Chapter 47 Life without him is like...
"Erin, go to your second class on Wednesday morning, and don't forget to supervise the lab in the afternoon. Just send me a message when you're done."
"Okay, teacher," the voice on the other end of the phone sounded weakly.
"When you're done with this busy period, I'll give you about half a month's vacation. Have fun during the summer vacation. This is your last summer vacation in your doctoral career."
The instructor teased her a few times and then hung up the phone.
Outside the office, the sky was blue and the clouds were white, and the birds were singing. The tutor looked at Irene's gloomy black and white portrait on the call end page and couldn't help but sigh again.
After all, she was a senior disciple whom she had taught for several years, so she was very concerned about Irene's condition on a daily basis. However, Irene had always been positive and hardworking. Even though she failed the first defense, she did not experience any dark or negative things.
Therefore, Irene seems to be particularly abnormal recently.
She still remembers Irene clearly when she last submitted her paper - she had dark circles under her eyes, was wearing shorts and slippers, her hair was a mess like a bird's nest, and she was wearing framed glasses, which was rare for her. Her face was gloomy, her dark circles were almost reaching the tip of her nose, and she looked half dead.
She had never seen Irene act like this before, when the graduation project defense committee did not give Irene a pass.
I hope the holiday will help Irene relax a little, as this is her most proud apprentice.
The curtains were closed tightly, and the dormitory of less than seven square meters was pitch dark. Occasionally, a few rays of sunlight filtered through the gaps, but the thin and narrow spots of light were blocked outside the bed curtains.
Irene fell back onto the bed with a thud, and the bunk bed creaked, as if its unoiled white frame was shaking.
Dark, damp, and decadent, Alice took a deep breath, swung her arms, rolled up her sleeves, and rushed to Irene's bed with great momentum.
"Bang, bang, bang——" Irene's only roommate hit her bed twice, causing a very strong vibration.
Irene turned over and faced the wall, standing still like a thousand-year-old turtle.
The doctoral student lived in a two-person room. Her roommate, Alice, was French and her major was film and television media. The two had always had a good relationship.
"Get down here. How can you lie in bed all day? Can you go out and breathe some fresh air like a human being? Where are your rock climbing club and hiking club? You don't want to go to either of them?"
"Can't I just live the life of a rat man for a few days?" Irene replied weakly.
"How many days have you been here? You've been living like a rat for almost a month." Alice pulled open her bed curtains with a swish. The dazzling sunlight pierced into Irene's eyes like a sharp sword. She tilted her head and buried it in the corner of the quilt, successfully blocking out the light.
Time flies so fast, she has been back for a month?
Irene stared in shock at the pattern on the bedspread that was mocked by everyone as looking like a coffin box. She felt as if she were a mouse in a coffin box that had never seen the light of day.
It seemed as if all my energy had been drained away.
She hadn't seen Leo for a month, and she hadn't been able to draw any sketches for a month. Her mind was empty when she held the pen. The days when she was full of inspiration seemed to have been left in the 19th century along with Leo.
For Irene, who had finally found a muse and inspiration, losing them was like seeing a clear spring after a long journey in the desert. But after just a few sips, before she could quench her thirst, the water seeped into the desert, and when the wind blew, no moisture was left.
It is better not to have had it at all, at least if you have never had it, you will not know the joy of having it.
Leo——
Thinking of the boy, Irene closed her eyes in pain.
What about Leo? According to the speed of time Lucas mentioned, Leo hasn't seen her for two and a half years.
What will he become?
Will he still remember her? Will he already like someone else?
Can she go back?
Irene clenched the corner of the quilt anxiously. Her flesh and blood seemed to be repeatedly pierced by the sharp toes of countless ants, causing a piercing numbness and itchiness. But no matter how hard she scratched, she couldn't scratch the itch in her flesh and bones.
"I don't want to go down," Irene curled up in the quilt with a defiant tone.
"You have to come down even if you don't want to. I will definitely not bring you any food today, so you have to come down and eat by yourself." Alice's tone was filled with worry. "Get up, go downstairs to the cafeteria to buy some food and get some sun. In short, you are not allowed to lie on the bed again."
Having not eaten well during this period, Irene was really no match for Alice, who was full of energy and ran around carrying photographic equipment every day, and was dragged down the dormitory building by her.
The mirror downstairs in the dormitory building reflected Irene's current miserable appearance - a loose T-shirt, PDD shorts that cost thirty yuan a pair, messy black hair tied up with a rubber band, and a face as haggard as a dead person.
She was as eye-catching as before.
After all, beautiful women are more common than female ghosts crawling out of underground sewers.
"Let's go eat first, then get a haircut. I've also made an appointment for deep skin care for you at the school hospital. There's a social gathering tonight, and you can come with me," Alice made all the arrangements carefully. Irene wanted to refuse, but when she saw the nervousness in her friend's face, she swallowed it back.
Alice was doing this for her own good.
Seeing that Irene did not refuse, Alice finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"What happened to you recently?" She couldn't help asking, "Why do you suddenly become a different person? Is there a problem at home? What stupid thing did your father do again?"
It had been about two months since Irene traveled to 1860, but only about a week had passed in the 21st century. In the eyes of her friends, she had only stayed at home for two days, and when she returned to school, she was like a lost soul. Naturally, they would suspect that her family was holding her back again.
"No," Irene lowered the brim of her hat a little more. The shadow cast by the sun covered most of her cheeks, making it difficult to see her expression. Only a little bit of her thin jaw showed that she had not had a good time recently.
Alice felt very distressed.
