Volume 10: Pro and Con
Chapter 3: Meeting Again
The summer nights in Chuanhai were humid and hot, as if a sticky film had been smeared on one’s body. The small room in the Low-Rent District housing was like a giant steamer. Lu Li pushed away An Baili, who was clinging to him like an octopus, and got out of bed quietly, planning to go out onto the corridor to catch some cool breeze.
Since two years ago, the number of residents in the minors’ section of the Low-Rent District had been dwindling. Lu Li stood on the corridor and looked left and right, only to see that there wasn’t a single piece of clothing on the long clothesline. In a few more months, he and An Baili would lose their eligibility to continue living here. Speaking of which, Yameng’s eligibility had also expired. The end of high school, the impending expiration of his residency—it all seemed to declare that a chapter of his past life had come to a close. In Yameng’s words, the train had arrived at the station. Many people got off, and many more got on. He was still sitting on the train, yet he couldn’t see any familiar people or things.
Lu Li tugged at his T-shirt, letting the night wind pass through the gap between the fabric and his skin. The gray T-shirt was stuck to his chest and back with sweat, a feeling that made him very uncomfortable.
He took out his phone and found the newly saved number. It was already twelve o’clock. Was she asleep?
“Why don’t you dial it?” Wen Hupo’s voice came from behind. She was always so stealthy. Lu Li wasn’t startled; he found that he had already gotten used to it.
“I don’t know what to say.” Especially after reading the letter Chu Jingyi had given him, he became more and more aware of his own baseness and greed. “Hupo, even if I can really marry Chu Jingyi one day in the future, will she be happy?”
“Why wouldn’t she be happy?”
“What I mean is, I’m still that same philandering, scummy man. I haven’t changed. All I’m doing is possessing her like I’m collecting stamps. For her, is this really the love she hoped for?” Today’s moon was so full. Lu Li felt he could see the craters on it. He thought, Wu Gang and Chang’e have been living on the moon all this time. With a lone man and a lone woman, wouldn’t something happen?
Wen Hupo suddenly smiled, a smile that was like a hundred flowers blooming in a riot of color. Lu Li thought she was truly beautiful.
“Outstanding Representative, why are you being so silly at a time like this? Have you been infected by Jingyi?” Wen Hupo said with a smile. “Why did Jingyi write you a love letter? And why did she break up with you? Don’t you think the two are contradictory?”
“It’s because of her family…”
“Is that all?”
Wen Hupo had stumped him.
“She’s also very conflicted internally.” Wen Hupo also looked at the moon. Lu Li thought Wen Hupo was very much like the moon, high above but emitting a gentle light, not like the sun which was impossible to look at directly and unreachable. At least back then, Chang’e wouldn’t have chosen to fly to the sun. Perhaps because Chang’e wasn’t from Bashu and didn’t like to eat roasted rabbit?
“She doesn’t know what her status is in your heart.” Wen Hupo’s words cut off Lu Li’s boundless train of thought. “She is, after all, just an eighteen-year-old girl, full of longing and apprehension about love. No matter how flowery your words are, they are just words. Words alone can’t change anything.”
“…”
“Outstanding Representative, why aren’t you talking?”
“I feel like you’re scolding me,” Lu Li said, blushing.
Wen Hupo smiled, like the tinkling of a wind chime heard while holding a large, cold watermelon on a summer’s day.
“Just go for it. Let Chu Jingyi feel how much you value her. That way, perhaps you won’t even need to truly be on equal footing with the Chu family, and that silly girl will still run to you with tears and snot streaming down her face. It’s not a simple thing for ‘like’ to sublimate into ‘love,’” Wen Hupo said.
“What about you?” Lu Li suddenly asked. “Will you mind? If I really marry Chu Jingyi, will you be happy?”
“The constraints of the world are only for stabilizing social order and consolidating rule. In my opinion, the constraints of marriage cannot imprison the true feelings between people.” She said this with her head held high. Lu Li could see a tiny mole on her fair neck. Lu Li felt she was putting on airs again. What girl wouldn’t care about the once-in-a-lifetime event of marriage?
She noticed the disbelief on Lu Li’s face. “That’s what I mean, Outstanding Representative. I like the free and easy atmosphere when I’m with you, a simple and carefree life. Other things, they really aren’t that important.”
“What if one day I become rich and powerful, and become greasy and worldly?”
“Then I will leave.” Wen Hupo’s eyes dimmed.
Lu Li smiled. “Then you might never be able to leave.”
Wen Hupo was stunned for a moment, then shot him a look. “Conceited.”
The two of them laughed together, a very hearty laugh. So as not to wake An Baili in the room, both of them laughed with great restraint.
“Give her a call,” Wen Hupo said, having unknowingly moved closer to Lu Li. “If she’s suffering from the torment of longing, she might also be sadly looking at her phone screen.”
Lu Li grunted in agreement, dialed Chu Jingyi’s new number, and hung up immediately after one ring. He didn’t want to be discovered by Chu Jingyi’s grandfather or grandmother or anyone else.
But in the next second, the call he had just hung up was returned. Lu Li stared blankly at the number. Wen Hupo had actually been right. Was that silly girl really waiting for his call?
“…Hello…” Lu Li’s voice was very soft, like a thief.
“Hello…” A soft, tender, and faint reply. Hearing this voice, a warm current surged through Lu Li’s bones, and he suddenly went soft, feeling weak all over.
“You’re… not asleep yet?” Lu Li felt like an idiot. What kind of stupid question was that? He remembered a late-night call he had with Chu Jingyi when he was in Lingyue City. The atmosphere now was so similar to back then.
Chu Jingyi’s voice was also very low, and she let out a coquettish whimper. She didn’t answer Lu Li’s question.
“I… um… I…” Chu Jingyi sounded like she was about to cry. Just as Lu Li thought she had suffered some great injustice, she continued, “It’s so embarrassing… Did you read that letter… If you haven’t, don’t read it. Burn it…”
So that was it. Lu Li had a sudden realization. This silly girl had just poured out her heart and written a breakup letter not long ago, but now, less than a month later, she was contacting Lu Li again. No wonder she felt shy. Lu Li chuckled foolishly a few times. “I read it. It was very well written. I was very moved.”
Hearing Lu Li’s reply, Chu Jingyi started whimpering like a little train again. She said aggrievedly, “You’re still bullying me. You’re still bullying me even after we broke up…”
Lu Li was extremely happy. “Yibao, can I still call you Yibao?”
“…Of course not. At most, you can call me Jingyi…” Chu Jingyi was a little angry.
“Yibao.”
“…What is it…” The final syllable was drawn out for a long time.
“How are you doing in the Capital City? Are you happy?”
“Mm.” The Silly Goose’s emotions stabilized a little. “It’s very good. I’m well-fed and warmly dressed. Grandpa and Grandma dote on me. In the Capital City, Dad doesn’t even dare to speak harshly to me, or my grandpa will scold him to death.”
Sure enough, this little girl was doted on no matter where she was.
“Grandpa also asked… why Lu Li didn’t come…”
Lu Li’s heart skipped a beat.
