Chapter 46: It's Him "Hale?"

Gu Ci helped the unconscious Shang Zui to lie down in the guest room. After taking care of everything, he sat in the living room, staring blankly at the note in his hand under the dim light.

It was written in Huo Wenyuan's handwriting.

So... why did he suddenly appear here?

How did he know they had been drinking? And how did he know I was staying here?

Mystery after mystery arose in Gu Ci's mind, and he felt dizzy and his temples began to throb.

This was truly unbelievable.

He put the note down, turned around, and looked back at the guest room. Could it be that Shang Zui was still in touch with him?

But Shang Zui had never mentioned it to him, and sometimes he would ask him in a roundabout way about his opinion of Huo Wenyuan.

Gu Ci considered himself to be quite logical, but he had indeed reached a bottleneck on this matter.

He stood up and walked into his study, opening a drawer in a bookcase. Next to a neatly stacked stack of blank postcards were a few greeting cards. The handwriting on them was identical to the note, sharp and flowing.

It was indeed him.

Just as Liu Zhihe had said, he had truly returned.

Gu Ci opened WeChat on his phone, clicked on the contacts screen, and scrolled through them, but unfortunately, he couldn't find the letter.

It was perfectly normal. Because of the information leak after the college entrance examination, he had changed his phone number and WeChat. He had wanted to add Huo Wenyuan back, but his phone number was no longer in service, and their electronic contact was severed.

But to his surprise, just as Huo Wenyuan had said, he never returned. For the first two New Years after Huo Wenyuan's departure, Huo Xiao was still busy flying around, while Gu Ci spent Lunar New Year at the Huo family's house with Butler Feng and the others.

Later, feeling embarrassed to bother the Huo family again, Gu Ci moved out, visiting only on important days. From then on, he lost all possibility of contacting Huo Wenyuan offline. At the time, he had a simple idea: if Huo Wenyuan really came back, Butler Feng would definitely tell him. Unfortunately, every year when he met Butler Feng, even he had no news of Huo Wenyuan, as if he had disappeared from their world.

But now, seven years later, he is back.

Gu Ci lowered his eyes, folded the note in his hand, and placed it on top of the greeting card Huo Wenyuan had written to him.

Before pushing the drawer back, his eyes swept over the pile of blank postcards next to it. Even though his eyes moved slightly, he finally closed the drawer.

Just as he stood up, there was a sudden noise in the guest room. Gu Ci hurriedly walked towards the room where Shang Zui was, and was almost shocked by the scene in front of him.

- Shang Zui had stepped barefoot on the carpet without knowing when, and was covered with the thin wool blanket that Gu Ci had prepared for him. He was holding a mobile phone in his hand as a microphone, humming incoherently, and it was impossible to make out what he was saying.

Startled, Gu Ci walked over and tentatively called out, "Shang Zui." Shang Zui raised his head with a vacant look, his eyes rolled upward, and he slumped to the side, collapsing back onto the bed.

Gu Ci: "..."

What's going on? The battery's out again so quickly?

He knelt down, preparing to help Shang Zui back onto the bed, when he heard a cold voice from Shang Zui's phone.

"I can't help with the Qu family's cooperation. If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up."

As soon as these words were spoken, Gu Ci's hand froze, his eyes slowly widening as they fell to the phone on the carpet.

The screen displayed an active call icon, with the caller's name noted as an English name.

[Hale]

Gu Ci's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but ask, "Are you..."

"Brother Wen Yuan?"

A sudden silence fell from the other end.

Gu Ci held his breath. Shang Zui had fallen back asleep, and the room was silent. The two people on the phone were each focused on the other, seemingly awaiting something they'd longed for.

Gu Ci's lips moved, his fingers gripping the phone nervously. He was debating whether to say anything more when a busy tone rang.

The call was disconnected.

The screen faded, and Gu Ci put the phone down, feeling a strange sense of guilt.

He'd been too impulsive. How could he have been so sure it was Huo Wenyuan? What if it was someone else?

Holding Shang Zui's phone, Gu Ci felt a flicker of curiosity about the man named Hale.

He knew Shang Zui's password.

But without hesitation, he placed Shang Zui's phone on the bedside table. After making sure Shang Zui was asleep, he quietly closed the door.

That night, Gu Ci suffered a rare bout of insomnia, only returning to sleep around four or five in the morning. His sleep was restless, and he kept dreaming of his school days with Huo Wenyuan.

