By the time school ended in the afternoon, Chen Youyou had indeed borrowed a bicycle for Zhan Weiyang. The two of them hid not far from the bike shed, waiting for Xie Ling to come and get his bike.
Zhan Weiyang was a little nervous. In addition to being afraid of Xie Ling, he was more nervous after doing something bad. He sat on the bicycle, stepped on the ground with both feet and repeatedly squeezed the bicycle brakes nervously.
Chen Youyou stood next to him, raised one hand and put it on his shoulder, carefully observing Xie Ling’s actions.
When Xie Ling walked into the bike shed, he initially didn’t notice that his tire was flat. He unlocked the bike, got on, and tried to ride it out, only then realising something was wrong.
Chen Youyou pushed Zhan Weiyang at this time and said, “Go quickly.”
Zhan Weiyang took a deep breath and rode the bicycle in front of Xie Ling. He looked at him and was so scared that he couldn’t speak for a while.
Xie Ling didn’t look at him at all but just squatted down to check his tyre.
Zhan Weiyang’s eyes fell on Xie Ling’s tyre, compared the front and rear wheels, and found that the traces of artificially pulling out the valve core were clearly visible.
At this time, Xie Ling looked up at him.
Zhan Weiyang instantly felt that he had been discovered by Xie Ling. His face turned pale. Without saying anything, he pedalled hard with both feet and rode forward.
Chen Youyou, who was hiding next to him, saw this and called him strangely, “Hey!”
Zhan Weiyang ignored him and rode his bike all the way. Chen Youyou chased him from behind until he reached the school gate and saw Zhan Weiyang standing on the roadside, holding his bike in a daze.
Chen Youyou ran over, panting. He put one hand on the bicycle seat and asked him incoherently, “You, what are you running for?”
Zhan Weiyang’s face was still pale. He lowered his voice, leaned into Chen Youyou’s ear, and said, “I think he found out.”
Chen Youyou said, “He, doesn’t have, any evidence! Just, volunteer to, help him, fix the bike.”
Zhan Weiyang shook his head in a daze.
Chen Youyou couldn’t help but worry, “What’s wrong with you?”
Zhan Weiyang still shook his head. He suddenly pushed the bike to Chen Youyou and said, “I’m leaving. You go take him home.”
Chen Youyou was stunned, “Why should I take him home?”
Zhan Weiyang seemed not to hear him. He waved his hand and walked towards the bus stop.
Chen Youyou called out to him a couple more times, but Zhan Weiyang didn’t stop. He thought Zhan Weiyang must be crazy to tell him to take Xie Ling home. He just rode a short distance and suddenly felt guilty about the whole situation. He turned around and saw Xie Ling walking out of the school, not even pushing his bike but heading straight to find a shared bike. He gritted his teeth, rode up to Xie Ling, pushed his bike towards him, and said, “B-borrow this, and return it to, Zhan Weiyang tomorrow.” Then, he quickly ran off.
Zhan Weiyang took the bus home. When he got home, Auntie Luo and his grandmother both cordially invited him to eat, but he didn’t see Pei Qing at home.
He sat down, picked up the rice bowl, and asked, “Where is Qing ge?”
Auntie Luo said, “He said he has to work overtime at the company tonight and won’t be back for dinner.”
Zhan Weiyang said, “Oh.” He began to eat silently, poking his chopsticks in the bowl, picking up a few grains of rice and putting them into his mouth, and he always looked a bit listless.
Halfway through the meal, Zhan Weiyang asked Auntie Luo, “Where does Qing ge work?”
Auntie Luo said, “I don’t know, you can send him a message yourself.”
“Never mind,” Zhan Weiyang said in a depressed mood, “Then how late does he have to work?”
Auntie Luo said, “I don’t know.”
Zhan Weiyang was even more depressed.
At this time, Grandma suddenly said, “Yangyang, ask Grandma. Grandma knows where Qing ge works.”
Zhan Weiyang looked at Grandma quickly, “Grandma know?”
Grandma stood up before she finished her meal.
Auntie Luo said beside her, “Why are you in such a hurry? Let’s talk after dinner.”
