Under Clear Skies Chapter 90: Now He Still Did

Chapter 90: Now He Still Did

Translated by KarateChopMonkey of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

 

Later, Li Yuechi bought hot dry noodles and rice wine, which hadn’t changed, it was still served in disposable paper bowls and cups. Tang Heng lifted the plastic cup lid and caught a whiff of a strong osmanthus scent.

Li Yuechi pursed his lips, looking somewhat nervous.

Under his gaze, Tang Heng picked up the rice wine and slowly took a sip.

Li Yuechi asked, “How is it?”

Tang Heng replied quietly, “It’s good…”

Li Yuechi heaved a sigh of relief. “Then drink up…”

The two finished dinner in the room, Tang Heng went to take a shower first, then Li Yuechi followed. The sound of rushing water came from the bathroom, but this time Tang Heng didn’t feel any urge; he just felt very tired and a bit dazed.

Li Yuechi came out from the bathroom, wearing a newly changed white short-sleeved t-shirt and knee-length loose shorts, making his limbs look even longer. His hair was still dripping, his body still carrying the heat from the bathroom.

“Do you want to blow dry your hair?” Tang Heng asked. “The hairdryer is in the closet.”

“It’s okay, it’ll dry soon.”

He sat down next toTang Heng, causing the mattress to sink under his weight.

The room had good soundproofing, it was quiet all around, with only the low hum of the air conditioner.

“Do you feel sleepy?” Li Yuechi looked at Tang Heng.

“A little tired. And I suddenly thought of something…” Tang Heng closed his eyes and slowly said, “The last time I drank rice wine, it was also with you. Will you be gone again this time when I wake up?”

Li Yuechi whispered, “I won’t…”

“Hmm…” Tang Heng paused, then  jokingly saying, “Otherwise, I might really develop rice wine PTSD.”

“Tang Heng…”

“Hmm?”

Li Yuechi reached out and turned off the bedside lamp, leaned down, and gently kissed Tang Heng’s lips.

“I’m here…” he said.

Tang Heng thought he might have trouble sleeping that night, after all, he knew that his condition was already unstable, and he was with Li Yuechi in Wuhan. Wuhan, Li Yuechi. These two could easily trigger his emotions.

But when Li Yuechi turned off all the main lights, leaving only a warm yellow wall lamp by the door, Tang Heng surprisingly felt his eyelids become heavy, he really did feel a bit sleepy.

Li Yuechi lifted the blankets from the other side and lay down softly. The warm air from the air conditioner kept the room comfortable, so it wasn’t cold. After a while, Tang Heng quietly opened his eyes and saw Li Yuechi’s back facing him, a small part of his slender back exposed.

Six years ago, he thought he resembled a wild horse with a sharp spine, and now he still did.

His breathing was steady, already asleep.

Tang Heng thought, a wild horse… then he also fell into a deep sleep.

After a moment, Li Yuechi opened his eyes again.

He gently turned over, using the faint light from the wall lamp to gaze at Tang Heng’s face.

He stared for a long, long time.

Finally, Li Yuechi sat up and tucked in the corner of the blanket tightly for Tang Heng.

When Tang Heng woke up the next morning, Li Yuechi was already dressed neatly, standing by the window. Tang Heng blinked hard, feeling a bit confused by this scene.

“Li… Li Yuechi…” Tang Heng sat up, looking around, “Are we in Wuhan?”

“Yes…” Li Yuechi walked over, “It’s only 8 o’clock, do you want to sleep a little longer?”

“Not anymore…” Tang Heng got out of bed, lifted the covers, and splashed cold water on his face to clear his head.

Yes, he had indeed returned to Wuhan with Li Yuechi.

Li Yuechi pulled open the heavy curtains, and sunlight flooded into the room. Tang Heng squinted and said, “I’ll go buy breakfast.”

“Don’t you want to go out today?”

“I do…”

Li Yuechi said somewhat weirdly, “Then let’s go eat together.”

“Okay, I guess…” Tang Heng said, “Wait for me to change clothes.”

Actually, Tang Heng wanted to go out alone for a smoke.

Back in Macau, he used to swim in the school swimming pool early in the morning, as advised by his doctor – exercise would stimulate dopamine production in the brain, helping him maintain a good mood throughout the day. Tang Heng didn’t know if dopamine really worked, but sweating profusely and spending some time alone in the empty blue waters after waking up from nightmares did help him relax a lot.

