Under Clear Skies Chapter 60: Sitting Together

Chapter 60: Sitting Together

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Li Yuechi raised his eyebrows in surprise. Before he could speak, Tang Heng hurriedly explained, “I don’t mean anything weird, just… If you don’t wanna go back to your dorm…” Wait. This didn’t seem right either. When did Li Yuechi say that he didn’t want to return to his dorm?

But how should we say it? He wanted to hold Li Yuechi in his hand, even if he was just a gust of wind. Tang Heng didn’t know why he was so scared of losing him. Even if Li Yuechi had had a girlfriend before—wasn’t this normal? He’d already accepted this fact, hadn’t he? Why was he still in such panic, always feeling that Li Yuechi would walk into a vast mountainous forest at night when it was raining, like a shadow, and never come back. Strange—what was with his mind?

“That’s not what I meant.” Tang Heng forged on, despite not making sense, “There’s no one at home.”

Li Yuechi laughed. “So?” he asked in a low voice.

“So… you can sleep in the study. There’s a bed.”

“I think sleeping in the dorm is pretty nice.”

“Oh,” Tang Heng said monotonously while looking at him. “Then… go back.”

Li Yuechi nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

He turned to leave after that, moving briskly. “Li Yuechi!” Tang Heng called out again.

Li Yuechi turned around as if he’d been prepared for it. “Last chance,” he said with a smile.

He was always so relaxed, Tang Heng thought. He knew everything.   

“Keep me company.” Tang Heng was too shy to look at him, so he just stared at his feet. “Stay with me, okay?”

“Let’s go.”

“Huh?” 

“To your home,” Li Yuechi murmured.

Tang Heng swore that he had no ulterior motives when he invited Li Yuechi to his home.

He just purely wanted to spend more time with Li Yuechi. 

But Li Yuechi’s voice was so low, his tone so light, even the night wind became soft. They walked on a remote path, their shoes stepping over some fallen branches and leaves. The soft noises were like some kind of low murmur.

Tang Heng’s mind was kind of in a mess.

Li Yuechi was actually going home with him. Just the two of them. The bed in his room was a double bed.

Who should shower first? Technically, Li Yuechi was the guest, so he should shower first. The underwear was new too. But if, if they did it together… Would it be too fast? Also, his home was quite old, so the bathroom was very cramped.

“Tang Heng.” Li Yuechi suddenly grabbed him.

“Huh?” Oh no. Did Li Yuechi change his mind?

“There are steps.”

“Oh…” Tang Heng said awkwardly. “I almost missed it.”

Li Yuechi didn’t reply. He just moved the hand grabbing Tang Heng down and lightly held Tang Heng’s wrist. His palm was warm. Tang Heng felt his mind growing even more jumbled.       

 

They finally reached the building. Most of the residents here were retired faculty members. They were old and slept early, so even though it wasn’t 11 yet, only two or three apartments had their lights on.

Tang Heng walked into the hallway and made a soft “hey.” The warm yellow sound-activated lights came on. “The neighbors are all sleeping,” he whispered, explaining to Li Yuechi. “This old building isn’t very soundproof.”

Li Yuechi replied with a light mn and followed Tang Heng up the stairs. The staircase was quiet and Tang Heng watched as their shadows were stretched long by the sound-activated lights, one overlapping intimately over the other.

 “What floor do you live on?”

“Sixth floor.” Tang Heng didn’t dare to look at his face and just concentrated on climbing. “The top floor.”

They quickly arrived at the sixth floor—too quickly. Both panted for breath. Tang Heng lowered his head to look for the key in his bag, his hand feeling around. Meanwhile, Li Yuechi’s heavy breaths hit the top of his head, muddling his thoughts again.

He finally found his key and was about to open the door when Li Yuechi suddenly asked, “Does someone live across from you?”

“Yeah.” Tang Heng rubbed his face. “A teacher from the literature department. Retired.”

“Tang Heng.”

“Hmm?”

“…”

Two seconds later, Tang Heng belatedly lifted his head to discover that the gaze in Li Yuechi’s eyes had changed. His brows were slightly knitted, the corners of his lips pressed downward, looking as if he was… holding back.

“Tang Heng,” Li Yuechi’s voice was so soft, “I think—”

The lights turned off and his vision sank into darkness.

“I can’t hold back anymore,” Li Yuechi breathed out next to Tang Heng’s ear.

Tang Heng’s mind went blank in that moment. He couldn’t figure out what Li Yuechi meant. The surroundings were too dark, so he subconsciously searched for a light source—and met Li Yuechi’s eyes. A blurry dot of light shone in from the window in the hall, shone into his pupils. In those pupils, Tang Heng saw two tiny dots of white light.

Those two dots got closer, closer.

He whiffed the faint scent of tobacco and Li Yuechi kissed his lips.   

They kissed quietly yet impatiently in that pitch black hall. The kiss was too impatient and Tang Heng tried all his might to restrain his breaths, fearing that if he breathed too loudly, he’d alert the sound-activated light. A moment later, Li Yuechi shifted to the side, one hand circled around Tang Heng’s waist, another pressed against the wall.

His breaths were a bit hurried too and his fringe brushed against Tang Heng’s face. It was damp—hard to tell whose sweat it was.

Tang Heng knew that he had a reaction.

“Li Yuechi…” he called softly. The sound-activated lights turned on the instant he spoke. Li Yuechi’s hand flew over and covered his eyes.   

His vision turned dark again, but he could see slivers of light between the cracks of his fingers. Tang Heng blinked, feeling his eyelashes fluttering in his palm.

“What’s wrong?” Tang Heng asked him.

