The Scorching Sun - 79
The walk to Yan Lie's house took ten minutes in all.
In truth, it wasn't quite that fast. At an ordinary walking pace, it would have taken about fifteen minutes.
By the time they had just emerged from the row of tree-lined paths ahead, Fang Zhuo's palm had already begun to sweat from the heat. She tried to pull her hand free, but Yan Lie tightened his grip and held it firmly in place, the knuckles of his fingers standing out beneath the force.
Before Fang Zhuo could say anything, Yan Lie leaned closer and asked, "Did you drink?"
"I didn't." Fang Zhuo sniffed, but couldn't smell anything on him. "It probably rubbed off from Yu Qingjiang."
Yan Lie drawled, "I heard alcohol can be absorbed through the skin."
The moment Fang Zhuo heard his tone, she knew he was about to put on a performance.
Yan Lie said, "For your safety, I'd like you to cooperate."
"Aren't you hot?" Fang Zhuo looked him up and down, genuinely curious. "You're covered in sweat."
Yan Lie kept his eyes straight ahead and continued walking. "Even Zhu Bajie wouldn't carry his wife halfway home and then put her down."
"Zhu Bajie?"
"At least Zhu Bajie carried his wife all the way home." Yan Lie suddenly flashed a sly smile and tugged her into a run. "If I bring you home, you're mine. Anyone who tries to take you away is getting reported to the police!"
Yan Lie, a young man living in a socialist country, was certainly safer than Zhu Bajie, and considerably bolder than Sun Wukong.
Fang Zhuo indulged him and ran along at his pace for a while. By the time they reached the entrance to the residential compound, she was drenched in sweat despite herself.
Yan Lie stopped as they passed a little convenience store. He looked at the brightly lit counter and released Fang Zhuo's hand. Assuming he was going inside to buy something, Fang Zhuo was surprised when Yan Lie simply pointed toward the entrance, indicating that she should go in herself.
"What are we buying?"
"You can wear my pajamas." Both his gaze and his train of thought seemed to jump abruptly as he stole a glance at her expression. "It's already nine. If you go back to campus, the dorms might already be locked. Besides, I've got a spare room at home."
The scene felt strangely familiar, enough to make her wonder if exactly the same thing had happened before.
Except last time had been an accident. This time, she wasn't so sure.
Fang Zhuo stood there for two or three seconds before going into the convenience store. She bought a toothbrush and some underwear, then slowly came back out while zipping up her backpack.
Yan Lie was stepping on his own shadow beneath the lights. Feeling the cool air drift out through the opening and closing door, he looked up and smiled at her. Faint fluorescent light reflected in his clear black-and-white eyes. He said nothing, simply turned and led the way.
This was Fang Zhuo's second time at Yan Lie's house. The circumstances had been too awkward the first time for her to really look around. This time, she took in her surroundings and vaguely felt that something was different.
"I'll shower in the bedroom inside. You can use the bathroom over here." Yan Lie pointed out the way. "My room is the one all the way at the back. I'll show you around later."
Fang Zhuo gave him a sidelong look. "Why would I need to see your bedroom?"
Yan Lie pretended not to hear her and calmly pointed to the other side. "That's the guest room. Auntie already cleaned it up. I'll make the bed for you in a bit."
Then he added, "You'll probably like it."
Fang Zhuo barely reacted. Who wouldn't like a fully furnished place like this?
Yan Lie tugged at his collar as he hurried farther inside, looking thoroughly unable to bear the heat. "I'm going to shower first. Make yourself comfortable."
Fang Zhuo took her time in the shower. By the time she came out, rubbing her still-damp hair with a towel, Yan Lie was already sitting in the study.
She first went to take a look at the guest room. She pushed open the door, saw what was inside, and startled so badly that the foot she'd already stepped over the threshold immediately retreated.
There really was a fresh sheet spread across the bed. It was pale pink, obviously a size too large for the mattress, with the corners hanging all the way to the floor. The matching quilt was printed with bright, eye-catching cartoon characters in a chibi style.
Fang Zhuo fell silent.
Honestly, she'd never used bedding this girlish in her entire life. Apart from the green checkered patterns commonly used at school and the distinctly old-fashioned peony designs, the most normal bedding she'd ever had was plain, solid-colored sheets.
Why had Yan Lie bought a duvet cover for her?
Or rather, what else had he secretly bought?
Most people's thoughts weren't this difficult to figure out, were they? Did he just not like the bedding at Ye Yuncheng's place?
Fang Zhuo sat by the bed in bewilderment for a while, slowly gathering her scattered thoughts back together.
She walked over to the study, raised a hand, knocked lightly, and squeezed her way inside. "Did you buy that specifically for me?"
