"What are you doing out here? Why aren't you coming inside?"
When he saw
"Why did you go to the teacher's house yesterday? It's not right to trouble people like that."
The familiar nagging came in a steady stream. The man didn't complain to Chen Ge about how hard his work was, nor did he use his own hardship as a reason to demand anything of Chen Ge.
"Come on in. As long as you're back, that's what matters. I'll go make you something to eat."
"I can't go in." Chen Ge stood rooted in place. The night before, he had searched parts of the east and west districts of Liwan Town. Give him another two days and he could comb through the entire town.
"What's wrong?" The man hadn't expected that even standing right at the front door, Chen Ge would refuse to enter. He stopped in his tracks. "This is our home — the place where you can come to feel better when you're tired or upset. I don't know what you're afraid of."
Home was a warm and comforting place in Chen Ge's memories, but in Yu Jian's mind, it might not be that way at all. The moment one stepped inside the house, night would fall. Only by leaving could one see daylight again.
Chen Ge didn't understand why Yu Jian had formed such an impression. Though the man didn't have a father, he had a mother who loved him dearly.
Seeing Chen Ge still standing there, the man didn't press further. "At least come in and eat something after I've cooked."
He sighed softly and headed into the kitchen. Before long, the sound of bowls and chopsticks clattering to the floor came from inside — Chen Ge's father seemed to have collapsed.
Instinct drove Chen Ge's body through the door, and he rushed over. The man was slumped against the wall, clutching his stomach, ceramic shards scattered across the floor.
"Medicine — it's in the pocket of my coat."
Chen Ge hurried over and found a small bottle of pills. The label had been torn off, making it impossible to tell what the medicine was.
"Let me cook. You go rest." Chen Ge helped the man to his feet.
After finishing the meal, Chen Ge sent Luo Ruoyu back to her room and tucked her in with a blanket. Then he poured two cups of hot water and entered his father's bedroom.
He closed the door behind him, set the cups on the nightstand, and pulled up a chair to sit beside his father's bed.
He took his father's hand and looked at the frail, exhausted man lying there.
In his memory, his father had been a mysterious, cheerful, endlessly interesting man who knew a great deal about everything — the sort of person who could solve any problem no matter what arose. That tall, broad figure had always stood ahead of him, shielding him from wind and rain. He had never imagined that one day, that figure would be lying in bed so weak.
The pain from his abdomen made the man curl up. He hunched his back, unwilling to let Chen Ge see him like this.
"Over twenty years, and we've never had a conversation like this. Life kept pushing me forward, and I grew used to everything. It wasn't until the day you all left that I realized what I called independence was really nothing more than survival skills." Many of the words Chen Ge spoke had been buried deep inside him, words he could never share with anyone else.
"What are you saying?" The man's face was pale. He leaned against his pillow, hesitating for a long time as though he wanted to tell Chen Ge something, but in the end he held back and deflected with a casual joke. "Who'd you learn to cook from? It tasted pretty good."
"Maybe the genes are just that good." Chen Ge handed his father the hot water. "What medicine did you just take?"
"For my stomach. Nothing serious."
"It's better to get treated early. Don't worry about things at home — I'll take care of Ruoyu."
The man before him was Chen Ge's own memory. Right now, it was as though he were sitting down quietly to have a special kind of conversation with his "father."
The two of them talked for a long time, clearing up every misunderstanding between them.
Along the way, Chen Ge worried about the man's health and urged him to rest early, but the man stubbornly kept Chen Ge at his side, going on and on about the responsibilities he bore as head of the household.
The phrase he repeated most was: take care of yourself, and take care of your sister.
As dawn approached, the downpour ceased, and Chen Ge once again stood at the front door. But before he could step outside, a noise came from his father's bedroom.
He rushed back and found the man fully dressed, sitting on the edge of the bed. One hand was pressed against his stomach, the other rummaging through a drawer for something.
"Don't go to work today." Chen Ge found the medicine for him, and noticed the dark, bluish-black veins on the back of the man's hand. That wasn't illness — it was a curse. Ming Tai and Yu Jian were cursing Chen Ge's memories.
His father's growing weakness was their doing. They were planning to strike at everyone Chen Ge loved, so that Chen Ge would know despair firsthand.
