Under Clear Skies Chapter 75: One Hundred Times the Cost

Chapter 75: One Hundred Times the Cost

Translated by Fefe of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

The second half of the dinner, everyone exchanged glances awkwardly and the atmosphere turned cold. When Professor Tang went to the bathroom, Xu Rong exhaled deeply. “Is shidi okay?” she whispered.

“Do you have his number? Why don’t you call him?” Bao Lei looked nervous too. “Shit, that really scared me.”

“How would I have his number…”

“Did we say anything wrong?” Bao Lei looked at the other students, taking more glances at Tian Xiaoqin than he should. “Uh, Xiaoqin, did he get so… worked up because he heard that you’re dating?”

“I don’t think so.” Tian Xiaoqin’s face was pale.

“Does he really get carsick?”

“M-maybe?” Tian Xiaoqin mumbled. “When we worked on a project together, he did… only take the subway…”

 

Fifteen minutes ago, after Xu Rong had said, She’s dating Yuechi, the other students joined in on the teasing. Had there been half a minute? Maybe. Li Yuechi saw Tang Heng raise his head very, very slowly. For a second, their gazes met and Tang Heng’s eyes widened. His expression was so clean yet confused—Li Yuechi felt his heart soften, like someone had pressed a hole into it. He had the urge to bend over and clutch his chest.

When his dad’s lung disease had become serious, it led to many side effects, including cor pulmonale. Every time his dad had an attack, he grimaced and doubled over in his seat, clutching his left chest with both hands. Li Yuechi didn’t know what kind of pain it was but, in this moment, he suddenly understood.

Tang Heng shot to his feet. The chair scraped against the floor, screeching.

“I’m carsick and can’t keep eating,” he said. “You guys keep eating.”

Then he ran out of the room under everyone’s eyes and didn’t return.

Professor Tang was taken by surprise too. It took a few seconds before he said awkwardly, “This kid… Who pissed him off this time? Ah… let’s keep eating. It’s no big deal.”

Li Yuechi wanted to chase after him, but he couldn’t. The image in his vision was the belt of Tang Heng’s purplish blue coat. Tang Heng’s mom had bought this coat for him—it was extremely soft cashmere wool and there was a belt that was sewed onto the coat. Tang Heng was always too lazy to tie the belt.

Li Yuechi couldn’t expose their relationship, especially since Tian Xiaoqin had just made that lie.

After they finished the exam in the morning, he and Tian Xiaoqin had been called to Professor Tang’s office. Professor An was there too, frowning, his hands behind his back, his expression serious. Meanwhile, Professor Tang was sitting on the couch with one leg propped up. “Don’t worry,” he said casually. “You’ll definitely be included this time. I already talked to them!”

After Professor An left, Professor Tang looked at the two students. “Xiaoqin, transfer the pictures from the camera into my computer—the pictures we took in Dawu. And Yuechi, you take these to Vice Principal Wang’s office. Don’t make a mistake, because this has to do with Lao An becoming a Yangtze River Scholar.”

It was a very thick envelope and Li Yuechi was slightly confused. Since it was so important, how come he didn’t have Professor An bring it over himself when he was there? Or, why not have An Yun bring it?

But he didn’t think too much into it. He took the envelope according to Professor Tang’s instructions and carefully placed it into his bag. There were some ways to go from the sociology department to the administrative building. Li Yuechi had planned on walking over since it was still early. But he ran into his roommate when he went downstairs.

His roommate gave him a ride on his scooter to the administrative building. After he delivered the envelope, his roommate drove him back to the sociology department.

Thus, he spent much less time than he had expected.

He went upstairs and saw that the door to Professor Tang’s office was closed. Li Yuechi knocked on it and Professor Tang called out brightly, “Who is it?”

“Laoshi, it’s me,” Li Yuechi said. “I delivered the document.”

“Oh, so fast—you can go back now. Remember to eat lunch at Fuchunxuan at 11.”

“Okay—” It felt weird to have a conversation with a door between them.

But the next second, the door opened with a bright click and Tian Xiaoqin rushed out, crashing into his arms.

“Laoshi, I—I’ll go back with Yuechi.” Her voice quivered and she grabbed Li Yuechi’s wrist. “I left my campus card in his dorm.”

“Oh, sure. You can go back.” Professor Tang strolled over and stared at Li Yuechi like a hawk. “When did you two start dating? I didn’t even know.”

Tian Xiaoqin kept her back to him. “Last month.”

Professor Tang chuckled. “You two are a good match.”

Tian Xiaoqin didn’t let go until they walked out of the building and sat down on a bench. She’d left two red marks on Li Yuechi’s wrist even through the sweater.

When she looked up, her face was streaked with tears.

