Chapter 7
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Liu Cheng received a call from Yu Xingzhou in the middle of the night. It was 3 a.m., but the time difference with someone abroad didn’t wake him—he hadn’t fallen asleep in the first place.
“Why did you do that?” Yu Xingzhou’s accusatory voice came through the phone as soon as the call connected. “Do you have any idea what that show means to Sun Chen?”
Liu Cheng responded without hesitation, “I know.”
Yu Xingzhou, who had been full of anger, was momentarily taken aback by this answer.
“…You know?”
“Sun Chen is trying to find Chen Xi, right?”
There was a longer silence on the other end this time. Liu Cheng waited patiently; after all, he couldn’t think of anything better to do that night.
Finally, Yu Xingzhou’s voice came through, tinged with self-deprecating laughter. “You’re not like me, are you?”
Liu Cheng wasn’t surprised at all. “Back then, you didn’t let Sun Chen become an anchor out of jealousy—you didn’t want him to find his ‘only friend,’ right?”
After thinking it over for most of the night, Liu Cheng had managed to piece together some things.
Yu Xingzhou paused, then sighed. “As someone who’s been there, let me tell you—you’ll regret it.”
“If you regretted it, why didn’t you help him find Chen Xi?”
“Then you don’t understand Sun Chen at all,” Yu Xingzhou explained, his tone reflecting a deep-seated resignation. “Everyone tends to romanticize their childhood memories to some extent. Sun Chen isn’t even sure that if he finds Chen Xi, that person will still be the same as in his memories. That’s why he’s using this method. If the other person recognizes him, if they want to find him, it mitigates the risk that his cherished friend has forgotten him. Sun Chen has clear social issues; he might never make another friend. So, Chen Xi is irreplaceable to him. He wants to find him but is also afraid of the consequences. To him, this show is like divining his fate.”
Liu Cheng had thought he understood Sun Chen, but it turned out that even Yu Xingzhou knew more than he did.
“If I regret it…” Before he could fully grasp what he was saying, the words slipped from Liu Cheng’s mouth. “What should I do?”
Yu Xingzhou chuckled dryly. “If I knew the answer, don’t you think I would’ve done it myself?”
“Where does he live?” Liu Cheng suddenly asked.
Yu Xingzhou responded with a hint of caution, “Why do you want to know?”
“I just want to talk to him.”
“Mr. Liu, you’re not exactly known for being good at talking things out.”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll find out on my own. Why waste time?”
“If you investigate on your own, that’s your business. If I tell you, then it’s on me if something happens to Sun Chen.”
Liu Cheng couldn’t tell if he was more frustrated or amused. “Do you think I’m going to kill him or something? What do you mean by ‘something happens to him’?”
“Maybe he just doesn’t want to see you.”
For a moment, all the words Liu Cheng had been about to say got stuck in his throat.
That was true. Sun Chen likely didn’t want to see him. Liu Cheng couldn’t think of any rebuttal.
After a long pause, Liu Cheng finally spoke in a low tone, “But I want to see him.”
When Liu Cheng arrived at Sun Chen’s apartment building, the sky was starting to lighten. After a brief hesitation, he pressed the buzzer. A moment later, Sun Chen’s voice, still tinged with sleep, came through. “Who is it?”
Knowing that if Sun Chen recognized his voice, he probably wouldn’t open the door, Liu Cheng debated whether to stay silent. But then again, not saying anything would guarantee that Sun Chen wouldn’t open the door. After weighing his options, he could only answer, “It’s me.”
The call was immediately disconnected. Then, there was nothing but silence.
But he couldn’t just leave. Liu Cheng had no choice but to stubbornly press the buzzer again. He kept it up for a full five minutes. Sun Chen didn’t respond, but after five minutes, the door finally clicked open.
Liu Cheng quickly found Sun Chen’s apartment. This time, he didn’t knock; Sun Chen, still in his pajamas with a coat thrown over them, was already standing at the door, waiting.
“What do you want, Mr. Liu?”
Liu Cheng, who hadn’t planned out what to say, awkwardly smiled and tried to buy time. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
Sun Chen replied bluntly, “No.”
Liu Cheng, accustomed to Sun Chen’s way of speaking, wasn’t deterred and pressed on. “Talking in the hallway isn’t very convenient if the neighbors see us, is it?”
Sun Chen remained unmoved. “It’s not inconvenient.” His tone, besides its usual coldness, carried something else. It reminded Liu Cheng of the time they returned from the mountains, when Sun Chen’s voice had held a similar something extra. But the two situations were entirely different—then, Liu Cheng had sensed a gentle warmth, but now, Sun Chen’s tone was sharp and cold.
