Xu Ze’s third visit was a week later.
This time, he and Ye Yunhua entered through the backyard because there were already guests at the house, and coming through the front door would disturb them.
“Going to play in the yard?” Ye Yunhua asked Xu Ze.
Xu Ze nodded.
Ye Yunhua crouched down in front of him. “Be a good boy. I’ll buy you a little toy car when we go home today.”
She knew Xu Ze was quiet, but even the quietest child would get bored spending an entire afternoon alone in the backyard.
Xu Ze had not gotten a new toy in a long time. During his first two visits, whenever they passed through the living room, Ye Yunhua could see his eyes lingering on the expensive toys beside the sofa.
After Xu Ze nodded again, Ye Yunhua stood up and went into the kitchen.
The chubby boy was not there today, so he did not come to bully Xu Ze.
Xu Ze stood in the yard for a few minutes before opening the gate and walking out.
From a distance, he could already see Lu Heyang sitting on the swing set, apparently reading a book.
Xu Ze ran a few steps over and wrapped his hands around the fence. He did not make a sound until Lu Heyang looked up and noticed him.
Lu Heyang froze for a moment.
Instead of looking delighted, he said somewhat aggrievedly, “I’ve been waiting for you every day.”
He climbed down from the swing set and walked over to the fence.
Xu Ze looked at him for several seconds, then silently took a piece of chocolate from his pocket and held it out to him as an apology for not coming for so long.
“Thank you.”
Lu Heyang smiled. Although he did not particularly like chocolate, he immediately tore open the wrapper, broke the chocolate in half, and gave the larger half to Xu Ze.
As they chewed their chocolate, Lu Heyang stuck out his tongue and showed Xu Ze the tip, which had been stained brown.
Xu Ze thought about it, then stuck out his own tongue as well.
The two of them immediately burst out laughing.
Xu Ze’s eyes curved into crescents. His smile was no longer the stiff, proper one from his first two visits.
He was genuinely happy.
“Do you want to look at this?” Lu Heyang opened the comic book filled with robots and asked.
Xu Ze nodded.
In truth, his attention had already been drawn to it, and even his head unconsciously leaned toward the fence.
Lu Heyang slowly turned the pages for him. Their faces were close together on opposite sides of the fence. In the corner of Lu Heyang’s eye, he could see Xu Ze’s long eyelashes fluttering as he stared seriously at the comic.
“I want to sleep.” Lu Heyang yawned. “You can look at the book. Will you stay with me?”
Xu Ze took the book and nodded.
Lu Heyang returned to the swing set and lay down.
He did not think he could fall asleep. It was so bright outside, and he had never fallen asleep anywhere except in his room. He was just a little tired.
The afternoon sun shone warmly over his body. Just a few steps away, Xu Ze leaned against the fence, absorbed in his comic.
The second before, Lu Heyang was still thinking, I’m not going to fall asleep.
The next second, his eyes closed, and he quickly fell asleep.
More than half an hour later, Xu Ze finished the comic.
Lu Heyang was still sleeping.
Xu Ze saw someone come out of the house and walk toward them, so he crouched down and hid beside the low wall beneath the fence, leaving only his eyes visible.
He heard the person say in surprise, “How did he fall asleep out here?”
Then Lu Heyang was picked up.
His chin rested against the nanny’s shoulder as he sleepily opened his eyes halfway.
Lu Heyang saw Xu Ze hiding there. He waved at him and said something.
He did not make a sound, but Xu Ze knew what he had said.
It was still the same thing:
We’ll see each other again.
Xu Ze nodded, stuffed the book through a gap in the fence, and turned to walk back.
After that, Xu Ze became familiar with the routine. Every time, he would head straight for the backyard and open the gate.
He was reported to Grandma by the chubby boy once, who complained that Xu Ze was always running outside to play. But because Grandma had absolute trust in the security of the neighborhood—and absolute trust in Xu Ze—she only reminded him not to go too far and not to disturb the nearby residents.
Lu Heyang always waited for him right on time, never missing a single visit. Every time, he prepared candy or little snacks for Xu Ze, showed him comic books, and shared his toys with him.
Lu Heyang never asked why Xu Ze never spoke, nor did he investigate where Xu Ze had come from.
The two naturally grew closer.
Even though there was always a fence between them, it never became an obstacle to their friendship.
To Lu Heyang, his two good friends—mischievous He Wei and Gu Yunchi, who did not like paying attention to anyone—had become friends with him because their elders knew each other.
