Under Clear Skies Chapter 53: No Need Next Time

Chapter 53: No Need Next Time

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Tang Heng’s lips were numb until he walked out of the building. It felt like he’d scraped it with sandpaper. Jiang Ya, the unrefined guy, was standing under a tree and smoking. When he saw Tang Heng, he arched an eyebrow and then tsked, saying, “You two are quite clingy, huh.”

Tang Heng was still immersed in that fleeting kiss. “Shut up,” he drawled lazily.

“Seriously though.” Jiang Ya slung his arm over Tang Heng’s shoulder. “How’d it feel?”

“How’d what feel?”

“That.”   

“What?”

“You know.”

“Fuck off.”       

“No way,” Jiang Ya suddenly snorted. “You two haven’t gotten to that point yet? So vanilla and innocent?”

Tang Heng looked at Jiang Ya and asked seriously, “Are you actually straight or not?”

“Hey.” Jiang Ya crossed his arms over his chest. “Don’t get any ideas about me.”

This guy was tall and bulky with a head of red hair, looking like a stereotypical good-for-nothing. Tilting his head, he started whining in a gruff Northwestern accent, “Little bastard, I really do love girls~”

The remnants of dreamy thoughts scattered instantly. “I’m gonna puke,” Tang Heng said coldly.

“Hey, seriously, you guys aren’t efficient enough.” Jiang Ya lowered his voice. “Do you know how? Should I find a video for you two learn from?”    

“Aren’t you fucking straight? Where’d you get that from.”

“Hey,” Jiang Ya said proudly, “I have girls’ love too. You gotta learn from everyone.”

“…”

Jiang Ya would ask all sorts of weird questions ever since Tang Heng and Li Yuechi started dating, such as, Does it really hurt when you do it? Does it feel as good as in porn clips? Once, he drank some alcohol and drunkenly advised Tang Heng, “Isn’t that Li guy poor… You should buy him more stuff… Be good to him… Otherwise, a man isn’t gonna let you fuck him for nothing!”

Tang Heng stayed silent, while An Yun laughed until tears came out.

Of course, the most critical problem wasn’t that Jiang Ya had confused their position—the most critical thing was that he and Li Yuechi hadn’t gotten to that step yet! They hadn’t dated for even a month yet, Tang Heng thought with some frustration. Was there a need to go so quickly? There was no need, right?

But when Jiang Ya asked, he’d sometimes feel itchy inside, like something was scratching at his heart.   

Jiang Ya hooked an arm around Tang Heng’s shoulder. “Come to my place tonight,” he said casually. “I’ll give you some lessons.”

“Stop being so loud,” said Tang Heng with a cold expression.

“Fine, fine, you cultured folk are so easily embarrassed. I’m telling you, I got a bunch of resources.”   

“Not going.”

“Why not?”

“My project is ending and we have to defend it tomorrow.”

“Oh… defending it tomorrow?” Jiang Ya pretended that he understood. “Then you should be free tomorrow night, right?”   

“Why?”

“There’s a show at Long Love tomorrow. You can go. An Yun’s going too.”

Tang Heng considered it and said, “Okay.”

 

Tang Heng headed home, while Jiang Ya went to visit his girlfriend, so they bid farewell at the campus gates. Then Tang Heng picked up a delivery and carried it home.

The delivery had been sent by Fu Liling from Shanghai. She said it was a block of ten-year-old Pu’er tea leaves, 4000-kuai per block, and wanted him to gift it to Dean Zhang—Zhang Baiyuan’s dad, the dean of the economic department. When Tang Heng first learned of this, he’d been extremely annoyed and asked if you could die from drinking ten-year-old tea leaves. Honey, you don’t understand, Fu Liling reprimanded him. This isn’t used for drinking. It’s a gift.

Tang Heng was about to retort, but he suddenly thought of something and stopped speaking.

