OS - 56

When Cheng Yuzhou passed the steps, he stepped with his right foot first.

This time, Yan Ci guessed correctly.

He smiled easily, and Zhou Yu could finally embrace him naturally, like a friend, “I hope you can sleep well every day.”

“Then let’s try starting tomorrow,” Yan Ci released her first, “You wait for him here; I’ll go buy it.”

“If you lose, you run the errand. If you win, you still run the errand. What a loss.”

Yan Ci smiled, “Actually, I just want to find a place to smoke a cigarette.”

________________________________________

Cheng Yuzhou didn’t know in advance that Zhou Yu had come to Nanjing. School hadn’t started yet, and he was at the hospital every day. It was Cheng Yanqing who got the information from Yan Ci and told him, only then did he rush back to the hospital with the lunch his family had prepared.

Cheng Wanyue’s diet was now bland, and the old lady would constantly change up the dishes for her, just hoping she would eat a little more.

“Why are you looking at me?” she feigned innocence.

Cheng Yuzhou took out a cup of milk tea from his bag. He had asked the doctor, and she could have a little. Cheng Wanyue’s eyes lit up when she saw the milk tea.

“Cheng Yanqing and I worked on this all morning; it tastes just like the store’s,” Cheng Yuzhou opened the lid for her to smell but didn’t immediately let her drink it. “Where did they go?”

“Can’t you call them yourself and ask?”

“I could, but I suspect you’d interfere and make me run a pointless errand. Zhou Yu definitely still favors you.”

“Good that you know,” Cheng Wanyue proudly tilted her chin, then told him, “They just went downstairs; they should still be at the hospital.”

She thought Cheng Yuzhou wouldn’t be able to stay even for a minute after knowing Zhou Yu was still at the hospital, but after a while, he remained seated, unmoving. “Why aren’t you going to find A-Yu?”

“No rush for a few minutes. I’ll go after you finish eating.”

“You just want to supervise me, don’t you!” Cheng Wanyue glared at him, with a forced smile, “It’s just this small cup. What’s wrong with me finishing it?”

Cheng Yuzhou smiled and said, “Good that you know.”

She could drink it, but not too much. She was already very well-behaved now, just saying things verbally. Cheng Yuzhou waited until she finished her IV drip before leaving.

________________________________________

Ten minutes earlier, Zhou Yu had sent him a message. She was in the garden downstairs. Yan Ci returned with steaming roasted sweet potatoes. The two met at the elevator entrance.

Cheng Yuzhou spoke first, “Let’s go home for dinner later. Cheng Yanqing and Grandma are waiting.”

“Mm,” Yan Ci nodded. A nurse pushed a hospital bed past, and he moved to the side. “Do I smell like smoke?”

“Can’t tell.”

“That’s good then.”

Yan Ci entered the elevator. Cheng Yuzhou withdrew his gaze and started jogging. There were few people in the garden; the plane trees were still bare. Zhou Yu sat on a bench watching a little boy play on a skateboard. Cheng Yuzhou slowed down when he saw her.

The little boy fell, and the skateboard continued to slide forward under momentum. Zhou Yu was thinking about Cheng Wanyue’s illness, her attention divided, her gaze unfocused as it followed the skateboard, until someone stepped on the skateboard and nimbly glided in front of her. Only then did she come back to her senses.

Compared to their last meeting, his hair had grown a little longer.

Zhou Yu raised her hand and touched his chin, asking, “It’s red here. How did that happen?”

Cheng Yuzhou casually lied, “Got into a fight.”

“Stop lying,” Zhou Yu stood up and wiped the red mark off his skin, “Is it lipstick?”

Cheng Yuzhou looked at the color on her finger with a calm reaction. He had gone straight to the ward after getting out of the car. Besides the familiar doctors and nurses, he had only spent twenty minutes in the same ward as Cheng Wanyue. “Cheng Wanyue is framing me again...”

Before he finished speaking, someone called his name from not far away. Zhou Yu also looked in the direction of the voice. The person was slender and tall, wearing a light-colored overcoat, much like a celebrity.

“You left the keys in my dad’s office. You walk so fast; I couldn’t catch up.”

