South of Chutian

Tang Heng quit the app and put Li Yuechi's phone aside.He rubbed his temples vigorously, but it didn't seem to work—the video was like a clump of flames, igniting the wires in his mind, and then with a bang, many densely packed words exploded, which were the lyrics written by Li Yuechi.

None of them expected that Li Yuechi would write such a long lyrics. The whole song of "Hiding the Eyes" is 11 minutes and 3 seconds long, and the only thing repeated is "to Xiaoxiao in the evening rain, I really like to be covered by your long hair". Tang Heng remembered that he went to Beijing alone with his manager six years ago , living alone in the brand-new LOFT on the edge of the third ring road, eating alone, sleeping alone, often waking up in the middle of the night, clutching the phone and hesitating whether to call Li Yuechi.He was looping "Hiding the Eye" on the MP[-], and felt that the song he sang was really weird, so he asked Ah Hao to record a version of "Hiding the Eye" in Wuhan and sent it to him. After two days of looping, he felt that it was still It's weird—it's a song Li Yuechi wrote for him, and it doesn't seem like anyone else should sing it.For this reason, Ah Hao scolded him on the phone for "a bunch of shit".

So - where did that MP3 go?He had the impression that it was a white Sony MP3 player that Fu Liling bought for him when he traveled to Japan.He was sure that his song "Hiding the Eye" was stored in the MP3.

In addition, there is no news of Ah Hao.After leaving Wuhan, he never contacted Ahao again—that short boy was gay like him.Of course, it’s not just Ah Hao who lost contact, there are also many old friends from the past, those who play in bands, those who run bars, those who run piano shops... Where are these people?It was like a fish swimming into the sea, without a trace.

If he hadn't been on a business trip to Guizhou, then in his life, Li Yuechi would have disappeared like these people.

If he believed what Li Yuechi said "I'm not good enough for you" and then returned to Macau with Director Xu, then in his life, Li Yuechi would still have no news.

Tang Heng got up, stepped on his slippers and slowly moved out of the room.The soles of his feet hurt, and he didn't know if the scabs had opened, but he didn't care about it, he walked through the main room following a little sound, and came to the kitchen door.The kitchen of Li Yuechi's house is not too big, it is almost taken up by the stove.The stove was made of cement, integrated with the ground, and covered with white tiles.Tang Heng saw such a stove for the first time.

Li Yuechi was squatting in front of the stove, constantly adding firewood to it.The smell of smoke was very strong, and the firewood crackled loudly. Tang Heng was so smoked that he coughed twice. Then Li Yuechi turned his head and said in surprise, "What's wrong?"

"I'll walk," Tang Heng looked at him, "I can't just lie down every day."

"Then wait a moment, I'll help you when I'm done."

"it is good."

Li Yuechi quickened his movements, and in less than half a minute, he sent the remaining half basket of firewood into the stove. Then he walked to Tang Heng's side and put his left arm on his shoulder.

Li Yuechi lowered his head and sniffed: "I'm going to change clothes."

Tang Heng said, "What's wrong?"

"The smell of burning wood is strong."

"fine."

Li Yuechi seemed to think about it seriously, and then said: "That's right, you should be smoking."

Tang Heng looked at him helplessly, and he continued, "You are not allowed to smoke that bag of Zhonghua."

"why?"

"Not good for the throat."

"I……"

"Don't you want to do it?" Li Yuechi suddenly lowered his voice, "There are still two cigarettes in the cigarette case, one less cigarette to change."

Tang Heng asked in a daze: "What about after the change?" Only twice?

Li Yuechi didn't answer, just said: "Let's go, I'll take you around."

Tang Heng thought that "Zhuan Zhuan" was just walking around the yard twice, but he didn't expect Li Yuechi to push the motorcycle.

"Go for a ride?" Tang Heng was a little surprised.

"Well," Li Yuechi said, "wait for me here."

After he finished speaking, he went into the house again, quickly brought out a basin of water, and wiped the motorcycle with a rag.The leather seats have been polished, and even the pedals have been wiped clean, reflecting a small piece of golden light in the sun.

Tang Heng saw that his forehead was shiny and he was sweating.

Li Yuechi stepped on the motorcycle, turned to Tang Heng and said, "Come on."

Tang Heng moved over, lifted his legs, and supported Li Yuechi's waist with both hands.

"Have you sat still?"

"Ah."

He stepped on the accelerator, and with a "buzz", the motorcycle drove out of the yard.It was almost noon, the sun was so bright that Tang Heng needed to squint his eyes, and the cool wind poured into his mouth and nose, gradually dissipating the nausea.There is green everywhere, trees, grass, farmland, and patches of moss by the stream.There was no one around, Tang Heng put his arms around Li Yuechi, and pressed his cheek against his thin back.

"Li Yuechi!" The wind was so strong that he needed to shout, "Where are we going!"

Li Yuechi didn't answer, so Tang Heng didn't ask any more.The mountain road was undulating, and sometimes the bumps were severe, and there were bursts of pain in the soles of the feet.Later, Tang Heng simply straightened his legs, with his feet dangling in the air, feeling as if he was about to fly.

