Time Has Grown Dim, And Evening Has Already Fallen - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Cheng Xun felt terrified. He wanted to escape, so he secretly climbed into the back of a truck delivering supplies to the orphanage.

The truck jolted violently, and the dream jolted with it.

Shaken by the movement, Cheng Xun woke up.

He opened his eyes to find Lu Xingshu sitting by his bed with a grave expression, staring at him.

Cheng Xun: “…”

“Holy—!” Cheng Xun immediately rolled half a turn inward, clutching his blanket, trying to distance himself from the man. “Lu Xingshu, what are you doing sitting there? You’re going to give me a heart attack!”

“You were having a nightmare. You were screaming pretty pathetically,” Lu Xingshu explained expressionlessly. It was clear he hadn’t slept well either; the dark circles under his eyes were quite heavy. “You woke me up.”

“Cough…” Guilty, Cheng Xun coughed twice and looked at him sheepishly. “Uh, did I say anything in my sleep?”

“Couldn’t hear clearly,” Lu Xingshu said truthfully.

Dazed, Cheng Xun checked his phone and realized it was only a little past five in the morning.

“Sorry,” Cheng Xun rubbed his eyes and apologized sincerely. “It’s only five. Go back to sleep, I’m going back under too.”

He rolled himself back into his cocoon of blankets.

“I definitely won’t talk in my sleep this time,” Cheng Xun added.

Lu Xingshu let out a silent laugh. This time it was obvious; it definitely wasn’t a trick of Cheng Xun’s eyes.

He turned off the light, and the room plunged into darkness.

The sky was just beginning to turn grey. A bit of dawn filtered through the grey curtains, but overall, everything remained hazy.

“Then… goodnight?” His tone was a bit hesitant, given that the timing was indeed strange.

Cheng Xun didn’t have the energy to care. The moment his head hit the pillow, he drifted off.

Back at school, the gauze taped to Cheng Xun’s forehead made him a magnet for attention. For a while, he received a constant stream of “concerned” visits from his classmates.

The school had recently announced the disciplinary actions regarding Wang Ke and his gang, which had caused quite a stir. Between suspensions and forced transfers, the school had essentially made sure not a single one of them got off easy.

Regardless, such things are usually forgotten before long.

After the monthly exams, the school’s focus shifted entirely to the upcoming Sports Meet. Every class began fervently signing up for events.

Cheng Xun remembered last year when he ran the 1500m and took second place, losing only to a sports recruit from Class 2.

This year, he figured he’d settle for something easier. High jump? Long jump? Or maybe the 4x100m relay.

Unfortunately, he underestimated the enthusiasm of the boys in the science stream. Before long, every event except the 5000m was completely full.

Fine. He’d just be a spectator then.

He had no desire to run the 5000m. The school track was 500 meters per lap—meaning ten whole laps. Cheng Xun had average endurance; long-distance running was not his forte.

What he didn’t expect was for Lu Xingshu to sign up for the 5000m. Cheng Xun only found out when the head teacher announced it.

Upon hearing it, he immediately turned to his seatmate in shock. “Are you really planning to run ten laps?”

Lu Xingshu propped his face on his left hand and glanced at him sideways. “Mm,” he replied lazily.

“The class monitor didn’t force you, did he?” Cheng Xun reasonably suspected that Yin Xiaowen might have taken the liberty of signing Lu Xingshu up. The monitor always acted over-familiar, specifically toward Lu Xingshu, which made Cheng Xun inexplicably annoyed.

Lu Xingshu shook his head. “No, I wanted to run it myself.”

“Did you run it back at Provincial Experimental?”

“Yeah.”

Hearing that, Cheng Xun understood. It seemed Lu Xingshu’s stamina was actually quite good.

“Then good luck. I’ll cheer for you when the time comes,” Cheng Xun patted his shoulder, his smile exceptionally bright and a tiny bit punchable.

“I don’t need cheering,” Lu Xingshu turned his face to look at him. His puppy-like eyes, with their slightly drooping corners, seemed to hold a trace of a smile. “But I’d consider a pacing partner.”

“Get lost, no way.”

Cheng Xun couldn’t help but stare into his eyes for a moment, just to catch that hint of amusement.

The boy had a narrow, long face with perfectly proportioned features. High brow bones, a straight, tall nose—when he wasn’t smiling, he looked quite sharp and intense, just like the first time Cheng Xun saw him: cold and a bit scary.

But Cheng Xun realized Lu Xingshu wasn’t as cold or sharp as he used to be. Perhaps it was because he had gotten used to this life. He had become peaceful and… gentle?

The word popped into Cheng Xun’s head, surprising even himself.

Time is like a swindle. It comes and goes in a hurry, sleeping within the cold, silent fragments of the universe while the starlight dims.

The “perfect day” the school leaders had hand-picked for the Sports Meet turned out to be overcast and gloomy. Fortunately, it didn’t rain.

Cheng Xun grabbed two newspapers to bring along, planning to use them as cushions on the bleachers. Luckily, there was no sun, so they wouldn’t be roasted alive. He still remembered the heat during his freshman year; he’d been so sun-scorched his face stayed red for a week.

