Recently, Lang Yi discovered that her brother Lang Feng had changed a little. Objectively, she observed that Lang Feng spent less time in Amsterdam. In the past, if she wanted to live in Amsterdam, she would have to circle the time on Lang Feng's calendar three months in advance. But a few weeks ago, Lang Yi had just graduated from graduate school and was planning to invite a few friends to visit the Netherlands, but Lang Feng said that he could let her stay in his apartment, since he had been in Beijing for the past two weeks. Subjectively, Lang Yi felt that he seemed a little different - in the past, Lang Feng didn't really mind her gossiping about his personal love life, and even let Lang Yi see photos of his date if she wanted to. But now, Lang Yi has switched between two languages, three social softwares, and asked him eight questions, but she still can't find out who he is dating recently.
Lang Yi is only 24 years old and has just been admitted to a doctoral program in medieval history. He firmly believes that as long as the information is collected, there is no paper that cannot be written and no story that cannot be told. Combining the first-hand information in front of him, Lang Yi feels that there is only one truth, that is, Lang Feng is serious.
Even now, Lang Yi is lying in a Zurich hospital with a cast on her body, but she still hasn't forgotten to ask Lang Feng about the matter. To celebrate her doctoral degree, she came to Switzerland with her friends to ski. She is a very good skier, but a novice rushed in and broke her right leg. The situation was quite serious, so she had a small operation. Within half a day of the incident, the siblings' father Lang Renning and mother Jiang Ying, her brother Lang Feng, and Lang Yi's boyfriend Daniel, whom she met in France, all gathered in Zurich. Lang Renning is an economics professor in the Netherlands, so he postponed all his lectures to come here, and Lang Feng postponed his entire week's schedule.
After accompanying her in the hospital for the surgery and staying for two more days, Lang Feng passed away early.
That day, the family was watching a movie with Lang Yi. Lang Renning went to a nearby place and bought a projector for Lang Yi, saying it was a gift for her passing the doctoral exam. They projected the movie on the white wall of the hospital bed. At this time, Lang Feng suddenly received a call. He answered the phone in Dutch, but three seconds after the call was connected, he switched to Chinese: "Wait for me a moment." Then he covered the speaker of the phone and walked out of the ward quickly.
When she came back, Lang Yi met his eyes and asked him, "Isn't that your date? Say hello to him for me." Lang Yi was actually used to speaking English and German to him. She was five years younger than Lang Feng, had stayed in China for a short time, and had never attended a Chinese school. If it weren't for Lang Renning's requirement that she could only speak Chinese at home, she probably wouldn't have been able to speak a word. But now, in order to get Lang Feng to talk, she searched for all the Chinese words she could think of.
Lang Feng saw that his father was still in the ward, so he didn't say anything directly, but just replied: "I have to go back to Beijing."
Lang Renning pretended not to hear Lang Yi's gossip and asked him seriously, "Are you working? If it's inconvenient for you to change shifts, then don't come. Anyway, your mother and I are here."
Lang Feng thought about it and didn’t hide it: “A friend asked me to go back. He is… a very important friend to me.”
One advantage of Chinese is that it is gender-ambiguous. Once the word "he" is spoken, it is open to interpretation by others. Lang Renning looked at him with a meaningful look, but he did not ask any more questions. He knew his son. Lang Feng was a very private person, especially when it came to things that were close to his heart, he would think twice before sharing them.