YV | Chapter 10

Zhang Xu was hot too, sweat beading at his temples, one hand holding a saltwater popsicle, and there were still two in the plastic bag hanging from his left hand.

He handed one to the steamed bun shop owner. “Hurry, it’s melting.”

The owner hurriedly packed up the stall, the popsicle in his mouth, shivering from the cold, insisting on saying thanks, “Take the buns and go, I have something to do, I’m in a hurry to get off work!”

Zhang Xu was unhurried as he asked, “What?”

“Blind date!”

Zhang Xu smiled and said, oh.

He carried the buns, tied the plastic bag shut, then tilted his head to look beside him.

Sheng Xiaoyang did not know why he himself did not leave, and when Zhang Xu looked over, his eyes seemed to have tracks installed, smoothly moving away.

He was staring at the buns, probably wanting to eat them.

Their eyes did not meet at all, and the sunlight grew more scorching.

The owner half covered his mouth and quietly told Zhang Xu, “I just shouted for ages that there were no buns left, said I was closing. Everyone else dispersed, only him kept insisting.”

He raised his eyebrow, very proud. “My family’s buns are that delicious!”

Zhang Xu nodded and said, “They are pretty good.”

The owner beamed, “Oh my.”

Zhang Xu was a regular customer, coming once every afternoon. After a long time, the owner got used to it and kept some for him, so he did not need to queue.

Today there was an accident, out came a Sheng Xiaoyang who seemed not to understand human speech.

Seeing that Sheng Xiaoyang still would not leave, the owner drew a breath and was about to speak to him.

Zhang Xu reached out and stopped him for a moment.

Sheng Xiaoyang finally finished processing the conversation in his head, understood what the owner meant, and knew it was not appropriate to stay any longer.

However, Zhang Xu’s energy around him was too strong, constantly affecting Sheng Xiaoyang, dopamine like a sprite with legs, running wild, scorched by the blazing sun, suddenly exploding, bursting out into a ball of fire, and the firelight then turning into soap bubbles that vanished with one poke.

So Sheng Xiaoyang was happy for a moment, disappointed for a moment, and did not feel sad.

Before leaving, he still wanted to look at Zhang Xu.

His instinct was faster than the instructions his brain gave him, and when he came to his senses, his peripheral vision had already drifted toward Zhang Xu.

Eyes smiling, brows relaxed, one hook and one stroke, the things in Sheng Xiaoyang’s eyes unconsciously copied the structure of a god.

Zhang Xu was also looking at Sheng Xiaoyang.

The high-hanging sunlight also turned gentle.

“We met last time,”

The curve at the corner of Zhang Xu’s mouth was just right, and he asked, “Has your injury gotten better?”

Sheng Xiaoyang was stunned.

What?

Zhang Xu pointed to his own neck to indicate.

Oh!

Sheng Xiaoyang was so surprised, he shook his head in a flurry.

Zhang Xu had never been curious about why Sheng Xiaoyang was silent, even though in some moments his state was like a little dog baring its teeth and claws.

A dog will bark, Sheng Xiaoyang would not, but he would show off, would be fierce, and would snatch what was his.

Zhang Xu handed over the bun and said, “For you.”

Sheng Xiaoyang did not understand.

-??

“I just ate two osmanthus cakes on the front street, too greasy, I can’t taste anything else. Stuffing it into my mouth would be a waste.”

The owner’s buns used a secret family recipe, and even through the plastic bag the aroma could be smelled everywhere.

Sheng Xiaoyang’s Adam’s apple rolled almost imperceptibly.

Was he craving buns?

Probably not.

On the surface Sheng Xiaoyang was as still as a mirror, but beneath it the waves were vast.

Today he was dressed cleanly, and before he伸ed out his hand, he still unconsciously wiped it on his clothes twice.

It could be cleaner.

He gave it to me, so I’ll accept it, that’s normal, no fussing.

