Xie Huai wiped the wound at the corner of his mouth and smiled, “Do I look handsome?”
Xia Xia was heartbroken and kept touching his face, “You look awful and you’re still smiling. Does it hurt?”
Xie Huai hissed, “The beating didn’t hurt, but your touching does.”
Xia Xia quickly withdrew her hand, not daring to touch him again.
The girl bit her lower lip hard, showing an indescribable mixture of anxiety and distress.
“It’s normal for debt collectors to come during New Year’s. Since I couldn’t pay them back, it’s no big deal if they hit me a few times. Let them vent their anger.”
Xie Huai decided not to wear his mask anymore. He put his arm around Xia Xia’s shoulders and changed the subject, “It’s Valentine’s Day today. Didn’t anyone ask you out?”
Xia Xia asked quietly, “Who would ask me out?”
Xie Huai casually mentioned, “Ping Jiapeng.”
Xia Xia: “…”
“He has nothing to do with me anymore,” she hurriedly said. “We broke up the day I met you.”
Xie Huai remembered the chaotic scene that night and the injuries on the girl’s body. His brows furrowed unconsciously, “Did he hit you that night?”
When he mentioned it, Xia Xia also recalled the scenes from that night.
When Xie Huai brought up Ping Jiapeng, she didn’t feel much turmoil in her heart, but when he mentioned that night, Xia Xia became anxious.
That night she had met him under the pretense of a hookup. Although Xie Huai had been pushed in by his friend, she had been the initiator. Xia Xia secretly looked at Xie Huai; his face showed no expression when mentioning that day, but she was nervous about what he might think of her.
“No,” she thought for a moment and honestly explained, “It was his mother.”
“Something went wrong during my college entrance exam. The proctor called an ambulance to carry me out. Ping Jiapeng tried to follow me out, but the exam supervisor wouldn’t let him. He hit the proctor.”
“I had only finished half of that exam paper, but the proctor collected it and still counted my score.” Xia Xia’s voice lowered as she recalled that day, “Ping Jiapeng… he disrupted the exam order, his score was invalidated, and he was banned from taking exams for three years.”
Xie Huai remained silent for a long while before saying, “He was good to you.”
Xia Xia said flatly, “Maybe.”
Xia Xia didn’t want to revisit past events, and besides, speaking ill of an ex after breaking up wasn’t a graceful thing to do. She didn’t want to leave that kind of impression on Xie Huai.
As Xia Xia pondered with downcast eyes, she heard Xie Huai ask, “Was he better to you than Brother Huai?”
She blinked, “Of course not.”
Xie Huai snorted coldly, “How not? At least he could rush out of the exam hall for you, which I couldn’t do.”
Xia Xia was puzzled, “He was my boyfriend then, so it was natural for him to care about me. What does your ability to do it or not have to do with anything?”
Xie Huai: “…”
He made a cold scoffing sound and turned to enter the shopping mall.
A sly smile appeared on Xia Xia’s lips, and she couldn’t help but cover her mouth in delight.
She hadn’t been happy for long before she couldn’t resist following Xie Huai, circling him, “Brother Huai, why are you getting angry for no reason?”
Xie Huai raised an eyebrow, “Which eye of yours saw me getting angry?”
“If you’re not angry, why did you walk away?”
“I’m cold,” Xie Huai said, “Can’t I go inside where it’s warm?”
Xia Xia took off her clothes, “You wear it.”
Xie Huai wouldn’t take it and kept walking.
Xia Xia grabbed him, “His exam violation wasn’t entirely for me.”
Xie Huai stopped walking and saw the girl looking at him with bright eyes.
“Ping Jiapeng’s mother was very strict with him. His grades used to be decent, good enough for an ordinary undergraduate program. In his second year of high school, he met some guys from outside the school who got him into gaming. After that, he stopped studying, skipped classes to go to internet cafes every day, and sometimes after pulling all-nighters at the cafe, he’d treat those guys to drinks and karaoke.”
“When I was with him then, he was afraid of getting scolded at home if his test rankings dropped, so he copied all my test papers. His mother never discovered his grades had declined.” Xia Xia said, “Although he ran out because I fainted, even if he hadn’t left, his exam scores wouldn’t have gotten him into a vocational college.”
