It took two people who had spent decades in the past five or six minutes to successfully add each other on WeChat.
Gu Yuanbai sent Xue Yuan off in a taxi. As the car started moving, Xue Yuan’s calm demeanor shattered. He clutched his phone like a treasure, his smile a bit stiff, filled with regained joy and bitterness.
He was inexplicably happy and felt satisfied.
Awkwardly, he found the newly added WeChat contact and, following the rules he remembered, seriously sent a message.
—Hello.
Gu Yuanbai’s phone beeped. He opened it and saw: “…”
—Did you forget to say something?
Xue Yuan frowned, unsure how to respond. The driver glanced at him through the rearview mirror, cheerfully asking, “Young man, texting your girlfriend?”
“It’s not a girlfriend.” Xue Yuan pressed his lips together and calmly stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
In his mind, he kept thinking: Gu Yuanbai, Gu Yuanbai, Gu Yuanbai.
Madly recalling every day and night he spent with his beloved.
The young emperor was waiting for him, how painful it must be for him not to see Xue Yuan in the underworld.
With this thought, he silently hunched his back.
The pain, feeling like he betrayed his beloved emperor, leaving him alone to face death.
Gu Yuanbai patiently waited for a message, but it seemed his savior had completely forgotten about it. His face darkened as he shoved his phone back into his pocket, only to take it out again after a few steps, unable to resist opening the savior’s profile and sneaking a peek at his Moments.
His Moments were empty, with only one message from three days ago, featuring a ramen shop discount: “Share to enjoy an 11% discount and get a free cola, no limit on time or quantity. Don’t miss out!”
…He really was poor.
The genuinely poor Xue Yuan had returned to his rented room, using his good hand to boil water and make instant noodles.
The rented room was small and damp, with just a bed, a table, and a chair. A kettle and utensils were placed by the table, and half a box of instant noodles had already been eaten.
Although the school dormitory was cheap, it was inconvenient for part-time work, and Xue Yuan didn’t like living with others.
The overpowering smell of instant noodles filled the room. After eating, Xue Yuan took out the crumpled bills from his pocket.
He wasn’t used to mobile payments and didn’t consider them as real money. The bills, crumpled in his pocket all day, included several red ones, with the rest being colorful.
Xue Yuan carefully smoothed the bills with one hand and placed them in a tin box. When the tin box was full, he would have enough money to find Gu Yuanbai.
With the money organized, only a clean business card was left on the table. Xue Yuan stared at the card for a long time, his resolve and thoughts tugging at each other, the smell of braised beef noodles lingering in the air, becoming greasy after a while.
Contact him.
Don’t contact him.
Before Xue Yuan could decide, he suddenly remembered that this person mentioned he had a boyfriend.
His boyfriend was also in great shape.
The old wooden table creaked, and Xue Yuan realized he was gripping the table with a pale face.
He tried to suppress the inexplicable emotions but couldn’t control his anxiety, pacing back and forth before finally grabbing the business card and glaring at it.
Who exactly was this person, making him so conflicted, turning Xue Yuan into someone unrecognizable, like a trapped beast unable to break free?
They had only met once.
The black words on the white card were clear, and above the contact number were three flamboyant characters: Gu Yuanbai.
***
Gu Yuanbai’s school was in the city center, and by the time he finished navigating the traffic and reached the school gate, his roommates had already returned to the dorm.
The dorm closed at midnight, and it was now eleven-thirty. Gu Yuanbai had the leisure to jog a couple of laps around the track before leisurely heading to the dormitory.
His phone vibrated, and Gu Yuanbai’s eyelid twitched, immediately thinking of the savior who had greeted him earlier but then ignored him. He opened the message, and sure enough, it was from him.
The message was a confusing question.
—Do you know who I am?
The question was amusing. Gu Yuanbai thought, who the h*ll knows who you are?
Acting all high and mighty, hot one moment and cold the next, leaving a person full of pent-up frustration.
Gu Yuanbai politely replied with a smiling emoji and added, “Who are you?”
Xue Yuan looked at the smiling emoji and felt his eyes begin to sting. Did he want to smile at him? He also wanted to see his smile.
Then he remembered that he had a boyfriend.
He had a boyfriend…
Xue Yuan’s expression darkened.
Gu Yuanbai, this person was also named Gu Yuanbai. Instinct told Xue Yuan that this person was his young emperor, but his young emperor seemed to have forgotten him, and he even had a boyfriend, who wasn’t him.
Was this person the reincarnation of the young emperor?
Everything about him, even the small gestures like rubbing his temples, was exactly like his beloved. No matter what form he took, Xue Yuan would fall in love with him again.
Only this soul could make Xue Yuan fall in love again. No matter how many lifetimes Xue Yuan lived, he wanted to be with Gu Yuanbai. Even if Gu Yuanbai already had a boyfriend and didn’t remember their past love, he would make Gu Yuanbai remember him and love him again.
He would pursue him, snatching him away from his boyfriend.
—I am Xue Yuan.
The screen lit up, and Gu Yuanbai glanced down, freezing in place.
Xue Yuan waited for a long time without a response and sighed in disappointment. It seemed that reincarnation made him forget everything. He forced himself to perk up, “Wrong name, it’s Huo Yuan.”
This body’s name was Huo Yuan.
Gu Yuanbai’s feelings of absurdity and joy were doused by a bucket of cold water. He lowered his eyes, too upset to reply.
—Oh.
