TA • Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Cheng Ke had never eaten glutinous rice dumplings like these. To be exact, he had never eaten glutinous rice dumplings from a breakfast stall in any form.

He had not expected something with just a small piece of lotus leaf underneath it to taste this good.

They were just a little too small. By the time he reached East Gate, he had already finished it.

“How much is this dumpling?” he asked Jiang Yuduo. “It’s pretty good.”

“You want to pay?” Jiang Yuduo said. “Ten yuan.”

“…I wasn’t planning to pay,” Cheng Ke said.

“Oh.” Jiang Yuduo glanced at him. “Five yuan. One more yuan for the meat, six total.”

“Why are there two prices, one before and one after?” Cheng Ke looked at him. Jiang Yuduo said nothing, just kept his eyes straight ahead. Cheng Ke caught on. “What, if I’m paying, you still want to make four yuan off me?”

“If you’re not convinced, spit it out.” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke gave him a thumbs-up. “I’m very convinced.”

A taxi pulled over. Jiang Yuduo raised a hand.

The taxi came up beside them. When it was still a few meters away, a voice came from behind them. “Taxi! Perfect, fuck!”

Cheng Ke had not even reacted before several men who looked like street punks ran over, yanked the door open, and climbed in.

“Fuck?” Cheng Ke froze, then turned to look at Jiang Yuduo.

Jiang Yuduo did not make a sound. He just looked on.

The taxi started moving, drove about ten meters, then suddenly stopped again.

The door opened, and all the people who had just gotten in climbed back out. A bald kid ran toward them, pointing at the taxi as he ran back. “Wait there!”

“Third Brother,” the bald kid said when he reached them, stopping with an awkward grin at Jiang Yuduo. “Didn’t see it was you.”

Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. “Got too used to snatching cabs?”

“No way. Mainly because I didn’t realize you two were trying to get one.” The bald kid scratched his head.

“Bullshit,” Jiang Yuduo said. “If we weren’t getting a cab, why the hell would it stop here? You calling a car with your mind?”

“Third Brother, get in.” The bald kid bent toward him politely.

Jiang Yuduo walked toward the car, then looked back at him. “You didn’t go home last night, did you?”

“Yeah, you could tell?” the bald kid asked.

“Obviously. It’s gotten cold today. If you’d come from home, would you be out here bareheaded?” Jiang Yuduo pointed at his scalp. “Your scalp’s turning blue from the cold!”

“I’m fine.” The bald kid rubbed his head again and gave a couple of awkward chuckles.

Jiang Yuduo took off his own cap and threw it to him. “Get lost!”

“Thanks, Third Brother!” the bald kid shouted.

Even after they got in the car, Cheng Ke could still hear the bald kid chasing after it outside and yelling, “Third Brother! Thanks!”

“Thanks my ass. Enough already,” Jiang Yuduo muttered.

Cheng Ke glanced at him and muttered back, “I thought people who hung around on the streets didn’t say thanks?”

“He’s a generation below me,” Jiang Yuduo said.

“Isn’t he about the same age as you?” Cheng Ke did not get it.

“He’s my underling’s underling,” Jiang Yuduo said. “Grandson generation, get it?”

“…Got it.” Cheng Ke nodded.

Jiang Yuduo did not say anything else. He took out his phone, unlocked it, and probably started reading a novel again.

Cheng Ke leaned against the car window. It was freezing outside, and the wind was strong, but the sun was bright. Sitting in a heated car with no wind blowing on him felt wonderful.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Jiang Yuduo’s side profile.

Jiang Yuduo seemed to be reading seriously, but he read slowly. It took him a long time to get through a single page of the novel.

“Still that thigh novel?” Cheng Ke asked.

Jiang Yuduo turned to look at him. “Yeah.”

Cheng Ke smiled.

“It’s not that interesting anymore,” Jiang Yuduo said with a frown. “My favorite side character died. If I’d known this chapter was going to kill him off, I fucking wouldn’t have bought it.”

“Isn’t it normal for people to die in novels?” Cheng Ke said. “The main character didn’t die. You’re not reading it just because a supporting role died, are you?”