“Thanks,” Cheng Yuzhou took the keys, then introduced Zhou Yu, “This is Wanyue’s attending doctor’s daughter.”

She smiled and added, “And also his high school classmate.”

Zhou Yu politely greeted her, “Hello.”

“Hello,” the other person looked at Cheng Yuzhou with a smile, “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

He clearly had appropriate ways to introduce her, like ‘Cheng Wanyue’s childhood friend’ or ‘Cheng Yanqing’s friend,’ but he chose to connect her to himself. “She’s someone I liked very much in the past and still like now, but she dumped me.”

“Oh, it’s you,” she looked at Zhou Yu a few more times, “I have something else to do, so I won’t interrupt your catching up.”

Although Cheng Yuzhou’s friends had never met Zhou Yu, they wouldn’t find her too unfamiliar, because in his third year of high school, Cheng Yuzhou’s social media revolved solely around studying, sleeping, and Zhou Yu.

“What are you thinking about?”

A girl’s sixth sense was always particularly keen at times like this. “Why do I feel like you’re framing Wanyue?”

The color of that girl’s lipstick was similar to the mark on his chin.

Cheng Yuzhou realized, took out a tissue, and wiped her hand clean. “No, definitely not. If I wanted to upset you, I’d never use such a silly method. There are plenty of clever ways to make you jealous and feel a sense of crisis, but I can’t bear to make you sad.”

Yan Ci left them enough time alone. Cheng Yanqing called to rush them several times before they went downstairs.

Cheng Yuzhou called a taxi, “Where are you staying tonight?”

“I came too quickly; I haven’t booked a room yet.”

“Stay at my place? You can squeeze in with Cheng Yanqing.”

Yan Ci said, “You two discuss it; I’m fine with anything.”

Cheng Yuzhou’s parents were both on business trips, so there was no one at home who would make Zhou Yu uncomfortable, otherwise he wouldn’t have offered.

Qian Shu heard they had come to Nanjing and added a few more dishes. Cheng Wanyue’s nap lasted two hours, so Qian Shu waited until they were home before preparing to go to the hospital.

Without Cheng Wanyue, the dinner table was always less lively.

Cheng Yanqing had clearly matured a lot. At first, no one mentioned Cheng Wanyue’s illness, but after drinking, he couldn’t help himself. As Zhou Yu listened to him talk about Cheng Wanyue’s suffering from her illness over the past six months, she felt increasingly distressed.

Yan Ci and Cheng Yanqing went outside. The auntie was tidying the dining room. Zhou Yu came out of the restroom, and only Cheng Yuzhou was left in the house. He was on the balcony, not wearing a coat. When he saw Zhou Yu, he put out his cigarette.

“There used to be a bird of paradise plant here.”

Even the flowerpot was gone; the balcony was very empty. “Was it too cold in winter? Did it freeze to death?”

Cheng Yuzhou looked at her and smiled, “No, I kicked it to paradise. The day I got my admission letter, I called you from here.”

She could guess the rest of what he didn’t say.

“That day, you must have been very sad too.”

Her memories of that period were very chaotic. Zhou Yu only remembered saying many bad things to him. “It seems no matter what choice I make, there will be regrets.”

Cheng Yuzhou wanted to say that he didn’t want to be her regret.

She was still wearing the hat Cheng Wanyue gave her. The heating was on inside, and her face was flushed from the warmth, a moist mist in her eyes. Cheng Yuzhou closed the balcony door and drew the curtains. The light dimmed.

“Did you drink just now?”

“Mm.”

“Then let me see if ‘in vino veritas’ works on you,” he knew her alcohol tolerance and knew she’d be bolder after drinking. “Men change their minds very quickly, Zhou Yu. Do you really want me to be with someone else?”

“...Mm.”

“Say it again.”

“No, I don’t,” she suddenly hugged his neck tightly, her choked sobs sounding utterly wronged. “But I’m not good at all.”

Cheng Yuzhou’s lips curved into a smile, “How come I think you’re pretty amazing? You even got me.”

She broke into a tearful laugh, “You’re praising yourself, aren’t you?”

He said, “And praising you, too.”