Old Wounds, New Growth - Chapter 25

Translator: Deyonna

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Li Chishu and I squatted by the small table and finished eating half of the cake.

Finally, I dipped my finger into a small amount of cream from the edge and playfully touched it to Li Chishu's nose. He looked at me with a puzzled expression. I explained, "It's a ritual for the birthday celebrant to experience this."

He seemed to never doubt my explanations and simply nodded. "Ah, I see."

Seizing the opportunity while he was distracted, I swiftly retrieved my phone and called out, "Li Chishu."

He looked up and I captured the first photo of him at the age of eighteen.

Li Chishu's gaze shifted towards my phone, appearing eager to lean over and see how the photo had turned out.

"Look." I flipped the phone around and placed it closer in front of him. "Does it look good?"

Li Chishu smiled and then lowered his head to scrape off the leftover cream on the plate.

"I'm going to set it as my wallpaper," I said.

His movements paused and turned his head to ask me, "You want to set me as your wallpaper?"

"Yeah." I quickly set it up, closed all the apps, and admired the phone's home screen that now showed Li Chishu. "From now on, every time I unlock my phone, I'll see you."

This time, he spent even more time looking at my phone wallpaper than he did looking at his own photo earlier. It seemed as though the significance of his photo becoming my phone wallpaper was far greater than the photo itself.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

He belatedly averted his gaze and licked the plastic fork he put in his mouth. With a smile, he said, "I never thought that one day I would become your wallpaper."

"That's how we, the crazy ones in unrequited love, tend to be." I put my phone back into my pocket and stood up to get the toiletries. After taking a couple of steps, I turned back and pretended to helplessly say, "When you take a photo of someone you like, you can't help but wish to plaster it all over the world."

Li Chishu stared at me blankly, then burst into laughter along with me.

When I returned to the room, Li Chishu was in the corner, using a cardboard box and some old clothes to make a cozy nest for Potato. It was a small one, but it looked very warm. If it weren't for the size limitation and my desire to sleep with Li Chishu in my arms, there would have been a fierce war between humans and dogs for the bed tonight.

After he finished rinsing his mouth, he hurriedly ran in. It must be even colder outside now.

Li Chishu doesn't have any heating equipment at home. The cheapest electric heaters with two heating rods outside cost around twenty-something each. Although he could afford to buy them, he spends most of the winter at school, only going home for about half a month. Li Chishu thinks it's not worth it, so he gritted his teeth and managed without it.

And the amount of money he has saved throughout his life by "gritting his teeth" is really a lot.

There was originally a hot water bottle at home, but for some reason, Li Chishu had not brought it out today. He lay down in bed, wrapping himself tightly in the blankets, and took a few deep breaths, seemingly attempting to dispel the cold from his body.

I lifted the blanket on the other side of the bed and lay down, facing him. I quietly used my foot to nudge his feet.

Li Chishu moved away. "Don't touch... my feet are cold."

I stretched my arms towards him, and between the two of us, the blanket opened up like a pocket filled with air.

I said, "Shen Baoshan's embrace is very warm. Do you want to give it a try?"

He looked at me for a moment, then slowly moved closer.

"Li Chishu?"

"En?"

"Tomorrow, no, in the morning. What do you want to eat?"

"Isn't it longevity noodles?"

"What about lunch?"

"En... anything is fine."

"Then let's stir-fry some beef and make some shrimp dish... Do you eat fish?"

On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, the sky was gloomy, and the temperature dropped suddenly. I asked Li Chishu about the location of the nearby market and told him to wear a scarf and not to go out casually.

When I arrived last night, I only brought along some bread and cuttlefish roe paste, as well as a few fresh fruits that were not easily available nearby. Li Chishu's refrigerator was nearly empty, with only a few eggs and a handful of vegetables. After I rummaged around and randomly put together some ingredients, it barely looked presentable.

Around 10 o'clock in the morning, the sun finally came out. I went to the market and bought a lot of things, including a fish. When I returned to the fifth floor, I was greeted with a scene that left me unsure whether to laugh or cry: Li Chishu and Potato, one human and one dog, were blocking the doorway. The big one sat on a low wooden stool, his knees supporting a workbook. Fortunately, his scarf covered half of his face, leaving only his nose exposed and reddened by the wind. On one hand, he puffed air and on the other hand, he bowed his head, solving problems. Then the small one lay next to his feet, looking sleepy and dispirited, but still wagging its tail.

"Li Chishu," I leaned against the handrail at the corner of the staircase, looking up at him along the long cement stairs, "What are you doing sitting there?"

Potato suddenly became spirited and ran around at my feet. Li Chishu looked up from his book when he heard my voice. When he saw that it was me, he smiled and exhaled a puff of white breath. Then he neatly put away his workbook, came down, and took the grocery bag from my hand. "You're back."

"En." I led him upstairs. "What about you? Why were you sitting in the doorway in this cold weather?"

"Oh, it's nothing," he said. "Sitting at the doorway allows me to see you sooner."

"Do you know that only puppies wait at the doorway for their owners?"

"Really?"

"If you don't believe me, ask Potato."

Potato barked at me twice.

I pointed at it. "See?"

Li Chishu laughed and walked into the kitchen, carrying the groceries I bought.

