Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 42
Just 20 minutes ago, Zhou Junlin’s birthday party ended, and Song Yang didn’t even change his clothes that were stained by the cake, and rushed to the Juju Hotel, wanting to give Sun Pang and the others a surprise. His phone was out of battery, but he vaguely remembered that there was a “Cui” in the name of the box, so he searched all the way, listened to the sound through the crack of the door, and just as he was about to go in, he heard Pang Ge introducing a partner to Li Xun.
He was really curious about Li Xun’s reaction, so he paused, but finally picked up the key point – “You are one generation younger than me, and it feels like incest to us. I don’t like it.”
Even through the screen, he could imagine how serious Li Xun’s face was at this moment, as if his moral bottom line had been touched, and his attitude was cold and resolute.
Rejecting the age difference is equivalent to rejecting oneself. The shock came too suddenly, like a bucket of ice water poured from head to toe. Song Yang’s brain went empty in an instant. He stood in the corridor with a blank look in his eyes. His limbs were stiff and he couldn’t move. Only his heart was fighting fiercely.
A waiter passing by turned to look at him. He lowered his head in humiliation and stood against the wall, like a child who was punished for doing something wrong.
In a trance, he suddenly remembered something. During the Chinese New Year, his parents joked about him and Chu Zhi at home, saying that they were going to arrange a marriage for their children. Li Xun’s face turned very ugly.
It turned out that everything had signs, but he was too optimistic and never took it seriously.
At this point, he actually had a glimmer of hope that he did not confess his feelings rashly and the relationship between master and apprentice was not broken.
But when she thought about the future where he would need a false mask to cover up the embarrassment, she couldn’t stop her tears from flowing out.
He sniffed, rubbed his palms against his eyes repeatedly, and forced himself to calm down.
After taking a few deep breaths to no avail, he decided to flee the place, but when he turned around, Wu Jianian just happened to push the door open.
“Hey, distinguished guest! Why did you come just now?…” He walked over and took a closer look, “What’s wrong with your eyes? Why are they so red?”
Song Yang didn’t know how ugly his face looked at the moment, and he stammered, “I yawned.”
Before, everyone thought that Song Yang would not come, so the vacant seat was removed and placed in the corner. When he arrived, everyone consciously moved to leave an empty seat between Li Xun and Wu Jianian.
Li Xun had long arms and picked up a set of tableware from the cabinet next to him and put it on the dining table, but he didn’t expect Song Yang to put the chair between Sun Pang and Yu Shenwei, facing him from a distance.
No one noticed anything and moved their chairs to the side, but Li Xun immediately felt that something was wrong with the child.
First, Song Yang didn’t smile and call “Master” when he came in. Second, when did Song Yang not sit next to him during meals? Finally, Song Yang didn’t even look at him from the moment he came in. He was only talking to Fatty Sun.
Li Xun stared at the person opposite him expressionlessly and handed the cutlery in his hand to Wu Jianian. Everyone passed the things to Song Yang like a game of pass the parcel.
Before he could even tear off the film on the tableware, his teammates started to clamor for him to drink three glasses of wine as a penalty. Song Yang smiled and accepted the punishment obediently.
They were using Burgundy red wine glasses, which had a large capacity. Fatty Sun was being naughty and filled every glass. No one would believe that Song Yang could finish the drink in one breath. It was just nonsense.
However, the truth is always unexpected. Song Yang said nothing. He tilted his head back and drank it all in big gulps, one cup after another.
Everyone at the table, including Li Xun, was dumbfounded.
Putting the wine glass back on the table, Song Yang pursed his lips and said, “I’m so sorry, something delayed me. Fortunately, it’s not over yet, so I can hear what everyone has to say.”
As he spoke, his eyes wandered around and finally landed on Li Xun.
The Dongpo pork that had just been served on the table was emitting wisps of steam. They looked at each other in silence amid the laughter of their teammates.
I don’t know if it was the effect of the alcohol or the words he heard at the door were too stimulating, but this time Song Yang didn’t look away out of shyness. Instead, Li Xun lowered his head and took a sip of something first.
