South of Chutian

Tang Heng felt that he had had many dreams, in which he returned to Wuhan, all familiar places, Luoyu Road, Baotong Temple, East Lake... Two years before going abroad, he dreamed of Wuhan almost every night, so early Just get used to it.

But this time is different. In this dream, he is 27 years old, wearing a suit and tie, like a scholar going to a meeting at Han University.When he walked into the campus, he saw pear and cherry blossoms blooming in spring, pink and white, and students riding bicycles everywhere.He searched in the crowd for a long time, but couldn't find Li Yuechi.

He thought Li Yuechi was still in school, but he couldn't find him anyway.

He stopped An Yun, who was carrying Bess, at the School of Social Sciences, and asked her, "Where's Li Yuechi? Aren't you going to class together this semester?" An Yun blinked, her expression confused.He met Tian Xiaoqin in the library, and asked her, "Where's Li Yuechi? Aren't you working on a project together?" Tian Xiaoqin smiled with her lips pursed, but didn't speak.Finally, he bumped into Jiang Ya with red hair at the east gate. He asked him if he saw Li Yuechi. The wind was clear and the sun was bright. Jiang Ya smiled and said, "Li Yuechi murdered and paid for his life, have you forgotten?"

Tang Heng sat up abruptly, and said in a low voice, "Li Yuechi!"

The vision was pure darkness, and he found himself sitting on a bed, hard and not the one in his teachers' flat.

Was it just a dream?But where is this place?Tang Heng's body trembled, he opened his mouth, but couldn't make a sound.

He couldn't remember where he was.The memory seems to be broken, he only remembers that he graduated with a Ph.D. and went to Macau, yes, theoretically he should be in Macau—but where is this?The familiar fear reappeared, he couldn't remember the time at this moment, he couldn't remember where he was, he was like a dazed point, unable to find the coordinates.It's been a long time since this happened.

He was in a daze when footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door, followed by a "click" and the lights turned on.

He squinted his eyes, still in a daze, and saw Li Yuechi walking towards him.

wrong.wrong.He knew it wasn't right.

He couldn't see Li Yuechi, he couldn't see him—for many years.Is this moment a dream?What was that—just now?

"Is it still uncomfortable?" Li Yuechi sat down beside him, reached out and touched his forehead, "It's not burning anymore."

Tang Heng grabbed his hand: "Where is this?"

Li Yuechi said, "My family."

"impossible."

"You're burnt out." He got up and picked up the cup on the table, "Drink some water."

It was a cracked white porcelain cup, and the water was hot.

Tang Heng drank the water very slowly, and slowly looked around the room he was in.Liver-colored wooden structure, concrete floor, a few inconspicuous holes.

There was the patter of rain outside the window.

Tang Heng said, "I'm in Guizhou."

"Yes, Banxi Village, Shijiang County, Tongren," Li Yuechi said in a low voice, "You are here on a business trip."

"..."

With that cup of hot water, his memory finally surfaced bit by bit.

"Tang Guomu raped Tian Xiaoqin."

Li Yuechi lowered his eyes and responded.

"I just found out," Tang Heng murmured, "I just found out."

This time Li Yuechi simply stood up and said calmly: "Let's sleep for a while."

Tang Heng subconsciously got up and grabbed him, the soles of his feet suddenly hurt so badly that he let out a low "hiss" before remembering that he was injured.

Li Yuechi turned around and pressed his shoulder with great strength, and his voice became a little impatient: "Lie down well."

"Where are you going?"

"Call up."

"Who to call?"

"The village chief, and your colleagues," Li Yuechi looked at the night sky outside the window, "they will pick you up when the sun rises."

Now that he couldn't care about anything else, Tang Heng almost threw himself at Li Yuechi - in a very embarrassed gesture.He sat on the bed, twisted his body and stretched out his arms to wrap around Li Yuechi's waist, exerting all his strength.

"I'm not going," Tang Heng tightened his arms and said word by word, "I'm not going anywhere."

Li Yuechi sneered: "This is my home."

"Don't drive me away."

"Why?"

"I love you."

Li Yuechi smiled and didn't take it seriously: "Oh."

"I'm serious," Tang Heng felt that he hadn't felt so panicked in many years, "Shall we start again? Try again, you're willing too, right? You said I'm in Guizhou and we're together these days, at least for now ——Now I’m still in Guizhou.”

