CH 9.2

The Ninth Cup of Coffee Part 2

When Yun Xian sent Jiang Ying back home, it was past 2AM at night. After washing briefly, he took two cans of beer from the refrigerator and pushed the door to Li Zhicheng’s room open.

The keyboard and mouse made a clicking sound. Li Zhicheng was sitting cross legged on a chair with headphones, concentrating on the game.

Yun Xian sat down on the edge of the bed. He put the can of beer next to him, and asked, “When will the fight be finished?”

Li Zhicheng was busy with both hands. He glanced at him, and quickly returned to the screen. “Ah, wait, wait—fuck, I’m not asking you to wait, just give it to me!”

Yun Xian sometimes admired this idiot. If he wasn’t sleeping, then it could only be because he was playing games or watching a ball game. He’ll lie down and sleep until dawn once he had played until he was tired or finished watching the game. His ability to sleep was surprisingly good.

Li Zhicheng excitedly communicated with his teammates in the game. “Fuck, can you pay attention to big brother? Laozi is playing with a gun and won’t be a wet nurse for you. I haven’t done anything other than support you for more than ten minutes.”

Yun Xian frowned, showing an expression of disdain. “What are you doing so angry today? What happened to Zhou Yi?”

It was better if he didn’t mention it. When he did mention it, Li Zhicheng was upset again.

It’s okay that he didn’t mention it. When he mentioned Li Zhicheng, he was upset again. After shots were fired, he let out some curses.

Li Zhicheng’s entire venting battle soon ended. He took off his headphones and sighed wearily. He took the beer on the table and pushed the tab. He took a sip. “What’s the matter? It’s midnight.”

Yun Xian sipped his drink. “My mom called me again and asked me to go back.”

Li Zhicheng found two packs of beef jerky from the snack box next to the computer, and threw a pack of beef jerky to Yun Xian. “Then what do you think you’ll do?”

Yun Xian said, “I am not happy of course, but if I can bear it for one day. It’s not like when I resigned as soon as I got promoted.”

Li Zhicheng chewed the beef jerky and nodded. “Well, yes, you left such a good job. If I was your mom then I would scold you too.”

Yun Xian rolled his eyes at him and continued, “ I used to think I came to Xi Cityto escape, and that I would leave when I get bored here one day. But the past few days… I suddenly wanted to stay. It’s good here too.”

“Did you meet someone you like?”

Yun Xian raised his eyes to look at Li Zhicheng, with a complicated expression.

“I guessed right?”

Yun Xian was silent.

Li Zhicheng hit the nail on the head and that shocked Yun Xian. It was probably because they had known each other for too long. Li Zhicheng was always called an “idiot” by him. He had forgotten that the man in front of him was smart and sensitive, and knew him the best.

Whether it was a close friend or a former teacher, Yun Xian was said to be much more balanced than Li Zhicheng. But in fact, Yun Xian knew in his heart that Li Zhicheng was more mature than him and more wise than him.

He was a mess during the past few days. All kinds of thoughts were stuck together and he couldn’t find a way to vent it out. This was when he came to talk to his friend at night.

“Pretty much that. But you know, to put it nicely, I came to Xi City to change how I live my life. But really, I came to treat my condition. I don’t  understand my own life yet. I don’t think it’s the right time to go there and talk about it.”

“So when is the right time?” Li Zhicheng looked at Yun Xian, sighed and shook his head. “You’re thinking about it in a more complicated way than it should be. Is it only those who have achieved success and live a happy life that can talk about love? You can only leave it to chance, do you understand? It’s not easy to pick someone you like out of asea of people. You always have so many worries. Be careful or you’ll miss out on the one you love.”

When Li Zhicheng finished being serious, he approached Yun Xian with an evil smile. He said with a meddlesome tone, “Is that girl beautiful? Which one? What do you like about her?”

Yun Xian shrank back and looked away. He took a sip from the beer.

