Let's Eat

Cen Zeng stood opposite him, frowning.

"I can't," he said, "I've never tried, and I don't know how."

Reborn three times, having witnessed Cen Zeng do so many things without a word, this was the first time Cheng Shuo heard him say he was powerless.

Cheng Shuo said, "It's okay. Then first ask yourself, are you sad? Do you want to beat me up?"

Cen Zeng just turned back to look at him.

As the sun set in the west, the light on his curled eyelashes was like the scattered sparks of burnt-out fireworks.

"I don't," he answered.

"Then that means you're sad, right?" Cheng Shuo went to hold his hand.

The wrist bones were prominent, the blue veins distinct—well-suited for holding a knife, and also for playing the piano.

Cen Zeng didn't nod, nor did he shake his head, but he didn't let go of his hand either.

Cheng Shuo let out a long sigh of relief, turned, and reached for his waist with his other hand.

They hugged.

The autumn wind was cold, but Cen Zeng's hand finally, slowly, lifted and rested on his shoulder.

The sky was darkening, and the platform was silent. Cheng Shuo buried his head in Cen Zeng's shoulder. The fabric of the jacket was stiff and cold; he could only smell the soapberry scent of laundry detergent.

Only when his body heat had warmed the jacket did he take a step back.

"How about..." Cheng Shuo said, "we find some time to have a meal with Chen Ziheng too? He's probably confused by now. I'll call Zhang Yijie over as well, and then call that friend, okay?"

Cen Zeng answered, "We'll see."

"Okay..." Cheng Shuo said, "Let's go eat first."

Cen Zeng didn't say much on the way, and Cheng Shuo never strayed more than three steps from him. He glanced at the nearby restaurants and asked, "Want to get some Cantonese food?"

Cen Zeng lowered his head, tapping on his phone. A moment later, he looked up. "Okay, but I have to be at the laboratory by nine."

Cheng Shuo wanted to ask, 'Can you not go?'

But this person was used to pushing through. As long as life went on, Cen Zeng would not stop.

He could only nod and say, "Alright, I'll take you there after we eat."

It was a decent little street-side eatery, filled with the aroma of wok hei and the clamor of voices. The staff didn't give them a single pleasant look, but thankfully, the food was good enough to justify their arrogance.

They finished with an order of ginger milk curd.

Cen Zeng ate very slowly. Much of the time, it seemed his body was merely chewing and swallowing out of instinct. When two-thirds of it was still left, his spoon slipped from the porcelain bowl, letting out a clatter.

His Adam's apple bobbed, though it was unclear what he was swallowing.

"If you don't want to eat, then don't," Cheng Shuo said. "Don't force yourself."

Cen Zeng seemed to snap out of his daze then, putting the spoon away neatly and nodding.

"I'll take you to the laboratory. When do you get off? I'll come pick you up, okay?"

Cen Zeng scanned the code to pay, only to find the person opposite him had already paid. He then looked up and said, "It'll be too late. You don't have to do that."

"I want to pick you up," Cheng Shuo said. "It's what I want to do. I want to see you. Can you agree to it?"

Cen Zeng looked at him, a hint of confusion in his eyes.

He remained silent but didn't look away, his dark pupils fixed on him.

Finally, he said, "Then come."

Before walking into the laboratory, he took a deep breath. When he saw Song Shuyi's face, the latter pulled him into a quiet corner and asked, "What did Director Li do to you?"

He told him the truth.

Song Shuyi listened without surprise or any extra expression. He even sighed in relief, saying, "Thank goodness, thank goodness. At least he didn't get physical."

"Mhm..." Cen Zeng said, "I plan to reject him directly if he looks for me again."

The junior brother spoke calmly, and the listener let out a long sigh. "Just slack off today. Stay for a few hours and then leave. My experiment has made some progress, so I can help you look at the odd jobs Director Li dumped on you."

Cen Zeng shook his head. "It's fine, I can still do it."

