The Stranger’s Homeward Journey

Shen Mucheng closed his eyes and shook his head, waiting for the piercing pain to slowly subside, then continued flipping through the album.

He looked at the pictures slowly with rapt attention, as if he was trying to find a little bit of his own from the photos. Whether the photo was of a single person or two people together, even a simple room photo, he stared at each of them for a long time.

Luo Shaoheng was sitting beside him, recounting the time and place each photo was taken.

Shen Mucheng listened quietly. He went through the album from the very beginning to the end, and finally stopped on the last photo in the album.

It was a birthday photo. In it, Luo Shaoheng was wearing a birthday hat, and his head was lowered with a faint smile gracing his lips.

In front of him was a cake lit with candles. The candle light shone on his face, outlining his features with a soft light. The smile on the corner of his lips was very gentle, as if he had made a good wish.

“This is my nineteenth birthday.” Luo Shaoheng said from the side, with a nostalgic tone, “Time flies so fast, it’s been eleven years before I know it. Do you still remember what wish I made at that time?”

What wish?

Shen Mucheng thought about it seriously for a while, then shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Luo Shaoheng smiled when he heard the words. “Yeah, how could you still remember?”

His smile was somewhat bitter. Shen Mucheng didn’t want to see such an expression on his face; he wanted to comfort him, but didn’t know where to start, so he could only continue to listen to him silently.

“Actually, it’s easy to guess. People in love just want to be with each other forever, and of course I’m no exception.” Luo Shaoheng laughed, and his voice gradually softened, “Once, I used to think it was a very simple wish. And once, I thought that this wish would never be fulfilled.”

——Luo Shaoheng had a lover in college who died in a car accident ten years ago.

Shen Yun’s words rang in his ears. He instantly understood what Luo Shaoheng meant by ‘it will never be fulfilled’.

If it was true as Luo Shaoheng said and that person back then was really him, then how did Luo Shaoheng overcome the pain of his “death” in the car accident? He said that as long as he was with him, he would not be afraid of going anywhere, right? Did he really want to…

Thinking of this, Shen Mucheng’s heart tightened. He abruptly raised his head to look at Luo Shaoheng, only to see him looking at the photo with forlorn affection, his brows filled with heavy, inexorable sadness.

Since their first meeting, he seemed to be shrouded by a deep sadness, like a pool of stagnant water that had been still for many years; completely different from the one in the photo.

The scene of Luo Shaoheng holding his hand with red-rimmed eyes as he sat on the bed that day resurfaced in his mind, bringing with it a distinct pain in his heart that could not be ignored.

Looking at the depressed person before him, Shen Mucheng opened his mouth and wanted to speak, when he heard him say, “Shen Mucheng, has your brain been injured?”

[E/N : “你脑子是不是受过伤?” Lit; Did you hurt your brain. Can be said sarcastically as “Have you gone crazy? / Are you dumb? / Did you hit your head?”]

“…” Shen Mucheng’s face darkened, and he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, “Can you say something nice?”

Noticing his expression, Luo Shaoheng touched his nose and coughed lightly, “Otherwise, how could you not even remember me.”

His words carried a subtle emotion that was not easily noticed; it sounded like a petty complaint, yet it was filled with grief.

He was clearly still not sure if that person was himself, but looking at Luo Shaoheng at the moment, Shen Mucheng actually felt a vain sense of guilt that almost made him blurt out a word of apology.

He closed his eyes and tried hard to think about it, but still couldn’t remember anything about him and Luo Shaoheng. He felt empty in his heart, wanting to grasp something, yet nothing was caught.

… He still had no impression.

Luo Shaoheng reached out and rubbed his tightly locked eyebrows, and carefully helped him smooth the deep frown. “You can’t remember right? Don’t force yourself too much. In fact, when I first met you, you were worse than you are now, you didn’t remember anything except your name.”