Learn more from your uncle when you eat dinner, Fu Liling said. You’re graduating from college, but you’re still childish.

Okay, Tang Heng answered.

Tomorrow was indeed the end of the project, but he wasn’t preparing for the defense tonight. Instead, he had to attend a dinner.

Tang Heng tied his long hair into a low ponytail and changed into a collared shirt and suit. This had also been shipped over from Shanghai by Fu Liling. She said that it was tailored according to his measurements, so it must be quite pricey. Tang Heng was on the thin side and seemed even sharper after changing into this outfit. He even had a colder aura.

He stuck on a carsickness patch and hailed a taxi to the address his uncle had given him. It was a private restaurant in a small alley. When Tang Heng alighted, he didn’t hurry inside. Instead, he pulled out his phone and texted Li Yuechi, asking him, Done with class?

Half a minute later, Li Yuechi replied, Eating dinner now.

Going to the meeting after dinner?

Yeah, you?

Eating in a bit.

With Jiang Ya?

No, there’s a dinner.

Got it. Talk to you after you’re done.

Tang Heng smiled at the screen and pocketed his phone again.   

 

This dinner had been his uncle’s idea and only the two families were there—Tang Heng’s uncle, aunt and himself, as well as Dean Zhang’s family of three. Zhang Baiyuan was also wearing a suit, but he was thin and short, so he looked like a kid who’d stolen his parent’s clothes.

Tang Heng walked over and said respectfully, “Dean Zhang, this is a gift from my mom. She’d wanted to come today too, but she’s just too busy with her company.”

Tang Heng thought the man would politely reject the gift, but to his surprise, the man accepted it heartily. “Tea?” he said with a chuckle. “Aiyo, Xiao Fu knows me well!”

Xiao Fu? Tang Heng thought inside. They’d probably never met before.

“Tang Heng, come and pour wine for your Uncle Zhang!” Tang Guomu looked at the red wine on the table. “Lao Zhang, this is great wine.”

“Great wine and great tea. I really got a treat today, haha…”

Tang Heng couldn’t tell if it was good or bad wine, but it had a strong aftereffect. He slowly sipped on one cup and didn’t feel anything in the beginning. When the dinner was halfway through, his cheeks started burning and his thoughts became a bit muddled too.

The restaurant’s food didn’t taste good too.  Sea cucumber, abalone, and all sorts of seafood and exotic dishes filled the table, but they were all too salty. Tang Heng’s mouth was dry.

Tang Guomu and Dean Zhang chatted about school, while his aunt and Mrs. Zhang discussed about skincare. Zhang Baiyuan focused on eating… This guy hadn’t changed. Dean Zhang smoked, so their private room kept smelling like tobacco. During the second half of the dinner, the cold dishes and cigarette smoke mixed together, making Tang Heng uncomfortable in every aspect.

“It’s fortunate that Xiao Tang was part of this project and could lead Baiyuan.” Perhaps because he was drunk, Dean Zhang raised his voice and said with mock anger, “Our Baiyuan, a fucking hopeless case!”

“Lao Zhang, that’s nonsense,” Tang Guomu said hurriedly. “How is Baiyuan not excellent or hardworking enough? Tang Heng’s the hopeless case. He keeps running around all day. I’d be satisfied if he could be half as down-to-earth as Baiyuan.”

“Down-to-earth? That’s useless. He doesn’t have any ideas or boldness! Look at him, he’s already a grad student, but he can’t even decide on a research direction. I told him to pick according to his interests because I can find someone to help him no matter which direction… He just can’t decide, ah!”

“Haha, he’s still young. No hurry…”

Tang Heng glanced at Zhang Baiyuan, who was busy peeling a shrimp. He was so focused that it seemed like he didn’t hear anything, or perhaps he’d already heard this too many times and was numb to it all?

Dean Zhang tapped his cigarette and continued, “Xiao Tang, where will you study in the future?”

“Not decided yet,” Tang Heng said.

