Chapter Twelve Beautiful Days

  As the college entrance exam approaches, Ren Han gradually became familiar with me and often sat next to me during evening self-study sessions to recite books. Some classmates have already started discussing us in hushed tones, and even our class teacher thinks we have a tendency towards puppy love. I didn't think there was anything wrong, just that being with her felt very comfortable. To be honest, I've never been in love before, not even once, and I don't even know what it feels like to have a crush!

  Li Hui was "warned" by me not to come to the evening self-study again. Holding the cue I gave him, he is happily playing in the billiard hall every day. This is indirectly cultivating talent for the country. This kid may become the next Hasimu or Ding Junhui in the future.

  "You're not bad, you're almost catching up with my grades. I reckon when we go to university, we can still be classmates." Ren Huan said, turning her head to look at me after she got tired of reciting from memory. I smiled and said "Of course, I'm a genius. As long as I put in a bit of effort, you ordinary people will only be able to look up to me." She gave me a white eye and said: "Genius sir, what's the secret to getting single-digit scores on math exams?"

  She said one sentence that made my old face blush. For a moment, I really didn't know what to say, fortunately, the pager vibrated at this time, and I hurriedly looked down. Ren Han ignored me, so I continued reading my book.

  As I walked home from school, Ren Han said to me: "Can't you not bring your pager? You don't look like a student at all!" I smiled foolishly and explained: "I know a lot of people, there's always something going on." After hearing my words, Ren Han asked hesitantly with her unique tone: "Are you doing business with someone else? And I heard that you also know Xiaodou and them, they're not good people."

  "Who is Xiaodou?" I asked bewilderedly. "I don't know!" Ren Han stopped talking, lowered his head and continued walking forward. I thought I had said something wrong, so I also hurried to follow him. Whispering: "I really don't know Xiaodou, I was just doing some small business with my brother and them. But we didn't do any food business!"

  Ren Han listened to my words, burst out laughing and turned her head saying: "Hate! You love to talk nonsense, pretending to be silly, Xiaodou is a person's name!" Seeing that she was happy, I said: "I do know a few gangsters, but indeed I don't know Xiaodou, or maybe I know him, but I don't know his nickname."

  Ren Han nodded and said, "You'd better calm down, the college entrance exam is in a month." I nodded in agreement and continued walking with her. When we were almost at her building, she suddenly realized I had been following her all along and said with some embarrassment, "You can go back now, I'm home." After that, she immediately ran off without even saying thank you!

  I went back home and dialed the number on the pager, asking "I'm Ye Kai, who's looking for me?" A noisy voice came from the other end of the phone: "Yezi, it's Gangzi, how have you been lately?" I quickly replied: "I'm fine, Brother Gang, what's up?" "I want to ask a favor," Gangzi said with some embarrassment. "It's a bit embarrassing, but after thinking about it, I can only ask you." I said with some curiosity: "No problem, Brother Gang, just say it. Don't be embarrassed."

  Gangzi finally made it clear after writing a few more sentences. It turned out that our school's Shao Yinghong and the worker from his repair shop were in a relationship, but after only a few days, the guy got Shao Yinghong pregnant. So they wanted to go to the hospital for an abortion. At this time, it wasn't like after the year 2000 when hospitals advertising abortion services everywhere, people were still very conservative, and if you wanted to have an abortion at a hospital, you needed proof from your work unit.

  So Steel asked someone for help and finally asked me to come here, who let him know that my aunt is a gynecologist? I had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

  "They're the same, the birth control bureau's condoms are free, and they don't have to spend money, how come they didn't take measures?!" I muttered as I hung up the phone, thinking about how to explain to my aunt that the girl's belly wasn't my doing.

  What a beautiful sunny day! I'm sitting in Wuling Square, East City, feeling sentimental, counting the passing vehicles while waiting for Ren Han. We agreed to attend the math crash course at the Cultural Palace across the street today. To be honest, it's just a lecture where teachers guess questions and students flock to it with a lucky mindset. This kind of lecture is still somewhat useful, or else I wouldn't have come either.