“To this day, I still don’t know if what he did that day was truly out of concern for me, or if he was afraid of getting scolded for his scores and just found an excuse to abandon the exam.”
Xie Huai: “How could it be about fear of getting scolded? He must have been worried about you.”
Xia Xia: “Because of me, he was banned from taking exams for three years, and the money he secretly took from his family’s bank cards was also discovered. His family thought he spent all the stolen money on me, but he just used it for internet cafes and treating friends.”
“When his mother came to find me, he was right there, but he wouldn’t say a word of explanation.”
Xia Xia’s gaze became somewhat bewildered, “You say he was worried about me, but was he just worried about me?”
That day when Ping Jiapeng got the news and rushed over, he shielded Xia Xia behind him.
The woman was stunned by Xia Xia’s slap, taking a while to come to her senses.
She pointed at Xia Xia: “You tricked Pengpeng into dating you, tricked him into spending money on you, you spent so much of our family’s money, who gave you the nerve to hit me?”
Xia Xia coldly looked at Ping Jiapeng: “How much money did you spend on me? You tell me.”
Ping Jiapeng stopped his mother: “Mom, don’t hit Xia Xia anymore, it’s all my fault, I’m the one to blame.”
The woman cried while hitting his shoulders: “She ruined your chance to take the college entrance exam, and you’re still protecting her?”
She pushed Ping Jiapeng away, picked up Xia Xia’s backpack from the ground, and swung it hard at Xia Xia’s head.
Books and pens were scattered everywhere, and a receipt floated down to the woman’s feet.
The woman picked it up and saw the words “Progesterone Capsules” on the hospital receipt. These were the pills Xia Xia had been prescribed by the doctor to delay her period.
Progesterone capsules – she had taken them for a long time when trying to conceive Ping Jiapeng.
Even now she remembered the doctor explaining their function – for conception preparation and pregnancy maintenance.
The pretty face of Xia Xia before her instantly grew fangs in her eyes. The woman attacked her like a madwoman: “You think taking pills will help you get pregnant? You think I’ll let you into our family just because you’re carrying Pengpeng’s child?”
Ping Jiapeng angrily pushed her away: “What nonsense are you talking about? We never did anything like that!”
The woman had already lost all reason in her madness. She wiped away her tears: “Really? Then who is she taking these pills for to have a baby?”
Ping Jiapeng: “…Mom, can you stop talking about Xia Xia like that?”
Woman: “Am I wrong? How old is she this year? If she doesn’t have a man outside, why would she take this kind of medicine?”
She pulled out five hundred yuan from her wallet and threw it in Xia Xia’s face: “I’ve been your age before, and I’ve seen plenty of women who use every trick to marry rich men, but I’ve never seen such a young vixen.”
“I won’t hold it against you for seducing Pengpeng, and I can let go of you tricking him into spending money, as long as you stop clinging to him in the future.”
“Pengpeng said he never did that kind of thing with you, don’t try to trap him. This money is my charity to you, use it to get an abortion if you’re pregnant later.”
Xia Xia’s eyes fixed on the pink banknotes that had fallen on her shoes.
Ping Jiapeng picked up the money and tried to hand it to her. Xia Xia knocked his hand away, but he forcefully stuffed the money into her denim shorts pocket: “You’re hurt all over, take it to see a doctor first.”
He turned and grabbed the woman, shouting: “Are you done? If you have something to say, say it at home, stop making a scene outside.”
Xia Xia stood there in a daze, with more and more onlookers gathering around, their eyes full of contempt, their ears full of mockery.
The evening’s golden sunlight filtered through the white poplar branches and leaves, the light hurting her eyes. She glanced at Ping Jiapeng once, then turned and left.
When Ping Jiapeng caught up with her, she was sitting lost in thought by the flower bed at the intersection.
She was such a delicate young girl with bruises all over her face, that passing pedestrians kept staring.
“Xia Xia.” Ping Jiapeng was out of breath from running, he crouched in front of her to look at her face, “Don’t take what my mom said earlier to heart, I’ll talk to her when I get back. Let me take you to the hospital first.”
Xia Xia didn’t respond, and Ping Jiapeng couldn’t help but ask: “What’s the deal with that medicine? You bought it for someone else, right?”
He muttered to himself: “Why didn’t you explain just now? I know you’re not that kind of person.”
