That Nameless Summer Chapter 44

Mountains are high and rivers are far away

Song Li left at three in the morning.

He didn’t bring much with him, just a backpack containing a change of clothes and gaming equipment, and quietly left the B&B.The river wind was wrapped in the cold air of late autumn, and it hurt his face, but he did not look back. His footsteps were fast and heavy, as if he was running away from something, but also as if he was running towards a relief that he had finally made up his mind to.

The torment of repeated pulls, the palpitations of chance encounters, the splitting headaches after a hangover, and finally enough disappointment – there was never more than seven years between him and Ling Qingye. It was the past of hasty escape, the turbulent trajectories of each, and the impasse where even looking at each other required courage.

He bought a ticket for the earliest inter-provincial high-speed train, and the destination was a northern city thousands of kilometers away from here. It was cold and dry, completely different from this humid southern city, and completely different from all places with Ling Qingye.

When the high-speed train started, Song Li leaned against the window and watched the city’s outline recede, blur, and finally disappear from sight.He closed his eyes, his eyes were hot, but he didn’t shed any tears.After seven years, he couldn’t afford to shed tears at this farewell.

He put his cell phone into airplane mode and stuffed it into the deepest part of his backpack.He didn’t want to receive any more news about this city or Ling Qingye, and he didn’t want to give anyone another chance to find him.There was noisy electronic music playing in the headphones, but it couldn’t cover up the dull pain in my heart, as if it had been severely gouged by something, leaving it empty.

He didn’t know that shortly after he left, Ling Qingye went around to the Jiangbian B&B again.

The car stopped at the intersection, Ling Qingye looked at the closed window of the B&B, his fingertips curled up unconsciously.He couldn’t hold it back last night and stayed near the breakfast shop for a long time. He didn’t feel relieved to leave until he saw Song Li’s figure disappearing in the corridor of the B&B.I woke up early today because I wanted to buy a hot breakfast and send it over, even if it was just to leave it at the door without saying a word.

But the front desk of the B&B said that the young man wearing a peaked cap checked out of the hotel early in the morning and left without leaving his contact information. He left in a hurry.

Ling Qingye stood at the door of the B&B, still holding warm soy milk and fried dough sticks in his hand, and the warmth in his fingertips was gradually draining away, just like his mood at the moment.The late autumn wind lifted the corners of his clothes, bringing with it the moisture of the river fog, and it was bitingly cold.He looked up at the empty window. The glass was covered with a thin layer of frost, which resembled the frozen relationship between them.

He suddenly remembered that morning seven years ago, the empty seats in the classroom, the wrong question book confiscated on the table, and the empty notes in the tree hole.History is always surprisingly similar. Song Li once again left without saying goodbye, disappearing from the world without leaving any trace.

Ling Qingye slowly clenched the breakfast bag in his hand. The plastic bag was deformed and warm liquid seeped out, burning his fingertips, but he didn’t notice it.The emotions surging in his eyes collapsed instantly, including disappointment, unwillingness, distress, and even a trace of panic that he didn’t even notice – he was afraid that this time, he would really lose Song Li completely.

He got back in the car, started it, and drove aimlessly through the city.Passing by the office buildings in the CBD, the park by the river, and that breakfast shop, every place they encountered by chance was left with only traces of emptiness.The assistant called and asked him if he wanted to postpone the morning meeting. He simply said “open normally”, his voice was as calm as a pool of stagnant water, but the veins in the hand holding the steering wheel were already popping out.

The high-speed rail in Songli goes all the way north, getting farther and farther.The scenery outside the window changed from the lush southern hills to the bleak and vast northern plains.He took off his earphones, and the car was quiet except for the roar of the high-speed train.He took out his phone and turned off airplane mode, but there was no message.

There was no call, no text message, not even a word of temptation from Ling Qingye.

Song Li twitched the corners of his mouth and showed a self-deprecating smile.Also, there was no relationship between them. His departure may just be one less trouble that Ling Qingye needs to avoid occasionally.

He opened the ticket purchase software, deleted all ticket records to and from that city, and blocked the dusty number on his phone.After doing all this, he seemed to have been relieved of a thousand pounds of weight, leaned back on the chair, and slowly closed his eyes.

From then on, the mountains are high and the water is far away, and everyone is safe.

He said to himself in his mind.

Ling Qingye drove in the city for a whole day and did not return to the company until evening.He walked into the office and didn’t turn on the lights. He just sat in the darkness and looked at the lights outside the window.On the desk, there was that old notebook. The basketball graffiti on the first page was blurry in the night, but still dazzling.

He took out his mobile phone and searched all social platforms and news in the e-sports circle, but could not find any new updates about Song Li.

The anchor named “Li Du” seemed to have disappeared from the city along with Song Li.

Late at night, Ling Qingye went to the river alone.The river wind blew by, bringing with it a chill, but he stood for a long time.The water surface reflects the stars in the sky, and the waves are sparkling, just like the night they watched the stars together in the playground seven years ago.

At that time, Song Li said that he would go to far away places to play the best games in the future.

At that time he said, OK, I’ll wait for you.

But seven years later, Song Li went to a far away place without telling him; he waited for seven years, but what he waited for was to say goodbye again and again.

Ling Qingye slowly squatted down, buried his face in his knees, and shrugged his shoulders slightly.Seven years of forbearance and concern, at this moment, finally turned into silent sobs and dissipated in the late autumn river wind.

That southern city has since become an empty city in Ling Qing’s ambition.

There lived a young man named Song Li in the city, with basketball graffiti and unspoken words. He was always absent and always present in his youth.

And Song Li started a new life in the cold wind of the north, but occasionally when he was tired from playing games late at night, he would subconsciously touch his pocket and think of the unfinished bottle of white wine, the wind by the river, and the figure in casual clothes buying breakfast, and a familiar dull pain would still arise in his heart.

After all, they went in completely opposite directions, separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, and never crossed paths again.