Li Zhicheng became interested and chatted, “I’m being honest here. If you really want to live your life, then you have to fall in love. Do you get it? There are endless things you can learn from a woman…”

Yun Xian rubbed his temples. He stood up and said, “I’m going. You should go to bed earlier.”

“Hey, wait.l Li Zhicheng stopped him. “I haven’t finished talking yet.”

Yun Xian ignored him, waved, and walked out of the room.

After returning to his room, Yun Xian laid on the bed, rubbing his sore eyes. However, he did not feel sleepy.

The heavy black curtains blocked out all the light, and the room was completely dark.

The silence of the night could only comfort him to an extent.

He hated not being able to sleep, but ironically liked the hours before dawn.

Yun Xian closed his eyes and played the playlist—from the sound of a drizzle to the waves crashing against the rocks.

Recalling what Li Zhicheng had just said in his head, his heart became irritated again.

He opened his eyes. He touched his phone to unlock the screen. He scrolled through Moments with boredom. Then, he saw Jiang Ying sharing the roses grown on her balcony. He stopped his finger from swiping and gave a thumbs-up.

There was nothing interesting scrolling further. Yun Xian wanted to exit out of WeChat, but saw that Jiang Ying had sent a message a minute ago.

Orange Sunset: Still not asleep?

See the Mountain: Yeah, I’m a little restless, can’t sleep.

A voice call popped up on the page just after sending his message .

Yun Xian clicked to accept and put the phone to his ear.

“I’ll read some English for you,” Jiang Ying said. “I’m very hypnotic when I read English. When I was in school, every time I read English in the morning class, my desk mate would become sleepy. It’s a super ability.”

Her voice sounded close to his ear. Yun Xian smiled. “Okay, read to me.”

Jiang Ying made a shuffling noise, as if she was getting up and looking for something. She asked, “What do you want to hear?“

Yun Xian remembered the tattoo on her left shoulder and said, “How about The Little Prince? Do you have it?”

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“Yes.”Jiang Ying opened the blue-covered paperback book, and her touch made a slight noise on the pages. She imitated the tv hosts in sleep aid shows and intimately whispered, “Lie down now, and change to a comfortable position. Close your eyes, and put your phone next to your ear.”

Yun Xian obediently followed her instructions, and let out a passive okay.

Jiang Ying softened her voice and spoke slowly, “Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal…”

With the standard American accent, Yun Xian’s emotions relaxed in her gentle voice.

Maybe he was really tired, or maybe it was rare for him to not to worry about other annoying things, or maybe Jiang Ying’s super powers had taken effect. Yun Xian became sleepy, and his mind gradually went blank.

“Yun Xian?”

He seemed to hear someone calling him, and muttered in a daze.

On the other side of the phone, Jiang Ying said softly, “Good night.”

Yun Xian couldn’t remember whether he had said his good night.

It was a rare night to sleep well without waking up in the middle. When he opened his eyes again, Yun Xian picked up the phone that fell on the pillow and got out of bed. He first opened the curtains.

The sun came in and he squinted his eyes to adjust to the light.

In April on this world, the crabapple flowers downstairs opened, and the warm sun projected specks of light through the gaps of the branches and leaves, and the birds were chirping.

He rarely got up with so much energy and he stretched happily.

Li Zhicheng was right. Precious things could only be found by chance. Just like how he passed by that abandoned factory building and decided to open a café here; just like that rainy night in early spring, when Jiang Ying opened the glass door and appeared in front of him.

His parents told him from an early age that he had to learn to weigh the pros and cons, and learn to choose and abandon things.

He once seriously weighed his situation and gave up. However, they said again—Are you messing around? Are you crazy?

He was not messing around, and he would not regret it.

It’s not about quitting a high-paying job. It’s not about leaving Beijing where he had lived for 30 years.

Compared to the foolish life he used to live, he was now living better.

He was not awake and staring at the ceiling every night, disgusted with everything about himself and this dull life.

At this moment, Yun Xian looked out at the ordinary scenery outside the window, and suddenly felt that his heart was swollen, like a new bud during spring that was breaking out of the ground—he had never looked forward to a new day so much before.