Fu Daiqing's wedding went on as planned, without a single hitch.

Xu Tangcheng didn't know beforehand exactly when the wedding would take place but when he returned to the dorm on a certain night, he heard Cheng Xu talking on the phone with his family.

"I really can't go back. Our departure is the day after tomorrow."

One hand paused on the laptop's touchpad. After a while, it tapped to open a video, playing it on mute. Xu Tangcheng glanced in that direction. Unsurprisingly, it was a public lecture, just like before.

This was the fifth one in the past two months.

His gaze shifted to the bookshelf. Two rows of books were stacked neatly there, half of them similarly newly added in the past two months. On one end of the shelf was a pot of succulents. It didn't look very nice and even appeared rather feeble. Cheng Xu brought it back from the Bird Market a while ago.

He seemed to have been very busy for the past two months.

By the time the call ended, one third of the video had already played. At the very end, Cheng Xu let out a soft laugh and said, "Then you should bring an extra red packet and say that it's from me."

As before, he spoke in a whisper.

Very quickly, the noise in the room became that of American English being spoken at a rapid-fire pace. The phone call had ended.

A very large suitcase laid on the floor of the dorm room, a quarter empty. Xu Tangcheng's gaze fell on it. After a short while, it felt more and more real to him that Cheng Xu was truly leaving.

During this period of time, Yi Zhe was constantly on campus, busy writing his graduation thesis. Meanwhile, Xu Tangcheng had to go to Japan in May for a short knowledge exchange and needed to make some prior preparations with his teammates. Thus, he also remained on campus most of the time. On top of that, he was worried about Cheng Xu's emotional state, so he purposely spent more time in the dorm. As much as possible, he accompanied Cheng Xu throughout the day but he still only found out about this piece of news about Cheng Xu from Yi Zhe's mouth.

"Cross-medium communications?" Xu Tangcheng didn't quite dare believe his ears.

"Yeah." Yi Zhe nodded with certainty. "My coursemate said so. He's in the same lab as Cheng Xu now."

At University A, students automatically admitted for postgraduate studies could choose to take a portion of the postgraduate subjects during the second half of Year 4. They could also join the labs already and begin studying earlier.

"He said that Teacher Deng has long wanted Cheng Xu to follow him to study this topic but Cheng Xu seemed to be afraid that he would have to go on a ship for the experiments so he didn't agree." In the noisy cafeteria, Yi Zhe twisted the cap off a bottle of water and put it in front of Xu Tangcheng. Then, he added, "This time, it was Cheng Xu who approached Teacher Deng himself."

Cheng Xu wasn't someone very decisive but his decision this time was made without discussing with anyone.

When he went back that night, Xu Tangcheng asked Cheng Xu the reason. He asked if Cheng Xu knew that this was a long-term project and that if he joined it, it would affect his graduation timing. Furthermore, studying this type of underwater communications definitely required him to go out to sea.

Cheng Xu nodded and said that he knew.

"You…" Xu Tangcheng was suddenly at a loss for words. He didn't know what he should say. When he heard this news during the day, his immediate reaction was shock. Then, other than heartache, he was also a little angry. He could understand that Cheng Xu wanted to run away but he felt that no matter how broken-hearted he was, he shouldn't mess up the plans for his life because of relationship issues, exchanging his future for a temporary peace.

"I know that this is a little impulsive but…" Cheng Xu poured himself a glass of water but it was so hot that he could not drink it. Without thinking, he held the glass for a while, then very quickly moved his hand away and curled it into a fist. "I don't have any other choice."

He only said that one line before lowering his head and saying nothing more. Xu Tangcheng stood leaning against the desk for a long while. He still felt that it wasn't worth it. But Cheng Xu's quiet persistence seemed to be telling him that this method was reasonable, that between the residual feelings from a relationship and one or two years' worth of precious time, an equals sign could be drawn.

