"Let me tell you a-"
"Boo-hoo-hoo..."
"You don't have to-"
"Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo..."
"Just wait a-"
"Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo..."
"Don't-"
"Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo..."
"Boo!"
Baoyue froze.
Wang Yang: "Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo..."
Baoyue sobbed:
"Y-you... why... why are... you crying...?"
Wang Yang reproduced the rhythm of Baoyue's sobbing perfectly, even mimicking the repeated trailing syllables to the life:
"D-do... only... you... you get... to... to cry...?"
Listening to Wang Yang imitate her sobbing speech like someone having a fit, Baoyue nearly laughed, but her tears still tumbled down like beads from a broken string. The last time she had cried like this was when her mother died. After that, she had learned to swallow her tears into her heart. Even when she could not help her eyes reddening, she only shed silent tears, turned away, and wiped them off. Never had she cried in such a wretched state as this. Perhaps she had held herself together too long, so that once her defenses crumbled, her tears simply would not stop:
"I'm crying... because... you upset me. What do you... you have to cry about...?"
Wang Yang pretended to cry even harder:
"Only now... do I... do I know... stopping tears is much harder... than causing them... I can... make you cry, but I can't... make you stop... so... I have to stop tears with tears..."
A good, hard cry depended on atmosphere: you had to ride that first rush and lose yourself in it. Wang Yang's interruption had dissipated half of Baoyue's urge to cry, leaving her wanting to laugh. She tried to suppress that incongruous amusement, but it stubbornly bobbed up like a fishing float in water, turning her sobs into mingled tears and laughter:
"You... you rascal... what nonsense, stopping tears with tears..."
Wang Yang stopped his pretend crying and deliberately sighed in wounded resignation:
"I had