Chapter 124 You're not sleeping with me? "Besides my aunt, no one treats me like this..."

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, the train station was much quieter in the early morning, with hardly anyone around. Plus, given the holiday, those who could buy tickets had already gone home before New Year's Eve to make it in time for their reunion dinner; those who couldn't get tickets probably wouldn't be coming back.

It had snowed in Shengping a few days ago. Although the snow had melted by now, the melting snow was even colder than when it was snowing normally. Li Leshan pulled his scarf up to cover half of his face.

Entering the train station, it was finally a bit warmer. There weren't many people inside, and only a few ticket inspectors. He had arrived an hour early and had just seen a message from Jiang Yueming saying the train was delayed by twenty minutes, according to the sign, but he didn't know the exact delay time. It was possible it could be delayed by another half an hour or several tens of minutes.

Li Leshan sent him a message: Are you hungry? Do you want me to buy you something to eat?

The food on the train is expensive and not very good, so Jiang Yueming definitely wouldn't buy it; he couldn't bear to spend the money. I wonder if he brought any food with him, like bread or instant noodles, otherwise he couldn't endure a whole day like that.

Thinking of this, Li Leshan glanced at the time again before he could reply. It was still early, and he quickly left the station to look for any stalls or shops that were still open.

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, it was indeed difficult to see any shops open, even though there were quite a few restaurants near the train station. Some people were visiting relatives, others were closed, and around 11 or 12 o'clock, almost all of them were closed. There were very few people like him wandering the streets.

He ran all the way from Tiedong to the vicinity of Shigao High School before finally seeing a small stall with a pushcart. As he ran there, the exercise made him feel less cold in the wind and more warm.

The stall owner was an old man who looked to be in his sixties. He was pushing his stall and was about to walk back when Li Leshan suddenly ran up to him, startling him.

Li Leshan opened his mouth, then hesitated for a moment. Under the old man's questioning gaze, he pointed to his mouth and waved his hand, indicating that he could not speak.

As he ran around looking for a restaurant, he genuinely didn't expect this to happen, probably because he was in a bit of a rush. It wasn't until he reached the stall that he realized he was still a little different from normal people.

Fortunately, the old man understood and didn't ask any more questions. He cheerfully replied, "Son, what do you want to buy? I still have some hot dry noodles and roasted sweet potatoes left, but not many. I'm already closing up shop, haha. I'll be leaving in a little while."

Li Leshan pointed to the two, indicating that he wanted them both.

He glanced at the sign on the stall and took money out of his pocket.

"How big of a sweet potato do you want, child?" The old man looked at the oven, opened it, and saw steam escaping from inside. "I have four, five, and six pieces."

Li Leshan pointed to the number "six".

"Okay." The old man chatted with Li Leshan while serving hot dry noodles. He said that he had nothing to do, so he wandered around outside selling food. He also said that Li Leshan looked familiar and that he could tell the boy was good just by looking at his face.

"Ten yuan, ten yuan," the old man gave Li Leshan two yuan back. A large portion of hot dry noodles was six yuan, plus roasted sweet potato, it was twelve yuan in total, but he insisted that Li Leshan give him ten yuan. "It's the New Year, it's fate that we met. Child, why are you still out so late at night?"

Li Leshan had no choice but to accept the change. He stuffed the two yuan back into his pocket and said "thank you" in sign language. Then he pointed in the direction of the train station in the distance. Although the old man couldn't understand sign language, he could guess most of what Li Leshan meant just by his gestures.

"Your girlfriend went home for the Chinese New Year," the old man laughed. "It's good to be young, you look so energetic. Your girlfriend is so lucky."

Li Leshan smiled and bowed his head. He took the still-warm noodles and roasted sweet potato, bowed to the old man, and expressed his gratitude.

The old man waved to him cheerfully and slowly pushed his cart away.

Li Leshan took off his scarf and wrapped it tightly around the noodles and roasted sweet potato, stuffing it into his clothes, afraid that it would get cold if he ran back. The moment he took off the scarf, the cold wind seemed to find a way in and kept blowing against his face and neck.

He dared not linger; he had wasted a lot of time looking for restaurants and food stalls, and now he had to hurry to the train station to pick up Jiang Yueming.

Suddenly, snow began to fall from the sky. Scattered snowflakes landed on Li Leshan's hair, face, and shoulders. By the time he ran back to the train station, he was covered in snow from head to toe. The noodles and roasted sweet potatoes, however, were not affected by the wind and were still steaming hot.

Li Leshan's hands and cheeks were red from the cold. He rubbed his face with his hands and watched as several figures walked out of the station one after another.

There weren't many people, so it was easy to spot Jiang Yueming. Standing in this spot, Li Leshan recalled the scene of seeing Jiang Yueming off at the train station a few months ago. He hadn't even dared to wave goodbye when he saw him off that time.

"Lele!" Jiang Yueming called out from a distance. He waved and ran over quickly, pulling his suitcase.

Seeing Jiang Yueming run up to him from afar, Li Leshan felt a surge of warmth in his heart. He quickly took a few steps forward to help Jiang Yueming with her luggage and backpack.

"It's alright, it's alright, it's not heavy." Jiang Yueming waved his hand. He had been far away before and only now noticed Li Leshan's red face and hands from the cold.

"Damn it," Jiang Yueming instantly forgot about her luggage and bag and rushed to touch Li Leshan's face. Feeling the icy touch, her heart ached. "You went to buy food? Didn't I text you not to go? It's so cold outside, are you stupid?"

Li Leshan shook his head and handed over the food first, saying, "It's not very cold, eat it while it's hot."

