BSS - Chapter 130

Chapter 130

A strange smile played on Su Mian's face as she watched Deng Chuan reluctantly hang up the phone.

Deng Chuan pretended not to notice, lowering her head to focus on cutting her meat, only for Su Mian's fork to reach over and tap her plate.

"Hey. Deng Chuan," Su Mian said.

Meeting an old friend after a long time, an inexplicable sense of distance inevitably crept into their familiarity. As if to combat this distance, both of them unconsciously became a bit childish.

Deng Chuan raised her fork and tapped Su Mian's plate in return, the white porcelain rim making a crisp sound. "What is it?"

Su Mian didn't speak, just smiled with her lips pressed together. With a single glance from her upturned phoenix eyes, she looked particularly dashing. She smiled for a good while before composing herself and saying seriously, "Congratulations."

Deng Chuan tilted her head. "Congratulations for what?"

"Congratulations on becoming even better. Successful in your studies, happy in love, it's wonderful," Su Mian said. "Although the old you was good enough, I still prefer the you of today."

As she spoke, she reverted to her joking manner. "The old you was so boring. Not nearly as fun as you are now."

Deng Chuan frowned. "Really?" She quickly thought of something and understood Su Mian's sentimentality, but she smiled and said, "It's only been two years, and it's not like we're in our growth spurt years. You're exaggerating."

Su Mian speared a stalk of asparagus from Deng Chuan's plate and held it to her lips. "You don't get it." She stared at Deng Chuan and said softly, "From childhood until now, you've always been the same. Your body just got bigger, your head got bigger, you went from a small version to a large version, but nothing else changed."

She said, "Look at you now, you've changed so much."

"You've changed too," Deng Chuan retorted, words of praise flowing easily with an enthusiastic tone. "So independent, so capable, so warm, such a good hostess… Aiya… It's simply a complete transformation."

She pretended to be joking, but in her heart, she knew she meant every word. She was genuinely amazed and happy for this new Su Mian.

"Hey… stop it… See! You never would have said things like that before!" As Deng Chuan's praise became more and more outrageous, Su Mian tapped her plate more excitedly, the clanging hurting Deng Chuan's ears. Suspecting the plate might break, Deng Chuan shut her mouth, picked up her unfinished lunch, and moved a little farther away from Su Mian.

"Don't go, let's talk more." Su Mian grabbed her sleeve, leaning over. "I live by myself, there's no one to talk to."

"Eat first," Deng Chuan pointed at her. "Sit up straight, you're getting oil on your clothes."

Su Mian quickly pulled her sleeve over to look, huffing as she wiped it with a napkin. The two finally quieted down and started eating their first lunch together after two years apart.

Only the clinking of cutlery could be heard. After lunch, Deng Chuan took the initiative to wash the dishes and the pot. Su Mian, of course, stood to the side causing trouble. By the time the simple washing was done, the fronts of both their shirts were soaked. Because of this, they changed into pajamas and sat on the carpet to play games.

A PS4 was connected to the TV screen, and the two of them played Isaac while leaning against the foot of the bed. Deng Chuan's studies had been intense recently, and she finally had some free time. Perhaps as an aftereffect of studying, she played the game with extraordinary focus, practically channeling the same energy she used to prepare for meetings with her professor. She made Su Mian nervous too, who would get told off for occasional mistakes. They played with full concentration for a long time, until a huge commotion came from the hallway, a mix of rowdy English swearing and messy footsteps.

The noise was impossible to ignore. While saving the game, Deng Chuan glanced toward the door and asked casually, "What's going on? Is someone fighting?"

"They're drunk," Su Mian said nonchalantly, shrugging. "These people are always like this. It's so noisy."

"I see." Deng Chuan heard her, and though her face didn't show it, she made a mental note. "People get drunk often?"

"Yeah," Su Mian said. "Didn't you hear them when you arrived? They love to throw parties."

"I heard them," Deng Chuan said. "I just didn't expect it to be this crazy." From the sound of it, it was on the verge of a brawl.

"It's like this in the middle of the night, too. The first time I heard it, I was scared to death. I thought some kind of ** was coming."

"Be careful," Deng Chuan said. "Try not to run into them."

"I know." Su Mian put down the controller and stretched. "How about we take a break? Do you want some water?"

As she spoke, she stood up, opened the fridge, and tossed a bottle of water to Deng Chuan.

Deng Chuan caught it but didn't drink, holding it in her hand as she lowered her head to reply to a message.

Without realizing it, it was already past four in the afternoon. The curtains were drawn in the room, so Deng Chuan couldn't see the sky outside. She remembered that Xu Wei, back in China, was getting ready for bed, and was just saying goodnight to her.

Su Mian got a bottle of water for herself as well and sat back down beside her. She also picked up her phone to look at it. Neither of them spoke for a moment, and the room fell silent.

Deng Chuan said her usual clingy goodnight to Xu Wei, an unconscious smile playing on her lips. When she looked up at Su Mian, the smile hadn't faded yet, which made Su Mian stare in a daze for a moment.

After her moment of shock, Su Mian grabbed Deng Chuan's shoulders and shook her. "Aaaah! You evil people in love!"

