Chapter 146: Past

Su Min was pretty certain that this child was Chen Su.

If that was the case, then could he think of this movie as Chen Su’s way of telling him about their history?

The only one who had an a.s.sociation with Chen Su was Xiao Su.

So the relations.h.i.+p between him and Xiao Su could be inferred. They are likely the same person.

Su Min carefully recalled his appearance when he was a child. In fact, he could remember it very clearly. That was probably why he felt that Xiao Su looked familiar when he saw him.

As the child hugged him, the cold sensation could still be felt through the clothes.

An unknown amount of time pa.s.sed before the other party let go. He then lowered his head, and didn’t talk. That appearance of his looked a little pitiful.

Su Min squatted down and looked at him, “Why don’t you speak?”

Young Chen Su raised his eyes and looked at him.

Su Min asked: “Do you know who I am?”

Young Chen Su shook his head, then nodded, and finally shook his head again. Those three movements made it hard for him to tell whether he remembered or not.

Su Min laughed. He glanced at the run-down cabin, “You can leave this place now. Let’s go. You probably don’t want to stay here any longer, right?”

Young Chen Su whispered: “Don’t want.”

Su Min nodded. He had expected that answer. He didn’t know who it was that locked him there, but his first task was to take him away from this place.

He didn’t know what had happened to Chen Su in the past but since it is right now happening right in front of him, he wouldn’t let anything happen to him again.

Su Min brought young Chen Su back to his place.

When the two returned, his aunt was cooking in the kitchen. Hearing their sounds, she looked up: “You’re back.”

Su Min replied: “Yeah.”

Young Chen Su was led upstairs.

The following events were rather unsurprising. Young Chen Su stayed at his place while Xiao Su was watched over by second aunt and the others.

Su Min bought young Chen Su over to sleep.

As a ghost, he didn’t need to sleep but he liked to lie in the same bed as him and watch Su Min fall asleep.

He would only pretend to be asleep the next day.

Su Min didn’t know of this behaviour of his, nor did he suspect it.

The days went on like this. This continued until his aunt noticed that something wasn’t right so Su Min decided to tell her directly.

Surprisingly, his aunt didn’t mind. She even asked what young Chen Su looked like and how old he is.

It made Su Min a little shocked.

When Su Min saw Xiao Su again, he had become more cheerful. Carrying a schoolbag, he was heading home with his cla.s.smates.

Su Min shouted out: “Xiao Su.”

Xiao Su bounded over, “Brother.”

“Are you coming home from school now?” Su Min glanced at young Chen Su who was standing in the living room. He asked: “Do you still remember your friend from the old wooden cabin?”

Xiao Su had a blank look, “Wooden cabin? Who?”

Su Min persisted: “You don’t remember?”

Xiao Su said: “I don’t know.”

Su Min finally realised that something wasn’t right.

He watched Xiao Su leave. Carrying his schoolbag, he went back home as usual like a good child. This scene however made a chill run down his back.

Su Min returned to his room and looked through his window at the wooden cabin in the distance, but he didn’t see anything. At some unknown point in time, the wooden cabin had been demolished.

He didn’t notice it at all.

Su Min frowned. He eventually tied the bells and red threads to a rock and threw it into the river. There, it would no longer be able to do anything to anyone.

As for Chen Su, he believed that nothing would happen to him anymore.

At night, Su Min slept with young Chen Su. Thinking of his grown up self, he couldn’t help but wonder: “When will you grow up?”

As far as he knows ghosts don’t grow up.

Young Chen Su hugged him and said: “I don’t know.”

Su Min rubbed his head and sighed. He felt that it would be okay if he couldn’t grow up. He would be happy taking care of him for a lifetime.

Su Min stood outside in the courtyard.

The sun was setting. He was no longer in bed and the young Chen Su in his arms had also disappeared.

This place was a very familiar place. It was where he had lived as a child.

When he was in elementary school, he had attended school here and was cared for by his grandmother. This was the place he lived in and the surrounding neighbourhood was also very familiar.

The garden downstairs consisted of flowers planted by his family.

Everything seemed to be the same as the small village earlier. Almost everything corresponded.

As a bystander, Su Min looked over at Xiao Su’s parents. His parents couldn’t accept the fact that he could see ghosts.

In fact, they were his parents.

Su Min finally understood why his grandmother said she had never seen Xiao Su.

It was because he had never appeared before them. As long as he could see Xiao Su and he told his grandmother about it, his grandmother would know about Xiao Su.

The grandmother in Su Min’s memory was very understanding. If he really could see ghosts, his grandmother would believe in him.

So that made perfect sense.

His house in reality no longer looked like the one Su Min lived in as a child.

As the house in his memory overlapped with the house in the movie, Su Min’s breathing gradually eased. He pushed open the door.

There was no elevator in this house.

Su Min walked up the old-fas.h.i.+oned staircase. The house depicted in the movie was the house Chen Su saw that year, so it was relatively new.

Because he was in a movie, there was no one in the house. Alone, he walked up the stairs.

As he walked, another figure appeared beside him.

