Chapter 20

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“I got engaged. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“…Congratulations.”

“That’s it?”

“…Don’t I have to save the rest for your wedding day?”

“…”

A week passed by without anything exciting. I went to my work and signed off on the contract renewal that I had managed to secure. I also got my commission, bonus, and salary while I was there. While meeting up with my boss, I told him that there was still much I had to learn about journalism and that I was planning to go back to school for a year at the end of August.

My boss looked at me with a face with disapproval and asked, “you’re doing great at your job, what is there for you to study?”

“I did major in journalism, so I do want to go back to being a journalist one day.”

“What’s your problem? Aren’t you earning more money right now?”

“…I’ll pay for the courses myself and you don’t have to pay me my salary while I’m gone. I won’t let the company spend any money.”

“Then you’re not planning on coming back?”

“I am. I promise that I’ll only be gone for a year. I’ll come right back afterwards and start working for you again.”

“…Fine, whatever you want. Young people these days… I’m not going to pin any hopes on you. If you really think you can make it big, then just stay out there and never come back!”

“Haha, didn’t I already promise you I would come back? I would never do anything like that. Can you please just let me loose for one year? When I come back, I’ll do everything you say!”

My boss and I talked for the entire afternoon, and he finally gave me his approval. At the end of our talk, he seemed to have an inkling of what I was trying to do.

“I say, don’t tell me you’re just using this as an excuse…to travel?”

Of course I was. However, I’d voluntarily offered to stop my pay for the year, so he didn’t care where I went. He was treating it like I was going on a long vacation. The one act of charity he did offer me was an extra paycheck for another month. For that, I was rather thankful.

After settling everything with my work, I felt much more relaxed. I immediately started contacting schools to see where I could go. The city up north [1] was the destination I had chosen. Famous universities littered the city, but I didn’t have any plans to become an accomplished scholar. “Going back to school” was simply an excuse to make it easier for me to take time off, but I did enroll in a second-rate university, and I made sure the courses I was going to take had something to do with news media. Aside from myself, only the heavens knew what I was doing taking a year off for a trip up north.

When my birthday came around, the three of us got together to have a meal again. Xiao Chuan was already there when I arrived. When he saw me, he immediately told me that Li Weisen was getting engaged this month.

I was already prepared for that news. I didn’t understand why he didn’t just get married outright, but instead had to play at some “engagement” that was already behind the times. Despite thinking all that, I said simply, “they’ve been dating for a few years, so it’s about time.”

“But he’s still so young. What’s good about getting married so young?” Xiao Chuan made a face at the word “marry,” looking terrified at even the suggestion of marriage. “Growing old together? Just thinking about it is making me lose my appetite.”

“Does what time you marry matter when you have to get married in the end? You’ve been dating your girlfriend for quite some time too, when are you planning to propose?”

“Oh, please spare me. I haven’t even thought that far yet. I think the current situation is perfectly fine. What about you? Still no girlfriend?”

“I just haven’t met anyone I’ve connected with. It’s better to stay single then date some random person.”

“Haha, that’s true.”

While we were talking, Li Weisen arrived. He looked sharp in his well-ironed suit. His complexion was nice, but he looked thinner than the last time I saw him.

With a devious smile on his face, Xiao Chuan joked, “did you have too much of a good time with Sao-zi in Sichuan? Don’t work too hard and collapse from over-exhaustion!”

“Tch, do you think I’m working as hard as you? You’re practically living together with your girlfriend!”

His voice was the same as before, flippant and somewhat crass. Smiling, I asked Xiao Chuan if it was true.

Blushing with anger and embarrassment, he denied, “no! I only…go to her place on the weekends. We didn’t do anything!”

Li Weisen was laughing so hard that he was almost gasping for air. “Gao Yu, look at how adorable he is! He really expects us to believe that they haven’t done anything when they were alone? A man and a woman alone together? If it were you, then maybe—”

I glanced at him quietly and his face stiffened. He quickly changed the subject, stuffing the words he couldn’t finish back down his throat. Xiao Chuan didn’t notice our strange exchange; he was still trying to explain, but only managed to dig himself into a deeper hole.

“We’ve only slept together—no, pure sleeping! Not the kind you’re thinking of!”

I knocked him on the head. “All right, you can stop. Let’s just eat!”

The waiters brought in the food and the beer. Not long after, Xiao Chuan’s old problem came about again.

“I’m going to the restroom! Don’t drink anything yet, wait for me!”

Amused and vexed at the same time, I asked, “why didn’t you go at the beginning?”

“Well, this beer… It made me think about it!”

“Disgusting!” Both Li Weisen and I couldn’t resist frowning and cursing at his flying figure.

With Xiao Chuan gone, the two of us were quiet. After a few minutes, Li Weisen asked quietly, “have you heard?”

