Chapter 56

After the last major exam was finished, Xiao Pang arranged for the four of them to have dinner together. This should be their last dinner this semester. At this time, everyone was booking tickets to go home for Chinese New Year.

The appointed time was 7:30 p.m, and the location was the Fatty Dry Pot restaurant from last time. An Ning was ten minutes late. Yuan Xiaoye was also having his final exam. During this time, he was cramming with Yuan Xiaoye before the exam.

When he arrived, the dry pot shop was already full of people, and the fragrance and heat seemed to rush out from the shop to the street. An Ning went into the shop and saw Qin Weihang at a glance.

Qin Weihang was seated with his back facing the door, but his back was too eye-catching. He was still wearing the black turtleneck sweater and light gray down vest from when he caught the cat last week. An Ning first saw Qin Weihang’s back and then saw Liang Shenghan waving his hand to greet him. Qin Weihang also looked back at him at this moment—through the dense fog that was so evocative, it brought a clamoring memory.

He walked over and found that the table was empty; all three of them were waiting for him. He put down his backpack and sat down: “I’m sorry, there was a traffic jam!”

“It’s okay,” Liang Shenghan said with a smile, “We just arrived, and Qin Weihang arrived two minutes earlier than you.”

Qin Weihang looked down at his phone and said, “Oh, did I?”

Xiao Pang smiled at Liang Shenghan: “How dare you complain that Da-ge was late!”

Liang Shenghan called the waiter and ordered a shrimp pot, then asked: “How about we order some beer? Qin Weihang, did you drive over?”

“I didn’t,” Qin Weihang said. “You can order it.”

After Liang Shenghan ordered, he handed over the menu to the waiter. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and asked An Ning: “What do you want to drink? Forgot you can’t drink anymore.”

An Ning took out a water bottle from his bag. He had developed a habit from rock climbing and now carried a water bottle with him. Qian Fei-jie filled his bottle with tea when he was in Lantian County: “No need, I have tea here. If you drink too much, you can drink it to sober up.”

Xiao Pang laughed and pointed at himself and the two people next to him: “An Ning-ge, the three of us really won’t get drunk. Last time it was only you that got drunk!”

Speaking of this, An Ning felt embarrassed: “I really troubled you guys last time…”

“It didn’t trouble us,” Liang Shenghan said, “Xiao Pang and I left after eating, so it was only Da-ge that you troubled.”

An Ning said to Qin Weihang: “Right, thank you for that time!”

Qin Weihang lowered his head and peeled off a peanut, rubbed his hands, and said, “Don’t mention it.”

Liang Shenghan said to An Ning, “It does deserve a thank-you. You were too drunk to stand up at the time. Xiao Pang and I didn’t like being troubled, so we slipped away ahead of time. Da-ge was loyal, though!”

An Ning actually doesn’t remember what happened after getting drunk last time, but hearing Liang Shenghan saying this, he realized that maybe he was drunker than he thought that day and had troubled Qin Weihang more than just a little.

Qin Weihang said: “It was not that serious, he was still able to stand.” He picked up his phone and slid twice, “At the time, I took a picture of him walking.”

An Ning was dumbfounded. Xiao Pang excitedly rushed to Qin Weihang to look. Liang Shenghan also stuck his neck forward, his face looked excited and with great joy.

Qin Weihang smiled and took back the phone, looked at An Ning’s slightly pale face, and said, “I was lying.”

Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang sat back in disappointment. An Ning didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He didn’t know when it started, but Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang would call Qin Weihang ‘Da-ge’; accepting Qin Weihang’s position as the leader. This was probably because Qin Weihang’s birthday was in July, so he was older than them. However, An Ning always felt that Qin Weihang was actually very young—his body shape was able to go hand-in-hand with the word ‘Da’, but there was still a distance from the word ‘ge’.

[*TN: Reiterating that Da-ge means big brother, so AN thinks QWH may be “big” but far from being an “older brother”.]

The dry pot arrived, and the waiter also brought two bottles of beer, but was also busy taking care of the other customers. Xiao Pang took one of them, approached the edge of the table, and asked Qin Weihang: “Ge, teach me how you open it?”

Liang Shenghan said: “Your teeth are strong, just use your teeth.”

Qin Weihang put down the phone, reached out to take it, and knocked on the edge of the table with one hand. This time the movement was bigger than last time, so the whole table was shaken by him. The bottle cap flew with a thump on An Ning’s face, bounced off, and fell a long distance.

