Tang Yang asked Jiang Shiyan to repeat himself.
In such situations, if Jiang Shiyan had been thinking clearly, he should have immediately tried to appease her. Song Jing couldn’t believe that Jiang Shiyan repeated himself like a sulking wife!
Tang Yang was so angry she gritted her teeth.
Song Jing nearly burst into tears from laughter.
It was then that Jiang Shiyan noticed a familiar man standing not far behind Tang Yang, wearing a crisp shirt and looking as bright as the moon.
Jiang Shiyan’s tears suddenly stopped, leaving him dazed and confused.
Song Jing pointed at Jiang Shiyan and said to Tang Yang in an amused voice, “Your boy seems a bit unhappy. Should I leave?”
Tang Yang could only respond with a helpless “Mm.”
Jiang Shiyan finally came to his senses.
“Who the hell are you calling a boy, you bamboo pole?” The best way to cover up embarrassment is to put on a show of bravado, and Jiang Shiyan didn’t hold back. He stuck his head out of the car window and shouted, “You’re only ten months and fourteen days older than me—”
Tang Yang raised her hand to cover Jiang Shiyan’s mouth.
She didn’t even look at Jiang Shiyan as she nodded to Song Jing.
Instead of leaving immediately, Song Jing approached with an amused expression. Jiang Shiyan’s handsome face wrinkled with tension.
Song Jing stopped beside Tang Yang, and Jiang Shiyan watched him nervously.
As Song Jing took his hand out of his pocket, Jiang Shiyan held his breath.
To their surprise, Song Jing’s hand reached past Tang Yang and gently rested on top of Jiang Shiyan’s head.
Both Tang Yang and Jiang Shiyan were stunned for a moment.
“You’ve become quite handsome,” Song Jing said, looking into Jiang Shiyan’s eyes with a faint smile.
Back in middle school, when people mocked Jiang Shiyan as a “fat boy,” he never said anything but felt uncomfortable inside. Song Jing would stand beside him and say, “My chubby bro looks good even when he’s fat. Whether he wants to lose weight or not is up to him.” Song Jing would then turn to those people with a cutting remark, “But an ugly face will always be ugly, no matter how thin you get.”
Looking back now, Song Jing had quite a talent for recognizing beauty. However, using the word “handsome” sounded like he was complimenting a fourteen or fifteen-year-old adolescent boy.
Jiang Shiyan snorted disdainfully.
Song Jing lowered his hand and said to him, “Take care of yourself.”
Jiang Shiyan glanced at Song Jing.
Still unperturbed, Song Jing leaned towards Jiang Shiyan’s ear and said in a voice just loud enough to hear, “I didn’t hug your girlfriend.”
Jiang Shiyan’s eyelashes trembled. One second, two seconds, three seconds passed. With an indignant expression, he suddenly threw a punch at Song Jing’s shoulder.
The impact looked heavy but wasn’t that strong, producing a dull thud.
Tang Yang witnessed this scene and was so angry with Jiang Shiyan that she couldn’t speak.
To make matters worse, Song Jing continued to fan the flames: “Don’t fight, don’t fight. The child needs care—”
Jiang Shi Yan’s mouth moved under Tang Yang’s hand: “Who are you calling a child again—”
Tang Yang took a deep breath: “Jiang Shiyan!!”
Jiang Shiyan reluctantly fell silent. Song Jing stopped teasing him and left, stifling his laughter.
Tang Yang and Jiang Shiyan watched as Song Jing walked away, waving his hand with his back to them, his figure growing smaller and smaller until it merged with the flickering neon lights.
Song Jing wanted to explain to Tang Yang that during the period before their breakup, his unusual state wasn’t due to the saying “there are no filial children by a long-sick bed” or heartbreak. Rather, it was a sudden outburst of negative emotions accumulated since childhood. During that time, countless nights, he uncontrollably paced outside his mother’s hospital room, wanting to tear off her oxygen mask, afraid she might be revived, afraid she might be cured.
During that time, he truly didn’t dare to contact Tang Yang.
Tang Yang’s home had floor-to-ceiling windows; she grew up bathed in bright sunlight. But his childhood home was damp and dark, like the most treacherous rainforest. Sticky vines wove a dense, impenetrable net, and he was a creature living in the crevices – base, perverse, and twisted. He was afraid to have any communication with Tang Yang, afraid that through his words, she would see the bloody red that filled his eyes.
