If You Can't Be Friends, Be Lovers

The lazy afternoon sunlight filtered through the window, landing on the damp floor. After watching television for a while, Qin An waited for Tang Qianxing, who was being dragged off to discuss things by Qi Mei-whose mind was too excited to contain herself-and together they left the small restaurant...

Parting ways in front of the town government office, Junzi called Qin An to go play pool...

"Is my sister's lot just going to be this?" Junzi asked with some lingering resentment. Qi Mei's lot truly could not be considered good; failing to marry out twice, the talk of her bringing bad luck to her husbands was basically a death sentence handed down in Qingshan Town condemning Qi Mei to a lifetime of loneliness and bitterness...

If not for this, Qi Mei would never have run into Tang Qianxing. As for whether her days ahead would be happy or desolate, it depended on her own grasp of things and on Tang Qianxing's intentions...

"Look at your sister, every single day she's bright and happy now... If she had truly married a farmer, by now she'd have to roll up her sleeves, her trouser legs rolled up as she toiled in the fields, that pretty face of hers turned into a sallow peasant woman's, shouting in a loud voice and talking vulgarities while flirting and making small talk with village men... Giving birth to a few sons, daring to bare her chest and expose her breasts, walking around with a waist like a bucket. How many tender, pretty young lasses are there in Qingshan Town, and don't they all end up like this in the end? You'd be willing for your sister to be like that, but your sister wouldn't be..." Thinking that Qi Mei was a sensible woman, Qin An figured she probably had never made things difficult for Tang Qianxing either-though there was also a flavor of self-pity mixed into that, and who knows, perhaps she was even worrying that if she really were to marry Tang Qianxing, she might bring bad luck to him as well...

Tang Qianxing was not afraid of this, but Qi Mei was certain to be. Any woman who had experienced such a terrifying thing, if she deeply loved a man, would fear that if she truly married him, she simply wouldn't have the courage...

Junzi stopped talking. Sighing, he sank a ball on the break, the cue ball striking the pool table with a muffled thud...

"Secretary Tang is going to be transferred to the county, and your sister will definitely follow him to the county seat to work on something or other. What about you? Are you also transferring to a county unit to drive for Secretary Tang?" Qin An re-racked the balls and asked casually...

"Once you enter the county committee it's not so casual anymore, drivers all have established posts... Brother Tang said getting me an official post isn't difficult, but I can't drive for the rest of my life. If I really enter the establishment, my personality won't do; I won't last. Maybe I'll just go help my sister out. For a woman on her own, running a shop isn't easy, and she can't just go running to Brother Tang whenever something comes up, so I'll go help manage things." Watching Qin An break, Junzi rubbed a handful of talcum powder into his hands and muttered in a muffled voice, "You've got a lot of crooked ideas, why don't you scheme a livelihood for me?"

"You really think too highly of me. With just a word from Uncle Tang, where can't you go... I'm telling you, Uncle Tang is a good man. The other day when I watched him being intimate with your sister, he didn't say a single word of excuse, nor did he push your sister away-isn't that because he is constantly mindful of your sister's feelings? If it were some slippery bureaucrat instead, the first thing on their mind at that moment would be cutting ties, right? Now that Uncle Tang feels he can't give your sister status and feels a guilty conscience in his heart, he will definitely not treat her poorly, and even less will he treat you poorly. Just you wait, if he isn't already planning to scheme a good way out for you, I'll eat every ball you potted today..." Qin An leaned against his cue and lazily broke. Junzi played much too recklessly; his accuracy was decent, but his force was far too strong, and his technique was just so-so. Using three-tenths of his mind he could steadily beat him...

"The person I, Qi Jun, respect the most in this life is Brother Tang. You also count as half, except you're just too young, so I can't bring myself to admit it. Once you grow a bit more, I'll have to honestly acknowledge that you're one of the people I respect the most..." Junzi's mood improved slightly. Actually, what he worried about most was his sister; as for himself, he didn't much care. Hearing Qin An put it this way, and feeling that Tang Qianxing was indeed just that sort of man-not about to let his sister end up isolated and helpless-he finally set his mind at ease...

