Times of Our Lives

Chapter 13

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Qi Fei came over from the basketball court and took a seat next to Ji Qinyang.

“Did you quarrel with Xie Meng?”

Ji Qinyang looked at him questioningly.

“I rarely see the two of you together lately,” Qi Fei explained. “Also, I can see that you’re not in a good mood.”

Ji Qinyang did not deny it. He had a rare unsmiling expression, and his gaze was very cold.

Qi Fei observed his face and spoke carefully, “There’s no arguments that last overnight between buddies… Just talk about it and it’ll be fine. There’s no point in avoiding it.”

“It’s not what you think it is,” Ji Qinyang was annoyed.

Qi Fei shrugged, “Ok, ok, don’t get angry.” He put his arm around Ji Qinyang’s shoulders, “Let’s go play with pretty girls.”

Of course, Ji Qinyang had no interest in pretty girls.

He was agitated, emotional, but there was no way to vent it. It was like having no matter how many love songs he wrote, how well he sang them, there was no one listening to them.

Han Dong saw that Xie Meng was in a daze, staring at his paper yet he did not write a word. He did not know what he was thinking about, and he called out to him, “Hey.”

“…?” Xie Meng turned to look at him.

Han Dong tapped at his paper, “Are you going to work on it?”

“Mn…” Xie Meng smiled wryly. “I got distracted.”

Han Dong snorted, “Don’t tell me you’re still thinking about Lin Weixin. This may sound ugly, but you’ll see a person’s true face when you’re in difficulties. In junior high, you were a good pair, a golden couple, but what sort of attitude did she have when that happened to you?”

Xie Meng was awkward, “I’m not thinking about her.”

Han Dong smiled, shrugging it off. “In this training, who doesn’t know that everyday, Lin Weixin is writing a love letter for you, and waiting for you after class to walk home with you? Let me advise you, you clear it up as soon as possible if you want to do so.”

“I know.” Xie Meng turned the paper over and quickly listed out the formulae. “I’ll find a time and make it clear to her.”

When the second class in the afternoon ended, Yin Luoxue came to the entrance of Class 3. Qi Fei saw her and nudged at Ji Qinyang.

Unlike other girls, Yin Luoxue’s beauty was very flashy. Even the skirt of her school uniform was deliberately shortened to reveal her long, fair legs.

Thinking about it, Ji Qinyang might have really liked her back in junior high. However, after their breakup, their relationship was very calm. There was no nostalgia, no hostility, and no so-called sadness, and they just simply did not want to have any more entanglements with each other.

With the whoops from some of the boys, Ji Qinyang left for the field with her.

“How long have we not spoken?” Yin Luoxue looked at him with a smile.

“I don’t remember,” Ji Qinyang spoke with little interest.

Yin Luoxue did not get angry. “You’re still the same, completely heartless.”

Ji Qinyang was noncommittal. They continued walking along, and he impatiently spoke up, “Why are you looking for me?”

Yin Luoxue went straight to the point, “I want to ask you for a song. Singing those few songs over and over in the bar, the customers would get bored. Our band knows about you, and later on, when people ask, we’ll tell them it’s your song.”

Ji Qinyang did not reject her, only asking, “Did you bring your earphones?”

Yin Luoxue grumbled, “Don’t you have a pair… Can’t I borrow it?” She took her earphones out.

Ji Qinyang tossed his MP3 player over to her. “Pick a song yourself.”

Yin Luoxue listened to the songs for a while, her expression gradually changing. Her eyes widened, and she looked at Ji Qinyang with some astonishment, “You have a person you like?”

Ji Qinyang cocked his brow. “What’s so strange about that?”

“No… I mean…” Yin Luoxue’s expression was complex. She was silent for a moment, then smiled sadly, “I just thought how when we were together, you didn’t write me a love song.”

Ji Qinyang did not speak, and some time passed before he spoke lightly, “He doesn’t like me.”

