The aftereffects of coming out to the entire university werenât small â for example, that photo of them kissing was forwarded to the Christmas Kiss now event organiserâs social media account and leaped to first place in the poll.
And Yue Zhishi, who wasnât aware of that at all, suddenly received a delivery one day. It was a rainbow coloured toaster oven, and the delivery also contained a letter congratulating them for winning the prize and included the photo of them kissing. Only then did Yue Zhishi know heâd won the Kiss now competition.
âThey said their sponsor was a household electronics brand.â Yue Zhishi expressed his excitement to Song Yu at winning a prize based on his own ability and asked him to move the toaster oven into the apartment soon. âItâs so cute, isnât the colour really pretty? All thanks to me.â
Song Yu smiled in the video call. âYou canât kiss by yourself.â
âTrue.â Admiring the oven, Yue Zhishi said very generously, âThen Iâll allow you to use it too.â
Other than that, Song Yu instantly became the ideal type for many 0s around them and went through a very long time period of harassment. But Song Yu remained extraordinarily unmoved, and made it so his few social media accounts couldnât be added by others.
And for another example, many girls spread the news of Yue Zhishi and Song Yuâs relationship â except the actual plot wasnât quite right. Because Yue Zhishi had previously admitted in his Moments post that he was the one whoâd pursued Song Yu, everyone thought heâd pined after Song Yu for many years. Yue Zhishi became quite vexed about this, so he didnât go to Song Yuâs apartment for an entire two days, sleeping in his own dorm.
And so Song Yu had Qin Yan come out and clear things up on the forums, and Qin Yan even specifically stressed the key points of âSong Yu has pined after Yue Zhishi for many yearsâ, âchildhood sweetheartsâ and âSong Yu has liked him since they were kidsâ. For a time, their beautiful love story created waves of extreme excitement in female classmates who liked to ship real people.
But because Qin Yan added in too much bitter yearning in his post, Song Yu, the cold guy with a paralysed face, was moulded into a love icon filled with melancholy. His popularity once again increased, and Yue Zhishi became even more annoyed.
It was an eye for an eye, though: on a certain day, Song Yu went to the law school to look for Yue Zhishi after classes had finished. As luck would have it, he happened to see Yue Zhishi caught in the corridor by someone dressed in the volleyball teamâs uniform, chatting. The other guy was leaning in quite closely.
Song Yu silently headed over; he thought he heard the guy asking for notes, but he kept talking about all sorts of random things â until he finally praised the colour of Yue Zhishiâs eyes as being especially gorgeous.
âFellow student, heâs not single. Please keep your distance.â Circling around the guy, Song Yu walked directly over to the astounded Yue Zhishi and took him away, slipping an arm around his waist. They hadnât walked two steps when they bumped into Shen Mi, who was grinning quite wickedly.
His voice was full of taunting as he said, âServes senior Song Yu right.â
For the entire next day, Song Yu kept staring at Yue Zhishiâs eyes â Yue Zhishi could feel goosebumps popping up all over his body from his focus.
âI feel like he was just giving me a polite compliment,â he attempted.
âIt wasnât polite at all.â Song Yu didnât hide a single shred of his discontent.
But compared to secondary school, where studentsâ worlds were much smaller, university was different â something that couldâve been a serious matter in secondary school was nothing in university, and with the passage of time, the aftereffects gradually disappeared. After all, everyone in university had their own lives. It was like a lake; it didnât matter how large of a stone was dropped in or how big of an explosion it caused. Those ripples would always calm down.
After they became used to those changes, Song Yu and Yue Zhishi could finally act like so many other couples on campus. They could draw out time from their stressful studies to eat and go on dates; they could hold each other if they wanted to embrace, and if they wanted to kiss, they didnât need to hide away.
They merely received a few more second glances.
The week of their final exams had been too difficult, Yue Zhishi having spent a good few days studying through the night in the library. He was utterly exhausted after finishing the exam for his final course, and he slept the entire way back home. He wouldnât wake up despite Song Yuâs attempts to wake him up, and Yue Zhishi only abruptly startled awake when Song Yu said he was going to leave him behind â he then pitifully threw his arms around Song Yu, not yet recovered from the shock.
