It Seems There is Light

Chinese New Year

Whenever people in the room laughed, Shi An always felt especially lonely.

He didn’t know where the laughing point was.

The lights in the room were dimmed to the lowest possible level, and the air conditioner was sending hot air through the room. Shi An rested his head on the back of the sofa as his consciousness began to blur a little.

At eleven o’clock, a lightning bolt suddenly struck the sky.

There was a large floor-to-ceiling window behind the sofa, the curtains were half open, and the warm yellow lights in the room were pierced by cold lightning, followed by a series of thunder.

Shi An, who was half-dreaming and half-awake, woke up with a jolt. He blinked his eyes and found the strong smell of rain in his nose.

The rain fell suddenly.

There was very little rain in winter, but this rain was desperate. There was a hazy mist outside the window, and water marks crooked down along the glass window.

Shi An’s eyes were wide and sleepy, he couldn’t think of anything else, jumped off the ground barefoot and rushed to the balcony to rescue his clothes.

The Yan family liked to wash their clothes but they didn’t hang any clothes, and now they were sitting very still in front of the TV.

The sound of rain roared. The raindrops hit the bluestone pavement hard, and the lanterns with the lights across the mountains slowly haloed in the rain curtain.

The rain curtain formed a strange deep blue color in the night, turning Qingjiu Alley into a fairy tale alley.

Shi An didn’t care to take the clothes fork, and directly on tiptoe to reach the clothes. The rainwater choked into the nasal cavity, and he lowered his head and coughed uncomfortably.

“Hey!!! Do you know it’s raining? Come out and collect your clothes!”

Someone yelled at the top of their lungs.

“Yes!!! How can you set off fireworks in this rain?

“What else are you playing?! How come it suddenly rains? It’s too sudden!!!”

“So what, this year’s skit is so funny!

“Yes, it’s so funny! I really like the one who…”

…

The neighbors chatted about the Spring Festival Gala through the heavy rain as they collected their clothes.

Shi An: “…”

It was raining heavily and he was struggling to lift his head, the rain was smeared all over his face.

Shi An tiptoed hard when Yan Liang came over with long arms and easily took his clothes.

“Go inside, it’s raining too much.” Yan Liang pulled him into the house.

In such a short time, Shi An’s clothes were mostly wet.

Jiang Yuan rushed him to take a shower. It just so happened that Shi An didn’t really want to watch the Spring Festival Gala either, so he took a change of clothes and went into the bathroom.

Yan Zhao pulled up the curtains, the hazy sound of rain was isolated outside the window, and the sound of the TV was blaring inside the house.

The TV was playing a skit about a pair of young childhood friends who liked each other but both didn’t know it, resulting in a series of funny stories.

“Are you stupid? Anyone with eyes can see that she likes you.”

The comedian said the lines in an exaggerated tone.

“How…Then, then do I like her too?”

“This has to ask you yourself, ah. Look at you, people are talking about love and you’ve turned your vinegar pot home.”

“She and I…for so many years, we obviously have been just…”

“Hurt, that’s what you’re all too used to. Who would have thought of turning around until one reaches a fork in the road?”

…

Yan Liang held his cheek, slightly dazed.

How could someone not even know who they like?

This was too far-fetched, right?

Even the vinegar was eaten, this must be a ‘like’, right? Wasn’t it just a layer of window paper that hadn’t been punctured?

But the sad thing was that the hero and heroine in the skit didn’t realize that they were jealous.

Yan Liang was baffled by this sketch.

Yet more baffling was the fact that this inexplicable feeling was not very foreign to him.

He watched the protagonist in the sketch mistakenly thinking that the heroine was in love, and began to feel unconsciously irritable and angry, and couldn’t help but recall his own unexplained frustration some time ago.

He was suddenly shocked by his own thoughts and broke out in a cold sweat.

Shen Qiaoqiao? No, before that; he didn’t know Shen Qiaoqiao at all.

Then could it be…Tong Zixin?

Although Tong Zixin was quite nice and likable, but, not so much, ba?!

He didn’t like girls older than him either, right?

When Yan Liang’s brain was confused by the unbelievable emotional line of the skit, the bathroom door was opened from the inside.

The sound of the door lock clicking startled Yan Liang back to his senses.

Shi An came out from inside, his cheeks were steamed pink by the hot water, and the dense moisture seemed to run into Shi An’s eyes. His eyes were moist, and he was slightly lowering his head to fix his shirt collar.

From the beginning, Yan Liang felt as if he had missed something, and now that he saw Shi An’s face, he remembered with a jolt.

It seemed that the source of all the chaotic thoughts came from the WeChat that informed him that Shi An was in love.

But what did Shi An have to do with it?

Yan Liang was completely confused, slightly squinting his eyes and looking at Shi An with some confusion.

Shi An was puzzled by his look and slightly tilted his head, expressing doubts.

The thoughts were interrupted, and Yan Liang’s mind immediately returned to a blank state.

The skit had long since finished, and the rest of the show was all song and dance.

Shi An went back to sit on the sofa, smelling like his usual vanilla body wash.

Outside the house, the rain was pouring, and the sound of rain was isolated outside the window, faintly inaudible. Yan Liang’s mind was a bit confused, as if the fine sound of rain was knocked directly into his head.

