Chapter 18
After they finished breakfast, while they were packing and checking out, Ling Meng tugged on He Yong’s sleeve and finally whispered: “I don’t know why, but the way Professor Song fed Jian Wu just now seemed too natural.”
“Yeah,” He Yong agreed, “And Jian Ge has only known him for a few days, yet he tells him everything.”
Some bold thoughts arose in Ling Meng’s mind: “Do you think…”
“What?”
“No, no, forget it, it’s nothing.” Ling Meng thought to herself, Song Shuci has a child, she couldn’t randomly ship them, that would be too rude.
She silently chanted “mea culpa” twice for her wild thoughts. Fortunately, He Yong wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying, just angrily taking a bite of a meat skewer: “I absolutely won’t let him steal my title of ‘Jian Ge’s best bro’! At most, it can only be a three-person group!”
Ling Meng: “…”
He Yong had thought it through carefully. If Song Shuci and Jian Wu were going to become good friends, he would simply become good friends with both of them, so the three of them could have fun together.
Therefore, he had planned to do just that on the bus ride back.
He had overslept and missed the bus on the way there, so he had to take a taxi, missing the opportunity to develop a friendship with Song Shuci. On the way back, he was determined to infiltrate their small group.
However, as soon as he got on the bus, he was overwhelmed by the car air freshener.
Jian Wu managed to find him a seat in the first row, helped him sit down, and asked the people around him to look after him. By the time he was done, there were very few seats left on the bus.
Buses easily made people carsick, and there were many winding roads on their route. The front seats, less prone to motion sickness, were already taken, leaving only a few scattered seats in the back.
He was also responsible for finding a seat for Ling Meng. He finally found a two-seater in the second-to-last row. He put down his bag and saw Ling Meng waving at him from the aisle. He waved back to indicate his location, but before Ling Meng could come over, someone suddenly sat down beside him.
Jian Wu opened his mouth: “…Professor Zheng?”
Zheng Yu, whom he had met yesterday, greeted him with a smile: “Teacher Jian, there are no seats in the front, do you mind if I sit here?”
“Ling Meng, she–”
Just as Jian Wu was speaking, Ling Meng arrived. He exchanged glances with her, and she, as if thinking of something, immediately said: “I’m fine, I can sit behind you two!”
After speaking, Ling Meng winked at him as she walked towards the back, even making a cheering gesture in Zheng Yu’s blind spot.
Jian Wu: “?”
Wow, Ling Meng must have seen him with Zheng Yu last night and thought he was interested in him.
“Perfect,” Ling Meng patted the seat beside her, addressing Song Shuci, who had appeared beside them at some point, “Professor Song, why don’t you sit with me? We can talk more easily if we’re closer.”
Jian Wu: Thanks, but I don’t want to talk to him easily.
Song Shuci, however, sat down beside Ling Meng without hesitation, greeting Zheng Yu in the front seat as he sat down.
The two professors exchanged polite greetings, their thoughts hidden.
It was noon when the bus departed. The bus swayed gently, and many people closed their eyes, preparing to sleep. Zheng Yu took out a pair of earplugs and offered them to Jian Wu: “New, unused, do you want them?”
He wasn’t sure if the people behind them were watching their every move with magnifying glasses, but as soon as he offered the earplugs, an eye mask dangled from above Jian Wu’s head, followed by Song Shuci’s slightly indifferent voice: “Want an eye mask?”
Jian Wu: “…” Not necessary.
He declined both offers of kindness, pulled the curtain on the window, and fell asleep.
About an hour later, the quiet slumber in the bus was gradually broken by the awakening passengers.
Jian Wu had long since woken up but was pretending to sleep.
People were talking all around him. Ling Meng and Song Shuci were also chatting behind him. Ling Meng asked Song Shuci why he was so sleepy, and Song Shuci simply said he had stayed up late reading papers.
As he was listening, a voice suddenly came from beside him: “Awake?”
It was Zheng Yu’s voice.
Jian Wu wanted to continue pretending to sleep, but he heard Zheng Yu say: “I saw your eyes move.”
“Eyes can move even when you’re dreaming,” Jian Wu gave up pretending and opened his eyes, retorting.
“Rapid eye movement during dreams should be different from eye movement when pretending to sleep, right? I don’t really understand,” Zheng Yu turned his head slightly, bringing the two behind them into the conversation, “Professor Song used to research neuroscience, why don’t you tell us about it?”
Jian Wu subconsciously glanced at Zheng Yu. He didn’t understand why Zheng Yu was doing this when he had already made things clear yesterday. But he underestimated the inexplicable competitiveness between men. Zheng Yu just smiled back at him.
“It is different,” Song Shuci’s voice came faintly from behind.
“How is it different?” Zheng Yu asked.
Jian Wu felt a little annoyed. He didn’t like Zheng Yu’s lack of boundaries, so he put on his earphones, trying to block out the surrounding noise. But after listening to music for a while, Zheng Yu, presumably finished chatting with Song Shuci, came back to bother him.
“You like listening to music?”
Jian Wu wasn’t someone who liked to show his displeasure, so he still responded politely.
“What kind of music do you like?”
“All kinds.”
Ling Meng sensed something from Zheng Yu’s enthusiasm. Combined with Jian Wu’s refusal to join the large group for skewers last night and his initiative to work with Zheng Yu, she immediately interpreted the situation as mutual interest and interjected from behind: “Jian Wu doesn’t just like listening to music, he’s also a great singer!”
“I don’t usually praise people,” Ling Meng said, “But Jian Wu’s singing is really amazing, definitely professional level. If Super Boy was still running, he would definitely debut!”
What professional level.