On the day Cheng Xu left, Xu Tangcheng sent him to the airport. He waited behind while Cheng Xu checked in his luggage and saw that when Cheng Xu bent over to pick up the suitcase, the backpack strap on one of his shoulders suddenly slid off. Perhaps he was rather flustered, or perhaps the suitcase was too heavy; Cheng Xu's body swayed forward. He pushed himself up against the service counter, just barely managing to remain steady, then pushed up the fallen strap with his other hand.

Afraid that the roads would be congested on the way there, they had left early and the traffic conditions that could still be considered smooth gave them a lot of waiting time. Xu Tangcheng wanted to sit with Cheng Xu for a while but Cheng Xu insisted that he should go back. Xu Tangcheng knew that Cheng Xu didn't want to take up too much of his time so he didn't insist. He only looked at the time and reminded him to take the medication for airsickness after going in.

"Mm." Cheng Xu pushed his glasses up, then shrugged his shoulders, giving his large backpack a bounce.

"About getting on a ship—you can give it a try first. If you really can't handle it, don't be shy to tell your teacher. If you spend the whole time on the ship vomiting, you won't be able to work anyway."

"Yeah, I know." Cheng Xu smiled at him, then took a couple of steps back and waved. "You should go back."

The number of people at the airport in the capital city was as numerous as ever. For some reason, there were always so many people jetting off to the high skies for different reasons. Cheng Xu joined a long, winding queue. After a while, he turned his head and looked in the direction where Xu Tangcheng was standing.

Seeing that Xu Tangcheng had yet to leave, he waved for a second time.

He only paused briefly before turning around again but this scene that seemed so familiar sent Xu Tangcheng into a brief stupor. When he was younger, when he sent Xu Tangxi to school, Xu Tangxi had been like that too. After saying goodbye, she would turn her head to look at him but also didn't dare to look too long, just two seconds at the most. No matter how much she couldn't bear to, after two seconds, she would tug on her school bag and enter the school gates.

Cheng Xu frequently reminded Xu Tangcheng of Tangxi, because the two of them had a very obedient streak to them. However, Xu Tangxi was actually mischievous by nature. It was just that her health wasn't good so there were a lot of times when she had no choice but to be obedient. But Cheng Xu seemed to not have much of a temper at all by nature, nor did he know what it meant to be selfish.

Xu Tangcheng thought back seriously for a while. In the many years they had known each other, he truly had never seen Cheng Xu angry before. Even if Cheng Xu was unhappy because of something, he would just sulk by himself for a while and wouldn't reveal a hint of it to anyone.

"He's gone in?"

A voice suddenly came from behind him, startling Xu Tangcheng. He turned around and saw Zheng Yikun beside him—hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled all over, the lingering smell of alcohol all over his body—the complete picture of a hangover. A transparent bag from a convenience store hung from his hand. Xu Tangcheng took a quick glance and saw a pack of Wrigley's mints, a box of pills and a small bottle of mineral water.

Xu Tangcheng did not answer him. He only lifted his chin towards the front as a hint.

Cheng Xu had already turned the corner into the third row of the queue. His not-tall body was faintly hidden and only his slightly lowered head could be seen between the gaps of the people walking by. The queue inched forward, Cheng Xu suddenly lifted a leg and rubbed his calf.

Looks like a suitcase just knocked into him. As Xu Tangcheng thought that, Zheng Yikun who was beside him was already taking large strides forward.

The person in the queue heard someone calling out and snapped his head around to look in that direction. Zheng Yikun beckoned him. After a brief shock, Cheng Xu turned around and started to walk out against the flow of people. He hunched his shoulders, trying to shrink his upper body as much as possible. His mouth kept moving; he was probably saying things like "sorry" and "excuse me" to the people in the queue.

Xu Tangcheng didn't go forward. He stood behind a pillar, leaning against it, and waited.

After about ten minutes, Zheng Yikun came back. His hand was no longer holding the bag but the bottle of water was still there, and was also half empty.

"Cheng-ge, I'll follow you back?" The look in Zheng Yikun's eyes was still the one Xu Tangcheng was familiar with. Zheng Yikun ran a hand through his hair and said, "I drank too much last night. I got a friend to dump me here just now."

