E ⋆ Chapter 31

Yu Zhinian was incredibly noisy before he moved in with Yang Ke, talking endlessly, sending message after message asking this and that. Yang Ke would get three or four messages from him even during class, asking if this could be brought into Yang Ke’s house, whether that was allowed. Yang Ke called him back and told him to just bring whatever he wanted without asking, and only then did he settle down.

The news that Yang Ke had invited Yu Zhinian to move in together at the self-service cafeteria spread quickly, and Yu Zhinian’s notebook came to be seen as a couple’s little game, with the scandal gradually dying down.

On the day they moved in together, it started snowing in He City. Yu Zhinian’s things, like the snow, lay in a thin layer throughout Yang Ke’s house.

He claimed the study on the second floor, set out several more vases, and placed three different cups separately on the bar counter, beside the coffee table, and in the cabinet.

That evening, Yang Ke was at a meeting at Zhai Di’s company when Yang Zhongyun called like a ghost suddenly materializing, his voice sweeping away the hoarseness and anger from the day Yang Ke had visited him: “Yang Ke, Grandpa congratulates you both.”

“It has nothing to do with you,” Yang Ke said coldly.

“How does it have nothing to do with me? When you’re happy, Grandpa is happy too. Zhinian was absolutely thrilled today,” Yang Zhongyun said, as if he had received joyful news, speaking with more vigor than usual, telling Yang Ke happily, “I’ve decided to adjust the will a little more. Zhinian does sociology like your father does, and there’s not much money in it. After you’re married, the dividends from the shares should go to his name first.”

Yang Ke had no interest whatsoever in the contents of that will and found it utterly annoying. He told Yang Zhongyun to find a lawyer himself if he wanted to change it, and there was no need to notify him.

After hanging up, the butler sent a message saying that Yu Zhinian had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room, woke up when called, and immediately fell back asleep, so he had covered him with a blanket.

Yang Ke felt a headache coming on. It was all very troublesome. When he got home after the meeting, he found Yu Zhinian still sprawled out on the sofa in the living room. He stood there looking at him for a moment, not knowing what to do, so he turned up the heating by two degrees and went upstairs.

The next morning, Yu Zhinian came out of his own room. He must have woken up in the middle of the night and gone back to his room on his own.

After moving in together, Yu Zhinian usually rode in Yang Ke’s car to school.

Winter weather in He City was poor, the school was in the outskirts, and public transportation was inconvenient. Yang Ke had already half-entered Zhai Di’s company, and sometimes he wasn’t at school in the afternoon. In the evenings, he would also go to pick Yu Zhinian up from school and bring him home.

At that time, everything was still very ordinary. Yang Ke was twenty-two, Yu Zhinian was twenty-one, and the two were moving toward an ordinary married life.

On weekends, Yu Zhinian would be picked up by Yang Zhongyun’s driver to visit him at the hospital. One Sunday evening, Yang Ke had a meeting with an investor near the hospital. Seeing that the time was about right, he called Yu Zhinian and asked if he wanted a ride.

Yang Ke immediately heard Yang Zhongyun’s voice coming through faintly, and Yu Zhinian quietly explained, “Yang Ke is asking if I want a ride,” and then Yang Zhongyun said something, after which Yu Zhinian quietly said “okay” to Yang Ke.

Yang Ke pulled up under the hospital building, and Yu Zhinian was already waiting outside.

Yu Zhinian was wearing a turtleneck sweater and came running over hurriedly. He pulled open the car door and brought the cold air in with him. He seemed to have been standing there for a while, with snow settled on his eyelashes and sweater.

Yang Ke asked him why he hadn’t waited inside. Yu Zhinian clasped his hands together, half his face buried in the turtleneck, and told Yang Ke vaguely, “I was afraid I wouldn’t see you.”

“Grandpa was in great spirits today,” Yu Zhinian said again. “He ate quite a lot. The doctor said he’ll be able to go to the rehabilitation facility soon.”

Yang Ke thought Yu Zhinian was very happy for Yang Zhongyun and didn’t say anything, driving away from the hospital. Yu Zhinian said, “Today Grandpa congratulated us.”

Yang Ke glanced at him. He looked somewhat shy and said, “He said he wanted to donate and build a Hope Primary School in Sanwen in our names, because I’m from there. He wanted it to be a gift for us.”

Yang Ke gave a noncommittal “mm” and drove on for a short distance, then suddenly felt something was off.

