By the time Xu Tangcheng finished his work at the lab and drove home, it was already one in the morning. He yawned and rubbed his eyes that were so red that tears were leaking from them, and turned the steering wheel as he looked for a place to park. This was the disadvantage of an old and small neighbourhood—no one cared about how you park. On top of that, more and more people were buying cars in recent years. There were insufficient parking spaces in the courtyard in the first place. Some people squeezed their cars into any crack they saw, especially at night after everyone had returned to their nests. Even both sides of the little street of the small neighbourhood were crammed full of cars.
Xu Tangcheng spent a long time searching before finally maneuvering his car into a small gap. When he had parked, he felt like he had taken part two of the driving test again and even passed it with full marks.
He drew a breath and fumbled in his pocket, wanting to smoke a cigarette before going up. For the sake of rushing so that he could come home today, he had spent two days in the lab and stared at the computer screen until his head felt swollen and his eyes dizzy. A breath of tobacco-laced air entered his body and finally, he relaxed quite a bit.
It was already very late. At this hour, nearly all the windows were already dark. The hot and humid summer night seemed to have settled into a tranquil pool of water, flowing into a person's heart, warm and moist. Xu Tangcheng slowly strolled towards his home. A glance to the side and he realised that even the stray cat that often wandered near the fitness equipment had gone off somewhere to rest.
He never thought that at this hour, he could still see someone who was not sleeping.
Yi Zhe was squatting on the raised edge of the small flower bed, wearing a black short-sleeved shirt and a black baseball cap. In front of him was that black cat with a white mark on its back. His back was hunched, his head lowered. He was feeding the cat.
One cat and one human, seeming to fit in perfectly with this vast darkness.
Xu Tangcheng watched the teenager caress the cat's head gently. He drew on his cigarette, then called out.
"Yi Zhe."
Yi Zhe heard his voice and turned around. When he saw clearly the person there, he was stunned for a while. "Tangcheng-ge."
He stood up, stretched out his legs and hopped down from the flower bed. The black cat seemed to have gotten a fright and scuttled back a couple of steps. It widened its eyes and stared warily at the two people—one black, one white.
"You just came back?" Yi Zhe asked.
He didn't walk forward but still the purple marks on the corner of his eye and mouth did not escape Xu Tangcheng's notice. Xu Tangcheng frowned and walked towards him.
"It's so late, why haven't you gone to bed?" Without waiting for Yi Zhe to answer, Xu Tangcheng took hold of Yi Zhe's chin with the hand that was not holding the cigarette and checked his face. "Got into a fight?"
Yi Zhe dodged but could not get away. He fixed his eyes on the cigarette butt held in Xu Tangcheng's other hand, his lips pressed together in a line. He let out an almost inaudible "Yeah."
The black cat at the side determined from some unknown viewpoint that the newcomer was harmless and padded back. It continued to feast on the fish sausage with gusto.
At this close distance, Xu Tangcheng realised that the wound on the corner of Yi Zhe's eye was indeed rather serious. It was very close to his eye and there were open cuts.
"Did you get your eye checked? The corner of your eye is bleeding."
After speaking, Xu Tangcheng let go. Yi Zhe quickly straightened up and shook his head, saying, "No need."
Because Yi Zhe had suddenly straightened up, Xu Tangcheng finally realised that it should have been quite a long time since he last saw Yi Zhe.
Looking at him now, the teenager before him seemed to have grown taller. Xu Tangcheng's gaze was level but he could only see the spot slightly above Yi Zhe's mouth. His hair had also grown longer and was wanting a cut. Pushed down by the cap, stray bangs were already covering his eyes.
Xu Tangcheng saw a few strands of hair poking right at the wound. He brushed them aside, his brows furrowed.
Yi Zhe stood there stiffly. Suddenly, he asked, "Why are you back so late?"
"Mm, I had some things to take care of at school."
Yi Zhe wanted to say, If you have things to take care of, then why did you insist on coming back? Driving late at night is dangerous.
"School starts tomorrow. I told Tangxi I would send her to school," Xu Tangcheng continued to say.
It was good that he didn't say anything. As Yi Zhe thought that, he kicked away a pebble at his feet.
The two of them walked towards the building corridor, one in front and one at the back. When he passed a trash can, Xu Tangcheng stopped. He took one last drag on his cigarette, then stubbed it out.
When he raised his head, he noticed Yi Zhe looking at him. He had a pair of good-looking eyes, caught in the shadow of the brim of his cap.
"What's the matter?"
Yi Zhe shook his head. He didn't say anything and just followed Xu Tangcheng to continue walking.
"Come in with me. Even if you don't want to go to the hospital, you need to do something about your wounds." Xu Tangcheng raised a hand and pointed at the corner of his eye. "If it gets infected here, it'll be very dangerous."
Yi Zhe's hand had just dug into his pocket and grabbed hold of his key, cold to the touch. He glanced at the door opposite him and shook his head. "No thanks."
"It's all right. They're all asleep by now."
Yi Zhe still shook his head.
Xu Tangcheng didn't force him. He only said softly, "In that case, you go in and wait for me for a bit. I'll bring some medicine over to you."
Yi Zhe stood there, his key in his hand. The light in the corridor went out but he didn't stamp his feet or make any noise.
"Why aren't you going in?" Xu Tangcheng came out with some medicine and asked curiously. Then, he very quickly understood why. "Auntie Xiang is home?"
Yi Zhe nodded.
