Chapter 10
Xia Fengsheng put on a show and asked, “Is he really that accurate at reading horoscopes?”
Shi Ye glanced at Ding Qizhen.
So-so.
Ding Qizhen seemed to read his mind. “What?”
“Nothing.”
He was definitely up to no good. Ding Qizhen decided to take matters into his own hands and went over to look. Pointing at Xia Fengsheng’s profile picture, he said, “He’s actually questioning me?”
“What sign is he? I’ll calculate his luck for tomorrow.”
Shi Ye only went through the motions and asked Xia Fengsheng whether he wanted a reading. He had assumed Xia Fengsheng would not play along, but unexpectedly, Xia Fengsheng really did send over his zodiac sign.
Ding Qizhen was puzzled. “Didn’t he lose his memory? How does he still remember his own sign?”
Shi Ye said, “Losing his memory doesn’t mean he lost his ID card.”
That line somehow sounded like he was calling him brainless.
Ding Qizhen: What a filthy way to insult someone.
Xia Fengsheng was a Capricorn. Ding Qizhen started reading his fortune for tomorrow and came to pretty much the same conclusion as Shi Ye.
“He’s not suited to going out tomorrow either.”
Neither Xia Fengsheng nor Shi Ye took Ding Qizhen’s prediction seriously.
The next day, Shi Ye showed up downstairs at Xia Fengsheng’s dorm building dressed sharp and neat. He had clearly put a lot of thought into his outfit again today: a short black down jacket layered over a hoodie, a baseball cap on his head, a pair of Chrome Hearts jeans underneath—a full winter-atmosphere look. Even the backpack had been changed to a brighter color, giving it more of a campus vibe.
It had snowed the whole night before, and piles of snow had accumulated on the ground. By the entrance stood snow shovels and brooms for clearing it.
Shi Ye looked left and right: No one around, right?
In the sunlit morning campus, aside from him, there was not a second human being in sight.
What kind of decent person got up at six-thirty for a date?
Eager to try it, Shi Ye picked up a snow shovel. It did not really match today’s outfit, but waiting was boring, so he might as well shovel snow for fun.
The shovel looked huge, but the moment it landed in his hand, it somehow looked a size smaller.
“Sheng’er, heading out this early?”
For once, Xia Fengsheng really did not want to greet the dorm auntie, but he still forced out a smile. “Yeah.”
The dorm manager took one look at what he was wearing and froze. “Sheng’er, what happened to you? Why are you dressed like that?”
Xia Fengsheng’s scalp went numb, but he stubbornly kept up the act. “Huh? Like what? Isn’t this pretty normal?”
From the face up, Xia Fengsheng looked no different than usual. Lower down, his upper body was wrapped in a knee-length black down coat, which still seemed normal. But further down, it turned into a pair of blue fleece pajama pants printed all over with little yellow ducks, and on his feet were a pair of gray fuzzy slippers the sort older people wore.
Whenever Xia Fengsheng went out, he was always polished and put together, every bit the well-dressed gentleman.
Seeing him like this, the auntie was so shocked her jaw nearly dropped.
Was this really Sheng’er?
This morning, Xia Fengsheng had woken up and, out of habit, started tidying up his appearance. Right when he was about to spray on perfume, he suddenly came to his senses: going on a date with Shi Ye was not the same as going out normally.
He took off all the clothes he had already put on, changed his top into a plain white T-shirt with no pattern on it, then rummaged through everything and found the most outrageous pair of pants he could.
He had never seen it at Jing University, but online there were plenty of people who went around campus in pajamas.
After putting the outfit on, he stood in front of the mirror.
Xia Fengsheng: Once a man is past twenty, he cannot keep dressing like a child.
The moment he imagined going out dressed like this, he wanted to die.
He Qiang got up to use the bathroom and saw Xia Fengsheng pulling a down coat over that bizarre outfit.
Wait, what?! He’s going out wearing that?!
Xia Fengsheng is going out wearing that?!
He stood there staring for a few seconds, then walked over and widened his eyes in warning. “I don’t care who you are—get out of our Sheng’er’s body right now!”
Xia Fengsheng: …
When he came out of the dorm building, the snow at the entrance had already been piled off to one side. He and Shi Ye had agreed to meet at six-thirty.
A time even more disgusting than an eight a.m. class.
