The mobile phone that lay on the ground rang unexpectedly.
Getting down onto the floor, she ran over, picked up the phone, and glanced at it—"Ruan Shuping." That was Jì Nuannuan's mother's name. Jǐ Yi conjectured that there must be something urgent in order for her to call so late at night. Her heart suddenly clenched, and apprehensively, she prayed that it had nothing to do with Nuannuan.
Getting dressed, she brought the phone over to the door of the bathroom and said to Jì Chengyang, "Nuannuan's mom is calling."
Jì Chengyang turned off the shower.
There beside bathroom, through the frosted glass, Jǐ Yi could see a slender figure step out. The door was suddenly opened. That type of steaming moisture immediately after taking a hot shower enshrouded all of Jì Chengyang's body. His feet were bare as he walked out, and only a blue towel circled his waist.
She stared blankly at his bare chest, startled. That image from a moment ago, where nothing had clothed her body and skin to skin they had come in contact with one another, came rushing up into her mind again, especially since his eyes were cast downward and gazing at her.
"It's Nuannuan's mom who called," she repeated. Avoiding eye contact with him, she stuffed the mobile phone into his hand. "It must be something urgent. Hurry and call her back." Once she finished saying this, she hastily fled from there.
Jì Chengyang chuckled. Just now, when she stuffed the phone over and the tips of her fingers had brushed his palm, they had felt like a tiny stalk of a freshly-picked foxtail from the roadside, soft and tingly as they skimmed across.
Had he played those with her before? Had he ever made a little bunny out of one for her?
Bunny woven out of foxtail grass ()
Jì Chengyang briefly reached back in his memory. They two of them had truly met each other too early. Even if he had, he had long since forgotten.
In his upturned palm, he held his mobile phone, like he was weighing it. Clearing his thoat, he finally dialed and returned the call.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only.
This phone call was very short but contained a large amount of information.
Jǐ Yi had only just finished preparing the bed that he slept in at night when she saw that Jì Chengyang had already changed into clean clothing and was holding his car keys, ready to go out.
"I'm heading back to my family home," he said.
Due to Nuannuan's matters, Jǐ Yi's thoughts had been weighing heavily on her to begin with, and now seeing him rushing to go out, she even more so felt a bad premonition.
However, before she had a chance to ask any further questions, he had already picked up the jacket that he had tossed on the couch that evening, opened the door, and left.
This departure lasted into the middle of the night. Jǐ Yi read as she waited for him, until somehow, she hazily fell asleep. She had not expected that what awakened her was not Jì Chengyang himself, in person, but rather, a phone call from him. Without turning on the light, Jǐ Yi picked up her phone and, in a scratchy voice, said a hello.
"Xixi." Jì Chengyang's voice was somewhat deep and heavy. "Did you know that Nuannuan currently has a boyfriend? Have you and him met before?"
Jǐ Yi was alarmed at this, and instantly, the sleep cleared from her head. After a silence of two seconds, she replied, "I've met him."
"Do you know that person's home address?"
Home address?
Xiao Jun's home was located in the heart of the city and was very easy to remember. Once you had been there one time, you certainly would not forget it. However, she did not dare disclose its location. She was not certain why; she merely subconsciously felt that she should not tell him.
Her heart hammering, she answered equivocally, "I forgot. I've only been there once."
Jì Chengyang did not ask for anything else, merely telling her to get some good sleep and that he might not be back until morning. But after such a phone call came to an end, how was it possible for Jǐ Yi to still fall asleep? On the bed, she was like a little yellow croaker fish that was being panfried over and over again as back and forth she tossed and turned. The more she tried to sleep, the hotter she became and the more restless she grew.
When daybreak arrived, she heard the sound of the door. Hurriedly, she jumped out of bed.
Right as she ran into the living room, Jì Chengyang was tossing his jacket to the side, and then, he sat himself completely onto the couch, sinking into it, so exhausted that he could not be bothered to even open his eyes. He could smell that gentle, fragrant scent that came from Jǐ Yi's body, and so he stretched out his hand. He felt Jǐ Yi place her supple hand onto his, and her hand's temperature was as it should be.
