E ⋆ Chapter 13

Yu Zhinian tried to adjust his sleep schedule, but failed. He fell asleep a little after five in the morning and woke again at nine, and when he opened his eyes his head was throbbing painfully. He realized his sleep pattern had become completely irregular.

He picked up his phone and saw a message of concern from Shao Xilin, sent at half past six that morning after landing. Shao Xilin asked if he wanted help organizing the house, claiming he was very good at tidying up and could show off his skills at Yu Zhinian’s place.

“I slept on the plane,” Shao Xilin also said, “and I feel great!”

Reading that sentence, Yu Zhinian’s already sleep-deprived and sensitive heart was deeply wounded.

He replied to Shao Xilin that his house had a plumbing problem and he had slept in Luoser last night, and he didn’t know when he would be able to move in.

Thinking of the basement door lock, the moving company, the house’s plumbing, and all the other urgent problems waiting to be solved, Yu Zhinian felt the pressure mounting even more.

He changed his clothes, reorganized his suitcase first, and then called the real estate agent to inquire about the house situation.

Lin Kai told him that workers had already gone to repair it, but the house was in a complete mess from the water damage, and both cleaning and renovation would take time.

“But I was only planning to rent for three months,” Yu Zhinian pointed out heavily.

“I know.” Lin Kai’s voice was full of apology. He said he was already looking for new rental options for Yu Zhinian, promised to use the previously refunded amount as compensation, and said he would cover the price difference for the new rental.

After hanging up, Yu Zhinian then called the moving company.

Their tone was also difficult. They said there had been many moves recently and they really couldn’t spare anyone on such short notice. However, three days later, one customer had canceled temporarily, and their warehouse would be empty. They asked if Yu Zhinian would be willing to wait.

Yu Zhinian called several other moving companies, but none of them could take on such an urgent job. He had no choice but to go back to the original company and schedule the move for three days later.

Neither matter had turned out well, and Yu Zhinian felt the day was starting off depressingly.

He dragged his suitcase to the door and left it there, then went downstairs. He wanted to check on the basement door situation. As he passed through the living room, he saw the florist bringing her assistant along, replacing the house’s flowers with fresh ones.

The florist was still the same Tiffany from before, though the assistant had changed. Seeing Yu Zhinian, she smiled warmly and greeted him: “Mr. Yu, it’s been so long. Did you finish your research project?”

Yu Zhinian paused and said yes, then went over to look at the new flowers she had brought and chatted with her for a bit.

Tiffany said she had opened a new studio right in the Luoser district and praised Mr. Yang for being very generous. “You two must be very happy together,” she said.

Yu Zhinian looked at her and, for some reason, smiled at her from the heart, then said thank you.

The flowers were white as usual. Tiffany and her assistant removed the old flowers and arranged the new ones, and the whole house was filled with a fresh fragrance.

Yang Ke and Yang Zhongyin had completely different aesthetics. Grandfather liked Chinese style, liked rosewood and intricate patterns, and placed more emphasis on outdoor gardening. Yang Ke’s preferences were very simple.

This really was like an ordinary morning in a home. Yu Zhinian looked at the lilies the florist had just arranged and thought, with relative calm, about what kind of person would move in here in the future and experience the true happiness Tiffany had mentioned.

After watching for a while, the butler happened to come over. Yu Zhinian asked him about the basement door lock.

The butler’s tone immediately reminded Yu Zhinian of Lin Kai and the moving company manager.

“A locksmith came by this morning to take a look, but he didn’t bring all his tools, so the lock still isn’t open,” the butler said, his brow slightly furrowed. “And to make matters worse, he has something else to do this afternoon. I’ll try to contact someone else.”

The entire morning, nothing went smoothly. Yu Zhinian felt a knot in his chest. He thought for a moment, then decided to tell the butler that he also really couldn’t find a moving company and would probably have to wait three days before he could come to collect his things. He said: “Here’s what I’m thinking. I’ll move out and stay at a hotel today. Three days later, the door lock will definitely be fixed by then, and I can move my things out.”

“The thing is, I’m not sure if Yang Ke minds,” he said to the butler. “He seems to be in a hurry. Even when I was back in the country, he kept pushing me.”

The butler’s expression changed for no apparent reason. After thinking for a moment, he said to Yu Zhinian: “This might be something you need to ask Mr. Yang.”

“Wouldn’t it be more convenient to stay here?” he suddenly said to Yu Zhinian, as if trying to persuade him. “Why bother moving to a hotel?”

Since Yu Zhinian had moved into the house, the butler had always been very kind to him, and Yu Zhinian didn’t feel comfortable saying much. He smiled and asked: “Is Yang Ke working upstairs?”

“Mr. Yang went to the company,” the butler shook his head. “But he’ll be back for lunch.”

“The chef is already preparing the meal,” he added. “He’s prepared portions for two people. It’s better to wait for Mr. Yang to return before making a decision.”

Yu Zhinian had thought about calling Yang Ke, but felt Yang Ke would probably just hang up directly, so he didn’t. After thinking it over carefully, Yu Zhinian decided to wait for Yang Ke to return and discuss it with him in person, hoping he would take pity on his string of bad luck these past few days and agree to delay moving his things.

Since it was still early, Yu Zhinian didn’t want to stay downstairs. He planned to go back to his room. He told the maid to come and get him if Yang Ke came back, then walked to the bar counter and poured himself a glass of water.

Unexpectedly, halfway through pouring, Yu Zhinian happened to glance over and spotted a notebook sitting on the shelf by the counter that looked very familiar.

