Chapter Eighty-Five: A Heart-to-Heart Conversation

Su Yihui leaned his head against her shoulder. His sister’s shoulder also carried a reassuring solidity, a strength that was steadfast. The heavy darkness of night made his drowsiness surge anew. He yawned again, and two tears slipped from the corners of his eyes, trailing down his cheeks and disappearing into his neck.

Su Yishu gently stroked the back of her brother’s head. His hair was fine, smooth, and so soft that it stirred a protective urge in her heart. She listened to his heavy breathing, felt the exhaustion in his body.

“Can you tell me why?” Yishu frowned.

Yihui braced himself against the sofa, sitting upright, his features twisted in distress. The greatest reason was meeting Cheng Shuguang, which overshadowed all those trivial causes and factors.

His heart was tangled—should he say it or not? It became a fatal obstacle. He could not predict how his sister would react if she knew the truth. Would she collapse, or would she crumble into pieces? Either way, it would be like wielding a sharp knife, ruthlessly slicing and tearing at her.

“Can I not say?” Yihui found it hard to speak. Those fears about school, that dread of traveling alone, now served only as the main scaffolding of his story. “Let’s just say I purely didn’t want to go anymore.”

“What kind of answer is that?” Yishu’s anger gathered slowly, pooling above her head like a river. “Is it so hard to ask for a reason? If you won’t even give me the most basic explanation, why bother coming here at all?”

Yihui was startled by Yishu’s sudden outburst, his foot slipping and nearly tumbling onto the sofa. He glanced up, scanning her face, then lowered his gaze again.

Yishu gave up pressing him. With Yihui’s character, if he didn’t want to speak, threats or persuasion would be useless.

Perhaps he had developed a resistance to school. From junior high to the end of high school, six years of life were spent in torment. The campus, revered as a palace, a paradise, had become his personal hell. Perhaps it was hell from the start, and those who seemed content were merely demons and monsters, clawing and snarling in the underworld.

Yishu rose and took a glass from the coffee table, pouring half a glass of warm water. “Have some water.”

Yihui took it, hands trembling, absorbing the warmth from the cup.

Some tender memories became transparent and pure within the glass.

“Where are you living now?” Yishu changed the subject.

“In Yundong.” Yihui’s eyes remained fixed on the cup, afraid Yishu would probe further about the address, so he hurried to explain, “I’m staying in the dormitory provided by the restaurant.”

He was not good at lying, and this one provoked a resistance in his body, his cells quivering uncontrollably.

Actually, saying it was provided by the tea restaurant wasn’t exactly untrue. Cheng Shuguang had indeed rented the place for him, for his own use. Sometimes, it was for the two of them.

“Have you been living there since the day you left home?” Yishu picked up on subtle clues in his demeanor—his discomfort was stark and obvious.

“For a few days, I stayed at a friend’s house,” Yihui never dared to look up, at most staring straight ahead, “then, I moved in.”

“Which friend?” He hardly had any friends.

“A restaurant colleague,” he replied, swallowing.

Yihui felt a pang in his chest. During his school days, he truly had no friends, not even superficial ones. Those two mocking words hovered before him, ridiculing his loneliness and disappointment day and night.

Cheng Shuguang was indeed his friend. His boyfriend. Yihui thought, he was his boyfriend, not a girlfriend.

“Are things going well between you?” He won’t be bullied, right? He won’t carry the grievances from school into his future life, will he?

“He’s really good to me.” He takes care of me in every way, warming my world of frost. Though I am used to the cold, sometimes, through the ice, I glimpse pale sunlight, and I hope to bask in it too. I’m not afraid to melt, not afraid to dissolve, not afraid to evaporate. As long as there is someone worth risking everything for, a moment can become eternity.

“Treat him well. It’s not easy to have someone who is truly sincere with you.” Yishu spoke with earnestness, caring and tenderness, much like their mother. “If you have time—” coming home isn’t convenient, “I’ll visit you at the restaurant. Last time, too much happened all at once.”

“I will,” he replied. I will cherish everything I have now with all my heart and devotion. I am eager to embrace the warmth of happiness.

“By the way, sis,” Yihui asked, “why did you move here from Jinlan Community?”

“The landlord stopped renting.” A blessing in disguise. Yishu now felt grateful for the landlord’s mercenary attitude.

Xu Shixi, having finished his shower, emerged from the bathroom and went to his room to put on pajamas.

Seeing the atmosphere was fairly relaxed, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief. “Yihui, stay here tonight. I can drive you over in the morning.”

Yihui shook his head. “No need.” He glanced at the time—it was past eleven. “I should go back.”

Yishu saw it was late, and the weather outside was stormy. The later he returned, the more uneasy she felt. “Shixi, take my brother back, please.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Xu Shixi asked again.

“I won’t stay.” Yihui felt uneasy at his enthusiastic invitation.

“Then let’s go. I’ll walk you out.” Xu Shixi went to the shoe cabinet, took out a pair of light sneakers, and grabbed the keys hanging on the hook.

The elevator rose from the nineteenth floor.

In the underground garage, the cars were scattered like reefs in the sea, wind pouring in from every direction. It lacked the salty tang.

A white sedan with its high beams on surged down the ramp, swerving sharply and stopping right at Yihui’s feet.

Xu Shixi stepped forward to confront the driver, tapping on the window. A head poked out, and the sealed scent of alcohol rushed out as soon as the window cracked open.

The woman cursed, tears flowing, turning the garage into her personal stage for venting emotions.

Yishu stepped forward, tugging Xu Shixi’s sleeve and signaling him with a glance.

Even after the three of them had driven out a good distance, the woman’s crying and shouting still echoed behind them.

Yihui couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her. Clearly, she should have been labeled as graceful and intellectual, yet others branded her as a shrew, as neurotic.

In this society, such a loss of composure stems either from setbacks at work or disappointments in love.

The white car was long out of sight. Yihui watched as the scenery retreated, shrinking in his view. When he turned around, he caught Yishu gazing absentmindedly at Xu Shixi.

Did he look at Cheng Shuguang with the same foolish, lovestruck expression?

Yishu noticed Yihui’s steady gaze in the rearview mirror. “How long did you wait at the gate?”

Xunyuan’s Happy City project had stalled in the first half of the year due to payment issues, forcing Xu Shixi to shuttle between Rongcheng and Yuncheng.

Sometimes Yishu felt a pang of regret about her husband’s ambitious pursuits. She couldn’t help but smile—his achievements were already made before she met him. Ordinary companionship was far more precious than wealth won by constant separations.

“I didn’t wait long.”

“By the way, Yihui, I forgot to ask. How did you get into Fuyuan tonight?” Xu Shixi, hands on the wheel, addressed the reflection in the windshield.

“Didn’t you bring him in?” Yishu asked. Rows of black tree shadows retreated, winding endlessly through corner after corner.

“When I got to the gate, Yihui was already waiting there.” Ahead, several streetlights had gone out, so Xu Shixi eased off the gas and drove slower.

“It was Tang Chao,” Yihui replied reluctantly. “He said he lives in Fuyuan, knew I was coming, so brought me in.”

“Tang Chao?” Yishu shifted closer, her eyes full of alarm. “Did he do anything to you?”

Yihui shook his head quietly. “He didn’t do anything.” Maybe he’d grown up, maybe he’d changed, maybe he was shocked into reform, maybe he’d turned over a new leaf.

The harm had already been done; change was for himself and could never heal another’s wounds. Yihui only hoped never to have further entanglements with him. To be strangers on distant roads was the best outcome.

The car continued down the dark, deserted road. The rain in the headlights fell in silent fragments, weaving together the dreams of all the world.