Liang Shenghan laughed: “It’s over, Da-ge failed to be handsome!”

Qin Weihang looked at An Ning, who was startled, and couldn’t help but smile. He gave the beer bottle to Xiao Pang.

Xiao Pang took it, glanced at Qin Weihang, and said: “Ge, just laugh if you want to laugh; you don’t need to bear it. There are times when people can stumble. Although you tried too hard, you were still very handsome…”

Qin Weihang stopped smiling and turned his head to ask the person next to him: “Are you okay?”

An Ning casually rubbed his cheek and smiled: “I’m fine.”

Qin Weihang didn’t look away and said, “There is even a red mark. Sorry, I used too much strength.”

An Ning wasn’t sure if it was the smoke coming from the heat of the dry pot or from Qin Weihang’s gaze, but he felt that the pores all over his body relaxed at this moment, and he was ticklish as if he was electrified. It was obviously the bottle cap that flicked his face, but it felt like it was Qin Weihang’s finger that flicked his face.

Liang Shenghan also leaned over to look at his face: “There is?”

Qin Weihang sat back and said: “It’s already gone.”

Four people drank and chatted. Everyone was going back home for the winter break; Liang Shenghan had already bought a ticket, while Xiao Pang was going back to S City. He asked Qin Weihang: “When are you leaving, ge?”

Liang Shenghan ate the shrimp and said, “Yeah, you guys can go together.”

An Ning had never heard Qin Weihang say that he was from S City, yet it seemed like the entire school knew. However, when he thought about it, it didn’t seem surprising. It was like when Huang Qinzhen had a boyfriend and everyone knew which department he was from. Qin Weihang was a school grass—where he was from and which middle school he graduated from; those must’ve long been no secret.

Qin Weihang said, “I won’t be going back.”

Xiao Pang made an “a” sound, and was very surprised: “You won’t be going back? So you also won’t be going back to celebrate Chinese New Year?”

Qin Weihang said: “Yes.” He said it very flatly, and after speaking, he bowed his head and ate his food.

Not going home during winter vacation for Chinese New Year was unbelievable to many people, but maybe because the person was Qin Weihang, so everyone can easily accept it.

Liang Shenghan asked An Ning when he was going. An Ning was dazedly watching Qin Weihang eating with his head down. He was stunned for a moment before he heard him, then said: “I’m taking the train back. It’s the ticket for the day after tomorrow.”

Xiao Pang said it was lonely to go back by himself. Thus, Liang Shenghan said that it will only take a few hours by plane for him to get home, while An Ning had to take the train by himself for a whole day and night, but didn’t think it was lonely. Xiao Pang said that he thought Qin-ge would go with him. Liang Shenghan then said that Xiao Pang’s accent was really heavy, but Qin Weihang, who was also from S City, almost had no accent. Xiao Pang then said that his hometown was not in S City…

An Ning listened to the two of them chattering, and there was a somewhat indescribable stuffiness in his heart. He lifted his head and saw that Qin Weihang was looking at him.

Qin Weihang’s gaze was fixed on him faintly, but when the white smoke drifted by, it seemed to be deep. The fog was hot, but his eyes were cold. An Ning finally understood what that stuffiness in his chest was; it was similar to guilt. He was going home for Chinese New Year and leaving Qin Weihang by himself. They had previously exchanged secrets—those words that night seemed to have become a false promise.

Although there were no fond memories from past Chinese New Years, and he did not look forward to going home that much, but that was his mother. She might have a deeper affection for his little brother, but that did not mean that she did not love him. If he was cruel and said he wasn’t going back, she would probably be a little sad, hence he was only going back for her.

But Qin Weihang will not go back, nor can he go to Zhong Jing or Yu Ran. Everyone will be going home, so who will accompany him?

When they were going back to school, the four of them walked because they were only one stop away. There was already a Chinese New Year atmosphere on the street. Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang were still chattering all the way, while Qin Weihang walked alone behind them. An Ning looked back from time to time, watching Qin Weihang put his hands in the pockets of the down vest, looking around coldly. An Ning felt that in the lively festive atmosphere, no matter how cool and handsome he looked, it couldn’t conceal the sense of loneliness that radiated from him.

It was Qin Weihang who settled the bill. They were going to transfer the money to him, but Qin Weihang had already picked up his phone, straightened up, and said, “No need, I will pay the bill today.”

