E ⋆ Chapter 22

In the afternoon, Yang Ke drove Yu Zhinian to school and told him to call when the meeting ended, saying he would work in the car for a while.

The project group meeting was difficult to control in terms of duration. Yu Zhinian didn’t want Yang Ke to wait long and suggested he could go back on his own, but Yang Ke didn’t listen. He just said, “Call me when the meeting ends.”

The afternoon meeting lasted two hours before it ended.

The classmates organized their materials and left the classroom. Yu Zhinian called out to Shao Xilin and gave him the February stenographic notes he had requested.

Shao Xilin accepted them, flipped through them briefly, said thanks, and then asked Yu Zhinian, “Where are you living now?”

“Still over in the Luoser district,” Yu Zhinian said.

Shao Xilin nodded, then asked Yu Zhinian, “Did you and your boyfriend make up?”

Yu Zhinian paused, then countered, “You know about that?”

“I’ve heard a bit,” Shao Xilin said. “When I first started my PhD, I heard people discussing it.”

Yu Zhinian smiled slightly. Shao Xilin continued, “What I heard was that your observation diary about your boyfriend was made public, and I felt that kind of behavior wasn’t very ethical.”

Shao Xilin was a very upright person, and Yu Zhinian felt a little moved hearing this. He said to him, “Thank you.”

“Are you two cohabiting in order to get married?” Shao Xilin asked again. “Is it almost time for the statutory cohabitation period?”

It wasn’t entirely clear why, but perhaps it was because Yu Zhinian had hardly made any close friends since starting university, or perhaps it was because he had picked out rings that morning and then had a meal, which left him feeling a little giddy. Chatting with Shao Xilin, Yu Zhinian suddenly got carried away and confessed to him, “Yes, we’re getting married tomorrow.”

Shao Xilin was shocked. “That’s so fast. Congratulations.”

Immediately after saying this, Yu Zhinian felt guilty. After all, this marriage didn’t look like a normal marriage.

Just then, Yu Zhinian’s phone vibrated. He took it out to look, and it was a message from Yang Ke: “I saw some students coming out. Is your meeting still not over?”

Yu Zhinian felt Yang Ke might be getting impatient waiting. He replied, “It’s over. Coming now.”

He went downstairs with Shao Xilin.

The school in May was very beautiful, with the setting sun shining on the lawns and buildings.

Yang Ke stood by the car, wearing a Bluetooth earpiece, apparently on a work call. He was very tall, and because he wasn’t dressed too formally, he appeared gentler.

Seeing Yu Zhinian and Shao Xilin, Yang Ke’s expression became slightly cooler. He took off his earpiece, ended the call, looked at Shao Xilin, and as they drew closer, he did something quite rare and took the initiative to greet Yu Zhinian’s classmate, saying, “Hello.” He asked Yu Zhinian, “Is he a classmate of yours?”

Yu Zhinian caught a faint smell of cigarette smoke from Yang Ke. He introduced him: “This is Shao Xilin, my classmate,” and then said to Shao Xilin, “This is Yang Ke.”

Yang Ke lowered his head and glanced at Yu Zhinian. Based on years of being together, Yu Zhinian sensed that Yang Ke’s mood wasn’t very good.

But Shao Xilin didn’t notice. He said straightforwardly to Yang Ke, “Hey, I heard from Yu Zhinian that you two are getting married tomorrow. Congratulations to you both.”

Yang Ke clearly froze for a moment.

Yu Zhinian hadn’t expected Shao Xilin to be so direct. His face flushed immediately, his scalp tingled, and he didn’t quite dare look at Yang Ke. He felt a kind of heartache, like a dream of his own was being directly witnessed by the very person it was about.

But Yang Ke didn’t deny or explain it to his face. He said to Shao Xilin, “Thank you.”

Once in the car, Yu Zhinian didn’t dare speak.

Yang Ke started the car and drove slowly through the school. After half a minute, he seemed to say casually to Yu Zhinian, “Are you two very close?”

“Pretty good,” Yu Zhinian said. “I was actually planning to stay at his place last night.”

For some reason, Yang Ke suddenly smiled at Yu Zhinian and said, “When we hold the ceremony, you can invite him to come as well.”

Yu Zhinian looked at Yang Ke, somewhat confused. “What ceremony?”

“The wedding ceremony,” Yang Ke said. “I had Zhai Di recommend a few venues to me. His sister just got married recently. I saw the photos. It was a lawn wedding, decorated very beautifully. I’ll have Smith send them to you later. You can pick one.”

Yu Zhinian paused for a moment and asked Yang Ke, “Do we need to hold one?”

He had thought they just needed to go to the registration office and go through the procedure.

“Is it a requirement in the trust?” Yu Zhinian guessed. “Attorney Li didn’t seem to mention it that day.”

They drove out of the school gate. The setting sun at just past four o’clock was beautiful, with orange and grapefruit colors tinting the sky.