The two of them walked towards the car park. The whole way there, Zheng Yikun was rubbing his temples. When he got into the car, he asked Xu Tangcheng with a frown, "Ge, do you have cigarettes?"

Xu Tangcheng fished out a pack of cigarettes and tossed it to him. Zheng Yikun then said, "Lighter."

After obtaining these two items with painstaking effort like he was squeezing toothpaste from a tube, Zheng Yikun wound down the window and lit a cigarette.

"This thing that he's doing, will he always need to be on a ship?"

When more than half the cigarette was burned, Zheng Yikun asked a question.

"I'm not sure." After saying that, Xu Tangcheng saw an obvious increase in the frustration on Zheng Yikun's face.

"Huh…" Zheng Yikun dragged out the sound, giving it a twist in the end, then said, "Makes my heart ache."

If he were to speak freely, Xu Tangcheng would say that of all the people he had encountered, Zheng Yikun was the one most like a scoundrel. But his kind of scoundrel wasn't entirely bad; it just frequently gave Xu Tangcheng a feeling that firstly, he wasn't speaking the truth and secondly, he did not put forward his sincerity. It was like a one-way mirror with a colourful pattern on one side; with one look, he could understand what others were thinking but other people could forget about understanding him. Just like now—he had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his head was leaning back against the seat and he was saying "makes my heart ache" with a long sigh, but his face still had an improper smile on it. To Xu Tangcheng's ears, this "heart ache" sounded like there was some sincerity in it but no matter how he thought about it, he also felt that those words were said too lightly, like they would scatter even without any wind.

Xu Tangcheng's stance towards people like Zheng Yikun was to maintain a respectful distance, so he had never asked Zheng Yikun about what happened that night at Des—even if he asked, he wouldn't get any sincere reply. Furthermore, he knew that even if Zheng Yikun could sense something, he wouldn't ask Xu Tangcheng. Hence, Xu Tangcheng could purposely not give him a lighter, could completely expose his cold attitude.

These were the subtle curbs and limitations between two people.

The phone suddenly rang, cutting off Xu Tangcheng's thoughts. He accepted the call and put it on speaker. On the other end, Yi Zhe called out to him.

His voice ended the emptiness Xu Tangcheng had felt since last night.

But in the call, Yi Zhe sounded a little cross. He said that he just received a call from his father telling him to go to the airport tomorrow to pick up a friend's daughter, the girl that his father had insisted that he accompanied for shopping when he went to Shanghai a few years ago.

Without waiting for Xu Tangcheng to say anything comforting, Zheng Yikun opened his mouth beside him and laughed in disdain. "Oh my, the handsome man tactic…"

Xu Tangcheng left Beijing for Japan three days later. One day before that, Yi Zhe had already gone to the airport on his own to pick up the girl. They seemed to have an unbreakable bond with the airport this week. The number of toll receipts in Xu Tangcheng's car increased by a lot. Thinking about it later, this week was a dividing line. The sudden frequent separations, the wrong reunions that they could do nothing about, it all seemed to take the feelings they had put nicely in place in their rented apartment and drag them out into the stream of reality.

The people in the stream were strangers to their love, yet a close presence in their lives.

At one in the afternoon, Xu Tangcheng touched down at Haneda Airport. At ten past two Beijing time, Yi Zhe received a message while helping the girl handle a dispute from a rear-end collision: Arrived safely.

The police station was in a mess from the argument between a few people. Yi Zhe took a couple of steps back, avoiding the agitated crowd, and focused on replying to Xu Tangcheng in a quieter spot. But before he could press send, the girl called his name in a loud voice, telling him to go over to handle the formalities in a very bossy tone.

Yi Zhe immediately wanted to snap back at her but due to his father's repeated warnings beforehand, he suppressed his anger and walked over after sending the message.

Xu Tangcheng's delegation had a very packed schedule. From the morning of the second day, they listened to lectures, gave lectures, joined conferences and discussions… It was only two days before they were due to leave Japan that they finally had some free time. They went to Asakusa Temple and Tokyo Tower.

