Silent Era - Chapter 10
The two played until nightfall, then strolled along the riverbank, holding their bicycles. The river reflected the twinkling lights of the skyscrapers on the opposite bank, as well as the entire city. Someone on the other side set off fireworks, and brilliant flowers bloomed in the sky. Cold fireworks, one after another, pierced the cold sky, leaving the river dim and unclear.
Lin Heng left his bicycle aside and, holding Bai Sihuan’s hand, leaned against the fence to watch the fireworks. Their figures tossed and turned in the river, rippling and blending.
After not seeing Lin Xianyan for many days, Bai Sihuan grew worried. Finally, he couldn’t help himself and wanted to ask Lin Heng to ask Cheng Sutang where she had taken Lin Xianyan that day.
Unable to bear Bai Sihuan’s pleas, Lin Heng went to ask Cheng Sutang about it. Cheng Sutang simply replied, “She’s doing what she needs to do.”
From the day Cheng Sutang dragged Lin Xianyan out, she had been missing for about two weeks. The day before Bai Sihuan started school, she returned.
Early in the morning, Bai Sihuan heard her return from the second-floor balcony. The housekeeper opened the door, and she hurried in, ran straight upstairs, and rushed into her room, slamming the door shut behind her without stopping.
Bai Sihuan reached her room and knocked three times, but no one answered. The sound of the shower came through the door, mixed with the intermittent sounds of Lin Xianyan’s wails.
Lunchtime arrived, and Lin Xianyan still hadn’t emerged, and the shower continued intermittently. Bai Sihuan called her name twice from the doorway, and the shower stopped.
Five minutes passed, and there was no movement from inside. Bai Sihuan, fearing something might happen to her, turned the doorknob.
The door was unlocked, so he easily pushed it open and entered.
The curtains were drawn, and the room was dark, lit only by the bathroom light.
Lin Xianyan, dressed in a bathrobe, stood before the mirror, a pair of scissors in hand, trembling as she plucked and cut at her damp hair.
“Ah Yan!” The sharp blade pierced Lin Xianyan’s fingers repeatedly, and Bai Sihuan, seeing a cold sweat breaking out, stepped forward to stop her. “What are you doing? Put the scissors down!”
Lin Xianyan, touched by Bai Sihuan, instantly became possessed. She raised her voice to the top of her lungs, screaming like a madman. The shrill cries mingled like a thorn, threatening to pierce Bai Sihuan’s eardrums.
She pushed Bai Sihuan away, huddled aside, trembling, her eyes bloodshot. She gripped the scissors tighter and tighter, still refusing to give up on her tangled hair.
“You’ll hurt yourself!”
Bai Sihuan tried to grab her scissors, but she screamed again: “Let me go! Get out! Get out!”
Bai Sihuan ignored her and continued to resist, his movements intensifying. Lin Xianyan’s resistance grew fiercer with his movements.
He felt the scene before him sway chaotically, and suddenly someone cried out in pain, and the white screen was splattered with bl00d.
The pain came belatedly. When Lin Heng, hearing the noise, rushed in and saw the scene, cursing Lin Xianyan, who was cowering on the ground, Bai Sihuan realized that his arm had been cut.
“What the hell are you crazy about! Lao Pei! Lao Pei! Get the first aid kit! Aunt Liu! Call Doctor Li!” Lin Heng pressed on Bai Sihuan’s wound, and bright red bl00d gushed out from between his fingers.
In less than two minutes, Lao Pei ran in with the first aid kit and quickly squatted down to tend to Bai Sihuan’s wound.
Lin Heng yelled outside, “Aunt Liu! Have you called Doctor Li?!”
Aunt Liu ran upstairs, cell phone in hand, saying, “Doctor Li is on his way!”
Lin Heng looked at his hands, sticky with bl00d, and glared at Lin Xianyan. Lin Xianyan trembled, dropping his bloody scissors to the floor.
She stood up, leaning against the wall, leaving bloody fingerprints on the surface, and stumbled out of the bathroom.
When Lin Heng followed her outside, she had already run downstairs, knocking over two enamel vases.
Lin Heng said to Aunt Liu, who stood bewildered at the stairs, “Go see what she’s up to.”
Aunt Liu nodded and ran after Lin Xianyan.
Old Pei helped Bai Sihuan to the second-floor living room and briefly staunched the bleeding. Doctor Li arrived soon after and tended to Bai Sihuan’s wound in a few minutes.
“How’s it going?” Lin Heng asked Doctor Li.
Doctor Li said, “It’s nothing serious. It won’t leave a scar. Just be careful not to get wet.”
Bai Sihuan didn’t seem to care much about his injury. A minor injury like this might have been fatal to Lin Heng, but to Bai Sihuan, it was nothing.
He moved his wrist, feeling the numbing pain spreading from the wound. He looked up and asked Lin Heng, “Where’s Yan?”
