Lu Ziyi's Past

When Cheng Xiaorui opened his eyes, sunlight filtered through the beige gauze curtains, casting dappled shadows across the floor. He pulled himself up, the silk sheets slipping from his shoulders, revealing the loose collar of his yukata. This was a bedroom larger than his living room. A dark gray fabric sofa sat to the left, and a 75-inch LCD TV hung on the opposite wall. Below, a game console's standby light was still on.

"What time is it now..." He rubbed his temples, his memory of last night as blurry as a water-soaked painting. The smart alarm clock beside his bed read 9:17, the numbers shimmering a faint blue in the morning light.

As Cheng Xiaorui stepped barefoot on the cashmere carpet, he noticed his right foot, bandaged and still aching. He gently pushed open the door. The abstract oil painting on the hallway wall shone metallically in the sunlight. As he walked into the high-ceilinged living room, the light from the crystal chandelier fell squarely on the figure reading on the sofa.

"Chen Zi..." His voice stopped abruptly. Lu Ziyi raised her head from the financial magazine, her eyes sweeping over his bare calves, finally stopping at the loose collar of his yukata.

Cheng Xiaorui instinctively turned and left, but was interrupted by a voice.

"stop."

Cheng Xiaorui's steps suddenly froze, and when he turned around, the hem of his yukata rose in an arc: "What are you doing..."

"You..." Lu Ziyi's Adam's apple rolled, and the reflection from the lenses obscured his eyes. "Can you put your clothes on before coming out?" There was a suspicious tremor in his voice.

Cheng Xiaorui looked down and saw his collarbone hanging wide open, and with every step he took, his thighs were exposed. He hurriedly pulled his collarbone closer, but heard a barely audible chuckle from the sofa. Lu Zi had already turned his head, but Cheng Xiaorui still caught the fleeting curve of his lips.

"Where is Chen Zihan?" Cheng Xiaorui deliberately raised his voice to hide his embarrassment.

"Why should I tell you?" Lu Zi also turned a page of the magazine, and the paper made a crisp sound.

"..." Cheng Xiaorui was speechless, cursing in his heart: Can't you just tell me this? Why did you have to tell me that my clothes were not put on properly...

Suddenly, the electronic lock chimed from the entrance. When Chen Zihan entered, carrying a paper bag, she saw this scene: Cheng Xiaorui stood barefoot in the middle of the living room, his slender ankles visible beneath his yukata; Lu Ziyi, meanwhile, was covering half his face with a magazine, the tips of his ears a suspicious red.

"Xiao Rui, you're awake." Chen Zihan walked over quickly, the aroma of bacon wafting from the paper bag. He glared at Lu Ziyi warningly and dragged Cheng Xiaorui towards the room.

The moment the door closed, Cheng Xiaorui could smell the aroma of coffee wafting from the breakfast bag. Chen Zihan's bed was already made, with neatly folded school uniforms on the bedside table, and the faint scent of laundry detergent wafting in the air.

"What happened last night?" Cheng Xiaorui grabbed the belt of his yukata. "I remember I was taking a shower..."

Chen Zihan paused, and the sound of pouring water into the glass suddenly became very loud: "Nothing... nothing." Water droplets slid down the wall of the glass, "You felt a little dizzy after taking a shower, so I..." His eyes swept over Cheng Xiaorui's right foot. He didn't continue speaking, and suddenly turned around to get the breakfast bag.

At around three o'clock in the morning last night, Chen Zihan, who was sleeping on the sofa, was awakened by the sound of a glass falling to the ground. When he looked up, he saw Cheng Xiaorui squatting on the ground picking up glass fragments. He hurried to stop him, but found that Cheng Xiaorui's eyes were dull and lifeless, and his right foot was injured by the glass.

Cheng Xiaorui noticed that Chen Zihan's hands were shaking slightly. When the other party handed him the sandwich, he saw a Band-Aid on the base of Chen Zihan's right hand. He didn't know that it was a scratch from cleaning up the broken glass last night.

"Then what happened to my right foot?" Cheng Xiaorui asked him while looking at his right foot wrapped in gauze.

"Ah, you fell last night." Chen Zihan pretended to answer.

Then he added, "Today is Friday..." Chen Zihan suddenly said, his voice so soft that it seemed like he was talking to himself. The sunlight shone in through the French windows, casting the shadow of his eyelashes on his cheeks like two trembling crow feathers. "Don't go to school, let's go for a walk later."

"Yeah." Cheng Xiaorui said in a soft voice.

He took a bite of the sandwich, the sweetness of mayonnaise melting on his tongue. He looked up as if he suddenly remembered something: "Thank you for yesterday..." But you don't have to be so nice to me in the future."