The ripple stirred in the air that Zhang Xu could not see, and the solemn beating of Sheng Xiaoyang’s heart that Zhang Xu also could not hear.

An invisible, colorless, soundless natural balance.

Sheng Xiaoyang did not really want to use sign language to communicate with Zhang Xu. He hoped to temporarily establish a subtle connection with Zhang Xu as a normal person. It seemed he was being greedy again.

In the end he only nodded to express thanks.

Zhang Xu’s smile was soft, and he said nothing.

Sheng Xiaoyang felt in his pocket, took out a handful of money, wrinkled one-yuan bills in a jumble, scattered one- and five-jiao notes, gathered them into his palm, and held them out to Zhang Xu.

This was Sheng Xiaoyang’s own idea of how to express thanks, in his opinion, a barren way.

So familiar, Zhang Xu froze for a moment. He himself was walking through a narrow and deep alley, looked up, and saw a cloud of innocent and natural purity, unhidden and unreserved sincerity, making people unable to react in time.

Zhang Xu took it with both hands, did not count it, and put it into his coat pocket.

The owner looked at Sheng Xiaoyang, then at Zhang Xu, and asked, “You two know each other?”

Sheng Xiaoyang could not hear, did not see, and after catching his breath, it was time to leave, so he lowered his head and walked off.

Today he performed well, he thought.

Being ignored, the owner was unhappy. “Hey, I’m leaving!”

Zhang Xu spoke, neither light nor heavy. “Not really.”

Daya keenly noticed that after Sheng Xiaoyang bought the buns and came back, his spirits bloomed again, much happier. He pinched the vegetable bun and raised it in front of his eyes, as if looking at a pearl.

“Is it good?” Sheng Xiaoyang asked Daya.

Daya got a bun stuck in his throat in one bite, stretched his neck out for a good two li, and finally swallowed it, nodding in horror. “Good... it’s good.”

Sheng Xiaoyang smiled, his eyes curving, and said, “Oh, good!”

Recently Sheng Xiaoyang did not often go to Jiangping Road. He had to work hard to earn money, and try to get Sheng Xia away from the underground bicycle shed in the summer. Work was hard to find, and besides picking up empty bottles, he ran around the back kitchens of various restaurants.

Busy, chaotic, wages calculated by the hour, and what he got in hand was not much.

Sheng Xiaoyang spoke little and did little, washed however many dishes he was given, and in the boss’s eyes was an angel employee. They often regretted that he could not speak, otherwise if he were put in the front hall, this face could still bring in customers.

Seeing that the restaurant owner seemed short on money, he enthusiastically introduced a car repair shop’s car-washing job, with wages paid daily, quite a bit higher than dishwashing.

Sheng Xiaoyang did not have the tragic sense that “we are all trying our best to live.” Apart from the life before puberty, even if he went to prison, he still felt that being alive was good. This kind of optimistic mood probably came into being after meeting Zhang Xu.

Most of the people washing cars at the repair shop were disabled people. Besides people like Sheng Xiaoyang, there were even worse ones, people with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism. The boss put a slogan at the shop entrance, the staff in the shop are mostly disabled, value has no boundaries, effort has no end.

The intent was lofty, but in reality it was not like that. The boss used disabled people as a gimmick to attract business, while making a fortune himself, but when paying wages he was miserly to the bone. The reasons for deducting money were listed on a sheet, longer than his life, and he always had an air of being above everyone else, like a locust sucking blood. He would curse someone with a single asshole and still want to hit them, bullying disabled people because they could not fight back.

But Sheng Xiaoyang was not someone to be messed with. The boss knew he had been to prison and, for the time being, did not plan to provoke this troublemaker.

After Sheng Xiaoyang worked for a few days, he felt awful inside. He discovered that everyone had no attitude of resistance. Tao also told him, “People like us, making money is not easy, as long as we can get through one day, we get through one day.”