“If the main character really died, I wouldn’t feel much. After all, the people reading it are mostly here for the main character, the joy, the sadness, whether things are good or bad, alive or dead,” Jiang Yuduo exited the novel screen and said quietly, “Supporting characters are different. Especially minor ones. Nobody cares.”

Cheng Ke looked at him and said nothing.

“Like me.” Jiang Yuduo added softly.

“Hey,” the driver said, joining in, “you young people really do think a lot. Let me tell you, you’re the main character of your own life.”

“I’m not,” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke froze.

The driver probably only knew how to use that one motivational line. When he ran into an answer like Jiang Yuduo’s, he had nothing to say, so he sighed and fell silent.

The event Xu Ding had put together was being held in a rather high-end art gallery, in a small exhibition hall. The theme was “Blankness,” and there were some paintings and photography works.

Cheng Ke thought the title “Blankness” was very appropriate. It made people feel blank the moment they saw the name.

Still, he never studied the deeper meaning of events. He only handled his own part. Today he only needed to improvise, with no limits. He could do whatever he wanted.

“Whatever you draw, it can all be blankness,” Xu Ding had said.

Very reasonable. After all, that was the theme. Most people would consciously force themselves to fit it, and those who failed to do so would feel too embarrassed to say anything.

“You won’t be able to get in later,” Cheng Ke looked around. “And there’s nowhere for you to stay anyway. Go back. You can’t just stand here forever.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Jiang Yuduo said. “As if I can’t find somewhere to stay? I’m not you.”

“…Fine.” Cheng Ke nodded. “Then I’m going in. I still need to prepare my stuff.”

“Mm.” Jiang Yuduo responded.

Cheng Ke glanced at him again, then turned and went in through the side door of the small exhibition hall.

Jiang Yuduo had never been to such a high-end place before.

The only places with art he had ever been exposed to were probably the kind in shopping malls where they set up a stage to auction oil paintings.

Starting bid, one yuan. If it went over three hundred, nobody wanted it anymore.

He looked around. There were many exhibition halls, each with different “art.” Even in such freezing weather, there were quite a few people.

Everyone was very quiet, looking in silence. They only spoke occasionally, and even then their voices were low.

Jiang Yuduo wandered around inside. He had originally wanted to find a place to sit, but he could not find one. The atmosphere also made him a little uncomfortable. Everyone else had come to appreciate the art, while he looked like he had walked in through the wrong door.

He wandered to the entrance of the gallery. There was a trash can by the wall.

But if there had not been a girl standing beside it with a cigarette between her fingers, flicking ash into it, he really would not have recognized that thing as a trash can.

He walked over and lit a cigarette.

The girl glanced at him and moved aside a bit to make room for him, then asked, “Why didn’t you go in?”

“Hm?” Jiang Yuduo looked at her.

“Didn’t you come with Cheng Ke?” the girl said.

“You know Cheng Ke?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“I’ve eaten with him a few times,” the girl smiled. “But almost everyone who does sand painting knows him.”

“Oh.” Jiang Yuduo nodded. He had not expected Cheng Ke to be famous in the industry.

The girl took a drag from her cigarette and sized him up. “I haven’t seen you before.”

“Have you seen everyone around Cheng Ke?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“Pretty much,” the girl said, stubbing out her cigarette and holding out her hand. “I’m called Mili’er.”

Jiang Yuduo looked at her. That did not sound like a proper name at all, so he reached out and slapped her palm once. “I’m Lao San.”

“Nice name,” Mili’er said with a smile. Her gaze fell behind him, and she waved toward the entrance. “Xiao Yi’s here too.”

Jiang Yuduo turned around and saw Cheng Ke’s younger brother, Cheng Kaixin.

“Cheng Ke’s younger brother. Do you know each other?” Mili’er asked.

“Met before,” Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Yi nodded at Mili’er. When he saw Jiang Yuduo, he clearly paused for a second. Jiang Yuduo was just about to leave when Cheng Yi was already walking over.

“Why are you here?” Mili’er looked at Cheng Yi and said with a smile. “Aren’t you usually not interested in this kind of thing?”

