Chapter 9 Yang Kang

  Mu Nianci sat in the midst of the crowd, surrounded by a cacophony of voices.

  Four years... The time concept was inadvertently spoken by Peng Lianhu, but it made Mu Nianci a little dazed. Four years have passed and Peng Lianhu has become a promising young man, while she and Yang Kang are still the same.

  Yang Kang said: "Isn't this Mu Nianci?" Mu Nianci was somewhat bewildered, could it be that "Mu Nianci" and "girlfriend" were two different people?

  Concepts are opposing what? If Mu Nianci is a name that can never become a girlfriend in Yang Kang's mind, then what is she?

  Behind him, Yang Kang was holding a microphone and shouting the "Song of the Imperial Forest Army of the Great Song Dynasty" - Yang Kang's reserved song. A group of brothers around him shouted together, and Yang Kang was still as popular as ever. Mu Nianci sat in the crowd with some melancholy, as if she were a stranger.

  Cheng Ying said over the phone: "Bring your boyfriend along."

  So all the female classmates came with their boyfriends. Most of the girls sent out by Bianzhong High School who stayed in Bianliang went to Bian University. Bian University has always been known for producing knowledgeable and reasonable beautiful women, even if they are not so beautiful, they can still sell well. I remember that in the first year, boys and girls sat separately, but at the gathering in the second year, boys and girls sat alternately.

  "Mu Nianci, doesn't eat spicy food?" Mu Nianci was surprisingly sitting next to Peng Lianhu. Peng Lianhu saw her quietly drinking water and served her a full bowl of dishes, as if he was treating her to a meal.

  Mu Nianci could only laugh: "Eat, it's just a bit spicy..."

  Peng Lianhu saw her smile and also became happy, telling the running hall partner: "Don't add so many chili peppers to the next few dishes, there are many ladies on our side, right? Also, give some ice water for the lady to rinse her mouth."

  Is this the person who robbed me back then? Mu Nianci let out a soft sigh.

  "What's wrong with you, just sitting there not saying a word?" Cheng Ying also came up to pull Mu Nianci, behind her followed a boy who had a somewhat familiar feeling of Yang Kang in high school, handsome and elegant.

  "A bit tired, it's nothing."

  "I'll go talk to them for a bit and come back right away." Cheng Ying touched Mu Nianci's forehead, she had a good relationship with Mu Nianci, they were always good friends.

  Mu Nianci nodded.

  "Cheng Ying," the handsome boy hesitated for a moment, then apologetically said, "I'll go first, Lu Wushuang asked me to help her write a thesis on general history, and I won't make it if I don't write it tonight."

  "Wait a moment and I'll go with you..."

  "You guys go ahead and play," the boy said, "it's still early."

  "Oh." Cheng Yi responded faintly, and Mu Nianci noticed that her eyes were somewhat dim.

  "Hey? Someone wants to leave?" Yang Kang hastily handed the receiver to the person next to him and rushed over, "Let's go together, I have something too. We're having exams soon. Old Qiu is driving us crazy."

  Cheng Ying lowered her head and asked Mu Nianci: "Then are you going with Yang Kang?"

  "It's early, the dishes haven't been served yet, what's the hurry?" Yang Kang said.

  "You see Mu Nianci back, you accompanied her here, how can a girl be allowed to go back by herself?" Cheng Ying had always been the big sister, considering everything.

  The boy who came with Cheng Ying had a somewhat unnatural expression on his face, and Mu Nianci felt Cheng Ying's fingers poking her lightly from behind.

  "There's no danger, aren't there police patrols from the Ministry of Punishment on the road? And besides, many people return to Bianjing at night," Yang Kang said. "We can just find someone to send her off."

  Peng Lianhu nodded beside him: "Otherwise I can send it."

  "It's all right," Mu Nianci smiled. "There's no danger, aren't there police patrols from the Ministry of Punishment on the road?"

  Yang Kang and Cheng Ying's male companions quickly turned around and ran away, as if they had been granted a great amnesty. Only when the two people stood together did Mu Nianci discover that these two people were really very similar, even their noses and eyes had an inexplicable similarity, just like a pair of brothers.

  Cheng Ying didn't leave, she pinched Mu Nianci's palm and sat beside her, using her fingers to comb through her hair: "Just straightened it? Your hair at this length looks best when straightened."

  Mu Nianci was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, and Cheng Ying suddenly let out a sigh.

  Finally, it was Cheng Ying who sent Mu Nianci back to school, anyway she was next to Song Dynasty University, which was also on the way.

  Two girls were walking on the road, a gust of night wind blew over, and Mu Nianci still shivered slightly.

  Cheng Ying handed her coat to Mu Nianci: "It's not cold in spring, is it? You're going to die for the sake of beauty. What's the use of being beautiful? You weren't ugly before."