Xia Xia looked at him quietly: “Why don’t you ask if I’m in pain?”
Ping Jiapeng’s eyes were full of heartache as he touched her swollen face: “Does it hurt? If it hurts, you can hit me to vent.”
Xia Xia’s voice was tired but serious: “Ping Jiapeng, let’s break up.”
Ping Jiapeng: “…Why? Are you angry? My mom did go too far, I’ll talk to her tonight…”
Xia Xia said calmly: “That medicine was for myself.”
Ping Jiapeng froze, and after a long while, he asked hoarsely: “Do you have someone else?”
“Answer me!” Seeing Xia Xia not speaking, he became somewhat angry, “What did you take the medicine for? Do you have someone else and are just looking for an excuse to break up with me?”
Xia Xia laughed weakly and stood up: “Think whatever you want.”
Ping Jiapeng grabbed her wrist: “You’re not allowed to leave!”
The young man’s eyes were red, his expression frightening: “I don’t agree to breaking up, don’t even think about it.”
He blocked Xia Xia’s path, speaking recklessly in his anger: “Who did you sleep with? Was it that athlete who confessed to you, or that thug from Ninth High who was chasing you?”
“Say something!” he shouted, “Did they make you feel that good? So good that you want to break up with me for someone else?”
Xia Xia slapped him.
She had used full force when she hit the woman earlier, her palm still tingling, but she couldn’t muster even half that strength to hit Ping Jiapeng. The slap made a sound but didn’t even leave a red mark.
Ping Jiapeng was stunned by her slap.
He held his cheek and said coldly: “Embarrassed because I hit the mark? Xia Xia, how cheap are you?”
Xia Xia stammered in explanation: “…That day I wasn’t looking to hook up, I just…”
Xie Huai pinched her face: “You’ve already broken up, why are you still getting upset over him? Lucky you met me. What if you had met some middle-aged, pot-bellied, leering bald uncle? What would you have done then? Gone through with it anyway?”
Xia Xia heard his description and frowned: “Of course not.”
Xie Huai touched where she had been hit, and she yelped “ouch” and covered it.
Xie Huai moved her hand away and looked down at the swelling on her face: “Your dad hit you too hard. Why are your hands so cold?”
He held the girl’s hands in his palms: “Is my jacket too thin?”
Xia Xia shook her head, looking innocent: “I don’t feel cold.”
“I’ll go with you to buy some clothes.”
“I don’t want to,” Xia Xia quickly said.
She secretly wished her hands would get even colder, so maybe Xie Huai would keep warming them.
“You might not be cold, but I am,” Xie Huai said, “I want to wear something.”
Xia Xia: “…Oh.”
Xie Huai took her into a store: “Pick one.”
Xia Xia looked at the store’s decor and felt she probably couldn’t afford the clothes there.
She hesitated: “You know I was kicked out by my dad, right? I don’t have any money with me.”
Xie Huai raised his eyebrows, looking like an arrogant young master: “When you’re out shopping with Brother Huai, you think I’d let you pay?”
Xia Xia: “That won’t do either. How could I let you pay for me?”
Xie Huai: “Did I say I was going to pay for you?”
Xia Xia was confused: “Don’t tell me you’re planning to steal?”
Xie Huai held up a light yellow cotton coat against her to measure: “How’s this one?”
Xia Xia said: “It’s okay.”
“How about this?” He picked up a light blue coat.
Xia Xia said: “It’s okay.”
Xie Huai: “…”
“Choose one,” he handed her the clothes, “Don’t just say ‘okay’.”
Xia Xia reached to check the price tag, but Xie Huai slapped her hand away: “Don’t look at the price, which one do you like?”
Rubbing her hand, Xia Xia slowly pointed to an ordinary-looking black trench coat nearby: “This one.”
Xie Huai took the coat down and looked at the price tag – 1,200 yuan.
Xia Xia peeked at the tags of the two coats Xie Huai had picked – yellow was 500, blue was 800.
She changed her mind: “Actually, I think the yellow one looks better now, but it’s still not quite right. Let me look around some more to find an even better one.”
Just as she was about to run off, Xie Huai caught her by the collar and pulled her back.
“This one,” he said casually as if the coat cost 12 yuan instead of 1,200.
