Chapter 10

But at thirty, all I wish is for Chen Yabai to have a smoother life. If changing the only beautiful memory left from that April can help, then it’s worth it.

With my hints, in that time and space connected by the letter paper, Chen Yabai began practicing that song, and inevitably, for various reasons, started interacting with Jiang Zishu. Rumors about the two of them gradually spread throughout the grade.

When Chen Yabai expressed his dissatisfaction to me, I was having dinner with my last blind date. He sat across from me, his mouth glistening with oil as he ate barbecue.

I tucked the letter paper away at the corner and set it aside. I couldn’t quite say why I always carried this love letter with me-maybe I really didn’t want to miss a single word from him. Chen Yabai wrote irritably, “There are rumors about me and Jiang Zishu in the grade. I think Xiao Yuan would be upset if she heard them.”

I bit my pen and replied, “But Jiang Zishu is very pretty, isn’t she? Liking Jiang Zishu would be much easier.”

There was a long pause on his end, and then words appeared, almost calm: “Do you want me to like Jiang Zishu?”

I checked the box to show agreement.

After my blind date had swept through all the food on the table, he finally looked up at me, puzzled, and asked, “What are you writing and drawing over there?”

I brushed it off, saying it was work stuff. He grumbled in dissatisfaction, then casually asked, “How much is the bride price in your hometown?”

My answer slipped out: “A motorcycle.”

As soon as I said it, not only was he stunned, but I was too. I had no idea why I said “motorcycle”-I searched my memory and couldn’t find any related information. In the end, I chalked it up to a slip of the tongue. Unexpectedly, my blind date seemed quite pleased; maybe in his eyes, a motorcycle was much cheaper than an eighty-eight-thousand-yuan bride price.

I lowered my head and instinctively looked at the letter paper. New words had quietly lain there for a long time. Seventeen-year-old Chen Yabai asked, “Is future Xiao Yuan happy?”

Actually, after getting the answer he wanted the first time, Chen Yabai never again tried to explore his and Xiao Yuan’s future. As he put it, he would walk into Xiao Yuan’s future himself.

At thirty, I answered him, “She’s very happy.”

She’s very happy, to be able to cross time and space and meet you again.