Chapter 57: Big City, Small Love (I) Liangliang's Troubles. ...
In the pure white park, the sky, light, temperature and humidity are just right.
It was a perfect day for a date. A boy was sitting on a park bench eating ice cream. He was wearing a white and blue uniform. His hair was a little long and curly, which made his face look small. He was licking his melted ice cream very seriously and swinging his feet, looking very happy.
"Zhang Xiaodeng!" A voice came from the side.
Zhang Deng turned around, saw the person coming, smiled, and said, "You're here."
Chi Xiaoxia sat beside him, feeling a little tired from running. He took out all the snacks in his arms and asked, "Are you pregnant?"
Zhang Deng: "What are you talking about?"
Chi Xiaoxia: "You've been eating, eating all the time. You haven't stopped eating since you came back."
"In my last world..." Zhang Deng swallowed a big mouthful of ice cream. Before he could finish, Chi Xiaoxia interrupted him, "The last world was a food desert. You were starving. I've heard it eight hundred times. You don't have to eat all the time."
Zhang Deng said, "I don't know either."
He also felt a little distressed. Ever since he started dating, his appetite had become a little too strong. He didn't feel much before because he was on a mission, but now that the mission was completed, he would think about what to eat every day as soon as he opened his eyes.
Zhang Deng thought that maybe he had tried too hard to lose weight before and had a tendency to overeat. He weighed himself this morning and it was 129.3 kilograms, the highest weight he had ever weighed.
Zhang Deng said, "But it's okay. I'm not that fat."
Chi Xiaoxia pinched his belly and said, "It's very soft here."
Zhang Deng was a little unconvinced: "Isn't this normal?"
"You're not a woman," Chi Xiaoxia said. "It's normal for women to have a belly. Do you have a uterus in your belly? You're just flesh!"
Zhang Deng: “…”
"You can't hurt me like this," Zhang Deng unwrapped the potato chips and stuffed them into his mouth. He was surprised by the delicate and sweet taste of the butter. He said, "This tastes delicious."
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Okay, I'll try it."
"This is a new flavor," Chi Xiaoxia said. "It's very expensive."
Zhang Deng said, "Everything sold at World Tree is expensive."
"There's nothing we can do," Chi Xiaoxia said, looking up at the sky with a rare sense of relief. "There's no production capacity here. Everything is imported from various worlds, so everyone just needs to drink the nutrient solution to survive."
Zhang Deng: "That's too boring."
It was only after Chi Xiaoxia met Zhang Deng that he discovered there were so many interesting things. Zhang Deng was keen on asking Chi Xiaoxia and Wei Yuanye to play Landlord with him when he couldn't write anymore. Chi Xiaoxia was okay, but he felt that Wei Yuanye playing this game was pure torture.
Chi Xiaoxia asked, "What about your cat?"
"I don't know," Zhang Deng said with a worried look on his face. "I never want to be involved in a time conversion mission like that again."
Zhang Deng couldn't figure out how he had stayed on a mission for almost a year.
Later, Chi Xiaoxia found the mission record for him. It was said that he and Wei Yuanye entered a place similar to heaven. One day in heaven is equal to one year on earth. They stayed there for about three days, and three full years passed on earth.
It's because the flow of time in the two worlds is not completely aligned, so they don't have to wait three years to return home.
Thinking of this, Zhang Deng felt sad. He said, "I'm going to see Xiao Mi. Xiao Mi and I are no longer familiar with each other."
Chi Xiaoxia said, "I heard that your kitten has always been kind to you."
Zhang Deng hated hearing this kind of talk. He asked, "How is that possible? Who told you that? Was it Wei Yuanye?"
"Look, your defense is broken," Chi Xiaoxia asked while chewing potato chips. "Where's Wei Yuanye?"
Zhang Deng said, "I'm going to clear my memory."
"Why did he go again?"
"I don't know," Zhang Deng said, not quite sure. In fact, he was a little worried about this matter. "They said that Wei Yuanye's memory was not cleared completely, so they want to upgrade his package."
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Maybe he has cleared it too many times and it has become a mess."
Zhang Deng said, "I think his mind is a mess... Honestly, I'm craving some porridge. You know Meiling porridge? It's delicious."
Chi Xiaoxia looked at him as if he was a fool.
Zhang Deng turned back and said, "When he was talking to me earlier, he seemed very confused and couldn't remember many things clearly."
