She took out a towel that was drying on the radiator and threw it to him, her face cold.
Yan hope dried his hair, and Aheng poured him another cup of hot water. She gestured for him to take off his coat and put it on the radiator to warm it.
When I handed him the hot water, his hands were so frozen that he dropped it and it broke on the carpet.
Feeling awkward, he stood up, glanced at Aheng cautiously.
He seemed lost, silent, and lacking confidence.
There, the shadow of that arrogant young man from back then still lingers.
Ah Heng didn't speak. Seeing that his face was pale and snow water was dripping from his black hair, she took out another quilt, covered the original blanket, pointed to the quilt, and told him to lie down.
Yan hope shook his head. "Where do you want to sleep?"
She pulled him into the bed, then lay down herself and said, "Let's sleep."
I reached out and turned off the desk lamp.
His hands were very cold. He accidentally touched Ah Heng, but quickly pulled away, afraid of chilling her.
Ah Heng reached out and hugged him tightly. Yan hope struggled slightly, but Ah Heng closed her eyes and said, "Yan Xi, if you move again, get out of here."
Yan hope, who never smoked, learned to smoke; A Heng, who never swore, learned to swear.
Yan hope always loved to teach Wen Heng, who couldn't speak the Beijing dialect, to swear. Wen Heng would always say that smoking made men seem more manly.
Once upon a time, Wen Heng could never learn to swear, and Yan hope, with an arrogant face, scoffed, "Who the hell says I'm not a man if I don't smoke?"
His muscles stiffened and he dared not move; she held him as if he were a large rag doll.
Yan hope's fingers began to warm, approaching A Heng's temperature.
Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her heart. So much pain that she couldn't even shed a tear.
Her fingers gripped his sweater, perhaps even hurting him. He huddled under the covers, letting out a muffled groan, but didn't flinch.
She said, "Yanxi, are you secretly laughing? I know what you're thinking. Are you thinking, 'How can there be such an easy woman to fool in this world? It's much more fun than Transformers, green monsters, or pianos, isn't it?' How many times have you been fooled, and you still believe everything I say? Yanxi, you like a man and want to stay by his side, and you tell me, 'Believe me or not, I'll clean the house and send you away.' Why are you lying to me? You say you're deaf? Only someone as dim-witted as Da Yi would believe that. Do you think I would believe you? Yanxi, do you think I would believe you? You just like men, why are you dragging me into this? Is this game so fun? You've been playing it for seven or eight years, aren't you tired, Yanxi?"
She reached out to pull at the things on his ears, but he said softly, "Aheng, if you pull them off, I won't be able to hear you cursing me."
He said, "Aheng, I want to hear you speak."
She bit his shoulder hard, tears streaming down her face, and said, "You beast, you're still lying to me, still lying to me. Do you think I'm that easy to bully?"
He took off his earplugs. "Aheng, if this will make you feel better."
In the darkness, his eyes glistened, filled with a helpless sorrow amidst his struggle.
She yelled, her voice hoarse, "How can you be so presumptuous? Do you think you can tell whether I'm feeling well or not with your eyes? You want me to feel better, do you? Give me back my Yan hope, you son of a bitch!"
Give it back, you beast, you murderous beast, you killed my Yanxi...
Chapter 98
When Yan hope woke up, A Heng was no longer there.
She opened the curtains and stood in the snow downstairs, feeding the sparrows that couldn't find food.
She touched his earlobe; the earplugs were already back in for him.
He went to the bathroom, took a shower, and when he came out, there was hot milk and toast on the table.
He hadn't eaten breakfast in a long time, and he hadn't been able to distinguish between day and night for a long time either. It was always Lu Liu who would come back and pull him up before the day could begin, and he was always in a daze.
No longer accustomed to sunlight, no longer accustomed to darkness, he simply tried his best to adapt to the flow of the land.
He didn't know if he was dead or alive; there was clearly no one around, yet his hands and feet were bound.
There was a familiar sound of footsteps, gentle and orderly, like solving a mathematical equation, step by step. Happiness, sadness, it has never changed.
He looked up and saw Ah Heng walking over, holding two boiled eggs in her hand.
She handed it to him and said, "Here, have some."
His expression was indifferent, devoid of emotion, and unlike last night's hysteria, it was as if all his emotions had been emptied out.
He turned around, squatted down next to the radiator, and warmed a towel.
Yan hope didn't speak, keeping her head down as she ate, her hair almost getting onto the milk.
The two people were doing their own thing, their emotions unconnected, and they were indifferent to each other.
After Yan hope finished the last sip of milk, A Heng stood up, rubbed his hands together, and asked, "When are you leaving?"
Yan hope had milk paste on her lips. She wiped it off with her hand and spoke softly, "I have... three days."
He said, "I have three days to spend with you."
Ah Heng was stunned and asked, "Is it that this time there are three days, or is it that you only have three days in your entire life?"
Yan hope remained silent for a long while before finally speaking, "I don't know. I'll go to your wedding, and I'll go when you give birth, to see you."
Ah Heng said, "When I get married, I won't send you a wedding invitation; just sending the furniture will suffice. As for having children, what does it matter to you and me if the children don't have the surname Wen or Yan?"
She said, "Why don't you visit me after I die?"