"We're friends," Chen Zihan interrupted. "Don't take it too seriously." His fingertips brushed across the wound on his right hand. He looked out the window at the swimming pool, the sunlight reflecting off the water dancing on his face. "Are you curious about Lu Ziyi? Let me tell you about him."

Cheng Xiaorui remained silent and did not respond.

They walked slowly along the tree-lined avenue of the villa complex. The September sunlight filtered through the gaps between the plane trees, casting dappled shadows on the asphalt. Cheng Xiaorui's shoes made a subtle, crisp sound as they stepped on a withered, yellow leaf. Chen Zihan's voice drifted in on the breeze, carrying a distant tone.

"The year I graduated from elementary school," Chen Zihan kicked the pebble at his feet and watched it roll into the roadside gutter, "my mother met Lu Ziyi's father."

Chen Zihan's eyelashes were almost transparent in the sunlight, trembling slightly with each blink. In the distance came the roar of a lawnmower, mixed with the fresh scent of cut grass.

"The wedding was simple," Chen Zihan continued, "I just moved in here, and my mother asked me if I wanted to change my last name to Lu..."

A sparrow landed on the road in front of them, then flapped its wings and flew away. Cheng Xiaorui saw Chen Zihan's Adam's apple roll, and the sunlight cast a tiny spot of light on the arc.

"I refused." Chen Zihan suddenly smiled, revealing a shallow dimple on his right cheek. "She didn't say anything either."

Chen Zihan's voice became a little erratic: "Later, we lived like this, in the same house, and gradually I found out that he was a few months older than me."

"The adults are often away on business," Chen Zihan slowed down, watching his shadow stretching alongside Cheng Xiaorui's. "Lu Ziyi and I spend a lot of time alone. Back then, I tried to talk to him, but he didn't seem to like me much." Chen Zihan finally raised his hand to brush off the fallen leaf. "He rarely paid attention to me, but I didn't give up."

"I often buy things to share with him, sit next to him and talk to him all the time..." His voice suddenly became dry.

"Brother, do you want to try it? I waited in a long line to buy it today." Chen Zihan raised the sweets in his hand in front of Lu Ziyi and asked him with a smile.

"Stay away from me." Lu Ziyi shoved him away, stood up and changed his position. Seeing this, Chen Zihan ran to the room and took out another thing.

"Brother, change the flavor." Chen Zihan handed it to Lu Ziyi again, but Lu Ziyi became even angrier and subconsciously knocked over the food. He suddenly turned off the TV and left without looking back.

Chen Zihan: “…”

The sunlight grew stronger, and Cheng Xiaorui squinted. Chen Zihan's profile was particularly clear in the light and shadow, the shadow cast by his nose extending all the way to the corner of his lips.

"Until one day, my mother went on a business trip." They stopped under a giant ginkgo tree, where a golden leaf occasionally fell. "I came home from school and saw Lu Ziyi covered in wounds."

"My father was lying on the sofa with wounds on his face. It looked like they had a fight. When he saw me, he just sighed."

Hearing this, Cheng Xiaorui felt a little pain in his heart, and familiar memories came to his mind, but he shook his head to get rid of those past memories.

He heard Chen Zihan continue, "We didn't know it at the time. He was gone for over a year, and it took a long time before he came back."

A gentle breeze blew past, ruffling his hair. In the distance, a child cried, but was quickly soothed by an adult.

"When my mother found out, she took her anger out on Lu Ziyi, saying he was a burden left behind by our father..."

"She's been away on a business trip for a long time." Chen Zihan raised his head. "During that time, I was always comforting Lu Ziyi." Chen Zihan's voice suddenly choked. "But one time, he suddenly went crazy and threw a vase at me..."

Lu Ziyi yelled at Chen Zihan: "Get out! I don't want to see you."

The wind died down, and the surroundings suddenly became quiet. Cheng Xiaorui could hear Chen Zihan's slightly rapid breathing and the rhythm of his own heartbeat.

"I was covering my bleeding head at that moment." Chen Zihan's voice was as light as falling leaves:

"I've completely given up."

The sound of church bells echoed in the quiet afternoon air. Chen Zihan's shadow stretched long on the ground, its edges trembling slightly.

"Since then, even though we live under the same roof... we rarely talk." His voice was filled with relief, "except when necessary."

The sunlight became stronger again, making it hard to open one's eyes. Chen Zihan raised his hand to shield his eyes, and his sleeves slipped down, revealing his wrists.

"How strange." He suddenly smiled, his smile looking a little fragile in the sunlight, "I was thinking..."

They turned the last corner and the roof of the villa was already in sight. Chen Zihan's voice, mixed with the breeze, drifted gently into Cheng Xiaorui's ears:

"Why on earth does he have such a weird personality..."