Chapter 219

Xue Bing curled up in my arms like a cat, her long eyelashes covering her deep, pool-like eyes, occasionally trembling slightly like the wings of a newly hatched butterfly.

Her lips moved like flower petals, waiting for me to kiss them.

This woman who had once given me countless joys, who had made me unknowingly welcome the dawn in so many dark nights, this woman who had once given me so much hope, made me yearn for a future filled with flowers.

I didn't dare to kiss her. I knew that as long as I kissed her, I wouldn't be able to break free from her tenderness. I was a sentimental person by nature, but I deliberately hid myself very deeply because I knew that in this world, only a fool would expose themselves to the light of day without reservation.

How I wished I were a fool! Then I could live truly, live with an open heart, and live without having to look at anyone's face or guess anyone's thoughts.

But I couldn't. This is an era of deceit, where we all struggle to survive in the cracks, and we have to hide our innate sincerity and openness for the sake of survival.

I pushed her away gently, feeling as if a knife had been twisted in my heart, blood flowing freely. Holding back my tears, I opened the door and turned to leave.

"Are you just leaving like this?" she said mournfully behind my back, choking as if about to sob.

I stopped, but I didn't dare to look back. She hugged me from behind, wrapping her arms around my waist, pressing her face against my back, letting her clear tears flow.

After a moment of silence, I whispered: "Bing'er, I will find a way to transfer you to the city."

"It doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter!" she sobbed lightly: "If the man you love isn't by your side, even if you go to heaven, how can you be happy?"

"I'm leaving," I said, remembering that the reason I came to see her today was just to say this. Now that the words were out, I felt as if a plug had been pulled from my blocked heart, and I felt relieved.

She let go, turned, and threw herself onto the bed, sobbing.

I hesitated for a while, then resolutely turned and left.

Just as I reached the school gate, the principal came chasing after me, panting, and pulled me to ask: "Town Mayor, Town Mayor, won't you sit for a while longer?"

I forced a smile and said: "I have things to handle."

The principal sighed and said: "As expected of a Town Mayor, you have so many things to do. Town Mayor, look, our middle school is an old school from the fifties. With this government relocation, have you considered us?"

"Yes," I said readily: "The town government is moving to Laoyingzui, and the old government office will be given to your middle school."

The principal opened his mouth in surprise, stammered for a long time, and said: "Just like that?"

"What else do you want?"

"The township used to collect school construction fees every year. The money to build a middle school should be enough by now," the principal said hesitantly.

"That's right, it was collected every year, but it was turned over to the county every year. If you want to build a middle school, go ask the County Education Bureau for money. They took all the money; what do I have to build it for you?"

I left the stunned principal behind and walked away.

Huang Weiwei had already packed her things. Seeing me return, she smiled faintly, picked up the car keys from the table, and went out.

My aunt's car had been battered by hail, and there was a small spot on the front windshield where the cracks spread out like waves, making one's eyes very uncomfortable.

As the car passed Laoyingzui, I saw a team of armed police stationed at the construction site, and Sun Demao was squatting on the side of the road with his arms crossed, like a deflated ball.

I signaled Huang Weiwei to pull over. Getting out of the car, I took out a cigarette, leaned against the car, lit it, and took a deep breath, squinting at this land that had kept Guo Wei and me awake at night. A wave of sadness welled up, and I almost burst into tears.

Huang Weiwei also got out of the car, leaned against my arm, and said softly: "Feng, it's good to look. Maybe after today, you won't have many chances to see it again."

I didn't understand her inexplicable words, glanced at her sideways, and said nothing.

She smiled sweetly, opened the car door, sat in, and urged me to get in.

We didn't stop as we passed Chunshan County and headed straight for Hengyue City.

The strange peaks still rose, the grass and trees were still lush, and the stream still gurgled, but the person was no longer the same.

Six years ago, I came to Chunshan County carrying a bag, dizzy and squeezed into a bus filled with all sorts of smells. Six years later, I was sitting in a battered car, with a beautiful woman beside me driving for me. Suddenly, the feeling of "Hu Hansan is back" filled my whole body.

