Let Me Meet You chapter 42
Sunrise (Part 5)
“What are you doing?” Sheng Min poked his head out, seemingly surprised to see Li Xuan. “I heard footsteps and thought I was hearing things.”
“Did I wake you?” Li Xuan was momentarily stunned and crouched down to talk to him. “Aren’t you in the tent next to mine?”
When he had come out earlier, he had specifically checked, and the light in that tent had already been off.
“The lights over there are brighter, and Yinying said she’s afraid of the dark. So, I swapped places with her.”
“Did she ask you?”
“She came with her assistant.” Sheng Min was confused, but when he saw Li Xuan frown, he spoke on Liu Yinying’s behalf. “She really is afraid of the dark. When she was a child, she got so scared while filming a horror movie.” He then asked Li Xuan, “How come you’re out here?”
Li Xuan briefly explained the situation with the crab.
“Then what are you planning to do with the laptop?”
“There’s a chair under the lighthouse over there…”
“No way.” Before Li Xuan could finish, Sheng Min interrupted firmly, “The wind by the sea is too strong at night.”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.” Sheng Min looked at the faint light outside and thought for a moment. After a full day of filming, the whole camp was probably asleep except for the two of them. He said, “I’ll go over there. You can use this tent.”
“What’s the difference?” Li Xuan said. “Are you some kind of anchor that stops the wind?”
Sheng Min noticed he was teasing him but wasn’t angry, responding gently, “But you have to record the program tomorrow. You need to rest well. I can take a nap during the day.”
“It’s fine. The wind’s not strong. You sleep.” Li Xuan didn’t want to argue over something unnecessary and said, “Goodnight,” before trying to leave. But he didn’t move, as Sheng Min grabbed the hem of his shirt.
After squatting for a while, Li Xuan’s legs had gotten a bit numb, and his balance wasn’t steady. He was also holding the laptop. In a hurry, Shen Min, without realizing his strength, suddenly pulled, causing Li Xuan to lurch forward. He was about to crash into Sheng Min but quickly braced himself with his hand against the ground to avoid falling on him.
“Did I hit you?” His hand was less than five centimeters away from Sheng Min’s side.
Sheng Min was half-pushed onto the ground, shaking his head, secretly hiding his hand behind his back to avoid showing his reddened knuckles. His first words were still, “I think I should go.”
The dim lighting made it hard for Li Xuan to notice. Frowning, he said, “I told you, it’s not a big deal. What’s there to argue about?”
“Yeah.” Sheng Min agreed, “So I should go…”
As he spoke, his eyelashes fluttered, brushing against Li Xuan’s face. Li Xuan froze for a moment, and Sheng Min also stopped speaking. They both realized that they were communicating so closely. Li Xuan hastily pulled his hand back, sat up suddenly, and the back of his head hit the top of the tent.
“Are you okay?” There was a loud thud, and Sheng Min hurriedly knelt to check his injury.
“I’m fine.” Li Xuan winced, turning his head to avoid him looking, “I told you not to argue about this.”
Sheng Min pouted, “You’re the one arguing.”
“Forget it.” Li Xuan, with a determined look, rubbed the back of his head and said, “No one needs to go. This tent isn’t too small for two people.”
This was a simple solution that could have been brought up earlier, but neither of them mentioned it. Instead, they argued like schoolchildren, the reason for which was all too clear.
Just like now, after Li Xuan calmly made the suggestion, he still coughed and lowered his voice, “You don’t mind, right?”
“I… I don’t mind.” Sheng Min stammered, his voice soft. “As long as you don’t mind.”
“I told you it’s fine.”
It was settled, but neither of them made a move after that. They each stole a glance at each other, and when their eyes met, Sheng Min, as if waking up from a dream, moved aside. “You can go in first.”
The production team had prepared double tents. But the two tall men, even though lean, didn’t exactly have ample space in the tent.
Since the new bed Sheng Min had bought was delivered, they hadn’t shared a room at night. During the day, they had forgotten to maintain any distance, but at night, for some reason, it felt awkward. Perhaps because the night was so dark, hiding so many secrets.
“Go back to sleep.” Sheng Min sat on the inside, while Li Xuan zipped up the tent, “I still have some things to deal with.”
Sheng Min mumbled and agreed. Seeing Li Xuan focused on the laptop, he thought he wasn’t paying attention and subtly pushed something under the pillow. But Li Xuan caught a glimpse of it, realizing something was off. The tent’s top light hadn’t just turned on when he approached, it had been on the whole time. Looking again, Sheng Min’s hair was neat, as if he hadn’t been disturbed, meaning he probably hadn’t slept at all.
