In the moonlight, Chi Wang stared at the safety talisman, turning it over in his hands. The craftsmanship was delicate, clearly expensive.
Su Lian was already tight on money, with little to spare. His willingness to buy this for him was genuinely touching. Chi Wang hadn't lied about that.
But blocking him? What was that about?
Chi Wang leaned back against the seat, his long legs slightly bent, and looked up at the only available helper present: "Brother, can I ask you a question?"
The driver expressionlessly gripped the steering wheel and said coldly, "Puking in the car costs two hundred."
"No, I haven't been drinking," Chi Wang laughed, choosing his words carefully. "I wanted to ask, why would someone block another person?"
Hearing this, the experienced man spoke with certainty: "Two possibilities. Either you're constantly harassing them and they find you annoying, or you've upset them somehow."
The driver glanced back at him and drawled, "For someone as handsome as you, it's probably not harassment. So it must be the second option."
Was Su Lian angry? Chi Wang's fingers paused.
He went over the events in his mind from start to finish, staring at the red exclamation mark, and sighed softly. It was his fault.
When he first saw the safety talisman, his instinct was that it couldn't be from Su Lian, as it didn't seem like his style.
Being so familiar with Gu Anjiu and the others since childhood, he hadn't thought much of it and directly sent the picture to the group chat. They were all brothers, always straightforward with each other, never beating around the bush.
But Su Lian was shy and cared about face. He usually kept his distance from people, and being called out publicly like that probably embarrassed and angered him.
Usually, Chi Wang prided himself on being considerate and having a good sense of boundaries, but today he had really messed up, unintentionally offending Su Lian.
But how to make amends? Chi Wang rubbed his brow, feeling anxious.
He dialed Su Lian's number. "Teacher Su, I'm sor-" He only got halfway through before being hung up on.
He called again, was hung up on again, this cycle repeating three times before he was met with a busy tone.
The atmosphere in the taxi grew awkward.
The driver looked at him through the rearview mirror, their eyes meeting as he chuckled, "Young man, this won't do."
"Do you have any suggestions?" Chi Wang leaned on the front seat, earnestly seeking advice. "If it works, I'll give you an extra two hundred."
Seeing his anxious expression, the driver automatically assumed it was a lovers' quarrel and said slowly, "At the very least, you should kneel for a whole night. That's what I do when my wife's angry. Add some sincere promises, and it's guaranteed to work."
"Kneel..." Chi Wang choked a bit, imagining the scene. His knees ached at the thought. "Are you joking?"
"Let me ask you, what kind of personality does she have?"
"He... he's pretty aloof, doesn't talk much, has a strong punch, and a bit of a temper."
The driver let out a long "Oh..." and said, "Then just go to his place and let him beat you up. It's simpler."
After pondering for a moment, Chi Wang actually found some logic in it. "Alright, then please turn around and go back to where we just came from."
The car braked suddenly, nearly sending Chi Wang and the talisman flying.
The driver looked somewhat bewildered. "You're saying the one you're having a tiff with is that handsome guy who just got out?"
Chi Wang nodded, speaking slowly with a completely nonchalant expression: "Yes."
Then why did you look like you were at your wits' end dealing with a drama queen? Are students these days all so complicated?
The driver controlled his shocked expression, not daring to ask more. He slowly turned the steering wheel, making a U-turn and heading towards the old town district.
To make matters worse, Gu Anjiu was still chattering away in the group chat.
[999 Little Clever]: I've been thinking, Brother Lian must have gone specially to get it before he left, right?
[999 Little Clever]: How thoughtful, I wish I had a talisman for passing exams too
[999 Little Clever]: No one's ever gotten one for me in my life, I feel so sad
You talk too much, Chi Wang thought, moving his finger to unceremoniously remove [999 Little Clever] from the group chat.
Half an hour later, the car slowly pulled up at the entrance of an alley. Chi Wang gave an extra two hundred as a thank you and got out.
Standing in the winding old town, with its intertwining staircases and deep alleys, he had no idea which house was Su Lian's.
