E ⋆ Chapter 21

Yang Ke tipped the driver who had been waiting for a long time.

The driver stubbed out his cigarette and drove away from the mansion. The butler also came out and, at Yang Ke’s gesture, took Yu Zhinian’s suitcase away again.

Night mist rose from the ground, and the air was somewhat cold. After standing for a moment longer, Yang Ke said to Yu Zhinian: “Let’s go.”

Before entering the house, Yang Ke let Yu Zhinian go in first, and he himself smoked a cigarette at the door.

Yu Zhinian had never seen Yang Ke smoke before. At first he didn’t know what Yang Ke was doing, only seeing him take something from the cabinet in the foyer.

After a few seconds, he heard the sound of a lighter, and turning around, he saw smoke that quickly dissolved into the night.

Yu Zhinian smelled the scent of burning tobacco. Looking out from the doorway, he could only see Yang Ke’s elbow. For a minute or two, staring blankly at the smoke, Yu Zhinian felt his heart slowly tighten.

After a while, Yang Ke finished smoking and came inside. Yu Zhinian was still standing there.

Yang Ke was slightly taken aback and asked him: “Why didn’t you go in?”

Yu Zhinian walked inside in a daze, thinking that Shao Xilin might be waiting for him at home, and immediately called him.

“Are you here?” Shao Xilin asked him. “Do you want me to come down and pick you up?”

Yu Zhinian felt very embarrassed and said apologetically: “I’m sorry, Xilin. I’m not coming after all. Sorry to trouble you.”

“Huh?” Shao Xilin asked, caught off guard. “Do you have a place to stay?”

Yu Zhinian said “yes,” and Shao Xilin said: “Well, as long as you don’t have to wander around.”

“I have an electronic version of the February shorthand notes,” Yu Zhinian added, “but they’re not very clear. If you’re not in a hurry tonight, I’ll give them to you tomorrow afternoon at the meeting.”

Shao Xilin said “okay,” and told Yu Zhinian once more: “If you don’t have a place to stay next time, you can still come to my place.”

Yu Zhinian thanked him sincerely.

After hanging up, Yang Ke suddenly asked him: “What meeting do you have tomorrow afternoon?”

Yu Zhinian froze and looked at Yang Ke.

It was hard to tell whether Yang Ke’s alcohol had completely worn off. In the dimness, he was looking straight at Yu Zhinian.

“A school meeting,” Yu Zhinian explained. “The project group is all together now, so we’re checking in on progress.”

Yang Ke made an “oh” sound and didn’t seem to have any intention of going upstairs.

Yu Zhinian stood hesitating for a moment, then asked him: “Is the situation at your company very serious?”

For some reason, Yang Ke was slightly taken aback, and after seeming to think for a moment, said: “It’s a bit complicated.”

“Is it very urgent that you need money then?” Yu Zhinian asked with some concern.

Yang Ke was silent for a moment, then said: “I can hold on for a while longer.”

“Then don’t worry too much,” Yu Zhinian comforted him. “Tomorrow let’s go ask Attorney Li together and see if there’s any way to get the money out faster.”

He suddenly thought of the statutory separation period and said: “I forgot whether I’ve been back in Ning City for half a year yet. I’m not sure if it will have any effect.”

“I’ll calculate it.” He opened his phone, wanting to check the date of his return flight to count the days, when Yang Ke said to him: “Don’t bother.”

“You haven’t reached it yet,” Yang Ke said. “Li Lu is keeping track. He told me.”

Yu Zhinian made an “oh” sound and, after thinking for a moment, said: “Do we need to make an appointment for marriage registration? My classmate had to wait a long time for an appointment when they got married.”

The living room was very dim, the fireplace across from the sofa was unlit, and they were still awake downstairs, yet the house seemed already asleep.

Yang Ke looked at him for a few seconds and said: “You don’t need to worry about these things.”

Yu Zhinian looked at him, guessing that he probably thought Yu Zhinian was overthinking and talking too much. Feeling somewhat dejected, he said to Yang Ke: “Okay, then let’s go upstairs.”

Yang Ke followed silently behind him, and Yu Zhinian smelled the tobacco scent on Yang Ke again.

He wondered when Yang Ke had started smoking, and also thought that Yang Ke’s life had long since stopped intending to make room for him, so perhaps he had started smoking long ago. There was no way to know.

Walking to the second floor, Yu Zhinian headed toward his own room when he suddenly heard Yang Ke calling him from behind.

“Yu Zhinian,” Yang Ke said, “I’ll take you to buy wedding rings tomorrow morning.”

Yu Zhinian turned around and looked at him blankly: “Do we need to buy wedding rings?”

Yang Ke said “yes,” and Yu Zhinian, not quite understanding the process for marriage registration at the registration office, thought there might be some mandatory requirement, so he obediently said “okay.” Yang Ke then asked: “What time is your meeting in the afternoon?”

“Two thirty,” Yu Zhinian told him.

“After lunch, I’ll take you there,” Yang Ke said.

Yu Zhinian walked to his room door and looked back. Yang Ke was still standing not far away, beside the wall lamp, unmoving. Yu Zhinian’s footsteps paused, his hand resting on the door handle, and he said to Yang Ke: “Good night.”