When he met Tang Yang, Song Jing realized that too much time had passed, and it seemed unnecessary to bring it up anymore.
This was good enough. Seeing them had filled him with a light bright enough to illuminate his path.
As they gradually forget him, he too will gradually forget them…
—
Tang Yang had saved face for Jiang Shiyan in front of Song Jing.
Only after Song Jing had completely disappeared did she adopt a stern expression: “What were you doing just now? Do you think you’re the only one who can curse? Cursing at me? Cursing at Song Jing?”
When Yang Yang and Song Jing arrived, Jiang Shiyan had vaguely guessed something but didn’t dare to confirm it.
As Tang Yang criticized him, he wanted to speak, but Yang Yang’s soft, fragrant little hand was still pressed against his mouth. He swallowed hard, turning his head to control the urge in his heart… the urge to kiss her.
Tang Yang noticed Jiang Shiyan’s uncertainty.
Jiang Shiyan wanted to open the door to let Tang Yang into the car, but Tang Yang gestured for him to sit properly in the driver’s seat. Jiang Shiyan complied.
The night breeze rustled softly, gently brushing their cheeks. Tang Yang stood half a head taller than him, looking down at him, taking deep breaths to adjust her emotions.
The silence between them lasted for a long time. Finally, Tang Yang sighed, and her soft voice mixed with the night breeze.
“A long time ago, I felt I had someone I liked, had feelings of liking someone, but at that time, everyone’s attention was on Song Jing, including mine,” she said, sounding somewhat helpless.
So, was his guess right or wrong?
So, had Yang Yang come to seriously break up with him?
Jiang Shiyan slowly raised his head, staring at Tang Yang.
Tang Yang met his gaze and continued: “When I first started dating Song Jing, it did feel like being in love, a kind of interaction similar to what I have with you, very comfortable.” Tang Yang mentioned some details. “But as time went on, in Song Jing’s words, he and I were like people from two different worlds, unrelated to love, just maintaining friendly relations.”
Tang Yang said: “Just like officials in diplomatic settings, we cautiously wrapped ourselves in cling film before interacting with each other. Neither of us was willing to tear it off first, to be honest first. It looked beautiful, but because it was beautiful, it wasn’t real.”
“I don’t know what real is,” Tang Yang gazed into Jiang Shiyan’s eyes, seeing a clear and complete reflection of herself. She said softly, “I only know that when I hear you talk about how good Chang Xinyi is, I respond with ‘that’s our Xinyi,’ but I feel disappointed inside; I only know that when I heard about you dating, even though I was in a relationship myself and should have congratulated you openly, I couldn’t even bring myself to call you; I only know that I’ve never been honest with you about this: when I heard you broke up while consoling you, I also went out with my roommate and ordered thirteen-spice crayfish. As for the reason for treating them, it seems it was to celebrate Kazakhstan negotiating a trade agreement with our country.”
Jiang Shiyan could hardly believe his ears, his eyes slowly widening.
Tang Yang maintained her unhurried pace: “It seems I was using the name of friendship, harboring careful and obscure thoughts, and the excuse of friendship was too noble,” Tang Yang laughed self-deprecatingly, “so noble that I couldn’t recognize myself.”
Jiang Shiyan looked up at Tang Yang. She stood backlit under the streetlights, her makeup exquisite, her eyebrows long and delicate.
Her eyes were dark and bright, her expression clear and articulate. But for some reason, Jiang Shiyan felt that every word she said was like cotton, stuffing into his chest one small ball at a time, warmly filling and expanding, leaving him only able to stare at her dazedly, without any ability to think.
” I’m not that addicted to gaming. I prefer reading leisurely books, but you’re good at games, so I wanted to learn and play, to play with you. When we play together, I can be very happy, and even when we’re not playing, it seems we have more common topics to talk about,” Tang Yang said.
Jiang Shiyan’s heart was pounding.
Tang Yang said: “I know what university my scores can get me into, and I’m not too obsessed with rankings, but every time I get first place, you always shout ‘my Yang ge is so strong,’ ‘crushing everyone,’ ‘there’s no pain without comparison, wuwuwu,'” Tang Yang smiled, “So I always can’t help but want to tease you a bit, to see you pretend to be devastated while being happy for me.”
