Smile Code (Lost Laughter) 失笑 - Zhu Le 祖乐

31

Mr. "File Transfer Assistant".

The most outrageous part was that Liang Daiwen just left after dropping that remark. Gu Yi spent a long time thinking about it after returning home. This person just happened to pass by and see Xu Guanyue, leaving such a statement, enough to make people wonder whether he was waiting for the right moment to make a comeback.

Indeed, it was something Liang Daiwen could do-he was a master of time management, making sure not to waste a single minute in his day. So, he casually threw out a thought-provoking comment after an accidental encounter with her, without expending much effort.

Xu Guanyue had his arm around Gu Yi's shoulder. If Liang Daiwen turned back now, he would see the woman he cared about being embraced by his rival. Xu Guanyue just said, "Shh. If you consider me a friend, don't pull away. I'll take care of him for you."

"But..."

"After all the pain caused by him before, you can't bear to let him be upset? Let me give you a piece of advice as a friend: an apology between lovers is not just about saying 'sorry'-he needs to feel as bad as you do for it to count as an apology."

Xu Guanyue liked to play pranks and was extremely clever. His way of softening the apology felt as natural as breathing, and Gu Yi found it almost instinctive in the way he treated people. Relying on Xu Guanyue to win a round against Liang Daiwen, Gu Yi couldn't sleep from anxiety. The neighbor next door seemed to be singing karaoke all night, and the noise kept her awake. Her eyes were bloodshot as she sent a few jokes to the "File Transfer Assistant" and then found Xu Guanyue's old columns, reading through his movie reviews and diaries until the sky brightened. His talent had been honed by listening to thousands of albums and writing reviews for music magazines. She always thought that the romance born from movies, books, and music was imaginary, the kind you could easily abandon, but having romance after enduring the harshness of life was like trying to run while wearing shackles. At this thought, she suddenly felt tired. Half-dreaming, she recalled Dr. Shen's words: "Patients with emotional disorders have part of their body or soul destroyed, threatening their sense of completeness and identity. Humans will shut their hearts..."

She dreamt of Liang Daiwen in shackles. A man who had lost a piece of his hair and cut his arm was walking into the darkness. She shouted his name, shouting for a long time before he hesitated and turned back. But when he couldn't see her, he turned around and left. The distance between them was too far, the sound too hard to carry. If she didn't catch up, he would quickly fade into the dark...

When she woke up, she was facing the curtains. Sunlight poured in, and dust floated slowly in the air, like the sound of carbonated bubbles. A synesthetic metaphor flashed across her mind. She opened Liang Daiwen's chat box, thinking of a new way to help him feel emotions. But when she opened the chat, she froze-she had sent the jokes to his chat box last night, one of which was: "Not being able to feel emotions is a form of harm. You need to feel as bad as I do for it to count as an apology."

Something wasn't right. She had clearly sent it to a green profile with a right-facing arrow, and though it was late, she wasn't so tired as to confuse them. Besides, Liang Daiwen's avatar was green, but there were many shades of green-how had they all been sent to him?

Confused and with no energy to waste, she started rearranging the layout at home. The bed, which was previously against the wall, was dragged to the center of the room, with the sofa backed against it, dividing the space into two. On the left side of the bed was the wardrobe, and on the right side was the shoe rack. She had taken apart a brand-new carpet. Across from the sofa were bookshelves and a desk, forming a small entertainment and office area. Standing in the doorway, sweating, she thought that now Liang Daiwen couldn't criticize her for poor storage. She had divided her small 30-square-meter apartment into two sections: one for living and the other for work, a layout few would think of.