A Belated Good Night

The dorm room soon fell quiet. With the smell of alcohol still lingering in the air, Chen Lu continued staring at the ceiling.

Chen Lu attended a good university, but whether they were facing postgraduate entrance exams or internships, no college student could escape the pressure.

He wanted to live an easy life like Li Sinian, but he also wanted to take a shot like Jiang Chao while he was still young.

Take one path, and he would inevitably miss the scenery along the other.

That was life. You couldn't even predict whether the path you chose would be easy to travel, or what you would see along the way.

It was precisely because he couldn't make up his mind that he kept turning things over, worrying about what he might gain or lose...

Until he lost the courage to take a step.

"You've got me with you."

The girl's endearingly simple words suddenly echoed in his ears. Chen Lu slowly picked up his phone and sent Liang Zhirou a message.

Chen Lu: What are you doing?

The seemingly clueless straight-guy question had become Chen Lu's usual opening whenever he chatted with Liang Zhirou.

Liang Zhirou always answered honestly about what she was doing. She also liked sharing what they were up to with Chen Lu like this.

But this time, the girl was busy with something and didn't reply instantly as usual.

Liu Yan was driving Jiang Chao's car, preparing to drop him off at his friend's place.

She knew what had always weighed on her boyfriend, so she indulged him at times like this. When he asked for a ride, she took him.

The drowsy Jiang Chao woke up again as the car bumped along. "Where are we going?" he asked.

Liu Yan, beside him, found it funny. "Where do you think we're going? Weren't you the one who asked me to drop you off at your friend's place?"

"Oh..." Jiang Chao turned away and gazed at the scenery racing past outside the window.

Cars streamed past them, and the lights in the office towers of various companies still shone in the distance.

People in the twenty-first century never seemed to rest at nine in the evening.

So this was a life without freedom.

He looked out at the night, his expression suddenly turning serious. "I want to take a shot."

"You already said that once." Liu Yan's voice was full of affection.

Jiang Chao paused, then leaned his head against the window and continued, "If I really do this, I might fall out with my family. Then, once this car is sold... I'll have nothing left."

"Would you look down on me?"

Liu Yan slowly turned the steering wheel and laughed, spitting at him playfully. "I look down on the current you even more!"

"The Jiang Chao I like wouldn't be so timid and hesitant."

Jiang Chao smiled at his reflection in the window, and much of the gloom on his face lifted.

"Oh, right, I look down on the old you too," Liu Yan added. "If you dare go chasing after other women like you did before we met, I'll break your legs."

"Damn! I guess I've fallen into your hands."

He sat in the passenger seat, chatting with Liu Yan on and off, completely oblivious to the person sitting in the back.

Watching the two flirt and tease each other, Mo Yuqing felt a stab of envy for no particular reason. When Jiang Chao needed Liu Yan, she came to his side immediately. But when Mo Yuqing needed Chen Lu, she discovered that she had already driven him away with her own hands...

Liu Yan glanced at Mo Yuqing's conflicted expression in the rearview mirror, and Mo Yuqing gave her a look.

She sighed deeply. "Speaking of which, hasn't Chen Lu been getting close to a girl lately?"

"Yeah."

"How did they meet?" she asked again.

Jiang Chao thought back carefully. "The day your best friend rejected his confession, the whole dorm went out drinking with him.

"That girl was handing out flyers at our school's south gate.

"Then we happened to run into someone bullying her. You know what Chen Lu's like. Without another word, he charged over and shut the guy down."

As he spoke, he smiled proudly under the influence of the alcohol. He genuinely liked Chen Lu as a friend. "Later, when we headed out, Chen Lu said he wanted to walk by himself. He happened to run into her again in the park, and he noticed she hadn't put any medicine on the burn she'd gotten by accident, so he bought her some ointment while he was at it.

"She happened to go to our school too. The next day, she found him to pay him back, and one thing led to another, and they grew closer."

Liu Yan said nothing. She nodded silently and continued to watch Mo Yuqing's expression in the rearview mirror.

Mo Yuqing was biting her lower lip. Her once-proud eyes were now filled with anguish.

"What do you think of that girl?"

"I don't know her well." Jiang Chao recalled how timid Liang Zhirou was. After a little while, he continued, "She's probably really introverted, so Chen Lu has no intention of introducing her to us right now."

"For a girl like her to meet Chen Lu... I guess she's lucky."

"Of course, I think Chen Lu's lucky to have met her at a time like this too."

He didn't explain what he meant by "a time like this," but the two women in the car naturally understood.

"How are things progressing?"

