Chapter 77 Adaptation

Feng Ran did not return to the hospital, nor did he go to He Chuan or Chen Zhi.

He bought a ticket and went home.

Home, such a familiar yet unfamiliar name.

He found the key in the innermost part of his schoolbag, inserted it into the lock, twisted it gently, and the door opened. Then the smell of dust hit his nose.

The refrigerator was empty, and there were still a few packets of instant noodles left in the drawer. He ate the noodles briefly and charged his phone.

He slept all the way on the train and didn't notice that his phone had run out of battery and turned off. He didn't charge it after he found out. It was a rare moment of leisure now, and he didn't want to be disturbed in this silent moment.

Sure enough, when he turned on his phone, it was full of messages. From different people.

Chen Zhi's message was pinned to the top, very eye-catching, with more than a dozen unread messages.

Feng Ran read it, and it was basically some self-reflection, saying that he would not act impulsively in the future.

In addition, Chen Zhi specifically mentioned that according to Shen Yuan's intelligence, when Chen Shuze was abroad, he was known for having many sex partners, bad character, and being a scumbag and shameless. Shen Yuan found three documents that exposed him. It seemed as if he was hinting that perhaps for Chen Shuze, this time was no different from the past.

Feng Ran exited numbly and clicked on the message sent by Chen Shuze.

"I'm leaving. Goodbye, see you later." See you

later. Feng Ran muttered to himself. Life is short. Perhaps he and Chen Shuze were not destined to be together, so they could never have a happy ending. They had said goodbye several times, and they would say goodbye several more times in the future.

When he was alone in his hometown, Shen Zhi called him. He had guessed that Feng Ran had returned to his hometown, and tentatively asked if he could come.

Feng Ran was playing games in the Internet cafe all day and said it was up to him.

Shen Zhi said, "Then I'll go tomorrow."

Feng Ran had already given up hope on Shen Zhi and was too lazy to persuade him. He knew very well that the control of this relationship was in the hands of Shen Zhi, although Shen Zhi did not have any handle on him.

"Think about it carefully," Feng Ran's fingers were clacking and flying on the keyboard, with his cell phone on speakerphone aside. The surrounding environment was noisy, so his voice was inevitably louder. "You can come if you want, but I don't plan to leave. If you're trying to persuade me to go back, forget it."

"You... aren't coming back?"

"I'm not like you. I have nothing in Jiang City. No house, no car, no job, three nothings." Feng Ran said, "Anything else? It's time to form a group. Don't go on, don't go on! Wait until everyone is together, okay?"

Shen Zhi stopped talking. When he lost the game, he looked closely and found that Shen Zhi hadn't hung up the phone yet. He stood up and said something to everyone, then walked out to answer the phone.

Night fell in the sky. It was a moonlit night with sparse stars. The environment was quiet here. Shen Zhi said softly, "You don't want to play anymore?"

Feng Ran took a puff of cigarette and said, "Why don't you hang up?" "You

haven't finished your sentence." "

Go on."

"You really don't want to be in Jiang City?" Shen Zhi said, "This place is relatively developed. There is everything..."

"I don't like it."

"What don't you like?"

"Everything. The weather in Jiang City is very hot and humid. It's cold and wet in autumn and winter. Every time it rains, my shoulders hurt. I went to see a doctor, but he couldn't explain the cause and could only prescribe some painkillers. I'm not used to the different kinds of food and drinks there. I don't like fish or dishes that are as bland as boiled water. I don't understand the dialect there at all, and it's almost impossible to communicate with older people who don't speak Mandarin. Also, the prices in Jiang City are very high. Compared with my hometown, I spend several times more there for the same living conditions." Feng Ran smiled and took a breath, "I could probably keep going through all these reasons all day and all night. Chen Zhi, that's the hometown you grew up in, not mine. I don't like it there, and I don't intend to endure it for anyone. Your illness is cured, you can choose the life you want. So can I." Shen Zhi

said with difficulty: "You never said these 'dislikes' in the past...why?"

"Because I was willing, so I don't feel wronged."

Shen Zhi asked softly: "Do you blame me? Do you hate me?"

"Yes." Feng Ran said firmly, "But what can we do."

After this conversation, Feng Ran felt that Chen Zhi might not come again.

He patted the dust off his pants and returned to the Internet cafe. His friends winked at him and asked, "Your old lover has caught up with you? Is it your brother from before?" They still remembered Chen Zhi.

"She won't come," Feng Ran said, "Why would she come here when she can live well in the big city? Come on, continue."

But Shen Zhi came anyway. Carrying his painting box.

Feng Ran had just woken up and stood in the living room, bleary-eyed, watching him put down his tools one by one until there was no place to put them. Chen Zhi said gently, "There are still some that I can't take, so I have to send them by express. Please fill in your phone number."

Feng Ran felt a headache.

The matter of Chen Shuze seemed to have passed. It became a sensitive topic and no one mentioned it again. Feng Ran was not a person who would get angry about the mistakes he had made, not to mention that the loss to him was almost zero. Selfishly speaking, although he lost the salary, he got rid of the troubles that Chen Shuze had been harassing him repeatedly, and escaped from Jiang City, a place that made him upset. It was hard to say whether it was a blessing or a curse.

He would still shudder when he thought about it occasionally. But when he thought about it carefully, there were more things that made him shudder. He had a nightmare. The protagonist of the bed photo became himself. The photo was mosaiced and publicized. He was socially dead and cried and begged Shen Zhi to take him away. In the dream, Shen Zhi took him to an isolated island as a matter of course, and he was cut off from the world from then on.

