Han Shuo really couldn’t figure out Meng Yuxiu anymore. Previously, he thought some things were minor, yet Meng Yuxiu would get easily upset. But now, losing a bicycle, which was a big deal, and Meng Yuxiu acted like nothing happened.
The dormitory door was already closed. Han Shuo stood outside the window, watching the person inside return to bed. After standing for a moment, he finally relaxed and realized he was almost frozen stiff. He quickly returned to his own dormitory.
Yesterday, he left in a hurry, and it was Pidan who helped him carry the snakeskin bag back to the dormitory.
The dorm mates were all sound asleep. Han Shuo untied the rope on the snakeskin bag, took out the quilt, climbed to the upper bunk, and quietly spread the quilt.
As he snuggled into the bed, his whole body seemed to melt with warmth. The quilt had the scent of sunshine, surely because Han Hong had taken advantage of the cool weather to air it out early.
Lying in bed, Han Shuo felt a warm feeling in his heart. However, thinking about Han Hong and his son in the hospital made his heart ache.
When life was calm and peaceful before, he didn’t feel much. But when there were slight ripples, the emotions seemed to surge from the depths of his memory. At this moment, he felt like he wasn’t Han Shuo from the 21st century but the Han Shuo who had lived in that family for seventeen years.
For a brief moment, his firm desire to return to the 21st century wavered slightly.
Even after the evening self-study class ended, he didn’t rush to the first floor to wait for Meng Yuxiu like before.
Instead, it was rare for Meng Yuxiu to stand at the first-floor staircase waiting for him.
But since Meng Yuxiu took the initiative to do the task, Han Shuo didn’t want to spoil the mood because of his emotions. In fact, he was quite confused now. On one hand, he was happy to continue doing tasks, but on the other hand, Han Hong and his son weighed heavily on his mind.
“You came out so quickly today?”
Meng Yuxiu responded with a “hmm” and walked out of the teaching building with Han Shuo.
As they passed the dormitory, Han Shuo told Meng Yuxiu he was going to brush his teeth. Before Meng Yuxiu could say anything, he had already run into the dormitory building.
Meng Yuxiu waited for a few minutes, and Han Shuo ran out of the dormitory building again. The two of them went to the ginkgo tree at the end of the playground as usual.
Every time they did a task before, Meng Yuxiu would always be hesitant and take a long time to start. But tonight, Han Shuo was a bit surprised.
“Do you want to check?” Han Shuo pointed to his own mouth and asked him.
Meng Yuxiu said no, then lowered his head, gently wrapping his arms around Han Shuo’s waist as he approached.
Han Shuo was surprised to find that this guy didn’t need to touch his butt to adapt, and he didn’t have the same pained expression as before, as if he couldn’t wait to finish by just sticking his tongue out and stirring things up.
This time, when Meng Yuxiu touched Han Shuo’s slightly cool lips, he kissed them lightly and delicately.
“…If you’re not used to it, you can touch if you want,” Han Shuo said during the kiss, “I definitely won’t laugh at you.”
Meng Yuxiu shook his head, closed his eyes, and gently sucked on Han Shuo’s soft tongue.
It was rare for their kiss not to feel like a battle, and logically, Han Shuo should have been more cooperative.
But today, unfortunately, Han Shuo felt like he was in a situation where someone in his family was sick, and he really wasn’t in the mood for romance.
As they kissed, he subconsciously wanted to sigh.
Meng Yuxiu was a sensitive person and quickly noticed something was off with Han Shuo. He released his lips and looked down at Han Shuo.
Through the bicycle incident, Han Shuo was quite grateful to Meng Yuxiu. He didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere, but people are emotional creatures, and Han Shuo was the type who couldn’t hide his emotions.
He had to apologize to Meng Yuxiu, “Sorry, I’m a bit out of it. It’s nothing, I’ll adjust.”
Originally, Han Shuo thought that looking at the night scenery around him would help lighten his heavy heart so he could continue with the task. However, one sentence from Meng Yuxiu made him give up completely.
“Did your brother and nephew go back?”
Mentioning Han Hong and his son made Han Shuo inexplicably feel down. After a moment of silence, he looked up and said, “Meng Yuxiu, I think… we should take our time with the task.”
Meng Yuxiu asked, “Because of your brother and nephew?”
