CH 9

When Tang Xu woke Tang Cuo up in the morning, he opened his eyes and reacted for a while before connecting last night with this morning. He had missed the days when he saw Tang Xu for the first time. At this moment, it all seems unreal.

Tang Xu smiled as he looked at his dazed look. He waved his hand in front of his eyes and asked, “Are you still sleepy, silly?”

Tang Cuo hummed out of habit, which made Tang Xu smile even more. Tang Xu was refreshing in the morning. He was dressed in a white cotton sports T-shirt. He didn’t look like someone in their late twenties.

“Get up; you have class in the second period if I remember correctly. Get up, have a meal, and go to school.”

“Oh,” Tang Cuo said as he lifted the quilt from his bed and walked out of the room. He smelled coffee in the living room and assumed Tang Xu had been awake for a while.

When he was in the bathroom, he noticed a strand of hair sticking out of his head. It took him a while to press it down as he stood in front of the mirror.

When he finally finished cleaning up and entered the kitchen, Tang Xu was sitting at the dining table, playing with his phone, and nothing on the table had yet been touched. Tang Xu put his phone down and greeted him when he saw him walk in.

Tang Xu chatted with him idly at the dinner table.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

Tang Cuo nodded and said, “Pretty good.”

Tang Xu handed him a bowl of century egg and pork porridge, which Tang Xu should have cooked himself.

Tang Cuo took a spoonful and put it in his mouth. The soft rice grains were touched by the tip of his tongue. It was a little hot, but it was pleasant.

“Don’t you usually sleep at home?”

Tang Cuo shook his head. “My home is a little far away, and my parents were recently out of town with a project, so there is no one at home.”

“Oh,” Tang Xu understood, “I’m close to the school, and I’ll clean up that room tomorrow so you can sleep here.”

Tang Cuo choked and turned around to cough. His face became flushed.

“How can porridge cause you to choke?”

After taking the tissue from Tang Xu, he wiped his mouth before looking at Tang Xu.

“I sleep well in the dormitory, so I don’t need to come here to sleep.”

Tang Xu cast a glance at him. “Every day, you stay up late playing games, watching movies or football, and keeping the lights on until one or two o’clock? You can sleep well this way, simply by lying down and falling asleep.”

…These are all facts; Tang Cuo is speechless.

“I live alone. Don’t be so polite. Come and sleep whenever you want. Even at the age of 23, you can still grow taller. If you go to bed early every day, you might gain another two centimetres.”

Tang Cuo remained silent. He stirred the porridge in the bowl.

“Drink well,” Tang Xu taught.

Only then did Tang Cuo raise his head as if he had made up his mind and say, “Actually, you don’t have to worry about me like that.”

Tang Xu misheard and raised his eyebrows: “What do you mean?”

“It’s been so many years; I’m not a child anymore. I’m 20 this year, and I’m about the same age as you were when you went there to teach. I can take care of myself, and I don’t want to cause you any trouble.”

When he noticed Tang Xu frowning, he gritted his teeth and said, “What I mean is that you don’t have to look after me like you would a child. I’ve grown up.”

The air in the dining room froze. Tang Cuo didn’t dare to move, so he looked straight back into Tang Xu’s eyes.

After a while, Tang Xu laughed. “I know, I know you’ve grown up, but no matter how I look at it, I still think you’re a child.”

Tang Cuo was about to argue when he was interrupted by Tang Xu. “Also, don’t say it’s bothersome. If you say that again, I’ll think you’re still blaming me.”

Tang Cuo’s death spot has been hit in a single sentence. although Tang Xu didn’t know that.

Tang Cuo opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He didn’t know what to say.

After they finished their meal, Tang Xu drove Tang Cuo to school. Tang Cuo hesitated in front of the car for a long time before slowly opening the passenger seat door. Fortunately, Tang Xu changed his car; otherwise, he really didn’t want to ride.

When the car arrived at the west gate of the school, Tang Xu wanted to pull over and let him go because it was closer to their dormitory. But Tang Cuo looked out the car window at the students coming and going. He turned his head and said, “Let me go to the parking lot with you.”

Tang Xu checked his watch; it wasn’t too late, so he nodded and turned around.

When the two got out of the car, they were caught in a gust of wind. The wind in Beijing is always unpredictable. It was so bad that Tang Cuo’s breath was stagnant. The breath he didn’t exhale was held in his nasal cavity.

Tang Xu closed the car door and lowered his head to avoid the wind, then walked around from the front of the car to Tang Cuo’s side.

Although there are no swirling petals at the University of Science and Technology during the summer, there are swaying willow leaves.

when the strong wind died down and left. Tang Xu raised his hand and picked up a willow leaf that had fallen on Tang Cuo’s hair. Tang Cuo looked up at him; his one eye was red.