On the way from the swimming pool to the office, having a smoke with an empty mind was simply the happiest time of his day, to be precise, a physiological pleasure.

“What do you want to eat?” Li Yuechi handed the breakfast menu to Tang Heng.

“Dumplings, soy milk.” Tang Heng raised his face, subconsciously wanting to say “I’ll go pay,” but he suddenly realized something was off.

He took out his wallet from his pocket, opened it, and found only a twenty yuan bill, four five hundred yuan Macau bills, and some loose change.

Tang Heng: “…”

Indeed, he hadn’t brought much cash in Renminbi when he left Macau. Firstly, the trip was hasty, and he didn’t have time to exchange Renminbi at the bank. Secondly, he thought he could just use Alipay or WeChat Pay on the mainland.

As a result, he also paid a five hundred yuan deposit when he checked into the hotel last night.

And his phone was with Li Yuechi.

Li Yuechi chuckled, took the menu back from Tang Heng’s hand, and stood up, saying, “I’ll take caer of this…”

Tang Heng started to seriously consider whether twenty yuan would be enough to buy cigarettes.

And where he could smoke without Li Yuechi finding out.

Li Yuechi came back with Tang Heng’s dumplings, but there were only four on the tray. Li Yuechi asked, “Is this enough for you?”

Tang Heng nodded, “It’s been a while since I had these. I forgot they were so small…” Wuhan’s dumplings weren’t like the buns in the north; they were all small and thin-skinned.

“What else do you want to eat?”

“Um…” Tang Heng suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, “Let me see…” Having lived alone for several years, this feeling of being taken care of made him somewhat uncomfortable.

“Do you want some shumai?”

“Sure…”

Li Yuechi got up again, took a step forward, and whispered, “Eat the dumplings slowly, they’re hot.”

“Oh…”

The next moment, they heard an old lady at the next table saying to her granddaughter carrying a backpack, “Honey, eat slowly, be careful not to burn your mouth.”

After finishing breakfast, the two headed to the subway station. Taking Line 4 to Fuxing Road and transferring to Line 5, at half past nine, they saw “Blue Sky Kindergarten” at the end of the small road.

Long Juan was already waiting for them at the entrance.

“According to the rules, you can’t enter the kindergarten, sorry…” her voice sounded a bit awkward, “There’s a café over there, go there.”

The three of thementered the café and took their seats.

“To be honest, I’m not particularly close to Xiaoqin…” Long Juan glanced at them and then looked back at her black coffee, “We didn’t even know each other during our undergraduate years. When we got to Han University, we happened to live next door to each other and gradually got to know each other. But I didn’t spend much time with her because I was always doing internships at the kindergarten with the teachers.”

“Okay, that’s fine…” Tang Heng said warmly, “Just tell us what you know, or… just talk about her.”

“I’ve almost forgotten everything…” Long Juan smiled bitterly, “It’s been too long…”

Tang Heng remained silent, quietly waiting for her.

After about ten minutes, Long Juan suddenly asked, “Was Xiaoqin really… raped?”

Tang Heng nodded silently.

“But will what I say count as evidence? I… I don’t want to help you, but I’m in the system now… I can’t speak recklessly.”

“Just tell us what you know, okay?”

“All I know is trivial.”

“All trivial?” Tang Heng couldn’t help but furrow his brow, “Did she mention Tang Guomu to you? Anything… anything about Tang Guomu would be useful.”

“I don’t remember…” Long Juan suddenly stood up, “I have to go back to work, sorry, that’s all for now.”

Tang Heng and Li Yuechi walked out of the café, neither of them speaking.

Passing by a convenience store, Tang Heng said, “I want to smoke…”

Li Yuechi asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just want to smoke, can you buy me a pack?” Tang Heng said somewhat irritated, “Or give me the phone and I’ll go buy it.”

Li Yuechi stared at Tang Heng for a few seconds, then said, “Wait here…”

Seeing him enter the convenience store, Tang Heng bit his lip hard. The first sensation was pain, followed by a faint taste of blood on his tongue. This was Tang Heng’s usual method; the pain helped him stay calm.

Now, the pain was used to fight the heavy feeling of powerlessness.

Six years had passed, and most of Tian Xiaoqin’s classmates had lost contact. Long Juan was one of the few people they could reach. Tang Heng thought that since Long Juan was willing to meet with them, it proved that she was willing to help them.