Shi An was a person who did not easily make friends with people. His circle of people seemed to be guarded by layers; those who went in easily couldn’t get out, those who did not get in might never have the chance to go in.

The days were long and Yan Liang had forgotten that Shi An’s social circle was not always open, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be.

Like most people, he would sooner or later meet a girl he loved very much, establish his own family with her, and finally become a responsible adult, following the rules, and running around for rice, oil and salt.1

But this kind of Shi An made Yan Liang a little unacceptable.

He didn’t think anyone was worth Shi An’s effort. No one deserved Shi An’s love…no one deserved Shi An.

Yan Liang was again surprised by his own thoughts.

It turned out that Shi An held such a high position in his heart that he couldn’t help but criticize the person he was going to spend his life with.

That was crossing the line.

On TV, the host was making the final preparations for the countdown.

This year’s New Year’s Eve was very special, no fireworks in the sky, only the sound of continuous rain.

The countdown ended and the New Year began.

The air in the room boiled up and everyone said Happy New Year to each other.

“Happy New Year.” Shi An looked at Yan Liang and said it.

“Happy New Year.” Yan Liang answered him.

They sat in front of the TV again until almost one o’clock. The rain hadn’t stopped and was still pouring.

“You can sleep here tonight, the rain is too heavy, don’t go back,” Jiang Yuan said, “You two have one room, and Xiao Liang and Xiao An have one room.”

“It’s just a few steps, let’s go back and sleep.” Yan Zhao stood up and stretched.

But the facts had proved that even two steps couldn’t be taken.

The rain spilled into the house, and a large area in front of the store was wet with rain.

Yan Zhao silently closed the door again.

“All right, let’s just say we’re spending the New Year’s Eve together,” Xie Fei yawned, “Don’t bother. I’m sleepy, let’s sleep here.”

Yan Liang had not slept in the same bed as Shi An for a long time.

After washing up, Yan Liang stood at the edge of the bed and froze.

“Inside and outside?” Shi An asked him.

“Inside, I’m used to it.” Yan Liang said.

Because of Yan Liang’s little windmill character, Shi An used to let him sleep on the inside when they slept together.

“Okay.” Shi An smiled, “Go to sleep. I’ve been sleepy since a long time ago.”

On New Year’s Eve, the lights would be on all night, so Shi An turned the bedside lamp to the softest light and lay down on the bed.

He said he was sleepy, but Shi An didn’t want to sleep at all.

He hadn’t slept in the same bed with Yan Liang for a long, long time.

He lay on his side, facing outward, and felt the breathing of the person next to him.

The feeling of lying in the same bed with Yan Liang when he was a child was completely different from now. Shi An was not willing to fall asleep just like this and tried to stay awake. But Yan Liang could stay up much longer than he could, and when he was sleeping, he could feel that Yan Liang was still awake.

They were both past the age where they liked to sleep in the same bed with their playmates, and this would probably be the last time he would lie in the same bed with Yan Liang.

Shi An tried to open his eyes again, next to the faint scent of Yan Liang’s lemon soap.

But he didn’t last long, and lost consciousness in a daze.

Shi An preferred to sleep on his left side, which was facing inward, and after Shi An fell asleep in the outward-facing position, he instinctively rolled over to his left.

Yan Liang’s head was in a bit of a mess. In fact, he did not think about anything, but just could not sleep. Listening to the distant sound of rain as if from another world, he felt himself more and more awake.

He lay on his back with his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling that was covered with a warm color of light.

Suddenly, Yan Liang felt the person next to him move.

He turned his head to the side and found Shi An turned over to face him, eyes closed, asleep.

He couldn’t help but remember the scene when he slept with Shi An as a child. At that time, Shi An also always slept with his back to him, and only after he fell asleep did he unknowingly turn over.

Shi An’s sleeping position was a standard side curl, legs bent up, hands in front of his body, knuckles relaxed and slightly bent, with half of his face buried in the pillow.

Shi An’s sleeping face was very beautiful, quiet and docile. Yan Liang’s troubled thoughts smoothed out, but he also became more and more awake.

Yan Liang carefully sat up and went to reach the phone on the bedside table. He held the phone in his hand and did his best to lean back slowly with minimal movement. When Shi An was not woken up by him and was still sleeping soundly, Yan Liang was relieved.

He opened WeChat, found the dialog box with Ling Yue, and edited the message and sent it over.

[Jie, are you there?]

It was almost two o’clock, and Yan Liang was ready for Ling Yue to be offline. Who knew that Ling Yue replied to him so fast.

[Here, what’s up?]

He forgot to turn on the silent. The message prompt sounded “beep”, Yan Liang’s hand shook, and saw Shi An slightly frowning. He was too scared to breathe, stiffened and did not dare to move.

If Shi An was woken up, it would be difficult to fall back asleep. Yan Liang almost took his breath back, but soon, Shi An’s frown was loosened.

Yan Liang exhaled slowly, turned on the silent mode, and sent a message to Ling Yue.

[Do you have time to chat?]

Ling Yue replied to him: [Yes, you say.]

idk what the last sentence means, I searched about what it means but found nothing you all probably get the meaning anyway. It probably means being a responsible head of family.