The Long Night - Chapter 53

The End

The so-called first meeting.

Their first interaction was in the first year of junior high. Yan Liao’s junior high school playground was even bigger than his high school’s, and it was very noisy at noon, like a chaotic dance. He didn’t like staying in the classroom and really needed to find a quiet place with good air.

So he found this small garden behind the school’s art building, but when he arrived, he found that someone had already beaten him to it. He saw a person sitting in the small pavilion. Actually, Yan Liao first saw a reference book he had placed on the bench and then knew that the other person was not on the same path as him.

Usually, as long as he determined that someone was “not on the same path,” he wouldn’t have any further contact with them. But when Yan Liao saw his face, he felt that he could make an exception this time.

He was indeed first attracted by Tang Shaocheng’s good looks.

Tang Shaocheng was solving a Rubik’s Cube.

Yan Liao sat next to him and asked, “Can I borrow it to play?” He generously handed it over.

But the Rubik’s Cube, which looked so easy, Yan Liao just couldn’t solve. He felt a little frustrated and handed it back to Tang Shaocheng, thinking the other person would mock him or comfort him by saying it was okay.

But Tang Shaocheng asked, “Do you want me to teach you?”

Yan Liao still remembered his gentle voice and tone at that time.

It was hard to describe the feeling. When Yan Liao was in junior high, he was a “child with a strong sense of self, who considered himself an adult, but who desperately needed to be respected.” Tang Shaocheng just sat next to him. Yan Liao watched his long fingers swiftly manipulate the Rubik’s Cube. The speed was so fast that it was dazzling, and Yan Liao felt a little dizzy.

He even felt a little like crying. This was a very novel experience, so novel that it was a little strange. He didn’t know why he felt like crying just by sitting next to Tang Shaocheng and feeling that this person was very gentle.

This was not cool at all, so he held back his tears with all his might.

Tang Shaocheng demonstrated it for him once and then put the Rubik’s Cube in Yan Liao’s palm. “You try.” Then Yan Liao was a little reluctant to let go.

“Give me this Rubik’s Cube.”

He said this.

Tang Shaocheng was stunned for a moment. Yan Liao’s expression was not hostile but not friendly either. He even seemed to be holding back something. After saying this, he gritted his teeth hard. In short, he didn’t look like a good person. But Tang Shaocheng still generously gave it to him.

Yan Liao said thank you and ran away quickly.

Their junior high school also started to divide classes into fast and slow classes in the second semester. At that time, Yan Liao’s father had not yet been laid off, so the family had money to donate a sponsorship fee to get Yan Liao into the fast class as well. In the second semester, he and Tang Shaocheng became classmates.

But they didn’t have any more contact. Tang Shaocheng was not more attractive than a video game console.

Yan Liao was overly confident in his teens and couldn’t listen to other people’s opinions and criticisms. When a teacher on the podium scolded him, “Go ahead and say that again if you have the guts,” he would say it again with a clear pronunciation. When the teacher threw a box of chalk at him and shouted, “Get out,” he would pick up his backpack, slam the door, and walk out.

Only when this person spoke would he want to listen, with his eyes wide open and his ears perked up, listening with all his might.

He was also listening very carefully now.

“Go get the lube.”

Yan Liao said, “Oh,” and slowly walked to the nightstand. He opened the drawer, took it out, and went back to the bed to hand it over.

Tang Shaocheng didn’t take it. Instead, he reached out and opened his palm.

Yan Liao looked up at him. His wet eyes became even rounder. The tips of his reddish ears trembled slightly. He mumbled in a low voice, “Why do I have to do this too?”

Tang Shaocheng ordered him unhurriedly, “Hurry up.”

Yan Liao bit his lip and squeezed a pile of sticky, transparent liquid into his palm. “Is that enough?” he asked in a low voice. His cheeks, neck, and even his chest were flushed as if they were on fire.

“Not enough.”

…

Actually, most of the time, Yan Liao was more candid about doing this. Maybe it was because all of his physical experiences were with this person. They had been candid with each other for so many years that they were as familiar with each other’s bodies as they were with their own. He was very generous and candid. He would express his needs and was never shy. But Tang Shaocheng always had a way of making him suddenly feel very shy. Just like now, he felt especially shy after Tang Shaocheng only said “not enough.”

“Did I use that much?”

Yan Liao’s voice became a little higher as if he were on the verge of exploding.

Tang Shaocheng glanced at him. His cool, greasy finger came closer. “Then you try.”

…

Yan Liao felt that this person might be more familiar with some parts of him than he was.

It was almost summer. He could occasionally hear one or two loud cicadas chirping outside the window. The leaves were rustling like a windmill.

Yan Liao turned off the bedside lamp and lazily squinted his eyes, lying on the bed. His refractory period had not yet passed the feeling of emptiness and loneliness. He just felt satisfied and happy. From the first time until now, he felt that this was a very good thing.

Tang Shaocheng lay next to him, unconsciously stroking his hair even when he was about to fall asleep. It had just been blow-dried but was now a mess again.

