Li Xiaoyi was clearly stunned, but still maintained his composure, slowly nodding, speaking softly: “So that’s how it is. Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Zhou Zheng spoke in response. His expression appeared calm as he stood between Li Xiaoyi and Lin Shuang, though he had clearly dimmed somewhat.
A handsome man and a beautiful woman, truly dazzling—sandwiched between them, he looked however you looked at it like a foil.
Lin Shuang quietly sized up the two men before her.
There was no feeling of social death or awkwardness, just a faint weariness, and an inexplicable sense of melancholy.
This reunion was dissolving with difficulty.
It seemed as though countless blurred pasts were interwoven between the three of them, yet also seemed too weightless to be worth mentioning. No one knew what the next step should be—perhaps everyone should sit down calmly and talk, perhaps they should have a lively old-classmates-style gathering, or perhaps they should simply part ways without any lingering entanglement.
Li Xiaoyi’s phone rang, breaking the silence. He hung up the call, shrugging his shoulders with a somewhat Western air: “I just returned to the country last year, working in Linjiang. I came back for the New Year… today I’m meeting up with some friends for a meal…”
He seemed to hesitate, about to say something and then holding back, yet also carrying deeper meaning: “I’ve been away for so many years, I’ve lost touch with a lot of old classmates…”
“Then I won’t hold you up. We can be in touch when there’s time.” Zhou Zheng was gentle and courteous, making a gesture to leave, reaching out to take Lin Shuang’s hand. “Shuangshuang, shall we head back?”
Lin Shuang lifted her eyelids lazily, placed her hand into Zhou Zheng’s palm, and gave a languid “mm.”
“Let’s keep in touch.”
“Alright… goodbye…”
Though they said they’d keep in touch, no one exchanged contact information.
Zhou Zheng led Lin Shuang away by the hand. Li Xiaoyi went the opposite direction from them, turning back at the corner to glance at the two retreating figures.
The two of them returned home, and everything continued as before—the chance encounter just now seemed like a cloud’s shadow passing over a lake’s surface, leaving no trace.
But Lin Shuang lingered in the bathroom for an extra fifteen minutes, then went back to her room to apply skincare products, while Zhou Zheng, in the room next door, sat hunched over his desk working.
When it came time for bed, Zhou Zheng didn’t seem inclined to lift his head from the desk.
Lin Shuang, wearing a camisole nightgown, leaned enticingly against the doorway, playing with her fingers, and spoke to him.
“Are you buddies with Li Xiaoyi?”
“Classmates in the same grade, decent relationship, but not quite buddies.”
She thought about it and supposed that was right—back then, Li Xiaoyi had liked being brotherly with everyone on the basketball team, extremely popular, and during those high school years the two of them had been inseparable. She’d seen some of his friends before, and vaguely remembered some faces.
“Which year were you classmates? How come I never knew?”
“First and second year of high school. Not much overlap in year one, got to know each other better after the class split in year two. By year three I moved up to the honors class, so we lost touch.”
She and Li Xiaoyi had never been in the same class—they’d been the school belle and school hunk type, meeting during military training in freshman year, and had started an early relationship not long after.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” She raised her eyes, asking her final question.
“Tell you what?” Zhou Zheng paused his pen, turning his head to look at her.
“Tell me you knew Li Xiaoyi, that you were his classmate.” She frowned slightly. “You clearly knew he was my ex-boyfriend.”
“There was no point.” Zhou Zheng replied, his tone turning slightly cold. “Nothing worth mentioning—just classmates, not even that close a relationship. No contact since graduation.”
Lin Shuang shifted her stance, seeming about to say something, then thinking better of it, turned and went back to her room.
That night, she didn’t wait up for Zhou Zheng, turning off the lights and going to sleep early.
When Zhou Zheng returned to the room, no light had been left on inside. Outside, the streetlight filtered through the curtains, casting a hazy glow. There was a slight rise and fall on the bed—Lin Shuang lying there silently.
He lay back down, looked at her position with her back turned to him, and guessed she probably wasn’t asleep.
A few minutes later, Zhou Zheng opened his eyes, staring at the dark ceiling, and turned over.
The blanket rustled as he couldn’t help reaching over, his fingers slowly stroking her smooth, warm arm, then pressing his whole body against her back.
Zhou Zheng lowered his head to kiss her shoulder, his arm wrapping around her slender waist.
Lin Shuang kept her eyes closed, motionless.
He carefully and gently brushed aside her long hair, patiently caressing her, kissing her slender back, kissing her delicate swan-like neck, kissing her exquisite, small earlobe.
“Not tonight.” Lin Shuang said quietly, speaking up the moment his hand wandered into her nightgown.
But he wanted to, of all times.
“Let me.” Zhou Zheng scooped up her soft waist.
“I really don’t want to.” Lin Shuang impatiently swatted his hand away, elbowing back at the person behind her. “Let’s sleep.”
Zhou Zheng calmed his breathing, burying his head behind her, murmuring an indistinct “mm,” his body pulling back a slight distance.
He couldn’t quite name the emotion—his heart felt sour, swollen, inexplicably despondent.
That night, Zhou Zheng had a dream. In the dream, all three of them wore the uniforms of Beiquan High School. He walked silently behind the two of them, following along a very, very long path, walking from the school corridor all the way to a place of nothingness. Finally, the figures ahead became hazy and indistinct. He looked around, breathing out alone, and could see white mist dispersing before his eyes.
Life for the two of them continued as before. Li Xiaoyi didn’t make any grand entrance into their lives. It was like a small stone, casually dropped into a lake with a soft “plop”—even the ripples were gentle, sinking instantly, disappearing without a trace, as if nothing had changed. But indeed, a stone had fallen into this tranquil lake.
