The Long Night - Chapter 8

“Can I come to your house for dinner again in the future?”

Yan Liao stuffed the last bite of rice from his bowl into his mouth. He was full and comfortable, relaxing in his chair. He tried to appeal to Tang Shaocheng’s emotions and reason. “My dad’s cooking is terrible.”

Tang Shaocheng’s lips curved upward. “Of course. You can come anytime.”

Yan Liao was just joking. Even if he was a natural at making friends, he wouldn’t be so rude as to impose on him. He tilted his head and asked curiously, “What time does your mom usually come home at night?”

“After eleven. Sometimes she doesn’t come back at all,” Tang Shaocheng said lightly. “She’s very busy with work and is always working overtime.”

Yan Liao looked slightly surprised and was immediately filled with sympathy for him. “Oh, I see. You’re so pitiful, making a table full of food and waiting for her all by yourself.”

Tang Shaocheng’s movements as he was clearing the dishes suddenly froze.

He stood still, as if a stone had suddenly fallen into a deep, empty part of his body, creating a deafening sound.

Making a table full of food and waiting for him all by myself, how pitiful.

Tang Shaocheng instantly remembered his previous life, when Yan Liao would wait for him until he fell asleep on the sofa.

He remembered his thin back, rising and falling slowly with his breathing, and his soft hair under the warm yellow light.

A sharp, dense pain shot through Tang Shaocheng’s heart, like a rough, textured surface scraping against a bleeding wound. The pain was so intense he couldn’t even stand up straight.

The light of dusk fell on the floor, dragging out a long shadow.

Yan Liao didn’t notice the strange emotions in front of him. He put his hand over his mouth and yawned, then unceremoniously looked around. It was no wonder Tang Shao-cheng only knew how to study; there was nothing fun here.

Even the TV was covered with a dust cloth, as if it hadn’t been turned on in a long time.

But even so, Yan Liao unceremoniously took Tang Shaocheng’s only extracurricular book when he left.

He walked to the entryway and waved behind him. “I’ll come back and return it to you when I’m done reading it.”

This way, he’d have a reason to come up again.

Tang Shaocheng said, “Okay.”

Even after the sound of his footsteps had slowly disappeared, Tang Shaocheng still hadn’t come to his senses. He stared at the door for a while, then slowly let out a breath and walked heavily to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

He forgot to turn the tap to hot water, so what came out was a stream of ice-cold water. His hands were rinsed by the biting cold water, and they were quickly becoming numb, until hot tears fell onto the back of his hands.

If he had to lose it once to understand what was truly important…

…Then he wouldn’t make the wrong choice again.

The first city-wide mock exam was at the end of April. The biggest difference from the school’s exams was that you could see your ranking in the city and use that ranking to see what schools you could get into based on past years’ admissions. Because of this, the atmosphere in the exam room was more tense than ever before.

Tang Shaocheng was very focused while doing the problems. It was as if he had a natural ability to block out all the sounds around him, immersing himself in the space where it was just him and the test paper. No matter if it was the sound of the proctor walking back and forth, the coughing of students, the dragging of desks, or the rustling of papers, nothing could disturb him.

He had regained most of his memory from reviewing for the past two months. There were still some things he hadn’t fully mastered yet, but he was surprised to find that many of the vague knowledge points he had learned before were now clearer after he went back and re-learned them.

After the bell rang, students came out of the exam room in groups. He could vaguely hear some discussions and complaints.

“What’s the deal…? Didn’t they say this mock exam was to boost our confidence? Why did they make it so hard? It’s not about getting a good score, it’s about not dying.”

“For the last question in math, I thought I had solved it, but when I looked up, I realized I didn’t even use the given conditions… Do you think they might have put that there to deliberately confuse me?”

“What did you pick for the multiple-choice questions? …How are all your answers different from mine?”

“…I should have just treated them as single-choice questions. If I can’t quit multiple-choice, please send me to a rehab center…”

An impatient voice behind them suddenly interrupted, “Hey, don’t check your answers! It’s so annoying—”

Tang Shaocheng walked unhurriedly in the middle of the crowd. With his handsome appearance and the calm, confident aura he exuded, he stood out from the crowd like a crane among chickens. The people around him unconsciously lowered their voices as they passed him.

He didn’t see Yan Liao at the door, so he stood next to the stairs and waited for a while. After the tide-like crowd slowly dispersed, a sound of fast running came from the hallway.

Sometimes, it felt so strange. Was it telepathy or just being too familiar? He just had to hear the footsteps to know that the person he was waiting for was coming. He couldn’t even see him yet, but a smile he couldn’t control was already on his lips.

This was the first time Yan Liao hadn’t handed in his paper early. He had diligently and attentively done all the problems from beginning to end, and he had even guessed on the ones he didn’t know how to do. He didn’t leave in a hurry after finishing and sat in his seat to check his answers honestly.

There were a few questions he wasn’t sure about and wanted to change the answers to, but he seemed to hear Tang Shao-cheng’s voice in his ear, “Your first instinct is often correct.” His pen tip hovered in the air for a moment, and he decided not to change it after all.

He felt a sense of accomplishment when he handed in the paper. It was a sense of accomplishment he had never gotten from drawing. The difference was probably not just in what he was good at and what he wasn’t, but also in the expectation of whose praise and recognition he wanted to receive.

Yan Liao was in high spirits. He wanted to jump down the last three steps of the stairs, but of course, Tang Shao-cheng grabbed his collar as he was about to jump and tapped his head lightly.

