School-Starting Gift Part 2

After seeing his parents off, Song Yu dragged his suitcase alone to the designated registration point, which was the plaza in front of the Arts and Sciences Main Library. The major he chose was very obscure, so the number of people registering was much smaller than that of the larger departments. It was efficient, and he finished after a short wait in line.

After completing his registration, Song Yu, holding his accommodation form and a map, prepared to head to his dormitory. The form indicated that he could take the campus bus, so he dragged his suitcase and found a bus stop.

After standing alone for a while, Song Yu looked down at the watch on his wrist. When he looked up again, another person in the distance was approaching, dragging a suitcase. The person looked very pale and exhausted.

Life is full of coincidences.

The greeting that Song Yu had been unable to send months ago due to a lack of contact information now swirled in his mind.

But he couldn't bring himself to speak first, not even when Xu Qichen was less than three meters away from him.

Belatedly noticing someone else was there, Xu Qichen, who had been staring at the map in his hand, looked up and met Song Yu's gaze. A flash of surprise passed through his eyes, but they quickly returned to an indifferent look.

He had lost a lot of weight. His already thin frame now looked even more gaunt. He wore a slightly worn-out white T-shirt, light-colored jeans, and glasses. His eyes were not particularly bright.

In the end, Song Yu took the initiative to speak. “What a coincidence. I didn't expect we'd become schoolmates.”

Xu Qichen pursed his lips, seeming reluctant to speak, and finally just nodded. Song Yu wasn't sure if he was agreeing with his words or simply greeting him.

The campus bus was late. Xu Qichen seemed to want to walk. Seeing that he had a lot of things and a large suitcase, Song Yu's heart softened a little. He wasn't a helpful person by nature, but thinking of Xia Zhixu, and then of Yue Zhishi, he knew that neither of them would have left Xu Qichen to fend for himself.

So he walked over and helped Xu Qichen carry one of his luggage bags.

“If you're okay with not taking the bus, the dorm should be nearby.” Song Yu glanced at the accommodation form in his hand. “I'll walk you there.”

“No need.” This was the first thing Xu Qichen said. His whole demeanor seemed off, as if a gust of wind could knock him over.

Song Yu frowned and asked a question he himself found ridiculous, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Xu Qichen didn't look at him. “I'm fine.”

“You don't look like it,” Song Yu pointed out bluntly.

Xu Qichen finally looked up, staring at Song Yu. “Do I have any reason to lie?”

Song Yu paused, unable to answer for a moment. After all, he wasn't Xu Qichen's friend, at best a friend of a friend.

“I heard about what happened before. Xia Zhixu was very anxious when he found out you were in an accident.”

He was stating facts, which were also essentially nonsense. Xu Qichen couldn't not know these things. So when he finished speaking, Xu Qichen remained expressionless. The sun was scorching, and the two of them stood in an unsheltered spot, facing each other.

“Thank you for telling me.” Xu Qichen looked at the shadow on the ground, an expanse of unobstructed black.

Song Yu didn't want him to have this attitude. He tried to salvage something for Xia Zhixu. “Xu Qichen...”

“Do you think it's a pity?” Xu Qichen suddenly looked up, staring straight at Song Yu.

Song Yu was taken aback.

“What's there to be pitiful about?” Xu Qichen smiled. “What's so bad about how things are now?”

Rumors are the most destructive thing to a person. Song Yu knew all this, especially for someone as sensitive as Xu Qichen. But he had always felt that the outcome for those two shouldn't have been like this. Yet at this moment, seeing Xu Qichen's state, a trace of doubt arose in his heart.

“You left so decisively. Don't you regret it at all?”

Xu Qichen smiled again, his light laugh drowned out by the chirping of cicadas. “If I were to regret, I have so many things I should regret. I should regret asking my parents to take me on a trip after the high school entrance exams, regret being the only one who survived the accident, regret taking that bus on the first day of high school and happening to meet Xia Zhixu.”

His voice trembled slightly. He paused for a few seconds at the end to compose himself. “No, perhaps the thing I should regret the least is meeting him. After all, he was the one who pulled me back up.”

A few girls, chatting and laughing, came over. They were probably also new students, their words full of anticipation and hope.

On this day when everything could start anew, who wasn't full of hope for the future?

Xu Qichen took his luggage back from him and looked up at Song Yu. “But if I could do it all over again, I'd rather we had never met.”

After speaking, he gave Song Yu a polite smile, as serene as when they had first met. He expressed his thanks. “If you really want me to be okay, just pretend you don't know me at school. After all, our two departments probably won't have much contact.”

“Seeing you will make me constantly think of him, and I don't want that anymore.”

The bus arrived. The group of happy girls got on, but Xu Qichen left on his own.

Song Yu was caught in a sort of indescribable emotion. He got on the bus. The space inside was cramped, making it hard for him to breathe. On the first day of school, he had met a familiar face who couldn't be called an old friend at his new school, but that person was no longer who he used to be.

