Tan Zhao’s younger brother?
Tongcheng's winter finally revealed its harshness, the chilling wind piercing her face like a knife. But even the cold couldn't chill Chen Xiyu's heart, which yearned to learn skateboarding. After school, she could only cautiously skate in the small square downstairs. But on weekends, she could finally embrace her beloved custom-made pink longboard and explore the wider world.
On the first day, she stumbled and fell a lot. The limited space made it difficult for her to practice even simple movements smoothly. She was either scared of being hit by small stones or afraid of bumping into the children chasing and playing.
The next day, after hearing that there was a gathering place for skateboard enthusiasts near Wuyue Shopping Mall, Chen Xiyu jumped onto the bus without saying a word, holding his longboard.
Sure enough, interacting with fellow skaters led to rapid progress. There, she met Wang Cheng. The eleven-year-old, almost as tall as sixteen-year-old Chen Xiyu, had been skateboarding for four or five years, his movements smooth and fluid. He was exactly the kind of "expert" Chen Xiyu wanted to learn from. Wang Cheng was enthusiastic and forthright, offering generous guidance. With his help, Chen Xiyu felt as if she had opened up her Ren and Du meridians, finally mastering several tricks that had been bothering her.
Tired of skiing, they sat on the cold steps to rest and shared a bottle of water.
"Wow! It's really different when you have a master to guide you! It's much better than me just guessing at it from the video!" Chen Xiyu praised sincerely. The tip of her nose was slightly red from the cold, but her eyes were sparkling.
Wang Cheng scratched his head embarrassedly: "Sister, you learn quickly and are very brave!"
"Do you come here often?"
"No, I'm not from Tongcheng. My family is in Qingying." Wang Cheng shook his head. "This time I came with my dad to see my brother."
"What about your father and brother?"
"They're buying clothes for my brother in the mall," Wang Cheng made a face. "I don't like shopping, so I brought a skateboard with me. Smart, isn't it, sister?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Cheng's phone rang and the video call interface lit up. He answered it and shouted happily, "Dad!"
A gentle male voice came from the other end of the phone: "Chengcheng, are you still skateboarding? Your brother and I are out."
"Yes, Dad! I also met a sister who plays skateboarding. She is so awesome!" Wang Cheng excitedly turned the camera towards Chen Xiyu.
"Okay, wait there obediently, Dad and brother will come to pick you up."
After hanging up the phone, Wang Cheng was a little reluctant: "Sister, my father and brother are here, I have to go."
"Going back to Keio?"
"Yeah!" Wang Cheng nodded vigorously, then lowered his voice mysteriously, "Sister, let me tell you in secret, my brother is super handsome! He's the recognized campus idol in our school..."
Chen Xiyu was about to laugh and tease, "How handsome!" when a deep and familiar voice came from behind him, with a hint of subtle tension:
"Chengcheng."
Chen Xiyu turned around following the sound and froze instantly.
At the bottom of the stairs, next to an elegant middle-aged man in a well-tailored dark gray suit, stood Tan Zhao, standing tall and expressionless in a black windbreaker. The winter sun fell on him, but it seemed unable to reach his slightly downcast eyes.
Wang Cheng had already pounced over like a happy little bird: "Dad! Brother!"
The middle-aged man, Wang Zhiwen, looked at Chen Xiyu and asked politely, "Who are you?"
Tan Zhao's gaze also shifted over, meeting Chen Xiyu's surprised gaze in mid-air. He parted his thin lips slightly, his voice deeper than usual: "Dad, this is my classmate, Chen Xiyu." He paused, then added, "The sister Chengcheng was talking about must be her."
Chen Xiyu quickly stood up, holding her skateboard, and greeted awkwardly, "Hello, uncle. I'm Tan Zhao's classmate, Chen Xiyu."
"Hello, I'm Tan Zhao's father, Wang Zhiwen." Wang Zhiwen smiled and nodded, his attitude polite but distant. Then he lowered his head and touched Wang Cheng's head very naturally. His tone was completely different from the gentleness he used when facing Tan Zhao. "Chengcheng, it's getting late. We should go home, otherwise Mom will be worried." He looked up at Tan Zhao, "Student Chen, do you want us to take you home? I'll drive Tan Zhao back."
"No, uncle. It's much easier for me to take the bus. Thank you!" Chen Xiyu waved quickly, but her eyes involuntarily glanced at Tan Zhao standing beside her. He had his hands in his pockets, his profile tense, his eyes fixed on the bare branches not far away, as if the conversation around him had nothing to do with him.
"Dad, you guys go back to Qingying directly. I'll go back by myself later." Tan Zhao's voice was flat, as if he was stating something very ordinary.
Wang Zhiwen glanced at him, his eyes complex, filled with helplessness and perhaps a hint of subtle fatigue. In the end, he simply patted Tan Zhao's arm and sighed, "Okay. Be careful." After that, he took Wang Cheng's hand and said gently, "Say goodbye to your brother and sister."
