BSS - Chapter 70

Chapter 70

For the first time in a long while, Deng Chuan spent the night at home.

In the afternoon, she stood by the window, opening and closing the curtains before finally changing into her pajamas, jumping into bed, and pulling the covers over her head to sleep. Sleep was the one activity that didn't give rise to melancholy illusions. She must have been truly tired, because she slept deeply, without any dreams, until Tang Lijuan's knock woke her.

Tang Lijuan knocked, then pushed the door open only after hearing her daughter's muffled response. "Baby- your father and I booked a restaurant for tonight. Do you want to come with us? We can go to the hot springs after dinner?"

Deng Chuan shook her head, her eyes hazy with sleep.

Lao Deng also peeked out from behind her mom, a cheerful expression on his face. "Think carefully now. This is a rare opportunity."

Deng Chuan rested a hand on her forehead, her face impassive. "It's your private time together. What would I go for?"

Lao Deng chuckled. "Not bad, very perceptive." Tang Lijuan slapped him on the stomach. "What private time- After dinner and the hot springs, everyone's coming. Your Little Aunt is coming too. Haven't you not been in touch with your Little Aunt in a long time?"

Deng Chuan stretched under the covers and sat up. "I've been messaging her on WeChat."

Tang Lijuan sounded jealous. "Why don't you message me?"

Deng Chuan couldn't help but laugh. "...I message you too."

"You never message me first!"

"I do. I'm always the one who calls you."

Tang Lijuan fell silent, her pouting expression making her look quite young. Lao Deng laughingly cut their conversation short, issuing an ultimatum. "So, what's it going to be? Are you going or not?"

Deng Chuan threw off the covers, swung her legs over the side of the bed, and padded barefoot toward the bathroom. "You guys go ahead. I'll just rest at home by myself for a bit."

"Alright."

Lao Deng pushed Tang Lijuan, who still looked like she wanted to say something, toward the door. "Let's go, let's go- The kid's all grown up. You're stuck with me now-"

Tang Lijuan said, "In your dreams."

Deng Chuan found those words familiar.

The sounds of their laughter and footsteps gradually faded. A moment later, from behind two closed doors, came the soft click of the front door shutting.

The house instantly became very quiet.

In the bathroom, Deng Chuan washed her face, turning the faucet to the hot side. A droplet of water slid down her cheek. She blinked, staring at the familiar face in the mirror.

Even Deng Chuan herself had to admit that it was a young face. Fortunately, the look in her eyes was sharp and steady, making that youthfulness seem less naive. During her hectic third year of high school, this was how she had checked in on her own state. But compared to before, the fledgling immaturity in the reflection was gone, replaced by the ease of someone thriving in a life that had yet to face any real tests. Deng Chuan understood that in the past few months, she had embarked on a journey and found a love she had once yearned for in vain. The world she faced had expanded a thousandfold. These indispensable yet long-overdue parts of her life were like the evening stars rising outside the window right now- before the moon climbed high, they were light's most magnificent adornment for the coming night.

She carefully dried her face with a towel. Through the warm layer of fabric, her skin, eyebrows, nose, and mouth were tangibly present, brushing against her fingertips.

Deng Chuan touched her own face through the comforting warmth of the hot towel, as if flipping through the pages of a book.

As she did so, her heart settled completely, no different from the thousands of times it had settled in the past. After washing her face, Deng Chuan sat down at the desk in her room and took her laptop out of her bag.

Her third-year high school notebooks were still stacked neatly in a corner of the desk. While waiting for the computer to boot up, Deng Chuan reached out and flipped through one. The densely packed notes were once committed to memory. A bit of dust had settled on the pages, floating into the air. Deng Chuan rubbed her nose and sneezed.

Even though it was the National Day holiday, the discussion in the group chat for the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition about revising the project proposal hadn't stopped. After submitting the first draft to the professor, the second draft was now up for discussion and revision. Deng Chuan had been with Xu Wei for the past few days and hadn't paid much attention to the group chat. Only now did she have the time to work on her part.

Since everyone happened to be free, they started a WeChat call and discussed for nearly half an hour before finalizing the launch scope and marketing plan for the AI software.

Deng Chuan typed the final period in the document and sent the file.

The hands on the wall clock pointed to nine, and only then did she feel hungry.

She exited the WeChat call. The main interface was dotted with red numbers, indicating many unread messages.

At eight-thirty, her Little Aunt had sent her a private message asking why she didn't come to the hot springs. She had also sent a voice message. Deng Chuan played it and heard Deng Wen's childish voice asking, "Sister Chuan- why didn't you come play with us-" In the background, her Little Aunt's soft laughter could be heard. "Tell your sister if you miss her."

Deng Wen seemed to have given it serious thought. The message paused for a moment before his tender voice sounded again. "Sister Chuan- I've been very good... I miss you a lot."

Listening to it, Deng Chuan couldn't help but smile. She tapped the voice reply button. "I'm sorry- Sister misses you too. How about you come visit me in Beijing another day?"

Her Little Aunt didn't reply immediately, so Deng Chuan backed out to check her other messages. Pei Qingyu was on a night tour of Beijing and had spammed the group chat with photos of dusk and city lights. She complained that Beijing was terribly hot, stuffy, and sticky, and that showering eight times a day wasn't enough.

