Pandora’s Box

Just as I was about to ask again, there was a sudden sound at the door.

Looking back, it was Cheng Yichen and the others who returned from the premiere event. The sounds of them changing their shoes and taking off their coats in the entrance were cheerful. It seemed that tonight’s event was quite entertaining.

Sure enough, when Ke Luo opened his mouth, he smiled at me and said, “It’s a waste that you didn’t go with us tonight. It’s really fun to watch this movie in advance.”

I expressed that I wasn’t at all envious of this, “It’s not a waste since I also gained something.”

Ke Luo said, “I understand, it’s the thesis. If you don’t work on it at a normal pace, you’ll end up putting it off until the last day to write it.”

I thought to myself, hm, what would you know.

Cheng Yichen also smiled and commented, “It’s a good movie.”

“The visuals of a 8K giant screen was really good. By the way, I took a picture with Goddess Chang Yan, also asked for an autograph and WeChat!”

I was a little surprised, “Oh, when were you Chang Yan’s fan?”

Ke Luo’s favorite star was a leader amongst his peers like Xu Yan, a popular artist and pop king who dominated the charts yearly. Although Chang Yan was a generation of actresses, she wasn’t active anymore and was nearing 40 years old. Her audience was relatively mature and so, it wasn’t likely for her to be the person of Ke Luo’s admiration. Ke Luo was taken aback for a moment before admitting, “Uncle Lee is her loyal movie fan, and I have been, uh, influenced by him.”

“…..”

Did he have to align his interests with Lee’s gradually as well? This was too much.

Zhuo Wenyang asked, “Do you think Chang Yan can rely on this film in order to gain momentum again?”

He didn’t use a pronoun but everyone knew who he was directing the question to. Cheng Yichen was the only one who went to actually watch the movie.

Cheng Yichen thought for a while and answered seriously, “It’s hard to say. I personally like it very much. The emotions presented in this movie were sincere and it moved me a lot. However, to be critical, the directing wasn’t professional and director’s skills were not proficient enough. He lacked ambition and the topic displayed wasn’t profound. Of course, I didn’t think it was necessary to pursue such a deep subject. It was enough to base it around love, but it may not impress the critics…”

Lu Feng listened on the sidelines, nodding solemnly and frequently along. Internally, I rolled my eyes at his pretending to understand as if he really understood.

Cheng Yichen was indeed a culturally fluent person. His daily hobbies included reading books and watching movies. He watched unpopular and popular ones, appreciating his favorite works over and over again. It was easy to see that when he enjoyed and loved certain things, he meant it from the bottom of his heart.

However, Lu Feng was a rough man; he was even more superficial than me.

I had observe the two of them watching a movie in the living room before. Cheng Yichen would silently burst into tears as he faced the screen as Lu Feng fell asleep silently next to him.

There was a world of a difference between the two.

Yet, such people, who were not similar at all, came together. It made me feel as if it involved a magic touch of the Creator.

After that, most of the discussions revolved around movies. Cheng Yichen and Zhuo Wenyang analyzed and compared several movies that Chang Yan starred in. Ke Luo was listening carefully and taking notes while Lu Feng and I pretended to listen with interest.

The true meaning of love probably meant that if one were to marry a chicken, then follow the chicken. If one were to marry a dog, then follow the dog.

It took me a while to recall a topic that was interrupted earlier that day. Therefore, I went to find Zhuo Wenyang again.

Zhuo Wenyang was helping out in Cheng Yichen’s bookstore. Through the glass window, I saw him carefully arranging the newly arrived books. The way he reached for a book from the shelf looked like a classic scene from a movie in a school setting.

Hearing the wind chimes at the door, Zhuo Wenyang turned his head and smiled a little when he saw me. He asked, “What are you doing, coming here in such a hurry? Do you want me to recommend a book for you?”

I chuckled and scratched my head, “I just remembered that we haven’t finished talking that day.”

Zhuo Wenyang looked at me, “What?”