When they returned to the hotel, the group of young people didn't want to go to sleep yet and said that they wanted to play cards. Hence, a few people gathered around in a circle while some who didn't join them also stayed in the room to watch the excitement. A girl took out her laptop, saying that since they had seen Tokyo Tower, then why don't they watch a T.V. series.

"Tokyo Tower?" Xu Tangcheng had already gotten up to leave but he heard those words while opening the door and paused. He turned and asked this question.

There was a happy surprise in the girl's eyes. She asked, "Have you watched it?"

But Xu Tangcheng shook his head. "Only one episode."

"Why?" The girl continued to ask, curious. "Is it not good? This series has good reviews."

"It's good, I just…" His hand on the door handle, Xu Tangcheng carefully picked his words and said, "I'm not used to watching shows that explore relationships."

To be more precise, he was not used to watching works about family love. From the time he was born, this kind of emotion had existed firmly in him. His family had never stinted on the love they gave him and he was also the same to them. Cinematic masterpieces generally did not lack scenes that made viewers emphasise with the story and it was very hard for him to avoid them. His weak points that made him cry had been hit before but after his eyes reddened, he would feel that there wasn't a need to use this method to appreciate your loved ones. After all, this was something he understood and remembered at all times.

Leaving the lively room, taking the chance while his temporary roommate was not back yet, Xu Tangcheng quickly opened his laptop and sent a video chat request to Yi Zhe.

He thought that Yi Zhe would be on campus. Unexpectedly, in the video, Yi Zhe was sitting on the sofa with his hair dripping wet.

"You're alone?" Yi Zhe probed.

"Yeah, they're playing."

The person in the video heard him and immediately stood up. The camera angle swung, showing a rug that Xu Tangcheng had never seen before.

"You bought another rug?" Xu Tangcheng immediately asked in surprise.

"Yeap." Yi Zhe held the laptop to show the rug and even extended a leg to step on it. "Let me tell you, this one is super comfortable. A hundred times more comfortable than the previous one."

That was why Yi Zhe's literature skills were indeed lacking. A phrase like "a hundred times more" was something Xu Tangcheng no longer used when he was in primary school.

Thinking of the rug that had spent a mere short holiday in their home, Xu Tangcheng wanted to kneel down to him. "But you bought the previous one only half a month ago. Did you throw it already?"

"No." After showing off the rug to him, Yi Zhe turned the camera angle back to himself and smiled at him with an expression like he had expected that question. "I know you would scold me. I put it in the bedroom."

Xu Tangcheng sighed. Finally, he said, "Don't put the rug in the bedroom. It attracts dust."

"Then, where should I put it?"

There really isn't anywhere else…

"Never mind." Half-resigned and half-worried, in the end, Xu Tangcheng still smiled. "Leave it there for now. I'll take a look when I'm back."

Once he mentioned going back, Yi Zhe immediately perked up.

"I found a shop with very good grilled fish today. I think you'll definitely like it. It's on the way back from the airport, I'll take you there when the time comes."

"Okay." Xu Tangcheng nodded, then asked, "You went to eat there today? With that girl?"

"Not with her. I've been avoiding her for two days already." Yi Zhe felt frustrated the moment this topic was brought up. "She clearly has a bunch of friends in Beijing, why the hell is my dad insisting that I spend time with her? How big is this business that he needs to do so much to please them."

"It probably has something to do with the girl's own intentions too." Thinking of the "handsome man tactic" that Zheng Yikun mentioned, Xu Tangcheng felt rather angered on Yi Zhe's behalf but he still couldn't resist making a joke, "You are more charming."

Yi Zhe heard that and was at first stunned. Then, he laughed at once and said confidently, "You're complimenting me."

Xu Tangcheng didn't expect that he would interpret the joke in such a serious way. For a moment, he was at a loss for words, his mouth falling open.

Before he could answer and before Yi Zhe could say anything more, the two of them locked eyes for a few seconds through the two screens, across a long, long distance.

And then, both of them broke out in laughter in unison.

The wind in May was very comfortable. The laughter coming from the laptop was just like this wind. Sitting beside the window, all of a sudden, Xu Tangcheng wanted to return immediately to that apartment, to step on that newly-bought rug and see if it was really as Yi Zhe had described.

