The morning sun rose, dispersing the mist that lingered between the mountains.
Xiaxia ran out with disheveled hair, “Ahhh! I’m going to be late! Brother Huai, why didn’t you wake me up—”
Last night was stuffy, and with her excited state of mind, she didn’t fall asleep until late. Even then, her sleep was restless, waking up several times from the heat.
Yesterday before dismissal, the professor had announced that they would gather at the village entrance at nine o’clock to visit the village on the other side of the mountain.
Xiaxia slept until eight-fifty, wailing as she rushed out to wash up after seeing the time.
There was no sign of Xie Huai inside the house or in the courtyard.
“Brother Huai?” She searched everywhere, even checking the pigpen, but Xie Huai was nowhere to be found.
Jiang Zhouzhou sat at the stone table, calmly eating the breakfast Xie Huai had bought for Xiaxia.
“Senior, where’s Xie Huai?” Xiaxia asked while brushing her teeth.
Jiang Zhouzhou looked puzzled, “What Xie Huai? Haven’t seen him, isn’t he in Nancheng?”
Xiaxia, still groggy from sleep, wasn’t thinking clearly.
She blankly said “Ah,” momentarily doubting herself: “Was it all a dream?”
While Jiang Zhouzhou pretended to eat the fried cake, Xiaxia’s foggy mind finally cleared. She asked, “Senior, what are you eating? Where did you get fried cake in the village?”
She took out her phone and saw the message Xie Huai had sent her an hour ago.
Xie Huai had left on the eight o’clock bus.
After spending just one evening together as a couple, they had to separate before they’d had enough time to be close.
She felt somewhat disappointed, but thinking about him working hard for their future made her happy again, and she started humming cheerfully.
Xie Huai had bought enough breakfast for three people. Xiaxia didn’t have time to eat, so after washing up, she took the remaining breakfast and headed to the meeting point with Jiang Zhouzhou.
Along the way, Jiang Zhouzhou kept glancing at her profile, seeming to want to say something but holding back.
Xiaxia asked, “Why do you keep looking at me? Is there something on my face?”
Jiang Zhouzhou turned away, suppressing a laugh: “No.”
Xiaxia thought she might have slept in her eyes and touched her face, but it was smooth with nothing on it.
They were the last to arrive at the meeting point.
Cai Yun, drinking a cup of instant milk tea from the shop, gave Xiaxia a cold look, then froze noticeably when her gaze lingered on Xiaxia’s face.
The professor, after discussing the destination with the driver, turned to ask Jiang Zhouzhou to take attendance. Upon seeing Xiaxia, he also froze for a moment.
Xiaxia was going through the breakfast Xie Huai had bought, selecting just a cup of soy milk as she didn’t like greasy food in the morning.
As she inserted the straw, she looked up to find everyone staring at her.
Xiaxia: “???”
The professor coughed lightly, pointing at his right cheek: “Your face.”
Xiaxia borrowed a mirror from a female classmate and nearly fainted on the spot when she saw her reflection.
Xie Huai had drawn a pig’s head on her face. If it was just a pig, that would have been one thing, but he had also drawn a heart behind it with “Xie Huai” written next to it.
The girls burst into laughter:
“I thought I heard Brother Huai’s voice next door last night, thought I was hearing things.”
“It’s only been a few days, and Brother Huai already missed Xiaxia so much that he came specially to see her. I’m so jealous!”
Since their freshman year, everyone at school had assumed Xie Huai and Xiaxia were a couple, so their relationship wasn’t surprising. But Xie Huai came at night and left early morning, the timing was too perfect. Faced with more than a dozen pairs of eyes and their teasing, suggestive, or meaningful glances, Xiaxia’s face felt hot enough to boil an egg.
She covered her face, desperately searching for wet wipes to clean it.
The professor smiled kindly and called everyone to board the bus.
The marker was difficult to remove. Despite rubbing her face red, Xiaxia only managed to fade the marks slightly. They were still visible enough for passersby to tease her about.
“How did you sleep last night? Probably not very well, right?” Jiang Zhouzhou laughed as Xiaxia buried her head in the seat back beside him.
“Senior!” Xiaxia was going crazy, “Why didn’t you tell me!”
Jiang Zhouzhou was clearly in league with Xie Huai, saying innocently: “Young Master drew it, how could I dare tell you? Besides, it wouldn’t have helped. Look, can you wipe it clean?”
Xiaxia’s phone rang with a call from Xie Huai. Still angry, she hung up.
Xie Huai persisted, calling back. On the fourth attempt, Xiaxia answered.
“Awake?”
She had intended to express her displeasure, but hearing Xie Huai’s voice made her melt, immediately losing half her resolve.
“What are you doing?” Not only did she fail to show her anger, but her voice came out sounding like a whine, “Everyone’s laughing at me, and you still dare to call.”
“Let them laugh.” Xie Huai sounded arrogant, “Tell me who laughs at you, I’ll deal with them when I get back.”
Xiaxia switched the phone to her other ear, hearing Cai Yun and her companions whispering behind her.
“It’s too dramatic like they’re trying to show off.”
“Look at Xiaxia acting all exaggerated. I don’t believe she didn’t look in the mirror this morning. What’s she pretending for?”
“Let me tell you,” Cai Yun said maliciously, “At first, Xie Huai didn’t pay any attention to her. She shamelessly chased him for two years before stealing him from Zhao Shanqi. Now that they’re together, she can’t help but show off. Such low class, it’s ridiculous.”
