Evening Stars Chapter 20
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 20
Fang Shiyou took a tissue from his pocket and pinched the two cigarettes inside it, then tucked it back into his pocket.
He then reached out his arms. He was completely serious. This wasn't the kind of quick hug that Xu Nanheng had imagined, the one where they'd just hug and pat each other on the back. Fang Shiyou was careful. His arms went around Xu Nanheng's waist and shoulders. At the same time, he remained polite, keeping it a simple, straightforward hug.
Xu Nanheng, carrying his backpack filled with the clothes he had changed out of after his shower and his shampoo and body wash, only felt Fang Shiyou's hand linger briefly on the bag before they stepped apart.
Xu Nanheng's hug was simple too. He held Fang Shiyou's back like he was hugging a tree. It was sincere and solid.
Having just showered, Xu Nanheng smelled of fresh body wash. Fang Shiyou restrained himself from sniffing like a pervert. He stepped back half a pace and smiled politely. “Get some sleep when you get back. If anything aches tomorrow, remember to use a patch.”
This was about as far as he would accompany him. The school's side gate was just a couple of steps ahead.
Xu Nanheng nodded in agreement.
“Good night, Teacher Xu,” Fang Shiyou said.
“Mm, good night, Dr. Fang.”
As Xu Nanheng turned away, a patch of cloud quietly finished its shift and packed up to leave. The stars that had been slacking off behind it suddenly shone without obstruction. The brightest of those stars, like a light bulb, got nervous, its voltage suddenly spiked, and it shone with an abrupt, intense brightness.
Because it was so bright, it was entirely normal that Xu Nanheng noticed it.
As he turned, he looked up at that star, then back at Fang Shiyou, and smiled. “Dr. Fang, look, such a bright star.”
The tips of his hair and the drawstrings of his hoodie swayed under the evening stars, and Fang Shiyou couldn't tear his eyes away to look at the bright star.
He stared at Xu Nanheng and gave a stiff, “Mhm.”
On Tuesday, the coffee machine that Xu Nanheng had ordered online was brought over by Fang Shiyou.
The machine itself wasn't large, but Xu Nanheng had bought a lot of coffee capsules to solve his caffeine needs all at once. Because of this, Fang Shiyou drove his pickup truck right up to the school gate.
It was 4:10 PM. Since the school only had two classes, both on the first floor, he could see with a glance that Class 2 was empty.
Fang Shiyou thought to himself that something wasn't right. He knew that after hearing about the remedial classes in Daliang Mountains, Teacher Xu practically wouldn't let the students rest even at noon. He'd prefer them to be flipping through a book with one hand while holding a rice bowl with the other.
So why was the classroom empty?
While pondering, he first went back to the pickup, lifted the huge box containing the coffee machine and capsules, and carried it up to the second floor of the teaching building, placing it at the door of Xu Nanheng's dorm.
“Hm?” Fang Shiyou paused.
He had just set the box down when the dorm door creaked open. At first, he instinctively thought Xu Nanheng was inside, but when he looked in, no one was there.
Then he remembered that the dorm door had recently been kicked open by Zhou Yang, so the lock cylinder had probably been broken.
Fang Shiyou grabbed the doorknob and pushed and pulled it a couple of times. Sure enough, the lock cylinder was broken from the inside. He didn't go in, just squatted at the doorway and noticed a stool pushed against the inner wall. He guessed that Xu Nanheng used it to brace the door when he slept at night.
Well…… it seemed Teacher Xu didn't care much about that.
Just then, Fang Shiyou heard a burst of cheering from the playground behind him. He wondered if the students had snuck out to play since Xu Nanheng wasn't around.
He hesitated for a moment, but decided to go take a look anyway, just in case Xu Nanheng came back and got so angry it triggered his altitude sickness again.
As soon as he rounded the teaching building, he saw all thirty-odd children from Class 2 out on the playground. A few were playing marbles, a few were running, and a few were on the parallel bars.
His gaze moved to the far end of the playground, where the basketball court was, and found the source of the cheering. At the same time, Fang Shiyou smiled. There was Teacher Xu, playing ball among a group of third-year junior high school boys. He did not look like their teacher, but rather like an upperclassman from the senior high school division.
Of course, there was no senior high school division in the village.
Under the strong sunlight of the Southern Tibetan Plateau, Xu Nanheng wore a baseball cap and an open baseball jacket, the hem flapping as he ran and jumped. Fang Shiyou felt that Xu Nanheng seemed perfectly relaxed and natural in any environment.