"I regret it."

"Li Yuechi," Tang Heng seemed to be begging him, "don't do this."

"It's you 'Come on,' we're done—six years."

"We start over."

"Restart?" Li Yuechi smiled again, and suddenly pinched the back of Tang Heng's neck. He leaned over with a somewhat stern expression, "Not everyone is qualified to 'restart', do you understand?"

His hands are a bit strong, and the feeling of being clamped on the back of his neck is not good.But Tang Heng didn't struggle, he knew he wasn't in danger, he couldn't say why, maybe even if Li Yuechi pressed the point of the knife to his chest at this moment, he wouldn't feel the danger.

"What should I do to make you want to be with me?"

"Are you cheap?"

"cheap."

"..."

"Li Yuechi." He really had no other choice.

Li Yuechi's Adam's apple twitched, and he stared at Tang Heng, all the way into the depths of his pupils: "You want to be with me so much? Then you stay here, don't go out, don't contact others."

Tang Heng seemed to see a few lights flashing past his eyes, revealing hysterical madness and some shadows of despair.

"Do you want to imprison me?"

"You better go away."

"I promise you," Tang Heng felt a little dazed, he pressed his wet cheeks to Li Yuechi's shoulder, "then you imprison me."

Li Yuechi's whole body was tense. He didn't speak, but he didn't push Tang Heng away either.

Tang Heng leaned on Li Yuechi's body and fell asleep like this.I don't know how long I slept, and when I woke up, I found that the clothes on my body had been changed and turned into a dry old T-shirt.

The gauze on the feet has also been changed.

The temperature in the mountains was low, Tang Heng sat up and wrapped the quilt around his body.

"Li Yuechi?"

No one answered.The sky was bright outside the window, and there seemed to be faint birdsong.

"He went to the village committee." The door was pushed open after a while, and Li Yuechi's mother walked in slowly. She looked at Tang Heng with a worried expression, "Leader, are you looking for him? I'll call him."

"It's okay—do you know what he went to the village committee for?"

"Say it's to sign a letter of responsibility."

"Responsibility?"

"He won't let anyone pick you up, the village head said, let him sign a letter of responsibility."

"Oh..." Tang Heng was taken aback, "Then I'll wait for him to come back."

"Leader, are you hungry? There is porridge in the pot."

"You don't need to call me 'leader', just call me 'Little Tang'."

"This, how inappropriate," she smiled stiffly, "You are the leader."

Tang Heng was silent for a moment, recalling what happened last night, and asked softly: "Did you know?"

Sure enough, her expression suddenly became tense: "I heard from the village chief..."

"The person Li Yuechi stabbed was my uncle."

"He is confused, leader, you can see... because he has been squatting for more than four years..."

"He's in there, how's he doing?"

"What can I do?" Li Yuechi's mother shook her head and said sadly, "We have nothing to do with each other, and we don't have any money. I asked him and he didn't say anything, but he lost a lot of weight..."

"Mom!" I don't know when Li Yuechi entered the room, and his face was not very good-looking, "Didn't I say that you don't care about him?"

"Why are you talking like this, the leader came here in the middle of the night for you, you—"

"Okay, I'll just take care of him," Li Yuechi said in a muffled voice, "You are busy with your work."

Mother winked at Li Yuechi, turned around and left.The room fell silent, Tang Heng looked at Li Yuechi, and couldn't help reaching out and tugging at the hem of his gray jacket.He was wearing a jacket and jeans well, so he didn't look too thin.However, Tang Heng knew that the waist covered by layers of clothing was narrower than it was six years ago.Six years ago, he tried every means to make Li Yuechi fatter. The most common method was to go to the cafeteria to buy a big bag of food, lotus root soup ribs, beef noodles, siu mai, steamed stuffed buns...and bring them back to their rented house.There is no refrigerator in the house, and it will break if you don't eat it, so Li Yuechi can only deal with it.Later, Li Yuechi still didn't become stronger, but he gained five catties, for which he was very proud.

Now that six years have passed, he no longer knows Li Yuechi's weight, but when he hugged him last night, his arms were empty.

"What responsibility letter did you sign?" Tang Heng said, "I want to see it."

