Under Clear Skies Chapter 68: December

Chapter 68: December

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

No one was willing to get out of bed on December mornings.

Especially December in Wuhan—it rained again at midnight and the damp, chilly air stuck to their skin. It was a horrible feeling. Tang Heng dug his phone out from under the pillow and managed to crack his eyes open. It said 08:12 on the screen.

Crap.

As expected, the bed was empty next to him and Li Yuechi’s blanket was over his body. The electric blanket had been turned off too. This was Li Yuechi’s habit—having it on for too long was unsafe, so he always turned off the blanket when he got up for class.

However, they had the blanket on the entire time when they slept. Could it be that the blanket was safer with one extra person around?

Tang Heng wrinkled his nose and smelled beef noodles.

He only had one class this semester and it was in the afternoon, so he had no need to get up early. Whenever they spent the night at the apartment, Li Yuechi would be the one to buy breakfast. Last night, Tang Heng had secretly set an alarm for seven o’clock, wanting to go buy breakfast for Li Yuechi.

But he still failed…

Tang Heng stretched and his leg touched a smooth cardigan. This was also Li Yuechi’s habit. Wuhan’s winters were honestly too cold, so he would stuff Tang Heng’s clothes under the blanket before he left. This way, they would be warm when Tang Heng got out bed.

Tang Heng slowly put on his clothes. The beef noodles were in a thermos. The fragrant, spicy steam surged out the instant he opened the lid. It was a large serving of Xiangyang beef noodles with a fried egg.

Li Yuechi had already started class at this time.

“Mom.” The hot broth made Tang Heng slur his words. “You’re at the airport?”

“So annoying, it’s delayed 50 minutes,” Fu Liling said. “You’re up already? This early?”

“Yeah… I slept early last night.” Actually, they’d had sex until two a.m. and his waist was still sore.

“Good boy. I might not be able to make it to lunch. Remember to bring the gift over.”

“Can I not go?” Tang Heng complained. “You can treat them after you’re back.”

“I will definitely treat them, but today is Dean Zhang’s birthday. We have to give him a gift.” Fu Liling paused and emphasized, “This month’s biggest order was referred by Dean Zhang. We owe him a big one, honey. This is how interpersonal relations work—”

“Okay, okay, got it,” Tang Heng said quickly. “I’ll go over at noon.”

“Mn, and don’t get it mixed up. The brown bag is for Dean Zhang. The red one is for his wife.”

“I know.”

“You’re eating?”

“Ah.” Tang Heng felt guilty. “Yeah.”

“Ayi came this early?”

“No, I… I made it myself.”

“Really?” Fu Liling laughed. “Our Tang Heng learned how to cook!”   

“It’s just a bowl of ramen…”

“Ramen?” Fu Liling grew serious as soon as she heard this. “That stuff is the unhealthiest! How can you eat it for breakfast?”

“It’s just once in a while.”

“Don’t eat it in the future,” Fu Liling said. “How about I talk to ayi and have her come over to cook you breakfast too?”

“No!”

“Mn?”

“I don’t eat breakfast that much. Jiang Ya is downstairs now.”

“Don’t forget to give the gift at noon.”

“Don’t worry!”

Tang Heng hung up and exhaled deeply.

He’d almost caused trouble for himself.

 

Ever since he rented this place, he and Li Yuechi started staying here more and more. Everything was good, except he had to be careful about Fu Liling suddenly coming home from Shanghai. He’d even made an alibi with Jiang Ya—if Fu Liling found out he wasn’t home, then they’d say that he was at Jiang Ya’s place.

At the time, Jiang Ya had even teased, “Honey, your mom won’t think that we’re dating, right?”

Tang Heng: “…”

Li Yuechi had taken the phone over. “Doesn’t look like it.”

Jiang Ya had surrendered immediately. “Hey! Ge! It’s just a joke!”

After all, he still needed Li Yuechi to do his homework.   

Tang Heng finished the noodles and rinsed the thermos. Then he turned the heat up one degree. It was 8:45, so Li Yuechi should be out of class.

Tang Heng curled his hands inside his sleeves and only poked one finger out to tap at his phone’s keyboard.

I’m done eating. The dean of the economic department is celebrating his birthday at noon, so I have to help my mom give him a gift. I can’t pick you up from class 🙁

I have to practice with the band in the afternoon and perform at Long Love at night. Where should we eat dinner?

(Don’t add a fried egg anymore. I’m so full)

 

Li Yuechi called him less than a minute later. It was quiet on his end. This was how morning classes were like—everyone was catching up on their sleep.