Shen Mucheng was startled by his words. He opened his eyes and looked at him. “What did you say?”

He had absolutely no memory of ever having amnesia.

“Don’t you believe it?” Luo Shaoheng tilted his head to think for a moment, then suddenly stretched out his hand towards the back of Shen Mucheng’s waist and pressed there, “You have a birthmark the size of two fingers here, right?”

Shen Mucheng: “…”

His hand moved to the front again and pressed on Shen Mucheng’s left waist. “There’s a scar longer than 10 centimetres here, right?”

Shen Mucheng: “…”

“Are you surprised how I know so clearly?” Luo Shaoheng smiled slightly at Shen Mucheng’s astonished eyes, “Because I’d kissed it before.”

Shen Mucheng: “…”

Shen Mucheng was so puzzled, and suddenly felt that the previous “Kiss you” and “Miss you” were simply so mild compared to this. This person had been teasing him since the first time they met in Switzerland.

“Do you know why I wanted to look at your hand when we met for the first time in Switzerland?” Luo Shaoheng pulled up his right hand. He pushed away his cuff and gently rubbed the burn mark on his wrist with his thumb, then said softly, “Because I wanted to see it, to know if I was dreaming or not, to make sure you were the same person.”

Shen Mucheng’s gaze followed him and landed on the scar on the back of his hand. Luo Shaoheng’s words reminded him of their first meeting in Switzerland.

He remembered Luo Shaoheng asking him if he was still leaving with red eyes, and the tears that fell on his wrist after he saw the scar on his hand.

It had been so long; when he suddenly remembered it now, the place where those tears dripped on felt like it was scalded.

Luo Shaoheng was right. Luo Shaoheng knew all about his birthmarks and scars, but even so, he still couldn’t remember any of those memories he spoke of.

“The name can be the same, and there are people who look alike, but it’s impossible to even have the same marks on the body. I have countless pieces of evidence to prove that the person back then was you, but you don’t have any that can refute me.” Luo Shaoheng let go of his hand. Looking at him firmly, he said, “You are Shen Mucheng, and Shen Mucheng is you.”

Shen Mucheng met his stubborn and firm eyes. They inexplicably felt familiar, but that was all. He was silent for a long while. “I have no impression.”

“If you did, I wouldn’t have to be so puzzled.” Luo Shaoheng smiled, “In that case, I would have confessed everything to you when I was in Switzerland instead of waiting until now, waiting for so long only to have you misunderstand that I looked at you as a substitute for someone else. ”

His reaction was to be expected. After all, even back then, Shen Mucheng also did not regain his memories for the entirety of the two years they spent together.

When he saw the information earlier today, Shen Mucheng felt like he received a strong punch, and subconsciously thought that Luo Shaoheng regarded himself as a substitute for someone else; When he rushed back and interrogated him, he felt like he received another punch as Luo Shaoheng told him that the person was him.

He didn’t know how to describe his current mood; It was very complicated, there was shock, doubt, and joy.

Yes, even if he didn’t know anything about what Luo Shaoheng said, he subconsciously felt happy that Luo Shaoheng had no one else— He was probably obsessed and gone crazy. Shen Mucheng thought to himself.

He put the album aside and turned on the video recorder. There were many videos stored in it, and he clicked on one of them.

After the video was opened, the first thing that appeared on the camera was a blank scene of white, accompanied by a young voice, “Hey, why can’t I see clearly? Shen Mucheng, is my camera broken?”

“Wait, let me check it for you.” A low male voice sounded.

Hearing this voice, Shen Mucheng’s hands clenched as he stared at the video closely.

“No, your hands are full of flour, I’ll do it myself… eh, it’s good again.”

The camera suddenly shook, then Shen Mucheng saw a figure exactly identical to himself, or rather, it could be said that he saw “himself”.

In the video, Shen Mucheng was making dumplings at the dining table, wearing a light yellow plaid apron, with some white flour on his face.