Grasping it in his palm, he slowly told her what had happened last night. While he had always known that there were problems with the way Jì Nuannuan was being raised and taught, he had also thought that she would not do anything major that was too inappropriate. However, last night had completely overturned his conception of that. He had not expected that Nuannuan had not returned to school for three days already and could not be found anywhere.
That was the reason for Jì Chengyang's late-night phone call.
However, while he was making that call, Nuannuan's father had already personally found out the address. When Jì Chengyang hurriedly arrived there soon after, Nuannuan had already been beaten to the extent that she could not even stand up, and that boy's face was covered in blood from the thrashing he was receiving. Fortunately, Jì Chengyang was there to step in and prevent things from going further. Without a word, he had thrown aside those soldiers who worked under Nuannuan's father and even forcibly shoved Nuannuan's father away. After scooping her up into his arms, he had driven Nuannuan directly to her [paternal] granddad's house. When he took her away, she had not even known to cry or make any noise and had only sat there numbly. Wherever she was, she had only sat numbly.
Worried that returning to the military compound would cause too great a negative effect, Nuannuan and the entire matter had been dealt with at the house of Nuannuan's granddad.
For that entire night, in those late-night hours, the atmosphere had been very stifling.
Initially, the elderly man had been utterly enraged, roaring for Nuannuan's father to come back and answer to why he had brought his hand so hard against her. Even if the two were living together, he still needed only to have a calm, firm talk with them, not use force and violence. In the end, though, the elderly man learned that when Nuannuan's father found them, by chance, the boy's drug addiction had been in the midst of acting up and Nuannuan had been off to the side, sobbing and trying to placate him. Such a picture had been too shocking, too inciting, and only for this reason had her father truly ended up using too much force.
There were no needless words. Nuannuan's mother was going to go with her to immediately leave the country first. It so happened that all the paperwork and processes had already been completed. Originally, they had planned to send her abroad later, in October before the start of the school year, but after last night, the decision by everyone was to directly send her away right now.
Jì Chengyang tried as best as he could to use the most concise and mild words to recount this night that had only just passed. Jǐ Yi abruptly stood. Opening his eyes, he did not wait for her to speak and told her, "You won't be able to see her. The plane ticket has already been booked. They will be leaving straightaway."
"What time is the flight?" She stared at him anxiously.
"Xixi..." With difficulty, he gave her a consoling, yet apologetic smile. "Don't go. It's best if you pretend you don't know about this whole matter."
This was a family disgrace. And it was also a wound on Jì Nuannuan's heart.
Even if one day Jǐ Yi were to learn of everything, it still absolutely had to be from Nuannuan's own mouth.
Right here, right now, it was best if she stored this deep into the reaches of her heart and sealed it there indefinitely.
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She understood the meaning in Jì Chengyang's words. Besides, Nuannuan had not even told her that Xiao Jun had gotten into drugs; she had not even gotten past that hurdle that was her own self. Xiao Jun, Jì Chengyang—these two men were the individual secret of each of the two of them... She suddenly felt that, between herself and this friend, the one whom, since they were little, she had laughed and played around with on one bed and would tug back and forth with on the blanket when they were sharing the same covers, there was a distance similar to that between the opposite poles of the world.
In the end, she could only choose to send Nuannuan a simple text message:
Class Prefect and I were talking about you. I told him that Nuannuan is angry with me and that's why she didn't come, but next time, she and I would definitely go to the class gathering together. Oh, right, Class Prefect said you owe him a hundred kuai. I paid him back for you.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only.
She sat on the couch inside the bedroom. Jì Chengyang was genuinely exhausted and was already asleep on the bed. There must have been many things that had happened tonight that he had not told her in detail about. This was the first time during this entire period where she had stayed in his home that Jì Chengyang was fast asleep on the bed in the master bedroom.
Lost in thought, she gazed at him for quite some time before finally setting down her mobile phone and going to pour a cup of boiling-hot water.
When she came back, she saw that, surprisingly, a text message reply had come in on her phone.
Her heart began beating rather erratically.
Picking it up, she took a look. It really was Jì Nuannuan's reply!
The excuses you're finding are just getting lousier and lousier. Now that you're with my little uncle, you're becoming more and more brainless.
