Chapter 16 (2/2)

Chen Nian felt her face burn up.

The long stalks of gra.s.s swayed lightly in the wind.

Chen Nian didn’t answer; but at the very next moment, Bei Ye felt a small and soft hand worm its way into his palm, as though it was a small, tiny fish that managed to worm into the mud – although the mud had long been prepared for such ‘attacks’, it was still caught unawares by the little fish, which succeeded in creating a small hole in the mud and filling it with water, thus providing the dry and cracked mud with some much-needed moisture.

The youth held Chen Nian’s hand tenderly as he led her across the vast and wild field, both of them gradually making their way towards the setting sun.

Strolling into the grounds of the abandoned steel mill, stalks of flowers capable of being made into earcuffs caught Bei Ye’s attention. Bei Ye plucked two flowers and carefully hung them on Chen Nian’s ears. Pinching Chen Nian’s earlobes, he made a sudden observation, “You don’t have any earholes.”

“I was planning to, pierce my ears, after exams ended.”

“Okay.”

“Will you go with me?”

“Of course.” Bei Ye leaned towards Chen Nian, his lips lightly brus.h.i.+ng past her cheeks, as though he was a kid tasting his favourite cotton candy.

Bei Ye continued, “When you finally pierce your ears, I’ll give you a pair of earrings as a present.”

“……Thank you.”

“I haven’t given you the earrings yet.”

“I can thank you in advance, it doesn’t mater.”

The two youths walked towards their home, their fingers tightly interlaced together.

Bei Ye’s mobile phone rang. Frowning, he picked up the call, his tone cold as ice, “I already told you – don’t look for me during afternoon and night.” Chen Nian knew that Bei Ye’s friends were on the other end of the line. Nowadays, Bei Ye was only able to spend time with his friends when Chen Nian was in school; and after the incident, Bei Ye only became more protective of her than ever.

Bei Ye hung up on his friends.

Chen Nian suggested, “Tonight, let’s try to cook something for dinner.”

Bei Ye smiled indulgently, “Sure.”

Stepping into the grounds of the abandoned steel mill, Chen Nian discovered two thick, long ropes hanging from the mulberry tree. Chen Nian gazed at the ropes, and turned to look at Bei Ye with a questioning look in her eyes. Bei Ye answered, “I’m building a swing for you; you can sit on the swing every single day after examinations end. I’ve also sprayed huge amounts of insecticide on the tree, so you won’t be bothered by annoying bugs when you’re sitting on the swing.”

Chen Nian gave a small, gentle nod.

Upon reaching Bei Ye’s home, the two youths discovered that they had no more rice or instant noodles. Instead, they were only left with a handful of spaghetti noodles. Chen Nian set some water to boil, and threw the noodles into the pot. Turning to Bei Ye, she asked, “Is this enough for the both of us?”

“It doesn’t seem to be enough. Let’s add two eggs.” Bei Ye cracked two eggs into the pot.

Chen Nian began raiding Bei Ye’s fridge, “Oh, there’s some Chinese cabbages and some mushrooms left! Ah, there’s some tomatoes as well!” Removing these vegetables from the fridge, Chen Nian threw them all into the pot of boiling water.

Finally, Chen Nian and Bei Ye managed to produce a pot full of vegetables and noodles. The two youths didn’t even bother placing the soupy noodles into a huge bowl, and simply placed the pot on the table. Grabbing two pairs of chopsticks, the two youths sat themselves on the chairs and began eating directly from the pot.

It was surprisingly delicious.

In the heat of the summer, the two youths ate hot, tasty noodles for dinner as beads of sweat began forming on their forehead. The electric fan whirred in the background, providing much needed comfort.

“Do you like it?” Bei Ye asked.

Chen Nian nodded her head happily.

Bei Ye pushed the bottle of beer towards her, “Try some.”

Chen Nian grabbed the bottle carefully, and took a small sip. As she slowly gulped down the bitter liquid, her eyebrows began to knit together tightly. Bei Ye stared at her, his eyes twinkling with amus.e.m.e.nt.

“Is it tasty?”

Chen Nian pressed her lips together, and replied, “No, it isn’t.” As she gazed at Bei Ye, her lips began to curve into a smile.

“Why are you smiling?” Curious, Bei Ye asked.

Chen Nian shook her head gently, “There isn’t any particular reason.”

“Are you happy?”

Staring blankly into s.p.a.ce, Chen Nian mulled over the question before slowly nodding her head. In a low voice, Chen Nian replied softly, “Happy.”

