LHKE Ch16

Shen Li was sitting in the driver’s seat, the car still parked in front of the hair salon, holding his phone and waiting for a long time—waiting for a reply from Lu Changting.

Finally, a message came through: “Boss Shen, have you ever been on a blind date? Got any experience to share?”

He had been on one once, tricked into it, where the other party deliberately brought a male companion to disrupt the date. After everything was laid out in the open, everyone just parted ways.

What experience could he possibly share with Lu Changting?

He calmly opened a search engine, typed out a string of words on the keyboard, and then sent all the links he found to Lu Changting.

Something splashed on the phone screen, blurring his vision.

Shen Li gave a self-deprecating and bitter smile, wiped away the water stain on the screen, then opened the chat window with Jiang Chifeng and sent a message.

…

“Let’s go out for a drink.”

Jiang Chifeng received Shen Li’s message half an hour ago. Four words followed by a location.

No. 1 High School in S City.

It was 10:27 on a Saturday night. Jiang Chifeng had no idea what Shen Li was up to, but he handed a pack of cigarettes to the security guard at the school gate and successfully got in under the pretense of reminiscing about his youth.

Reminisce about his youth, my foot. Missing the admission cutoff for No. 1 High School by a few points was a lifelong regret for him. His family had offered to pull some strings to get him in, but he refused. At that time, he was rebellious and stubborn, believing that not getting in was just that—paying to get in would be disgraceful. So, he gritted his teeth and went to No. 2 High School instead.

Although he had matured now, thinking back on it still left him feeling resentful. If not for Shen Li inviting him, he probably wouldn’t have set foot in No. 1 High School even on his deathbed.

The schools here didn’t do that extra tutoring stuff. They had the weekend off from Friday to Sunday, so the campus was deathly quiet on Saturday. Jiang Chifeng was wandering aimlessly through the vast campus, unsure of his way, while sending Shen Li a voice message.

“Where are you? This place is huge; you expect me to find you by telepathy?”

Shen Li replied quickly and concisely: “The small building by the basketball court.”

The streetlights around the basketball court were bright, making the small building behind it look pitch-black and eerie, with the tall evergreen trees casting thick, ominous shadows around it.

Jiang Chifeng used his phone’s light to navigate up the wooden stairs, and when he finally saw Shen Li at the top, he felt a sense of relief.

“You’re really in the mood for this late-night adventure.” Jiang Chifeng casually sat down next to Shen Li at the stairway entrance and opened a bottle of alcohol for himself. “How’d you sneak this in?”

“Through the side gate,” Shen Li replied.

Jiang Chifeng took a few sips, glanced at Shen Li under the slanting moonlight filtering through the treetops, and said, “Come on, spill it. Let it out, and you’ll feel better.”

Shen Li bit down on his cigarette, his eyes lifting through the swirling smoke, the weariness and sorrow in them blending into the night.

“Does your school have any legends?”

“What kind of legends?” Jiang Chifeng took a swig, his tone casual. “Like the dorms being built on an old burial ground?”

Shen Li suddenly chuckled. He opened a can of alcohol too, but instead of drinking, he poured some out at his feet as if in tribute. “This small building used to be an equipment room, then it became a storage room, and the doors were all locked up.”

“Rumor has it that a girl died here, suicide, slit her wrists, and there was blood everywhere.”

“Damn.” Jiang Chifeng licked his lips, feeling a chill run down his spine. “Ghost stories aren’t scary; what you’re doing is creepy.”

“After that, people said it was haunted—ghostly figures floating around, the sound of a girl crying…” Shen Li’s gaze drifted unfocused into the distance. “On the first day of evening study, this strange ghost story spread throughout my class.”

“We were young back then, full of curiosity, so a bunch of us gathered after school, saying we were going to check out the small building.”

“There were so many people, from every class. As soon as I got upstairs, I heard a scream, sharp and piercing, and the fear instantly pierced through me. Everyone started running back, and I had no idea what was happening, completely frozen in place.”

Shen Li extinguished his cigarette and took a sip of his drink. He spoke slowly, even though he had replayed these memories in his mind countless times, this was the first time he had ever shared them with someone.

“That night, he was there too. It was the first time I saw him. In my daze, someone pulled me up; he grabbed my hand and ran with me downstairs, avoiding the crowd, until we reached a well-lit area. Then, he let go of my hand and left.” Shen Li said, “Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if I had called out to him back then.”

He paused for a long time before continuing, “The next day, the students caught by the teachers patrolling the building were publicly criticized by the school. Because he pulled me along, I was lucky enough not to get mentioned on the school broadcast.”

“He was in Class 13, I was in Class 16, just one floor apart.” Shen Li lit another cigarette. “I often deliberately passed by his classroom just to glance inside.”

“At the New Year’s Eve party that year, he wore a black suit and played the piano on stage. After the performance, he sneaked out of the auditorium to play basketball.”

“He looked especially good playing the piano, with a light that even the stage lighting couldn’t overshadow,” Shen Li said. “And the same when he played basketball.”

Shen Li fell silent, and Jiang Chifeng didn’t interrupt. He knew Shen Li didn’t need advice or comfort; he just needed someone to listen.

His story wasn’t finished yet.

Shen Li took a drag from his cigarette and exhaled slowly. “During the sports meet, he participated in the 3000-meter race. I wrote him lots of cheer messages. I was working at the school broadcast station back then, so I used my position to only read out his cheer messages.”

