***
Chapter 55 – Dream
Jiang Liusui slept until noon. Instinctively, he reached out to hug the space beside him—only to find it empty.
He opened his eyes slowly, realizing He Yujing was already gone.
Thinking that He Yujing would soon resume his overseas concert tour and must have gone to the company for urgent matters, Jiang Liusui propped himself up on the bed, his thoughts drifting uncontrollably to the other person.
He wondered if He Yujing had sobered up from his drunken state.
He had drunk so much yesterday—hopefully, he wasn’t feeling unwell today.
Jiang Liusui got out of bed to freshen up and received a message from Ding Yan midway: Suisui, do you want me to come over and help you pack?
Tomorrow, he was set to start filming ⟪Eternal Bell⟫. In the afternoon, he would head to a hotel near the studio, and for convenience during shooting, he would be staying there most of the time.
Jiang Liusui replied with an “Mm” and told Ding Yan the approximate time. Just then, a call came in. Seeing the caller ID, Jiang Liusui answered without hesitation.
“Awake?” He Yujing’s voice came from the other end.
Jiang Liusui hummed in response. He Yujing chuckled and asked, “You took care of me last night? Thanks.”
Unlike Jiang Liusui, he remembered everything clearly after getting drunk. He knew full well that Jiang Liusui had not only brought him home but also indulged his clinginess and humored his whims.
He Yujing deliberately asked, “I didn’t act out, did I? Did I do anything to upset you?”
Jiang Liusui’s first thought was of He Yujing spanking him on the bed.
But… he hadn’t felt upset about it. It wasn’t hard anyway—just a light pat.
Last night, He Yujing had clung to him so willfully, but he hadn’t disliked it—he even found it amusing.
“No.”
Remembering how He Yujing had seemed dazed after he initiated the kiss and ended up obediently holding him to sleep, Jiang Liusui added with a smile, “You were surprisingly obedient when drunk.”
He Yujing had heard people say he threw tantrums or turned sulky and unresponsive when drunk, but this was the first time someone had described him as “obedient.”
He Yujing was slightly surprised, and then heard Jiang Liusui ask, “Did you go to the company?”
This was the first time Jiang Liusui had taken the initiative to ask about his schedule. He Yujing paused briefly before curling his lips into a smile. “Just finished a meeting. I’ll be leaving soon.”
“I was supposed to fly to Singapore tomorrow, but the schedule changed at the last minute. There are some things for the concert that need to be finalized in advance.”
Shen Jie had called him early in the morning to attend the meeting at the company. He hadn’t expected this sudden change himself; otherwise, he wouldn’t have drunk so much last night.
Jiang Liusui was momentarily stunned by this unexpected news.
He had thought He Yujing would return in the afternoon, that they could at least see each other before he joined the cast.
Noticing Jiang Liusui’s silence, He Yujing took the initiative. “You’re starting filming, right? I’ll come back during the tour if I have some free time.”
Snapping out of his thoughts, Jiang Liusui followed along: “Are you going to visit me on set?”
There was no immediate reply from the other end. Jiang Liusui thought He Yujing hadn’t heard and was about to ask again when He Yujing drawled lazily, “Depends on my mood.”
“…Oh,” Jiang Liusui said dryly, “Then… I wish you happiness every day.”
Laughter spilled from the other end of the phone. Jiang Liusui felt a little flustered, unsure how to respond. He Yujing knew when to stop and didn’t press further, although his voice still carried a hint of amusement: “When I’m gone, remember to eat properly.”
“No food left.” Jiang Liusui thought of the character he was playing. “Ling is a weapon, doesn’t need to eat.”
“Teacher Jiang is so disciplined, getting into character so quickly.” After praising him, He Yujing abruptly changed the subject. “You won’t sneak sweets after the scene, will you?”
“……”
After hanging up, Jiang Liusui realized that a small smile had crept onto his face without him noticing. He opened his phone and looked up information about He Yujing’s concert tour. The new tour schedule had been announced: after the Asia tour comes nearly two months of domestic performances, followed by Europe and America.
Even with breaks between concerts, He Yujing would likely have magazine shoots, endorsement work, variety show appearances, and other filming commitments—his schedule could only be described as packed.