But what did she say? She said she was within the system.

Before returning to Wuhan, Tang Heng had consulted a lawyer. To prove Tang Guomu’s crimes, they needed to gather more evidence. And since Li Yuechi had stabbed Tang Guomu, the credibility of his testimony was very low.

Thinking about this, Tang Heng couldn’t help but bite his lip again, harder than before.

Li Yuechi came out quickly and handed him his phone. “It’s Long Juan…”

Tang Heng froze, quickly pressed the answer button on the unfamiliar screen.

“Hello… it’s me…” Tang Heng said, “Is there anything else?”

“Record it…” Long Juan said straightforwardly, “I’ve made up my mind, record it.”

Tang Heng started recording, asking blankly, “Why?”

“Because when you mentioned Xiaoqin, I suddenly remembered something… I’ve always had severe dysmenorrhea, and one time Xiaoqin invited me to the canteen for dinner. I was lying in bed unable to get up from the pain, and when she found out, she ran to the school hospital to buy me a warm womb patch.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Let’s talk about the serious stuff…” Long Juan sighed softly, “Xiaoqin mentioned some things about Tang Guomu to me. At first, she was a teaching assistant, and she said according to the rules, first-year graduate students couldn’t be teaching assistants, but she became one anyway. She went to Tang Guomu, and Tang Guomu said he helped her get it because Xiaoqin’s family was in a difficult financial situation. Later, she said that she joined a project group, and from then on, she had a fixed monthly salary. At that time, I even thought Tang Guomu was really good to his students… But then, later on, yes, later on, she was harassed by a senior. I don’t remember what his name was, but during that time, she was especially anxious. Then one day, she happily told me that it was resolved, Tang Guomu had kicked that senior out of the project group…”

“Bao Lei…” Li Yuechi leaned closer to the phone, “Was it him?”

“Yes, it’s him! Absolutely him! I remember his rare surname!” Long Juan paused, lowering her voice, “But you say Tang Guomu raped her, I… I’m just guessing… trying to control a girl, especially a girl in need of money… wouldn’t the most direct way be to give her money? Being a teaching assistant, being in a project, these are all ways Tang Guomu gave money to Tian Xiaoqin… and that Bao Lei, Tang Guomu helped Xiaoqin solve Bao Lei, so Xiaoqin trusted him even more.”

Tang Heng was about to speak, but Long Juan continued, “There’s one more thing… I remember, at that time, Xiaoqin mentioned something. She said, Bao Lei and Tang Guomu had a very good relationship because Tang Guomu had co-authored several papers with Bao Lei… But Tang Guomu kicked Bao Lei out of the project group decisively, so she thought that Tang Guomu was… very upright.”

Tang Heng hung up the phone, and Wuhan in April was still very cold.

And his back was also covered in a layer of fine cold sweat.

He stood straight by the roadside for quite some time, before hoarsely saying, “Is that so?”

“I didn’t know at the time, but later I realized…” Li Yuechi lowered her eyes, “By doing this, he not only could control Tian Xiaoqin, but also make other students feel that Tian Xiaoqin was favored by him. Later… they all thought that he and Tian Xiaoqin had an ambiguous relationship, and that it was consensual on Tian Xiaoqin’s part.”

“But Tian Xiaoqin, did she know…” Did she know?

Of course, she didn’t know. Not only did she not know his intentions, she must have been very happy, right?

Being appreciated by her mentor, having the opportunity to earn money, it seemed like a bright future.

While she was filled with joy, darkness had slowly opened its devouring mouth.

Tang Heng’s right hand trembled behind him.

He forced himself to calm down and reached out to Li Yuechi, “Where’s my cigarette?”

Li Yuechi looked at him and took out a bag of hot milk from her pocket, placing it in his cold hand.

“The cigarettes are sold out…”

How could that be?

Tang Heng tore open the packaging, warm chocolate-flavored milk entered his mouth, covering up the taste of blood.

His body wasn’t so cold anymore.

After he finished the milk, Li Yuechi held Tang Heng’s hand right there on the street.

“Are you okay?” he said, “If you’re tired, we can go back to the hotel.”

Tang Heng nodded, “I’m fine. Should we go find Bao Lei?”

“Yeah…” Li Yuechi looked at Tang Heng and said very confidently, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here.”