Chapter 45 Orange (8) I want to live a decent, clean, bright and beautiful life...
Roommate Chen Weipeng had recently returned to his hometown in Guangdong, leaving He Chuan and Lin Xia alone in the house. That night, He Chuan moved into the next room, while Lin Xia slept alone in He Chuan's room. For a moment, she couldn't tell whether she felt lost or relieved.
The next day, Lin Xia's trip to Hong Kong officially began.
Due to visa reasons, Lin Xia can only stay in Hong Kong for a week this time. She has many places she wants to go and many things she wants to eat. He Chuan asked her to make a list and then he would arrange all the plans. In just a few days, they can be said to be under tight time constraints and heavy tasks.
Hong Kong was a shopping paradise in those years, and foreign tourists came to Hong Kong mostly for shopping, but Lin Xia was not interested in brand-name luxury goods. She got to know this city through movies, TV series and He Chuan's descriptions, and the places she wanted to visit were all cultural attractions.
The Avenue of Stars and the Victoria Harbour nightscape are must-sees for tourists, and they too are no exception, posing for silly photos with the stars' handprints. The Chungking Mansions has long been famous, and Lin Xia and He Chuan walked around the sign several times before daring to go in. From the outside, you could vaguely see faces of various colors and smell the wafting aroma of Southeast Asian spices, feeling like you could stumble into an underground trading scene at any moment. They took the Star Ferry across the harbour from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. It was as if I had jumped from a crime movie to a TVB workplace drama. Facing the sunset, I sat on the top deck of the tram and slowly traveled through the city. It turned out that the tram really rang the bell. After much trouble, I arrived in Central, but found that the Ferris wheel was under maintenance and could not be ridden. Standing on the long Mid-Levels escalator, I accidentally missed the exit and had to take a long detour to return. The beef brisket pot was very soft and tender, the wonton noodles were a bit fishy, the curry and fish balls were a perfect match, and the frozen mandarin duck turned out to be coffee and milk tea... Like all journeys, there were surprises and disappointments, happiness and fatigue along the way. The most important thing is to be with the person you love, no matter when and where, it is so beautiful.
That night, after another tiring whole day journey, Lin Xia and He Chuan returned to Tai Po Mei. Although very tired, Lin Xia was still very excited and didn't want to sleep, so the two went to the rooftop terrace to enjoy the cool air.
The weather has been bad these past few days, with intermittent rain and overcast skies. But the good thing is that it's not too hot outside, and there's a rare cool breeze tonight, which feels very comfortable. It's so quiet all around, with only a few scattered lights from homes. It's like escaping the hustle and bustle of the city and stepping into a secluded paradise.
Lin Xia was curled up in a folding beach chair, looking through the photos she had taken during the day on her digital camera. She frowned, then smiled, and was completely immersed in the emotions of the day. Suddenly, her face turned cold, and she was startled. She looked up and saw He Chuan holding a can of iced cola and looking at her with a smile.
"Aren't you sleepy yet?"
Lin Xia smiled and shook her head:
“Not sleepy!”
"Very happy?"
Lin Xia nodded vigorously:
"happy!"
"Just be happy."
He Chuan also smiled, sat on another beach chair next to him, opened the pull ring of the Coke and handed it to her.
"I was worried you'd get bored."
"How come?"
Lin Xia took the Coke and took a sip. The cold carbonated sweet water passed through her throat, adding a perfect footnote to this summer night.
“Hong Kong is exactly as I imagined.”
The chaotic neon signs, the bright red taxis on the streets, the beeping pedestrian lights at the intersections, the tall, narrow and brightly lit skyscrapers...all the details were exactly in line with her expectations, and the bad feeling caused by the unsuccessful check-in on the first day had all disappeared.
This is the city she has longed for since she was a child, and it is where He Chuan has spent four years. Before, she could only imagine it through the TV screen or the retelling on the phone, but now, she is finally here in person.
In your early twenties, when you can realize your dreams one after another and explore new worlds, your days are full of colorful colors. How can it be boring?
He Chuan looked at the little girl in front of him, leaning on the back of the chair with her head tilted, her slender white limbs exposed in her home T-shirt and shorts, her cheeks slightly flushed with excitement, her red lips moistened by the Coke, her eyes sparkling with infinite expectations for the future. His heart was pounding, and he could no longer restrain himself, and couldn't help but lean over and kiss her.
Lin Xia was slightly stunned, then she put her arms around his neck, turned her head and gave him a warm response.
