Chapter 38

Thus begins his life as roommates with Qin Weihang. An Ning helped Qin Weihang tutor, and Qin Weihang would take him to the rock climbing gym. When they went to the climbing gym for the second time, An Ning remembered one thing. When sitting together to change shoes, he asked Qin Weihang in a low voice: “I need to pay to come here, right?”

He was foolish last time; he just ran off after he finished climbing and sweating off.

Today was a rest day, so there were more people in the climbing gym than last time. Qin Weihang didn’t hear him, saying “Huh?” then lowered his head towards An Ning.

An Ning looked at Qin Weihang’s ears that came close, and said awkwardly: “I didn’t pay last time…” After Qin Weihang heard this, he raised his body and looked at him: “I asked you for tutoring lessons and didn’t pay for it.”

An Ning still felt that it wasn’t right: “That’s different. Supplementary lesson are in our own turf, but this is someone else’s turf.”

Qin Weihang sat on the bench, stooping over the shoes while laughing a little, muttering to himself, “…our own turf.*”

[*TN: He thinks it’s funny because the words An Ning used (dìpán) is used when the place is under your control. You hear gangsters use this word when their talking about a place being their turf.]

Why does he tend to repeat his words? An Ning said helplessly, “Could it be that you paid for me last time?”

Qin Weihang put on his shoes and stepped on the ground, raised his head and said: “I am an employee here. One of the employee’s benefits is that I can bring you here without paying.” He stood up and continued, “You’ve saved money on the watermelon, yet you still worry about the seeds?”

An Ning sat on the bench, watching the back figure of Qin Weihang getting up and walking towards the bouldering wall. He slowly realized that the seeds refers to this climbing gym, while the watermelon refers to Qin Weihang!

Was this self-boasting? However, even the boasting was so cool…

Although he was his roommate, he doesn’t spend much time with Qin Weihang. Even on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he usually goes to the library to self-study until almost 11 p.m. When he comes back, Qin Weihang was either already asleep or not in the dorm at all. If Qin Weihang was not in the dorm room by 11 p.m, he would basically not come back and would go directly to class the next day.

An Ning goes to the climbing gym with Qin Weihang every Saturday and Sunday morning. In order to train longer, the two always get up before dawn and take the earliest subway to the rock climbing gym. When they arrive, it was usually only 7 a.m, and there was no one in the gym. From 7 to 9 a.m, the huge climbing gym belonged to only the two of them.

Mornings and nights in late autumn were no different from each other. The sky was full of stars, and the streetlights on the road were still on. They came to the climbing gym early in the morning while it was still dark out. Qin Weihang turned on the lights. An Ning watched the overhead lights come on successively, illuminating the artificial rock wall and the rocks. He couldn’t help but turn around and said to Qin Weihang: “Doesn’t it look like the sunrise?”

Qin Weihang followed him and said: “Mm, it looks like the Dawn Wall.”

An Ning asked Qin Weihang: “Have you thought about challenging the Dawn Wall?”

Qin Weihang really had thought about it before. When he had just started learning rock climbing, he was talented, so he had thought arrogantly that he definitely have to challenge the Dawn Wall before he turned 20. But then, Zhong Jing’s accident happened, so he never thought about it anymore. Now, he was asked this by An Ning, and “The Dawn Wall” that he watched when he was 15 appeared in his mind. In the past, he was obviously full of excitement. To him, rock climbing never meant loneliness to him. It wasn’t like now, where he felt peace and solitude.

“I thought about it before.” Qin Weihang said.

There was a deep emotion in his voice. An Ning smiled and said: “If one day you really go climb the Dawn Wall, you must tell me. I want to see you redpoint it with my own eyes.”

Qin Weihang looked at the person next to him. He swallowed—he wanted to say that it was too far away, but at this moment, talking with this person, that distant dream seemed to be drawn a few centimeters closer. Although it was only a few centimeters.

Those few hours every weekend in the morning have become the most fulfilling and happiest time for An Ning. When rock climbing, he doesn’t have to think about anything. He doesn’t have to worry about living expenses or worry about his studies. He just needs to free himself as much as he wants. Even though he was just bouldering in the climbing gym, he already felt a breath of freedom.

Sometimes they got up too early on the weekends, so Qin Weihang would sleep on the subway when he was sleep-deprived. There were only two of them in the subway car, and they were sitting face to face. An Ning watched Qin Weihang put his hands on his chest and lowered his head to make up for his sleepiness. At this time, he would notice that Qin Weihang’s eyebrows were very thick, and his eyelashes were also very thick. They were the same color as ink, and were like the tip of a brush. It was probably because before, Qin Weihang eyes were open, so he didn’t realize there was anything thicker than his eyes. But no matter how good-looking his eyebrows were, they were no match compared to his eyes.

Qin Weihang would open his eyes to look outside when the station announcement sounded, so An Ning just said: “You can sleep at ease, I will tell you when we arrived.”

He felt happy that Qin Weihang really relaxed and slept afterwards. He didn’t lower his head anymore; sometimes leaning back on the chair, sometimes leaning against the railing of the door. This person was so good-looking, so no matter how he slept, it felt like a pictorial. An Ning smiled and imagined a fit black panther, who was handsome no matter how he lied on his back. He was worthy of such handsomeness.

Both the climbing gym and riding the subway to the climbing gym were promoted as his favorite activities. He had no idea whether it was because of rock climbing or because of Qin Weihang.

