Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 5
Dreams Related to You
Fortunately, the next day was the weekend.
Gu Jiahe lay drowsily at home until noon when he suddenly received a call from an unknown number. Initially, he thought it might be a scam call, but after hanging up twice, the caller persisted.
Gu Jiahe had no choice but to answer, “Hello?”
“Is this Mr. Gu from 602? Your food delivery has arrived.”
“I didn’t order any food; you’ve got the wrong person.”
“No mistake, Mr. Gu. I’m right outside your door.”
Sure enough, there was a knocking sound from outside.
This was getting weird.
Gu Jiahe got up from bed, opened the door just a crack, and peeked outside. Indeed, there was a delivery person standing there.
“This is the medicine you ordered; please sign for it.”
“Medicine?” Gu Jiahe squinted and checked the food receipt; indeed, it had his name on it.
Gu Jiahe thanked the delivery person and brought the paper bag inside. He casually tore off the receipt from the bag.
About to throw the receipt away, he noticed a long note written on it.
“For the persistent high fever, take the blue-packaged ones. For common cold symptoms like cough and runny nose, take the white-packaged ones.” It was unsigned and without any context.
Were pharmacies this considerate nowadays, providing usage instructions?
Turning the receipt over, he found a handwritten note on the back with the order remarks from the store, and the order was placed by a user named LZ1990.
LZ, 1990.
Gu Jiahe rubbed his temples.
Was this a reward for him going on an outdoor assignment despite being sick? Did his conscience kick in?
Also, how did Li Zhao know his current phone number?
He carefully examined the medicine box, read the instructions, and confirmed that it was indeed cold medicine.
After a moment, Gu Jiahe tore open the box with the white packaging, swallowed a capsule with warm water, and lay back down on the bed.
The cold medicine had a strong effect. Within an hour of taking it, he found himself dozing off again.
When he woke up next, it was already evening.
He was awakened by a continuous stream of WeChat messages.
Considering it was a big weekend, it was probably related to work – never a dull moment.
Gu Jiahe struggled to open his eyes and unlocked his phone. He found it was a communication group for an IPO project created by the finance director.
The audit team, lawyers, and representatives from the securities company were all in the group. Gu Jiahe, as an ordinary legal worker, had also been added.
The finance director tagged a group of people and politely greeted them.
Gu Jiahe quickly located Li Zhao’s WeChat nickname from the group.
Li Zhao’s WeChat name was simply “Li Zhao,” without any extra symbols.
When they parted ways, WeChat wasn’t as popular, and they relied on text messages for communication.
Now, seeing Li Zhao’s WeChat, Gu Jiahe felt a bit itchy.
Li Zhao’s WeChat profile picture was indistinguishable at first glance – just a patch of snowy white. It seemed to be an old, low-resolution photo.
Upon closer inspection of the enlarged image, it looked like a vast expanse of snowy ground with a dark silhouette in the upper right corner, possibly a person’s back.
Probably downloaded from some website, it had a vintage filter applied.
Gu Jiahe found it uninteresting and returned to the previous page.
He got up to make instant noodles but hadn’t boiled the water when his phone rang again.
“Who the hell is this?” Frustrated with his weekend being interrupted, Gu Jiahe grabbed his phone.
Nobody was calling him directly, just a new notification with a red dot. He opened it to find a new friend request.
Li Zhao had sent a friend request with a very official verification message: Tianhe-Li Zhao. As if they were just work colleagues who had recently met.
Gu Jiahe’s finger hesitated on the “Accept” button for several seconds. He glanced at the medicine box delivered earlier in the day and then reluctantly accepted.
After Li Zhao added him, there was silence.
Gu Jiahe didn’t initiate a greeting either. The chat window between the two just sat there awkwardly.
A few minutes later, Gu Jiahe’s noodles were finally ready. He was starving after not eating all day, and now he felt a bit more energetic.
Perhaps the medicine Li Zhao bought indeed had an effect.
After thinking it over, Gu Jiahe opened his phone and sent the first message to the person behind the white profile picture after many years.
“Thank you for the medicine.”
Feeling it was inappropriate, he added, “Don’t spend money on me in the future.”
“I’m glad you received it,” Li Zhao’s response was brief, as if merely confirming.
“Where did you get my phone number from?”
“It’s in the company’s address book.”
Gu Jiahe slapped his forehead, not expecting this.
The conversation between the two once again came to an abrupt halt.
Gu Jiahe wasn’t planning to continue the conversation. He locked his phone, walked to the bathroom, turned on the showerhead, and prepared to take a shower.
His phone rang again. When he saw who was calling, he quickly turned off the showerhead and answered.
“Hello, Grandma.”
The signal on the other end seemed bad; the old lady called his name several times.
“Can you hear me?”
“Yeah, yeah, there’s sound now.”
“What’s up, Grandma?”