Yang Ke also politely said good night, and Yu Zhinian entered his room.

The next day, Yu Zhinian’s jet lag seemed to mysteriously sort itself out. He slept until he naturally woke up, at nine o’clock in the morning.

After washing up and changing clothes, he went downstairs. Yang Ke was already eating breakfast at the table.

Yang Ke had already exercised and wasn’t dressed too formally. He looked very fresh and not as stern. But his alcohol had clearly completely worn off, so probably the silly, goofy Yang Ke from inside the car yesterday wouldn’t be appearing again.

After breakfast, Yang Ke took Yu Zhinian to buy wedding rings. They were the shop’s first customers of the day.

The salesperson was a young woman with an enthusiastic attitude.

Originally, Yu Zhinian thought that for a wedding ring that was just a formality, he could just pick a cheap men’s ring at random. After all, he would never wear it later, at most putting on an act during registration. There was really no need to shop at this kind of expensive jewelry specialty store.

But Yang Ke was a very perfectionist person. Even for rings he would never wear, he spent a long time choosing carefully. The salesperson took out almost all the ring designs and tried them one by one on Yu Zhinian’s and Yang Ke’s ring fingers.

Yu Zhinian looked at these rings and thought they were all pretty much the same, with only differences in width and the subtle inlaid diamonds. Yang Ke wasn’t very picky about what he wore himself, but he always managed to find fault with the one on Yu Zhinian’s hand.

“That one’s too wide.”

“I don’t like platinum.”

“The ring size is too large. You can’t see the effect. How long would it take to resize?”

After picking and choosing for two hours, Yang Ke bought a pair of wedding rings and also ordered a pair of watches.

Yu Zhinian thought that since Yang Ke was short on money now, shopping so lavishly was actually somewhat wasteful. But Yang Ke was probably used to not looking at price tags and didn’t like the feeling of pinching pennies. Out of consideration for Yang Ke’s pride, Yu Zhinian didn’t bring it up.

Once they were in the car, Yu Zhinian couldn’t help but ask Yang Ke: “The watches you ordered are too expensive, aren’t they? You’re tight on cash right now. Can’t you return them?”

Yang Ke’s expression changed abruptly, and after a few seconds, he said: “I’ll earn it back.”

Yu Zhinian guessed that Yang Ke’s business had probably hit a snag and he had become sensitive about it, so he didn’t say anything more.

They had lunch at a restaurant next to the shop.

This restaurant was also in the area around Yang Ke’s company. Yang Ke had brought Yu Zhinian here before. The food tasted good and the atmosphere wasn’t too formal. There were many customers, and Yang Ke must have made a reservation in advance because they didn’t have to wait in line.

After the appetizer was served, Yu Zhinian suddenly heard someone call Yang Ke’s name.

He instinctively turned to look and saw Zhai Di and another man he had never seen before, wearing a business suit, coming over from the bar counter. Zhai Di and Yu Zhinian made eye contact. Zhai Di was slightly taken aback, nodded at him with a brief greeting, then stepped a few paces closer and asked Yang Ke: “How come you’re eating here and not heading back to the company?”

“We went to buy wedding rings this morning,” Yang Ke said. “It’s nearby.”

Zhai Di was quiet for a few seconds, then glanced at Yu Zhinian, and suddenly smiled at Yang Ke, saying: “The company situation is so urgent. You should come back to work soon.”

Yang Ke, for some reason, didn’t look very pleased. He said to Zhai Di: “Got it.”

“Can you come back this afternoon?” Zhai Di asked him.

“No,” Yang Ke refused directly.

Zhai Di and the other man went to sit at their own table.

Yu Zhinian lowered his head and ate a couple of bites. Yang Ke suddenly spoke up and said: “It’s not as serious as he made it sound.” Yu Zhinian looked up at him and made an “mm” sound.

After a while, Yu Zhinian said to Yang Ke: “Zhai Di’s temper seems better than it used to be.”

Yang Ke was slightly taken aback and didn’t say anything.

Back in university, at first Yang Ke had barely acknowledged Yu Zhinian at all, and most people thought they didn’t even know each other. Zhai Di and Yang Ke had a good relationship, and Zhai Di probably thought Yu Zhinian, who frequently greeted Yang Ke, was a neurotic weirdo.

Later, Yu Zhinian’s record notebook was left behind in the library and picked up by some student, who spread it around as a joke. Many people thought he was Yang Ke’s obsessive pursuer, and Zhai Di became even more annoyed with him.

Not long after, Yu Zhinian and Yang Ke started living together, and those strange looks stopped appearing. But Zhai Di seemed never to have given Yu Zhinian a warm reception.

The lunch, marked by an unexpected encounter, passed in silence.

Yu Zhinian tried to distract himself, eating while thinking about his thesis and the afternoon meeting, and which key points he needed to cover. Because he was thinking so hard, he didn’t have much appetite and ate very little of each dish.

Yang Ke didn’t criticize him for being distracted. He just went out to make a phone call when they were almost done eating, and when he came back, he told Yu Zhinian that his secretary had made an appointment at the registration office. They could go register tomorrow.

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