TSIBAMS Chapter 105
by VolareIt was probably because Ye Xing hadn’t stayed at Chen Town Middle School for very long, and coupled with his own introverted nature, his departure didn’t have much impact on those he left behind. Everything was operating as usual—even the desk drawer that had been vacated was, at some point, filled with various extracurricular magazines and books.
It had seemingly become a small reading corner.
Qi Guang had been zoning out, staring at this reading corner for half the class period, until his phone vibrated twice in his pocket.
– “The end-of-term exam results are out. Guess how many places I ranked?”
It was from Ye Xing.
This light and cheerful tone was as if they were friends chatting daily, not ex-boyfriends who had broken up not long ago. This made Qi Guang a bit nervous and surprised, not knowing what kind of role he should play for the moment.
But maybe because Bai Shu’s matter was about to be resolved, he quickly relaxed and seemed to have the inclination to keep chatting.
– “Looks like you’ve made good progress. Should I start calling you Scholar Ye?”
– “I got into the top 50% of the grade level. I’ve been praised by all the teachers in turn today. Honestly, this feeling of a peasant turning over feels pretty strange, maybe I’m just a born underachiever.”
– “Pah, you’re acting like you’re still hard done by after having taken advantage. Those notes I gave you were ultimately wasted!”
After Qi Guang hit send, he realized that the corners of his mouth had been upturned the entire time.
There was no use denying it, his mood at that moment had nothing to do with Bai Shu’s matter.
The phone didn’t vibrate again for a long while, and Qi Guang couldn’t help checking to see if he had sent the message successfully, then quit to check his network connection.
Everything was normal.
Was he angry?
It shouldn’t be!
But you never knew what mindset that guy had when he came to chat with him, was he being cautious? Or pleasantly surprised?
Just as he was organizing his words to send another message, the phone vibrated twice.
– “Can I call you?”
All kinds of emotions welled up in an instant, and Qi Guang struggled to take a breath to force back the soreness that was about to reach his nose. He gently pulled out his chair and left through the back door of the classroom.
This kind of cautious, probing, and somewhat aggrieved manner should never have appeared on Ye Xing.
He was straightforward, impulsive, and sometimes gentle and thoughtful, but he absolutely should not be sensitive. Yet, he himself had made him become like this, and thinking about it, Qi Guang suddenly couldn’t help but feel heartache.
He took several deep breaths to calm himself down a bit, then opened his contacts, clicked on Ye Xing’s name, and called.
“Hello,” Ye Xing’s voice was a little hoarse, and he coughed a few times after speaking.
“Do you have a cold?”
“No, I haven’t spoken for too long,” Ye Xing said, “I didn’t expect you would actually call, I didn’t have time to clear my throat.”
Qi Guang didn’t quite understand what Ye Xing was thinking. From angrily slamming the door and leaving that day to now pretending like nothing had happened, had he really decided to be just good friends? Or was it because he didn’t want to argue, so he deliberately skipped that page and pretended nothing had happened?
Thinking that it was possibly the former, Qi Guang felt a little uncomfortable, and thinking that it was the latter, he blamed himself.
He opened his mouth, swallowing the five words “how have you been lately” that were about to blurt out.
It was too hypocritical.
He was the one who messed everything up so badly.
“Are you not in class?” Qi Guang asked.
The red light countdown ended, and Ye Xing was swept onto the pedestrian crossing by the crowd. As he walked, he held his phone more tightly: “The school has half a day off today, I’m going to the hospital.”
Maybe it was just his imagination, but after he said those words, there was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone. It didn’t sound like thinking, but more like a sudden silence.
Not long after, his voice seemed a little more distant, “Is Auntie feeling better?”
Even though the content was a greeting.
“She’s fine, she’ll be discharged soon.”
“That’s good,” Qi Guang swallowed his saliva, naturally changing the subject, “I’ve got good news to tell you, Bai Shu will be out soon.”
The fluency with which these words rolled off his tongue made it seem like he hadn’t realized he hadn’t talked to Ye Xing about Bai Shu’s matter—from the incident until now, it was only the night before Ye Xing left that Qi Guang had described this matter with reservations, saying that it was just a normal fight and detention. But it was as if it was an unspoken agreement, he always knew that Ye Xing hadn’t cut off contact with his friends here. Zhou Tian was a given, and even Shuai Xiaoyun had mentioned Ye Xing in front of him more than once in an indirect way.
Sure enough, Ye Xing was stunned for a moment, but the surprise quickly replaced the astonishment: “Really?! I heard them talking before and thought there was no way to turn things around, I didn’t even dare mention it to Li Ke.”
“You’d never guess who showed up.”
“Who is so powerful that they could turn Chen Hui?”
“Remember that fight we had at the KTV?” Qi Guang said, “That day, a female student was bullied by Chen Hui, and because of that, you beat up Chen Hui afterwards.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
He remembered the despair of squatting on the ground, doubting his life, because of a phone call, and he also remembered the anger of being kicked away by someone unreasonably.
The dual torture of mind and body, Ye Xing thought that life was indeed like a drama.
“That female student’s name is Wang Lulu, she found out about this incident and silently went to the hospital to find Chen Hui with the so-called surveillance footage,” Qi Guang said.
Probably because this was the only good news worth looking forward to since the New Year, Qi Guang became very talkative, recounting Wang Lulu’s words to Ye Xing word by word, and even marveling at the change in her appearance and temperament.