“Oh, you want to study abroad?”

“Yes, this kid won’t listen to anyone,” Tang Guomu said, chuckling helplessly. “It’d be so much better to stay here. Even the economic department will be your base, let alone the sociology department!”   

Dean Zhang looked at Tang Heng and nodded. “Yes, you can work on projects with Baiyuan—I have more than enough resources.”

Tang Heng exhaled softly and put a smile on. “I’m not much help. It’s all Pan Peng who led us.”

Dean Zhang was taken aback, but he quickly chuckled. “Pan Peng? That boy is quite skilled.”   

“He has a lot of ideas too.” Tang Heng picked up his glass and sipped the red wine. “It’s my first time doing a project like this, so I didn’t know anything. Thank god for Pan Peng… controlling the number of people we have on the team.” 

Tang Guomu’s expression changed slightly. “Tang Heng, call the server over. We’ll order some more dishes.”

“No need, we’re all full!” Dean Zhang waved his hand and continued, “How many people worked on this project?”

“There were two slots for the sociology department,” Tang Heng said.

Dean Zhang: “Only two?” 

“Two is quite a lot,” Tang Guomu said awkwardly.

“I had a xuezhang who participated too,” Tang Heng said nonchalantly. “But there weren’t enough slots, so his name wasn’t included.”

“Oh…” Dean Zhang glanced at Zhang Baiyuan. “How many slots does the economic department have?”

Zhang Baiyuan finally lifted his head. He had a blank expression. “I’ll ask Pan Peng later.”

“You don’t know?”

“I…”

“Alright, alright, it’s no big deal.” Tang Guomu stood up and stuffed the menu into Zhang Baiyuan’s hands. “Baiyuan, order some more dishes that you like. As for the slots, one more or one less doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it doesn’t matter,” Tang Heng said.

 

The dinner lasted until 10:30. Dean Zhang’s family got a taxi and left. Then Tang Heng got yelled at. However, his aunt protected him, so Tang Guomu didn’t say anything after scolding him for a bit.

Tang Heng stuck on a new carsickness patch and got a taxi back to campus. He was dizzy, perhaps because of the wine.

After getting out of the car, he saw Li Yuechi’s text. It had been sent at 9:15.

I’m done with meeting. Are you done?

Tang Heng replied: Just finished.

Li Yuechi: Can you call?

Tang Heng exhaled and cleared his throat before dialing Li Yuechi’s number.

Li Yuechi picked up quickly. “Tang Heng,” he said, hushed.

Tang Heng couldn’t help but smile. “Mn, Xuezhang.”

“You drank wine?”

“A little.”

Li Yuechi was silent for a moment, then, “Who did you eat with?”  

“My uncle and Dean Zhang…” Tang Heng massaged his temples and asked, “You’re in the hallway?”

“Yeah.”

Sometimes when they called late at night, Li Yuechi would walk out of his dorm and talk to Tang Heng in the hallway. The boys’ dorm was always noisy. You could vaguely hear people even when standing in the hall.

The gears in Tang Heng’s mind moved slower than usual. “I have good news,” he couldn’t help but say, as if asking for a compliment, after hearing Li Yuechi’s voice.

Li Yuechi laughed. “What good news?”

“That project… Your name will be added,” Tang Heng said bluntly. “Will definitely add your name.”

Li Yuechi was silent for two seconds. “What did you do?” His voice wasn’t pleasantly surprised. Instead, he became serious.

“I… didn’t do anything.” Tang Heng was confused by his question. “Just that I had dinner with Dean Zhang and I mentioned it offhandedly…”

Li Yuechi didn’t answer. Only his faint breaths were audible.

Tang Heng was mostly sober now. “Li Yuechi?” he asked nervously.

“I know you mean well.” A beat later, Li Yuechi sighed. “But you don’t need to do this next time.”

Like getting doused with a basin of cold water, Tang Heng was completely sober now.