Sometimes Xu Ze couldn’t tell.
In front of Lu He Yang, he couldn’t tell whether he was Xu Ze or Number 17.
For example, at this moment, he was wearing a baseball cap, its brim pulled very, very low, with half his face hidden in shadow. He didn’t know who he was in Lu He Yang’s eyes.
But no matter which identity it was, he had no way to refuse Lu He Yang.
Xu Ze sat in the passenger seat. After the car door closed, the inside of the car was completely quiet.
Lu He Yang didn’t turn on the music. He even turned off the ambient lights.
The darkness gave Xu Ze a sense of security. He thought Lu He Yang probably couldn’t see his face anymore.
He had simply drunk too much. There was no way he could disguise himself as well as he normally did, and it would be very easy for his identity to be exposed.
Lu He Yang lightly tapped his fingertips against the steering wheel a few times. After another two seconds, he reminded Xu Ze, “Seat belt.”
“……”
Xu Ze immediately fastened his seat belt. After hesitating, he said, “Thank you.”
His voice was hoarse and raspy.
Lu He Yang reached back and took out a small bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator. He loosened the cap and handed it to Xu Ze.
Xu Ze took the water and said thank you again.
He opened the bottle and took a sip, then heard Lu He Yang ask, “Drank a lot?”
“Mm.”
Xu Ze honestly nodded.
Once his emotions had calmed down, the alcohol also surged back over him. He thought and thought, still uncertain of what identity he currently had in front of Lu He Yang.
Lu He Yang also didn’t continue asking why he had drunk so much. He simply started the car.
“Feeling uncomfortable anywhere? Do you want to go to the hospital?”
They were only flesh wounds. Xu Ze was already accustomed to them. He could endure them and they would pass.
But he thought Lu He Yang probably assumed that he had drunk too much and that his stomach was upset.
Xu Ze said, “I’m not uncomfortable. There’s no need to go to the hospital.”
“Mm.”
Lu He Yang glanced at him.
“Where do you live?”
After struggling to calculate it in his head, Xu Ze realized that his home was at least forty minutes away from here.
“It’s a little far,” he said. “I don’t want to trouble you. I…I’ll take the subway home.”
Because he was drunk, Xu Ze’s voice was somewhat slurred.
He remembered that the last time Lu He Yang had passed through the old district, he had learned that Xu Ze lived somewhere around there. If Lu He Yang currently thought the alpha in front of him was Number 17, and Xu Ze gave him that address, perhaps something suspicious would be discovered.
But Xu Ze quickly dismissed the thought.
He felt that Lu He Yang probably wouldn’t remember that the person named “Xu Ze” lived in the old district.
“Security checks won’t let someone who’s drunk onto the subway.”
Lu He Yang tapped the LCD screen and opened the navigation page. He told Xu Ze, “Tell it the name of your residential complex.”
The alcohol had completely taken over Xu Ze’s brain and also dulled his pain. His heart began beating strongly again.
Xu Ze pressed down on the brim of his cap, pulling it even lower. Then he leaned closer to the display, speaking seriously as if he were having a video call with someone.
“Xin’an Residential Complex.”
There was no response.
It was completely silent.
Xu Ze looked somewhat confused and raised his head toward Lu He Yang, but halfway through lifting it, he lowered it again, afraid Lu He Yang would see his face.
“Xin’an Residential Complex.”
Xu Ze faced the LCD screen again and pronounced each word one by one. His pronunciation couldn’t have been more precise.
Still, there was no response.
“It…”
Xu Ze would never question whether there was something wrong with He Wei’s beloved car, so he asked, “Why is it ignoring me?”
Lu He Yang turned the steering wheel halfway. Only after completing the turn did he say, “Sorry, I forgot. It only works after a voiceprint has been recorded.”
This car only had the voiceprints of He Wei, Gu Yunchi, and Lu He Yang recorded in it.
Xu Ze nodded.
At the same time, he quickly glanced at Lu He Yang.
The streetlights outside happened to flash past, and he saw the hint of a smile at the corner of Lu He Yang’s mouth.
It didn’t seem like much of an “I’m sorry” expression.
“Xin’an Residential Complex,” Lu He Yang said.
The system quickly displayed the route and began navigating.
Only five minutes passed before Xu Ze could barely hold himself up anymore. He was dizzy and heavy-headed.
At first, he had still been somewhat restrained and stiff, sitting perfectly straight with a gap between his body and the seatback.
But as the car steadily moved forward, Xu Ze gradually began to lose consciousness and lean backward.
His back ached faintly. Drunkenness and exhaustion intertwined, and his eyelids drooped.
With his head lowered, it bobbed slightly as he drifted into drowsiness.
He really wanted to stay awake too, but he simply didn’t have the strength.
It was like fighting a brutal battle while wearing heavy armor, and finally reaching a safe and quiet environment, making him especially eager to close his eyes and rest for a while.
