CH 31

The day before departure, Tang Cuo received the final results for his last exam of the semester. He was packing his suitcase when he noticed his phone constantly flashing, so he picked it up to check. He saw many classmates in his class complaining about the teacher’s grading being too harsh.

“How’s the packing going?”

Tang Xu had appeared by his side at some point, holding a plate of freshly washed red grapes that were still glistening with water. He plucked one and, without hesitation, stuffed it into Tang Cuo’s mouth. The juicy and sweet taste of the red grape filled his mouth, and Tang Cuo felt the sweetness down to the roots of his teeth. He raised his phone and showed Tang Xu the chat records of the class group, mumbling with a mouthful, “They are praising you.”

Tang Xu glanced and smiled. “There were a few who did really poorly. I almost tore their papers apart just to help them pass. I was even trying to find ways to give them an extra two points.”

Tang Cuo was then fed another grape, and he bit into it with a smile in his eyes. “They’re just like teachers who don’t fail students.”

“Imagine a student studying control who fails in automatic-control. Facing such a big setback right at the beginning, I’m afraid they won’t have the courage to continue in the future.” Tang Xu sighed as he spoke, shaking his head with a sense of lament, and looked at Tang Cuo, who was happily eating grapes. “I hope one day all my students can be like you.”

Tang Cuo’s heart skipped a beat at the unabashed praise, and he pretended to be calm as he continued to pack.

“I’ve packed everything we need; you just need to pick a few clothes you want to wear and bring them with you.”

Tang Cuo nodded and bent down to tidy up the clothes in the suitcase. Tang Xu seemed to be in a good mood, standing by and looking at the screen of Tang Cuo’s phone, seeing how their group of students were creatively evaluating their teachers, occasionally feeding Tang Cuo a grape. After watching their lively discussion for a while, Tang Xu picked up some useful information from their small complaints. He patted Tang Cuo’s head and asked, “Have all the grades come out?”

Tang Cuo was squatting on the ground, looking up at him, and replied, “The results are out.”

“How did you do on the exam?”

“It’s not bad, but I haven’t checked the results of the last subject yet.”

Tang Xu knew that Tang Cuo was being modest as usual. He smiled slightly, pulled him up, and handed him a grape, much to Tang Cuo’s curious gaze. “Here’s a reward for you.”

Tang Cuo had a piece of clothing in his hand, and though it caught him off guard, he instinctively bit into the grape. However, he didn’t expect it to be unusually sour. He hastily chewed and swallowed it, his face crumpling up in a grimace.

Tang Cuo nodded with pursed lips, “This one is really sour.”

Hearing his words, Tang Xu shook his head gently and pretended to be in deep thought, saying, “It seems like this reward wasn’t very successful.”

He then held Tang Cuo’s chin with one hand and slowly caressed it with his thumb, saying, “Let’s try another one.”

Their lips met, and Tang Cuo’s body swayed slightly before he regained his balance.

After a brief pause, Tang Xu lifted his head slightly and gazed into Tang Cuo’s eyes, saying, “Sihang, close your eyes.”

The kiss was so lingering and intense that Tang Cuo felt short of breath, and his legs turned weak. When the kiss finally ended, he came back to his senses and realized that the clothes he had been holding in his hand had fallen to the ground, and he was now clutching Tang Xu’s shirt. He released his grip on Tang Xu’s waist with a slight panic, but the two wrinkles he had caused with his grip remained, making his face even hotter.

“The grape was really sour.” Tang Xu pulled him into his embrace, his voice no longer as crisp as before but tinged with hoarseness. “We’re going out to play tomorrow; are you looking forward to it?”

Tang Cuo’s heart was still pounding wildly, and he simply nodded in response to Tang Xu’s question, unable to speak. In his hazy consciousness, he heard Tang Xu say, “I’m also very happy.”

Tang Cuo was genuinely happy, and this happiness turned into extreme excitement on the day of departure.

“Is it okay for us to dress so casually?”

“Yeah, we can change at the airport over there; they have changing rooms.”

“They have changing rooms; how thoughtful…”

In the midst of countless questions and answers, Tang Xu felt like he saw the talkative little Tang Cuo from before again.