It was also like the pea beneath the Princess and the Pea’s mattress—untraceable, yet its presence could be truly felt.
A few days later, the wind chime at the entrance of the milk tea shop jingled. A stranger, a man, pulled open the glass door, his long legs striding as he entered the shop.
Nana and Kevin were both there, letting out a soft “wow,” their eyes lighting up with stars, whispering to each other: “So handsome.”
Lin Shuang sat at the counter playing games, her back to the door. Hearing the sound, she turned her head, her gaze landing unabashedly on the man.
Judging by the man’s looks, the type that could attract her was all Li Xiaoyi’s type—tall with long legs, handsome and dashing, sunny and passionate.
Of course it was the wind that had swept past in her youth, blowing recklessly against the hem of her long skirt, making her feel unsteady and flustered.
It was also the basketball boy on the court, sweat and muscles gleaming under the light; or the rebellious kiss in the small grove, hearing the thudding heartbeat in that tight embrace; even the flutter of coming-of-age, a flustered and shy sweetness.
As for everything after that, it really wasn’t worth mentioning.
He simply gave the milk tea shop a light once-over, standing directly before her, taking a deep breath: “Can we talk?”
Lin Shuang leaned lazily against the counter, her posture enticing, raising an eyebrow to ask him: “Talk about what?”
“Talk about these past years.” His voice carried a dizzying magnetism. “Our… breakup.”
“Did we ever discuss breaking up? How come I don’t remember?” Lin Shuang smiled wickedly. “Or was it that you got a terminal illness? Got kidnapped? Or vanished from the face of the earth? Did even the breakup get handled by your parents on your behalf?”
Li Xiaoyi’s face paled slightly, though his bearing remained composed: “It’s not what you think.”
The milk tea shop still had two human cutout figures eavesdropping. Lin Shuang grabbed her cigarette pack, her brows cold and striking: “Let’s talk outside.”
The two of them stood by the roadside trash can. Lin Shuang lowered her head to light a cigarette first.
“You smoke?” Li Xiaoyi stared at Lin Shuang, unmoving.
Lin Shuang didn’t respond: “Say what you have to say quickly, don’t dawdle.”
He seemed to curl his lip in a smile, lowering his head, reaching into his pocket, also pulling out a pack of cigarettes, putting one in his mouth: “Lend me your lighter.”
Lin Shuang raised the lighter.
The two of them exhaled smoke, both smoking with practiced ease, both looking pleasing to the eye—honestly, they made quite a pair.
“I haven’t been back in the country these years. I finished college abroad, then went on to grad school and worked, came back last year.” Li Xiaoyi flicked his ash. “My father passed away, lung cancer. These past years we’ve been accompanying him through chemotherapy abroad the whole time.”
Lin Shuang bit down on her cigarette butt, tersely spitting out two words: “My condolences.”
“You also know how I was back then—I liked to play around, wasn’t good at studying. Going to America to study was also something the family forcibly arranged. Back then our relationship was so good, our parents both knew about it… At the time, everyone thought that once you finished two years of school domestically, you’d also go abroad, and I’d wait for you there, and once you finished we’d come back together.”
“I didn’t like studying there either, completely just coasting for a diploma. My parents spoiled me too, and the first year I didn’t do much of anything, just ate, drank, and played around with classmates, bought a car too, and drove out whenever I had free time… Later, I drove drunk, got into a car accident, multiple fractures, lay in the hospital for months. I told my parents about this, but afraid you’d worry, I didn’t tell you—if I was feeling okay, I’d still call you as usual to chat.”
Lin Shuang fell silent. There had indeed been such a stretch in her memory—before he’d lost contact, his attitude had been erratic, hot and cold, and reaching him hadn’t been easy.
“About your father’s accident—I heard about it from my parents. They’d already heard the rumors beforehand. Before your father’s incident, he’d come to my house several times, trying to find connections to help fix things. My father was somewhat implicated in those cases too, and out of fear of being dragged down, for self-protection, he directly refused.”
“They knew you’d come looking for me. By that time I could already move around, and I’d originally planned to go back and see you. My family directly froze my card, cut off my financial source, I couldn’t get back into the country, and they wouldn’t let me contact you either. Things got very tense—with the family already in that state, they didn’t want to add more complications… That was also the most tense time for the family’s situation. My father was transferred from his original post, the family’s standing dropped considerably too. He often had headaches and couldn’t sleep during that period. After going to the hospital for a checkup, my mother sent me the diagnosis report directly…” “With my father down, only I was left in the family, but I was precisely a good-for-nothing waste of space.”
Lin Shuang lowered her eyes.
“Later I heard the case was decided. I heard some news about you secondhand from classmates, heard you’d gotten a new boyfriend, that life went on as usual… Later I came back once, about four or five years ago, to pick up my father to go abroad for chemotherapy. I found a chance to go look for you… saw you get into a Cayenne… and then I turned and left…”
“That was your boyfriend at the time, wasn’t it? I glanced at that man once, he looked quite decent.”
Lin Shuang stubbed out her cigarette, saying flatly: “Correct, that was my boyfriend. Is there a problem?”
“These years I’ve been grinding it out abroad, wanting to come back, yet not daring to… Learning things, earning more money, to treat my father’s illness, to shoulder the family’s responsibilities.” He furrowed his brow, also stubbing out his cigarette, placing it side by side with hers. “Always alone.”
“So?” Lin Shuang shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve dated plenty of boyfriends too. Is there a problem?”