“What’s that?”
The sudden sound caught Sheng Min, and his hand instinctively loosened. Something white appeared from under the pillow—a thick stack, unlike the usual play scripts he read. Then a pen rolled out. Li Xuan had a baffling thought: “Sheng Min? Are you doing assignments in the middle of the night?”
He really was doing assignments. The thick stack of materials under the pillow was bound, with the words “Statistical Mechanics” neatly printed on the cover.
“Where did you get this?” Li Xuan didn’t care about his objections, reaching behind Sheng Min to grab it and quickly flipping through. The front was lecture notes, the back was past exam papers on statistical mechanics from N University. The edges of the pages were worn from being flipped through many times.
“I got it from your classmate the last time I went to the school.”
Li Xuan remembered now. He had seen Sheng Min that day at the school gate, just after he had come out of the printing shop holding a black bag. But at that time, Li Xuan was still angry, so he didn’t ask.
“Which classmate? I barely recognize anyone in that class. You’ve already asked for materials after going there twice?”
“It’s the first one who greeted you. You don’t know anyone else, but I noticed your classmates all know you.” Sheng Min reached out to take it back, looking embarrassed, “Okay, stop looking. Don’t you have other things to do?”
“Why can’t I look?” Li Xuan held onto the other end and didn’t let go.
Sheng Min tugged twice but couldn’t pull it back. He gave up, letting go with a resigned sigh. “No reason. I didn’t want you to know… And it’s not even something that’s been settled yet, what’s there to talk about?”
The light fell from above his head, casting scattered shadows. Sheng Min unconsciously fiddled with his fingers. “After all, you never urged me about the exam. Of course, this is my fault; I haven’t studied any of this… So I didn’t want to tell you just yet. As long as I can pass smoothly, that’s good enough. Besides, there’s no need to mention it to you. You already have enough on your plate. Sometimes when I think about it, ever since we swapped, you’re the one at a disadvantage. You’ve done so much for me, and I can give so little in return. It’s really unfair to you. Even if I end up taking the exam for you, who knows how well I’ll do? Telling you now wouldn’t make any difference.”
“It’s not like buying vegetables at the market, what’s this fairness nonsense?” Li Xuan said, sitting cross-legged with his knees touching Sheng Min’s legs. After a moment of thought, he added, “The reason I didn’t urge you about the exam isn’t because I think you can’t do it; it’s because I didn’t get around to it.”
Sheng Min glanced at him, not fully believing it.
That statement was only partially true. Li Xuan insisted on finishing it: “You know, I’ve never really liked physics…”
“But you still need the diploma,” Sheng Min said, drawing out the words a bit. When Li Xuan didn’t respond, he sat up straight and looked at him, “You’re not planning to give up, are you? You worked so hard to get in…”
In fact, it hadn’t been that hard. Li Xuan thought to himself, but seeing how much more concerned Sheng Min seemed than he was about this, he decided not to tease him. A while ago, he had indeed been thinking that with the rift between him and Li Mingge, whether or not to come clean didn’t really matter anymore.
“I didn’t say that, don’t put words in my mouth.” Li Xuan changed the subject. “How’s the material coming along?”
“I’ve read the lecture notes five times,” Sheng Min scratched his head. “I’ve done the practice exercises at the back. I can do the first two… but honestly, I don’t know if the formulas are right, but the answers are correct.”
His tone had a touch of frustration, or maybe guilt. But he straightened up and added, “I’ll try my best, don’t worry… I know you don’t like physics, but you spent your time and effort for these three years. I’m willing to take the exam because I want you to get what belongs to you. Whether you need it or not, it’s yours, and it only concerns you. Don’t think you can just throw it away because of someone else.”
He had a lot to tell Li Xuan, but he also feared touching on things Li Xuan didn’t want to discuss. He spoke carefully, but his words came out a bit scattered. Li Xuan understood, so he didn’t correct him. Based on the situation, it seemed that Sheng Min was the more worried one. He also vaguely recalled the other night when he went to the kitchen for water and saw the light from the bedroom shining through the crack in the door. It was probably then that Sheng Min was working on the material.
Li Xuan thought for a moment, then opened the materials again. Sheng Min’s handwriting was starting to become familiar: “It’s not that hard. Class participation counts for 50%. Attendance is 20, but I missed one class, so that’s only 10. There were three quizzes, and I got full marks on all of them. So, you only need to get 40 on the final.”
The sound of pages turning was especially clear in the quiet night. Li Xuan quickly picked out about ten questions: “You don’t need to read the lecture notes anymore, and you don’t need to do the problems one by one. Just memorize these. The final exam will probably have a few of these questions, but they’ll just change the numbers. If there’s anything you don’t get, just ask me.”
