A Weight Lifted and the Last Piece of the Puzzle

"When I got here, the elevator wasn't broken yet."

Chen Ziang had no reply to Lu Chuan's remark.

He stared at Lu Chuan, as if trying to find some other meaning in those perfectly ordinary words. But after speaking, Lu Chuan went straight back to twisting his cup lid, without so much as another glance at him, as though he had simply mentioned a fact in passing.

Chen Ziang could only turn around and unpack the box containing his custom-built computer.

His movements weren't particularly rough, but they carried an unmistakable trace of sulkiness.

Han Dong sat nearby, looking first at Lu Chuan, then at Chen Ziang. His gaze moved between them, as if he sensed something was off but couldn't put his finger on what.

Lu Chuan withdrew his gaze and went back to arranging the things on his desk.

Han Dong had arrived.

Chen Ziang had arrived too.

Counting the still-empty spot by the window, Room 504 had the same four people in this life.

That was the real reason he had breathed that sigh of relief just now.

Over the past month, the car, the house, the money-everything had changed. He knew he had completely turned away from the path he had taken in his previous life, but a faint uncertainty had lingered in his heart. It was like a puzzle that was mostly complete, except a piece at the edge had never quite clicked into place.

Now, at least, he could be sure the dorm room hadn't changed.

Neither had the people.

Lu Chuan looked up and glanced over at Chen Ziang.

Chen Ziang was frowning as he wiped down his desk over and over with disinfectant wipes. First the spot for the keyboard, then the chair back, then the cabinet handles. He was thorough, and disgust was written all over his face. It was as if every speck of dust in the room offended his sense of aesthetics.

The scene was much the same as it had been in his previous life.

Only this time around, Lu Chuan felt completely different as he watched.

In his previous life, he had always looked at Chen Ziang with a resentful, uncomfortable hatred.

He hated that Chen Ziang had been born with everything, hated that he always spoke as if he stood above everyone else, and hated the way he seemed able to see straight through Lu Chuan with a single glance.

Later, when Lu Chuan's persona had fallen apart, he had blamed Chen Ziang for much of it, believing that those few words exposing him were why he had become a laughingstock in their circle.

Thinking about it now, it hadn't been that simple.

Chen Ziang did have a sharp tongue, and he liked putting on the airs of a local young master.

But he wasn't really a bad person. His family had money and local connections. If he had truly wanted to deal with a vain, well-connected student who was desperate to squeeze into their circle, he had plenty of uglier ways to do it.

But Chen Ziang hadn't done that in their previous life.

He had only called him out.

To some extent, those words had even been a warning.

It was just that Lu Chuan hadn't been willing to listen back then.

Because in his previous life, he really had been too fake, too annoying. Never mind Chen Ziang-even the present Lu Chuan, who had already lived through it once, probably wouldn't have been able to stand someone like that.

At that thought, the lingering grudge in his heart suddenly loosened.

When it came down to it, Chen Ziang wasn't his archenemy.

He was more like the most glaring mirror from Lu Chuan's previous life.

In this life, Lu Chuan wasn't putting on an act, and he owed no one anything.

It was enough for them all to be roommates in peace.

The dorm room hadn't been quiet for long before Han Dong, predictably, was the first to get restless.

He roughly put his things away, but less than two minutes after his butt hit the chair, he sprang up again and went over to Chen Ziang.

"Ziang, your dad was really something just now."

Han Dong's face was full of sincerity, and there wasn't a trace of sarcasm in his northeastern accent.

"I heard him all the way out in the corridor. I bet the whole fifth floor knows you're here. That bit about donating air conditioners blew my mind. Is he really donating them?"

Chen Ziang had just thrown away his last wipe. He paused at the question.

"That's just how he is. He speaks without thinking."

"Still pretty scary." Han Dong clicked his tongue, then his gaze landed on the watch on the desk. "Hey, that's a nice-looking watch. How much was it?"

The question was too direct.

Chen Ziang was clearly a little unaccustomed to it, as if he instinctively wanted to keep that overly direct way of talking at arm's length. But Han Dong's gaze was so open and frank. There was no fawning or jealousy, just simple curiosity.

He fell silent for two seconds, then gave him a figure.

"Over seventy thousand, I think."