Other coincidences aside, Huo Wenyuan was truly a wonderful friend and brother, attentive to him, attending to his every need, accommodating him, and making every possible exception.

Qu Zhi suggested that Huo Wenyuan might have someone else he liked, which meant he probably didn't "like" him anymore. So, their reunion wasn't a big deal. He'd pretend he didn't know; they could still be friends or siblings.

The next day, Gu Ci arrived at school two hours early to prepare for the experiment. Always punctual, he preferred arriving early to being late, so with a little over forty minutes left before the experiment began, he had already finished everything.

Sitting at his workstation, the clock stopped at 11:30 p.m. Gu Ci figured Shang Zui would be awake by then, so he sent him a WeChat message, saying, "Shang Zui, I'm going to school. There's kale juice and fruit in the fridge, and freshly made shrimp and pork wontons and steak in the freezer. There's also a light snack shop downstairs, so help yourself."

"Also..." He thought for a moment before sending the message, "Hale...is that your friend? It seems you didn't finish your phone call last night." By the time

Gu Ci had sent the message, the rest of the lab team had almost arrived. They chatted and laughed as they changed into their lab coats, gathered together to review precautions, and quickly settled into a routine.

Gu Ci worked intently on his experiment the entire time, and by the time it was successfully completed, it was already evening. The clouds outside the window burned with a rosy glow. Gu Ci changed back into his regular clothes, and behind him, several fellow disciples were discussing dinner.

"Xiao Ci, what are your plans for tonight?" Senior Brother Qiu, a fellow disciple, came over and asked, "Want to join us?"

Gu Ci opened his phone, which was indeed already overflowing with messages. He smiled and declined, "No, some friends recently came to Jingcheng, and I'm spending the next few days with them."

Senior Brother Qiu's eyes fell on his phone and said, "Okay, then we'll go this time. You've worked hard all afternoon, so go and catch up with your friends."

Gu Ci nodded, not checking his phone all afternoon. Dozens of red dots appeared on his WeChat, most of which were from Shang Zui.

[Okay, Xiao Ci—don't worry, I won't starve!]

[I love your shrimp and pork wontons the most! I'll have them for lunch // drool]

[Hale? Who is this? Is she my friend? ]

[Oh, I remember now. It seems he is indeed a friend, but his character is average...]

[What did I say to him? I don't think he said anything weird, right?]

[The other party withdrew a message]

[I mean... did you hear anything?]

The latest one was Shang Zui's dinner invitation.

[When are you done? There's a popular sushi restaurant in front of your school. I'll pick you up and go eat sushi!]

Gu Ci thought for a moment and called Shang Zui. He seemed to be waiting by the phone. Shang Zui answered the call immediately, his tone extremely enthusiastic: "Little Gu Ci, are you done with your experiment?"

Gu Ci nodded, locked the lab door, and walked out: "Yes, I'm going out now. Do you want some sushi? You can come over soon."

"That's a coincidence." Shang Zui said, "I'm already waiting at the west gate of your school. Come on, come on~"

Gu Ci finished reading the other messages on his phone, walked down the long stairs, and crossed the green path in front of the west gate. A girl in a sky blue suspender skirt suddenly caught up with him: "Classmate, please wait a moment!"

Gu Ci stopped and looked at the girl seriously: "Excuse me?"

The girl praised sincerely: "I think your backpack is very beautiful. Can you share a link with me?"

Gu Ci thought sharing a link was a piece of cake, so he said: "Then let's add WeChat and I'll share the link with you."

The girl's face was delighted and she thanked him repeatedly: "Thank you! Thank you very much!"

Gu Ci smiled at her and said: "You're welcome, I'll scan you?"

The girl nodded excitedly and was about to hold out the WeChat QR code when a fair and thin boy came over, pulled Gu Ci over and said: "Baby, you made me wait! It was said to be in a while?"

Gu Ci: "?"

Why did he suddenly call baby? What was going on?

Not only Gu Ci was surprised, but also the girl. She looked at Gu Ci and Shang Zui, then at their linked hands, and the hand holding the phone shrank back a little.

"Oh~ what are you doing?" Shang Zui asked knowingly, and looked curiously at the QR code on the girl's phone, "Are you trying to make friends?"

Gu Ci explained, "I'm sharing the backpack link with her."

"No, no, thank you!" The girl suddenly waved her hand, completely retracted her phone, and said excitedly to Gu Ci and Shang Zui, "I suddenly remembered that I can take pictures and recognize images! I won't waste your time! I wish you a happy date!"

