Chapter 53 – Two People

After the demonstration ended last time, Jiang Lou didn’t rush back after sending Li Tang back to his company; instead, he stayed an extra day in the capital.

That day, he did nothing but walk around the streets of the capital aimlessly.

Although he had attended university in the capital and often came here on business trips after starting his own company, during his school days, he was extremely busy. His daily activities were limited to the area around the campus. Later, with a heart to avoid it all, each trip was rushed, not daring to linger.

This was his first time stopping to look at the capital, to look at where Li Tang grew up.

He even went to the Children’s Palace where he saw Li Tang play the piano for the first time. Affected by various training institutions, the Children’s Palace was now deserted, far less bustling than it was back then.

The guard at the booth was no longer the old man from before; a middle-aged man engrossed in short videos told him that he wanted to go to the grand hall. Without lifting his eyes, he said, “The hall here has been abandoned for two years already. Now, concerts are held at the music hall in the outskirts of the city.”

Even so, Jiang Lou still walked in, following the memory of the pedestrian path to the dusty, slightly dilapidated domed building.

It had been seventeen years since his last visit.

Through the barricade, looking through the glass covered in dust, he could vaguely see rows of seats, the stage rising from the ground, and the curtains hanging on either side.

Memories flashed back to that time—a little boy in a tuxedo sitting in front of the piano on stage, beautiful piano notes flowing from his fingertips. At that time, he had no ability to predict the future and didn’t know that their fates had already intertwined like vines.

All he knew was that the little boy on stage shone, like a star, making him feel self-conscious and exposed.

And yet, he wanted to reach out from the darkness, touch the little boy, pull him in, and have him accompany him.

Back in Xucheng, Jiang Lou threw himself into work with single-minded focus. Under his leadership, the tech department, already known for its high efficiency, sped up its research and development several times over.

Pei Hao was relieved but also worried about him pushing too hard, believing that one couldn’t swallow an elephant in one bite. The company’s development needed long-term planning.

Jiang Lou took the advice to rest and pulled out his phone, clicking into a personal short video account named Cynthia Qi.

This was a “possible acquaintance” automatically recommended by the backend after adding contacts. Jiang Lou originally didn’t have such a short video app on his phone; he downloaded it to study the algorithm for big data recommendations. He didn’t expect to come across Qi Sixian’s account on the first day of registration.

Qi Sixian loved recording her life. Besides daily records of diet and exercise, there were many fragments of her work and daily life.

And among the videos related to work, Li Tang’s figure frequently appeared.

Jiang Lou flipped through them one by one, seeing Li Tang’s serious profile when speaking at meetings, his smiling face when receiving guests, witnessing him exhausted on a business flight, and moments of him spacing out while holding a wine glass at a dinner party. Qi Sixian captioned it: “Wine enters sorrow, turns into tears of longing.”

For what was he sad? And who was he missing?

Recalling that day when they stopped halfway to rest, Li Tang’s words of “got it wrong,” Jiang Lou dared not think too deeply.

Having seen how Li Tang devotedly loved him, how could he accept that someone else occupied his thoughts?

Therefore, when he heard that Li Tang had a huge argument with his father to secure the investment for ROJA, the suppressed desire in Jiang Lou’s heart flared up in the wind.

He couldn’t help but think more, nor could he bear it any longer. After Pei Hao sent the flower basket and Sun Yuxiang called to thank him, on that quiet afternoon, he dialed the number of Li Tang’s office, harboring a faint hope that “perhaps you don’t hate me that much.”

Li Tang clearly understood, even though Jiang Lou hadn’t finished his words.

“I don’t hate you, I’ve never hated you.” Li Tang said on the phone, “Helping your company is actually helping myself, so don’t have any psychological burden. Just do what you’re supposed to according to the contract.”

Jiang Lou listened, putting all his effort into research and development. Within a couple of days, he made the medical database operational at Li Yuanshan’s nursing home, and the first version of the rehabilitation robot was successfully born.

The research department was amazed at ROJA’s speed. Li Zichu asked if they had a hundred employees, to which Li Tang thought for a moment and replied, “Less than twenty.”

Li Zichu was shocked. “They wouldn’t have made an empty shell of a robot to fool us, would they?”

In theory, after the financing process was completed, investors could simply wait for dividends. However, ROJA’s project was deeply tied to the nursing home, and to ensure sustainable development, it was necessary to conduct follow-up inspections and supervision.

Thus, similar to last time, the research department required ROJA to send the robot to the capital for a simple demonstration.

Unexpectedly, problems arose with the “sending.”