On the first day of their break, Jiang Yufanâs uncle, a manager at a cinema, gifted him with a bunch of movie tickets. Jiang Yufan then gave them to his friends, making plans with everyone to watch a movie together.
They only discovered that they couldnât choose what movie to watch after arriving at the cinema. The movie currently showing was a disaster film with very good word of mouth and was focused on family. It talked about a family of five as they were met with a tidal wave; it was a story of how each of them fought for survival and found each other again.
The film was very realistic, and it was also very well made. But the moment he saw the pair of mother and son reunite after having been separated the entire time in the disaster zone, Yue Zhishi used the excuse of going to the bathroom to exit the cinema room.
Heâd overestimated his ability to handle it.
Song Yu followed right behind him. He felt like he had been sitting even more uneasily than Yue Zhishi earlier in the dark cinema room, but once they left, he didnât say anything at all â he only held Yue Zhishi in his arms as they stood in the long corridor of the carpeted cinema.
Holding back his distress, Yue Zhishi thought it was likely he would always be timid when it came to certain things. After one minute, he very honestly told Song Yu about that thought.
Song Yu replied, you donât need to be too brave â leave me some space to love you.
Once Yue Zhishi calmed down, he decided to head back into the cinema room. No one else knew he actually still had an instinctive fear of disasters, and neither did he want to reveal it. Except Song Yu pulled at his hand, stopping him, and sent a message to Jiang Yufan.
âLetâs go have some cake.â The palm of Song Yuâs hand was broad and dry, warmth diffusing from it. âI saw a newly opened cake shop when we first arrived. It sells that berry cheesecake you like.â
The cake shop had a dazzling array of sweets, yet Yue Zhishi could only choose from very few. Luckily, he was easily satisfied, and Yue Zhishiâs mood brightened when he saw Song Yu frowning as he took a bite of a very sweet cake Yue Zhishi had asked him to try.
Winter in this city was both wet and cold, like an old sponge soaked in cold water. Ever since starting their winter break, Yue Zhishi hadnât been able to be away from heaters; he even covered himself with blankets as he slept on the carpet during afternoon naps. Orange would be curled onto Yue Zhishiâs belly, and Cotton Candy would be snuggled into his arms.
Of course, Song Yu took a photo of that scene and saved it into his camera album.
But even though they were on break, Song Yu didnât idle around, always processing remote sensing images while at home. Qin Yan occasionally dropped by, wanting to pull Song Yu out to play, but he would end up only with a free meal.
âYouâre working too hard, theyâre already working you like a dog despite you being only in fourth year. Hey, when are you going to have the time to go on a date with our Le Le? You a master at time management?â Qin Yan walked to the side of Song Yuâs desk, bent over and peeked at the monthly schedule resting on top. Each grid was neat and orderly, check marks for [finished] covering all over.
When he saw a grid marked in red for next week, Qin Yan squinted. âGeez, your research groupâs heading out again?â
âWe were just notified. The seismological bureau Professor He previously worked with invited him to Western Sichuan to analyse and measure the land subsidence. Weâre also going to grab some spatial observation data of the mountain areas while weâre there.â
Qin Yan had a headache just from listening, thinking only that Song Yu once again needed to suffer from lugging instruments. He patted Song Yuâs shoulder like an elderly father, saying, âAll right then, work hard. Try to come back two days before Lunar New Year, my momâs going to send over some homemade dumplings.â
Compared to many other people of the same age, Song Yu seemed to always be running ahead of everyone else on the racetrack of life. When others were struggling on entrance examinations, Song Yu had already completed and decided on his career path. When the majority of people in university were still engrossed in being students, Song Yu had already begun to realise the achievements of his work, little by little drawing closer to the life goal heâd established as a child.
He had always been able to rapidly reach his goals, creating plans one step ahead as he raced to grow up and mature. His feelings had been the same â it was a single ray delineated a very long time ago. The trajectory of his life was a perfectly linear growth, rising steadily and never falling.