Han Dong's eyes went round.

"Oh, my god."

The exclamation came straight from the heart, and the dorm room seemed to shake with it.

"Over seventy thousand for a watch? That's enough to buy a used sedan back where I'm from."

The corner of Chen Ziang's mouth twitched. He seemed to be trying to maintain his composure, but Han Dong's reaction made it a little hard to keep it up.

"It's not that much."

"That's not that much?" Han Dong slapped the desk. "Ziang, what you've got on your wrist isn't a watch. It's a down payment on an apartment in a remote little northeastern county town like ours."

Sitting nearby, Lu Chuan felt like laughing.

Chen Ziang clearly hadn't met anyone like this before either.

Put on airs with him, and he was even more direct. Try to rein it in, and he simply didn't understand all those twists and turns.

The strangest thing was that his bluntness wasn't annoying.

Because Han Dong genuinely didn't have a scheming bone in his body.

After marveling at the watch, he immediately squatted back down by his woven sack as if nothing had happened. He rummaged around, then suddenly pulled out a vacuum-packed bundle of red sausage and a bag of pine nuts.

"Come on, have a taste of our local specialties."

He shoved them straight into Chen Ziang's hands.

"My mom packed these for me. They're really fragrant. And these pine nuts-my second uncle gathered them himself up in the mountains. They're wild and ridiculously tasty, definitely better than anything from the supermarket."

Chen Ziang looked down at the red sausage. The packaging was far from attractive, almost a little too down-to-earth. His brow twitched involuntarily, and he clearly wanted to refuse.

"No need, I-"

"Take it." Han Dong deposited it in his arms without another word. "Don't stand on ceremony. We're roommates, so what's there to be polite about? I took one of your cigarettes just now, didn't I? Shouldn't I return the courtesy with some red sausage?"

That logic left Chen Ziang cornered. It didn't seem quite right to put it back.

All he could do was hold the packet of red sausage, looking a little awkward.

Han Dong still wasn't letting him off. He went ahead and unwrapped a sausage for him.

"Have a bite, just one."

Chen Ziang looked at it, then at Han Dong's face, which was practically glowing with enthusiasm. In the end, he lowered his head and took a bite.

Afterward, he tried to stay composed.

But after a two-second pause, he couldn't resist taking another bite.

Han Dong immediately broke into a grin.

"Well? I didn't lie to you, did I?"

Chen Ziang swallowed and nodded, still trying to keep up appearances.

"It's all right."

"What do you mean, all right? It's downright great." Han Dong laughed heartily. "If you like it, I'll get my mom to send some more later."

"There's no need."

"Don't be shy."

"I'm not shy."

"You are."

Chen Ziang's ears were practically on fire by then, but Han Dong didn't notice at all. He kept shelling pine nuts and pouring them onto Chen Ziang's desk as he went.

Most of the subtle testing of the waters that had just begun in the dorm room was swept away by Han Dong's antics.

Before long, the conversation shifted from watches and red sausage to Jiangcheng.

Everything was new to Han Dong. He asked which cafeteria had the best food, then whether there were any internet cafés near campus. After asking about military training, he started cursing the weather, saying someone with his build was most afraid of standing under the sun and would probably be roasted into a sweet potato.

At first, Chen Ziang kept up his airs a little, giving short answers.

But Han Dong was such a chatterbox, jumping from one thing to another, that he soon drew Chen Ziang in. When the talk turned to which streets in Jiangcheng were lively at night and which barbecue stalls had the longest lines, Chen Ziang clearly began enjoying himself.

Lu Chuan didn't sit on the sidelines like a mute the whole time either.

When it was his turn to speak, he chimed in.

He didn't compete for attention or show off. Most of the time, it seemed as if he was merely adding something in passing. Yet whenever he spoke, his words were always on point.

Han Dong said that once military training was over, they had to go all out and have a couple of big meals to make up for all the sweat they would shed over those ten-odd days.

Twisting his cup lid, Lu Chuan said casually, "Don't eat anything too greasy for the first meal after training. After so many days in the sun, give your stomach a couple of days to settle, or you'll probably feel sick."

Han Dong was taken aback.

"Good point!"

Chen Ziang glanced at him too, but said nothing.