“Later, he came to the podium and asked who the student was that had read out the messages for him. I hid.” Shen Li’s lips curved into a small smile. “At the time, the atmosphere was so intense that no one thought it was odd. Looking back now, it’s really embarrassing.”

“He liked cats and often fed the stray cats around the school.”

“Sometimes I was really envious of those cats, being able to nestle in his arms and nap in the sun.” Even after all these years, thinking back on those memories still made Shen Li’s heart flutter, and his smile became gentle. “Those cats were cute, and he was cute holding them.”

“I loved watching him play basketball because, at those moments, I could blend into the crowd and openly watch him, cheering for him without any guilt.”

“Once, he lost track of time playing basketball and didn’t have lunch. It wasn’t until the bell rang for the lunch break that he rushed to the school store to buy something to eat.” Shen Li tilted his head back and took a long drink. “It was midsummer, and under the scorching midday sun, he fainted.”

“Heatstroke, along with low blood sugar.”

“I carried him to the school infirmary and then ran back to the store to buy him something to eat.” He tossed the empty beer can aside and gave a bitter smile. “When I came back, I saw him smiling and thanking a girl.”

“He was holding the chocolate I had placed by his bedside.”

“I made it myself.”

“Later, they ended up together.”

“I still often followed him secretly, but I never had the urge to get to know him or confess my feelings. Sometimes I would see him having lunch with his girlfriend. They would hold hands, hug, and I would just watch from a distance.”

“And then I’d repeatedly tell myself, ‘Let it go, you two are not meant to be.'”

After that, they graduated.

Since they parted ways, Shen Li often dreamed of Lu Changting. Strange and vivid dreams. Sometimes he dreamed of that first night they met, where he called out to Lu Changting, and they became friends who could talk about anything. Other times, he dreamed that Lu Changting discovered his feelings and responded with cold disdain, calling him disgusting. The worst dreams were the ones with Lu Changting and Tang Yao together—those were nightmares that often jolted him awake in the middle of the night.

As time passed, Shen Li dreamed of Lu Changting less and less, and even the longing faded.

From beginning to end, this love was one-sided, all of Shen Li’s passion, love, and heartbreak belonged to him alone.

It had no beginning and no end.

Even now, Shen Li never mentioned Lu Changting’s name, but Jiang Chifeng knew that “he” was Lu Changting. All of Shen Li’s love, his regrets, his unresolved feelings, were all for Lu Changting.

“You…” After a long silence, Jiang Chifeng’s throat tightened as he sighed, “What kind of karma did you accumulate in your past life?”

“Love is given willingly, with no regrets,” Shen Li exhaled deeply. “After saying it out loud, I do feel much better.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to try?” Jiang Chifeng fished out a cigarette from the pack, lit it, and the tiny flame flickered in the night breeze, carrying the scent of tobacco.

Even as someone just listening to the story, Jiang Chifeng felt uneasy… If it were him, he definitely couldn’t have kept all that love bottled up inside like Shen Li, hiding it, containing it.

Even if it was a love that could go nowhere, he would have told Lu Changting. Maybe Shen Li could bear it because he had never heard a rejection, never heard a “sorry” or “thank you” from Lu Changting. That was why he could love so quietly.

“No.” Shen Li shook his head with a smile. “This path is too hard. I can’t bring myself to drag him into it.”

“I won’t try to convince you otherwise,” Jiang Chifeng clinked his glass with Shen Li’s. “I’ll just keep you company for a drink.”

That night, the two of them drank until dawn in the schoolyard, finishing off the entire case of beer Shen Li had brought.

After cleaning up the empty cans, they found that the school gates were locked, so they wandered drunkenly around the campus until they finally climbed over the wall near the boys’ dormitory.

Wei Wenxing was waiting for them outside.

Although Shen Li was a bit drunk, he was used to regular exercise, so he easily climbed over the wall. Jiang Chifeng, on the other hand, was more hesitant. He hadn’t done anything like this in years, and his head was spinning from the alcohol. Standing on the wall, he was too scared to jump down and needed Wei Wenxing to coax him.

“Come on, I’ll catch you.”

In the end, Jiang Chifeng did jump and was caught in Wei Wenxing’s arms, his heart pounding.

“Damn, why is No. 1 High’s wall so damn high?” He raised his hand to show Wei Wenxing a shallow cut on his palm from the glass shards embedded in the wall. “They even have shards of glass. That’s brutal.”

Wei Wenxing took his wrist and kissed the wound. “Does it hurt?”

Jiang Chifeng glanced at Shen Li, who was still standing nearby, and quickly pulled his hand back, embarrassed. “It doesn’t hurt. Let’s go home.”

Shen Li looked down at the cut on his own palm, clenched his fist, and hid the bleeding wound.

He turned back to look at the school wall, took out his phone, and snapped a picture.

…

By the time he got home, it was close to 1 a.m. Shen Li took a shower, dried his hair, and was almost sober.

He rummaged through the bedside drawer for the first-aid kit, disinfected the wound with alcohol, and applied a bandage to the cut on his palm.

Lying in bed, he opened WeChat, posted a message on his Moments, then shoved his phone under the pillow and habitually wrapped himself in the blanket to sleep.

The post read:

Liquor Seller: “Look at this wall, so high.” [Image.jpg]