The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

It was Shu Xiaoman that had just shouted to everyone. She stood in front of the railing nearby.

She put her hands behind her back and held the railing to keep her balance. Faced with a crowd of faces, she felt nervous, and her legs got wobbly. Not long ago, she had received a call from Zhang An’an. Zhang An’an told her what Wang Xiang had said and warned her to keep an eye on Chen Wanxin and to stop her from doing something stupid. Chen Wanxin looked relaxed and kept drinking with the boys, as such Shu Xiaoman did not worry much about her in the beginning. She just had never expected Chen Wanxin to suddenly confess to Zhao Yuan.

Upon seeing Chen Wanxin confess to Zhao Yuan, Lin Wenxi immediately walked away from the crowd to avoid them. Without Zhang An’an being around, Shu Xiaoman felt helpless and thus shouted to everyone, trying to stop Chan Wanxin.

“Why does it have anything to do with you?” Chen Wanxin retorted, her face somber.

Shu Xiaoman could not stop trembling. She did not know whether it was because of the drink or the fear. Inspired by the desperation, she stumbled all the way to Chen Wanxin and said, “Zhao Yuan, he doesn’t deserve you! He asked you to be his girlfriend because he made a bet with Zheng Kai and Wang Xiang. If he manages to make you his girlfriend within three months, Wang Xiang’ll give him his jersey. It’s a No.23 jersey with Jordan’s personal signature. Zhao Yuan never took you seriously. How can he deserve you?”

Upon hearing that, Zhao Yuanxin felt relieved and really grateful to Shu Xiaoman. He thought, “I can never tell this to Chen Wanxin in front of so many people. It’s too hurtful, and she’s innocent. More importantly, if she tells everyone that she has asked me to ‘bend’ Lin Wenxi, Wenxi will be embarrassed. I’ve tried to tell Chen Wanxin the truth before.

“However, she just always managed to make me shut up. I really don’t know whether it’s because she is too smart or because she really likes me.”

“This is what I want,” Chen Wanxin said coldly. “Xiaoman, thank you for your advice, but this is what I want. I would feel grateful to you if you did this for me. But if you did this for someone else, I would feel really disappointed.” While saying this, she threw a quick glance at Lin Wenxi.

Shu Xiaoman was stunned. She stood still, unable to utter another word.

“I’m sorry. As Xiaoman said, I really don’t deserve you,” Zhao Yuan said bluntly. He regretted what he had done to this girl. He had never expected her to really like him before. Back in his high school, he had made similar bets with his friends and won all of them. He would tell the girl the truth and give her a treat after she promised to be his girlfriend. The girls would not care much about that or feel hurt. They would just call Zhao Yuan frivolous and fickle.

“Well, I just want to know do you want to be my boyfriend?” Chen Wanxin said loudly.

“Wanxin, I’m just a bad boy. I really don’t deserve you,” Zhao Yuan insisted.

“That’s alright. I like a bad boy,” Chen Wanxin said solemnly. Some boys nearby whistled upon hearing that.

“I am a… hooligan,” said Zhao Yuan.

“I’m here for you. You can take me anytime you want,” said Chen Wanxin.

Shu Xiaoman looked at Chen Wanxin with her mouth agape. She wondered, “What? Is she drunk? Or, is she always such a girl? Doesn’t she worry that the others will consider her a girl of loose morals upon hearing that?”

“Wow, it looks like this girl has given herself to a lot of guys before.” Someone in the crowd suddenly sneered. No one would tease her for being persistent, but what she had just said clearly made some people that she was a girl of loose morals.

Chen Wanxin glared at that person and added, “I’ve only told this to Zhao Yuan. I never told this to anyone else before. Nor will I tell this to anyone in the future.”

Zhao Yuan regretted what he had done even more and thought, “Chen Wanxin is such a beautiful girl, and she confessed to me in front of so many people. I’d better not embarrass her any longer.” The next moment, he somehow thought of Lin Wenxi. “Wenxi said that I changed. What did he think of me in the past? What kind of the relationship I have with him?”

Chen Wanxin suddenly threw herself into Zhao Yuan’s arms. Zhao Yuan tightly grabbed her shoulders with his hands. Shu Xiaoman looked away and happened to see Lin Wenxi fall into Zhang Dong’s arms.

