The East Street night market finally wound down past 3 AM. The whole street was nearly empty as the food stalls began closing one after another.
After having a quick bite, some people at their table were drinking and playing finger-guessing games, getting more energetic as they ate. Meng Hanmo checked the time and said to Feng Ning, “Let me take you home first.”
“Okay,” Feng Ning put down her chopsticks.
She accompanied Meng Hanmo to get his bike wearing just a short-sleeved shirt. The night air was chilly and the outdoor temperature was low, making her shiver. Feng Ning looked up at the sky, letting out a soft breath as she gazed at the stars.
Meng Hanmo tossed her the helmet and his jacket, “Looking at stars again.”
“Yeah.” Feng Ning stared intently upward, pulling his arm, “Look with me, let’s find the brightest one.”
Meng Hanmo swung his leg over the motorcycle and tilted his head, “Get on.”
While fastening her helmet strap, Feng Ning asked absently, “Brother, do you know when stars disappear?”
“No idea.”
“At 4 AM.” Feng Ning was shivering as she put on the jacket, “When I was little and didn’t know better, I always pestered my mom asking where dad was. Later she told me he became a star in the sky. For a while after that, I loved watching stars, trying to find the biggest and brightest one. I’d search until morning, only going to sleep when I couldn’t see them anymore.”
The motorcycle engine rumbled deeply as they sped through the empty late-night streets, scenery rushing past on both sides. Her long hair flew in the wind as she rested her head on his shoulder, falling silent for a moment before murmuring, “I really miss my dad.”
Meng Hanmo was already naturally quiet, and though Feng Ning was usually strong and cheerful, in her rare moments of vulnerability, he didn’t know how to comfort her. He could only silently stay by her side.
At the entrance of Yujiang Lane, Shuang Yao stood pacing back and forth in her pajamas, holding a flashlight.
“Yao Yao!” Feng Ning jumped off the motorcycle, her earlier sadness completely gone as she rushed over affectionately, “You’re always so good to me!”
“Shh, keep it down, and don’t grab me, you smell like oil.” Shuang Yao dodged away in disgust, waving to Meng Hanmo in the distance, “Hi, Brother Mo.”
Meng Hanmo nodded, turning his bike around, “You two get some sleep, I’m heading out.”
“Be careful on the way!”
“Brother Mo is so cool.” Shuang Yao swooned a bit.
Feng Ning pinched her arm, “Don’t get any ideas about my brother, I’m warning you.”
They quietly pushed open the courtyard gate in the darkness. Shuang Yao sighed, “You finally get one day off from the bar and end up helping Brother Mo instead. You siblings really are close. But poor me, I have to wait up and keep the door open, hiding it from Aunt Qi, and can’t even sleep while waiting half the night.”
Feng Ning shook her head, then nodded, picking at her ear: “Alright, alright, stop complaining, I owe you a meal.”
Monday morning, Jiang Wen walked into class. A few people greeted him, but he acted like he didn’t hear.
Passing by Xi Gaoyuan, he burst out laughing.
Jiang Wen stopped to look at him.
Xi Gaoyuan quickly gave a thumbs up, “Wen, does your face still hurt?”
Jiang Wen lowered his eyes without a word, then after a pause asked with narrowed eyes, “Who told you, Zhao Binlin?”
“Hahahahaha, who else could it be besides him?”
Xi Gaoyuan’s face twisted with laughter, but suddenly noticing Jiang Wen’s dark expression, he consciously stopped, making a zipping motion across his lips and saying sincerely: “I know, don’t worry, you can be 120% sure I won’t say a word about it.”
Jiang Wen walked away without a word.
His deskmate looked back curiously, lowering his voice, “What happened?”
Xi Gaoyuan made a mysterious expression, “Can’t say, if I do, Jiang Wen and I probably can’t stay friends.”
Zhao Binlin was at his desk frantically rushing to finish his homework when there was a bang – Jiang Wen pulled out his chair and sat down.
Zhao Binlin nudged his arm, “Brother Wen, let me copy your homework.”
Jiang Wen tossed his bag aside and leaned back, glancing at him sideways with an unreadable expression, “You sent it to Xi Gaoyuan?”
Zhao Binlin played dumb: “Sent what?”
He suppressed his anger, “You know what.”
As an absolute top student, Jiang Wen had always maintained a pristine and dignified image in public, doing everything properly and elegantly. He’d never experienced being slapped by a girl before.
Young men were naturally thin-skinned. At the time he was still drunk and muddle-headed, so when they saw his embarrassing behavior, he didn’t feel particularly awkward.
But by midnight when he sobered up, lying in bed staring at the ceiling in the darkness, tossing and turning, he thought about how he had shamelessly chased after Feng Ning in public like an idiot, asking who she liked, who she really liked. He suddenly wanted to slap himself twice more.
Zhao Binlin was still savoring the memory with relish, leaning in to add fuel to the fire, “What’s wrong? You were so well-behaved in front of Feng Ning that day, it left me stunned. I’ve never seen such an obedient little Wen Wen before, it melted my heart.”
