Chapter 3

“Is it really year 2028 now?” Renzi fell onto the bed, curling up on it like a cat, staring at Gu Xiaoshan skeptically. Gu Xiaoshan ignored his ridiculous question, so Renzi felt that this was a confirmed matter. After walking around on the streets, looking at his phone, his computer, and his chat with Walter, everything was giving him the same answer: it was already year 2028.

“Impossible!” Renzi truly wanted to tell himself that.

But what was so impossible about this?

Gu Xiaoshan and him even had sex already.

Now, everything was possible.

The reality was, upon waking up, he travelled ten years into the future, and even had sex with Gu Xiaoshan.

It was just like what Gu Xiaoshan said. Renzi was the embodiment of his name, very tenacious, able to adapt to any and every change in his situation. He could quickly straighten out his thoughts, then start to accept his reality.

(T/N: Renzi’s Ren(韧) means tenacious.)

There was not much difficulty in accepting the truth.

Year 2028, technology had developed even further, and everything was even more convenient.

As for his personal life, he actually had no objections towards the intimacy with Gu Xiaoshan. Maybe he had lost his memories, but his body was still very honest. Gu Xiaoshan treated him very well, and he also gradually got used to these interactions that were a lot more intimate than the past.

There was nothing to object to.

They had sex nearly every day, and also kissed very often. At the start, when Gu Xiaoshan kissed him, Renzi still felt very strange about it. However, he soon got used to it, and just like Gu Xiaoshan, treated their kisses as though nothing could be more natural about it.

Gu Xiaoshan liked to kiss him, not only did he kiss his lips, but also his eyes, his brow, his collarbone, his fingers… Anywhere that could be kissed, Gu Xiaoshan would kiss it. Many of the kisses were not lustful, but like eating a biscuit when there was nothing to do, he kissed him whenever he felt like it. Renzi had never thought that Gu Xiaoshan was someone who liked kissing so much, and he had also not expected that he himself would like it so much as well.

As a good friend of Gu Xiaoshan, Renzi had heard some complaints from his ex-es directly. Once off the bed, Gu Xiaoshan would become very distant, unless he was flirting, he did not like kissing very much. Renzi himself had many girlfriends before as well, he thought, if those girlfriends liked kissing as much as Gu Xiaoshan, he might not be able to stand it as well.

It was until this moment, Renzi finally remembered that he was a heterosexual, while Gu Xiaoshan only dated guys. Renzi had met all his previous partners before, thinking of them now, he actually started getting jealous.

This jealousy stabbed into Renzi’s heart like needles, causing him pain. He suddenly registered that he was really in love with Gu Xiaoshan.

The fine line between love and hate was really too thin.

In front of the window with snow drifting outside, Gu Xiaoshan finished his video conference, placing his empty coffee cup onto the table, folding up his napkin, he looked at Renzi who was in a daze on the sofa. At the start, Gu Xiaoshan did not mind him too much, but now he also felt the weirdness of Renzi already. As Renzi’s companion, a lover of ten years, Gu Xiaoshan could not help but worry. “What’s going on with you?”

“Didn’t I say it already!” Renzi scratched his head in frustration, then, just like the tyrannosaurus from Jurassic Park, his two arms in front of him and roaring, “I— Lost— My— Memories!”

The first time Gu Xiaoshan heard about this, he had thought it was only a joke. Now, he had to really consider it.

“You’re serious?” Gu Xiaoshan stared piercingly at Renzi.

“I’ve never been more truthful in my life!” Renzi leapt up, his face full of consternation. With his bare feet, he paced on the handmade carpet made of indian cotton. He must be telling the truth, Gu Xiaoshan thought. Renzi’s acting ability was very poor. He shut his computer, his heart troubled as well. However, the more worried Gu Xiaoshan got, the more he was used to putting on a calm expression. Smiling slightly, as though he was not very bothered, he even cracked a joke. “That’s so funny, you really don’t remember anything, but you still had sex with me?”

Renzi was about to bite back, but then he saw Gu Xiaoshan crouching down in front of him, helping him put on the slippers with rabbit fur. Gu Xiaoshan warned him, “Don’t catch a cold.”

Renzi’s heart instantly became as soft as the rabbit fur on his feet — Brother Xiaoshan, being like this, was not bad at all.