“I’m really sorry, Sun Chen,” Liu Cheng finally said. He had never sincerely apologized to anyone before, but despite his lack of experience, he tried his best.
Unfortunately, Sun Chen didn’t seem to hear him at all. “Do you have anything else to say? If not, please leave.”
“Even if I don’t have anything else to say, don’t you have something to say? I apologized. You could say you forgive me, or that you don’t. Giving no response at all is just rude, isn’t it?”
“The first time we met, I spoke to you, and you ignored me. Now you want to discuss manners?”
Liu Cheng was stunned for a long moment. He had always known Sun Chen was sharp-tongued, but this caught him off guard. He hadn’t expected Sun Chen to bring up their first meeting.
“…You remember the scene of our first meeting?”
“That was only 49 days ago.”
“I thought you didn’t care about my attitude at all. You know, I didn’t like you at first because I thought you didn’t care about anyone.”
“I didn’t care about you,” Sun Chen replied without hesitation. Then, after a pause, he awkwardly added, “I still don’t.”
This Oxford PhD with an IQ of 180 could be remarkably simple in certain ways. Liu Cheng could tell at a glance that the first half of Sun Chen’s statement was true, while the second half was a lie.
“Sun Chen, I hope you can understand that everyone makes mistakes sometimes…”
“That’s not my problem,” Sun Chen interrupted immediately.
Liu Cheng became anxious. “How can it not be your problem? You’ve basically sentenced me to death.”
Sun Chen looked at him coldly. “Are you dead?”
“That’s for you to answer. Am I dead to you?”
Sun Chen’s expression darkened—an unusual display of clear emotion for him. Without another word, he reached out to close the door.
Liu Cheng reacted quickly. He couldn’t let their conversation end like this, so he reached out to block the door. He thought Sun Chen might slam the door on him, so he applied more force to stop it. But instead of blocking the door, his hand landed on Sun Chen’s shoulder, causing the unsuspecting Sun Chen to lose his balance and fall backward.
By the time Liu Cheng realized what had happened, Sun Chen had hit the back of his head on the doorstep and was knocked unconscious.
“Sun Chen!”
Liu Cheng’s chest tightened with panic. He was more flustered than he had ever been before. All he could think to do was crouch down to check on Sun Chen, and when he did, he felt something sticky on the back of Sun Chen’s head.
As he lifted Sun Chen from the ground, Liu Cheng instinctively held him tightly. He had his own doctors, but since he never contacted them directly when he was sick, it didn’t occur to him to do so now. Instead, he thought only of getting to the hospital. He placed Sun Chen in the back seat and sped through the early morning streets.
Fortunately, there weren’t many cars on the road at that hour, and Liu Cheng soon reached the hospital. As he rushed Sun Chen inside and sought out a doctor for emergency treatment, Liu Cheng didn’t pay attention to his own actions. It was the doctor who, after examining Sun Chen’s injury, reassured him, “It’s not a serious wound, sir. There’s no need to be so tense.”
It was probably only then that Liu Cheng fully realized just how much he cared about Sun Chen.
Sun Chen remained unconscious after receiving treatment. The doctor placed him in a private room and assured the endlessly concerned Liu Cheng that Sun Chen would definitely wake up. Liu Cheng stayed by his bedside, refusing to leave. He was terrified that Sun Chen might never wake up, but he was equally afraid that if Sun Chen did wake up, he would never see him again.
If he were Sun Chen, he wouldn’t forgive himself either. He had used Sun Chen’s trust to extract his secrets, then turned those secrets into a weapon against him. And now he had even put him in the hospital.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Sun Chen…” Liu Cheng whispered over and over, holding the patient’s right hand tightly.
He bowed his head, resting his forehead on Sun Chen’s hand—so he didn’t notice when Sun Chen slowly opened his eyes.
Sun Chen began to gently pull his hand from Liu Cheng’s grasp.
Eventually, Liu Cheng sensed something was off. He looked up in surprise and anxiety. “You’re awake, Sun Chen?”
Sun Chen gazed at him uncertainly, still trying to pull his hand away. “Who are you?”
Liu Cheng was stunned, unable to respond. Meanwhile, a flicker of fear crossed Sun Chen’s face. He looked at Liu Cheng with an anxious expression, his voice so soft it was barely audible.
“Is my name Sun Chen?”