He still kept in touch with his former colleagues, and there were some finishing touches that he needed to complete, which was not a big deal.

Chen Shuze had disappeared. Feng Ran transferred the money to him, but received a notification that he had been blocked.

When he had free time, he asked He Chuan how he was doing. He still had a lot of things at He Chuan's house, and he didn't know when he would have the chance to go.

"That little black cat is very cute." Shen Zhi avoided the question.

Feng Ran said, "It's called Feng Xiaobai."

The name was unique enough, enough to bring to mind certain details. Shen Zhi, annoyed but silent, said, "It sounds nice."

Feng Ran usually hung out at internet cafes, day and night. Because it was his own place, his friends came to support him. Most of his local friends had leisurely jobs, though there were a few who were idle. Sometimes, someone would volunteer to cover the night shift for him. This place was left to him by his cousin after he was released from prison. He had made a fortune and left, and perhaps out of pity for Feng Ran, he offered him this place. After

Shen Zhi went there once, word spread quickly, and everyone came to ask about Feng Ran. Feng Ran had nothing to say, except that his brother was home for a short stay. Others smiled maliciously.

Ren He also called and heard Feng Ran's brief mention of it. He was very dissatisfied and asked him to go to Hai City to hear his new song.

Feng Ran agreed vaguely, and Ren He said mysteriously, "Guess who's going too?"

"Who, Feng Qing?"

"No, it's Song Xiling."

"Who's going too?"

"Yes." Ren He knew who he was talking about.

Feng Ran said, "Then why are you letting me go?"

"What's the big deal?" Ren He said cheerfully, "You can bring Shen Zhi with you then."

"It depends." He clearly hadn't decided yet.

"I'll save a spot for you."

Feng Ran hadn't initially considered agreeing, but one day, Chen Zhi suddenly brought it up, asking whether he should buy a high-speed rail ticket or a plane ticket.

Feng Ran finally said, "You want to go?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." Chen

Zhi noticed: "You don't want to?"

"It's okay," Feng Ran said. "You can go. Stop in Jiang City on the way back. I'll go to He Chuan's to pick up my things."

Bringing Chen Zhi to meet his former crush was undoubtedly awkward, especially since the two had taken it upon themselves to meet and chat without him knowing. But the process went surprisingly smoothly. Chen Zhi navigated the social scene with ease, leaving Feng Ran the most silent.

Both he and Song Xiling were being watched closely, so they barely spoke.

At the end of the show, Ren He invited them to a bar, but Ren He was called away by his companions and fled.

Hai City was still humid and hot, and even the air-conditioned room was filled with humid air, making it difficult to breathe. Feng Ran fidgeted under the glaring lights. Chen Zhi was chatting with Song Xiling, and for a long time, he didn't turn around to speak to him.

He had no choice but to drink to show that he was not so idle.

However, what he least wanted to happen still happened. Song Xiling's current girlfriend walked towards him. Feng Ran had some old grudges with him, but it had been a long time ago and there was nothing to worry about. He was not the kind of person who cared about things.

"You talk less now." The man said.

Feng Ran could not hear clearly because of the noise around him: "What?"

"You talk less." Fu Hengzhi said.

"It's okay." Feng Ran didn't know what he meant.

"What kind of work do you do now?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing - you are in your hometown, right? Where is your boyfriend?"

Feng Ran was thinking about how to respond to this. Ren He suddenly came in, with a group of band members, and stuffed wine into their arms noisily, and then toasted them one by one, thanking them for coming to support him today.

When it was Chen Zhi's turn, Feng Ran drank for him. Before anyone could jeer at him, he downed the entire bottle and said, "Everyone's worked so hard tonight and came all the way to toast me. I'll finish both bottles. My friend just had surgery, so I'm toasting him too. I'm toasting to your talent and passion. I've known Ren He for so many years, and tonight there are both new and familiar faces. It's fate that we met. We have a long way to go, so let's drink slowly."

His words were beautiful and satisfying, and no one objected. The group of young men and women praised his straightforwardness, exchanged pleasantries, and then moved on to the next table.

Shen Zhi took his hand in the dark and whispered in his ear, "Let me know if you want to leave." Chen

Zhi knew what was going on: "Are you feeling unwell? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." "

Let's go."

The two said goodbye and left. Ren He, who hadn't drunk much, saw the commotion from a distance and immediately ran over to ask Feng Ran why he was leaving.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Feng Ran said.

Ren He raised his eyebrows: "You two are going together, right!"

Feng Ran had no choice but to say: "I'm sleepy."

Ren He didn't agree with him. They hadn't seen each other for a long time and hadn't said a few words.

He pulled him aside and said: "What's going on between you and him?"

Feng Ran said: "It's hard to explain. That's it. Anyway, he lives in my house, and I can't drive him away. It depends on when he gets tired of it and leaves on his own."

Ren He said: "What about Chen? Why did you go back to your hometown?"

Feng Ran thought briefly: "Chen Shuze... left. I resigned."

"So. This kid is cruel enough. He really has a hold on you." Ren He understood, patted him on the shoulder and said: "I met Liu Mang that day, you have to be careful of him. That's it. Call if you have anything." Feng

Ran seemed to understand and wanted to ask, but the other three came over. There were so many people and eyes, Ren He couldn't say much, so he hurriedly greeted them and arranged a hotel nearby for them to check in directly.