Holding the safety talisman, Chi Wang slowly made his way inside, peering into every window and door he passed.
The houses in this area were all quite old, with mottled walls and in disrepair. They looked like they might collapse in a strong wind or get soaked through in the rain.
The further in he went, the heavier Chi Wang's heart became.
He knew Su Lian's family was poor, but he hadn't imagined it was this bad. This level of dilapidation was a world he had never set foot in during his past eighteen years.
As he neared the deepest part of the alley, Chi Wang stopped a man pushing a motorcycle and asked softly, "Excuse me, do you know where Su Lian lives?"
Su Huasheng looked the young man up and down. The youth was tall and handsome, wearing understated but clearly expensive brands. His expression was casual, giving the impression of a carefree rich kid, completely out of place in this neighborhood.
Stopping his motorcycle, he hesitantly asked, "Are you his classmate?"
Chi Wang introduced himself: "Yes, my name is Chi Wang. I'm his desk mate. I need to see him about something."
"Desk mate." Su Huasheng pondered this term for a moment, remembering how Su Lian had been texting last time. So this was the new friend he had made at school.
They must be quite close, considering how Su Lian's fingers hadn't stopped moving over his phone that time, with an expression Su Huasheng had never seen before.
It wasn't exactly happiness or joy, but rather an unexpected liveliness in his usually expressionless face.
For someone to come looking this late at night, it must be urgent.
Su Huasheng pointed towards one of the houses and answered, "Over there, house number 2048."
Looking in that direction, Chi Wang smiled, his expression brightening: "Thank you, uncle."
The young man was quite polite. Su Huasheng nodded and started pushing his motorcycle again: "Go on then, I need to get to work."
"Alright, don't let me keep you. I'll be going now." Chi Wang set off, running towards the depths of the alley.
Standing in front of the door, he knocked three times and waited patiently.
Su Lian opened the door with his hair still wet, looking as if he had just showered. He had changed his black T-shirt for comfortable loungewear, his whole body emanating the fresh scent of shower gel.
He froze for a second upon seeing who was at the door, then started to close it again.
Chi Wang quickly pressed against the edge of the door, the two of them silently struggling. Chi Wang, having a slight advantage, said, "Teacher Su, I was wrong. I wasn't thinking. Please don't be angry."
Su Lian couldn't be bothered to respond, increasing the force he was using to close the door: "What are you doing here?"
Chi Wang flexed his fingers, forcing the door to stay open a crack: "Isn't it obvious? I'm here to apologize."
Inside and outside the door, the rickety old thing was being pushed to its limits.
"Well, I've heard it. You can go now." Su Lian's face was expressionless, appearing as if he didn't care.
But Chi Wang knew that at a time like this, whoever left first would be the fool. He smiled gently and tilted his head, saying, "So, will you add me back as a friend?"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Please?"
"Are you a fucking parrot?"
"...I'm just following your lead."
After a few more back-and-forths, Su Lian felt somewhat tired. He let out a small sigh: "Go home. Don't waste your time here. I'm really tired."
Chi Wang lowered his eyes, his expression looking somewhat pitiful: "I won't be able to sleep if you don't add me back."
Su Lian: "..."
He rolled his eyes at Chi Wang, deciding to give himself a moment to recover from the awkwardness. He offered a temporary truce: "I'll add you back in a couple of days."
But Chi Wang was determined to see this through. He leaned against the doorframe, looking completely shameless: "No way, how can it be in a couple of days? If you're really not going to add me, I'll just stand here and not leave."
"Then stand there." Su Lian coldly closed the door, lowering his eyes in a daze.
This guy was really ridiculous. Who would come running over in the middle of the night just because they were removed as a friend?
It wasn't that Su Lian was being fussy, he just found the whole situation extremely awkward and didn't want to face it.
Anyway, Chi Wang would probably leave soon, and in a couple of days, it would all blow over as if nothing had happened.
His phone kept vibrating. He opened WeChat to see a string of messages from Gu Anjiu, whose fuss was giving him a headache.