Bei Ye responded with a single ‘Oh’ before lowering his gaze and staring at the noodles in the pot, his lips unknowingly curving into a small, blissful smile.

Chen Nian returned the question to him, “Are you happy?”

“I’m happy too.”

Having gobbled up the noodles in its entirety, Bei Ye asked, “Are you full?”

Chen Nian nodded, “I’m full.”

As if on cue, the heavenly scent of freshly baked bread began to waft from the alley, finding its way into the noses of the two youths. Bei Ye stood up, “Do you want some?”

“……Yes.”

Laughing aloud, Bei Ye hopped out of his window. Before long, he returned to the house with freshly baked bread and an extra lollipop in tow. Removing the lollipop from its packaging, Chen Nian hurriedly placed it in her mouth. As she turned from the table, she spotted the Bible on the drawer. Paling slightly, she walked over to the drawer and hastily hid the Bible from view.

Turning back to Bei Ye, she commented as casually as she could, “Wei Cai’s missing.”

“Oh.” Bei Ye replied, his facial expression betraying no hint of any emotion. Sticking the straw into the small box of milk, he pushed the milk to Chen Nian.

“Where would she have gone to?”

“Who knows? There are so many people out there who are unhappy with her. Her whereabouts is none of our business.”

“Oh.”

But if the Police began to investigate Wei Cai’s disappearance, it would nevertheless cause a huge disturbance. Frowning, Chen Nian stood up all of a sudden, and made her way to the bathroom. On entering the bathroom, she began rifling through the drawers and the clothing pile; Bei Ye didn’t make any attempt to stop Chen Nian, and simply sat at the table whilst drinking his milk.

Wrenching open the bottom drawer beneath the sink, Chen Nian discovered that it was entirely void of any objects; having searched the bathroom as thoroughly as she could, she inquired, “Where’s the clothes?”

“Hmm?”

“That day, the clothes that I wore.”

“I burnt them.”

“You burnt them?” Slightly surprised at Bei Ye’s cautious nature, Chen Nian pressed on, “But wouldn’t you have, been discovered, when you were burning the clothes?”

“I know of a place where rubbish gets incinerated every single day.”

On seeing Chen Nian open her mouth once more, Bei Ye interrupted her train of thought, “Don’t you have to revise your schoolwork today?”

“I do.” As Chen Nian returned to the table, Bei Ye hooked up the table lamp for her.

The two youths sat on opposite ends of the table; as Chen Nian tackled question after question, Bei Ye flipped through his comic books, only raising his head occasionally to glance at her. Once in a while, Bei Ye would head over to the window to chase the noisy crickets away. With that, the two youths pa.s.sed their long summer nights quietly, peaceful and content.

Day after day, the two youths relied and depended on each other.

One summer night, Chen Nian closed her books as the familiar screech of the train began to ring. The torrential rain hadn’t poured down that night, and the house was filled with a peaceful silence.

Chen Nian commented, “It didn’t rain, tonight.”

Bei Ye strolled over to the window, and peered out, “The rainy season is about to end……” Pausing, he gazed at the night sky, “Little Stutterer,”

“Hmm?” Chen Nian turned to look at him.

“Come and take a look.” Bei Ye urged.

Chen Nian walked to the window. Sticking her head out of the window, she began to gaze at the canopy of luminous stars in the inky night sky. Bei Ye hopped onto the windowsill, and stretched his hand out to Chen Nian. Gladly placing her small hand in his outstretched palm, Chen Nian clambered up the window sill and hopped onto the small cement ledge outside the window. With Bei Ye’s help, she managed to reach the emergency stairwell easily and began making her way to the rooftop.

The two youths sat side by side on the rooftop, their shoulders gently touching each other’s as they admired the starry night sky, their gazes devout and sincere. The canopy of stars was so breathtaking, so beautiful, that the two youths were overcome with an irresistible urge to cry.

All of a sudden, Chen Nian was reminded of the sentence which she had previously studied in English cla.s.s. “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

Bei Ye lowered his eyes and turned to look at her. Puzzled, Chen Nian expressed her confusion, “I don’t really understand what that sentence means.”

“Bei Ye,” Chen Nian asked softly, “What does it mean, when they say ‘looking at the stars’?”

“To me, it means this very moment. Right here, right now.”

Chen Nian still remained puzzled and confused, the bewilderment evident on her pale face.

The corners of Bei Ye’s lips curved up to form a small, gentle smile. “Hopefully, you’ll be able to comprehend the meaning of this sentence one day.”

“Will I?”

“You will.” Bei Ye replied in a determined tone. “Do you believe that you would?”

“I do. You said I would, so I definitely would.”