“Did you get any sand in?” Tang Xu lowered his head slightly, a shallow furrow between his brows.

“Hmm…” Tang Cuo rubbed his eyes and blinked again, as if it hadn’t come out yet.

Tang Xu went right to it. He grabbed Tang Cuo’s eyelids, checked them carefully, and then blew it.

Tang Cuo was still unaccustomed to Tang Xu’s touch. He stood motionless, staring at Tang Xu.

“Is it alright?”

When he came back to his senses, Tang Cuo hurriedly staggered slightly and blinked.

“Alright.”

Tang Xu smiled as he looked into his red eyes and asked, “Is it easier for people with big eyes to get sand into their eyes?”

Tang Cuo couldn’t stop thinking about the past and forgot to respond to the joke.

Tang Xu didn’t mind his distraction; he reached out to touch his arm and said, “Let’s go.”

After speaking, he pulled Tang Cuo aside and let him walk on the left side.

The wind is blowing from the right side, and a person’s body should not be able to block anything at all.

All the way there, Tang Cuo still felt his eyes burning from the sand that had gotten into them. Tang Xu’s actions right now could not be more natural, as if he were caring for a child.

The flow of people increased significantly as they approached the fork in the road. A lot of party promotion has been posted on the bulletin board in front of the auditorium. Tang Cuo shifted his gaze to the posters and paused for a moment. Tang Cuo then leaned in unobtrusively towards Tang Xu.

He looked up and said, “The college’s welcome party is coming up.”

Tang Xu turned his head and asked, “When?”

“Next Friday night.”

Tang Cuo rubbed the side seam of his trousers with his index finger, and before Tang Xu could say anything, Tang Cuo quickly added, “The next day is Saturday.”

He bit his lower lip as soon as the last word left his mouth.

Nonsense. The day after Friday, of course, is Saturday.

Sure enough, he heard Tang Xu’s low laughter come from the side, and it was so clear that he could feel the vibration in his chest.

Tang Cuo felt embarrassed, so he lowered his head.

Tang Xu didn’t say anything right away. Before he knew it, he was at the side of the groove, and through this groove was Tang Cuo’s dormitory.

Tang Cuo was a little depressed.

There are not many people in the groove. After all, young couples don’t date in the early morning, so there are only a few grandmas or mothers playing in the shade with their children. The sound of children’s laughter reached Tang Xu’s ears. He followed the sound and saw a mother stroking her little boy’s head and praising him.

Tang Xu glanced at Tang Cuo, who was walking with his head down and the corners of his mouth curled.

When he was about to step out of the grove in a few steps, Tang Cuo felt a hand suddenly cover his head. He stopped abruptly.

Tang Xu looked at him with a smile. He moved his hands slightly and rubbed his hair.

“I’ll go to your show, even if it’s not Saturday the next day.”

There is a rustling sound as the leaves hug each other.

Standing in front of the dormitory, Tang Cuo realised that Tang Xu should have separated from him at an intersection in front of him. The teacher’s building and his dormitory are not in the same direction.

Since Tang Cuo had already explained it to He Zhong last night, the people in the dormitory didn’t make malicious guesses about his overnight return.

He Zhong threw Tang Cuo’s schoolbag at him and dragged him out. He said as he walked, “Let’s go; I have to buy some bread.”

Tang Cuo abruptly stopped, and He Zhong turned around to look at him strangely. “What? Did you forget to bring something?”

Tang Cuo clutched his bag and asked, “Am I short?”

“Why did you ask this question now? Cough,” He Zhong puffed out his chest, “you’re not short, but you’re not as tall as I am.”

Tang Cou glared at him and followed him downstairs.

He Zhong rested his arms on his shoulders. “Don’t be discouraged, little brother; you’re still in your youth. You can still grow if you do high jumping every day.”

He gave him a blank stare.

He Zhong snickered.

Tang Cuo felt strange all of a sudden. He extended his hand to touch He Zhong’s chest.

“Damn you, you molested me!”

Tang Cuo wrinkled his brow and thought to himself. It’s strange; it’s clearly shaking. Why can’t he hear it?

As he walked out of the dormitory building, he was still thinking about this question that was worth thinking about, but he never thought about why. Until he saw the heart-shaped balloon held by a girl in the distance, he raised his hand and touched his heart. Only then did he realise the answer—how could he hear the vibration of Tang Xu’s chest when it was his own accelerated heartbeat?

He figured it out, but it didn’t seem to work. This response is followed by a sudden sense of loss and longing.

The lost are familiar, as are the missing.

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The author has something to say:

Yes, they are in Beijing, but the school and the building are made up by me and do not exist in real life.