His movements were a bit clumsy. His fingers unskillfully pinched the skin on both sides of the dumpling. After finishing the one in his hands, he looked up and saw the camera facing him, and said with a helpless smile, “Stop recording.”

“Concentrate on your dumplings, don’t mind me.” The previous young voice sounded again.

“If you do this, I will be distracted.” Shen Mucheng shook his head and said, continuing to pick up dumpling dough.

“I’m going to take pictures and videos of you when you are young, and when you get old and ugly, we can watch it together.” The young voice paused then said, “Don’t worry, I’m not complaining about you, I’ll grow old and ugly with you. We will all be old men in the future.”

Shen Mucheng laughed when he heard these words, with undisguised indulgence on his young face. He stretched out his hand towards the camera: “You should shoot the both of us together, that’s what makes it meaningful.”

“True. Wait a second.”

The screen shook again and the scene suddenly changed to another place. After a while, Shen Mucheng’s figure appeared, and then a youth in grey homewear squeezed into the screen.

That youth was Luo Shaoheng, who was only eighteen years old at that time.

As soon as Luo Shaoheng came in, he first waved to the camera, recording the time and place as if it were an announcement. Shen Mucheng also made a gesture at his urging. To be honest, the two of them looked a bit funny, but how would people who were passionately in love care about dignity?

2003, was the year when Shen Mucheng went to City A and had an accident.

Shen Mucheng remembered that he was in a coma after the car accident, and it was after nine years that he finally woke up again, so how could he be with Luo Shaoheng? The time didn’t match.

He tried to recall anything from the past, but the last memory he could remember was the scene of the car crash.

The scar on his waist was caused at that time. In addition to this, there were many scratches and burns on his body. What was more serious was the internal damage to multiple organs, including a cerebral haemorrhage, which caused him to lie in the hospital for nine years.

As Shen Mucheng was thinking, his heart skipped a beat, and a piercing pain suddenly attacked him without warning. The pain in his head was so painful that he almost groaned.

His other hand tightly clenched at an angle that Luo Shaoheng could not see. He secretly gritted his teeth and endured the pain, putting his attention back to the video.

“Shen Mucheng, the dumplings you made are really ugly. They will get out of shape even before they are cooked.” In the video, Luo Shaoheng looked at the strangely shaped dumplings on the table in awe. The filling of several dumplings had started oozing out of the skin.

Luo Shaoheng curiously poked one of them. “You said that your cooking skills are so good, why are your dumplings so ugly?”

“Are they?” Shen Mucheng stopped what he was doing and looked down at the results of his busy morning. Unfortunately, he found that those dumplings were really not very good-looking.

He thought about it and said, “My hands are not used to making dumplings.”

“Then what are you used to?” Luo Shaoheng asked casually. He picked up the dumpling skin and started making dumplings.

“Protecting you.” Shen Mucheng replied without hesitation.

“Keep lying. Obviously I’m the one protecting you. Speaking of which, you still owe me a life-saving grace.” Luo Shaoheng said while making the dumplings, “If I hadn’t rescued you that night, who would know where you are now?”

“Ah, it seems to be true too.” Shen Mucheng couldn’t help laughing when he heard his murmurs. He leaned down and kissed his face, then asked with a smile, “Can this make up for a little bit?”

His actions made Luo Shaoheng’s hand stop. Freeing up a hand to touch the place on his face where Shen Mucheng kissed, he pursed his lips and smiled. “Barely counts as a compensation. It’s not enough.”

Shen Mucheng thought for a while. “Then let’s devote our lives to each other.”

“Sure.” Luo Shaoheng turned his body and raised his head for a kiss. Seeing this, Shen Mucheng chuckled and lowered his head to kiss him.

The impact of the video was far greater than the photos. Shen Mucheng stared at the scene in the video without blinking. His eyes locked on Shen Mucheng’s hand in the video, and he saw the same scar on the other’s hand.