DP Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Xiang Yiye walked down a sparsely populated street, accompanied only by the colorful lights on the trees and the swirling snowflakes under the streetlights.

He often thought that if he had to choose a place to spend his turbulent adolescence, there was no place more suitable than City M.

Such a straightforward and decisive city, with summer and winter at its extremes, was like the two distinct ends of life’s most vivid loves and hates. Wind, snow, dryness, chapping… those unstable and uncomfortable factors could actually make a deeper impression.

He liked City M, even though his personality was nothing like the city’s. From childhood to adulthood, emotional stability was the most common compliment he received from those around him. Even when boys his age were running away from home at fifteen or sixteen, he was reading in the classroom and playing ball on the sports field, not understanding why they had to argue over staying up all night playing games or engaging in early romances.

He had always followed the rules and never thought there was anything wrong with it. He thought that was just his personality, until later, after arguing with Father Xiang for many years about his life plans, he realized that his rebellious streak was a late-blooming plum.

In his previous life, his relationship with Father Xiang had reached a point where they couldn’t have a decent conversation once work came up. This led him to carry over his previous discontent and resentment into this new life.

Father Xiang probably didn’t understand either how Xiang Yiye, who had always been obedient, had become so sarcastic and argumentative after starting college.

Xiang Yiye found a sheltered spot, took out his phone, and prepared to find a hotel nearby.

In temperatures of more than ten degrees below zero, people would quickly freeze if they weren’t constantly moving to generate heat, and so would phones, with the battery draining incredibly fast. The remaining battery wouldn’t last long.

The notification bar contained dozens of missed calls, all from Qiao Sha. Xiang Yiye sent a message to Qiao Sha, telling her not to worry about him. As soon as he exited WeChat, a new message popped up.

Xu Chuo: “Little Yiye. If you have time in the next few days, come take a look here. I’ve left something for you, you’ll see it when you come. Happy New Year.” Followed by a location.

Was he still in City M? Xiang Yiye clicked on the location and found that it was a park less than 500 meters from his home, just in the opposite direction.

Xiang Yiye inexplicably felt that Xu Chuo was still in that park. Suppressed longing suddenly grew wildly and uncontrollably. He wanted to go to that park right now to find out, and turned to walk back.

In the winter nights of City M, the trees along the streets were bare. The temperature was such that no flowers or leaves grew, and the ground was covered in white snow, but the people of City M had their own ways of adding vitality.

The branches were covered with strings of lights, forming the shapes of flowers and leaves. The color saturation was a bit high, but Xu Chuo liked that brilliance. From a distance, they looked like solidified fireworks.

Under the lights, Xu Chuo was squatting, shaping a part of the snowdrift in front of him into the shape he envisioned. When he encountered areas that needed to be carefully carved, he would take off his gloves and use his fingers directly. He was carving with such focus that he didn’t notice anyone approaching behind him.

With his phone in his pocket, Xu Chuo reached into the hood of his parka, tapped his headset, and answered the call: “Hello?”

“Hello, Xu Chuo, turn around.” The voice was both inside and outside the headset.

Xu Chuo turned his head and saw Xiang Yiye, who was also wrapped up like a dumpling and covered in wind and snow. He smiled and said, “Why are you here so early?”

“You specifically chose a place so close to my house. Didn’t you think I would come early and ruin the surprise you prepared?” Xiang Yiye said, looking at the half-human-sized snow sculpture opposite him. His heart fluttered, but his voice was still cold: “What is this? An Oscar statuette?”

“An Oscar snowman,” Xu Chuo said, “I haven’t finished refining it yet, you’re too early.”

“Don’t do it anymore, it’s so cold, you’ll lose your hands.” Xiang Yiye touched Xu Chuo’s hand and found that it was frozen like ice. He held it in his palm and rubbed it for a long time but it wouldn’t warm up. He could only put it in his own pocket. “Aren’t you going home for New Year’s Eve? Aren’t your family worried?”