  Two o'clock, Ren Huan didn't come. I changed from sitting and waiting to standing and waiting. Three o'clock, Ren Huan still didn't come, I changed from standing and waiting to squatting and waiting. Four o'clock, Ren Huan still hadn't come, I changed from squatting and waiting to foolishly waiting...

  The next day at school, Ren Han came over to explain to me: "Sorry, yesterday a friend of mine came to find me, so I had my mom go sign up for me." As soon as I heard her voice, my anger disappeared and I smiled foolishly, saying: "It's okay, I waited for a while yesterday, but when you didn't show up, I left too." Ren Han looked at me with a hint of a smile, saying: "Really?"

  I nodded and said, "Really." "Then how come I heard Cai Tingting say that she saw you squatting in Wuling Square when she came out of the Cultural Palace at 4 o'clock?" Ren Han said with some embarrassment: "Why are you so stupid?"

  I'm a bit silly, what's wrong with me, being played by a little girl to the point of being confused and disoriented, it seems too embarrassing, too unworthy of my reborn identity.

  After dinner, I was about to head out to school when Cui Lei's call came in. He excitedly said on the phone: "Ye Zi, my nightclub is opening tonight, come take a look, there's a 'show' tonight." "Not going," I replied with a full stomach: "I still have class to attend."

  Chui Lei said on the phone: "What's up, kid? What have you been up to lately? Why are you still at school so late?"

  I helplessly said: "I'm a student, if I'm not in school, where am I?"

  "Stop messing around and get over here quickly!" Cui Lei said somewhat impatiently. "Liang Ge and the others will be here soon!"

  Cui Lei's nightclub is located in the northern third ring, a bit out of the way. He staked everything he had, buying a six-story building and renovating it from top to bottom, even adding a "bathhouse" that was just starting to become popular.

  From a distance, I saw Leizi writing under the neon sign of "Paradise" with an endless stream of guests nodding and bowing. I walked up to him laughing and said: "Leizi, why are you dressed like that, like a Japanese devil!" He reflexively said: "Hello..." Then he realized it was me and said: "What took you so long? Liang Ge and the others went upstairs early, damn it's exhausting me, my face is cramped from smiling."

  I smiled and said, "I came by 'surface land', of course can't compare with Lian Ge's 'big run'". He beckoned a waiter to come over and said, "You go upstairs first, I'll be busy for a while and then go find you." I nodded and followed the waiter upstairs.

  Liangzi and Baocheng were in a private room on the third floor, being accompanied by two "ladies" while drinking. Seeing me come in, Baocheng invited me to sit down and said: "Yezhi, it's been half a month since we last saw you, why haven't you gone out for a run? Have you changed your ways?" I leaned back on the sofa and said: "No, I've been reading books lately. The college entrance exam is coming up soon, isn't it?"

  "You should calm down, we brothers only have you still in school, trying to mix with university students." Liangzi looked at me and said "How about it? Can you get in?" I smiled and said: "Don't worry, I won't say Beida, but at least Gongda is no problem."

  After chatting for a while, Cui Lei also pushed the door in. He coaxed the young lady out and sat beside me, saying: "How's it going, buddy? Not bad here, right?" I nodded and said: "So-so, the decoration is not bad, but I don't know about other things."

  "Now it's hard to find a good hostess, these are all high-priced ones I poached from other song halls." Cui Lei sighed and said "The hostesses of the night club are the foundation, without them, who would come?"

  Liàngzi said: "Didn't you get a few foreign girls?" Cui Lei shook his head and said: "Those are high-end goods, I'm preparing to deal with officials and slaughter 'old customers' when the time comes."

  Cui Lei seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and with a sly smile, he said to me: "Ye Zi, how about I take you out for some authentic 'imported goods' tonight?"

  "Get out!" I cursed with a smile: "You are the poisonous flower that harms our motherland."

  Chui Lei retorted, "Don't pretend to be innocent! When we first went to Langtangsha with Lian Ge, you didn't hesitate to take advantage of the girls, and you were only 15 at that time! Why didn't you say you were a delicate flower back then?"

  I retorted, "You were like that the first time too, tormenting Miss for a whole night, and the next day when she came out, she had to hold onto the wall just to walk. To this day, no one has been able to match your skills." After hearing me speak, Liangzi and Baocheng burst into loud laughter. Cui Lei's face turned red as he shouted, "That was called exceptional marksmanship!"