“I’m still not interested. I just happened to pass by, so I came to take a look,” Cheng Yi said. “Your idol’s about to start performing. Aren’t you going in?”

“I’m going.” Mili’er waved at both of them and ran into the entrance.

By the trash can, only Jiang Yuduo and Cheng Yi were left.

A north wind blew past. Cheng Yi pulled up his scarf and covered half his face.

Jiang Yuduo realized that from this angle, the two brothers looked very much alike.

But the difference in their eyes was huge. Jiang Yuduo usually judged people by their eyes. Movements could be faked, expressions could be faked, even smiles could be faked. Only eyes were hard to fake.

There were some eyes he would never forget in his life.

Even when Cheng Ke was angry, he would never feel as sharp as his younger brother did, with that aggressive feeling that seemed to want to pierce straight through someone at a glance.

Jiang Yuduo was not afraid of that kind of gaze, but it made him uncomfortable.

He did not know this person, did not know his name, and had never spoken to him. He turned around, went around the trash can, and was about to leave.

“Are you waiting for my brother?” Cheng Yi asked from behind him.

Jiang Yuduo turned back and looked at him without saying anything.

“Why didn’t he let you in?” Cheng Yi said. “He doesn’t need an invitation to bring people in.”

“Why would I go in?” Jiang Yuduo said.

“It’s warm inside,” Cheng Yi said with a smile.

“Do I look like someone who’s afraid of the cold?” Jiang Yuduo asked.

“Not being afraid of the cold doesn’t mean you’re not cold,” Cheng Yi was still smiling. “I’ll take you in. My brother won’t say anything.”

Jiang Yuduo frowned.

The way he said it was genuinely irritating, even if it was subtle and he was still smiling with a gentle tone. But the meaning was clear, Cheng Ke had not let him in.

That was seriously humiliating.

“Are you not very good at understanding people?” Jiang Yuduo said impatiently.

Cheng Yi did not even get angry. He was still looking at him with a smile.

Jiang Yuduo had never dealt with young masters like this before. The only rich heir he had ever come into contact with was a useless one with no temper at all. He did not know what Cheng Yi wanted to do, or what he wanted to say, and he did not want to know. But he would not follow Cheng Yi’s pace.

He took out his phone and dialed Xu Ding’s number.

“Hello? Third Brother?” Xu Ding answered.

Listen to that tone from Xu Ding.

“I’m outside,” Jiang Yuduo said. “Come out for a second.”

“Now?” Xu Ding seemed to freeze. “Outside the art gallery?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Yuduo looked at Cheng Yi.

“Okay,” Xu Ding said. “Give me two minutes.”

“Mm.” Jiang Yuduo responded.

Just as he was about to hang up, Xu Ding quickly added, “You’re alone?”

“No,” Jiang Yuduo said. “I’m chatting with Cheng Ke’s younger brother.”

“I’ll be right out.” Xu Ding said.

Jiang Yuduo hung up, lit another cigarette, and bit it between his teeth while staring blankly at the trash can. He had nothing to chat about with Cheng Yi anyway, so not seeing him was best.

It just felt less and less safe the more he thought about it.

The matter from last time, when Cheng Yi had been driving around in his territory, still did not have an answer. Now it seemed like the pieces were finally connecting.

If those people had noticed Cheng Ke, then Cheng Yi was the biggest threat.

Jiang Yuduo suddenly felt his hand go a little cold.

“Have you known my brother for a long time?” Cheng Yi asked, still in that gentle tone. If you did not look at his face, just hearing him speak was actually very pleasant.

“Not long.” Jiang Yuduo glanced at him.

“I was pretty surprised when I saw you at dinner last time,” Cheng Yi said. “I always thought the ones he liked were the cute, pretty type.”

Jiang Yuduo said nothing.

It took him several seconds to realize what Cheng Yi meant.

He had to admit, Cheng Yi’s words immediately made him picture it.

Cheng Ke, holding a bunch of pretty little cuties with lipstick on.

His stomach turned a little.

“Do you think just because a guy stands next to him, it means something’s going on between them?” Jiang Yuduo asked irritably.

“Isn’t it?” Cheng Yi looked at him, amusement in the corners of his eyes.