Yan Lie turned sideways. His gaze swept over Fang Zhuo's oversized pajamas before returning to the computer screen. He scratched his ear and said, "Yeah. I bought it for my girlfriend. If my girlfriend doesn't like it, I'll save it for my daughter. Cute, right?"
Fang Zhuo's mind went blank for a moment, and she blurted out, "How do you know you're going to have a daughter?"
"A granddaughter would work too." Yan Lie tried to maintain his composure, apparently with no idea what he was saying anymore, and improvised wildly. "I heard bedding used to be passed down from one generation to the next. This style might be discontinued by then, so I'll save it for them now."
After he finished, Fang Zhuo had absolutely no idea what to say. She became trapped in a bizarre little circle of logic, arguing with herself from every possible angle.
There did seem to be something faintly suspicious about his intentions, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt he might actually be perfectly aboveboard. After all, if someone had impure motives, why would he put two beds in the room?
The air conditioner soon cooled their overheated heads, and a trace of chill began to drift through the room. Fortunately, the QQ notification tone sounded at just the right moment, breaking the bewildering silence.
Fang Zhuo pulled the wooden door shut behind her and asked, "What are you doing?"
"My dad's messaging me." Yan Lie seemed to let out a breath of relief, his brows drawing together slightly. "I don't know what's gotten into him lately. He says he wants to celebrate holidays with me."
"What's wrong with that?" Fang Zhuo paused, then pretended to be objective. "That's pretty open-minded, isn't it?"
Yan Lie said indignantly, "But he's celebrating Children's Day with me!"
Fang Zhuo: "..."
"He said young people all like celebrating this holiday!" Yan Lie struck the keyboard hard with his fingers, each key answering with a crisp, indignant click. "I don't know where he got that information. How can he generalize so wildly from such a small sample? Do I look like someone who enjoys celebrating Children's Day?!"
Fang Zhuo decided it was safer not to defend Yan Chengli, afraid she might get dragged into it herself. Privately, though, she did think Yan Lie was actually very well suited to celebrating Children's Day. He was so childish.
The notification tone sounded several times in quick succession. Fang Zhuo kept her head lowered and didn't see their chat, but she could practically picture Yan Chengli sitting there scratching his head in confusion.
"Now he's saying he wants to celebrate my birthday too. Is he flipping through a calendar?" Yan Lie muttered. "Who asks someone what they want for their birthday present several months in advance?"
Yan Chengli's intentions were almost painfully obvious.
Fang Zhuo thought to herself that there were people like that, after all. The power of heredity was truly remarkable.
She remembered that July was approaching and asked, "So what do you want for your birthday?"
Yan Lie glanced at her again. His eyes landed on the damp patch on her shoulder, and he abruptly came back to himself. "Why didn't you dry your hair? The hair dryer is on the second shelf of the cabinet."
"Oh." Fang Zhuo said, "You still haven't answered my question. Can you give me a hint, Teacher?"
Even Yan, the examiner himself, wasn't entirely sure what the answer was. He pulled the towel over her hair and gently rubbed it dry.
He wanted time to pass a little faster, yet at the same time, he felt that not a single day spent with Fang Zhuo should be wasted. His hopes for the future gave rise to all sorts of contradictory thoughts, and strangely enough, he didn't dislike the feeling.
"You figure it out yourself," Yan Lie said coldly. "You don't even know that?"
Yan Lie's birthday was something Fang Zhuo had planned to spend with him at the seaside, as they'd promised. After all, she'd let him down halfway the year before and left him with a distracted, disappointing holiday.
So Fang Zhuo arranged their itinerary in advance, took several days off from her part-time job, and went with Yan Lie to a coastal city.
Unfortunately, once they arrived at their lodging, the first day was merely overcast. On the second day, a torrential downpour began.
Looking back, Fang Zhuo felt as though the relentless rain had beaten her own mood to pieces. She simply couldn't muster any enthusiasm.
First, she'd forgotten to close the windows when they went out that morning. When they returned, the living room and balcony were flooded with rainwater. They spent half the day cleaning it up, only for the light bulb to burn out that evening.
The next day, they bought a new bulb and scrambled to replace it, then discovered that a screw had come loose from the wardrobe door. It nearly came crashing down, so they had no choice but to find some tools and repair it.
It wasn't until their final day that the heavens finally relented and cleared up. The two of them took several photos by the shore.
Yan Lie showed them to her. In one, she was smiling so broadly it looked unnatural. In another, her smile was slightly forced. The third had captured only her profile as she gazed silently at the sky, expressionless, looking calm and wise.
Fang Zhuo chose the third, but Yan Lie saved the first two as well.
The summer of her second year arrived once again amid heavy heat and gentle evening breezes, much like the mango shaved ice in Fang Zhuo's hands, fragrant and intensely sweet, with a delicate softness to it.
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