Chapter 15

It was already twelve o’clock when Tang Zi left. Yu Ran was also packing up and preparing to go home. The climbing gym immediately became peaceful and quiet. He turned around and looked at Qin Weihang who was resting with his back against the wall. He knew Qin Weihang would wait until everyone was gone so that he could use the climbing gym alone. Yu Ran walked over and kicked Qin Weihang’s raised leg. Qin Weihang raised his head and lowered his leg, pulled down the headset, and looked at him suspiciously.

Yu Ran said: “You will be leading the club the day after tomorrow, so you should take a rest for these two days.”

Qin Weihang hung the headset around his neck, sat up slowly, and said to him: “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?” Yu Ran feared that it was something troublesome.

“I have three friends coming the day after tomorrow. I told them to come to your rock climbing gym early in the morning. Remember to wait for them when you arrive.”

The troublesome expression on Yu Ran’s face instantly changed to astonishment, as if the sun had risen from the west. He sat down next to Qin Weihang and asked in a gossiping manner: “Where did you befriend rock climbing friends, especially three of them all at once? I couldn’t tell.”

Qin Weihang said: “They’re not rock climbing friends, they’re university classmates.”

Yu Ran’s eyes widened and he said: “University classmates? Are you for real? You were bad at mingling in high school, yet you’ve made friends in university?”

In fact, he didn’t know how he became friends with them. Qin Weihang thought, but he was indeed terrible at socializing in high school, and he didn’t like communicating with his classmates. Now that he thought about it, he was quite childish at the time. No one had wronged him, but he was the one who isolated himself from the world.

Yu Ran had a good guess of Qin Weihang’s popularity. He was handsome and his family was rich, yet he didn’t have good relations with others. Thinking about it, it was really inconceivable. However, one can imagine how lonely this kid was. He and Zhong Jing both went to his parent-teacher conferences for Qin Weihang because his father was busy. And when his father did have time, Qin Weihang didn’t want his father to go. That time when Yu Ran went to the conference, he was afraid that he could not find the classroom, so Qin Weihang waited for him at the school gate. He was looking for a parking space outside the school gate when he saw Qin Weihang at the end of the crowd. The other students were all talking and laughing in groups, but Qin Weihang walked around the crowd all alone with a backpack on his back. Before he could call Qin Weihang, Qin Weihang accurately located his car and walked over. He knocked directly on the car window three times without looking down to confirm, waiting for him to open the window.

He lowered the window of the car and asked Qin Weihang who was standing outside: “Are you not afraid of it being the wrong car?”

Qin Weihang bent down with his elbow on the window of the car. He raised an eyebrow at him and said: “You’re late.”

Qin Weihang raised his eyebrows very provocatively. It would’ve probably made girls’ hearts pound when they saw it, while boys’ hearts might’ve ‘pounded’ in a different sense. Thus, the boys in his school didn’t like Qin Weihang very much, except for the gay ones who consider him their favorite type…

Qin Weihang wasn’t someone who would take the initiative to talk to others. If he talks, then it must be because there was something he needed to say. But at that time, all the girls liked him. They would like him secretly and brightly. Qin Weihang was already 1.84 meters when he was in his first year of high school. He was born with an appearance that was like ‘the world has a male god that was beginning to grow up’. Yu Ran and Zhong Jing talked about it before. They think that when Qin Weihang was in high school, he may have talked a lot with girls, and the girls were also the one who took the initiative, but the atmosphere of their conversation may have not been pleasant.

One time, Yu Ran and Zhong Jing took Qin Weihang rock climbing. While driving, Zhong Jing asked Qin Weihang if he had a girl he liked. Qin Weihang said: “My rank is going to drop to the bottom soon, why are you worrying about whether I have a girl I like?”

So Yu Ran replied: “Isn’t it because you’re in puppy love that your rank is falling?”

With real action, Qin Weihang proved that it didn’t matter if he was in puppy love or not, he always ranked towards the bottom. Later, his head teacher paid too much attention to his grades, and it almost became the focus of the teacher’s attention. It was only then that Qin Weihang took his studies a little more seriously. He tried to get his grades to float in the middle range so that he was not watched all day long. This was also how he was able to get admitted to the law department at A University. Even though he barely made it, it really wasn’t unusual.

Qin Weihang’s father wanted to send him to the U.S. to study finance, but how could Qin Weihang just listen to him? He played a wonderful game of Tai Chi with his father*. He told his father that he was planning to apply to the finance department at A University. His father probably thought that his son had finally grown up and became sensible. After all, A University’s finance department was also among the top in Asia. So he stopped worrying and let him apply. Who would’ve thought that when Qin Weihang applied, he actually applied to the law department instead.

