full minute. Then Qin Cheng shook his head and reluctantly smiled: “Yes, it is true that we have gotten close. She’s a good girl.”

“Then why are you shaking your head?” Noticing Qin Cheng’s appearance, Wu Hai laughed and said: “The girl is chasing after you, how can you not hurry to appreciate her?”

“I don’t, I don’t know what to say….”

“What do you mean? If you like her, you like her. If you don’t like her, then you don’t.”

Qin Cheng shook his head and said: “It’s kind of strange, actually. I believe I should like her, it’s like a weird feeling that I cannot explain. This feeling tells me that liking her is the right choice. And yet….I know from the bottom of my heart that I don’t have any kind of romantic feelings for her.”

“How can you be so sure that you don’t feel love for her?” Wu Hai laughed. “You say that as if you knew perfectly well what it’s like to be in love with some—”

However, as soon as Wu Hai uttered those words, he stopped dead in his tracks as an idea formed inside him.

‘ No, it cannot be. Qin Cheng shouldn’t remember that Ghost Emperor…. ’

“Well, it’s not like I have my memories back.” Qin Cheng squeezed his eyes with his fingers and blinked, his eyes feeling dry. “I don’t even dare to think about it anymore….”

In reality, Qin Cheng was dying to ask Wu Hai what had happened during all those months of which he had lost his memory. To ask him about who he met….or who he lost.

However, Qin Cheng didn’t dare to ask him. Qin Cheng was afraid, afraid that the blank, utterly empty dream he had so recurrently would come to fruition. He was afraid that the pain he felt so spontaneously out of nowhere, even without his memories, from time to time, would overwhelm him in an instant…..

“You….” Wu Hai looked at Qin Cheng and hesitantly asked: “You don’t want to get your memories back?”

Qin Cheng stared at the ground in silence for a long while, and finally replied with a defeated sigh: “I dare not….”

“Then continue living the way you are now.” Wu Hai frowned and said: “Stay alive. You have only forgotten 7 months of your life, you still have many decades to go.”

“Yes, I still have many years left….” Qin Cheng’s fingers trembled slightly at those words. For some reason, Qin Cheng felt that all those decades were too long…..

“Leaving Xi’an might be the best thing for me.” Qin Cheng said with a faint smile. “Hey, it’s getting late so I’ll go back to tidy up my stuff. Why don’t we have dinner together in the evening? Let’s invite Zhang Jun over!”

“Alright.” Wu Hai nodded. “You go ahead, I’ll call Zhang Jun later.”

In the evening, the three men met at a food stall near the University. They ordered some fried vegetables, fried rice, grilled some kebabs and drank beer. With hungry stomachs, the three friends ate a lot, drank a lot, and talked a lot.

They went on like this, eating and drinking late into the night. It got to the point where they ran out of things to talk about and remained silent for a while. At one point, He Yalan called Zhang Jun, desperately urging him to go back home, so the three friends had to pay the bill and part ways.

However, even though Qin Cheng stood up, he didn’t leave the food stall or walk away. Instead, he stood not too far away from the stall in complete silence.

“Why aren’t you leaving? Are you drunk by any chance? You are just standing there like a pillar.” Once the bill was paid, and Zhang Jun started to leave, he noticed Qin Cheng standing there, then laughed.

Hearing those words, Qin Cheng smiled somewhat embarrassedly, and awkwardly opened his mouth. After some hesitation, he managed to spit out a sentence: “I’m really sorry for what happened that day.”

Wu Hai and Zhang Jun were taken aback, but then the two of them smiled, raised a hand each, and pressed hard on Qin Cheng’s shoulder.

The three friends looked at each other, and the next moment, burst out laughing.

…

It was March 13, 2015, so early in the morning that the moon could still be vaguely seen in the sky.

Qin Cheng, as he was the first of his classmates to leave the University, many came to see him off. Naturally, Xia Tong came as well.

With red eyes and flushed face, Xia Tong stood in front of Qin Cheng, reluctant to part. As she tried to hold back tears, Xia Tong told him again and again that she would come to visit him. Qin Cheng looked around at his classmates who were cheering him on, but didn’t reply.

Noticing this, the other people thought they were disturbing the lovebirds, so they ‘discreetly’ walked away. Professor Zhu patted Qin Cheng on the shoulder, and headed for the ticket counter.

Upon seeing that his classmates and Professor had walked away, Qin Cheng took a step back.

Xia Tong was quite an intelligent woman, so how could she not understand what that ‘step back’ meant? But the thing was, Xia Tong liked Qin Cheng to the core, and she couldn’t bring herself to believe that Qin Cheng didn’t have feelings for her. Xia Tong gritted her teeth and wanted to step forward, but Qin Cheng stopped her.

“Xia Tong, I tried….” Qin Cheng took a pause before continuing: “I know what I will say will sound too cruel to you, but I really can’t fall in love with you.”

“I didn’t expect you to like me now….” Tears fell down Xia Tong’s eyes. “But in the future, don’t reject me. You can never know what will happen in the future…..”

Xia Tong lowered her head and wept bitterly. Qin Cheng, unable to know how to comfort her, patted Xia Tong’s shoulder and handed her a handkerchief.

“While it is true that the future is uncertain….” Qin Cheng whispered: “But, for some reason I can’t understand, I know deep inside me that I already have someone who loves me….”

Thinking about that dream, Qin Cheng lowered his head and smiled bitterly: “I don’t know whether I love that person or not, because I don’t remember….”

As soon as Qin Cheng said this, Xia Tong understood everything. Before Qin Cheng lost his memory, he told her that he had a person he loved dearly. However, Xia Tong thought that Qin Cheng had forgotten about that person when he lost his memory….. Xia Tong thought that the Heavens had given her a chance to be with Qin Cheng…..

Tears kept falling down her face, but soon Xia Tong wiped the tears away. She raised her head to look at Qin Cheng, and said: “Qin Cheng, I really like you.”

“…..I know.”

“Can you hug me?”

Qin Cheng looked at the girl who forced herself to smile in front of him, wanting to nod his head and give her a hug. However, a blurry voice suddenly rippled inside his head, making Qin Cheng become fiercely dazed and lose the urge to hug her.

Promise me…..that you won’t fall in love with anyone else…..

‘ Who….. ’

‘ Who told me that?! ’

Ko-fi goal for extra Chapters~~ (´｡• ᵕ •｡`)