Song Yu understood how he felt. He raised his hand, about to pat the top of his head, when the front desk phone suddenly rang. Yue Zhishi immediately looked up and answered it.

"Hello."

The person on the other end seemed even more anxious than him, panting for breath. Yue Zhishi, holding on to his last bit of hope, asked his question one more time and, sure enough, got the answer he wanted to hear.

"Yes, that's me."

Yue Zhishi looked up at Song Yu, smiling excitedly. "Okay, I'll wait for you here, then. Mhm!"

After hanging up, Yue Zhishi belatedly felt that the voice on the other end was very familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Cotton Candy ran over and scratched at his leg. Yue Zhishi picked him up and walked slowly around the restaurant, stealing glances at the old lady's expression.

She seemed tireless, still looking out with anticipation.

By the time the pearl meatballs were steamed, the person the old lady was waiting for finally arrived. Seeing the person pushing open the courtyard gate through the glass French doors, Yue Zhishi was stunned for a moment. It was actually one of their restaurant's regular customers, Professor Zhang.

Professor Zhang hurried over, covered in dust from his journey, his steps quick. Usually when Yue Zhishi saw him, he was always witty and amiable, never so anxious and flustered.

"Mei Yin." He pushed the door open, calling what seemed to be the old lady's name.

Just as Yue Zhishi thought the matter was settled and happily stepped over to Song Yu's side, the old lady looked up and asked with a puzzled expression, "You are...?"

Song Yu looked at them and lowered his eyes slightly. He had anticipated this scene. But Yue Zhishi didn't understand. He frowned, his expression even sadder than Professor Zhang's.

"Lele, Xiao Yu, I'm so sorry to have troubled you both." Instead of trying to convince the old lady, Professor Zhang's first action was to greet them. Song Yu shook his head, telling him not to worry about it.

Yue Zhishi saw Grandpa Zhang open a bag he was carrying. Inside were a short padded jacket, a scarf, and a hat. "You went out wearing so little. At your age, what if you get sick?" He held out the jacket to put on his wife, but she refused.

"Who are you? I don't know you."

"Grandma, he's your husband." Yue Zhishi couldn't help but step forward. "Don't you remember him?"

Grandpa Zhang smiled at Yue Zhishi. "It's okay, Lele, I'm used to it." He then took an old photo from the side pocket of his bag. It was their wedding photo from when they were young. Another was a later photo of them together. "Mei Yin, look, we took this together. We didn't have a wedding dress back then, and you were unhappy, so you wore a white dress yourself."

He recounted their past bit by bit, patiently repairing these memories. The old lady became less resistant, listening with a mix of belief and doubt, gradually becoming serious. She also allowed him to put the scarf and hat on for her.

By the end, she seemed to remember, but she kept complaining that Professor Zhang was too late, making her wait for so long. Professor Zhang apologized over and over, promising he would not be late for their next date.

The grandma's face was full of love. "I bought the pearl meatballs you love. Let's eat before we go."

Professor Zhang looked at Yue Zhishi and Song Yu, then coaxed her with a smile, "Let's get it to go and eat at home. The restaurant is about to close."

In the blink of an eye, it was getting dark, and the streetlights came on one by one. The dim alley was cast in a warm yellow light. Yue Zhishi and Song Yu stood together at the courtyard gate of Yanghe Qizhe to see the two elderly people off.

"Thank goodness for you two. I had a former student come find me about something today, and in that short time, she wandered off on her own." Professor Zhang's eyes were a little red, his hand clutching his wife's. "Actually, I usually have her wear clothes I've arranged, with my contact information in her coat pocket, just in case something like this happens. I don't know how, but my wife managed to change into different clothes herself."

Yue Zhishi gazed at the old lady, thinking of her expectant expression.

She must have changed out of her usual clothes and dressed up so carefully to celebrate her anniversary with the person she loved most.

Professor Zhang lightly patted Yue Zhishi's arm and looked at Song Yu. "It's getting late, you two should hurry home too. Don't make your mom worry. I'll definitely pay a visit another day to thank you properly."

Song Yu, who had been silent all this time, finally spoke up: "Don't worry about it." Yue Zhishi leaned against Song Yu and nodded with a smile, "Mhm, Grandpa Zhang, hurry back. The pearl meatballs are going to get cold."

At the mention of pearl meatballs, the old lady got a little peevish again. "That's right, you made me wait so long. You're late every time we meet, and you didn't even bring the flowers you promised me."

"Oh my, I just..."

Flowers?

Yue Zhishi suddenly said, "He has them. He brought them." With that, he turned and ran back into the restaurant. A moment later, he came out again, his hands behind his back. He sidled up to Professor Zhang and secretly stuffed what was in his hand into his. Song Yu glanced at him and cooperatively said nothing.

Professor Zhang held out his hand. On a long, slender stem bloomed a perfect narcissus.

"This is what Grandpa Zhang prepared for you."

"It's so beautiful." Although there was only one flower, the old lady's face was overflowing with unconcealable happiness. She took the flower, holding it preciously in her hand. After saying goodbye again and again, the two of them walked away, leaning on each other, their figures receding into the distance.

A gust of wind rose, and Yue Zhishi shrank his neck against the cold. Gazing into the distance, the figures of the two people blurred into the city lights. The tip of his nose stung, which he thought was probably from the cold, but the sour feeling seeped into his heart.

Standing at the entrance, the alley, the winter night, the courtyard gate of Yanghe Qizhe, the halo of light spreading from the streetlight—this scene was very familiar to Song Yu. He stared at the base of the opposite wall, lost in thought.

