Back then, when Xue Ling left in a hurry, she didn’t take anything from this small home with her.
There were signs that the room had been rummaged through, but it wasn’t particularly messy; at least the entire bedroom largely retained the appearance it had three years ago.
Xue Ling opened the wardrobe to take a look, then pulled open the drawers one by one to check, her gaze sweeping across the exam materials and books on the desk, her water cup, the desktop ornaments given by friends, the dead little potted succulents……
After looking around, she actually didn’t know what to take. It seemed like she wanted to take everything, yet there was also nothing that really needed to be taken.
She pulled out the chair in front of the desk, and Xue Ling sat down on that chair covered in dust.
Dust danced in the air, and through the window her gaze could see the green trees outside and the school buildings farther away.
Countless days and nights, she had sat right here studying or spacing out.
“Knock, knock.”
Xue Ling turned her head. Wen Jiuzhe was standing at the bedroom doorway, knocking with two fingers together: “I thought you were packing. Turns out you’re being lazy. Nothing you want to take with you?”
“No. I won’t need any of it anymore.” Xue Ling answered him by writing on the dust-covered tabletop.
Let all these things stay here.
Wen Jiuzhe read what she wrote, walked to the wardrobe and raised his hand to open the topmost cabinet door, easily taking down the suitcase with one hand, then pushed open the lower wardrobe door and began picking out clothes inside.
The ones she often wore should be brought along; wearing her own clothes was always more comfortable than wearing someone else’s.
Xue Ling liked to keep the visible areas tidy, but the inside of the wardrobe was often a mess; once the door was closed, it was out of sight and out of mind.
It was already summer, yet the winter clothes in the wardrobe hadn’t been sorted out, bulky as they were, squeezed together with the summer clothes.
The wardrobe itself wasn’t big, and Xue Ling liked to toss things around, so it was often so full that the doors wouldn’t close.
By the time Wen Jiuzhe moved in, the wardrobe had to give him a corner as well, making it even more insufficient.
The last time Wen Jiuzhe had been here was before he brought up breaking up with Xue Ling; back then, his clothes were mixed in with Xue Ling’s pile of clothes in the wardrobe.
Now, with a casual sweep of his hand, his clothes were all gone. Instead, there was a black bundle stuffed into the corner of the wardrobe; judging from the sleeve slipping out of the opening, it looked like his clothes.
Xue Ling didn’t bother sorting out her own clothes, yet she helped him pack up his. How could that not be called caring.
Wen Jiuzhe selectively ignored the tape stuck onto that black bundle in the shape of a big X.
After picking out a few pieces of clothing for Xue Ling, Wen Jiuzhe opened the suitcase, then fell silent for a moment.
The suitcase was one they had used on a trip before, and there were actually quite a few things inside that hadn’t been taken out.
Wen Jiuzhe took out a dress from the suitcase: “Isn’t this the dress you couldn’t find no matter what before?”
Xue Ling stood up instantly: “Oh! Really! How is it here!”
Back then, in order to find this dress, she had turned the wardrobe upside down, piling clothes all over the bed.
Wen Jiuzhe had been sitting on the bed at the time, perfunctorily folding the few pieces of his own clothing, listening to her mutter “Where did I put it,” flipping left and right, almost climbing into the wardrobe herself.
So it had been put in this suitcase.
“Oh, and the nail clippers you absolutely couldn’t find and insisted I lost for you.” Wen Jiuzhe took out a multifunctional nail clipper from the inner pocket of the suitcase.
There were also train tickets, plane tickets, attraction stubs, travel-sized toiletries, skincare cream samples, and the like inside the suitcase.
Wen Jiuzhe cleared out the useless miscellaneous items from the suitcase and stuffed Xue Ling’s clothes inside.
Xue Ling, who originally didn’t know what she should take with her, suddenly felt that there were many things she wanted to take once she saw Wen Jiuzhe packing her clothes.
She also squeezed over to the wardrobe, found her favorite scarf, tossed it into the open suitcase, then fell into decision paralysis in front of her several backpacks. In the end, she chose two she used the most, one large and one small.
The gold bracelet her cousin had given her before, in the drawer—take it.