One time, while on the subway, Qin Weihang slept a little too deeply with his head against the railing. An Ning saw that he was so tired every time he went to the climbing gym with him, and felt a bit guilty. Qin Weihang might have gone rock climbing in the wild on Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday, they still had to go rock climbing so early in the morning. So, he didn’t wake up Qin Weihang and let him sleep for more than 15 minutes. After sitting for five stops in one breath, An Ning finally said to him: “Qin Weihang? Qin Weihang?”

None of this could wake him up, so An Ning had to get up and walk over to pat Qin Weihang on the shoulder. Qin Weihang opened his eyes as soon as he patted him. Looking at him straight from below, An Ning straightened up and said, “We have to get off.”

Qin Weihang straightened up with his arms wrapped around himself. When he heard the arrival announcement, he frowned, raised his head, and asked him: “Missed the stop?”

An Ning nodded and said with a guilty conscience: “I accidentally fell asleep.”

Qin Weihang looked at him for a while without saying anything. Then he picked up his backpack, stood up, and said: “Let’s go.”

When the door opened, Qin Weihang habitually walked behind him. It was convenient for them to get to the opposite side of the subway. After getting in the car, An Ning said: “You look tired, so you can sleep for a while again. I will pay attention to the stations.”

Qin Weihang leaned back on the bench with his right hand on the back of the seat, and he said with a helpless tone: “Then maybe we will once again oversleep on the subway and miss the station again.”

An Ning smiled, feeling embarrassed. Qin Weihang looked at him and slowly smiled.

By December, Qin Weihang was almost done with his advanced math lessons. The most important was still the major courses. Qin Weihang took the science course in high school, so advanced math was easy, but law was a bit trickier. Qin Weihang always tilted his head and held his forehead carelessly when doing advanced math. However, when An Ning was tutoring him in the major courses, he never saw Qin Weihang in a relaxed posture. His brows were often furrowed, and the whole person was in a situation where he had to repeatedly be forced to convince himself to continue.

When he really couldn’t understand the reason, Qin Weihang would put his hands on the desk as he does now, exhaling for a long time, and asking An Ning: “Why?”

For a man who can say something like chemical castration in a law class, this deep ‘Why’ was not a question at all, but an inquiring. An Ning could only smile wryly.

Qin Weihang asked him: “Don’t you feel very angry? The sentence for abducting and selling a woman isn’t even longer than that of selling a first-grade protected animal.”

An Ning did not know how to resolve Qin Weihang’s dissatisfaction, so he nodded: “The law is lagging.”

“This is too lagging.” Qin Weihang pushed the book aside, as if disdainfully saying, ‘Whoever loves to study something like this should study it. In any case, I don’t want to study it.’

An Ning was really worried that he would say “I don’t want to study anymore,” in the next second. Fortunately, Qin Weihang was just angry and didn’t really stand up and leave.

“This is often the case,” An Ning said, “I also feel it’s unfair, but it’s difficult to change it. It’s not something one or two people can do, but it takes one or two generations to do it. But if you don’t study it, then you won’t even have a chance to change it.”

“Why are you studying law?” Qin Weihang asked.

An Ning was silent. He didn’t want Qin Weihang to know that he had a sentenced father, and he didn’t want to let Qin Weihang know that he still felt that his father was not guilty. Moreover, he didn’t want Qin Weihang to know that his father was sentenced for selling genuine teaching materials without a proper permit, because Qin Weihang definitely won’t be able to understand. His tuition and living expenses in elementary school was 20,000 yuan($3,098). Every year, his father relied on selling genuine teaching materials in partnership with others to earn the money. To be honest, they were all stolen money, so he was a child raised by stolen money. His father was illiterate, or rather, ignorant of the law. However, the most ridiculous thing was that he would actually make sure to ask his partners “These are all genuine books, right? We can’t sell pirated copies.”

“There are many people who commit the same crime but may not be given the same punishment. Some people clearly infringe upon others, but they get away from punishment. Some people get harmed, but they cannot seek justice. This is because some people can afford a good lawyer, but there are some that can’t. I study law because I want to be a public interest lawyer.” An Ning said.

When he said this, he was actually not very sure in his heart. He was serious, but this might sound more like a cliché in the guise of being ‘noble’. He had never told others that he wanted to be a public interest lawyer, because this kind of decade long dream of fighting for those with a disadvantage was really too noble. This kind of nobleness, however, when you look deeper into it, was actually not at all dazzling. It was gloomy, full of dirt and dust. Noble people were always dusty and dirty. They have to face a lot of hits, hardships, and unsatisfaction. Moreover, if they don’t hold strong beliefs, they will be defeated at any time. He was skeptical about whether he could do it, so when asked why he studied law, he would just say that he wanted to be a lawyer. This was the first time that he exposed a ‘dream’ that he was too shy to say out loud.

Qin Weihang looked at him, but did not comment on this ideal. He took the upside down book and turned it over. The page was crumpled, so he flattened it with his palm: “Do you think my opinion is very extreme? Disrespectful of the law?”

An Ning laughed: “No, I think what we need to do is respect the spirit of the law, not endorse the current laws. It is people like you who really promote the reform of the law.”

Qin Weihang suddenly laughed: “I’ll pass. I’ll be satisfied as long as I don’t fail the courses.”

An Ning was very grateful in his heart. In fact, Qin Weihang was very coaxing. A boy who was really aggressive on the outside but was surprisingly gentle on the inside.

Although Qin Weihang himself did not think so, he felt that Qin Weihang must be someone who can change the world in the future. Regardless of whether he will be in the legal profession, or even if he was to conquer those rock walls, he can change and influence many people. He was just not conscious of his capabilities.

As for what he said himself… He’ll probably be satisfied with just being a public interest lawyer. He didn’t know if he can really make it or how long he can hold on, but as long as he can help some people, it was fine.