Jiang Shiyan opened his mouth.
Tang Yang’s palm was slightly warm as she moved it away from his mouth: “A bit later, when you were in City A and I was in City B, we would chat, like each other’s posts, and I would look at the clouds and the weather and occasionally think of you. At that time, you would call me every Friday night… When my project schedule was packed,” Tang Yang said softly, “I would pull an all-nighter on Thursday.”
At that time, all the tutors in the department knew that Tang Yang’s brain would short-circuit every Friday night, and she couldn’t take on any tasks.
But Tang Yang just wanted to clear her mind, wanted to hear Jiang Shiyan bouncing around on the phone.
Jiang Shiyan stared blankly at Tang Yang, unable to make a sound.
Tang Yang had a mild obsession with cleanliness, but at this moment, she cupped Jiang Shiyan’s face, gently using her fingertips to wipe away the tears from the corners of his eyes.
Tang Yang’s movements were slow and gentle, half out of heartache, feeling sorry for his cautious state of mind when talking about breaking up, and half out of self-reproach, blaming herself for getting emotional last night, for knowing he was sensitive but not realizing he was this sensitive, for not explaining things earlier, letting her big puppy Jiang cry like this, tears streaming down his face, crying so much that her own heart ached faintly.
Tang Yang’s fingers traced his cheeks with tenderness.
“People probably become greedier over time,” Tang Yang continued, “In the past, one phone call a week was enough to give me a relatively stable state. Last year when I was doing research in the town, you called me sounding lost and confused. My dad described me as,” Tang Yang said self-mockingly, “frantically wanting to return to City A, wanting to be closer to you as a friend, at least to be able to hug you when you needed a hug.”
“But after staying by your side, after those complex emotions were confirmed as love, I wanted to be with you all the time,” Tang Yang said, “Business trips would make me sad, long-distance would make me sad, even when you occasionally went back to your old home, I would feel time passing slowly,” Tang Yang said, “Love probably started a bit earlier than when we confirmed our relationship, and I want to extend the time limit to a lifetime.”
Tang Yang had always been good at hiding her feelings. But now, separated by a car door, she was almost nakedly presenting the deepest parts of her heart to the person inside the car.
Jiang Shiyan was dazzled by the sparkling light in her eyes, feeling as if his soul had been drawn out.
Tang Yang gazed into his eyes like this, saying word by word: “I want to wake up every morning and see you, I want to be with you at noon, I want to take walks home with you in the evening, passing under clouds of different colors in the sky.”
Tang Yang said: “I want to walk forward with you, I want to climb up together, walk forward together, to a suitable position where we can realize our value. I want to dedicate myself to you wholeheartedly, and possess you to an equal degree.”
“I want to establish a connection of life with you,” Tang Yang said with her usual gentleness, composure, and love reserved only for him. She looked at Jiang Shiyan and spoke very slowly, “I want to grow old with you, from seventeen or eighteen to seventy-eight. I want to walk with you through the long and crowded years of youth, middle age, and old age. I want to go from being someone else’s children and grandchildren to having white hair and grandchildren around our knees.”
Even when Jiang Shiyan grows old, he will surely be different from others.
He might use her curling iron to curl his few sparse white hairs and put on cologne to look good when attending their grandchildren’s parent-teacher meetings. He’d probably act like he does when playing with her now, pretending in front of the kids, saying, “Oh, grandpa can’t play games anymore. I’m old and my hands shake. Don’t scold Grandpa if I play poorly, you should respect the elderly.” Then he’d turn around and get a headshot kill, secretly gloating at the kids’ shocked faces…
The scene was heartwarming. As Tang Yang imagined it and smiled, her eyes unexpectedly became slightly moist.
“So…” Jiang Shiyan’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.
“Hmm?” Tang Yang responded with smiling eyes.
“So,” Jiang Shiyan began cautiously, as if afraid of disturbing a roosting night bird, “you might not have liked Song Jing that much before, and you might have liked me all along, but you, like me, didn’t realize it?”
Jiang Shiyan’s tone was careful.
What does he mean by “might”? After pouring her heart out, in his eyes, it’s just a casual “might”? Was his Chinese taught by the PE teacher?
