Shang Jue was busy moving and tidying up his house until late at night. By ten o’clock, the bedroom had barely taken on a livable appearance. After running around all day, he had taken a shower and lay back down, and the moment his eyelids touched, sleepiness washed over him.
At that moment, his phone by the pillow rang.
Struggling to muster some energy, he glanced at it; it was an unfamiliar number from the same city. Shang Jue usually ignored unknown calls, but a local number could be from someone at school.
After pondering for a couple of seconds, he reluctantly answered, his voice thick with fatigue. “Hello?”
After a few seconds, he couldn’t understand what the other person was saying, but he raised an eyebrow.
“I’m not—”
Before he could finish the word “friend,” the voice suddenly stopped.
“…Car accident?”
—
Shang Jue hurried to the hospital's emergency room.
He had no idea why the police station would call him, but since it concerned a life, he rushed out and hailed a cab as quickly as possible.
On the way, he considered whether he should inform the other two people in dorm 323 about this, but ultimately dismissed the thought.
He wasn’t clear on the situation, and he even thought that the previous call might have been some sort of prank or scam.
All his speculations vanished when Shang Jue saw the familiar yet annoying face lying unconscious on the hospital bed.
The person on the bed didn’t seem to be in too bad a condition. Shang Jue quickly scanned them and noticed that aside from a bandage wrapped around their head, there didn’t appear to be any serious injuries. His expression returned to its indifferent coldness.
“Are you a family member of the injured?” a nurse walked over and asked.
“No.”
“Then do you know the injured person?”
Shang Jue nodded reluctantly.
“Is his condition serious?”
“He has multiple abrasions on his body and a head injury. We’ll need to wait until he wakes up to confirm the specifics. But he didn’t injure any internal organs.”
After the nurse finished speaking, she left the ward to find someone to contact the police station.
Half an hour later, two young police officers arrived at the hospital. They first asked for Shang Jue’s personal information and his relationship with Lu Yuxing.
“I’m his classmate. I received a call this afternoon…”
One of the police officers recognized his voice and said, “That was us who called you.”
“…” Shang Jue felt perplexed and really couldn’t understand why the police would contact him.
He and Lu Yuxing weren’t particularly close; calling them friends would be a significant overstatement, and saying they were classmates felt like a grand upgrade of their relationship.
“What about his family?”
“We’ve checked his relatives; he only has one older brother.”
Shang Jue was taken aback.
He didn’t know much about Lu Yuxing’s family situation and didn’t expect that the other party only had one relative.
The two police officers explained the situation to him: the perpetrator had been drinking heavily and, in a state of confusion, didn’t understand the traffic lights and ended up hitting someone. “We’ve already contacted the victim’s brother, but he’s currently abroad and won’t be back until tomorrow. He also requested us to help contact the victim’s friends.”
“…Can I ask one more question?” Shang Jue felt a bit of a headache. “How did you determine that I’m one of his friends?”
The two police officers exchanged glances and handed him a phone with a cracked screen.
After unlocking the phone, he found the contact numbers in the address book.
Shang Jue glanced over.
In the address book, there was a neat row of full names, and he couldn’t find out who their family members were, except for one exceptionally eye-catching entry labeled “idiot.”
Opening the number, he was surprised to see it was his own mobile number.
“The only special note. I guess your relationship is quite close.”
Human friendships are strange; the best buddies often have the most eye-catching labels in the contact list.
“…”
The young officer looked up at Shang Jue again, noticing that the latter’s expression had become somewhat inscrutable.
“Did we make a mistake?” he asked, uncertainty creeping into his voice.
“No.” Shang Jue’s lips curled into a shallow smile, but the way he spoke suggested a hint of gritted teeth. “We have a very good relationship.”
“That's good.” The officer felt a sense of relief. “If possible, could you please contact the injured person's brother? He asked us to have you take care of him for the night.”
Shang Jue fell silent for a moment, weighing the request before finally agreeing to the task. He picked up Lu Yuxing’s phone and dialed his brother, Lu Yunsheng.
The call was quickly connected.
“Hello?” A warm, calm voice answered, sharply contrasting with Lu Yuxing’s.
“Hello, Mr. Lu. This is Shang Jue, Lu Yuxing’s roommate.”
“Shang… I won’t be back in the country until tomorrow evening. Could you please take care of my brother tonight?” Lu Yunsheng's voice was urgent, tinged with a slight tremor.
