LRAPTC Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Substitute (3)

For some reason, Shen Jue had been frequently dreaming about his student days lately. The night he returned home, he dreamed again. He dreamed he was sitting at a desk in a classroom, holding a black hardcover book, the red title blurred. He opened it.

At this moment, the person across from him asked, “You like this book too?” A very familiar voice.

He heard himself softly hum in agreement, then say, “This author wrote a short story that I also like very much.”

Then, he looked up at the person, only to find that he couldn’t see the person’s face clearly. No matter how hard he tried, the face remained blurred, only the outline visible.

So he voiced the question in his heart, “What’s your name?”

“My name is…” The person uttered a few words, and their face became clear. A wind rose, the pages of the book flipped wildly, and Shen Jue woke up from his dream.

The sky was dark and gloomy, not a single ray of sunlight visible, as if it would rain any second—weather unsuitable for going out.

After Shen Jue left the company, Zeng Qi was quickly promoted. She sent a message inviting Shen Jue to dinner, explicitly stating that she hoped Shen Jue could bring his spouse along. Shen Jue looked at the line he had just finished typing, then silently deleted it all. He should have guessed long ago that after learning the news of Shen Jue’s marriage, Zeng Qi would definitely not give up this opportunity to gossip.

But Ji Yuanan had no real reason to accompany Shen Jue. In the end, Shen Jue only replied:

[I’ll see, but I can’t guarantee Ji Yuanan can come.]

He hoped Zeng Qi wouldn’t have too high expectations, because he himself wasn’t sure if Ji Yuanan would agree.

Zeng Qi quickly sent a “Okay~”, followed by a heart emoji.

Shen Jue found Ji Yuanan in the kitchen. Ji Yuanan’s sleeves were rolled up, revealing his entire forearms, and he was focused on processing the ingredients in front of him, his movements not very practiced. This was another side of Ji Yuanan that Shen Jue had never seen before, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit of novelty, so he stopped walking.

Sometimes, Shen Jue felt that living with Ji Yuanan was like opening a long novel for the first time, often filled with unexpected surprises.

A not-too-close, not-too-far distance. Ji Yuanan was immersed in the task at hand, not noticing Shen Jue’s arrival. Shen Jue watched for a while, decided to ask Ji Yuanan at another time, and quietly left. He turned around, and Ji Yuanan suddenly spoke from behind, asking a question related to making soup. Shen Jue then knew that he was constantly on the phone, so he could ask questions at any time.

Ji Yuanan followed the instructions step by step. Several hours later, the entire kitchen was filled with a rich aroma. He added a spoonful of salt and tasted it himself. Ji Yuanan also stir-fried a plate of green peppers with pork, picked up a piece of meat, and held it to Shen Jue’s mouth, a hint of barely perceptible nervousness in his expression.

“Mmm. It’s okay,” Shen Jue commented.

Ji Yuanan seemed relieved. He picked up another piece for himself, and his brow furrowed as soon as it entered his mouth. “Forget it, I’ll just ask the housekeeper to make it.”

He really seemed to dislike the dish he had made. Shen Jue, however, didn’t think it was quite inedible, so he quickly stopped him, saying, “It’s okay, don’t bother the housekeeper to come over again.”

“I think you did a really good job,” Shen Jue added, still gripping Ji Yuanan’s arm.

Shen Jue never had particularly high demands for food. For him, food was just something to satisfy hunger. He felt that Ji Yuanan’s standards for himself were too high. Everyone has things they’re not good at; there’s no need to be so hard on yourself. Ji Yuanan didn’t need to be excellent at everything.

Perhaps Shen Jue’s expression was too sincere, and Ji Yuanan didn’t insist anymore, finishing stir-frying the remaining dishes.

The dishes were brought to the table one by one. The two sat facing each other. Shen Jue was still thinking about Zeng Qi’s invitation, and felt that now seemed like a good time to ask, so he tentatively said, “A friend of mine is getting promoted recently, and she wants to invite us to dinner together in a few days.”

