Chasing the Light

Chapter 44

Just after drinking half a glass of wine, Xia Yuanhang said he wanted to go back so Liang Xincheng felt very puzzled. After leaving the bar, Xia Yuanhang was not in a hurry to call a taxi. He grabbed Liang Xincheng’s hand and stuffed it into his down jacket pocket: “Let’s go for a walk.”

On a snowy night, there were few people on the road, and the neon lights in the distance flickered quietly. They walked forward side by side in silence, with their hands tightly clasped in their pockets never separated.

“Did you take the photo here last year?”

When Xia Yuanhang suddenly spoke up after stopping, Liang Xincheng froze for a moment and then laughed: “I forgot, this is the place. I just randomly took the photo.”

Xia Yuanhang looked at Liang Xincheng intently, before raising his hand to stroke the corners of his eyes, which were a little red from the cold wind, and hugged him into his arms with all his strength.

Liang Xincheng was taken aback; holding hands on the street was already out of ordinary, he did not expect Xia Yuanhang to suddenly hug him.

“It’s okay, paparazzis also celebrate the Chinese New Year and need to rest.”

Xia Yuanhang murmured softly, and Liang Xincheng was instantly happy. He raised his hand to encircle his waist and nuzzled his face against his: “What’s wrong with you? What did Tianqi tell you?”

“You tell me the truth…since when did you start liking me?”

Liang Xincheng let out an ‘ah’ and said helplessly: “That big mouth of He Tianqi must have sold me out. I should have known better than to bring you here.”

“Xincheng…”

“Okay, I’ll just say it,” Liang Xincheng sniffed. The secret that had been hidden for so many years was finally about to be said but the mood was unusually calm: “Just, during high school…to be exact, when you graduate from the third year of high school.”

Xia Yuanhang let go of him, his eyes were full of distress and confusion: “Why?”

Liang Xincheng lowered his head, and after a moment of silence he said: “It’s nothing really. It’s just that you helped me once, and I’ve never been able to forget it.”

His parents died early. He grew up eating cold dishes. His health had not been very good and he developed late. Before he went to high school, he was thin and short. In addition, he was an orphan. He was always excluded by his classmates and had low self-esteem, so he was bullied a lot.

It was two days before his high school entrance examination. He was blocked in a dark alley behind the school by some high school thugs and was beaten and kicked by them because he couldn’t give them any money. Fortunately, the senior fell from the sky to help him fight them off and gave him his school jacket, as his jacket had been torn, to wear, and then took him back to a relative’s house where he was staying.

If it hadn’t been for his senior’s help, Liang Xincheng would have been beaten down and hospitalized and perhaps missed the high school entrance examination. He had been thinking about it all summer vacation, and finally at the opening ceremony of the first year of high school, he saw the senior who was speaking on behalf of senior students again. It turned out that his name was Xia Yuanhang, Liang Xincheng silently memorized the name, and this lasted for a full ten years.

As he listened to Liang Xincheng’s story, Xia Yuanhang’s heart was filled with sourness and heartache, and the long-ago vague memories gradually emerged in his mind. So that was Liang Xincheng? He still vaguely remembered how nervous he looked, sitting behind him when he was riding his bicycle, tugging cautiously at his shirt. Was that really Liang Xincheng?

“Why didn’t you come to see me afterward?”

“I did, ah.” Liang Xincheng’s voice was a little muffled. “I’ve always wanted to give you back your school uniform. You were playing basketball on the playground that day, and many people were watching. I was too timid and had low self-esteem at that time. It took a long time to gather my courage before I called you when you were surrounded by people drinking water after playing the ball, but you took a look at me and went to talk to other people. You didn’t remember me…”

Xia Yuanhang closed his eyes sadly. When did that happen? He really didn’t remember anything about it. When he was a student, he was really acting chuunibyou and hot-blooded; when he saw his schoolmates being bullied, he would help them out. To him, it was just a small thing, and maybe after bragging about it to his friends for a while, it was completely forgotten. He had indeed forgotten about it long after the summer. Not to mention, it was dark at that time and Liang Xincheng’s face was covered in dirt, so he really didn’t remember what he looked like, so he didn’t recognise Liang Xincheng when he approached him again.

At that time, he was admired by everyone and he was always the target of many juniors and juniors. Accustomed to being arrogant, he didn’t bother to respond to the little boy’s advances, even though it might be the only time Liang Xincheng mustered up his courage at that time.

It turned out that he really had the chance to meet Liang Xincheng at that time, but unfortunately he had missed it in that one thoughtless moment.

Liang Xincheng touched the gumdrop in his pocket before peeling one and stuffing it into Xia Yuanhang’s mouth: “Actually, I didn’t like candy so much before. At that time, there was this kind of candy in the pocket of the school uniform you gave me, but I didn’t return the school uniform to you and I ate the candy.”

“Little fool,” Xia Yuanhang hugged him into his arms again: “How can you be so silly…”

“I’m not stupid, I just like you,” Liang Xincheng muttered in a small voice. “But now I find out that you don’t like candy at all. That candy must not be yours, it was given to you by some girl, right?”

“I don’t remember, it really wasn’t mine. Maybe someone slipped it to me while I wasn’t looking.”

“Forget it, I don’t care about this. Let’s go home.”

Xia Yuanhang stopped the taxi, and when he got in, he took Liang Xincheng’s waist and let him lean on his shoulder. He lowered his head and rubbed his lips against the soft hair on his forehead: “So you chose this line of work because of me too?”

It wasn’t that Xia Yuanhang was narcissistic, it was just that Liang Xincheng was too persistent. He simply couldn’t imagine how Liang Xincheng had managed to survive these ten years, and what he thought of all the prejudice and indifference he had shown to him at the beginning. Would he be sad and disappointed when he heard the hurtful things he said to Ding Yao in the WeChat voice message?

“Well, actually, I didn’t have much thought at the time. I just want to be closer to you, so I went to the set to look for opportunities since my freshman year. ”

“Why didn’t you go to film school?”

“How can I get in? It’s impossible to get into film school without training, ba. It’s not like I’m a naturally talented actor like Teacher Xie.”

“Have you ever been bullied after that?”

Liang Xincheng shook his head: “After I started my second year of high school I started to grow taller and I could win fights. The class teacher at that time also was very nice and caring, no classmates bullied me anymore.”

“You said you used to be timid and had low self-esteem?”

“When I was studying, I was quite timid. When I went to university, I went to work on a film set and saw a lot of people of all kinds, so I grew out of it. I got thicker skin, I couldn’t help it.”

Xia Yuanhang thought back on why he was so prejudiced against Liang Xincheng in the first place. Apart from believing those rumors and misunderstanding his relationship with the company’s president, he also felt that he was hypocritical and slutty because when he saw him being molested by the assistant director, he was still smiling. However, in fact, that was just Liang Xincheng’s bowing down and forbearance in order to survive. His bottom line and persistence were always there.

Liang Xincheng had experienced so many bad things, but he had never been stained by the so-called big dye vat. He had grown up and was strong, and his essence was still the good boy who sat on the back seat of the bicycle and carefully tugged him. Persistence and determination, the most valuable things that belonged to him, had never changed.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

“I don’t want to put too much pressure on you; we’re together because we want to be together. I don’t want to make it seem like you owe me something. Those ten years are my own choice. You don’t need to take it to heart.”

“Fool…”