After Liang Ruixi finished washing up and returned to the bedroom, Zhou Yan had already made the bed. When Liang Ruixi lay down, he smelled that jasmine fragrance again.
He probably hadn’t noticed it before because he had gotten used to it, but at this moment, the scent reappeared, even stronger than the first time. It made Liang Ruixi feel particularly familiar, like the scent of his grandma and aunt back in his hometown…
But saying that felt a bit strange. His hometown was thousands of miles away, so how could he smell the same scent here?
Liang Ruixi brought his nose close to the pillow and sniffed, curiously asking, “What detergent do you use? It smells really nice.”
“Just regular detergent,” Zhou Yan said softly. “Go to sleep, it’ll be dawn soon if you don’t.”
Liang Ruixi lay flat on his back, obediently placing his hands on his chest. He tried to fall asleep for a while but couldn’t.
“Hey, do you still remember how we first met?” Liang Ruixi asked softly.
“How did we meet? Weren’t we just university classmates?”
Liang Ruixi recalled, “It was because I went to the wrong dorm room when school started. Your bed was in the same position as the one in my room. I was just throwing my backpack up when you came in…”
He remembered feeling someone tap him on the back and ask, “Classmate, are you sure you’ve got the right bed?”
The voice was very pleasant, just a bit mature-sounding, which made Liang Ruixi think it was one of the counselors talking to him. But when he turned his head, he saw a handsome peer with well-defined features and long legs.
That person originally had a masculine and aloof appearance, but the slight furrow in his brow and the melancholic air about him gave him a somewhat refined and scholarly demeanor.
Zhou Yan was reminded by his words and retorted, “I thought you were in the same dorm as me. Who knew you weren’t? The A4 paper posted on the door clearly said 326. I don’t know how you managed to go to the wrong room.”
“When I was looking for the dorm, a guy greeted me in the hallway. I had clearly seen the number, but I spaced out and ended up going to the opposite door,” Liang Ruixi said with a smile. “Hehe, I guess it was fate. Anyway, my first impression of you was really good. When I saw you, I just felt like you were the kind of classmate I’d meet after getting into F University.”
“And after that, you just clung to me. Wherever I went, you had to follow.” Zhou Yan said.
“Were you really annoyed with me back then?”
“Got used to it.”
“You’re cold on the outside but warm on the inside. I could tell that at first glance,” Liang Ruixi said with a grin. “You actually put up with me back then. If it were anyone else, they would have been annoyed to death by me already.”
Zhou Yan chuckled softly. “You know that as well?”
Liang Ruixi felt that his current relationship with Zhou Yan was like going back to when they first met. Back then, Zhou Yan’s attitude towards him was similar to now, neither warm nor cold, making Liang Ruixi unable to figure him out.
However, thinking about the two and a half years of infrequent contact, he could understand why Zhou Yan had this attitude…
He was able to become so close to Zhou Yan back then mainly because of his youthful fearlessness. But times had changed, and he didn’t know if they could ever go back to the way they were.
After a moment of silence, Liang Ruixi said quietly, “You must have been really unhappy about Xiao Zhi getting married, right? I could tell.”
“……”
“But, when it comes to being dumped, I have much more experience than you… I know that feeling, like being abandoned, left behind, especially lonely, especially helpless.”
“……”
“But Zhou Yan, people still need to look forward, they can’t always be stuck in the past.”
Feeling Zhou Yan turn his head to look at him, Liang Ruixi seemed encouraged and continued, “If you really feel bad, you can talk to me about it. Don’t always bottle it up like a silent gourd. Hey, speaking of which, this reminds me of a song called ‘Not Saying’…” As he said that, he started to sing, “I’m not unharmed, not unhurt, not not sad~~ I’m just not beautiful, not good, and I don’t say~~”
His voice was very pleasant, and even his a cappella singing had a certain artistic charm. Listening to his singing, Zhou Yan’s breathing seemed to lighten for a moment.
A wave of drowsiness washed over him. He didn’t know if Zhou Yan had even listened, but after singing for a while, he ended up making himself sleepy.
Zhou Yan only heard his voice getting softer and softer, and finally he yawned, mumbled sleepily, “It’s not that I don’t feel hurt, pain, or sorrow~~I just stay silent about being imperfect, unattractive, or troubled~~”
The tone of his voice made it unclear whether he was comforting Zhou Yan or himself.
Zhou Yan sighed softly and turned off the light. He lay with his hand behind his head, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
Countless times he had hoped to dream of the day he first met Liang Ruixi in the stillness of midnight, but he never had.
