Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 157 - 6 A Fleeting Moment (3)
Chapter 157 -6 A Fleeting Moment (3)
A few people chatted away about everything under the sun, and Li Yan’s glass at his side emptied several times. The topics on the table kept coming back to him, and Li Yan was always laughing.
Not to say that Li Yan stood out above the rest among the four people, quite the contrary, of the four, Li Yan was the one who worried people the most.
At twenty-five, apart from the family estate and a few mu of thin fields back home, he had nothing. How much was the reputation he had earned in his earlier years, with his fine clothes and spirited horses, really worth? The whole martial arts circle was unstable.
Li Yan knew some of those powerful figures with deep roots in the country, even had close relationships with a few. Wealth and fame? They seemed within reach.
But if it really weren’t a problem, a man in the prime of his life like Li Yan wouldn’t have ended up so aimlessly until today. A bout of serious illness was hardly a reason for the man known as “Shou Hu” to hold onto a room full of outdated CDs and wait for death.
Chen Kun’s glass spun in his hand as his thoughts wandered.
In the past few days of contact, his wife exclaimed that Li Yan was different from before. Using romantic language, she even described Li Yan with the word “gentle,” which made Chen Kun laugh.
Growing up together, Chen Kun truly felt that Li Yan hadn’t changed; he was still the same—composed and steady on the surface but brimming with fiery sunshine and fearlessness in his bones.
However, what Chen Kun saw in the eyes of his childhood friend was weariness. It was a kind of fatigue that he couldn’t describe. This weariness was mistaken by his wife for gentleness.
Chen Kun’s thinking was simple and straightforward: Find a wife and everything will be solved. With a woman at home, Li Yan’s mind would settle down. His brother was a talent; what good family’s woman couldn’t he find?
So, around the table, the brothers hinted in their conversation, probing whether Li Yan was of the age to find a wife.
And at the table, Li Yan had his own unspeakable thoughts.
If Cao Yuanchao was really a man in his sixties after all these years, what about his parents? And his friends, what about them?
The world had changed dramatically; what would the brothers around today’s table look like in fifty years, and what would he himself look like fifty years from now?
All I see are knives and blood; after leaving the battlefield, I’ve even started to lose my appetite for meat.
My childhood friend has a happy family and a flourishing career, thinking about his daughter, wife, and the warm bed, stocks, funds, real estate, and the slender gym instructor.
After more than a decade of brotherhood, some things I can no longer bring myself to say.
Gulp by gulp, the drinks went down; Guo Zijian blathered on about “high-class women” with his face flush red, and Li Yan, too lazy to retort, reached out to push away his wrist. As the two were fooling around, a knocking at the door was heard.
“Is it eight o’clock already?” Chen Kun checked his watch, “Isn’t it early still?”
“Chen Xinrui, you left your backpack.”
The voice outside belonged to a girl who hadn’t yet gone through voice change.
Li Yan let go of Guo Zijian, who was grinning in pain, and his gaze swept across the courtyard.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Chen Xinrui hurriedly stood up.
Unlatching the door, there was no mistake, it was Zhao Xin.
“Thank you, I’d forgotten.” Chen Xinrui said softly to Zhao Xin, noticing that Zhao Xin’s face was pale: “What’s wrong?”
Zhao Xin looked around at everyone in the room, her gaze landing on the gaunt-cheeked Li Yan. A piercing chill ran through her, and it took a while before she heard Chen Xinrui calling her.
“Nothing else, I’ll be heading off now,” she said.
She pressed down on her cap and turned to leave.
“Xinxin, is that a classmate?”
The one who came to the door was Li Yan.
“Uncle, this is my deskmate.”
Chen Xinrui held Zhao Xin’s hand. Twisting her head around, she didn’t notice how Zhao Xin’s tea-colored pupils fixated on Li Yan, like a stray cat catching sight of a stranger.
Chen Kun and his wife exchanged glances inside the room.
“Since you’re here, join us for a meal,” said Li Yan, his smile soft on his face.
