A Thousand Thoughts

After leaving the laboratory, Tang Xu released his grip. After pressing the down button of the elevator, he chuckled to himself and turned to Tang Cuo, saying, “This is one thing that the school isn’t too good at…”

 

With a dry and swollen throat, Tang Cuo instinctively responded, “Hmm?”

 

The elevator door “dinged” open, and Tang Xu lightly grabbed his shoulder, giving him a boost. The narrow space made their breathing more intense.

 

“There are too many cameras; it’s troublesome.”

 

Even when looking straight ahead, Tang Cuo could see Tang Xu’s clear shadow on the elevator door.

 

The propagation of light in a straight line is a romantic thing because it means that when I see your eyes, there must be an image of me in them.

 

Tang Xu walked Tang Cuo to his dormitory but didn’t get too close. In a relatively secluded corner, he handed him his backpack. As the backpack was passed between their hands, Tang Xu’s fingers lightly brushed against Tang Cuo’s palm, giving it a slight squeeze.

 

“Go back and rest quickly, and do your best tomorrow.”

 

“Impressive!  You’re awesome!” He Zhong, following his own established tradition, slapped his friend on the shoulder and boasted to the other two roommates, “See, with us around, we’ll never get into trouble. I bet you guys had to help so many old ladies cross the road in your past lives just to end up rooming with us. I’m really honored for you guys!”

 

The two roommates have different personalities. Zhong Ming doesn’t like to talk and just ignored He Zhong when he started his usual nonsense. But the other roommate, Zhao Feifei, who is even more stingy than He Zhong,  sneered “Oh my, I didn’t do anything else in my past life except helping old ladies cross the street one by one. Truth be told, you, who couldn’t move on your own in your past life, were also someone I helped.” 

 

They were joking and fooling around, but Tang Cuo was not listening at all. At this moment, his mind was racing to analyze what had just happened. The more he analyzed, the faster his heart beat, to the point where he felt his heart was skipping beats and his limbs were numb. Then, as if seeking comfort, he hugged He Zhong beside him.

 

…

 

Zhao Feifei stared, he was just about to retort “If someone doesn’t know, they would think that you and Cuocuo are a couple,” then Tang Cuo acted out this affectionate scene.

 

“… You two aren’t really together, are you?”

 

He Zong gave him three “get lost”s.

 

He Zhong is not as tall as Tang Xu, but he is still slightly taller than Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo lowered his head and pressed his forehead against He Zhong’s shoulder, not speaking or moving, but reliving the embrace in his mind.

 

He Zhong patted him on the back and said, “Hey, if you love me, just say it.”

 

Tang Cuo hummed twice.

 

The teaching week at the university lasts for 16 weeks, with the 17th week being a review week and the 18th and 19th weeks being the dreaded exam weeks that are hated by millions of students.

 

Tang Cuo and his roommates had been diligently studying at the library for over a week, spending long hours there every day and immersing themselves in the ocean of knowledge. Their lives had become so routine that their biological clocks were now set for exam week.

 

The automatic control exam was scheduled for the earliest time during exam week by Professor Tang Xu, who advised them to finish the exam early and avoid unnecessary stress. In the gradually quieting exam room, Tang Xu and another invigilator were at the front desk opening exam papers, while Tang Cuo sat in his seat, craning his neck forward to see. He hadn’t seen Tang Xu in many days, partly because he had been busy preparing for the exams and hadn’t gone to visit Tang Xu’s house, but also because, ever since the incident at the laboratory, he had been trying to avoid Tang Xu.

 

Tang Xu needs to count the number of people in each row to divide the exam papers. He lifted his head, and his eyes met Tang Cuo’s. Tang Cuo immediately shrank his neck and timidly half-laid on the desk. Lu Hong poked him from behind, “Cuo Shen, don’t lie on the table later.”

 

“… You didn’t review?”

 

“I previewed once.”

 

“… Oh.”

 

After the exam, Tang Cuo didn’t think it was difficult, but he saw a bunch of people in front of Tang Xu complaining that the questions were too difficult and asking him to lower the passing grade. Because everyone put their backpacks in front before the exam, he had to go up to the podium and get his backpack next to that group of people.

 

“Except for the second-to-last question, which was a bit difficult, the rest were all basic types of questions,” Tang Xu was being surrounded and questioned in different ways when he saw Tang Cuo walking over and called out to him, “Tang Cuo, what do you think, were the questions difficult today?”

 

Tang Cuo had just picked up his backpack and, because of Tang Xu’s words, immediately received everyone’s attentive gaze.

 

In that 0.01 second, he quickly made a choice between betraying the people or betraying Tang Xu.

 

“Not difficult.”

 

The two words with a resounding thud provoked Tang Xu’s laughter and the people’s lament. He Zhong, who was standing nearby, exclaimed and quickly pulled Tang Cuo away. He was afraid that after Tang Xu left, the silly kid would be surrounded by people.

 

He Zhong pulled him to the steamed bun stall at the cafeteria and said, “Hurry up, let’s go eat, and then focus on the next review.”

 

The next exam is on Thursday, which is not scary, but what’s scary is that tomorrow is New Year’s Day and their orchestra has a special performance at the Beijing Concert Hall. According to past experience, the golden time before the exam tomorrow is wasted.