Grandma said, “Seeing as my Yangyang is in such a hurry, I’ll go find it for him now.” Grandma staggered out of the dining room, and Zhan Weiyang followed her. He helped her walk into the room, watching her rummaging in the small drawer of the bedside table and found a small notebook.
“Here is the company where your Qing ge works,” said Grandma.
This address was left by Pei Qing to Grandma after Zhan Pengcheng went on a business trip. He said that if there was something urgent at home and she needed to find him and couldn’t get in touch with him by phone, she could go to the company where he was interning.
Zhan Weiyang took a picture of the address with his mobile phone.
Grandma asked him, “Are you going to find Qing ge?”
Zhan Weiyang nodded.
Grandma said, “Then bring him some food. This kid must have no time to eat dinner because he’s working overtime.”
Zhan Weiyang thought for a moment and said, “I’ll go buy it over there.”
Grandma nodded, “That’s good too. Otherwise, Yangyang wouldn’t be able to carry it if it were too far.”
Zhan Weiyang helped Grandma back to the dining table and sat down. He ate half a bowl of rice absentmindedly, put down his chopsticks and said, “I’m leaving.”
Grandma said to him, “Be careful on the road.”
Zhan Weiyang trotted out of the house and walked to the gate of the neighbourhood. He searched for the address of Pei Qing’s internship company on his mobile phone and then walked to the bus stop to take the bus.
When sitting on the bus, Zhan Weiyang stared out the window in a daze. He had been in a bit of a trance ever since the System inside his head had started appearing again halfway through the second half of the National Day.
He tried hard to think about what he should do, but the more he thought about it, the less he seemed able to find a definite answer. Instead, it only made his mind more confused.
So he wanted to see Pei Qing very much. Only when he was with Pei Qing did his chaotic thoughts become a little simpler, and he could forget many meaningless things.
Meaningful? What can be considered as meaningful? Zhan Weiyang thought.
He sat in the back row of the bus, raised both hands and imitated Chen Youyou by pressing his fingertips together and rubbing them lightly.
Zhan Weiyang liked the feeling of kissing Pei Qing very much. He would immerse himself in it, so that his mind would be empty, and he would always feel happy.
After the National Day, the temperature had completely dropped, and there was no trace of summer. The sky was darker than before.
The weather had been bad for several days in a row, and it was gloomy in the evening. The street lights on the roadside were all orange-yellow in colour, shining down from high above through the grids of car windows, standing on people’s faces, and reflecting Zhan Weiyang’s fair face into a warm orange.
Arriving at the station near Pei Qing’s internship company, Zhan Weiyang got off the bus and walked slowly along the roadside.
There was a cake shop on the roadside. There were beautiful cakes in the glass window. There was a mirror behind the cake display cabinet.
Zhan Weiyang stopped and looked at himself in the mirror. Suddenly, he felt strange.
The boy in the mirror was tall and thin, clean and fair. His eyes were clear but not bright enough as if they were hazy and covered with a layer of fog. He had seen this face since he was a child, but for some reason, he always felt that he was not like himself at this time. But if it was not himself, who could it be?
The top layer of the display cabinet was a birthday cake. It featured houses, dwarves, and green trees. Zhan Weiyang’s eyes fell on the tree, and he was in a daze for a long time until a car passed by behind him and honked.
The horn sounded very sharp and sobered him up. He turned around nervously and saw pedestrians passing by hurriedly or leisurely on the street. Then he remembered that he was looking for Pei Qing, so he continued to walk forward.
He asked the owner of a dumpling restaurant to pack several dumplings because he wanted to try every flavour. After packing them, he felt that it was too much.
Zhan Weiyang walked into the company’s office building and called Pei Qing in the lobby.
The phone was picked up quickly, and Pei Qing’s tone was a little surprised, “Yangyang? What’s wrong?”
Zhan Weiyang said, “Which floor are you on? I brought you dinner.”
Pei Qing was obviously stunned and asked him, “Where are you?”
Zhan Weiyang said, “I’m on the first floor.”
Pei Qing immediately said, “Wait for me there.” Then he hung up the phone.
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