"He said he's experienced too many C-level eliminations," Zhang Deng said. "I'm thinking, C-level eliminations are event eliminations. Is it because he's experienced the same thing too many times in the same world that confusion arises when it's eliminated?"
Chi Xiaoxia said, "It's better not to."
"If that's really the case," Chi Xiaoxia said, "then we'll activate the A-level elimination. If we do it too many times, people will become stupid."
Zhang Deng was a little sad: "But he has become stupid now."
Chi Xiaoxia: "Then you two are just a silly couple."
Zhang Deng smiled, then turned cold again: "What do you mean? Am I a fool too?"
"You're not?" Chi Xiaoxia didn't care whether he was angry or not. She just said, "I've been working on this mission for a year. I really haven't seen anyone more stupid."
Zhang Deng said, "But Wei Yuanye didn't expect that either."
"That's why I say he's stupid," Chi Xiaoxia said. "He's been through so many traumas and purges. I actually think he's no longer suitable for frontline work. But I heard many people approached him and asked him to transfer, but he himself disagreed."
Zhang Deng had heard Wei Yuanye talk about this, and Zhang Deng said, "Because he doesn't like management positions."
Chi Xiaoxia said: "That line is like this. It will damage people's functions and emotions."
"You should try to persuade him too," Chi Xiaoxia said. "He was alone before, and he always wanted to go out on missions, so he went. But now you two are together, you can't keep going like this. It's too dangerous."
Zhang Deng said, "But I don't want to force him to do something he doesn't like."
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Relationships are so troublesome."
"I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't persuade her or tell her," Chi Xiaoxia said. "That's why I can't fall in love."
Both boys sighed simultaneously.
Zhang Deng added sadly, "But no one likes you either."
Chi Xiaoxia stuffed a handful of potato chips into his mouth.
Zhang Deng ate potato chips and asked, "Do you want to go back with me to take a look?"
"Unregistered time travel is illegal," Chi Xiaoxia said. "Why do you always do things that break the law?"
Zhang Deng said somewhat sadly, "Why do you miss me so much?"
Chi Xiaoxia asked, "Did you report it?"
Zhang Deng: “No.”
Chi Xiaoxia said angrily: "Then what the hell are you talking about!"
Zhang Deng said: "I just keep a certain distance from the rules..."
Chi Xiaoxia rolled his eyes and sneered, "What a cunning scholar."
Chi Xiaoxia finally refused to go back with Zhang Deng. Wei Yuanye had just done something and his memory was clear, so his reaction was slow. Zhang Deng couldn't bear to let him accompany her, so the plan was cancelled and they didn't go anywhere that night.
Zhang Deng had written about one ten-thousandth of his novel. He was sitting in front of the bed typing away. Wei Yuanye was washing up in the bathroom. When he finished his shower, he saw Zhang Deng sitting in front of the computer and seemed a little dead.
Wei Yuanye sat next to him, and Zhang Deng immediately came back to life. He covered the screen and said, "Oh, this part is not well written."
"Is it not going well?"
Zhang Deng said, "I always feel it's tacky."
Wei Yuanye didn't understand Zhang Deng's complaints about the minutiae of his work as a writer. He couldn't distinguish between good and bad, rustic, clichéd, novel, and avant-garde writing. Wei Yuanye asked, "Is the story vulgar too?"
Zhang Deng said seriously, "This is a very profound question."
"The story won't fall into clichés," Zhang Deng said. "It's the way it's expressed that's clichéd."
Wei Yuanye seemed to understand, but he looked a little confused. Zhang Deng looked at him cutely, pinched his face, and said worriedly, "What if he really becomes stupid?"
"I'm not smart to begin with," Zhang Deng said. "I'm stupid and irritable. What am I going to do with my life?"
Wei Yuanye knew he was talking nonsense, so he yawned and said, "Aren't you going to sleep?"
Zhang Deng didn't want to sleep. He was actually still immersed in his own story. He asked Wei Yuanye, "What do you think is the most important thing in a story?"
Wei Yuanye said: "You said it all, it's a story."
Zhang Deng didn't understand at first, but later realized: "Story."
Wei Yuanye said: "Maybe I don't understand."
"What story does Cinderella tell?" Wei Yuanye asked.
Zhang Deng said, "That's a good question. Cinderella isn't actually an Andersen fairy tale. It's a 'princess story' that I really like. Do you know why? Because in Cinderella's world, the prince is just a tool for her to achieve poverty alleviation from beginning to end."