  Mu Nianci had a few sips of beer, her head was a bit dizzy, but she could still make out Cheng Ying's meaning. Mu Nianci lowered her head and didn't speak.

  "Yang Kang is just like that..." Cheng Ying said.

  "When did you have a boyfriend?" Mu Nianci interrupted her.

  "Who's he? Not my boyfriend," Cheng Ying smiled lightly, "Everyone brings their boyfriends here, I couldn't possibly come alone?"

  "Isn't it?" Mu Nianci stopped in her tracks.

  "Just ordinary friends." Cheng Ying said calmly.

  Mu Nianci moved her mouth, but didn't say anything.

  "What?!" Cheng Yi laughed, "Don't think wildly, he's just a normal friend, he already has a girlfriend."

  "Never mind." Cheng Yi pulled Mu Nianci's arm, "Yang Kang is still good to you, just be happy with him. Whether he likes you or not is his business, you can't do anything about it. Anyway, I've seen you since high school and you can't leave him..."

  "He doesn't like you?" Mu Nianci finally asked under a slight influence of alcohol.

  "It's okay," Cheng Ying said, "but doesn't he have a girlfriend already?"

  "What will you do from now on?"

  Cheng Ying smiled silently: "You still think it's really who can't leave who?"

  "What's going on?" As soon as they returned to their dormitory, Huang Rong immediately asked.

  "It's okay," Mu Nianci had a slightly tired smile, "It's fine."

  "What did Yang Kang say?"

  "He's almost due for his exam, he went back to review..."

  Mu Nianci climbed up to her upper bunk, lay down and stared at the pale ceiling, her mind a complete blank until the phone rang. It couldn't be for Huang Rong as she had her own mobile phone, so Mu Nianci got down to answer it.

  It was just a faint cough, but Mu Nianci felt a chill run down her spine. From that single cough, she had recognized Yang Kang's voice. After all, Yang Kang had still called...

  "Hey," said Yang Kang, clearing his throat on the other end of the line. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you...I'm afraid if I don't say it now, I'll never have the courage..."

  At that time, Mu Nianci's heart was empty and vast, like a desolate wilderness that stretched to the horizon. Tears seemed to have welled up in her eyes already, she could hardly hold onto the receiver, and on the other end of the line was an endless silence.

  Then Yang Kang said very seriously: "I am a pig! I really am a pig!"

  Mu Nianci had not yet reacted when Duan Yu grabbed the microphone and shouted: "He's cheating you, I'm actually the pig!"

  Mu Nianci heard a faint voice of Yang Kang coming from the receiver, and Yang Kang said: "I'm relying on it, come again, the last one was your good luck."

  When he said this, Yang Kang had already sat back down at the card table. In fact, that night he and Guo Jing were playing poker in the dormitory with several others. He and Duan Yu's group unfortunately lost to Linghu Chong and Guo Jing's joint efforts. The initial rule was that whoever lost would crawl under the table, but later on, whoever lost had to call a familiar girl's dormitory at random and say to the girl who answered: "I have something I've always wanted to tell you... I'm afraid if I don't say it now, I'll never have the courage..."

  Then, before the girl's heart could even speed up and respond, he loudly shouted: "I'm a pig! I really am a pig!"

  And another loser must grab the microphone immediately after he finishes shouting and say: "He's cheating you, I'm actually the pig!"

  In fact, before saying this to Mu Nianci, Yang Kang had already said it to Mu Ruqing, Wang Yuyan, Ah Zi, and Sha Gu. Sometimes the other party would burst out laughing, such as Ah Zhu, while girls like Ah Zi wouldn't even wait for him to finish speaking before interrupting: "Actually, you don't need to say anything, I've known all along that you're a pig. It's really pitiful being a pig, and yet you go around spreading the word everywhere, it's truly a shame for you."

  When Yang Kang called Mu Nianci's dormitory, he didn't expect Mu Nianci to answer the phone. After saying that classic line, he hastily hung up the phone and went to the card table to take revenge. At that time, Mu Nianci didn't even have a chance to say a word, and Yang Kang never thought that on the other side of the phone, there was someone who was lost in thought, and this person turned out to be Mu Nianci.

  Mu Nianci silently hung up the receiver. Huang Rong poked her head out of the tent, looking at Mu Nianci standing still beside the phone for a long time without moving.

  "Huang Rong said: 'Sister, have you seen a ghost?'"

  Mu Nianci shook her head slightly and said, "I'm fine." Then she climbed to the upper bunk of her own bed, and as soon as her head fell onto the pillow, tears slid down her face. Mu Nianci tightly grasped the towel to cover her face.

  Just a few hundred meters away from the boys' dormitory, Yang Kang was still grasping a handful of cards in the midst of a thick smoke, with only changing hearts, squares and plums in his mind.