Chapter 137 Is the growing distance due to money? Or is it because he's not working hard enough? ...

"Happy happy happy happy..." Jiang Yueming shouted, "I've arrived in Beijing!"

After getting off the train, my back and waist ached. Twenty-odd hours in a hard seat was really tough, but if I had to be stubborn, I'd say it was alright. Looks like something even harder than the seat has appeared – my stubbornest trait is my mouth.

Jiang Yueming stepped off the platform and glanced around. All he saw were people; this area alone was many times larger than Shengping. He had once thought Guangzhou South Station was big enough, but after comparing it today, he changed his mind.

Following the main group out, Jiang Yueming was finally able to stretch his limbs a little. On the train, people were lying everywhere on the floor, so he couldn't move around anymore and could only sit still, with nowhere to put his legs.

If it were Han Jiang, he would surely say something like, "Sigh, my legs are too long. My legs are all below my neck, and there's nowhere to put them." Jiang Yueming, on the other hand, isn't that narcissistic.

He couldn't care less about his aching legs and throbbing back. He let them do as they pleased, as long as they didn't hinder his walking or running. He only wished he could fly; otherwise, he would have loved to fly to see Li Leshan.

"Where are you!" Jiang Yueming searched around, her voice filled with barely concealed excitement.

Anyone would be excited about this; they haven't seen anything like it in almost eight hundred lifetimes.

A message popped up.

Li Leshan: Look up, look ahead.

Through the layers of people, Jiang Yueming looked up and met Li Leshan's gaze directly. Their eyes locked, and neither moved first. They needed to get a full look at each other's faces before making a move.

"Lele!" Jiang Yueming waved.

For some reason, when Jiang Yueming saw Li Leshan walking towards him, his nose felt a little sore.

Finally, the person he had been longing for was getting closer and closer. Jiang Yueming disregarded his luggage and took two trembling steps forward. Although he wanted to rush into Li Leshan's arms, the people coming and going around him made him hesitate.

This isn't like Shengping. Even though nobody knows them and probably nobody pays attention to them, it's still inappropriate for two men to be hugging and cuddling in public.

The next second, before Jiang Yueming could react, Li Leshan pulled him into his arms and hugged him tightly.

The familiar, faint scent of laundry detergent wafted towards him, but Jiang Yueming couldn't care less. Didn't they say big cities were more inclusive? Besides, he really missed it so much that he couldn't bear to wait even a second longer.

"It's been so long." Jiang Yueming buried her face in his shoulder, her voice muffled. "How have you been? I miss you so much..."

Li Leshan nodded, his hair brushing against his cheek, tickling him and making him feel itchy inside.

"Lele, let me look at you." Jiang Yueming let go of him and looked closely at Li Leshan's face. "Let me look at you."

Li Leshan obediently let him look, and he also looked at Jiang Yueming's face. After looking for a while, he reached out and pulled his wrist, touching the protrusion on his wrist for a long time.

“You’ve lost weight,” Li Leshan said in sign language.

Jiang Yueming was taken aback, touched his face, and laughed, "Really? I didn't notice, it's good to have lost weight..."

Li Leshan shook his head. "Are you eating properly over there?"

"Of course," Jiang Yueming quickly replied, "I eat three meals a day without fail, don't worry, Lele, I've never neglected myself."

"Besides, can being a little thin really be called thin?" Jiang Yueming laughed. "I'm just treating it as a diet. Han Jiang must be so envious of me."

He spoke casually, but Li Leshan's brows furrowed slightly.

“Sigh,” Jiang Yueming reached out and pressed his brow. “Lele, you don’t need to worry about me. I’m taking good care of myself, you know that. I don’t want you to worry about me.”

So no matter what, even if it's for Li Leshan's sake, Jiang Yueming will still consider his own interests to some extent.

Li Leshan looked at the bloodshot eyes and felt a sharp pain in his heart. "You can't do this just to keep me from worrying. You have to take care of yourself whether I'm there or not. Didn't you sleep well on the train?"

Jiang Yueming didn't dare to speak. How could he dare to say that he hadn't actually slept at all? If he said that today, it might take three more days of coaxing to get him to sleep.

"No," Jiang Yueming started making things up, "I bought a lower bunk, and I slept quite well, maybe I just didn't get enough sleep..."

“Let’s go back to the hotel first,” Li Leshan began to make arrangements. “Are you hungry? If you are, let’s eat first, and then you can take a nap.”

"No need, can't I sleep anytime?" Did Jiang Yueming come here to sleep? He didn't want to waste time.

“I’ll stay with you,” Li Leshan said, looking at him as if he understood what he was thinking. “You can take a nap, and I’ll take you to the school this afternoon.”

"Oh," Jiang Yueming had nothing more to say. As long as he was with Li Leshan, he could do anything, even sleep. He glanced at him discreetly, "Then, can I... hold you while we sleep?"

Li Leshan pulled his suitcase forward, while Jiang Yueming followed behind, running and stumbling. "I was just... just kidding, Lele, don't be angry."

Upon hearing this, Li Leshan paused, turned to look at Jiang Yueming with a hint of confusion in his eyes, and nodded. He hadn't said he was unwilling, so why did Jiang Yueming assume he was?

