A Thousand Thoughts

Early the next morning, unexpectedly, Tang Cuo was the first to wake up between the two. He raised his sore and weak arm, trying to turn over, but as soon as he exerted force, he fell back weakly. He felt a sharp pain from his thigh all the way up to his shoulder, and his waist was so stiff and painful as if it had already been rigid. Tang Xu, who was beside him, felt his movement in a half-awake state and stretched out his arm to pull the twisting person into his arms, “Are you uncomfortable?”

 Tang Cuo found a comfortable position for himself, raised his hand, and used the back of his hand to playfully rub the stubble that had just grown on Tang Xu’s face.

 “My waist hurts.”

 Tang Xu let his hand play on his face and put his other hand on Tang Cuo’s waist, slowly and gently massaging him. After massaging for a while, he moved his hand down and asked, “Does it hurt here?”

 Tang Cuo buried his face and said softly, “Just a little bit…”

 Tang Xu had a seminar at 10:30 am, so he had to get up, but Tang Cuo had no classes in the morning and could rest for half a day. However, he insisted on moving in sync with Tang Xu, so the two of them snuggled together for a while and then got up.

 Tang Xu walked into the bathroom first, with Tang Cuo following behind. He leaned against the door frame, tilted his head, and watched Tang Xu prepare two glasses of water and squeeze toothpaste onto two toothbrushes.

 Tang Cuo blinked, squeezed next to Tang Xu, and took the green toothbrush, saying, “I want the little green frog one.”

 Tang Xu’s mouth was still full of foam, and he asked vaguely, “What little green frog?”

 “You don’t remember,” Tang Cuo said, looking at Tang Xu in the mirror. He began to brush his teeth in silence, then rinsed his mouth and face without explaining what the little green frog meant.

 Tang Xu turned on the tap and suddenly lifted Tang Cuo, turning him around. He put him on the countertop and asked, with his arm on Tang Cuo’s shoulder, “What is the little green frog?”

 “You don’t remember.” Tang Cuo watched Tang Xu in the mirror and started brushing his teeth without saying a word. After finishing brushing, he turned on the tap to wash his face without explaining what “little green frog” meant.

 Tang Xu pressed the tap, pulled Tang Cuo to change direction, and lifted him up onto the countertop. He leaned his arm on Tang Cuo’s shoulder and asked, “What is a little green frog?”

 Faced with such close questioning, Tang Cuo finally said, “It’s the toothbrush you bought for me before. You don’t remember.”

 Tang Xu was stunned for a moment, then pressed his head against Tang Cuo’s shoulder, shaking with laughter.

 Tang Cuo didn’t know what he was laughing about, so he thought for a moment and continued, “I remember everything, but you don’t remember anything. You don’t remember giving me a little red flower or even buying me a little frog toothbrush.”

 In fact, when this was said, both Tang Cuo and Tang Xu felt somewhat surprised. Before, no matter what Tang Xu forgot, Tang Cuo wouldn’t say anything with a sense of reproach, even if it was a playful joke.

 Tang Xu lifted his head from Tang Cuo’s shoulder and stared into his eyes, smiling.

 “You say that about me, but I’m actually a little happy.”

 He was happy that Tang Cuo finally started to put them on an equal footing and that he was no longer always silent with his head down.

 He didn’t put Tang Cuo down, picked up a towel from the shelf next to him, splashed it twice under the faucet, and said as he folded the towel in his hand, “I’ll buy you a little frog toothbrush when I go to the supermarket today.”

 As he spoke, he covered Tang Cuo’s face with the folded towel and used his other hand to support the back of his head just below the crown, wiping his face twice.

 The warmth on Tang Cuo’s face made him feel comfortable all the way to his heart. When Tang Xu went to rinse the towel again, he turned his head and said to him, “Do you remember the first time you washed my face? It was in your dormitory, and you said my face was as dirty as a mud monkey. But there was no hot water at that time, so you told me to make do with cold water.”