During these few days, although they lived under the same roof, they had only light kisses and no deeper intimacy. On the one hand, it was because the journey was too busy and tiring, and on the other hand, it was because they themselves were restraining themselves intentionally or unintentionally. However, on a midsummer night in the south, lovers who had been separated for a long time and were about to be separated, and after a wonderful journey, how could two young hearts not gradually grow closer?
When their lips touched, the sweetness of the cola still lingered, but the coldness had long been replaced by heat. They were intoxicated and confused.
Lin Xia suddenly felt her body lighten. He Chuan had lifted her from the beach chair and placed her on his lap. A soft gasp escaped her lips, their chests pressed tightly together, their legs unobstructed. He Chuan's kisses gradually settled on Lin Xia's slender neck and exposed collarbone. Lin Xia felt her breathing becoming increasingly short and her body growing hotter. She couldn't help but clutch the hem of the man in front of her. When He Chuan gently sucked on her earlobe, she shuddered, unable to hold back any longer, moaning...
At this moment, a loud engine sound suddenly sounded, coming from far away and all the way to the downstairs. The sound of a motorcycle stalling, the sound of a door opening, and the sound of young people laughing came from downstairs, almost right next to the ears.
Lin Xia and He Chuan looked at each other in shock, as if they were awakened from a dream.
He Chuan reacted quickly. He reached out to smooth Lin Xia's hair, adjusted her collar, kissed her forehead soothingly, and said in a hoarse voice:
"It's Weipeng who's back."
After a while, a group of young people came into the house and onto the terrace. The one in the lead was stunned when he saw He Chuan and Lin Xia, and cursed with a Cantonese accent:
"Damn! You forgot your girlfriend is here."
He Chuan sat on the chair and didn't get up. Lin Xia hadn't recovered from the intimacy just now. She hid behind He Chuan a little shyly, looking at him, and finally saw He Chuan's legendary roommate Chen Weipeng.
He looked like an ordinary young man, a typical Guangdong and Guangxi face, neither tall nor short, neither fat nor thin, with medium hair and black-framed glasses. Nothing special. He was followed by four teenage boys, who looked to be about 17 or 18 years old, carrying beer and ingredients, apparently planning to have a barbecue.
He Chuan said: "I thought you would be back on Wednesday."
"If I stay any longer, my mom will annoy me to death. I'd better come back sooner and feel at ease, so that these bastards won't mess with my stuff."
Chen Weipeng waved the plastic bag in his hand towards him:
"Have you had supper yet? Let's have barbecue together?"
"No, we have to get up early tomorrow."
He Chuan didn't seem to want to introduce the two parties to each other, so he pulled Lin Xia up and left.
Chen Weipeng didn't care. He asked his younger brother behind him to bring the stove rack and prepared to make a fire and barbecue.
.
After returning to the room, He Chuan said to Lin Xia:
"Xia Xia, I'm sorry, I didn't know Wei Peng would come back so suddenly. I might have to sleep here tonight. Don't worry, I'll sleep on the floor."
"It's okay, this is your room."
Lin Xia sat on the edge of the bed, her face still slightly red, and whispered,
"Actually, it doesn't matter if you don't sleep on the floor."
When she first came, she didn't know that Chen Weipeng was not there, so now that he suddenly came back, she wouldn't be caught off guard.
He Chuan smiled:
"Xia Xia, this bed can't accommodate the two of us."
Lin Xia looked down and found that it was true. This single bed was small and narrow. She couldn't sleep comfortably on it, let alone two people. She really didn't know how He Chuan slept on it before.
She smiled a little embarrassedly, and the ambiguous atmosphere seemed to be dispelled.
At this time, the sound of a barbecue on the terrace could be heard faintly, and Lin Xia was a little curious:
"What exactly does your roommate do? Didn't he find a job after graduation?"
He Chuan shook his head:
"His family forced him to study. He's actually quite intelligent, but he's more interested in making money than studying. He does purchasing between Hong Kong and mainland China, making a small profit from the price difference. His business is growing, and those people are just following him."
Lin Xia asked hesitantly:
"Isn't this illegal?"
"It's a gray area, it's not strictly controlled at the moment, but it's hard to say what will happen in the future..."
He Chuan paused and said slowly:
"That's why I didn't want to bring you here."
The situation here is too complicated, with many people coming in and out and many things going on.
Lin Xia said nonchalantly, "I'm here anyway, you can't chase me away."
"I won't chase you away."
He Chuan smiled helplessly and reached out to touch her head:
"Go to bed early."
After the roller coaster-like mood swings just now, both of them were very tired. They simply washed up and lay down.
