Chapter 26: Chapter 21: The Moon Shines Brightly over My Hometown
Hearing Su Qing's feeble voice, Zhou Yuwen honestly found it a little funny.
He said, "But Miss Su, I don't know you."
"Well, we'll get to know each other by chatting, right? Zhou Yuwen, I'm also from Xu Huai High School, we've met before at school!"
"So you mean you have a crush on me."
"If you insist on putting it that way, then yes, I have a crush on you,"
"Haha, I didn't see that coming."
"Feeling a bit smug now, aren't you?"
"Not really, to be honest, Miss Su, I didn't think about dating in college."
"Is that so?"
Su Qing huffed at his words, feeling she was giving her ex-husband too much credit; now he was starting to get cocky.
"Of course, my focus was on academics."
"Pfft!"
"What's so funny?" Zhou Yuwen felt somewhat offended by Su Qing's laugh, even though it was said in jest,
"Nothing, I just think you should spend more time writing novels. You're better suited for that."
"But I have no interest in writing novels whatsoever."
"Bullshit!"
Zhou Yuwen's greatest achievement in his life might have been making a name for himself by writing novels, so after being reincarnated, Su Qing stubbornly believed that writing was Zhou Yuwen's true calling.
By writing novels, he made millions a year and was considered an elite in society.
After his reincarnation, Zhou Yuwen did entertain the idea of writing, but of course, he would never admit that to Su Qing.
Zhou Yuwen was directly calling Su Qing from his dorm room.
Although Zhou Yuwen and Su Qing were divorced, they didn't harbor much hatred towards each other, and occasionally teasing his ex-wife happened to be one of Zhou Yuwen's hobbies.
So the two of them got to chatting.
Su Qing was talking with Zhou Yuwen in the hallway of the girls' dormitory, because discussing all sorts of messy things with him might draw curious looks from Zheng Yanyan and the others.
About half an hour later, Su Qing wanted to add Zhou Yuwen on WeChat.
Zhou Yuwen said, but I don't want to add you on WeChat.
Su Qing then coquettishly said, "Come on, it's good to have more friends."
In their past lives, it was Zhou Yuwen who had pursued Su Qing during college, so Su Qing always maintained a cool and distant demeanor from beginning to end.
Now having been reincarnated, Su Qing wanted to rekindle their relationship with Zhou Yuwen.
Thus, their roles reversed, with Su Qing pursuing Zhou Yuwen, while Zhou Yuwen remained aloof.
Of course, this was all under the big assumption that Su Qing didn't know Zhou Yuwen had also been reincarnated.
If one day Su Qing found out that the Zhou Yuwen she was doting over was the Zhou Yuwen from the future, she'd probably be furious.
Upon Su Qing's persistent requests, Zhou Yuwen finally relented and added her on WeChat, then they started chatting there. During their WeChat conversation, Zhou Yuwen always remained lukewarm.
This further ignited Su Qing's competitive spirit.
She thought if she managed to win him over in the past life, surely she wouldn't let him slip away this time?
After adding each other on WeChat, Su Qing returned to her dorm from the corridor, her heart brimming with joy, and continued to chat with Zhou Yuwen.
Seeing Su Qing's cheerful demeanor, Zheng Yanyan teasingly asked, "This happy? Did your future boyfriend reply?"
"What do you mean 'future boyfriend'?" Su Qing glanced at Zheng Yanyan disapprovingly.
"If not a future boyfriend, then what?"
After some thought, Su Qing corrected with emphasis, "Prospective boyfriend!"
Zheng Yanyan couldn't help but laugh upon hearing this.
After exchanging a few simple messages with Su Qing on WeChat, Zhou Yuwen said he was going to sleep and quickly ended the conversation.
Before they knew it, it was already eleven o'clock, and Lu Yuhang had already gone to bed.
Chang Hao took out his laptop and started playing Warcraft.
Li Qiang watched from the side.
Chang Hao was curious, "Didn't you bring a computer?"
"No, I was thinking about buying one in my second year."
Chang Hao scoffed, "Who goes to college without a computer?"
Li Qiang said that he had asked the admissions office and there weren't many courses that required a computer in the first year.
"Besides, I'm here to study. What do I need a computer for?"
Chang Hao seemed to know the real reason Li Qiang didn't bring a computer, but didn't say it out loud. He skillfully took out a cigarette from the box, put it in his mouth, and lit it.
He played Warcraft while smoking.
Turning his head, he saw Li Qiang eyeing his Xuanhe Clan cigarette pack and asked, "Want one?"