But even so, Song Yu had had never-ending patience as heâd waited for Yue Zhishi to grow up.
After walking Qin Yan out, Song Yu returned back upstairs. When he passed by Yue Zhishiâs room, Yue Zhishi happened to be on the phone â he hadnât continued sleeping.
âReally? Then do you still need a week? Okay thatâs fine, let me see if there are any special dates coming up⌠Ah, it doesnât look like there are. Ohh, the day before Lunar New Yearâs Eve⌠I hope you guys can hurry and finish it earlier, please work a bit fasterâŚâ
Yue Zhishi just then was wrapped in his blankets, facing his heater, as he talked on the phone. He suddenly felt Orange and Cotton Candy run away, and he naturally was a bit puzzled â when he turned around, he saw Song Yu standing behind him.
âYouâre awake?â
Yue Zhishi nodded blankly, and then he rapidly said to the person on the phone, âLet me call you again later.â
Song Yu didnât ask about why he was acting so furtively, and that made Yue Zhishi feel lucky; although, when he thought about it a bit more, Song Yu truly never seemed to involve himself in his matters. Even when he hadnât gotten along with Shen Mi, he hadnât said anything along the lines of âyou canât be friends with himâ.
âI need to head out for fieldwork again.â Song Yu sat down, still wearing that pair of silver glasses he usually wore when working.
âWhen are you going?â Shifting closer to him, Yue Zhishi picked up Orange whoâd poked himself in between the two of them.
âNext week. I should be back before two days before Lunar New Year.â Song Yu faintly quirked an eyebrow. âThe day you were talking about on the phone.â
âAs expected, you heard me.â Yue Zhishi leaned in to give Song Yu a kiss. âCan you take me along this time?â
âI donât think so.â Song Yu explained to him, âEven though the place has nice scenery, itâs still the Western Sichuan plateau. It wonât be good for you to come.â
âIâll be fine.â
âAltitude sickness will affect your breathing.â Song Yu held onto his shoulders. âWait for me to come back. Weâll go to Hokkaido.â
He was like a master negotiator, holding techniques in the palm of his hand that could quickly persuade Yue Zhishi. He also had a trump card that never failed.
If he couldnât persuade Yue Zhishi, then heâd kiss him. Human mouths werenât to be used only for speaking, after all.
It was slightly raining the day Song Yu left. Winter rain always seemed to be cold enough to pierce into the bones, and Yue Zhishi took off the light grey scarf heâd worn out the house and very forcefully wrapped it around Song Yuâs neck, worried heâd be cold.
They shared a very long kiss before separating, disregarding everything around them. Yue Zhishi fixed his eyes on Song Yuâs receding back and his black mountaineering backpack; he really wanted to shrink himself smaller and smaller until he turned into a little pendant that didnât weigh anything or take up any space â he wanted to be tied onto the zipper of Song Yuâs backpack, swaying and rocking, and go with him to every single corner of the earth.
Three days later, Lin Rong suddenly received a phone call from her momâs caregiver in the middle of the night, saying her mom had been sent into the ER due to a cerebral haemorrhage. Song Jin was overseas, and so at 1am, Lin Rong and Yue Zhishi rushed to the hospital.
It was hard to relax when surrounded by the smell of disinfectant. Yue Zhishi had complicated feelings towards death â he always felt it would be quite normal for himself to pass away at any given moment; accidents would always occur. But it was very difficult for him to accept it when the people around him were lingering between the border of life and death.
He wasnât wearing much, and he sat uneasily in the hospital corridor, silently praying for grandma to pull through. Luckily, after the night passed, the hospital told them her condition was temporarily no longer life-threatening; Lin Rong and Yue Zhishi sighed in relief.
Lin Rong ran back and forth for her mother, and Yue Zhishi also busied himself with helping her with various procedures. Song Jin returned back to the country the day after in the afternoon, and the moment he arrived in the hospital room, Lin Rongâs tense nerves finally relaxed. Hugging Song Jin, she cried for a very long time. After she calmed down, she wrapped her arms around Yue Zhishi and said, âDarling, you havenât slept all night. You should go back and rest.â
Yue Zhishi didnât want to leave, holding onto Lin Rong quite tightly. He was unwilling to leave her, but the room couldnât hold so many people â Yue Zhishi could only leave by himself.
