The Long Night - Chapter 11

It was a conflict between just two people, and the other person had even started it. But when the other students pointed fingers, they were all in agreement.

“We saw that Yan Liao was the first to hit.”

“We didn’t hear Yang Yi-hang say anything mean.”

“Yang Yi-hang isn’t the kind of person who would look for trouble…”

On the other hand, the other person was surrounded by enemies. In the hesitant descriptions of the students, he was described as sullen, withdrawn, and anti-social.

“The superficial injuries aren’t serious. They can be treated at the infirmary, but the one on his head needs to be checked out at the hospital.”

Teacher Chen held his phone, his eyes filled with a resentful anger as he glanced at the child standing in the corner. He was already thinking about how to have a serious talk with his parents when they arrived. But as luck would have it, Yan Liao’s mom happened to be at her annual exhibition and was too busy to leave.

He suggested, “Let his dad come,” but he was met with a firm “That person is even more unreliable.”

“How about this, teacher? You can have Tang Shaocheng take him to the hospital. Don’t worry, they’re neighbors and are very familiar with each other… I’ll contact you later, teacher. I have to go.”

Teacher Chen thought he had met another irresponsible parent, but when he heard the name the other person mentioned, his furrowed brows relaxed.

All the teachers in the senior office had the same expression when they thought of Tang Shaocheng.

He turned to look at Yan Liao. Although his injuries were not serious, he was still bruised. It wouldn’t look good if his parents came and saw him like this, and if they made a big scene at the school… that would be even more of a headache.

In the end, he confirmed it with Yan Liao’s mom on WeChat, saved the screenshot, and then went outside to call a passing student.

“Go to class six and tell their teacher to send Tang Shaocheng to the office.”

From the moment Yan Liao heard the teacher say he was going to call Tang Shaocheng over, he had been busy wiping the blood from his face.

He had been punched on the left side of his nose, leaving the lower half of his face covered in blood. As soon as he entered the office, the teacher told him to stand in the corner. Yan Liao walked over with big strides. He didn’t make a sound or cry out in pain. He just stuck a small wad of paper in his nose and stood there with his neck stiff.

But when he heard that Tang Shaocheng was coming, he thought about his dirty, miserable face. He subconsciously raised the back of his hand to try and wipe himself clean. Before he could finish, he heard a familiar, steady voice from outside the door.

“Teacher, you asked for me?”

Teacher Chen waved him in. “Yes. I have something to trouble you with.” He pointed to Yan Liao, who was standing in the corner. “I heard you two are neighbors…”

Tang Shaocheng looked in the direction he was pointing. His pupils suddenly constricted. All the blood in his body seemed to rush to his brain in an instant, and the veins on his forehead bulged.

“Who did it?”

Yan Liao looked up, his lips bitten until they were white. Just a moment ago, he had been a cold hedgehog in the office, refusing to let anyone get close. But after seeing Tang Shaocheng, he sniffled, and his eyes quickly turned red.

“Who else could have done it?! The culprit is right here! Yang Yi-hang lost two teeth, and you’re still playing the victim!”

Teacher Chen was so angry his liver hurt. Yang Yi-hang was more seriously injured and was being treated at the infirmary. His parents were also on their way to the school, furious.

He was afraid that Yan Liao, who didn’t have an adult to back him up, would suffer another loss if the two sides met. He suppressed his anger and told Tang Shaocheng, “Take him to the hospital for a check-up first. The other students said he hit his head. Ask the doctor to take a good look.”

Tang Shaocheng’s jawline was very tight. His heart was still pounding in his chest. He took two deep breaths and forced himself to calm down, not asking for the full story.

Yan Liao carefully glanced at him, his eyes still red like a rabbit’s.

“Tell him all this,” Teacher Chen unconsciously treated Tang Shaocheng as a parent and poured out his grievances to him. “There’s only one month left until the college entrance exam! How can he still get into a fight?! If he hurts a classmate, how are we going to explain it to his parents, to the school, to society?!”

Yan Liao knew these words were meant for him. He lowered his eyelids and pushed the sore, swollen side of his face with his tongue, his lips turned down in a look of defiance.

Teacher Chen was watching him out of the corner of his eye. Seeing his expression made him even angrier. “What’s wrong with me saying a few things to you?!”

Tang Shaocheng put a hand on his shoulder, his tone back to its calm state. “Teacher, I’ll take him to the hospital first.”

The anger that was about to erupt was suppressed. Teacher Chen’s face was terrible, but he still waved his hand for them to leave quickly. “Be back before school ends!”

“We’ll try.”

Yan Liao, who was standing in the corner, quickly ran over and stuck close to him as they left the office. As he left, he saw Teacher Chen shaking his head and sighing. After an afternoon, his bald head seemed to have receded a few more millimeters.

Tang Shaocheng first took Yan Liao to the bathroom to wash his face. The bleeding had stopped. After he was cleaned up, Tang Shaocheng saw that there was a cut above his lip, which had coagulated into a deep red scab. The arch of his lip was slightly swollen.

