After class, Ye Kai and Yu Minmin walked out of the classroom together, chatting. The students all went home for dinner, and the village had separate arrangements for the college students who were teaching. Yu Minmin invited him to join her, but then she found Chen Youhan smoking and waiting for someone on the playground. It was very inappropriate for someone like him to appear here, and Teacher Yu immediately guessed that he came for Ye Kai.
"Teacher Yu." Chen Youhan dusted off his cigarette ash and greeted her politely.
Yu Minmin was very surprised, as it was the first time she and Chen Youhan met.
"If it's convenient, I'd like to talk to Teacher Xiaohua."
Yu Minmin burst out laughing and turned to Ye Kai, who had a gloomy face: "Teacher Xiaohua, our cafeteria is over there--" She pointed to a two-story house at the foot of the mountain, "I'll go over there first."
Before Ye Kai nodded, Chen Youhan took the initiative and said, "No need to wait for him, he will eat with me."
Yu Minmin left, and Ye Kai said coldly: "Who wants to eat with you?"
Chen Youhan handed him a cigarette and said, "How about I take you to eat steam pot chicken? The taste there is a bit strong, you may not be used to it."
Ye Kai took the cigarette and said nothing.
Chen Youhan pressed the lighter: "Don't be so awkward, I was wrong to kiss you last time."
Ye Kai lowered his head and took a sip. His face turned even darker after listening to what he said.
"Qu Jia, are you assured of coming here alone? I thought she would at least send an assistant to you." Chen Youhan naturally put his arm around his shoulder, then quickly put it down: "This way." He was very gentlemanly, just leading him the way, and his manners were just right within business etiquette.
The sun was high in the sky, drying up the wet and soft muddy road. The roadside was covered with horse and cow manure, some of which had already turned into grass seeds after long-term weathering. Ye Kai followed behind Chen Youhan. He was wearing a light gray jacket and outdoor work boots, zipped up to the top, and looked a few years younger than in the workplace. If he hadn't seen him appear here in person, he really couldn't imagine Chen Youhan in the countryside.
"Have you been here before?"
"I came here once during the inspection, and also when the construction started." Chen Youhan jumped down a very slippery slope in three or two steps and stretched out his hand to Ye Kai.
Ye Kai ignored him and insisted on going down by himself. The first step was fine, but the second step, his shoes slipped and he fell on his butt. He used his hands to support himself reflexively, but the sand and stones rubbed out a shallow cut. He was stunned by the fall, and looked at Chen Youhan with a depressed face, laughing wildly. Chen Youhan stretched out his hand again and asked lazily: "Is this what you call letting go?" Ye Kai slapped his hand away, and climbed up the hill by himself despite the pain.
"Don't be so stubborn. Just treat me as a passerby." Chen Youhan grabbed his arm, pinched his palm and took a look, then took out a piece of individually wrapped wet wipes from his pocket, "Do it yourself?"
Ye Kai took it, tore it open, and wiped the sand off his palm. Chen Youhan wanted to help him brush off the dirt on his body, but he was too sensitive to do it. He raised his chin and said, "Pat your butt."
What a mess! Ye Kai handled the mess with a cold face, and his embarrassment and annoyance were almost like a girl meeting her ex-boyfriend without makeup.
Chen Youhan suppressed his laughter and thought Ye Kai was cute. He deliberately ignored the fact that Ye Kai had already started a new emotional life. Even an ostrich would feel that the whole world is safe when it buries itself in the sand.
The two were received by an old Naxi couple. When they arrived, the food was already prepared, and the dish in the middle was indeed the steamed chicken. Perhaps Chen Youhan had specifically told them that the taste was much lighter than Yunnan cuisine. Chen Youhan also brought two engineering people with him this time, who lived in this family and had already started eating at another table. Seeing Chen Youhan suddenly bring people over, they all felt a little restrained.
Aunt Naxi obviously liked Chen Youhan very much, and smiled very kindly, but then she shifted her attention to Ye Kai's face, and her wrinkled eyes stared at Ye Kai very carefully. The more she looked at him, the more she liked him. She lifted her apron to wipe her hands and said, "What a handsome child! You'll raise him just the way you gave birth to him!"