But Xu Ze was different.
He had appeared on an utterly ordinary afternoon, like a leaf drifting in on the wind or a cloud floating across the sky. There had been no warning and no introductory conversation.
He had simply wandered into Lu Heyang’s life by chance, a strange new visitor who could not speak.
They maintained a very simple, mysterious friendship, completely pure and untouched by any ulterior motives or entanglements of interest.
“I’m leaving now.”
Lu Heyang gently tugged at Xu Ze’s hair as he concentrated on reading his comic.
“Want me to give you the comic?”
Xu Ze raised his head.
Lu Heyang often said “I’m leaving now” at a certain time, but Xu Ze never knew where Lu Heyang was going or what he was going to do. It seemed to be some kind of fixed outing he had to make.
Xu Ze returned the comic book to him and shook his head.
Then he smiled.
“You don’t have to smile at me,” Lu Heyang said.
He felt that Xu Ze did not actually like smiling.
Every time, Lu Heyang would offer to give Xu Ze the comic books or toys, and every time Xu Ze would shake his head and refuse.
But he was happy about Lu Heyang’s kindness, which was why he smiled.
Lu Heyang always told him that he did not have to smile.
Perhaps it was an illusion.
Although seven-year-old Xu Ze did not yet know that this feeling was called an “illusion,” he noticed that Lu Heyang often repeated certain words and certain actions.
Things Xu Ze remembered very clearly seemed to leave no impression on Lu Heyang at all, as though he had no memory of them, and he would repeat them over and over.
For example, whenever they parted, Lu Heyang would say that next time he would show Xu Ze a certain comic book.
But when the next visit came, the book he brought was always one Xu Ze had already read.
In fact, Xu Ze had read it at least three times already, because Lu Heyang seemed to keep forgetting that Xu Ze had seen it.
So he would bring it to him again and again, and every time he would say:
“This one is the best. You have to read it carefully, okay?”
Xu Ze never told him that he had already read it. He thought Lu Heyang must really like that particular book, so he wanted to read it a few more times too.
“I’m leaving.”
Lu Heyang stuffed all the remaining lollipops and chocolates from his pockets into Xu Ze’s hands, then gathered up the comic book and toys. Just like every time before, he walked backward while waving at Xu Ze.
“We’ll see each other again, okay?”
Xu Ze hugged the snacks and nodded at him.
It was an ordinary goodbye. They had promised they would see each other again, but neither of them had imagined that it would be the last time they ever saw each other.
“Xu Ze, right?”
When they arrived that day, the lady of the house put down her teacup and said to Xu Ze, “Play in the living room today. Keep him company.”
“She” meant the chubby boy.
The chubby boy sat among a pile of toys, sticking out his tongue at Xu Ze with a smug, triumphant grin.
Ye Yunhua took Xu Ze by the hand and led him to the sofa.
“Then stay here and play today. Be a good boy, and don’t break this older brother’s toys.”
She knew Xu Ze did not like the chubby boy, but in this place, they had to obey orders.
Just as the lady of the house did not want other children inside her home, Xu Ze had to spend every visit alone in the backyard, whether the sky was cloudy or sunny.
And today, the chubby boy wanted Xu Ze to play with him, so Xu Ze had to stay in the living room.
The lower a person’s position, the fewer choices they had.
Xu Ze sat in a corner with a very, very small toy car in his hands. He was afraid of breaking the chubby boy’s toys, so he had chosen the smallest one.
The chubby boy had finally gotten Xu Ze where he wanted him and was delighted.
He imitated the protagonists from spy movies, rolling around on the carpet before raising his gun and shooting rubber bullets at Xu Ze. Sometimes he controlled a remote-control car and deliberately crashed it into Xu Ze’s legs.
In short, he refused to let Xu Ze have even a moment of peace.
Time passed little by little.
Xu Ze looked out the window and thought that Lu Heyang might be waiting for him. It had already been almost another week since they had last seen each other.
Xu Ze put the toy car on the floor and stood up.
While the chubby boy was still looking for another toy to use for his next attack, Xu Ze slipped out through the side door of the living room into the backyard.
He jogged all the way over, opened the fence gate, and quickened his pace toward Lu Heyang’s house.
But before he could get past the third house, someone called out to him.
Xu Ze turned around.
He saw Grandma, the lady of the house, and the chubby boy standing there.
The chubby boy was bawling his eyes out.
Lu Heyang: I’ll kill you.