Yang Ke was quiet for a moment, then said to Yu Zhinian, “Yes.” Then he added, “Let’s draft a guest list together tonight.”

Yu Zhinian turned his head to look at Yang Ke’s profile. Against the colors of the sky, Yang Ke looked very handsome, very reliable. The way he spoke made it sound like they really were getting married. It was very easy to be misled.

Yang Ke turned his head and glanced at Yu Zhinian, asking him, “What are you looking at?”

Yu Zhinian looked away. Yang Ke suddenly said, “I haven’t told my dad yet. I’ll call him later.”

Thinking of Professor Zhao, Yu Zhinian’s heart was immediately pulled back to reality, and he became restless. After thinking for a moment, he asked Yang Ke, “Why don’t I be the one to tell Professor Zhao?”

Yang Ke looked at him. “Why?”

“I’ll explain to him,” Yu Zhinian said. Remembering the promise he had made to Yang Ke’s father just the night before, he asked Yang Ke nervously, “Is that okay?”

Yang Ke paused, then finally said to him, “Okay.”

After returning home, Yu Zhinian went upstairs and sent a message to Professor Zhao, asking if it was convenient for him to take a call.

Professor Zhao replied quickly. Yu Zhinian called him, and Professor Zhao picked up, asking him gently, “Zhinian, what’s the matter?”

Yu Zhinian explained to him as matter-of-factly as possible the difficulties Yang Ke’s company was facing and Yang Ke’s need for the inheritance. He told him, “So we’re planning to go through the procedure and get married first. Once Yang Ke’s company gets through the difficult period, I’ll separate from him.”

After hearing this, Professor Zhao fell silent, as expected.

Yu Zhinian felt very awkward, sitting on the edge of the bed with his head lowered. While waiting for Professor Zhao to speak, he reached over and pressed the bedside lamp switch, turning it on and off, on and off.

After pressing the switch dozens of times, Professor Zhao finally spoke, asking him quietly, “Is this something Yang Ke brought up?”

Yu Zhinian thought about it and said, “Not entirely. I guessed that his company was in trouble and brought it up myself. He agreed.”

The two ends of the phone were silent for a while again. Professor Zhao said to Yu Zhinian, “Zhinian, I’m sorry. Yang Ke has put you through a lot of trouble.”

Yu Zhinian said it was fine.

After hanging up the phone, Yu Zhinian sat in a daze for a while, then leaned back and lay down on the bed.

His room had no lights on. The ceiling was dim. He felt that everything was so unreal, so sudden. He had never thought about having a marriage with Yang Ke.

Rapidly purchasing wedding rings, holding a sham wedding ceremony, about to receive false congratulations from people in the know.

Yu Zhinian got up again and walked to the walk-in closet. He took out the train ticket from the inner pocket of his suitcase. He half-knelt in front of the suitcase in the near-darkness, clutching the ticket.

He both wanted to hold onto the memory of how Yang Ke had spoken kindly to him these past few days, and also imagined the scene of them going to get divorced later.

Yu Zhinian imagined them going to get divorced, and then he would move out of here once more. Yang Ke would perhaps thank him sincerely, and he would magnanimously say it was fine.

Yu Zhinian thought that this would definitely be very natural, very simple.

After sitting and thinking for a while longer, he heard someone knock on the door. He thought it was the housekeeper and went to check.

Opening the door, Yang Ke stood outside.

“Why didn’t you turn on the light?” Noticing that Yu Zhinian’s room was very dark, he asked, “Are you sleeping again?”

“I just finished calling Professor Zhao,” Yu Zhinian said, glossing over the real reason. “I’m not that much of a sleeper, am I?”

Yang Ke laughed and said, “You’re not.”

“Li Lu is almost here. Come eat dinner,” he said to Yu Zhinian. “Stop sleeping. Your hair is all messy.”

Yu Zhinian looked up at Yang Ke. Yang Ke also lowered his head slightly, looking at him. Yu Zhinian found they were very close, closer than the normal social distance.

“Is it very messy?” Yu Zhinian asked softly.

Yang Ke made a sound of affirmation and raised his hand, very gently touching Yu Zhinian’s hair, as if pressing down the parts that were sticking up. He looked down at Yu Zhinian’s face, and his hand slid down slightly, hovering beside Yu Zhinian’s cheek.

Yu Zhinian didn’t know what Yang Ke was doing. His skin seemed to be able to feel the warmth of Yang Ke’s fingertips transmitted through the air. He tried to sort out the chaotic scene, searching for rationality, and asked Yang Ke, “Is Attorney Li here to discuss the will?”

Yang Ke didn’t seem to have heard his question. His fingertip very gently touched Yu Zhinian’s cheek.

But Yu Zhinian didn’t have time to think about the intention behind Yang Ke’s actions, because the next second, Li Lu’s voice came from downstairs.

Li Lu asked loudly, “Where are those two?”