Shang Jue maintained a polite tone when addressing the elder. “No problem.”
“I’ll take care of him until tomorrow, so don’t worry too much,” he reassured.
Gratitude poured from the other end of the line, with Lu Yunsheng repeatedly thanking him before the call ended.
After hanging up, Shang Jue lowered his eyes, staring at the irritating note saved in Lu Yuxing’s phone.
He chuckled to himself, bemused. This guy usually kept his mouth clean around others, never uttering a curse word, yet his phone notes were refreshingly honest. Hypocrite, he thought, smirking inwardly.
---
Amid the dull ache in his head, Lu Yuxing gradually began to regain consciousness.
His long, dark eyelashes fluttered a few times before slowly lifting, revealing unfocused pupils that stared blankly at the ceiling for an extended moment.
His brain felt foggy, caught in the liminal space of waking up—dazed and bewildered. Yet, it was different from merely waking up; after several seconds, the almost void feeling in his mind still lingered, refusing to dissipate.
No memories surfaced to pull him out of this disorienting state.
“You’re awake.” A nurse in the emergency room noticed Lu Yuxing had opened his eyes and quickly stood up. “How are you feeling?”
As he listened to her voice, a strange sensation washed over him—like his life had been severed, fragmented memories drifting apart, each one isolated and unreachable.
He completely couldn't grasp the situation. With the limited capacity for thought he had, he managed to utter, “...My head hurts.”
The nurse spoke softly, her voice soothing. “Don’t worry; it’s just a mild concussion with a few abrasions. There are no serious injuries.”
Concussion, abrasions...
Lu Yuxing extracted key information from those few words. He began to piece together his current predicament: he had been in an accident and was now in the hospital.
But despite that clarity, he couldn’t recall any fragments of what had happened.
“Are there any other areas where you feel discomfort...?” The nurse continued to ask about his condition in a gentle tone.
“Excuse me,” Lu Yuxing interrupted her, his dark eyes reflecting a hint of melancholy. “Could you please call the doctor? I think I might be experiencing memory loss.”
“...Huh?” The nurse paused, caught off guard by his request.
A few seconds later, the nurse hurried out of the emergency room. “I’m going to call Dr. Cheng!”
“Patient in bed three is awake? Call the police station now!” another nurse in the consultation room, still unaware of the situation, instructed briskly.
Shang Jue had only stepped out for lunch, but when he returned to the emergency room, he found that the person who had been unconscious all night was now awake, frowning slightly as he spoke with a male doctor in a white coat at his bedside.
The cold, detached expression on the man's face certainly didn’t resemble that of a patient who had just awoken from a car accident. He looked surprisingly alert.
Shang Jue approached the bedside slowly. Dr. Cheng, a man with a square face and in his fifties, appeared quite experienced. However, his expression was unusually serious at that moment.
Shang Jue didn’t think much of it; people with square faces often looked serious, as if they were perpetually troubled by important matters. He stood at the foot of bed three, lazily resting one hand on the railing beside the bed.
Lu Yuxing noticed him. He paused mid-sentence, his gaze landing on Shang Jue for two seconds.
In that instant, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him, one that made him uncomfortable. This was the first time since awakening that he felt a stirring of memories.
He recognized the person before him.
For reasons unknown, Lu Yuxing felt an inexplicable aversion toward the man, as if every nerve in his body was screaming to resist.
Nevertheless, he maintained a semblance of basic politeness and composure, nodding slightly to Shang Jue. “Hello.”
Shang Jue, who had initially appeared indifferent, suddenly shifted his expression. “Who are you?”
Lu Yuxing: ...
That was precisely the question he should have asked.
“Are you a relative of the patient?” Dr. Cheng inquired.
Shang Jue expected Lu Yuxing to deny it first, so he waited for a few seconds. However, Lu Yuxing merely kept silent, gazing at him quietly.
The oddity of the situation deepened for Shang Jue. “Friend,” he finally replied.
He was then called out of the hospital room by Dr. Cheng.
“...It should be a symptom of amnesia resulting from the car accident. The patient’s symptoms are somewhat unusual. Based on my earlier conversation with him, he has lost nearly three years of memory,” Dr. Cheng explained.
“Amnesia?” Shang Jue exclaimed in surprise.
Nearly three years of memories...
