Replacing the Evil Way

Chapter 59: The night the comet came

Cheng Zesheng received a call from his mother at work, insisting he come home for dinner that night. She had already checked with Chief Huang, so he couldn’t use overtime as an excuse.

“Must it be today? Can’t we do it on the weekend?”

Ding Xiang exploded, “Today is your birthday! Turning thirty and stepping into adulthood. After today, you’ll truly be a man!”

“…?” Cheng Zesheng opened his calendar, and indeed, it was the 27th day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar, which was his birthday.

Their family adhered to the tradition of celebrating birthdays based on the lunar calendar. Cheng Zesheng struggled to remember even his solar calendar birthday, let alone the lunar date. However, he could recite his ID number backward. Over the years, his mother and Cheng Zhenqing had been the ones to remind him of his birthday. In his childhood, he eagerly awaited cake and gifts each year, and after graduating, with his busy work schedule and business trips in the past years, he hadn’t been able to go home for his birthday. This year, he finally didn’t have to travel, and he was turning an even number of years old, so he couldn’t avoid going home.

At 6 p.m., Cheng Zesheng drove back to the military compound and, upon arriving home, discovered that Xie Wenxi was also there, inserting candles into a cake. Ding Xiang called out, “Zesheng, wash your hands; it’s time to eat! And today, you have to thank Wenxi. She’s the one who bought the cake.”

Xie Wenxi chuckled, “You’re welcome. Zesheng helped me a lot this past year, so consider this my thank-you gift.”

“…?” Cheng Zesheng ignored her. He couldn’t possibly claim credit for the matchmaking situation.

“What did I help you with? Zesheng has never mentioned anything to me.”

“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Auntie, are you ready to turn off the lights? I’ve lit the candles.”

They had a joyful meal together. When it struck 8 p.m., Cheng Zesheng was ready to leave. He glanced at the cake, which was only half-cut, and said, “Mom, I’ll take the leftover cake with me.”

“Huh? I thought you didn’t like sweets?” Ding Xiang stood up and brought over a box. Xie Wenxi, biting her chopsticks, looked around with her bright eyes, “Who are you taking it for? Your significant other?”

Cheng Zhenqing put down his chopsticks, and Ding Xiang exclaimed, “Zesheng, you’re in a relationship?!”

…As expected, this girl showing up wasn’t going to lead to anything good. Faced with Ding Xiang’s astonished gaze, Cheng Zesheng swallowed his denial and nodded, “Yeah, kinda. I’ll introduce you when things settle down a bit.”

Ding Xiang was shocked and delighted. She quickly packed up the cake and asked curiously while eating, “Zesheng, who is the girl? How old is she? What does she do? Mom isn’t asking for much—just gentle, sensible, and good at managing the household. As long as she’s not wasteful, that’ll do…”

“Mom, don’t ask anymore. You’ll like them when you meet.” Cheng Zesheng took the cake, grabbed his car keys, and said, “I’m heading back now. I don’t want him to wait too long.”

Meanwhile, He Wei had been looking through Cheng Zesheng’s case investigation files at the bureau. He checked his phone and realized it was already past 10 p.m. He sent a message to Lian Jingyuan, reminding him not to forget to go to the observatory, and then sent a message to He Lu, urging him to perform well and seize the opportunity to confess.

After a while, he received two identical messages in reply: [Got it.]

He Wei chuckled, put away the investigation files, and picked up the peculiar photograph. He hesitated whether to tell Cheng Zesheng about it or not.

According to Cheng Zhenqing’s hint, the more they interacted, the more dangerous it became. The “you die” phrase was ambiguous—neither did he know if it referred to one of them dying or if they would both die together.

After weighing it for a while, He Wei decided to keep the photo in a hidden corner and locked the drawer.

He bought some late-night snacks at the night market and returned home close to midnight. Upon opening the door, he saw a beautifully packaged cake box on the coffee table.

Entering the living room, He Wei noticed that there was no note on the cake. He was afraid of encountering a situation like when He Lu brought things over. He looked upstairs and shouted, “Cheng Zesheng, is this your cake?”

The door upstairs opened, and Cheng Zesheng walked to the staircase, seeing He Wei. He tilted his chin up at him, indicating, “It’s for you.”

He Wei went to open the box. The cake was quite large, around 12 inches, but only half remained. The part that was cut bore a faint resemblance to the word “happiness.” He instantly realized that it was a birthday cake.

“Today is my birthday.” Cheng Zesheng appeared behind him, his long arms wrapping around He Wei.

“June 15th?”

“Lunar calendar, 27th day of the fifth month.”

He Wei turned around, hugged him back, and whispered, “Happy birthday.”

What he wanted was so much more than just this.