Just before boarding the plane, Tang Cuo called his parents to let them know they were about to depart. His parents reminded him to stay safe, and Tang Cuo responded obediently, so much so that Tang Xu couldn’t help but pat his face. However, this small action caused Tang Cuo to react by taking a big step back, his phone still held to his ear, while he spoke and looked around cautiously.

After hanging up the phone, Tang Cuo cautiously approached again, his voice lowering as he said, “There are so many people here…”

“Are you scared?” Tang Xu raised an eyebrow.

Someone looked over, and Tang Cuo pretended to pat nonexistent dust off his sleeve but didn’t say anything.

Tang Xu placed his hand on Tang Cuo’s shoulder and pulled him closer to himself, asking in his ear with some force, “I also want to know, how did you tell your parents?”

Tang Cuo blinked at him, “Tell them what?”

“You said you were going out to play with whom?” Tang Xu tilted his head and continued to inquire.

Tang Cuo touched his nose and cleared his throat softly. “Classmates…” Seeing Tang Xu’s subtle expression, he pursed his lips and added, “I couldn’t say it was a teacher, right…”

Although the words seemed simple, Tang Xu could read a lot of information from them, and he kept thinking about them until they boarded the plane.

Although Tang Cuo had thought about the cold weather in Harbin, the temperature outside the airport still made him shiver, and he was grateful that he wore a mask. When Tang Xu gave it to him earlier, he didn’t take it seriously, but now, just two minutes after coming out, he felt like his face was freezing without any coverage.

Tang Xu pulled his mask up slightly. “Feeling cold?”

Tang Cuo nodded. “The level of cold here is much colder than Beijing.” Then he tilted his body to the right, looking beyond Tang Xu at a snow-covered open space ahead and saying, “Wow, the snow here is so thick, and it’s not melting at all.”

Although it also snows in Beijing, the snow doesn’t stay for long. Sometimes, the snow that falls during the day starts melting by noon, and by then, the ground becomes a mixture of water, ice, unmelted snow, and dirty mud, completely losing the picturesque scenery.

“With low temperatures, of course, the snow can stay for a long time,” Tang Cuo added.

While waiting for the car, Tang Cuo kept looking around, feeling so delighted that he unconsciously tapped his feet. His first impression was that he really liked this place because it was very cold, allowing him to wear thick clothes; there was snow that could last for days; and, of course, because Tang Xu was standing beside him.

It would take about forty minutes by car from the airport to the city centre. They hailed a taxi, and the driver, upon learning that they were tourists, was very enthusiastic and spoke in a pure northeastern accent as he chatted with them. The taxi driver was probably the most knowledgeable person about local life, and the conversation covered a wide range of topics, including how to get to the Ice and Snow World, how thick the frozen Songhua River could be in winter, where to find the best northeastern cuisine, how traffic in Harbin could be congested but better than in Beijing, and so on. The conversation was incredibly rich and diverse.

Tang Cuo wasn’t good at talking to strangers, so most of the time it was Tang Xu who responded to the driver while Tang Cuo listened in silence. Perhaps noticing that Tang Cuo was not very talkative, the driver jokingly said, “This young man hasn’t spoken yet. Come on, say a few words?”

Caught off guard by the sudden attention, Tang Cuo took a moment to react. He raised a questioning eyebrow and then looked at Tang Xu with a puzzled expression.

The driver laughed loudly, “You’re so…shy, still in school, right?”

The driver seemed to have assumed that the two passengers in the car were cultured individuals, and he deliberately searched for a refined word.

“Yeah, still in school,” Tang Cuo quickly replied.

Tang Xu remained silent and secretly held his hand, playing with it by squeezing it gently, as if passing on the responsibility of answering the questions to him.

“Where do you go to school?” the driver asked.

“In Beijing,” Tang Cuo replied, but then he felt like his answer might be equivalent to a cliché in the driver’s mind, so he added the abbreviated name of his school.

The driver quickly found the next topic: “Hey, that’s a good school with talented students. Your school is also a university of technology, right? In Harbin, the best one is Harbin Institute of Technology, pronounced with the ‘ha’ sound repeated three times.”

When people from Harbin talk about “Harbin Institute of Technology” or “Harbin Railway Station,” they often repeat the “ha” sound three times, which adds a strong and interesting Northeastern accent to these words.