“My dad is abroad, and I’m the only one at home, so it doesn’t matter whether I go back or not. Besides, aren’t you the same, running away from home in this cold weather.” Xu Chuo said, “I live nearby. Aunt Wang just called me and said that you had a fight with your uncle and asked if you had contacted me.”

Xiang Yiye glanced at the snowman and said, “You went to all this trouble just to lure me here.”

“Not entirely.” Xu Chuo said, “I’ve been working on this for a few days, coming over for a while every day when it’s warmest at noon. I originally planned to tell you after I finished it.”

“You’re so old, why are you still doing this kind of thing?” Xiang Yiye felt a softness in his heart. “If you worked so hard to finish it and someone walked by during the day and kicked it because they didn’t like it, wouldn’t that be a waste? And if I didn’t come, how long would you have stayed here?”

“High risk, high reward. If you want to win someone over, you have to show some sincerity.” Xu Chuo said with a smile, pushing Xiang Yiye in front of the snowman, “Go up on stage and accept your award, Best Actor, give your acceptance speech.”

In his previous life, Xiang Yiye had not won any awards of significant value. He touched the lifelike head of the snowman and said, “I hope this winter can continue forever, so that it can stay forever.”

Xu Chuo said, “Silly, I’ll make you one every year from now on.”

Xiang Yiye habitually took Xu Chuo’s words as empty promises, putting his gloves back on for him while saying, “Let’s go back to the hotel, I’ve received your gift.”

Xu Chuo unzipped his jacket, revealing the lower half of his face, reached out and wrapped his arms around Xiang Yiye’s neck, nose to nose through the scarf, and said, “I’ll go back to your house with you, or you’ll come back to the hotel with me, you choose one.”

He was worried about him, Xiang Yiye thought. There were only a few hours left until the Lunar New Year, a night for family reunions, and Xu Chuo was squatting alone in the snow, sculpting a snowman, waiting for someone who might not come.

Thinking of this, Xiang Yiye couldn’t help but be moved.

Xu Chuo said, “I’ve been alone for the past few days, and at night too, you can come and check it out in person, you can check it however you want…”

Before he could finish speaking, Xiang Yiye pushed him away.

While Xu Chuo was still hesitating, Xiang Yiye took off his own scarf and put it around his neck, then grabbed the ends of the scarf with both hands and suddenly pulled him closer, pressing his lips against his.

Without encountering the slightest resistance, Xiang Yiye felt that Xu Chuo’s lips were cold, his teeth were warm, and his tongue was hot. Xu Chuo was surprised by his sudden progress and was stunned for a moment before responding with all his heart.

The only sound left was their breathing. Xiang Yiye wrapped the scarf around Xu Chuo’s neck a few more times, wrapping him up until only his eyes and nose were visible, and pulled his arm away.

“The hotel I’m staying at isn’t in that direction,” Xu Chuo reminded him.

“We’re not going to the hotel, we’re going home,” Xiang Yiye said.

On the way back, Xiang Yiye began to prepare Xu Chuo: “After we go back, stay in my room, close the door. Father Xiang gets really violent when he’s angry. He even gave me an ashtray before coming out, don’t get caught in the crossfire.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to be peaceful? Why do we have to argue?” Xu Chuo said.

“I can’t communicate with my dad,” Xiang Yiye said.

Xu Chuo said, “I didn’t get my dad’s approval when I started learning to paint either.”

Xiang Yiye had never heard this before, so he perked up his ears: “Then how did you convince him?”

Xu Chuo paused and said, “I didn’t convince him.”

“Huh?”

“The premise of convincing is that there is a possibility of convincing. There are many people in the world who cannot be convinced, and my dad is one of them.” Xu Chuo said, “At first, he cut off all my allowance. I couldn’t pay for painting lessons or buy paint. If my teacher hadn’t always supported me, I might have given up.”

No wonder he valued Xie Lei so much. Xiang Yiye continued, “But you still got to study art as you wished.”