Robots, being expensive precision equipment, to prevent damage during transportation, ROJA’s side, namely Pei Hao and Sun Yuxiang, personally drove to deliver them.

Coinciding with this year’s severe winter, heavy snow blanketed the northern China region. Just as they reached the edge of H province bordering the capital, parts of the highway were closed due to the snowfall, and icy national roads led to frequent accidents, causing extreme congestion. Stuck halfway, Pei Hao and the others had no choice but to call Li Tang’s company. “The heavens won’t let us enter the imperial city; we can only ask you gentlemen to take a few steps and come to the side of the national road yourselves.”

Li Tang immediately dispatched a car and went to the scene himself.

As it turned out, the generator they brought malfunctioned due to low temperatures, and after much fuss, it proved useless. By the time the road was cleared and they entered the capital territory, it was already twilight.

Li Tang felt very apologetic and wanted to treat everyone to dinner after finishing up, but the people from ROJA were in a hurry to leave. When asked why they were in such a rush, Sun Yuxiang had a near-tearful expression. “I’m getting married tomorrow…”

Suddenly remembering that detail.

A significant event in life couldn’t be delayed. Driving back was too unpredictable, taking advantage of the snow stopping, Li Tang quickly arranged flights for them, and they flew back to Xucheng that night.

Sun Yuxiang finally broke into a smile, inviting everyone enthusiastically on the way to the airport, saying he had reserved a special table, separate from other guests.

Moreover, they had traveled for over thirty hours on the road, almost standing up their new brides; not giving them this face was truly inexcusable.

Li Tang and Li Zichu were also Sun Yuxiang’s old classmates.

With multiple factors stacked together, this wedding that could have been optional became a must-attend.

Due to weather conditions, having just worked overtime, and with the next day being a holiday, colleagues who previously clamored about chartering a plane to Xucheng were all lying at home too lazy to move. This time, the ones representing everyone to show their faces at the wedding banquet were only Li Tang and Li Zichu.

They would bring along their respective “family members”—on Li Zichu’s side, it was Huo Xichen, who packed clothes for the trip when he heard Li Zichu was going to Xucheng; on Li Tang’s side, it was Su Qinhan, who had worked in the capital for two days and played for another two. With an old classmate accompanying her on the return journey, she couldn’t be happier.

Hearing that Sun Yuxiang’s wife was named Li Yuanyuan, Su Qinhan asked, “Is it that petite girl with smiling eyes, the pretty sister?”

Sun Yuxiang nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes.”

“I remember her; I participated in an essay competition with her in the first year of high school.” Su Qinhan laughed. “You’re lucky, kid.”

Sun Yuxiang chuckled foolishly.

Huo Xichen also shook hands with Sun Yuxiang, saying, “We have the revolutionary friendship of falling from the advanced class to the regular class together.”

As they held hands, they looked at Li Tang simultaneously. Li Tang had no choice but to reach out and place his hand on top, completing the meeting of mediocre students.

No, one person was missing—Zhou Dongze.

Before takeoff, Li Tang received a reply from Zhou Dongze, saying he was too busy to spare the time and wouldn’t return to Xucheng.

At the end, he wished him a Merry Christmas.

Li Tang remembered it was Christmas today. Along the way, his mind kept spinning, worrying about the robot one moment and worrying about meeting former classmates the next. He hadn’t even noticed the Christmas trees outside the mall.

Taking off, he looked out the porthole at the frozen snow.

Snow really fell on Christmas this year.

It was a late-night flight, arriving at two in the morning.

Sun Yuxiang and the ROJA employees who transported the robot took taxis home separately. Su Qinhan’s house was close to Pei Hao’s, so the two shared a ride. The remaining few people prepared to take another car to the hotel together. Pei Hao rolled down the window. “Wait five minutes; a special car will come to pick us up.”

When the seven-seater business car stopped in front of them, Li Zichu approached first, bent down to look at the driver’s seat, and then exclaimed, “Persistent ghost!”

Jiang Lou got out of the car as if he hadn’t heard, took everyone’s luggage and placed it in the trunk, then skillfully opened the car door for everyone.

Li Tang knew that Jiang Lou’s bold appearance in front of people was probably because of his words, “I don’t hate you.” So there was no need for him to avoid, he would follow the mental preparation he had done before, treating Jiang Lou as an ordinary business partner, polite, courteous, maintaining a certain distance.

This might be the most suitable way for the two to interact, and Li Tang felt it was good.

Seeing Li Tang calmly get into the car, Li Zichu had no choice but to reluctantly follow.

No one spoke for the first half of the journey, the car was so quiet that even Li Tang, who enjoyed peace, felt a bit restless, wanting to plug in headphones and listen to music. Unfortunately, he hurried out, and his pockets were empty.

