Chapter 15
Editor: Princess
Luo Changzhou on the other end had also just hung up, but the smile on his face faded away gradually. He stared at the college entrance exam prep booklet spread out in front of him that was halfway done, however he no longer felt like continuing.
He had just lied. He hadn’t been watering flowers—he was doing exercises.
The weekend homework assigned by the teacher had already been finished last night, however he’d never bothered to write out the steps to problems that he could solve by just running through them in his head carefully in the past.
He only did it this time because of the phone call from Yu Pei last night.
Although that phone call from Yu Pei had been short, he could tell from his voice that something was wrong—he had probably been crying. Which was why he had sent him so many voice messages afterward, as he wasn’t good at this sort of thing and so couldn’t figure out a better way to comfort Yu Pei.
Putting his pen down, he pushed the pile of workbooks to the side. Then his deep blue eyes flicked to the school uniform hanging on the rack nearby, and suddenly remembering something, he stood up immediately and walked over. And from the pocket, he pulled a phoenix flower that had already started to wilt out.
The flower had spent the whole night in his pocket, hence its once-vivid red petals had dulled considerably. Dark, rusty creases marred the surface of the petals, making it far from beautiful. However he still stared at it for a long moment before pressing it between the pages of a thick book carefully.
Just as he finished, he heard his father shouting from downstairs: “Changzhou! Son!”
He walked to the balcony and looked down. Then he saw his father holding a hoe, digging holes in the ground.
Although it was still early spring and a bit chilly, his father was drenched in sweat from the digging. And looking up, he shouted again: “Stop working on your homework and make me a cup of tea!”
At those words, Luo Changzhou turned and headed downstairs. He brewed a pot of tea, the bitter kind he usually drank, and carried it out with a couple of cups. Sitting down on a wooden stool, he poured a cup for his father and sipped one himself.
However the moment his father took a sip, he nearly spat it out. “Why’d you make such bitter tea for me? I don’t want the stuff you drink. Go make the kind your mom and I usually have.”
But Luo Changzhou sat there unmoving, his expression blank. “Too lazy. Just deal with it.”
His father shook his head helplessly. “I really don’t know who you got this personality from.”
Luo Changzhou didn’t say anything.
His father continued, “You shouldn’t just stay cooped up in your room doing homework all day. What’s the point of writing it? Don’t you already know how to do everything?”
Putting his cup down, Luo Changzhou replied, “I don’t have anything else to do, so I might as well work on it.”
“You don’t have anything else to do?” His father shoved a hoe into his hands immediately. “Then help me dig.”
Luo Changzhou stared at the hoe in his hands, frowning. “What are you digging holes for?”
“To plant trees.” His father told him. “This new pasture doesn’t have anything, so planting some fruit trees will make it look better. Once they bear fruit, we can eat them. What kind of tree do you want to plant?”
Luo Changzhou looked at the pits his father had dug one by one, and for some reason, the image of Yu Pei standing in front of him after school on Friday, with that red phoenix flower brushing against his lips, flashed in his mind, and without thinking, he blurted out, “Phoenix trees.”
His father gave him a look that said he was crazy. Now he was seriously wondering if his son’s food poisoning hadn’t cleared up completely. Otherwise, why would he say something like planting phoenix trees? He’d clearly said fruit trees. Did this son of his even listen?
If it wasn’t because he was abnormal, how could he not notice that he was talking about fruit trees?
“I’m talking about fruit trees. Phoenix trees may look nice when they bloom, but you can’t eat them.” Father Luo could only repeat it again. “Besides, doesn’t your school already have a bunch of phoenix trees? You can just look at them there.”
Only then did Luo Changzhou realize what he’d said. After a few seconds of silence, he muttered, “Let’s think about it again. We’ll ask Mom when she gets back.”
Father Luo: “Fine, you can help me dig for now. When your mom gets home, we’ll decide. Once we’ve figured it out, we’ll go buy the saplings tomorrow.”
Luo Changzhou nodded. “En.”
However when his mom came home that evening after playing mahjong, the three of them still couldn’t decide what kind of tree to plant, so in the end, they all agreed to let Luo Changzhou make the decision. Whatever tree he wanted, they’d plant it.
Initially, Luo Changzhou wanted to refuse, however after opening his mouth, he closed it again. Then later that night, lying in bed, he sent Yu Pei a QQ message for the first time:
[Ah Pei, I want to plant some fruit trees at home. What kind do you think I should plant?]
Just after he sent the message, he received Yu Pei’s usual [Goodnight] text. He thought he’d have to wait until the next day for a reply, but to his surprise, Yu Pei responded on QQ within seconds: [Just plant the fruits you like to eat.]
[I don’t have any particular favorites. That’s why I’m asking you.]
