Chapter 25 "The Wanderer's Tale"
Li Jiacong's closed-eye face was right in front of him. The sound of his heartbeat and breathing, the body temperature he was exchanging with, and the sensation were terrifying. He grabbed Li Jiacong like a drowning man.
The brief physical contact allowed him to experience the feeling of being bound to others. In this world, he was unconnected by kinship or blood ties; he grew wildly, like a blade of grass with thin roots, easily blown away by the wind. This sense of bondage was something he had never experienced before and desperately longed for.
Now, he has it.
-
Li Jiacong fell asleep as soon as he got home, his clothes half off and his wallet lying to the side. The exhaustion after the excitement made him sleep very soundly. When night fell, he felt a slight coolness on his face and heard the sound of rushing water beside his ear. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was pouring rain outside the window above him.
Li Jiacong glanced at the time; it was past eight o'clock in the evening. He got up and walked out of his room, only to find his mother sitting in the living room, anxiously looking at her phone.
Li Jiacong poured himself a glass of water: "Mom, Dad hasn't gotten off work yet?"
Chen Wen said softly, "I have a lot to do tonight."
"What's wrong?"
Chen Wen shook her head, then suddenly said seriously, "You need to be careful lately."
Li Jiacong nearly choked on his water, saying incredulously, "Mom, we're filming a police thriller? What am I supposed to be careful about?"
Chen Wen glared at him: "A new batch of people from your dad's factory were laid off recently, and they're making a scene in the office with your dad. He hasn't come out yet."
"This matter is still not over. Didn't something similar happen a couple of years ago?"
“Sigh, we don’t need that many people anymore. This is the last batch, and the most difficult to handle,” Chen Wen sighed. “Your dad is in charge of resolving this, which is very troublesome. It won’t be peaceful.”
Li Jiacong: "What will they do to us?"
Chen Wen: "In short, it's right to tell you to be careful. In this day and age, if someone goes to extremes, you never know what they might do."
“We live in a society governed by the rule of law, so what extreme measures are there to take? Just find a place to work.”
"Where will you arrange it? You've worked in the old factory your whole life, what can you do outside? You're a hothouse flower, you don't know how strong the winds are outside."
Li Jiacong slammed the window shut: "Mom, the wind's died down, hasn't it?"
Chen Wen rolled her eyes at him: "You're just being cheeky. You slept all afternoon, and you still haven't finished your homework?"
Li Jiacong was stunned for a moment, then raised his hand in surrender and went back to his room to do his homework.
It was 2 a.m. Li Mingda returned.
Li Mingda's hair was disheveled, and his suit was wrinkled, as if he had been in a fight. Li Jiacong, who was still awake, walked into the living room, glanced at him, and asked, "Dad, are you alright?"
Li Mingda changed his clothes: "Everything's fine today, but I don't know about tomorrow or the day after."
"Would you like to hire two bodyguards?"
Li Mingda glanced at him: "Ten of them in the factory area, what good are they! Stop talking nonsense to me, why aren't you sleeping?"
"I was worried about you."
"You're such a smooth talker," Li Mingda dismissed him, "Go to sleep."
Li Jiacong: "Okay, Dad, you should get some rest too."
Li Mingda rubbed his temples and hummed in agreement.
The next morning, it was still drizzling. Li Jiazong stepped into the car and the journey was smooth. There were no brake failures or robberies on bad roads. These things were actually quite far removed from him. He still went into the classroom clean and tidy and began his day of hard-working study.
After all, for senior high school students, studying hard is of paramount importance. Li Jiacong also clearly felt the pressure of the college entrance examination; after class, there were fewer people on the basketball court.
That bastard Qian He chatted with him all day long, but his studies improved rapidly, causing him a lot of anxiety.
After his application for evening self-study was approved, he told his mother some nice things and volunteered that they didn't need to drive him to school. He wanted to work hard and would use the family's old bicycle to get to and from evening self-study.
His father was very moved when he heard this, feeling that he had made great progress, and immediately approved it.
-
All his colleagues had left. At 9:20, Li Sheng finally saw Li Jiacong.
Li Jiacong, wearing a black and white school uniform, rode his bicycle and stopped in front of Li Sheng: "Damn, I'm so tired!"
Li Sheng helped him steady the car: "No need to rush."
Li Jiacong: "It's not that I'm in a hurry, it's just that this damn bike is too damn hard to pedal."
He kicked the wheel, making it creak. Li Sheng looked down and turned the pedal: "It's stiff. We'll just need to find a place to lubricate it."
Li Jiacong pulled him up: "Let's leave it like this for now. If it doesn't work, I'll take a taxi."
Li Sheng smiled.
The lights were dim, and the night was getting dark.
The two walked side by side down the long street. Li Sheng held onto the other side of the handlebars, and in their shadows, they looked as if they were holding hands.
The walk was only ten minutes long. The two exchanged a few simple words, but mostly remained silent. Those ten minutes were pure—simply spent accompanying each other. To dedicate a portion of one's life to a specific person, someone one doesn't force upon someone with whom they have no connection.
When they reached the end of the road, they had to part ways. Li Sheng watched Li Jiacong get on his bike. The bike was indeed very stiff, and Li Jiacong had a hard time pedaling. Li Sheng couldn't help but laugh. He didn't turn back until Li Jiacong had completely disappeared from sight.
He smiled all the way back. When he got back to his dormitory, he ran into Huang Yin again in the washroom.
Huang Yin was washing her hair when he went over and noticed she was using cold water. Li Sheng asked, "Didn't you boil any water?"
Huang Yin looked up and saw Li Sheng: "The thermos is broken."
"Don't wash yet, wait for me."
Li Sheng went back and got the thermos, which contained the hot water he had boiled that morning. He poured it into Huang Yin's basin: "There's not much left, and it's not very hot, but it's a little better than yours."
