When Tang Xu parked the car in front of Tang Cuo’s residential area, the dark sky had already completely descended. The bustling city of Beijing had disappeared in the daytime. Under the illumination of street lamps and car lights, it added a bit of an indulgent and free-spirited atmosphere.
Unlike his old residential area, this residential area does not allow external vehicles to enter.
He turned off the engine, sent a message to Tang Cuo that he had arrived, and then thought for a moment. He was afraid that the smoke in the car was too heavy, so he restarted the car and lowered all the windows.
After a while, he saw Tang Cuo running over from afar. Tang Cuo was wearing a hat and a sports jacket today. The jacket was light grey, and the soft fabric perfectly complemented his youthful vigour.
He opened the car door and got in, still panting heavily. Although it was already cool outside, his ears were hot and red.
“What do you want to eat?” Tang Xu asked
Tang Cuo was about to speak, but Tang Xu cut in and said, “You can’t say anything; you have to choose one today.”
Tang Cuo’s half-opened mouth suddenly stopped, and he looked at him incomprehensibly. Tang Xu smiled, reached out his hand, lifted his chin slightly with a finger, and closed his mouth for him.
“…” Tang Cuo leaned back and turned his head away; his eyes lingered on the small air conditioner in front of him, looking insolent. “But I really can eat anything.”
Tang Xu also didn’t move, calmly leaning on the steering wheel, seemingly determined to make Tang Cuo choose the restaurant today. “You still have to choose.”
After thinking for a while, Tang Cuo took out his phone from his pocket and said, “Let me check Dianping…”
After searching for a while, Tang Cuo finally chose a fish hot pot restaurant and showed it to Tang Xu. “How about this one?”
Tang Xu leaned over and didn’t take the phone. Instead, he held Tang Cuo’s hand, which was holding the phone, and studied the comments carefully, as if he didn’t notice he was holding his hand.
Tang Cuo was slow to react, and when he realised that Tang Xu was holding his hand, Tang Xu had finished reading and let go of him. “This place serves spicy hot pot only. Can you handle it?”
“Ah?” Tang Cuo looked back at the picture and saw that all the hot pots were bright red. “Ah…spicy.”
Tang Xu started the car. “Let’s go there. They should also have clear soup or other non-spicy options.”
When they arrived at the fish hot pot restaurant, Tang Xu ordered a “Mandarin duck pot” with two pounds of fish and some vegetables. Tang Xu ate the spicy hot pot, while Tang Cuo ate the non-spicy one.
However, it seemed that the spicy one tasted better. Tang Cuo nibbled on the tip of his chopsticks and sneaked a bite into the boiling, spicy pot while Tang Xu was dipping the sesame sauce. As soon as he put it in his mouth, his eyes started to tear up. When Tang Xu looked up, he saw Tang Cuo crying while eating fish, which frightened him so much that he even leaned forward.
“Quick, drink some water, drink some water,” said Tang Xu as he handed over a tissue with a smile. “Wipe your face.”
Tang Cuo took the tissue and wiped his face, struggling to swallow the food in his mouth. He then gulped down half a glass of orange juice.
“You can’t handle spice, so why did you eat it?” Tang Xu asked.
“I… cough… it looked really good, so I wanted to try it, but… cough cough… it’s too spicy,” Tang Cuo said, struggling to speak as the spice hit him hard. He then chugged the remaining half glass of orange juice, feeling regretful and full.
Tang Xu watched him with a pitying expression, trying not to laugh. “Next time, we’ll order a clear broth instead of a spicy hot pot.”
Tang Cuo thought Tang Xu would take him home or back to school, but to his surprise, Tang Xu didn’t even ask and just pulled him back to his own house.
“I’ll just go back to school; tomorrow I have classes.”
“Come to my place, and then go back tomorrow.”
Tang Cuo didn’t argue anymore and followed Tang Xu home. They watched TV, drank milk, washed up, and then Tang Cuo lied in bed and said goodnight to Tang Xu, who was standing at the door. Everything was back to normal, as if the events of two days ago were just a bad dream.
Closing his eyes, Tang Cuo thought, what did Tang Xu mean by that? Was he pretending that nothing had happened?