“I’m fine,” Yan Liao sniffled. His thin back was straight. “…That son of a b*tch was on the ground and couldn’t even move.”

It was a phrase he had learned from Lu Xiao. He would call any classmate he didn’t like “that son of a b*tch,” which was concise and easy to use.

Tang Shaocheng’s eyes were filled with both anger and heartache. He took a tissue and wiped the water off his face. His movements were as gentle as if he were wiping a precious white porcelain statue. He still couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

After leaving the bathroom, Tang Shaocheng went back to the classroom to get his phone and wallet. He found a piece of milk candy in his pencil case, which he had grabbed on a whim when they bought ice cream at the supermarket last time.

He unwrapped the candy as he walked out. When he got to the door, he put the white candy in Yan Liao’s mouth.

“Hmm?…”

A rich, sweet taste filled his mouth. Yan Liao was caught off guard, and his teeth bit down on Tang Shaocheng’s fingertip, leaving a small, wet mark.

“Let’s go. Slowly.”

In the taxi, the sunlight passing through the gray-filmed window seemed to have its sharp edges smoothed out. The dull light fell on Yan Liao’s profile. His skin was so fair it was almost transparent, and the swollen wound on his lip looked even more shocking.

He lowered his head, his black bangs hiding his slightly red eyes. He tried to hide his dirty sleeve behind him. Tang Shaocheng was not in a hurry to ask him what had happened with his classmate. But no matter his expression or his actions, he had no intention of scolding or lecturing him at all.

On the first floor of the hospital, there weren’t many people in line at the window. Yan Liao sat on a chair in the lobby, watching from a distance as Tang Shaocheng expertly dealt with the nurse and got them the next available appointment with a specialist.

The two of them took the elevator up. The third and fourth floors were filled with people who had come for check-ups after getting hurt. There were faint cries of pain from all around. The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and the fluorescent lights in the hallway were so bright they were a little blinding.

Yan Liao felt a little nervous. He unconsciously grabbed Tang Shaocheng’s clothes, and his eyebrows were furrowed with worry.

“Are you scared?”

“…I’m not scared.”

Even though he heard the child’s feigned bravado, Tang Shao-cheng still generously reached out a hand and held his cool fingers in his palm.

Yan Liao struggled half-heartedly for a moment and then stopped. He stared at the names scrolling on the black screen, still nervous, his fingertips unconsciously digging into Tang Shaocheng’s palm.

“Did I make you worried?” It was a sentence without a head or a tail.

Tang Shaocheng looked at him in surprise. “Hmm?”

“…Nothing.”

After his number was called, he had to go into a separate examination room. Yan Liao was a little reserved in front of the doctor in the white coat. He kept secretly glancing at Tang Shaocheng through the window and only felt at ease when he saw him.

The results came out half an hour later. There was nothing serious. When Tang Shaocheng went to get the diagnosis, the doctor subconsciously treated them as brothers and said to Yan Liao in a kind voice, “It’s nothing serious. Just eat bland food and change the dressing on time. Go home with your brother.”

“Hmm… thank you, doctor.”

The child lowered his head and, uncharacteristically, didn’t argue. He followed Tang Shaocheng obediently.

After leaving the hospital, Tang Shaocheng called Teacher Chen and said that they wouldn’t be returning to school and would go straight home.

Teacher Chen lowered his voice. “Okay. Text me when you get home so I know you’re safe.” You could vaguely hear a man’s roaring voice from the office. “He hit my son like this! This isn’t over! If my son doesn’t get into a university, their family will be responsible for the rest of his life, you hear me…”

Teacher Chen quickly hung up the phone and said the last sentence in a hurried tone. “Tell his parents that they still have to come to school tomorrow.”

Dusk fell, and Tang Shaocheng took Yan Liao home. He took eggs and leftover rice from the fridge, and he found vegetables and canned meat to make two bowls of relatively hearty fried rice.

Yan Liao ate very slowly. The wound on his lip would occasionally hurt when he touched it. When he put down his chopsticks, he heard Tang Shaocheng’s calm voice.

“Why did you get into a fight?”

His tone was nonchalant, not like he was interrogating him. It was as if he just wanted to have a chat.

Yan Liao clenched his clothes. The injured part of his cheek felt hot and stinging, as if it were on fire. The knuckles of his fingers were slightly white. He said vaguely, “I was in a bad mood.”

He didn’t want to say it was because of “what someone said”… That would sound like a childish complaint. Besides, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t hung up on what Yang Yi-hang had said anymore. The thing that was really making him feel suffocated was something else entirely.

Tang Shaocheng raised his hand to straighten his slightly messy hair and continued to ask patiently, “Why were you in a bad mood?”

Yan Liao pursed his lips and said softly, “The exam.”

“…Hmm?”

“Because of the exam, I was in a bad mood.”

Yan Liao lowered his head, looking at the small blue patterns on the white plate in front of him. He wanted to say a lot of things but didn’t know where to start, so he bit his lip. Tang Shao-cheng held his chin and slowly let go.