“Yes, Xiao Chuan told me.” I didn’t look at his face; instead, I focused my eyes on the blue sky outside the window.

He seemed to be waiting for me to say something, but I was silent. Finally, he asked me impatiently himself. I didn’t want to guess at what he wanted me to say, so I replied with the most boring answer to his questions.

Before the atmosphere around us dropped below freezing, Xiao Chuan came back and saved me.

“Huh, what are you guys talking about? Why do you both look so upset?”

I forced a smile and said, “nothing. We were just talking about his engagement. It’s hard not to feel some regret about it.”

Xiao Chuan nodded and sat down. “You’re right. You’re getting married so young, it’s going to be hard to have fun with you in the future!”

Li Weisen went back to normal sooner than I did. With a crooked smile on his face, he said, “what’s hard about that? We’ll still have our fun times together and go out to sing and dance. She knows what you guys are to me! Anyways, it’s not like I’m married right now!”

“That’s more like it!” Xiao Chuan set down his worries and turned happy again. Looking at him, Xiao Chuan was the definition of being a good friend, right?

Halfway through our meal, we’d already acted out all the “congratulations” and “happy birthdays” that were needed. I raised my glass and told them that I was going to travel for a while. In shock, Xiao Chuan asked me when and for how long. Li Weisen set down his chopsticks and looked at me with a blank face.

“I’m leaving next month. I’ll probably be gone for a year. I hope…that I’ll make it in time for the wedding banquet.”

“…Don’t worry, I’ll definitely invite you. You and Xiao Chuan are my two best men, neither of you can be missing. Moreover, what are we to each other? You have to show up!”

I heard him deliberately slow down his words and felt his eyes on my face. Using all the self-control I had, I looked him in the eyes. “Yes, I’ll be there.”

“Should I go and send you off when you leave?”

“…No, you just got engaged. Xiao Chuan is enough.”

“Then I won’t go. I hope that your prospects are bright and that you’ll ascend rapidly in your career!”

Hearing our exchange, Xiao Chuan gradually noticed that something was odd about the two of us. He looked back and forth between Li Weisen and me.

“You guys… Li Weisen, are you mad that Gao Yu didn’t tell us earlier? It’s nothing big. It’s not like he’s not coming back…”

Li Weisen and I quickly put on a smile and looked at Xiao Chuan.

“No, everything’s fine!”

Perhaps it was only in moments like these in which we displayed the tacit understanding of friends.

Before we finished our meal, Li Weisen’s pager beeped. He stood up and made a phone call on his cell phone. He then said something had come up at home, so he had to leave. Nodding, I said he was free to do so. Xiao Chuan immediately complained that he was failing to upkeep his duties as a friend, but he stifled his complaints after seeing the look in my eyes. We then finished the meal by ourselves and paid the tab. Afterwards, Xiao Chuan insisted on going home with me.

That night, Xiao Chuan and I had another long talk together. He asked again if I had a problem with Li Weisen. He’d been wondering about it for some time now and he noticed that I was avoiding Li Weisen, so he had been meaning to ask. After all, the three of us had been friends for six, seven years now.

I didn’t know what to say. I only said that I’d let down Li Weisen in the past. When he had just been discharged from the military, I’d been busy with work, so I’d stood him up numerous times. Xiao Chuan said that that wasn’t anything major and all I needed to do was apologize. I added vaguely that I’d called Li Weisen names, saying that he would never make anything of himself, that he could never grow up, and that he was terrible at fighting. In any case, the problems between us couldn’t be solved in just one or two days, but our relationship wasn’t horrible. I told Xiao Chuan to stop asking about it.

But he was determined to drag everything onto himself. “I wasn’t here when he just got discharged. If I were, then I would’ve spent more time with him, and you guys wouldn’t have any problems with each other. You can’t always be like this. The two of you are my best friends.”

“Then it’ll be good that I’m leaving for a while. Distance makes the heart grow fonder after all.”

“Haha, that’s true. I’ll talk with him as well. Ah, but I don’t want you to go. When you get there, be sure to contact me right away!”

“Of course, who else would I contact?”

“Haha… When you get there, get to know a lot of girls and be sure to bring one back with you!”

“…I’ll try my best.”

“Don’t say something that depressing with your face! I’m afraid they’ll crowd around you after taking one look at a rare find like you!”

“I’m not anything like that. To girls…I’m the worst kind of man.

“Tch, what kind of nonsense are you saying! Too much modesty will make you into a hypocrite!”

“…All right, let’s not talk about this. Let’s play a game! Me against you!”

“Fine, let’s play! I’m not afraid of you!”

Translation Notes:

[1] This is most likely Beijing, but the author never states it outright. However, Beijing is arguably the most famous city in northern China and many people flock to it every year looking for better opportunities and hoping to make it big. There’s even a term for it, “北漂” (bei piao).

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