Besides, the person sitting beside him was Lu He Yang, someone who would never hurt him.
Someone he could absolutely trust.
Three minutes later, Xu Ze leaned against the seatback, tilted his head to the side, and completely fell asleep.
Lu He Yang turned his head to look at him.
A streetlight flashed past, illuminating the section of chin exposed beneath the brim of his cap, as well as the bruised corner of his mouth where traces of blood still remained.
The alpha’s neck was fair and smooth, faintly flushed from the alcohol, without the slightest trace of defensiveness.
When Xu Ze opened his eyes again, he discovered that the car had stopped by the roadside. The driver’s door was slowly closing, and Lu He Yang was fastening his seat belt.
After getting drunk, being half-awake and half-asleep was the easiest state in which for one’s intelligence to drop to zero.
Xu Ze’s reaction speed was at its lowest at this moment. With his eyes half closed, he opened his mouth, wanting to ask something, but only managed to make a faint, mumbling sound.
Lu He Yang placed a bag of something on his thighs.
Xu Ze only touched the packaging bag before running out of strength.
“What is it?”
“Anti-inflammatory medicine.”
Xu Ze blankly took several more seconds to process it before saying, “Oh.”
“You slept very soundly.” Lu He Yang asked, “Weren’t you afraid I’d sell you off?”
“Where would you sell me?”
Xu Ze had no ability to think, so he simply followed the question.
“I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet.”
There was a hint of amusement in Lu He Yang’s voice.
Xu Ze was quiet for a while before suddenly asking, “Who am I?”
For some reason, he desperately wanted to know.
In Lu He Yang’s eyes, who was he right now?
Xu Ze, or Number 17?
“You tell me.”
Faced with this somewhat strange question that seemed to have come out of nowhere, Lu He Yang didn’t treat it as drunken nonsense.
He reached out and placed his fingertips beneath the brim of Xu Ze’s cap. Deliberately teasing him, he lifted the cap by a centimeter and said, “Wouldn’t I know if you showed me your face?”
Xu Ze immediately raised his hand instinctively and pressed down on his cap, lowering his head along with it. His tone was somewhat anxious.
“Don’t.”
“Why?”
Lu He Yang asked as though he wasn’t curious in the slightest.
Xu Ze still covered his head and murmured in a muffled voice, “No.”
Lu He Yang still asked, “Why?”
“You haven’t told me who I am.”
That was the only answer Xu Ze could give.
“If I tell you who you are, can you then be whoever I say you are?”
Xu Ze became even more confused. In his confusion, he nodded.
“He Wei.”
Lu He Yang called him that.
It was a completely unexpected name.
Xu Ze froze, not understanding what he meant.
“It’s very late. I’ll take you home.”
Lu He Yang smiled and didn’t say anything else as he started the car.
Ten minutes later, the car stopped at the entrance of the residential complex.
There were no streetlights, no gate, and no security booth. They could only vaguely see several residential buildings more than ten meters away, with a few scattered windows lit up.
Lu He Yang asked, “Is this the place?”
“Yes.”
Lu He Yang was about to drive a little farther inside when Xu Ze said, “Just…stop here. There are a lot of rocks on the ground. It’s not good for the car.”
Indeed, after all, it was He Wei’s beloved car. He still had to show it a certain degree of consideration.
“Do you recognize which building is your home?”
“I do.”
Xu Ze pointed out one of the residential buildings.
“There. The second building.”
“Mm.”
Xu Ze unfastened his seat belt, took the mineral water and medicine, opened the car door, and got out.
He turned around and said to Lu He Yang, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Lu He Yang replied.
The car door closed.
Xu Ze walked a few steps to the side. Lu He Yang had just been about to start the car when he suddenly saw Xu Ze bend his entire body down.
The movement was so solemn and serious that it almost made one suspect he was about to give a deep bow or even kneel.
Lu He Yang was just about to unfasten his seat belt and get out when he saw Xu Ze bend down and pick up a small piece of paper from the ground.
It was the receipt that had fallen out of the packaging bag when he bought the anti-inflammatory medicine.
Xu Ze lowered his head and carefully folded the receipt before putting it back into the bag.
When he raised his head again, he discovered that the car still hadn’t left.
Although he didn’t know whether Lu He Yang could see him, Xu Ze still waved at him.
Lu He Yang looked at him briefly before starting the car and driving away.
Only after the car’s taillights disappeared around the corner did Xu Ze slowly remove his baseball cap.
The moonlight was very bright tonight.
He walked step by step into the residential complex, returning to the world that belonged to him.
He thought he had probably had a dream.
A dream that lasted for the forty minutes Lu He Yang had spent driving him home.
“We Still Don’t Know Who Xu Ze Was in Lu He Yang’s Eyes That Day”