  Baicheng smiled and said, "Neither of you is anything! Stop it! Let's talk business." Cui Lei glared at me and said, "I've set up a small casino on the sixth floor. If you're interested, go play." Baicheng worriedly said, "Has the casino been shut down? The risk is too great. It just opened, let's be more cautious."

  Chui Lei waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, no one will check. My uncle was promoted to be the mayor, he introduced me to a deputy director of the Public Security Bureau, here are their business cards."

  I thought for a moment and said, "It's better to be careful, take yourself out of the file, just in case something happens." Liangzi echoed, "Yezi is right, being cautious will make you safe forever." "Got it!" Cui Lei said impatiently, "You're cursing me on my first day of opening, I really don't know whose side you're on. Forget it, let's go to the second floor to watch the foreign girl dance..."

  Five Russian girls were dancing and stripping on the stage, occasionally throwing their clothes to the audience below. The people downstairs were excitedly whistling. I was watching all this with a bit of unnaturalness, always thinking about going back to self-study in the evening...

  The next day as soon as I arrived at school, Ren Han ran over and asked: "Why didn't you come to class yesterday evening?" I looked at her in surprise and said: "I often don't go anyway!"

  "That's different, there are only twenty-something days until the exam, you know?" She said with a huff: "You fool around like this every day, can you even get into college?"

  Seeing her get angry, I had to explain: "Yesterday a friend had something important and asked for my help, so I didn't come to class." Ren Huan asked somewhat suspiciously: "Didn't you go fight instead?"

  I smiled foolishly and said: "How old am I, still fighting?" She believed what I said and left with satisfaction.

  After school in the evening, Ren Han asked me: "My dad said I should take the entrance exam for Gongda University, where are you planning to take it?" I pouted and said: "Of course, we'll go to the same place, didn't you say we'd be together?"

  "Did I say that?" She doubted: "Can your grades get into Gongda?" I smiled bitterly and said: "Don't look down on me, for you, I'll crawl my way into Gongda if I have to!" "Huh?", she suddenly stopped in her tracks, turned around and stared at me for a long time.

  The two of us stood silently on the street, and after a long time, she slowly said: "Don't send me off, I'll go by myself today!" After that, she walked quickly forward.

  I watched Ren Han gradually disappear into the backlight of the street lamp, muttering to myself: "Girl, I'm sorry, I think I've fallen in love with you. It's ridiculous that even I don't know when it started. Maybe it was from the moment we first sat together. But it doesn't matter, since I don't know when it began, then I'll try my best not to let it end."

  July 7th, the most beautiful day of my life.

  "Don't send it over anymore, my mom thinks it's not good."

  "I'll just watch you go in and then leave"

  "Hey, stop sleeping! If you can't understand, go read another book or something. You're being too arrogant, daring to do this in the class teacher's lesson!"

  "I'm exhausted! I was memorizing books until very late last night, big sister!"

  "You'd better work hard, otherwise you won't get in and then what will you do?" "Then I'll just pay for it."

  "Hey, don't fall asleep in the exam room, I'm waiting for us to go to Gongda together!"

  "You know, it's not your turn to be in charge yet, so stop being so bossy!"

  “……”

  Finally finished the exam, being a student is really not a human job, fortunately everything has ended, beautiful university life, waiting for me, brother is back!

  August 10th, the day of posting the list finally arrived. I found my name on the red list at school bulletin board which made me a little excited: "10th place Ye Kai 505; 9th place Ren Han 511".

  "Yes!" Now that the local university is confirmed, it's time to celebrate. Celebrate getting into college again, and celebrate that Ren Han got into the same university as me. "Should I bring Ren Han home for my parents to see?" This strange thought suddenly popped up in my head, but no, that would scare mom...

  In mid-August, I received the admission notice from Yunzhou Engineering University. My parents were overjoyed and set up a banquet, inviting all our relatives in Yunzhou City to come over. My grandparents were so excited that they told everyone they met that their family had produced a top scholar.