But he didn’t take the coat to the counter to pay. Instead, he put it back on the rack.
“Give me fifty yuan,” he said to Xia Xia, “I’ll help you buy this coat.”
Xia Xia blinked, standing there stunned.
“You don’t even have fifty yuan?” Xie Huai asked.
Xia Xia searched her pockets and pulled out some change: “I don’t have fifty yuan, would five yuan work?”
Xie Huai: “…”
“Never mind.” He looked around and led Xia Xia outside, holding her hand.
Xia Xia looked down at Xie Huai’s hand holding hers.
His palm was large, warm, and dry, completely enveloping her hand.
The Wanda Plaza was bustling on Valentine’s Day, with couples nestled together and young women selling roses in buckets weaving through the crowded masses. Xie Huai held her hand as naturally as if she were his girlfriend, and they blended into the street crowd, no different from other couples.
Xie Huai stopped in front of a shop.
“When my dad started from nothing, he was even poorer than you, he didn’t have a penny,” Xie Huai said with a smile. “Being poor isn’t a big deal, you just need to earn money.”
He took off his bodhi bead bracelet and led Xia Xia inside.
It was a shop selling antique collectibles.
Xia Xia entered and smelled the subtle fragrance of sandalwood incense burning in the shop.
The shop’s displays were sparse but each item was exquisite.
Xia Xia saw several strings of beads similar to Xie Huai’s hanging on the wall, but none were as beautiful as his.
Xie Huai didn’t look at anything in the shop but went straight to the counter, speaking familiarly: “Sister, can I borrow fifty yuan?”
The shop owner was a middle-aged woman wearing a loose cotton-linen dress, sitting behind the counter reading a book with elegant light makeup.
She looked up at the sound, and Xie Huai placed his bracelet in front of her.
“Lend me fifty yuan, I’ll leave this as collateral,” he said with a grin.
The owner took his bracelet and hesitantly asked: “Fifty yuan?”
Xie Huai glanced at Xia Xia beside him: “It’s Valentine’s Day, I want to buy flowers for my girlfriend.”
Owner: “This phoenix-eye bodhi must be worth at least forty thousand yuan, and you’re giving it to me for fifty yuan just to buy your girlfriend flowers?”
“Fifty-two thousand,” Xie Huai said. “It was left to me by my father. I’m not selling it, just using it as collateral.”
“Lend me fifty yuan, I’ll pay you back in an hour. If I don’t come back, the bracelet is yours.”
Xia Xia hurried to stop him: “No, how can you casually pawn something your father left you? I don’t want the coat anymore, let’s go.”
Xie Huai held her against him, not letting her move. He looked at the owner: “You won’t lose out.”
The owner smiled, took the bracelet, and pulled out a fifty-yuan note from her drawer to give him.
Xie Huai thanked her and led Xia Xia outside.
He childishly held the money between his fingers, waving it at Xia Xia proudly: “Now I’ll use this fifty yuan to earn twelve hundred and buy you that coat.”
“How will you earn it?” Xia Xia was dejected, thinking about how Xie Huai had pawned his father’s bracelet for her. “Maybe if you plant it in the soil, it’ll grow into twelve hundred by morning.”
In the center of the plaza, a young man was singing while holding an electric guitar.
Occasionally passersby would stop and drop some small bills into his guitar case.
The cold wind howled, and the young man, unable to bear the cold, put down his guitar and started packing up to go home.
Xie Huai put the money in her palm: “Take this money and invite him for coffee at the Starbucks across the street, but leave the guitar here.”
Xia Xia took the money and walked to the center of the plaza while Xie Huai stood watching her silhouette.
The girl looked especially petite in his oversized clothes. She stood before the young man and said a few words. The young man smiled brightly at her and nodded.
He was about to take his guitar, but the girl smiled sweetly.
She must have said something because the young man put the guitar back down. He pocketed the money and followed her into Starbucks.
Xie Huai’s gaze followed Xia Xia until she entered the coffee shop before looking away.
He walked toward the center of the plaza.
“It’s Valentine’s Day, with so many people around, but I haven’t earned much,” the young man’s black-framed glasses fogged up upon entering the shop. He took them off and wiped them with a cloth from his pocket. “I must not sing well enough, but I’m lucky someone’s treating me to coffee before I pack up.”
