“I called your dorm, but you weren’t there. I asked your roommate to pass the message.” Xu Ya dared not admit he had simply forgotten and casually made up an excuse. He doubted Jiayi would go and ask each of his old roommates, and even if he did, not many would remember.
Jiayi cursed Xu Ya in his heart: Why couldn’t you call a few more times? Then he thought bitterly, who could he blame? Fate for being so unkind?
“Ru Lai is also in City A; I’ve seen her!”
“Have you reconciled?”
“I have a girlfriend now, someone very similar to Ru Lai!” Xu Ya’s expression changed, and he said unhappily, “I don’t believe any girl can be like Ru Lai. Even if there is, there’s no one in this world who would be better to you than Ru Lai!”
Jiayi crushed the beer can and threw it forcefully to the ground, making a series of clinks before it stopped rolling.
“Then what should I do? Wait for her like Wang Baochuan for years after we broke up?”
Xu Ya, propping himself up with his hands, jumped to his feet and shouted, “Don’t forget how much hardship Ru Lai endured for you back then! What did you say? You said even if you died, your ghost would stay with her! Ru Lai liking you was her bad luck!”
Xie Jiayi also stood up, a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth. “I know what you mean, Ru Lai’s misfortune for liking me, but she’d be lucky if she liked you, right?”
Xu Ya’s eyes flared with anger, grabbing Jiayi by the collar, his fist raised but never swung. The river wind tousled their hair as they stood in a standoff, the tension slowly dissipating before Xu Ya let go of Jiayi in defeat. “Forget it, that’s all between you two, and after so many years, I have no right to say anything!” He slowly sat down and threw a handful of grass out. “I’ve wanted to punch you for a long time!” “I know!” Xie Jiayi opened another can of beer. “Ever since you told me here that Lai Hui had become yours, I wanted to punch you!” “I know!” “But seeing you so happy, knowing you wanted someone to share your joy, even though you were also showing off to me, I thought, if I were you, I’d probably act the same way!” “I know!” “You know nothing!” Xu Ya raised his voice again. “If I had known you wouldn’t cherish her, I wouldn’t have given up back then!” “If you really had given up, you wouldn’t have started by throwing punches at me!” Jiayi gave a faint smile. “Speaking of which, what could you have done if you hadn’t given up? Lai Hui didn’t love you!” Xu Ya took a large gulp of his drink and said resentfully, “The world is so damn unfair. I liked her since fifth grade, and you only met in high school, yet she chose you over me!” “You shouldn’t have bullied her when you were kids! That way, you might have had a chance!” “Even if I didn’t have a chance, you two ended up breaking up anyway!” Xu Ya looked provocatively at Jiayi’s stern face, revealing a smile of victory mixed with bitterness. Xie Jiayi also laughed; the two looked like fools, laughing for a long time before he said, “In the end, neither of us got her!” Xu Ya, speaking casually, said, “Jiayi, this city is big, yet you and Lai Hui ended up in the same class where you could see each other just by turning around; say it’s small, once you parted ways, you couldn’t find each other again! I’ve come to understand, back then, your hearts were with each other, no matter how big or small this city is, as long as there’s that feeling, you could find each other!” Now, neither has that feeling, right? Jiayi asked himself, a look of confusion on his face. Xu Ya took another drink and continued, “You’re right, I never really gave up. Although I haven’t thought much about her these past few years, and I’ve had girlfriends, Lai Hui has always been a dream in my heart, like the moon in the sky, out of reach. Since you’ve both lost that feeling, I want to try if I can pluck that moon from my heart!” Jiayi, realizing Xu Ya was trying to find Lai Hui, immediately heard a voice in his head urging him: Stop him! Stop him! After a moment, he said, “Lai Hui is someone’s mistress now!” Xu Ya was shocked and then said, “She’s too stubborn to become a mistress; it must be for Aunt Yun! I don’t mind!” “That’s true, but her contract still has half a year left. Do you have twenty million to redeem her?” Xie Jiayi knew he was being cruel, using the same disdainful words Zhou Yuchen had once used on him against Xu Ya, but to make him give up, there was no other way. Sure enough, Xu Ya lowered his head, the cold sound of the stream “whooshing” beside him. After a long while, Jiayi heard his subdued voice, “I don’t have the money, but I can wait for her!” Xie Jiayi felt as if he had been struck. Later, they drank in silence, and when they were drunk to the point of delirium, Xie Jiayi hugged Xu Ya, shouting towards the river, “Lai Hui! Lai Hui! With the moon as my witness, I will marry you!” Xu Ya pushed him away, kicked him, and cursed, “Don’t be so mushy in front of me! – Lai Hui, this guy’s not worth it, consider me!” The crescent moon illuminated the riverbank, where once three students sat on the gleaming white levee, drinking stolen beer, sharing their dreams under the moonlight. Times have changed, now only the shouts and curses are lost in the river’s current, flowing into the sea, unknown if Lai Hui, on the other side, could hear…
Chapter 14
After a hangover, Xie Jiayi’s head was pounding. He managed to drink some porridge before heading out. He pulled out an old T-shirt from his university days from the wardrobe. It was an olive green short-sleeve with a faint smell of camphor. The white label inside the round neck had a light blue ink stamp, “My love!” written by Lai Hui with a fountain pen. Every piece of his clothing had those words, either on the sleeves, collar, or hem, a game between him and Lai Hui. She would write it, and if he found it, he could kiss her until she blushed and was breathless. He realized early on it wasn’t just a game, because one night when Lai Hui thought he was asleep, she wrote on his clothes, murmuring to herself: No matter where you go, you won’t forget to take my love with you! As he pulled the T-shirt over his head, the camphor scent brought tears to his eyes, and he quickly wiped his face before leaving.
