Chapter 358: Chapter 357: "Tell me, what did you dream about last night.

The others thought about it and agreed...

They then asked Xu Su which city she planned to attend university in and when she was leaving, and Xu Su answered all their questions truthfully.

The conversation continued until Xu Su’s throat was dry and she begged for mercy. Only then did her two aunts reluctantly get up and head to the kitchen to get busy.

Xu Su didn’t want to go find Zhou Mochen, who was still drinking. She acted cute with Grandma Xu for a bit, then followed the old woman around, helping to clear the dishes. Before long, she was shooed out, told that the kitchen was too small for so many people to move around in.

Xu Su peeked at the men still chatting away in the main hall. Not planning to join the fun, she tiptoed around the hall and took the back path from her eldest uncle’s house to her grandma’s house next door.

Lying contentedly on the wooden bed she had slept in since she was a child, Xu Su let out a sigh of relief and glanced at the time.

It wasn’t even two o’clock...

The students at Kang County First Middle School were still on their lunch break. Xu Su took out her phone and called her cousin, Chen Ni.

When Xu Su came back last summer vacation, she had given Chen Ni the slide phone from Zhou Mochen that she had replaced.

It was only June, not yet summer vacation. With none of her younger cousins around to cause a ruckus, the house felt unusually quiet.

The phone rang twice before it was answered. Chen Ni had been in touch with her family, so she knew Xu Su would be back these few days. She was miserable about not being on vacation yet.

She was thrilled to get Xu Su’s call and kept saying how much she wanted to see her. When she learned that Xu Su was leaving for Beijing in a few days and that it would be harder and harder to meet in the future, she was on the verge of tears.

Xu Su was a pro at comforting her younger cousin. She promised Chen Ni that she would definitely visit her in Kang County before returning to Chang City. That finally managed to soothe her cousin’s emotions. They chatted for a few more minutes until the school bell rang on the other end, and only then did Xu Su hang up.

The room fell completely silent. Xu Su stared blankly at the ceiling, momentarily unsure of what to do or what to think.

’Should I ask Zhou Mochen if that dream was real?’

When she woke up that morning, in her haste, Xu Su hadn’t remembered the secret the boy in her dream had told her. By the time she recalled it in the car, she was about to ask Zhou Mochen when her grandma’s call interrupted them.

She’d put it off until now. Having calmed down, Xu Su found herself hesitating.

’Should I really ask?’

’If I can confirm it was just a dream, that would be fine, but...’

’What if it wasn’t a dream?’

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t experienced a fantastical rebirth before, so it wasn’t impossible for it to happen again. If the boy in the dream was real, even if she found out the truth, what could she do?

’Besides feeling anxious and guilty, I’d be completely helpless...’

’There’s no way to go back. And if the current Zhou Mochen found out her dream was a real experience, who knows what would happen.’

’But if I don’t ask...’

Xu Su thought back to the night before, to how incredibly nervous the boy looked before she fell asleep.

He was genuinely afraid she would disappear, and now, she really had.

Ugh...

Xu Su pounded her forehead with a pained expression and sighed, "What am I going to do?!"

Just as he walked in, Zhou Mochen heard that very sentence. He, who had been about to complain about her leaving him alone to face her two uncles, froze for a second. He closed the door behind him and locked it before letting go.

He took a few steps, stood by the bed looking down at her, and asked with an unreadable expression, "Tell me, what’s making you so troubled?"

Lying on the bed, Xu Su squinted up at the man beside her. Intense guilt and unease made her feel awful, like a fish being roasted over a fire. She was miserable, yet she didn’t know if she should tell him.

"Let me ask you a question." After they stared at each other in silence for a moment, Xu Su suddenly asked, "Zhou Mochen, what would you do if one day I just suddenly disappeared?"

Zhou Mochen’s pupils constricted. He never imagined she would ask something like that.

’What kind of question is this?’

He had even considered that one day this girl might run to him and say she’d fallen in love with someone else, but he had never, ever thought she might just disappear.

’Asking him what he’d do?’

’What could I do?’

’Die?’

The moment the thought surfaced, Zhou Mochen’s heart pounded. He frowned, sat on the edge of the bed, and after a moment of deep thought, answered honestly, "I don’t know."

He looked down at her, his expression relatively calm as he said, "Why are you suddenly asking this question?"

"...Didn’t I tell you I had a dream? I was just thinking, if that dream was real, then it means I just suddenly vanished from over there."

Xu Su covered her eyes, trying to keep her emotions from showing. Her voice trembled slightly. "Tell me, now that I’m back here like this, what is the teenage you supposed to do?"

...

The room was utterly silent. For a long time, there was no sound.

Xu Su sensed something was wrong. Her fingertips twitched, and she wanted to move her hand from her eyes to see what was happening.

The next second, a familiar presence closed in. Her wrist was grabbed, her hand pulled away from her face, and Zhou Mochen tilted her chin up. Their breaths mingled, their faces inches apart.

He stared into her eyes, his gaze sinister. "Come on, tell me. What kind of dream did you have? Xu Su, who the fuck are you feeling sorry for?"

Xu Su’s eyelashes trembled. She was speechless.

This was exactly why she hadn’t dared to ask him if the secret the boy in her dream told her was real...

"You like the eighteen-year-old kid that much?" Zhou Mochen laughed. "You really know how to piss me off."

If she wanted a star from the sky, he could find a planet, name it after her, and give it to her.

But of all things...

"I didn’t mean to piss you off..."

Xu Su was helpless. She wrapped her arms around his neck and explained in a low voice, "I don’t like an eighteen-year-old boy. Zhou Mochen, the only one I like is you. No matter the age, I like you. It’s because that boy was you that I’m so worried..."

’Listen to what he was saying! "You like the eighteen-year-old kid that much"...’

’If that boy hadn’t been him, she wouldn’t have given him a second glance, let alone felt sorry for him.’

Zhou Mochen let out a noncommittal, cold snort. "Tell me, what exactly did you dream about last night?"

Xu Su asked, "You really want to know?"

"Talk!"

The single, decisive word made Xu Su shrink back. "Lower your voice! If my grandma comes back and hears you, she’ll think you’re yelling at me."

Zhou Mochen sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over to watch her silently for a moment before simply lying down next to her.

They lay face to face. He said in a flat tone, "Changing the subject is useless. If you don’t make things clear, you’re not leaving this room today. Your eldest uncle saw me come in with his own eyes. The longer we stay in here, I can’t guarantee what they’ll be thinking."

"Fine, I’ll talk!"

Xu Su glared at him indignantly. "In the dream, I suddenly appeared in the back seat of a car, wearing a nightgown. I was locked in and couldn’t get out. A little while later, I saw the eighteen-year-old you about to get in..."

She paused. Zhou Mochen looked up. "Continue."