Chapter 51 I only want to be with him in this life, and in the next life too...

Li Baidong pushed open the door and entered. As soon as he entered, his eyes lit up with anticipation, and he asked loudly, "Brother, where's the projector?"

"It's in the bedroom," Xing Lan said. "It hasn't been installed yet."

Li Baidong was overjoyed. He casually took off his backpack by the sofa and ran into the bedroom to start fiddling with his new toy.

He looked at the instruction manual for a few minutes, then leaned into the living room and called out to Xing Lan, "Brother, could you get me the screwdriver? I remember putting it in my bag."

"oh."

Xing Lan put down her phone, stretched out her long arm, and casually grabbed the black backpack that Li Baidong had placed in the corner of the sofa.

Li Baidong's backpack was large and quite heavy, filled with all sorts of miscellaneous items.

There were his favorite candies and snacks, as well as some books for class. He had bought the screwdriver a few days ago when he passed by a hardware store, anticipating he might need it when installing the projector.

Xing Lan quickly flipped through the pile of Mimi shrimp chips and found a screwdriver that looked out of place.

He got up, intending to take it to Li Baidong in the room, but the moment he put the bag back, a heart-shaped chocolate suddenly fell out of the side pocket of his backpack.

The chocolates were small, unbranded, and their pink wrappers stood out against the white floor, carrying a faint, sweet perfume scent.

His eyes narrowed slightly, and after a pause, he bent down and picked it up from the ground.

The living room was brightly lit, and a small note could be vaguely seen through the gaps in the wrapping paper.

It's obvious that the only thing that would be a note deliberately slipped into a heart-shaped chocolate is a love letter.

Xing Lan pursed her lips imperceptibly, pretending not to see, and put the chocolate back into the side pocket of Li Baidong's backpack.

He walked into the room, casually handed the screwdriver to Li Baidong, crossed his arms, and without saying a word, just leaned against the wall and quietly watched him install it.

Although Li Baidong is a liberal arts student, he has quite strong hands-on skills when it comes to home appliances. Once, their air purifier suddenly broke down, and the problem was rather complicated. Xing Lan was planning to call someone to fix it on the weekend, but Li Baidong fixed it completely in less than half an hour. Installing a projector was even simpler and a piece of cake for him.

In the past, Xing Lan would definitely not have just stood by and watched him install it; she would have gone over to help him long ago.

But today, he didn't know what he was thinking. He stared at Li Baidong, who was busy running around, with an indifferent expression on his face, showing no intention of helping him at all.

After a while, the projector was finally installed.

Li Baidong looked at his masterpiece, tilted his head, and gave a triumphant little cheer. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, turned his head with a grin, and was about to wag his tail happily to show off his achievement when he instantly met Xing Lan's icy gaze.

For some reason, Xing Lan's mood was unusually low today, and her expression carried an indescribable meaning.

"Brother? What's wrong?"

Li Baidong keenly sensed that something was off in the atmosphere. He licked his lips and looked at Xing Lan with some helplessness.

"You don't like having this in your room? Then I can take it down... I'll take it down right now." As soon as he finished speaking, he bent down and hurriedly started to dismantle the projector.

The projector that I had just painstakingly set up after half a day of effort, and hadn't even had a chance to use, was about to be dismantled because of a seemingly displeased look from Xing Lan.

Xing Lan walked over, grabbed Li Baidong's hand that was about to touch the projector, and stopped him, saying, "Alright, it's already installed, don't take it apart."

Li Baidong lowered his head slightly, his dark eyes looking forlorn, and said with a wronged expression, "But you don't like it..."

"What do I not like?" Xing Lan turned her head away, sighed as if somewhat helplessly, and blinked subconsciously to cover it up, "I'm just... a little tired."

Li Baidong remembered that today was Xing Lan's mother's birthday, which was indeed a difficult day for Xing Lan to bear, and it was normal for her to feel down for no reason.

Even after undergoing numerous professional psychological treatments, he never truly let go of the lingering regret and self-blame. Regret and self-reproach weighed heavily on him, making it hard to breathe, and forever freezing his life in that cold, rainy night.

Pain has no shape, yet it has penetrated to the very marrow of one's bones.

Li Baidong looked down at Xing Lan's increasingly pale and fragile expression. As if he had thought of something, he reached out and gently hugged him, patting his back softly: "Brother, don't be sad. I will always be with you from now on."

As Xing Lan listened to Li Baidong's seemingly sincere words of comfort, and then thought of the chocolate she had just seen in his backpack, her feelings became very complicated.

After a long while, she awkwardly raised her hand to hug Li Baidong back, and responded with a muffled sound in his arms.

-

After the projector was installed in the bedroom, Li Baidong, under the pretext of testing its performance, dragged Xing Lan to watch a movie together in the middle of the night.

Li Baidong had wanted to see this movie for a long time. On their first date, he specially bought two movie tickets so that he could go see it with Xing Lan.

Xing Lan was suddenly called away by Xing Yi, and the two of them missed the movie. Later, Xing Lan wanted to find another time to invite Li Baidong to watch it, but who knew that the movie was pulled from theaters a few days early, as if it was deliberately playing a joke on them.

After many twists and turns, the movie finally made it onto a streaming platform a few days ago. Now the two of them are watching it together at home, which makes up for the small regret of that day.

The new projector works surprisingly well, with clear picture quality, excellent sound effects, and is suitable for both distance and angle.

Li Baidong turned off all the lights in the bedroom, making it pitch black and quiet, quite like the atmosphere of a movie theater.

The film is a sequel to a hit romantic movie. The two main characters finally got together in the previous film, but they encounter more new relationship crises in this one, with constant arguments, and their relationship almost breaks down from being truly in love.