Later, when they got to talking about food in Jiangcheng, Chen Ziang probably wanted to regain a little face after what had happened earlier. He casually mentioned a local private kitchen where reservations were hard to get.

"If you really want something good, there's a private kitchen over by the riverfront called Jiangnan."

His tone was casual.

"It's hard to get a reservation. Without someone you know to take you, you might not even get through the door."

Sure enough, Han Dong was hooked first.

"That exclusive?"

"Something like that." Chen Ziang leaned back in his chair. "My dad's taken people there a few times. The ingredients and chefs are pretty good."

As he spoke, he clearly glanced at Lu Chuan out of the corner of his eye.

It wasn't a strong implication, but he was still testing him.

Lu Chuan was wiping the rim of his cup. When he heard the restaurant's name, he didn't stop what he was doing, but instinctively repeated something he had heard the rich second-generation heirs brag about in his previous life.

"Their scallion-braised sea cucumber and fermented-rice crab are pretty good, but those aren't their best dishes now."

Chen Ziang froze.

Lu Chuan continued, "What's really good is their mandarin fish in clear broth. It's not on the menu; it depends on the ingredients available that day. When the old head chef was still there, his control of the heat was very consistent. The broth was clean, and the fish was firm. There's someone new now, and they're still particular about the ingredients, but the handling of the heat is a little deliberate. They're trying too hard to create layers of flavor, and they've lost the original taste instead."

He spoke quite calmly.

As if he were merely commenting on an ordinary bowl of noodles.

But the dorm room fell silent for a moment.

Han Dong didn't understand any of the finer points. He just thought it sounded impressive.

"Whoa, Lu Chuan, you've actually eaten there?"

Chen Ziang, on the other hand, was stunned.

Because he had heard that assessment before.

Just last week, his father had taken him to that restaurant to dine with a hard-to-please guest. During the meal, the guest had put down his chopsticks and said almost exactly the same thing. Even the part about "the heat being too deliberate and losing the original taste" was nearly identical.

That wasn't the kind of assessment you could find by searching online reviews.

Still less was it something a student bragging in a dorm room could guess correctly.

Chen Ziang stared at Lu Chuan, the feeling that he couldn't see through him growing stronger.

The man dressed so ordinarily and spoke so calmly, but the more he acted that way at moments like this, the more something seemed off.

Han Dong was still pressing him with questions.

"Then which place near campus would you say is best for a poor student like me?"

Lu Chuan put down his cup and finally smiled.

"The clay-pot place on the back street. The storefront's shabby, but their pork rib casserole is better value than what you get at a lot of big restaurants."

"I'll remember that!" Han Dong decided on the spot. "That's where Room 504's going for our first meal."

The sky gradually darkened.

Outside the window, the bright white light slowly took on a yellow hue. The shadows of the trees below the dorm building stretched out, and the lights by the sports field began to come on. Inside Room 504, the atmosphere was slowly becoming what a college men's dorm room ought to be.

Han Dong kept talking, saying it got cold enough back home in winter to freeze your ears off, and that during the summer after graduating from high school, he had worked his ass off at a barbecue stall for a month to save up some spending money. Chen Ziang complained that he was noisy, but as he listened, he actually started responding now and then.

Lu Chuan leaned back in his chair and took a sip of water.

The water was warm.

The side of the cup felt solid against his hand.

His gaze shifted, falling involuntarily on the still-empty spot by the door.

He had arrived.

Han Dong had arrived.

Chen Ziang had arrived too.

Now, only one person was missing.

Zhao Yifan.

The one in Room 504 who had wasted the fewest words in their previous life, and the one who had seen through many things the earliest.

When most people looked at others, they looked at appearances first, at the spectacle. But Zhao Yifan was different.

Just as Lu Chuan reached that thought, footsteps suddenly sounded in the corridor.

Not heavy.

Not hurried or uneven, either.

There was no grating sound of a suitcase being dragged across the floor, nor the clamor of parents following along and talking nonstop. The footsteps were steady, each one landing on the terrazzo floor as they approached Room 504.

Han Dong gradually fell silent.

Chen Ziang raised his head too.

Outside the door, the footsteps stopped.

The next second.

"Click."

The door handle was gently pressed down.