“… Pfft!” Yin Luoxue rocked back and forth with laughter, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Can I say that you deserve it?”

Ji Qinyang shot her a side-eye glare, his expression a little ugly.

“There’s actually someone that you can like so much.” Yin Luoxue was a little envious. She sighed, “I really want to know who it is.”

Ji Qinyang curled his lips, speaking coldly, “Why do I have to tell you?”

Yin Luoxue thought he was joking.

Ji Qinyang smiled lazily, “Didn’t you always say that I’m heartless? Want to know what it’ll be like when I really like someone?”

Yin Luoxue opened her mouth, “You…”

Ji Qinyang thought about it carefully, “It’s like this.”

Yin Luoxue, “…”

“I want to be with him, I want to kiss him, and I want to write him endless love songs.” Ji Qinyang was calm. “I want the entire world to not know about him, and I’ll be the only one.”

Xie Meng had asked Maitreya to borrow the key to the library. Although this was very spineless of him, he was using revising for the Olympiad as an excuse for avoiding Ji Qinyang.

In the morning, there were barely any students in the library. Xie Meng was distracted after looking at a few questions. He attempted to work on them several times, but could not take it in, and so he gave up.

He moved a stepladder over, planning to look for other books on the highest shelf. While sitting on the top of the ladder flipping through the books, he heard Ji Qinyang’s voice. “What are you looking at?”

“!” The book in Xie Meng’s hand fell to the ground.

Ji Qinyang raised his brow, then stooped down and picked it up.

“Homosexual Psychology.” Ji Qinyang looked at the cover and laughed. “Why are you looking at this?”

Xie Meng had a poker face. “What are you doing here.”

“I skipped class.”

Xie Meng frowned disapprovingly.

Ji Qinyang replied with an air of indifference, “It’s Chinese, so it doesn’t matter if I skip it. Also,” He looked up at Xie Meng. “How would I be able to find you if I don’t skip classes?”

Xie Meng, “…”

Holding the <Homosexual Psychology> book, Ji Qinyang climbed up the other side of the ladder. Xie Meng remained sitting there, and watched expressionlessly as Ji Qinyang approached.

“You’re not running away anymore?” Ji Qinyang shoved the book back into the shelf. With his hands supporting himself on the ladder, he studied Xie Meng’s expression directly.

“Why do I have to run away?” Xie Meng’s tone was a little blunt. Probably realising it, he covered his mouth, somewhat annoyed.

Ji Qinyang smiled, staring at Xie Meng’s lips. He leaned down slowly, and just as they were about to come in contact, Xie Meng suddenly turned his face away. “Don’t do something like this anymore…”

Ji Qinyang’s lips almost brushed past the boy’s cheek. He narrowed his eyes, his smile a little cold. “What shouldn’t I do? Kiss you?”

Xie Meng finally showed some emotion, and he awkwardly reproached him in a low voice, “Doing this, how are you any different from Lin Hengjing?! You…”

“You clearly know I’m different from him,” Ji Qinyang calmly interrupted him. “Didn’t you beat him? If you think that I’m the same, why don’t you beat me?”

Xie Meng raised his head and glared at him fiercely.

“I’m now standing on this ladder. If you push me, I’ll fall, and maybe I’ll get injured? A fracture, bleeding, hah, who knows?” Ji Qinyang held his amusement back, focusing on Xie Meng’s face as he asserted, “As long as you’re willing to do that, I’ll understand, and I won’t bother you again in the future.”

Xie Meng’s chest heaved. His mouth moved, but he was unable to say a word, his eyes blank and conflicted.

The two people remained silent for a long time, staring at each other.

Until Ji Qinyang suddenly reached out and held Xie Meng’s face.

The boy’s palm was warm and dry, his thumb stroking Xie Meng’s cheek with some force. Xie Meng shut his eyes, and he felt Ji Qinyang’s forehead against his.

“Xie Meng.”

Xie Meng looked at him with a complicated expression, “?”