[999 Little Clever]: I'm crying, please tell Wang to add me back to the group. What did I do to offend him?
[999 Little Clever]: In all these years, this is the first time he's kicked me out!
[999 Little Clever]: Su Lian! You have to get justice for me!!!
He looked utterly heartbroken and indignant.
Su Lian's fingers paused for a moment before he saw the chat records from a few dozen minutes ago. Chi Wang had actually removed him from the group chat over such a small matter. He wasn't sure if this showed a lack of emotional intelligence or if it was actually a clever way to coax someone.
He typed a reply to Gu Anjiu: I'll add you back to the group.
Just as he finished adding him back, Chi Wang's plaintive voice came from outside the door: "Teacher Su, you're kinder to Little Nine than to me. It's not fair."
"..." Su Lian was speechless. He turned his head towards the door, "Why haven't you left yet?"
"I've been standing here. My legs are numb."
"Then keep standing."
Su Lian flopped onto the sofa. His biological clock was on point, and he was feeling quite sleepy. He leaned his head against the chair and drifted off to sleep.
He was awakened by his phone buzzing frantically. Gu Anjiu had sent him a video in a private message, followed by a barrage of text.
[999 Little Clever]: Su Lian, I was going to keep it a secret, but... this video has gone viral again
[999 Little Clever]: Last night you got drunk and sang at the outdoor food stall. There were quite a few people around, and someone must have secretly recorded and uploaded it
[999 Little Clever]: It really wasn't me! I'm just a gossip messenger
[999 Little Clever]: How do you want to handle this?
Su Lian opened the shakily recorded video. In the noisy outdoor food stall, a large crowd had gathered around to watch. He was curled up in a chair, holding a microphone he'd snagged from somewhere, singing acapella.
Beside him, Chi Wang was looking down, strumming a guitar, providing accompaniment. The chords sounded quite nice, and the whole scene looked rather harmonious.
Fragments of memory finally pieced together. Snatching someone's microphone, insisting on singing, and choosing a song that sounded like it had quite a story behind it - it was easy for people to come up with all sorts of wild background stories.
Su Lian cursed under his breath, feeling at a loss.
The acapella music continued to play in the video. Chi Wang's expression was completely nonchalant, as if doing such things at an outdoor food stall wasn't embarrassing at all. He was just quietly accompanying.
Su Lian clutched his phone, his heart softening a bit.
It seemed that every time he felt embarrassed, this person was always by his side.
Be it leading exercises, alarm clocks, or singing - whenever he felt like dying of shame, wasn't Chi Wang right there with him?
As the music came to an end, Chi Wang's fingers swept across the six strings, his long joints plucking the guitar one last time for a clean, crisp finish.
The young man and the music together - for a moment, he actually found it quite beautiful.
Su Lian couldn't be bothered to check the fan support group. He figured it must be in an uproar by now. Thinking of the person outside the door, he slowly got up.
It was already past midnight. He wasn't sure if the person was still there.
Probably not silly enough to really stand there without moving, Su Lian thought.
His fingers touched the door lock. With a click, the door slowly opened.
The tall, long-legged youth stood in the moonlight, even the top of his head ringed with a soft glow. He stood right in front of the door, hands in his pockets, staring at Su Lian without blinking.
That somewhat tacky safety charm was already hanging around his neck, a long string dangling on his chest. It clashed terribly with his all-black outfit, standing out conspicuously.
"Finally willing to open the door. I thought I'd have to stand here until dawn." The night was deep and dewy, making his voice a bit hoarse.
Su Lian gave a noncommittal hum, his fingertip picking at a small chip in the door's paint. "You haven't left yet."
Chi Wang lowered his head, fiddling with the thin tassel. "I had to stand here until you were willing to pay attention to me. I've put on the safety charm, and I'll never take it off, even if I die."
Su Lian pressed his lips together, unable to say anything too soft after all. He just moved aside slightly: "It's too late. Get in and go to sleep."