“Li Yuechi… Sorry, I—I must’ve scared you…” Tian Xiaoqin messily wiped her face. “I had no choice, Li Yuechi.”

Li Yuechi took a deep breath. “What happened?”

“I was sitting in front of the computer and he suddenly—suddenly came over…” She shuddered.

Li Yuechi had a premonition. “Sat down and did what?” he asked softly.

“He said that we have to choose pictures and delete the bad ones… He got close to the screen and suddenly, his hand… his hand reached into my back…”   

 

Whenever Li Yuechi thought back to this moment, guilt would always rise up in his heart. Because he had to admit that, in that instant, his first reaction was not what should Tian Xiaoqin do?

Instead, his first thought was: does Tang Heng know?

He quickly got the answer—Tang Heng definitely didn’t know. With Tang Heng’s personality, he would never tolerate this kind of behavior. Just like how Tang Heng had easily accepted his explanation that he couldn’t listen to Tang Heng’s singing that night because Bao Lei had harassed Tian Xiaoqin. Tang Heng always separated the right from the wrong.

Then, he finally thought: what should Tian Xiaoqin do?

“Yuechi, you—you don’t have a girlfriend, right?” Tian Xiaoqin asked with a trembling voice.

“…No.”

“Then, can you do what you just did, I’m sorry, Yuechi… Can you—pretend to be my boyfriend like just now?”

She was begging him.

“Do you think…” He wanted to ask, Do you think it’ll work? But he swallowed the words. “If you think it’ll help.”

“I’m sorry, Yuechi, I’m so sorry,” Tian Xiaoqin kept apologizing while crying. “I can’t think of any other ways… I can’t, I can’t drop out of school.”

“What if you switch to another teacher?”

“I don’t know if I can switch. I can ask… but I can’t drop out.”

“Mn.” Li Yuechi stared at his frozen fingertips. “You can try, but don’t tell the other classmates about us ‘dating,’ okay?”

“Okay, I won’t tell them…”

Tian Xiaoqin’s crying gradually subsided. She sat on the bench, her expression completely blank. Li Yuechi sat beside her, his mind in a mess. Tang Heng called during this time, but he didn’t dare to pick up.

He didn’t know how to explain this to Tang Heng. In the end, he decided not to say anything. Your uncle harasses girls and might even rape them—he didn’t know how to say something like this to Tang Heng. That was Tang Heng’s family. An Yun had said that Tang Heng’s father had passed away long ago and Teacher Tang cared for Tang Heng like a father.

He also couldn’t tell Tian Xiaoqin, I’m dating Tang Heng—Professor Tang’s nephew, so I might not be able to help you. How about you drop out of school? He knew Tian Xiaoqin couldn’t drop out, because she’d been accepted here as the valedictorian of Normal University’s sociology department. Her hometown was a rural village in Hunan Province and she’d said that her parents took a bank loan and went to work in Wenzhou just to pay for her tuition.

There was a kind of person like this. They had to put in 100 times the cost to get things that others could have naturally. They had to be 100 times more stubborn and be unable to lose. He and Tian Xiaoqin were this kind of person.

So he had no choice to but to keep it from Tang Heng? That was what he’d thought before seeing Tang Heng at Fuchunxuan.

But why would Tang Heng attend their teacher-student lunch?

How could Xu Rong know about him “dating” Tian Xiaoqin?

Who could fucking tell him why?

 

After Tang Heng burst out of Fuchunxuan, he got onto a random bus. It was the noon rush hour and the bus was packed with students in school uniforms. The pungent smell of gas and food mixed together and Tang Heng couldn’t stand it after around two stops. He stumbled out of the bus.

There were people everywhere. Since when did Wuhan have this many people? They all seemed to be laughing at him. Tang Heng lowered his head and sped forward. He reached into his pocket and found the power button of his phone. He was scared that Li Yuechi wouldn’t call him, but he was also scared that Li Yuechi would.

He wanted to vomit. He was truly carsick. At the same time, he was surprised that he thought of Wu Si’s words at this time. Wu Si had said that people like Li Yuechi would probably only date the same kind of person. Was he the same kind of person as Tian Xiaoqin? Probably, yes.

He seemed to have walked for a really long time and the sky darkened bit by bit. The sunny day—so rare in Wuhan—gradually disappeared before his eyes. After midday, the cold came back. This city was like a frozen drop of water.

Blisters formed on the sole of his feet. His phone was off; he didn’t know what time it was.

Tang Heng sat on the metal step before the door. After a while, he saw Li Yuechi walk over from the distance.

In the end, he’d returned to their apartment as if waiting for Li Yuechi to find him, as if waiting for Li Yuechi to explain. Behind Li Yuechi, the horizon had turned into a faint gray line. The moon had risen too.

