chapter 3
On the way back from the hot springs, Liang Qian and Chen Song said they needed a ride from Tang He.
He looked surprised. “Neither of you drove?”
“I wanted to,” Chen Song said, “but Liang Qian insisted on taking a cab—”
Liang Qian pinched him, cutting him off abruptly. Then she gave Tang He a charming smile. “We’re going the same way. You can drop us off, can’t you?”
As she spoke, she opened the front passenger door and climbed in. I quietly went around and sat in the back.
Several times during the drive, Liang Qian started conversations that somehow led back to stories from their high-school days. Tang He seemed uninterested and barely spoke. Chen Song, by contrast, answered her cheerfully and kept the atmosphere from becoming too awkward.
When we were nearing the city, Tang He asked, “Where do you two live?”
Chen Song gave him an address.
“I’m still in the same house,” Liang Qian said. “It hasn’t changed.”
“I don’t remember where it is,” Tang He replied.
The mood inside the car chilled at once. Liang Qian stared at him, eyes reddening, while he kept his attention on the road and said nothing.
In the end, Chen Song smoothed things over by giving him the name of Liang Qian’s residential complex.
When the car stopped, Liang Qian made no move to get out. She turned toward Tang He. “Don’t you have anything you want to say to me?”
“No,” he said evenly.
She flung the door open, climbed out, and slammed it behind her.
Tang He still showed no reaction. He pressed the accelerator and drove on.
Chen Song began nagging him. “How can you be so heartless? Don’t you know what she means? When she invited you drinking, she was already trying to get back together with you.”
“That’s impossible,” Tang He said tersely.
“Honestly, when you’re cold, you’re really cold.”
Was Tang He coldhearted?
Chen Song turned around as he spoke, saw me, and grinned. “What’s that look for? You don’t believe me? Back in school, your uncle was ice-cold to girls. Do you know how many brought him water after basketball games? He never accepted a single bottle. He just walked away.”
I frowned in confusion. “Then how did he ever date anyone in high school?”
Chen Song laughed. “Because your uncle was too handsome. No matter how bad his temper was, girls kept lining up to try their luck. That Sister Liang Qian who just got out? She was the most persistent of them all.”
Uncle Tang. Sister Liang Qian. The forms of address made our supposed generations sound hopelessly tangled.
In truth, Tang He only looked like an older brother.