He also took them to see the chickens and black pigs he raised.
The little black pigs with curly tails were running all over the mountain. Chen Youhan squatted down and said to a little pig with spots on its back and belly, "Teacher Xiaohua, come here!"
Ye Kai resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said with a straight face, "Boring."
The little pig crawled into Chen Youhan's palm, and was rubbed by him so comfortably that it squinted its eyes and hummed twice in a cute way.
Chen Youhan said: "It's pretty good to be a pig. You eat and sleep, fall in love in the spring, roll in the mud in the summer, and grow fat in the autumn. You can be happy all your life and only get slaughtered at the end. It doesn't sound bad."
Ye Kai squatted down: "Are you envious of it?"
Chen Youhan rubbed Xiaohua's ears, let it run away, and watched it run away in the distance. He hummed, "I'm quite envious."
Ye Kai glanced at him and said, "Pig."
He turned and walked away with dignity and coldness.
Chen Youhan's heart trembled, and he felt himself going backwards. A simple personal attack filled his heart with spring water, drowning it.
The atmosphere was inexplicably relaxed during the meal. Ye Kai had been feeling uncomfortable with the local climate and food for the past two days. After drinking two bowls of refreshing chicken soup, his stomach felt much better. After dinner, Aunt Naxi made two cups of Pu'er tea. The two of them sat on the doorstep, stretched their legs and basked in the sun. Ye Kai sighed with comfort from the hot tea and asked, "When are you leaving?"
"the day after tomorrow."
Ye Kai's heart sank subtly, and he couldn't tell what he felt.
Chen Youhan knew what he meant and continued, "I've made the arrangements. You can come here to eat in the future. It's the rainy season now, so take good care of yourself in the next two weeks."
"where you go?"
"Deqin."
Ye Kai asked casually: "Is it Meili Snow Mountain?"
"No, you want to go?"
"No." Ye Kai denied it flatly.
Chen Youhan smiled indifferently: "Why are you so nervous? I won't ask you out. If you want to go, call me and I'll arrange a guide for you."
Ye Kai held the disposable teacup in silence for a while, then said three ambiguous words: "Let's talk about it later."
The midday sun on the plateau is very direct, almost making one's soul transparent. Chen Youhan didn't have much time to rest. After drinking a cup of tea, he asked Aunt Naxi to wake up the two engineering managers from their naps. He took off his jacket and wore only a tight black quick-drying T-shirt. There were blue veins on his wheat-colored forearms, which looked strong and sexy. He left his clothes at Aunt Naxi's house. Ye Kai got up too early and wanted to go back to Zhaxi's house for a nap, so he took the initiative to say, "I can bring it back for you."
Chen Youhan glanced at him from the swirling smoke and handed him the clothes: "Thank you."
"Thank you for treating me to dinner." Ye Kai took the jacket, which was from Arc'teryx. He was wearing an Arc'teryx short-sleeved T-shirt when he went hiking on the MacLehose Trail.
It's so awkward to be with your ex, any detail can be infinitely extended to the past when they were together. He withdrew his thoughts and saw Chen Youhan push open the fence gate made of wooden sticks in front of the yard.
When walking down the hillside, Chen Youhan looked back at Ye Kai, and seeing Ye Kai also looking at him, he smiled. The wind blew through the valley, and the sun dried the mist. Which of the gods on the mountain heard the "thank God" in his heart? Xiao Kai, you don't know how happy I am to find that you are still willing to look at me.
Ye Kai held Chen Youhan's clothes and walked slowly along the ridge. The animals were taking a nap, lying lazily on the haystacks, twitching their ears to drive away flies and insects. The only sound in the whole village was the barking of the big yellow dog when it saw the stranger. But then it found that the foreign visitor was absent-minded and did not pose any threat at all. Ye Kai stopped and shook the collar of the coat open, then put his arm into it. He put on Chen Youhan's coat.