The curve of Tang Yang’s lips froze in place like a sticker.
“So,” Jiang Shiyan noticed Tang Yang’s change in expression and asked even more carefully, “so you won’t abandon me after starting this…”
Tang Yang couldn’t believe what Jiang Shiyan was saying, so angry she didn’t know how to react.
Jiang Shiyan swallowed and asked in a very small voice, “So you definitely won’t get back together with Song Jing, won’t marry him, won’t send me an invitation to your wedding with him—”
So he hadn’t listened to a word she’d just said, so his crying was because he was thinking about her getting back together with Song Jing, even getting married, and sending invitations?!
Tang Yang exploded in anger: “Jiang Shiyan, is your brain full of water?!” Her eyes suddenly reddened as she shouted, “Don’t you think before you speak?! How can you imagine so much nonsense? Why don’t you go eat shit?! Go eat shit, okay?!”
The moment Tang Yang’s eyes welled up with tears, Jiang Shiyan suddenly realized how wrong he was. He slapped himself hard across the face and tried to open the car door to pull Tang Yang in: “Yang Yang, I’m clumsy with words, Yang Yang, I’m stupid, Yang Yang, don’t be mad at me, Yang Yang, don’t be angry—”
“I’m not angry, I’m not angry,” Tang Yang held the car door from outside to prevent Jiang Shiyan from getting out. She scrolled through her phone while using a sarcastic tone to throw Jiang Shiyan’s words back at him, “How dare I get angry? After all, I’m the scum woman carrying the big pot of abandonment, who was it that labeled me again, let me think…”
Tang Yang tapped her temple with her index finger, “Oh, I remember, it was my boyfriend,” Tang Yang’s eyes were red, but her lips wore a smile. She spoke to Jiang Shiyan in the tone of gossiping neighborhood aunties, “You don’t know, my boyfriend is quite something. Just a few days ago he was saying he’d be good to me for a lifetime, and the next moment he’s imagining me marrying someone else. One second I’m praising him as perfect and magnanimous in front of others, the next second he’s throwing a tantrum like a pro… Oh right, do you know what he did when I was thinking about his cough and hurried back to buy him pear soup?” Tang Yang pulled up Jiang Shiyan’s messages and held the phone in front of his eyes, reading word by word, “Tang Yang, let’s break up, let’s break up.”
Jiang Shiyan was both distressed for Yang Yang and cursed himself for being stupid. His eyes were almost crossed from looking at the phone so closely, but he didn’t care.
He wanted to hold Yang Yang’s hand, and Tang Yang didn’t dodge, just staring at him with those teary eyes.
Jiang Shiyan’s hand was about to touch Yang Yang’s slender white wrist when he stopped.
“Yang Yang, don’t be angry, I’ll eat shit, okay?” Jiang Shiyan, facing Tang Yang’s tears, wanted to kneel before his sweetheart, “I’ll never mention breaking up again, I’m a bastard,” Jiang Shiyan, shameless and without bottom line, said as he raised both hands to his mouth, pretending to take big bites, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry, look, look, Jiang, the bastard is eating shit—”
“Fine, I’ll satisfy you,” Tang Yang stared at him for a few seconds, then patted his shoulder magnanimously, “You want to break up, then let’s break up. Break, break, break up quickly, I agree.”
With that, Tang Yang turned and walked away.
Jiang Shiyan pushed open the car door without closing it and chased after her.
Tang Yang walked ahead, carrying her bag.
Jiang Shiyan chased behind: “Yang Yang!”
He touched Tang Yang’s hand, but she shook him off.
Tang Yang was walking very quickly.
Jiang Shiyan kept pace and reached for her hand again: “Yang Yang!”
Tang Yang still brushed his hand away, still angry.
Angry that the big puppy Jiang was thinking such nonsense, angry that he kept mentioning breaking up, angry that he said he understood her so well, yet didn’t know how much she loved him. She was determined to break up, to teach the big puppy Jiang a lesson!
Tang Yang walked and thought, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
Jiang Shiyan followed closely behind her, constantly calling “Yang Yang,” and constantly having his hand pushed away.
Suddenly, he stopped chasing.
Tang Yang also slowed her pace.
“Have we broken up?” His tone was casual.