Li Yuechi took out a folded piece of paper and threw it into Tang Heng's arms.

"... If Tang Heng's life safety or economic property suffers any loss, Li Yuechi will be responsible and compensate for it." Tang Heng held a thin A4 paper, finished reading, and saw the words "Li Yuechi" signed in the lower right corner, this is Li Yuechi He can see the words at a glance.

"Does this mean that if something happens to me, you will be fully responsible?"

Li Yuechi didn't speak, and acquiesced.

"Why are you responsible?"

"You are a member of the public family, and the village dare not take responsibility." Li Yuechi glanced at him, "If you leave now, I don't have to take responsibility."

Tang Heng folded the A4 paper back according to the original creases: "I won't leave, you are responsible."

"and many more."

"what?"

"You have to sign this too." He turned his face away from Tang Heng.

"Okay," Tang Heng said cheerfully, "give me a pen."

Li Yuechi handed over a carbon pen, and Tang Heng leaned over and signed the word "Tang Heng" after the word "Li Yuechi".Li Yuechi's handwriting was still so clear and neat, but his handwriting was written on the quilt, which was crooked and dwarfed by comparison.Tang Heng stared at their names, thinking in a daze, is this true?

Li Yuechi took away the letter of responsibility in his hand, and Tang Heng shouted, "What are you doing?"

"Take it to the village committee for a copy."

"and then?"

"One copy for each family." Li Yuechi said impatiently.

Not long after, Li Yuechi came back again, and walked into the room with a bowl of porridge and two eggs.

"Eat." He ordered Tang Heng.

The porridge is made of sweet potatoes and rice, and it tastes sweet, which Tang Heng likes very much.However, those two eggs are completely boiled eggs, and they have no half taste.Tang Heng was silent for a moment facing the eggs, and asked Li Yuechi, "Have you had breakfast?"

Li Yuechi said: "Eat."

"Are you full?"

"full."

"There are too many of these, I can't finish them."

Li Yuechi said expressionlessly: "Then eat slowly."

Tang Heng didn't know if Li Yuechi did it on purpose.When they were together six years ago, he never ate hard-boiled eggs. He always felt that there was a very light fishy smell. Sometimes they went to eat curry in the top house next to the school, and he always put half of the boiled eggs in the curry rice. Scoop it into Li Yuechi's plate.

Maybe Li Yuechi has forgotten, maybe six years later, everyone will forget.

Tang Heng peeled off the eggshell bit by bit, Li Yuechi sat by and watched for a while, then got up and went out, and came back soon.

"Hurry up and eat," he put down the bowl, "I have something to do later."

In the bowl is a puddle of soy sauce, with a little bit of sesame oil floating on the surface.

Tang Heng asked: "What's the matter?"

"Work."

"Farm work?"

"Correct."

"Can I go?"

"Are you going to be a cheerleader?" Li Yuechi glanced at Tang Heng's feet, "Lie down honestly."

Tang Heng dipped the egg in soy sauce, and it finally became less difficult to swallow.

"I can't just lie here all the time," Tang Heng said in a low voice, "Take me out to get some air. Didn't you say that your family contracted figs?"

Li Yuechi moved his lips, and Tang Heng said again: "I will go wherever you tell me to, and I will follow your orders."

Li Yuechi looked at Tang Heng and frowned slightly, not knowing what he was thinking.After a while he said: "Okay." Then he went out again, Tang Heng heard the clanging sound, finished eating the eggs, sat in the room and waited.

After about 10 minutes, Li Yuechi walked in.He first stood and looked at Tang Heng, then suddenly leaned over, one hand went around Tang Heng's leg, the other inserted into his armpit, and said in a low voice, "Don't move."

Tang Heng was stunned for a moment, and said awkwardly, "I can walk by myself."

Li Yuechi didn't answer, picked him up directly, and walked out of the house, Tang Heng saw a wheelchair standing in the narrow aisle. It was a bit old, but it had just been scrubbed, and there were still some water marks on the leather cushion.

Tang Heng was sitting in a wheelchair, and Li Yuechi brought a plastic cup full of water from somewhere, and handed it to him: "You take it."

"Oh..." Tang Heng hugged Li Yuechi's cup, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed.