Jiang Liusui couldn’t see any free days in that schedule. Still, he casually saved the poster listing all the concert dates and cities.
Filming for ⟪Eternal Bell⟫ was about to kick off. Aside from the male third lead, whose screen time was limited, all the main actors had already arrived at the studio and were staying in the same hotel.
Jiang Liusui arrived after dark. Shang Qingzhi had been the first to reach the hotel, and her room happened to be on the same floor as his. They ran into each other in the hallway, and soon after, Shang Qingzhi and her assistant came over carrying exquisitely packaged small cakes.
Seeing Jiang Liusui’s surprise, Shang Qingzhi explained, “I remember you like sweets. Since it’s rather late, this one is low-sugar, but it tastes very good.”
During a previous variety show recording, she had often seen him eat cake for breakfast in the makeup room—and He Yujing had teased him about it every time.
Ding Yan quickly took it and said, “Thank you, Teacher Shang!”
“We get midnight snacks when we meet?” Jiang Liusui joked. “This is great, I should have come earlier.”
Shang Qingzhi smiled too. “Actually, there’s something I wanted to ask you. Could we talk?”
“You could have just come to me directly, no need to be so polite.” Noticing she had brought her assistant, Jiang Liusui thought it would be fine to have Ding Yan step out temporarily. “Should Xiao Ding leave?”
“No need.” Shang Qingzhi shook her head. “I remember you’re close with Qin Yi. I wanted to ask—does he have a partner right now?”
She looked somewhat embarrassed by the end of her question.
Jiang Liusui paused slightly, then carefully recalled: “I don’t think so.”
During their previous variety show recording, Qin Yi and Shang Qingzhi had already shown some hints of closeness. “Qingzhi-jie, do you really like—” Seeing Shang Qingzhi nod with reddened cheeks, Jiang Liusui couldn’t help asking, “Since when?”
“The first time we recorded the show, we had a barbecue on the beach. It was a bit chilly, and he gave me his jacket.”
What she left unsaid was that during those days of filming, she had been under a lot of pressure. She had gotten cold from waking up early to watch the sunrise, and her period had arrived early, leaving accidental stains on her white dress.
Qin Yi had noticed and quietly handed her his jacket. From that moment on, she had started to like him.
“When I first met Qin-ge, he was single. Now I’m not too sure,” Jiang Liusui added. “I’ll ask for you tomorrow! I’ll tell you once I’m certain.”
Shang Qingzhi looked at him gratefully.
Perhaps it was because both of them were people he knew well, or maybe because he himself had recently stopped resisting the idea of love and was seeing it in a completely new way, Jiang Liusui couldn’t help but ask one more question: “Do you want to test whether Qin-ge has any feelings for you?”
Jiang Liusui spoke with conviction: “Don’t worry, I’lI make sure Qin-ge doesn’t notice anything unusual. I guarantee he won’t know it has anything to do with you.”
Shang Qingzhi hesitated for a moment, then nodded with a smile: “Thank you, Suisui.”
After Shang Qingzhi left, Jiang Liusui stared at the cake she had brought, wrestling internally with himself.
Since filming was about to start, he needed to watch his figure. Logically, he shouldn’t be eating sweets late at night, especially since He Yujing had teased him about it just today… But just one bite, just one bite!
He scooped up a small spoonful, feeling the hazelnut chocolate cream melt on his tongue, then licked his lips, still wanting more.
It really was delicious.
He held back the urge to take a second spoonful, quickly put the source of this guilty pleasure into the fridge, and scrolled through his phone to distract himself.
Thinking that He Yujing had probably landed by now, Jiang Liusui sent a message.
Suisui: Have you arrived?
There was no reply for a long time. Probably He Yujing was busy, so Jiang Liusui stopped dwelling on it.
With the official photoshoot scheduled early the next morning, Jiang Liusui turned off the lights and got into bed after showering, ready to sleep.
It had been a long time since he slept alone. On top of that, the environment was unfamiliar. Jiang Liusui hugged the hotel pillow, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. He only drifted into a hazy sleep after an unknown amount of time.
He dreamed of events from long ago.
When he was very young, his parents had been deeply in love. But over the following years, their relationship had soured, decaying like spoiled food—irreversible.