He didn’t end up skipping all events. He picked the javelin simply because no one else wanted it. It wasn’t tiring, but he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He’d practiced once or twice in PE, and his results were tragic, but he didn’t care—he was just making up the numbers.

Lu Xingshu’s event was on the second day. Aside from the 5000m, he hadn’t signed up for anything else. So, for the first day, he and Cheng Xun were just spectators.

The teachers were lax during the Sports Meet. Xie Qiubai traveled “thousands of miles” from the liberal arts building to hang out with Cheng Xun. When asked, it turned out that by milking his “injured” status, he had managed to dodge every single event.

“How are you an ‘injured person’?” Cheng Xun questioned immediately. “You didn’t have a scratch on you after that fight.”

“Bull!” Xie Qiubai retorted instantly. “I took some dirty hits from those punks too, okay? Internal injuries, you get it?”

Cheng Xun found him annoying and tried to send him back to the liberal arts classes, but Xie Qiubai was like a stubborn weed that wouldn’t be pulled. Eventually, everyone in Class 4 just accepted him as an unofficial member.

Cheng Xun actually had little interest in the Sports Meet. He spent most of the time either being sleepy or on his way to falling asleep. Still, not having classes was a great feeling.

Even though midterms would follow right after the meet, followed by the parent-teacher conference…

At least Lu Xingshu is my seatmate. That way, when Grandma comes for the meeting, she can cover both of us at once.

At this thought, Cheng Xun buried his face in his arms and started laughing. He didn’t stop his momentum in time and leaned heavily to his left.

From Xie Qiubai’s perspective, Cheng Xun was laughing so hard he literally collapsed onto Lu Xingshu.

Then he saw the famous, cold, “keep-everyone-at-a-distance” Lu Xingshu actually not push him away. Instead, he let Cheng Xun lean against him.

Xie Qiubai: “???”

Cheng Xun scratched his hair and offered a perfunctory apology, the smile still lingering on his face.

“What’s so funny?” Lu Xingshu looked down at him.

“Nothing,” Cheng Xun said, shaking his head. “I just thought of midterms.”

“Thinking of midterms makes you laugh like that?” Xie Qiubai stared at him as if he’d seen a ghost. “…Cheng Xun, you are definitely not okay.”

Cheng Xun pushed Xie Qiubai’s head away and smiled without further explanation.

Lu Xingshu didn’t follow up. His gaze brushed past Xie Qiubai’s head, and the other boy’s carefully styled hair suddenly looked quite eyesore-ish to him.

Xie Qiubai couldn’t help but rub his arms. It was a hot day, but why did he suddenly feel a chilly breeze?

The next day, before leaving home, Cheng Xun specially packed two bottles of water, a sports drink, and some snacks like preserved eggs, lemon chicken feet, and braised chicken drumsticks.

If it weren’t for the fact that Lu Xingshu had to run 5000m today, Cheng Xun wouldn’t have been willing to “raid” the shop for snacks. Besides, of those items, he only planned to keep the chicken feet and preserved eggs for himself.

Before the race, Cheng Xun caught Lu Xingshu by the shirt and leaned in to whisper to him. It was very soft; he didn’t want his classmates to hear.

“If you can’t run anymore, just walk. Don’t force yourself; it’s not worth getting a permanent injury,” Cheng Xun whispered into Lu Xingshu’s ear. His usually round cat-eyes were half-lidded, and his brow was furrowed, as if he were remembering a bad memory.

Lu Xingshu didn’t know about Cheng Xun’s “5000m tragedy” from freshman year, where his legs cramped so badly he couldn’t walk for a week. He only thought Cheng Xun was worried about him getting hurt.

Imitating Cheng Xun’s gesture from the previous day, he reached out and lightly tapped the other boy’s forehead. It was less of a push and more like a cautious touch.

Cheng Xun: “?”

“I know what I’m doing, don’t worry too much.” Lu Xingshu left him with those words and walked away, leaving Cheng Xun standing on the bleachers in a daze.

Who’s worried about you? And why are you touching my head?

Despite the internal confusion, Cheng Xun’s actions betrayed his words. He grabbed the water and sports drink, used a chicken drumstick to bribe a classmate guarding the track entrance, and successfully slipped onto the grass.

He wouldn’t pace him, but he could at least wait at the finish line with water.

He wasn’t sure if Lu Xingshu had seen him, but with so many people around, it was unlikely.

The 5000m was the highlight of the school meet, scheduled for the very end. Everyone was holding their breath for the result, and the field was packed with “cheer squads” for the various runners.

The most popular runner was undoubtedly that sports recruit from Class 2—tall, handsome, fast, and surrounded by fangirls. He was the one Cheng Xun had lost to. Some people just have a natural advantage; while Cheng Xun had felt half-dead after his race, this guy had barely reacted, walking around and jumping after a quick lap.

As Cheng Xun’s mind wandered, the starting gun fired.