Xing Lan used to be busy with work and rarely watched movies. Occasionally, when she felt like watching a movie, she would prefer ingenious science fiction films like Interstellar. She wasn't really interested in works with a love theme.

He remained expressionless and calm throughout, frequently glancing at the remaining time on the progress bar.

In contrast, Li Baidong watched with great seriousness and was deeply moved.

Within ten minutes of the movie starting, his eyes were already red as he saw the two main characters gradually drifting apart due to a misunderstanding. Later, as the plot unfolded, he even hugged his shark-shaped body pillow and cried quietly, constantly wiping away his tears with tissues.

Xing Lan glanced at him silently, thinking that it was a good thing she hadn't taken him to the movie theater. Otherwise, the scene of the main characters arguing excitedly on screen while Li Baidong silently shed tears off screen would have been terrifying.

Seeing Li Baidong's strong reaction, he couldn't help but feel puzzled.

Li Baidong is only twenty years old, and he shouldn't have experienced anything particularly unforgettable in love. So why is he so emotionally invested in the tumultuous and heart-wrenching plot of the movie?

While watching the movie out of boredom, Xing Lan suddenly remembered that when they first met, Li Baidong had told him that he had a crush on someone for a long time and liked him very much from the first moment he saw him.

She was gentle and beautiful, and because of her, Li Baidong tried his best to become a better person.

Recalling the innocent and shy expression on Li Baidong's face when he mentioned that person, and the overflowing love in his eyes, Xing Lan's expression suddenly stiffened for a moment, and she bit her lower lip in annoyance.

When the two main characters in the movie had to break up, Li Baidong cried so hard that he couldn't stop whimpering like a puppy. In the middle of the night, Xing Lan was afraid that the downstairs neighbors would think that their place was haunted, and by a crying male ghost at that.

Xing Lan looked exasperated, helplessly pressed the pause button on the movie, and turned to ask in bewilderment, "Why are you crying when people break up?"

Li Baidong's eyes were wet, and his handsome face was covered with obvious tear tracks. It took him a long time to calm himself down. He sniffed and said in a melancholy tone, "They loved each other for so long and worked so hard for each other, but in the end, they couldn't be together because of a misunderstanding. It's such a pity."

Xing Lan glanced at him, casually handed him a new tissue, and said indifferently, "So what? Isn't this normal?"

"There are so many couples in the world, but not many of them can stay together until the end."

“Even if you get married, you might get divorced. Even if you don’t, your feelings might fade over time. Even if two people truly love each other, in the end, death will separate them.” Xing Lan’s tone was calm to the point of seeming cold. “This is a fate that no one can escape. No one can stay by another person’s side forever.”

After hearing his sober yet ruthless words, which could hardly be called "comfort," Li Baidong cried even harder.

He cried just now only because he felt sorry for the male and female protagonists in the movie. This time, however, it was because he was thinking about himself and Xing Lan outside of the movie.

Why can't one person stay by another's side forever? Li Baidong wanted to be with Xing Lan forever, until their lives ended and the universe reincarnated.

He wiped away his tears, stubbornly hugged Xing Lan tightly, buried his still tear-stained face in Xing Lan's chest, and said somewhat willfully, "I don't care, I want to be with you forever, brother."

After speaking, he slightly raised his eyes and stared straight at Xing Lan. His dark and narrow eyes appeared somewhat sinister in the darkness.

"Together in life, together in death."

"We'll be together in this life, and we'll be together in the next."

"..."

Because he had just cried, Li Baidong's voice was still a little hoarse and faint. In the quiet of the night, Xing Lan felt a chill run down her spine.

He patted Li Baidong on the back somewhat awkwardly: "Okay, don't overthink it."

"There are only twenty minutes left. After you've finished crying, continue watching."

Li Baidong was really looking forward to the scene where the main characters reunited and made up, but after hearing Xing Lan's urging, he didn't move. He stood there staring at Xing Lan for a long time, cupped his cheeks and kissed him several times until he had kissed every inch of his face. Only then did he reluctantly let go. The two then watched the last fifth of the movie.

After the movie ended, the projector was turned off, and the only light source was gone, leaving the room in complete darkness.

Li Baidong was still immersed in the afterglow of the movie, silently sorting out the myriad thoughts in his mind, when he heard Xing Lan speak softly beside him.

As if inspired by the movie scene, he lowered his eyes and asked Li Baidong casually, "What would you do if the person you like never likes you back?"

Li Baidong paused for a moment, but without hesitation, he answered firmly, "I will always like him until he likes me too."

Xing Lan was silent for a moment: "What if... what if she just never liked you?"

"If she doesn't like you, and you accidentally end up with someone else, would you settle for second best, forget her, and force yourself to like someone else?"

Xing Lan wasn't the type to give up easily when faced with difficulties, and he believed Li Baidong was the same. But at this moment, he held a sliver of hope, hoping to hear a less insistent answer from Li Baidong.

“No,” Li Baidong said decisively. “Even if he doesn’t like me, I won’t like anyone else. I will only like him in this life.”

After hearing this, Xing Lan's gaze fell, and she felt a tightness in her chest.

The human heart has no sense of taste, yet he felt a tingling, sour feeling throughout his heart, as if it were coated with a layer of sour jam.

He sighed almost imperceptibly, silently turned over and lay down in bed, not wanting to discuss these meaningless issues with Li Baidong anymore, and just wanting to go to sleep as soon as possible.

Just as he closed his eyes, he felt Li Baidong gently nudge his shoulder from behind and whisper in his ear, "Brother, actually I also want to ask you a question."

"Um?"

Li Baidong stared at him and said, word by word, "If nothing had happened that night, would you still have agreed to be with me?"