Ji Yuanan propped his head up with his hand and quickly agreed, “Since your friend invited us, I don’t really have any reason to refuse, do I?”

He agreed so easily. Shen Jue had already thought that if Ji Yuanan found it troublesome and refused him, then he could tell Zeng Qi that Ji Yuanan was too busy recently and didn’t have time to come, so she wouldn’t expect it. But Ji Yuanan had agreed, rendering his plan useless.

As a reciprocal gesture, Shen Jue consciously took on the task of preparing dinner. He had once studied abroad and often had to fend for himself, so his cooking skills were not bad. He used the remaining ingredients to simply make a few home-style dishes.

Ji Yuanan tasted them and looked surprised, praising without concealing his delight, “Very delicious.”

Shen Jue replied with a thank you. He thought that if Ji Yuanan’s desire to learn to cook wasn’t just a whim, and if Ji Yuanan was willing, he might be able to teach him, so he politely asked, “If you want to learn, I can teach you later.”

To Shen Jue’s surprise, Ji Yuanan agreed almost without hesitation.

After dinner, Shen Jue leaned back on the sofa and turned on the TV. A cliché campus romance drama was playing on the screen. The female lead, with her short bob, leaned on the male lead’s shoulder, and the two sat side by side, sharing the same pair of headphones. A very youthful scene. Shen Jue wasn’t very interested in these, so he changed the channel and chose a horror movie to watch.

He stared blankly at the red-clad girl standing in the empty corridor on the TV, slowly blinking. Horror movies always had these plots. Shen Jue had seen many of them before. He had a roommate when he was studying abroad who was passionate about watching all kinds of horror stories. Since learning that Shen Jue was immune to horror movies, he always liked to drag Shen Jue to watch them with him.

Shen Jue went back very late that time. The lights in the hallway outside the door were flickering on and off, and were flickering dimly at this moment. He put down his wet umbrella and went to open the door. Only a floor lamp was on in the living room, making it seem gloomy on a rainy day. He saw his roommate hugging a pillow, shrinking into the sofa, shivering in front of the TV screen. A sudden flash of lightning momentarily illuminated the room, making the scene on the screen even more terrifying, and the roommate’s face looked even paler. He trembled and turned his head to ask Shen Jue if he wanted to watch it with him.

Although he couldn’t understand the hobby of watching horror movies on a stormy day, Shen Jue quietly accompanied his roommate and watched the rest of the plot.

The roommate found it unbelievable how calm he was throughout the entire process, and decided that he would watch horror movies with Shen Jue in the future, as if that would make him less afraid.

The red-clad girl disappeared at the end of the corridor. At this moment, Ji Yuanan sat down on the other side of the sofa and quickly immersed himself in his work. Shen Jue wasn’t sure why Ji Yuanan would choose to work here, and didn’t want to disturb him, so he turned down the volume.

Without the support of background music, the horror atmosphere was greatly reduced, becoming even more boring in Shen Jue’s eyes. A wave of drowsiness washed over him, and he almost fell asleep.

Shen Jue did fall asleep during the second half of the movie. Ji Yuanan put down his tablet, gently picked up Shen Jue, and walked upstairs. He walked slowly, step by step, taking Shen Jue back to his room.

Shen Jue’s room was simply decorated. At a glance, there were no extra decorations, only a few green plants arranged from high to low along the windowsill, full of vitality, showing that they were well taken care of by their owner.

Other than that, there was nothing else. Ji Yuanan glanced around and shifted his gaze back to Shen Jue. Shen Jue, lying on the bed, had completely fallen asleep. Ji Yuanan looked at him, feeling as if he had returned to a few years ago, staring at him for a long time like this. Shen Jue in the center of the stage had finished playing a piano piece, the light staying on him as he calmly accepted the audience’s warm applause and praise. Just like how he would initially choose to deliberately detour to Shen Jue’s classroom, inadvertently peeking at him through the glass window. At that time, Shen Jue was just silently doing his own thing. It was as if everything around him had nothing to do with him.

And now Shen Jue seemed to not have changed at all.

Ji Yuanan thought that he should have understood this point long ago.