Amidst the Mountain Clouds

Chapter One: A Twisted Fate

By the end of October, City C had already entered winter. The sky was overcast, foggy, damp, and cold.

The train slowly pulled into the station, and Chen Yunqi, wearing a windbreaker and carrying a backpack, got off. He followed the flow of people out of the station hall and onto the square, taking a deep breath amidst the bustling crowd.

People carrying large and small bags kept brushing past him, speaking in the southwestern dialect that Chen Yunqi couldn't understand a single word of.

"This is insane," he thought.

He had always been a rigid and disciplined person, and he never imagined that he would act so impulsively. All the way there, he was filled with a sense of unreality, and only now, with his feet firmly planted on the ground of this unfamiliar city, did he realize that he was thousands of miles away.

Four days ago, Chen Yunqi received a message from his mother:

"Tomorrow I'm going with my uncle to pay respects at my grandfather's grave. How's work going?"

Chen Yunqi typed "Pretty good" to reply, but then deleted it after thinking about it.

He finished his MBA a few months ago, and because of his excellent grades, several companies extended invitations to him through the school, but he declined them all. Many people assumed he was going to study abroad, but he hasn't made any preparations yet.

He put down his phone, sat down at his desk, lit a cigarette, and carefully smoked it while logging into QQ. He clicked on the flashing avatar, and a chat with "Little Fox Prince" popped up, where he saw several messages:

Send me your address and I'll send you some walnuts from the mountains.

"It's getting cold in the mountains, and the only female teacher is leaving. I'm so lonely 555555."

Chen Yunqi stared at the two comments for a while, then replied almost unconsciously:

"Don't send it, I want to go and see it."

The message was sent and the other party replied very quickly:

"Great! Come on, come on!"

Chen Yunqi: "You're online? Isn't there no electricity or signal in the mountains?"

The Little Fox Prince: "There's gasoline generating electricity tonight! I've charged up and am now looking for a signal on the roof!"

The Little Fox Prince: "Is it really coming? I'm so excited!"

Then another one:

"But I'd be even more excited if you were a woman, haha!"

Chen Yunqi couldn't help but smile at the computer. He liked this lively and cheerful person, and being around him made him feel relaxed.

Most of the time he has nothing to say, but he is always considerate of other people's feelings and tries to engage in conversation about topics that others are interested in. Unfortunately, the conversation always ends in an awkward silence, leaving him feeling embarrassed and helpless.

But when you're with an outgoing person, especially one who can keep talking even when others aren't responding and doesn't care whether the other person is listening attentively, they can remain silent without any qualms, without feeling guilty, and don't even need to pretend to listen.

For example, Yu Xiaosong.

Judging by the time, Yu Xiaosong should be leaving after the Spring Festival.

On the day he received the admission notice from the prestigious university in Country Y, Yu Xiaosong called Chen Yunqi and remained silent for a long time before asking him if he would like to come with him.

“I’ll find it hard to get used to.” Chen Yunqi’s tone was gentle, but there was no room for negotiation. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be too far away from my grandmother.”

"Chen Yunqi!" Yu Xiaosong finally had enough of his polite yet aloof attitude. "I've heard this excuse too many times! From childhood to adulthood, wherever you go, I go. You clearly know that my major offers a better environment abroad, but you've never considered my feelings even once!"

It was as if he had been holding back for a long time, his voice growing louder and louder. His resentment came from the other end of the phone, turning into a dagger that stabbed Chen Yunqi in the heart: "You keep saying it's for your grandmother, but how many times have you come back to see her all these years? How many times have you called her? How long are you going to pretend to be a filial son and grandson?!"

Yu Xiaosong felt extremely exhausted. No matter how he tried to persuade or coerce Chen Yunqi on the other end of the phone, his response was always silence.

"Xiaoqi, birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural order of life. You shouldn't be stuck in sadness like this. I really don't know how to help you. I'm tired. I've waited for you for too long..."

"Xiao Song," Chen Yunqi finally spoke.

Yu Xiaosong stood on the balcony, his eyes stinging from the sea breeze. He saw the clouds swirling in the sky, imagining Chen Yunqi's indifferent expression, and listened to him with a sliver of hope.

"I've never had any improper thoughts about you. We're brothers, friends for life. Thank you for your companionship all these years. You should pursue the life you want and true love."

A swift and decisive refusal, delivered with a calm and composed demeanor.