In front of the old yellow mud house, a little girl stood with her round belly. Her face was dark, she was chewing her fingers, and her big black eyes watched him pass by the door in confusion.
"Teacher Xiaohua." She called timidly.
Teacher Xiaohua didn't hear it.
The mountain eagle flew through the low clouds, and the yellow flowers swayed in the wind. Teacher Xiaohua lowered her head, put her hands in her warm pockets, and walked alone along the long mountain road.
Arriving at Zhaxi's house, Ram was taking a nap on her mother's lap. Ye Kai handed a bunch of wild flowers to Doji and walked up the stairs without saying a word. The fourth floor had been cleaned by Doji, exuding a tidy atmosphere. Chen Youhan's bedroom door was half open, a black backpack was thrown on the table, and an iPad and wallet were placed unprotected at the head of the bed. Ye Kai took off his coat and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed. He held his clothes in his arms, buried his head deeply, and did not move.
Perhaps because he didn't sleep well last night, Ye Kai's nap lasted until four in the afternoon. The sun was setting, and he woke up from a splitting headache. The afterglow cast through the window and sprinkled all over him. The herdsmen drove the cattle, sheep and horses back home. Zhaxi's house was a must-go place between the pasture and the village. Ye Kai closed his eyes and heard the bleating of the sheep. It lasted for a long time, and it was dark. He thought the sun had set, but when he opened his eyes again, it was raining.
Raindrops were hitting the room diagonally. Ye Kai stood up to close the window and heard Duoji going upstairs in the wind. She lifted her skirt and wrapped herself in a down jacket: "It's getting colder." She gestured, walked into Chen Youhan's bedroom and closed the window.
The weather on the plateau is changeable, sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy. Ye Kai went downstairs to drink a bowl of sweet tea, and then received a call from Jiang Yan asking him to have dinner. The sky was completely dark, with thick clouds rolling over the snow-capped mountains in the distance and dark clouds and low pressure nearby. Suddenly, a few beams of golden light pierced through the clouds, illuminating half of them with a dark black light.
Ye Kai was fascinated by the view from the window, and in the distance he saw Tashi riding a motorcycle and driving the horses back. After a while, the door of the living room on the second floor was pushed open, and Tashi came in wrapped in cold wind, shivering and sitting down by the stove: "I'm freezing, freezing, freezing, freezing."
Ye Kaishang thought his mumbling with an accent was cute and funny, but then he was stunned and sat up straight with his pupils shrinking like needles.
The signal was poor in the mountains, so the second call was only answered.
“It’s raining.”
Chen Youhan said, "Yeah," and said, "I saw it."
"I'll bring you some clothes."
I heard Chen Youhan's smile through the receiver, tired and gentle: "No, I'm not cold."
Ye Kai was not stupid. He immediately thought that this was not Chen Youhan's first time here, and he had already experienced the unpredictable weather here, so how could he make such a low-level mistake. Aunt Naxi's house was very close to the new school construction site, and he should be used to putting his clothes there. He was doing something unnecessary.
"You're at school? I'm coming over now."
Chen Youhan was quiet for a while, and then Ye Kai heard the sound of wind coming from the receiver. He probably went out to check the weather. Then Chen Youhan said, "Be careful on the road."
Ye Kai immediately went to get his clothes. One coat was not enough, he had to bring a fleece liner. Or maybe a down jacket. He made a mistake in his haste, and the corner of his clothes swept over the bedside table, sweeping the iPad to the ground. The screen lit up, showing a smiling face. Snowy mountains, snowboards, a brown woolen hat, and large goggles pushed on his forehead. It was a selfie of him in Whistler when he was seventeen years old. Chen Youhan set it as the screen saver.
Ye Kai picked it up expressionlessly and put it back in its place. Was it intentional? He suddenly became angry again, because of Chen Youhan's all-pervasive offensive against him.
