Chapter 220: Don’t Call Me Brother

This was my first night in Xitang. At first, I had a lot on my mind, but gradually, my thoughts cleared, and soon I fell asleep.

That night, I hardly dreamed at all, and with sufficient sleep, I woke up early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten.

I preferred to treat my days in Xitang as a form of living rather than indulgence in pleasure, so I got up early, left the inn, and had some breakfast.

Breathing in the fresh morning air, I strolled along the winding paths paved with bluish stones, habitually without setting a destination. When tired, I would sit by the river to rest.

The sun began to spread its radiant glow across every corner of Xitang. According to yesterday’s weather forecast, today’s highest temperature could reach 20 degrees Celsius, making it the warmest day since the New Year. Thus, the air was filled with the scent of warmth, of flowers and grass, and of the river water.

No wonder people are willing to regard this place as a holy ground for healing broken hearts, after all, the scenery is picturesque, there are many people here who, like oneself, have endured the bitterness of a broken relationship, and there is always hope in one’s heart, yearning to encounter in Xitang someone who has grasped the true essence of love, distilled its warmth, and is ready to offer it unreservedly to oneself.

Sitting on the steps by the riverside, I lit a cigarette for myself, enjoying the warmth of the sun while exhaling clouds of smoke.

On the opposite bank, I spotted again the woman in the red coat. It turned out she also came here in the mornings; it was just that Tongzi had the habit of sleeping in and had never noticed her before.

I picked up a flat stone from beside me and flicked my wrist to send it skipping across the water towards her side. Unexpectedly, the river was narrow, and the stone, skipping over the surface, splashed up a spray of water that flew straight toward her. She couldn’t dodge in time, and the water splashed onto her pants, while the stone hit her arm, though by then the force was very weak.

I quickly called out to her with an apologetic tone: “Sorry about that! I didn’t expect it to fly so far!”

“You’re crazy!”

“We’re all crazy, otherwise why would we come to Xitang alone!”

She didn’t respond to my remark. Instead, she picked up a fairly large stone from her side and threw it back at me in retaliation. However, her strength was slightly insufficient. It didn’t hit me, landing instead in the water near the bank, splashing me with water all the same.

I smiled helplessly but said nothing, after all, it was I who had provoked her in the first place.

I gestured to her again in apology before returning to my original seat, but she had already turned and left. However, Xitang is not a large place. As long as neither of us left, we would inevitably meet again.

Yet, recalling how impolitely and rudely I had treated Mi Cai when we first met, I found myself somewhat confused about my current self. It seemed I had changed, becoming less impulsive. In the past, I would definitely have crossed the small bridge to approach her and then rambled on without logic.

Around ten in the morning, I returned to the inn. The innkeeper was the same as yesterday, still sitting by the desk serving as the reception counter, smoking, looking completely emotionless.

I was somewhat curious: why was the guitar hanging at the entrance without strings? I smiled and asked him, “Boss, why doesn’t the guitar hanging outside have strings?”

He raised his head, instinctively glancing toward the entrance before replying to me, “It’s just for decoration. It’s the same whether it has strings or not.”

His eyes told me that the story behind the guitar wasn’t as simple as he said, but it was his privacy, so I chose to respect it and didn’t ask further.

As his cigarette was about to burn out, I offered him another one, and lit one for myself too. In the drifting smoke, I asked him again, “Boss, you should be quite familiar with the bars around here, right?”

“Mm.”

“Take me to have a look tonight, okay? Without acquaintances, I’m afraid of being overcharged.”

He nodded and said, “Okay, just come find me whenever you want to go.”

After giving him a grateful smile, I returned to my room, where my roommate Tongzi had just woken up and was washing up in the bathroom.

“Brother Yang, what do you want for lunch? I’ll treat you.”

“Just order some takeout, I don’t feel like going out,” I replied.

“Alright…Brother Yang, I think we really have great chemistry. I also dislike going out for lunch.”

“Know what kind of habit this is?”

“Tell me.”

“Maggots are afraid of sunlight, right?”

Tongzi suddenly understood and said, “Brother Yang, you’re truly perceptive. I’ve always been confused about how to describe my lifestyle, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I really do live like a maggot…”

I didn’t say anything else. In fact, over these years, I had frequented nightspots so often that I lived even more like a maggot than he did. If I had been willing to strive and work hard back then, at least now I wouldn’t be worse off than Fang Yuan. The only reason I had refused to strive was love. Thinking back, I was indeed a maggot living in decaying love.

Sighing deeply, Tongzi walked out of the bathroom and asked me helplessly, “Brother Yang, do you think I still have a chance?”

“Tell me about your recent plans, and I’ll help you analyze them.”

“My top priority is to find a girlfriend to lose my virginity…”

I interrupted him, “You’re joking with me, right?”

To my surprise, Tongzi seriously said to me, “Brother Yang, I’m not kidding. You don’t know how empty, lonely, and cold I feel every weekend when I see my dorm mates going out one by one with their girlfriends. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come alone to Xitang to wait for a romantic encounter.”

“You’re so damn desperate!!” I replied in exasperation.

“Anyone who’s a virgin is desperate unless they’re sick!”

Tongzi once again used his logic to leave me speechless, making me feel that the world of virgins was just too hard to understand!

In my silence, Tongzi lamented again, “Oh God, please grant me a woman! I would be satisfied if she had just one percent of Leyao’s beauty!”

In my heart, I thought, “One percent of Leyao’s beauty, what kind of appearance would that be!” Thus, I gained a more direct understanding of his desperation.

While waiting for the takeout, Tongzi continued watching a TV series on his laptop, and I was repeatedly tormented by boredom.

Finally, I took out the phone without a SIM card from my backpack and stared at the WeChat icon for a long time. At this moment, as long as I connected to the Wi-Fi in the room, I could restore contact with the outside world.

But if I did that, what was the point of removing the SIM card in the first place?

Moreover, since she had decisively pushed me away and got into Weiran’s car that day, I no longer believed she would feel sad because of my departure. Perhaps in her heart, she had always longed for a gardener. Once I, the gardener, did something I shouldn’t have done, she was no longer willing to give me love. Thinking of this, it was truly a very strange kind of love.

Finally, I put the phone back into my backpack and briefly emptied my mind before the takeout arrived.

Suddenly, Tongzi shouted again, “Wow… I’m so happy I’m about to die! Brother Yang… I’m dying!”

I replied impatiently, “Go ahead and die, I’ll eat your lunch for you.”

Hugging his laptop, Tongzi jumped from his bed onto mine and handed the computer to me, excitedly stammering, “Look, Leyao… Leyao replied me on… on Weibo!”

I leaned closer to the computer with surprise and finally understood: first, Tongzi had left a message on Leyao’s Weibo, saying that he was currently in Xitang, and then Leyao replied with five characters, “Brother, is it fun?”

As soon as I put down the computer, Tongzi grabbed my shoulders and shook me vigorously, “Brother Yang, Brother Yang… how should I reply… how can I reply to show that I’m very knowledgeable!”

Being shaken uncomfortably, I kicked him off the bed and immediately replied on Leyao’s Weibo for him, “Don’t call me brother, call me virgin!”

Then I couldn’t help but laugh heartily!