Chapter 109 #2
“That isn’t something you can learn,” Jiang Cheng replied, equally solemnly. “That’s the kind of talent you’re born with. He had his first heartbreak before he even left kindergarten.”
“Damn,” Gu Fei marveled in earnest, laughing.
Pan Zhi finally came upstairs, having obtained the girl’s WeChat. “Have you ordered?” he asked as he sat down across from them.
“We were waiting for you,” Jiang Cheng said. “We don’t know this place.”
“Did you see that girl just now?” Pan Zhi flipped through the menu. “So cute. And the way she talks, too—all staccato-like.” Neither Jiang Cheng nor Gu Fei said anything. They just stared at him together. “Right,” Pan Zhi realized, “she was a girl .”
“I don’t have the habit of staring at random guys everywhere I go, either,” Jiang Cheng said, taking a sip of his tea.
“Okayyy, I know you’re both hyperfocused on each other,” Pan Zhi sighed, “but that only happened after you found each other. If I don’t look around, how am I supposed to meet the person I want to focus on?”
Jiang Cheng chuckled. “Perfect logic. Can’t contest that.”
“Am I wrong? Take him, for example.” Pan Zhi pointed at Gu Fei. “How far did you have to go just to run into him?”
Jiang Cheng glanced at Gu Fei and didn’t answer.
“Although,” Pan Zhi said, waving the server over, “I do have a one-up on you guys right now: I don’t have to experience the angst of separation. As long as I’m not serious about anyone, I won’t be sad. Better to just have fun above all else.”
“You don’t usually get a choice in the matter,” said Gu Fei.
“Are you looking down on me?” Pan Zhi said, looking at Gu Fei.
Gu Fei made a circle with his fingers and looked back at Pan Zhi.
“We’ll wait and see.” Jiang Cheng didn’t know when Pan Zhi would eventually end up feeling sad over someone, but he knew that he himself had already been miserable for a long time.
It had started with a faint sense of unease, progressed to intentional evasion of the subject, and then, when he could no longer hide from reality, it had escalated to waves of panic, reaching its zenith today.
He didn’t even want to glimpse the time on his phone, didn’t want to see with his own eyes how the moments he could still share with Gu Fei were whittled away bit by bit.
After dinner and a shower back at their room, the two of them sat in bed and watched TV.
They remained silent most of the time, with the occasional exchange on some unrelated topic.
When Gu Fei finally turned off the TV and the lights, Jiang Cheng lay down and wrapped himself around him, swung one leg over his body, and closed his eyes.
Perhaps because of their shared sleepless night the day before, they quickly fell asleep.
***
Jiang Cheng was a little rueful when he opened his eyes in the morning. It felt like they had wasted the night by sleeping.
“Pan Zhi said there’s breakfast. They can bring it to the room,” Gu Fei said. “Do you want to eat now? If you do, I’ll call for room service to bring it up.”
“Mm-hm.” Jiang Cheng snuggled closer to Gu Fei and plastered himself to him.
“After breakfast, we’ll be just in time for your registration,” Gu Fei added. “We can walk over.”
“Uh-huh,” Jiang Cheng answered with his eyes closed.
The hotel was very close to campus. Pan Zhi didn’t tag along with them for registration, instead heading back to his own school after he checked out of the hotel.
Before he left, he helpfully added, “Your train is tomorrow morning, right, Gu Fei? The subway entrance is right there—you can just take the subway over.”
Gu Fei nodded. “All right.”
“I won’t come see you off, then,” Pan Zhi said. “And you two, try not to be too…you know. It’s less than a month until the next public holiday.”
“Hurry up and go,” Jiang Cheng urged.
“Heartless playboy,” said Pan Zhi.
Jiang Cheng laughed. “Just go already, supporting male lead number whatever.”
After Pan Zhi left, Jiang Cheng let out a small sigh.
Until now his mind had been filled with the thought that Gu Fei was leaving the day after tomorrow.
When the words “tomorrow morning” came out of Pan Zhi’s mouth, it gave his heart a little quake.
Not the day after tomorrow—tomorrow. First thing in the morning, in fact.
Starting the next day, he would be all alone in this unfamiliar city full of unfamiliar people.
Jiang Cheng didn’t talk much. Gu Fei couldn’t find anything to say either, so they fell into silence.
***
Walking down the street, it didn’t take very long for them to get to U of R. Now, Gu Fei suddenly felt a little anxious—an unsettling feeling like he didn’t belong. It was very rare for him to feel like this, but in this moment, he experienced it with visceral acuity.
New students and parents thronged all around them, joy and pride written across every one of their faces. They were overachieving students of all kinds, just like Jiang Cheng.
Gu Fei glanced at Jiang Cheng beside him, as calm as ever. He must be feeling something very different from me right now, Gu Fei thought. This was where Jiang Cheng would begin his new life—in an elite program at one of the nation’s top universities.
Jiang Cheng was his pride and joy, but also the source of a nagging sense of panic that was getting harder and harder to ignore.
“Let’s go over there and ask where the registration desk is,” Jiang Cheng said.