Chapter 99: Craving
It was just a trip that wasn’t too far. He had been hesitating in front of the mirror for who knows how long. The collar had been folded over and over again, but it could only hang limply in front of his chest. A cheap sweater that he had bought in a group from a street stall near the construction site was already covered with dense pilling. It had faded, and it looked old and cheap on him.
Su Yu looked down at the time. He couldn’t delay any longer. He looked up and took one last look at himself in the mirror. He had shaved off the thin layer of stubble, and he had also used a pair of scissors to cut the bangs that were covering his eyes. His thin and handsome face was exposed.
He finally washed his face to make his skin look not so dry. He hurried out the door and went downstairs.
At the elevator, Su Yu met the landlady, who had just come back from buying groceries. The somewhat overweight landlady was panting a few times. She stared at Su Yu for a long time and suddenly laughed out loud. “Oh, you look so handsome. You look much more energetic than before. Are you going out with your girlfriend?”
“Huh?”, Su Yu didn’t quite understand. He subconsciously shook his head. “What are you talking about, auntie?”
“Tsk tsk… do you think I’m old and easy to fool? The little girl who carried you back in the rain that day, isn’t she your girlfriend? She’s still standing at the door.”
“Oh, you mean Qian Ge. We…”
Su Yu touched his red nose, and his breathing was trembling along with his heartbeat. His mind was filled with some kind of pink fantasy. He thought that sometimes being misunderstood was a happy thing. “Yeah, we’re going to the wet market to buy some groceries today.”
The landlady patted Su Yu’s relatively strong shoulder and said with a smile, “Haha… I see. That’s great. You young people nowadays, you only know how to order takeout. You two are so good. With this kind of domestic life, your days will be long and happy.”
“Mm-hmm, thank you, auntie. We’ll be fine.”
Su Yu nodded repeatedly and swallowed unnaturally. His face was burning, and a blush rose along the muscle lines of his collarbone to his earlobes.
This boring lie, who knew if he was crazy? But he thought that when you like someone, you’re willing to be childish. This sentence was probably not wrong.
Su Yu strode out of the corridor, and a torrent of passion was raging in his blood vessels. A desolate and cold wind, with sand and dust, blurred his eyes. He rubbed them hard, and the corners of his eyes were slightly red before he could see the girl who was standing not far away.
Time flies. For a moment, he thought he had returned to the past.
The girl was standing quietly in the wind with her hands behind her back. She was wearing a dark brown knitted shirt, and her tight jeans outlined her long and straight legs. She saw him and took two steps forward with her white sneakers. She tilted her head slightly, and her dark black long hair, which was tied with a hair tie, was gathered into a bunch and was on one side. The slightly curled ends of her hair were scattered in the wind.
Su Yu’s steps were rushed, and he stumbled down the stairs. He slowly walked up to Xia Qiange. He pressed his sweaty palm on his pants and stared at the girl’s plain and elegant face, which was without any makeup.
“Do I look good?”
Xia Qiange pursed her lips, which were as light pink and moist as an early cherry blossom. The corners of her lips were curved into a smile, and her clear black and white eyes were as if they were soaked in water. The watery light was rippling with a simple and innocent clarity. Her eyes were always filled with an indescribable sincerity. Even if she didn’t speak, one could draw a strong gentleness from them.
“G-Good.”
Su Yu’s answer was a little halting, and his voice was so light that it was quickly scattered in the wind.
“Hey? Your bangs…”, Xia Qiange suddenly leaned forward and looked at him. Her dark pupils were magnified in his field of vision. She bit her lip and asked with some uncertainty, “Did you cut your hair? Did you cut it yourself?”
“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”
Su Yu reluctantly took a step back, and the faint fragrance that was lingering at the tip of his nose slowly faded. He stared at Xia Qiange’s furrowed eyebrows, and his heart, which had just calmed down, began to pound wildly for no reason.
“Um…”, Xia Qiange covered her lips and couldn’t help but laugh. She shook her small fist and lightly hit Su Yu’s chest. “Your bangs are a little crooked. Really… you should have just come to me for this kind of thing.”
Su Yu subconsciously rubbed his chest, lingering on this fleeting intimacy. His blood was also boiling. He touched his face and laughed.
He wondered what these intimate gestures meant between friends. They would sit at the same dining table every night. Although he didn’t know what the future would hold, he knew each other’s past very well. And the vague and uncertain love that was floating between them…
Ah… could it be that she still had some special feelings for him?
As long as he spoke first, everything would fall into place.
His full of joy and fantasy could not be honest for too long, and he began to probe into the unknown.
But what if he failed?
Then they wouldn’t even be friends.
The fear that had climbed up his heart had extinguished the vitality of his pounding heart. He forcefully suppressed his turbulent thoughts and calmly continued the topic from before.
“Then… then I’ll come and find you next time.”
…
The wet market in the morning was crowded and chaotic. Xia Qiange, who had been freed from her work, was slowly changing back to her former self in front of him. She was walking in front of Su Yu with excitement. The pearl earrings on her fair and white earlobes were swaying with her steps. The surroundings were noisy. Su Yu was carrying a vegetable basket and was squeezing through the crowd, following closely behind, afraid of losing the girl.
Xia Qiange was seriously bargaining with the vendor at the vegetable stall. Her delicate eyebrows were furrowed, and she was reasonably comparing the prices of the previous few stalls. Su Yu was silently watching the girl’s exquisite and three-dimensional profile on the side.
He couldn’t help but imagine the scene of the other party performing her work in court. Her personality was not strong to begin with, and she had to put on a frail and weak little face and argue with people. He couldn’t help but laugh, and he almost made a sound and attracted the girl’s attention.
The heavy ingredients in the vegetable basket were rising along with the gradually overflowing happiness in his heart.
“Do you like to drink soup, Su Yu? Let’s buy some pork ribs and go back to make soup. I’m a little hungry.”
Xia Qiange took the weighed radish for the soup from the vendor with satisfaction and turned her head to ask for Su Yu’s opinion.
“Anything is fine. But I’m not very good at making soup…”
Su Yu smiled and nodded. Every time he admitted that he couldn’t do something, it would make him sink deeper into the swamp of self-doubt.
“It’s okay. I’ll make it for you in the future.”
The girl pulled at the corner of his clothes, her cheeks slightly puffed out, as if she were as shy as him. Her fair and tender skin was a pale pink. She stared at him with her moist eyes, as if she were asking for a vague answer in his heart.
A meteor streaked across the dark night sky, and the dawn pierced through the dawn.
He couldn’t help but think of the landlady’s blessing again. A life of domestic bliss. The things he had once been able to get so easily had now become a distant and unattainable luxury.
Ah…
What an unimaginable scene it would be if they could be together.
He thought the girl was the embodiment of happiness and joy. His pounding heart… was so hot that it was almost melting.