Like they had telepathy, Yi Zhe suddenly said in a soft voice, "I miss you so much."

During the day, the girls he was travelling with gave Xu Tangcheng a piece of locally made chocolate. It was very sweet. And right now, Xu Tangcheng felt as though that piece of chocolate was flapping tiny little wings and landing in his heart, blushing as the warmth melted it. He pressed his lips together and looked at the screen. After a while, he nodded lightly.

"Mm."

"Just a mm..." After muttering a line, Yi Zhe suddenly shifted, sitting up properly. When the camera angle stabilised again, Xu Tangcheng heard him ask, "What about you?"

A beep sounded. The room door opened. Stunned for a moment, Xu Tangcheng turned and saw his roommate enter.

"They bought booze, aren't you going to join them and drink a bit?" his roommate asked him as he entered. Seeing that Xu Tangcheng was holding his phone, he asked, "On a video call?"

Xu Tangcheng nodded.

The conversation with Yi Zhe naturally headed into unimportant topics. It wasn't convenient with someone there so they very quickly ended the call after exchanging a few more words and switched to communicating via typed words.

Xu Tangcheng said goodnight before going to bed, then finally recalled that interrupted question. He spun his phone in his hand. All of a sudden, he was wondering: if his roommate hadn't come back at that moment, what would he say?

With this thought, he finally realised that he seemed to have never told Yi Zhe things such as missing him.

Yi Zhe had already been lying in bed for quite a while but when he thought of Xu Tangcheng coming back the day after tomorrow, he was rather excited. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep. After thinking for a while, he switched on the lights and rolled up the rug in the bedroom. Then, he crouched down to look. Maybe it was just in his mind, but he couldn't help but feel that there was a layer of dust on the floor. So he went to the bathroom, rinsed the mop and began mopping the floor in the middle of the night.

When he was done and his heart was comfortable, he got back into bed. He took up his phone to check the time but saw a message from Xu Tangcheng's QQ account.

Yi Zhe opened it and saw that Xu Tangcheng had written: I miss you a lot.

Two days later, Xu Tangcheng returned to Beijing.

Perhaps it was because he hadn't been sleeping well these few days and his body was not in a good condition, he was very dizzy when the plane landed. Even when the plane came to a complete stop, his nausea did not go away. He was sitting in the window seat so when the passengers got up to take their luggage and walk out, Xu Tangcheng did not rush to move and instead, sat there quietly to alleviate the discomfort he was feeling.

There were already people making calls to report their safe arrival. Xu Tangcheng also thought he should hurry to call Zhou Hui and Yi Zhe. He had just gotten up when he suddenly heard a girl in the seat behind him exclaim in shock, "Senior Yu An was beaten up?"

"Huh?" Immediately, his coursemates who were also waiting asked, "What happened? Who beat him up?"

Xu Tangcheng also looked to the back. The girl was tapping rapidly on her phone, like she was replying to a message.

"Someone in Year 4."

"Year 4? Who? Why?"

The situation was unclear, there were people continuing to ask. But the girl said, "I don't know either. Wait a minute, I'm asking."

Most of the people on the plane had left. Xu Tangcheng frowned. As he listened to the conversation, he stood in the aisle and reached up for his own backpack. He dug his phone out of the bag and switched it on but to his surprise, he saw that the message he sent to Yi Zhe before departing had yet to receive any response even now.

While he puzzled over it, his phone vibrated. Xu Tangcheng hurried to look.

There were only two spam messages.

"Fuck, this brat." A boy swore behind him. "He beat up someone in our lab?"

Right at this moment, Xu Tangcheng suddenly had a bad feeling. This kind of feeling was like the airsickness he had just now, hitting him without warning, yet was really and truly making its presence known. He gripped his phone tightly, turned around, and asked the girl, "What's his name?"

"Huh?"

"The person who hit Yu An, what's his name?"

T/N:

There are a couple of inconsistencies in this chapter and all I can say is I've checked both the web and print (trad CN version) multiple times and that is indeed the case...