He was wearing the coat I had prepared for him today, which was from the same series as the one I was wearing, but in a different color. The clothes in this series tend to have a loose fit, and when I was picking out his size, I struggled to figure out the exact measurements. Going down one size would be too small, while going up one size would be too big. In the end, I chose a slightly larger size. Fortunately, the style had a drop shoulder, so the only difference was that the sleeves were a bit longer when I compared it to his measurements. I had a skilled tailor at home make some alterations so that he would feel comfortable wearing it. As I recalled Li Chishu sitting in the doorway with his workbook in his arms, my footsteps slowly came to a stop behind him.

"Li Chishu... So, I have actually met you at that time."

That was during the winter of my first year in high school, in the twelfth lunar month, when the lower grades were on vacation and only the seniors were still attending classes. With nothing else to do, Jiang Chi and I finally had a day when neither of our families needed us for the Lunar New Year's Eve family dinner, so we decided to meet up and go swimming at the school swimming pool.

At that time, the school swimming pool was not fully open yet and was still in the trial operation stage. It cost 15 yuan for one ticket per person, and we had to buy a ticket to enter.

As usual, Jiang Chi and I swam until late. He got out of the pool first and the gatekeeper who was in charge of the swimming pool asked Jiang Chi to watch over it for a while because he needed to answer the call of nature. Jiang Chi agreed to help him, but this guy immediately ran off to the changing room—because the swimming pool was the only place in the school that had a continuous heating system operating for eight hours each day.

After I finished swimming and came out of the shower room, I happened to run into Li Chishu, who had sneaked in.

He was sitting on the bench closest to the swimming pool—which was a very secluded spot with good lighting. Even if the person in charge came in for inspection, they usually wouldn't go that far. I'm not sure what happened to Li Chishu at that time, but I do remember that he was wearing clothes that were thinner than any other day of that winter. He wasn't even wearing a school uniform, just a heavily layered sweater, and maybe a short-sleeved shirt underneath.

Li Chishu was just like that afternoon two months ago when he sat on the bench waiting for me. He cherished every second he could spend near the heater, engrossed in reading. The light from the water ripples danced on his jaw, and his hands were slightly swollen from the cold. He wore a pair of thin canvas shoes on his feet, with his knees tightly closed, and the book rested on his lap.

"That... classmate?" I stood at the entrance of the changing room and tried calling out to him.

Li Chishu suddenly looked up, probably not expecting someone else to be in the swimming pool. His dressing style clearly indicated that he wasn't here to swim. The school had strict rules during winter that only those with tickets were allowed to enter the swimming pool. This was to prevent students from swarming here to use the heating system and take up space without paying.

He wasn't good at disguising his emotions. From the first second his eyes started to panic, I could see his embarrassment. Unfortunately, at that moment, the person in charge of the swimming pool came back and asked, "Are you guys still swimming?"

I calmly took a step forward, blocking the view of Li Chishu from the outside, and said to the person in charge, "...still swimming!"

Actually, I was planning to leave. I had already finished showering, and Jiang Chi was waiting for me outside.

But I estimated that Li Chishu had only been here for a few minutes. If I were to leave now, the swimming pool would have to close, and Li Chishu, who had managed to sneak in with great difficulty, could only leave.

After the person in charge returned to his post, I turned around and sent a message to Jiang Chi on my phone, asking him to return alone. Li Chishu whispered to me. "Thank you."

"It's nothing." I was typing away on the keyboard without looking up at him. I think Li Chishu, at that time, also didn't want to let others see too much of him.

I went to the changing room and took out my own coat, handing it to him. "You can wear this"

Even though the swimming pool had a heating system, the amount of air supplied was not enough for such a large area. The clothes that Li Chishu was wearing were definitely not enough to keep him warm.

He looked somewhat blank and then hurriedly waved his hand, refusing, "No, no need, really no need..."

I shook out the coat and draped it over him. "Just wear it for a while. I've already brought it out, anyway."

After saying that, I went into the swimming pool on my own, giving him enough personal space.

There was my school badge on the coat, but I was too lazy and didn't take it off, which made Li Chishu miss me for nearly ten years.

I swam to a faraway deep water, occasionally looking back. The person sitting on the bench, wearing an ill-fitting black coat, remained and maintained the same reading position from beginning to end, motionless.

After swimming for a sufficient amount of time, I lifted my head from the water, only to find that there was no one on the bench by the poolside.

Li Chishu had left, neatly folding my coat and placing it on the chair.

That was the winter of my first year in high school. As a newcomer to the senior high school campus, I was unfamiliar with everything here, and quickly forgot about that day.

January 29th, Sunny

Last night, I accidentally overfilled the hot water bottle, and it burst, causing a power outage. I couldn't sleep because it was so cold. I guess tonight will be the same.

It would be great if I could live in a house with air conditioning. Sigh.

I wish school would start earlier. Why do we have to wait for another week?

January 29th, Sunny

This year, I wore new clothes. Shen Baoshan personally rolled the noodles and cooked me a bowl of longevity noodles with lots of meat.

In the evening, he made a lot of dishes and said it was my New Year's Eve family dinner. There was also a fish, and he gave me all the meat from the fish's belly. I shared a small piece of it with Potato, but he discovered it.

There were still some dumpling wrappers left, and Shen Baoshan said we would have dumplings tomorrow.

I asked him when he would go home, and he said his parents would be going on a business trip abroad tomorrow. After he went home, he could come and stay with me until school starts.

I hope time can slow down a bit, and then slow down a bit more.

It would be great if school wouldn't start.

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Translator's Corner: Sorry for the late update guys, had to deal will lot of stuff in real life so I wasn't able to update on time. I missed the update last Saturday but I will update this Saturday. See ya!

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