Renzi threw himself onto the sofa in despair. The sofa was soft like clouds, and the powder blue walls also gave off a dreamy feeling. It was like he had broke into someone dream, only that it was not his. Until Gu Xiaoshan’s weight landed on him, then he felt a bite on his neck, followed by a budding kiss, all these actions brought him back to reality.

Having just announced his amnesia, and not remembering that he and Gu Xiaoshan now shared a lovers’ relationship, Renzi still crumbled easily under Gu Xiaoshan’s flirtations, and somehow found himself pressed into the sofa.

It was time to change the sofa cover again.

Actually, Gu Xiaoshan, like Renzi, felt anxious as well. However, he had to bring out the steadiness of being “Brother Xiaoshan”. If he too fell into a panic, Renzi would probably have to break down. Gu Xiaoshan’s worries mainly derived from his fear that “Renzi turned back to being straight”. So, he had to quickly and completely perform an act of devoted love, to prove that Renzi was “too gay to turn back straight”. As long as he was still gay, things could still work out. As long as he was still gay, there was nothing Gu Xiaoshan could not handle. Also, from how Renzi reacted, there was an eighty percent chance he liked him anyway.

Gu Xiaoshan settled his own worries, then leaned against the sofa reassuringly. “Heterosexual, heh.” The heterosexual Renzi was very ashamed, “I also don’t know what happened…”

Gu Xiaoshan caressed Renzi’s back, as though calming a nervous kitten, “Alright, I’ll bring you to the doctor tomorrow.” Tugging at the fringed edges of the french sofa, Renzi stared at Gu Xiaoshan’s face that looked as though it was asking for a beating.

There was no need to see the doctor anymore.

On the second day, Renzi recovered — “Ah, I remember everything now.” Renzi’s voice was very casual, “Don’t worry.”

Gu Xiaoshan, having fretted over nothing the entire night, stared at Renzi doubtfully. Too bad, Renzi’s expression did not expose anything.

Today, in year 2028, Renzi finally understood everything.

He did not “lose his memories”, but had “transmigrated” instead. Falling asleep on the 3rd of June in 2018, he woke up and found that he had transmigrated to the 4th of November in 2028, discovering that he was in Country C. Living anxiously for half a month, then falling asleep on the 24th of November in 2028, he woke up and again found that he had transmigrated back to the 4th of June in 2018. He was still him, Gu Xiaoshan was still Gu Xiaoshan, only that they were at different parts of the timeline.

Such an extraordinary incident, if he had not experienced it himself, he would not believe it too.

So, the Renzi on the 24th of November in 2028 spent a long time before he finally understood this bizarre incident. He decided to tell his partner a harmless lie, “Yes, I’ve remembered everything again.” Gu Xiaoshan studied Renzi for awhile, then said, “Let’s just go see the doctor anyway.”

Seemed like he had no choice but to go.

04/06/2018, Monday, Rose Hotel, Presidential Suite, Bed.

Renzi slowly opened his eyes. What he saw was no longer those lavender walls, but distinctive oil painting of roses on the dome of the hotel room. Seeing those bright red roses and jade-green leaves, Renzi was startled awake. “This is Rose Hotel!”

Wasn’t I in Country C being gay with Brother Xiaoshan? How, how did… how did I return to Rose Hotel?

Renzi’s head ached painfully, just the time when he just found himself in Country C in 2028. His vision was blurry, his temples pounding, it was as though he had taken a very long flight and was feeling extremely jet-lagged.

He grabbed at the watch on the table, and learnt that it was the 4th of June in 2018.

“Oh fuck!” Renzi swore in his limited english vocabulary.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” While sounding like a broken record, Renzi ran to the bathroom, turning on the shower, he poured cold water over his burning head.

Am I going crazy?

Seeing this scene, the butler was astonished. He quickly went to ask if he needed any help. Renzi was starting to suspect that he had drank fake alcohol last night, and threatened to report the concierge department. The butler replied politely, “All the alcohol last night was under your Yu clan’s brand.” Renzi choked and shoo-ed the butler away. Thinking about it, he called the current CEO of the Yu company, which happened to be his own brother. “Is there something wrong with our liquor?”

Hearing that, CEO Yu Yuntao replied, “You drank too much again, didn’t you?”

“Um…” Renzi mumbled.

“Yesterday, you ordered a million yuan worth of liquor. After drinking about 20,000yuan worth of it, you poured the rest into the swimming pool of Rose Hotel to imitate the ancient idea of steeping in wine and surrounded by women, did you forget that?”