He let out a few strange “ah-ah” sounds like a mole that had been whacked as soon as it came out of its hole. Before Tang Shao-cheng could scold him, he confessed his mistake. “I know, I know—I’ll walk properly.”

Yan Liao felt he had played at a superhuman level and would definitely get a surprising score. He walked with his head held high and a swagger in his step.

Tang Shaocheng was behind him and finally couldn’t help but laugh. It was only then that he felt a little relieved from the mock exam.

Yan Liao looked back, puffed up his cheeks, and blew on his bangs. His beautiful face was completely revealed, and his expression was very arrogant. Before even getting back to the classroom, he bossed Tang Shaocheng around with righteous indignation. “Xiao Tang, go get me some water.”

“Got it.”

Tang Shaocheng took the cup he handed him and good-naturedly went to get him some hot water.

The bathroom was next to the water room. As he heard the gushing sound of the water, he suddenly heard a burst of laughter. “Is that true? We’ll find out if we try.” “Is he at school today?” The last voice was a mocking one. “It’s an exam, of course, he’s here. I’ll go see how capable he is.”

Tang Shaocheng’s steps stopped. He suddenly remembered something, and he turned back to his classroom. He found Lu Xiao and told him what he had heard. The latter, hearing this, nodded with a sense of justice. “I got it. Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”

They could go home after the exam. The homeroom teacher was thoughtful and announced that there was no homework today and that everyone should relax.

There were only a few students left in the classroom when Tang Shaocheng came in. A boy was standing next to Yan Liao’s desk and saying something to him. Yan Liao was already shaking his head before he even finished, refusing him decisively.

Seeing the figure walking in, Yan Liao’s movements as he packed his backpack sped up. He took the initiative to explain, “That person asked me if I wanted to go play games.” He lifted his eyelids, and his eyes, under his thick eyelashes, were black and clear, like a lake that could reflect a person’s image. “I told him I already had plans.”

Tang Shaocheng felt his heart being lightly swept by a kitten’s tail, feeling a mix of both a tingling and a pleasant itch. He hid his smile and asked knowingly, “With me?”

“…”

Yan Liao bit his lip. The “of course” that was about to come out turned into a resounding “No” after a hundred twists and turns. He grunted through his nose. “But if you ask me nicely, I might consider it.”

Tang Shaocheng suppressed the smile on his face. “Okay,” he said, bending his finger to tap the table. “I’m asking you nicely. Come home with me.”

The sky was a vast twilight. The alley next to the school was dark and deep, filled with discarded items. Few people would ever set foot here unless they were pushed into it.

“Didn’t I tell you to put the answers in the bathroom? How dare you mess with me,” Wang Xu glared at him fiercely. “Are you looking for a fight?”

It wasn’t a question, it was a threat. Ge Dong-lin would usually choose not to respond. But as he turned his face away from the menacing gaze, he suddenly saw a familiar figure flash by at the mouth of the alley.

Lu Xiao was walking towards them with his backpack slung over one shoulder.

Ge Dong-lin’s heart raced. He clenched and then unclenched his hands. Suddenly, his eyes fixed on Wang Xu. “Try it.”

“…What did you say?” Wang Xu’s pupils constricted. The distorted expression on his face was as if he had seen a ghost. After two seconds of shock, he was filled with rage. He cursed and lunged at Ge Dong-lin. “You’re f*cking crazy!”

Ge Dong-lin was kicked in the stomach and fell to the ground, landing in a puddle of water left over from the rain a few days ago. It made a loud splash, and his entire back was soaked. The rotting leaves in the rainwater gave off an unpleasant odor that rushed into his nostrils.

A pigeon flew overhead, its feathers spiraling down. He turned his face away from the blow, and in a ringing in his ears that sounded like a rolling thunder, he thought about whether the provocative words he had just said were crazy.

The person walking by also heard the commotion. Lu Xiao’s expression instantly tightened. Before he could even see who it was, he sprinted into the narrow alley without any hesitation.

The next punch didn’t land on his face. Ge Dong-lin let go of his clenched teeth and slowly opened his tightly closed eyes. The person on top of him was dragged away by his legs, letting out a miserable shriek as he scrambled to escape.

His vision slowly cleared. Ge Dong-lin saw the distant blue sky, a narrow line of it, clear and bright, a blue like seawater. The next second, he saw Lu Xiao’s lowered head, his sharp eyebrows slightly furrowed. “Can you stand up?”

It was like a light had poked a small hole in the darkness.

The person held out a hand. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt prematurely for the season. The blue veins on his strong, muscular arm were bulging as if they were pulsing.

…Or maybe it was just his own hot heart beating fast.

“Tang Shaocheng told me that he heard those guys talking in the water room. I was going to look for you in your classroom, but when I got there, it was empty.”

Lu Xiao had shed his previous aggressive demeanor. He grinned, revealing his white teeth, his smile bright and cheerful, as if he had become a different person in an instant.

Ge Dong-lin endured the soreness in his bones and stood up. His voice trembled as he said, “Thank you.”

Lu Xiao suddenly reached out and lifted his chin. He saw that one side of Ge Dong-lin’s face was red and slightly swollen. “Does it hurt?” he asked instinctively.

“…No, it doesn’t.” Ge Dong-lin pursed his lips and took a step back, shivering slightly as if he was very cold.

It was a secret he would probably never admit—the uncontrollable trembling at that moment was not because of the fear of having survived a disaster but because of excitement.

The feelings he had tried so hard to suppress hadn’t sunk into oblivion. Instead, they had erupted like a rebound from rock bottom.