After a long silence, Jiang Wen suddenly exploded, “F*ck you Zhao Binlin, can you stop being disgusting?”
“Wow, why so angry!” Zhao Binlin gaped at him in shock, “Did you just curse? Wow, what a day – Jiang Wen actually cursed!”
Jiang Wen took out his books and lowered his head, propping it up with one hand, “Stop bothering me.”
Zhao Binlin pouted and quietly copied the homework, not daring to provoke him further.
Feng Ning was half-asleep when someone pushed her awake to collect homework.
When she reached Jiang Wen’s desk, he stared fixedly elsewhere, not even glancing at her.
She was exhausted and yawned, too lazy to point out his awkward behavior, muttering: “Hand in your homework, son.”
Zhao Binlin laughed when he heard this, “Who’s your son? Don’t go claiming random people, no taking advantage of anyone.”
Feng Ning grinned widely, “Hehe, we all know what’s what.”
Jiang Wen finally looked in her direction.
Behind him, Zhao Binlin made faces and gestures, pointing at Jiang Wen and mouthing words. Feng Ning watched for two seconds before understanding his meaning. She dropped her playful expression, “Alright, homework’s handed in.”
During the break after third period, they went downstairs for exercises. While walking, Zhao Binlin came up to whisper to Feng Ning, “Why don’t you go talk to Jiang Wen? I feel like he’s still not over those two slaps you gave him, might even be traumatized.”
Feng Ning was surprised: “Is it that serious?”
Zhao Binlin nodded repeatedly, smiling bitterly: “Ah, you don’t know – he’s been sulking all morning, not talking to anyone, really upset. Do me a favor and go comfort him.”
Feng Ning raised an eyebrow, sighing leisurely, “You guys really treat him like a baby, needing comfort and all.”
“Isn’t that right!” Zhao Binlin sighed too, “I’ll owe you one.”
Class 9’s PE class happened to be right after the break exercises. Halfway through, some girls couldn’t stand the scorching sun and went back to the classroom.
Jiang Wen had several bruises from drinking the other day, and his whole body ached. Too lazy to play ball, he sat watching from the sidelines for a while before getting up with his water bottle and heading back to class alone.
“Jiang Wen!” Feng Ning had just run a bit and was slightly out of breath.
The person being called pretended not to hear and kept walking forward without looking back. He had already gone up one flight of stairs.
She slapped his back hard, “Hey, Jiang Wen!” She patted the same spot again, “I’m calling you, are you deaf?”
He paused but continued up the stairs, still ignoring her.
Feng Ning quickly bounded up two steps to block Jiang Wen’s path, facing him eye to eye.
“What do you want?” His brows furrowed impatiently.
“I need to talk to you, um, about when you were drunk the other day.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” Jiang Wen’s voice was very calm as he tried to walk around Feng Ning.
“Wait.” Feng Ning suddenly moved sideways, lifting one leg threateningly to completely block his path. She tilted her head, half her face in shadow, silently pulling at the corner of her mouth with an evil tone, “What’s this? You were calling me daddy before, now you’re pretending not to know me?”
Jiang Wen’s face stiffened, his nose slightly sweating, his whitening fingers clenched tight, “What exactly do you want?”
After pondering for two or three seconds, she spoke: “I didn’t mean to slap you, it’s just that it’s the fastest way to sober up, really, works every time. Besides, you don’t know how many times they’ve slapped me when I was drunk, I’m used to it. Why are you holding such a grudge?”
Feng Ning smiled apologetically, dropping her provoking manner, unusually serious.
She made a fist with one hand, turned it up and opened it, “Here, look what I wrote.”
Jiang Wen lowered his eyes slightly.
In her small palm were three crooked characters that said “I’m sorry.”
After a moment, his expression remained cold and aloof as he snorted and walked away.
The three air conditioners in the classroom were all running, hissing out cold air.
Zhao Binlin entered the classroom where there were few people. He had just finished playing ball and reeked of sweat, wiping his neck with his collar.
Jiang Wen stopped writing and moved his chair forward a bit.
As Zhao Binlin squeezed past, his eyes caught something and he suddenly stopped, asking curiously: “Hey? What’s stuck to your back?”
Jiang Wen glanced at his back, “What?”
“This, a sticky note?” Zhao Binlin pulled the pink square paper off his shoulder, “Who put it there? What’s written on it? Another love letter from some girl? Pretty creative.”
Jiang Wen acted unconcerned and continued solving problems on his scratch paper.
Zhao Binlin leaned against the wall, staring at it in confusion for a while before hesitating, then having a sudden realization, “No, this must be from Feng Ning, right?”
Jiang Wen snatched the note away.
He froze for a moment.
What met his eyes was a cute drunk little peacock wearing a fluffy cape, sprawled on the ground. Its tail was fanned out in a semicircle, its small pointy head topped with a crown, adorably snoring while leaning against a large wine bottle.
Next to it was a long-haired manga girl with big eyes crying streams of tears, looking up with a handprint on her left cheek, kneeling above a flowing line of English text:
— an apology to the lovely little prince
Leave a Reply