“I might not have time to eat dinner tonight,” Li Yuechi said. “Teacher Tang set a meeting with me and Xiaoqin.”

“Huh? Didn’t you have one two days ago?”

“I think it’s a new project. Not really sure—” Midsentence, Li Yuechi suddenly called out, “Hello, laoshi.” A few seconds later, he whispered, “I just saw Song-laoshi and An Yun.”

“I think Lao An is being Song-laoshi’s TA.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you at Long Love tonight.”

“Sure.” Which meant he’d have to wait until nighttime to see Li Yuechi…

“When you perform,” Li Yuechi seemed to laugh, “don’t dance too crazily, got it?”

Tang Heng’s cheeks flared. “I have energy!”

“That’s not what you said last night.”

“What did I say?” He seriously couldn’t remember. He’d been both exhausted and ecstatic; his mind had turned into mush.

Li Yuechi didn’t answer his question. He just laughed and said, “I gotta go to class.”

 

At noon, Tang Heng carried the gifts over to Dean Zhang’s birthday celebration. His uncle and aunt were there too. Tang Heng presented the gifts and sat down beside his aunt.

“Xiao Heng.” His aunt pocketed her phone. “Your mom isn’t here?”

“Her flight got delayed.”

“Oh.” His aunt nodded. “Eat up.”

“I’m full. I gotta practice this afternoon.”

“Aw, you barely ate anything.”

“Help my tell my uncle.” Tang Heng glanced at their table. He saw An Yun following Professor An to drink to Dean Zhang. “I need to go.”

Tang Heng didn’t know why his aunt and uncle sat separately. Couples should be sitting together at events like this, just like Professor An’s family. Dean Zhang had four tables for his birthday celebration. Tang Heng’s uncle sat at Dan Zhang’s table, while his aunt sat at the one furthest away.

Maybe his aunt didn’t want to socialize with them. Tang Heng had heard his uncle complain before that she was too antisocial. “She puts all her energy on those dogs and cats!”

 

Tang Heng went home and took a shower, washing away the smells of cigarettes and food from the restaurant. He changed into a new sweater, slung on his guitar, and took the subway to the studio.

Jiang Ya and An Yun were eating pizza. When An Yun saw Tang Heng, she cussed, “Why the fuck did you leave so early?”

“No shit,” Tang Heng said. “They could eat until three p.m.”   

“You should’ve brought me with! The old man talked my ear off when I left!”

“I saw you were drinking to the dean.”

“Fucking crazy,” An Yun muttered. “Is my dad crazy? Nobody makes their daughter drink with them!”

“An-ge,” Jiang Ya said, chomping on his pizza. “I think your dad sees you as his son.”

“Fuck off.”

They started practicing after they ate and drank their fill. December 1st was the first day of the Zhouheiya Campus Band Competition. As expected, Hushituo made it through the preliminary round. Fifty bands were split into five groups to perform live. They would go onstage next Friday.

Tang Heng wasn’t actually nervous. After all, they already had a lot of stage experience. However, Jiang Ya was abnormally excited and called him and An Yun every day to practice.

“Jiang Ya!” An Yun put down her bass and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “What’s up with you today?”

“Nothing.”

“This is your third time messing up here,” Tang Heng said.

“Okay, okay, I messed up.” Jiang Ya raised his hands in defeat. “Lulu came over at midnight and went crazy.”

“Lulu?” Tang Heng’s mind was blank for a while before he remembered this was Jiang Ya’s ex. “What’s wrong with her?”

“What else? She came to tell me how much she misses me.”

An Yun rolled her eyes.

“I’m serious.” Jiang Ya looked at them innocently. “I didn’t know I was this attractive either.”

“Just you wait,” An Yun said. “With all the shit you’ve done… someone will castrate you sooner or later.”

“Damn, you’re evil.”

“I’m the hottest tomboy in Hongshan.”

“No tomboys are good news—”

“Pause.” Tang Heng strummed his guitar. “Continue.”

 

They were practicing South by Da Da Band and they planned on singing this for the competition. It wasn’t an easy song. It required complex techniques and the lead singer Peng Tan’s voice was too clean and distinctive. Lao Bu warned them to be careful not to turn their cover into a knockoff.

But the three decided in unison to sing this song, because they liked it. Plus, the song was about Wuhan. It suited.

It’s always humid there, it’s always soft there.

It always has many trivial things, it’s always blue and red there.

My first love was there, don’t know how she is now. 

Who is still thinking of the lakeside before my house?