"Who deigns to have you respect them?" Qin An snorted with laughter. "Remember to pay, you lost again..."

On Monday, Qin An, who had taken a week of leave, returned to the town junior high...

His scores were still hanging there glaringly. His English composition was copied out in the English corner, and his poem was there too, except that in the poem the three characters for "Ye", "Zhu", and "Lan" in the first three lines had been replaced...

"Who has nothing better to do?" Qin An wondered to himself. If those three characters Ye Zhulan were missing, in his view that poem was simply cobbled together at random and utterly meaningless...

Walking into the classroom, an extra desk had been added right between the second and third rows of seats, and Qin Xiaotian was sitting there, which effectively meant he was right next to Qin An...

Word was that Qin Xiaotian had come from Taiwan. Most of the classmates in the classroom were sizing him up with curious gazes, while Qin Xiaotian wore a look of you are all hicks, his chin tilted up, not deigning to look at anyone...

Qin An walked over, gave the very top of his head a smack, and dumped down his schoolbag. Then he discovered a problem...

Sun Sun was sitting on the right, and Qin Xiaotian was sitting on the left. That meant the aisle between the two rows of seats was blocked off, and he either had to take a huge detour and make Qin Xiaotian move his desk out of the way, or else make Sun Sun move...

"Go on in..." Unexpectedly, Sun Sun stood up on her own initiative, making way for Qin An to pass from her seat...

"Thank you..."

"Don't mention it. You took a week of leave, so you need to apply yourself to your studies even more; you can't grow arrogant and complacent just because of your mock exam scores, let alone the fact that your history and politics grades are atrocious to the extreme, and your Chinese is also very ordinary..." Sun Sun added a few extra words, her tone entirely that of a conscientious, good class monitor treating an ordinary classmate...

Sun Sun's tone and demeanor were deliberately leaking a sense of alienation, as if the relationship with Qin An that had gradually eased and grown familiar was once again turning distant...

Sun Sun did not look at Qin An. The morning light streamed across the classroom doorway, landing on the desks and reflecting crystal-white against the arm with which she was rolling up her book; her slender fingers emitted a luster like jade, her palm-sized face possessed a porcelain-like delicacy, her long eyelashes were curled upward, and the gaze beneath them was clear and rippling with watery moisture...

Qin An looked at her in puzzlement. "What's wrong? Putting on that 'why meet when we have never known each other before, from this moment meeting is to treat each other as strangers' look? If there's some place where I've displeased you, just tell me straight. If you act all prickly again, I'm going to tickle you..."

After all, Sun Sun's reserve was no match for Qin An's shamelessness, and she couldn't help laughing, though she immediately pulled a straight face. "I'm not ticklish..."

"Really?" Qin An smiled with ill intent, staring at Sun Sun's neck...

Sun Sun's cheeks turned scarlet in an instant. Her neck was her most sensitive spot; sometimes when she touched it herself it felt a bit strange, let alone letting someone else touch it...

Looking at Qin An's expression, it seemed as if Qin An knew this little secret of hers-but how could that be? The girls in the entire class didn't even know, let alone Qin An. Thinking of this, Sun Sun's heart panicked...

How could Qin An not know? After one of Sun Sun's successful concerts, in the KTV private room, Sun Sun-having drunk a few cups of alcohol-had flushed red cheeks, her delicate face appearing even more bewitching and stunning under her flawless makeup. Leaning on Qin An's shoulder under the influence of her intoxication, her eyes held a strange, enchanting allure, and her breath was fragrant like orchids: "Qin An... I'll tell you a little secret, you cannot touch my neck. If you touch it now, we won't even be able to be friends..."

Having said that, Sun Sun cried, because in the end Qin An had not been able to bring himself to touch it...