Three years ago, he and Lu Yuxing didn’t even know each other. No wonder Lu Yuxing had reacted the way he did upon seeing him earlier.
“Will he be able to recover?” Shang Jue asked, his voice tinged with concern.
“The impact on the patient’s head wasn’t too severe, so there’s a high likelihood of recovery,” Dr. Cheng replied. “However, there are always exceptions, so you should be mentally prepared…”
“But there’s no need to worry too much. Based on past experiences, amnesia after a car accident typically improves within one or two weeks.”
Shang Jue felt a slight sense of relief wash over him. “...Okay, thank you.”
—
Shang Jue filled a cup with warm water from the dispenser and brought it back to the hospital room.
Lu Yuxing was leaning against the headboard, and when he saw Shang Jue enter, he averted his gaze slightly.
Their eyes met briefly before quickly looking away.
Instinctively, Lu Yuxing felt a sense of aversion toward Shang Jue. Despite having not eaten or drunk water for a while, his lips were only slightly pale, and his striking features remained intact.
Shang Jue found a chair and sat down, crossing his legs.
Though he didn’t particularly like Lu Yuxing, he wasn’t pleased to see him in a state of amnesia after the accident.
Fortunately, the doctor had said there was a good chance of recovery. That small flicker of sympathy Shang Jue had for Lu Yuxing quickly faded away.
Suppressing his annoyance, he was just about to hand the cup of water to Lu Yuxing.
“Your name?” Lu Yuxing suddenly asked.
“Shang Jue.”
“What’s our relationship?”
Before Shang Jue could respond, Dr. Cheng's voice suddenly echoed in Lu Yuxing’s mind.
‘According to past experience, amnesia symptoms after an accident usually improve within one or two weeks.’
One or two weeks...
He recalled a note he had seen on Lu Yuxing's phone yesterday, and the words he was about to say turned over on his tongue.
Shang Jue coldly smiled, thinking of how he would enjoy watching Lu Yuxing’s reaction when he woke up. He uttered a few words, “I’m your boyfriend.”
Boyfriend—
For the first time, Lu Yuxing’s perpetually stoic face showed some change.
It took him a while to regain his ability to speak.
“What?”
Shang Jue had stayed in the hospital overnight, and the frustration he had bottled up dissipated with the cruel joke. He repeated with a grin, “I’m your boyfriend.”
Lu Yuxing’s brows furrowed as if covered by a layer of frost. “I appreciate you coming to the hospital to look after me,” he said coldly, “but your previous statement wasn’t funny.”
“You think I’m joking?”
“Yes.” Lu Yuxing glanced at him dismissively, his expression implying disdain. “I could never like you.”
The way he said it was somewhat condescending. Lu Yuxing didn’t even realize that despite his amnesia, there was still a sharp mockery hidden in his words when speaking to Shang Jue.
Shang Jue chuckled and didn’t retort. However, the water he had intended to offer Lu Yuxing instead went into his own mouth.
He thought to himself that dying of thirst seemed quite fitting for this person.
His silence, however, made Lu Yuxing feel a little uncertain.
After finishing the water, Shang Jue set the paper cup aside without providing any further explanation.
Unable to contain himself, Lu Yuxing asked, “Don’t you have anything to say?”
“You have amnesia and are injured,” Shang Jue feigned concern.
“That’s irrelevant. I told you, I could never like you.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’m not gay,” Lu Yuxing replied.
Shang Jue appeared to have no intention of explaining, merely nodding. “Mm.”
“I don’t like men.”
Shang Jue smiled, “Those two statements mean the same thing.”
“...I’m just emphasizing.”
After a moment of silence, Shang Jue lowered his eyes and said, “I used to feel the same way, not liking men.”
“…”
Lu Yuxing’s breath suddenly hitched.
This statement implied that he, Lu Yuxing, had somehow bent Shang Jue, this straight man?
He forced himself to take a moment to breathe, yet the calm eluded him.
Shang Jue didn’t accuse him; in fact, there wasn’t even a hint of complaint in his tone. This only made Lu Yuxing feel like a heartless man betraying the feelings of someone he cared about.
Lu Yuxing stared intently at him, trying to find any sign of deception on Shang Jue’s face.
But in his eyes, aside from a fleeting hint of resentment towards the hurtful words meant for a lover, there was nothing but endless patience and affection.
