Chapter 22
Kind words build good ties; cruel words wound the heart.
Ding Qizhen’s pupils shook.
Shi Ye stared at Ding Qizhen.
What was wrong with saying “ya”?
Wasn’t it cute to talk like that?
How was that green tea? How was that sleazy?
Disappointed, Shi Ye closed his eyes.
He had never expected a friend of so many years to fail to appreciate him.
Ding Qizhen muttered, “You’re cursing me in your heart right now, aren’t you.”
Shi Ye: ?
Ding Qizhen said, “There’s a kind of noisy silence coming off you.”
When Xia Fengsheng came back from his phone call, he immediately sensed the subtle atmosphere between the two men in the room.
Neither of them was speaking or moving.
Standing there like two NPCs.
“What’s wrong?” Xia Fengsheng looked at the pair of them. “Did you two fight?”
“No.” Ding Qizhen wiped at his sweat. “Just got humiliated one-sidedly a line or two.”
Shi Ye said angrily, “Three lines!”
Xia Fengsheng: …
Ding Qizhen: …
This kid Shi Ye had been good at math since he was little.
“Do you want to come with us to buy baseball jerseys?” Shi Ye said.
“Baseball jerseys?”
“To wear when we go watch the game in a few days.”
Usually when fans went to games, they wore merch jerseys to support their team.
Shi Ye was a die-hard Falcons fan. Whenever they had a game, he would do his best to make time to watch it in person.
For the full viewing experience, fan merch jerseys were a must.
It was Xia Fengsheng’s first time watching a live baseball game, so the more immersive the experience, the better. He was here as a tourist anyway—buying a jersey would also give him a chance to wander around the streets a bit.
The three of them got ready and headed out together to the Falcons merch specialty store.
The moment they stepped into the block where the store was located, the noise level instantly jumped several degrees. The flow of people was dense and immense; with one glance, it was nothing but a sea of heads. People of every country and every skin color were there.
All of them had come to buy merch.
Across from the Falcons store was the merch shop for the Browns, their strongest rival this season.
The number of people buying merchandise for the other baseball teams was not even one-fifth of what these two teams drew.
Holding the donut he had just bought and not yet had time to eat, Xia Fengsheng suddenly began stuffing it into his mouth at storm speed.
Shi Ye asked, “What are you doing?”
Xia Fengsheng said, “If I don’t eat it now, someone else will help me eat it in a minute.”
With the crowd in front of them, once you squeezed in, forget the donut—even if somebody stabbed you, you would not be able to find the culprit.
The donut was king size.
Xia Fengsheng gripped the wrapper and chewed in huge bites.
So choking.
A head leaned in. Shi Ye lowered his head and bit off a big mouthful of the donut. He was tall, and when he bent down, his broad shoulders pressed in. Because of the crowding, Xia Fengsheng instinctively stepped back.
Compared to high school, Shi Ye had grown a little too oversized now.
Tall, broad-shouldered, long-legged, and with thighs that were thick and solid.
Shi Ye pinched Xia Fengsheng’s fingers and brought the donut to his own mouth for another huge bite. His canine teeth cut neatly through the bread ring, his sharp, handsome jawline moving as he chewed. Sunlight passed through, making his lashes and hair strands stand out distinctly. Only after his mouth was stuffed full did he straighten back up.
Even with his mouth crammed full, it did not diminish his sunny, handsome looks in the slightest.
Looking at Shi Ye holding his fingers, Xia Fengsheng said, “I thought you didn’t like physical contact.”
Shi Ye chewed and chewed. “That’s different. That was you taking the initiative to touch me.”
Xia Fengsheng said, “So it’s fine if you take the initiative to touch me, but not fine if I take the initiative to touch you?”
What kind of warped logic was that?
Shi Ye opened his mouth and started talking nonsense. “That’s how we used to be. You can’t expect me to sacrifice myself just because you personally lost your memory.”
After the two of them had each taken bites of the donut, Ding Qizhen got tempted.
“I want a bite too.”
Eager to try, he was confident—his mouth was big, he could eat.
The donut looked pretty good.
But by the time he shoved Shi Ye aside, all that was left in Xia Fengsheng’s hand was one pathetic little nub.
Ding Qizhen: ?
Excluding me?
One donut, two people ate it—what about the third person?!
Ding Qizhen stared accusingly at the two of them, whose cheeks were now stuffed into bizarre shapes.
“I saw you two wrong.” His whole face was packed with disappointment. “So selfish.”
Shi Ye ate fast. A couple chews and it was gone.
Ding Qizhen’s accusations did not hurt or itch.
“The flower language of donuts is: if your mouth is too slow, you get nothing.”
Ding Qizhen: …
After the donut was finished, they tossed the wrapper and squeezed into the crowd.