Several people on the terrace ate, drank and played until very late. Lin Xia thought it was noisy at first, but later she couldn't stand it anymore and fell asleep, not even caring about the shyness of being in the same room with He Chuan.
They really need to get up early tomorrow because tomorrow is the highlight of this trip to Hong Kong - Disneyland.
......
The next morning, He Chuan woke up first. Seeing that Lin Xia was still sleeping soundly, he quietly picked up the bedding on the floor and tiptoed out the door.
He has always been used to getting up early and going for a morning run, but he didn't go out today, mainly because he was worried about Lin Xia being alone.
Walking up the stairs to the terrace, I saw that the crowd from last night had dispersed, leaving behind wrapping paper, beer bottles, food scraps, and a strewn mess of garbage, like a typhoon disaster site. In the corner, two beach chairs were placed face-to-face, and Chen Weipeng was slumped over them, sound asleep, not even a towel to cover himself. That's the beauty of tropical cities: you don't have to spend a fortune on thick clothes and bedding; you can wear a set of summer clothes and a pair of slippers all year long and still survive the cold.
He Chuan stepped forward, kicked the chair, frowned and said:
"Get up and go to bed."
Chen Weipeng was kicked awake, and he opened his eyes with difficulty to look at He Chuan, yawning and mumbling:
"Those losers are gone? I'm so sleepy!"
He Chuan ignored him and took the broom and dustpan to start cleaning the messy terrace. Chen Weipeng was not surprised. He yawned several times, stretched hard, and dragged his heavy hungover body downstairs like a zombie.
When He Chuan finished cleaning and went downstairs with a big bag of garbage to throw it outside, he saw that Chen Weipeng did not go back to sleep, but was getting water to boil in the kitchen on the first floor. Half of the things in the living room had been emptied at some point, and it suddenly became empty.
Chen Weipeng saw the black garbage bag in He Chuan's hand and smiled:
"Sorry to trouble you again."
Although he apologized, it was not sincere.
He Chuan didn't say anything and went out to throw away the trash.
In fact, this was considered part of his rent. Chen Weipeng was lazy, so he gave him a very low price and only asked him to be responsible for cleaning the entire building.
A moment later, he came back and saw Chen Weipeng dragging a wooden box from somewhere and sitting in the middle of the living room, making tea in a serious manner. The fact that there was such an exquisite and complicated set of tea sets in such a simple and shabby house, the Cantonese people's persistence in drinking tea has always been something that He Chuan, a northerner, could not understand.
Chen Weipeng asked with a smile, "Did I disturb you yesterday? Sorry, I forgot you said your girlfriend was coming. But why did I remember you were going to move out?"
"There was a problem with the hotel I booked, and I thought you'd be back in a few days."
"You brought someone to this house like this, and you're not afraid that they'll break up with you."
Chen Weipeng lowered his head, took a sip of tea, and sighed, not knowing whether he was sighing at the tea or at the person:
"But they didn't break up, it really is true love."
He Chuan was silent for a moment, then said softly, "I wronged her."
He wanted to give her better things, a better environment, a better life, and better everything, instead of making her come thousands of miles to find him and sleep with him in such a shabby village house.
But it's not possible now. She is in her early twenties, an age full of infinite possibilities, but also an age where she has nothing. He can give her nothing.
"Achuan, I know you're short of money, just work with me!"
Chen Weipeng put down his teacup and looked at him calmly, "Don't think about studying abroad and just studying. I've seen through it all. What's the point of having a degree these days? Hong Kong people and foreigners still look down on us. Money is the only thing that matters. You know how much I earn on a round trip now. If you work with me, with your brain, you'll definitely make more money than me!"
This was not the first time that Chen Weipeng had brought up this topic with He Chuan. It would be a lie to say that He Chuan was not moved. In this world, even a penny can make a hero fall. He had experienced the days of poverty and hunger before. Sometimes he really thought, what's the harm even if he had to use any means necessary?
However, he never forgot what he really wanted.
He Chuan laughed at himself and said slowly, "Yes, I do need money, and I do want to make a lot of money. If I had known you five years ago, or even three years ago, I might have agreed to your request, but not now. I'm more greedy than making money. Besides money, I also want fame. I want to live a decent, clean, and glamorous life."
At least, I should be worthy of the girl I like, right? At least, I should be worthy of myself for working so hard all the way and not taking even a single wrong step, right?
"Weipeng, don't get too deep into this. Money that isn't earned through legitimate means won't last long."
After saying that, he went upstairs without caring about Chen Weipeng's reaction.
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