That year, he was nineteen years old and had just finished the national college entrance examination.
Influenced and educated by his mother, Zhou Yan had developed a passion for law early on and was very clear about his future goals.
After the exam, he went to play basketball with his classmates. Feeling refreshed, he returned home, wanting to tell his mother that he had done well. But he never expected that he would encounter the most worldview-shattering event of his life — he discovered that his mother, a senior judge whom he had always admired, was actually engaged in malfeasance for personal gain.
And the beneficiary of this malfeasance was him.
He overheard his mother on the phone, casually arranging his life in her conversation. It turned out that the college entrance examination was just a formality. No matter how he performed, he would still go to the best schools, not just university, but also his future career path…
Zhou Yan felt both pain and confusion, just like the line in Li Bai’s poem, “Drawing his sword, he looked around in bewilderment.” That summer, all his passion for law lost its foundation.
It was as if he was deliberately trying to spite his mother when he changed his application form to fill in F University’s Law Department.
After the admission notice arrived, his mother was indeed furious and even went so far as to use her influence to try and transfer his academic records.
It was the first time since he was born that he had rebelled against his mother. In the end, it seemed like his mother had compromised, but Zhou Yan knew that it was just tolerance within a controllable range. After all, university was only four years; even if he wanted to be rebellious, it would only be for these four years.
At the end of August, he embarked on the journey to Haicheng alone, sitting by the window of the high-speed train, his expression lonely.
Other students admitted to a prestigious university like F University might feel that their future was bright and full of promise. But along the way, the scenery in Zhou Yan’s eyes was gray and dim. Rather than going to F University to study, it was more like he just wanted to find a place where his mother couldn’t interfere.
Carrying a body and mind full of weariness, he pushed open the door of room 326 and saw a tall, slender figure.
The person was putting things on his bed. Zhou Yan stood at the door and carefully checked the name posted on the wall again, confirming that it was his bed. He then suppressed his impatience and walked forward to tap the person’s shoulder.
Seeing the other party’s appearance, Zhou Yan was slightly taken aback, thinking that this kid was quite handsome.
It was just that his clothes were a bit unfashionable, and his hair, dyed a nondescript brownish-yellow, looked like something out of those “non-mainstream” trends he’d heard about.
“Huh? Did I get the wrong one? I checked the name on the wall, and it says I sleep in this bunk,” the guy mumbled as he walked to the door and looked, his face showing surprise. “How did I end up in room 326?!”
…Still a fool. Sure enough, as expected of someone who could only get into F University.
“Sorry!” The guy smiled at him and quickly took his backpack off Zhou Yan’s bed.
Zhou Yan put down his luggage and saw the guy staring at the list for room 326 by the door, asking, “What’s your name?”
“Zhou Yan.”
“Oh, I’m Liang Ruixi!” After introducing himself, he added, “I’m going to put down my luggage. I’ll come find you in a bit!”
Sure enough, that guy came back in less than two minutes. As soon as he entered, he said, “Are you in the same class as me? Where are you from? I’m from Changshui. Where are you going later? It’s my first time in Haicheng. Want to go out and have a look around together later?…”
Just talking wasn’t enough; in this sweltering heat, he even reached out to put his arm around Zhou Yan’s shoulder.
Zhou Yan was incredibly annoyed. His words were not only interrogative but also clipped and abrupt: “Didn’t you look at the dorm list when you registered? 321 to 338 are all Class 2 of the Law Department. From Nanshi.”
“Nanshi, huh? Not bad, not bad. Does Nanshi have salt-baked chicken?”
“It’s salted duck…!”
“What other fun things are there in your area?”
“……”
—Zhou Yan, wanna go play basketball?
—Zhou Yan, what class do we have later?
—Zhou Yan, you can’t actually eat spicy food?
—Zhou Yan, Zhou Yan, Zhou Yan…
……
Zhou Yan sucked in a breath, jolted awake by the noise, and realized that the sky was already bright.
Feeling the weight on his body, he frowned. Even in his dreams, that noisy guy wouldn’t leave him alone. He was now sleeping sprawled out, one leg draped across Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan gently moved his leg and sat up. Almost seven years had passed. He recalled the continuation of the past in his dream — back then, he hadn’t known that this person would completely change him. Back then, he hadn’t realized that this person was the first splash of color in his gray summer.
Zhou Yan reached out and gently ruffled Liang Ruixi’s slightly messy black hair, murmuring almost inaudibly, “Idiot.”
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[Little Interlude]
Zhou Yan watched Liang Ruixi’s flailing arms and legs as he struggled, and a slight hmph escaped him…
