A Joke
“What does this mean?” Kou Ming asked.
“Not…nothing interesting.” Ye Huai lowered his head and snatched the drawing back.
Just as Kou Ming was about to speak, he saw several gazes cast towards Ye Huai from the corner of his eye: disgust, jealousy, and anger that was out of thin air. These mixed negative emotions probably caused Ye Huai’s current autistic personality, as if waves were churning under the surface of a calm lake.
“Let’s go.” Kou Ming took one of his hands neatly.
“Where……where to go?” Ye Huai stammered.
“Where else to go, it’s to take you to skip class!” Kou Ming deliberately raised his voice, and those around who originally despised Ye Huai were taken aback.
“Skip………skip class?” Ye Huai was still trying to understand Kou Ming’s intentions, “Why…..to skip….. skip class?”
“You, this person…..” Kou Ming sighed and dragged Ye Huai out of the classroom. After observing the corridor left and right, he quickly led him downstairs to the low wall that he always had to jump through when he skipped class – luckily today, neither the teaching director nor the security guard were close to guard and catch students.
“Come up!” Kou Ming climbed up to the top of the wall in twos and threes, leaned over to look at Ye Huai who was still standing at the bottom of the wall and said, “Hurry up, someone will come in a while.”
“Skip…skipping class is not good.” Ye Huai swallowed, but still tried his best to look at him with a righteous and dignified look. “Kou Ming, you come back with me……come back.”
“Is going back and spending time with that bunch of garbage that happy for you?” Kou Ming said indifferently, as he spoke, there were fragments of sunlight dancing on his shoulders through the treetops, which made Ye Huai a little distracted.
“No……it’s not.” Ye Huai thought he was angry, and just as he was anxiously trying to explain, he heard a cursing roar from behind. “Who is there! Is someone climbing over the wall again!”
“Give me your hand!” Kou Ming also roared, and a hand with distinct joints and bones which had a strong sense of strength hung down from the wall. “Quick!”
Ye Huai was still hesitating, but just as the sound from behind kept approaching, he gritted his teeth and grabbed Kou Ming’s hand.
“Damn.” Kou Ming laughed and quickly pulled him up, “Okay, now we are accomplices.”
“Where are you going to take……going to take me?” Ye Huai was pulled forward by him along the way. Sometimes Kou Ming would give him the illusion of tightly grasping himself in the palm of his hand, but this was different from his previous feeling of being manipulated by others. In short, no matter what Kou Ming did to him, he would willingly follow him.
“There’s finally no one here.” Kou Ming breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down on the grass.
“Did you just take……..take me to the reservoir?” Ye Huai was still in a daze.
“Yeah.” Kou Ming glanced at him, “There’s no one here, peace and quiet, it’s so nice.”
“Every time you skip……..skip class, you will come……..come here?” Ye Huai summoned up the courage to ask, and at the same time grabbed the grass stalks on the ground with his hands.
“Correct.” Kou Ming said.
“I thought……….thought you……” Ye Huai was still Grabbing the grass stems.
“What did you think of me?” Kou Ming raised his eyebrows, “You think I go out to pick up girls every time I skip class?”
“No!” Ye Huai suddenly raised his head, his face a little red, “I didn’t…… I didn’t think so.”
“Ye Huai.” Kou Ming sighed, “When those people bullied you, what were you thinking?”
Ye Huai looked at him stupefied, and didn’t speak for a long time.
“Did you think that you did something wrong, or did you think to just endure and it’ll eventually be over?” Kou Ming stared into his eyes.
Ye Huai subconsciously moved his eyes away. “I didn’t……..I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why don’t you resist?” Kou Ming asked.
Ye Huai fell silent again, still passively resisting Kou Ming’s question with the behavior of pulling grass stems.
“Next month, I’m leaving.” Kou Ming reached out and squeezed his wrist, rescuing the weeds that were scattered by Ye Huai.
“What?” Ye Huai was so startled that he almost forgot to stammer. “Why leave?”