Wei Yuanye didn't expect him to say that, and listened with interest.
Zhang Deng said, "Cinderella, when she was being irrationally oppressed by her stepmother and her daughters, wanted to attend the party to make the prince fall in love with her. This proved her confidence in her beauty and her belief that a prince who had seen many women could not stop wanting her. Her stepmother set many problems for her to overcome, and she tried to solve them all. But in the end, her stepmother broke her promise and said she would never take her to the party. She waited until everyone had left before she finally gave up and burst into tears. This shows that she is a girl who will not give up until she achieves her goal. She is very tenacious."
Zhang Deng said, "Don't you think she doesn't actually love the prince at all? It's the prince who loves her to death and searches the country for her, but from beginning to end, Cinderella just hopes to rely on the prince to escape her original family. It's not her fault. With Cinderella's original family, I think it's hard for her to believe in love again. Of course, some profound issues are touched upon here, such as her stepmother's fear of her because of her ambition, the encirclement and mutual assistance between women, and the father's invisibility in family disputes. In short, I really like this story. From this story, we can get a glimpse into the plight of many women and the different perspectives of men and women."
Wei Yuanye: “…”
Wei Yuanye had never expected him to say this. Undoubtedly, he was moved by Zhang Deng's idea. Wei Yuanye said, "Actually, I just want to say that no matter how you express it, in the end, the only thing people will remember is the story itself."
Zhang Deng was also moved by his idea.
Both of them were immersed in shock and fell silent for a moment.
Zhang Deng was thinking, actually, no matter how he pursues breakthroughs in perspective, ups and downs in rhythm, or the enhancement of emotions, the story is the story itself.
Zhang Deng said, "I understand. You mean people can only remember the story itself."
Wei Yuanye said, "Yes."
Wei Yuanye hesitated again and said, "But... do you always think so much?"
"I really want to write a book about women," Zhang Deng said, "but I don't think I can write well. I haven't really understood women. I don't even have many female friends. I think it would be offensive to interpret them hastily, so writing is a bit difficult."
Wei Yuanye said, "Then why do you have to write it?"
Zhang Deng was also unclear, and said, "Because..."
He gathered his thoughts and said, "Maybe it's because I think men are always rough."
"Men are like unfinished products, lacking many emotions," Zhang Deng said. "And I'm a traditional person. I'm not interested in men's issues. I'd rather know what women think and what the world looks like from their perspective."
This is what Zhang Deng slowly came to realize. In his long history of secret crushes and companionship, he discovered that the greatness of love is one-sided. The probability of two people being together with the same determination to cultivate a great love is almost zero, and the one who usually has the fantasy is the woman, or the person who plays the female role.
Zhang Deng wanted to know why this was happening. In this age of information explosion and asset surplus, they could clearly hear of all kinds of tragic endings, and they clearly had the ability to survive independently, yet they still yearned for love like moths to a flame.
He also wanted to use this to express his true feelings, because he positioned himself as the actor of a female role who surrendered for great love.
He wanted to hint at it indirectly, to see the big picture from the small details, and to infer his own fate.
Zhang Deng was unable to explain everything to Wei Yuanye in detail. He felt that it was difficult for anyone to fully understand him. Besides, he could also write, so he didn't need too many people around him to understand him.
Wei Yuanye said: "If there is a task to choose from, we will find a girl next time."
Oh, Zhang Deng understood again. Wei Yuanye didn't care about his delicate sensitivity, but just let him let go of all his depression.
He would always find Wei Yuanye fascinating, at various times. It was like a river, flowing between glaciers. Walking by it, you might think it was just a shallow puddle, but it was formed by the bursting of an iceberg. It was narrow, barely wide enough to accommodate a person's shoulders, yet bottomless, a crack in the ice on the plain. It could swallow up many things, yet leave not even a ripple.
Zhang Deng said, "Chi Xiaoxia said today that you are no longer suitable for participating in missions."
Wei Yuanye sat beside him, tilted his head back and put the back of his head on the bed. He asked Zhang Deng, "What do you think?"
Zhang Deng asked: "Actually, I..."
He still expressed his true thoughts: "I think so too."
Wei Yuanye was silent for a moment. He must be feeling embarrassed. In fact, Zhang Deng was also feeling embarrassed. He felt that he was interfering too much, but he couldn't completely let Wei Yuanye do what he wanted.