"Is that okay? I've already had several of yours!"
"It's just a few cigarettes, from now on we're going to be roommates, looking out for each other is what we should do." Chang Hao seemed very generous.
"Hey, Brother Hao! You're really nice." Hearing Chang Hao say this, Li Qiang grinned and took a cigarette.
Chang Hao asked, "Does Brother Zhou want one?"
Zhou Yuwen did have a smoking habit in his past life, even just after he had been reincarnated, he couldn't help but smoke a cigarette to calm down, but after calming down, he accepted the fact that he had been reborn.
Suddenly, Zhou Yuwen no longer craved cigarettes, "You guys go ahead, I'm not going to smoke."
"Brother Zhou, how can you not enjoy life at all? Brother Hao's cigarettes are really good." Li Qiang chimed in, following Chang Hao's lead and began blowing smoke rings.
Zhou Yuwen glanced at Lu Yuhang, who had covered himself with the blanket, and said, "After this cigarette, it should be about time, Yuhang has already gone to sleep."
Chang Hao responded with a nod, and Zhou Yuwen didn't insist on anything; after all, even though he was a reincarnated person, he had no right to control others.
However, Zhou Yuwen really didn't like the smoke-filled atmosphere of the dormitory.
So, he took a can of Coke and left the dorm room by himself.
It was the first day of school, and although it was already eleven at night, the boys' dormitory was still noisy.
Zhou Yuwen walked to the end of the corridor, passing dorm rooms with lights on and doors wide open.
Every dorm room had its own story, yet they were all similar in a way.
For the first time away from home, they were excited to be making new friends.
They seemed very enthusiastic, dressed similarly in large shorts, with their upper bodies bare.
Some dorms were having beer contests.
And some had music playing.
Finally reaching the window, the sky was sparsely starlit outside.
A bright full moon hung high in the sky.
This moon was not visible in later years.
Seeing it again now, it seemed especially bright.
Zhou Yuwen opened the can of soda.
The sound of the carbonated beverage opening spilled out with the fizz.
He took a satisfying sip of the Coke.
At that moment, his phone rang again.
Zhou Yuwen thought it was another message from Su Qing.
But when he checked, the caller ID showed it was his mom:
Have you settled in?
Seeing this note, Zhou Yuwen suddenly froze. Since he had married Su Qing, Zhou Yuwen rarely contacted his family. Zhou Yuwen's father was a serious man who seldom showed concern for him, and frankly, young Zhou Yuwen always felt like his father didn't like him very much.
It wasn't until the year he got married that his father gave him a card with a million on it to buy a house.
That was when Zhou Yuwen understood the silent nature of fatherly love.
As for his mother, she had been caring for him all along.
He remembered when he first went to college, his mother called him.
Zhou Yuwen talked a lot with his mother, and like the freshmen in those dorms, he was excited about his new life, incessantly sharing various interesting things about the university.
Until at one point, his mother asked, "Do you miss home?"
Zhou Yuwen blurted out that he did! Suddenly, his nose felt sore, and only then did he realize that he was already five hundred miles from home.
Receiving a call from his mother again, he suddenly felt a kind of homesickness.
Zhou Yuwen adjusted his state of mind, "Hello, Mom?"
"Hey, are you getting used to the new environment?"
"Yeah, I'm adjusting."
"I wanted to take you to school, but your dad kept saying, you're grown up now, you need to be independent. Over there, eat on time, don't stay up late, and if you're short of money, tell me. It's your first time away from home," as his mother spoke, her voice seemed to choke up a bit.
Zhou Yuwen smiled, "Mom, I'm doing quite well here."
"That's good,"
As the conversation reached this point, suddenly they didn't know what to talk about anymore. Zhou Yuwen couldn't go on and on about his first day experiences like he had in his past life, and his mother didn't know what to say either.
His mother might have called just to hear Zhou Yuwen's voice, and now that she had, she said, "Well, it's late, you should rest early."
As she was about to hang up, Zhou Yuwen called out to his mother.
"Mom?"
"Hmm?"
"I kind of miss you and Dad," Zhou Yuwen said with a laugh. When he said it, he thought he had control, but his nose still turned sour.
He really did miss them. In the blink of an eye, it had been two months since Zhou Yuwen had last visited his parents at home.
After hearing this, his mother laughed, "Sentimental! You just left and you already miss us in less than two days!?"
"Yeah, just two days,"
Zhou Yuwen said, his hands resting on the window, gazing at the moon in the sky, feeling reminiscent.