“My dad has to transfer because of work.” Kou Ming let go of his hand, “Actually, I didn’t expect to stay in this school for so long, and meeting you can be regarded as an accidental momento.”
Ye Huai pursed his lips and did not speak. Although his heart was full of sadness, it also jumped violently when he heard Kou Ming’s last words.
Momento.
I am his momento.
“So I don’t think I don’t want to stay here in the future, I always think about the little stutterer in my heart.” Kou Ming gave him a sideways look, “Do you understand what I mean?”
Ye Huai was silent for a while before finally opening his mouth, “I know…..know, but my mother… …….she won’t let me stir………stir up trouble.”
“What happened with the incident in the principal’s office?” Kou Ming paused for a moment, then asked straightforwardly.
Ye Huai was silent for a longer time this time, but it could be seen that he was trying very hard to answer Kou Ming’s question. “Someone slandered…slandered me for stealing stuff….but no…no one helped me, and then I was going to be expelled…..expelled…..my mother found out and went……went to find the principal, but I didn’t..didn’t know she…..”
Ye Huai didn’t say any more, but Kou Ming already understood the general idea of the matter from these intermittent words. But the real truth was probably even more cruel than what he had described.
“……Why didn’t you resist?” Kou Ming asked again, this time obviously raising his voice. “Have you ever thought that if you bear it this time, there will be another time!”
“I don’t……” Ye Huai seemed to be frightened by the expression on his face, “I’m not……….”
“Ye Huai!” Kou Ming couldn’t help roaring out. “Even if I’m covering you now, what will happen after I leave? What will you do! Are you going to live your life so miserably!”
“Maybe…because I…stutter.” Ye Huai said softly.
“Nonsense.” Kou Ming gritted his teeth and looked at him, suddenly picked him up from the ground and dragged him all the way to the reservoir, pretending to throw him into water several tens of meters deep. “Let me ask you, what would you think of me if I threw you down now?”
Ye Huai’s face turned pale from his sudden behavior, but he still shook his head stubbornly. “No, you won’t…you won’t.”
“Then what if someone throws me down?” Kou Ming asked.
Ye Huai stared at him wide-eyed, with a flash of fear in his eyes.
“Just like I’m protecting you, you will have someone you want to protect in the future.” Kou Ming loosened his collar and calmed down. “But you can’t even protect yourself, so what can you do to protect others?”
“I’m…….I’m sorry.” Ye Huai’s tone was trembling a little, “Am I…..making you…..angry?”
“Yes, I’m angry.” Kou Ming looked at him, “I’m angry at you for not living up to yourself.”
Ye Huai looked at him anxiously.
“So before I leave, can you promise me,” Kou Ming said, “If those trash messes with you in the future, remember to beat them back. Don’t look at those people who usually pretend to be human, in fact, they are the most afraid of trouble. They’re only circling around you all day because you’re easy to handle.”
“I know…… I know.” Ye Huai lowered his head, his voice becoming smaller and smaller. “Then in the….in the future, where can I find……find you?
“When you’re admitted to high school, I’ll come and find you.” Kou Ming said.
“Really……really!” Ye Huai suddenly looked up at him, his eyes surprised, “You will…..will come back?”
“Well, my dad should not be so strict with me when I’m a high school student.” Kou Ming reached out and rubbed his hair, “But it should be a long time for you to wait, don’t forget me.”
“I will never forget you. Ye Huai swore solemnly, as if to show his determination, he then added another sentence, “I will….will be always waiting for you.”
“Good.” Kou Ming smiled, “Then, can you tell me now what the words you wrote mean?”
Ye Huai stared at him blankly, his face flushed red again, “No… No way!”
Ye Huai was a person who kept his promises. He had been waiting for the person he wanted to protect but actually didn’t need his protection.
Until he finally made it to high school.
