Under Clear Skies Chapter 96: Snowy Mud and a Swan’s Claw

Chapter 96: Snowy Mud and a Swan’s Claw

Translated by KarateChopMonkey of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

 

Four days later, Tang Heng met Tian Xiaoqin’s younger brother.

He had the same round eyes as his sister, and a similarly simple and memorable name. When Jiang Ya brought him from Hunan, he was even still wearing his school uniform.

“Xiaoqin’s parents can’t come…” Jiang Ya whispered to them while Tian Xiaohui was eating, “Her dad is working outside, and her mom… doesn’t want to.”

Tang Heng was speechless. “Why?”

Jiang Ya sighed and said, “They feel that Xiaoqin’s death was disgraceful and brought shame upon them. I had almost given up hope, but unexpectedly, Xiaohui suddenly said he was willing to come to Wuhan with me.”

“He’s still in middle school?”

“He’s in high school now, but he’s short.”

Tian Xiaohui ate quickly, then tidied up the garbage very politely and thanked Tang Heng and Li Yuechi.

“No need to be polite… You’re in high school now? What grade?” Tang Heng asked.

“Second year of high school…” Tian Xiaohui sat upright in his chair, “I’ll be in my third year next semester.”

He was indeed very small in stature, probably only about 1.65 meters tall. Tang Heng thought to himself, How could he look like a high school sophomore?

Li Yuechi calmly asked, “Do you know why you’ve come to Wuhan this time?”

Tian Xiaohui was silent for a few seconds, then whispered, “I know a little…”

“Come with me, I’ll tell you.”

Li Yuechi got up and walked outside, Tang Heng wanted to follow, but he was stopped by a look from Li Yuechi.

He took Tian Xiaohui to the terrace at the end of the corridor, while Tang Heng watched them from afar.

“Heng…” Jiang Ya asked cautiously, “How’s your mom?”

“She’s fine…” Tang Heng said softly.

“She agreed to help us?”

“Yeah…”

“That’s… good.”

“Do you have the keys to the house?”

“What?” Jiang Ya was puzzled for a moment, then realized, “You mean the house in Huquan?”

“Yes…”

“I brought them…”

“If you have time these days, I want to go there.”

“Oh…” Jiang Ya looked somewhat embarrassed, “Are you sure? I’m afraid you’ll see those things…”

Tang Heng said lightly, “I’ll be fine…”

At this point, what could they hold on to or not? They had no way back. Last night, An Yun brought the cremation certificate issued by the funeral home six years ago. The certificate stated the specific time when Tian Xiaoqin was cremated—on the afternoon of the day she jumped off the building, before her parents arrived in Wuhan. This certificate was originally kept by the School of Sociology, and Tang Heng didn’t know how An Yun got her hands on it, but he saw her cheeks were slightly swollen, probably from being hit.

“This could be useful…” She put the certificate in an envelope and quickly handed it to Tang Heng, seeming unable to meet his eyes.

“Thank you…”

An Yun shook her head and didn’t say anything.

“Coming back this time, the changes in Wuhan are really huge…” Jiang Ya sighed softly, “There are more subways, more high-rise buildings, but Luoyu Road is still as bad as ever…”

“Jiang Ya…” Remembering what An Yun said about money at the teahouse, Tang Heng couldn’t help asking, “Do you find me despicable?”

“What are you talking about?” 

“If Li Yuechi hadn’t been there for me back then… maybe at that time…” Maybe at that time they could have punished Tang Guomu, maybe Li Yuechi wouldn’t have gone to jail, maybe An Yun wouldn’t have had to bear pain and secrets all these years.

“Don’t think nonsense!” Jiang Ya suddenly became nervous and grabbed Tang Heng’s shoulder, “You shouldn’t think like that! If Li Yuechi hadn’t kept it from you back then, maybe you woul’ve collapsed, and whether you could have survived until now would have been a question mark!”

Tang Heng smiled bitterly, “Do you see me as that fragile in your eyes?”

“What do you think? Look at how you’ve been living these six years… You really shouldn’t think like this, Tang Heng. Just talking about Li Yuechi, he wanted to protect you and didn’t want to let Xiaoqin down, so he… he wanted to protect you, do you understand?”

