Gu Yuanting hurriedly ran over. The items were all piled up in some broken wooden boxes tucked away in a corner, with a few colorful plastic bags casually thrown on top to hide them, so that Ranran wouldn’t notice.

He casually tossed the plastic bags aside, trembling as he picked up a small speaker. The speaker was covered in dust, with dirt packed into the seams. The moment he touched it, he left several finger smudges on the dusty surface.

Gu Yuanting: “…”

He cursed himself silently, then carefully wiped the speaker with his sleeve. After a while, the fabric of his sleeve wasn’t enough, so he rolled up the hem of his shirt and kept wiping. Finally, the speaker was clean.

This speaker was a birthday gift he had made specially for Ranran. He had apprenticed under a master, spending over a month making it, breaking more than ten of them before succeeding. Ranran liked to listen to music on it, and when he gave it as a gift, Ranran was very happy, rewarded him with many kisses, and treasured the speaker.

Gu Yuanting furrowed his brows tightly, seriously cleaning the speaker until it shone. Then he checked it again and found a small chip on the corner—apparently it had been tossed carelessly into the box and got damaged. Whether it was broken or not, he didn’t know.

He was furious!

His face turned dark, chest heaving. After taking a few deep breaths, he reluctantly put the speaker down on a nearby table. Luckily, it was a gift from him to Ranran, not the other way around—if it was broken, he could still make another one for Ranran.

There were many things in those broken wooden boxes—big, small, and bits and pieces. Gu Yuanting carefully wiped each one. His sleeves and shirt hems quickly became dirty, covered in dust and grime.

He had no choice but to go upstairs to find a cloth. Su Yiran was in the kitchen simmering fish-head soup; Ting-ge’s head wound hadn’t healed yet, so they had to make nourishing “sick food” to help his brain recover.

Gu Yuanting saw Su Yiran in the kitchen and hesitated outside the glass door. Quietly, he slipped inside along the wall, grabbed a cloth while Su Yiran wasn’t paying attention, and tried to sneak away.

During his amnesia, he had lied to Ranran that he treasured all those things, but Ranran still didn’t know the truth. He couldn’t let Ranran find out now.

“…Ting-ge, why do you look like a thief taking a cloth?” Su Yiran said behind him, a slight smile tugging at his lips as he put down the lid of the simmering fish soup.

Gu Yuanting’s back stiffened. He slowly turned around and forced a smile, “The basement’s a bit dirty. I’m going to clean it up.”

“Oh, okay,” Su Yiran nodded, but seeing how dirty Ting-ge’s clothes were, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you so dirty? What were you doing?”

Gu Yuanting nervously tugged his shirt hem: “The basement is too dusty, I accidentally got some dirt on me.” He rolled up his sleeves, trying to hide the grime.

“…Alright, then go ahead.” Su Yiran didn’t believe a word but didn’t make a fuss, letting him go down.

Gu Yuanting felt relieved, quickly grabbing several cloths and heading downstairs.

Su Yiran sighed silently. Thinking about it, besides fish-head soup tonight, he should also make steamed fish—he’d heard fish could make people smarter.

Sigh.

Gu Yuanting returned to the basement, cloth in hand, continuing to work. He pulled out every dusty item carefully and wiped each one with care. While wiping, he suddenly noticed a broken wooden fortune stick at the bottom of a box—it looked like it had been crushed by the weight of too many things.

Startled, Gu Yuanting immediately picked up the stick. The pointed end was painted red, though the ink writing was blurred. It was the “King’s Fortune” matchstick for perfect couples—the one he and Ranran had drawn years ago at the temple to pray for their relationship.

Now… this “King’s Fortune” stick was broken!!

Gu Yuanting held the broken stick trembling, staring at the split paper text. His eyes turned red with heartache and pain.

Idiot!

What to do, what to do? He anxiously tried to piece the broken parts back together, but obviously, once broken, it couldn’t be fixed.

He just stood there, holding the stick blankly, eyes vacant, like a fool.

Painful. Heartbreaking.

“Ting-ge, are you done yet? Dinner’s ready.” Su Yiran had finished cooking the nourishing meal and came to look for him, noticing he hadn’t come out of the basement yet.

He had been down there once or twice before but normally didn’t spend much time there.

As soon as Su Yiran entered, he was shocked by the scene: the tables, stools, and cabinets were filled with all kinds of decorations and trinkets, all arranged neatly, cleaned spotless, and shining—though the sheer volume was a bit intimidating.

Gu Yuanting stood in a corner, holding something, his back covered in dust, looking very sad.

“What’s wrong?” Su Yiran approached and immediately saw the broken fortune stick in Ting-ge’s hands.

