Chapter 125 Pink Bubbles "I want to make money, lots and lots of money..."
The room was particularly dark and chilly. Looking out the window, there was hardly any light.
Jiang Yueming and Li Leshan lay side by side on the bed. The room was quiet. He quietly hooked Li Leshan's little finger with his own.
Jiang Yueming almost muttered to herself, her tone tinged with regret, "Lele, if only I had bought the ticket and come back sooner, why would I have let you spend the New Year alone?"
Why did he...?
Li Leshan shook his head, then turned to face Jiang Yueming, "I'm so happy you're back."
Jiang Yueming slowly snuggled closer to him. Only when he felt that Li Leshan hadn't moved away did he dare to get even closer, finally resting his forehead gently against Li Leshan's chest.
“I will definitely study hard,” Jiang Yueming said to him. “Lele, I will work hard. I want to go to Beijing with you. We’ve been separated for three years, and I don’t want to be separated from you for another four years…”
"I want to make money, lots and lots of money, to take you away from Shengping. Please wait for me a little longer, okay?" Jiang Yueming's voice was very soft, so soft that it didn't seem like she was speaking to Li Leshan, but rather to herself.
The three years of separation during high school, the events that happened during those three years, big and small, have made Jiang Yueming feel scared. He didn't know what to do or what he could do; he felt helpless and at a loss; he felt helpless and heartbroken... He didn't want to go through four more years.
The past six months in the south have been painful enough for him. The pain of separation is unbearable. The distance of thousands of kilometers is like a deep barrier, separating them, one on this side and the other on that side.
Li Leshan held him in his arms and nodded gently.
I will wait for you, Li Leshan thought, no matter how long it takes.
Moonlight streamed through the window, falling gently and quietly upon the two boys nestled together, carrying with it the promise that rested on their shoulders.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, people who had been visiting relatives and friends in the Third Alley gradually returned, and the area became lively again.
Jiang Yueming is back, so everyone should get together and share the local specialties he brought home.
Han Jiang and Xu Qing arrived early in the morning, before dinner time. Jiang Yueming had just returned home and there were no groceries at home, so the two of them went out to buy some, carrying large and small bags, before knocking on Jiang Yueming's door.
"Dude! I've missed you so much!" Han Jiang lunged forward, only to miss.
It was Li Leshan who opened the door. Just as Han Jiang was about to pounce on him, Jiang Yueming swiftly pulled him back. Given Han Jiang's momentum, he would have knocked Li Leshan flying. Besides, not just anyone could jump into Li Leshan's arms.
Han Jiang stumbled and almost fell, his face filled with shock. "How come Li Leshan arrived before us!"
"Of course it's too early," Jiang Yueming thought, because he hadn't left at all. If he looked into his room now, he could probably still see the clothes Li Leshan had changed out of last night.
“You still know how to come back,” Xu Qing said. Her two braids were red from the cold, and she took off her scarf. “You went to the big city and forgot about us, didn’t you?”
She was indeed a little dissatisfied with Jiang Yueming; after he left, she rarely even sent him messages. Each time, she would bombard him with several messages before he would barely reply, and she wondered what he was so busy with every day.
"Yes!" Han Jiang immediately responded and started attacking, "You've gone off to a big city and are now abandoning us."
"You two are putting on a comedy routine, going back and forth." Jiang Yueming was truly speechless, begging Heaven to judge who was loyal and who was treacherous. He really didn't have that kind of courage. "I haven't forgotten, I haven't forgotten, how could I dare to forget?"
"Let me see what you brought back." Han Jiang quickly pulled Xu Qing to the other side.
Jiang Yueming glanced at Li Leshan, leaned closer and whispered, "Don't take their words to heart. I'm not ignoring them."
He thinks about Li Leshan every day; how could he ignore him? Han Jiang's words made him sound like a heartless man.
"I'm sorry you had to go through this," Jiang Yueming said softly.
Li Leshan's lips curled up slightly, and he shook his head. "I don't feel wronged, and I don't feel like I'm ignoring everything."
Even if he ignores everything, so what? No one expects Jiang Yueming to think about this place all the time. It's his own choice, and Li Leshan won't interfere.
"My God!" Han Jiang shouted from the living room, "You're really good at this! You've brought the whole supermarket back with you!"
"It's not that exaggerated," Jiang Yueming rubbed his nose. "Well, I just wanted to bring more for you guys to try, didn't I?"
He turned back and gestured to Li Leshan. There were some things he couldn't say in front of Han Jiang, but luckily he could still do this: "Keep some for yourself. I told you to take them out a long time ago. Han Jiang won't be polite at all."
“It’s alright,” Li Leshan also used sign language, “I kept it.”
It's no wonder Jiang Yueming is biased. Although he is a bit biased, honestly, can someone's partner be the same as a friend? You could ask anyone on the street and they'd know they're not. If they were the same, why would we even bother creating a term to distinguish them?
"Okay, you two sit for a while, Lele and I will go cook." Jiang Yueming put his arm around Li Leshan's shoulder and walked towards the kitchen.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Han Jiang called out.
“I’ll call you two again when our house is being demolished and they’re going to blow up the kitchen!” Jiang Yueming shouted back.
