A Thousand Thoughts

When Tang Xu told Tang Cuo that Shi Xi was getting married, Tang Cuo was stunned for a while. He was writing his thesis, and the cursor on the screen was flashing. He stared at it for a while, feeling a little dizzy.

 “How… are they getting married?”

 “It’s not really sudden; they’ve been together for almost two years.”

 Tang Cuo moved his hand away from the keyboard and looked up to ask, “Have you met that person? What’s he like?”

 “I have,” Tang Xu said as he walked over and ruffled his hair. “He’s a good person, knowledgeable, and elegant. Although he comes from a good family, he’s not the kind of playboy who knows nothing. We’ve had dinner twice, and you can see that he loves Shi Xi very much and takes good care of her.”

 Tang Xu’s response was very detailed. Tang Cuo listened and nodded, “That’s good.”

 “The wedding is on June 12th. Shi Xi asked me to bring you along.”

 Shi Xi’s wedding was held on the outskirts of Beijing on a lush green lawn filled with white flowers such as roses, lilies, and calla lilies. Tang Cuo had never seen so many flowers before, and he couldn’t help but exclaim as he walked along. When they arrived at the main venue, he lightly tugged on Tang Xu’s arm.

 “It’s so beautiful…”

 Tang Xu looked around and whispered with a smile, “Shi Xi complained to me that she only said she liked white flowers, but her husband practically gathered all the white flowers in Beijing. This is only half of what he originally had.”

 Seeing Tang Cuo constantly looking around, Tang Xu patted his shoulder and said with a smile, “It will be even more beautiful later. Let’s go and see Shi Xi first.”

 When Shi Xi saw the two of them come in from the mirror, she smiled and turned around to greet them. Tang Xu walked over, leaned down, and gave her a gentle hug. “Congratulations, the most beautiful bride.”

 Many times, Tang Cuo could feel that Tang Xu never hesitated to show proper care to the girls around him, such as with Shi Xi. Even with such a familiar person, Tang Xu still placed his hands in a polite position while hugging.

 Tang Cuo stood quietly behind Tang Xu and stepped forward only after the two of them separated.

 “Congratulations, Shi Xi-jie1 jie means elder sister.,” Tang Cuo smiled. After a brief pause, he added, “You look really beautiful today.”

 Shi Xi tilted her head and smiled playfully, “Thank you, Si Hang.”

 Only then did Tang Xu take out a red envelope and hand it to Shi Xi. “Here, I’ve been saving up for you.”

 Shi Xi took it and squeezed it. “Wow, Teacher Tang is really generous, huh?”

 “Double serving.”

 The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Lu Chengwei. Upon seeing the people inside, Lu Chengwei immediately shouted, “Oh, Xiao SiHang, you look so handsome today!”

 Lu Chengwei was still in his free-and-easy style, wearing a black shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Tang Cuo, on the other hand, insisted on wearing a suit for the formal occasion, which was a style Tang Xu helped him pick out at a store a couple of days ago, with a black bow tie hanging from the collar.

“But aren’t you hot in this suit during the summer? Oh, and your bow tie is crooked.” He walked up to Tang Cuo and straightened his bow tie.

 Suddenly, Shi Xi remembered something and patted Lu Chengwei, asking, “Chengwei, did you tell the person in charge of the video about the change in the order?”

 Lu Chengwei shook his head and let go of his hand. “I just came back from the emcee; I’m going to the venue now.”

 After speaking, he grabbed Tang Xu’s arm and said, “Come with me.”

 Tang Xu was pulled out by him and glanced at Tang Cuo before leaving. Tang Cuo smiled at him.

 Once they were out, Tang Xu shook off Lu Chengwei’s hand and asked, “What’s up?”

 “Wait a minute; I’ll go find the girl who’s in charge of the video and then tell you.”

 After finishing his instructions, Lu Chengwei took him to the smoking area, and they each lit a cigarette. Lu Chengwei raised his chin and asked Tang Xu, “Is your little Si Hang in love?”