“She ran away. I asked Aunt Liu to go check on her.” Although he was unhappy that Bai Sihuan was still concerned about his second sister at this time, Lin Heng, considering her injuries, didn’t get angry with him. He just wanted to reassure him.
But his concern seemed to have no effect. Bai Sihuan lowered his head, his brow furrowed. From that moment on, and for the next few hours, his frown remained there.
In the afternoon, Lin Xianyan returned, changed his clothes, and resolutely left with his suitcase.
Lin Heng came down the stairs and saw her, shouting, “Where are you going?”
Lin Xianyan acted as if she hadn’t heard him, dragging her suitcase through the door, opening and closing it, her back disappearing behind the gate.
That evening, Cheng Sutang returned from outside, and Lin Heng couldn’t help but ask her for the second time, “Mom, what happened to my second sister? She ran out today and hasn’t come back since.”
Cheng Sutang tossed her fur coat and gloves to the servants and said nonchalantly, “Don’t worry about her.”
Lin Heng’s response to Lin Xianyan was just these four words. After that, there was no further mention of the runaway second sister.
At the start of his third year of high school, before returning to school, Bai Sihuan received a text message from Lin Xianyan. It contained only a few words: “I’m never coming back.”
Bai Sihuan called and texted Lin Xianyan, but received no response. Within two days, the number was no longer in service. When the robotic female voice repeated “The number you dialed is unavailable” twice in his ear, Bai Sihuan realized that Lin Xianyan had completely walked out of their lives, completely out of the Lin family.
Perhaps unable to get used to life without Bai Sihuan, Lin Heng rushed to school every day with several days left before the start of his first and second year of high school. When Cheng Sutang asked him why, he used the excuse of reviewing at school to have his driver’s vacation end early.
Lin Heng’s daily commutes between school and home several days in advance weren’t necessarily fake.
Every day during break, he’d grab a book and wander over to Bai Sihuan’s classroom. He’d lean against the window next to his seat, always finding a few puzzles he couldn’t solve and asking Bai Sihuan to help him through the window.
During lunch break, he’d sit in Bai Sihuan’s classroom, sleeping beside him, and only after Bai Sihuan’s deskmate woke him up would he leave with his hands in his pockets.
Sometimes, when his deskmate was late, Lin Heng would wake up and lazily say hello to the senior class teacher before leaving.
After a while, several female classmates, who had been trying to focus on their college entrance exams, couldn’t help but ask Bai Sihuan about Lin Heng.
The homeroom teacher seemed to notice this and spoke to Bai Sihuan twice, feeling that Lin Heng’s behavior was having a negative impact on the class.
Bai Sihuan discussed this with Lin Heng, hoping that unless he had something important to do, he would refrain from hanging around the senior class.
Lin Heng was initially quite obedient, not appearing in Bai Sihuan’s presence for the first three days. This obedience initially made Bai Sihuan a little uncomfortable. He glanced out the window several times but didn’t see anyone, feeling a sense of missing something.
On the fourth day, Lin Heng appeared again. Taking advantage of a moment when Bai Sihuan was relatively free, he leaned against the window and said to him, “I have something very important to tell you.”
Bai Sihuan was stunned when he saw him reappear before him, so bright and shiny. He asked, “What’s this very important thing?”
He pulled Bai Sihuan out of the classroom and pointed to a brand new bicycle on the basketball court. “I want to learn how to ride a bicycle. Teach me.”
Bai Sihuan looked from the bicycle to Lin Heng, puzzled as to what had gotten him into.
Lin Heng learned to ride quickly. With Bai Sihuan’s help, he could easily spin two laps around the playground track in just two or three days.
After two laps, Lin Heng braked smoothly and stopped beside Bai Sihuan. He raised his chin and asked confidently, “Not bad, are you?”
Bai Sihuan recalled how he had fallen several times before learning to ride a bicycle. Lin Heng hadn’t fallen once during these few rides. He was indeed much better than him. He smiled and nodded, saying, “Yes.”
Lin Heng pressed forward, demanding, “A reward?”
“What reward?”
“Let me kiss you.”
Bai Sihuan was startled, glancing at the people running and playing football on the playground. He politely declined, “There are so many people here.”
“What’s wrong with a lot of people? Are you afraid of who might see us?” Lin Heng, unfazed, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then happily rode away on his bike.
Being so public, Bai Sihuan felt as if he had committed a sin. His whole body froze. The spot on his cheek where Lin Heng had kissed him felt both cold and hot, as if a burn had been left behind, a mark he dared not wipe away.
Bai Sihuan watched Lin Heng, riding away from him under the rosy glow of the sunset, then approaching him again. A faint smile crossed his face, but inside, a bittersweet feeling welled up.
Such bitterness made his lips curl up into a perfect arc, but then they froze involuntarily, his brows furrowing uncontrollably. Sweetness lingered in his heart, while sourness permeated his eyes.
He wondered if he had truly done something wrong.
He wondered what he had done wrong.