When he looked up, he found Song Yang still looking at him, and asked with a smile: “Why are you always staring at me?”
“Oh.” Song Yang couldn’t use jokes to answer his doubts like before, and whispered, “Then I won’t watch it.”
He lowered his head to pick up some food, unable to help recalling those words. His nose began to feel sour again. In order not to reveal his sour emotions too obviously, he stuffed food into his mouth desperately, even though his stomach was so full that it was about to explode.
The dinner didn’t end until after nine o’clock, and everyone was drunk and staggering.
Li Xun simply stopped a car, and when he turned around, he saw Song Yang getting into the car that Sun Pang had stopped.
Neon lights shone into the car through the glass. Song Yang looked out the window, his cheek divided into light and dark sides by the light.
Fatty Sun stared at him for a while and said, “It seems that you are in a bad mood today.”
Wu Jianian, who was sitting in the front seat, also turned around and said, “Yeah, I didn’t hear you say a word at the dinner table. Are you so reluctant to let Fatty go?”
Having no one to confide his worries to, Song Yang nodded silently.
Sun Pang suddenly felt that he had committed a grave sin, so he put his arm around his shoulders, patted him, and comforted him, “It’s okay, I will come to see you when I have time.”
Song Yang leaned slightly to the side and leaned on his solid belly, feeling a little sleepy: “Fat brother, do you really want to take the civil service exam?”
Sun Pang was touched on a sore spot and smiled bitterly: “It’s just so-so. What else can I do if I don’t take the exam?”
“Why can’t you do it?”
“I’m not as capable as Yu Shenwei, nor am I like Lao Wu, whose family is rich and I can do whatever I want. I can also inherit the family business after retirement. My grandparents are very old and in poor health, so they hope that I can find a stable job in my hometown and start a family early.”
Song Yang frowned and advised: “But you have to do what you really like to be happy, right?”
Sun Pang said: “To be honest, I really don’t have the courage to bet my youth. The elimination rate in sports competitions is too high. I am afraid that I don’t have the strength to make it to the end, and end up with nothing. In turn, I blame myself for the choice I made at this time. Maybe I am the kind of person who is suitable for living a down-to-earth life.”
After hearing this, Song Yang knew that it was useless to say more. Everyone was in a different environment and had to bear different pressures. He could exchange his ideas with Sun Pang, but he could not force others to obey, nor could he determine that others’ choices were wrong or foolish.
The road ahead is still so long, and we will only know whether it is right or wrong after we have walked through it.
The cars arrived at the school one after another. The one Song Yang was in was the last one to arrive. When he got off the car, he found Li Xun standing at the gate of the student dormitory.
He had an inexplicable premonition that Li Xun should be waiting for him, but he really couldn’t muster up the emotion and walked very slowly.
He looked up and called out “Master”.
Li Xun walked up to him and asked softly, “Are you sleepy?”
Song Yang nodded and wanted to go back quickly, but he saw Li Xun frowning and then immediately shook his head.
Li Xun said, “Then walk with me to help me digest my food.”
The night wind was still quite cool, and the smell of alcohol on Song Yang’s body had dissipated. He put on the hood of his coat, put his hands in his pockets, and followed behind Li Xun. The lights on the roadside stretched his figure until it overlapped with part of Li Xun, and he slowed down a little.
At this time, there were many young couples walking hand in hand and laughing, which made the atmosphere between them seem extremely awkward.
As far as I can remember, they never had such awkward moments. Even when they had nothing to talk about when they were together, the atmosphere was always very relaxed.
Li Xun didn’t know what the problem was, but Song Yang’s mind kept revolving around that sentence – one round away, it’s like incest.
Now all the ambiguity is tormenting him even more, and he is not looking forward to the morning exercise tomorrow.
Li Xun suddenly stopped, and their shadows overlapped completely. Song Yang heard Li Xun ask, “Are you in a bad mood?”
He seldom heard Li Xun speak in such a gentle and soft tone, which seemed to blend into the thick night, but he could not control his emotions and said something that even he thought was hypocritical.
“I haven’t encountered anything that makes me happy.”
There was no one around, so Li Xun approached him, tilted his head, and looked up at Song Yang’s eyes: “What’s wrong with you?”