 

They practiced for the entire afternoon and Tang Heng was a bit tired. There weren’t many customers at Long Love that night, so he sat on a barstool, held his mic, and sang this song with his eyes closed. An Yun played the guitar and Jiang Ya messed up on the drums again, but it was okay. Tang Heng could even space out while singing—Why is it red and blue? Is there a lot of red and blue in Wuhan? He felt that the lyrics should be changed to it’s always red and green there. There was a lot of green in Wuhan, of course—the fresh green mountains, dark green lakes, and the ivy covering the campus walls, as well as the thick and damp moss on tree trunks. As for red, he couldn’t point out any large patches of red, but Wuhan just felt red to him. Perhaps it was the powerful Yangtze River, or perhaps because the summers were boiling and winters were frigid. Even the temperature in Wuhan had drastic ups and downs. The city was like the heaviest dark red, the most vibrant, most passionate.

Li Yuechi was red too. When they had sex with the lights off, Li Yuechi’s breaths would hit his ears, warm yet hurried. Their entire bodies would be covered in sweat, the electric blanket would be hot, and it’d be like he had sunken into a boundless mass of red.

 

“Tang Heng!” Jiang Ya pushed him from behind. “We’re off work!”

“Oh—” Tang Heng realized just now that they’d finished singing and the audience was clapping.

“Amazing,” Jiang Ya said. “You can space out anywhere.”

The trio got off stage. Jiang Ya and An Yun went to the resting room, while Tang Heng went straight to the bar. Immediately, he saw Li Yuechi sitting there with his backpack.

“What are you doing?” They were surrounded by people, so Tang Heng could only pat his shoulders.

“Working for you.”

“Huh?”

“People who want to profess their love to you have to register with me first.” Li Yuechi held up a stack of sticky notes with a smile.

Tang Heng took it dumbly and saw that the names of two girls were written on it, followed by their phone number and age.

“When you were singing, they kept discussing if you have a girlfriend and how to get your number.”

“Oh.” Then Tang Heng hurriedly added, “I never gave it out before!”

“They know you don’t.”

“Ah.”

“So they were thinking of different ways. They can go through Jiang Ya or directly ask Lao Bu.”

Tang Heng: “…” People had indeed done that before.

“I told them I’m your secretary,” Li Yuechi said matter-of-factly. “If they want to confess to you, they can register with me.”

Tang Heng wanted to laugh, but he kept it in. “And they believed it?”

“They didn’t at first, but I said they could note down their name and number, and they’ll get a phone call within seven work days.”

“Hey—” Tang Heng couldn’t hold back anymore and tugged on his sleeve. “How can you be so mean?”

Li Yuechi laughed too. “I can’t help it. Too many competitors.”

At that time, An Yun and Jiang Ya finished packing up and walked over. They left from the backdoor as usual. An Yun was on the phone the entire time. The alley was dark and they were surrounded by their own people, so Tang Heng held Li Yuechi’s hand.

A few minutes later, An Yun hung up. “Which meimei is it?” Jiang Ya asked, hungry for gossip. “It’s so late at night.”

An Yun ignored him and took a few steps forward. “Li Yuechi, did Teacher Tang have you guys join a new team?”

Li Yuechi responded with a “mn.”

“You guys are pretty busy,” Jiang Ya said.

Naturally, he didn’t notice An Yun unspoken question, but Tang Heng did. “He didn’t have you join?” he asked.

“Right.” An Yun’s tone was calm. “Didn’t ask me. That team is made up by second-year grad students and has to work with an outside company. It’s a lot of work.”

“Teacher Tang mentioned you at tonight’s meeting,” Li Yuechi said. “You’re going to do a project with An-laoshi, so you don’t have to join us.”

An Yun stopped walking. “Don’t you think it’s… too early?”

Li Yuechi: “Huh?”

“The school year just started and we’ve only been first-year students for a few months, but Teacher Tang is having you two do a second-year project? The project is really annoying, with a big workload. I heard my shijie complain about it before.”

After a pause, Li Yuechi asked, “What do you mean?”

Tang Heng looked at An Yun in confusion too. He knew that An Yun wasn’t the type to be nitpicky, so he couldn’t figure it out why she said all this. However, the light in the alley was too dim. They were very close, but he couldn’t see An Yun’s expression clearly.

“I don’t mean anything… I’m sure Teacher Tang has his considerations.” An Yun chuckled. “I just wanted to warn you guys that the project is hard. You have to deal with outsiders and it involves interests and benefits. You… Just look out for Xiaoqin, okay?”

Before Li Yuechi could answer, Jiang Ya teased, “Not bad, Lao An. You know how to care for girls.”

“Shut up,” An Yun said. Then she turned to Li Yuechi. “I’m asking you this favor.”

“I will,” Li Yuechi answered simply.