Chapter 58

Feng Bo watched Yang Xuan turn around and enter the classroom. He clenched his fist and punched the wall behind him.

"Still on the way to the classroom?" The English teacher came over with a stack of test papers and glanced at him, "The cloze test won't finish itself."

In the past, Feng Bo usually joked with the teacher with a playful smile, but today he just gave a short reply and walked back to class. When he entered the room, he took a special look in Tang Junhe's direction. Unexpectedly, Tang Junhe was also looking at him, his eyes were still as cold as ever.

In his opinion, Tang Junhe is as hateful as Gao Ze, but one of them relies on force to show off his power, and the other relies on scheming to get ahead. After he sat down, he took out his mobile phone from his trousers' pocket, took a look, and then put it back.

Tang Junhe watched him put his phone back into his pocket, and a plan gradually took shape in his mind... He wanted to get revenge for Feng Boshi’s malicious actions – for the time Feng Bo threw a basketball at him at the beginning of school, for the time he deliberately misled him to go up the mountain to find Yang Xuan, and of course for when he tried to lure him into inhaling that addictive cigarette a few days ago...

This meant that he had to establish a direct and powerful link between that cigarette and Feng Bo, an evidence that no one could deny and that Feng Bo couldn't argue with.

— These things were indeed done by Feng Bo himself did, Tang Junhe thought. What he has to do now is to push things back to the original track, so that the wicked get their due retribution. Just like how Zhou Lin ran away in a hurry to escape, but was caught off guard by a car and died as it should be.

After this plan formed in his mind, Tang Junhe began to observe Feng Bo all the time, especially the valuable mobile phone in his hand. As a youth from a wealthy family, Feng Bo didn’t treasure his mobile phone very much. Sometimes when he went to the bathroom after class, he would throw the mobile phone into the table hole and run out of the classroom.

While Tang Junhe was observing Feng Bo, Feng Bo also noticed the abnormal look in his eyes. He didn't think much about it, he just felt bored. If Yang Xuan hadn't told him not to touch Tang Junhe again, he would have really wanted to find someone to beat him up, just like he’d used to hire someone to beat up Gao Ze.

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On a weekend in mid-January, Yang Xuan went to a local university in Runcheng to take the TOEFL test. Yang Chengchuan was quite concerned about his son's future. Even though he was on a business trip, he did not forget to call the night before the exam, specifically telling Yang Xuan not to forget the next day's exam.

If it is said that Yang Chengchuan half a year ago would have hoped that Yang Xuan would be able to correct his attitude towards study in the third year of high school, and turn back to the top student with excellent character and academics of three years ago. After a semester of getting bombarded by report cards, Yang Chengchuan recognized the fact that Yang Xuan would not be admitted into a good national university, so he can only hope that he can apply for a fairly established foreign school. After all, Yang Xuan used to go to his grandma’s house abroad every other year to celebrate the New Year. His spoken English and listening skills are not bad. In addition, he won the MVP award in the city’s basketball league. He also won a place in a math competition in junior high school. There’s quite a few merits. Although it is indeed a bit hasty to apply for foreign schools so late in the academic year, in the end it will not get to a situation where he can’t continue with his studies.

"It's the first time you take the exam, so what you can do now will do fine," Yang Chengchuan said on the phone. "If you don't do well, I will find a special tutor for you later, but you have to be serious. Even if you don’t think you can perform well, just go to the exam. Let’s start going through the motions, you know?”

Naturally, Yang Xuan would not forget the exam. In fact, the results that came out ten days later surprised Yang Chengchuan. Yang Chengchuan learned English in college, but after more than 20 years he has almost forgotten. That night, still in that pretentious suit, he accessed Yang Xuan's report card on his laptop. With silver-rimmed eyeglasses, he pointed to the words on the webpage and asked Yang Xuan: "Does this mean ‘listening’? You got a perfect score in listening, okay, as expected of my son..." Before he finished boasting, he looked up, and Yang Xuan had already turned around and returned to his room. Yang Chengchuan could only turn his face to share his joy with Tang Xiaonian, "Look at that, Xiaonian. Yang Xuan did well in the exam this time, I've always said that it was just that he refused to learn..."

Tang Xiaonian was unhappy in her heart, but she couldn't show it so clearly on her face, and could only deal with Yang Chengchuan perfunctorily. Not long after, she went to Tang Junhe's room impatiently, and asked her son's recent test results with concern. Tang Junhe took out a stack of test papers and handed them to her. She flipped through the results and said proudly: "My son did well in the test, and his listening ability is also perfect, not worse than his son."

"It's different." Tang Junhe lowered his head and wrote his homework and said, "It's a foreign exam, and the listening comprehension is very difficult."

"No matter how hard it is, how hard can it be?" Tang Xiaonian was very dissatisfied with his behavior of pouring cold water on her. She glared at him and said, "It's all just birdsong, can't you still sing?"

"It’s different."

Tang Xiaonian put the test paper back on the table, and said angrily, "If he really is good at studying, why would Yang Chengchuan send him abroad?"

"He wanted to go." Tang Junhe said.