Although the wind sounded strong, it was not that bad when you walked in. Ye Kai zipped up his jacket and put on the hood of his red sweater. The elementary school was out of school early, and the children were all going home. When they saw Ye Kai, they shouted "Hello, Teacher Xiaohua". He couldn't refuse. After calling him all the way, all the parents in the village knew that he was Teacher Xiaohua.
When we arrived at the new campus, there was only one small stone house with lights on on the empty construction site. I guess that was Chen Youhan's "project department." The light bulb hanging on the door swayed in the wind, the door creaked open, and the windshield was lifted - what the hell, the employees all ran away, leaving the boss alone here.
Chen Youhan was sitting by the stove, warming himself with air pods in his ears, talking about business. Ye Kai threw all his clothes to him, turned around to leave, and was grabbed. He didn't say anything after being grabbed, just made a shushing gesture. What's wrong, you're leaving anyway, why are you shushing? However, his arm was sore from being grabbed, and Chen Youhan obviously didn't intend to let him go.
After about five or six minutes, he hung up the phone and said leisurely while getting dressed: "Teacher Xiaohua was also very kind to her ex-boyfriend."
Ye Kai was choked and said coldly: "Respecting the elderly and loving the young is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation."
Chen Youhan didn't feel offended, instead he laughed and said, "I won't be in your sight the day after tomorrow, just let me have a word."
Ye Kai asked: "Why did you ask me to help you take the clothes back at noon?" Even if it didn't rain, it would be cold after dark. He did it on purpose.
Chen Youhan saw that he couldn't hide it, so he smiled, lowered his eyebrows and said gently: "It's rare for you to take the initiative to talk to me. I couldn't think of anything at that time. I just wanted to agree to you."
Ye Kai panicked and looked away, saying, "Nonsense."
"Don't provoke me." Chen Youhan was helpless. He just thought he was cute. The pain and love in his heart surged out at the same time. He didn't dare to act rashly. He could only flick Ye Kai's forehead. "There's no one here. I can't help but kiss you."
Ye Kai panicked and said subconsciously: "I have a boyfriend!"
The small house, which was warmed by the stove, was silent for a moment, with only the crackling sound of burning dry cow dung.
Chen Youhan took a deep breath and nodded: "I'm sorry, I don't remember it clearly enough."
The heavy curtain was lifted and then fell heavily, and Chen Youhan's figure disappeared behind the door.
Ye Kai endured for a while, but before he could explode, Chen Youhan lifted the door curtain again: "Let's go, Teacher Xiaohua, I'll take you back."
It was completely dark, but it was only around five o'clock. It was unclear whether it was rain or snow in the air. The red star of the cigarette butt on Chen Youhan's fingertips flickered. The wind blew behind him. Ye Kai inhaled a few steps of secondhand smoke. Before he left the construction site, he could no longer bear it. He patted Chen Youhan's shoulder, hooked his finger, and said without question: "Give it to me."
Chen Youhan was puzzled. After thinking for a while, he half-raised the cigarette and asked, "This?"
Ye Kai nodded, his eyes fixed on Chen Youhan's face, no emotion could be seen. Chen Youhan handed him the cigarette, thinking it was going to be extinguished, but Ye Kai stared at him and put the cigarette holder he had held in his mouth into his mouth.
The smoke was blown back by the wind. Ye Kai, with his hair in disarray, took a sip expressionlessly, exhaled towards him, and brushed off the ashes.
Chen Youhan couldn't catch his breath, and squinted in the dim vision and said, "Don't torture me."
Ye Kai curled his lips in an ambiguous way, "Why, this trick still works for you? Aren't you tired of it?"
Chen Youhan was speechless and walked forward with a gloomy face.
Ye Kai stared at his back and smiled, then threw the cigarette butt on the ground, stomped it out, and crushed it deeply into the soil.
He and Jiang Yan had agreed to meet at the village committee, so he should have separated from Chen Youhan at the intersection, but Chen Youhan was heading in the same direction as him. With a bad guess in mind, Ye Kai asked tentatively, "Are you not going back?"
"I have an appointment." Chen Youhan dismissed him succinctly. Feeling depressed, he glanced at him and asked, "What are you doing now?"