Gu Ci: "Oh?"

The girl ran away, and Gu Ci reacted and said to Shang Zui, "Did you do that on purpose?"

Shang Zui clapped his hands and smiled, "Haha": "It's obvious that I'm not asking you for the backpack link. If she really likes the backpack, she wouldn't even look at it, but stare at your face with shining eyes the whole time?"

Gu Ci asked doubtfully, "Really? I think she's quite sincere. Besides, it wouldn't matter even if I gave her her contact information."

"Don't you think you get enough friend requests?" Shang Zui pulled him out. "You think it's nothing, but if someone found out, they'd be furious."

Gu Ci, sensing a hidden meaning in his words, stopped and asked, "Who?"

Shang Zui glared at him. "Isn't it okay with me?"

He admired Gu Ci. Over the years, he'd been pursued by so many people he couldn't even count them all in one night, yet he'd still been single, a miracle.

He could team up with some weirdo named Huo.

Thinking of this, Shang Zui felt a little guilty and quickly pulled Gu Ci towards the sushi restaurant.

It was indeed the busiest sushi restaurant in the area. The meal had already passed its peak, and the TV inside was randomly playing the evening's hottest news. The place was still filled with young, energetic university students. Fortunately, Shang Zui had been thoughtful enough to get a number beforehand, so by the time they arrived, it was their turn.

"Everything is just right!" Shang Zui excitedly sat down, took the tablet, and scanned the QR code to place his order. "Gu Ci, check out what you want to eat!"

"I saw online that this tastes very similar to that sushi restaurant in Tokyo. I miss it so much. I have to try it!"

Gu Ci leaned over to study the menu with Shang Zui and place their order. As they were adding foie gras to the order, Shang Zui's phone suddenly lit up.

The caller was Hale.

Shang Zui instinctively prepared to answer, but for some reason, his face fell and he hung up.

Gu Ci casually asked, "Don't you want to answer?"

Shang Zui's head rattled loudly: "No."

Gu Ci gave up and continued to study the dishes.

After ordering, Shang Zui had already put the call he had just hung up on out of his mind. Before he got up to go to the bathroom, he naturally placed his phone in front of Gu Ci for safekeeping.

Against the background of voices and the sound of the television, Gu Ci browsed the messages in the group chat with his classmates. They were having dinner at Haidilao tonight, and word was that Senior Brother Qiu had already become a Black Sea member. A few of his junior brothers were playing a pun, saying, "No wonder they were fishing for the moon in the sea."

Senior Brother Qiu Yue, under the constant ridicule, could only look to Gu Ci for comfort.

Gu Ci sent a smiley emoji of someone covering their mouth with their hands. Nearby, Shang Zui's phone suddenly vibrated several times. Glancing over, he saw a message on the screen.

[Hale: Did you stop it?]

[Hale: Did he not agree?]

[Hale: Answer. Otherwise, there's no hope of a Quzhi partnership.]

Gu Ci paused for a moment, then looked up thoughtfully, waiting for Shang Zui to return.

Shang Zui, humming a good tune, took his phone and was about to unlock it to check the message when Gu Ci asked, "Shang Zui, who is Hale?"

Shang Zui's song suddenly stopped.

"Huh?" He chose to answer Gu Ci with a blank tone. "Are you talking about that shameless, evil, and petty online friend of mine?"

Gu Ci nodded, waiting for his answer.

Shang Zui stretched out the last word: "Well... are you curious?"

Gu Ci nodded frankly, looking directly at Shang Zui.

"What I actually want to ask is... do I know this person?"

"Uh... it can't be such a coincidence, right?" Shang Zui hid his phone evasively. "He and I basically only contact online. It's hard to say whether you know each other..."

Hiss... it's really hard to strike the right balance between truth and lies.

Gu Ci stopped asking questions and quietly stared at the large TV screen behind Shang Zui. Shang Zui was also surprised why he didn't ask anymore and turned his head away.

"Ahem!" Shang Zui suddenly broke out in a sweat.

On the TV screen, a man in a dark gray suit sat expressionlessly in the center of the conference room, presiding over an important industry meeting.

...The cameraman, who might be his biggest fan, was almost right in front of his face. His sharp features and outlines were impeccable under the high-definition lens, and the damned name plate in front of him was also clearly captured in the frame.

Gu Ci softly read out the English name on the name plate.

"Hale?"