Chapter 23: Thick-Skinned

It is Monday tomorrow, a workday. Office workers are heading to bed, and businessmen who have finished their social engagements are moving on to bathhouses or karaoke bars. At this hour, the streets are already devoid of pedestrians.

A teenage boy carries a girl on his bicycle, speeding along the road. Their shadows, stretched long and slanted by the streetlights, chase after the wheels. Le Ning’s ponytail dances in the July night breeze, mirroring the fluttering of her heart. She wraps her arms tightly around Xia An’s waist. Seeing them, the patrons at the nearby barbecue stalls cannot help but feel a pang of nostalgia. How wonderful. Isn't that how adolescent love always feels? Two hearts separated by nothing more than two layers of white cotton.

*Squeak, squeak.*

Le Ning’s little feet sway rhythmically to the sound of the poorly oiled chain.

"Why did you say the future is hard?" Le Ning asks softly amidst the wind.

For many years, she rarely asked Xia An questions. It wasn't that she had none, but most of what she wanted to say or ask, she would chew over in her heart and silently swallow back. But this "hard"—she had thought about it for a while and couldn't quite grasp it.

"Do you mean money?" she asks again.

Of course not. But Xia An feels he can’t very well tell her, "My dear, you won't be lonely in the future; there will be other young ladies at home, so do try to get along with them." That would be too cruel.

Xia An follows her lead: "Perhaps. What if, in the future, I can only afford to carry you on a bicycle like this?"

"We are still so young. As long as we work hard, how could that happen?" Le Ning’s voice is naturally cool and clear, but she tries to be as gentle as possible as she tells him, "I will work hard with you, too."

"How much effort is considered enough?" Xia An laughs.

Nineteen-year-old Le Ning clearly doesn't have a clear answer to this. She tries to say, "Working hard to live a better life, isn't that what everyone does? Climbing up until you reach the summit, only then can you rest."

It is a vague concept, but she sees no issue with it. That is how she lives: practicing music day after day, year after year of taking exams, going from clumsy to proficient.

"True, climbing up." Xia An chuckles. "Did you see the insulated boxes at the barbecue stand earlier?"

Le Ning frowns; she had been unsettled by the things displayed there. In recent years, Northeast-style barbecue has incorporated Southern delicacies—grasshoppers, centipedes... quite aggressive. "I saw them."

"Did you notice that when I went to pick out our food, there was a live, silly-looking grasshopper clinging to the foam box, refusing to leave?"

Le Ning, pressed against his back, shakes her head. She doesn't know why he’s asking this.

Xia An says, "Do you want to know what it was thinking at the time?"

"..." Le Ning laughs despite herself. "You know?"

"It was terrified. The Emperor of the Insect Clan had ascended to the Immortal Realm, only to find the ground covered in the corpses of gods. It wasn't the legendary Peach Blossom Spring, but a ten-thousand-year glacier. Everywhere it looked, there were its own kin, powerful beings turned into skewers. They had all been the strongest in their clans, yet now they were neatly nailed to divine trees, silently waiting to be consumed by the creatures of the Upper Realm..."

"???" Le Ning can’t help but laugh out loud. "Do you boys really like reading such novels? You’re such a storyteller."

"Forget the bugs then. You saw the man at the table next to us, right? In a suit and tie, lean. He looked to be in his thirties, but his hair was already graying. He was drinking with a gloomy expression—the typical look of a corporate slave. He looked refined with his glasses, but he kept glancing your way. That just goes to show he’s exhausted from the day, his desires suppressed and needing an outlet at night, but he’s too stingy to spend money on a girl, so he can only find solace at a street stall."

Le Ning bites her lip and taps him. What a horrible thing to say.

Xia An laughs: "I just want a wife, children, and a warm bed. I have no innate desire to struggle. What should I do?"

Le Ning is silent for two seconds, then says softly, "Then I can work a bit harder."

Xia An sighs. See? Women.

"But we do need to get a different bike," Le Ning says. "This is a woman’s bike; it can't be comfortable for you to ride. Get a man’s bike to pick me up from work instead."

"???" See? Women.

***

Wutong Garden. As the name suggests, the residential complex is planted with sycamores—though since real *wutong* trees are expensive, the North commonly uses London planes as a substitute. They have nothing to do with real *wutong* trees; they belong to the *Platanus* genus. They are cold-resistant, drought-tolerant, easy to maintain, and cheap. Under the unique European-style streetlights, the palm-like leaves of the London planes sway on the ground like thousands of tiny hands.

At the entrance to Unit 1, Building 7, Xia An locks the bike, but he doesn't return the key to Le Ning, showing no sign of leaving.

Le Ning stares at him, blankly. What is he doing? "Are you coming upstairs?"