“Not to mention her family background. If she hadn’t been so persistent, what guy would have chosen her over Zhao Shanqi?”
Xiaxia lowered the phone’s volume, first quietly telling Xie Huai “It’s okay,” then coldly spoke up: “Cai Yun, say it louder if you dare. I can hear you gossiping behind my back clearly. Those who know you might think you’re afraid others will hear you’re a gossip, those who don’t might think you’re scared to say it to my face.”
Cai Yun: “……”
Xie Huai laughed on the other end: “Sister Xia is fierce, fighting her own battles, handling everything herself. Doesn’t that make me look useless as a boyfriend?”
He said: “Put Cai Yun on.”
Xiaxia: “Let it go.”
“Give it to her.”
Xiaxia turned around, offering the phone to Cai Yun in the back seat: “My Brother Huai wants to talk to you.”
Cai Yun, already pale from Xiaxia’s retort, turned green when she heard Xie Huai wanted to speak to her.
She looked up disdainfully: “Why should I answer?”
Xiaxia put it on speaker, and Xie Huai’s lazy voice came through: “Cai Yun, be careful when you talk behind our Xiaxia’s back. If your voice gets too loud, your words too harsh, your attitude too poor, or you dare make up nonsense, watch out when I return.”
The previously noisy bus fell silent.
Cai Yun’s mouth twitched. While she could talk back to Xiaxia, she was terrified of Xie Huai and couldn’t say a word to him.
She rolled her eyes and pretended to look at the scenery outside.
Xiaxia turned off the speaker.
Xie Huai’s voice carried a smile: “Did you see my love letter?”
“No.”
“Open it and look,” Xie Huai said before hanging up.
Xiaxia found the love letter at the bottom of the plastic bag, wondering what there was to see in the messy paper.
She unfolded it and found new writing in the blank space at the bottom.
Xie Huai’s handwriting was usually ugly, crooked like chicken scratch, but these lines were written very formally, each stroke made with force, the ink bleeding through to the back of the paper.
Xiaxia’s fingertips traced his writing, her eyes growing warm with tears.
[To Xiaxia:
I used to think the time before I was sixteen was the best part of my life.
After sixteen, everything turned upside down. I went through periods of depression, and self-destruction, and questioned why I was alive.
For a long time, I couldn’t find a reason to live. Faced with endless darkness and unpayable debts, the only thought that kept me going was taking care of my mom. Now my life plans include you too.
I hesitated before, afraid of bringing you into my world and not being able to protect you, afraid of making promises I couldn’t keep, afraid you’d suffer with me, following me as I hide and wander.
I thought I could hold back from revealing my feelings to you, but I overestimated my self-control.
They say twenty is a girl’s best age, but at twenty, I have nothing.
Since the day you said you liked me, I often dream of you, and when I wake up, I feel that perhaps life’s best moments aren’t limited to sixteen.
With you by my side, every day’s sunshine feels bright and beautiful.
I will do everything I can to work for our future, to show you what our future looks like, to protect you.
I regret not meeting you a few years earlier, but from today on, I will do everything in my power to never let you suffer any grievance.
And you, you don’t need to do anything.
I just want you to be happy and carefree every day.
From today on, I want to hear you say every day: Brother Huai, I love you.
I love you too.
—Xie Huai.]
The letter was brief, written by Xie Huai that morning, without flowery words or deep sentiments.
Xiaxia finished reading it in a minute, imagining Xie Huai chewing on his pen and fidgeting as he struggled to write, and couldn’t help but smile.
She folded the tattered letter carefully and stored it preciously in her bag’s inner compartment.
The bus started moving, slowly driving along the cliff-side road.
The lush summer mountain scenery rushed past her eyes. Xiaxia pressed her forehead against the window, where the sunlight warmed the glass.
Basking in the warm sun, drowsiness overcame her.
She had a brief dream.
She dreamed of sixteen-year-old Xie Huai, when he was young and naive, full of spirit, every word arrogant, every smile unrestrained. He stood in the sunlight, in the most brilliant and dazzling place, while sixteen-year-old Xiaxia only dared to stand in the dark, damp corner, watching him from afar.
She saw thick clouds scraping across the horizon, blocking the brilliant sunlight. She saw the young man standing lost in the darkness, fierce winds bringing storms head-on, young Xie Huai trudging alone through thorns and brambles, walking in the deepest darkness.
Xiaxia ran to Xie Huai’s side, taking his hand without hesitation.
The path ahead was cold and muddy. Xie Huai turned to look at her, and Xiaxia’s eyes sparkled as she smiled, creating a crescent moon shape. She didn’t say a word, just held his hand tightly.
The bus slowed down, and Xiaxia woke from her dream.
Jiang Zhouzhou was checking his social media feed, and her eyes inadvertently caught sight of him looking at Xie Huai’s recent post.
Xie Huai’s feed, which usually only contained advertisements and links, surprisingly posted a selfie today.
In the photo, Xie Huai looked handsome, his features full of pure youthful energy.
Xiaxia saw that on his face, he had drawn a pig’s head identical to hers, with a heart behind it and “Xiaxia” written after it.
Xiaxia opened her phone to find Xie Huai’s message: [Couple’s mark, do you like it?]
Xiaxia: [Silly.]
After typing those two characters, she remembered Xie Huai’s letter. Her fingers moved slightly, and she added:
[Brother Huai, I love you.]