He slowed the car and went over Yu Zhinian’s words again in his mind, and in an instant realized that Yu Zhinian apparently had no idea of the real reason Yang Zhongyun had sponsored him.

“He said that?” Yang Ke asked him. “Because you’re from Sanwen.”

Yu Zhinian said “mm,” and Yang Ke thought for a moment about the love story between Yang Zhongyun and Yu Zhinian’s grandmother that he had once been told, then asked Yu Zhinian, “Do you still remember your grandmother?”

Yu Zhinian let out an “ah” and looked confused. “Why are you asking that?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention her,” Yang Ke said without expression.

“My grandmother passed away very early,” Yu Zhinian said without suspicion, telling Yang Ke, “My father said she had bad luck.”

“When she was young, she went out to work with relatives. At seventeen or eighteen, she accepted a bride price from a ruffian in the village and came back to get married, but…” Yu Zhinian hesitated slightly, as if he didn’t really want to say it.

Yang Ke asked him “but what,” and Yu Zhinian hesitated before saying, “This is what an aunt of mine told me. When she came back, the bride price was gone, and she was pregnant.”

“And then?” Yang Ke asked him.

“…After it was discovered…she was beaten, and she lost the child, and she never married,” Yu Zhinian said briefly. “But later she met my grandfather, and they had a very good relationship. Her health was poor, though, and after giving birth to my father, she passed away a few years later.”

Everything that Yang Zhongyun had narrated as fairy tales had dark and oppressive truth underneath.

But Yu Zhinian’s tone held only simple regret.

He recalled again, “When my grandfather was alive, he was always telling me how beautiful my grandmother was, and what a good personality she had. He said I looked a lot like her.”

After saying this, he seemed to realize he was praising himself, felt a little embarrassed, and paused before saying, “But I saw a photo before, and I do look a bit like her.”

He turned toward Yang Ke and said, “The eyes and face shape are alike.”

Yang Ke turned to look at him. Yu Zhinian’s face shape had barely changed since childhood. He had always had a small face and long eyes.

“Next time I go back, I can look for photos,” Yu Zhinian said to Yang Ke, “and show you. We really do look alike.”

Yang Ke thought that everything Yu Zhinian said was stupid, very naive, and yet heavy. He told Yu Zhinian, “Don’t bother going back to look for them.”

“Why,” Yu Zhinian said, “isn’t that what you asked?”

Yang Ke said, “You don’t need to look like anyone,” and as soon as he said it, he felt it was strange himself, so he immediately fell silent.

Christmas was coming soon, and the streets were already full of Christmas decorations. Shop owners hung mistletoe at their doorways, and bright red and green twinkling colored lights, along with white snow, made up the street that evening.

Yu Zhinian was quiet for a moment, then drawled to Yang Ke, “Is that so.”

Yang Ke called Yu Zhinian an idiot, and Yu Zhinian laughed.

Perhaps because the atmosphere had relaxed, Yu Zhinian told Yang Ke about many of the insights he had had while writing his observation diary.

Yang Ke corrected some of the misconceptions in Yu Zhinian’s diary, and the two argued back and forth, but they didn’t quarrel.

“Yang Ke,” Yu Zhinian suddenly asked as they were almost home, “why did you suddenly want to move in together with me?”

Yang Ke thought this question was too complicated. He couldn’t figure it out himself.

After asking, Yu Zhinian waited very quietly for Yang Ke to answer. Yang Ke considered for a moment, decided not to say, and instead turned the question back on Yu Zhinian: “Why were you willing to?”

Yu Zhinian had asked the question boldly, but when it came time for him to answer, he was very hesitant, fidgeting for a long time. He took Yang Ke’s hand.

Yu Zhinian’s hand was very soft, no longer carrying the cold from being outside earlier. He leaned over and, while Yang Ke was still driving, lightly kissed him on the cheek. Yang Ke was still driving, so Yu Zhinian’s action was quite dangerous, and it caused Yang Ke’s heart to race even faster than after swimming two thousand meters. He suddenly thought that perhaps marriage really was good, that it would bring happiness, and that Yu Zhinian was the only person on Earth suited for him.

That day’s Yu Zhinian was the normal Yu Zhinian in Yang Ke’s memory, and their interaction was their normal interaction.

At least Yu Zhinian hadn’t suddenly hidden in his room, continuously sending Yang Ke messages refusing rides, nor had he been clamoring to leave Yang Ke’s house.