He turned over and lay on his side, looking at the dark curtains.
It’s not bad to whitewash the truth.
The next day, Tang Xu said he had to go to a nearby cooperative company first and left Tang Cuo at the school gate. Before getting off the car, he called out to Tang Cuo, “You haven’t turned in your assignment from last time; remember to submit it to my office today.”
Tang Cuo was stunned there. “Oh.”
“Go ahead,” said Tang Xu.
Tang Cuo responded again, “Oh,” then opened the car door and got out.
Looking at Tang Xu’s car leaving, he still felt incredulous, unable to understand why Tang Xu, who had never urged him to do his homework before, suddenly urged him to do it. As he walked towards school, he felt a little dissatisfied. Did Tang Xu think he wouldn’t hand in his homework?
Half of the semester had already passed, which meant it was once again time for widespread misery1“哀鸿遍野” (widespread misery) is an idiomatic expression that describes a situation where people are struggling or in distress.—not only were the exams coming, but also some course experiments, such as those on digital circuits. Using two large experimental boxes and following the circuit diagram passed down from generation to generation, it would take at least more than 160 wires to complete this experiment,2“连一百六十多跟导线” (at least more than 160 wires) is a possible exaggeration for comedic effect or to emphasize the difficulty of the experiment. and the degree of torture was already comparable to that of Rongmu Rongmu tormenting Ziwei.3“容嬷嬷折磨紫薇” (Rongmu tormenting Ziwei) is a reference to a character from the Chinese classic novel “Dream of the Red Chamber”, where Rongmu is a maid who tortures the protagonist, Ziwei.
Tang Cuo’s studies have been squeezing out his time, leaving him with little opportunity to specifically contemplate Tang Xu. More often than not, he thinks of Tang Xu during his fragmented moments. For example, when he sees a guy wearing a black jacket on the street, or when he hears someone say “hello, teacher,” in the distance, or when he sees a little bird flapping its wings and landing on a wire hanging in mid-air, which reminds him of the lyrics about chatty sparrows outside the window. Despite these trivial and scattered things, he always manages to connect them to Tang Xu in some way, with twists and turns in his thoughts.
If you calculate carefully, Tang Cuo and Tang Xu meet quite frequently every week: two classes, several trips to the office, and even a few meals and evenings spent alone together. Tang Xu really didn’t avoid him because of what happened before and seemed even more enthusiastic about taking him to various restaurants and then back to his home to sleep when he didn’t have class. Even He Zhong, who had been amazed and surprised, noticed that Tang Cuo was spending more and more days not sleeping in school. If Tang Cuo didn’t seem so upright, he would have suspected that he was secretly living with his girlfriend.
This statement made Tang Cuo feel guilty, but he didn’t know what he was guilty of.
The digital experiment was done in groups of three, with Tang Cuo and He Zhong in one group and a female student from their class. Although it was a group of three, the female student seemed to not know much, so it was basically Tang Cuo and He Zhong doing the work. The teacher gave them a week to complete the experiment, but during that time, their band had to rehearse, so Tang Cuo and He Zhong’s schedule was basically eating, attending classes, band rehearsals, and working in the lab.
Perhaps because they were busy during this period of time and winter in Beijing was too cold, Tang Cuo unfortunately caught a cold, which was the wind-chill type.
“You’re sick; take a rest. I can handle it myself,” he said.
Tang Cuo waved his hand and said, “It’s just a cold, not a big deal.”
The laboratory was on the fourth floor of Building 7. As they were waiting for the elevator, they happened to run into Tang Xu and a familiar-looking teacher who also stopped at the elevator.
“Teacher Tang!” He Zhong called out first.
Tang Cuo looked up and happened to meet Tang Xu’s gaze. He also followed “Teacher Tang.”
Tang Xu nodded at them and asked, “What brings you here?”
“We’re doing an experiment, a digital electronics experiment.”
Tang Xu understood immediately: “It’s not easy to do.”
“Exactly, there are over a hundred wires. If you connect them incorrectly, it takes forever to check.”
Tang Xu laughed, and the teacher next to him laughed too.