Her ID card, keep it as a memento—take it.
A brand-new notebook, and a box of pens she hadn’t started using—take them.
The comb and hair clips she was used to—take them.
When all the odds and ends were added together, the suitcase couldn’t fit everything. Two more large bags were packed separately, and Xue Ling was still holding a sky-blue checkered blanket in her arms.
“This is what you meant by having nothing you want to take?” Wen Jiuzhe lightly kicked the several bags of different sizes at his feet. Moving houses was pretty much like this.
Xue Ling: “……”
Wasn’t it you who started first.
She guiltily lifted the blanket and rested it on top of her head.
After carrying the things downstairs, Wen Jiuzhe “took advantage of every gap” and stuffed all of it into the empty spaces in the car, unexpectedly catching sight of that black bundle containing his clothes.
He hadn’t even noticed when she had stuffed it in.
After getting into the car, Xue Ling raised her writing board: “You came to Yu City just to help me move?”
Wen Jiuzhe started the car and dodged the question: “Want to take a stroll around the school?”
They went to the school again—Xue Ling’s school.
It was during vacation at the time, and there weren’t many people on campus, so there weren’t many zombies either. Compared to the densely packed zombie hordes on the bustling streets, this place could be described as vast and sparsely populated.
The car drove past the teaching buildings, the cafeteria, the artificial lake, made a round, and stopped on the street beneath the girls’ dormitory building.
After entering university, Xue Ling had rented a place outside on her own. But sometimes living alone outside was too lonely, and getting to class wasn’t very convenient either, so when she had many classes, she would still stay in the dormitory.
She had originally planned to live in the dormitory in her sophomore year as well, but later someone confessed to her downstairs in the dormitory, and only then did she move out.
“Someone confessed to you here before, remember?” Wen Jiuzhe brought it up as well.
“And then, you agreed to date me here.”
More than that. Not only did you agree to date me here, you also broke up with me on this very street.
Thinking of that, Xue Ling curled her lips and pushed the car door open to get out.
Many camphor trees and chinaberry trees were planted along this street. With no one cleaning it for over three years, fallen leaves blanketed the entire street, making a rustling sound when stepped on.
The roadside trees planted in Yu Normal University were all the kind that liked to shed leaves. Once autumn came, especially when the wind picked up, leaves floated everywhere in the sky.
Many students found that scene very romantic and would take out their phones to film it.
But at this moment, a bleak little wind was blowing. The two of them stood on the road watching the fallen leaves, while in the distance, a lone zombie rushing over let out excited roars. There wasn’t the slightest hint of the romance of revisiting an old place.
“It’s already been more than three years……” Wen Jiuzhe leaned against the roadside railing and asked, “Can you get back together with me now?”
After asking, he got up first, went to deal with the zombie that was getting closer, shrieking and howling, then walked back as if nothing had happened and continued, “You shouldn’t still be angry about what happened back then, right?”
Xue Ling: “……”
She used her foot to scrape at the leaves in front of her, scratching out a character for “okay.” Only after Wen Jiuzhe revealed a smile and wanted to come hug her did she slap him away, then continued scraping a “no” character in front of the “okay.”
Get back together?
—No.
The reason they got together in the first place had been very casual. Wen Jiuzhe felt that the reason she agreed back then was simply that she was embarrassed to reject someone.
Anyway, that day there were two men who asked to date her; she would definitely agree to one—if not him, then the other.
She just didn’t want to choose, so she picked one at random, just to put an end to that awkward situation of being pursued and entangled.
She was the kind of person who, in her heart, didn’t want to go out to eat with others, but if people persuaded her a couple more times, she’d feel too embarrassed to refuse and agree; after going, if there were no dishes she liked, she’d be too embarrassed to ask for more; even while hungry, she wouldn’t dare suggest leaving early; in the end, she’d be tired and hungry and still have to accompany them to KTV for a second round.
It was the same with dating him—she’d had a momentary lapse and agreed to be with him, piling a lot of obligations and responsibilities onto herself. Even if she didn’t like it, she still had to take care of him; even when she was often angered, she was too embarrassed to bring up breaking up……
Wen Jiuzhe had never figured out whether the reason she could date him for over a year was that she later gradually came to like him, or that she got used to having him around, so she felt it was fine to keep living that way.
