The night train, like a python bearing a glossy coat, cuts through cities and villages, mostly traveling in darkness.
In the dark night, you can barely make out the irregular mountain ranges outside. Occasionally, you can see a light hanging high in a distant village, propping up a small patch of brightness in the boundless darkness.
"Yan Xiaofei, don’t you think that in such endless darkness, those dim lights are particularly comforting? They guide travelers home, telling wanderers that their families are still waiting for their return..." Miss Xu Xiaoyan is leaning against the train window, blocking the interior light with her hand to look outside. As she gazes out, she muses poetically.
There are not many people on the train. Xu Xiaoyan and Yan Fei have taken up a four-seater space. Yan Fei sits across from her, listening as she energetically comments on the passing view.
Mid-reflection, she realizes that her counterpart has been silent for a while. She turned her head, only to find Yan Fei in a daydream. She quickly became annoyed. "Yan Xiaofei, didn’t you hear what I just said?"
"Yeah, I heard," Yan Fei replied absentmindedly.
"So what do you think of what I said? Don’t you feel the same? Back when we went to school, whenever we left that dark alley to go home after evening study, didn’t seeing the light in our homes make you feel particularly warm?" Xu Xiaoyan asked nostalgically.
"No..." Yan Fei responded bluntly.
"You, after evening study, you..." Xu Xiaoyan stopped abruptly, her face flushing with embarrassment. "Stinky Yan Xiaofei, hmm..."
She had just remembered that the elementary school gate in their town was right on the main street. Since elementary school finished early, there were always lots of lights on when they left. It was only in junior high that they needed to walk a lengthy, dark alleyway to get home.
The girls would always walk in groups down this alleyway. Some even brought flashlights. Even then, they were often startled by the boys’ mischievous tricks. So when they emerged from the alleyway and saw the lights on the street and at home, they would feel safe.
However, before junior high even started, poor Yan Fei was left all alone. Were there any lights on at his home? Besides, Yan Fei was out nightly catching rabbits, completely unafraid in the wilderness. What’s a long alleyway to him?
Thinking back to how he was alone, catching rabbits every night, and still brought food to her on the weekends, make her heart ache. Back then, all she cared about was eating the food, never considering how Yan Fei might be feeling.
What was Yan Fei doing when she was busy studying? He seemed like a puppet most of the time. Apart from the time he spent playing with her, he would always be sitting by the blacksmith furnace, constantly pulling the bellows. He never played with other students, and his only joy appeared to be watching the flames in the furnace change from red to blue as he vigorously worked the bellows.
That’s right, he wasn’t as strong back then as he is now. Whenever she saw him pulling the bellows, he would use all his strength with every pull.
Lost in her empathetic thoughts, Xu Xiaoyan was interrupted by the train coming to a stop. Several passengers disembarked and a few more got on before the train started up again. Noticing that all the seats at the opposite six-seater were now empty, Xu Xiaoyan stood up to look around. The lighting inside the train was always the dimmest at night. Most of the few passengers were asleep.
Seeing all this, Xu Xiaoyan chuckled to herself, then quickly moved to claim the seats across the aisle.
She beckoned to a confused Yan Fei, signally him to bring their belongings. "Hurry... put our stuff on the opposite seats. You sit over here, quickly... and don’t sit too close to me, sit further away. Lie down..."
Yan Fei was bewildered. She told him not to get too close, sit far away, but also lie down...if he lay down, wouldn’t he be lying on her? Didn’t that contradict her instructions?
Following Miss Xu Xiaoyan’s directions in a daze, he tilted his body backwards and felt himself being embraced by her. Then came a series of rules: "Don’t think about it, don’t move, don’t talk, close your eyes..."
Yan Fei obediently closed his eyes and relaxed his body to the warmth behind him. He felt Xu Xiaoyan’s small hands gently rubbing his temples. After a while, she began kneading his shoulders. Although puzzled, Yan Fei kept silent as commanded.
Not only did he keep silent, but he also relaxed his body further - otherwise, Xu Xiaoyan’s gentle application of force would feel more like a caress than a massage.
"Yan Xiaofei, has it been especially hard for you, being alone?" Ms. Xu Xiaoyan asked after clumsily massaging him for a while.
"What’s hard about it?" Yan Fei asked, keeping his eyes closed.
"You have to take care of the cattle at home, and the greenhouse requires attention. With so many things to manage along with..." Xu Xiaoyan listed off his tasks one by one. After finishing, she concluded, "Managing all this by yourself, don’t you find it tiring?"