Liang Shenghan said, “We ate quite a lot though, so that doesn’t seem right.”

Qin Weihang stood up, put his hands on the back of the chair, and said, “I’ve already become the big bro, so I can’t just do nothing.”

At that time, Qin Weihang smiled very comfortably, but An Ning felt that he was just acting as if it didn’t matter.

After returning to the dorm room, An Ning was still a little concerned. Qin Weihang came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, so he asked, “How are you spending Chinese New Year?”

Qin Weihang lowered his head and wiped the back of his neck with a towel without looking at him. He said in a perfunctory tone: “Just casually celebrate it.”

An Ning’s guilt deepened. He watched Qin Weihang sitting down in front of the desk, his movement of pulling the chair was a little forceful, so the chair made a huge sound as it knocked against the floor.

An Ning didn’t ask anymore. Qin Weihang’s back was rarely cold. In the past, when Qin Weihang took a shower, his neckline would be dry. Today, there were water droplets on the neckline. The boy who had always been very chill showed a hint of inner irritability that was unique to boys of his age.

An Ning originally planned to buy some local specialties of A City to take home tomorrow. At this moment, he was hesitant to ask Qin Weihang to join him. In the end, he asked Qin Weihang—with the lame excuse that he was unfamiliar with A City—to go shopping with him.

In fact, he was ready to be rejected by Qin Weihang. After all, he was leaving but also felt sorry, so this plan of asking him to buy local specialties with him might really annoy Qin Weihang.

Qin Weihang sat in front of the Macbook. After listening, he looked up at the fingerboard on the balcony and said, “If you can pull up on that with two fingers for ten minutes, then I’ll accompany you.”

An Ning immediately became motivated: “Okay. Then you help me time!”

After speaking, he went over to hang on the fingerboard, not paying attention to Qin Weihang’s expression at all. Qin Weihang stared at the Macbook. In fact, the pictures and words on it couldn’t enter his head at all. The moment when he found out that An Ning was about to leave, there was a bit of an inexplicable emotion in his heart, but he couldn’t tell what kind of emotion it was. Why does it matter if the other person was going home for Chinese New Year? Perhaps what made him feel irritable was that he was all alone. But it was also like this during previous years, so why was he so irritable this year? When An Ning said that he bought the train ticket for the day after tomorrow, he really had an urge to ask him: Your mother doesn’t even remember your birthday, so why are you going back? Are all the things you told me that night fake?

After staring at the Macbook for an unknown period of time, he suddenly heard the sound of An Ning’s breathing as he was putting effort into propping himself up. He suddenly looked in the upper right corner, only to find that he had been absentminded for almost seven minutes. He immediately turned back and said: “You can stop now!”

An Ning got off the fingerboard, his entire arms were stiff, but he was still very excited: “Did I really hung on there for ten minutes?!” Why did it feel like it wasn’t that long…

Qin Weihang got up and asked him, “Are your hands okay?”

An Ning said with a smile: “It’s okay, it’s just a little sore.”

Qin Weihang said in his heart: You will be so sore tomorrow that you can’t lift your arms.

An Ning rubbed his arm and didn’t forget to ask: “What local snacks are there?”

Qin Weihang said, “You’ll know once I take you there.”

Yes! An Ning was delighted, he agreed! At least he can spend another day with him tomorrow. In fact, he also wanted to say that he will go back for a week and come back for work, but he felt that it was too deliberate, so he didn’t.

At night, Qin Weihang leaned on the bed and sent a WeChat message to Yu Ran. How would he know what the local snacks were? He only came here three months earlier than An Ning.

Yu Ran asked him: Are you going back to celebrate Chinese New Year this year? That’s great, and you even know that you have to buy local specialties. You’ve grown up now!

Qin Weihang replied: Taking others to buy them.

Yu Ran: An Ning?

Qin Weihang looked at these two words and smiled to himself, wondering who else could it be besides him. Then he glanced at the opposite bed—the top student was still immersed in reading. They already finished the exams, why was he still studying? Was he going to read for the rest of his life… He suddenly thought of the words ‘to live until old and to learn until old’, and was depressed just by thinking about it.

He shook his head in his heart, and asked Yu Ran again on WeChat: Where should I take him?

Yu Ran: There are many places, wait for me to send you a travel guide.

Qin Weihang frowned, this person was really unreliable. He typed another line: It’s to buy food, not to play.

After all, I only have one day, so can’t you be more reliable?