Deng Chuan laughed heartily. After finally breaking free from her grip, she was about to say some smug, harsh words: "If you were dating Xu Wei, you'd be like this too, but you can't! She's mine…" Su Mian, who was usually much weaker than Deng Chuan, was so provoked that she managed to push Deng Chuan down onto the carpet.

Luckily, the carpet was soft and could withstand their roughhousing.

The two of them fooled around for a while until they were tired, leaning against opposite sides of the room to catch their breath. The room was so quiet that the renewed commotion from the hallway seemed particularly jarring. Deng Chuan tilted her head and asked Su Mian, "It's so noisy here, why don't you consider moving?"

Su Mian sighed, "Renting in London is too expensive."

Deng Chuan joked, "The center of the universe, I see."

Su Mian smiled and shook her head. She stood up and walked to the curtain that had been tightly closed since Deng Chuan arrived. It was a light purple curtain, as heavy as a decoration in a medieval castle. Seeing Deng Chuan's confused look, Su Mian gave a slight bow, like at the start of a ball, made an elegant gesturing motion, then raised her hand and, with a whoosh, pulled open the heavy, draping, enormous curtain.

Behind the curtain, there was no window, but a gray-white, mottled wall.

Deng Chuan was stunned. She turned her head to look around the small rented room and only then noticed that there were many decorative fabrics pinned to the walls, as if to deliberately cover up the mottled and worn-out spots.

Seeing Deng Chuan look around and then back at her, as if realizing something, silently watching her, Su Mian smiled and shrugged. "Renting in London is too expensive. This place was about the best I could get within my budget."

She closed the curtain and sat cross-legged next to Deng Chuan again. "This room just doesn't have a window, so it's a bit depressing. That's why I hung a curtain, and it feels much better. The last place I lived was even more ridiculous. At night, there were mice running around on the ceiling, and it leaked when it rained. I didn't have enough things to catch the water, so I had to put my rice cooker by the head of the bed to catch it, hahaha."

Deng Chuan asked her, "Does your family know you used to live in such poor conditions?"

"Probably not. Every time I take a photo or have a video call, I have to tidy up the room and find a good angle. They probably can't tell." Su Mian scratched her head. "Hai, don't look at me like that. Okay, I admit, I think I'm pretty sensible too."

As she spoke, she started to laugh, her upturned phoenix eyes shining with a proud light, no different from the expression she had when she poured a whole pot of pork rib and corn soup down the toilet. "I'm so impressed with myself."

Deng Chuan laughed along with her, both of them laughing foolishly. Through her laughter, Deng Chuan looked at Su Mian, feeling a bit dazed. This was her playmate from childhood, but now it felt like she had to get to know her all over again.

Deng Chuan was in a daze for a while before she came to her senses. The light was on in the room, and the bright white light fell on Su Mian's head, brushing past her short-cropped hair, and also brushing past Deng Chuan's long hair.

Deng Chuan looked at Su Mian, at the light scattering over them, her gaze as gentle as if she were watching a sunset.

Perhaps it wasn't the right thing to say, but just as Su Mian had said to her during lunch, Deng Chuan really wanted to congratulate her too.

What was there to congratulate her for? The current Deng Chuan might not be able to articulate it completely, but she could already sense it. Coming to the UK, suffering these hardships all alone, and then laughing so foolishly after all that suffering—the Su Mian of today was worthy of her congratulations.

She quickly thought of Xu Wei. Xu Wei was also separated from her by such a great distance, for so long. She herself had also endured many hardships—the hardship of longing, the hardship of studying, the hardship of life. Deng Chuan had always been a little proud, so she wondered if the way she looked at Su Mian was the same as how Xu Wei looked at her. If Xu Wei knew the hardships Deng Chuan had endured, would she also want to congratulate her, just as Deng Chuan did now?

It might not be entirely accurate, but Deng Chuan felt like she could understand some of Xu Wei's feelings.

An exceptionally soft feeling washed over her, and she recalled a very ordinary memory. On the high school path covered in fallen leaves, she and Su Mian had played a small game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who would run back to the dorm to get cat food. Su Mian, accepting her loss, took off running and nearly bumped into Xu Wei, who was walking on the path. And right after, Xu Wei had walked toward her.

Now, they were all running. And Xu Wei was still walking toward her.

All these past moments gradually became clear amidst the laughter of the present. For the first time, Deng Chuan was glad her memory was so good. She remembered all the details of those times: the days they strived for their respective futures, the childish and naive fantasies, the secret worries and sentimental feelings. All of it, through her own suffering and Su Mian's suffering, was slowly turning into something sweet to savor.

It was a rich, pure sweetness, like the fruit-flavored hard candies she often ate as a child, lingering long in her taste and memory.

She thought with a sense of dawning realization, this bitterness and this sweetness were all a part of life.

Carried by this sweetness, Deng Chuan looked at Su Mian, and the word "congratulations" slipped naturally from her lips: "Congratulations."

Su Mian let out a "heh," then looked over. As their eyes met, Deng Chuan knew she understood what she meant.

She saw the corners of Su Mian's mouth slowly, slowly curve up, and then she started humming nonsensically, "Congratulations to you, congratulations to you…"

Humming the tune, Su Mian stood up, found her small Bluetooth speaker, and started blasting some very avant-garde rock music.

The group of drunks next door was making noise again, but this time, neither of them could hear it.

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