When he came out, Shi Ye was in the middle of building a snowman beside the snow pile. His long, broad fingers were wrapped in black gloves. Beside him sat an enormous snowball, two or three times bigger than the stone bollards by the road, and he was currently shaping the snowman’s head.
Hearing footsteps behind him, Shi Ye paused in the middle of his creation-of-Nüwa enterprise.
He turned at the sound, and then he saw Xia Fengsheng dressed like an eyesore.
“……”
Shi Ye blinked rapidly twice, his expression full of disbelief. His mouth opened. “You…”
He stood up, wanting to ask why Xia Fengsheng had come out dressed like this. Today was supposed to be a date.
Looking at Xia Fengsheng and then at himself, he got the strange feeling of being a girl who had gone out in full makeup and colored contacts, only to be utterly let down.
Standing under the warm winter sun, Xia Fengsheng pinched his own thigh and tilted his head with a wickedly charming smile. “What, you’re bewitched by me too, aren’t you?”
Shi Ye: …
Xia Fengsheng winked at him twice. The moment he finished, he felt exhausted by life.
People are so tired. Is there anyone who’ll listen to what’s in their heart?
His red lips curled up to reveal a row of white teeth. One eye was winking, his posture unbearably frivolous.
Fuzzy slippers. Duck pants. My name is Fengsheng—remember it.
Shi Ye stood frozen in the dead of winter, not moving an inch.
Xia Fengsheng walked over and patted the back of Shi Ye’s jeans right on the butt. “Baby, why are you not passionate about me at all?”
Shi Ye lowered his eyes to look at him, his expression impossible to describe.
Not even on the day of the breakup had his emotions toward Xia Fengsheng been this complicated. It was like a flock of crows had just flown over his head.
Xia Fengsheng attacked in a breathy flirt voice. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Shi Ye said, “Let’s go to the hospital.”
“……”
The hospital must have missed something when he fell down the stairs. They had only checked his brain and forgotten to send him to neurology.
Xia Fengsheng’s voice immediately went back to normal. “No need.”
He cleared his throat. “I’ve already planned today’s schedule. You just focus on enjoying it.”
The hospital was not part of the itinerary.
Shi Ye looked at the way he was dressed and seemed like he wanted to say something, yet stopped himself.
Xia Fengsheng covered his mouth with one hand. “No need to be touched. This is simply what I, as your boyfriend, should do.”
As he spoke, he puckered his lips at him in the air. “Mwah.”
Shi Ye: …
Shi Ye adjusted his breathing. What else could he do? It was not like he could break up with him. “So what are we doing now?”
So early in the morning, nothing in the city was open. Only the sun had shown up to work on time.
Xia Fengsheng said, “Today we’re being a campus couple and going on a campus date. The cafeteria is open now, so let’s go have breakfast.”
Leading the way, Xia Fengsheng prepared to take Shi Ye out for some adulterated soy milk and mystery-meat buns.
Jing University had more cafeterias than one hand could count. The two of them went to the one closest to the sports field.
The breakfast selection in the cafeteria was astonishingly broad, practically to the point of having everything. Xia Fengsheng got his own meal first, then circled over to Shi Ye and pulled out a campus card. “My card. Use it.”
Shi Ye refused. “No need.”
But Xia Fengsheng would not allow refusal. He was overbearingly forceful, stuffing it into Shi Ye’s hand. “What a boyfriend should do.”
As he said that, he gave him a one-eyed wink.
Shi Ye: …
Shi Ye also got buns and soy milk. Xia Fengsheng did not wait for him and went straight to a table first.
Winter mornings made getting up hard, but at a glance there were still plenty of students in the hall eating breakfast, all clearly planning to go fight for their lives in the library afterward.
The cafeteria auntie asked, “Anything else, young man?”
“No.”
The auntie tapped swiftly on the card reader. “Nine yuan.”
Shi Ye pressed the meal card against it, only to be met with a loud announcement that rang through the entire cafeteria:
“INSUFFICIENT BALANCE!”
“……”
Shi Ye stared blankly at the card in his hand, then turned to look at Xia Fengsheng.
The domineering poor guy falls in love with me.
For the first time in his life, Shi Ye—who had never lacked money growing up—was publicly executed in front of everyone over nine yuan.
The tips of his ears turned red. He took a deep breath. “Can I scan to pay?”