To Deng Chuan's surprise, Gu Ninglu had also sent her a message, asking where she was spending the holiday and why she hadn't gone to Inner Mongolia with the Photography Association. Deng Chuan thought for a moment but didn't reply right away.

She navigated out of the various chat windows until the only red dot for unread messages was on her pinned chat.

Xu Wei, whom she had pinned to the top, had also sent quite a few messages. At three in the afternoon, she sent a picture of Zhou Liu sleeping. At six, she seemed to have gone out for a walk and sent a picture of a dog she met in the elevator. At seven-thirty, she told her to eat dinner.

Deng Chuan hadn't replied to any of them.

The last message was from half an hour ago. She had sent a simple: "What are you doing?"

Deng Chuan replied immediately: I fell asleep this afternoon and just saw my phone.

Xu Wei didn't respond. Deng Chuan called her, but she didn't pick up.

Deng Chuan felt very uneasy. She was also hungry, and there wasn't much to eat in the fridge. After some searching, she finally found a packet of instant noodles in the kitchen, boiled some water, and cracked an egg into it.

Just as she placed the cooked noodles on the dining table, Xu Wei's call came through.

As soon as she answered, Deng Chuan immediately apologized. "I'm sorry- I really did fall asleep this afternoon. After I woke up, I was busy with homework and didn't look at my phone."

"You must have been waiting for a while- Have you eaten?"

Xu Wei let out a soft laugh on the other end. "I'm not mad... I was just in the shower."

Deng Chuan mumbled, "Oh..."

Xu Wei asked her, "Are you at home? It's so quiet."

"I'm at home-" Deng Chuan said, then added aggrievedly, "My parents booked a restaurant for their date night ages ago. No one's looking after me..."

"Oh, you poor thing..." Xu Wei's voice was laced with laughter, her tone light, which made Deng Chuan's mood lighten as well. "So have you eaten?"

Deng Chuan picked up her chopsticks and started eating her noodles. "I'm eating instant noodles," she said between mouthfuls.

The sound of the kid slurping her noodles traveled through the receiver, making Xu Wei pause for a moment. She felt a mix of amusement and exasperation. "Instant noodles, huh... Sounds like you're enjoying it. Well, you eat then. I'm hanging up."

Deng Chuan barely had time to swallow the noodles in her mouth and let out an "Hey," before she heard the dial tone.

Xu Wei had hung up. When Deng Chuan called back, she didn't answer. But she wasn't angry either. Xu Wei replied to whatever nonsense Deng Chuan sent in the chat, and when it was time, she said she was going to sleep, bidding her a simple, detached goodnight.

Deng Chuan could only say goodnight back.

Xu Wei went to bed, and Deng Chuan turned off the lights and lay down as well. Perhaps because she had slept too much in the afternoon, she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. The evening breeze was cool. She hadn't turned on the air conditioner, leaving the window open, and faint noises from outside drifted into the room from time to time.

Deng Chuan closed her eyes, turning over and over for half the night. In a daze, she thought she heard her parents coming home. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was disturbing her light sleep- Xu Wei, Beijing, the competition and assignments from school, the coming or already-arrived autumn.

She fell into a restless sleep, adrift in an indescribable mood.

At seven in the morning, her alarm went off.

Deng Chuan was awake almost instantly. She hadn't slept well. Her mind was groggy, but she still remembered setting the alarm to buy breakfast and apologize to Xu Wei.

She got her things together, sent a message to her family's group chat saying she was going to a friend's house, and left.

She picked up a takeout order of Beef and Vermicelli Soup from the shop by her residential complex's entrance- the best breakfast in her opinion, one she had eaten since she was a child. She quietly made her way to Xu Wei's complex, tiptoed upstairs, and let herself into the apartment.

To Deng Chuan's surprise, when she crept in, Xu Wei was already sitting in the living room. The morning light fell on her, making her seem very far away in the instant Deng Chuan looked over. But when Xu Wei heard her enter and looked up, she was suddenly very, very close again.

A white porcelain plate of washed plums sat in front of Xu Wei. In the clean morning light, she was awake and at ease, as if she had immediately returned to her regular routine the moment Deng Chuan left.

She only glanced at Deng Chuan before lowering her head with an air of nonchalance, continuing to flip through the book in her hands.

Deng Chuan placed the takeout container of Beef and Vermicelli Soup in front of her and smiled. "The super delicious Beef and Vermicelli Soup from downstairs at my place. I've been eating it since I was a kid- it's quality certified!"

Xu Wei didn't react at first, only raising an eyebrow when she heard Deng Chuan say she'd been eating it since she was a kid. "Is that so?"

"Mhm, mhm." Deng Chuan helped her open the container and solicitously handed her a pair of chopsticks. "Try it." Seeing that Xu Wei seemed unmoved, she added, "Come on, just try it-"

The corners of Xu Wei's mouth curved up secretly, but she feigned indifference. "Fine, I'll reluctantly give it a try."

Deng Chuan sat down close beside her, but Xu Wei shifted away. "Why are you sitting so close? Aren't you hot?"

Deng Chuan brazenly wrapped her arms around her. "I'm not afraid of the heat." Then she drew out her words, coaxing in a soft voice, "Don't be mad anymore, okay-"

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