After speaking, he had already opened his computer and started typing silently.

Song Shuyi couldn't persuade him, so he could only stand by his side and quietly teach him a few techniques. Cen Zeng had always been a fast learner, and in the end, there was surprisingly nothing left to say.

"This might sound inauspicious, but you're truly talented. After Sister Xu and I leave, you'll probably be the backbone of the laboratory."

Cen Zeng replied, "That indeed doesn't sound like a good thing."

Song Shuyi was speechless. In the end, he said, "Just think of it as being for our worthless ideals. We've all sworn an oath."

The junior brother didn't nod. After he finished his work, he seemed to be spacing out.

"Are you very upset?"

"I was just thinking..." The person opposite him seemed to hesitate. "When you were dating your ex-girlfriend, did you ever fight?"

Finally, they stopped talking about their academic careers with no future and started talking about ill-fated relationships.

Song Shuyi answered, "Of course we fought. But we were both so busy that halfway through a fight, we'd usually just get tired. It was pretty funny, actually."

"What, did you fight with your ambiguous love interest?"

"I don't know..." Cen Zeng said, "He's a bit angry, but it seems like he's angry because I wasn't angry."

"Huh?" Song Shuyi couldn't make sense of the logic. "What do you mean?"

"He did something not so great, I found out, and I said it was okay. Then he got angry."

"Wait, you weren't even angry, so what right does he have to be angry?" Song Shuyi's head was full of question marks. "What did she do?"

Cen Zeng blinked twice and said, "The person he pursued before looks a lot like me. Seems I said it backwards, it should be that I look like them."

"So trendy, playing the substitute game?" Song Shuyi was utterly shocked. "It's his problem, what is he getting angry about?"

"He said..." Cen Zeng thought for a moment, "that he could explain, that it wasn't what he meant, and that he could call that person right then and there to prove it. I told him it was fine, that he didn't have to explain."

"Huh?" Song Shuyi was stunned. "Then why don't you care? If it were me, I'd be really angry."

"I don't know," Cen Zeng replied. "Maybe I do care."

He spoke evasively, as if he himself wasn't quite sure.

"How could you not know..." the senior brother across from him was energetically speechless. "Well, if he's unhappy, it might be because he thinks you don't care about your relationship with him. I mean, if you don't have an opinion on anything he does, then what's the difference between being in a relationship and not, or being romantically involved and not?"

"Oh..." Cen Zeng nodded. "I see."

"I'm just an onlooker, you two still have to communicate about your specific thoughts," Song Shuyi leaned in. "But to be honest, it's really hard to imagine what you're like when you're angry."

Cen Zeng replied, "I rarely get angry."

Song Shuyi laughed and said, "That's true. You basically have a stoic face for when you're in a good mood, a stoic face for when you don't care, and a stoic face for when you're disgusted by Director Li."

The two chatted for a while before Cen Zeng's phone rang.

"Who is it?"

"The one I just mentioned. He's picking me up from work."

"Why are you having someone pick you up from work? It's already twelve. It's not safe for a girl to be out this late. A fight is a fight, but you should hurry downstairs."

Cen Zeng replied, "It's not a girl."

He glanced at the message. "He said he'll be here in ten minutes."

Song Shuyi was silent for thirty seconds, then said, "Holy crap. Alright. Is he driving to pick you up?"

"Mhm..."

"Then give me a ride too," he said without hesitation. "I don't want to take the last bus either. I live close to the university anyway."

"You just want to gossip," Cen Zeng pointed out calmly.

"Hey, can you not expose me?" Song Shuyi shot up, rushed to the Mouse Room to take a look around, then skillfully greeted two people in the distance.

Coming back, he patted the person who was putting away his computer. "Did you ask?"

"He said it's okay."

The senior brother nodded happily. "I'll help you check him out."

[Author's Note]

Song Shuyi only understood half of it. It couldn't be helped; after all, he didn't know that someone here had already been reborn three times.