Chapter 11

7:00 AM (2)

Drinking was indeed something Deng Yun taught her.

It all began with that complex and special night.

Deng Yun had asked Xu Muzi if she wanted to do something rebellious.

Even in the warmest northern winter, the temperature barely reached a few degrees. Xu Muzi was only wearing a shirt, and when the wind blew, she shivered and couldn’t immediately answer the question.

It seemed that Deng Yun was merely bringing it up casually; upon seeing her shivering and rubbing her arms, he laughed and said, “Let’s head back.”

They returned to the private room where their elders were gathered.

Earlier, she had told her family that she ran into some classmates downstairs and wanted to have dinner with them, but now she had to go back early…

She had already prepared various excuses and was well-rehearsed, but once they entered the room, no one seemed to want to question her.

The elders had drunk too much, and when they saw her, they simply said, “Muzi is back,” and then turned to continue drinking and chatting.

A few peers were huddled together at the other end of the sofa, playing games on their phones at the Go board.

Xu Muzi added a chair next to her parents, sat down silently, and felt the stuffy air in the private room. Breathing felt uncomfortable, yet there remained a hint of coolness against her chin.

She raised her hand to adjust her collar, feeling that the previous two hours had been like a nightmare.

In the literary exploration course she had taken last semester, they had just read One Hundred Years of Solitude, and while reading, she had relied on a family tree image organized by netizens to remember the main characters.

She always thought her feelings about this book were merely to cope with her studies, yet suddenly, in her mind, a passage appeared vividly clear:

“Colonel Aureliano Buendía gazed at the desolate street and the water droplets on the almond trees, feeling lost in his solitude.”

“‘Aureliano,’ he typed sadly on the telegraph key, ‘Macondo is raining.’”

As Xu Muzi sat quietly among the bustling voices, a sense of loneliness gradually spread.

Did she want to do some rebellious things?

Very much.

Deng Yun’s question was not unfounded; perhaps, with his clear perspective as an observer, he had noticed her emotions before she did.

Just as she began to miss the deafening gunshots and the acrid smell of gunpowder at the shooting range and started eyeing the unopened bottles of red wine on the table, her phone rang.

A string of unfamiliar numbers.

Perhaps it was a girl’s sensitivity, but Xu Muzi instinctively glanced at Deng Yun.

The surroundings were noisy.

Xu Muzi’s mother was passionately arguing with Deng Yun’s father about matters in their business alliance; it wasn’t a brainstorming session among businessmen but rather drunken chatter.

Even if they ended up hoarse from shouting, they would forget everything by the next morning.

Meanwhile, in this noisy atmosphere, Deng Yun raised his phone towards Xu Muzi.

The screen displayed the dialing interface, indicating that he was the one who made the call.

While their parents were engrossed in their arguments, they exchanged glances and gestures across the round table.

It felt like they were communicating secretly.

Xu Muzi nervously glanced around, relieved that the phone ringing hadn’t attracted anyone’s attention.

After he hung up, she texted him to ask:

“How did you know my phone number?”

Deng Yun replied:

“I saw it on the registration form at the shooting range.”

After that, Xu and Deng’s elders continued to argue heatedly, each refusing to back down. Amidst the giggles and exchanged glances from other younger family members, they were eventually pulled apart by equally drunk uncles and aunts.

Someone stepped in to mediate, pouring the last glass of wine, and the farce finally came to an end.

When they left, Xu Muzi got into her family’s car with her parents.

Her father sat in the passenger seat, while Xu Muzi and her mother were in the back.

Xu Muzi’s mother had drunk too much; her small handbag was discarded at her feet as she rubbed her forehead and leaned against Xu Muzi’s lap.

Xu Muzi folded her wool scarf into three layers and placed it under her mother’s head, wanting to make her more comfortable.

Xu Muzi’s mother was already drunk to the point of having a headache and frowning, still cursing Deng Yun’s father, calling him by name: “Deng Shixun, that inflexible blockhead!”

Xu Muzi’s father in the front seat chimed in, “Yes, a blockhead!”

The two cars stopped simultaneously at the traffic light. Xu Muzi felt something and turned back, locking eyes with Deng Yun, who was in the other car, amidst the space filled with the scent of alcohol.

They stared at each other until the traffic light turned green.

Deng Yun was disturbingly calm in situations.

Calm like an unfathomable still pond, mysterious and deep.

During a low point in life, in the monotony of her daily routine, Deng Yun was like the shooting range in Mogallos for Xu Muzi.

So, during a sleepless night, Xu Muzi texted Deng Yun.

It was two in the morning when she asked him what kind of things counted as other rebellious acts.