Tao was also mute, his ears were fine, he had ruined his voice with a fever when he was young. They communicated in sign language, squatting at the shop entrance, openly showing it to the boss.

The boss hated them so much his teeth itched.

Sheng Xiaoyang was still depressed. After getting off work at night, taking the summer night wind, he wound around and around and ended up on Jiangping Road.

“One Stream” was closed for business, the door shut, but the window still left a tiny crack, warm light spilling out, and Zhang Xu was working. That clear side profile was kneaded into the moonlight, like the tide returning to silence, the sea breathing steadily.

Sheng Xiaoyang crouched in the bushes to sneak a look, and got bitten by mosquitoes into many big bumps.

Late at night, the scenic area had emptied, and the world returned to silence.

Zhang Xu turned off the lights. Rustle, rustle, and not long after, the light in the room on the second floor came on.

He probably still had about an hour before sleeping. Sheng Xiaoyang knew his own schedule better than Zhang Xu did himself.

His legs had gone numb, so Sheng Xiaoyang simply sat down. Tilting his head up made his neck sore too, but it did not matter. He wanted to stay a little longer.

Then, wind rolled in with dark clouds, and the moon could no longer be seen, muffled thunder exploded.

Zhang Xu opened the window, it was too dark, and the air was only full of hot wind and tree shadows swaying indistinctly.

Maybe the wind was not strong, it was just that the leaves were too light.

Zhang Xu was absent-minded for a moment. Before closing the window, his gaze swept toward the small noodle shop, everything as usual.

Sheng Xiaoyang did not leave. He went halfway around the river and came to the west wall of the small noodle shop, stepping along the narrow path at the edge, and stopped beneath the window. A pot of flowers was placed on the windowsill, and Sheng Xiaoyang did not know what kind they were, the leaves larger than a palm.

Sheng Xiaoyang’s heart itched. He reached out and fiddled with the leaves. Raindrops came down, patter, patter, landing on Sheng Xiaoyang’s fingertips. His eyes shone as he saw a little thing.

A thumb-sized wooden carving of a little dog stood at the edge of the flowerpot, baring its teeth toward the direction of the moon, its front paws stepping on a bun. The surface of the little dog still had fresh carving marks, its tail raised, lifelike.

Sheng Xiaoyang was drenched all over by the sudden downpour, but his heart was so hot, so hot that his eyes were filled with sour, aching pain. He thought of many days from the past, thought of his mother, and of the beatings he had endured. He could not cry out, and in truth, it hurt a lot.

His eyes went from sour to painful, and Sheng Xiaoyang raised a hand, rubbing until the tears became more and more, only then realizing that this was rain.

It was time to go back.

Before leaving, Sheng Xiaoyang pushed the little dog under the leaves. In this small fairy-tale world, at least tonight it was shielded from wind and rain.

The thunderstorm continued all night. The next morning, Zhang Xu got up early, and Jiangping Road had rarely few tourists. He held an umbrella and ran slowly along the river, then came back into the small noodle shop.

Song Shifu asked, “The usual?”

Zhang Xu sat at the table by the west wall window, propping his chin up as he watched the light rain fall onto the river outside, rippling. He shook his head and said, “Red soup, heavy pour.”

Song Shifu said乖乖隆地咚 eight times a day, and said, “Such a heavy taste first thing in the morning.”

Zhang Xu gave a faint smile,

A gust of wind brushed past, tugging the greenery into sway, quietly revealing the cute little dog beneath the tender green leaves. It was brimming with life, without restraint, staring toward the direction where the sun rose, as if it were someone.

Zhang Xu was quiet for a long time, then turned to look at the empty noodle shop, with only Song Shifu in the kitchen busy with his feet not touching the ground.

The rain stopped, and in the blink of an eye the sunlight was bright. Zhang Xu伸ed out a finger, touched the little dog’s head, wiped away the dampness on it, and moved it into the sunlight.

“Sunbathing.”

【📢Author’s note】
Sheng Xiaoyang: I’m amazing