Isn’t it what? Isn’t what?

What the hell was he asking back?

Was he questioning whether Jiang Yuduo had anything to do with Cheng Ke?

Or was he implying that if a man stood beside Cheng Ke, it had to mean that kind of relationship?

Jiang Yuduo could not stand this kind of conversation at all. He crushed out his cigarette. “What the hell does this have to do with you? He’s not sleeping with you. Why the fuck are you saying ‘isn’t it’? If you’re that interested, go keep driving around over there.”

Cheng Yi stared at him, and the smile on his face froze for a moment.

“Don’t look at me,” Jiang Yuduo said. “You fart once in my territory, and in three minutes someone will tell me what you had for your last meal.”

Cheng Yi’s smile finally disappeared because of those words, and he frowned instead.

Xu Ding came out through the entrance.

“Here!” Jiang Yuduo called out and walked over there. He did not want to stay with Cheng Yi for even one more second.

Xu Ding came over and asked quietly, “How did you end up running into Xiao Yi?”

“Ask him,” Jiang Yuduo said irritably. “You think I was bored enough to go bump into him? I didn’t even eat breakfast.”

Xu Ding smiled. “Go in. I already spoke to the staff at the entrance.”

“I…” Jiang Yuduo hesitated for a moment. “Fine, I’ll go in.”

“Mm.” Xu Ding nodded, then walked over and greeted Cheng Yi behind him. “Why didn’t you go in?”

“I wasn’t invited. How would I dare go in randomly?” Cheng Yi said with a smile.

“Since when do you need an invitation?” Xu Ding said.

Those few lines sounded fairly normal, but no matter how Jiang Yuduo heard them, they felt awkward. It seemed like Xu Ding and Cheng Yi did not get along very well either.

But he was too annoyed to eavesdrop.

Xu Ding also did not tell him how to get in, but the staff member standing at the small exhibition hall entrance saw him coming and immediately stepped forward. “Mr. Jiang?”

“Yes.” Jiang Yuduo was a little unaccustomed to that form of address. It seemed like nobody had ever called him that before.

“Please follow me,” the staff member said.

Jiang Yuduo followed behind him into the hall.

The moment he went in, he could feel that this was more than nineteen thousand levels above some mall oil painting auction stage.

There were many paintings and photos in the exhibition hall. Not all of them were on the walls. Some were placed in the middle of the hall, here on a pillar, there on a pedestal, all of them displaying something. There were also quite a few things he could not even tell what they were. A few blocks stacked together also counted as art, and a headless dog sitting on its own head also counted as one…

What the hell.

The only thing that looked pleasing to the eye was probably Cheng Ke over there.

Cheng Ke stood in the middle of an open area, with a lit platform in front of him, several boxes of sand at his side, and a projection behind him that showed the tabletop and his hands.

“Feel free to look around,” the staff member said softly after bringing him near Cheng Ke.

“Mm, thanks.” Jiang Yuduo said.

He had no concept of sand painting. The only thing he had ever seen was Cheng Ke using salt to draw him and a cat on the table, along with a bunch of drawings that were not even as good as what a three-and-a-half-year-old kid across the hall could do in a guessing game.

But right now, watching Cheng Ke felt completely different from sitting beside a table and poking salt with his fingers.

There was music in the hall, very low and very soft. He could not tell what it was, but it sounded pretty good.

Jiang Yuduo looked around. There were only a few sofas arranged in circles in the corner, already occupied. Most people were standing.

He found a pillar and leaned against it lightly. It was solid enough, apparently not going to fall, so he stayed there and watched Cheng Ke.

A waiter passed by with a tray, and he immediately spotted the little cakes on it, so he reached out and took one. He stuffed it in his mouth in two bites.

Cheng Ke really was a young master. He had eaten his breakfast and had not even thought of buying him another portion. Or rather, he had simply not thought of that at all.

Tsk.

Cheng Ke lowered his head, took a handful of sand from the side, and gently sprinkled it onto the platform.

The soft conversations in the hall faded away. Everyone turned to look at the projection, and some people even raised their phones to take pictures.

Jiang Yuduo touched the phone in his pocket, thought about it, then decided not to take it out.