He didn't know how to react to the fact that Yang Xuan did well in the exam. Yang Xuan was probably happy, because the good scores meant Yang Xuan already has a foot out of the country; leaving the Runcheng of Yang Chengchuan's shadow, the farther he goes, the better. Now that Yang Xuan can go far away, it doesn't matter whether Tang Junghe is in a good mood or not. What's more, if it wasn't for him, by now Yang Xuan could have already left to go to the provincial team, got scouted by a university, and there would have been no need to endure everything that's happening now.

Tang Junhe felt a little panicked, it seemed that if they wanted to be together, one party needed to compromise. Either he goes with Yang Xuan, or Yang Xuan stays for him. He naturally wanted to go with Yang Xuan, but it meant that he had to compromise with Yang Chengchuan and reach a reconciliation, which meant that he had to accept Yang Chengchuan's support and favor with peace of mind, and admit this hypocritical two-timing slag as his father. After all, before Tang Xiaonian got married, going abroad was never one of his life options – and that is precisely the reason why he can't convince himself to make amends no matter what.

The report card became the elephant in the room. The elephant was there, and the two avoided talking about it. He didn't ask, and Yang Xuan didn't take the initiative to speak.

On the night when the report card came out, it snowed again in Runcheng. The snow wasn't heavy, but it lasted for a long time, and it fell all night. When going out the next morning, the snow on the ground covered his feet all the way to the middle of his calf. Chen Xing drove Yang Chengchuan out for a meeting, so Yang Xuan went to take the bus with Tang Junhe.

They left very early, and the sky was still dark. The snow on the road had not yet been walked on or trampled on by the crowd. It was still pristine, and clear footprints would be left on the ground as they stepped on it. Yang Xuan walked in front, and Tang Junhe followed behind him, carefully stepping on the footprints left by Yang Xuan with each foot. Yang Xuan was tall, and his two long legs walked in the snow without slowing down. Tang Junhe watched his brother get farther and farther away from him, first a distance of one or two meters, then three or four meters, and then five or six meters...

In the past, he would run after him, but today he suddenly didn't want to run. He just walked forward and watched Yang Xuan's back getting farther and farther away. Then he thought that in half a year, maybe he would watch his elder brother Yang Xuan gradually become more and more distant, turning into a small blur in his vision until he disappeared. When that happens, will Yang Xuan look back at him?

But as he was thinking like this, Yang Xuan stopped suddenly, turned around and stood there looking at him. Yang Xuan wore a black mask to keep out the cold, his chin was covered by the raised neckline, and only a pair of slightly sunken eyes were exposed, looking at him without any warmth.

Tang Junhe froze for a moment, he realized that Yang Xuan was waiting for him, so he quickened his pace and walked towards him, almost running as he reached the last few steps. The snow was slippery, and he walked too fast, staggered, and when he was about to slip, Yang Xuan stretched out his hand to help him. When he saw that he was standing still, he let go of his hand, turned around and continued walking forward. Tang Junhe followed behind him, trying to walk faster than before.

Just as he was struggling to walk, Yang Xuan suddenly stretched out the hand that had been in his pocket toward him. Tang Junhe looked at the hand in a daze. He wasn't sure if the hand Yang Xuan stretched out towards him meant what he thought.

While he was hesitating, Yang Xuan turned his head towards him and said, "Hand."

Tang Junhe came back to his senses, responded briefly, and put his hand in Yang Xuan's. Yang Xuan held his hand and walked forward. His pace also clearly slowed down.

After walking for a while, Tang Junhe suddenly asked, "Ge, are you happy?"

Yang Xuan glanced at him: "Huh?"

"Your TOEFL score is very good, you should be very happy." Tang Junhe continued.

"There's nothing to be happy about." Yang Xuan said, looking at the road ahead. His tone had always been a little cold, and it seemed to be even colder on this snowy day.

"You'll be out of here soon."

"Aren't you too?" Yang Xuan turned to look at him sideways, "Are you happy?"

Tang Junhe thought for a while and said: "If it was a year ago, I would be very happy." There was still half a sentence left – But now I’ve met you.

Yang Xuan was silent for a while and said, "It's better to leave than to stay."

They walked to the bus station. It was still early in the morning, and there were not many people waiting for the morning bus. The compartment was empty, with a few passengers sitting down sporadically. Although they had already sat in the car and didn't need to walk anymore, their hands were still held together.

After two stops, Yang Xuan pulled the mask down to his chin, and asked for the first time, "Where do you want to go?"

"In the future? I haven't thought about it yet," Tang Junhe turned his head to look at the snow outside the window, then turned around and said, "Maybe I will go to a city without snow."

Yang Xuan didn't say anything, just nodded. Tang Junhe felt the hand that Yang Xuan was holding him with move. Originally they were holding each other, but now Yang Xuan wrapped around his hand completely with the palm of his hand.

For some reason, after what happened that night, Tang Junhe had a strong feeling that Yang Xuan seemed to have suddenly returned to his position as an older brother. In the past, Yang Xuan treated him neither coldly nor indifferently, sometimes he would joke sarcastically, or intentionally tease and scare him. Even though they were brothers in name, Yang Xuan did not act like his brother. But now, when Tang Junhe is not satisfied with just being his younger brother, he is becoming more and more like an older brother.




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Chapter 57  ✈ Chapter 59



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