“Yes.”
The cafeteria auntie pulled out a QR code from under the counter.
After paying, Shi Ye walked away from the window in a state of utter lifelessness and sat down in front of Xia Fengsheng with his tray.
Xia Fengsheng tapped his own bun. “Want to try mine?”
Shi Ye looked at him without speaking, with no idea what new stunt he was about to pull. Better to remain unchanged in the face of all changes.
Xia Fengsheng said, “Got it.”
Shi Ye’s brow twitched. Got what?
“You want me to feed you, right?”
Xia Fengsheng scooped up a spoonful of soy milk and held it to Shi Ye’s lips.
Shi Ye dropped his gaze. The soy milk on that spoon was still steaming.
“No need. You’ve lost your memory, so you and I are basically just getting acquainted again. Feeding me directly…” Shi Ye did not know how many times he had sighed that morning already. “That’s too intimate.”
After acting like that all morning, Xia Fengsheng was nearly exhausted by himself too. The two of them finished breakfast in mutual agony, only to discover that barely half an hour had passed.
Xia Fengsheng began questioning life itself: How was a whole day supposed to be endured?
When they left the cafeteria, Shi Ye finally took the initiative to speak to him. “Now that breakfast’s over, reel it in a bit.”
Xia Fengsheng: …
Was he afraid he would be so disgusted he’d puke?
The two strolled around campus, Xia Fengsheng deliberately walking close against Shi Ye.
The atmosphere between them was strange. Shi Ye could not quite describe it. He had not spent time with Xia Fengsheng for years. Even though the other was dressed in such chaotic fashion today, when he went silent and turned his gaze toward him, he still gave off a feeling of elegance and intelligence.
“What’s your blood type?” Xia Fengsheng suddenly turned his head.
Shi Ye withdrew his gaze. He genuinely had never paid attention to that. “No idea. I’ll tell you next time I get a physical.”
Xia Fengsheng said, “Why don’t you ask what my blood type is?”
After the breakfast incident, Shi Ye was momentarily afraid to ask.
Still, blood type did not seem like the sort of thing with some hidden landmine in it.
White mist drifted from Shi Ye’s mouth as he asked, “What’s your blood type?”
Xia Fengsheng floated back an eerie answer:
“Your ideal type.”
“……”
In an instant, the air went terrifyingly silent.
The sentence was too beautiful. I dared not hear it.
Shi Ye closed his eyes. Xia Fengsheng pinched his thigh tightly.
If he had known saying things like this would be so painful, he should have just listened to the Imperial Observatory and stayed home.
The two circled nearly the entire campus, spending close to two hours on it, calling it post-breakfast exercise.
By a little after eight, the sun was already glaring brightly. The temperature had risen today, and Xia Fengsheng deliberately said, “Feeling a little warm from all the walking. What about you?”
“I’m fine,” said Shi Ye.
Shi Ye was not a clean freak, but he loved cleanliness. The thing he hated most was other people touching him with sweaty hands.
“It’s a bit warm. Take off your gloves.”
“Is it?” Shi Ye did not actually feel hot, but since it seemed like concern, he still tugged the gloves off his hands.
Inside the pocket of Xia Fengsheng’s down coat was a tiny spray bottle, small enough to fit in one palm. His hands were naturally dry—he barely ever sweated in any season. Northern winters were cold and dry, making sweating even harder.
While Shi Ye was not paying attention, he deliberately fell a few steps behind, took out the little bottle, and sprayed water into his palms.
Then he quickly caught up. Just as Shi Ye was looking at a pine tree, he reached out and grabbed his hand.
Shi Ye’s eyes froze for a second, and he immediately flung his hand off.
The tightly drawn line of his brows made his disgust plain.
Xia Fengsheng had predicted exactly that reaction. The venomous snake split open into a smile.
He waited for Shi Ye to be so disgusted by him that he would bring up breaking up.
But Shi Ye’s gaze moved back and forth between the two of them.
He had gotten up early, picked out clothes, dressed carefully, sprayed perfume, styled his hair. Xia Fengsheng, meanwhile, had come downstairs to the date in pajamas.
Putting on an act, Xia Fengsheng asked in fake concern, “What’s wrong? You don’t like holding hands with me?”
Shi Ye’s face was taut as he said, “What right do you have to take advantage of me?”