None of them were short. They averaged above one-eighty-five, and Shi Ye was one-eighty-seven—over one-ninety with shoes on.
By the time they forced their way into the store, Xia Fengsheng calmly straightened his sleeves, though in truth his cerebellum practically felt like it had been squeezed out.
He looked at the two rich second-generation boys in front of him.
Normally, if the two of them wanted something, it would only take a phone call—they would never need to come here and get packed in like this.
But Shi Ye and Ding Qizhen cared about the sense of experience. They were naturally full of vitality, and firsthand experience ranked first for them.
The Falcons’ support colors were red and black. In the middle of the crowd, Shi Ye started picking out clothes.
There were many different styles, and he selected three.
“Boss, where’s the fitting room?” he asked the owner in English.
The owner replied, “Just to your left. But the store’s packed right now. Do you mind sharing one fitting room between two people?”
“I’ll go with my friend.” Shi Ye pointed at Xia Fengsheng behind him.
The surrounding chatter was too loud, so Xia Fengsheng did not hear clearly what the two had said. He just followed Shi Ye to the fitting room entrance.
“What were you saying just now?”
Shi Ye said, “The owner said two people can use one fitting room.”
He found an empty one and pushed the door open.
“Come on in,” Shi Ye said. “I’m not that big.”
Xia Fengsheng: …
You really think you’re still eighteen, huh.
Back in his youth, Shi Ye had developed slowly, and his frame had not opened up yet. On top of that, because he did ballet, he had dietary management. High-calorie sugar-and-fat bombs like the donut just now were basically things he never ate.
Xia Fengsheng squeezed himself in.
The two of them stood in the fitting room. Only then did Shi Ye come back to his senses, clutching the shirt in his hands but not changing for a long time.
Just now, the joy of buying merch had gone to his head.
By the time he came to, he was already sharing a fitting room with Xia Fengsheng.
Seeing that he still was not changing, Xia Fengsheng asked, “What’s wrong?”
Shi Ye said, “Don’t peek at me.”
Xia Fengsheng: …
Turning his back to Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye bent down slightly and grabbed the fabric at his back with both hands, yanking the shirt off.
The moment his waist and back were exposed, Xia Fengsheng’s eyes involuntarily widened a fraction.
The muscles of his back flexed with the movement of his arms. His biceps and triceps were strong and solid, his back broad and his waist narrow—his physique was astonishing.
He did not dare imagine what the front looked like.
Shi Ye slipped the shirt on in two or three quick motions, then turned and asked, “How is it?”
The shirt looked great on him.
Xia Fengsheng lifted his eyes. “Your collar’s not right.”
A bit of the fabric was rolled under.
His hand moved on instinct to help.
The cool, pale fingertips touched skin burning with body heat. Shi Ye’s gaze flickered, and he turned aside to dodge.
“I’ll do it myself.”
Once he fixed it, he went out to look in the mirror, leaving Xia Fengsheng alone in the fitting room to change.
In the end, because the choice between the three was too difficult, Shi Ye simply bought all of them.
One for Xia Fengsheng and one for Ding Qizhen.
After coming out of the specialty store, the three of them wandered aimlessly down the street.
Passing by a wetland park, Xia Fengsheng thought it looked pretty nice and suggested they go take a look.
Shi Ye and Ding Qizhen followed right behind him.
As they were about to enter the park, they noticed an ice cream truck parked not far away at a street corner.
Shi Ye asked, “Anyone want some?”
Xia Fengsheng and Ding Qizhen raised their hands at the same time.
All.
A unanimous vote from the trio. Shi Ye headed over to the truck to buy ice cream.
Xia Fengsheng and Ding Qizhen stayed where they were to wait.
The line at the ice cream truck was not short. While waiting, Xia Fengsheng took out his phone and prepared to study dance.
This morning, senior Qin Buming had called to say he had landed a project. The daughter of the project partner liked girl-group dancing, and the project itself was also related to the partner’s daughter.
The whole team wanted to rehearse one. Their professional skills were not the problem; at that point it would just help them have something in common to talk about with the little girl. If the daughter was happy, maybe the partner would sign the contract.
Qin Buming’s side had already started practicing.
By the time Xia Fengsheng got back from America, it would already be time to discuss the project. He had to learn the dance during this period.
He propped his phone up on a bench.
Then Xia Fengsheng began bizarrely dancing along to the video.
Ding Qizhen, who had still been looking at the new clothes he had bought, looked up.
“Shi Ye! Stop buying! Xia Fengsheng is having a stroke!”
Xia Fengsheng: …
The distance was too far for Shi Ye to hear him. Ding Qizhen was already pulling out his phone to dial 911.
Xia Fengsheng stopped him. “I’m fine.”
Ding Qizhen looked horrified. “What were you doing just now?”
“Dancing.”
Ding Qizhen had assumed he was doing some weird mutant dance style.
