Ice Cream

In the end, they didn't get a late-night snack. Cheng Shuo originally wanted to walk Cen Zeng back to his dorm. When they arrived downstairs, Cen Zeng said, "I was very happy today. Good night. Go back, it's windy."

Cheng Shuo froze in place, unable to say anything, as Cen Zeng turned back, waved, and walked away.

Well, can't hold on to him.

But half an hour later, his WeChat chimed. Cen Zeng said he was back at the dorm.

Cen Zeng held the melatonin gummies he had just bought from the pharmacy, first pouring two out for himself and swallowing them.

He waited for an hour. During this time, he looked at his courseware and then checked Director Li's comments on the document he and Song Shuyi had submitted.

This time, the comments were surprisingly mild, saying that Cen Zeng was finally showing some proper form.

It was so unusual that Song Shuyi had even taken a screenshot and sent it to him on WeChat with three exclamation marks, saying, "A rare compliment! Should we frame it and hang it in the dorm?"

Senior Brother still spoke in that light and cheerful manner. He hoped the person on the other end was also feeling a little better.

Waiting for his pineal gland and the artificial melatonin to take effect together, Cen Zeng had a rare good night's sleep.

A dreamless night, deep and peaceful.

When he woke up, Wu Yin was still fast asleep. Cen Zeng glanced at his schedule; he had no lab classes in the morning.

He attended a medical ethics class, discussing whether to inform patients, how to inform them, and how to handle the emotions of both patients and their families.

The teacher had worked in clinical practice for many years. He spoke of joys and sorrows, partings and reunions, and of patients who came for consultations alone and then left just as abruptly.

With a calm expression, he laid out all the bittersweet stories, and at the right moments, hinted at the exam points.

There were hushed cheers from below. Halfway through, Cen Zeng, who rarely got distracted, found his mind wandering. Just then, a new WeChat message arrived. It was from Cheng Shuo: "So where are we having lunch today?"

"The cafeteria?"

"Aren't you in class?"

Cen Zeng's lips curved as he typed, "You decide then."

After class, Xu Bihui, who was sitting beside him, asked, "Any happy news?"

This roommate of his was, like him, quietly detached from the world and was currently living with his girlfriend. It was rare for him to ask anything, so Cen Zeng replied, "I met someone recently."

"For you, that's really rare." Xu Bihui nodded. "Let us know if anything happens. After Jiajia and I got together, I treated you guys to a meal. We're waiting for your treat."

"It's not... like that." Cen Zeng shook his head.

Xu Bihui just smiled, waved his hand, and said, "You just wait then."

He himself didn't wait, though. He walked off briskly to find his girlfriend on the other side of campus.

The medical students left the classroom in twos and threes. Cen Zeng looked down at his phone. Cheng Shuo had sent: "I see you don't have that many classes today. Let's go out to eat. I drove here."

Cen Zeng thought for a moment, then sent a message to Song Shuyi asking if he had time in the evening to give some guidance on Director Li's new task. The reply he got was to come to the lab and pull an all-nighter with him.

"Life is hard..." Song Shuyi typed. "I need another person whose life is also hard."

Cen Zeng slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out, sending a message to his Senior Brother: "I'll be there at eight tonight."

He confirmed with Cheng Shuo that he would wait at the South Gate. Just as he arrived, someone had already rolled down their car window and was waving at him.

The midday autumn sun shone with a fervent light. The person inside was wearing sunglasses, his expression hidden, yet Cen Zeng inexplicably thought, 'He must be smiling.'

"Was the medical ethics class fun?" Cheng Shuo fiddled with the small Chinese knot hanging from his rearview mirror.

"The teacher was the same as always, recounting bizarre cases with a deadpan expression." Cen Zeng responded, "How was your Policy and Regulation Research class?"

"It made me sleepy. Spring weariness, autumn fatigue. I yawned three times in a row and got called on to answer a question."

"Did you manage to answer it?"

"I just blabbered a bunch of nonsense. It made all my classmates laugh."

Now, Cen Zeng also smiled faintly.

Cheng Shuo felt it was worth it.

"What should we eat?" he asked the person across from him. "I see you have an anatomy class this afternoon. Maybe you shouldn't eat too much?"

Cen Zeng thought for a moment and said, "During the first anatomy class, some people did indeed go out to vomit halfway through."

"What about you?"

Cen Zeng said, "I don't think I had much of a reaction. I felt the human body's structure was more beautiful and much more complex than I had imagined."

Cheng Shuo replied, "That's impressive."

"But it doesn't really matter what we eat. Nowadays, everyone can watch the courseware while eating."

"You pick." Cheng Shuo handed him his phone. "I picked yesterday."

A short drive from the university was a large commercial district. Cen Zeng looked at the dense list of recommendations and chose a paella restaurant.

Cheng Shuo nodded and started the car.

The city's traffic flowed ceaselessly, like deep, silent streams of water. And the person beside him, holding the steering wheel, would occasionally turn to look at him during red lights.

Good sunlight. A good autumn.

After lunch, there was still some time. Cheng Shuo asked, "Want to get some ice cream? There's a Gelato place right next door."

"In the autumn?"

"Actually, I prefer eating it in the winter." Cheng Shuo smiled. "But my childhood friend always thinks that's too much, so it's usually just me, eating it while wandering around outside in a down jacket when it's snowing."

And was sharply criticized by Ms. Zhong, who happened to see me, for engaging in performance art.

But Cen Zeng wasn't a killjoy. He answered as if it were the most natural thing, "Sure."

Young men and women gathered together, enthusiastically debating which flavor was better. Someone lamented softly that the calories burned at the gym yesterday were coming back, while a friend consoled them: "Isn't the point of exercising to eat with less guilt?"

They too walked in, looking at the vibrant, dopamine-inducing colors, and chatted idly about amusing things.

The cat that lived near Cen Zeng's house in middle school would often follow him silently to his building after his late-night self-study sessions and gift him half a dead mouse.

Cheng Shuo's packages were routinely left at his neighbor's doorstep until the neighbor, at their wit's end, finally put up a special sign pointing to their yard.

Cen Zeng chose chocolate, Cheng Shuo chose pistachio.

The latter took a photo with great ceremony: under the warm light of the shop, two slender hands holding a brown and a green ice cream.

Cen Zeng watched, his mind wandering. 'This picture is the one that's more worthy of being framed and hung in the dorm, to dispel some of the confusion during a splitting headache.'

There were still people queuing in the shop, so they stood outside, watching the beautiful, youthful people walk past on the bustling commercial street.

Then they looked up and their eyes met.

"It tastes good," Cen Zeng said.

"When I'm in a bad mood, I often come here specifically to eat this. Once, I got a parking ticket in the time it took me to stop by the roadside and buy an ice cream."

"Did your mood get worse?"

"No, once I ate it, all was forgiven. It wasn't a wasted trip, so that was good." Cheng Shuo smiled. "And now is good too."

[Author's Note]

This chapter is pure sweetness ^ ^. Actually, this chapter is more like a date.