Jiang Yueming was taken aback, then delighted. He raised his eyebrows and took a few quick steps forward to get a little closer to Li Leshan.

The hotel wasn't far from the station. Jiang Yueming didn't know how much Li Leshan had spent, but he guessed it probably wasn't cheap; he had a good idea of ​​Beijing's prices. Actually, he could have just found a hostel to stay in; Jiang Yueming wasn't picky, but he didn't dare to ask, because if Li Leshan didn't agree, then nothing would work.

The moment the hotel door closed, before he could even put his luggage away, Jiang Yueming hugged Li Leshan from behind. At the train station, he had been worried about this and that and hadn't hugged him first. Now that there was no one else around, the two of them were the only ones in the room.

He wasn't someone who would think so much before; he used to hug and kiss whenever he wanted. But in this unfamiliar place, he had to consider things more carefully. He wouldn't live here, but Li Leshan would. He could leave and go south, but Li Leshan would have to stay here for four years.

So much so that he had to be careful, even if it made him seem a little unlike himself.

Li Leshan gently patted his wrist, and Jiang Yueming could be heard murmuring behind him, "I missed you so much," "I'm so happy to see you"...

Overwhelmed by longing, Jiang Yueming's eyes reddened, and his voice choked with emotion.

Li Leshan turned to look at him, and gently touched the corner of Jiang Yueming's eye. He continued this gesture for a long time before asking, "Will you blame me for letting you stay in the South?"

It's okay to blame him; he doesn't regret his decision, which was the best choice Li Leshan could think of. However, upon re-examining the past, he could understand Jiang Yueming and imagine his struggles and helplessness at the time. Although a long time has passed, the feelings from that time were real.

“It’s okay if you blame me.” Li Leshan gestured. Thousands of kilometers is no short distance. This distance spans most of China. He would accept Jiang Yueming’s blame. “I’ve made you suffer again.”

Jiang Yueming looked at the hand gesture he made and felt very uncomfortable. He gripped Li Leshan's hand tightly, a little harder, and said, "Lele, I don't blame you, I don't blame you."

"Back then, all I was thinking about was getting closer to you, I wasn't thinking about anything else..."

But life has many things for him to consider. He can't be so selfish, not considering his future or his prospects. His aunt has worked so hard to support his studies, and he can't be so reckless for his own selfish desires.

"I didn't feel any hardship at all," Jiang Yueming choked, her eyes reddening, tears likely to fall at any moment. This statement seemed unbelievable; judging by her expression, anyone who didn't know better would assume she had endured immense suffering or suffered some terrible injustice.

"Are you having a hard time there?" Li Leshan's heart skipped a beat, and his eyes reddened. "Are you very tired? Is something wrong? Taking care of the family is tiring, isn't it?"

"Tell me, and I'll help you." Li Leshan's expression was almost pleading. He really could do something.

"No..." Jiang Yueming quickly shook her head, "Really, no, I wasn't much of a help. I just..."

He covered his face, not wanting Li Leshan to see him like this. He didn't know why, but tears wouldn't stop. He felt like he was being dramatic and making a fuss. "It's just... I miss you so much..."

"I don't know why we're getting further and further apart..." Jiang Yueming pondered countless nights, wondering why their distance had grown from two hundred meters between their homes to the distance between the three high schools and the experimental high school, and now to thousands of kilometers. He didn't know what was separating them. Was it money? Was it because he wasn't working hard enough?

But he asked himself honestly, he had already exhausted all his strength to get this far. He had sat in the stairwell at four or five in the morning, not knowing how many nights he had stayed up or how many practice problems he had solved. Every day after finishing his work, he just wanted to sleep when he got back to his dorm, but he couldn't; he still had things to do. He forced himself to stay awake to study and do problems, so sleepy and cold that he could barely hold his pen. Was it because he hadn't tried hard enough?

He choked up, his words coming out in broken sentences, not even sounding like he was speaking to Li Leshan, "Lele, wait for me... wait until I finish school, wait until I'm able... I'll never be so far away from you again."

"Beijing, I will definitely go..."

Li Leshan trembled as he raised his hand to gently wipe away the tears on his face. He shook his head and gestured to Jiang Yueming in sign language, a little anxious, "I... I didn't understand."

Jiang Yueming's words were just a few vague words in his ears, not forming a complete sentence in his mind. He could only reach out to wipe away Jiang Yueming's tears, but they fell again the very next second after he wiped them away.

He didn't understand, he didn't comprehend what Jiang Yueming meant. Jiang Yueming hugged him tightly, murmuring some words in a low voice. Li Leshan didn't know what he could do to make him feel better, so he could only hold Jiang Yueming tightly, wipe away his tears, and tell him that he didn't regret his decision to let him stay in the south, at least not now.

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Author's Note: Just a friendly reminder, the "broken mirror mended" tag for this story still hasn't been used, but it's not useless [pity]. Actually, at this double-update pace, it's still quite fast, since sometimes a single chapter can explain a lot of content. If the later chapters feel a bit abrupt, I apologize in advance to all my readers [pity].