Today had been strange. Meeting this guy named Huo Yuan twice, each time he reminded him of Xue Yuan. There was a surge of emotion when he was with him, but before Gu Yuanbai could figure out what it was, Huo Yuan’s hot-and-cold attitude froze him out. When he saw the name “Xue Yuan,” he instinctively thought it was his Xue Jiuyao.
But his Xue Jiuyao, how could he be so indifferent?
Gu Yuanbai rubbed his temples with a complicated expression. Glancing at the time, he saw it was nearly midnight.
He rushed to the dorm, his phone buzzing constantly. He reached the dorm with only two minutes to spare.
Sweat trickled down his temples, and as he climbed the stairs, he finally had a moment to check his messages.
—There’s a new movie this Saturday. Want to see it?
—I’ll treat you.
Gu Yuanbai raised an eyebrow, his heart still pounding from his run, feeling as if the messages had quickened his heartbeat.
Now he was warm again.
“Got time.” That sounded too direct, so he deleted it.
“No time?” But Gu Yuanbai wanted to test the waters and see what the impulse in his heart was all about.
Deep down, he had a vague idea, but it was too faint, like a fragile bubble, so Gu Yuanbai didn’t dare to think too deeply about it.
He revised his response multiple times, then finally searched online for “How to respond when someone invites you to a movie?”
Among the answers, he picked one and copied it over.
—What movie?
Xue Yuan was stumped. He struggled to find the Saturday movie schedule, unsure which one to choose, so he asked a coworker.
“What’s a good movie to take someone to on Saturday?” The coworker was confused, “Who are you taking, a friend, family, or a girlfriend?”
Xue Yuan vaguely said, “Girlfriend.”
His reincarnated girlfriend.
The coworker laughed, “Huo Yuan, you’re amazing. It’s only been a few days, and you’ve already found a girlfriend. You work fast.”
Xue Yuan humbly replied, “I haven’t won her over yet.”
“It’s only a matter of time,” the coworker continued enthusiastically, “A girlfriend isn’t easy to woo. As men, we should be good to our girlfriends. Let me tell you…”
Xue Yuan hung up and sent a voice message to Gu Yuanbai: “You choose. Whatever you want to see, I’ll go with you.”
Gu Yuanbai’s roommates were already asleep. He climbed into bed, intending to convert the message to text, but the network was slow, and the message kept loading. Frustrated, he got up and woke his roommate Little Four.
Little Four groggily said, “Brother Bai?”
Brother Bai, cold and ruthless, said, “Give me your headphones.”
With the headphones, Gu Yuanbai finally listened to the message. The voice was low and intimate, almost teasing. Gu Yuanbai threw off his blanket and replied in a slow, deliberate voice, “I don’t watch movies with people I’m not close to.”
Xue Yuan’s ears tingled. Was this a hint?
He quickly replied.
—What counts as close?
—Well, we’re not close right now.
Xue Yuan’s heart raced. He felt like Gu Yuanbai was flirting with him.
He boldly said something a bit over the line because he missed his lover so much.
—You’ve seen all there is to see. Doesn’t that count as close?
Feeling suffocated under the covers, Gu Yuanbai’s face flushed as he threw off the blanket and typed manually.
—You were wearing underwear. Didn’t see anything inappropriate.
Stop talking nonsense, okay?
Xue Yuan swallowed and immediately replied.
—Wait, I’ll take off my pants and send you a picture.
“D*mn!” Gu Yuanbai tossed his phone away.
He immediately grabbed it again, hastily blocking Xue Yuan before he could send anything.
The dim light lit up his flushed face.
Do modern young people really play like this?
Who wants to see his… stuff?
Just like Xue Yuan, one shameless act after another.
Gu Yuanbai no longer believed they were unrelated.
Less than a minute later, a strange number called. Gu Yuanbai hung up, but the call persisted.
Looking around, he saw his roommates asleep. He answered in a hushed, annoyed tone, “What?”
“I couldn’t send the message,” Xue Yuan said calmly, “Why did you block me? Don’t you want the picture?”
Gu Yuanbai was exasperated, “Who wants your picture? Kid, this is pornography.”
“Why is your voice so soft?” Xue Yuan instinctively lowered his voice, “Porn? It’s not if I send it to you. It’s only porn if we send it back and forth.”
“….I’m going to sleep,” Gu Yuanbai subtly suggested ending the chat, “And if you don’t want to be blocked, stop sending crap. This Master doesn’t want to dirty my eyes.”
The use of “Master” made Xue Yuan’s eyes light up. In his heart, he murmured, Yuan Bai.
It’s his Yuan Bai.
With a voice as tender as water, he said, “Alright, I won’t send it.”
He chuckled, “I’ll wait until you want to see it. So, what movie do you want to see on Saturday?”
He kindly listed the movies playing on Saturday. Gu Yuanbai, hearing his voice, began to feel the drowsiness he couldn’t find the past few nights. His eyelids grew heavy, and before he finished listening, his phone slipped from his ear as he drifted into a peaceful sleep.
It was a peace and dependence he hadn’t noticed.
Hearing the soft breathing, Xue Yuan stopped talking, quietly listening to Gu Yuanbai’s shallow breaths. After a long while, he wiped his eyes against his pillow.
This was great.
He had found a reason to keep living.
Author’s note: The modern segment doesn’t have much plot. I just wanted to write two boys flirting, a sweet and ambiguous romance.
They both know it’s each other, but they don’t say it, like an old married couple back in the passionate pursuit phase.