Li Yuechi picked up the pesticide sprayer and pushed Tang Heng outside.It rained all night, and now the sky is clear and blue, which is a good time to do farm work.Li Yuechi pushed Tang Heng, and passed many rice fields along the way. Some villagers had already seen Tang Heng, and they called out "Leader" very enthusiastically, and even came up to care, what's wrong with you, leader, are you injured?Alas, suffer, Xiao Li, you can take good care of the leader!Some who had never seen Tang Heng came over and asked Li Yuechi, what's going on?With hands and feet, how do you push it?

Tang Heng couldn't help showing embarrassment, and he also felt that this was too exaggerated - he was obviously a man with healthy limbs, but he sat shyly in a wheelchair, looking not very smart.

Finally, they arrived at the fig forest contracted by the Li family. The forest was at the foot of the mountain, a little far away from the farmland, and there was no one around, only the crowing of cocks could be heard in the distance.Li Yuechi didn't say anything else, put on his gloves, and went to spray the fruit trees.Tang Heng stared at him intently—he was wearing a pair of thick-soled rubber boots, and he was wearing a plastic robe that looked like a poncho, and his gloves were bright yellow, reaching to the elbows.He is really like those farmers in agricultural programs, with a watering can on his shoulders and a nozzle in his hand, spraying pesticides on fruit trees skillfully.Tang Heng stared blankly at his movements, crisp, quick, and fast.He has seen Li Yuechi doing many, many things, fighting, cooking, reading and drinking... But those things all happened in the city.

It seems that Li Yuechi never told him what happened in the village six years ago.

When Li Yuechi came back, Tang Heng was still in a daze.He took off his gloves and carried them, and took out two figs from his pocket: "Do you want to eat?"

Tang Heng took it over and held it in his palm: "How long has your family contracted this forest?"

"I contracted it after I came out."

That is less than two years.

"Is this thing making money?"

"is acceptable."

"How much can you earn?"

"The cooperative in the village gives money, five hundred a month."

"..."

"Just peel and eat," Li Yuechi said, "these two don't have any pesticides."

This season is not when the figs are ripe. The two figs are green and white, and they are small. When they are peeled off, they are surprisingly sweet.Tang Heng said, "Let's go to another place for a while, shall we?"

"Ah."

Li Yuechi took him to the river, and there were people working on the other side, bowing their bodies, and a ox was drinking water by the river.

It was quiet on their side except for the sound of water.

Tang Heng knew that maybe Director Xu had gone crazy, maybe the hot spring hotel in Shijiang County had become a mess, maybe they would come to find him soon.It is impossible for him to hide in the village for a lifetime, maybe he should talk to Li Yuechi about some practical issues.

"You already knew, didn't you?" Tang Heng wanted to hold his hand, hesitated for a moment, and just touched his arm, "What Tang Guomu did to Tian Xiaoqin."

"I told you, do you believe me?"

"I believe."

Li Yuechi lowered his eyes and smiled: "Do you remember - what I said before I stabbed him."

"I……"

"You don't remember," Li Yuechi said calmly, "It's okay, I know you don't remember, you knew it a long time ago."

Tang Heng grabbed Li Yuechi's wrist violently, the wrist bone protruded, causing his palm to ache.Li Yuechi didn't move, and let him hold it. After a while, Tang Heng let go of his hand in frustration.

"Tian Xiaoqin's matter has nothing to do with you from the beginning to the end." Li Yuechi looked at the river shining brightly in the sun, "Your uncle's matter has nothing to do with you either, so leave it alone."

"But you have something to do with me."

"That was before."

"now what?"

Li Yuechi was silent, and after a few seconds he said, "Go back."

They returned by the same route, and Li Yuechi answered the phone on the way, and his tone was not very good.When he was almost at the door of the house, he said, "Don't talk to my mother."

Tang Heng nodded: "I don't agree."

"No going up to the second floor."

"why?"

"My brother is back." Li Yuechi paused, "He lives on the second floor and has some mental problems."

"You and your mother usually take care of him?"

"Correct."

"It's hard work."

Li Yuechi shook his head, but did not answer.

After entering the room, he heard voices talking upstairs. Tang Heng listened intently. It was Li Yuechi's mother and a male voice, but he couldn't hear what they were saying.Li Yuechi pushed him into the room, half exhorting and half warning: "Stay here."

Tang Heng nodded and asked him, "Where are you going?"