"First apply the white one, then the yellow one." Xu Tangcheng passed the bag in his hand to Yi Zhe. "I took some cotton swabs for you. Look in the mirror and apply the medicine using the swabs. Be careful not to get them in your eye."
"Mm." Yi Zhe took the bag. It rustled in his hands. Two seconds later, he finally said, "Thank you, Tangcheng-ge."
Xu Tangcheng looked at the person in front of him who had his head bowed. His lips twitched but he didn't say anything.
There were times when he would think, absent-mindedly, that Yi Zhe seemed to be frozen in that summer's day. Other people all came and went, stained by the many colours of life's dreary dust and glorious lights. Only he was forever silent with his head bowed, like he was not related in any way to anyone.
Early in the morning, his alarm had just rang out once when Xu Tangcheng turned it off. He peeled off his blankets and got out of bed. His slippers slapping against the floor, he went to wash up and make breakfast. When he brought the food out of the kitchen, he saw Xu Tangxi already dressed neatly, sitting docilely at the dining table and waiting.
"Ge, you're back!" Xu Tangxi smiled so wide that her eyes were curved. "What time did you get back?"
"Probably around eleven."
Xu Tangxi loved to eat fried eggs, especially the ones that still had a gooey center. Xu Tangcheng thought that he had controlled the heat nicely today while frying the eggs so, for once, when Xu Tangxi picked up her chopsticks and reached for the fried eggs, he didn't tell her to first eat something else first before the eggs.
Xu Tangxi ate to her heart's content and even when opening the door, her movements were light and lively. But once she opened the door, the two of them heard a sharp and piercing female voice. The door opposite them was wide open. The distance between the two doors was close enough for Xu Tangcheng to see clearly the messy living room in Yi Zhe's home—clothes strewn everywhere, and even the sofa cushions had fallen miserably to the ground.
"Looking for your fucking key again, did you feed your brains to the pigs? Making this damned fuss early in the morning."
Xu Tangcheng only heard the voice, he did not see the person speaking. Holding Xu Tangxi's bag, he touched her shoulder, signalling her to continue walking downstairs. After a few steps, Xu Tangxi stopped and turned back for a look.
"Go on, you're going to be late."
Xu Tangxi let out a sigh and went down a step. "Auntie Xiang is scolding Yi Zhe-ge again."
Xu Tangcheng's home and Yi Zhe's home were opposite each other but unfortunately, they did not have a close and harmonious neighbourly relationship with Yi Zhe's family. To be more exact, in this six-storey residential building where the walls were already mottled, everyone could be said to get along well with each other with the exception of Yi Zhe's family. The reason was none other than Yi Zhe's mother whose words were extremely scathing and provocative, who had offended every family in the building. It was because of her "little sick patient who's going to die early" comment that Xu Tangcheng's mother utterly hated her and stopped interacting with her, and along with that, stopped taking care of Yi Zhe as much as she had before.
Yi Zhe never again entered their home and even less did he go to anyone else's home.
Xu Tangxi had never understood why. Auntie Xiang was so beautiful, not the slightest trace of old age in her looks despite being forty years of age; she was so naturally blessed that others would be envious of her so why must her words be so unpleasant?
"You got into a fight again?"
"Can't even say a fucking word the whole day, you're exactly like your shithead dad with that mean and stingy face."
When Xu Tangcheng heard those words, he came to a stop. He looked up past the railing on the stairs. He had already started walking down so he could only see the very narrow slit of the slightly opened door.
"Ge?" Xu Tangxi saw that he was not coming down and called out to him from the bottom of the stairs.
The door upstairs suddenly slammed shut with a loud bang. The sound of the woman's one-sided dialogue was no more.
This was Xu Tangxi's first day of senior high school. Before she got down from the car, Xu Tangcheng was still worried and held her back by her arm as he reminded her, "School has just started. If you need to be on cleaning duty, you need to-"
"I need to explain the situation to the teacher. If I don't feel well, I should contact you or Mum or Dad. I must not force myself and must hurry home to rest." Xu Tangxi finished in one breath, then tilted her head and shot Xu Tangcheng a resigned glance. "Brother mine, you and Mum have both said this 800 times already, aren't you guys being excessive?"
"That's why I said to let me directly explain the situation to your teacher so that there won't be anything missed out in the future."
"No." Xu Tangxi rejected him firmly. "I can do it myself."
Xu Tangcheng nodded and let go of her. He asked one last question, "Did you bring your inhaler?"
"Yes." Xu Tangxi nodded.
"All right, take care."
Xu Tangxi assented, smiling widely. When she closed the car door, she even good-naturedly made a face at him and waved.
Xu Tangcheng watched her enter the school before finally turning the car around and heading back. When he drove into the entrance of the neighbourhood, from far, he happened to see Yi Zhe riding a red mountain bike.
The teenager was wearing his school uniform. He had taken off his cap and his ears were stuffed with the earphones that were never far from his body. He was cycling very fast. When he turned a corner, both human and bike slanted at an angle, drawing a very beautiful arc. The earphones cord formed a circle, a ray of sunlight caught within.
In the instant that he passed by Xu Tangcheng, a sudden thought flashed past Xu Tangcheng's mind as he looked at the yellow stripe on the teenager's uniform. Ah, Year 3 already.
T/N:
Xu Tangxi is in Year 1 of senior high, which makes her around fifteen years old. Yi Zhe is in Year 3, so around seventeen years old.
The third character in Xu Tangxi’s name is 蹊 which has two readings, qī and xī. I went with xī because it sounds more natural as a name to me. (I think the audiodrama uses xī too but I can’t be sure because I have terrible hearing.)