"Goodbye, brother! Goodbye, sister! Come to Qingying and find me to play skateboarding next time!" Wang Cheng waved his hands vigorously and was led by his father, skipping towards the black SUV parked on the side of the road.
The car door closed, the engine started, and the SUV, which symbolized another complete family, merged smoothly into the traffic flow and quickly disappeared around the corner.
The cold wind blew up the fallen leaves on the ground, making them swirl.
Chen Xiyu stood beside Tan Zhao, skateboard in hand, feeling the air stagnate. She watched as Tan Zhao continued to stare in the direction the car had vanished. His thin, black figure, amidst the winter bleakness, exuded an indescribable loneliness.
His peach blossom eyes, which usually always contained a hint of smile, were now drooping at the corners, and his long eyelashes cast a small shadow under his eyes, which was filled with a deep depression and fragility that she had never seen before.
"You... aren't going back with them?" Chen Xiyu asked softly, breaking the silence.
"They are going back to Qingying." Tan Zhao's voice was light and emotionless.
"So you...are studying in Tongcheng by yourself?"
"With my mother," he answered briefly.
"Oh..." Chen Xiyu hesitated for a moment, remembering that Wang Cheng's last name was Wang, while his was Tan. A thought flashed through her mind, "So... do you have your mother's last name?"
This question seemed to trigger an invisible switch. Tan Zhao abruptly turned his face away, clenching and unclenching his hands in his pockets, his jawline tensing even more. He remained silent, exuding a low pressure that refused to approach, even the white breath he exhaled was cold.
Chen Xiyu immediately realized she had asked the wrong question and bit her lip in frustration. A cold breeze blew by, and she gathered her scarf closer, her hair fluttering and the faint scent of gardenias wafting through the air.
The two walked along the sidewalk in silence. Chen Xiyu thought he wouldn't answer. Just now, Wang's father's affection for Wang Cheng and his polite distance to Tan Zhao, the words "Mom will worry" directed only at Wang Cheng, the "Be careful" that seemed like a routine matter... every scene replayed in her mind, like tiny needles, pricking her heart with a dull pain.
She couldn't help but glance at the boy beside her again. The afterglow of the setting sun cast a long shadow behind him, making him seem even more lonely. At that moment, a voice in Chen Xiyu's heart asked, "Chen Xiyu, is the Tan Zhao you see shining in the classroom, gentle and polite to everyone, really the whole of him? Do you truly understand this silent, distant boy in front of you, who seems to be burdened with a heavy heart?"
When they arrived at the bus stop, Tan Zhao stopped and asked, "Which bus are you taking?"
"Ah? Oh, Route 32." Chen Xiyu came back to his senses.
"Yes, the bus is here." Tan Zhao looked at the bus driving into the platform, "Be careful on the road."
"Well, thank you. You too... go home early." Chen Xiyu boarded the bus and found a window seat. Through the window, she saw Tan Zhao still standing there, his figure looking particularly thin and cold in the twilight. As the bus started, his figure quickly drifted away, shrinking until it disappeared from sight.
As the car passed an intersection, Chen Xiyu suddenly slapped her forehead: "Oh no! My skateboard!" The custom pink longboard she had been thinking about was actually forgotten by her next to the steps where she had just rested!
"Master! Please stop at the next stop!" Chen Xiyu got off the car in a hurry and immediately took a taxi back.
After retrieving her longboard, Chen Xiyu breathed a sigh of relief and put her skateboard on her back, preparing to leave. Her eyes strayed to a backlit corner at the edge of the square, where a dark figure leaning against the wall made her pause.
The sun had already sunk completely below the horizon, and the streetlights were still dim and unclear. She could not mistake that figure, that silhouette—it was Tan Zhao.
He didn't leave.
He leaned against a cold wall, his head slightly lowered, his overlong bangs covering his eyes. A hint of scarlet flickered between his fingers in the dim light, and a wisp of white smoke slowly emanated from his thin lips, dissipating into the cold air.
His thin back was hunched, as if crushed by an invisible burden, and his whole body was shrouded in a thick layer of loneliness and desolation. He was completely different from the boy who solved problems fluently and was sunny and warm during the day.
Chen Xiyu's heart felt like it was being gripped by an invisible hand, aching with pain. She subconsciously took a step back, burying herself deeper into the shadows. She couldn't disturb him. Her silence at this moment was the best way to respect his hidden vulnerability.
But the impact of that image was too great. The Tan Zhao, so high-spirited and captivating on the basketball court, the Tan Zhao patiently explaining a problem in the classroom, surrounded by his classmates, the Tan Zhao who would joke with her and glare at her in anger... and this young man, smoking alone in a deserted corner, shrouded in boundless loneliness, formed the most cruel and heartbreaking contrast.
Which one is the real him? Or are they all him? It's just that the side he never easily reveals to others is now being torn apart by the cold and separation?
She turned around quietly and left quickly, but her heart felt like it was blocked by a stone.
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