Their cooking skills were so poor, it was like comparing apples and oranges. Thinking about it, they really weren't a good match. They couldn't possibly eat takeout every day after getting married, since neither of them knew how to cook. From now on, the restaurants and stalls near Han Jiang and Xu Qing's house would be thriving, with a stable customer base.
"Tch," Han Jiang said, sitting down on the sofa. "Is my cooking really that bad?"
Xu Qing glanced at him, then sat down on the sofa, her gaze falling on the kitchen. "Don't you know what you're doing? Every time you cook, you know what the ingredients are when they go in, but you don't know what they are when they come out. They're all black, you've never seen any other color before."
Han Jiang was speechless, stammering for a long time, not daring to refute Xu Qing, and could only whisper, "Then, that's because the dish doesn't look good, but the taste is actually alright."
"I haven't eaten Li Leshan's cooking yet," Xu Qing murmured to herself.
"What? You've eaten Jiang Yueming's cooking before?" Han Jiang seized on the key point. "When was that? I have no recollection of it at all."
"You went hiking and came back tanned dark." Xu Qing's voice was indifferent, somewhat speechless.
Han Jiang was secretly delighted and pleased. What did this mean? It meant that Xu Qing cared about him, knew he had gone mountain climbing, and was concerned about how he would be when he returned. Xu Qing wouldn't care about other people's affairs.
"Come on, Xu Qing, eat more, eat more." At the dinner table, Han Jiang was busy serving food to Xu Qing.
“There’s already so much in Xu Qing’s bowl. She can’t finish it even if you put more in.” Jiang Yueming said as she put food on Li Leshan’s plate. “Lele, eat more. You’ve lost weight.”
"Damn it," Han Jiang glared at this hypocrite, thinking that only officials are allowed to set fires while ordinary people are forbidden to light lamps. "You bastard, how much food is in Li Leshan's bowl? Even if you put more in, he can't finish it all."
Li Leshan nodded to him.
Jiang Yueming ignored him and gestured with her chin towards Li Leshan, saying, "It's alright, Lele, if you can't finish it, I'll eat it."
Han Jiang fell silent, his chopsticks stopping mid-sip. He really thought these two were going too far. Weren't they supposed to be buddies? Had they even seen what a buddy looked like? Why did their conversation feel like it was overflowing with pink bubbles?!
"You're really something," Han Jiang gave a thumbs up. "I can't finish it either, so you can eat it for me."
"You feed it to the dog." Jiang Yueming didn't even lift his eyelids.
Han Jiang, can't you at least find your own place? There's a saying, "Find your own place and enjoy a wonderful life." Of course, that saying is completely made up, but it's quite accurate.
"Damn, I've really seen through you now," Han Jiang said.
"You realized it way too late," Xu Qing said.
Han Jiang had realized this many times, but he never learned his lesson and always repeated the same mistakes. This time, he forgot again and brought trouble upon himself.
"Xu Qing, you should eat more. You're too thin compared to six months ago," Jiang Yueming said, looking at her.
Xu Qing is not short, but she only weighs about 80 or 90 pounds. When she stands there, she is as thin as a stick.
"She just stays up all night memorizing, doesn't get enough sleep, and can't eat." Han Jiang felt a pang of sadness. "There's no way around it; you can't do humanities without memorizing."
“You also need to take care of your health and not overwork yourself,” Jiang Yueming patted Li Leshan’s leg under the table, meaning “You have to listen too,” “Han Jiang, you keep an eye on them.”
"Hey, don't worry." Han Jiang waved his hand. "One's my buddy, the other's my sis, how could I not care?"
"Han Jiang!" Xu Qing muttered, her face slightly flushed. "Who's your sister?"
"Then, you're my buddy too." Han Jiang quickly apologized.
"When are you leaving?" Xu Qing ignored Han Jiang and turned to ask Jiang Yueming.
Jiang Yueming glanced at the calendar in the distance, and when she realized that she couldn't see a single word, she thought for a moment, "The eighth and ninth of the month are when I start school."
Xu Qing said "Oh," and after a while asked again, "After you leave this time, will you come back?"
Jiang Yueming was stunned for a moment. It's no wonder he overthought things; Xu Qing's tone made it seem as if he would never return.
“I’ll definitely come back…” Jiang Yueming hesitated for a moment, then changed her mind, “How could I not come back?”
"I don't know," Xu Qing shook her head, her voice light and airy, "I just feel like you've left this time and I don't know when you'll come back."
Upon hearing this, all four fell silent. Even Han Jiang, who was usually quick to chime in, suddenly quieted down.
"What does this mean?" Jiang Yueming asked instinctively. "What are you thinking?"
"I can't explain it," Xu Qing stared at the rice in her bowl, not daring to look up at him. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but a sixth sense told her, "I just feel like you're so far away from us."
Is it that far?
But a distance of several thousand kilometers is still very far, isn't it?
No matter how far away a place is, a train ticket is all it takes to get there, so he can always come back whenever he wants. Even if we take a step back, this place holds Li Leshan, his parents, his friends, and his youth and memories.
No matter what, he will come back.
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