Gu Yuanting snapped back to reality as Yiran approached and instinctively tried to hide the stick, “N-nothing.”

Su Yiran took the stick from him: “Let me see.”

The stick wasn’t completely broken; some fragments still hung loosely together, but it was basically split in two.

Seeing Ranran discover it, Gu Yuanting gave up hiding and sank into sadness: “It’s broken.”

Su Yiran couldn’t help but smile at the pitiful Ting-ge. He leaned in to kiss him and said cheerfully, “It’s just a stick. It breaking isn’t a big deal. Besides, we still have another one, right?”

Gu Yuanting thought about the “King’s Fortune” stick he got during his amnesia and knew there was indeed another one. Only after regaining his memory did he understand why he got the same fortune twice.

It was because his fate with Ranran was destined.

But… looking at the broken stick, he still felt sad and sulky, even jealous of the version of himself during amnesia.

He remembered the amnesia-version’s “King’s Fortune” was safely kept in a glass case in the study, but the pre-amnesia one ended up like this.

After feeling a bit resentful towards his former self, Gu Yuanting thought, maybe he was crazy.

Su Yiran thought for a moment: “Why don’t you try glue? Like superglue or transparent tape?”

Gu Yuanting: “…”

He took the stick from Ranran, took a deep breath, and his face gradually hardened with determination. A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes: “I’ll find someone to fix it. It can definitely be restored.”

“…” Seeing Ting-ge like this, Su Yiran felt like smacking him again but quickly reminded himself not to—Ting-ge was still injured.

“Okay, find someone and try. If it can’t be restored, we’ll just tape it,” Su Yiran reassured him. Then he looked around the basement: “By the way, did you go through the whole basement?”

Gu Yuanting stiffened.

Su Yiran had already recognized all the things—they were from their old house: living room decorations, daily items, old gifts, and so on. He smiled at Gu Yuanting: “So you really did ‘store’ these things carefully after all—in the basement.”

Gu Yuanting stammered out his prepared excuse: “Y-yeah, all stored carefully in the storage cabinet,” pointing at a cabinet. “I came to get something and remembered these, so I took them out to clean.”

Su Yiran glanced at the few broken wooden boxes in the corner and nodded: “Oh, so that’s it.”

He had guessed all along that during his amnesia, Ting-ge had gotten jealous of his past self and stuffed everything in the basement. Now…

Su Yiran kindly let Ting-ge save face and held his hand as they walked out: “Let’s eat first. We can tidy up more later. I made fish-head soup for you tonight; drink up, it’s good for your brain.”

Gu Yuanting: “…”

…

After dinner, Gu Yuanting returned to the basement. Everything had been cleaned, but how could he leave those precious things in the dark basement? Of course, they had to come upstairs.

This time, Su Yiran followed him downstairs, and together they brought all the items back up. Gu Yuanting placed the various decorations in prominent places in the living room and bedroom. Everyday items were put away. He tested the chipped speaker—it still worked fine.

When everything was arranged, Gu Yuanting breathed a long sigh of relief. Seeing the familiar items around the room, he finally felt comfortable. Once he could restore that wooden fortune stick, he’d be completely satisfied.

The next day, Gu Yuanting rushed nonstop to the suburban second-hand car market. Su Yiran worried about his healing head wound and followed him.

When they arrived at the old, rundown market, Gu Yuanting thought sadly about how their beloved car was now stuck in such a place and scolded himself again as he hurried to the sales office.

Su Yiran saw how anxious he was and smiled gently, “Don’t worry. If the car hasn’t sold yet, it won’t run away.”

Hearing that, Gu Yuanting became even more anxious, gripping Ranran’s hand tightly as he briskly walked into the sales office.

The sales staff looked a bit odd when hearing they wanted to buy back a car sold here a year ago. Such behavior was abnormal—normal people wouldn’t want to do this. Su Yiran felt a bit embarrassed and asked, “Is the car still here? Not sold yet?”

“Please wait, I’ll check for you,” the salesperson said.

Gu Yuanting nervously waited, staring intently at the clerk, making the clerk’s scalp tingle. The clerk quickly typed and soon found the result: “The car has not been sold.”

Gu Yuanting finally relaxed and urged, “Please take us to see it.”

The salesperson led them to parking area C. Before the clerk could introduce it, Gu Yuanting spotted their car and immediately ran over, eyes sparkling as he called to Ranran, “Ranran, it’s here!”

Su Yiran looked at Ting-ge’s shining eyes and somehow thought of a dog, the more he thought the more he smiled, “Yeah, yeah, good.”

Sigh, silly Ting-ge.

They had it really tough.