As he travelled home, he gave Song Yu a call. His phone was turned off, so Yue Zhishi sent through many messages, asking if he was cold, how was he eating and sleeping.
He slept all the way through to 10:30pm. Yue Zhishi saw Song Yuâs messages when he woke up, and heâd answered every single one of his questions like an artificial intelligence, saying it wasnât too cold, heâd been eating well and heâd been sleeping very well because heâd been so tired. At the end, Song Yu gave him an extra response that went beyond Yue Zhishiâs questions.
[Arctic Circle: Everythingâs been fine. I just really miss you.]
Heâd also gifted Yue Zhishi with a photo heâd taken of the scenery; it held icebound lakes and snowy mountains peeking through in the distance.
It was truly hard to endure missing him.
Yue Zhishi sent over a voice message of I miss you too.
He only received one piece of good news over the last few days â he received the items heâd ordered ahead of time. They didnât arrive as slowly as heâd imagined.
Lin Rong didnât come home the entire night, and since Yue Zhishi had slept for too long during the afternoon, he couldnât sleep that night. He sat in the living room by himself and watched anime all night, heading out at 6am to buy some fruit and breakfast before heading to the hospital. Grandma seemed to be sleeping; Lin Rong was wiping down her arms with a towel soaked with warm water, appearing to be much more relaxed.
Sitting down, Yue Zhishi peeled an apple each for her and Song Jin, and he talked to them very quietly about the plans Song Yu had made for their Hokkaido trip.
He was chatting with Lin Rong when Jiang Yufan called Yue Zhishi and said heâd found a store selling anime merchandise. At 12pm, the store was going to start selling one of the pieces of merchandise Yue Zhishi really wanted, as well as a limited edition commemorative booklet. Yue Zhishi was somewhat hesitant, but Lin Rong had heard some of their conversation; she guessed what it was about.
âYou should go with Xiao Fan, Grandmaâs already fine. She only needs to stay in the hospital for observation, so itâll be fine with just us.â
Only then did Yue Zhishi meet up with Jiang Yufan, the two of them seeing each other at the subway station. Jiang Yufan even bought him a brown sugar milk tea, and the two of them talked as they headed towards the store. There was a large, disorganised crowd of people in front of the entrance, all of them having arrived early, and it was the first time Yue Zhishi had experienced being around so many other people as otaku as he was.
With nothing to do at home, Jiang Yufan had caught up on a lot of shows. He chattered away, promoting shows to Yue Zhishi one by one, and Yue Zhishi earnestly listened; he didnât find it all that boring to line up, only hoping the store would have a higher quantity of merchandise. He hoped he could buy what he wanted, so he could fill up another shelf in his room.
Two girls were chatting and drinking milk tea in front of them, and they were dressed in lolita-style clothing. One of them lowered her head, checking her phone, and abruptly said, âOh no, thereâs an earthquake again.â
âWhat? What magnitude?â
â6.9⌠Oh my god, it sounds so scary. I hope there wonât be any deaths.â
Yue Zhishi suddenly had a very bad premonition. He inwardly told himself to calm down, and then he pulled out his phone, checking Weibo.
Jiang Yufan hadnât noticed the girlsâ conversation. He was on his tiptoes, glancing into the glass windows at the storeâs entrance, and said, âI think they still have some, good, good⌠Le Le, letâs go eat some barbecue once weâre done here, we havenât had barbecue in a really long time.â
When he didnât receive an answer, he turned around and looked at Yue Zhishi â Yue Zhishiâs face was pale.
âWhatâs wrong?â
âEarthquakeâŚâ Yue Zhishi mumbled to himself. He hurriedly and absent-mindedly said goodbye to Jiang Yufan, but he didnât actually know what heâd said; he separated from the crowd with unsteady footsteps, running towards the street.
In a gust of cold wind, he managed to flag down a taxi and hastily pulled open a door.