Either Shang Jue’s earlier words were genuinely true, or this person was an exceptionally skilled liar.
“...I feel a bit uncomfortable.”
For the first time, Lu Yuxing found it incredibly difficult to speak. His throat felt as if it were blocked by something, making his voice come out hoarse and strained.
Shang Jue asked with concern, “Do you have a headache? I’ll call Dr. Cheng…”
“No need!” Lu Yuxing turned his face away, not wanting to look at him. He endured the embarrassment and said, “… I want to rest for a while.”
“Okay. I’ll get you a glass of water,” Shang Jue replied.
He took a new disposable cup from the cabinet and left the ward. Instead of heading to the tea room, he stood facing the wall outside the ward for a moment.
A nurse who was moving in and out of the emergency room recognized him and slowed down the pace of her medical cart, discreetly averting her gaze, wanting to steal more glances at this rare handsome man.
However, she noticed that this handsome man facing the wall was trembling all over his shoulders.
“Pfft—”
—
Shang Jue intentionally lingered in the tea room for more than ten minutes, his smile never leaving his lips during that time. His face was truly eye-catching; even though he had only been on this floor for a short day, many people had remembered him.
He rarely smiled so freely, most of the time only showing a trademark fake smile. Now that he smiled sincerely, people could see that there was a striking dimple on his right cheek, bright and beautiful, making it hard for others to look away.
Once his mood settled and he ensured he wouldn’t burst out laughing in front of Lu Yuxing, he slowly returned to the ward. After half an hour of mental tug-of-war, it was clear that the person inside had adjusted their mindset.
Lu Yuxing, who was originally filled with doubt, was left with only seventy percent after Shang Jue’s impactful remark, “I used to be the same; I didn’t like men.” He still didn’t believe Shang Jue’s claims, but he needed evidence to disprove them.
“You said we are in a romantic relationship. What evidence do you have?”
“Evidence?”
“For example, when did we get together?”
“November 1st of last year.”
Lu Yuxing replied ambiguously, “You remember it very clearly.”
“Of course, I have to remember the day we got together.”
“How did you confess to me?”
“…”
“What’s wrong?” Seeing him silent, Lu Yuxing immediately pressed him.
After a moment, Shang Jue replied softly, “Baby, it was you who confessed to me.”
“…” Impossible.
“Don’t call me that.” When Lu Yuxing heard the affectionate “baby,” he felt a chill run down his spine.
Shang Jue briefly considered how this alien-like being might confess and replied, “You said my position in your heart is only second to mathematics.”
“Impossible.”
“Then we got together after that.”
“Impossible.”
Shang Jue chuckled, “How can you be so sure that it’s absolutely impossible for you to like me?”
Lu Yuxing didn’t understand why it was impossible.
He really couldn’t logically refute Shang Jue. The possibility of him liking the person in front of him wasn’t zero. Even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, it still existed.
However, “impossible is just impossible.”
“…”
Shang Jue fell into that unsettling silence again, which made Lu Yuxing uneasy.
“Do you have any photos of us together?”
Shang Jue casually fabricated an excuse: “You forgot; you don’t like taking photos.”
Just that one made-up statement managed to dispel a fraction of Lu Yuxing’s doubts.
He really hated having his picture taken; throughout his life, he had very few photos taken.
Shang Jue was afraid he wouldn’t believe him, so he continued embellishing the story: “I begged you to take a picture with me, but you wouldn’t agree.”
“…”
“I wanted to sneak a shot, but you dared to scold me.” Shang Jue happily crossed his legs and said, “But I also like how cute you look when you’re angry…”
“…Enough!”
Shang Jue fell silent.
It wasn’t that he was scared by Lu Yuxing, but rather that he was worried this injured patient might develop internal injuries from getting too worked up.
Lu Yuxing’s lips were pressed into a straight line, remaining silent. He decided not to ask any more questions. If he heard another word from this person, his heart might have problems.
Shang Jue stayed in the ward until evening. To fulfill his promise to Lu Yuxing's brother from yesterday, he skipped two water classes and a probability theory class. During this time, he also replied to a couple of messages from Ge Zhicheng.
Last night, the two remaining in Dorm 323 discovered Lu Yuxing hadn’t returned by midnight and that he wasn’t answering his phone, so they hurried to find their instructor. Shang Jue explained the situation to them and told them to wait a few days before visiting the hospital again.