"Thank you!" Huang Yin smiled, her eyes crinkling. She looked at Li Sheng and suddenly said, "You seem very happy today. What's making you happy?"
Li Sheng was stunned for a moment, then rubbed his face and realized that his smile was almost frozen: "Well, it's something that's a little happy about."
Huang Yin waited for him to speak, but Li Sheng smiled without saying a word.
Huang Yin didn't press the issue and changed the subject: "Paycheck is coming up, how do you plan to spend your first month's salary?"
Li Sheng: "Let's have a big meal. What about you?"
"I want to buy myself a scarf and a hat for Grandma." Huang Yin loosened her long hair. "Don't you want to buy something for your family? It's so cold in the countryside in winter."
Li Sheng remained silent.
Huang Yin: "Hmm?"
Li Sheng said casually, "There's not much at home, so we don't need it."
Huang Yin paused for a moment and said, "I'm sorry," having inadvertently asked a sensitive question. Actually, she was in the same boat; her parents were divorced and didn't want her, and she couldn't find them anywhere. She carefully asked, "Don't you have a brother?"
"Yeah, it's about having a big meal with him."
Huang Yin laughed: "Okay, there's a small restaurant in the three buildings behind our dormitory. It's cheap and the food is delicious."
Li Sheng nodded. After he finished washing up and was about to leave, he saw that Huang Yin hadn't finished washing up yet, so he said, "How about I let you use my thermos? You can return it to me when you buy a new one."
Before Huang Yin could speak, another voice came from the washroom: "Hey, Huang Yin, why didn't you borrow my thermos? Why did you borrow Li Sheng's too?"
Lu Xiaoshan's voice was very distinctive, and she spoke with a sharp tongue. Huang Yin's hair was still damp as she explained, "I didn't lend it, I..."
Li Sheng: "It's what I wanted to give her."
Lu Xiaoshan snorted coldly: "You're shameless too. She has a boyfriend, and you're still chasing after her."
Li Sheng: "What did you say?"
Lu Xiaoshan immediately stuck out her tongue, treating what she had just said as a joke: "I'm out of hot water too, can you lend me some more?"
Li Sheng said coldly, "That's all."
Huang Yin quickly rinsed her hair, wrapped it up, nodded rapidly to Li Sheng, and left, seemingly trying to avoid Lü Xiaoshan.
Watching Huang Yin's departing figure, Li Sheng turned to Lü Xiaoshan and said, "Huang Yin and I are just friends."
“Hehe,” Lü Xiaoshan said with a forced smile, looking down as she washed her socks, “You don’t need to tell me this.”
Li Sheng couldn't understand her. He picked up the basin, turned around, and left the washroom.
The dormitory was filled with smoke.
Wang Dapeng and Liu Quan sat facing each other chatting, with several people around them joining in. All they did all night was brag and fantasize about their female colleagues.
Li Sheng had gotten used to the cigarettes, but he really couldn't stand what the group of people were saying—talking about whether the new female colleague had a good figure, whether her butt was big, and comparing who was most likely to get the other one first.
Li Sheng almost vomited from listening to it.
Wang Dapeng: "I think Huang Yin from our hotel is pretty now. That day she was wearing those high heels, and she's so tall. Cao Teng next to her looks like a potato."
Laughter erupted inside the room.
Li Sheng took a deep breath, got out of bed, put on his coat, and went out.
The streetlights were bright in the dead of night, but finally fell silent. He sat on the swaying stairs, took out his Walkman from his pocket, put on his headphones, and began to listen.
Like a cat in a box, he sat there, gazing at the moon, half his face in the night, half in the frost, outlining beautiful angles and shadows.
The moon was full, and it seemed familiar. Li Sheng suddenly remembered the endless cornfields at home and the sheep he used to raise.
And Grandpa.
And her too.
He heard a sound behind him and turned around. It was Huang Yin who walked over. She was stunned when she saw Li Sheng, and after a while, she came downstairs: "You weren't asleep either."
Li Sheng hummed in agreement.
The first time, the two of them came outside to avoid them, and this time was no different. But this time, Huang Yin sat on the step above him and looked up at the upstairs with concern.
Li Sheng: "Did Lü Xiaoshan make things difficult for you because of me?"
Huang Yin quickly replied, "No."
Li Sheng turned around to look at her.
Huang Yin smiled sheepishly: "She likes you, you know that, and she gets very jealous."
Li Sheng: "Her affection is too domineering."
Huang Yin: "She was sincere. When you first arrived, she was talking about you in the dormitory. And she's not usually like this. She's usually quite considerate of other people."
Li Sheng: "I don't like her."
Huang Yin sighed, hugged her knees, looked up at the sky, and suddenly said, "Li Sheng, do you ever feel lonely? Living alone among strangers."
Li Sheng didn't speak, but looked at Huang Yin, whose eyes were slightly red and who was biting her lip. He continued to confess to himself, "Sometimes I feel very lonely, extremely lonely. I thought that having a partner in this city would make things better, but I still feel the same. Sometimes I really want to go back to when I was a child and stay with my grandmother."
"You miss home."
Tears welled up in Huang Yin's eyes.
Li Sheng handed her an earphone: "Want to listen?"
"How come you have everything?"
"They were all given to me by others."
Huang Yin put on her headphones and heard a female voice singing a melancholic yet powerful song:
And so I said goodbye to my home at the foot of the mountain.
I really don't want to let the tears fall so easily.
I thought I was fine and wouldn't be afraid.
I grew up taking care of myself like this.
I don't want to bow my head to reality.
…
Tears streamed down Huang Yin's soft, white cheeks as she asked, "What's the name of this song?"
Li Sheng replied, "A tale of wandering."
A note from the author:
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