"How beautiful," Yu Xiaosong thought, holding his phone and gazing at the drifting clouds, yet his heart ached with an indescribable pain. He felt like the wind, pushing Chen Yunqi forward with unwavering devotion. But how could the clouds belong to the wind? He had tried so hard, yet in the end, he had still managed to scatter the clouds.

My heart has sunk to the bottom of the sea; only I know the bitterness and sweetness of life.

"Okay, I understand. Take care."

Yu Xiaosong loved Chen Yunqi so much that from the time he found Chen Yunqi's school badge in the yard when he was 6 years old, he devoted the first half of his life to this person.

He didn't know if their fate was a curse. Back then, when he looked at Chen Yunqi's photo on the school badge, he hoped to get to know this classmate. He hid the school badge under his pillow and looked at it countless times, looking at the boy's fair and refined face in the photo, his thin eyelids, his vermilion lips, without a trace of a smile, yet he was stunningly handsome.

One day, he was surprised to find that this classmate actually lived right across from him.

Because of the opportunity to find the school badge, he started interacting with the neighbors. He learned from the adults' conversations that Chen Yunqi's parents were divorced. His mother retired from a state-owned enterprise to go into business. She was too busy to take care of him and left him at his maternal grandparents' house in the suburbs. She only brought him back to live with her when he reached school age.

Chen Yunqi was a man of few words. Every time Yu Xiaosong went to see him, he was always reading. He had never attended kindergarten or preschool, yet he already knew many pinyin characters and Chinese characters, and he also knew a lot of encyclopedic knowledge that Yu Xiaosong did not know. Yu Xiaosong would always ask him all sorts of questions, and Chen Yunqi was always willing to patiently explain them to him.

Every morning, Chen Yunqi would arrive at Yu Xiaosong's house early. While Yu Xiaosong dawdled over his breakfast and packed his schoolbag, Chen Yunqi would sit quietly on the sofa and wait. No one was ever home; he ate at Yu Xiaosong's house almost every day, did his homework there, and only went home when it was time for bed.

Yu Xiaosong's grandfather used to ride a bicycle to pick them up and drop them off at school every day. Later, they grew taller and bigger, and their grandfather could no longer carry them, so the two of them switched to taking the bus.

Later, Chen Yunqi grew a head taller than Yu Xiaosong. They went to the same junior high and high school, and were almost inseparable. Chen Yunqi had excellent grades, was well-rounded in all subjects, and was very polite in his interactions with others. The teachers all liked him, even though he was quiet and rarely participated in group activities. He didn't have any other close classmates; Yu Xiaosong was his only friend.

They hadn't been in the same class since elementary school, but they still went out and came home together every day. In the north, winter days are short and nights are long; when they went out in the early morning, it was still pitch black, and the streetlights made their footprints in the snow exceptionally clear. While waiting for the bus, Yu Xiaosong wrapped his face tightly with a scarf, only his eyes showing, his eyelashes covered in snowflakes. He asked Chen Yunqi if they wanted to study abroad together after graduation.

Chen Yunqi then said that his grandmother was getting old and he couldn't bear to go too far away.

It wasn't until he received his university acceptance letter that Chen Yunqi realized Yu Xiaosong had filled out the same application as him, just like before.

That day, Yu Xiaosong took the opportunity to confess her feelings to him. "Chen Yunqi, all these years, I've always liked you. I'm eighteen now, we're free, and I don't want to be your neighbor, classmate, or brother anymore. I want to date you."

Chen Yunqi was surprised. He didn't have a girl he liked, nor had he ever been interested in anyone. He knew very well that he just wasn't interested, but he had never noticed that Yu Xiaosong was the same way. She had never mentioned any female classmates to him from childhood to adulthood. Yu Xiaosong was nice to him and clingy, and he was used to it. This sudden and blatant confession left Chen Yunqi at a loss for words.

He tried to express his feelings to Xiaosong in a tactful way, saying that he was not gay and could not accept Xiaosong's feelings. He was convinced that Xiaosong simply had too few friends and even felt guilty about it—their inseparable relationship over the years had led to the current situation.

Yu Xiaosong refused to compromise, convinced that Chen Yunqi simply hadn't grasped his own feelings. He was certain Chen Yunqi liked him, was attached to him; otherwise, why hadn't he had a girlfriend all these years? So many girls had pursued him, yet he'd never been moved. Every holiday meant for couples was spent with Yu Xiaosong. He accepted all the gifts Yu Xiaosong gave him, some even carrying obvious romantic undertones; Yu Xiaosong couldn't believe he h

……