Chapter 60 The wind is strong, but the world is quiet...
The wind was strong, but the world was quiet.
Wang Kan walked towards them, stepping on branches and snow that broke into tiny pieces.
Deeper in my memory are even louder sounds: the resounding boom of fireworks soaring into the sky, and the heavy blow of a fist slamming into my face.
Fang Minzhou felt like he was dreaming, so much so that he couldn't make out Wang Kan's figure clearly, but he walked from the darkness into the light, getting closer and closer. He was dressed in all black, without a hat, and snowflakes fell on his head and shoulders, as well as on Fang Minzhou's eyelashes.
The instantaneous melting coldness jolted her awake, making her realize that Lin Sinian's breathing beside her had become slow and deep, a state of alertness when faced with danger.
So the rain at the end of June finally poured in, and the pain felt by the eyes and heart swirled in the winter night.
The latter was surprised, and at the same time, his vigilance lessened somewhat. Fang Minzhou secretly breathed a sigh of relief, but quickly tensed up again.
As for the former... Wang Kan's face was clearer. Perhaps it was because of the lighting, but he looked thinner. The shadow on his brow bone obscured the color of his eyes, making it so dark that Fang Minzhou couldn't see herself reflected in them.
He suddenly smiled and said to Lin Sinian, "Long time no see, class monitor."
Fang Minzhou was stunned.
Lin Sinian's polite, smiling voice brushed past her ear as he took a step forward. "Long time no see."
Wang Kan and Lin Sinian were about the same height, but Wang Kan was more broad-shouldered and sturdier, while Lin Sinian was thinner and had a more scholarly air about him. The two, somewhere between a boy and a man, began to exchange pleasantries, as if there had never been any awkwardness between them.
Lin Sinian's upbringing allowed him to handle polite conversation, but Fang Minzhou never expected that Wang Kan would also have such a hypocritical side.
“I just asked Fang Minzhou if you weren’t coming to her birthday party tomorrow,” Lin Sinian said.
"How could that be?" Wang Kan grinned.
After chatting for a while, they mentioned that they might have a class reunion during the winter break. Wang Kan agreed. Later, Lin Sinian was about to leave, and before leaving, he gave Fang Min a deep look.
The snow is still falling, it's very cold, but I can't feel the cold.
Because there is a heart beating and blood flowing.
Fang Minzhou turned her gaze away from the snow where Lin Sinian had walked, and after a while, she looked up to find Wang Kan's eyes.
She was waiting to hear what the first words of their "long time no see" would be.
It's a declarative sentence. He said, "You said you were going to come see me on New Year's Day."
Fang Min and Zhou Moran.
He actually heard everything. How long did he wait? Why did he wait? Why did he come?
The second sentence was a question: "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Fang Minzhou steadied her voice, "I want to say, do you want to break up?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Wang Kan pulled her into his arms.
Fang Minzhou struggled for a moment, but Wang Kan hugged her even tighter. Even through the thick clothing, she could almost feel his real body temperature. Fang Minzhou stopped moving. She rested her forehead on Wang Kan's shoulder, smelled his icy, cold scent, and quietly shed tears.
“How could I possibly break up with you?” Wang Kan said with a smile that choked her voice, her chin brushing against the soft scarf around Fang Minzhou’s neck.
He hadn't heard her voice in so long, but now every word she spoke, every tone, felt like a string of fine needles piercing his body.
He no longer possessed the ease and confidence he had shown when facing Lin Sinian.
There was a time when he thought that since Fang Minzhou wouldn't let him come, he would never come again. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Back in high school, she had always pushed him away. His stubbornness eventually turned into resentment. He resented her for running so far away, for never taking the initiative to apologize, for not liking him enough, and even this time when he came to see her again, it was all out of resentment.
"I came to see you again without saying a word. Are you angry?" He forced a smile. "But it's your birthday, how could I not come? Didn't you really expect me to come?"