Just like the moment he was in the elevator in the first movie, Chen Su suddenly appeared next to him and finally told him his name.

Everything seemed to have returned to the starting point.

Chen Su reached out to hold his hand. He didn’t speak. The cold sensation travelled through him onto Su Min’s hand. Together, they walked upstairs.

He had originally thought that Su Min would avoid him, and he didn’t expect Su Min to conversely hold his hand back. He had even intertwined their fingers.

Su Min said: “I didn’t expect it to be like this.”

He couldn’t remember it at all.

Su Min had always been very confident about his memories. Although he didn’t exist in his memories, this movie seemed very real.

Everything could now be linked. If Chen Su really didn’t know him, then he wouldn’t have known about his past.

He began to doubt his own memories.

Su Min remembered his parents’ reactions; their act of denying the existence of a cla.s.smate surnamed Chen and them forbidding him from seeing his grandmother alone. It confirmed everything.

When he was young, he could see ghosts and that was why he saw Chen Su. At that time, Chen Su had no memories, so he named him himself.

That was how the movie name came about.

The moonlight outside leaked in through the window by the stairwell. It casted onto their bodies like water.

Chen Su was very happy,

He had waited a very long time for this day. Ever since the day he returned to his body, he had been waiting but he only later found out that Su Min had no memories of him.

Chen Su didn’t have a name before, just a code number. He also only remembered his parents’ surname, so he later changed his name.

Su Min curved up the corners of his lips, “Why didn’t you tell me directly?”

Chen Su licked his lips and said: “Because you didn’t have your memories. If I told you it would just be like listening to another person’s story.”

He didn’t want to make their affairs become just another person’s story.

Su Min remembered the moment he asked him for his name. At that time, Chen Su was still taking the Jing Xian persona and had repeated the name three times.

Yet he failed to remember.

Su Min suddenly remembered something. He asked: “So Taking My Surname was referring to me. You did it deliberately.”

When he first saw the movie ticket, he naturally thought that the ‘my’ in the t.i.tle was referring to someone else or possibly the protagonist.

Chen Su said: “Yes.”

No wonder he was called Xiao Su. (KKnotes: The same Su in Su Min is used here) Because a child can sometimes p.r.o.nounce it incorrectly, if you didn’t listen carefully it would sound like Xiao Su. (KKnotes: This time the Su is the Su in Chen Su.)

At this moment, several broken pieces of memories appeared before them. They were memories Su Min had never seen before.

As a child, he and Chen Su would often chat, play and even sleep together.

Unlike the incidents back in the village, this time it happened in his house.

Su Min seemed remember something like this.

It was very faint but familiar. It was an indescribable feeling.

Returning back to the house he used to live in, although Su Min didn’t remember some things, he still remembered most of it.

Back then, Xiao Su also lived there with him and they would often share the same bed. Only he knew of his existence.

Su Min sat on the bed. This room was the one he used to live in as a child. Because he didn’t like to sleep with the adults, he slept separately from his grandmother.

Young Chen Su slept with him in the same bed for almost a year.

This was a movie in a movie so everything played through very quickly. Su Min took a deep breath.

Where did his memory go?

Su Min couldn’t help but think of this question, but he didn’t ask it. He felt that he would only be able to find the answer to this question through his parents.

Chen Su said: “Did you remember anything?”

Su Min couldn’t bear to tell him that he still couldn’t remember.

Chen Su was about to stand up but he found himself pressed down onto the bed.

He smiled slightly. Just as he was about to say something, Su Min leaned down and blocked his lips. The warm and cold intermingled.

Chen Su narrowed his eyes. He stuck his tongue in. Like this, their lips and teeth intertwined.

His palms were cold. Touching Su Min’s back through his clothes, he could feel the erotic arc. It made him desire him all the more.

After a while, Su Min pushed him away, “Don’t take things too far.”

Chen Su looked down at him. He held his face, “It’s been a long, long time. I have always wanted to do this but I was afraid of scaring you off.”

He who did not exist in Su Min’s memory was practically a stranger to him.

Chen Su had always been waiting. Since the first movie until now, he had been waiting. When he noticed that there were no signs of him remembering, he could no longer hold himself back.

He was afraid that he might breakdown if he continued to wait.

Su Min changed the topic and suddenly asked: “Did you get the cinema to gift me flowers last time? The big bunch of roses.”

Chen Su raised an eyebrow: “Do you like it.”

Su Min deliberately said: “Don’t like it.”

“Even if you don’t like it, you should like it.” Chen Su leaned close to his ear. His breath sprayed onto it, making his ear tremble.

Su Min pushed him away and asked: “Is the movie going to end?”

He wanted to try and retrieve his memories after returning and then talk to Chen Su about it.

Chen Su said: “It can anytime.”

Su Min let out a breath of relief. He wanted to return to reality and he wanted to see Chen Su in reality, not in the virtual movie world.

The two sat in the room for a while before leaving.

Su Min’s consciousness was chaotic for a moment. A familiar sensation was felt as his vision darkened. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself still lying on the bed in the private theatre.