When Huo Youqing received the wake-up call from the hotel, he was still a bit groggy. After hanging up, he rubbed his hair and realized that he had returned to being eighteen years old.
He wobbled out of bed to wash up, and as he entered the living room of the suite, he saw a note left by Gong Lang.
Gong Lang mentioned that he had some urgent matters to attend to, so he had to leave early. However, he had arranged for a driver to be waiting outside the hotel to take Huo Youqing to school.
After putting down the note, Huo Youqing had breakfast at the hotel before getting in the car to head back to school. Since he arrived at the school early, he decided to stop by his dorm to grab some books without asking anyone for help.
Just as he was putting the books into his shoulder bag, he turned around to find Qiu Wenfei standing silently behind him.
“Do you need something?” Huo Youqing took a step back.
Qiu Wenfei licked his lips, and Huo Youqing could faintly hear the sound of him swallowing. Qiu Wenfei’s gaze circled around Huo Youqing’s body strangely, and his expression was odd. His voice was hesitant. “Did you… sleep well last night?”
It was an odd and inappropriate question.
Suppressing his discomfort, Huo Youqing calmly replied, “I slept fine. Is there anything else you need?”
Qiu Wenfei went silent, and seeing this, Huo Youqing wanted to leave. Something about Qiu Wenfei’s current state felt off, and Huo Youqing didn’t want to stay alone with him. The dorm was empty, as the other roommates had already gone to the cafeteria for breakfast.
Just as Huo Youqing was about to walk away, Qiu Wenfei suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “Yesterday… I…”
Qiu Wenfei stared at Huo Youqing’s delicate face bathed in the morning light, wanting to tell him exactly what had happened the night before, to warn him to be extra careful in the coming days.
But at that moment, Huo Youqing’s phone rang.
Qiu Wenfei had a good view of the screen and saw that it was a call from Gong Lang. The words he had wanted to say vanished like a pebble sinking into the sea. Huo Youqing didn’t immediately answer the phone but instead asked Qiu Wenfei, “Did you want to tell me something?”
There was a fifteen-second pause before Qiu Wenfei finally spoke again, no longer stammering. “I just wanted to ask if you slept well last night. The dorm was really hot, and the mosquitoes were annoying. None of us slept well.” He stepped aside. “It’s getting late. You should head to class. I’ll be going now too.”
Huo Youqing found Qiu Wenfei’s behavior increasingly strange, but after glancing at him a few more times, he decided to let it go, figuring Qiu Wenfei was just acting weird.
The call from Gong Lang was to check if Huo Youqing had arrived safely at school and to inform him that he wouldn’t be able to deliver lunch today, but he had already ordered food from Huo Youqing’s favorite restaurant.
“For the next few days, don’t accept letters from anyone, and don’t talk to strangers. Definitely don’t eat any food from others. Wait until I get back,” Gong Lang said hurriedly before hanging up.
***
Gong Lang did indeed have urgent matters to attend to. Ever since receiving that letter, he hadn’t been able to sleep well. Frustrated, he drove overnight to a friend’s house several kilometers away and rang the doorbell for half an hour until his high school classmate finally got out of bed. “Get up. I need your help investigating someone.”
With bed hair and a look of despair, his classmate groaned, “Dude, it’s 4 a.m. I only went to bed at 3!”
Ignoring the protests, Gong Lang pushed his way inside. “I don’t care what time it is. You have to help me track down someone.”
“Who?”
“Dai Yixin.”
Gong Lang clenched his teeth as he said the name. He had tried looking into Dai Yixin once before but came up with nothing. Now, after seeing that letter again, Dai Yixin had pushed him to the edge.
No matter how hard it was to catch this rat hiding in the shadows, Gong Lang was determined to drag him out and make him understand that not just anyone could mess with him.
Sensing the intensity in Gong Lang’s voice, the complaints disappeared from his friend’s face. He went to grab his phone from the bedroom. “Alright, I’ll help. But calm down and take a seat first.”
A high school classmate understood that if Gong Lang asked him for help, it probably meant this person was quite difficult to track down. But for him, it wasn’t a big deal. He had connections with all sorts of people, and finding someone was just a matter of time. He didn’t expect to fail, especially when Gong Lang mentioned receiving the second letter at a hotel.
They could easily trace the person by looking into the bellboy who delivered the letter.
Yet, they found nothing.
The classmate could hardly believe it himself. The hotel’s bellboy firmly denied delivering any letter. They investigated his daily activities and social circle for the past six months, and it turned out that this bellboy had never been in contact with anyone named Dai Yixin.
The hotel’s surveillance showed no unusual behavior from the bellboy that day. The food was delivered directly from the kitchen, and even the kitchen surveillance didn’t capture anyone placing a letter on the food cart.
As for tracing the name “Dai Yixin,” they found no one who matched their criteria. They even looked into the type of paper the letter was written on, but still found no useful results.
“Are you sure this Dai Yixin is a man?” the classmate wondered if they were mistaken. “Could it be a woman?”
“No.” Gong Lang quickly denied it.
“You’ve never even seen Dai Yixin. How can you be so sure it’s not a woman? The name sounds rather feminine to me. And it’s strange—Youyou has received love letters from many people since childhood, both men and women, but you’ve never taken any of them this seriously. Why are you so obsessed with this person?”
Gong Lang sneered, “That’s because you haven’t read what was written.”
“What did the letter say?”
At that moment, Gong Lang couldn’t help but recall the two letters he had read, and his expression darkened further. Unable to control his anger, he smashed the wine glass in his hand onto the floor. The classmate jumped in surprise and, after recovering, patted his chest, “You really need to work on that temper of yours. I’m honestly worried that Youyou won’t be able to handle it.”
