Lu Chengyu arrived at Taoxi Village at his father’s request.
Getting off at the bus stop at the village entrance, his newly bought white sneakers paused repeatedly as he treaded through muddy ground soaked in rainwater. Following the winding, rugged mountain path, he had to ask quite a few people along the way before finally reaching this fork in the road marked by a signpost.
To the left of the intersection lay an even muddier mountain road, while to the right was a steep incline supported by a concrete road.
A group of thirteen- or fourteen-year-old youths stood on the steep slope. He was just about to step forward to ask how to get to the Lin family home when he happened to catch sight of four or five middle schoolers with Shamate-style hair ganging up on a girl.
Lin Duole first pulled his bike out of the ditch. He had just brought it to a stop when several boys surged forward to surround him. Zhang Jiahui grabbed him by the collar, only to be struck with a sweeping punch in return. Seeing their boss hit, the remaining cronies retaliated against him in a frenzy.
During the struggle between the two sides, the bicycle beside them was knocked over. Carried by momentum, the bike slid down the steep slope, finally coming to a halt against a pair of mud-stained white sneakers. Tire tracks were added to the newly bought sneakers, appearing all the dirtier when mixed with dried black soil.
Lu Chengyu was already annoyed that this arduous errand had ruined his sneakers; seeing a group of boys ganging up on a girl only served to refresh his perception of the mountain folk.
Truly, harsh lands breed rowdy peasants…
Lu Chengyu’s eyes darkened slightly as he clasped his hands together to stretch his knuckles. His posture was tall and erect, and across the brawling crowd, his eyes met the central pair of lively, clear eyes that seemed to glisten with moisture.
Right at the moment when Lin Duole was about to lose his footing, Lu Chengyu raised his leg and delivered a fierce kick straight to the head of the lead boy. The cronies’ eyes widened in shock as they watched Zhang Jiahui fly backward, crashing onto the ground several meters away.
“Hey, are you sick or something?!” A crony stepped forward to confront him, but remembering the force behind that kick, his tone weakened significantly by the end of his words.
“You didn’t provoke me.” Lu Chengyu narrowed his eyes, his pupils shrinking for a moment. Aiming straight at the yellow-haired kid before him, he raised a leg. “But a whole group of you picking on a girl is an eyesore to me.”
Before his voice even faded, another crony was kicked to the ground.
“Are you fucking blind?!” The yellow-haired kid on the ground said indignantly: “This is a fucking guy! A bastard!”
Zhang Jiahui was even more full of resentment, barking orders at the remaining cronies: “What the fuck are you talking to him for?! Get him together!”
The remaining boys charged in to fight, only to be knocked to the ground within seconds.
Seeing the leader of the gang starting to stand back up, Lu Chengyu tilted his head. With a quick hook of his arm, he pressed his elbow against the man’s collar, flipping him flat onto the ground once again. “What’s the matter? Still want to keep fighting? Come at me together.”
The cronies scrambled up and shook their heads repeatedly, several pushing their bikes and fleeing. The boy on the ground gritted his back teeth; knowing he was no match, he could only swallow his anger and sneak off with them.
Lin Duole stood in place, staring somewhat dazed at the young man before him. The other was tall and slender, wearing a casual wool sweater on top and matching gray sweatpants below. Except for his shoes that had gotten dirty from walking, he was practically spotless from top to bottom.
His eyes met the young man’s. As their gazes locked, the afterglow of the setting sun brushed over the stranger’s long eyelashes, as if coating him in a soft layer of light.
He’s so refined—definitely not someone from around here.
That was Lin Duole’s first thought upon seeing him, as well as an intuition unique to mountain folk.
Lu Chengyu was likewise watching him. The two stared at each other for a good dozen seconds. Realizing the misunderstanding just now, Lu Chengyu touched the bridge of his nose, turned his head aside with a hint of apology, and sighed inwardly.
Having a face like this, and yet he’s actually a boy.
Still, a boy is probably better off. Otherwise, there’s no telling how badly he’d be bullied by these rowdy locals.
Lin Duole picked up his bicycle. Glancing at the tire marks on the white sneakers, he cautiously uttered a soft “I’m sorry.”
That apology was very faint. Lu Chengyu saw him pursing his lips with a green, timid air about him. The clothes on his body were patched, and his pants were a bit too short, exposing slender ankles. Those canvas shoes, faded from white to gray, looked like something straight out of a famine era from the last century.
“No need to be so polite.” Lu Chengyu wasn’t talkative by nature, but at this moment, he couldn’t help wanting to say a few more words to him—for no other reason than simply being drawn to the pure, natural beauty of the person before him.
