Chapter 20: Milk Tea
“Check your admission ticket, and your pen and eraser. Remember to do the easy ones first and then the hard ones. Don’t be nervous. You did well on yesterday’s exam. The last two subjects today…”
“Su Yu.” Su Xi suddenly turned her head, and her hand was on his chest. She was a little helpless. “You’ve already said these words many times yesterday. I can even recite them.”
“Then… alright then.” He touched the back of his neck and took a few steps back. “Good luck with the exam. It’s okay even if you don’t do well. Yeah… good luck.”
The two of them were standing under a poplar tree not far away. The crowd at the school gate was dense. The parents were holding their children’s hands and were giving them instructions. They were hoping that their children would become dragons. It was only today.
The two of them were standing together, and they were a little eye-catching. Su Xi was wearing a school uniform, and her skin was fair and greasy. Her features were beautiful, and she had a fresh and young high ponytail behind her. She was no different from the students of this age. He was much worse. He was not young anymore. His eyebrows and eyes had lost their childishness, and the lines and contours were clear and neat. There was a rough and firm look that had been honed.
Su Xi frowned, and the corners of her eyes were pressed down. She held his collar and pulled him back. She wrinkled the tip of her nose and was a little fierce. “Why are you standing so far away? Don’t you know I’m very nervous? Who do you think I’m taking the gaokao for again? To torture myself?”
“Why do you think that…”
He was in a daze. He found that her fingertips, which were in his hand, were trembling. When a person was nervous, their emotions would be in a mess. She was younger than him, and her personality was naive and childish. She was harsh with him. She had taken a wrong path. This was her first gaokao. It had been delayed for several years. The students in the same classroom as her were younger than her, and they were all talking about trends that she couldn’t understand.
What she was facing was far more difficult than she had imagined.
Su Xi turned her head and looked at the young and beautiful girls who were generously showing off their arms and legs. Their gorgeous little dresses and leather shoes were all different, and their eyes were shining. This period of time, when others were bright and beautiful, she had passed in darkness. She was a little envious, and she also felt a little ashamed.
After looking for a long time, she sighed, and her heart was bittersweet. She didn’t know if she was not very reconciled or what, but she was being childish again. She had a competitive spirit. She turned her head and said to Su Yu very seriously, “The little girls nowadays are really prettier than the last. These dresses on them are like princesses. In the future… Nian Nian will have them all. Nian Nian will definitely look good in these. Her eyes are so dark and bright, just like yours.”
“You’d look good in them too. You’ve never worn them before. You should make up for it now. Nian Nian is still young…”
Su Yu had just been in a daze of a guilt of a sudden realization not long ago, so the words he had said were from the bottom of his heart. He had seen that she was a little in a daze, and her lips were slightly trembling. She had not said anything, and she was just staring at him, as if he had done some evil thing and had bullied her. After a long while, her eyes were a little red.
It was a big deal to affect the exam. Before she could answer, he had immediately ruffled her head and had smiled. “I’ll wait for you at the rental house. We’ll go back together after the exam. There’s nothing to do in our hometown.”
“No. You can go back first. I still have to go and see my parents.”
Su Yu was not very convinced. He had looked at the tips of her shoes, which were on the ground. He had pinched his fingers. “They didn’t even come on such an important day as your gaokao. You can just call them after the exam.”
“Didn’t they take Nian Nian with them for a year? Su Yu… uncle is very concerned about you. He was the one who first proposed not to have another one. Do you think it doesn’t cost money to take care of Nian Nian? You’re even more insensible than me.”
“I…”, he had been stuck for a moment. He had lowered his head and had shrugged, and his expression was helpless. “That’s not what I mean. I’ve secretly gone to see them. I know they’re fine. I just feel… they don’t care about you. It’s been so long, and they’ve left you alone in Qingchuan.”
“Everyone has their selfish moments. They’re old and sad. If they don’t want to be bothered, then they won’t be. When are you going to tell them about your affairs all these years?”