Gong Lang responded with a cold snort, clearly unwilling to reveal how that despicable rat had used words to fantasize about what belonged to him. Instead, he urged his classmate to use any means necessary to find Dai Yixin.
“Oh, by the way, I remember you asking about someone else recently,” the classmate mentioned another name, “Dai Yuan.”
Gong Lang frowned.
The classmate stroked his chin and hesitated, “It’s really strange. I couldn’t find anything on either of them. Could there be a connection between these two, both with the surname Dai?”
Gong Lang’s frown deepened. “Do you think they’re the same person?”
“I can’t be sure, but it seems too much of a coincidence. There aren’t many people who are this hard to track down. Of course, maybe I’m overthinking it. Another possibility is that Dai Yuan is someone Youyou dreamt up, which is why we can’t find him. As for Dai Yixin, maybe that’s just an alias.”
The classmate’s words left Gong Lang silent. A few minutes later, he picked up a red dart from the nearby dartboard, aimed at the target on the wall, and—
Bullseye.
“Even so, I’ll find him. Keep investigating. I need to go back to school.” With that, Gong Lang left. As he exited his classmate’s apartment, he pulled out his phone and notified the housekeeper to prepare a meal.
An hour later, he arrived at the school with a meal just in time for class to end.
What he didn’t expect was to see Qiu Wenfei following closely behind Huo Youqing as they exited the classroom.
Gong Lang’s face immediately darkened. Like a lion protecting its territory, he glared at Qiu Wenfei, noticing that the other didn’t avoid his gaze. His cold smile grew even more sinister, but because Huo Youqing was present, he didn’t make a scene. “Youyou, come have lunch with me.”
He raised the food container in his hand. “It’s from home, all your favorite dishes.”
He deliberately left out the word “my” to emphasize his closeness to Huo Youqing.
Huo Youqing stopped, looked at Gong Lang seriously for a moment, then nodded. He told his roommate something briefly and left with Gong Lang.
While they were eating, Gong Lang casually asked, “Isn’t that Qiu Wenfei from a different major? How come he’s attending your classes?”
“He’s auditing.” Huo Youqing also found Qiu Wenfei’s behavior strange. Lately, whenever Qiu Wenfei had no classes, he would come to audit theirs. Logically, someone from Qiu Wenfei’s clinical major should have a packed schedule, so it was unclear why he was auditing their classes.
However, since Qiu Wenfei usually came with another roommate who was also in the same major as Huo Youqing, and they got along well, Huo Youqing hadn’t bothered to ask why.
Gong Lang wasn’t pleased with this answer. As he considered how to teach Qiu Wenfei a lesson, he noticed Huo Youqing putting down his chopsticks.
“Done already? Want some more?” he asked.
Huo Youqing shook his head. Once Gong Lang put down his own chopsticks, Huo Youqing spoke up, “There’s something I want to talk about.”
“What’s so serious?” Gong Lang immediately sensed something was off. He tried to lighten the mood with a smile. “Are you going to ask me where I’ve been the past few days?”
“No, it’s something else. Gong Lang, if you had someone you liked and I hurt them, would you hate me? Would you hit me?”
Someone I like?
The person he liked was right in front of him.
Gong Lang wanted to confess on the spot, but he knew this wasn’t the right time. He wasn’t prepared, and he didn’t want to scare Huo Youqing. So, with a laugh, he said, “Why would you think that? I’ve told you before, I could never hate or hit you. As for someone I like…” He left the sentence unfinished. “You’re the most important person to me.”
Huo Youqing lowered his head, knowing that the person in front of him couldn’t foresee that nine years later, he would break into his cousin’s house in the middle of the night, assault him, and take him to the hospital because of Dai Yuan. At that time, it would seem like he was ready to make his cousin pay if anything happened to Dai Yuan.
He knew that what would happen nine years later would be his fault. But he had clearly explained to Qiu Wenfei what had happened at the bar when Dai Yuan fainted. With Gong Lang’s abilities, he should have been able to verify the truth from the bar staff or by reviewing the surveillance footage.
However, Gong Lang didn’t do anything.
Qiu Wenfei could be ignored since he was just a roommate, but Gong Lang…
“I don’t want to be friends with you anymore,” Huo Youqing said.
By not being friends, Gong Lang wouldn’t introduce Dai Yuan to him when he was 22. Even if he lost his memories of the 27-year-old timeline, he wouldn’t encounter Dai Yuan again. Dai Yuan wouldn’t be hurt by his future self, and Gong Lang wouldn’t hate him so much.
It would be better for everyone.
Gong Lang’s expression immediately changed, but he still tried to smile as he said, “Did you have another strange dream? Or did someone tell you something? Youyou, we’ve always been the best of friends, haven’t we? I’ve been with you for so many years. From the first day I met you, I knew you’d be the most important person in my life. Please don’t do this to me.”
His voice trembled as he spoke.
Huo Youqing felt uncomfortable seeing Gong Lang like this. He poured him a glass of water, hoping it would calm him down. But as soon as he placed the glass near Gong Lang’s hand, it was knocked over.
“Bang!”
The glass shattered on the ground, spilling water all over Gong Lang and even cutting his hand with the broken glass.
Huo Youqing was momentarily stunned. He reached into his bag to get a band-aid, but before he could take it out, Gong Lang, who had stood up and leaned in toward him, grabbed his wrist.
Gong Lang assumed that Huo Youqing was scared and trying to grab his bag to leave, so he tightened his grip.
“Forget what you just said. You’re not allowed to say that again. Youyou, don’t make me angry,” he said, taking a deep breath and forcing a smile. “Be good.”
The blood from the wound on Gong Lang’s hand stained Huo Youqing’s white wrist, the wet, bright red color jarring to the eye.