"I don't want to forget you," Yue Zhishi suddenly said.

Song Yu turned his face toward him, his expression complicated, as if he were puzzled, or perhaps thought he had misheard something.

A streetlight overhead cast down its light, enveloping Yue Zhishi's face. His soft brown hair glowed golden, the tip of his nose and his cheeks were red from the cold, and his eyes were so bright.

"Brother Xiao Yu, I don't want to forget you." He looked into Song Yu's eyes.

After a two-second pause, Song Yu turned his face away.

"What nonsense are you talking about."

Yue Zhishi knew it was baseless nonsense, so he didn't argue. It was just that seeing the old lady had made him sad. He didn't have a lover, so he couldn't understand what it felt like to forget one's love. But he tried to put himself in that position, imagining what it would feel like to one day forget Uncle Song and Auntie Rong.

He even imagined the feeling of forgetting Song Yu.

His heart stung, as if it were being squeezed tightly, unable to let go.

"I won't forget you," Yue Zhishi said once more.

In the instant before he spoke, Song Yu had also been thinking. The one who forgets and the one who is forgotten, which one is in more pain? If he could choose, which would he be?

Unable to find an answer, he took off his own scarf and tossed it onto Yue Zhishi.

"You've already forgotten most of your childhood."

"I remember a lot of it. I've only forgotten a small part. I remember all the important things." Just as he finished speaking, his stomach rumbled, making his previous words seem not at all serious.

Song Yu stuck both hands in his pockets and turned back into the courtyard. "Eat something."

"Is there something to eat?" Yue Zhishi followed him in quickly.

"Pearl meatballs," Song Yu said. "I steamed an extra portion."

"Really?!"

As soon as he opened the restaurant door, Cotton Candy came flying out, standing up to scratch at his leg. Yue Zhishi picked him up again and rocked him back and forth. "You little thing, even though you were naughty and ran off on your own, you did a great service today by helping us find the lost old grandma, so you won't be punished today."

"Woof!" Cotton Candy barked in his arms.

"Right." Yue Zhishi, holding Cotton Candy, asked with a puzzled look, "Brother, when Cotton Candy went missing, how did you immediately think he might be here?"

Song Yu came out from the back kitchen and placed the pearl meatballs, which had been kept warm over a low flame, on the table. He glanced up, then lowered his eyes again. "I found Cotton Candy at the restaurant entrance."

Yue Zhishi looked at Cotton Candy, and the dog tilted its head at him.

"When? I didn't even know."

"When you were in the third grade and went to Hainan for winter camp."

Yue Zhishi recalled, "Right, that was the time. I came back and saw Cotton Candy at home." Back then, he had asked where the puppy came from, and Song Yu only said he had found it, without saying much more.

Song Yu poured a glass of hot water, his hand cupping the side. "The day I found him was also at night. It was very cold, and he was curled up at the base of the courtyard wall, a tiny little ball, a bit dirty, but his eyes were very bright."

At that time, he didn't realize what had caused his sudden burst of kindness to pick up a stray dog, but he knew that if he took it in, he had to be responsible.

When Yue Zhishi returned from Hainan and saw the puppy, his ecstatic expression and the joyful hug he gave him, those sparkling eyes, gave Song Yu his answer.

"So that's how it was. That's great. Cotton Candy has a pretty good memory, knowing where his old home is." Yue Zhishi held Cotton Candy and popped a pearl meatball into his mouth. The sticky, soft glutinous rice and the springy meatball eaten together doubled the deliciousness. He chewed seriously, his eyes glazed over, glancing at the front desk they had messed up, at the notebooks that recorded the history of this restaurant.

After swallowing, he sighed, "That disease is so scary. You clearly want to remember, but you even forget the person you love the most. You forget their face, their name too."

Song Yu gazed at Yue Zhishi. Under the restaurant's ceiling lights, his silhouette appeared even softer, more innocent.

He opened his mouth, his voice still heavy and cold, and the words he spoke were very realistic.

"Even without such a disease, memory is not controllable. Not forgetting doesn't mean that there won't be emotional changes. Maybe after a long time, you still remember this person exists, but their place in your heart is already different. That kind of ending is even more tragic than the passive forgetting of Alzheimer's."

Interpersonal relationships are sensitive and fragile. Everyone is moving forward, in all directions. We are all hurried ants, losing contact in the midst of our busy lives. That's why Song Yu hates forming deep relationships—it saves mental energy and avoids risks in advance.

"In this world, it's really too easy for people to drift apart."

Drift apart.

Song Yu's words were a bit profound for Yue Zhishi. He only half-understood them, feeling a vague sense of sadness. He thought about the feeling of losing Cotton Candy, thought about the grandma waiting foolishly at the door of Yanghe Qizhe for her date. He let out a grown-up sigh, the white mist he exhaled fogging his eyes.

Seeing him like this, Song Yu felt a little like laughing. He wanted to say, 'Just eat, stop thinking,' but before he could speak.

"We won't get separated." Yue Zhishi's vacant gaze focused on him, very certain.

Song Yu looked at him and was silent for a moment. This implied a passive denial, which Yue Zhishi understood clearly, so he said again, "If we do get separated, I will definitely try my best to find you."

His expression was so serious, as if he were speaking the truth, making it impossible to doubt.

"No need."

Song Yu's refusal was so decisive that it made Yue Zhishi feel defeated. But in the next second, he heard the rest.

"Your sense of direction is too poor." Song Yu put another meatball in his bowl and looked into his innocent eyes.

"Just stay where you are and wait for me."