“I understand what you mean.”

“Don’t blame yourself, really…” Jiang Ya muttered, “We were all too young back then, too young… young people are always easily pushed to the edge.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yuechi and Tian Xiaohui came out of the terrace. When they entered the room, Tang Heng saw that Tian Xiaohui’s eyes were red.

Tang Heng thought to himself, He knows everything now.

Tian Xiaohui wiped his nose, sat down at the table, and opened the zipper of his school bag.

He had brought a stack of papers.

The three adults were stunned for a moment, and Jiang Ya went up and patted Tian Xiaohui’s shoulder, “Xiaohui, so you’re a top student, huh?”

“I’m not…” Tian Xiaohui regained his reserved demeanor, “The teachers give too much homework.”

A day later, Li Yuechi met with Wang Lili and obtained her signed statement with fingerprints.

Three days later, Fu Liling came to the hotel and handed a USB drive to Tang Heng.

She was visibly thinner, with dark circles under her eyes, and couldn’t even cover them up. At that moment, Li Yuechi happened to be out with Jiang Ya for errands, but his discarded T-shirt and jeans were scattered on the bed, and Tang Heng’s watch was placed on the other side of the bed.

Tang Heng didn’t intend to avoid anything anymore.

Fu Liling’s voice was almost pleading, “Have you really thought this through? Don’t act impulsively, Tang Heng, really—you’ll face much greater resistance than you can imagine.”

Tang Heng said, “We’ve thought it through…”

Fu Liling’s voice trembled, “This matter isn’t just about Tang Guomu. The leaders from the School of Sociology back then are all responsible for this. In other words, you’re going against the entire Han Yang University… Also, the police who handled this matter back then will be implicated… Have you considered that the girl’s parents had already reached a settlement with the school back then? And now you’re just bringing in an underage kid… How confident are you?”

Tang Heng was silent for a while, then suddenly brought up another matter, “Mom, do you know, during those two or three years when I was struggling the most, I often felt like I could die at any moment. Not because I was in despair or in pain, but that feeling was similar to… that this world had nothing to do with me anymore. Whether I lived or died didn’t affect anything. A teacher suggested I drop out, saying my worldview wasn’t suitable for studying sociology.”

“You never told me—”

“He had a point. If someone is no longer connected to this world, how can they study how it operates?” Tang Heng stared at the titanium silver USB drive in his palm and shook his head, “Until now, I finally returned to this world, but it actually feels terrible. I know we might be doing something futile, might not change anything, might still be doing something stupid… just like back then.

“But it’s not just for seeking revenge for Tian Xiaoqin, not just for seeking revenge for Li Yuechi, I need to continue for myself, because—”

“Tang Heng!” Fu Liling interrupted him, as if knowing his mind was made up and she couldn’t bear to hear more. After a few seconds, she said softly, “I’m leaving. If you need help… give me a call.”

“Okay…”

Fu Liling walked to the door, then turned to glance at the snow-white bed behind Tang Heng.

She asked, “Is he treating you well?”

Tang Heng replied, “Very well…”

Fu Liling briskly left the hotel.

That night, Tang Heng, Li Yuechi, Jiang Ya, An Yun, the four adults, accompanied by Tian Xiaohui, returned to Jiang Ya’s old house.

Probably due to its excellent location, there were still many residents in the neighborhood. The once narrow sidewalks had been widened, and electronic locks had been installed on the doorways. Jiang Ya first went to the property management to settle six years of property and utility bills, in exchange for a small access card.

After swiping the card, they went upstairs. Jiang Ya walked in the front, his voice trembling when he took out the key, “Damn it… I almost forgot which floor my flat is on.”

The key was inserted into the keyhole, gently turned twice, and the door opened.

The air was filled with the smell of dust.

The five of them entered the house, and Tang Heng immediately saw large cardboard boxes piled up on the balcony. He walked over slowly, saw that the boxes were all tightly sealed with tape, and the top box was labeled “Electronics.”

Was it the pot they used to cook noodles, the electric kettle, or the air conditioner that Li Yuechi never wanted to turn on?

Li Yuechi’s voice came from behind, “Tang Heng…”

Tang Heng turned around and tried to calm down, “Are these our things?”

