Chapter 4 Lamentation II

  Two

  When the first ray of sunlight in the morning shone into the room, Lan woke up. She had a long dream last night, and all the good things came back in her dreams. In her dream, she and Xiao Yi were holding hands running on the grassland, Zhang Chongyu was chasing after them with his camera, laughing and taking pictures. It's been a long time since she laughed so heartily. She felt happy and content in her dream, as if everything had returned to the past. When she opened her eyes and saw only the white ceiling, the dream that had floated into the air was pulled back to reality, and she had to muster up the courage to face the friendship or love that had become somewhat distant.

  It seemed that the phone in the living room rang, Lan Yu hastily got up and leaned close to the door to listen to the movement outside, "She's still sleeping, um okay..."

  "Who's looking for me?" Lan? Blue suddenly opened the door and stared nervously at the phone in her mother's hand, "Xiao Yi?"

  "Answer it yourself, it's a boy." Blue Mother handed her the phone and turned into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

  "Hello? Who is it?" Lan's voice trembled slightly.

  "Idiot, it's me." Du Hongyi's lazy voice came through the wireless earpiece clearly.

  The tense emotions slowly subsided, replaced by inexplicable anger. Lan changed hands to hold the phone, and the fire in his tone couldn't be restrained: "What did you call for?"

  There was a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by Du Hong's low laughter. "What a big grudge you're holding, I just called to check in on you since you didn't come to school and you get so worked up?"

  "It's none of your business." The girl said irritably.

  "Has a distant relative come to report?" The boy's tone still had a hint of laughter. Lying on the sofa, he changed into a comfortable position and held the phone, shouting at the other end: "How do you want to die?"

  "Will you die under pomegranate skirt?"

  "You're so beautiful." He rolled his eyes in the air.

  "Alright, never mind that. I'm now downstairs in your building, come out to the balcony so I can take a look at you and make sure you're okay, then I'll head back to class."

  My heart suddenly tightened, I glanced towards the balcony, my heartbeat inexplicably accelerated, but I still deliberately raised my voice to cover up the unease in my tone: "Why should I listen to you?"

  "If you don't come out, I'll go to your house and knock on the door. Let's see how you explain it to your mom then." His tone had a force that brooked no argument, and the girl was completely defeated, hesitantly moving closer to the balcony door to look downstairs.

  He sat on the edge of the central flowerbed in the residential area, still wearing that black thin jacket he had worn many times before. However, this battle-hardened jacket seemed to be no match for the cold wind, and his lips turned purple from the dry chill. His ash-blonde hair, which hadn't been waxed, was disheveled in the wind. He rubbed his hands together repeatedly to warm them up. It wasn't until he saw her walk out that he slowly stood up, holding his phone in his right hand and waving lightly at her with his left. There was an unreadable emotion on his face. Seeing Du Hongyi like this, Lan couldn't help but avoid eye contact with him for a long time.

  "Is this drunkard your classmate? He's been wandering around downstairs for a long time since early morning." Lan Mu stood quietly behind Lan Er, wiping her wet hands on her apron and gazing at Du Hong with suspicion.

  "Uh-huh, classmate."

  "It's so cold outside, why isn't he wearing more clothes? Hurry up and call him to come and drink a bowl of hot porridge." Blue Mother said as she sidled into the kitchen to scoop out the porridge.

  "Mom, don't bother, he still has to rush back for class." Lan shouted towards the kitchen while covering the receiver.

  "Since you're already here, let's just say it's not easy for your classmate to come once, hurry up and call him up, the porridge is ready."

  Du Hongyi pushed open the door and walked in, bringing a gust of cold air with him. He grinned from ear to ear and loudly greeted Lan Mu with a "Auntie, hello!" as if he were the master of the house returning home after a long journey, not feeling awkward at all. Lan Mu just happened to like this big and straightforward boy, so she hurriedly invited him to sit down and served him a bowl of porridge.

  Lan Mu sat down on the sofa, her eyes fixed tightly on Du Hongyi. Du Hongyi didn't feel embarrassed at all, but instead gave Lan Mu a silly smile. Lan Mu finally couldn't help but ask, "How's your relationship with Lan?"

  "It's necessary, we were classmates for six years in elementary school, and I followed her to middle school." Du Hongyi hastily swallowed the porridge in his mouth and looked at Lan.

  "Alas, Lan?c has a bad temper and doesn't have many friends. Whenever something happens at school, she won't tell me about it." Lan's mother looked at her daughter with a thoughtful gaze, while Lan?c avoided eye contact with a complicated expression and whispered: "I do have friends."

  Du Hong smiled and patted Lan Mu's shoulder with his hand, just like he usually comforted his brothers. Then, possibly finding this action a bit inappropriate, he quickly awkwardly withdrew his hand: "Auntie, she has a good temper, many friends, and I'll be taking care of her at school, don't worry!"

  "That's settled then. If she has any issues at school in the future, I'll look for you." Lan Mu rarely showed a smile to this rebellious-looking boy, but now he revealed a long-awaited warm smile.

  Du Hongyi's serious expression carried a hint of arrogance and unruliness, his mouth corners subtly curved upwards at some point, the Du Hongyi in front of him made Lan feel the manly aura for the first time, it seemed that only when being protected could her whole heart truly settle down, just like now.

  "But kids, it's not that I'm talking too much, your hair is dyed... hmm, it doesn't suit you, if you dye it back to black, it would be so much more handsome."

  Du Hongyi immediately perked up upon hearing this. "Really, Auntie? I was just thinking of dyeing it back to black, you're so wise!"

  "Hurry up and finish your porridge so you can go to school." Lan Yu helplessly pushed the porridge bowl in front of him.

  Du Hong finished the porridge in two mouthfuls and then said seriously with a straight face, "I must wash the bowl." Lan Cai hastily stood up and shouted at his back, "You'd better put it down, don't break my family's bowls!"

  After seeing Du Hongyi off, only the mother and daughter were left in the living room. Lan Mu's mind was elsewhere as she pressed the remote control, switching between channels with disjointed sounds coming from the TV. Lan Xicai quietly wiped down the table again and again, took away the bowl Du Hongyi had used to wash it, and sat on the other end of the sofa. "Nowadays, puppy love is not good." Lan Mu finally said this when Lan Xicai was about to fall asleep leaning against the sofa.

  Blue? C suddenly jumped up from the sofa, feeling a mix of shame at being exposed and anger at being wronged. "Mom, what are you talking about?! He and I are just friends, not even that."

  "Duhongyi is a good kid, but he's too playful, and you're all still young, do you even know what love is?" Blue Mother said to herself.

  "Whatever, you won't believe me anyway." Lan buried her face into the pillow with a gloomy expression.

  What's wrong with you? What are you afraid of? What are you and mom avoiding in your conversation? Why are you so indecisive? Aren't you the one who likes Zhang Chongyu the most? What does Du Hongyi have that meets your requirements? He's always using foul language and bullying girls, he's just thick-skinned.