Six years ago, I was almost beaten up by a black shop on the side of the road. Six years later, you couldn't see a single wild shop with a restaurant sign on this road anymore.

I was filled with emotion, reached out to press the window button, and shouted Huang Weiwei's name loudly toward the valleys flying past on both sides.

When I shouted, she slowed down, turned her head with a smile, and said shyly: "Fool, aren't you afraid of being heard?"

I ignored her and instead shouted toward the valley: "Huang Weiwei, I love you!"

She laughed happily and honked the horn in response to my shout.

After shouting for a while, I closed the window and stared at her intently. She became embarrassed by my gaze, pursed her lips, and smiled: "What are you looking at, silly?"

I pretended to be infinitely affectionate and said: "Looking at you."

"What's there to look at?" she gave me a reproachful glance.

"Beautiful, really beautiful!" I exclaimed: "You are like a flower, really beautiful."

"Flatterer." She laughed until she shook: "No wonder you can make that female teacher lose her soul."

Her words startled me.

She glanced at me and said: "Chen Feng, don't think I don't know anything. I was in Suxi for a week; do you think I just stayed in the room every day? I tell you, I know everything about you."

I asked with feigned surprise: "What do you know? Don't talk nonsense."

"Are you nervous?" she looked at me: "Do you have a guilty conscience?"

I acted indifferent: "Where would I have a guilty conscience? I don't."

"If you don't, why are you nervous?" She parked the car on an uphill slope, turned off the engine, lowered the seat back, and stretched her body.

"I'll go fetch some water for you," I said, found a plastic water bottle in the car, opened the door, and prepared to go down to the bottom of the ditch along a small path covered by weeds.

At the bottom of the path was a small stream that never dried up all year round. The stream emerged from the forest that blocked the sky, like a white silk ribbon, winding down the mountain. It is said that someone once discovered a giant salamander in this stream, a fish that cries like a baby.

"Wait for me, I'm going too." Huang Weiwei called me from behind. She got out of the car, a pair of jeans wrapping her round buttocks, outlining her long legs, a silk scarf hanging over her flat belly—temptation abounded, enchanting and incomparable.

"The road is hard to walk, wait for me in the car." I didn't want her to follow. This small path ran through the crevices of rocks; what if she rolled down from above? Wouldn't her beauty be destroyed?

"I want to go." She locked the car door, came over, and held the edge of my clothes: "From today on, wherever you go, I will follow."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to be the second female teacher. What belongs to me, I want to keep right under my nose at all times." She looked at me shyly, a rosy cloud flying onto her face.

I teased her: "Aren't you ashamed?" But my heart felt like it had been filled with a jar of honey, sweet to death.

"You're the one who should be ashamed." She pinched me: "Don't think you can provoke me. I tell you, Chen Feng, no matter what crooked ideas you have, there's no way you're dumping me."

I was speechless. How much courage did it take for Huang Weiwei to make such a confession? After all, she was still a maiden, a girl who hadn't experienced the world. I, Chen Feng, a sesame official, have such a beauty favor me—with such beauty, what more could I ask for?

My heroic spirit surged. I reached out and took her hand, staring into her eyes and saying: "I would rather the whole world betray me than ever betray Huang Weiwei!"

She let me hold her delicate hand and smiled faintly.

A mountain breeze blew, and the withered leaves on the mountain drifted down in the autumn wind, rustling. Occasionally, a gray wild rabbit would emerge from the pile of withered leaves, pricking up its ears and flapping them to listen to the bleakness of the mountain wind.

Everything in sight was gray and yellow; only by the stream at the bottom of the ditch could one occasionally see a line of green.

"If you love me, you must accept me!" she said, leaning into my arms. I lowered my head and saw a few clear tears flowing from the corners of her eyes.

My heart ached suddenly. Regardless of the autumn cold, regardless of the high mountains and dense forests, I stretched out my tongue, ready to lick away the tear stains across her face.