DCISBS chapter 41

After that, Lu Nanyang didn’t see Xie Quan for many days.

That night, he didn’t go back to the apartment. He crashed at a random internet café.

The place was small and cramped, the windows coated in thick dust. The floor was so filthy you couldn’t tell its original color, and there were cigarette butts wedged in the cracks between the tiles. The room reeked of smoke and sweat. The man sitting to Lu Nanyang’s left had one hand on the mouse, the other propping up his chin as he snored loudly in his sleep.

Lu Nanyang leaned back against the stiff, brittle chair and stared at the window for a while. But aside from the dirty grime and the hazy glow of the streetlights outside, there was nothing to see.

He gave up eventually, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it. Smoke drifted through the murky air as he clamped the filter between his teeth, opened the game menu, and spent the entire night playing Minesweeper.

It was past noon the next day when he finally returned to the apartment. As he slid the key into the lock, his hands were trembling slightly.

But his worry was completely unnecessary — the apartment was empty. Not a soul in sight.

Not only that, he found that Xie Quan had taken all his belongings with him.

The northern bedroom was completely bare. Even the blackout curtains had been taken down, leaving the window naked against the wall.

The bedsheets and quilt had been swapped out, and even the mountains of textbooks and reference materials — the ones Lu Nanyang thought would take a whole truck to haul — were gone.

The bedroom looked exactly like it did before Xie Quan had ever stepped foot in it.

It was like a dream. A person named Xie Quan had inexplicably walked into his life, then vanished without a trace — like he was never there at all.

That afternoon, Wen Fei messaged him on WeChat.

Wen Fei: I’m home now, just got off the bus.
Wen Fei: How did things go yesterday?

Lu Nanyang tossed his phone aside, not in the mood to reply. But before long, it buzzed again.

Wen Fei: Is Dr. Xie okay? Did they catch that woman?

Annoyed, Lu Nanyang picked up his phone and typed out three words.

Lu Nanyang: I don’t know.

That threw Wen Fei into confusion, and he fired off a bunch of follow-ups.

Wen Fei: Huh? What do you mean you don’t know?
Wen Fei: Weren’t you with them at the police station last night?
Wen Fei: What the hell happened?

Suddenly, Lu Nanyang found his friend insufferably noisy.

So many questions. What was there to ask? All he ever did was gossip.

Lu Nanyang: Nothing much happened.
Lu Nanyang: Xie Quan moved out.

After sending that, he locked his screen and didn’t bother checking if Wen Fei replied again.

There really wasn’t much to it.

Xie Quan was never supposed to be part of his life in the first place. They were two completely different paths, and now things had simply returned to their original course.

A life without Xie Quan — that’s how it was always meant to be.

……

Lu Nanyang slept the whole afternoon. By the time he woke up, the sun had long since set.

The bedroom was pitch dark, as heavy and murky as the sky before a thunderstorm. He stared at the ceiling for a long time, every muscle in his body weighed down by laziness, unwilling to move.

After lying there for about ten minutes, he finally sat up and walked over to draw the curtains. Barefoot, he lit a cigarette in the dimness of the night.

Across the street, a few apartment lights flickered here and there. Somewhere nearby, middle-aged women were probably dancing to a brain-melting pop tune blasting from a speaker. In the distance stood a lighthouse, its light blinking steadily in the dark.

Past that lighthouse was the sea.

The sea was so close — and yet Xie Quan had never once gone to see it.

The moment that name popped into his head, Lu Nanyang bit down hard on the filter of his cigarette. The smoke rushed out from the pressure, swirling thickly into the air.

He’d smoked more since meeting Xie Quan than he did his entire senior year of high school.

Maybe it was time to buy an ashtray.

He stubbed the cigarette out in a bowl of water, grabbed some clothes from the bed, and headed out.

While passing a food street, Lu Nanyang got a call from Mrs. Lu.

When he pressed the answer button, he instinctively stopped walking and held his breath.

Including the day he returned from the army, Mrs. Lu had only called him twice in the past four years. This was the third time.

For a few seconds after the call connected, there was silence. Then Lu Yunyao spoke first.

Back in her youth, Lu Yunyao had been a nationally renowned opera singer. Even after all these years in retirement, her voice remained gentle and beautiful.

“Xiao Yang, how have you been lately?”

The moment he heard her voice, Lu Nanyang felt like he couldn’t breathe. He quickly stepped away from the crowd, heading toward a quieter path.

“I’m doing fine.” He swallowed the sudden wave of emotion pressing against his chest and replied in a light tone.

“How’s school? Are you eating well?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. You don’t need to worry.” Lu Nanyang leaned against a tree and chuckled. “The teachers are great, my dormmates are really chill, and the cafeteria food’s actually decent. There’s meat every day, no need to fight for it. On the last day of finals, they even made sweet and sour pork for us. We all said the cafeteria chef’s better than the restaurants outside…”

Maybe he rambled too much, because Lu Yunyao interrupted him before he could finish.

“Well, are your classes really packed lately?” she asked.

