Yan Xi remembered something and smiled: “At worst, I’ll just live up to the title of ‘high-ranking official’s son.'”
Even if he couldn’t get into his preferred school, he still had a powerful grandfather backing him up.
Ah Heng pondered: “That would be fine too.”
Her tone was calm, but it startled Yan Xi. Given Ah Heng’s usual stubborn and conservative nature, she seemed to consider relying on family connections shameful, yet surprisingly, this girl would say such words today.
The young man’s eyes glistened, remaining silent.
However, something in his heart had settled like falling dust.
Half a minute later, the phone rang again. Ah Heng answered, and whatever the other party said made her eyes fluctuate with emotion while she pressed her lips tightly together, her expression barely changing.
“What is it?” he asked after she hung up.
Ah Heng gazed out the window for a long while before her lips finally curved into a smile: “Yan Xi, Grandfather said that although you didn’t score as well as me, you did extremely well.” Grandfather rarely praised anyone, so this “extremely” carried significant weight.
And so, fate created the most perfect timing and circumstances for us.
Yan Xi didn’t react for a moment, staring at Ah Heng in surprise: “Then why are you being so dramatic!” He rushed forward to hug her, breaking into a smile, his lips forming a heart shape, “Ah Heng, Ah Heng, we’re going to university together.”
When he said “together,” her eyes grew increasingly gentle and beautiful.
“Yan Xi, you won’t regret it?” she asked him.
The young man smiled, days of worry pouring away as he fell backward onto the floor, closing his eyes and asking lazily: “Regret what?”
Ah Heng thought for a moment and felt she was being muddleheaded, wondering how she could ask such a senseless question.
“It’s nothing.” Perhaps she was just too happy and overthinking things.
Ah Heng, Yan Xi, Xin Dayi, and Chen Juan all scored well above the first-round admission line. With good college applications, getting into a good university wouldn’t be a problem. Especially Ah Heng, who ranked first in Xilin for the first time under such circumstances, her future looked brilliantly promising.
After receiving the college application forms and returning to the Wen family for advice from the elders, the Wen household instantly erupted into chaos.
On one side, Grandfather Wen gleefully pointed at the glittering “B University” on the application form: “This one is good.” He had this thought: grandson at Q University, granddaughter at B University, the two highest institutions in the country – even if their ancestors’ graves were dug up, they could still hold their heads high.
Mother Wen subtly and casually pointed at the famous F University: “Actually, this one would work too.” Entering B University would make valedictorian uncertain; entering F University, though slightly lower ranked than B University, would guarantee valedictorian status. Not having achieved valedictorian last year had left her quite disappointed.
“Q University is better, I’m familiar with the environment, and I can look after Ah Heng when she gets there.” Si Gan glanced at Yan Xi, knowing that although his grades made Q University uncertain, Grandfather still had several recommendation spots available each year, so there was nothing to worry about.
This was what you’d call an indirect approach.
Si Er looked at the scheming family members, old and young, and sneered: “Have you all forgotten about Dad?”
Everyone pretended not to hear, as the three factions argued heatedly.
“B University is good, they have good food, good reputation, good academic atmosphere.”
“F University is good, everyone there is smart. Even if you go in stupid, you come out a genius. I heard even scammers and poster-stickers don’t dare enter their school, afraid of being conned themselves.”
“Q University is good, with fewer disturbances, less dating, even the suicide rate is decreasing yearly. Most importantly, if it’s not good, why did you make me go there!”
…
The first round ended in a draw, faces red and necks swollen. The two elders went off angrily to drink water, while a dimpled youth spent half the day rigidly massaging his face.
Turning to look at the sofa, it was empty.
“When did those two leave?” Si Gan wondered, puzzled how she hadn’t noticed.
Si Er laughed: “When you were talking about jumping off buildings and suicide.”
Si Gan was embarrassed: “Ah?”
Si Er pursed her lips: “When you were saying your school’s suicide-by-jumping rate was decreasing yearly. But brother, doesn’t your jaw hurt from telling such lies? Wasn’t there someone who committed suicide just the other day at your school?”