 Tang Xu remembered this incident. It was the first time he washed a child’s face and he had no experience, causing Tang Cuo’s clothes to get wet halfway through and the water to drip down. The child twisted his clothes and said to him that it was just a little wet; it didn’t matter.

 “That was the first time someone washed my face. At that time, I thought to myself, this person is really kind.”

 Tang Cuo’s bright eyes kept looking at him, and it was rare that in the eyes of a young man who was already twenty years old, he could easily capture the light of innocence.

 After spending so much time together since their reunion, Tang Xu finally understood why Tang Cuo’s words always made him unable to resist. When someone says sweet words, regardless of how strong the feelings are, they at least know that they are saying sweet words, and the other person loves to hear them. But Tang Cuo is different. He doesn’t see his words as sweet talk but rather as “knowing that it’s love and speaking it out.” So, other than the first sentence he hesitated to say, “I like you,” all his words were straightforward and honest, yet sweet enough to make Tang Xu’s heart melt.

 After thinking for a while, Tang Xu had already washed Tang Cuo’s face without realising it. When Tang Cuo was about to go down with his arms supporting him, Tang Xu reached out and held him back. Tang Cuo was puzzled and asked why. He didn’t know what else to do after brushing his teeth and washing his face.

 Tang Xu didn’t speak. He put the towel down and reached out to open Tang Cuo’s pyjama collar. One side of the pyjamas slipped off, revealing a smooth shoulder with a small red flower tattoo.

 Tang Cuo shuddered but didn’t avoid it. Tang Xu’s kiss landed on the small red flower.

 “From now on, we’ll kiss every day, so we’ll never forget.”

 After all the third-year grades came out, most of the students could estimate whether they would be able to stay for graduate studies. Those who had good grades and were sure to be able to stay for graduate studies had already started contacting their teachers before the holiday. Tang Cuo was preparing to go abroad and naturally didn’t care about this, but he happened to overhear a classmate mention that several people wanted to talk to Teacher Tang.

 Tang’s surname is not very common, but there is a teacher with this surname at their college.

 He talked about it with Tang Xu when he returned home that night. Tang Xu nodded and said, “Both of them have contacted me. Your classmates contacted the teacher pretty early.”

 Tang Cuo lay in bed, looking at his Kindle, thinking that maybe other students didn’t contact their teachers that early.

 Tang Xu noticed his little discontent and patted his waist, saying, “What’s wrong? Don’t you like me being a student advisor?”

 Tang Cuo threw away his Kindle and came over, raising his head seriously, “How about I don’t go abroad and you take me as your graduate student? I also want to be your student.”

 Tang Xu chuckled, “Please don’t deepen my sense of guilt any further.”

 Tang Cuo wasn’t very happy, feeling like he missed a great opportunity, and on top of that, he spilled a series of inexplicable little jealousy bottles in his mind. He stuck by Tang Xu’s side all night, asking him how many graduate students he planned to recruit and whether he was going to accept the two girls who approached him.

 It was a bit unreasonable, but also cute and stubborn.

 After being stared at with complex little eyes all night, Tang Xu’s heart was stirred, and in the end, he threw away his computer, turned off the lights, and hugged Tang Cuo in his arms.

 “I’ll still be teaching you ‘Computer Control’ next semester. If you perform well, I’ll let you continue to be the class representative, okay?”

 Tang Cuo looked up with his neck being kissed, and as soon as he heard this, he opened his eyes and turned his neck to look at Tang Xu. “Really?”

Tang Xu nodded, his words filled with uncontrollable laughter: “At that time, I’ll say, hey, Tang Cuo is here; that’s great; since we have an experienced hand, we don’t need to train a new one. How about Tang Cuo working hard for another semester?”

Tang Cuo was so happy that he couldn’t even reply. Tang Xu scratched the ticklish flesh on his waist and asked, ” Student Tang Cuo, is this okay?”

 Tang Cuo rolled his body to avoid his hand, giggling and gasping for breath. “Yes, Teacher Tang.”