At this time, his height had jumped up a lot compared to when he was in the second year of middle school, as if he had sprinkled an enhanced version of chemical fertilizer into the underdeveloped bean sprout. Not only his height, but also his mentality and appearance had all changed. Compared with the cowardly appearance before, Ye Huai was no longer an optional bullying target in the eyes of some people.
Therefore he was very sure that if they met again, Kou Ming would definitely not recognize him.
He waited and waited until the day when he couldn’t even do it anymore. He wanted to immediately pick up the phone and tell Kou Ming that he liked him, but after much deliberation, he decided that it’s better to say it face to face. What’s more, a few words over the phone wouldn’t be able to express his passionate feelings towards Kou Ming like a raging fire.
Kou Ming, I like you.
I really like you.
Can you like me too?
………..Whether you like me or not, I want to see you.
[Little stutterer, I’m back, did you miss me very much?]
Ye Huai stared at the screen tremblingly, and before the corners of his ecstatic mouth opened an arc, he suddenly heard a loud noise coming from the front. A scream of fear and a burst of sound sounded in his ear, until everything calmed down and afterwards, his vision was gradually engulfed by darkness.
Then, he died.
Bian Shengjian suddenly broke free from the memory, the warmth of the first half made him completely unable to recover from the tragedy of the ending, however, after careful analysis, there was only sadness left–
“Now we are in this memory interval, when exactly is this?” Bian Shengjian asked in a low voice through gritted teeth.
“A few hours before parting.” Lu Shen also whispered.
“Fuck.” Bian Shengjian directly reached out and grabbed Ye Huai’s shoulder, and for a moment he saw himself in Ye Huai’s body. “Damn it, you have to tell Kou Ming that you like him today, do you hear me?”
“What… what?” Ye Huai seemed to be greatly frightened, “Why do you….why do you know…know Kou Ming?”
“You, why care about me?” Bian Shengjian roared, although at first he didn’t understand why he wanted to intervene in this kind of another’s gay love story, but if this kind of love story that was forced to end before he even had time to confess happened to him, even if he died, he’d become a resentful spirit. “I tell you Ye Huai, if you don’t talk about it today, you will really have no chance in the future!”
The moment he opened his mouth, for some reason, he even felt a bit like crying.
He thought of that Theatrical evening, and the bitter kiss behind the curtain.
……..If Lu Shen didn’t say it that day, would he still choose to speak up?
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help turning his head to look at Lu Shen, and found that the latter was also looking at him with a very gentle gaze, with only one sentence written in his eyes: I know what you are thinking.
“Don’t care who we are!” Bian Shengjian paused for a moment, quickly collected his emotions and wanted to continue shouting, but suddenly there was an anxious shout from behind. “Ye Huai! What the hell are you running for!”
Ye Huai’s eyes widened and he subconsciously wanted to run, but Kou Ming had already spotted the opportunity and rushed like an arrow, pointing at him while running. “Don’t run! Can’t you give me another try?”
Ye Huaiding looked at him, and really stood there without moving, but he looked at the two people standing in front of him at the moment and was a little embarrassed, because he really didn’t know how to explain who these two inexplicable people to Kou Ming were………………….
“Why the hell were you running just now!” Kou Ming rushed up, and passed through Bian Shengjian’s body smoothly as if piercing through a mist.
Ye Huai’s eyes widened instantly, and he was too frightened to speak for a moment.
“……Ye Huai?” Kou Ming grabbed his arm, and noticed that his expression was very strange. He instinctively turned his head and looked around, but there’s nothing, then became nervous and said, “Ye Huai? What’s wrong with you?”
“You…you can’t see…..them?” Ye Huai trembled and pointed out, “The two…..two people standing over there.”
“They? Who are they?” Kou Ming got goosebumps when he said that. He frowned and looked around again before putting his arms around Ye Huai’s shoulder solemnly. “What’s wrong with you? Where the hell is this someone?”
“I……” Ye Huai still wanted to speak, but when he caught a glimpse of Bian Shengjian looking at him from the corner of his eye, he stopped daring to speak, and it took him a long time before he lowered his head and responded softly, “It’s…it’s nothing, I was…mistaken.”