Lu Nanyang looked down at a stain on the toe of his shoe. He scraped at it with his foot on the grass, but it wouldn’t come off.

“Not really. It’s manageable,” he replied softly.

He heard Lu Yunyao sigh on the other end.

“If it’s not too packed, then come home once break starts, okay? Hongzhen and I… we haven’t seen you in such a long time.”

Lu Nanyang’s eyes burned all of a sudden, like every emotion he’d been holding in had found the perfect crack to break through.

He slowly slid down the tree trunk until he was sitting in the soft, damp soil.

He had to muster a lot of effort to keep his emotions in check, forcing his voice to stay mostly steady.
“I’m doing pretty well here. The apartment is close to school, so it’s convenient to go back and forth if anything comes up. I’ve got some friends living nearby too, so it’s not lonely.”

“But—”

Lu Nanyang cut her off. “If I come back, it wouldn’t be fair to Zhanlei.”

Lu Yunyao fell silent. She didn’t speak for a long time.

Lu Nanyang waited quietly. The sound of cicadas gradually drowned out the faint breathing through the receiver. Just as he was about to hang up, Lu Yunyao finally spoke.

Her voice had a slight tremble, like she was about to cry, a bit unsteady.

“Xiao Yang, we owe you an apology. When we adopted you back then, we truly saw you as our own son. Even now, the Lu family’s doors will always be open to you. As long as you’re willing to come back—”

“It’s okay. Really.” Lu Nanyang said softly. “This isn’t your fault.”

…..

After the students at Yuncheng University went on break, the nearby shops quieted down a lot too.

The once lively Xinghe Bar, known for its music and parties every night, had also fallen into a slump. Tony, the bar’s manager, ended up shutting off all the flashy stuff, swapped out the blaring music for some relaxing tunes, and put a few flower arrangements on the counter to disguise the place as a chill lounge bar.

From the outside, it actually looked pretty convincing.

But Xinghe’s regulars weren’t fooled. The moment they stepped inside, it was back to the usual chaos — shouting, playing their own music, and within two minutes, the place was back to being a mess.

When Lu Nanyang pushed the door open and walked in, Li Jie and the others were in the middle of some wildly flailing dance. Tony sat behind the bar, head propped in his hand, sighing non-stop.

“A drink,” Lu Nanyang said, sitting down at the bar.

“Yo, if it isn’t Xiao Lu!” Tony perked up. “Haven’t seen you in ages. I thought you went back home. What’ll you have?”

“No Orion, no Scorpio. Anything else is fine.” Lu Nanyang replied.

Tony gave him a curious once-over but couldn’t figure anything out, so he just patted his shoulder. “Coming right up.”

The glass was placed in front of Lu Nanyang. He didn’t even look at it — just picked it up and downed it in one go.

The hot alcohol slid down his throat, burning all the way to his stomach, a sharp pain with a strange sense of relief.

“Whoa—good thing I didn’t mix you something stronger!” Tony jumped. “What’s up with you today?”

“Nothing.” Lu Nanyang wiped his mouth and smiled at Tony. “It’s just way too hot today. I was seriously thirsty.”

“You’re something else. Being thirsty doesn’t mean you can treat booze like water…”

“Xiao Lu!” Li Jie spotted him mid-dance and bounced over, waving. “Haven’t seen you in forever! Where’ve you been, getting rich or something?”

Lu Nanyang slid his glass forward and grinned, “Rich my ass. I’ve got our professor chasing me for a thesis instead!”

“Aiyo, I almost forgot! Our Xiao Lu is a straight-A student!” Li Jie giggled behind her hand.

“Ignore her. She’s talking crazy again,” a big guy in a white tank top teased next to her.

“Crazy your head, you’re the crazy one!” Li Jie elbowed him and waved Lu Nanyang over. “Come on, brainiac, dance a song with your big sister!”

“Alright!” Lu Nanyang quickly stood up and joined them with a smile.

Time always flies when everyone’s laughing. They were all tipsy, singing and dancing, cracking loud, outrageous jokes.

Eventually, Li Jie slumped entirely against Lu Nanyang, giggling as she patted his head.
“Xiao Lu, if only you were my son. So handsome, can hold his liquor, and— hic —such a smooth talker!”

Lu Nanyang laughed and gently moved her hand away. “You’ve got rose-colored glasses on. Other people’s kids always seem better.”

“Yeah… you’re right.” Li Jie collapsed forward like she had no bones, her head ending up resting on Lu Nanyang’s knee. She mumbled, “If my son were still here, he’d be about your age by now. Maybe—maybe he’d be a handsome guy too.”

Lu Nanyang froze. He wanted to say something but didn’t know what. Before he could think of anything, Li Jie had already started snoring.

The music in the bar was still deafening. A few people still standing kept dancing in the middle of the floor, shouting to hear each other over the noise.
In the dazzling lights, Lu Nanyang closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the sofa.

[mfn]Author’s Note:
They’ll make up in the next chapter 💖[/mfn]