The tone was very light and relaxed, as if nothing had happened, despite the fact that Jì Chengyang had basically witnessed the entire event and it was impossible for Jǐ Yi to be completely unaware of the situation... Jǐ Yi hurriedly set her drinking glass onto the floor beside the couch, and holding her phone, she wanted to type a reply to her. But though she wrote several sentences, she ended up deleting them all again... Before long, her mobile phone once more vibrated in her palm.
Jì Nuannuan had sent another text message over:
You don't need to think about how to comfort me. I'm flying out tomorrow. When this thing is in the past, I'll contact you.
Jǐ Yi sent back a reply:
Mm. Okay.
She dared not send out even one extra word, for fear that reading even a few additional words would bring about more different types of emotions.
When she set her mobile phone down again, that heavy stone that had been weighing on her heart since Jì Chengyang returned early this morning, or, perhaps it should be said, the downheartedness that had never dissolved since that last phone call between the two of them, now at last all slowly faded. Jǐ Yi crawled softly onto the bed, lifted up the thin quilt, and slipped into Jì Chengyang's arms. Though he was deep in sleep, he still very naturally pulled her waist close to himself so that she rested against his chest before carrying on with his slumber.
Jǐ Yi closed her eyes.
At the tip of her nose, there was only Jì Chengyang's scent.
Her hand slowly slid in under his cotton, short-sleeved button-up shirt to touch his back and waist.
Only such contact with his actual skin could settle her mind and heart. Moreover, in this type of place, caresses during sleep are more an expression of trust between lovers and dependence upon one another, and do not have much to do with desire.
"Why are you so happy?" He had roused at some time unknown and now drawlingly asked this.
"Nuannuan replied to my text. She should... be okay. No big issues anymore," Jǐ Yi smiled, rubbing her face against that soft layer of material that he was wearing. "She replied to me, so that means for sure that she's okay."
Infected by her mood, he felt his own mood brighten as well.
Jì Chengyang tilted her chin up with his fingers, gazing at the layer after layer of joy that was folded into her eyes and face, as well as that pointy little canine tooth that poked out. Bringing his head down, he gently ran the tip of his tongue over her canine tooth and soft lips.
Life changes ever so rapidly.
More and more, he felt that people are not God, and they will never be able to predict any catastrophe or disaster. He originally had only had this feeling when he was out in the combat fields. Now, though, it was also beginning to be ever more intense in his own life.
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Jì Chengyang admitted that he was wholly taking advantage of this moment, when the clouds in her heart had cleared away, to completely envelop her in love so that, for the time being, she would not dwell upon Nuannuan's matters anymore.
What he had not told Jǐ Yi was, before he left, Nuannuan had asked him why he was with Jǐ Yi. Was it really not due to a fixation with young girls?
The answer he gave was very direct:
Those things between him and Jǐ Yi had spanned too many years. It was not possible for them to be repeated, nor would anyone even have the claim or chance to replace her.
Therefore, it absolutely had to be this one girl, he absolutely had to love her, and it absolutely had to be for a lifetime.
<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only.
Nuannuan's matter also caused his elderly father to become even more adamant that he must stay within the country and that he was not allowed to continue being a war correspondent, this type of job that was both dangerous and lacked security. Dreams and ideals once more collided and clashed fiercely with reality and practicalities. As well, those memories from when he was a young age, before he joined the Jì family, were all ceaselessly roiling and billowing in his heart and mind.
On one side was his dream; on the other side, there was love, not just familial love but romantic love as well.
As he walked down this path, it was not that he had never jeered at himself. You are not the first war correspondent, nor will you be the last one. You're a grown man. Why this sudden desire to linger in love and affections?
However, in this moment, any man, regardless of how much like steel his heart was, would be refined in the fire of love and become so soft and malleable that he could be wrapped around a finger.
My little lady, the one whom I love, forgive my selfishness. It is not only you. This, too, is my first time—and it will be the only time—in my entire life that I have experienced a relationship of love. I taste feelings of being torn and indecisive, missing and pining, loving attachment, and desiring to lean upon you, and I, too, will have feelings of disquiet, jealousy, restless agitation, longing, and desire. All of these feelings, to me, are not clearly defined and are new and fresh and intense.
Because the love was deep, the sense of security had also long been lost.
In this instant, love overpowered all of his reasoning and rational thinking. In his mind, there was only one thought that remained firm and resolute: If I can live for that long, then I will surely be with you until our heads are crowned with white.