There Should Be More Beautiful Memories

Just like that, another week flew by in a flash.

Life was much the same as usual, a three-point line between the library, the dormitory, and the cafeteria. It was fulfilling—or perhaps, it had never been this fulfilling before.

Ye Kaifu always followed closely behind. While his mouth refused to admit it, his heart actually enjoyed the abuse.

This kind of life was simply too stimulating. He never imagined that in the final days of his vacation, he would encounter such a madman. And even more, that he would follow along like a madman himself.

What was this even about!

However, this day marked the arrival of their farewell.

The space elevator had a limited daily transport capacity. The 500,000 astronauts could not be sent up all at once; they would be launched in many batches, one after another.

The two of them were not in the same batch. Ye Kaifu's vacation had ended, and he was about to head into space ahead of schedule.

"...You know about the economic policies and the work grading system inside the ship, right? Although it hasn't been fully publicized yet, I estimate that once you get on board, you'll be taught these things systematically. It's good to prepare early, for instance, by writing papers or preparing for graduate exams and so on."

"Got it, got it. You don't need to worry about me."

Ye Kaifu said with a smile, "I'm an eighth-grade machinist. I'll start with an eighth-grade work rank, which is much higher than yours. A second-grade small fry like you can only clean the ship and can't do any other work."

Zhang Yuan retorted irritably, "That's true, you're much more impressive than me... See you when we get there, then."

Ye Kaifu suddenly widened his eyes and shouted, "Zhang Yuan, being with you, although it's tiring, it's very fulfilling. If I had met you earlier, I definitely would have been better than I am now..."

The hair on his arms stood on end!

The people around them cast strange looks their way.

"Get lost! Get out of here! You're leaving and you still want to disgust me!" Zhang Yuan cursed loudly.

"Hahaha, idiot, look at that expression on your face! I'm a standard straight man, who the hell would want to be with you!"

Ye Kaifu was overjoyed; this felt truly satisfying.

Did you see the expressions of those young girls who looked like they were about to vomit? Hahaha!

Zhang Yuan checked the calendar on his phone. Remaining vacation balance: 5 days.

As that time node drew closer, a strange sense of urgency grew thicker in the bottom of his heart.

This feeling was hard to describe in words, as if the final moment of life were approaching—tension, panic, and anxiety, all mixed together to form a complex sense of fragmentation.

"I'm off, bye!"

Ye Kaifu left with a suitcase. With his back to Zhang Yuan, he waved his hand behind him, thinking he looked quite cool.

He left alone, abandoning his mechanical harem, abandoning his fantasies about the fleet, abandoning everything, and setting off light.

His figure appeared very small amidst the orderly ranks of astronauts.

Perhaps, everyone appeared very small in front of the massive space elevator—small to an unbelievable degree.

"Bye."

The sun rose slowly from the east. This should be the last sunrise this batch of astronauts would ever see on Earth.

It was also Zhang Yuan's fifth-to-last.

Zhang Yuan saw that when Ye Kaifu passed the security check and walked into the space elevator, he wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

No, he wiped them twice, or maybe it was three times...

There were many astronauts making the same gesture. Once they went up, they would never again be able to step on the solid ground of their home planet.

Never again.

He couldn't help but sigh, "What a fool."

No, a whole group of fools.

He turned around and returned to campus.

He was alone again.

Living by himself in the dormitory, a sense of loneliness was inevitable. The paper was mostly finished, though there were still some details in the phrasing that needed revision. It should take one evening to fix...

Zhang Yuan felt he could give himself a day off, a real rest.

He lay on the bed, intending to nap for a few minutes, but found that he had too much on his mind and couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

He opened a social media app he hadn't used in a while, which was filled with a pile of red notification dots.

"Li Zhendong, how did it go with that girl you asked out?"

Li Zhendong still had that very arrogant tone, "We broke it off long ago. The girl was a catfish; her face was covered in acne, couldn't bring myself to do it. By the way, how's your machinist roommate?"

"He went up."

"So early."

"Yeah, different batches."

He chatted casually with Li Zhendong for a bit. As the time node approached, this show-off's mood didn't seem very good either; he spoke seriously and was no longer as flighty as before.

"...I'm traveling with my family right now, and I'm trying to convince my mom and dad to have another kid."

"My mom often hides away to cry, and I don't know how to comfort her. Actually, she just wants to cry; that's how women are, and my mom is no exception..."

Zhang Yuan sighed: "Sigh, these last few days, you should spend more time with them. Don't come over early."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yuan suddenly remembered the "bucket list" he had forgotten about.

He had been grinding away at his thesis for the past half-month and had almost completely forgotten about it.

Beautiful memories—there should indeed be more of them, even more.

He walked into a supermarket and bought a 38 Federal Credits popsicle to hold in his mouth; it was cream-flavored.

The taste was just average; he didn't know why it was sold for such a high price.

Then, he checked off an item from the "bucket list": "Eat a popsicle that makes your heart ache at the price..."

"Completed!"

If he boarded the spaceship, he probably wouldn't even be able to eat something like a popsicle; where would there be space on a ship to run a popsicle factory?

"No wonder Ye Kaifu kept eating popsicles before he left... So he was working on his bucket list."

What should he do next?

He didn't know.

Zhang Yuan felt a little lost. Suddenly having free time, he seemed to have nothing to do.

Should he go back to studying? After all, there is no end to learning.

No, today was a rest day.

"...I want to eat that BQ ice cream," a girl nearby said.

The boy beside her said very dotingly: "That's so expensive. I'll give you two choices: eat one BQ ice cream, or have two cups of milk tea so I can have one too."

"Then let's go with the two cups of milk tea... See how good I am to you?"

Watching couples pass by in the supermarket, for some reason, Zhang Yuan thought of his ex-girlfriend again.

How many years ago was that story?

Zhang Yuan recalled carefully and suddenly realized that he couldn't even remember her face; it took him several seconds just to think of her name.

He only remembered: the girl was quite cute, had a bit of a temper, and her grades were just average. Because of the pressure of studying, she needed to be coaxed every day to focus on her work.

Back then, they were still high school students with no money, weren't allowed to use mobile phones, and could only use very old-fashioned paper currency when they went out.

Every time they went on a date, the girl would give her money to Zhang Yuan, with the excuse: it was too much trouble to take it out.

As a result, Zhang Yuan would hold less than one or two hundred Federal Credits in his left hand, while his right arm was filled with warmth and softness. At that age when they had nothing, he felt completely satisfied, as if he possessed the entire world.

"...Although my intelligence took a hit after falling in love, that period of time was still quite happy." Zhang Yuan sat on the steps, reminiscing about the past.

That girl who thought spending money was too much trouble must have grown up by now, right?

Should he give her a call?

After thinking about it carefully, he shook his head.

Forget it. It had been so long since they were in contact that there was no such thing as feelings left. What remained were just memories, like an art painting, blurred and beautified by time.