His voice was hoarse, but he kept talking, as if he wanted to make up for the words he hadn't spoken in almost a month, as if this would get his rusty vocal cords working again.
Fang Minzhou's forehead pressed even harder against Wang Kan's collarbone, like a unicorn stubbornly and clumsily butting against a south wall with its horn.
She wept amidst the immense, silent sorrow and joy that descended upon her; her tears were scalding hot, then instantly turned icy cold, and smeared like paste on her face.
"Minzhou? Minmin?" Wang Kan noticed something was wrong and tried to cup her face in his hands.
Fang Minzhou quickly stopped crying. She suppressed her overwhelming emotions, and although her tears smeared onto Wang Kan's clothes, the marks were still visible to him. She lowered her eyes, feeling ashamed and not daring to look at his expression.
His cool fingertips covered her face, gently caressing her. Only then did she look at Wang Kan and see that his eyes were also red. She immediately felt much better and smiled as she wiped her face. Seeing this, Wang Kan smiled too, his warm lips pressing against hers, gently licking her like a snuggling animal. "I'm sorry, I was wrong..."
Fang Minzhou dodged and said, "...Okay."
Fortunately, it snowed, and there were no stray cats downstairs in the dormitory. Only the two of them were hugging and cuddling like madmen.
"...When did you arrive?" Fang Minzhou changed the subject.
"Just now," he said, his warm breath brushing against her ear, lying as if unafraid of being exposed, "and you, why aren't you in your dorm room in this cold weather?"
"Then why are you still waiting for me downstairs?" Fang Minzhou almost blurted out.
She didn't mention her tutoring job; her cold war with Wang Kan was also partly due to money. Looking up at the vast night sky, with so many snowflakes falling endlessly, Fang Minzhou tugged at Wang Kan's clothes, "...Let's go, to your place."
As Wang Kan adjusted her scarf, she said, "No need, you go upstairs and rest first. My flight is the day after tomorrow."
Fang Minzhou looked at him and said, "My roommate is celebrating my birthday tomorrow night."
Wang Kan paused slightly, then naturally checked whether the lengths of the scarf hanging down on both sides were even. "Hmm, it's fine."
Fang Minzhou remained silent.
"You think I'd get angry again?" Wang Kan laughed. "I won't. Look, I just saw Lin Sinian chatting happily with him, didn't I? I didn't just go up and punch him like before."
Fang Minzhou didn't find it funny at all.
Wang Kan was left feeling awkward, but at this moment, he was speaking from the heart. If he had superpowers like in the movies, he would definitely turn back time to before their argument, but he didn't. And compared to everything else, he felt that the current situation was already the best outcome; at least Fang Minzhou was still his.
Wang Kan touched her face again. "You go upstairs first, we'll talk again tomorrow."
Fang Minzhou finally nodded.
The story repeats itself once again:
She suffered from insomnia again, and got out of bed early the next morning, only this time her roommates were still asleep. The snow had stopped, she ate the same breakfast, walked through the even more desolate morning campus, and applied lipstick in front of the mirror in the elevator.
Knock on the door.
It's not open.
Knock on the door again.
Still, no one came.
Fang Min choked on her words and walked into the room, saying, "...You should brush your teeth first."
Wang Kan responded.
The water in the bathroom was running intermittently. Fang Minzhou noticed the laptop and final exam review materials on the desk. Wang Kan hadn't brought a single pen when he came to see her before; given his personality, he probably wouldn't have brought one unless he was truly pressed for time.
After washing up and changing his clothes, Wang Kan came out and saw Fang Minzhou carefully looking at the drawing he had made.
Although the items were there intentionally to show he was studying, he actually seemed to be struggling. His studies were already lagging behind others, so he went over to try and make up for it: "Final assignment, due next week, I can't help it..."
After saying that, I felt even more inferior.
"Wang Kan." Fang Minzhou gently wrapped her arms around his waist.
Wang Kan instinctively hugged her back and responded blankly.
"Let's not fight anymore."
