Chapter 43

Less than a month before Cheng Lang's departure, Shuangyun completely disappeared from his life.
Unexpectedly, without warning.
Just as she had once sharply cut off his parents' control over him, she now also sharply cut off her connection with him.
Clean and neat, without any looking back.
She disappeared from his apartment and never came back.
His body still walked and lived in this apartment, but Cheng Lang felt his soul was no longer here.
He didn't dare open Shuangyun's WeChat Moments, afraid that red heart would also be invisible to him.
Or perhaps Shuangyun had actually already deleted him, he just hadn't sent a message yet, so he didn't know for now.
Where had she gone? What was she doing? Everything was already unrelated to him.
Shuangyun still frequently went to the bouldering gym, sometimes staying there for an entire afternoon. The bouldering gym staff asked Shuangyun why her boyfriend didn't come with her? Shuangyun said he was going to work in New York.
After that ended, Shuangyun no longer went to that bouldering gym.
The graduation certificate was quickly issued. Shuangyun registered for the May graduation ceremony.
This was a season of separation. So were she and Cheng Lang.
Shuangyun thought, he was a man who would cry for her.
This made Shuangyun's heart very sour.
But she couldn't help but cut off Cheng Lang's hopes. Even if she had the opportunity to go live in New York in the future, that was a future matter. She could go to New York for herself, but not for anyone else.
At this moment, she had to let Cheng Lang leave.
But her own life still had to continue. Several months of rest had made Shuangyun somewhat tired. She wanted to find something to do. She had no thoughts about a proper job for now. Shuangyun applied to volunteer at the RSPCA adoption center, caring for unadopted animals.
Simple, repetitive work that could make her forget some things. Walking dogs, cleaning, handling some adoption procedures.
Shuangyun always thought of Cheng Lang when some cats and dogs showed longing expressions toward people, thought of that tear of his, thought of him saying: "Shuangyun Liang, you have to keep your word."
The adoption center work was only two days a week. The remaining time, Shuangyun began writing a new paper. Her advisor suggested she write a paper about the model Cheng Lang had later helped her adjust and publish it.
Shuangyun actually wasn't interested in writing papers, but for some reason, perhaps feeling this was the only remaining connection between her and Cheng Lang. Before, she'd spent a lot of time and energy on this just to get close to Cheng Lang, and she didn't want all of this to go to waste.
After eating white people food for two weeks, Shuangyun began to miss Cheng Lang's cooking.
At seven in the evening, Shuangyun rarely took a shopping bag downstairs to the supermarket. Today she decided to cook herself.
Pushing a shopping cart into the supermarket downstairs, Shuangyun followed a recipe on her phone to find ingredients. Before, she'd always come to the supermarket with Cheng Lang. He was very familiar with types of meat. Most of the time he didn't even buy meat from the supermarket, but from a familiar butcher shop.
His parents ran a restaurant business and knew where the best quality meat and vegetables were. Shuangyun's taste had been spoiled for a while. Before, she'd been very casual about taste. Before, eating wasn't something she'd put effort into, but now she was actually somewhat picky.
Shuangyun looked left and right in front of the cold case. Her shopping cart bumped into someone else's shopping basket.
"Sorry." Shuangyun pulled back the shopping cart, making room in front of the cold case.
Cheng Lang asked her: "What are you looking for?"
Shuangyun looked up at him. He was wearing a black T-shirt, his face somewhat cold.
Shuangyun steadied her emotions and flipped her phone to show him: "I want to make pho. What beef is better?"
Cheng Lang looked in the cold case for a while, then took a box of sirloin beef for her. "Freeze it at home for half an hour, then take it out and slice it thin, then blanch it in boiling water."
"Thanks." Shuangyun said.
She looked at Cheng Lang's empty shopping basket and asked him: "You're also out shopping?"
"Yeah."
Cheng Lang had seen Shuangyun when passing the supermarket entrance and came in.
"Oh." Shuangyun felt there was nothing to say and was about to leave when Cheng Lang said: "Do you know what to use for the broth?"
Shuangyun blinked: "What?"
Cheng Lang opened the cold case again, carefully looked and compared, then finally helped her get a bag of beef bones and a piece of brisket.