Song Yang clenched his fingers into fists in his pockets. He really wished Li Xun had never been so nice to him.
Li Xun remembered what Li Huiying said during the New Year, so he asked, “Did something happen at home? Did your uncle and aunt not allow you to practice archery?”
Song Yang shook his head.
Li Xun really had no clue, but from dinner till now, all signs indicated that the reason why Song Yang was unhappy was more or less related to him, but Song Yang was unwilling to say it.
For a moment, he actually understood the distress of those men on the Internet who said that their girlfriends were difficult to understand. He also felt extremely anxious and wanted to pry open the little guy’s head to see what unspeakable secrets were hidden inside.
They walked around the playground for another half circle. The atmosphere was still the same, with an indescribable awkwardness.
At a certain moment, Li Xun had a flash of inspiration and thought of the only remaining possibility: “Is it because of Yu Shenwei’s admission to the provincial team that you were stimulated?”
Song Yang paused and looked at him from a distance of one meter: “What does it have to do with me whether he enters the provincial team or not? Am I such a jealous person in your eyes?”
Li Xun didn’t expect him to react so strongly, and immediately said, “Of course not.”
Song Yang’s face fell, and his tone revealed a hint of frustration: “But you still miss me like this.”
“………………”
It was all wrong, Li Xun wanted to cry for help. He approached Song Yang for the first time and bumped him with his elbow.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong.”
Seeing that Song Yang didn’t respond, he added: “But I really can’t guess why you are so unhappy, and I don’t want to see you always so depressed, this is not like you.”
“If you have any unpleasant things in study or life, you can tell me. Maybe I can help you solve it. Are you short of money? Or was scolded by the teacher?”
Li Xun didn’t know that the reason why Song Yang didn’t react was because he was shocked. He couldn’t bear to hear Li Xun speaking so softly. The gentler Li Xun was, the more uncomfortable he felt. Such a person didn’t belong to him at all.
Hearing the end, he finally couldn’t hold it in anymore, sat down on the lawn, buried his face in his arms, and said in a hoarse voice: “Don’t pay attention to me.”
Li Xun closed his mouth which had just opened, and stood quietly opposite Song Yang. There was no street light in this corner, so he could only use the light from his mobile phone to shine over and see Song Yang’s shoulders rising and falling slightly.
Judging from experience, it was crying.
Li Xun has only made two people cry in his life. One was the one at home, Li Chuzhi, who was easy to deceive and would immediately stop as soon as the baby cried. The second one was Song Yang more than ten years ago.
I still remember that day when he turned around, he knocked the ice cream out of Song Yang’s hand. The little guy burst into tears and cried loudly. He was also at a loss at the time, but I remember that it didn’t seem to work…
It’s quite magical. Even though so much time has passed, he can still remember Song Yang’s wet eyelashes and the red lips when he sobbed that day.
What should I do?
Song Yang’s hugging therapy flashed through his mind. He didn’t care whether the lawn was clean or not. He sat down next to Song Yang, put his arms around him, and held him in his arms: “Don’t be sad.”
Song Yang paused for a moment, as if he had a hiccup.
Li Xun thought this trick might work, and continued, “You are still young and have little experience, so it is easy for you to exaggerate the unpleasantness you encounter in the process. In fact, there is nothing in this world that cannot be overcome.”
Song Yang raised his eyes and saw that his eyelashes were wet from crying.
Li Xun reached out to wipe it off, but Song Yang turned his head away and wiped it off himself.
“Master.”
“Hmm?” Li Xun felt a little embarrassed, so he pulled up the weeds on the ground, wrapped them around his finger, and turned them into a ring.
“Have you ever been heartbroken?”
Song Yang’s voice was heavily nasal after he had just finished crying.
In a split second, Li Xun connected this sentence with a girl with long flowing hair, and asked in disbelief, tremblingly: “You, you, you broke up?”
“Well…” Song Yang leaned back into his arms, aggrieved, “The person I like doesn’t like me.”
a bolt from the blue.
Li Xun’s eyes widened, and he felt like he had also been heartbroken.