He Wei was pushed down onto the couch, and Cheng Zesheng held him tightly. This time around, there wasn’t the embarrassment of bumping their teeth. Their breaths grew heated, and in the darkness, He Wei’s ears burned hot. To mask the nervousness stemming from inexperience, he deliberately tilted his head up and nibbled on Cheng Zesheng’s lips, his fiery tongue lightly tracing the upper lip.

Cheng Zesheng’s breath grew uneven as he caressed He Wei’s face. He sounded frustrated, “Blame me; I didn’t prepare anything.”

He Wei paused for a moment and then couldn’t help but chuckle. He pushed his shoulder and said, “What are you thinking? Who said anything about going that far?”

Cheng Zesheng examined their positions. If this wasn’t causing problems, then he might as well take advantage of the situation.

He Wei coughed lightly and said, “Tomorrow’s Thursday.”

Cheng Zesheng suddenly understood—he had work tomorrow. He bent down and planted a kiss on He Wei’s forehead, “Then we’ll wait for the weekend.”

After they separated, the intimate atmosphere lingered in the room. He Wei opened the late-night snack he brought, and the aroma of sautéed clams wafted out. He handed Cheng Zesheng a pair of chopsticks, saying, “Consider this my way of celebrating your birthday.”

“No gift?”

“What do you want?”

Cheng Zesheng leaned closer and whispered in his ear. He Wei’s ears turned red again, and he pushed his chest with a chopstick, signaling him not to overthink things.

Unbeknownst to them, time had already slipped into the early hours of the 16th. He Wei stood up, pulling Cheng Zesheng along, “Come to the balcony; I’ll show you something.”

Leaning on the balcony railing, He Wei lit a cigarette to aid digestion. Cheng Zesheng took one from him and used his lighter to ignite it. He looked up at the night sky full of stars and asked, “What are we looking at?”

“Some constellation’s meteor shower, I’m not sure. It’s just around this time at night.”

Cheng Zesheng nodded. He didn’t know much about it either. Well, they would just have to wait. Meteor showers usually have a small margin of error in their predicted times.

Jiangnan had entered the rainy season. There had been heavy rain the past few days, and it was rare for the skies to clear up today. The temperature wasn’t high either, and the early morning breeze carried a hint of coolness. Cheng Zesheng and He Wei leaned on the balcony railing, chatting and occasionally ruffling each other’s hair, pinching cheeks, or holding hands. He Wei went along with it, perhaps because Cheng Zesheng was the birthday star, or maybe he had already subconsciously accepted these interactions.

Before 1 a.m., a short meteor streaked across the northern sky. It was quickly followed by more, creating a dense meteor shower for a brief period. In the midst of it all, a couple of meteors were exceptionally bright, leaving long tails as they disappeared into the night sky.

“Was that just a shooting star?” Cheng Zesheng asked.

“Probably. I haven’t studied this.”

At that moment, a brilliant star suddenly burst into the sky, flickering between brightness and darkness, making it stand out among the myriad of twinkling stars in the meteor shower. He Wei grabbed Cheng Zesheng’s arm and said, “Hey, look, what’s that?”

“It looks like a supernova explosion.” Cheng Zesheng grabbed his shoulder, “I saw something similar in an astronomical report when I was looking for employee He Wei. Netizens observed something like this through a large telescope. It’s similar to what we’re seeing now.”

“What day was that? Was there a supernova explosion too?”

“Probably the 13th, around 11 p.m.”

He Wei took out his phone and opened Weibo. Indeed, on the topic of the Lyrid meteor shower, people were buzzing about a supernova explosion. After all, this astronomical phenomenon couldn’t be predicted. While there were numerous supernova events each year, they were all hundreds of millions of light-years away and required large telescopes to observe. Observing a supernova explosion with the naked eye, reaching a visual magnitude of 3, was extremely rare. The phenomenon happened so conveniently on a night when they were watching the meteor shower.

The exploded supernova continued to twinkle in the night sky. He Wei nudged Cheng Zesheng’s arm, “Your birthday turned out to be quite special. You even got to see this.”

“Coincidental, I guess. But this is the most special birthday I’ve ever had.”

It was getting late, and both of them had work the next day. They couldn’t linger any longer. He Wei noticed that Cheng Zesheng had been around for an unusually long time today. It was as if fate had wanted him to experience this birthday fully. Perhaps this was a kind of indirect birthday gift as well.

Back upstairs, they bid each other goodnight and prepared to go back to their rooms to sleep. Cheng Zesheng suddenly spoke up, “He Wei, I—”

“I know.” He Wei interrupted him, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Me too.”

A tremendous joy exploded within him. Cheng Zesheng pulled him into an embrace, gently kissing his forehead, feeling satisfied and content. “Goodnight.”