"I have an appointment too."
The two people who had an appointment arrived at the village committee building at the same time. Jiang Yan and another man greeted them at the door with flashlights, and asked in surprise: "What a coincidence?"
He looked at Chen Youhan, and the person next to him introduced him, "This is Mr. Chen."
Jiang Yan shook hands with Chen Youhan. It turned out that the last time Chen Youhan came, it was the village chief who received him. Jiang Yan happened to be at a meeting in the county and missed the meeting. The four of them exchanged pleasantries while walking towards the village entrance. Ye Kai guessed that they were probably going to eat yak hotpot again. Anyway, Jiang Yan didn't have anything to show off, so the yak hotpot was the only thing he could do to welcome him back.
Arriving at the small stone-walled courtyard with lights on, Ye Kaixin thought, as expected. The brass hot pot was bubbling on the stove, and on the square stone table were four bowls of yak yogurt, Tibetan beef patties and vermicelli soup, as well as grilled lamb chops and salt-baked potatoes. Jiang Yan paid for the standard business reception meal, which was the highest grade in the village.
The village chief was a Tibetan. After he sat down, he picked up the engraved silver pot without saying a word and poured a large cup of barley wine for everyone.
Jiang Yan still didn't know what was going on, so he introduced: "Mr. Chen is the donor of the school project. Xiao Kai, you can ask Mr. Chen any questions you have." He then said to Chen Youhan: "This is my junior. This time he came here to take the lead in setting up a rural public welfare education charity fund. Mr. Chen has experience in this area, so please give him more advice and guidance."
Chen Youhan smiled meaningfully: "Secretary Jiang, you are too polite. I will tell you everything I know."
Under the light, Ye Kai's face looked a little dark. The four of them clinked glasses and he took a sip.
Chen Youhan passed the message to him: "Highland barley wine is easy to get drunk, if you can't drink, you'd better drink less."
Jiang Yan immediately laughed: "Mr. Chen and Dacuo need not be mentioned, they can drink a lot, Xiaokai is not bad either. All in all, I have the worst alcohol tolerance among the four of us!"
Chen Youhan asked calmly, "Really? It seems that Secretary Jiang and classmate Xiaokai often go out for drinks."
Ye Kai kicked Jiang Yan under the table. Jiang Yan thought that Dacuo had kicked him accidentally. He glanced down and smiled disapprovingly, "He couldn't do it at first either. He forced himself to drink."
Chen Youhan knew Ye Kai's character when he was drunk. When he heard Jiang Yan's words, he first raised his eyes and looked at him carefully. After confirming that he had a handsome face and a dignified and upright aura, he felt a little relieved. He suppressed his inexplicable jealousy and said lightly, "Really?"
The village party secretary Dacuo picked up a piece of yak beef with chopsticks and said with a hearty smile: "Xiaojiang is not bad! I thought that the top students from Tsinghua University must not be able to drink it, but I didn't expect that we were surprised on the first day!"
With the brass pot as the dividing line, the right side of the table fell into a subtle silence. Chen Youhan held the chopsticks tightly and did not move for a long time.
Ye Kai covered his face.
After a long while, he heard Chen Youhan slowly say, "It turns out that Secretary Jiang is a student of Tsinghua University. This is very rare."
Jiang Yan said modestly: "Thank you for the compliment, it's not worth mentioning. Xiaokai's grades are better than mine. He has been playing in the Citi Cup with us since his freshman year."
Ye Kai took a deep breath and wiped his face: "...Don't say anymore."
Chen Youhan hinted: "Xiao Kai seems to have a good family background, why didn't he go abroad?"
Jiang Yan was just like an idiot, answering his questions very quickly, and immediately agreed: "Yes, Comrade Xiaokai, why didn't you go abroad?"
Ye Kai answered vaguely, "I didn't apply."
Jiang Yan raised his eyebrows: "You? What did you fail to get into? Harvard? MIT?"
The admission letters from these two schools were in the mail. Ye Kai nodded: "Yes, I failed because I had high expectations but low skills."