Si Gan stammered: “Well, that one didn’t jump off a building, they jumped into the water to commit suicide. I wasn’t lying.”
Yes, suicide by jumping off buildings was decreasing yearly, while suicide by jumping into water to join Qu Yuan was increasing yearly.
Xin Dayi, being an only child and only grandson, was nagged by the Xin family elders all day. He escaped through the first-floor bathroom window under the pretense of using the toilet and met up with Ah Heng and Yan Xi.
“Let’s go have some fun,” said Xin Dayi. Ever since the results came out, he’d been living miserably, bombarded daily by aunts and relatives, all saying “Oh, our Dayi is such a good boy,” practically wanting to each take a bite out of him in their embraces. Poor little Dayi, typically simple and well-behaved in front of elders, had been holding it in so much he nearly developed constipation.
“Where to?” Yan Xi was also bored stiff.
Xin Dayi spoke grandly: “Let’s go karaoke, my treat. My great-aunt just gave me a red envelope.”
Ah Heng remembered Yan Xi’s singing and twitched: “Just the three of us? That’s… a bit too few.”
With no one to compete with this self-satisfied fellow for the microphone, her ears probably wouldn’t survive.
Xin Dayi thought about it and agreed – going out was about having fun, the more people the merrier.
“Should we invite Si Er, Si Gan, and Sun Peng along?”
Ah Heng thought for a moment and smiled: “Mary must be bored alone at home, let’s invite him too.”
Xin Dayi initially didn’t want to, but thinking how Ah Heng rarely actively requested anything, he nodded in agreement.
If asked whether he and Chen Juan were friends, he would shake his head; but if asked whether they were enemies, he would probably hesitate for a few seconds before still shaking his head.
His feelings toward Chen Juan were too complex. Although they didn’t get along, their two years as deskmates and three years as classmates easily brought to mind the word “companionship.”
He disliked everything about that person – their character, conduct, style, likes, and dislikes. He constantly criticized and opposed them, even wondering how that love at first sight years ago could have been so chaotic.
Perhaps it was because they were young then.
QG was a very atmospheric KTV, with a very down-to-earth style. It was packed every night, with people coming and going, and ghostly howls could be heard from far away.
With Xin Dayi’s treatment, the group went up to a private room on the third floor. Walking up the stairs, they could feel the vibrations with each step.
Ah Heng had never been to such a place before. Curious, she looked toward the corridor with its changing colored lights, vaguely seeing figures embracing, but Yan Xi blocked her view.
The young man’s face was slightly red, and Ah Heng understood somewhat, shifting her gaze only to meet Si Er’s eyes. This girl looked at her coldly, with an indescribable awkwardness.
Ah Heng sighed – would she and Si Er always be like this?
Sun Peng noticed and smiled, gently ruffling Si Er’s long hair: “Little beauty, are you upset again?”
Si Er rolled her eyes: “Who’s upset?”
Sun Peng laughed even louder, his eyes sparkling: “Even your eye-rolling is just like your brother’s.”
Si Gan punched him: “Stop slandering people, when have I ever rolled my eyes?”
Mary smiled with radiant charm – after seeing confused people all day, finally someone smart appeared.
Sun Peng turned and seeing the beauty, smiled quite rakishly: “I’ve never seen this beautiful lady before. What’s your surname and name, how old are you, are you married?”
Mary pretended to blush and batted her eyelashes coquettishly.
Xin Dayi shuddered and rudely pushed Mary: “You damn transvestite, can you stop being so disgusting? You’ve even pulled out a centuries-old silk scarf to wrap around your neck – aren’t you afraid of getting heat rash!”
Chen Juan remained calm, secretly kicking him while whispering: “If I get heat rash I’ll buy powder and I’ll enjoy it. If you ruin my romance, do you believe I’ll haunt you for life?”
Xin Dayi trembled but after thinking, still gritted his teeth and stood between Sun and Chen, blocking their view of each other. Better to let this damn transvestite haunt him for life than let them corrupt his brother.
Neither male nor female, their destructive power… was too great.
Sun Peng laughed, leaning sideways against Yan Xi to watch the show.