Chen Xinrui’s eyes lit up, “Yes, yes, Zhao Xin, come sit and eat something.”
Zhao Xin pursed her lips, managing a reluctant smile after a while and replied, “Okay.”
Another pair of chopsticks was added to the table, Zhao Xin bowed in thanks, sat upright, and delicately nibbled at the food.
After exchanging pleasantries, Li Yan suddenly spoke up.
“Young lady, do you have any brothers or sisters?”
Chen Kun and the others exchanged surprised glances; they hadn’t expected Li Yan to inquire so much about the young girl.
“…” Zhao Xin put down her chopsticks and looked directly at Li Yan, her voice cold, “No, I’m an only child.”
Li Yan was taken aback at first, then clenched his fists.
The girl before him was indeed Zhao Xin, that tempered girl who traveled alone with her black dragon-like knife.
So where was the deceased Zhao Wu?
Li Yan picked up his nearly full cup of wine and downed it in one gulp, his voice hoarse as he said, “I apologize.”
Zhao Xin didn’t say anything; she sensed the strange atmosphere at the table and stood up on her own.
“Uncles and aunts, I’ve finished eating, and, um, I haven’t done my homework yet, so I won’t stay any longer. Chen Xinrui, see you at school tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow.”
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After seeing Zhao Xin out the door, Li Yan asked his niece again.
“Xinxin, your deskmate… she really doesn’t have any siblings?”
“She’s new to our school and is definitely an only child.”
Chen Xinrui took a few steps forward, her face serious as she looked up and said, “Uncle, can I talk to you about something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Could you not ask my classmates so directly about their family situations from now on, especially her? It’s impolite.”
“…” Li Yan was silent for a moment, “Uncle was wrong. Tomorrow, can you apologize to her for me?”
“Sure.”
Chen Xinrui nodded.
During the dinner, after several rounds of drinks and a variety of dishes, Zhang Jiyong casually mentioned that Li Yan’s family had practiced martial arts for generations. At sixteen, Li Yan could gouge out a “ring” from a wine cup using just two fingers.
Chen Xinrui, intrigued, insisted that Li Yan give her a demonstration. Half-drunk, Li Yan acted the part with great exaggeration.
He pinched the wine cup handed to him by Chen Xinrui and, pressing hard with two fingers, the cup slid and smashed right onto Guo Zijian’s face, eliciting roars of laughter from everyone at the table.
Chen Xinrui clung to Li Yan’s sleeve, insisting he was boasting, while the cicadas chirped cheerfully in the courtyard.
The night was alluring.
…
Around eight, a black Bentley stopped at the entrance of the alley.
“Senior brother?”
“Oh, I’m fine.”
Li Yan rubbed his eyes, pushed past Lei Jing’s hand and opened the door to get into the car. He waved to Chen Kun and the others at the door.
Chen Xinrui, just starting her first year of junior high, waved her hand energetically; she held a good impression of her uncle. Over the years, countless guests had visited her home, and Li Yan was among the few who would say outright that adults shouldn’t smoke with children around. He was also the first to earnestly ask her to relay an apology to her deskmate.
It’s just that he loved to brag…
As the car drove off, Lei Jing turned from the front seat, “Senior brother, are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, just need to sweat it out a bit.”
In this short time, Li Yan’s drunkenness had largely subsided, and he looked out at the night-shrouded Capital City Alleys, feeling as if they were a world removed.
Xiaodao was in Jinhai, Zhao Xin lived in Capital City, Zhang Mingyuan’s home was also in the Jingjin area, and he lived in Cangzhou. The wanderers he met all along the way in Yan Fu weren’t far apart. To call it a coincidence probably wouldn’t make sense.
Dying without a sound was too regrettable. It was only in truly living that one could enjoy life.
For no apparent reason, two phrases flashed through Li Yan’s mind.
One was “To accomplish great deeds that overturn the heavens and uncover the earth, you must walk over thin ice.” The other was “In pursuing one’s studies, one should be like the treasure tree that towers into the clouds, needing the support of many other trees.”