Seeing that he still didn’t want to talk much, Tang Shaocheng gave up on getting to the bottom of it. He just told him a few more things, such as to protect himself first when something happens, to use peaceful solutions, and not to put himself in dangerous situations. Even if his self-esteem was hurt sometimes, it was better than his body being hurt.

Yan Liao listened absentmindedly. After a while, he hummed like a buzzing mosquito.

“There are many things you can do to relieve negative emotions,” Tang Shaocheng’s fingers went into his hair and gently pressed on his scalp. “So don’t use this method again.” His hand followed the end of Yan Liao’s hair to the back of his neck. His strength and tone slightly increased as he looked into his eyes and said, “You absolutely cannot do this again.”

Yan Liao turned his face to look at him. After a moment of silence, he still promised reluctantly, “…I know.”

Tang Shaocheng said what he needed to and then dropped the subject, changing to a light, trivial topic, intending to cheer the child up. But Yan Liao still looked sullen, as if a fishbone was stuck in his throat that didn’t hurt but was clearly there. There was something he really wanted to say, but he hesitated and never said it.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, it was twilight. Thick clouds moved slowly. The sun was setting little by little, as if the buildings were chewing and swallowing the sun.

The living room was dim. Tang Shaocheng put the dishes in the kitchen sink and turned on the lights on his way back.

As the room brightened, he saw Yan Liao look up, his lips pursed, and tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.

Tang Shaocheng was stunned. He pulled a tissue from the table and walked to the child. “Why are you crying?”

Yan Liao’s expression was like he was taking a pill that was hard to swallow. His black eyes were soaked in tears, and his voice was so low it was like a muffled murmur from a dream.

“Why did you say you wanted to… go to the same university as me?”

He had thought of many possibilities. The most reasonable one was that Tang Shaocheng wouldn’t go to C University for the ridiculous reason of “it’s close.” Maybe he wasn’t even going to apply. He was just encouraging him with a lie because they were friends—but in his subconscious, he also believed that Tang Shaocheng wasn’t a liar.

“You obviously have better options…”

There is no better option than you.

Tang Shaocheng looked at him with his eyebrows furrowed. He knew that any other reason wouldn’t be convincing. He sighed deeply. “Because I still want to be your classmate,” he forced a smile. His fingers touched Yan Liao’s cheek, wiping away the tears that were still falling. “So, can you please try harder?”

“I can’t,” Yan Liao cried even harder. His eyes were like a broken faucet. “You’ve spent so much time on me…” He choked up, hesitating between the words “wasted” and “given,” and chose a simpler verb. “…used so much time.”

He suppressed the urge to start bawling. “What if there’s no result?”

“What if I don’t get in?”

“…What if I disappoint you?”

He couldn’t catch up at all. He had been wasting his effort for so long. He should have known long ago that he couldn’t catch up.

He could see that the two of them, who had managed to get a little closer, had a crack opening between them again, like an earthquake. It was getting deeper and wider, and there was no way to cross it.

Tang Shaocheng looked at him, and his chest felt as if it was filled with crushed shards of ice. Yan Liao spoke in a halting voice, pouring out all the words he had been holding in his heart, as if he was meeting him with his heart on his sleeve. Tang Shaocheng could clearly feel the anxiety and confusion on him.

He was worried about the future he couldn’t control and the fleeting present he couldn’t grasp.

The person he remembered had always been confident and cheerful.

Tang Shaocheng remembered that after Yan Liao graduated, he came to Pingcheng to see him. He had a suitcase filled with paintings that he couldn’t sell. He didn’t throw them away or give them away. He would admire them himself every day. He didn’t care about the outside world’s evaluation of their value, and he never easily doubted himself.

As people grew up, they would get used to making concessions and changes after facing setbacks, becoming what was called “a more suitable adult for surviving in society.” Only Yan Liao had never been changed by anything. On the path he wanted to take, he had never taken a step back or compromised.

He was still a child now, thinking that what happened at eighteen would determine the rest of his life and being afraid of making mistakes.

What he probably needed was more than just being encouraged with “you can do it” and “you’ll definitely succeed.” That would only put more pressure on him, making it seem like his failure was because he didn’t do something he was capable of.

Tang Shaocheng’s eyes were dark and deep. He looked at Yan Liao quietly. “No matter where you are in the future, I will…”

“No!”

His voice was firm and resolute.

“Whether I get in or not is my business,” Yan Liao said, raising his hand to wipe away the tears that hadn’t dried on his face. He was proud even in his self-abandonment. “Don’t worry about me. Just pretend I never said I wanted to go to the same school as you.”

The familiar tone, linked to a familiar memory, surged over him like a tide, instantly drowning his breath.

Don’t accommodate me, don’t tolerate me, don’t let me drag you down like a burden.

Only success and happiness can be shared. All the difficulties are my own business. I have to bear them all by myself.

Tang Shaocheng looked at him, took a deep breath, and suppressed the anger that was constantly welling up from the depths of his body. He said slowly, “Then what I want to do is also my business.”