“The things that happened to me before,” I said with a smile, “I can’t remember that part.”

Zhuo Wenyang remained quiet momentarily before softly saying, “Recently, why do you suddenly want to know about the past so much?”

“Ah this…”

I couldn’t tell the truth and be honest with him about my attraction.

Instead, I seriously explain, “It’s somewhat regrettable to lose a memory, and it’s human nature to want to get it back.”

He listened carefully and nodded.

I pestered him, “If you know something, just tell me.”

He was silent for a long time, as if he was recalling, thinking.

“You said that we used to be very good friends,” I reminded him, “Apart from always going to your house to do homework, is there anything else?”

Zhuo Wenyang thought for a bit and said, “After we went to college, we rented a place outside together.”

“Really?!”

I was suddenly ecstatic!

Were we so wild back then?

Most of the local students chose to remain in school, but Zhuo Wenyang gave up living in his mansion back home and was willing to rent a place with me!

Although I knew he was definitely trying to reduce commuting time, concentrating on his studies, and maximizing his efficiency, it still didn’t affect my wild imaginations.

“Was it fun?” I suppressed the excitement in my heart and asked, “We lived together at that time, ah, no, we rented a house together. Did we get along peacefully?”

Zhuo Wenyang patiently spoke to me about trivial things in our life when we were under the same roof. It was all trivial, but I listened enthusiastically and found every detail fascinating.

I was listening with great interest, but the wind chime at the door rang again. Seeing that there was a guest coming in, Zhuo Wenyang immediately said, “I’m sorry,” and stood up to entertain.

I admit I was a little disappointed. Although Cheng Yichen was not available in the store today because of prior obligations, Xiao Yang Mingming was still working at the counter. There was no need for Zhuo Wenyang to proactively greet the customers himself.

Even if I deliberately ignored this matter, I already felt it. Compared to my enthusiasm, Zhuo Wenyang seemingly didn’t want to talk about it.

Was I being too annoying?

I also knew that by rushing things, it would inevitably make people feel uncomfortable. This was especially true since Zhuo Wenyang had no interest in me nor had me in his heart.

I was only thinking of Zhuo Wenyang, but if it was me and I had an old classmate who wasn’t too familiar with me, pestering me to reminisce stories of the past, I’d be annoyed too.

However, it was a similar feeling of picking up candy from a forgotten corner that made me really happy. I needed to stop… but I couldn’t.

Listening, I was often pleasantly surprised to learn that I actually forgot about such good things.

It felt like discovering 20 dollars left inside a coat’s pocket I wore last winter.

I didn’t want Zhuo Wenyang to find me irritating so I pondered for a bit and realized that apart from Zhuo Wenyang, the others who knew about my past were Lee and my cronies.

So, I asked Lee out for a drink.

Lee didn’t drink very much now. He was getting healthier as he aged so I simply bought him milk tea instead.

“Half sugar, with ice,” Lee said seriously.

We sat down and Lee asked, “Why are you paying for me all of a sudden? If I don’t give you anything for your courtesy, you’re either stealing or taking advantage.”

“That’s right, isn’t our friendship worth at least a cup of milk tea?” I said brightly, “Actually, I just want to ask you something.”

Lee reactively asked vigilantly, “Why, do you want to talk to me about Ke Luo?”

No one cared about your love gossips.

“I want to ask, how much do you know about what happened during the years of my memory loss?” I smiled, “I mean, between Zhuo Wenyang and me.”

Lee did not smile and looked at me, asking, “Why are you suddenly asking me this?”

How could he have the same reaction as Zhuo Wenyang?

“Just curious,” I replied, “Isn’t it normal for people to want to retrieve lost memories?”

Lee laughed, “Didn’t you say it didn’t matter before?”

“…..”

I suddenly suspected that Lee was also reluctant to talk about this topic.

When he asked me why I wanted to know, what he was actually telling me was that he didn’t want me to know.

Why?