The Fading Away of Our Youth (So Young)

To Our Youth That is Fading Away: Chapter 4

The first person to to return was Ruan Guan.  The moment she pushed the door open, she saw Zheng Wei, whose face was red from crying, sitting alone. She could not help but be surprised at Zheng Wei’s blank, sobbing gaze.

She quickly put a book down before walking over, “What happened? Who bullied you?”
Upon seeing seeing seeing a familiar face, Zheng Wei couldn’t have cared less that she hated Ruan Guan.

Her first reaction was to grasp Ruan Guan’s clothes tightly, saying, “Ruan Guan,  Lin Jing left!”
Ruan Guan’s worry eased. Earlier she had worried that Zheng Wei had been bullied, but she was actually crying over Lin Jing. Only after realizing this did Ruan Guan sit by Zheng Wei’s side, slowly asking questions. Zheng Wei had already run out of tears and her face was covered with dried streaks. She only continued to suck in air through her nose. She briefly gave Ruan Guan a brief description on what had just happened.
“Why? I don’t understand; what did I do wrong? Wasn’t it going well between us? He left so abruptly.  Fine, fine he can leave, but he has to say something. Ruan Guan, where do you think I went wrong?”
Ruan Guan felt very awkward. She didn’t know what to say.

She stayed with Zheng Wei for a while, listening to her ramblings of, “What should I do?”

Ruan Guan patted Zheng Wei’s hand, saying, “Just wait.” She then went to find something from under her bed, and she took a paper box from it. Zheng Wei had seen this box before, but she had always assumed it was for Ruan Guan’s books. Instead, Ruan Guan ripped it open after two or three tries and at the top of the box were some books, but when she took the books away and almost as if by magic, there appeared two cans of beer in her hands, she gave one to Zheng Wei and kept one for herself.
Zheng Wei was startled, and stared at her hard. She even forgot about sobbing. She and Ruan Guan squatted down together and used their hands to turn through the paper box.

Unconsciously, Zheng Wei said “Wow.”

Underneath all those books were just cans of beer. She looked at the beer and looked at Ruan Guan, not believing her eyes. So it was Zheng Wei who was too normal, and the people around her were abnormal… Why was it that in such a short period of time everything had turned around?
“Didn’t you ask me what you should do? In these kinds of situations I don’t know how to comfort you, this stuff is still the best.  What, you’ve never drunk it before?”
Frankly, at 18 years old, Zheng Wei had never drunk beer before. But of course, she wasn’t about to say this. When Ruan Guan’s words sunk in, she started trying to open the bottle, using her hand to turn the bottle tab.

“Why should I grieve? That’s only disturbing the peace!” Zheng Wei said.

When she finished speaking, she started chugging the beer bottle.
“Slow down, slow down.” Ruan Guan saw her present attitude.

She was not only quick to lose her temper but also quick to smile. But she, herself, was only an eighteen year old who just happened to be friends with Zheng Wei. Even though she had gotten relationship problems before, she hadn’t ever met a situation where any source of consolation was futile. So why not just have some beer in this situation? After one, the pain in her heart numbed, and once her head started aching,  maybe it would be easier to accept.
Zheng Wei’s relentless attitude when she was drinking alcohol, and her speedy chugging, led to Ruan Guan just drinking two mouthfuls when Zheng Wei flipped the empty bottle over and belched. She liberally reached into the paper box to grab some more beer.
“Ai, ai, restrain yourself, drinking just enough will be fine. Don’t drink too much or else that won’t be good,” Ruan Guan blocked her.