Even though after a year of dating she had made some progress, finally, thankfully, able to say no to others, she still wouldn’t refuse him.
Oh, now she would.
Wen Jiuzhe: “……”
But when I hoped you’d learn to refuse, I didn’t mean for you to refuse me at a time like this.
Xue Ling used her foot to scratch two characters on the fallen leaves, then stood beside them and held out her hand in a presenting gesture, afraid he wouldn’t see them.
Wen Jiuzhe stepped over and used his foot to smear away the “no” character.
“Redo,” he said. “That one doesn’t count.”
How ridiculous—just because you say it doesn’t count, it doesn’t count?
Xue Ling scratched the “no” character back out again and stood provocatively in the middle, looking at him.
Wen Jiuzhe: “Fine. In a bit, I’ll make you personally wipe away this ‘no’ character.”
He said, “My question this time is, is breaking up okay?”
Xue Ling: “……”
A scheming man.
Just as she charged over, wanting to use an angry headbutt, Wen Jiuzhe made a deft move and picked her up, forcibly turning it into a two-way, mutually rushing embrace.
“Why not agree? Aren’t you someone who doesn’t like changing things once you’re used to them?”
Body wash, shampoo, and toothpaste—using the same brand and the same type year after year;
When shoes wore out, going to the same online shop to buy another identical pair;
Once used to eating breakfast at one shop, she would keep eating at that same shop. After it closed, every time she ate breakfast somewhere else, she would reminisce about the original one……
“You’re not used to new things, and there aren’t any new ones for you anyway. Might as well pick me up again, this old one—okay?”
Being held as he shook her, Xue Ling’s toes were almost not touching the ground. She really wanted to poke a few holes in him.
Talking about being an old one picked back up, making it sound so pitiful—anyone who didn’t know better would think she was the one who wanted to break up back then.
Wen Jiuzhe suddenly put her down again and said thoughtfully, “You’re not still bothered by that woman who ate with me back then, are you? Did you misunderstand her identity?”
Of course not! There was no misunderstanding! That matter didn’t even count as a fuse—the key problem was still Wen Jiuzhe himself.
This bastard—three years already, and he still hadn’t figured out why she was angry!
In Xue Ling’s view, their breakup had come very suddenly.
The night before, Wen Jiuzhe had still been like usual, lying on her bed, using her pillow, picking up the expense notebook she kept by the bedside to look through. While flipping through it casually, he had even joked around with her a bit.
The next day at noon, she ran into Wen Jiuzhe eating with a pretty older woman at a nearby restaurant while she was with her classmates.
At the time, the two of them were already almost done eating. They got up to pay the bill, then turned around and went straight into the six-story mall to buy clothes. Wen Jiuzhe followed behind that pretty older woman, helping her carry the shopping bags.
Usually at school, Wen Jiuzhe never noticed anyone else at all—male or female, when people talked to him, he would be indifferent. Yet today he was so obediently accompanying someone to eat and shop.
Before this, the only one who had received that treatment was Xue Ling.
At the time, the friends beside Xue Ling all looked at her with hesitation, the unspoken words plainly revealed in their gazes.
—Your boyfriend… didn’t cheat on you, did he?!
But Xue Ling’s first reaction wasn’t suspicion. Although that scene did look a bit like a sponsor and the college boy he was keeping, she didn’t quite believe she would run into something so melodramatic.
She took photos, mobilized her own connections, and quickly found out the identity of that older woman. Unexpectedly, she really was an older sister.
She was Wen Jiuzhe’s half-sister from the same father, Wen Yi.
She had appeared in Wen Xuan’s Moments before, was doing a PhD in the neighboring Andong City, and was said to be a very impressive person.
That afternoon, Xue Ling bought milk tea and met Wen Jiuzhe at the school.
Wen Jiuzhe was distracted. She took the initiative to say, “Today I saw you eating and shopping with a girl at the mall…”
What she actually wanted to ask was, were you being put in a difficult position?
But before she could finish speaking, Wen Jiuzhe suddenly said, “Let’s break up.”