“Later, I realized that being deadlocked wouldn’t do me any good, so I told my dad that painting was just a hobby, and becoming a painter or even an artist was just a whim.” Xu Chuo said, “The year I graduated from college, I secretly took the entrance exam for a master’s degree at L University without telling my dad. Since then, my dad has rarely bothered me. He probably thinks I’m hopeless. His focus in recent years has been on creating obedient younger siblings, which is a lot to ask of him at his age…”

Speaking of the end, Xu Chuo laughed a few times: “So soften up a bit, Little Yiye, don’t be so serious.”

Xiang Yiye imagined it and said, “It’s a bit difficult.” At least from his perspective, the issue between him and Father Xiang was a legacy of history.

“You can say things more smoothly, and keep your bottom line in your heart, where no one can touch it. Have you noticed, Little Yiye, you only lose your patience in front of Uncle.” Xu Chuo said.

Xiang Yiye was speechless for a moment, and said, “Perhaps I’m biased. I don’t expect to be supported, I just hope my dad can understand. I have things I want to do and I can be responsible for myself.”

“Then prove it to Uncle and let him give you a chance.” Xu Chuo said, looking at the surrounding streets, “Is there an ATM nearby? I want to withdraw some money to prepare some red envelopes for Uncle and Aunt, I can’t go empty-handed.”

Truly the ultimate in social grace, Xu Chuo’s savvy was not only reflected in his actions, but had also been internalized into a way of thinking. He often made Xiang Yiye feel that he should eat more lotus root to make his mind more clever.

Back home, the whole family was sitting in the living room, even Grandma, who needed to go to bed early, was there. She was leaning on her cane and scolding her son.

Father Xiang was over forty years old, standing in front of the hunched little old lady being lectured, still like a child who hadn’t grown up.

Seeing Xiang Yiye enter, Father Xiang opened his mouth to scold him, but Grandma silenced him with a tap of her cane.

With everyone’s mediation, the father and son were finally able to sit down and communicate calmly.

Xu Chuo sat on a rattan chair next to them, not intending to help Xiang Yiye speak, just listening.

After saying a few words, Xiang Yiye was about to get angry again: “No, why is it so difficult to talk to you…”

Xu Chuo timely raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, then stood up and said, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

Xiang Yiye’s attention was diverted. He glanced at his back and adjusted what he was about to say.

After his tone softened, Father Xiang also showed a tendency to listen and try to understand, which was rare before. Xiang Yiye then remembered that in his previous life, Father Xiang strongly opposed him becoming an actor, and a sentence often on his lips was: “Do you know what people are saying about you online?”

At that time, there was too much negative feedback about him, and Father Xiang was worried about him, but Xiang Yiye always thought that his father felt ashamed of him.

Gradually, Xiang Yiye also realized that part of Father Xiang’s concern was because he had signed the contract without discussing it with his family, and the other part stemmed from his unfamiliarity with the entertainment industry. In a completely unfamiliar field, he could provide very little help or guidance to his son, which was difficult for a traditionally conservative father to accept.

Xiang Yiye patiently explained to Father Xiang what work an ordinary actor needed to do, told him about his more detailed plans, and asked him to give him a few years to try.

Hearing the end, Father Xiang was silent for a long time, and said, “Your dad also made mistakes when he was in his teens and twenties, and almost went down the wrong path. If I hadn’t turned back then, I wouldn’t have been able to marry your mother, and you wouldn’t even be here now. Xiang Yiye, if you want to break out, you can, young people’s blood is hotter than burning iron. But there is one principle that cannot be violated, you absolutely cannot drop out of school, you cannot let filming affect your studies, you must graduate smoothly and get your degree in two years, you must know how to leave a way out for yourself.”

Xiang Yiye gladly accepted. He knew that although Father Xiang was rigid and his methods were often hurtful, his heart, which wanted the best for his son, was always unchanged. “Thank you, Dad, I’ll prove it to you.”

In the blink of an eye, there were only ten minutes left until twelve o’clock. Qiao Sha was preparing to go to the kitchen to cook dumplings, asking Xiang Yiye to ask Xu Chuo what kind of filling he liked.

“He likes corn and pork, Mom, cook a few more.” Xiang Yiye said.

He glanced at his room, Xu Chuo had been in there for more than half an hour and hadn’t come out yet.