“I don’t know yet. We’ll talk about it later.”
Su Yu was a little annoyed. He had collapsed so badly before. The slow repair was actually just treading water. The days were still quite bad now. Many things were still without a clue, and it was very, very difficult to restore them.
“Then you should also…”
“You’re not talking much. Why don’t you think more about the exam later…”
Su Yu had smiled and had interrupted her. He had ruffled her hair. “Think more about yourself, okay?”
“I used to wish there was only you.”
Su Xi had looked at him very seriously. The male’s shoulders were broader, and his eyebrows and eyes were clear and firm. Everyone was trying their best to get rid of the unpromising self of the past, and they were also growing, and they were reflecting. They had shed their fresh and young appearance, and they had honed their inner self. It had confirmed the saying that things would always get better in the future.
Her hand was on her heart, and there was a kind of carefree admitting of defeat and surrendering. “But now… I just want you to be well. Without you, living is quite meaningless. That’s what I mean.”
“I’ll go and see my parents and Nian Nian and then I’ll go and find you. Don’t worry. I can take good care of myself. You’re so smart. Weren’t you still in my hands back then?”
After she had said it, her eyebrows and eyes were curved, and she had patted his shoulder. She had picked up her bag and had turned and had entered the examination room. He had been blocked outside.
…
The last subject was English, her worst subject. She had finished her pen in the last five minutes, and she had thought that she had done quite well. After the papers had been collected, she had picked up her bag and had walked out with the crowd with a somewhat numb look.
After the exam, they were wanton and uninhibited. The students were making a fuss and were laughing in the corridor of the stairs. From time to time, they would brush past her shoulder. The close best friends were holding their arms, and they were saying where they were going to play after the exam, and that they were going to see whose concert, and that they had to confess to the boy they liked. There was a naïve student atmosphere, and a few had put on makeup, and there was a smell of perfume.
Su Xi had touched her cheeks. The weather was hot, and her skin was tender and smooth. It couldn’t hold water and was a little dry. She rarely wore makeup, and her skincare products were just the frostbite cream for the winter. At that time, she had tried a few times to please him, but the effect was not good. Later, she had given up the idea.
She had left the school and had looked up at the sky. The sunlight was dazzling. The sky was very hot, and the cicadas were hissing. She had wiped the thin layer of hot sweat on her neck, and her heart was both sour and soft.
She wondered if her youth was a little too short, or if it was bitter.
Behind her, people were brushing past her one after another. She had told him not to wait for him, and he had really left. Now she was a little confused, and she didn’t know where to go.
For no reason, she was craving for something. She was a little wanting to drink milk tea. She had to ask for more sugar, so sweet that it was cloying, to make up for all the milk tea she had owed all these years.
She had changed her direction and was walking with her back to the crowd. As she was walking, she had looked down and had seen a patch of a tree shadow under her feet. There were fewer people around, and then she had heard a faint sound of footsteps behind her.
Su Xi had turned her head in a daze and had seen that he was so hot that his cheeks were red. He was as if he had fought his way out of the crowd. Her gaze had moved down, and he was holding two cups of milk tea in his hand. There were a few drops of water on the side of the cup. He had just bought it. He had come late. It turned out that he had gone to buy this.
“The milk tea shop here is quite crowded. I was a little late. I thought for a long time and thought it would be better for me to take you back.” He was panting heavily and had handed her the milk tea. He had whispered in her ear, “Do you want to go and see the clothes now? Didn’t you say you wanted to…”
Su Xi’s face was flushed with shame. She had pinched him and had pulled him to a place with fewer people. She had lowered her voice and had scolded him. “Are you really stupid or are you pretending to be stupid? It’s enough to just praise me. Those clothes… I’m not embarrassed to wear them.”
“Then what are we doing now?”, he had asked in a daze.
“Going home.”
She had lowered her head and had taken a sip of the milk tea.
The pudding was soft, and it was very sweet.