After thinking for a moment, Yu Pei typed: [Then plant pear trees. Pears are good for your health, and when pear trees bloom, they look like a blanket of snow. It’s really beautiful.]
Pear trees?
Luo Changzhou stared at the message for a while before asking: [Do you like snow a lot?]
[I don’t know if I like it or not, but it rarely snows in South City. I’d really like to see what snow looks like.]
That was true. It hardly ever snowed in South City.
Without realizing it, he typed and sent a message before he could think it through: [The city where I used to live had lots of snow. If you want, I can take you to see it during the holidays.]
After sending it, he stared at the screen blankly, a little stunned by his own words.
Moments later, his phone vibrated, pulling him back to reality. It was Yu Pei’s reply: [Sure, sure!]
Luo Changzhou couldn’t help but chuckle silently. Yu Pei, this person, really. No matter what he said, Yu Pei always agreed so enthusiastically. He’d even cry in secret, not thinking about whether it was actually possible. Even if Luo Changzhou wanted to take him, his parents would have to agree first.
However he didn’t linger on the thought further and instead said goodnight to Yu Pei:
[It’s late. You should sleep. Goodnight.]
The next morning, bright and early, Luo Changzhou went with his father to the sapling market to buy a batch of pear tree saplings. Then before his father could even say anything, he started to help with the planting. He worked with surprising seriousness, taking more care with these hardy saplings than he ever did with his delicate prized orchids.
After they finished planting, his father clapped the dirt off his hands and said to him:“Looks like you really love pears. How come I never noticed this before?”
Luo Changzhou stayed silent, neither confirming nor denying his father’s words. However his father was used to his quiet nature and so continued talking to himself. “But that’s good. Once these trees bear fruit, you can share some with your classmates. You can even bring them over to the ranch to hang out.”
The Luo family used to run a ranch in the north, a sprawling, picturesque property that they sometimes rented out as a wedding venue. Luo Changzhou’s older sister, Luo Changyan, used to love bringing her friends to the ranch. However Luo Changzhou had never done the same. In fact, he had never even heard him mention close friends before. He said this today because he was worried that Luo Changzhou might not be getting along well with his classmates after just transferring to a school in South City.
However, Luo Changzhou took this suggestion seriously: Yu Pei said he liked snow. If he couldn’t take him to the north to see snow, maybe he could bring him to the ranch when the pear trees were in full bloom. That might be nice too.
But then his father said something that made him freeze: “Sigh, these saplings are still too small. By the time they bear fruit, you’d have already graduated.”
He blurted out without thinking: “I can go to university in South City.”
Although South City wasn’t a first-tier city, it was still a good place with some of the country’s top universities. While they weren’t on the same level as the elite schools in the Imperial City, Luo Changzhou had never been set on attending those schools. Besides, with his grades, he could get into any university he wanted.
As long as it was one Yu Pei could get into too, it would be fine.
These thoughts were ones Luo Changzhou had never considered seriously before. Or maybe he had, but only in passing. Today, however, they all came rushing out of him in a torrent after his father’s words, overwhelming and unstoppable, crashing against his heart like galloping hooves.
Luo Changzhou had never been in a relationship before. From childhood to now, he’d never felt anything like “liking” for anyone other than his family. It was as though the emotional part of his heart had always been a barren desert, devoid of even the smallest sprout. But that didn’t mean he didn’t understand what it meant to like someone.
It was precisely because he’d never felt it before that when it finally came, it arrived like an earthquake, like a tidal wave—impossible to ignore.
He didn’t know when he had started liking Yu Pei. Maybe it was the first time he saw the beautiful teenager sleeping behind a stack of books. Or the first time Yu Pei sent him a goodnight message. Maybe it was when Yu Pei handed him a piece of candy, or when he gifted him that white notebook. But Yu Pei’s name had long since been etched into his heart, carved slowly and deeply with every stroke of his pen.
He looked up at South City’s bright and clear blue sky. Unlike the north, where everything exuded boldness and grandeur, South City was gentle and graceful, delicate like the pale green tea leaves of Pu’er white tea.
When his parents had wanted to move to South City for its beautiful scenery, he hadn’t hesitated to agree, because to him, it didn’t matter where they lived, because even though South City was undeniably picturesque, it was still dull to him no matter how he looked at it, incapable of stirring his heart.
Until now.
Until that person.
It was only after meeting Yu Pei that he finally understood that it turns out that the world really had that kind of feeling that was described in songs: Of all the beauty in the world, none compares to meeting you.
It felt as though he had crossed the long distance between the north and the south, traveling thousands of miles, just to meet him.
He looked at the pear saplings lining the ranch path, their tender green branches stretching carefully and swaying gently in the spring breeze, and for the first time, he felt that the scenery in South City was really beautiful.
**
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