Yan Xi pushed him, but he didn’t move. Pushed again, but still no movement. Glancing sideways, he opened his mouth, showing gleaming white teeth, ready to bite.
As the server opened the private room door with the key card, Sun Peng teased in a low voice: “Young Master Yan, rest your mouth for a moment. I have something to tell you – you can bite after I’m done.”
The lighting outside the room was already extremely dim and ambiguous. No one saw the small interaction between the two as they filed in one after another.
Sun Peng pulled the young man to a dark corner at the end of the hallway. Yan Xi smiled insincerely and asked: “Well, what is it?”
Sun Peng wore an extremely wistful expression as he spoke softly: “Someone asked me to ask you if you still remember the four-year promise?”
Yan Xi was somewhat confused – four years, four years, what was it? It seemed so distant now.
Suddenly, from the depths of his memory emerged a pair of eyes, starlight flowing within them, frozen in cold absoluteness, steady and overwhelming.
The young man smiled, his expression losing much of its animation: “Is he in Vienna now, or America?”
Sun Peng’s face showed a hint of craftiness and mischief as he reached up to playfully pinch Yan Xi’s cheek: “When he called me yesterday, his phone number had already changed to a domestic one.”
He had… returned?
The young man was stunned, not even noticing the pain in his cheeks, lost in thought. After a while, he lowered his eyes and smiled faintly: “It’s good that he’s back. After… Ah Heng, Dayi, and I submit our college applications in a few days, we’ll hold a welcome party for him.”
Sun Peng let go, seeing the red marks his pinch had left on Yan Xi’s fair face. Feeling somewhat awkward that the other hadn’t fought back, he patted his shoulder: “He probably doesn’t have time to see you all right now. He’s gathering evidence, preparing to take down Lin Ruomei’s power base in one strike.”
Yan Xi frowned: “Have the Lin family’s people become so rampant in the Lu corporation?”
Sun Peng stroked his chin, his expression turning serious: “Not exactly, Old Master Lu is still holding things together. The in-laws are just borrowing the tiger’s might. But you know Lu Liu always keeps his word – when he said four years, he meant exactly four years.”
Years ago, after Lu’s father died early, Lu Liu was still young when Lin Ruomei took control of the Lu corporation. To better control the company, she replaced many veteran staff members, installing her family members in various departments and suppressing the Lu family everywhere. For a time, relations between Lin Ruomei and Old Master Lu became very tense. Then, because Old Master Lu was close to his grandson and feared her son would grow distant from her due to his grandfather’s influence, she hardened her heart and sent Lu Liu to study abroad. In recent years, the Lin and Lu factions have been fighting a life-and-death struggle for power within the corporation.
Yan Xi remembered something and spoke flatly: “How does Lu Liu treat Lin Ruomei?”
Sun Peng recalled Lu Liu’s methods of dealing with his birth mother – clean, cruel, without any emotion – which was very strange. He only vaguely said: “He has control of the company’s board of directors but hasn’t made his final move yet.”
Yan Xi leaned his head against the wall, wall powder faintly visible between his fingers, his black hair gleaming with a dark purple under the light. He remained motionless as if time had weathered away on him. After a very long time, he finally spoke, his tone at last showing acceptance: “Sun Peng, help me convey a message too.”
“What message?”
“Yan Xi has Yan Xi’s grudges, Lu Liu has Lu Liu’s grudges. I am me, you are you – we’re separate matters.”
Yan Xi turned his head, his fragmentary gaze following a crack toward the private room. Under the scattered light, human forms were blurry and unclear. That smiling someone, like a moon flower in bloom, seemed to be very, very close now.
For an instant, a black and white movie.
In those eyes, distinct tenderness.
When Yan Xi and Sun Peng returned to the private room, Si Er was saying something to Ah Heng in the corner. Seeing Yan Xi enter, Si Er’s lips curved in a fleeting smile that seemed challenging.
Ah Heng looked up, saw the two of them, smiled, and nodded slightly, swirling the golden liquid in her hand.
Ten-yuan large draft beer.
Sun Peng glanced at Yan Xi with a very, very sympathetic expression. Yan Xi rolled his eyes and squeezed in to sit among the others.