With the car accident, the memory loss, and the fact that the perpetrator was still at the police station, Lu Yuxing's brother would have to handle various matters upon his return tonight. Ge Zhicheng’s personality was a bit impulsive, and although Lin Xuying was somewhat better, they probably wouldn’t be much help and might even complicate things.
At eight o’clock, a young man, around twenty-six or twenty-seven, hurriedly entered the ward.
Shang Jue had never seen Lu Yuxing's brother, but the moment he saw the young man, he knew this was Lu Yunsheng. The brothers shared some resemblance, but their temperaments were entirely different.
Lu Yuxing often had a serious, expressionless face, rarely smiling, and when he didn’t speak, he seemed particularly aloof. In contrast, Lu Yunsheng, while showing signs of maturity and stability, was approachable and easy to talk to.
Upon seeing Lu Yuxing, he quickly walked over, sized him up for a moment, and gave him a hug mixed with a sense of guilt.
At this moment, Shang Jue realized that Lu Yuxing’s outrageous height was actually an exception. As an older brother, Lu Yunsheng was nearly the same height as Shang Jue, even a couple of centimeters shorter.
Once Lu Yunsheng released him, all his attention shifted from his brother to the person standing nearby, Shang Jue.
Shang Jue greeted Lu Yunsheng. The two stepped out a bit to talk, and Lu Yunsheng kept thanking him.
“It’s nothing; I’m his friend, and this is what I should do. By the way, I didn’t tell you about Lu Yuxing’s situation because I was worried about your safety on the road.” Shang Jue repeated what Dr. Cheng had said during the day.
“Don’t worry too much; according to the doctor, he can recover.”
Upon hearing about his brother's amnesia, Lu Yunsheng was silent for a long time. “... I understand.”
“Are you okay?”
Lu Yunsheng smiled at Shang Jue. “You probably heard from the police that Yuxing only has me as a brother.”
“My parents... they passed away in a car accident, so it’s a bit...”
Shang Jue fell silent, unable to find any comforting words to say at that moment.
Lu Yunsheng collected his emotions, not wanting to appear too immature in front of someone younger than him. “It’s already quite late. Thank you so much for taking care of my brother, Shang.”
Shang Jue politely responded a couple of times and said his goodbyes to the two of them.
“I’ll walk you out...”
“No need. Just take good care of him; I live not far away.”
Lu Yunsheng was also concerned about his brother’s injuries, so he didn’t insist any further.
Shang Jue's gaze shifted to Lu Yuxing, and when the latter looked over, he made an almost imperceptible mouthing gesture.
Lu Yuxing read the meaning of the gesture, and his eyelids twitched fiercely.
It was “Goodbye, baby.”
The liar full of lies left.
The two brothers stayed for half an hour, during which Lu Yunsheng deduced that Lu Yuxing’s cognitive abilities were intact, and his logical reasoning was normal.
His previously anxious heart felt much more settled.
Afterward, he made a trip to the police station to discuss the handling of the perpetrator.
On his way back, he also brought back Lu Yuxing’s phone, which had been temporarily stored there.
He handed the phone back to Lu Yuxing.
The phone was locked with a password.
Lu Yuxing tried several passwords he often used in high school and successfully unlocked it.
This gave him a bit of comfort.
At least some things wouldn’t change with time.
He almost attempted to use that so-called date of their first "meeting" to unlock it.
“Take a look at your phone’s photo album,” Lu Yunsheng suggested, “maybe seeing some recent pictures will help you remember something.”
“Hmm.” Lu Yuxing responded but didn’t open the album; instead, he opened other social media apps. He wasn’t fond of taking photos, whether they were of his life or scenery. He knew his habits; he regularly cleaned out his album, so it probably wouldn’t have much in it.
“Brother, have I been in a relationship in the past year?”
Lu Yunsheng was taken aback. “No, you never mentioned anything about that.”
So he really is a liar, Lu Yuxing thought coldly, opening WeChat to check messages, trying to piece together fragmented memories from his recent chats.
The names from top to bottom felt unfamiliar to Lu Yuxing. Ge Zhicheng, Lin Xuying...
There was one name he recognized, that of the liar, Shang Jue. He paused for a moment, subconsciously clicking on the fox icon.
There was only one message record:
[Lu Yuxing]: [Transfer]
Transfer Amount: 520.
Lu Yuxing: “…”
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