After sending the message, Xu Muzi tossed and turned in bed, her mind filled with fragments from dinner, recalling conversations with classmates in her IELTS class.

Memory can sometimes be deceiving.

Affected by her emotions, many subtle expressions that she hadn’t noticed at the time turned into ironic images.

When a classmate asked her if she had watched that TV series, should she have answered gracefully, “I haven’t seen it, please recommend it to me”?

Oh, wait. They don’t use “recommend” anymore; it’s probably changed to “promote” or “plant grass.” Which one is more appropriate?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt they were right—she really was a boring fool.

Deng Yun didn’t reply for a long time. Just when Xu Muzi thought he had fallen asleep, he called her instead.

“Really want to know?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Can’t sleep?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“The bedroom is the one on the right side of the second-floor corridor?”

Xu Muzi answered “Mm-hmm” again. She didn’t know what Deng Yun was up to but secretly hoped this seemingly bad guy would provide her with some different answers.

Deng Yun didn’t hang up but also didn’t say anything.

For nearly ten minutes, the phone was filled with the sound of rustling.

Suddenly, there was a muffled sound, like something falling to the ground.

These noises left Xu Muzi feeling confused; she even had some ridiculous guesses.

She thought, could Deng Yun have accidentally called while sleepwalking and then fell back asleep? Did he drop his pillow on the floor?

Xu Muzi tried calling out to him, “Deng Yun?”

“Mm-hmm, I’m here.”

“… What were you just doing?”

The person on the phone replied casually, “Jumping off a building.”

Xu Muzi ignored Deng Yun’s nonsensical comment, thinking he was probably joking. After a few minutes of silence, she asked, “When you can’t sleep, besides smoking, what else do you do?”

“Open the window.”

“… What?”

Deng Yun seemed to be laughing, “The bedroom window is open; I’m in your courtyard.”

Xu Muzi jumped in shock.

The little bit of frustration in her head was instantly blown away by Deng Yun’s unpredictable conversation. She ran toward the window in her nightgown, but halfway there, she stopped, slapped her forehead, and turned back.

It wouldn’t be good to meet someone dressed in pajamas. She hastily grabbed a thin woolen coat from the small sofa, threw it on, and then ran to the window, pulling aside the curtains and opening the window.

A cool breeze flowed in, and a few solar garden lights in the courtyard emitted a faint glow.

Deng Yun was indeed there.

He was wearing a black down jacket and a black duckbill cap, looking like a dark-night assassin, with a smile on his lips. He raised his hand holding the phone and waved it at her.

It was hard to say whether it was surprise or fright.

At that moment, Xu Muzi felt goosebumps all over her neck and arms.

She had to cover her mouth tightly to suppress the urge to exclaim.

After the shock wore off, Xu Muzi whispered into the phone, “How did you get in?”

“Climbed over the wall.”

“But what are you doing here…”

“Inviting you out for a drink of sleep-inducing wine.”

Xu Muzi’s eyes lit up.

No one had ever tried to understand her inner universe before; this was the first time someone was willing to become an accomplice in her rebellious plan.

She nodded vigorously, trembling with excitement, but soon started frowning again, “My parents are downstairs, and the security door at my house is very, very heavy; if I go out, I’ll wake them up.”

“Then wait for me upstairs.” After saying that, Deng Yun hung up the phone decisively.

Xu Muzi watched as Deng Yun skillfully jumped over the flowerbed and onto the platform of the air conditioning unit, effortlessly scaling up to the second-floor platform.

He stood in front of her without entering, “Do you want to go out to drink, or stay here?”

“Can you help me down?”

“Almost.”

“Then wait for me.”

Xu Muzi thought for a moment and added, “I need to close the curtains and change my clothes.”

About ten minutes later, Xu Muzi pulled the curtains open again.

She had obediently put on a long white down jacket, a matching white knitted hat, and mittens that could only separate her thumb.

She had also wrapped a light blue scarf tightly around her neck, keeping herself bundled up.

She had never seen anyone sneak out of the house dressed so neatly.

Deng Yun stared at Xu Muzi for a few seconds and then tilted his head and laughed.

“… What are you laughing at?”

“Dressed warm enough?”

As Xu Muzi was taking out a hand warmer from her pocket to give to Deng Yun, she heard him say that, and she felt quite displeased, putting the hand warmer back in her pocket. “The weather forecast said it’s going to get cold tonight.”

“Yeah, it is cold; wearing more isn’t a problem.”

“Then why are you laughing?”

A gust of wind blew by, making Xu Muzi squint.

Deng Yun leaned against the railing beside the platform, raised his hand, and pressed down on the brim of his cap with his index and middle fingers.

He said, “I was worried that wearing such a long down jacket would make it inconvenient for you to move, or should I carry you down?”