Just as he was about to close his eyes and pretend to sleep, Jiang Lou, who was driving, suddenly reached for the dashboard and pressed the play button.

Very fittingly, the first song was “Christmas List,” Li Tang’s favorite Christmas song, and the same song he and Jiang Lou listened to together for the first time when they shared headphones seven years ago.

I don’t want something new,

I just want you.

These two lines were once Li Tang’s inner voice, proof of the foolishness he had committed.

Before he could recall more details, Huo Xichen interrupted the memories.

“Brother Jiang…long time no see.”

During school days, Huo Xichen was on Jiang Lou’s side, so even though Li Zichu and Li Tang were close friends, he loved the house and extended his loyalty to include opposition to Jiang Lou, it wasn’t to the point of truly tearing things with Jiang Lou.

However, since that last phone call before Jiang Lou transferred to County High School, the two hadn’t been in contact. This greeting carried some unfamiliarity of testing the waters.

Jiang Lou grunted in response.

Huo Xichen asked a few innocuous questions, asking if starting a business was tough, how far artificial intelligence had developed…

In their back-and-forth conversation, the atmosphere relaxed somewhat. Huo Xichen also became spirited and couldn’t resist reminiscing about the past. “Do you remember our sophomore homeroom teacher, surnamed Liu?”

Jiang Lou said he remembered.

“A few days ago, I met her in the capital. She’s also starting a business now, saying she doesn’t want to put up with the students’ nonsense anymore.”

“Really, that’s good.”

“And, do you remember when our school’s playground was renovated…”

Li Zichu suddenly interjected, “Renovating the playground was a senior year thing, right? At that time, President Jiang was no longer in our school.”

Huo Xichen slapped his forehead. “Right, you were already at County High then… Speaking of County High, I heard earlier that you were—ah!”

Li Zichu kicked him, interrupting Huo Xichen’s chatter.

Huo Xichen seemed to realize something, rubbing his leg and mumbling to smooth things over. “Nothing, nothing, I must have remembered wrong, remembered wrong…”

Glancing at Li Tang in the backseat, seeing that he seemed to have fallen asleep leaning against the seatback, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Arriving at the hotel entrance, Jiang Lou helped them unload their luggage and bid farewell on his own initiative.

Two rooms were booked—one for Li Zichu and Huo Xichen, and Li Tang had a room to himself.

Exhausted physically and mentally after a day of hustle, Li Tang still had difficulty sleeping. He took medicine, counted sheep, and tried the 478 breathing method several rounds, only feeling a hint of drowsiness when the sky began to lighten.

Perhaps due to listening to that song, a voice echoed in his mind—Can we still be together next Christmas?

And the corresponding answer—It’s up to you.

Before consciousness was engulfed by darkness, Li Tang vaguely thought, liar, deceiving me again.

So many Christmases later, they never spent them together.

Sleeping late, he naturally woke up a bit later as well.

There was a message from Li Zichu on his phone, saying he and Huo Xichen were going home for a bit and would meet at the Xucheng Grand Hotel in the evening.

It was just before noon, leaving the entire afternoon. Li Tang enjoyed the peace, ordering food in his room, brewing a cup of coffee, opening his portable laptop, reading documents, and turning on an old movie.

Xucheng, which usually had continuous drizzle, surprisingly had clear blue skies today, presumably due to the auspiciousness of the day bringing good fortune.

In the twilight, Li Tang was in a good mood as he took the elevator downstairs, intending to take a taxi to the hotel. Upon exiting, he saw the business car that had picked them up the previous night parked at the entrance.

Jiang Lou was dressed casually today, in a jacket and jeans, giving him a rare youthful vitality.

Although he remained solemn and taciturn, when Li Tang asked him how long he had been waiting, he said not long. When Li Tang said that only he was coming and the others would go themselves, Jiang Lou nodded and said, “Get in the car.”

A seven-seater car with only two people felt rather spacious.

Li Tang’s head was filled with a jumble of thoughts. Yesterday, he confirmed with Sun Yuxiang that only a few familiar classmates were invited to the wedding banquet, the rest were family and friends. Li Tang was still somewhat worried, after all, Jiang Lou was also here.

He was too eye-catching; Li Tang didn’t want to be the center of attention, causing everyone to recall the events of the past.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Lou offered, “Later, I’ll drop you off at the main entrance of the hotel. You go inside and find the Full Moon Hall.”

Li Tang was taken aback. “You’re not coming in?”

“I have something else to handle.” Jiang Lou said, “I’ve already spoken to Sun Yuxiang about it.”