Jiang Chao rolled his eyes at her. "You don't need to ask on behalf of your best friend. The emperor isn't worried, but the eunuch is in a panic."

"What if the emperor is worried?"

Jiang Chao froze. "If the emperor's worried... then find a crooked-necked tree and hang himself, I guess. Look at all the dynasties through history. When an emperor panics, it means things have really spiraled out of control.

"When the fire hasn't reached his eyebrows, an emperor only cares about enjoying himself. He won't be worried."

He added, "It's too late."

Silence fell over the car. Before long, Jiang Chao arrived at his destination and got out.

Liu Yan didn't hurry to drive off. She listened quietly as the rear car door opened and watched Mo Yuqing slowly move into the passenger seat.

There was a stretch of silence.

"Cry if you want to," she said, both hands on the steering wheel as she watched Jiang Chao walk away in the distance, supported by his friend.

"Later," Mo Yuqing said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Liu Yan asked, puzzled, turning to look at her.

Mo Yuqing didn't answer. She took out her phone and opened her chat with Chen Lu.

The two hadn't messaged each other in more than ten days.

She took a deep breath, her fingers tapping away at the screen.

In the end, she was the one to send a message first.

"A few days ago, my mom told me she was coming back from abroad, but when I went home, I found out she'd lied to me...

"I was really upset."

She copied the tone she used to use when complaining to Chen Lu.

To both of them, what Mo Yuqing meant was already obvious: I was so upset, but you weren't there for me...

After all, growing up, she had often gone to Chen Lu in tears to complain about her parents, and he had always come whenever she called.

Sure enough, just as she had expected, Chen Lu didn't reply instantly this time.

It's really time to wake up from my dream of you.

The girl waited more than ten minutes, but no reply came.

For the first time, she felt that ten-odd minutes could be so long.

Waiting so anxiously was truly agonizing, leaving her unable to sit still.

In a daze, she didn't dare think any further about how Chen Lu had felt waiting for her messages back then.

Another half hour passed, and Chen Lu still hadn't responded.

At last, two trails of tears ran down Mo Yuqing's cheeks. She sniffled and continued messaging Chen Lu.

"If you keep ignoring me, I'll tell your mom!"

"I'll tell her you bullied me, and I'll tell her you're the one who lost her platinum necklace!"

She was still copying the way they used to chat, and had deliberately brought up a memory they shared.

This was the first time she had ever been so careful, so calculating when speaking to Chen Lu.

This time, Mo Yuqing finally received a reply. But no matter how she tried to imitate the way they used to chat, Chen Lu was no longer the same as before.

The words were ice-cold, piercing straight into her heart.

"Let's each live our own lives, like we have these past few days. Let's let each other go."

He immediately sent another message. "I'm really tired. I want to forget you."

Mo Yuqing stared blankly at her phone, almost forgetting to breathe for a moment.

Mo Yuqing wasn't the only one stunned. Even Liu Yan was taken aback when she saw it.

Chen Lu was so different from the devoted man he had been before. It was hard to guess just how deeply he had been hurt.

She still couldn't accept it and continued typing. "Why? We used to be so close..."

Ten minutes later.

The phone screen lit up again. Mo Yuqing wiped away her tears, her slender hands trembling uncontrollably. She seemed even more nervous than if she were checking her exam results.

"You said it yourself. We used to be."

An exceedingly long silence fell over the car. Even after the sound of the engine starting broke it, the sobbing continued.

On the way, Mo Yuqing recalled so very much.

Memories she had forgotten at some unknown point now kept flooding into her mind.

Tears blurred her eyes. Like a child who had done something wrong, she was both remorseful and afraid.

She truly regretted it.

And she was truly afraid.

An hour later.

Chen Lu was still staring blankly at the chat, quietly looking at the last thing Mo Yuqing had sent: "Good night."

After a long period of contemplation, he could only give a helpless, bitter smile.

How interesting. Now that I've given up, you've started taking the initiative.

I really, really loved you before...

But now,

please just let me go.

His phone vibrated again. He rubbed his blurry eyes.

Liang Zhirou: I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you earlier... I thought you might be getting tired of porridge, so I went and made you some steamed buns. If you get tired of something later, tell me and I'll make you something different... But you can't skip breakfast.

Chen Lu smiled in relief and tapped the screen.

"Okay."

Early the next morning.

A sober Jiang Chao returned to the dorm, holding his lower back, only to find that the half case of beer he had left was now nothing but empty bottles.

"Damn! Where the hell did all my beer go?"

"Chen Lu drank it all..."