Fang Minzhou spoke very softly, his words muffled between the two of them, but in the quiet room, Wang Kan still heard them clearly. He thought he would etch those words into his very bones. "Okay."
They listened to each other's heartbeats for a moment, then exchanged a minty kiss, their lips moistening in the warm room.
Wang Kan came to see Fang Minzhou simply because it was her birthday, and he had to come. Unlike the past few weeks, he could use the excuse of staying up all night making models to exile himself, but he hadn't dared to think about what would happen if they actually met. He had originally thought that Fang Minzhou might not want to see him.
After quickly tidying up his things, he asked Fang Minzhou where she wanted to go. Fang Minzhou said no, staying at the hotel was fine. "You should finish your homework first."
Wang Kan: "..."
They resisted, but the resistance was futile.
Around four or five in the afternoon, as darkness fell, Fang Minzhou had to return to school. Wang Kan's model was still unfinished, so they put it aside for now. In the dimly lit room, they sat facing each other, reminiscing about the issues they hadn't finished discussing.
It was still a little awkward to talk about, and Fang Minzhou didn't want to say anything too harsh, but she felt that Wang Kan really needed to reflect on her tendency to be jealous. "Do you not trust me, or do you lack confidence in yourself?"
But how could someone so narcissistic be insecure?
Wang Kan was speechless.
After a long pause, he licked his lips and said, "Have you noticed that you rarely tell me you like me?"
Fang Minzhou: "...Are there some things that really need to be said?"
I get angry every time we talk. Isn't her affection obvious enough?
"But isn't the way we express ourselves in language also important?"
Fang Minzhou: "..."
She nodded reluctantly, indicating that she understood.
"Then tell me something now."
"……What?"
"You said you'll only ever love me in your life."
Fang Minzhou's expression stiffened, suspecting that Wang Kan was pushing his luck, but under his hopeful gaze, he helplessly smiled and sighed, then reluctantly repeated the story.
After saying that, she couldn't help but cover her face in embarrassment. Wang Kan pulled her arm down and kissed her. During the kiss, Fang Minzhou realized that this was not the attitude of a serious meeting. She laughed and dodged away, telling Wang Kan to stop messing around. He didn't care and said several times that he would always like her. "I can say it so smoothly. Is it that hard to say it out loud?"
"Okay, okay," Fang Minzhou surrendered.
At the end of the meeting, just like in high school, she and Wang Kan made a "three-point agreement": in the long run, their studies must take precedence, and in the short term, at least for this semester, they should not see each other again.
"New Year's Day..." Wang Kan began, but stopped under Fang Minzhou's gaze.
They should be studying hard for their final exams. Fang Minzhou wanted to say something threatening, like what would happen if they failed, but in the end he didn't say anything. Instead, he mentioned the plans for the next semester.
They could travel during the May Day holiday, and also meet once. Wang Kan felt that one meeting was too little, so after some bargaining, they agreed on two meetings, one for each person. After that, it would be summer vacation, which was a bit too far away, so they would talk about it again next semester.
Fang Minzhou: "Is it settled?"
Wang Kan nodded reluctantly.
Fang Minzhou also had deep doubts about this, but at least for now, they have reached a peace agreement.
She checked the time; it was really time to leave. Suddenly, Wang Kan pulled a small box from her backpack on the ground and casually opened it. Inside was a ring. Before Fang Minzhou could even see it clearly, Wang Kan pulled her right hand over and, without asking her opinion or explaining, slipped the ring onto her middle finger. "This is for you. It's a deal."
Fang Minzhou had noticed that he had an identical one on his left middle finger, but assumed it was just a new accessory.
She didn't know what Wang Kan meant—was it an answer to her question, a promise that they would never argue again, or the meaning of the ring.
She stared at the ring for a while before looking at Wang Kan and noticing that he seemed a little nervous. Her heart ached, but she smiled.
"It's settled," she replied in the same way.
In this way, happiness and joy seem to be the ending.
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