“Try dancing something good.”
That was, until he saw the girl-group dance video on the phone.
Ding Qizhen: …
“You call that dancing?” Clutching his stomach, Ding Qizhen laughed wildly. “Hahahahahahahahahahahaha—your boyfriend used to be a professional dancer, and this is what you came up with, hahahahahahahaha—”
Xia Fengsheng looked at Ding Qizhen’s mouth gaping wide in laughter.
He knew he was laughing hard, but he had not expected it to be this excessive.
“I saw your breakfast.”
“…” Ding Qizhen shut his mouth.
Ding Qizhen said, “I’ll do it with you. I can teach you while I’m at it.”
Xia Fengsheng arched a brow. “You know how?”
Ding Qizhen threw both hands forward. “Please. Shi Ye and I grew up together, okay? He danced, and I soaked it up beside him.”
Easy work.
He was brimming with confidence.
Right up until the moment he started dancing and, for no reason at all, his hand suddenly slapped his own leg.
Ding Qizhen: …
In a low voice by his ear, Xia Fengsheng said, “Heh heh heh heh. And your friend was the one who specialized in dance.”
Ding Qizhen: …
They had thought the dance looked simple, but who knew it would be this hard. In an instant, it stirred up both their competitive spirits, and they started practicing with complete disregard for everyone else.
Raise an arm, turn around, stretch a leg, circle.
Just as the two of them were getting into it, a white-haired elderly white woman came over and tapped Xia Fengsheng on the arm.
Xia Fengsheng was breathing a little hard. “What is it, ma’am?”
The elderly woman said, “Where do I donate?”
Xia Fengsheng: …
Ding Qizhen: …
“No, we’re not disabled. We’re just learning to dance.”
The old woman said, “Dance?”
Xia Fengsheng said, “Yes.”
The old woman said, “Then what you’re doing is one pile of dog shit.”
The two of them froze on the spot.
“If your mother saw you dancing like this, she’d cry on the spot.”
“I’m eighty-nine years old, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen dancing like yours. Truly, if you live long enough, you really do see everything.”
Questionable manners, kind heart.
The elderly woman stared at Ding Qizhen. “Did you get dog shit in your hair?”
Ding Qizhen, with his yellow-brown hair: ?
This one he could not take.
“This is a trendy hair color! It’s not dog—”
Xia Fengsheng pulled him back. “Forget it, forget it.”
The old woman was just a little sharp-tongued. Her heart was still good. Just now she had even wanted to donate money to them.
The next second, the old woman turned to Xia Fengsheng and said:
“Did you get sesame stuck at the corner of your mouth? Have some hygiene, young man. Wipe it off already, you look filthy.”
Xia Fengsheng, who had always thought the mole at the corner of his mouth was a very distinctive feature: …
The expression on his cold, gloomy face cracked apart. Ding Qizhen swallowed. “Forget it, forget it.”
After dropping those two barbed comments, the old woman left in complete satisfaction.
Leaving the two of them alone to stand there in the wind, thoroughly disordered.
An eighty-nine-year-old peak mean girl.
Xia Fengsheng and Ding Qizhen sat on the bench, drained of all color, dim and lifeless.
Their pupils shook in unison as they questioned life.
Ding Qizhen: This hair color is obviously one of the trendiest shades young people like the most!
Xia Fengsheng laughed until he lost the ability to speak. The old woman’s evaluation of him was something he had never heard in his life: the mole at the corner of his mouth was obviously super sexy, okay?!
Shi Ye came back holding three cones and looked at the two colorless people.
“What flavors do you want?”
The ice creams were one pudding, one strawberry, and one vanilla.
Neither of them said a word.
Shi Ye: ?
He randomly handed one to each of them.
“Make room for me.” He tapped Xia Fengsheng on the shoulder.
Xia Fengsheng: silent.
He patted Ding Qizhen on the head. “Move over a bit.”
Ding Qizhen: silent.
Shi Ye frowned.
Why was neither of them answering him?
He stepped in with his two long legs, squeezed between them from left and right, and sat down between the two with deep satisfaction.
The one he had kept for himself was his favorite, pudding.
When he ate ice cream, he did not like licking it. He liked biting into it.
Xia Fengsheng, however, was exactly the opposite.
He wanted to ask whether Xia Fengsheng wanted a taste of his.
He kind of wanted to eat the strawberry one in Xia Fengsheng’s hand.
Turning his head, he saw Xia Fengsheng stick out his tongue, touching the surface of the ice cream with the back of his tongue first, then dragging it all the way up to the tip.
Shi Ye immediately turned his head away on instinct.
“Shi Ye.”
“Huh?” Shi Ye rubbed his ear and turned to look at him.
Xia Fengsheng asked, “What do you think of the mole at the corner of my mouth?”