He smoothly moved the materials to his side, saying firmly, “But not tonight. It’s already late. Let’s go to sleep now. We’ll finish it tomorrow.”
“Then you…” Sheng Min hesitated, but the tent was so small, and he didn’t want to fight over the materials.
“I’ll finish what’s left here… I’m not lying, the laptop’s almost out of power. I won’t even be able to stay up all night.”
This reason was indisputable, and Sheng Min stopped insisting. For a while, Li Xuan really thought he had fallen asleep, as not even his eyelashes fluttered. But when Li Xuan finally closed his laptop and lay down, Sheng Min immediately shifted, making space for him.
“You’re pretty good at pretending to sleep. Don’t move, or you’ll end up rolling out of the tent.”
“I’m not pretending,” Sheng Min said, “Just can’t fall asleep yet.”
“Want me to tell you a story?”
Sheng Min laughed. “I can tell you one.”
They were so close that when they spoke, their breaths seemed to meet, like two vines entwined out of nowhere. Li Xuan felt that the tent was too small, but at the same time, it felt just right.
The night grew deeper, and the sea breeze seemed to pick up, carrying the waves that tirelessly crashed against the rocks again and again.
“What do you want to hear?” Sheng Min asked him, “Grimm’s fairy tales or Hans Christian Andersen?”
“I don’t want either,” Li Xuan’s smile faded, and the sound of the sea wind outside the tent reminded him of when they had first arrived. “You still haven’t told me why being by the sea puts you in a good mood.”
“Do you remember the first time you saw the sea?” After a short pause, Sheng Min asked.
“Maybe when I was eleven. I told you before, I’m not from N City. When I came from a neighboring province, I passed by a coastal road.”
At that time, Li Xuan had just escaped from the orphanage, with only about five hundred yuan he had secretly saved. He couldn’t spend much, constantly on guard to avoid being caught and sent back. His only focus was to run far away. It wasn’t long before he found a truck driver willing to take him. When he climbed onto the truck, he didn’t even know where they were headed. Even though the coastal road had great scenery, he didn’t pay attention to it; he was only thinking about where he would be tomorrow and what the future would look like. But he never thought it was something Sheng Min needed to know.
“My first time at the seaside was when my dad took me. I was about four. My mom had just had my younger brother and went back to her family by the sea. I really wanted to go with her, but she didn’t take me. I was too young and didn’t understand, just causing a tantrum at home. So my dad took me to the nearest beach. Later, he got sick, and that was the last time we hung out.”
As he spoke of the past, Sheng Min didn’t seem to feel much sadness, as if he didn’t need comfort anymore.
Li Xuan found himself lost for words: “I see…”
Sheng Min didn’t immediately respond. The silence lasted for a long time, and just as Li Xuan thought the story had ended, Sheng Min spoke again, his tone different, a little distant.
“Last winter, I was filming in a coastal city. One day, I don’t know why, but I just ended up at the beach… It wasn’t intentional. My memory wasn’t great during that time.”
It was strange. Although it was nighttime, and it was December in the north, the sea wasn’t cold that night. It even felt warm. The waves kept surging, scattering the stars reflected on the water. Sheng Min wanted to pick up a whole star, so he walked forward step by step.
“I really didn’t mean to. I caused the staff a lot of trouble looking for me.”
Li Xuan’s breath tightened. “What happened afterward?”
“I don’t remember.” Sheng Min was silent for a moment, as if trying to recall, and then softly said, “I really don’t remember. Maybe I got tired and fell asleep. When I woke up, I was still on the beach. It was almost dawn by then, and the sun was rising from the sea. I don’t actually remember if, that time when my dad took me to the beach, we watched the sunrise. Probably not. But at that moment, I felt like he was still beside me, watching it with me.
“Isn’t there a saying that people turn into stars after they die? Could they also become clouds? Like the ones at sunrise by the sea. I sat on the beach to dry my clothes, and then the staff found me.”
It all felt like an impulsive outing, except that Sheng Min had dived deep into the sea but failed to pick up any stars. The cold sea had embraced and sheltered him through the night, returning him to the land to greet the new day.
“So now, when I see the sea, I feel happy. Don’t laugh at me—I know it’s just psychological.”
“I won’t laugh at you.” Li Xuan was quiet for a long time before speaking. At some point, his palm gently covered Sheng Min’s eyes, his voice soft in the night. “Go to sleep now. Let’s get up early tomorrow, and I’ll watch the sunrise with you.”