He closed his eyes, hoping that the motorcycles would never stop, that they would always be flying in the wind.

But finally stopped, Tang Heng held Li Yuechi still, Li Yuechi said: "It's here."

Tang Heng said, "Hold me for a while."

So they stopped like this, Tang Heng circled Li Yuechi from behind, his eyes still closed.He didn't know where he was, but he felt that the sun was warmer, and it was almost hot on his back.The surrounding area was quiet, there was neither human voice nor cock crowing nor dog barking.

It was windy, but not cold.

Later, it was Li Yuechi who said, "Get out of the car." Tang Heng opened his eyes, blinked, and found that they were on the top of the mountain.This is a very high mountain top, looking down, you can see the meandering stream, bypassing little cottages and patches of farmland.

Tang Heng looked around and asked, "Is this the highest mountain?"

"This is the highest one," Li Yuechi looked down the mountain, "I used to climb here to play when I was young."

"playing what?"

"Just sitting and watching, I always feel that I can see farther places," Li Yuechi smiled. "At that time, my elementary school teacher said that there was a movie theater in the county, and I really wanted to see it."

Tang Heng was silent.

Li Yuechi reached into his trouser pocket and took out Tang Heng's cell phone.

"Turn it on and check," he said, "the signal here is good."

Tang Heng was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect him to bring out his mobile phone—probably when he entered the house to wipe the car with water, it turned out that he had already prepared.

"You can't leave your phone on forever," Li Yuechi said, "It's a matter of time."

Tang Heng took the white iPhone 8 and was silent for a moment: "Then you can avoid it for a while, okay?"

Li Yuechi said cheerfully: "I will pick you up later."

After speaking, he walked down the path down the mountain, and soon his back was no longer visible.

Tang Heng turned on his phone, and sure enough, messages popped up one after another.He didn't read them all, and directly dialed Jiang Ya's number.

It took a while for the phone to connect, and Jiang Ya's voice was sleepy: "Hello?"

"speak Mandarin."

"Ah - shit, Tang Heng?!"

"Ah."

"Where the hell did you go!"

"I am here……"

"I'm so anxious that I'm going to call the police!" Jiang Ya yelled, "The front foot helped you detect the sleeping pills, but the back foot you fucking lost contact, what's going on?!"

"I'm in Guizhou."

"I know!"

"I saw Li Yuechi."

"..."

There was no sound on the other end of the phone, and Tang Heng said, "Jiang Ya?"

"Aren't you going on a business trip?" Jiang Ya's voice became urgent, "Why did you see him? Ah? What's going on?"

Tang Heng thought for a moment, and decided to start with the most important thing: "We are together again."

Jiang Ya: "..."

"However," Tang Heng added, "it's my unilateral opinion."

"Stop joking, it's been so long..."

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

"Tang Heng!"

"I'll tell you something."

"Li Yuechi definitely disagrees!"

"Yes," Tang Heng looked at the deep blue skyline in the distance, "he disagrees."

"Well, you see, since he's different—"

"You know that too, right?"

"what?"

"Tian Xiaoqin was raped by my uncle."

"..."

"I just want to tell you, if you want, tell An Yun for me." Another gust of mountain wind blew, and Tang Heng suddenly felt extremely calm and composed, "I want to go back to Wuhan."

Tang Heng bought a high-speed rail ticket from Tongren to Wuhan, and then turned off his mobile phone.

He sat on the ground, staring at the shadow of the tree halfway up the mountain. As the sun shifted, the shadow was lengthened bit by bit. He thought that Li Yuechi must have seen this situation.

He didn't know what Li Yuechi was thinking when he was sitting here.

"Tang Heng." A distant call came from behind, Tang Heng turned around and saw Li Yuechi walking towards him, behind him was the continuous blue sky and white clouds, as if he came from the sky.

Though he has a messy stubble on his chin that maybe hasn't been shaved in two days.His T-shirt is gray and white, and it has been worn for a long time.He is too thin, so thin that he looks a bit desolate, it is unbearable to see him standing in the wind.

Li Yuechi walked up to Tang Heng, and Tang Heng looked at his dark pupils.Six years have passed, and his eyes, which have been in prison, are still black and white, as if everything has grown old, only his gaze remains unchanged.

Tang Heng said: "I want to go back to Wuhan."

Li Yuechi said: "Is it okay not to return?"

Tang Heng said, "No."

Li Yuechi was silent for a while, then said, "Going back won't change anything."

"Even if I can't change it, at least I can remember it," Tang Heng paused, "You know what? I was thinking just now that if I hadn't come to Guizhou, I would never know what I didn't know, and what I forgot would never be. forget."

"..."

"For example, I still can't remember what you said to me before you stabbed Tang Guomu. There are many more, Tian Xiaoqin's matter, Jiang Ya's matter, An Yun's matter..."

"it's already over."

"But I don't want to forget you," Tang Heng said word by word, "and them."