Hope You'll Remember Me

Zhang Yuan couldn't help asking, "There's something I don't get. Why did you have to go and do this at the very end? Aren't you just adding an unnecessary emotional burden for yourself?"

Han Ziyue thought it over and said, "Three thousand years from now, I'll have long since disappeared from this world. But if someone still remembers me then, and in another time and space, don't you think that would mean something?"

Zhang Yuan fell silent.

He thought the idea was a little sentimental, but it also seemed to make sense...

Before long, he braced himself and slowly emerged from the bathroom.

Han Ziyue just watched his shoulders, laughing nonstop.

Then she bounced into the bathroom.

Zhang Yuan wondered if he should make a run for it while she was taking a shower.

Yes, that was exactly what he should do!

Run!

Wait, where were my pants?

"...I brought your clothes and pants into the bathroom. If you try to escape while I'm showering, you might have to risk going out in a bathrobe." Through the frosted glass, Han Ziyue saw Zhang Yuan searching for something and couldn't help teasing him.

Zhang Yuan was speechless.

He felt... like he was about to explode from nerves.

He hurriedly picked up his phone and tried to soothe his restless mind with a few calculus problems.

But with all his blood rushing to his lower body, his brain had clearly taken a hit. Problems that usually seemed easy left him stumbling for ages without getting anywhere.

"Studying isn't a cure-all... This won't do. I have to think of something!"

Think of something!

A few minutes later, Han Ziyue emerged from the bathroom, her hair damp, a few fine strands clinging to her smooth, fair neck. Girls always looked so fresh right after a shower, their crystalline skin seeming as if it could be squeezed to release water.

She beamed and pounced on him like a happy little deer.

"This... isn't a good idea!"

Zhang Yuan shuddered and stammered, "If we don't do anything tonight, it might leave us with an even deeper impression. I'm serious!"

As if she could see what he was really thinking, Han Ziyue smiled. "I'm not asking you to take responsibility. What are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid."

"Then why are you trembling? I really don't need you to take responsibility."

"It's not about taking responsibility or not. I just don't think this is a good idea... How about we hug instead? Just a hug. Wouldn't that be warm and sweet?"

Han Ziyue furrowed her delicate brows and pouted. "Don't you think you're being awful? I've been this forward, and you think I'm not embarrassed? I get embarrassed too."

Zhang Yuan hurried to explain, "If I'd known you longer and spent more time with you, I might have felt this was the natural next step. But right now... it just seems too sudden."

Han Ziyue's eyes reddened. She let go of his arm and kept wiping at her eyes. "You must think I'm too easy, throwing myself at you like this. That's why you're acting this way!"

"...I have my dignity, you know. I have people chasing after me, but I've never kept any of them as backup. I've only ever had one boyfriend. My private life isn't as messy as you think!"

Seeing her lose her temper, Zhang Yuan weakly said, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't think that..."

"Who would believe that?" Han Ziyue snapped.

But as she went on, she started laughing again. Propping her head up with both hands, she studied Zhang Yuan's awkward expression. "Still, if you'd been that easy to tempt, maybe I wouldn't like you anymore. I'd soon forget all about you..."

"My older sister once said you were a guy with strong principles. Even after you broke up, she still thought highly of you... Haha, you tremble just from a little touch. You're so cute. I really do have good taste!"

She bared her little pointed canine teeth and lay on the bed, as though admiring a fresh little apple.

"Wait!"

She suddenly jumped up and rummaged through her bag. "I have a little present for you. Close your eyes."

"Again?"

With all her sudden surprises, Zhang Yuan felt like he was about to suffocate.

"It really is a little present!" She didn't keep him in suspense, instead placing an elegant box in his hands.

When he opened it, he saw a preserved lily, with a lifelike, exquisitely rendered portrait of Han Ziyue on the right.

At the very bottom was a signature: "Han Ziyue, 2264.8.1"

It must have been a plant specimen she'd made a few days earlier.

She said very seriously, "I hope you'll remember me."

"I'm just an ordinary person among countless others. I don't expect to become famous, and there's no chance history will remember me."

"A hundred years from now, I may well no longer exist in this world. Three hundred years from now, any information about me might be impossible to find. Perhaps only my name, 'Han Ziyue,' will remain in the family tree."

"A thousand years from now, even the family tree may have disappeared. Who would remember an ancestor from a thousand years ago? Everything about me will be lost to the cycle of time."

The sudden seriousness caught Zhang Yuan off guard. The blood surging through his body slowly settled.

Was this the meaning of life?

Han Ziyue continued, "I've always wondered whether I ever really came into this world. If there's no trace left that I existed, what meaning does it have? Is it only about having children and seeking pleasure? A person's life is so short. Compared to the entire universe, it's truly insignificant."

"I hope you'll remember me, because... you may be the last person who knows I ever existed."

"I hope that three thousand years from now, when you wake from hibernation, you'll still remember me. That's all I'm asking. Can you do that?"

Zhang Yuan took the preserved lily and nodded solemnly. "I promise. There really aren't many girls like you. But in another ten or twenty years, you probably won't feel this way anymore, right? Maybe you'll think your younger self was childish. Perhaps only the you of today is so sentimental."

Han Ziyue said, looking rather embarrassed, "I'm sorry. The future me is the future me. I know reality will wear down the edges of who I am, but the person I am now is the real me."

"This idea is kind of selfish, really. It's an extra emotional burden for you."

Zhang Yuan rolled his eyes and smiled. "So, you're going to repay me with your body?"

"Yeah. I really did like you when I was little. When I heard you and my sister had broken up, I was happy for ages! I don't see why repaying you that way would be a problem."

"You were still in middle school back then, weren't you? Did middle schoolers even know about that?"

"Why can't they?"

Zhang Yuan said, "Let's not repay me that way. I'm a man of high moral character, and I want to leave you with the best possible memory of your last day."

Han Ziyue leaned against him, quieting down too. "Then what should we do during this long night? Something you think is meaningful."

Zhang Yuan thought for a moment, then joked, "On our last night, how about I teach you some math?"

Please don't make me write anything inappropriate. They've been cracking down lately.

That's it. Whether anything happened or not, everyone can use their imagination.