Are You Addicted?

The Ferris wheel escalated gradually to the peak as the beautiful night view of Tianjin became visible to their eyes.

Inside the couple cabin, there were only Gu Hai and Jin Lu Lu.

Jin Lu Lu linked her arms with Gu Hai while pointing at the night sky on the east, “Look, the full moon tonight is really round.”

But for Gu Hai, the full moon will never be round anymore.

In his heart, there will always be a gap, every time when it is the family reunion festival time of the year, it will be the most difficult time for him. Originally, he had wanted to have a dinner at Bai Luo Yin’s place, but Jiang Yuan’s appearance yesterday made him gave up the idea. He found out that whenever he is in a bad mood, the person he doesn"t want to see the most was Bai Luo Yin.

Maybe it’s because he’s a little bit too carried away by happiness these days, so he couldn’t imagine himself visiting Bai Luo Yin’s place with sullen face.

Forget it, just get over with these two days!

It was past 11 PM, the pedestrians were scattered on the streets, they were mostly couples, it was very difficult to wait until holiday came, it’ll be very tiring. Jin Lu Lu pulled Gu Hai to enter the stores one by one, tirelessly asking the shop a.s.sistant about the price, holding two different things to compare. Occasionally she would ask for Gu Hai’s opinion, and Gu Hai would always say that everything is good.

“There is lingerie shop in front, accompany me to see it.”

Gu Hai was holding his cigarette on the corner of his mouth, when he heard Jin Lu Lu, he firmly inhaled his cigarette, then he exhaled the smoke in front of Jin Lu Lu’s face.

“Do you still need to wear lingerie? It’s all flat…..”

Jin Lu Lu relentlessly pounded Gu Hai’s chest for a few times with anger, “You’re too awful!”

Gu Hai simply laughed without a word.

Jin Lu Lu saw Gu Hai’s face behind the smoke screen, it was somewhat between real and unreal, then she was suddenly crazy about him, for a moment she didn’t know what to say, her heart felt sweet yet sour, she was moved beyond words, because this person belongs to herself alone.

Jin Lu Lu went inside by herself, while Gu Hai just stood on the roadside while smoking.

Next to the lingerie store, there was a dessert store, during this time, this business was very prosperous. Every customer that came out from the store would carry an elegant package of moon cake box. There were all kinds of moon cake with different fillings placed inside the window showcase, there were sweet bean paste, jujube paste, sausages, fruits…… and also, lotus seed paste with egg yolk.

Gu Hai extinguished his cigarette, he gazed quietly at the number of moon cakes on the window showcase as it slowly decreased.

…….

After turning the lights off before sleeping, Bai Han Qi went inside Bai Luo Yin’s room.

“Why Da Hai didn’t come over today?”

Bai Luo Yin pulled up his blanket, and gave an indifferent expression.

“How do I know? It’s good that he didn’t come, when he’s here I couldn’t sleep well.”

Bai Han Qi sat on his bed while staring at Bai Luo Yin, “You didn’t ask him? I saw that you came back here with his bike, did anything happen to him?”

“He’s already an adult, what bad thing could possibly happen to him?”

“I’m telling you, this kid, Da Hai is not bad, don’t pick on him too much. He is really happy to eat here, to live here, he sincerely wanted to be brothers with you [1], don’t drive him off all the time!”

“When did I drive him off?” Bai Luo Yin twisted his eyebrows, giving an impatient look, “He simply left without saying anything, I even waited for him in the cla.s.sroom for a long time, but I didn’t see him at all, I was being kind enough to bring back his schoolbag with me, and I brought back his bike too, yet it is still my fault?”

Bai Han Qi glanced anxiously at his precious son, his tone immediately changed from lecturing to coaxing.”Okay okay okay, what I said was wrong, hurry up and sleep, it’s very difficult to have a holiday, no need to get up early tomorrow.”

Bai Han Qi turned the lights off for Bai Luo Yin, then closed the door gently.

Bai Luo Yin’s surrounding became dim, there was a large spot where the moonlight shone, but Bai Luo Yin’s mood was dark.

He’s agitated without any reason!

There was nothing like excitement and expectation before holiday in his heart, he was completely confused, his brain was like a messy rope, extending down to his throat, stifling and suppressing his entire chest.

That entire night, Bai Luo Yin couldn’t sleep well.

There was no one beside him. Although it wasn’t any more s.p.a.cious than before, he still had to restrict his movement when he turned. Occasionally, he would stretch his arms out but immediately pulled them back. By the time he realized that no one was beside him, it was almost daybreak.

Early in the morning, Aunt Zou came over while carrying a food basket.

“Today, we’re going to have a nice dinner, where is Da Hai? Hurry and call him to come over here! Didn’t he always want to help me? I can really use his help this time.”

Bai Luo Yin came out with disheveled hair and a dirty face, he drowsily replied to her.

“He’s not here.”

After he said that, he walked towards the faucet while carrying his toothbrush and mug.

It’s already autumn, the water had turned very cold, when he rinsed his mouth, the water would freeze his teeth until it ached.

Aunt Zhou was thinking on one side, “Say, why this kid hasn’t come over lately? I bought a lot of dish, last time he told me that his favorite food is diced chicken in soybean sauce, I especially slaughtered a chicken for him to eat!”