"Cook."

"Can I move your bookshelf?"

"Didn't you already move?"

Tang Heng said awkwardly, "That's right."

His mobile phone was taken away by Li Yuechi long ago, his computer was still in the hotel, and he didn't have any electronic products on his body, so he was naturally cut off from the outside world.But he didn't feel bored, on the contrary, he hoped that this time would be longer.It seems that as long as Li Yuechi is by his side, his time is full and meaningful.

Tang Heng opened his doctoral dissertation, the first page and the second page were written in black and white, and he was stunned when he turned to the abstract—there was actually a pencil mark on this page.

In very light handwriting, next to several long and complicated words, their Chinese meanings are marked.Li Yuechi's writing was in light gray Chinese characters, and his thesis was in lead black English. For some reason, Tang Heng stared at those Chinese characters, and felt as if he could see Li Yuechi's dazed expression when he looked up the dictionary.

Will he be disappointed all these years, will he regret it.

Tang Heng put the paper back. He wanted to read his verdict again, but he hesitated for a moment with his arms hanging in the air, and finally he didn't touch the folder.

There are still some old books on the bookshelf, mostly high school textbooks and problem sets.Tang Heng was about to take out his physics textbook when there was a knock on the door outside the room.Immediately afterwards, someone shouted: "Xiao Li! Teacher Tang! Are you there?"

Tang Heng moved to the door and put his ear on the door.

Li Yuechi opened the door and said lightly, "Teacher Tang is not feeling well and is sleeping."

"Oh, I heard Doctor Cheng say he has a fever?" It was the voice of the village chief, "Does he still have a fever?"

"The fever has subsided."

"Xiao Li, this, look, I didn't know that you and Mr. Tang were classmates. If I knew it earlier, I would have saved so much trouble! Haha! But, Mr. Tang has a special status..."

"I know," Li Yuechi interrupted him, "he won't live here forever."

"That's for sure. I can't bother you all the time. It's supposed to be the work of the village committee... So, we came here today just to see Teacher Tang. Let's have a meal together. What do you think?"

Li Yuechi was silent for a few seconds: "Yes."

Tang Heng pushed open the door: "Senior, are you ready for dinner?"

The village chief stepped forward quickly: "Hey! Teacher Tang! How do you feel?"

"I'm fine," Tang Heng looked at Li Yuechi, "It's the senior who worked hard last night."

The village chief hurriedly said: "It should be, it should be, I brought some food over here, you can nourish your body..."

Li Yuechi didn't say anything, turned around and went back to the kitchen.The village head brought a lot of food, such as braised pig ears, stewed mutton, and chicken soup. It is estimated that preparations started early in the morning.Tang Heng thought to himself, he must have frightened the village cadres enough to come to Li Yuechi again and again.

Li Yuechi didn't cook anything else, he just mixed two plates of cucumbers, filled four bowls of rice, and went upstairs.

Tang Heng said, "One less bowl of rice."

The village chief looked around, obviously playing dumb: "Ah? Aren't there four people?"

"And his brother," Tang Heng said coldly, "his brother is back."

"Hey—Teacher Tang, listen to me," the village chief lowered his voice and leaned over, "Xiao Li's younger brother, his situation is very special. We didn't hide anything on purpose, but out of safety. Consider it!"

"What do you mean?"

"You definitely don't know about this. To be honest, I only found out a few months ago. That is, how should I put it? You know that some children with mental retardation are very aggressive. They are... just anti-social."

"..." Tang Heng turned his head and stared at him, "Don't talk nonsense."

"I'm absolutely not talking nonsense!" The village chief glanced at the direction of the stairs and lowered his voice, "This happened many years ago. Li Yuechi's brother pushed a female teacher down the mountain with his own hands."

For a moment, Tang Heng's mind was blank, and his breathing seemed to have stopped.

"You mean, the female teacher who supports the teaching?"

"Yeah, a girl in her 20s came to our branch to teach. I heard that the Li family had no money to pay the tuition at that time, and they even chipped in some money... She was pushed down like that, disabled, tell me."

"Is it Zhao Xuelan...?"

The village chief shook his head: "Then I don't know, let me go and find out for you?"

"No - no need," Tang Heng didn't realize that his voice had started to tremble, "I won't bother you."