[*TN: I don’t think he meant it literally. Considering what they’re saying in the following lines, I think it’s more like a back and forth verbal argument?]

Both Yu Ran and Zhong Jing couldn’t understand his reasoning. At the time, Zhong Jing already couldn’t walk anymore. He also had to transfer to A City because of his job. Yu Ran could see that Zhong Jing was worried that Qin Weihang applied to A University so that he could take care of him(Zhong Jing). When the three of them had a meal together, Zhong Jing asked Qin Weihang: “What’s going on in that head of yours? Why are you studying law?”

Qin Weihang said there wasn’t any meaning behind it, he just didn’t want to study finance.

“You didn’t need to fill it in randomly, either.”

“How could it be filled in randomly,” Qin Weihang said indifferently while eating a piece of barbecued pork. “If I could, I also wished that I could apply to the Faculty of Biological Science and the Faculty of Computer Science. It was just that I didn’t have enough points.”

The words ‘didn’t have enough points’ was said too easily. There was no way Qin Weihang liked either departments, it was just that both were ranked above the law department. Zhong Jing sighed: “Qin Weihang, are you trying to anger your father?”

Qin Weihang’s hand holding the chopstick paused, his drooping eyes became a little cold, and he said: “If he knew anything about me, then he wouldn’t have been so naive as to think that I could get into the finance department of A University.”

Such self-defeating words gave off a cold-hearted energy.

At that time, he thought Qin Weihang was really cold-hearted. He was someone who was excessively clear about what he liked and hated. Fortunately, he and Zhong Jing were loved by Qin Weihang.

So how could Qin Weihang’s relationship with others be good? Qin Weihang and his father were enemies, and when he talks with these two old friends*, he will only infuriate them. Fortunately, this kid was born tall and handsome. If he was a skinny bean sprout, Yu Ran couldn’t imagine how many times Qin Weihang would get beaten up.

[*TN: Referring to Yu Ran and Zhong Jing. The characters used here was wàng nián you(忘年友). It means friends with an age gap.]

Unexpectedly, Qin Weihang actually made friends at A University, and even three of them. That was enough people to play mahjong, which really surprised Yu Ran. Furthermore, they were even coming to see him rock climb. It was not like he doesn’t know Qin Weihang. When did he like having amateurs come see him rock climbing? The more he pondered, the more thoughts he had, guessing that maybe the truth was like this:

The cool little bro Qin Weihang was admitted to A University and finally became interested in a girl. The girl wanted to see him rock climb and wanted to bring her close friends. Qin Weihang was unhappy in his heart, but decided to agree because he liked her.

Hehehe, if he guessed right, then he’ll be able to see those three girls the day after tomorrow. He had to see which girl was able to move this statue called Qin Weihang!

Qin Weihang glanced at him from the side: “What are you laughing at?”

“It’s nothing,” Yu Ran smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “I’m just happy for you!”

Qin Weihang rarely saw Yu Ran smiling like that, it was really disgusting. He took off Yu Ran’s hand that was on his shoulder and said: “If it’s nothing, then leave.”

Yu Ran still wanted to tease him, but thought he should wait until the day after tomorrow. When he got up, he asked Qin Weihang: “Should I prepare some motion sickness medicine or something?”

Qin Weihang frowned and looked at him blankly.

“You should understand too. It will take more than an hour to drive, and the mountain road conditions aren’t good…”

Qin Weihang didn’t think it was necessary, but finally said: “Do whatever you want.”

Yu Ran left the key to Qin Weihang. When he left, he saw that Qin Weihang didn’t wear any protective gears at all. He just rubbed some chalk powder and walked to the ten-meter-high climbing wall. He couldn’t help but remind: “Can’t you practice bouldering properly?”

He was already in love, yet why doesn’t he know how to consider his future girlfriend’s lifelong…happiness! … Bah, what am I thinking about? Fuck, I really am not acting like how an elder should!!

Qin Weihang turned his back to him and said indifferently, “You don’t need to worry about it.”

Yu Ran saw that he had already reached five meters in a blink of an eye. In the empty rock climbing gym, he could only hear Qin Weihang’s body colliding with the rock wall while he was dynoing. The sound of friction and collision was linear and expressed an elegant swiftness. Yu Ran knew how much Qin Weihang loved rock climbing. Whenever Qin Weihang was on the rock wall, it was as if he was the earth’s favorite; he won’t ever fall off unless he wanted to. His body had an instinct that won’t lose to wild animals.

