Chapter 9 Yang Kang

  Peng Lianhu was an unexpected customer for Yang Kang. After leaving his dormitory number and phone number at the dinner party, Peng Lianhu came to his doorstep the next day.

  "I heard you're quite a writer?" Peng Lianhu smiled and patted Yang Kang on the back.

  "Alright," Yang Kang said with a character that had grasped the customer's psychology, "for the sake of our brotherly relationship back then, you..."

  "Go buy some beer and two small stir-fries, I'll help you write a moving letter..."

  Then Peng Lianhu brought five bottles of beer and two small stir-fries.

  When wine warms the ears, Yang Kang scratches his head and starts his career as a knife-wielding writer.

  "Dear Chachacha," Yang Kang wrote a few words and stopped, "Is it Cha or Chachacha? Could it be Chachachacha?"

  "What's with the fork?" Peng Lianhu was puzzled.

  Linghu Chong hastily explained: "Cha cha, for example, Huang Rong, we can use cha cha to replace. However, Brother, you really have such a big nerve, our Eldest will definitely cha cha you. Cha cha cha, for example, Wang Yuyan, look at our Fifth's eyes are all green, it's better if you don't harbor any intentions. As for cha cha cha cha..."

  Linghu Chong thought for a moment, "For example, Dugu Qiubai..."

  "Enough," Peng Lianhu said, "you've forked me over. Don't fork anymore, leave some blank space."

  Yang Kang nodded, "Then what type of girl are you pursuing?"

  "Do you still categorize here?"

  "We operate on a large scale." Linghu Cong emphasized seriously, "Then we have the vanguard type, with skirt lengths always half a foot above the knee, hair in five colors and six colors, and girls who eat, drink, prostitute, gamble, and have all five poisons are applicable."

  "Have you seen?"

  "Oh, not yet, but it will definitely appear according to the trend. This one is what we developed to adapt to future needs. Then there are also petty bourgeoisie type, lovely type, gentle type, melancholic type and a bunch of other styles..."

  "Alright, alright, I'm almost dizzy, let alone Old Peng. Tell me, what kind of feeling do you want to give the girl?" Yang Kang waved his hand to interrupt Linghu Chong, knowing that once Linghu Chong's imagination ran wild, he would be beyond salvation.

  "It's more touching this way." Peng Lianhu smiled awkwardly.

  "Hmm, so don't be too mighty and passionate, right? Since you're not very familiar with others, we can portray you as more calm, elegant, and slightly melancholic. Yes, that's it, a romantic saint."

  After Peng Lianhu was satisfied with this idea, Yang Kang began to ponder how a more serious and elegant but slightly melancholic Peng Lianhu should speak to a gentle and docile girl. He thought about what kind of words and phrases the girl would like, and what kind of emotions would move her. He searched through the girls he knew one by one, looking for a suitable example to refer to, and finally found it, and then his writing flowed freely.

  Yang Kang finally wrote this in that love letter:

  You dance in your own pride and beauty on the stage, I am silent in the quiet darkness outside your stage. I once wished to spend my limited time gazing, gazing, gazing at you until I turned into a sculpture or dust with the passage of time. But when I could no longer bear the loneliness and desolation in this dark place, I picked up that bunch of lilies that had not yet withered over the years and placed them beside the only lamp.

  "See these petals drifting away in the wind? Please look into my eyes before the last petal falls to dust..."

  "Alright!" Yang Kang tossed the pen into the air, beaming with excitement. "A quiet and reserved girl, huh? This article is specifically about the quiet type, and if you hook up with her, treat me to a meal! I've written it so well that my teeth are sour, but even a small stir-fry would be too cheap for you."

  "Ugh... " Linghu Chong pinched his own neck and went out, "Wait till I've gotten used to vomiting before coming back."

  Yang Kang never thought that this love letter would fall into whose hands, and the other party never thought that they would receive Yang Kang's love letter in such a way - her first love letter in her life, how many years had she been waiting?

  Mu Nianci's fingertips swept over the familiar words. Even a genius of love letters couldn't write countless unique love letters. Yang Kang, although not like Liu Yong who sold one letter multiple times, still broke down and recombined different phrases to produce new works. Some classic lines were no longer unfamiliar to Mu Nianci, she could even imagine the original draft of Yang Kang's letter before it was copied, with its bold and unrestrained handwriting, titled "Dear XXX"…

  There was still a high school exercise book left in her drawer, full of such bold and unrestrained handwriting. She also knew how ridiculous it was to collect these things, but every time she thought about throwing them away, seeing the familiar handwriting, her hand couldn't bring itself to swing out.

  Tears fell on the exquisite letter paper, and the magnificent words expressing admiration blurred under the wetting of tears, including the names of Peng Lianhu and Mu Nianci. So this was no longer a love letter, because it could no longer be seen who sent it to whom, leaving only a vague and distant emotion that seeped into the depths of the paper thread by thread.

  "Yang Kang," Mu Nianci's voice was especially gentle on the other end of the phone, "Tonight is Qiu Shifu's birthday, are you going?"

  Yang Kang, who had drunk five bottles of beer with Peng Lianhu, was now dizzy and staggering as he stood by the phone: "Go ahead, go ahead... I'm so sleepy now, call me again before you leave tonight."

  Mu Nianci's voice fell silent for a moment: "Tonight I plan to go buy a bouquet of flowers for Qiu Shifu, you come with me to help pick some out, okay?"