——

In the early morning, He Wei was awakened by the dazzling sunlight. He distinctly remembered drawing the curtains last night. Curtains… where were they?

Squinting his blurry eyes, He Wei rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t mistaken. The curtains were indeed missing.

The desk in front of the curtains was gone too.

He got up, and when he placed his hand on the floor for support, he felt something hard. Taking a closer look, he realized even the bed was gone. He was sleeping on a bare floor, and it seemed like the room had been emptied out. All the furniture was gone, leaving only the clothes he had changed out of last night scattered on the floor.

He Wei checked the doors and windows, which were intact, showing no signs of forced entry. He opened the door and looked downstairs, and well, downstairs wasn’t any better. Apart from the large household appliances, the couch, coffee table, and dining table were all gone. In the kitchen, pots, pans, and utensils had vanished, along with daily necessities like clothes and laundry items—everything had been plundered.

“…” Who had the ability to empty his house while he was asleep?

“What’s going on?” Cheng Zesheng rubbed his neck as he descended from upstairs. “I woke up lying on the floor, feeling sore all over.”

He Wei turned around. “Are your room’s belongings still there?”

“All that’s left are the clothes I wore last night. My wallet and phone are still here.” Except for that, there was nothing else in his room. When Cheng Zesheng woke up, he felt as if he’d been left in an empty warehouse.

He Wei surveyed his surroundings. The TV, refrigerator, and other appliances were all in place, including the clock on the wall. If a thief broke in, stealing these appliances wouldn’t be easier than moving tables and coffee tables. Moreover, they were heavy and difficult to sell. What was more puzzling was that he was a light sleeper, easily awakened by any movement or sound. How could someone manage to empty his room without waking him?

“This thief is way too audacious. How did they manage this?” Cheng Zesheng walked to the balcony, looked out, rubbed his eyes, then scrutinized more closely.

“He Wei, come here!”

He Wei walked over to the balcony, and Cheng Zesheng asked, “Last time you mentioned something outside the building? What is it?”

“The New City Square, there are dry goods shops, clothing stores, and a convenience store downstairs. There’s also a construction site over there.” He Wei answered.

“…” Cheng Zesheng pointed to the bus stop outside Future Domain, “Now, there’s a schoolgirl in uniform with a backpack waiting for the bus.”

He Wei followed his finger and saw the girl with twin braids holding a notebook, seemingly memorizing vocabulary.

This was another shocking event that followed their house being emptied.

“Can you see the scenery from my side?” He Wei asked in surprise and then pointed to the road, “What kind of car is parked across the street?”

“A black Honda, the last two characters of the license plate are ‘QZ,’ and the front is blocked, so I can’t see it clearly.”

“…” He Wei fell silent, taking Cheng Zesheng’s hand and walking to the entrance, then opening the door.

“You go outside.”

Cheng Zesheng put on his slippers and pushed the door open to step outside. He Wei stared at his back as he walked out, his upright figure still visible in his line of sight. When he turned around, his profile remained handsome and perfect, unchanged in the slightest.

Cheng Zesheng and He Wei exchanged glances. Unlike the last time, He Wei didn’t disappear; he was still standing inside the house.

Cheng Zesheng extended his hand, and after a few seconds of hesitation, He Wei slowly raised his arm and placed his hand in Cheng Zesheng’s. In the next moment, his hand was squeezed, and he was led outside.

At the moment he stepped out of the doorway, He Wei was still wondering if Cheng Zesheng would suddenly vanish, leaving him alone. But until both their feet were fully outside, that slender and warm hand was still there, holding his hand tightly.

The two of them stood silently facing each other at the doorstep, in a moment of wordless connection. Cheng Zesheng glanced sideways at the corridor, which was no different from what he usually saw when leaving. The only difference was the slight variation in door numbers; He Wei’s door numbers had a blue background with white characters, while theirs had a white background with black characters.

“You seem to have come to my place.” He Wei smiled.

Cheng Zesheng nodded. He couldn’t understand why he ended up in He Wei’s world. What about his own world? Today is not a day off, should he still go to work?

Apparently, He Wei had also remembered this point. He pulled Cheng Zesheng inside, closed the door, and went to change his clothes. In the bathroom, He Wei took out his phone, but the date on his phone once again left them bewildered.

April 1st.

He Wei scrolled through his phone’s photos. All the scene pictures were dated before April 1st, and even the radio’s time synchronization was at 8:28 a.m. on April 1st.

“He Wei, is the signal messed up on your end? My phone’s time is incorrect.”

Cheng Zesheng walked into the bathroom while putting on his coat. He noticed that He Wei was also deep in thought, both of their phones were placed side by side, showing the same date and time.

April 1st, 8:30 a.m.

It felt like an April Fool’s joke.