Si Gan was furrowing his brows in concentration, his face constipated-looking, singing “I Love You But You Love Someone Else” very emotionally, his gaze turning mournfully toward Yan Xi several times, making everyone twitch.
Just as everyone was breathing a sigh of relief after Si Gan finished his constipated performance, the screen displayed “Passerby A.” As they were wondering who had chosen it, Mary had already grabbed the microphone in extreme indignation and began wailing: “…I’m the passerby you forget as soon as you turn away… I’m this nameless, faceless passerby A…”
Every time the words “Passerby A” came up, they would howl it at Yan Xi, making his heart tremble.
This fellow must have also heard about Lu Liu’s return.
Sun Peng, not understanding the situation, admiringly stared with stars in his eyes: “Damn, Yan Xi, you’re too amazing – even such a perfect beauty has something going on with you?”
Yan Xi responded unceremoniously by kicking his canvas shoe into Sun Peng’s face: “I have something going on with you too, damn it!”
Sun Peng’s cultured face smiled: “I’d welcome it, but I’m afraid Ah Heng would come after me.”
Suddenly, he remembered something and spoke to Yan Xi with interest: “Hey, hey, what do you think – does Ah Heng know that you know she likes you?”
The sound system in the private room was very loud; if you weren’t sitting close together, you couldn’t hear conversations at all.
Yan Xi was stunned, slowly relaxing backward, letting his entire weight sink into the sofa, the corner of his lips lifting in a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
Their group stayed at the KTV until dawn, not singing many songs but drinking plenty of beer. Mary dragged Ah Heng into drinking together, nearly finishing an entire bucket – no one could stop them. In the end, both were stumbling drunk.
There were few taxis on the street by then. Everyone figured since home wasn’t far, they might as well walk back. As for the two drunk ones, they could take turns carrying them.
But Yan Xi disagreed, preferring to walk slower and tire himself rather than let anyone else carry Ah Heng home.
On his back, she was unusually well-behaved.
“Yan Xi.” The girl spoke drunkenly, softly calling his name.
Yan Xi glanced at her: “Silly, drinking so much – don’t you know it’ll make you feel awful?”
“Yan Xi.” She called very seriously, her voice lifting gently then falling slowly.
Yan Xi.
Yan Xi sighed helplessly, a slight smile playing at his lips, his gaze becoming gentle and clear: “Such simple feelings – you thought you were the only one hiding them deeply, that no one else knew.”
This silly child who couldn’t even say “Yan Xi, I like you.”
So silly.
She suddenly began crying on his back, sobbing, large teardrops soaking completely into his shirt.
“Yan Xi… Si Er said… you’re nice to me… you’re so nice to me… because you want me to pressure Grandfather to break off the engagement… so… you can be with Lu Liu…”
Yan Xi’s body trembled slightly. In an instant, emotion disappeared from his expression as he silently continued carrying her forward.
“Yan Xi… Si Er said you like Lu Liu… like him very, very much… even more than I like you…
“She said… the braised pork rice wasn’t calling for braised pork… I misunderstood… it was always calling for Lu Liu… you taught it that…”
The girl kept crying softly, having held it in for too long, her voice becoming hoarse. Even as she lost consciousness, she was still holding back.
“Yan Xi… do you… regret… saying you want to… be together…”
He had said, “Ah Heng, Ah Heng, we’re going to university together.”
Together, a very far, very far together – going to school together, leaving school together, eating together, watching cartoons together, holding hands together, walking forward.
Four years ago, when Lu Liu left, he gave him a stupid parrot. No matter what he taught it, it wouldn’t say anything except the two words “Lu Liu.” These two words were taught by Lu Liu himself.
This bird wasn’t much better than a canary. Even if he gave it medicine and set it free, it couldn’t go very far away, could only stay by his side for a long, long time, reminding him that there was someone in the world called Lu Liu.
He sighed slightly, frowning, his eyes clear as he spoke plainly: “Ah Heng, although I don’t understand how much your ‘like very, very much’ means, but if you can wait a little longer, wait for me, I want to be with you.
“I want to try… to like you very, very much.”