“I need you to teach me again how to tune the TV. It has switched to the sports channel, but I want to watch traditional Chinese opera…”
Last time he visited Pingcheng, he had specifically taught her and even drew a page of diagrams. Apparently, she lost it again.
“I’ll video call you. It’s hard to explain over the phone.”
Gu Jiahe initiated a video call, and after a while, the call was answered on the other end.
“With so many buttons, I don’t know which one to press!”
“Grandma, I’ll video call you, just press the green one to answer.” Communicating with the elderly about electronic devices was always challenging.
Gu Jiahe, once again, guided his grandmother on how to change TV channels via video call.
His grandmother tried several times before nodding, “I got it this time.”
“No worries, call me if you forget next time.”
The camera on his grandmother’s phone was oddly positioned, and Gu Jiahe could only see the top half of her head.
“Jiahe, there’s something else…”
His grandmother’s voice softened a bit.
“What’s wrong? Is it a money issue?”
“Yeah, I just got some medicine yesterday, and the remaining money for this month…”
“I’ll transfer it to you right away. Let me know earlier if you run out of money next time.”
“Okay, sweetheart.”
Hearing her use the term “sweetheart,” Gu Jiahe’s heart softened.
“And…” his grandmother’s tone became hesitant.
“What else?”
“That person came again.”
Gu Jiahe’s heart trembled upon hearing this.
“Did he enter the house? Didn’t do anything to you, did he?”
“No, he didn’t enter, just shouting downstairs, causing neighbors to come out and look.”
“Grandma, don’t open the door for him. I’ll figure something out.”
“Jiahe, this can’t go on forever. If it doesn’t work out, just give him…”
“No!” Gu Jiahe, unusually serious, said, “Listen to me, don’t do anything.”
After hanging up, Gu Jiahe transferred a thousand yuan to his grandmother.
His grandmother only knew how to use WeChat for payments, so he always kept some emergency money there.
After the transfer, he checked his bank balance. He then glanced at the empty instant noodle box he had just finished eating, which made a dull thud as it hit the bottom of the trash can.
Somehow, he remembered Li Zhao’s absurd question.
Are you alone?
Now he could answer; indeed, he felt like a dog.
Finally relieved of his headache, Gu Jiahe hastily brushed his teeth. Afterward, he took another cold medicine. The effects of the medicine were quick, and before ten o’clock, he drifted off into a drowsy sleep.
That night, Gu Jiahe remembered having a dream.
He was sitting on a cloud, carried back to a certain autumn afternoon in 2007.
The sunlight was neither cold nor hot, pouring through the rear window onto his desk.
He sat in the least noticeable corner of the classroom, dozing off with his head down.
Suddenly, a melody reached his ears, prompting him to open his eyes in the dream.
He discovered a pair of earphones in his ears. Turning his head, he could only see the profile of a person.
Unfortunately, the person was seated against the light, and their facial features were blurred by the sunlight.
Everything was hazy; the melody in his ears was intermittent, sometimes a piano, sometimes strings. The figure before him appeared and disappeared.
Clearly, everything was so close, yet it felt out of reach.
Gu Jiahe reached out to grab the figure, but somehow, he couldn’t muster any strength. Trying to stand up with force, he suddenly woke up from the dream.
In the darkness, Gu Jiahe opened his eyes suddenly, feeling his forehead covered in sweat.
He wiped away the sweat with tissues, closed his eyes again, but sleep eluded him. He reached for his phone from the bedside, lit up the screen, and found it was only 3:30 in the morning, still two hours away from dawn. However, it wasn’t time for his next dose of medicine yet.
He had no choice but to keep his eyes open, staring at the pitch-black ceiling. The dream reappeared in his mind.
The blurry figure in the dream, although not clear, he knew who it was.
Gu Jiahe forgot what time he fell asleep. When he woke up the next day, he realized he hadn’t heard the alarm. He was late for over half an hour, and in a panic, he leaped out of bed.
Facing the scorching sun, he ran and jumped to the company. Still, he was half an hour late.
As he prepared to clock in, he noticed his work card was missing. Just his luck. He began frantically searching in his bag.
“It’s here,” a voice came from behind.
Gu Jiahe turned around to find Li Zhao standing behind him.
“Huh?”
“You dropped it, the intern picked it up.”
Gu Jiahe was stunned for a moment before nodding and saying, “Thank you.”
For some reason, even after many years, Gu Jiahe still couldn’t remain calm when seeing Li Zhao. These trivial matters made him uneasy.
Gu Jiahe didn’t want to think about it anymore. The more he thought, the more chaotic his life became.
The weather was exceptionally good today, and the dazzling sunlight poured through the huge office windows.
He had just silently erased Li Zhao’s traces from his mind when he lifted his eyes and saw Li Zhao standing in the backlit spot near the window.
This scene overlapped with the one in his dream last night.
But now, the figure was no longer blurry; it was very specific. So specific that Gu Jiahe could even see every strand of his hair.
He quickly lowered his head, not daring to look again no matter what.