  The next evening, Cui Lei set up a big table in "Paradise" and invited all the people we knew. After a round of drinks, I ran to the toilet and vomited. After vomiting, I washed my face with cold water, turned around and staggered back, ready to start fighting again.

  I walked to the door of the private room, but no matter how hard I pushed, I couldn't open it. The wine was getting to my head and I cursed loudly: "Damn it!" I kicked the door with one foot.

  The door was kicked open with a bang. I leaned against the door frame, laughing and shouting inside: "You little thing! You still want to lock me out!"

  "Ye Kai, save me!" a girl's voice came from the private room. "You've brought another girl?" I chuckled and said: "Still recognize me! Uh, no!"

  It was only then that I realized there was no one in the private room that I knew. The sound system in the suite was turned up very loud, and a man and woman were staring at me intently from the sofa. The girl was lying on the sofa with her hands tied together, her skirt hiked up high. Her white thighs were spread wide apart, with her underwear hanging from one knee. The man had his hands grasping the girl's breasts, his mouth open in a stare at me.

  The girl saw me dazed and loudly cried out: "Ye Kai, save me, he's going to rape me!" "The girl knows me!" I was now awake. I somewhat understood what was happening. The man stood up at this time and furiously roared at me: "Get out, who let you in!"

  I didn't respond to him, I just walked over and kicked him in the crotch. Grabbed a wine bottle from the table and smashed it on his head. My movements were swift, and I swayed slightly as I watched the grape wine mixed with blood flow across his face, a crimson patch. Satisfied, I said: "Get out! What are you yelling about? Don't let me see you here again."

  At this time, Cui Lei also walked in from outside and understood what was going on. He called two security guards to carry the man out. I went over to put down the girl's skirt, helped her untie the rope on her hand, and wrapped my shirt around her. Then I asked her: "Have we met before?" The girl sobbed and said: "I am Cai Tingting!"

  Oh my! The girl with the heavily made-up face, looking like a fairy, is Cai Tingting. Her crying face was so disfigured that it's hard to see her original appearance. Cai Tingting cried as she recounted what had just happened: after the college entrance exam results came out, one of her friends said he wanted to celebrate with her and brought her here, then got her drunk and tried to take advantage of her, but fortunately I walked into the wrong room at the right time and interrupted them.

  I comforted her with a few words and had Lei Zi find her a waiter's uniform to wear. I supported her as we made our way downstairs.

  Her emotions calmed down a lot, and with some concern, she asked me: "Ye Kai, thank you." I comforted her saying: "It's nothing, we're classmates, helping each other is what we should do. If you want to report that kid, just tell me, I'll be your witness." After finishing speaking, I handed her 200 yuan for a taxi fare.

  She fell into a moment of silence, as if thinking about something. After a while, she asked me: "Are you still in touch with Ren Han?" "Of course, we're all classmates." I said "It's only been a few days since school started. Of course, we'd be in touch..." "Do you know that Ren Han has a boyfriend?" She asked cautiously. "I knew, so I... what did you say?" The stimulation of the alcohol made my reaction a bit slow, and I only managed to ask halfway: "You said Ren Han has a boyfriend?"

  She nodded and said, "His name is Hao Long. He grew up with Ren Han since childhood and attended Fourth Middle School. Do you still remember the day you waited for him at Wuling Square? That was the day he came to find Ren Han, so she didn't go to sign up..." I didn't hear what she said afterwards, my brain was completely numb from the alcohol.

  I sat at the gate of "Paradise" for a long time, and Liangzi walked out from inside and sat down beside me, asking: "What's wrong? Drunk? I heard you just did something heroic, are you enjoying yourself here?"

  I lowered my head and said, "Liang Ge, do you have any cigarettes? Give me one." Liangzi was taking out a cigarette while saying in doubt, "When did you learn to smoke? Is everything okay with you?"

  I lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. The strong, sweet smoke of the Su cigarettes burned hotly into my chest cavity. I turned to Liangzi and asked, "Liang Ge, do you believe in childhood sweethearts?" Liangzi shook his head and said, "That's all nonsense, I don't believe it."

  I didn't respond to his answer, looked up at the shooting star flashing across the sky and muttered: "I believe..."