He ate the entire meal in unusual silence, only forcing himself to smile as the glasses chopped and choked. In the end, even Jiang Yan, whose nerves were thicker than the iron ropes of a suspension bridge, noticed something was wrong. After a good meal and a cigarette, he patted her on the back and said in a mature and consoling way, "It's okay. Our Wudaokou Vocational and Technical College is not bad either! It's not too late to apply for graduate school at Harvard or something like that."
After eight o'clock, the wind was almost gone, there was not a cloud in the night sky, the Milky Way was vast, like a jade belt stretching across the east and west, and summer insects were crawling in the grass, chirping long and short notes.
The four of them parted at the intersection, all heading in different directions. Jiang Yan inexplicably felt that Chen Youhan was reliable, and he safely handed his junior to him.
The two walked in silence for a while, one in front of the other. Chen Youhan finally couldn't help asking in a low and gentle tone: "Why didn't you go abroad?"
Ye Kai had no answer.
He studied very hard for Chen Youhan, just to stay in China. Later, he was so desperate that he wanted to run to the farthest place, but Qu Jia was worried. His state at that time was really terrible. He was silent and almost depressed. It was my grandfather who said that the word "kai" means open, and there will be a bright future after a dark period. No matter what difficulties you have in your heart, don't forget the mountains and rivers, and the cave is in the desperate situation.
"I searched all the schools you might have attended," Chen Youhan picked a small wild flower, "no wonder I couldn't find you."
Ye Kai's heart trembled, and he stopped walking. He turned back: "...What do you want from me?"
Under the moonlight, he saw Chen Youhan curl the corners of his lips and give a faint smile.
He really had no right to look for him. Ye Jin's contract clearly stated, "Without Party A's consent, Party B shall not make appointments with or contact Mr. Ye Kai without authorization." He stamped it. But when people are in desperate situations, they always have to hold on to something to survive. Even if it is illusory, castles in the air, or mirages. At that time, he had already prepared himself to lose him in this life, but he was just hoping for luck - if they couldn't be together, then it would be fine to know where he was; if they couldn't talk, then it would be fine to cross the ocean and see him from afar. Whatever it was, he didn't want to disappear without a trace, and he didn't want to give him even a piece of news.
"Nothing, I just want to know if you're studying hard." Chen Youhan said lightly.
The five-petaled small round flower glowed faintly blue under the starlight. Chen Youhan held a cigarette between his legs and pinched the flower stem with his other hand, handing it over, saying half-seriously, "I don't have anything else to give you. It's just my insignificant sincerity. You can keep it for fun."
Like a coward who tells the truth on April Fool's Day, like a comedy master who cries under a clown mask, like a poor guy who wants to give a gift but is afraid that the other party will despise it for being worthless.
Ye Kai didn't want to hear his lies, and said expressionlessly: "That's what you said last time you gave me the sapphire."
Chen Youhan smiled miserably: "You are still so cute."
"When I think about your loveliness belonging to someone else one day, I can't sleep and I wake up with nightmares. I have never been jealous of anyone in my life, but I am very jealous of the man named Lu. I am very jealous, extremely jealous, and jealous to the point of going crazy. If it weren't for the fact that you love him, I would have wanted to kill him."
Strangely, the three words "you love him" are absolutely forbidden in Chen Youhan's heart. At this moment, when he said it out loud, his heart suddenly relaxed. Looking carefully under the night sky, it turned out that it was not relaxed, but empty. Because it was empty, there was nothing to be nervous or painful about.
Ye Kai was indifferent and even calmly corrected him: "His last name is not Lu."
Chen Youhan said, "I was wrong to kiss you that day. Give me a little more time, and I will try my best to bless you and him."
"Then what?" Ye Kai asked coldly.
"Then I'm almost old," Chen Youhan bit his cigarette, squinted his eyes, and bathed in the moonlight in a carefree and unrestrained manner, "Love whatever you want."
Ye Kai stared at him coldly and spat out two words: "Idiot."
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