Mist

Chapter 91: Our Reality

The cake wasn’t the main issue here. Song Qinglan asked something else, but Ji Yushi didn’t hear him clearly, “Huh?”

Song Qinglan asked, “How was the taste?”
He looked closely at Ji Yushi’s face as he spoke in a relaxed, laid-back tone, “With you sitting there staring dumbly at it for so long without eating, was it because it tasted bad? Where did you get it?”

When Ji Yushi returned last time, he didn’t have any money on him and because of the restrictions with his equipment, he also couldn’t make mobile payments.
That was why Song Qinglan asked this question.

“The owner of the cake shop gave it.” Ji Yushi answered, “…..It was delicious.”
At least, the taste was exactly the same as the one in his memories.

“As long as I don’t have my eyes on you, someone would give you something.” Song Qinglan clicked his tongue, “Looks like I will need to watch you more closely.”

Ji Yushi’s thoughts followed Song Qinglan’s words. These ridiculous words helped alleviate much of his panic and confusion from earlier, pulling him back to reality. His mind was clear again, “The owner is thirty years older than me.” He leaned back against the wall and responded to Song Qinglan’s words, “I used to visit her shop often when I was young. She was very nice.”

Song Qinglan smiled.

In the rain and fog, Ji Yushi’s voice sounded a little hazy.
He went on to say, “On the day of the incident, I also bought a cake from her shop before going home.”

On that day more than ten years ago, although it was a distant memory, Ji Yushi still remembered every detail.

“I bought four so that if he worked very late because of overtime, I wouldn’t be hungry. He would usually get takeaway from a restaurant he frequented when he returned late and sometimes would also bring back a small card from there. The card had the smell of perfume. The owner of the restaurant wanted to pursue him, but he had no idea. I later felt that I maybe should’ve told him about it. Perhaps he would’ve started a new relationship and perhaps something different may have happened that day.”

There was no what if’s in this world. This was something they both knew.
But Song Qinglan didn’t refute or console him.
This day was destined to be a day belonging to Ji Yushi, a day belonging to Sheng Han.

They stood under the eaves for a while. Gradually, there were more people. From time to time, passers-by would look at them—-It was mostly because Song Qinglan was too tall and the two stood too closely together so it attracted their attention. Fortunately, they were too busy rushing to work or the morning market so they didn’t pay them much heed.

About ten minutes later.
Song Qinglan glanced out from the corner.

He saw that the Ji Yushi from before was still sitting in daze looking at the small cake.

“How long did you sit there for?” Song Qinglan asked, “When did you leave?”
“Left at 7:44.” Ji Yushi remembered very clearly.

The incident happened around 7:50. Last time he had made up his mind, so he left before the time came.

Song Qinglan looked down at his communicator. It displayed [1439:04:06 07:16:32].
There was still about thirty minutes. It was pretty much what Ji Yushi told him when he returned after secretly running off. Ji Yushi had used the entire time to be in daze.

“What’s the matter?” Ji Yushi beside him was a little nervous.

Song Qinglan was about to answer but he was instead slightly surprised.
Less than ten metres away from them, the Ji Yushi in the black combat uniform habitually took out the game console from his pocket and a piece of paper fell out as he did this. It glittered as it fell to the ground.