  "Why don't you just pick one yourself? Don't choose chrysanthemum, and don't send red or white roses. Anything like carnation, ivory rose, or tiger lily will do. Isn't it a waste of manpower to drag me, this poor soldier?"

  "I don't want to go alone." Mu Nianci was unusually stubborn this time.

  Yang Kang was so sleepy that he wished he could prop up his eyelids with two matchsticks, just wanting to get through the task as soon as possible and take a nap. "Sigh! Okay, okay, what time is it? If I can remember, I'll go."

  "Five points, at that flower shop outside the school, the one we went to last time."

  "Oh, got it, got it." Yang Kang added another sentence, "If I forget, don't wait for me."

  "I'll wait for you until 5:15, if you forget I won't wait for you."

  Yang Kang was stunned for a moment, and before he could react to Mu Nianci's stubbornness, the phone had already hung up.

  The long blind sound seems particularly monotonous, Yang Kang lightly muttered a sentence: "What's going on?"

  Outside the large glass window on the ground, the rain is sparse and empty.

  The summer to autumn of Bianliang are all rainy, and there are few people visiting the flower shop in this weather. In the quiet store, the clerk is also happy to take a nap, after all, there is only one customer, and he wanders around without any intention of buying flowers.

  Mu Nianci's hands were clasped in the pocket of her skirt, gazing out at the quiet streets shrouded in a fine misty rain. The rain had been falling for a long time. At first, people could still be seen running past with a copy of the "Great Song Times" held over their heads, but now everything was enveloped in a thin layer of pale grey, so quiet it felt somewhat unfamiliar.

  How long has it been raining? She knew that the rain started at 4:30 and she would wait until 5:15 as promised.

  At 5:55, Mu Nianci glanced at the watch on her wrist and silently stretched out her hand to touch the glass, as if she wanted to touch a wet spring many years ago through the glass. At that time, Mu Nianci was holding a notebook in a dimly lit classroom, Yang Kang was sitting on the desk watching the rain, he didn't bring an umbrella. The whole classroom had only two people.

  The rain kept falling, as if it wouldn't stop. Yang Kang was finally hungry, so he decided to run back home. Yang Kang was good at sprinting, and while walking into the rain, he calculated how long it would take him to run back home. At this time, a green umbrella passed by his side, Mu Nianci said softly: "I have an umbrella, let's walk together."

  Yang Kang walked happily with Mu Nianci, feeling lucky. He didn't need to feel lucky, though - Mu Nianci had been waiting for him with that notebook for a long time.

  5:10

  Mu Nianci remembered the flowers Yang Kang had given her. Mu Nianci, who had worked hard for two years to win a second prize in the chemistry competition, received her first bouquet of flowers at the awards ceremony at Bian Da Affiliated Middle School, presented by Yang Kang. At that time, Yang Kang was not representing Mu Nianci's friends, but rather as a senior student who had started winning awards since his first year and was undoubtedly a leading figure in the school's chemistry competition. The principal had assigned Yang Kang and five other award-winning students to present flowers to the new winners, and at that time, the six of them stood in a row, with Yang Kang facing Mu Nianci.

  Mu Nianci saw Yang Kang making a face at her from below the stage, then he walked over, holding a large bouquet of white flowers. As if walking out of the rain that first time they met, Mu Nianci's heart was in disarray. Yang Kang walked over with the flowers, his gaze raised twenty degrees, which was his habit. The microphone cord tripped him up badly among the crowd presenting flowers, amidst a burst of laughter, Yang Kang got up from the ground with a gray head and dusty face, the large bouquet of flowers scattered all over.

  Yang Kang picked the best flower from the bouquet and handed it to Mu Nianci, smiled self-deprecatingly, then turned around and left. It is said that his actions at that time were quite appreciated by the girls, everyone said that Yang Kang's actions still had a lot of style. Mu Nianci didn't say anything.

  That lily was later pressed between the pages of a dictionary, and when it was opened again after a long time, the petals had withered, but the color remained - just like the day Yang Kang handed her the flower.

  "Miss, help me pick some flowers."

  The shop assistant woke up dazedly: "Is it Teacher Song or Boyfriend?"

  "Teacher."

  "How about sending some carnations? The lily perfume is also good, it just arrived today and has a particularly long flowering period. If you use a little salt water to nourish it, it will stay fresh for a long time."

  "How long can it be raised?"

  "Two weeks."

  The girl who bought flowers fell silent for a moment: "It's not very long either..."

  The shop assistant smiled and said: "Are you going to open for a lifetime? Buying flowers is just a gesture, the fresh flowers that are opened will always wither."

  "Yes," Mu Nianci took out a diary from her backpack, with a dried flower inside. "This seems to be the fragrance lily?"

  "It should be. But it's been pressed into a specimen and doesn't look very recognizable now."

  "Give me a bouquet of lily fragrances." Mu Nianci slightly curled up the corners of her mouth and smiled.

  Munian Ci walked into the rain at 5:15.

  Mu Nianci did not wait for Yang Kang again. She didn't care that Yang Kang was late, but knew that he wouldn't come at all. Yang Kang always played this trick, when he said he would definitely come, he might still forget, and when he reminded Mu Nianci that he might forget, he was just placating a silly girl.

  It's gotten so easy, it's almost empty. The rain pattered against the umbrella, Mu Nianci's heels clicked on the wet pavement. A silly brother had just ridden out of the Bin Da school gate in a flurry, and as he passed by, he turned his head to look at the girl walking in the rain with a bouquet of white lilies.

  "Damn..." In his admiration, that brother spaced out and the bike veered into a trash can.