The elevator arrived at the fourth floor, and Tang Cuo and his companion got off first. They respectfully bid farewell to the teacher and walked out of the elevator. As soon as they stepped into the lab, Tang Cuo’s phone in his pocket vibrated. It was a text message from Tang Xu.
—”Have you caught a cold?”
Tang Cuo held his phone and was surprised. He had only said seven words just now: “Tang teacher, goodbye.” How did Tang Xu hear that he caught a cold?
—”Yeah…”
—”Have you seen a doctor?”
Tang Cuo quickly typed a response because he needed to focus on the experiment. He put his phone back in his pocket and went to the lab bench.
—”No, it’s not serious. I’ll be fine in a few days. Plus, I’m too busy these days and don’t have time. I’m going to start the experiment now… Tang teacher.”
Checking and adjusting circuits is a very troublesome thing. He didn’t trust the clumsy hands and feet of He Zhong and only let him read the circuit connections on the circuit diagram next to him. He checked one wire after another on the experiment box. After an afternoon, he became more and more dizzy and especially missed his bed.
After the two of them finally adjusted the circuit and felt that they could pass the teacher’s inspection, they looked at the clock on the wall and found that it was already 6:30.
He Zhong was shocked by his performance of “forgetting time because of studying.” “My goodness, it’s already 6:30. The band has to rehearse tonight. Let’s go eat.”
He Zhong cleaned up the experimental table and pulled him out. Tang Cuo habitually took out his phone and saw the text message that Tang Xu had replied to a long time ago.
―After you finish the experiment, come find me. I’ll be waiting for you in my office.
“Ah,” he exclaimed briefly.
“What’s wrong?” He Zhong asked as he pressed the elevator button.
Tang Cuo lifted his head, lightly biting his lower lip, and started to move his feet. “You go eat first, Tang… Teacher Tang asked me to find him.”
After saying that, he ran towards the stairs.
“Hey,” except for the first floor, Building 7 was so quiet that He Zhong had to hold back from yelling. He could only stare as Tang Cuo disappeared from his sight, acting like a playful little calf.
Tang Cuo calmed his breath outside the office before he raised his hand to knock on the door. Tang Xu, who was still in the office typing on his computer, stood up when he saw him enter.
“Just finished the experiment?” Tang Xu asked.
Tang Cuo nodded, hands clasped together, as he stood there watching Tang Xu walk around the desk to stand in front of him. Tang Xu then raised his hand and touched his own neck.
Tang Cuo got goosebumps and squeezed his left hand with his right.
“Is your throat sore?” Tang Xu’s voice interrupted his empty thoughts.
He shook his head. “No.”
“Have you taken your temperature? Do you have a fever?”
He shook his head again. “No fever, just a common cold.”
Tang Xu listened, then turned around to rummage through a bag on the desk, taking out a box of medicine.
“Just take these, and you’ll be fine.”
There was a water dispenser in the office, with the hot water light glowing orange, indicating that it was in heating mode.
A cup of hot water was placed in front of Tang Cuo. He lowered his eyes and looked at the very familiar cup, then raised his head and said, “I have a cold; it’s contagious.”
Tang Xu grabbed his hand, placed the cup in it, and squeezed out two pills from the box, handing them to him. “I couldn’t find a paper cup; they must have run out; just use mine.”
After taking the medicine, Tang Xu originally planned to take Tang Cuo home to eat and sleep, but Tang Cuo said he had to rehearse that evening. Tang Xu frowned. “Do you still want to go when you have a cold?”
“We have a performance at school on New Year’s Day, and the teacher in charge has requested that we try not to be absent from rehearsals recently.”
There was no other way, so Tang Xu had to take him to the teacher’s canteen for dinner.
After they finished eating and parted ways, Tang Xu handed the box of medicine to Tang Cuo, reminding him to take it on time and as directed. Tang Cuo lowered his head and found that there were a few words written in black marker on the box, obviously in Tang Xu’s handwriting: twice a day, two pills each time, after breakfast and dinner.
just like before. It was as if time had not separated them over the past seven years.
For a moment, Tang Cuo felt like his heart was wrapped in freshly collected soft cotton—soft, warm, and comfortable—and once he was immersed in it, he could never get out again.