Li Tang was puzzled that he would skip the wedding of his entrepreneurial partner and friend for something else. Was there anything more important than this?

Still, he breathed a sigh of relief. At least without Jiang Lou, many potential awkward situations could be avoided.

Li Tang leaned back in his seat, suddenly finding the seat very comfortable, giving him a sense of security.

How strange, it seemed he could sleep well anywhere except in bed.

Li Tang yawned, his heavy eyelids drooping as the dusky street scenes rapidly receded outside the window.

He had a dream this time as well.

But it was only tactile sensations and sounds.

In the vast darkness, something landed on his cheek—warm, dry, gentle.

And there was a soft sigh, as if afraid of waking someone up.

Waking up, the sight that greeted him was the setting sun on the western horizon. Li Tang sat up straight in shock, hearing the person in the driver’s seat say, “The banquet hasn’t started yet; you can sleep a little longer.”

Li Tang couldn’t possibly continue sleeping. He hurried to open the car door. “Then I’ll go in first.”

Reaching the hotel entrance, he realized that when he got out of the car, the seatbelt seemed to have already been unfastened?

Could someone complete such precise actions while dreaming?

Entering the banquet hall, he saw Li Zichu waving at him. Li Tang approached.

Guests gradually took their seats, soft music played from the speakers, and on the screen on stage were the newlyweds’ wedding photos. In the pictures, Sun Yuxiang grinned widely, sharing a resemblance with the naturally smiling-eyed Li Yuanyuan.

An ordinary wedding, with both Western vows and traditional Chinese rituals, even the tear-jerking phrases in the gratitude to parents segment were identical, as if following a fixed template. Yet, it still evoked warmth.

During the toast session, the bride changed into traditional Chinese wedding attire, dazzling to the point that it was hard to look away. A girl who looked like a high school student at the next table held her phone, snapping pictures nonstop, enviously saying, “I want to wear such clothes for a photo shoot.”

The girl’s mother said, “What photo shoot? You can only wear this for a wedding.”

The girl pouted. “Why don’t I know about this rule?”

Continuing to take pictures for a while, the girl turned to look at Li Tang’s table and pulled a chair over, asking, “Brothers and sisters, are you all classmates of the groom?”

Huo Xichen had been called uncle by kids before, plus he had always been the younger brother at home. This “brother” made him very warm-hearted, so he answered enthusiastically, “Yes, all old classmates.”

“Classmates from Xucheng No. 1 High School?”

“Yes.”

The girl’s eyes lit up, changing her address. “Then do Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters know Jiang Lou? I heard he’s my cousin’s high school classmate and partnered with my cousin to start a company. Why didn’t he come today?”

Her words conveyed two pieces of information: the little girl was Sun Yuxiang’s cousin, and she was here for “fan chasing.”

Su Qinhan first exclaimed, “Wow,” marveling at Jiang Lou’s enduring fame, even reaching underage female students.

Huo Xichen replied, “I don’t know why he didn’t come, maybe he’s busy.”

The girl was a bit disappointed. “Oh.”

Then she took out her phone and found a video with millions of views in her favorites. “Is this him? Has it been edited?”

Su Qinhan, in her professional capacity, told her, “No, he looks exactly like this, a true-to-life appearance.”

The girl covered her mouth, exaggeratingly gasping.

Next, the table became the girl’s answering machine, responsible for answering questions including but not limited to “Is he really 1.9 meters tall,” “Did he really get into XX University with real talent,” “Was that app really developed by him?”

Each question received a positive answer, and the girl felt a satisfying confirmation that she hadn’t misjudged.

Suddenly thinking of something, the girl continued her inquiry. “Then I heard that he forced a boy in school and recorded the sound of the two of them ‘doing it’…such outrageous things should be false, right?”

Silence fell over the table.

It was Huo Xichen who spoke first. “Where did you hear that?”

“The senior from the previous year told me. She said Jiang Lou was expelled from school because of this incident, transferred to County High School, and later was ostracized by County High School’s classmates because of this and beaten until he was hospitalized…”

“No such thing.” Li Zichu interrupted her. “Rumors are unreliable. He was expelled because…because of fighting, he—”

At that moment, Li Tang, who had been silent in the corner seat, suddenly stood up.

“What did you say?” he stared at the girl. “Why was he expelled?”

And what did “forcing” mean? Why were there “two people’s sounds”?

That audio clip, wasn’t it only his voice?

After all, Jiang Lou’s revenge was justified; he should have been the only one punished, sent to hell.

Li Tang murmured in a daze, “How…how could it be two people?”