It felt a little stupid.

Cheng Ke’s fingertips fell onto the fine sand on the platform and began to draw.

Sky, with clouds.

A mountain in the distance? Right, it was a mountain. Ah, you could tell it was a mountain. Fuck, it really looked like one.

A tree? Oh, no, it was a person… what was this under the person? Grass? Ah fuck, it was snow!

What was he smudging now?

Hey, it was a river?

And the person? He’d smudged it into a boat?

Oh, shit, it was actually an animation… changing scene by scene…

Jiang Yuduo felt like his eyes could not keep up. He looked at Cheng Ke, then at the projection.

Actually, he only needed to watch the projection. When people took photos, most of the time they were aimed at the projection anyway.

But in the end, he chose to keep watching Cheng Ke.

Cheng Ke’s painting was pretty damn impressive, but compared with that, Jiang Yuduo found Cheng Ke himself more interesting.

Cheng Ke’s hands were just ordinary hands, a little thin, but when the fine sand slipped from his fingers and fell, it looked incredibly beautiful.

And his expression, focused and calm, made it seem as if the people around him did not exist. No matter how many people were around him, no matter how many eyes were on him, for him there was only the space in front of him. He had not even once lifted his eyes to look around.

Jiang Yuduo watched until he went a little dazed.

Aside from that thigh novel, he had not looked at anything this seriously in a long time.

Especially not this kind of “art.”

Of course, what he was watching was not the art. He had been watching Cheng Ke all along, his face, his hands, the shirt sleeves he had rolled up. In the middle of it, he even worried for a moment whether the wound on the back of his head would get infected since the gauze was not covering it…

It was not until a soft laugh came from the crowd that he finally looked up at the projection.

He found that Cheng Ke was no longer drawing some continuous animation. What he was drawing now was a girl holding up a phone. Jiang Yuduo followed everyone’s gaze and saw Mili’er smiling while holding up her phone.

Looks like they really did know each other.

Cheng Ke still did not look around. He only kept his head lowered, looking at the platform in front of him, and Jiang Yuduo wondered how he had noticed Mili’er and still managed to draw her.

As he was thinking, the image changed. Mili’er with the raised phone disappeared, and in her place on the projection was a… pillar?

Beside the pillar, a person was leaning.

…Jiang Yuduo froze.

People began looking over toward him. For a moment, he did not know whether he should smile, stand up straight, or keep staying as he was.

As Cheng Ke’s hand swept across the sand, the image changed again. The pillar and the person disappeared, and gradually a face appeared, like a close-up of the previous scene.

In the end, the image froze on the expression of his mouth hanging open in an O shape, his face looking either blank or shocked.

When laughter and applause broke out all around him, Jiang Yuduo finally snapped back to his senses and stood up straight.

Cheng Ke’s performance ended. After nodding to everyone, he wiped the sand off the platform, and several staff members went over to help him clean up.

The projector was switched off too, and the people around him were still chatting softly, a little reluctant to stop.

Cheng Ke walked toward him.

When he got close, Jiang Yuduo glared at him. “Damn it, was I really like that?”

“You were like that the entire time,” Cheng Ke said.

“Impossible.” Jiang Yuduo touched his own mouth. “I’ve never had such a fucking stupid expression.”

“We can have Xu Ding play the recording back later and see,” Cheng Ke said, raising a hand to signal to Xu Ding, who was walking over. “Have him clip a segment for you.”

“…No need,” Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. “When did you see me?”

“I saw you the moment you came in,” Cheng Ke said. “How did you get in?”

“I fought with the people at the entrance and got in,” Jiang Yuduo said. “I saw you weren’t even looking this way, so how did you see me?”

“Peripheral vision,” Cheng Ke said. “Wait for me a moment. I’ll say a couple things to Xu Ding and then I’ll leave.”

“Mm.” Jiang Yuduo nodded.

Watching Cheng Ke and Xu Ding walk off to the side while greeting people along the way, he suddenly felt a little strange. He had never thought about Cheng Ke’s life before this. Was it just like this?

Pretty high-end.

It no longer connected at all with his image of a useless person who could not even operate a gas stove.