“You’re not too reluctant to part with me that you’re hallucinating right?” Kou Ming sighed, he couldn’t help frowning and said, “I said I’ll come and find you, so I’ll definitely come and find you, don’t hide from me.”
“En.”
Ye Huai’s breathing became a little short, and he didn’t dare to look into Kou Ming’s eyes, but his mind was full of what the thing whom he didn’t know whether it was a human or a ghost said to him. “If you don’t say it today, you really won’t have a chance in the future!”
……Why?
Ye Huai was suddenly frightened, and even his chest began to be a little out of breath. “Kou…Kou Ming…”
“Hm, what’s the matter?” Kou Ming looked at him, even with his eyes almost closed, he could tell that Ye Huai’s state today was not right. He’s saying things he didn’t understand, he didn’t know if the news of him leaving dealt him a huge blow. After sighing, he could only pat him on the back comfortingly. “I’m here, what the hell happened to you today?”
“I like you.” Ye Huai said without stammering.
The words spoken were always one step ahead of the brain, Ye Huai and Kou Ming were stunned as soon as the words came out.
“You said…” Kou Ming couldn’t help swallowing, and just when he was about to speak, a car honking sounded behind them. “Young Master! Where did you go just now? Hurry up and get in the car! Madam and the others have been waiting for you at home for a long time!”
Annoying driver.
Kou Ming couldn’t help but roll his eyes to the sky, but compared to the discomfort of being interrupted, what made him even more incomprehensible at this moment was why Ye Huai chose such a time to say such things to him.
…although he wasn’t that surprised by the result either.
“I like you, I really…..like you.” Ye Huai didn’t look him in the eyes, but insisted on speaking slowly under the urging of the driver. “The meaning of those few words……the meaning, I don’t think you…will be thinking about me too.”
Kou Ming was taken aback for a moment, he unexpectedly comprehended the meaning of Ye Huai’s words miraculously.
The crab is shelling me. The notebook is writing on me. From all over the sky, I’m falling on maple leaves and snowflakes. And you…..
….it’s impossible for you to be thinking about me too.
“I think you are too……too outstanding,” Ye Huai said, “I really want to catch up…to catch up with you, But still… still there’s a long way……to go, I…”
“So you think it’s impossible for me to like you?” Kou Ming took a deep breath.
Ye Huai responded with silence.
On one side was the annoying and constantly urging honking, and on the other side was the little fool who urgently needed to wait for his response. Kou Ming felt like sighing 108 times in an instant. Ye Huai may have been born to torture him. “…..Nonsense.”
Ye Huai was startled by his not-so-good swearing, and stared at him blankly.
Kou Ming didn’t speak any more, and simply replaced words with practical actions-stretched out his arms and hugged him tightly.
“Are you an idiot?” Kou Ming said softly, “Wait for me.”
Before Ye Huai could react, Kou Ming had already ended the short hug, stepped back a few steps and looked at him deeply before walking towards the car, and in front of Ye Huai, opened the car door and got in.
“……! Ye Huai’s voice was filled with tears, and his body involuntarily began to chase the car that had started to run, “I…… “
The phone in his pocket vibrated a few times, and Ye Huai took it out after a few more steps before bewilderedly lighting up the screen.
[Nonsense, me too.]
[Wait for me, little stutterer.]
“Is this still too cruel?” Bian Shengjian couldn’t help but say and looked at Ye Huai who was squatting on the ground and crying bitterly.
“No matter what, this is already the best result for them.” Lu Shen said.
“What about us?” Bian Shengjian asked.
“…What?” Lu Shen looked at him.
“It’s nothing.” Bian Shengjian paused, “Lu Shen, let me tell you a joke.”
“Okay.” Lu Shen stood with him, watching the setting sun on the horizon.
“Once upon a time there was a man who hated eating carrots, later he choked to death.”
“…..”
“Not funny at all.”
“I think so, too.“