The dormitory he was assigned to was in a row of relatively new buildings. It was a four-person room, and he was the first to arrive. The dorm room wasn't even as big as his bedroom at home. Song Yu opened the window, feeling a sense of emptiness. He didn't want to stop and rest, so he began to tidy his bed, laying out the mattress and sheets, cleaning up, and finally, opening his one and only suitcase.

The things he brought were pitifully few. The left half of the suitcase held his basic clothes and necessities, while the right side contained a very space-consuming gift box and a photo album.

Song Yu took out the photo album and flipped through it. It was full of a small child who looked like a doll.

Following Yue Zhishi's instructions, Song Yu took out the school-starting gift he had received many days in advance, sat on his chair, and silently unwrapped it.

He had actually imagined many possibilities about what kind of absurd thing he would receive this time, but what he ultimately got was far from his imagination.

Yue Zhishi had given him a globe.

The base and stand were handmade from carved wood, polished exquisitely, and painted with a faux bronze metallic finish. And the globe itself—the rivers, landmasses, mountains, the seven oceans and four continents, the lines of longitude and latitude, every tiny detail and small mark—had all been hand-drawn by Yue Zhishi, modeled after a real globe.

He found it hard to imagine just how much time this must have taken.

Song Yu stared at the heavy globe in his hands, thinking only of Xu Qichen's words.

People who have lost hope can choose to never see each other again, treating it as cutting their losses in time. But he couldn't sever this relationship. From that rainy night when he had barged in, Song Yu had become an older brother, whether he was willing or not, whether he wanted to change it or not. Time cannot be reversed. Everything they experienced together was a collection of memories, but also a cage.

Sometimes, Song Yu did indeed wish they were strangers, with a stranger's beginning.

But he couldn't let go of the memories of growing up together.

Essentially, he was the one deeply caught in a contradiction, yet unable to let go.

In the quiet dormitory, Song Yu placed the globe on his desk. From outside the window came the sounds of many new students starting school, noisy and full of youthful energy. He leaned back in his chair, his outstretched arm resting on the desk, his fingertip lightly tapping the sphere, making it rotate gently, as if moved by the wind.

This globe sat quietly on his desk, accompanying him through many nights of staying up late to read.

The first time it rained, Song Yu was out and was always worried about whether the dorm window was closed properly. Later, he didn't want to worry anymore and simply had a glass cover made for it.

In March, the cherry blossoms bloomed. Petals would occasionally float in, but they were blocked by the glass, unable to land on any of the ocean currents drawn by Yue Zhishi.

When it snowed, the dormitory was very cold, and the glass cover would occasionally be coated with a thin layer of white mist, making the small globe inside appear ethereal and blurry.

He would occasionally press his fingertip against the glass cover, leaving a print, sometimes even a name. But it never lasted long and would soon be wiped away.

As if nothing had ever happened.

The person hiding in the cover, and his globe, were both very safe.

“Song Yu's had this globe on his desk for almost three years now, and it looks good as new.” His roommate, Chen Fangyuan, was eating chips and bending over to scrutinize the globe, more attentively than if he were at a geology museum. “The drawing is really good. This is the first time I've seen it this close.”

“Don't you touch it. He'll be unhappy when he comes out of the shower in a bit.” Another roommate, who was also the dorm leader, Wang Chengzhi, finished packing his things, zipped up his bag, and looked at the gloomy sky outside. “This weather, looks like another downpour is coming. I've gotta hurry home. My mom's waiting for me for lunch.”

“Go on, go on,” Chen Fangyuan straightened up and stretched. “Old Liu is with his girlfriend, and you're going home. One by one, you're all leaving. I'm going to hang out at my little brother's place in a bit too. That just leaves our handsome Song to hold down the fort alone.”

“He's something else too. He's a local but he rarely goes home, always cooped up in the lab.”

As the two were talking, Song Yu came out of the bathroom, drying his hair. Seeing that Wang Chengzhi was about to leave, he reminded him, “Remember to take an umbrella.”

“Don't worry.” Wang Chengzhi slung his bag over his shoulder. “I'll bring you guys back some of my mom's braised beef when I return.”

“I'll go down with you, borrow your umbrella.”

“How many umbrellas have you lost this semester? Honestly...”

The dorm grew quiet again. He dried his hair. The sky had turned even gloomier. Though it was morning, it looked like dusk. Sitting back down at his desk, Song Yu turned on the lamp and started to read. His phone vibrated once. He ignored it, thinking it was a roommate.

But it didn't stop at one vibration. It was one after another, messages popping up like crazy. This style belonged to only one person.

So Song Yu put down his book and opened his phone.

[Yue Zhishi: Brother, I'm on my monthly break]

[Yue Zhishi: Auntie Rong said she made soup for you, but she has something to do and can't come. She asked me if I had time, guess what I said?]

[Yue Zhishi: "Is there really such a good thing?"]

[Yue Zhishi: And that's the long and short of it. I'm coming to your school to find you, I'll be there this afternoon]

[Yue Zhishi: Wait for me, brother]