Li Yuechi’s jacket was open, revealing the old blue sweater he was wearing. He walked closer, his footsteps sounding as heavy as steel. Tang Heng wasn’t at all surprised that Li Yuechi could find him here. What surprised him was that he didn’t want to argue or question Li Yuechi at all. He just felt so, so tired. He’d walked and stopped and walked like a puppet the entire afternoon. He didn’t feel sick, but the fatigue suddenly washed over him. He truly didn’t want to fight Li Yuechi, didn’t want to hear him say no way, didn’t want him to smoke outside for the entire night.

If only nothing had happened. They could go to the alley entrance and buy two bowls of beef noodles, add an egg, add a fried dough stick, and two cups of rice wine. Then they could go back to their house, turn on the heat and electric blanket, and talk about whatever while laying together.

“Tang Heng.” Li Yuechi’s voice was so hoarse and low. “Where did you go?”

“I don’t remember.” Tang Heng paused. “Seriously don’t remember.”

“…”

Li Yuechi was only a few steps away from him. If Tang Heng jumped off the step, he could touch Li Yuechi’s body. Actually, if Li Yuechi said come over like last time, he probably would not be able to hold back.

But Li Yuechi didn’t say it. Li Yuechi just stared at him without moving as if he didn’t know what to do with him. It’s me who can’t do anything with you, right? Tang Heng thought.

“I’m not dating Tian Xiaoqin,” Li Yuechi said after a pause.

“Okay, and then what?”

“It’s Tian Xiaoqin… She said it herself. She knows that I don’t have a girlfriend, so she wanted me to help. Bao Lei is still harassing her.”

“I know you’re not dating her.” Tang Heng looked down and wrapped his belt around his finger. Li Yuechi was busy with class and work, and he spent the majority of his free time with Tang Heng—he knew Li Yuechi didn’t have the time to date Tian Xiaoqin.

But then, why did Tian Xiaoqin use Li Yuechi as her alibi? Why was it Tian Xiaoqin last time and still her this time? Why did the other students tease them so happily as if they really did match each other? They’re not dating now—but what about next semester? Next year? After he’s abroad?   

 

“Tang Heng.” Li Yuechi bent over and propped his hands on his knees. This reduced the space between them. If Tang Heng reached over, he’d be able to touch his face.

His lips were dry and cracked, his hair was messy, like a tired traveler.

“Don’t lie to me, okay?” Tang Heng said in a low voice. “Even if you date her in the future… don’t lie to me.”

“I won’t lie to you,” Li Yuechi said.

“Let me see your phone,” Tang Heng said, sounding relaxed. He knew that Li Yuechi’s phone was clean. First, he wasn’t dating Tian Xiaoqin. Second, even if he was, Li Yuechi was smart and wouldn’t leave any incriminating evidence on his phone.

Li Yuechi pulled his phone out without hesitation and handed it to Tang Heng.

As he’d expected, Tang Heng took up most of his call log. The remaining few were Grad school tutoring Cui-laoshi, Mom, and Teacher Tang. Tang Heng skimmed it and opened the text inbox. He didn’t want to keep reading because his behavior was so ugly. He didn’t want to be the kind of person who strictly checked his lover’s phone, but he felt like he had to do something to convince himself to trust Li Yuechi.

The first text was China Mobile saying there were less than 10-kuai in his account. The second was a new package deal from China Mobile. The third was what he sent to Li Yuechi last night: Do you want BBQ? I can bring some back. The fourth, fifth, sixth…

Tang Heng pressed the “next’ button numbly, watching the messages flip through on the screen. Mom, Tang Heng, China Mobile—practically nothing else.

“Tang Heng,” Li Yuechi suddenly called out.

Tang Heng lifted his finger and looked at Li Yuechi. The next second, his eyes returned to the screen.

He saw a text from An Yun. From long ago. Checking the time, it was the rainy night when they’d argued, 11:47.

“Can I look?” Tang Heng asked while he’d already opened the message.

The screen was blindingly white and Li Yuechi’s hand, frozen in mid-air, reflected in it.

An Yun:   

Xiaoqin said that you and Tang Heng got into a fight. I want to speak up for him as a friend. His dad passed away from a car accident when he was 11. It was very sudden. After that, his mom brought him away from Beijing. They went to many places due to her business and never had a permanent home. Maybe this is why Tang Heng is a little withdrawn and he’s not that stable mentally. His personality was a lot more extreme when we were in high school. He’d often go missing for days, worrying his family. I’m not trying to make you pity him… Anyway, he really loves you. If you can, be more tolerant of him, thanks.

Tang Heng slowly lifted his face. He laughed. “Damn, I never knew An Yun could be so sweet.”

Then he trained his eyes on Li Yuechi and said, word by word, “Do you also think I’m mental?”