He took it out and looked. It was his notes from when he had taken the ethnographic methodology course. He had no idea why his notes would be here, so he flipped through them. Inside were just some boring class shorthand notes, along with group assignment and discussion records.

He guessed that he must have taken it down at some point before and forgotten to put it away, and the butler had tidied it onto the shelf for him. He brought it back to his room.

Back in his room, Yu Zhinian sat on his bed and looked through his notes.

The notes were from his second year of university. Several years had passed, and the pages had yellowed and looked very old. The group discussion records made him think back to his university days. Looking back now, Yu Zhinian could no longer tell whether his emotions at the time had actually been happy. Perhaps it was because he was always an optimistic person, good at forgetting embarrassment and pain.

The imitative shorthand notes were clumsy, but Yu Zhinian could see the effort he had put in at the time, and he found them quite interesting. As he looked through them, he fell asleep again.

This time, Yu Zhinian had his first dream since returning to He City.

He dreamed of yesterday’s scene, except in the dream he had once learned the skill of lock-picking and had volunteered to pry open the basement door. Unfortunately, his skills were poor, and no matter what he tried, he couldn’t get it open. There was another person beside Yang Ke, probably a new lover, watching coldly and asking him: “Can you even do this?”

He tried countless tools, inserting them into the lock, trying to open the latch, but he failed time and again. He said to Yang Ke many times “let me try again” and “I can definitely do it.”

Finally, Yang Ke grew truly impatient, gave Yu Zhinian a light push, and said “stop trying, let someone else do it.” Yu Zhinian jolted awake, only to find Yang Ke standing by his bed, leaning down to look at him.

Yang Ke probably hadn’t expected him to wake up so suddenly. He straightened up and took a step back.

Yu Zhinian was startled and stared blankly at Yang Ke, sitting up without saying anything.

Yang Ke was wearing a gray suit today and looked like he had just come home. He hadn’t even taken off his jacket.

After staring at each other for a long time, Yang Ke said: “Time to eat.”

Yu Zhinian made an “oh” sound. Yang Ke then asked: “Why is your suitcase at your door?”

He pointed to the suitcase at the entrance to Yu Zhinian’s room.

“That,” Yu Zhinian came to his senses and explained, “I’m going straight to a hotel after eating.”

“Yang Ke, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you. I contacted the moving company this morning. They said they won’t have availability until three days from now, and they have a partner warehouse where they can store my things,” he observed Yang Ke’s expression and laid out his reasons one by one. “I also called several other moving companies, but none of them have availability to help me move. So, can you give me three more days before I move the things in the basement?”

“…” Yang Ke didn’t say anything.

Yu Zhinian sensed Yang Ke’s rejection. He looked at Yang Ke for a moment, thought of his dream, and couldn’t help but ask: “You’re in such a hurry. Is someone moving in?”

Yang Ke was taken aback and asked him in a tone that wasn’t very pleasant: “Yu Zhinian, what are you thinking?”

Yu Zhinian went quiet. Yang Ke looked at him for a moment and said: “You can stay here until you find a place.”

“That doesn’t seem right,” Yu Zhinian hesitated.

Yang Ke said again: “Stay one night and then leave. Am I running a hotel here?”

His attitude wasn’t very good. Though the logic was a little odd, Yu Zhinian didn’t dare argue. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds. Yu Zhinian wanted to salvage the atmosphere in the room, so he said to Yang Ke “okay, thank you,” and asked: “Can we go eat now?”

Yang Ke made an “mm” sound.

Yu Zhinian got out of bed and said let’s go then.

As they went downstairs together, Yang Ke’s phone rang again. He answered and said to the person on the other end: “Didn’t I say I was on vacation?”

It seemed to be Zhai Di on the other end. Yang Ke slowed his pace, and the two of them discussed work matters.

Yu Zhinian went to the dining room first and waited a few minutes before Yang Ke arrived.

Lunch that day was light and appetizing. Yu Zhinian ate more than he had the night before. After eating for a while, he asked Yang Ke: “Are you on vacation?”

“Yeah,” Yang Ke said, as if afraid Yu Zhinian might misunderstand, adding: “I haven’t had a rest in a very long time.”

Yu Zhinian nodded and lowered his head to eat a few more bites. Yang Ke suddenly called his name and asked: “What were you dreaming about just now?”

Yu Zhinian hadn’t expected Yang Ke to ask him such a question and countered: “What do you mean?”

“You were talking in your sleep,” Yang Ke said. “You said let me try again. What did you mean?”

Yu Zhinian felt the complete dream was a bit too awkward to describe in full, so he left out the details and gave a vague summary: “I dreamed I was a locksmith trying to open the basement door, but I couldn’t get it open no matter what. You said you’d get someone else to do it.”

Yang Ke was quiet for a moment and didn’t comment on Yu Zhinian’s dream. Instead, he suddenly asked: “Do you have plans this evening?”

Yu Zhinian said he was free, and Yang Ke said: “A head chef at a restaurant has invited me to bring someone along to try some new dishes. Come with me.”

Yang Ke and Yu Zhinian had almost never gone out to dinner together. If this had been the Yu Zhinian from long ago, he would surely have been very happy, but he didn’t dare think too much about it now. He simply asked Yang Ke: “You’re not asking someone else to go?”

Yang Ke looked unhappy again, but strangely, he didn’t lose his temper. He simply said: “Who else would I ask?”

Yu Zhinian’s question led to at least five minutes of silence. When he was almost finished eating, Yang Ke spoke again: “I work very hard. I’m working from morning to night every day.”

Yu Zhinian looked at Yang Ke without understanding. After being looked at for a moment, Yang Ke set down his chopsticks and said: “Can you stop overthinking things so much.”

—