 Tang Xu paused in his actions and looked at Lu Chengwei with a playful smile, “How do you know?”

 “I just helped him fix his tie, and there was a hickey under his collar!” Lu Chengwei took a harsh drag on his cigarette and shook his head. “I didn’t expect Xiao Sihang to be so capable. I was going to introduce him to a little girl.”

 Hearing this, Tang Xu didn’t respond and instead exhaled a smoke ring into the air before laughing.

 “Why are you laughing? Do you know about this? Don’t take it lightly; you see, Xiao SiHang looks like an innocent and inexperienced teenager. Nowadays, some girls have so many tricks that I admire them. You should be careful with him…”

 As he spoke, Land Chengwei suddenly felt that something was off and stopped. What made him feel uneasy was the smile on the other person’s face, which had small wrinkles at the corners of the eyes that gave away his age of around thirty.

 “Damn it…”

 The cigarette almost slipped out of Lu Chengwei’s hand; he raised the hand holding the cigarette and pointed at Tang Xu with his eyes wide open, asking, “Are you serious?”

 Tang Xu raised his eyebrow and continued to smile and smoke without saying a word.

 Lu Chengwei confirmed his suspicion, but he still found it hard to accept for a moment. He tugged at his already loose collar and said, “Well, my mom won’t nag me about you anymore. You’ve been back on track for so many years, and you made a big move as soon as you stepped out of line,” he gave Tang Xu a thumbs up. “Impressive.”

 Tang Xu raised his hand to show that he accepted the compliment.

 With the cigarette still in his mouth, Lu Chengwei leaned in and asked, “I’m really curious; how did you explain this earth-shattering event to your family?”

 Without haste, Tang Xu flicked the cigarette ash and said, “My parents shouldn’t have a problem with it. My dad has never really cared about me since I was young; at most he’d give me some lectures, but he wouldn’t argue with me. As for my mom…” He chuckled. “I haven’t had a serious relationship with a woman for so many years; she suspected I liked men a long time ago.”

 Lu Chengwei rolled his eyes. “The problem is your grandfather.”

 “As for my grandfather, based on my understanding of him, as long as he doesn’t get sick from being angry, I don’t really care if he beats me up a few times.”

 The way Tang Xu talked about it was as casual as planning to eat two more bowls of rice at night, which made Lu Chengwei shiver all over.

 When they were young, Lu Chengwei and Tang Xu caused a lot of trouble together. Now, just thinking about how Tang Xu’s grandfather used to beat him up makes him break out in a cold sweat.

 Lu Chengwei couldn’t help but give Tang Xu a thumbs up again.

 After the two finished smoking, Lu Chengwei was still pondering the matter. He couldn’t help but glance at Tang Xu and ask, “Hey, Teacher Tang, I’m really curious. When you lie in bed with Xiao Si Hang at night, does your conscience really not ache a little?”

 Tang Xu didn’t even look at him and said firmly, “No.”

 Liu Chengwei was speechless by this righteous tone, and thinking about the hickey he had just seen, he immediately gave the person in front of him another one-word evaluation.

 “Beast…”

 After Tang Xu and Liu Chengwei left, only Shi Xi and Tang Cuo were left in the bridal chamber. After chatting for a while, Shi Xi looked at Tang Cuo and said, “Actually, I never thought that you would end up with him.” 

 Tang Cuo was surprised by Shi Xi’s sudden remark and didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

 Shi Xi didn’t seem to be making things difficult for Tang Cuo. She curved her lips and suddenly asked, “Have you watched ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre’?”

 “Uh?” Tang Cuo was taken aback. “Yes, I have.”

 “The scene that left the deepest impression on me in this drama is when Zhou Zhiruo tied Zhao Min in the grass and then went to ask Zhang Wuji, out of the four girls, who he truly loves.” Shi Xi’s eyes curved. “Do you want to act out a scene with me?”

 

1 jie means elder sister.