Chapter 2
The Crazy Night (Part II)
Over the past three years, Hou Weidong and Zhang Xiaojia had done everything short of consummating their relationship. After a period of frantic, mutual exploration, they lay panting on the bedsheet. Xiaojia voiced a lingering worry: "Do you think we could still get pregnant?"
Hou Weidong, feeling a surge of pride, reached into his nearby clothes and retrieved a small box. "Xiaojia, look at this," he said.
Xiaojia took it, holding it up to the moonlight. After a moment of inspection, she exclaimed in surprise, "A condom."
"Exactly. The ten-yuan kind." For a student in 1993, ten yuan was a significant sum—not trivial, but certainly not negligible. To emphasize the value of his purchase, Hou Weidong made sure to highlight the price.
The acquisition of this condom was, in itself, a story. Two months prior, swept up in passion, they had decided to buy one. However, upon entering a pharmacy, they found a young woman standing there. The presence of another person instantly stripped them of their courage. They visited several other pharmacies, checking the prices, but the shops were bustling with customers. Unable to bear the scrutiny of onlookers, they ended up buying two packs of bandages instead and left empty-handed. They had mocked themselves for this cowardice many times since.
Hou Weidong smoothly removed Xiaojia’s white panties, but then he was stumped by the condom’s packaging. The ten-yuan box was surprisingly sturdy. Hou Weidong felt like an ant on a hot pan, struggling with the wrapper for a long time without managing to open it.
Xiaojia lay on the bedsheet, gazing up at the vast night sky. She felt a sense of calm regarding the impending milestone of their growth. After years of dating, this step felt like a natural progression. Seeing Hou Weidong’s flustered state, she took the condom from him. "Let me do it," she said.
She traced the edges of the packaging, found the pre-cut opening, and with a gentle tear, extracted the condom.
Hou Weidong did not take it. Smiling, he said, "I don’t know how to use it. You put it on for me."
Xiaojia pinched him playfully. "If you don’t know how, I certainly don’t."
"Don't overthink it. Just slide it on. You didn’t pay attention during that science education film at the college, did you?"
Xiaojia burst into laughter. "Everyone said they weren’t paying attention that day, but in reality, every single one of them was drooling." Despite her embarrassment, her heart racing, she fumbled for a while before clumsily but successfully putting the condom on Hou Weidong.
Hou Weidong had always been physically robust. In the dormitory, he often boasted about women alongside Jiang Dali and Liu Kun. While his stories were eloquent, the truth was that all three of them were virgins. Their sexual knowledge came mostly from pirated adult videos.
By the time the condom was on, he was already on the verge of release. Xiaojia lay beneath him with her eyes tightly closed, presenting herself as if ready to be taken. This was a scene Hou Weidong had fantasized about countless times. Yet, when the dream became reality, he was startled to find he didn’t know where to begin. At that critical moment, Xiaojia relaxed. She opened her eyes, saw Hou Weidong looking foolish, and reached out to guide him forward.
Just as they stood on the verge of this long-awaited intimacy, Hou Weidong suddenly released. Xiaojia, also inexperienced in such matters, saw that Hou Weidong had struggled for a moment before finishing far sooner than expected. She let out a long sigh, feeling a slight disappointment. Being a considerate girl, she knew Hou Weidong had a strong sense of pride. To comfort him, she gently wrapped her arms around his sturdy back.
Hou Weidong had not expected his long-awaited first time to end so abruptly. He felt deeply deflated. A quiet, sinking frustration washed over him at how things had unfolded far sooner than he'd ever imagined.
The sun had long since vanished beyond the horizon, and the sky was filled with stars.
Looking down from the small hill, the lights of Shazhou Academy sparkled like stars in the sky. The lights along the lake, rippling with the water, were particularly beautiful. At the far western end of the West District lay the Music Department. From the curved music hall, faint melodies drifted out. The music struck at the hearts of Hou Weidong and Xiaojia like a strange sword, piercing deep.