Irene's voice was so soft and small, as if it would be blown away by the wind, "I seem to have been forced into a broken heart."
"Broken heart!?" These two words sounded like a nuclear bomb exploding in Alice's ears. "When did you fall in love? Why didn't you tell me? I'm not your best friend anymore!"
"And what do you mean by forced breakup? What? Were you dumped? Or were you cheated on? That blind bastard dared to do this to you. I'll skin him alive and dump him down the sewer," Alice held Irene's arm, gritting her teeth in hatred.
"It's an uncontrollable external factor," Irene said with a wry smile, "Just think of it as me falling in love with a paper character."
Falling in love with Leo was indeed no different from falling in love with a paper man. She couldn't find anything about him now. After all, it had been three hundred years, and Leo was not a very famous person. How could she find any information about him?
Irene looked more and more haggard, with the corners of her eyes red, as if she would cry at any second.
Alice's anger that was about to explode seemed to have the firewood underneath pulled out, and it hung in the air awkwardly.
Although what Irene said is hard to believe...
But as someone who also studies art, Alice can understand her idea. After all, there are students in the sculpture department next door who fall in love with the plaster statues they made by themselves. It is not too outrageous that Irene falls in love with paper figures.
Fortunately, she didn't fall in love with some scumbag Aquaman, and at least the paper man couldn't mess around with her.
Alice was very worried about how she should comfort her boyfriend after he broke up with her paper man.
"Got it! I've got an idea!" Alice's eyes lit up. "Let's go to the temple to pray. It's said that there's a temple on the mountain next to us that's very effective in finding lovers. It's said that you can even draw divination sticks."
"Metaphysics is also an uncontrollable external factor, and you are half Chinese. The Chinese gods must be in charge of the Chinese. Let's go and worship them."
"Aren't you a religious person? Why did you convert to Buddhism recently?" Irene asked suspiciously.
"Of course I believe in whoever has spiritual power. I don't donate money anywhere, of course I have to donate spiritual power. And in China, of course we have to worship the Buddha. God doesn't care about marriage. Then let's make it clear, we will go up the mountain tomorrow!"
*
Irene looked at Alice, who was carrying a lot of bags, in silence, and couldn't help asking:
"We are just going up the mountain to worship Buddha. Do we need so much food?"
Apples, watermelons, dragon fruits, pears and melons, and even potato chips and snacks of various flavors, with two bouquets of flowers in the side pockets.
"You don't understand this, these are the tributes I prepared."
"But don't we have cash ready?"
"Well, money is money, and offerings are offerings. The money you bring may not necessarily become incense, but the offerings you bring will definitely be offered to the Bodhisattva. Besides, I bought so many fruit snacks, there will always be one that the Bodhisattva likes. Maybe if the Bodhisattva is happy, he will help you solve your problem of heartbreak."
Maybe because she has seen too many outrageous posts recently, Irene actually thinks what Alice said makes sense.
So Irene took the two heavy bags on her own initiative.
"Damn it, why didn't Xiaohongshu tell me that there's no bus service on this stretch of road! Didn't they say we could go directly to the mountain gate?"
Alice howled in grief and anger.
"I'm not lying to you. Look, that's the mountain gate."
Irene pointed to the building sign at the foot of the mountain.
"I thought the mountain gate was the temple gate!"
"That's why I told you to study Chinese well. Generally speaking, temples are located halfway up the mountain, and the gates are at the foot of the mountain," Irene said while carrying the bag. "But it's not far away. Look at the red roof inside. It should be the temple you mentioned. We'll be there soon. It's okay."
Alice said faintly, "You know that if you run too fast, you will die."
"Then you have to run too."
Irene took a bag from Alice's hand, and several bulging veins were clearly visible on her arms.
"You can't take it, so I'll take it," Alice said hurriedly trying to grab it.
Irene dodged her, her face very stubborn, "I can take it, I'll take it, I want to be sincere."
She held the two heaviest bags of fruit tightly, not letting go at all, as if what she was holding were not tributes but the last straw she could grasp.
Alice withdrew her hand helplessly and followed Irene, counting the large beads of sweat that fell on the concrete floor and quickly evaporated.
When they reached the temple gate, the lay Buddhists who came to help saw them appear at the corner, and they hurried over, took the things in their hands, and poured them tea.
"How did a little girl carry so many things? It's good that you have such a kind heart. It must be hard work in such a hot day." An older Buddhist filled a basin with water and said, "Come, wash your face quickly, or you will get heat stroke."
Another lay Buddhist waited for them to clean up and then took them to the Buddhist hall on the side.
"You are here to ask for divination too, right? It's rare to see such devout young people. Come and shake the divination tube. The master is here today, and he will interpret the divination for you."
The master is an old man who looks very kind. He has long white eyebrows but not many wrinkles on his skin. He looks like a so-called hermit.
He opened Irene's lottery tube and explained to her with a smile:
"If there is something bothering you, the advice in the sign is to get back to square one."
Irene's heart suddenly began to pound. "Does that mean I should go back to where it all started?"
"There are two possibilities, one is the starting point, and the other is the ending point." The master looked at the fortune again and explained, "But the two places may have different effects. It depends on how you choose, but they are both good directions."
"The fortune is auspicious."
Irene's chest felt hot, as if a cup of hot tea had rolled into her heart, making her almost cry, but her hands and feet were very cold. She took the palm-sized piece of paper handed to her by her master, her vision blurred by tears.
Is there still a chance for her to meet Leo?
The starting point should be the manor, and the ending point should be New Orleans.
She still had hope, she had to see Leo.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com