Chapter 9

At nine o'clock in the evening, when Li Ruiyuan pushed open the door of Lin Lixin's house, the wound on his forehead had already formed a blood scab. Wu Ye was sitting on the sofa. He looked up at the sound and the exercises in his hand were scattered on the floor.

"Brother Yuan!" He rushed over, his fingers suspended in the air, not daring to touch the wound, "How did it happen?"

Lin Lixin leaned against the kitchen door: "A hero saving a beautiful girl." Li Ruiyuan glared at her and pulled Wu Ye out: "It's okay, let's go."

In the taxi on the way back, Wu Ye kept staring at the wound on his forehead. His gaze was so thick and annoying, like an invisible spider web wrapping around him.

"Have you seen enough?" Li Ruiyuan turned his head. "Who hit you?" Wu Ye's voice tightened. "Is it the same person from the day before?"

The neon lights outside the car window flickered, illuminating the boy's paranoid profile. Li Ruiyuan closed his eyes and said, "I fell."

When they reached the door, Wu Ye suddenly grabbed his wrist. His strength was so great that his nails almost dug into his skin. "You lied to me," the boy's eyes were frighteningly red. "Are you that gambler?"

Li Ruiyuan frowned and pushed him away: "It's none of your business." The sound of the key inserted into the keyhole was particularly harsh.

Mother and Li Xuan had already gone to bed. Only a small nightlight was on in the living room, and a pot of soup was left on the dining table.

Wu Ye followed in and closed the door behind him. In the shadows, his expression became unfamiliar: "Did he touch you?"

"I told you I fell!" Li Ruiyuan impatiently pulled open his collar. "Are you done yet?"

The wound looked particularly hideous under the light. Wu Ye's breathing suddenly became rapid, like an angry little animal.

"I'm going to kill him." The voice was soft, but filled with cold madness.

Li Ruiyuan was stunned for a moment, then sneered: "What's wrong with you?" Wu Ye suddenly rushed over and pulled his collar. His movements were rough, unlike the usual obedient boy: "He touched you! Didn't he!"

"Fuck!" Li Ruiyuan pressed him against the wall. "Are you fucking crazy?"

The two men faced each other in the dim living room. Wu Ye's chest heaved violently, and dark swirls swirled in his eyes. Li Ruiyuan was familiar with that look. He had seen it countless times in the mirror.

"Listen." Li Ruiyuan let go of his hand, his tone tired. "Don't bother with my business." Wu Ye slid down the wall and sat on the ground, burying his face in his knees. His shoulders trembled slightly, like an abandoned puppy.

After a long time, he raised his head, his eyes had returned to calm: "I'm sorry." His voice was very hoarse.

Li Ruiyuan said nothing, took out an ice pack from the refrigerator and threw it to him. Wu Ye caught it and put it on his forehead.

Her movements were gentle, her fingertips trembling slightly. "Brother Yuan." The coolness of the ice pack seeped into her skin. "Don't leave me."

An ambulance roared past the window, its red and blue lights sweeping across the boy's moist eyes. Li Ruiyuan looked at the paranoia that had not yet been completely hidden, and suddenly understood something.

He raised his hand and rubbed the other person's hair: "No."

The next morning, Li Ruiyuan called the Guangwei Middle School Academic Affairs Office. Wu Ye stood nearby, listening as he calmly fabricated an excuse for leave, claiming acute gastroenteritis.

"Three days?" the homeroom teacher hesitated over the phone. "The midterm exam is coming up soon..."

"The doctor said so." Li Ruiyuan glanced at Wu Ye who was drinking porridge. "Why don't you ask him?"

Wu Ye immediately coughed twice in cooperation, his voice weak: "Teacher... I'm fine..." The person on the other end of the phone sighed: "Then have a good rest."

The mother quietly packed her luggage and stuffed Li Xuan's textbooks and Wu Ye's Olympiad exercise books into the same backpack. Li Xuan was very excited: "Let's go to Dongguan to play."

Wu Ye sat by the window on the high-speed train. This was his first time leaving Guangzhou, and the sight of the fields zooming by outside the window made him open his eyes slightly.

"What are you looking at?" Li Ruiyuan put the baseball cap on his head. "Go to sleep." The brim of the cap still had the smell of Li Ruiyuan's usual shampoo. Wu Ye took a deep breath quietly.

The old house in Dongguan is hidden deep in the arcade, and you can see the lychee orchard from the window. As soon as my mother entered the house, she started cleaning. Li Xuan took Wu Ye to see the papaya tree she planted as a child.

"Brother Yuan used to sneak out from this tree often." Li Xuan pointed at the crooked papaya tree, "He broke his arm once!" Wu Ye looked up at the obvious scratch on the tree and imagined the young Li Ruiyuan climbing the tree.

After dinner, a torrential downpour began. The old house's electrical system was unstable, and the lights flickered. Fearing thunder, Li Xuan squeezed into her mother's room to sleep.

In the darkness, Wu Ye asked softly, "Why did you bring me back?" Li Ruiyuan turned over in the bed next to him: "To save you from going crazy."

Thunder rumbled past. Wu Ye suddenly said, "I know you're afraid he'll come looking for me." Li Ruiyuan didn't respond.

As the sound of rain died down, Wu Ye spoke again: "Does that wound...still hurt?"

"I'm fine now."

"Let me see."

There were rustling footsteps approaching the bed. Li Ruiyuan was about to curse when a slightly cool finger gently touched his forehead.

"It left a scar." Wu Ye's voice was hoarse.

"What's wrong with a man having a scar?"

Another flash of lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating Wu Ye's figure kneeling beside the bed, his eyes filled with emotion.

Li Ruiyuan suddenly sat up and said, "Go back to sleep." The boy stubbornly refused to move.

Finally, Li Ruiyuan carried him back to the bed and stuffed him into the quilt like a sack: "If you make trouble again, I will throw you out."

It was almost dawn when the rain stopped. Li Ruiyuan was half asleep and could feel someone tucking in the corner of his quilt, as if they were afraid of breaking porcelain.

The next day they were picking lychees in the lychee orchard. Li Xuan was a skilled tree climber, Wu Ye was below, and Li Ruiyuan was leaning against his motorcycle, smoking.

His mother suddenly said, "Ah Yuan was like this when he was little. He would pick lychees and share them with the lonely old man at the corner of the street." Li Ruiyuan sighed, "Why bring up such an old story?"

Wu Ye secretly took note. That afternoon, he actually went to the street corner with a bag of lychees and found that the place had long been converted into a convenience store.

When he returned, he saw Li Ruiyuan standing at the entrance of the alley waiting for him: "Why are you running around again?"

"Take a walk." Wu Ye hid the litchi behind him.

That night, his mother made lychee soup. Wu Ye choked on his first sip; it was so sweet it was sickening. "A Yuan used to drink three bowls," his mother said, laughing as she wiped the table. "Once, it made his nose bleed."

Li Ruiyuan kicked Wu Ye's stool: "Did you hear me? Don't imitate me."

Wu Ye nodded and suddenly said, "Do we want to elope?"

"I'm running away with you. I'm sick."

On the third day when they returned to Guangzhou, Li Xuan burst into tears. Wu Ye secretly slipped a picked frangipani into his textbook.

When the high-speed train started, Li Ruiyuan suddenly said, "If you can get into the top ten in your grade in the final exam, I'll bring you back here during the summer vacation."

Wu Ye turned his head suddenly: "Really?"

"Why would I lie to you?"

Outside the window, the fields sped by like a green river. Wu Ye looked at the two figures reflected on the glass and hummed softly.

The sun was shining brightly, making his new school uniform shine.