The first sexual encounter, fantasized about for so long, had ended in premature release. Hou Weidong, who always considered himself quite masculine, felt an indescribable melancholy. His male pride felt slightly wounded. Gazing at the college where he had lived for four years, thinking that he would leave the place that had witnessed his youth tomorrow, a vague sadness, like wild grass, quietly crept into his heart.
Xiaojia sat in front of Hou Weidong, her back resting against his broad chest. Besides the sorrow of parting, she harbored another worry. The angry faces of her parents, though three years had passed, remained vivid in her memory, making her shudder slightly.
"Are you really going to come home with me tomorrow?"
Hou Weidong did not answer immediately. He lowered his head and sniffed deeply at his girlfriend’s hair. It carried the unique scent of a young woman, full of vitality, fresh like mushrooms growing in the forest after a rain. It was his favorite smell, one he always savored carefully during their dates.
Hou Weidong was well aware of Xiaojia’s anxiety. He advised her, "Even an ugly daughter-in-law must eventually meet her parents-in-law. We receive our graduation certificates tomorrow, so we must face reality. I am prepared for a long battle." After offering these comforting words, he couldn’t help but worry himself. "Are your father and mother really that fierce?"
"I’m not sure. But after seeing that letter last time, they were especially angry and strictly forbade us from seeing each other. My mother is the backbone of our family; she has the final say on everything. My father and I only get scolded."
"Truly, cleverness can lead to one’s own downfall. Why did you hide the letter in the bookshelf?"
Thinking of this incident, Hou Weidong felt a mix of amusement and frustration. During the summer vacation last year, after they had separated, they had agreed to write to each other at least every two days. To avoid Xiaojia’s parents’ scrutiny, Hou Weidong sent his letters to one of Xiaojia’s good friends, who then passed them on to her. Xiaojia would read each letter ten times, unable to bear destroying them. Since her bedroom offered no secure hiding place, she would search the house for a spot to hide the letters while her parents were at work.
Although Xiaojia’s parents were both technical staff at the factory, their housing conditions were poor. For a family of three, having a one-bedroom apartment with a bathroom and kitchen was already considered quite good. After Xiaojia started college, she changed rapidly, transforming from a tomboy into a lovely young woman. It was no longer appropriate for her to sleep in the living room, so she moved into her parents’ former bedroom, and they moved to the living room.
There was an old bookshelf in the living room, piled with old books underneath, some dating back to the Cultural Revolution. Since Xiaojia had been admitted to university, the bookshelf had not been touched for years. Holding Hou Weidong’s letters, Xiaojia searched and searched, finally choosing the bookshelf. She tucked the love letters between the old books.
Xiaojia knew how hard the path ahead would be yet she chose to press on anyway, but as the saying goes, no matter how carefully you plan, life always holds unexpected turns. Shortly after hiding the love letters, Xiaojia’s mother, Chen Qingrong, who had not read a book in a long time, happened to be off duty. With nothing to do at home, she picked up an old book to read. By chance, she flipped to Hou Weidong’s series of love letters. In one of them, Hou Weidong had boastfully described his heroic deeds in a fight outside.
This series of love letters was like numerous heavy-depth charges, blowing Xiaojia’s summer vacation to smithereens. Chen Qingrong and her father, Zhang Yuanzheng, constantly changed expressions—black face, red face, painted face—flitting before Xiaojia like a revolving lantern. Finally, Chen Qingrong used the common ultimate tactic of cutting off relations, forcing Xiaojia to promise to break off with Hou Weidong completely.
Xiaojia was a filial girl. Seeing her parents so heartbroken and having never experienced such a barrage of criticism, her will to resist was finally crushed. She agreed to break up with Hou Weidong. However, on the small hill at Shazhou Academy, before Xiaojia could even speak the decision to break up, Hou Weidong’s impatient and passionate embrace easily shattered her not-so-strong defense.
The two fell back in love and began to implement an information blockade against their parents and teachers. Their romantic activities thus shifted completely from semi-public to underground.