Li Yuechi nodded, reaching out to hug his shoulder, “We’ll unpack slowly when we have time.”

They roughly cleaned up the living room, then Tang Heng took out his laptop, and Jiang Ya went to set up the projector. It hadn’t been used for too long, and the projector’s battery was dead.

Li Yuechi went out to buy batteries.

Tian Xiaohui sat on the sofa, his hands clasped around his knees, but his eyes were full of curiosity as he looked around. Jiang Ya smiled and said to him, “It’s been six years since I last came back. The house is pretty dirty… Do you want to look around?”

Tian Xiaohui quickly shook his head, looking a bit embarrassed, “Your house looks like a house in a TV drama.”

“Waiting is waiting…” Jiang Ya said, “Let’s take a stroll.”

He took Tian Xiaohui upstairs, leaving Tang Heng and An Yun in the living room. Each sat on a sofa, neither of them speaking first.

Jiang Ya’s voice faintly came from upstairs.

Tang Heng stood up and opened the window. The temperature had suddenly risen these past few days, and the night breeze was warm. There were several pear trees planted downstairs by Jiang Ya, and now the pear blossoms were in full bloom. Even in the night, a faint white glow could be seen.

This was Wuhan’s fleeting spring, so beautiful that it felt unreal, tempting one to indulge in dreams and fantasies.

Suddenly, there was a muffled sound. Tang Heng instantly realized it was the sound of drums.

He and An Yun exchanged a glance, noticing the change in each other’s expressions.

There was a room upstairs specifically for musical instruments.

About half a minute later, Jiang Ya returned to the living room with a guitar, accompanied by Tian Xiaohui.

“Do you remember?” Jiang Ya said softly, “I spent five thousand yuan on this to buy it from Lao Bu’s friend back then. Later, I found out this thing couldn’t even last two thousand, I was scammed by his friend. Lao Bu kept apologizing to me.”

Tian Xiaohui asked curiously, “Who’s Lao Bu?”

“An acquaintance of ours, he owns a bar…” Jiang Ya smiled, “I wonder where he is now.”

He carefully unzipped the guitar case and took out a bright red wooden guitar. Tang Heng looked at it blankly as Jiang Ya adjusted the strings while tuning it.

After a moment, Jiang Ya said, “It’s ready to play…”

Although he said it to the guitar, Tang Heng knew he was speaking to him. Back then, An Yun played the bass while Jiang Ya played the drums, and Tang Heng was both the lead vocalist and guitarist.

But— he couldn’t answer. He couldn’t say it out loud.

Maybe I can’t play anymore.

Just like I can’t sing anymore.

But how could he tell them? In front of Tian Xiaohui, he didn’t want to appear too weak. Although he admitted that facing this guitar at this moment, he was weak.

“Let me try…” An Yun suddenly said.

“Old skills never fade, huh?” Jiang Ya handed her the guitar, then turned to Tian Xiaohui and said, “This sister is amazing. She can play both bass and guitar and even drums.”

An Yun held the guitar, seeming lost for a few seconds. Then she lowered her head, pressed down the chords with her left hand, and strummed the strings with her right hand.

The familiar melody engulfed Tang Heng.

She played “Nan Fang” (“The South”).

Jiang Ya hummed along, “My first love was there, I don’t know how she’s doing now, who is still lingering by the lakeside in front of my house… Time flies, these have become memories, every day there are new problems, don’t know when they will be remembered again…”

Tang Heng widened his eyes, locking his gaze on the guitar. He watched An Yun’s fingers move up and down, her movements a bit awkward, perhaps due to not playing for six years. What surprised him was that even after all this time, he still remembered every chord clearly, the order in which they changed… Is muscle memory longer-lasting than memory stored in the brain? Is it really like this?

When the song ended, the living room suddenly fell silent. No one spoke.

Tang Heng turned his head and saw Li Yuechi standing quietly at the door, holding two size 5 batteries. He had already returned.

The hall light wasn’t on, so it was a bit dim. But Li Yuechi’s eyes were shining with a strange light.

Just like six years ago, when he stood under the stage, watching Hushituo perform.

Snowy mud and a swan’s claw, time flashed by, and finally something remained.