Ji Chinyang took a deep breath in. “I like…”

“What are you two doing?” The librarian knocked firmly on the bookshelf. He could only see the four legs on the ladder. “How many times have I said this?! Two people are not allowed on the ladder! Do you know how dangerous it is?! Come down!”

Ji Qinyang, “…”

Xie Meng pulled Ji Qinyang’s hand away, not daring to look him in the eye. He whispered, “… Let’s go down.”

Xie Meng did not speak nor did he leave immediately. He waited for the librarian to lock the door before returning to class with Xie Meng.

Qi Fei saw them coming in one after the other and whistled, joking, “Yo, back from your date?”

Ji Qinyang went up and gave him a kick.

Zhang Ganggang too thought that they had reconciled, and exclaimed that they had to eat lunch together.

“I have an exam during today’s training, I need to go over earlier.” Xie Meng declined graciously. He tidied his desk, and found out that Lin Weixin’s letters had disappeared.

He looked through his belongings again, but still did not find them.

Ji Qinyang came over, “What are you looking for?”

“Nothing…” Xie Meng turned his head, only to discover that their faces were very close together.

Ji Qinyang revealed his smile, tilting his head, and quickly rubbed his nose against Xie Meng’s tip of his nose.

Xie Meng, “…”

Fortunately, no one around them noticed. Even so, Xie Meng was still nervous, his mouth dry, his palms sweaty, and his heart pounded rapidly..

He was about to be unable to tell why he was so nervous and scared.

The training on Saturday only took up half a day. As the competition drew closer, the training was no longer as intense, so as not to cause the students to crack under pressure. Xie Meng was one of the last few to leave the classroom, and Lin Xinwei was still waiting for him.

“Let’s go out for a walk.” Lin Xinwei spoke earnestly, “There’s something I’ll like to tell you.”

The training was held at a place very close to the park of Lake Jinji. It was rare that there were so few people in the park, and there were two small man-made lakes with varying sizes of Taihu stones in them.

Lin Weixin carefully stepped onto the largest stone, her arms spread out to hold her balance.

“Be careful.”

Lin Weixin smiled at him.

“Did you read all my letters?” The girl asked him.

Xie Meng glanced at her and shook his head.

Lin Weixin did not seem surprised. “I also felt that you wouldn’t read it. You’re always like this. You seem very gentle, but once you come to a decision, you won’t change your mind easily.”

Xie Meng did not respond, and watched Lin Weixin jump onto another stone.

“I was wondering, if you don’t have a girlfriend, do I still stand a chance?” Lin Weixin looked down at him.

“…” Xie Meng opened his mouth, “I’m sorry.”

“You have someone you like?”

What replied her was silence. Just as Lin Weixin thought that he would never give her an answer, she heard Xie Meng quietly acknowledged it.

“I think I have someone I like,” Xie Meng smiled. He looked at Lin Weixin, and repeated earnestly, “I have someone I like already.”

When Xie Meng received Ji Qinyang’s call, the bus was still a few stops away to Guanqian Street. The boy’s surroundings seemed to be very noisy, and he had to greet him several times before he heard him.

“Where are you?” Ji Qinyang asked.

Xie Meng looked at the sign that just passed. “Yinma Bridge… I’m still on the bus.”

Ji Qinyang laughed, “I know you’re in the bus.”

Xie Meng’s right ear heated up with his laughter, and changed the topic somewhat unnaturally. “Did you deal with my letters?”

Ji Qinyang admitted it without much hesitation, “Yes.”

His frankness made Xie Meng choke. Standing up, preparing to get off the bus, Xie Meng joked, “… You’re even getting jealous?”

“Yes.” From Ji Qinyang’s side of the conversation came the announcement of the name of the bus stop. Xie Meng unconsciously looked out of the window, and the boy was standing in the crowd with his phone.

“I’m getting jealous over the person I like,” Ji Qinyang raised his chin to look at Xie Meng in the bus, speaking slowly. “What’s wrong with that?”