He couldn’t keep up after just ten meters?
Earlier, Tang Yang had been thinking about breaking up to teach him a lesson, but when Jiang Shiyan stopped, her heart felt as if it was being lowered into cold water on a string.
“Break up, sure, break up,” Tang Yang said sarcastically, still facing away from Jiang Shiyan, “How dare I not listen to what the great Jiang says,” she didn’t know how to fix the situation she had created out of impulse, her voice tinged with a faint bitterness, “That’s right, the proud son of heaven Jiang, says one means one, says three means three, says five means five…”
The night breeze rustled through the street trees, making both their clothes flutter and their hair dance wildly.
The dim streetlights spread across the ground. Tang Yang stood in front, her back to Jiang Shiyan, who stood two meters behind with his hands in his pockets, listening to her voice floating from ahead, a mix of complaint and pity…
“Tang Yang.” Jiang Shiyan spoke.
The person in front fell silent.
Jiang Shiyan looked at her back with soft eyes and called out, “Let me pursue you once.”
Tang Yang was stunned.
Song Jing had never pursued Tang Yang, and Jiang Shiyan had never pursued a girl either.
Jiang Shiyan said, “Since we’ve broken up, let’s start over. Not as friends who became lovers with lots of compromises, not as a makeshift relationship, not under the guise of companionship.”
Tang Yang turned around and saw this scene—
Behind the man was a street corner where people were passing by. He stood in the half-light, tall and straight.
Seeing her look at him.
“Tang Yang,” Jiang Shiyan gazed at her with focused eyes, his voice wrapped in a casual but gentle smile. He shouted to her, “Let me pursue you again, seriously and completely.”
Passersby around them looked over.
Tang Yang was flustered by his tone of declaring ownership, her ears burning. She broke into a smile, that heart that had been soaking in ice water now felt like it was melting into sweet ice cream, her whole body feeling sweet.
“You’re crazy,” Tang Yang rolled her eyes coquettishly, her ears red as she walked forward. “Is this how you pursue someone, so simple and crude? Don’t you need the person’s consent?”
Jiang Shiyan followed her, his tone and pace equally casual: “Well, do you agree or not?”
Tang Yang raised her chin haughtily: “No.”
Alright, alright, he’d have to handle his baby.
Jiang Shiyan patiently said: “Then let me ask again, do you agree or not?”
Tang Yang shook her head while dragging out her clear, sweet voice: “No—”
Jiang Shiyan flashed a mischievous smile, suddenly stepping sideways to block her path. Tang Yang, not paying attention, stepped on his shoe.
Jiang Shiyan put his hands behind his back and squatted down at the same time. Tang Yang abruptly and “actively” kissed him…
The sound of cars and people faded into the background as their dry lips met.
The warm touch seemed to push away all the surrounding noise.
This is on the street! With so many people! So many cars! This person is…
Tang Yang stepped back as if electrified, her little face burning red. She opened her eyes wide, covering her mouth and looking around while scolding him for being “shameless” and pretending to hit him.
Jiang Shiyan didn’t dodge, just crossed his arms and said coolly: “Exes shouldn’t get physical.”
He’s still holding a grudge about Song Jing grabbing her wrist!
Tang Yang, her face red, said “Oh,” then lowered her hand and walked past Jiang Shiyan. Jiang Shiyan didn’t care about leaving the car behind and followed her.
As they walked, Jiang Shiyan felt the mood was right and wanted to hold Tang Yang’s hand.
Tang Yang crisply imitated him: “Exes shouldn’t get physical.”
In the lingering night, Jiang Shiyan cleared his throat.
Both Tang Yang and Jiang Shiyan were people of their word. If they said they wouldn’t get physical, they truly wouldn’t.
The two walked under the streetlights, stepping on their shadows. As they walked, Tang Yang licked her lips and quietly extended her slender pinky finger behind her back, wiggling it up and down twice.
Jiang Shiyan had been longing for this. Seeing her gesture, he eagerly but quietly grasped her finger…
His calloused palm enveloped her smooth skin as they swung their hands while walking. He turned his head to look at her, while she kept her head down.
Her ear tips were red, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.
The warm evening breeze blew gently, and both their hearts tingled sweetly. They simultaneously lowered their heads, hiding their smiles.