Tang Cuo savoured the moment for a while, curved his mouth, and gestured towards Tang Xu with a smile, “Harbin Institute of Technology.”

Tang Xu’s hotel was not far from Central Street. By the time they arrived at the hotel, it was already getting dark. After completing the check-in procedures at the lobby, Tang Xu walked and talked with him, saying, “Let’s go to Central Street later and have a meal.”

Tang Cuo had no objections and responded with a vague agreement. His overall feeling now was that he didn’t need to use his brain at all for this trip. Tang Xu always managed to arrange everything satisfactorily, keeping him content. However, extreme laziness often leads to negative consequences. The consequence of letting go of everything was that after entering the room, he realized that Tang Xu had booked a room with a king-size bed, and it was even a luxury one.

After Tang Xu had finished placing her luggage, she turned around and noticed that Tang Cuo was still standing near the entrance, staring at the large bed.

Unlike the freezing weather outside, the heating in the hotel was so warm that it could make someone break into a sweat in an instant. Tang Xu pulled Tang Cuo inside and reached out to help him take off his down jacket. “Aren’t you feeling hot?” Tang Xu asked.

Tang Cuo explained, “But we still have to go out, right?”

Tang Xu’s hands didn’t stop as he efficiently took off Tang Cuo’s scarf and coat, placing them on the bed. Then he opened his arms and embraced Tang Cuo, saying, “Let’s hug first.”

“……Oh,” Tang Cuo kept his eyes open and leaned against Tang Xu’s chest, kissing the scent on Tang Xu’s body. He realized that he had become increasingly accustomed to this kind of embrace.

Despite the cold weather in Harbin at night, Central Street was still bustling with many people on the streets. Tang Xu reached out to hold Tang Cuo’s hand, but Tang Cuo subtly dodged it with a not-so-obvious sidestep.

With half of his face covered by a mask, Tang Cuo only revealed a pair of dark, shining eyes, which were now looking at him with a complex gaze.

Tang Xu smiled, pulling the corners of his mouth, and then slowly took off one of his gloves while seemingly casually saying, “Do you know why I like travelling?”

Tang Cuo shook his head, his eyes fixed on him without blinking.

Tang Xu met his gaze, and with a hint of determination, he grabbed one of Tang Cuo’s hands, also removing his glove.

“Because travelling takes you to a foreign place where you have no identity, no name.” He smiled at the corner of his eyes, and in the colorful lights of the bustling street, he shook hands with Tang Cuo and put his hand in his pocket. “So you can do whatever you want.”

Tang Cuo tried to pull away instinctively as Tang Xu led him forward, but then realised he was being overly cautious, not for himself but for Tang Xu.

Tang Xu tightened his grip on his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, then leaned closer to Tang Cuo and whispered softly, “Relax, it’s okay.” He then nodded towards the front and said, “Look ahead.”

Following Tang Xu’s indication, Tang Cuo looked ahead and was instantly surprised. There was a pair of boys walking in front of them, with one of their hands tucked into the other’s arm. To others, it might have seemed like a romantic gesture, but it was also provocative and controversial.

The warmth from Tang Xu’s hand was particularly distracting amidst the bone-chilling cold around them. Because of this temperature that seemed out of place in the cold, as well as the figure ahead that seemed out of place amidst the surrounding crowds, Tang Cuo finally experienced the feeling of being in love in the flowing crowds for the first time.

In this world, unconventional relationships are still not fully accepted. When reality becomes too narrow, travelling becomes a way to fulfil their desires. At the very least, they can find a place where they can hold hands and embrace each other on the street without worrying.

With this thought in mind, Tang Cuo’s gaze suddenly relaxed, and he leaned towards Tang Xu, silently responding to his hand-holding with a gentle touch.

Author’s note:

Regarding the questions of angst and sweetness,

Angst: There won’t be anything more angsty than what happened earlier.

Sweetness: They just got rid of the first half of their repressed feelings, so it should be sweet between them now. (In my opinion…)

This story won’t have big ups and downs, and there won’t be any dramatic scenes where they have to protect each other from being discovered. It’s basically the story of two people who want to get close but are hesitant to get too close, and their love and growth are intertwined. It may be somewhat plain and uneventful. Since someone has pointed it out, consider this a warning.