Lin Wenxi drank with Zhang Dong for quite a long time and got tipsy. Zhang Dong placed his hand on the boy’s chest and suddenly pushed him while asking smilingly, “Are you alright?” Lin Wenxi lost his balance and nearly fell to the ground. Zhang Dong did not go to hold the boy. Instead, he snatched the cup from the boy’s hand and poured some liquor for himself. He lifted up his head as he gulped down the liquor.

Back in the third depot, Zhang Dong had once eaten up the fish left by Lin Wenxi. Upon seeing Zhang Dong took his cup away, Lin Wenxi hastily stuttered out, “That, That is my cup.”

Zhang Dong seemed to think of something, too. He laughed and mumbled, “Oh? Is it yours? I’m really drunken, really drunk.” After that, he got close to Lin Wenxi and whispered beside the boy’s ear. “We’ll have another chance to drink together in the future.”

Lin Wenxi heard his military instructor talking while looking at Zhao Yuan. He saw that Chen Wanxin threw herself into Zhao Yuan’s arms and the students around them gave them a big round of applause. Lin Wenxi looked up into the sky. As it was almost winter now, the moon on the sky looked exceptionally cold, and the stars could no longer be seen. Suddenly, he lost control and fell forward.

Zhang Dong held Lin Wenxi and then he felt that his chest got wet with the boy’s tears. He wanted to gently touch Lin Wenxi’s hair and bite his ear. He wanted to pull the boy tightly toward himself.”No, I can’t.” With this in mind, he suppressed the urge to hold Lin Wenxi tightly and shook him while saying, “Wake up, why did you fall asleep at this hour?”

Lin Wenxi felt dizzy and started to vomit. Zhang Dong patted his back and helped him to walk aside. Lin Wenxi felt that he had vomited his insides out. Shu Xiaoman hurriedly came over to help him. She fed him some vinegar, fetched him some warm water and used a silver needle to stimulate the point between his thumb and forefinger. Later, when Zhao Yuan and Chen Wanxin came over to see him, Lin Wenxi woke up and kept smiling at Zhao Yuan.

When everything was alright, someone urged Zhang Dong to sing a song for this goodbye party.

Zhang Dong immediately stood in the center and started to sing. He made an unusual sound with his throat. He seemed to be imitating the sounds made by a neighing horse in the beginning, and gradually he raised his voice to make some amazing high-pitched sounds. When he lowered his voice again, it still sounded solid and melodious.

One of the students was surprised and cried out, “This is Hoomei singing! This is Hoomei singing from Inner Mongolia!” Zhang Dong did not stop upon hearing that and continued to sing in some foreign language after his Hoomei throat singing. His singing now was loud and clear, and it sounded somewhat sad. Lin Wenxi was nearly moved to tears. That student who had just shouted excitedly suddenly started to cry and said, very movingly, “This is Mongolian. I’ve never expected to meet someone from Inner Mongolia here.”

When Zhang Dong finished singing the song, the students burst into thunderous applause. Many of them asked the student from Inner Mongolia to translate the lyrics for them. The students shook his head and said, “It’s difficult to translate them directly. I can only tell you that this song’s title is ‘Swan Geese’.”

“Swan Geese,” Lin Wenxi thought to himself while looking at Zhang Dong’s back under the moonlight. Even many years later, Lin Wenxi could still remember this sad song and the lonely soldier who had to stay far away from his hometown and every time he heard this tune, he would hum and sing. “Swan Geese fly up to the sky. How far away the sky is? I’ll keep drinking and refilling my cup. I’ll never go back until I get drunk.”

That night, Lin Wenxi noticed that Zhang Dong kept standing with his face toward the north, his hometown.

The students came to say goodbye to Zhang Dong.

Zhao Yuan and Zheng Kai just asked the military instructor to take care of himself. Wang Xiang got more emotional than a girl. He held Zhang Dong’s waist and cried. Upon seeing that, Chen Wanxin could not help but tease, “Look at your boyfriend, Zhang An’an. Is he really a man?” Zhang An’an retorted, “Usually a man will suppress his urge to cry when he’s sad. I think that’s completely unnecessary. A man can cry any time he wants.”

Chen Wanxin slightly raised her eyebrows and looked at Lin Wenxi. She asked smilingly, “What a kind of man is he?” Shu Xiaoman hurriedly replied, “Lin Wenxi is just too shy to say anything to Zhang Dong.” Zhang An’an smiled and agreed. Lin Wenxi did not come to say goodbye to Zhang Dong. He walked away from the crowd and returned to his dorm alone.

Everything went back to normal as if nothing had happened during the past few months.