Lin Duole quickly turned his head away. Sensing the other’s gaze lingering on him, he felt timid in his heart. He hadn’t made many friends since childhood, and because of the village rumors, he had virtually no male friends at school.
“I’m really sorry about just now, getting your sneakers dirty,” Lin Duole said, lowering his head and plucking up the courage to repeat himself.
“It really doesn’t matter.” Lu Chengyu’s gaze grew reserved. In that brief second, he even felt that if the other person really were a girl, then what just happened could practically be called love at first sight.
“These sneakers of mine walked through mountain paths—they were going to get dirty anyway.” Lu Chengyu turned his head, no longer staring straight at him, and instead pointed at the signpost at the intersection to start a conversation: “Do you live near Taoxi Village?”
“Yes, I live here.” Lin Duole pushed his bike forward, only to find that the chain had jumped off its track from the fall. He squatted down, snapped a few reeds by the roadside, and intended to fix the chain.
Carrying his father’s instructions, Lu Chengyu asked, “Then do you know a family named Lin in the village?”
“There are many families named Lin. Which one are you looking for?”
“Lin Gengsheng’s family.” If he remembered correctly, that was the name his father had mentioned.
Upon hearing the name, Lin Duole’s pupils froze, and his hand holding the chain came to a stop. “That’s my dad. He’s been gone for nearly ten years. What do you want with him?”
Lu Chengyu smiled, revealing a neat row of bright white teeth, and said meaningfully, “Then I’m not looking for your dad anymore. I’m looking for you.”
Lin Duole knew full well that his family had never had any prosperous relatives. He couldn’t help looking up, asking with a touch of vigilance, “Who are you? What are you doing coming to my home?”
Sensing the defensiveness in his eyes, Lu Chengyu squatted down on the spot and couldn’t resist reaching out to gently pat his shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t be so tense. “My name is Lu Chengyu. My dad, Lu Tingyu, sent me to your home. He’s a close friend of your mom’s. When he received your mom’s call, he was still on a business trip in Shanghai and couldn’t rush over immediately, so he had me make the trip for him first.”
Lin Duole had never had such intimate contact with any peer before. Even a gentle pat on the shoulder meant to express friendliness was enough to make him recoil.
Reflexively moving back a step, he had also never heard of his mother having any close friends. Ever since his memory began, his mother in Taoxi Village had always been the image of a farmwoman laboring in the fields. She had never even mentioned her own maiden family, let alone seeing any maternal grandmother or friends.
“Don’t worry, I should be the same age as you. I’m not a bad person.” Lu Chengyu estimated that he barely reached up to his shoulder, so the two were roughly similar in age, though perhaps the other was slightly younger. He also understood that the step backward was merely an subconscious reaction to not being familiar with someone, rather than a sign of actual repulsion toward him.
Still, because of that step back, Lu Chengyu retracted his hand from his shoulder, doing his best not to make him feel offended.
Lin Duole withdrew his gaze and continued the task in his hands.
Lu Chengyu naturally held the bicycle for support, raising his eyes to look at the young man’s cool, pale profile. “Fixing the chain? Want me to help you?”
“Thanks, I can do it myself.” Lin Duole held the reeds, using them to guide the iron chain back onto the sprockets.
A few minutes later, the chain was back on track. Holding the bike, Lin Duole still didn’t know what to say, nor where to go from here.
If he rashly believed this boy’s word and brought him home, regardless of whether the information was true or not, bringing him back would guarantee getting driven out of the house by his grandmother.
Lin Duole didn’t want this respectable, presentable young man to experience such an embarrassing plight in the slightest.
“Thank you for helping me today.” Lin Duole kept his head down as he pushed his bicycle forward, wanting to make things clear to him: “But you might have really gotten it wrong. Ever since I can remember, my mom hasn’t had any friends or relatives visiting. Tomorrow is Saturday; when I see my mom, I’ll ask her about it. It’s getting late now—you should head home early.”
With that, he got onto the bike and rode off without turning back, pedaling away.
As the sun sank in the west, a fiery red sunset shone on this slender, solitary figure as it slowly drifted into the distance. Lu Chengyu looked at the narrow mountain path, surrounded by dense, shaded woods. A flock of sheep returning home ambled past right before his eyes, leaving behind a pile of fresh droppings mixed with a pungent, gamey smell. Paying it no mind, he continued to stand there for a long time, staring at the distant silhouette that had dwindled into a single black dot.
When an old man herding the sheep passed by while snapping his whip, he stared straight at him as he walked past, even turning his head back to keep staring at him as he went…