There was no infidelity, no entanglement of interests, just pure emotional decay—from sweet and tender to mutual dislike. It was the most distant, the most ordinary, yet also the most reasonable.
What wasn’t ordinary was the period of intense arguments his parents went through before finally divorcing.
What left the deepest impression on Jiang Liusui was one particular argument during his elementary school years. It was a sunny day, and he returned home happily after school. But the moment he opened the door, his parents were arguing, just like always.
They paused briefly to greet him. Jiang Liusui was used to their fights and knew that begging them to stop would be useless. Although his expression fell for a moment, he retreated to his room as usual and closed the door.
He sat on his small bed in a daze, listening to the noise outside. His stomach growled with hunger, but he knew no one would be making dinner at a time like this.
Just wait a little longer. It’ll be over soon.
But the sounds outside only grew more intense—heavy objects hitting the floor, endless shouting and cursing. Unable to bear it, Jiang Liusui pulled the door open and saw shattered bowls on the floor, oil stains splattered everywhere, and broken plates still holding leftovers from lunch.
Both of his parents were injured. His mother’s face was swollen on one side, and his father had blood at the corner of his mouth. When Jiang Liusui opened the door, neither of them looked at him. They were on the verge of physically fighting again, hurling insults and smashing things. Terrified, Jiang Liusui burst into tears, but his parents were too consumed by rage to pay any attention to their child.
Not long after, they divorced.
Jiang Liusui went to live with his father, but soon his father started a new family. In that home, he was nothing more than a shadow, quietly present yet entirely unnecessary.
He had lived on campus throughout both middle and high school, only returning home on weekends. During high school, Jiang Liusui accidentally came across his mother’s diaries.
Somehow, the diaries had ended up in his room—perhaps his mother had forgotten them when she left. The pages had yellowed with age, and some of the writing was now faint and blurred.
The first two diaries recorded joyful moments from daily life—receiving a new dress bought by her husband, celebrating their little one’s birthday together, moving into a new home… Although inevitably sprinkled with complaints about the mundane struggles of life, even those grievances carried a sweet undertone.
But gradually, her tone shifted. She began to resent her husband’s long working hours, the discord in their relationship, and the weariness of raising a young son. As time passed, dissatisfaction festered, turning the couple into bitter adversaries locked in endless arguments—and her resentment extended to their son as well.
His mother wrote that she regretted giving birth to him.
Because of him, she couldn’t bring herself to divorce earlier, needlessly burdening her life for so many years.
When Jiang Liusui reached that part, he closed the diary expressionlessly and tossed all of them into the large trash bin downstairs.
By the time he entered university, his mother seemed to carry a faint sense of guilt about the past. She began sending him living expenses on a regular basis.
But she never mentioned the old days, nor did she exchange more than necessary words with Jiang Liusui.
Rather than compensation, it seemed like a belated realization of the parental responsibilities she had neglected—yet it never went beyond that. Aside from money, there was no further involvement.
***
Jiang Liusui slowly opened his eyes.
Waking from sleep, a trace of irritation appeared on his face. Even though so many years had passed and he had nearly forgotten these memories, they had suddenly resurfaced in his dreams tonight.
Just as he was finally trying to move beyond the shadows of his family, the past rushed back to remind him–even the most beautiful relationships would eventually decay, like his parents’ marriage.
It was still dark before dawn. The hotel room was dim and silent.
Jiang Liusui rolled over, hoping to drift back to sleep, but drowsiness wouldn’t come. Frustrated, he snatched his phone to distract himself and noticed a new message had come in just minutes earlier.
It was past three in the morning. He Yujing had replied.
E: I’ve arrived. I’ve been busy until now. Just finished showering.
E: Get some rest.
Jiang Liusui stared at the message for a while, then switched apps and opened a music streaming service.
Too drained to search for earphones, he simply turned down the volume and played the music aloud, pressing the speaker close to his ear.
In the quiet of the night, He Yujing’s voice flowed gently from the phone. When he sang this kind of slow-paced song, it was like telling a story—light and lingering.
As he closed his eyes, vibrant scenes seemed to unfold one by one, revealing a world entirely different from the oppressive dream he had just left behind.
His restless thoughts slowly quieted. Clutching his pillow, he drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep, carried away by He Yujing’s voice.
— — — —