Of course, it wasn’t exactly word for word; for example, the most memorable phrase “shining brightly” was deliberately omitted by him.
By the time Ye Xing stepped into the ward, neither of them had stopped talking.
When Fang Rong’s eyes shifted from the TV to his face, she was a little surprised by the relaxed expression that hadn’t appeared on his face in a long time, and then she realized he was on the phone, her face suddenly darkening.
Ye Xing thought she was feeling unwell somewhere and hurriedly said into the phone, “Can I call you tonight?”
“Okay.”
After receiving his permission, he hung up the phone with relief and hurried to the bedside.
“Why does your face look so pale today?” He raised his hand and touched Fang Rong’s forehead.
Fang Rong shook her head, looking straight at him, and asked knowingly, “Who were you talking to that made you so happy?”
“A former classmate,” Ye Xing stood up, not noticing the question in Fang Rong’s gaze at all. He picked up the thermos from the table, poured some hot water into a cup, and handed it to her, his actions smooth and natural, his tone light and peaceful, “You’ve met him before, he thought I was kidnapped before and came to rescue me at the hotel.”
Fang Rong held the water with both hands, and said seriously, “I remember, but those people from that place don’t really have a chance to develop, and you won’t have any more interactions with them in the future. There’s no need to waste time maintaining these kind of connections.”
Ye Xing raised his head in surprise.
It was so strange to hear these words come out of her mouth, after all, this kind of “power-oriented” concept had never appeared in the family education of the past decade.
Although he shouldn’t have any expectations, he had to admit, because Ye Xing would call him tonight, Qi Guang had been having a very smooth day.
As soon as the evening self-study dismissal bell rang, his phone started vibrating before he could even pack up his bag.
He was quite eager.
He couldn’t hide the smile on his face, and picked up the phone without looking at the name, answering directly.
“School’s over? Don’t go home yet, come to the shop.” Xu Ge’s voice came from the other end of the phone.
Qi Guang’s full of anticipation mood was punctured like a balloon by Xu Ge’s voice.
“Did something happen at the shop?”
“Something big happened,” Xu Ge said in a serious tone.
Qi Guang could tell from his tone that this guy was acting, but it had been a long time since he had seen him so enthusiastic.
Then Qi Guang belatedly realized, “Brother Bai is back?!”
“Yeah,” Xu Ge’s joy completely collapsed, “I went to pick him up in the afternoon, letting him rest at my place. I’ll call him to come show his face when your school ends!”
“Brother Xu, I think you’re so excited that you’re talking nonsense!” Qi Guang quickly swept the books on his desk into his bag, zipped it up, and slung it over his shoulder, “Show his face? Is it his first appearance after giving birth or is a big star coming to show some face? Stop watching so much entertainment news!”
When he arrived at 1984, it was obvious that business wasn’t as good as before. This was the time when the three-wheeled vehicles would be vying for the honor of lining up at the door, like the airport full of juicy profits in the eyes of taxi drivers.
But now, not to mention the three-wheeled vehicles, even the occasional motorcycle parked at the door seemed a bit redundant.
However, the temporary dining tables set up at the door were quite nostalgic, like the scene when it was once prosperous here, and even the sizzling skewers on the tables seemed a bit familiar.
Xu Ge saw him get out of the car and waved at him, the oil stains on his hand particularly eye-catching under the streetlights.
Bai Shu, who was sitting next to him, seemed even paler than before, but he lacked some of his former vitality. He sat beside Xu Ge, his whole body covered by Xu Ge’s large black down jacket, and it seemed that as long as he pulled his hat over his head, he could successfully disappear into the night.
Qi Guang was a little excited. It seemed that a lot had happened in this short month, so much that the time wasn’t enough to measure and contain it, so much that he thought there was nothing in life worth looking forward to. But when he saw Bai Shu sitting there, it was as if nothing had changed.
This person was still vividly present in front of him, so could all of this mess just be burned to ashes together?
But no, he couldn’t. Even if he covered his eyes, ears, and nose, acted recklessly against fate, he couldn’t take the opportunity to return all the bad things in life and start all over.
Everything could be fine, but he and Ye Xing had truly, really broken up.
“Why are you drinking here, aren’t you cold?” Qi Guang sat down opposite the two of them, his tone so relaxed that even he was a little surprised.
Bai Shu gave him a grateful look.
Without even having to think about it, he knew that this person had been cared for by too many people with exaggerated concerns and inquiries today. Although education and courtesy wouldn’t allow him to be impatient, nobody would want to keep bringing up the dark times of these days.
Qi Guang’s casual tone, like they had just eaten lunch together, made him very satisfied.
Xu Ge also had no objection to his behavior and words, “The beer is warm, the barbecue is warm, even our hearts are burning hot, my friend.”
Qi Guang glanced at him; the latter was ecstatic, his face filled with radiant joy.
Forget it, given that the four words “shining brightly” could already apply for a patent in his dictionary, he would not use it to describe others for now.
In short, Xu Ge during that time was at most just a puppet, while today’s Xu Ge had finally been injected with a soul.
Qi Guang made a “vomiting” gesture at him and threw a string of chives into his plate, “My friend, I suggest that you also supplement the nutrition of your burning kidneys.”
Only then did Bai Shu show some lively expressions. He almost couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “Qi Guang, where did you learn all that from?”