 

In order to help He Zhong with his revision, Tang Cuo found an empty classroom at night and went through the knowledge points for the next exam from beginning to end. After finishing the whole book, it was already 10 o’clock. Tang Cuo looked at his phone and found a missed call from Tang Xu.

 

“You can go over the material yourself. I’m going to make a phone call,” he said, and then walked to the hallway with his phone.

 

“Finished studying?” Tang Xu asked on the other end.

 

“Yeah, it’s time to go back.”

 

“How was the revision?”

 

Tang Cuo lowered his head and stepped on the cracks in the floor with his feet. “It’s okay…”

 

Tang Xu’s laughter came from the phone, low and captivating.

 

“I just graded the paper. Do you want to know your score in advance?”

 

“Already graded?” Tang Cuo was surprised and then thought about the score, feeling a rare sense of unease. “How many points did I get?”

 

In fact, during the exam, he checked it several times; even the simple calculations were carefully calculated twice on the draught paper. It can be said that this was the most serious exam he had taken since he was a child.

 

He was feeling extremely anxious, but Tang Xu kept him in suspense, “You guess?”

 

“Did I get a perfect score?” He hesitantly asked after a long pause.

 

Tang Xu didn’t answer him; instead, he asked, “Where are you studying right now?”

 

“In Building Seven…”

 

“Where in Building Seven?”

 

“Room 301 on the east side of the third floor.”

 

Tang Xu said, “Wait for me at the east staircase of the third floor.”

 

After hanging up the phone, Tang Cuo stood at the east staircase and was momentarily stunned when he realised that Tang Xu was coming over. He anxiously fiddled with his phone and, while looking down at it, noticed a black ink mark on his right hand that he didn’t remember getting. He tried rubbing it off, but it wouldn’t come off, so he quickly ran to the nearby restroom to wash his hands.

 

When Tang Xu appeared on the staircase with his hands in his pockets, Tang Cuo was still standing on the staircase, shaking his wet hand. Seeing him come down, he stopped shaking and quickly turned around to rub his hand dry on his back.

 

The grey and white intertwined sweater had a few water stains on it, which were barely noticeable on the white parts, but on the grey parts they were deep and shallow, like an abstract painting drawn casually to express one’s mood.

 

“Are you tired from studying?” Tang Xu asked as he stepped down the last few steps.

 

Tang Cuo shook his head, “Not tired.”

 

After he said this, the air around them suddenly quieted down. Tang Xu was standing in front of him, and the silence made Tang Cuo’s heart feel somewhat uneasy, so he took the initiative to break the silence and asked, “What’s my score?”

 

“Full marks.”

 

The gaze of Tang Xu had been stuck to Tang Cuo’s face like strong adhesive since a moment ago. After saying those two words, he lifted one of Tang Cuo’s hands and stretched out his fingers, placing his palm in front of him.

 

Tang Cuo was puzzled, looking at his own hand and then back at Tang Xu.

 

Tang Xu smiled and lowered his head. In the dimly lit hallway, his eyebrows and eyes were shining with a dazzling golden border, making Tang Cuo mesmerised.

 

His hand felt itchy and tingly. Curiously, he looked down, and the next second, he froze in place with his shoulders burning.

 

In that out-of-body moment, Tang Xu stopped drawing on his hand, but his fingers still felt warm. He was still holding Tang Cuo’s hand.

 

“Here’s a little red flower for you,” Tang Xu said.

 

Tang Cuo pulled his hand away from Tang Xu’s fingertips and looked at him hesitantly.

 

Tang Xu still smiled, tilted his head forward, and leaned towards him. Their noses were almost touching. “Do you want a hug as well?” he said. 

 

Although it was a question, it was a question that didn’t wait for him to answer.  When Tang Xu hugged him, he didn’t even have time to loosen his half-clenched fist.

 

“Good luck with tomorrow’s performance and the exams.”

 

His shoulder was still hot, and so was his palm.

 

Tang Cuo held onto the empty little red flower in his palm, carrying the residual warmth of Tang Xu as he walked back to the classroom with a fluctuating and inexplicable sense of urgency in his back.

 

Tang Xu watched him turn the corner and disappear completely from his sight before turning his gaze to the empty corridor and raising an eyebrow lazily. “Come out,” he said in a nonchalant tone.

 

Almost ten seconds later, He Zhong timidly peeked out half of his body from the restroom and greeted him with a sheepish smile and raised hand, “Hello, Teacher Tang… Brother Xu.”

 

Since there was no one else outside the classroom, He Zhong automatically changed his way of addressing him.

 

After walking out of the restroom, he touched his nose and coughed twice, then looked at Tang Xu, who moved his lips and made some meaningless sounds in a fawning manner.

 

He scratched his head. “I didn’t mean to peek. Oh, I don’t know how to say it, but I’m a bit…shocked. Don’t worry, I won’t go around blabbering about it!”

 

“It’s just a glance; it’s fine.” Tang Xu didn’t mind and laughed lightly, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “We’re together now, but don’t tell Tang Cuo, okay?”

 

Zhong was a little confused. “What do you mean?”

 

Tang Xu said, “He probably doesn’t know yet. I’ll tell him later. You just keep it to yourself.”

 

After saying that, Tang Xu patted his shoulder twice as if nothing had happened, told him to study hard, and left.

 

He Zhong was still in a daze, watching Tang Xu’s back as he leisurely walked up the stairs. He took a deep breath.

 

So he knew about their relationship before one of the parties involved did?