Fang Shiyou stepped forward. The school's basketball court wasn't enclosed with a fence. As he approached, a basketball came flying straight toward his face. He didn't know who had passed it, but it had some force behind it.
Doctors needed to stay physically fit, especially since surgeries could last five or six hours. Fang Shiyou, used to working out and playing ball in Beijing, raised his hands to catch the incoming shot and naturally dribbled it a couple of times.
The ball had been thrown by Xu Nanheng, who had originally meant to pass it to Zhou Yang, but Zhou Yang hadn't caught it.
Xu Nanheng looked slightly surprised at first. Then he turned to the boys and said, “See? This is how you catch a ball. You guys, what I threw out was a basketball, not a giant cockroach from Guangdong!”
The court erupted in laughter. Xu Nanheng shrugged off his baseball jacket, leaving only a plain white T-shirt underneath, and walked toward Fang Shiyou.
“Who should I pass it to?” Fang Shiyou asked.
“Anyone,” Xu Nanheng said, holding his collar and shaking his jacket out. “Just throw it to whoever's closest.”
Fang Shiyou glanced over. “Diki!”
“Yeah!” Diki raised his hand, and Fang Shiyou tossed the ball his way.
“Why did you come over here?” Xu Nanheng asked, carrying his jacket as he headed toward the teaching building. Then he realized. “You didn't make a special trip to deliver it, did you? You could have just told me, and I would have gone to pick it up. I'm going upstairs to get a drink first.”
“No need for the effort. I drove it to the school gate,” Fang Shiyou said. “I already moved it up to the second floor. Hey, why the sudden generosity to take the students out to the playground?”
Xu Nanheng's attention shifted at the topic. He curved his lips into a smile. “Our average score on the placement exam was higher than the one in Daliang Mountains, and it’s a good time to practice for the PE part of the senior high school entrance exam.”
“Congratulations. Oh, and your door, I see that's broken too.”
“Zhou Yang kicked it the day I fainted.”
“You could ask Principal Sonam to find a locksmith.”
“Too much trouble. I just prop it with a stool. Besides, this place is so remote…… wait a second.”
Xu Nanheng stopped halfway at the turn of the second-floor staircase. His expression shifted, focused, as if sensing something.
“What's wrong?” Fang Shiyou asked, puzzled.
Xu Nanheng narrowed his eyes. “Why is there such an exceptionally fragrant smell of deep-fried food?”
“Must be fried potatoes,” Fang Shiyou said. “Tibetan-style fried potatoes are really good. You're in for a treat today. A bag like that would cost over ten yuan in Lhasa.”
Fang Shiyou gestured briefly.
“Let's go.” Xu Nanheng didn't even drink water. He grabbed Fang Shiyou's hand. “Let's check it out.”
Caught off guard, Fang Shiyou's mind went blank, and without thinking, he followed him.
Xu Nanheng pulled him all the way to the cafeteria. Sure enough, he could hear the sound of something tumbling in a deep-fryer. Given that he had just finished exercising, the sound of deep-frying was irresistible.
“Hm?” At first, he had only been peeking through the kitchen window. When he glanced inside, he saw two girls squatting there, each pinching a fried potato slice to eat.
Without letting go, Xu Nanheng pulled Fang Shiyou in. “Tashi Dolkar, Dasang Choedon!”
Principal Sonam, who was frying the potatoes, was startled when the two of them burst in, then started laughing. “Oh no, you two have been discovered by Teacher Xu.”
The two girls squatting behind Principal Sonam were indeed the ones he had seen. As Sonam fried a batch, each girl would pinch a slice.
When they saw Xu Nanheng, their black eyes blinked in unison, and they smiled shyly.
Xu Nanheng's tone was stern. “If you don't want anyone to know what you've done, it is better to do the deed together.”
(T/N: from the idiom: if you don’t want anyone to know what you've done, it is better to not have done it in the first place)
As he lectured the children, he released Fang Shiyou's hand. Only then did Fang Shiyou nod to Principal Sonam and greet her.
Xu Nanheng turned back and asked, “Teacher Sonam, are these for tonight's meal?”
There was still a large basket of potatoes on the ground. Sonam Tsomo answered, “Yes. We fry them once now, and then pass them through the oil again when it's time to eat. Here, help yourself. Eat quickly and then hurry off. Don't let the other students find out.”
At this, Teacher Xu immediately pinched a potato from the plate by the stove and squatted down beside Tashi Dolkar.
Even without seasoning, the fried potatoes smelled delicious. They were crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside. Xu Nanheng especially loved fries. These potatoes, grown under abundant sunlight, were high in starch, making them perfectly crispy and flavorful after frying.