Maybe it’s because his love is not that great, or maybe he is just dull and doesn’t know how to deal with the rough edges of love.
Zhang Deng said, "I really don't want you to go again."
"I know you like this kind of life very much," Zhang Deng said, "but if you ask me the truth, I can't lie and say I will definitely support you."
Wei Yuanye said, "Actually, my brain should be durable enough."
"If you don't like it, forget it," Wei Yuanye said readily, "I'll transfer to another position as soon as possible."
Wei Yuanye turned to look at him again and smiled, saying, "Why are you so unhappy?"
Zhang Deng shook his head and hid his face in his arms.
Wei Yuanye gently stroked his curly hair and said, "Don't be sad, I will listen to you."
"I don't understand a lot of what you're thinking," Wei Yuanye said. "I think in your heart, I might not be a perfect person either. But if you have any requests, you can tell me, and I'll do whatever I can."
"What if you can't do it?"
"Not much," Wei Yuanye said, "I've lived a long time, and there are fewer things I can't do. But there are still some, and there's nothing I can do."
Wei Yuanye said: "You understand what I mean, I'm not good at expressing myself."
Zhang Deng asked, "You should really enjoy participating in missions, right?"
Wei Yuanye smiled and said, "Who would like to go to work?"
"Of all the jobs I've worked on, I think this is the easiest," Wei Yuanye said, "but... Liangliang, actually—"
Under his deep eye sockets, his thin eyelids lifted slightly, looking at Zhang Deng. Just as he was about to speak, the communicator on Zhang Deng's wrist suddenly rang, and Chi Xiaoxia's profile picture lit up. Zhang Deng didn't answer, but asked, "What do you want to say?"
Wei Yuanye got up and went into bed as if nothing had happened, saying, "Nothing."
Zhang Deng had no choice but to answer the phone. Chi Xiaoxia said, "Zhang Xiaodeng, Chinese New Year is almost here. Let's go shopping tomorrow!"
"Really?" Zhang Deng had completely lost track of time since returning. He thought back and realized it was indeed Chinese New Year, so he asked, "But where should we go shopping?"
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Didn't you say you would take me to see Xiaomi? Let's go to your house and buy it."
Zhang Deng was a little surprised: "Aren't you accusing me of breaking the law?"
"Forget it," Chi Xiaoxia said, "Birds of a feather flock together. I'm not a good person either."
Zhang Deng was speechless. He asked, "Then can I take Wei Yuanye with me?"
Chi Xiaoxia: "Are you his mother?"
"Take it with you," Chi Xiaoxia said immediately, "Left-behind children are so pitiful. We can leave him at my husband's storage place while we go shopping."
Zhang Deng glanced at Wei Yuanye, who was lying on the bed with his arms outstretched. He also glanced at him with lowered eyebrows. Zhang Deng asked, "Chi Xiaoxia and I are going back to my house tomorrow to visit Xiao Mi and go shopping. Are you coming?"
Wei Yuanye simply said, "Go."
Chi Xiaoxia said on the other end of the phone: "Why don't you ask him if he has anything else to do besides accompany you?"
Wei Yuanye said, "Don't you want me to go?"
Zhang Deng just felt that it was a bit shameful that he wanted to bring his boyfriend with him no matter what he did. He used to hate that He Xiaoqiu always brought Liu Yan with him no matter what he did, whether it was to drink coffee, go shopping, or even go to Zhang Deng's house. Zhang Deng found it very annoyed. Although he and He Xiaoqiu couldn't say anything particularly private, he always felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange when Liu Yan was around.
But after he fell in love, he seemed to have become the kind of person he hated the most, and he also wanted to involve Wei Yuanye in everything he did.
Wei Yuanye was very slow to react to these things. He was more like a boyfriend-like robot. He would do whatever Zhang Deng asked him to do and was always available. He was a perfect boyfriend.
Zhang Deng asked Chi Xiaoxia, "Would you mind?"
"What's the matter?" Chi Xiaoxia asked, "Wei Yuanye?"
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Does he have a sense of existence?"
Zhang Deng: "Very good, right?"
"That's for you," Chi Xiaoxia said. "He doesn't say as much in a year as you do in a day. I've always considered him our bodyguard."
Zhang Deng: “…”
Chi Xiaoxia said, "Let's do this. Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock... No, eight o'clock is too early. Let's meet at nine o'clock in the square."
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