CH 79.1

Happy New Year (1)

… Gong Sinian stood in the last row and quietly walked out of the auditorium.

Behind him was the laughter of young boys and girls, filling this beautiful New Year’s Eve night.  He switched on his phone and walked unhurriedly toward the school gate under the cold December breeze.

It took a while for his phone to connect and the background sound was a faint jazz dance tune, more upbeat and joyful than usual.

Li Yuan’s grumpy voice sounded incredibly magnetic amidst the music. “Wife, it’s too noisy here. I just heard the ringing.”

Gong Sinian nodded. “Mm. I know.”

“Have you arrived? Where are you?” Li Yuan shouted.

Gong Sinian walked to the street and looked at the lanterns and colorful balloons everywhere. “Leaving the school gate now. The New Year’s Eve party just ended.”

Li Yuan resentfully said, “How is the child then? How did you comfort him? Did you act like a big brother and watch the show with him?

Gong Sinian waved to call a taxi and got in, softly laughing. “I don’t think that was necessary. He’s in good company now.”

The taxi drove him toward the cultural street in the distance, where the street outside was crowded with young couples holding hands and smiling joyfully.

Li Yuan’s voice seemed to become gentler. “That’s good then. He’s stronger than us when we were his age.”

Gong Sinian took off his gold-rimmed glasses and squinted at the flashing neon lights outside. In the dark shadows of the street corner, a passionate couple embraced under a tree, suddenly smiling and kissing.

He unhurriedly said, “Don’t mention the past to me.”

“Why is that? Can’t I recall the suffering of the past and the happiness of today?” Li Yuan felt aggrieved. “At that time, you weren’t so grumpy.”

Gong Sinian snorted coldly. “Yes, ah. I was weird back then. Why was I so good-tempered when I was little? I should have kicked you to death.”

Li Yuan had obviously thought of those distant youth memories too and mischievously laughed. “Hey, guess what I remembered when I thought back to that time?”

Gong Sinian’s face suddenly reddened. “Who knows what pornographic garbage is in your head?!”

The two people had a meeting of minds and thought of the same thing.

Like him, Li Yuan’s breathing was a little heavier as he thought of that image of his first love affair.

Gong Sinian’s eyes faintly rippled with warmth, but his tone remained cold. “Watch yourself. You’re still talking about something that happened ten years ago.”

“What shame? I never seem to feel it in front of you.” Li Yuan’s tone was soft and mischievous. “You, heartless goods, you’ll forget about it if I don’t mention it every three days.”

Gong Sinian laughed. After calming down, he softly said, “I won’t. I’ll definitely remember it for a lifetime.”

***

There was a uniquely designed winding corridor on the cultural and sports building rooftop.

On the two sides of the wall was the cultural and sports wall of honor from previous years, with various trophies and award certificates hanging in the glass window and numerous moments from competitions and cultural performances.

An abstract art sculpture was placed in the middle, circled by several flights of steps. The winding corridor faced the south and was bright and brilliant when the sun shone on it during the day.

The liveliness in the auditorium below had dissipated and the rooftop was still pitch-black.

A group of boys sneakily climbed up and found their way to the highest level of the statue before pushing and shoving to sit down.

“Here, here. Fang Li, let’s take a picture!”

Fu Songhua rudely grabbed the several boys holding phones and pushed them aside. “If you still dare to take a picture, I’ll smash your phone!”

Huang Ya shouted, “Just who do you think you are? Fang Li agreed to take a picture with us!”

On the other side, Fang Li, wrapped in a long coat, his little face enveloped by the thick collar and he was still in his long black hair and a delicate face.

Bai Jing and the others surrounded Fang Li with their heads close together. “Here, to commemorate this moment! Cheese~~~.”

When Fu Songhua turned his head, he became furious. “Why are you guys so annoying? It won’t look good if the picture is taken in such a dark place. You’re taking advantage because Fang Li is good-tempered.”

Bai Jing unhappily stretched his phone and gave it to Fu Songhua. “What do you understand? Our Fang Li will look good no matter how it’s taken. When we take night pictures, we look like ghosts, but Fang Li will look like Nie Xiaoqian*!”

*T/N: Nie Xiaoqian (聂小倩) is the protagonist in volume 3 of 《聊斋志异》, a collection of short stories in the literary language written by the Qing Dynasty novelist Pu Songling. Nie Xiaoqian was a beautiful female ghost who lived only to the age of eighteen before her death and was buried next to a desolate ancient temple north of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province.

Fu Songhua glanced at him and then looked up at Fang Li, who was surrounded by people and became slightly agitated. He rushed over and pushed the others gathering around Fang Li away with his butt. “Fuck off! I also want to take a photo.”

He leaned in next to Fang Li, held his phone, and nervously pointed it at the two people, whispering, “C-Can I take a picture with you too?”

Fang Li lightly looked at him and his smile was gentle. “Mm, okay.”

He had always looked timid and cowering. In Fu Songhua’s memory, it seemed he had only ever appeared to be briefly free on the days of the sports day, so such a frank and carefree response was a rarity.

Fu Songhua looked at his delicate and gentle expression, slightly stunned as if he was bewitched.

Fang Li was disturbed by his look, so he quietly grabbed his mobile phone and held it up in front of the two of them, capturing their smiles with a click.