“I…” Li Yuechi’s voice was low and hoarse. “Let’s wait a bit longer, okay?”

Tang Heng hadn’t processed it yet. “Wait for what?”   

“To do it.”

“…”

“Give me one more week—five days’ll be enough.”

Tang Heng was both embarrassed and confused. Five days? What would happen five days later? They weren’t girls who had to schedule around their period.

“S-sure,” Tang Heng said. “It’s not, no hurry.”

Li Yuechi lowered himself and pressed another kiss onto Tang Heng’s lips.

Then he let go.

Tang Heng inserted the key to the hole. While opening the door, he asked, “Why five days?” Li Yuechi followed behind him, mumbling, “You’ll know when the time comes.”

 

The door opened. The living room light was on.

Fu Liling was sitting on the sofa and lifted her head now. “Ah, I could hear it was you.” Then her eyes moved onto Li Yuechi’s face. “Xiao Heng, is this your friend?”

Tang Heng froze in place and even shuddered.

“Mom…” he finally said after many seconds. “How come you’re back?”

“The company isn’t busy these days.” Fu Liling, clad in a brown silk dress, stood up casually. “Hurry and let your friend in.”

Tang Heng didn’t even dare to look back at Li Yuechi.

“Hi, Auntie.” He heard Li Yuechi’s calm voice. “I’m Tang Heng’s classmate. I came to borrow a book from him.”

“Oh, come on in.” Fu Liling looked around and smiled apologetically. “Xiao Heng hasn’t cleaned up in a while. Look how messy it is.”

Tang Heng changed his shoes and walked straight to the kitchen. “I’ll pour some water.”

He was dazed from fear and his heart was about to shoot out of his chest. Fu Liling had heard their footsteps when they went up the stairs, but they hadn’t opened the door immediately. Did she know already?

Tang Heng poured two glasses of water and brought them out, placing them on the living room table.

Fu Liling sat on the left side of the sofa, while Li Yuechi sat on the right side. The middle was empty—clearly the spot left for him.

“Mom.” Tang Heng sat down and took a deep breath. “This is my xuezhang, Li Yuechi.”

“Oh, Xiao Li, right?” Fu Liling smiled at him. “Also from the sociology department?”   

“Yes,” Li Yuechi said.

“That’s great. Xiao Heng loves to fool around. As his xuezhang, you should lead him to study more.”

“Mom.” Tang Heng stood up. “I’ll go get his books. He has to hurry back to his dorm. They have a curfew.”   

Li Yuechi stood up as well and lowered his eyes. “Auntie, sorry for disturbing you so late at night.”

“Not a problem. Xiao Heng, go get the book.” She looked at Li Yuechi and her voice was nothing out of the ordinary. “Xiao Li, finish the water before you leave.”

Tang Heng sped into the study and pulled a random Heidegger book from the shelf. He handed it to Li Yuechi and couldn’t help but clear his throat, saying, “Xuezhang, you can take this book. There’s no rush in giving it back to me.”

“Okay, thank you,” Li Yuechi said.

“Then… be careful on your way back.” 

Li Yuechi nodded. “Bye Auntie.”

“Goodbye.” Fu Liling got up and walked Li Yuechi to the door, saying, “Xiao Li, come visit again.”

After closing the door, Fu Liling asked, “Whose student is he?”

“…Dabo‘s.”

“The boy is quite handsome.” Fu Liling yawned and drawled, “My flight was delayed today and I waited for the entire afternoon in the airport. So exhausted.”

Tang Heng massaged her shoulders. “How many days are you staying this time?”

“Leaving the day after tomorrow. I’m going to sleep now and eat lunch with your Dabo tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“You should sleep early too. Don’t stay up late every night.”

“Mom—”

Fu Liling turned and laughed, asking, “What?”

“Nice dress.”

“Of course,” Fu Liling said proudly. “I liked it at first glance. It’s the last one in the store.”   

 

Tang Heng took a quick shower and returned to his room. He saw a text from Li Yuechi: I got back to my dorm.

Tang Heng replied: My mom didn’t find out. Don’t worry.

Li Yuechi: Okay, goodnight.

Tang Heng: goodnight.

Tang Heng set down his phone and glanced at Fu Liling’s room. The door was closed and the crack under the door was dark too. It seemed that she was indeed sleeping. Fu Liling hadn’t found out, Tang Heng thought anxiously. After all, her expression and tone were so normal. Plus, he and Li Yuechi had only stayed outside the door for a short while and hadn’t made any noise. The worst-case scenario was just that Fu Liling had some suspicions now.   

Suddenly, Tang Heng regretted coming out of the closet so impatiently in the past.

Anyway, if Fu Liling asked in the future, he’d just deny it with his life.

He didn’t actually mind coming clean to Fu Liling, but he knew that Li Yuechi wouldn’t want that.

Too many things had happened this night. Tang Heng lay in bed, feeling extreme fatigue. He touched his lips. It still contained remnants of the touch from Li Yuechi’s kiss.

 

There were no classes the next day. When Tang Heng woke up, Fu Liling had already left. He had two texts on his phone. One was from Fu Liling: I’m going out for a spa. Remember to go eat lunch at your Dabo’s.

Another one was from Jiang Ya: Fuck, that meimei from last night really does know your Li Yuechi!

This woke Tang Heng up. He quickly dialed Jiang Ya’s number.

“Yo, you’re awake?”

“How do you know that she knows Li Yuechi?”

“I saw it,” Jiang Ya said mysteriously. “I went to Normal Uni’s cafeteria to eat this morning. It’s the cafeteria with the best regan noodles… I saw them sitting together.”