Xia Xia rested her chin on her hand, smiling sweetly: “You sing very well.”
The young man ordered a caramel macchiato, while Xia Xia ordered a vanilla frappuccino.
She tilted her head and asked: “Are you a student?”
The young man shook his head: “I was careless before and only wanted to play around. My grades weren’t good, so I stopped studying.”
The girl across from him was beautiful and pure, with the quality of a white lily blooming in the snow.
She was open and talkative, with a sweet and gentle voice. When listening to him speak, her eyes remained patiently and politely fixed on him, making him blush while unable to stop talking.
“…A few years ago, I played in a band, performing at bars.”
Xia Xia was listening when her attention suddenly shifted.
Through the Starbucks window behind the young man, she saw Xie Huai sit down with the guitar.
Seeing Xia Xia watching him, Xie Huai smiled tenderly at her.
He lowered his head to test the guitar’s tuning, his fingers plucking the strings.
The guitar sound and his singing voice came through the microphone simultaneously.
“…Boredom revealed hesitation, achieving dreams isn’t easy
Even with confidence, fighting spirit is suppressed
Who decides if I stay or go, who decides the universe in my heart
I just want to wave to my dreams with these two hands…”
“…Later the bar closed down, and the band broke up.”
“All my old friends are married with children and have stable jobs, only I’m still stuck in music, unable to get out.”
The young man smiled bitterly: “Sometimes I think maybe current misfortunes are all tests from heaven. If I get through them, I’ll succeed and be able to do what I want and achieve my dreams. If I can’t get through them, my life will just pass by insignificantly.”
Light snow began falling outside.
Xie Huai sat in the snowy crowd wearing a white sweater.
With gauze on his temple and bruises under his eyes and at the corner of his mouth, he was both jarring and dazzling. Completely disregarding the gazes of passersby, that handsome face bearing injuries made him look like a roguishly handsome troublemaker, yet when he raised his eyebrows and smiled carelessly, there were traces of his former young master’s rebelliousness.
“Ask how high the sky is, the ambition in my heart is higher than the sky
With confidence, an undying spirit lives to old age
…I have my heart’s story
Writing each Da Meng Xiang Jia – Chapter by hand, gains and losses, joy and sorrow and dreams…”
Xia Xia withdrew her gaze and smiled faintly: “I used to not understand either, why in the same lifetime, others lived in peace and comfort while I had to suffer. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t even touch the corner of things others were born with.”
“You’re right, maybe current misfortunes are all tests from heaven, and those who can endure them are amazing.” Xia Xia lowered her eyes, and when she raised them again, her gaze was clear. “But it’s okay if you can’t endure.”
“In life, there isn’t just hardship, success, and dreams.”
Her gaze unconsciously fell on the young man holding the guitar and singing in the center of the crowd outside the window.
“…I have my heart’s story
Writing each Da Meng Xiang Jia – Chapter by hand, gains and losses, joy and sorrow, and dreams
Even with wounds, I won’t retreat
Dreams will one day be achieved, finding the world of dreams in my heart
Finally seen…”
“Maybe one day, someone will appear in your life.”
“Maybe you’ll still be down and out then, days still seeming endless like before.”
Her expression brightened: “But whenever you’re sad, lost, or at a loss, you look at him, and even if he just smiles or ruffles your hair, you’ll feel that coming to this world was the best thing possible, and past sufferings won’t seem so hard to bear.”
“Life is still the daily routine of food and necessities.”
“But he, he’s by your side, making mundane life bloom with flowers.”
The young man looked at her: “Seems like you already have someone.”
Xia Xia smiled but didn’t speak.
Xie Huai finished his song, with over a dozen spectators gathered before him.
He held the guitar and smiled gently: “Sir, it’s Valentine’s Day, why not request a song for this beautiful lady beside you?”
Although he was performing for money, his expression was calm and proud. He was lazy yet graceful, his bruised face not diminishing his brilliance one bit.
He sat in the center of the crowd, seeming to glow.
Xia Xia couldn’t help but curve her lips into a gentle smile.
She indeed had someone.
If Xie Huai was a fallen prince,
She would willingly be his one and only Cinderella.
[Note: The song referenced is “No More Hesitation” by Beyond]