Han Shuo nodded slightly. Since he wasn’t in the mood, he simply sat down under the tree.
Meng Yuxiu heard Han Shuo ask him, “Are your parents treating you well now?”
“They’re pretty good.”
“My brother treats me very well, especially well, better than many parents,” Han Shuo said, turning his head to give a slight smile, “Actually, I didn’t use the bus fare to buy you oranges and buns. I was just fooling you.”
Meng Yuxiu didn’t say anything, just quietly listened to him continue.
Han Shuo sighed, “My brother gave me an extra fifty cents every week to buy some food for myself. But my nephew was sick in the hospital and wanted candy, staring longingly at other kids. I couldn’t come up with the money, so I not only used the bus fare to buy candy, but I also had to lie to them, saying it was money I saved… Do you understand how I felt at that time?”
Han Shuo sat on the ground, almost resting his head on his knees, “It felt like I stole the last bit of money from home to go out and have fun, and I felt ashamed to face them.”
Since knowing Han Shuo, in Meng Yuxiu’s impression, Han Shuo always seemed lively and carefree, but this was the first time he saw Han Shuo like this.
Meng Yuxiu opened his mouth but suddenly didn’t know what to say.
Han Shuo, having said so much, seemed a bit embarrassed. He rubbed his head and gave an awkward smile.
“Hey, Meng Yuxiu, I think compared to me, you should be less anxious about doing tasks, right? How about we take it slow, just like before you met me, focus on school, and aim for college.”
Meng Yuxiu asked him, “What do you plan to do?”
Han Shuo thought for a moment, “I want to make some money.”
“Make money?” Meng Yuxiu was slightly surprised.
“Yeah.” Han Shuo nodded, “I just want to make a little money before I go back and leave it for my brother and nephew. Even if I can’t make much, at least I can earn some money for my nephew to buy firecrackers for the New Year. I don’t want him to have to watch other kids play with firecrackers longingly during the New Year.”
Meng Yuxiu sat down next to him and asked, “But you’re in school now, living on campus. Where are you going to make money?”
Han Shuo sighed, “That’s what I’m saying. I was thinking about this during afternoon and evening classes. People say the ’90s were a time when you could make it big, but how did they do it?”
Meng Yuxiu chuckled lightly, “You don’t even have capital, how are you going to make it big?”
“True…” Han Shuo sighed again, “Then what do you think I can do to make some money at this stage? How about washing dishes at a restaurant?”
“There aren’t many restaurants in this small county. Jobs at bigger restaurants are competitive, and smaller ones can manage on their own,” Meng Yuxiu thought for a moment and said, “Let me think of a way for you in the next couple of days.”
“Really?” Han Shuo, who had been downcast, perked up immediately upon hearing this, “Wow, Meng Yuxiu, I don’t even know how to thank you!”
Meng Yuxiu slightly curled his lips, but he asked Han Shuo how he would explain not going home on weekends to his brother.
Han Shuo thought for a moment, “I’ll just tell my brother that senior year is busy, and senior students can voluntarily stay at school for extra classes on Saturdays and Sundays. Don’t worry, my brother won’t suspect anything.”
They didn’t mention continuing with the task, nor did they talk about going back to the dormitory.
Meng Yuxiu felt that this was probably the quietest day since he met Han Shuo. Perhaps because of this, in such a quiet moment, sitting next to him, he seemed to be able to feel the heavy thoughts in Han Shuo’s mind through his breathing.
Maybe it was the sudden cold air, but Meng Yuxiu heard Han Shuo sniffle and then heard him sigh heavily with a nasal tone.
“In these transmigration or time-travel stories, the scariest thing is encountering these situations,” Han Shuo suddenly said.
“What situations?”
Han Shuo clicked his tongue and said, seemingly out of nowhere, “Either you transmigrate into a wealthy family, and you don’t have to worry about anything. A poor family isn’t impossible, but it’s best if I’m the only one who transmigrates. Being poor is fine, as long as I don’t starve, I can always find a way to eat…”
He said this while looking up at the sparse stars affected by the cold air.
“It’s best not to have any attachments…”
Meng Yuxiu quietly watched Han Shuo’s side profile as he gazed at the night sky, watching the tiny lights reflected in his eyes until his eyelashes gently trembled, and those lights were hidden in the dark shadows.