Flipping through the comic book, Chen Ge tried calling out each name one by one. A thin thread of blood appeared on the page.
"I still need more time."
After making sure the man was resting at home, Chen Ge shouldered his backpack and headed to school.
When he passed through the school gates, nothing felt out of the ordinary. The day seemed just like any other.
Arriving at the classroom, many students were already there. Some were previewing today's lessons, some were memorizing vocabulary, and others were scrambling to finish overdue homework.
Chen Ge sat down in his seat and glanced to the side. Du Ming had his head bowed, editing something. On the side of his desk closest to Chen Ge, homework for every subject was neatly arranged in order.
Du Ming didn't speak to Chen Ge, but the message was obvious — if you need to copy anything, help yourself.
Compared to Du Ming, who was still just a child, Chen Ge was practically a thousand-year-old fox spirit. He knew Du Ming had been keeping an eye on him this whole time.
What had happened to this guy? Why had he suddenly stopped talking to him? Was he the source of the rumors?
The Du Ming of his memories was the selfish type, but he'd never gone around spreading rumors. He had zero interest in gossip and rumor-mongering — time spent spreading rumors was time better spent doing another practice test.
Don't let the chubby exterior fool you. This kid talked plenty of trash, but he was a straight-A student who had never dropped out of the top ten in his grade. He had very little leisure time and was incredibly disciplined.
Chen Ge didn't touch Du Ming's homework. He took out his English textbook and compared it against the assignments.
"If only the Pen Spirit were here to help."
The third period that morning was English class. When
The rumors and malicious slander hadn't affected Zhang Ya in the slightest. She was just the same as always.
By the fourth period, Chen Ge was actually listening to the lecture for once — a rare occurrence — when his phone suddenly rang.
The caller was a colleague of his father's. The man said his father had suddenly collapsed and was being hospitalized, and told him to come right away.
As the eldest son, Chen Ge gave the teacher a brief explanation, then rushed out of the school and hurried to the hospital in Liwan Town.
He pushed open the hospital room door. His father was still unconscious. "Doctor, what's wrong with my father?"
"We're running tests. Please remain calm. Wait outside and don't disturb the patient."
The doctor ushered Chen Ge out of the room. He sat on a bench in the hospital corridor, and after about ten minutes, the sound of footsteps echoed down the hallway once more.
"Chen Ge, what did the doctor say?" Zhang Ya had arrived at the hospital as well. She knew Chen Ge's family situation and, as his homeroom teacher, felt she should be there at a time like this.
Seeing Zhang Ya show up, Chen Ge felt slightly reassured. "They're still running tests. I'm guessing that even if they can figure out what's wrong, a town hospital probably won't be able to do anything about it."
Through the window of the hospital room, Chen Ge saw his father's arms turning dark and bluish-black. The black particles representing the curse had already spread across a large area.
"If there's anything I can do, just say the word." Zhang Ya handed Chen Ge a lunch box. "I don't have any classes this afternoon. Why don't you go home first? I'll stay here, and if anything happens, I'll notify you immediately."
"I'd rather stay. I have a bad feeling about this." Neither Chen Ge nor Zhang Ya went to school that afternoon. It wasn't until the sky was growing dark that Chen Ge's father finally woke up, looking utterly wretched.
"I'll take care of things at home. You focus on getting better." In his mind, Chen Ge called out the name of the Red High Heels. There was no response, but on the page in the comic book where the Red High Heels was hiding, a very fine line of blood had appeared.
The employees were on the verge of breaking free of their restraints. Chen Ge held his father's hand. The feelings in his heart at that moment were something very few people could understand.
When all the Red Robes appeared, this world would shatter. He would be able to return to reality — and at the same time, he would lose everything he had now.
After dark, Chen Ge went home. He had just entered the stairwell when Luo Ruoyu, who had recognized his footsteps, came running to open the door.
No matter how tired or how awful you felt, coming home to a lit room and someone opening the door for you — that was the simplest kind of happiness there was.
"Brother, brother…"
"Dad's staying somewhere else for a few days and won't be back for now. Your big brother will cook for you, okay?"
Luo Ruoyu didn't understand what being hospitalized meant. She was simply happy to see Chen Ge.
Once inside, Chen Ge cooked the meal and set it on the table, but Luo Ruoyu didn't eat.
"What's wrong? Not to your taste?"