Even if it was meant to praise him, it was too much. Jian Wu was self-aware. He was at best an amateur with a good voice. Comparing himself to professionals would be too arrogant.
But before Jian Wu could refute the incredibly thick filter Ling Meng had put on him, Miss Ling, to prove her point, pulled out a recording from her phone: “This is a recording I made when we went karaoke last time. It’s really amazing, I’ll play it for you, and you’ll understand.”
Jian Wu: “That’s not necessary.”
“I’d really like to hear it,” Zheng Yu looked eager.
Song Shuci glanced at Jian Wu and didn’t speak, while Ling Meng had already quickly pressed play.
Jian Wu was singing a classic old song, Rene Liu’s “Later.” Ling Meng had clearly started recording after Jian Wu had already been singing for a while. Her voice, full of amazement, mixed with the beginning of the recording: “Holy crap, Jian Wu, you sing so well, I’m almost crying. I have to record this and listen to it again and again.”
Then came Jian Wu’s melodious singing:
“…And why is it… when we are young…”
“We must hurt the ones we love deeply…”
The clear male voice, combined with the unique reverb of the karaoke room, went straight to the heart. Presumably because he was drunk, his pronunciation carried a slightly slurred sentimentality.
From Ling Meng’s perspective, although her words were a bit exaggerated, she genuinely thought Jian Wu sang well. After all, no matter how good professional singers online were, and how high-end the recording equipment, it couldn’t compare to the clear and vibrant power of someone singing live beside you. Otherwise, why would so many people love going to concerts?
“In this similar late night… are you also… quietly regretting and grieving…”
“…If we hadn’t been so stubborn back then… we wouldn’t have so many regrets now…”
The continuous singing came from Ling Meng’s phone. Zheng Yu was mesmerized, looking at Jian Wu with admiration in his eyes. Song Shuci, also listening, turned his head to look out the window, lost in thought.
“Okay, okay, that’s enough!” Jian Wu had been on edge since the first line of the song. Subtle memories surfaced, and he had a bad premonition.
He no longer had the mind to observe the people around him. He reached out to grab Ling Meng’s phone, his ears burning red.
Ling Meng pulled her hand back, protecting her phone, and teased him, thinking he was embarrassed: “Why are you shy? Aren’t you happy that your students call you the ‘Ballad Prince of the Affiliated Middle School’?”
Showing off in front of his students was one thing, playing this kind of song in front of his ex-boyfriend and former pursuer was another. Moreover, if he remembered correctly, the lyrics later on…
Jian Wu didn’t dare to think further, covering his eyes weakly: “It’s really nothing special, let’s stop here.”
The music continued—
“…How do you remember me… with a smile or in silence…”
“All these years… has anyone been able to keep you from being lonely…”
The drawn-out “lonely” was a build-up to the chorus.
The most popular part of “Later” was the chorus. Even those who weren’t very familiar with the song could hum along to the chorus. Zheng Yu clearly belonged to this group.
As the melody became more and more familiar, approaching the climax of the song, Zheng Yu couldn’t help but sing along: “Later, I finally learned how to love…”
But after he finished singing, he realized the vocals in Ling Meng’s recording hadn’t followed him, only the oblivious accompaniment continued playing.
Song Shuci glanced at Ling Meng’s phone. The singer in the karaoke recording had, for some reason, skipped the entire line before resuming singing.
This time, Jian Wu held on for a bit longer, singing from “Later” to “Finally understanding in tears,” but he still didn’t finish the line “Some people, once missed, are gone forever.”
Ling Meng’s surprised exclamation came from the recording: “Jian Wu, are you crying? Why are your eyes so red?”
“Crying my ass off,” came Jian Wu’s suppressed voice, seemingly mixed with dry swallows, like a choked sob, but not quite.
“I drank too much,” after a few dry heaves, a slightly fragile whisper came from the phone, “I feel like throwing up.”
The recording abruptly stopped there. Ling Meng must have paused the recording to check on Jian Wu.
“That’s the end,” Ling Meng turned off the recording and poked Jian Wu with her phone, complaining to the two listeners, “This guy then kept saying he wanted to throw up and go back. I thought he was so moved by his own singing that he cried.”
After complaining about her friend, she sought affirmation from the two listeners: “So, how was it? Good, right? I wasn’t exaggerating, was I?”
Zheng Yu smiled and sincerely praised: “It was really good.”
However, Song Shuci didn’t speak immediately, just looked at Jian Wu with a complicated expression.
Jian Wu had long since given up and turned his head away, staring straight ahead, but even so, the gaze on the back of his head was still burning, as if it could penetrate the seat.
Jian Wu knew that with their close childhood bond, Song Shuci could tell whether he was about to cry or laugh just by a flicker of his eyelids, let alone judging from this recording whether he genuinely wanted to throw up or was trying to hide something else.
Due to Ling Meng’s urging, Song Shuci’s gaze didn’t linger for too long. He quickly looked away and calmly said: “It was good.”
Ling Meng, her judgment affirmed, seemed very pleased. Zheng Yu, whose heart was stirred by the song, looked at Jian Wu with a somewhat affectionate gaze—
He had originally decided last night not to have any further contact with Jian Wu. It was just a fleeting attraction, he liked mutual pursuit, not one-sided efforts. But after seeing Jian Wu and Song Shuci return together, he still felt inexplicably unhappy.
Plus, the song was really good, and the clear, gentle voice made him feel a flicker of attraction again.
He decided to follow his heart and called out to Jian Wu in a slightly ambiguous tone. However, just as he spoke, Song Shuci also called out “Jian Wu.”
Because of the overlapping words, they almost instinctively looked at each other.
Zheng Yu smiled at Song Shuci meaningfully. Song Shuci didn’t avoid his gaze and smiled back.