Gu Hai had a long dream that night.

First, he had a dream about his mother, she was knitting a sweater for him beside a lotus pond. She was almost finished with the sweater, when it suddenly fell to the pond. Gu Hai jumped into the water, he was hoping he could get them out, only to find that his legs was stuck on the mud, it’s cold! Really cold! Gu Hai couldn’t climb up, he also couldn’t shout for help.

Then, Bai Luo Yin appeared out of nowhere, he kept shouting towards Gu Hai: Grab my hand, grab my hand…… slowly, until he finally drifted ash.o.r.e.

When he woke up, Jin Lu Lu was on the phone.

Gu Hai found out, his hand and Jin Lu Lu’s hand was intertwined.

“Dad, I won’t go back today, I have something to do, yes, I really have something to do, during the Mid-autumn Festival last year, weren’t you on your business trip too? You’re allowed to go on business trip, but you wouldn’t allow me to wander around? How can….. I’m not running around crazily….”

While waiting for Jin Lu Lu to hang up her phone, Gu Hai had already went down from the bed.

“You’ve woke up?” Jin Lu Lu smiled to Gu Hai, “My dad asked me to go back just now, I didn’t agree with him.”

“Just go back, then I’ll go see my aunt.”

“No!” Jin Lu Lu immediately stood up and complained, “We agreed that we would celebrate this festival together today, but you still want to rush off and run away?! I’ll tell you this, no one can even think about separating us today, I just want to be together with you.”

The two of them went for a lunch, and then they went to watch a movie.

When the movie had finished, Gu Hai said that he wanted to go to the toilet.

After she waited for 10 minutes, Gu Hai hasn’t come out yet. Jin Lu Lu was anxious, she almost went inside the toilet to find him. Then her phone rang, it was from an unknown number.

“Lu Lu, just catch a taxi and go home! I’m going back to Beijing.”

“You…. You tricked me!” Jin Lu Lu yelled inside the empty theatre “You are not human!”

“I need to go back and see my mother. I don’t want her to be alone.”

Jin Lu Lu held out for a few seconds, before her hands dropped limply.

……..

Bai Luo Yin put one rolled pork meat on his grandmother’s bowl, “Grandma, have one more.”

Grandma Bai had a small bite, her few remaining teeth was chewing carefully, the sauce flowed from the gap between her teeth to the outside her mouth, Bai Luo Yin picked up a handkerchief to wipe his grandmother’s mouth.

“￥@%#@%….huh?”

Grandma Bai said a lot of words, but Bai Luo Yin couldn’t understand anything.

“Mom… you have to swallow your food first then speak, you couldn’t even speak well in the first place….” Bai Han Qi complained.

Grandma Bai glared at Bai Han Qi, she quickly chewed everything on her mouth, swallowed it, then urgently looked at Bai Luo Yin to ask him, “What about Xiao Yang? Xiao Yang?[2]”

“Xiao Yang?” Bai Luo Yin paused, “Grandma, our family hadn’t raised a sheep for so many years already?!”

“No…. ” Grandma Bai’s clumsy lips made her words became even more jumbled, “Just…. Just…. Water…. Big water…..”

Bai Han Qi took a gla.s.s of water and handed it to Grandma Bai, “Mom, do you want to drink?” Grandma Bai shook her head, she was so anxious that the corner of her eyes had creased.

“What was his name….. Da Ge…. Da He….”

Bai Luo Yin understood it already, “Grandma, do you mean to say Gu Hai?”

“Yeah…yeah…" Grandma Bai couldn’t help but to nod.

Bai Luo Yin poked his chopstick on his bowl, he snorted in his mind, he only freeloads in this house to eat, right? He only didn’t come for one day, right? Why is everyone so concerned about him?

Past 8 PM, the moon was perfectly round, Bai Luo Yin carried a box of mooncake, and knocked on the house next door where an old married couple lived. An old man puffed hardly while coming out to open the door, when he saw Bai Luo Yin, he immediately smiled.

“Granduncle, I came here to bring some mooncakes for you.”

The grandpa was so happy that he didn’t know how to convey his feelings, “Our Yin Zi can really take care other people ah! You still remember to visit granduncle, quick quick, come inside and sit for a while.”

“It’s already this late, I’m not going inside, I still have to deliver my friend’s bike.”

“What bike?”

“Deliver this bike, did you forget? Last time, my cla.s.smate went out from your house with this bike.”

The old man was staring hardly at the bike for quite a moment, then he suddenly remembered, he pointed to the bike and said loudly, “Is it that fool?”

“…….”

Bai Luo Yin was momentarily shocked, he didn’t even know whether it was said in a joking manner or detesting manner.

“Yes, it’s definitely that fool!”

Translator’s Note:

[1] ‘He sincerely wanted to be your brother’: the term ‘brother’ implies a good friendship between guys, not brother as in blood siblings.

[2] Xiao Yang (尿羊) means little lamb or sheep. In this chapter, Grandma Bai was actually referring to Xiao Yang (尿洋), which has similar p.r.o.nunciation and tone to 尿羊. She wanted to say 尿海 (Xiao Hai, ‘Hai’ means ‘sea’) but can only remember 尿洋 (Xiao Yang, ‘Yang’ means ‘ocean’) instead.

Are you Addicted?