Someone knocked loudly on the door. Ah Heng went to open it and found Tom, Jenny, and Fabio.
Tom, still with that shy look, smiled and said, "Wenny, we booked a three-day tour, do you want to go... uh, you have guests here... that boy?"
Jenny saw Yan hope and smiled, "Hey, boy, so you were looking for Wenny."
Yan hope nodded, smiled, and remained silent.
Fabio shrugged. "Wenny, you... okay, do you guys want to come along?"
Ah Heng asked, "Where are you going to play?"
Fabio leaned against the wooden door, smiling. He was just strolling around, having never had a chance to properly enjoy himself here.
Aheng turned to look at Yan hope. Yan hope nodded.
She said, "Okay, is there anything I need to bring?"
Jenny laughed exaggeratedly, "Girl, we're just missing you. The food was prepared at Carrefour this morning."
On the first day of the new year, the number of people joining tour groups exceeded Aheng's expectations. Perhaps many northerners, changing their mindset, came to the south to celebrate the New Year.
There were about thirty seats. Aheng and Yanxi sat in the third-to-last row by the window, while Fabio and the others sat in the last row, in four-person seats without any gaps. They laughed, listened to music, and chatted quickly in English. The elderly people, young men and women in front of them all had black eyes and were looking at these three, one blue and one green, with great curiosity.
Halfway there, everyone got sleepy and slumped over in their seats, dozing off.
Throughout the journey, Yan hope remained silent, only nodding and shaking his head, as if he would rather everyone believe he was mute than know he was deaf. He kept it all hidden, and it's unclear what his motivation was.
He pressed his face against the window, watching the scenery fly by outside, gradually becoming clearer.
Two years have passed. In that chaotic environment, Lu Liu's life was nothing but Lu Liu's. The blood that had been restrained with hemostats began to flow more gently.
What's more, Ah Heng was by his side.
He felt like he was on marijuana, wanting to be happy and wanting to be unrestrained for no reason.
Aheng smiled faintly. She gently tugged at Yanxi's clothes. He turned around, his eyes clear yet timid, looking at her with a warm glow.
She reached out and pressed his head under the seat back, leaned in, and kissed his lips.
She didn't speak, her eyes were gentle and clear, showing nothing, but she held his head, stuck out her tongue, kissed him, and pried open his teeth, tenderly and softly.
All around was quiet, except for the sound of cars rubbing against the highway.
Clang, clang.
This was the most unrestrained moment of her life.
No one, no one breathing, just endless kisses on his face, on his lips.
His eyes were wide open, his pupils almost converging into a single focus—her eyes.
Yan hope couldn't breathe; all he could smell was Aheng's scent.
Suddenly, tears welled up in his eyes. He thought, "What have I lost? Yan hope, what the hell have you lost?"
She chased after his tongue, her movements clumsy and awkward, yet tender, like the first sip of pine resin igniting in the spring.
He took her hand, cupped it in his palm, and held her tongue in his mouth, patiently guiding her.
They lost track of time, treating kissing as a serious and focused activity to while away the hours.
He shed tears, and she looked at his tears with calm eyes, only craving the last bit of warmth from his breath.
It seems this is a person who is dying. All that's left is this little bit of evidence that they are still alive.
Heat, temperature, beauty, pain, struggle, silence, melting.
The sun shone outside the window, and on the car window, droplets of water, once chilly, dripped down.
We arrived at the destination.
When Tom woke up, he saw a very beautiful scene.
Under the sunlight, the two slept soundly. She nestled in his arms, her head against his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist, in a peaceful and dependent position, her eyelashes glistening.
Her lips were bright and lustrous, a dazzling red.
He was stunned and said, "Hey, Jenny, look, what brand of lip balm is Wenny using? It looks so nice."
Jenny patted his head and said sympathetically, "Tom, you know, Chinese people are a bit xenophobic. Wenny is very conservative; she probably can't accept a foreign boyfriend. So, it's not your fault."
Tom shrugged and smiled, saying, "We're all good friends."
Fabio grinned mischievously. "This is considered conservative? You couldn't achieve this effect without at least half an hour."
Jenny muttered to herself, "What a pity, Ah Heng's boyfriend is mute and can't speak."
However, afterwards, the three foreign kids felt awkward. Had they ever seen such a strange couple? They were so intimate on the bus with their backs to everyone, but when climbing the mountain, they went their separate ways, one at the very front of the group and the other at the very back, like strangers.
There was snow on the mountain, and the higher we went, the more slippery the path became. The tour guide used a megaphone to tell everyone to be careful, and that perseverance was key to success. He also mentioned that there were natural hot springs at the summit, which were said to be beneficial for longevity, beauty, and body shaping. He urged everyone to persevere.
Everyone was panting heavily. Tom asked the tour guide if there was a sushi restaurant next to the hot spring, as he wanted to eat sashimi.
An old man sprayed Tom's face with saliva, speaking in a Tianjin accent, "What are you doing? Come to China, not the Japanese devils' den. Why are you looking for raw fish? Aren't you afraid of getting diarrhea from eating it? We only have cold noodles and jellyfish. Eat it if you like, or don't!"
Tom, you're all confused. Wenny, what is the Japanese devils' den?