Chapter 128: Healing
The days went on as usual. The bustling and crowded capital, on the contrary, became deserted as the New Year was approaching. This modern and sleepless city had finally extinguished the clusters of unquenchable lights all night.
The train station was full every day these few days. The people who were dragging their suitcases and leaving here to go home for the New Year were in an endless stream. This should be his first time spending the New Year in this strange city of the capital.
It was not the first time that there were only two people for the New Year, but he did not feel embarrassed by it.
“Sir, this is the ring you ordered…”
“Ah, okay. Thank you.”
Su Yu nodded and took the ring from the counter. He held it in his hand and looked at it very carefully. The light from the ceiling was reflected by the diamond and was shining in his eyes. It was shining brightly, and it had dispelled the deep black of his pupils. He had looked at it for a long time before he closed the lid and put the thing in his pocket.
On his way home, a bold girl had asked him for his contact information on the street. He was stunned on the side of the road and had looked at her for a long time but had not given her a definite answer. There were a few of the girl’s companions who were hiding under a road sign and were laughing. The originally generous girl was so red-faced by his stare that her voice was stammering in the end.
It had taken him a while to realize his awkwardness. The way he was staring at the other party and not letting go, it was as if he were the one who was a lecher, greedy for the girl’s beauty. He lowered his head a little old-fashionedly and said sorry. He turned and left, and the discomfort in his movements made him look as if he were a primitive man who was still in the slow-paced social environment of a few years ago.
His social circle had become so small at some point. It was as if someone were slowly shrinking his window of communication with the outside world. All that was left was a mediocre small courtyard. The door was open, but very few people would walk in or stay for too long.
Su Yu was sitting in a corner of the last row on the bus. The car was bumpy. He looked down at his phone, and there was a message from her.
“The medicine at home is finished. Buy some on your way back.”
He bit his dry lips and replied to the message, “Are you still having insomnia?”
“Yeah, but it’s much better.”
“Stop taking the medicine. It will be fine.”
“Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
He took the ring out of the box and held it in his hand, not letting go. He knew that Xia Qiange was not a girl who was keen on these shiny but useless decorations.
Then what did she like about him? Did she like this body?
It had been so long, but he still couldn’t see through her.
But he seemed to be ready.
…
When Su Yu returned, it was just in time for dinner. Xia Qiange’s stomach was not good, so he and Xia Qiange had dinner very early. They would start to prepare dinner at about three or four in the afternoon. At night, they often needed a late-night snack. She would not go to bed until very late.
The sunlight at three or four in the afternoon was shining into the house at an angle. He saw her sitting on the bamboo and rattan chair on the balcony, reading a book. The rattan was hanging the bamboo chair, and her toes were off the ground. She was still wearing that pink nightgown, and a pair of mismatched fluffy socks were on her feet. She was reading very seriously with her head down.
The strange colors in the sunlight made up her. But her background was gray. In this life, she was still gentle, and her path was completely different from her previous life. But what she could not escape in both lives was always the suffering that was like a persistent curse.
Su Yu put down the key, and his steps were very light as he approached. She was sitting there, reading very seriously, and she was turning the pages one by one. The gentle afternoon sunlight was on her furrowed eyebrows from her thinking, and a thin layer of light was on her gentle face. Even the fine and small downy hairs were clearly visible.
He brought a cup of milk over, and a shadow was cast on the page, covering the small characters. Xia Qiange reacted and looked up at him. But her gaze was soon attracted by the milk in his hand.
Her eyebrows were furrowed even more, and her legs were crossed. She hugged her arms with some wariness and said reluctantly, “I’ve already drunk the cup you left before you left. Why is there more?”
“You drank it?”, Su Yu raised his eyebrows and asked, “How did it taste?”
“It was bad. It had no taste at all.” She said with great disgust.
“Really?”, he squinted his eyes and looked at her, as if she were putting on a show. “But I remember, I added sugar. How could it have no taste?”
“I… maybe I forgot.”
Xia Qiange turned her head away from the cup of milk and put on an attitude of “you can’t do anything to me without evidence.”
Su Yu sat down next to her and pushed the milk to her side. “The doctor said you’re calcium deficient during your checkup. It also affects your sleep. Be good… drink it.”
She pouted and reluctantly sat up. She was swinging her calves in mid-air, and her feet were kicking his knees with some complaint. “Then will I still not be able to sleep tonight? Every night is so long and long. I’m watching the time go by, and it’s going so slowly. It’s as if I’ll never see the dawn.”
“Yes. If you can’t sleep, I’ll count sheep for you.”
Xia Qiange was suddenly hit by this half-joking and even not-so-nutritious sentence. She had taken medicine in the afternoon and had slept for a while. During the time she had been awake, her whole person had been in a state of no emotion. But very abruptly, her heart seemed to have been enveloped by something warm.
A wild fire had suddenly started in the long darkness. Her heart was finally no longer gloomy. She could open her arms and hug that overly bright flame.
She looked at Su Yu’s long and neat eyelashes with some amusement and couldn’t help but reach out and flick them with her fingertips. The eyelashes trembled slightly, and she smiled and agreed.
“Alright then. But you have to count a lot of them.”
“I know.”
Su Yu nodded very seriously, as if he were really going to seriously carry out this task.
Xia Qiange was stunned for a moment. Her hand, which was under the cuff of her pajamas, was like a little animal that was peeking its head out of its burrow. It came out and bit Su Yu’s hand. She put down her crossed legs and sat up straight.
“Do you know? They all sympathize with me. My friends comfort me for not having a family. My colleagues pity me for coming to the capital alone and not going back for the New Year. But I don’t think there’s any need for… sympathy. Because I met you…”
She smiled happily. “What’s this called? Everyone is born equal…”
A hazy water mist rose in her dark and inky eyes, and her voice was choked and firm.
“I love you, really. Hmm… there’s no reason. How can there be a reason for love? That’s all a lie. I don’t want you to leave me. We should always be together. I don’t want anything else.”
She kissed him in the late dusk, holding his neck. The tip of her tongue carefully outlined his thin, red lips. The book slid down his knees and fell to the ground. Love was born in the hazy and deep sunset, and it had healed the ferocious and permanent scar on his fingertip…