On the second bite, Xu Nanheng turned to look at the two girls. Choedon was dipping her potato slices into a small bowl of chili powder, while Dolkar……
Dolkar was holding a bottle of ketchup.
“Choedon doesn't like ketchup,” Dolkar said.
Principal Sonam, who had been frying the potatoes, nodded. “That's right. You're younger, so you like ketchup.”
Then she looked back. Xu Nanheng was holding a potato slice out, and Dolkar squeezed some ketchup onto it.
“You're young too,” Principal Sonam said with a gentle smile. She grabbed a bag, poured the plate of potatoes into it, and handed it to Fang Shiyou. “Dr. Fang, take these back to eat.”
Fang Shiyou tried to decline a couple of times, but not only was he unable to politely refuse, Principal Sonam even added an extra bag of cheese curd cake.
He felt quite awkward, but Xu Nanheng, who had completely aligned himself with the school staff at this point, was eating and chiming in, “Take them! Don't be shy. You're a white-clad angel, no need to be embarrassed!”
“……Okay.” Fang Shiyou gave him a helpless look. “Then, Principal, I'll be going first.”
He reached out and shook Sonam Tsomo's hand.
After eating two potato slices, Xu Nanheng stood, brushed off his hands, and said he'd see Fang Shiyou out. Walking to the front yard, Fang Shiyou teased him lightly, “Seeing a guest out? You've grown up.”
“Um……” Xu Nanheng shifted closer as they walked, reaching up to push the brim of his baseball cap. “When's your next trip to Shannan?”
Fang Shiyou thought for a moment. “Monday morning next week. I'm going for a meeting.”
“Can I trouble you to pick something up for me?” Xu Nanheng asked.
“Of course. What do you need?”
“A Polaroid camera. I checked several Taobao stores, but none of them ship to the county.”
“Sure. What color do you want? Or should I just send you pictures when I get to the mall?”
Xu Nanheng's hands were tucked in his pockets. The strong sunlight reflected off the snow-capped Tibetan mountains, casting defined shadows across the lower half of his face under the cap. Without hesitation, he smiled. “Blue. That Doraemon blue of yours.”
Fang Shiyou paused briefly, then smiled. “Okay.”
He escorted Fang Shiyou to the school gate, then glanced back inside. The children were still on the back playground. He held out his hand. “Did you bring cigarettes?”
“I did.” Fang Shiyou took a pack and a lighter from his pocket and handed them over.
Xu Nanheng took them. “Thanks. The last time I had a cigarette was the day I showered at your hospital.”
“No smoking on campus? Such strong principles. Do you also not smoke when students aren't at school?”
Xu Nanheng lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. “Yeah, although I might not seem very reliable and am actually quite lazy and idle, my principles are still solid.”
“Pfft.” Fang Shiyou laughed. “Don't be so hard on yourself. You're already doing pretty well.”
Xu Nanheng smiled. Perhaps because he was smoking outside the school gate, he felt slightly uneasy and pulled the brim of his cap down again. Fang Shiyou caught every bit of this motion, the cigarette held between his lips, the adjusted hat. His Adam's apple tightened, then bobbed as he forced himself to look away.
Having gone several days without a cigarette, Xu Nanheng drew each puff with a hint of greed, so much so that he didn't notice Diki running over. Besides, the kid was dark, lean, and not very tall, spinning like a whirlwind straight from the back playground to the main gate.
Diki called out, “Teacher Xu!”
Startled, Xu Nanheng instantly moved the hand holding the cigarette behind his back, sidestepped and turned to face Diki. “Wh-what's up?”
Diki: “Teacher, Teacher Tsering asked me to come and ask you whether we’ll have a lesson or a test during evening self-study today.”
“Oh! That……” Xu Nanheng wiggled the fingers holding the cigarette behind his back, hoping Fang Shiyou would catch the hint. “Let’s do a pop quiz.”
Fang Shiyou understood. He stepped half a pace forward, took the cigarette from Xu Nanheng within Diki's blind spot, and held it in his own hand.
Diki nodded. "Okay! Dr. Fang! The dried cheese curd cake today was made and delivered by my second uncle. It's super tasty!"
Relieved of the cigarette, Xu Nanheng casually moved his hand to his side. When he turned back, Fang Shiyou was already holding that cigarette between his lips and nodding at Diki. “Alright, thank you.”
The cigarette rested between Fang Shiyou's teeth, a wisp of white smoke curling from it.
After speaking to Diki, his eyes remained fixed on Xu Nanheng.