"Of course. Let’s go."

Le Ning blushes instantly. No matter how mature her mind, she can't help but let her thoughts wander. She lowers her gaze, walks up to Xia An, and whispers, "My parents are home. Can you... maybe another day?"

Oh, an unexpected windfall. Xia An gives a mischievous grin. "What are you thinking? I’m a decent guy. Didn't you say you haven't been answering your parents' calls? With your mother’s temper, she’ll definitely give you a hard time. I’m just going up to provide some cover for you."

With that, he grabs Le Ning’s hand and expertly enters the passcode. The door opens, they enter the hallway. It is incredibly smooth. Le Ning is stunned. "How do you know my home’s passcode? And how do you know my mom has a bad temper?"

"..." Oh, crap! Xia An is also stunned. Does your family really not change the code for over a decade? He struggles with how to answer.

Le Ning bites her lip and says, "You... you’ve been quietly watching over me, haven't you?"

"Yes, that’s right, exactly." See, that’s women for you. Xia An nods calmly.

Le Ning bows her head, silent, and follows him into the elevator. Second floor, third floor... By the fourth, Le Ning quickly pulls out a pink lip gloss and applies it. Just as Xia An is wondering why, Le Ning stands on her tiptoes. *Muah.* Peach-flavored.

*Ding.*

The elevator stops on the ninth floor. When the doors open, Le Ning dashes out, pulls out her keys, and opens the door.

Just as she feared, her parents are not asleep. Her father is sitting in front of the coffee table watching TV, and her mother, hearing the door, rushes over, arms crossed, staring coldly at her daughter changing her shoes. "You dead..." She sees Xia An and switches to a smile. "It’s midnight, why are you just getting back?"

Le Ning bends down to find slippers for Xia An and says calmly, "With Xia An..."

Xia An immediately enters and takes over: "Good evening, Auntie. We were all quite happy today, having a get-together. After dinner, we went to sing for a while—we’re all art students, we just lost track of time. So, seeing it was getting late, I brought Le Ning back." He leans into the room and adds, "Good evening, Uncle."

Le Ning’s mother, Zhou Ting, is actually taken aback and says nothing. Her father pushes his glasses up, also stunned.

Xia An: "..." Now he’s a little panicked. What does this mean? He knows both of their personalities well: Zhou Ting is from the song and dance theater, refined but strong-willed. Her father, Le Yuqun, is an old scholar, usually quite easygoing. Why are they both acting so dazed? Was his teenage self really this handsome?

Le Ning sees this and smiles, asking him if he wants to come in. Xia An shakes his head like a bobblehead. "Goodbye, Uncle. Goodbye, Auntie. I’ll come visit another day." He scurries off.

Zhou Ting frowns at her daughter: "You two..."

Le Ning cuts her off and nods: "Yes, we’re official. Mom, Dad, I’m tired, I want to sleep." Like Xia An, she retreats to her room with a racing heart.

Zhou Ting rushes to her husband’s side, abandoning her usual poise, and asks anxiously, "What now?"

Le Yuqun sighs, looking at the ceiling, and takes off his glasses. "Finally met him in person. A spirited lad."

"I like a boy in my class; I’m certain of it, I want to date him." This was a small piece of information Le Ning had given her parents back in her first year of high school. They had seen photos of Xia An. Le Ning had many photos of him in her drawer, which she had proactively shown them.

Zhou Ting hits her husband hard. "Who asked if he was handsome? They just graduated and it’s already like this. Your daughter is going to be whisked away sooner or later... these young people have no sense of boundaries, what if..." She shivers. "I don't want to be a grandmother this young."

"Whoever she has a kid with, you’ll still be a grandmother," Le Yuqun corrects her.

"Oh, shut up, let’s be serious."

Le Yuqun sighs again, sips his tea, and says, "Don't you know Ningning’s personality? Why ask me? Since our daughter has made up her mind, let’s see how it goes. I think this kid has potential."

"What potential? Just a regular dual-income family."

"Didn't you notice?"

"Notice what?"

Le Yuqun says pretentiously, "He has manners without being rigid, and is open-minded without lacking wisdom..." Seeing Zhou Ting glare at him, he quickly changes his tune: "He greeted us naturally, unlike ordinary students who are timid; he has a good personality. He lied to cover for our daughter right in front of us; he has both courage and a sense of responsibility. And he left with a polite parting remark. In short, he’s thick-skinned enough to make something of himself."

***

It wasn't just Xia An who was thick-skinned.

While Xia An discovered the lipstick mark on his cheek in the elevator, Chi Ao had finally managed to find out Niu Fangfang’s address through various inquiries. As Xia An entered his own home, Chi Ao was finally waiting for Niu Fangfang to come downstairs to see him.