Decayed Vulgarian chapter 21
See You In A Bit
“My ex-girlfriend made it official, in her friends circle, with her new boyfriend.”
“Do you still have each other’s contact information?!”
“We had an amicable breakup.”
Shen Xun was momentarily speechless. He sat on the couch, his arms loosely around Liang Yan, patting his back.
Liang Yan bowed his head, unable to stop his shoulders from trembling. “She has already forgotten me, entered a new relationship, and I can’t forget her. I’m truly useless.”
He said in a muffled voice, “So… sometimes, I envy you.”
Shen Xun was somewhat puzzled. “Envy me for what?”
Liang Yan closed his eyes and whispered, “I envy you for not having to choose between real-life and ideal love, for being carefree and free enough.”
Shen Xun lightly scoffed. “But lonely enough.”
“Do you know that saying?”
“What saying?”
“It’s from Gu Cheng,” Liang Yan began to slowly, word by word, recite, “‘You’re unwilling to plant flowers, you say you don’t want to see them wither away little by little. Yes, to avoid endings, you avoid beginnings altogether.’ But…”
He took a deep breath and continued, “But now I suddenly feel that avoiding beginnings isn’t so bad. It would have been better if I had never started with her, if we had never met.”
On a late night, without warning, two grown men became melodramatic. They couldn’t stop it, as if the night had learned a spell to magnify negative emotions. Shen Xun was stirred by what Liang Yan said, reigniting the emotions he had just managed to dissipate.
They stayed up all night with the stars, sharing their innermost thoughts and giving voice to words they couldn’t speak during the day. After all, when they woke up the next morning, they had to clear their memories and fit their expanded souls back into their cramped bodies, pretending as if nothing had happened, tucking their tails between their legs.
They slept in, waking up at 11 a.m.
Shen Xun’s head was still a little heavy when he woke up. He vaguely remembered that they had talked late into the night. He slowly got dressed and walked toward his bedroom, where Liang Yan was lying.
Since Liang Yan’s drunkenness was a temporary event, Shen Xun hadn’t had time to tidy up the storeroom as a guest room. Considering that Liang Yan needed a good sleep environment, Shen Xun gave up his own bedroom and slept on the couch.
When he pushed open the bedroom door, Liang Yan was sitting on Shen Xun’s bed looking bewildered.
The two men faced each other. Memories surfaced in fragments and stills.
Shen Xun: “Do you remember how you came to my place?”
Liang Yan seemed out of it for a moment, then slowly nodded.
Shen Xun didn’t say much more. He let all the absurdity of last night slide and decided not to mention it. Instead, he asked, “How are you feeling now?”
Liang Yan replied, “I feel pretty good. No headache, dizziness, or nausea.”
Shen Xun nodded. “Okay, how about you eat before you leave?”
Breakfast was the same old instant noodles—convenient.
Glancing at the wall clock, which showed that it was already past 11, lunch was naturally postponed. Shen Xun saw that Liang Yan was idle, so he asked, “Do you want to watch TV for a while, or play on the computer?”
Liang Yan said, “Let’s watch TV.”
Shen Xun turned on the TV for Liang Yan.
But he himself wasn’t interested in watching. He roamed around the room for a while before finally finding his missing phone under the couch. He couldn’t remember what he had done last night to get his phone into such a corner on the couch.
What was even stranger was the red dot in the top right corner of the WeChat icon. It was probably a new post from some public account he followed and forgot about. Shen Xun somewhat impatiently tapped it open:
Two messages from Meng Yuan Cen.
The first one was at 9:20.
[Okay, I’ll keep you company.]The second message was at 10:30, and it was an image of a Samoyed peeking its head out.
[Where are you.jpg]Shen Xun seemed to experience a gap in his memory, making it less fluid. After contemplating for a while, he suddenly remembered that, before heading to the bar, he had been feeling restless and had cleared all his unread messages, causing Meng Yuan Cen’s response to be lost, leaving him in the dark all night.
He tapped the pinyin keyboard:
[Last night, I was available when I texted you, but some unexpected things came up, which is why I missed your message.]A few seconds later, Meng Yuan Cen replied:
Shen Xun: No, it’s something else.
He didn’t explicitly mention that Liang Yan was drowning his sorrows after a breakup, in order to protect his privacy. However, he was unsure if Meng Yuan Cen would inquire further. If he did, how could Shen Xun explain it to sound sincere and trustworthy? Would he have to tell the truth?
Just as he was lost in thought, a call from Meng Yuan Cen popped up on the screen. Shen Xun’s hand trembled and almost declined the call by mistake. “Hello?”
“Shen Xun.”
“Yeah.”
“Are you at home right now? Do you have anything to do?”
“I am,” Shen Xun glanced at Liang Yan, who was lounging on the couch, “I’m not busy at the moment.”
Meng Yuan Cen continued, “I’ll be passing by Emerald Garden shortly. I want to return the book you lent me last time. Can you open the door for me when I get there?”
“Sure, okay.”
“Great, nothing else for now. I’ll hang up. See you in a bit.”
“See you in a bit.”
After ending the call, Shen Xun stood still for a few seconds before turning to Liang Yan and saying, “Meng Yuan Cen is coming.”
Liang Yan casually replied, “Well, let him come.”
Shen Xun furrowed his brow slightly. “He won’t misunderstand our relationship, will he?”
Liang Yan shrugged. “I told him we’re best friends. He won’t.”
Shen Xun fell silent, as if he had recalled something, and hastily left the room.
Curious, Liang Yan asked his retreating figure, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to wash the dishes from breakfast and tidy up the room a bit. It looks a bit messy.”
Shen Xun said and left, leaving Liang Yan alone in the living room, surveying the tidy and clean surroundings, puzzled.
Meng Yuan Cen’s “in a bit” turned out to be quite a while. When the doorbell rang, it was already 2:00 in the afternoon. Shen Xun and Liang Yan were putting fresh ingredients into the hot pot for a late lunch.
Shen Xun had bought the hot pot base on sale during his last supermarket visit, making it quite convenient.
Setting down his chopsticks, Shen Xun went to open the door, while the hot pot bubbled away, filling the living room with the fragrance of spicy hotpot. It was somewhat awkward.
Shen Xun welcomed Meng Yuan Cen inside and led him to the living room. The hot water and snacks were prepared. The TV was still on, providing some background noise for the lunch gathering.
Having done all this, Shen Xun returned to the dining table. Quite a bit of food had already disappeared, and Liang Yan kept complimenting Shen Xun’s cooking. However, it was mostly thanks to the hot pot base.
After hesitating for a few seconds, Shen Xun turned to Meng Yuan Cen, and asked, “Do you want to join us for lunch?”
Meng Yuan Cen shook his head and smiled, “No, thanks.”
He sat on the couch, not bothering to look at the TV. Instead, he turned his gaze in Shen Xun’s direction and asked, “You guys haven’t had lunch yet?”
Shen Xun nodded, “That’s right.”
Meng Yuan Cen smiled, “Well, I seem to have come at the wrong time. I thought everyone would be free around this time.”
Liang Yan chimed in, “That’s because Shen and I stayed up late last night.”
As soon as he said that, both Meng Yuan Cen and Shen Xun looked at him.
Meng Yuan Cen: “?”
Shen Xun: It’s literally true, but why does it sound so odd?
Author’s Note:
“You’re unwilling to plant flowers, you say you don’t want to see them wither away little by little. Yes, to avoid endings, you avoid beginnings altogether.” — Gu Cheng