# New File
After giving Feng Yan his food, Zheng Yixuan seemed to realize that giving it to Feng Yan was much simpler, more environmentally friendly, and more practical than throwing it away—and, most importantly, no one would find out. He wouldn't have to worry about a garbage bag leaking one day and Auntie Lin discovering that he hadn't eaten anything at all.
At lunchtime, he also started calling Feng Yan over to join him whenever that stupid neighbor wasn't asleep.
Feng Yan observed him for two days and discovered that Zheng Yixuan ate far too little. He only took two or three bites of each dish and ate just half a bowl of rice. He and Feng Yan were roughly the same height and age, so how could Feng Yan not know what a normal portion looked like? Their appetites might differ, but not by much. If Feng Yan ate only this much, he'd be starving in the middle of the night and rushing to gnaw on the door panel.
“This is good.”
As someone freeloading off him, Feng Yan couldn't let himself eat more than the host. So he immediately picked up a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and poured half of it into his bowl, saying,
“You need to eat more. Tomatoes have lots of vitamins, so eat a little more. I'll eat half, and you eat half.”
Zheng Yixuan helplessly watched as Feng Yan poured half the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes into his bowl.
When Feng Yan finished, he pushed the bowl toward Zheng Yixuan and said, “My mom says you have to finish the food in your bowl. Otherwise, you'd be disrespecting all those hardworking farmers.”
That kind of nonsense had no effect. Zheng Yixuan clearly hadn't respected those hardworking farmers in a long time; the proof was that he had been throwing away food for three whole years.
Then Feng Yan tried another tactic. He said,
“I often see stray cats downstairs, and they've known for a long time that there's food in the trash cans in our hallway.” Feng Yan thought for a moment, then added, “If you don't eat, I'll tell Auntie Lin that you've thrown away all the food she's made for the past three years.”
The final conclusion was that it was a threat.
Zheng Yixuan shot him a glance, and for some reason, Feng Yan felt that his eyes had widened slightly.
But Feng Yan held his ground, even with his heart pounding, waiting to see what Zheng Yixuan would ultimately choose: whether to finish his food from then on, or continue going downstairs to throw it away and erase the evidence.
After what felt like a very long while, Zheng Yixuan slowly moved his chopsticks and began to eat. The tension on Feng Yan's face immediately eased.
Even so, he didn't force Zheng Yixuan to eat too much, afraid he might get sick. Feng Yan didn't dare imagine what someone's stomach would be like after surviving on nothing but breakfast for three years and then suddenly eating a large meal. He might even die suddenly because his stomach couldn't handle it.
Thinking about Zheng Yixuan's condition made Feng Yan wonder who the professor Auntie Lin had mentioned was. He guessed they weren't Zheng Yixuan's biological parents, but perhaps just one of his relatives.
After all, if they were his biological parents, there was no way they would have let him move out, left him without food, or failed to take him to a doctor. Besides, Zheng Yixuan's mental state was so poor that he might jump from the building one day if he couldn't take it anymore.
Take Feng Yan, for example. Forget developing anorexia—even if he skipped a single bite of food one day, his parents would be so terrified that they'd take him to the hospital for a thorough examination to find out whether anything was wrong with their child.
They eventually finished eating.
After the meal, Feng Yan didn't go straight home. He looked around. The living room of their apartment connected to a balcony. The lighting on this side wasn't as good as in Feng Yan's place; during the day, the sunlight was half blocked by the building in front. The curtains were exactly the same as Feng Yan's: double-layer curtains provided by the landlord.
One layer was completely blackout, while the other was thin gauze. The gauze let in light but was only translucent, protecting their privacy. At the moment, the blackout layer had been drawn open; otherwise, they would have been eating in the dark.
Since they had been provided as a free gift, the curtains hadn't been installed very snugly, and light leaked in from the top and bottom. Feng Yan slept well and didn't like total darkness, so he didn't mind this shortcoming.
What caught his attention instead was that Zheng Yixuan had placed extra fabric along the top and bottom of the curtains, sealing off the only gaps where light could enter.
Seeing how dim the lighting in the apartment was, Feng Yan said, “Auntie Lin said you sit on the balcony every time she comes here. I thought you liked brighter places.”
Although Feng Yan had opened the curtains, he couldn't meddle with anything in someone else's home. He turned around and found that Zheng Yixuan had moved from the dining table to the sofa, avoiding the light. Whether he was sitting in a chair or on the sofa, his posture was exactly the same.
He replied, “I don't want to see it.”
Feng Yan was slightly surprised. “Do you hate it?”
Auntie Lin was indeed rather talkative and had no sense of boundaries because she was overly enthusiastic, which could sometimes be annoying. Zheng Yixuan was silent for a moment, then slowly said,
“I don't hate it. I just don't want to see it.”
Without thinking, Feng Yan asked, “Why?”
Zheng Yixuan wasn't angry that this duck-mouthed guy kept asking so many questions. He said very calmly, “Because I'm sick.”
“Huh?”
The sentence sounded like a joke, and Feng Yan struggled to process it. Because he's sick?
“Have you never been to a hospital before?”
Zheng Yixuan continued staring at Feng Yan. “I've been taking medication since I was very young, but it never helped. One illness after another was diagnosed, but the symptoms stayed the same. They never changed or lessened.”
This time, Feng Yan fell silent, not knowing how to respond.
Zheng Yixuan continued. “The world looks different to me than it does to normal people.”
“How different?”
“I can't explain it.” Zheng Yixuan stood up, walked over, and opened the door to the room. He gestured for Feng Yan to follow him.
He showed Feng Yan his painting. It was the last work he'd painted three years ago, and it was still sitting on its easel.
When he moved, he had brought it with him. The room that should have been used as a study was filled with his painting equipment. Feng Yan didn't know much about painting, but even so, he was somewhat amazed after seeing this work.
What Zheng Yixuan had painted wasn't anything special, just a slice of strawberry cake. When he'd said it at the time, Feng Yan had assumed he was an abstract painter, but he hadn't expected him to be a hyperrealist. A large strawberry cake sat quietly on a one-meter-tall canvas. The cake looked like it had been sitting around for a long time: the cream on its surface was somewhat dry, and the strawberries coated in syrup looked less than fresh. Whoever had been holding the cake must have been careless. Their finger had rubbed against one side, causing the cream to cave in slightly.
Zheng Yixuan had painted the cake so clearly and in such detail that Feng Yan couldn't help asking,
“Besides still lifes, do you paint anything else?”
Zheng Yixuan looked at the painting of the cake and suddenly said, “My mother gave it to me.”
Feng Yan was silent for a moment, trying to process what he had said, but Zheng Yixuan didn't want to say anything more. He walked toward the balcony and refused to look back, no matter how Feng Yan called after him.
Feng Yan watched him walk to the balcony and sit with his back to the living room.
Of course, Feng Yan understood what this meant. After all, Zheng Yixuan had already said it himself.
He didn't feel like looking at Feng Yan right now.
Feng Yan looked at the painting of the cake once more, then quietly left the living room. The door slowly came between him and Zheng Yixuan, who had retreated into his own world once again, with no telling when he would come out again.