Yan Liao touched his messy hair. He was too lazy to care about his appearance and comfortably nestled into Tang Shaocheng’s arms.

He couldn’t sleep, so he started thinking about things from a long time ago.

It’s a normal thing for people to suddenly recall the first half of their lives when they can’t sleep.

Yan Liao thought about the years when he and Tang Shaocheng first met.

He thought about how the few times he felt defeated from childhood to adulthood were all when he was with this person. In fact, he rarely had a competitive spirit. His optimistic and open-minded parents had cultivated in him a very optimistic and open-minded mindset when he was very young. He felt that he should have a long-term and broad perspective. The people he met now would part ways later, and the things he encountered now were just small, insignificant matters. He didn’t particularly love life, but he felt that he was a good person.

But after he met Tang Shaocheng, he would always think about his bad qualities.

His grades were not good. He relied on his talent in art and never listened in class. He didn’t respect his teachers. He would cheat by writing on small notes to avoid being punished with extra homework. When he got into fights with classmates and held a classmate on the ground, beating him until his face was bruised and swollen, he would have a despicable thought that only he knew: “I’m a minor, so I won’t go to jail anyway.” He had no ambition and just muddled along, squandering his talent and not knowing how to be humble. In short, he was a very bad person with many flaws.

He had never sincerely apologized to anyone, but when he was standing in the office as a punishment, he saw Tang Shaocheng walk over and suddenly wanted to say sorry.

When he was a child, he broke his leg climbing a wall and had to use crutches for a long time. His mother would scold him for being mischievous but wouldn’t tell him never to go out and play again. His mother said, “Do whatever you want to do,” and also, “You have to bear the consequences of your actions.”

He thought there were no consequences he couldn’t bear. After he figured this out, he went back to climbing the wall after his leg was better.

But after he met Tang Shaocheng, he would always be anxious and afraid.

He wanted to make Tang Shaocheng feel happy to be liked by him.

He wanted to find the most sincere and purest place in his soul and hug this person.

He couldn’t bear the consequence of Tang Shaocheng not liking him. He was afraid that Tang Shaocheng would discover how bad he was and one day list all his flaws and ask in disappointment, “How could I have liked you?”

But now, he was no longer afraid.

Love didn’t make him a perfect person. Love only made him himself.

This didn’t stop them from loving each other.

Life continued to be calm, stable, and happy.

Tang Shaocheng was still controlling his oil and sugar intake and focusing on health. He exercised, drank tea, and fished, taking Yan Liao with him to develop good habits of taking care of their bodies, hoping that they would both be healthy and safe and spend this life together.

Yan Liao no longer collaborated with any studios and started his own business. He no longer had to set up scenes and pose for the camera. He could wear headphones and draw without worrying about his posture. He felt very free.

Even later, when Yan Liao was fully mature, calm, and independent enough to handle every difficulty in his life and work, Tang Shaocheng still looked at him like a clingy and pampered child, hugging him and calling him “good boy” and “my precious.”

He felt that even at seventy or eighty, Yan Liao would still be a child in his eyes and his good boy.

Besides successfully saving Yan Liao, Tang Shaocheng’s two lives had not undergone any earth-shattering changes.

He had been a person with a very clear life plan since he was a child. When he was in school, he knew which school was more suitable for him, what rank he needed to get in the province to get into that school, what score he needed to get in each subject, what types of questions he needed to master to get that score, and even how to allocate his study time and what to do every day.

After he started working, he planned his internship time, what he needed on his resume, what skills he should learn and master for this job, how to deal with colleagues, bosses, and clients, and how to find a promotion path that was steady and progressive.

He rarely felt lost, hesitant, or anxious. He always walked on his planned path with composure and a calm mind.

The only accident was when he met Yan Liao at the age of twenty-two. Yan Liao suddenly came to live in his house and became a part of his life little by little.

Then he also became a different person, or he also found the person who had been hidden behind the framework all along and felt that it was not bad.

He discovered a better side of life. Even though life became unrecognizable after the other person left, he didn’t regret it until the last moment of his last life.

He thought that maybe some people’s lives would be smooth sailing, and some people’s wouldn’t. He didn’t feel that he had to get something for it to be fair.

He was always grateful that Yan Liao could come into his life.

The square in the community was recently renovated. A pond was dug in the middle of the garden, and more leafy trees were transplanted before the summer came. There were also many benches under the trees, and a clean, shaded area was set aside on the lawn for picnics.

The elementary school downstairs started enrolling students again. Because the school’s performance was getting better and better, the nearby housing prices also rose, and the public facilities were also getting better and better.

He and Yan Liao were very satisfied with their current home, but they were still saving money and planning to live in a big villa in the future. It seemed very likely that they would achieve this before they turned thirty.

Summer was a season that made him feel more hopeful than spring.

Tang Shaocheng was thinking that he could try some new things with Yan Liao, such as traveling around the world, scuba diving, rock climbing, getting a pet, finding new hobbies, and actively and optimistically seeking a broader world.

They were still very young. There were many things they could do, and they had plenty of time to take it slow.

The end of the story.