But Zhong Jing had also made Yu Ran feel this way before.

He sighed and said: “Be careful. I don’t want there to be a day when I open the door and find you smashed on the mat.”

After a string of dynos, Qin Weihang stopped and took a deep breath. He didn’t take Yu Ran’s words seriously. The bouldering cushion was dark blue, and he was reminded of An Ning once asking him, “What does it feel like?”

It’s a feeling of using your body to smash against the world. You thought you would die, but in the end, the earth would gently embrace you, as if returning to the mother’s womb.

But that was deep-water rock climbing. If a person does this on land, then they will surely die. But he couldn’t help it. He didn’t know when he started to be infatuated with this feeling, especially every time he can climb to the top and land safely. Every time he felt invincible. Perhaps he was just a little crazy. If one day he falls, maybe he’ll end up like Zhong Jing. The only difference was that no one would be responsible for his mishap.

The artificial white light fell very close to his shoulders, and in such a short time, he reached the highest eaves again. Then he grabbed the eaves with an upward dyno movement; this movement was done instinctively. His feet left the rock wall, and a huge gravitational force pulled him down. His fingers harshly exerted force, and the muscles of his arms opened up, helping him resist gravity and pulling his body upward.

He was careless and forgot to apply some more chalk powder, and his hands were already sweating…

Looking down, he saw it was not the height of a thousand feet, but merely the height of a two-story building. His body relaxed again automatically, just swaying lazily under the icy white lights. The swaying slowly stopped and he let go of one hand. With only one hand left grasping the eaves, the swaying feeling came once again like a wave; gravity pulled him like the devil.

However, he just won’t fall.

Unless he wanted to.

In a trance, he remembered the last time he climbed with Zhong Jing—he was 17 years old at the time. On a sunny day, Zhong Jing took him to the wilds and found a good-looking mountain for traditional climbing*. The sun was very bright that day, and the light shining on the granite was very dazzling. Zhong Jing gave him a pair of sunglasses and praised him for his good looks. It was the first time he climbed with sunglasses, and he’ll remember it for the rest of his life.

[*TN: A style of rock climbing in which a climber or group of climbers place all gear required to protect against falls, and remove it when a pitch(a steep section of a route) is complete.]

The two alternated when climbing. When he was leading the climb, Zhong Jing fell halfway down the mountain because of a loose nut.

Nuts

Piton

Zhong Jing and Yu Ran both comforted him afterwards, saying that it was only an accident. The nut came loose because someone had nailed a piton on the top of the rock’s crevice and had removed it again, which cause the crevice to loosen. They didn’t know. Even the greatest rock climbers couldn’t do anything about it, because it was up to nature to decide. But he still felt that if he had more experience, he wouldn’t have chosen to stick the nut in that place. If he didn’t wear sunglasses and just judged with his bare eyes, then he could’ve chosen a better position and the tragedy could’ve been avoided.

He not only lost a teacher, but also his partner—his protector*.

[*TN: The English equivalent is a belay partner/belayer. Belaying means holding the rope to catch your partner when they fall. They’re also responsible for giving the rope. I decided to leave it as protector cuz of future reasons ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

Later, he went to the wilds to do bouldering alone, but he was always dissatisfied with the limited height when bouldering, so he would climb higher and higher without authorization. He kept climbing until he reached the height of six or seven stories with his bare hands and heard applauds and cheers for him from below. The shouts made him realize that he had climbed such a high height without any safety equipments. It was at that moment when he remembered that he had no rope on his body and no partner to protect him.

Now he occasionally takes part in rock climbing competitions, both indoors and outdoors. The organizer will provide him with a protector, and some climbing clubs will invite him to be a coach or team leader. The activities will also involve experienced people. As for his protector, although all of them are experienced climbers and made no mistakes during the process, it always made him feel unfamiliar. This was especially true when communicating, because it always felt strenuous.

He hasn’t had his own partner and protector for a long time. It’ll probably be like this for the rest of his life.

Now he was used to climbing outdoors alone. No matter how bright the sun was, he won’t wear sunglasses. Occasionally, he’ll see a bolt on a rock wall and unconsciously want to clip a rope, only to find that he doesn’t have a rope at all. This was also pretty good. In fact, it was the same as deep-water rock climbing, but the result after falling was different. At least he was only responsible for his own life and death.

Zhong Jing never blamed him. However, for him to not blame himself, it was easier said than done.