Jing Xin sighed, her tone somewhat desolate.
“The departed might not know, but the living can use this to express their grief. In this cemetery where yin and yang are separated, the human soul becomes fragile. Here, one can temporarily forget fame and fortune, revealing the softest part of human nature. What’s the point of fighting all life long? In the end, we’ll all become a mound of earth.”
Her words seemed strange to Jiang Xiangyang. He glanced at her, threw away his half-burned cigarette, stomped it out, and walked past her down the mountain, his figure shrinking in Jing Xin’s sight.
Jing Xin smiled lightly, her smile tinged with helplessness and self-mockery.
This Jiang Xiangyang was truly odd. He fought like a small-time gangster, yet she didn’t mind avoiding him. He looked at her with disgust and left, as if she were something foul he needed to escape.
Had she said something to bother him?
After a moment, she stood and walked down the mountain.
Visiting Tian Ya had become a habit in Jing Xin’s life these past two years. Whenever she wasn’t busy, she would come to see him.
Chapter Seven: The Mysterious Jiang Xiangyang
After school on Friday, Jing Xin was packing her things to go home when Shan Shan pulled her: “Jing Xin, we don’t have class tomorrow. Come watch the basketball game with me. At seven tonight, our department is playing against Civil Engineering.”
Jing Xin felt conflicted. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to accompany her, but she rarely watched basketball.
Shan Shan pulled her arm, shaking it and pouting – her move for dealing with Jing Xin, which always worked.
“Jing Xin, just come with me. I heard Wang Luzhou from Civil Engineering will be playing today. He’s another campus celebrity after Jiang Xiangyang. Many girls in our department have a crush on him. Don’t you want to see him?”
Jing Xin was stunned: “Who did you say?”
“Wang Luzhou. Didn’t I just say that clearly?” Shan Shan replied, confused.
Nothing seemed wrong.
“No, not Wang Luzhou. You just mentioned Jiang Xiangyang. Who is he?”
Shan Shan replied, “Let me tell you slowly,” pulling Jing Xin towards the gymnasium.
“Who is Jiang Xiangyang? I’ve never seen him myself since we’re just freshman newbies. But senior girls all know about him. Apparently, he was a campus celebrity when he first enrolled. He showed incredible talent in computer programming, winning many honors for the school in international competitions within two years. He passed the English level six exam in his sophomore year, and most impressively, he won a medal for the school in the A City University Go Friendship Tournament. I heard he was originally very low-key and uninterested in student competitions, but participated for a junior female student. I wonder which girl could make Jiang Xiangyang change like that. How enviable.”
Jing Xin pondered. She initially thought this was the Jiang Xiangyang she knew, but this person was definitely not the violent, cold-eyed Jiang Xiangyang she had encountered. How could someone who fights so brutally possibly play chess?
Shan Shan sighed, “However, it’s quite disappointing. This Jiang Xiangyang is said to be quite rebellious.”
He dropped out of school in the second semester of his junior year, and no one knew what he was doing. Later, I heard he was working as a lookout in a casino and even got into fights with a group of hooligans. As a result, there was a rumor at A University that the talented Jiang Xiangyang had gone into the underworld. This news made the girls who had a secret crush on him even crazier about him. In this era, the worse a man is, the more irresistible he becomes to women.
As they spoke, they arrived at the gymnasium. The bright venue, dazzling lights, and agile basketball players were all there, but Jing Xin saw nothing; her mind replayed Shanshan’s words. Such an excellent Jiang Xiangyang—why would he give up such a promising future? How could a young man willingly descend into the criminal underworld? It was truly incomprehensible.
She couldn’t imagine him sitting quietly at a desk, and her curiosity about Jiang Xiangyang grew.
On Saturday, Jing Xin went to the Angel Cemetery again. She sat there for a long time until the evening glow rose and the sky turned orange-red, but she didn’t encounter Jiang Xiangyang. After saying goodbye to Tian Ya, she got up to leave.
Passing by Jiang Xiangyang’s father’s grave, Jing Xin stopped and looked for a while. The marble was spotlessly clean, and the old man in the photo looked kind and gentle.
Jiang Xiangyang seemed to have inherited none of his father’s mild temperament.
When she returned home, her mother had finished dinner. Her sister-in-law had been quite quiet recently, a change Jing Xin knew was due to her mother having stopped mentioning giving her the house.
After Guo Aiping’s divorce talk, they expected a quick resolution regarding the house ownership. However, the matter had thrown the entire village into chaos. Divorces and fights erupted, and the once-peaceful Yuanshan Village was in turmoil. The village chief was overwhelmed and could not focus on the issue.
As a result, the matter lingered unresolved for over half a month, leaving everyone in suspense. Jing Xin, discussing giving up the house with her mother, noticed her mother’s silence since that night, which left her uncertain of her thoughts.
Calm had returned to the family, yet this eerie silence made Jing Xin uneasy. She felt it was a calm before a storm, causing her anxiety. Days passed, May slipped by, and the hot, humid summer quickly arrived.
Jing Xin kicked small stones by the roadside, disliking summer’s oppressive heat that clung to her like a silkworm in a cocoon, each movement more cumbersome.
The roadside billboard showed it was 6:00 PM. Jing Xin quickened her pace, knowing that at 6:30, her classmate Cai Mi was having a birthday celebration.
When she arrived, she found it was a nightclub. Jing Xin rarely frequented such venues, having only been a few times when dragged by Shanshan, who teased her for treating nightclubs as bad behavior in an age of casual encounters.
Cai Mi greeted her with a smile, pulling her to a booth: “Our beautiful class flower has finally arrived! I was worried you wouldn’t come. I heard from Shanshan that you dislike places like this. I only found out later or I wouldn’t have chosen this venue. This nightclub belongs to my cousin, who always wanted me to come.”
Jing Xin felt a bit embarrassed but smiled and replied, “This place is nice!” Although it was a nightclub, the private room felt quiet, like a tea house, with soft music in the air.
Soon, classmates began to arrive.
Young people were boisterous, chasing Cai Mi and trying to smear cake on her face. Cai Mi screamed and jumped to avoid them. A piece of cake landed on Jing Xin’s chest, prompting the classmate to apologize repeatedly.
Jing Xin assured them it was fine, used some tissues to clean herself, and headed to the restroom at the end of a long corridor of private rooms.
Chapter Eight: Coming to Help
Suddenly, everything went dark, and Jing Xin bumped into someone. The corridor was twisting, and she had been careful to walk close to the edge.
The strong smell of alcohol hit her, and she stepped back, covering her nose. She didn’t drink and disliked the scent.
In front of her was a young man in his twenties, with multicolored long hair, a red face, bloodshot eyes, and a cigarette in his mouth. He leered at Jing Xin and spoke crudely: “Little sister, why are you rushing into big brother’s arms? Do you like big brother? Give big brother a hug,” followed by a loud, drunken burp.
Jing Xin felt scared, having heard that drunk men can be irrational.
She quickly said, “Sorry,” and lowered her head to walk forward.