"It's not that cold. It's just that you're so cold you can't feel anything, okay?" Jiang Yueming felt heartbroken, so she quickly took off the scarf from her neck and put it on Li Leshan. She wrapped it around his neck in a few quick movements and pulled the scarf up to cover half of his face.

Li Leshan pulled the scarf down a little more and smiled at Jiang Yueming.

It was early morning at the train station. Snow was falling outside, and the lights inside were dim.

Jiang Yueming refused to eat first no matter what. He held Li Leshan's hand to warm it for a while, muttering to himself, "Am I an idiot? I sit on the train all day and don't know how to eat. Ah, I just sit there without eating or drinking."

I've never seen anyone call themselves an idiot.

Li Leshan pulled his hand away; it wasn't so cold anymore. He quickly handed over the chopsticks, saying, "You eat, and then go home."

"Have you eaten?" Jiang Yueming asked.

Li Leshan nodded.

"You'd better be. I think the probability of you not eating is even higher than mine." Jiang Yueming took the chopsticks. The noodles were a little clumpy, so he stirred them a few times and gave the first bite to Li Leshan. "Open your mouth."

Li Leshan waved his hand.

“You think I can eat it even if you don’t?” Jiang Yueming said.

Li Leshan had some reluctance, but he still opened his mouth and took the first bite of hot dry noodles.

"Damn, train tickets are so hard to buy," Jiang Yueming complained, sitting cross-legged on a step. "I bet it'll be even harder to get a ticket back. My homeroom teacher might try to stab me with a knife when the time comes."

That's a bit of an exaggeration, just a slight one, but not much. There are still some true elements. Unlike Liu Xijun, Jiang Yueming's new homeroom teacher is not difficult to deal with. She is a serious but actually very good female teacher, though she is indeed serious.

But let alone being attacked, Jiang Yueming has returned despite all the risks.

Li Leshan smiled at him and took out the train ticket he had bought by queuing all night on the first day of the Lunar New Year from his pocket.

Jiang Yueming was stunned. He took the ticket and, after seeing the route, became so excited that he couldn't speak coherently, "The eighth day of the first lunar month, how did you manage to buy it? You didn't buy it from a scalper, did you?"

The one that costs 250 yuan?! No way, that's outrageously expensive. With that money, he could have Han Jiang carry it back for him.

Li Leshan shook his head. "It didn't cost much. A classmate got it through connections."

Jiang Yueming carefully put the ticket in his pocket. He looked into Li Leshan's eyes, his throat tightened, and he was deeply moved. He laughed foolishly, "Hehe, I don't have to get chopped up anymore, thank you Lele."

The two of them huddled together and finished a bowl of hot dry noodles and a roasted sweet potato. Jiang Yueming ate voluntarily, while Li Leshan was forced to eat, but no matter how forced they were, they finished their meal.

The sight of two boys sharing a meal at the train station in the early hours of the morning was somewhat pathetic and even a little embarrassing. Had they been in a more crowded place, they probably would have already begged for money by now.

Around 2 a.m., they returned to Third Alley. The snow had stopped; in fact, it had only been snowing for a short while. The two stood downstairs at Jiang Yueming's building. Before Jiang Yueming could say anything, Li Leshan had already lifted Jiang Yueming's suitcase and was preparing to go upstairs.

"Lele, I'm sleeping... here?" Jiang Yueming asked hurriedly.

He... he was about to head straight to Li Leshan's house. Was he not going to sleep with Li Leshan? Or was Li Leshan going to sleep here with him?

Li Leshan glanced back at him, put down his suitcase, and said, "I've packed it."

“It’s not about tidying up or not,” Jiang Yueming quickly stepped forward and grabbed Li Leshan’s wrist, lowering her voice, “You, aren’t you going to sleep with me?”

In the dark stairwell, it was difficult to see Li Leshan's expression clearly, so Jiang Yueming could not see the emotions in his eyes, nor could she see his hesitation and struggle.

Jiang Yueming coughed, and the motion-activated light turned on. He stared intently into Li Leshan's eyes.

After a while, Li Leshan moved his hand. He raised his hand and used sign language, "I... I didn't say I wouldn't sleep with you."

Jiang Yueming's eyes lit up instantly. He excitedly went to move his suitcase, leaving Li Leshan no chance to refuse. As if afraid that Li Leshan would change his mind, he carried the suitcase and rushed upstairs.

After Jiang Yueming left, he left a key for Li Leshan, which is why Li Leshan was able to clean the house before he returned.

"It's even cleaner than before I left." Jiang Yueming turned on the light and saw the environment.

He looked into the room and realized that it hadn't been this clean in over ten years. Li Leshan had even changed the sheets and duvet cover for him.

"You tidied up the bed too?" Jiang Yueming was a little dumbfounded.

“I want you to sleep well,” Li Leshan said in sign language. “You don’t seem to be sleeping well lately.”

Whether it was because he was staying up late doing homework or because he was not used to the environment, he always felt that Jiang Yueming was particularly tired.

Jiang Yueming's eyes welled up with tears. He rushed forward and hugged Li Leshan tightly, whispering, "Thank you... thank you, Lele. No one has ever been so kind to me except my aunt..."

Li Leshan paused, then gently patted Jiang Yueming's back. He shared Jiang Yueming's feelings; besides his grandmother, no one had ever been so kind to him. Now that his grandmother was gone, Jiang Yueming was the kindest person in the world to him.

“I,” Jiang Yueming buried his face in his shoulder, his voice a little muffled. He hugged Li Leshan tightly, never so grateful to be back. “I really, really missed you… I’m so glad I’m back.”