Chapter 43
Ding Qizhen genuinely could not tell who the person between Shi Ye and Xia Fengsheng was.
The eyes were huge, the chin was pointy, and the beauty filter had been cranked up to two hundred percent. If you didn’t know better, you’d think the hot spring resort had some kind of “take a commemorative photo with an alien” attraction.
Ding Qizhen: “Who’s the person between you and Brother Xia? A new friend?”
So the three of them had gone to the hot spring resort together?
Ding Qizhen’s title of Steve was hereby abdicated and handed over to the big-eyed alien in the photo.
Shi Ye typed coldly: “Jing Changyu. Xia Fengsheng’s class monitor from high school.”
Jing Changyu.
The name sounded faintly familiar to Ding Qizhen. He racked his brain and really did manage to recall a few things about him.
Back in high school, his deskmate had liked the class monitor from Xia Fengsheng’s class, and that monitor’s name had been Jing Changyu.
Never mind how they’d ended up getting in touch again—why was Jing Changyu at the hot spring resort with Shi Ye and Xia Fengsheng? Ding Qizhen remembered that Shi Ye hadn’t seemed to like him much before.
He looked at the photo again.
Ding Qizhen: All these years later and he still doesn’t like him—he even edited him into a snake-face demon.
Shi Ye didn’t dislike Jing Changyu for no reason. Back in high school, Xia Fengsheng was cold toward everyone, but his attitude toward Jing Changyu alone had been noticeably friendlier. That was why Shi Ye had harbored hostility toward him.
It mainly manifested as being full of resentment, finding this irritating and that irritating about the guy—
and in the end causing exactly zero damage to Jing Changyu.
Because Xia Fengsheng was distant with everyone, the moment he acted a little gentler toward one person, it stood out all the more.
Shi Ye still remembered one day after school when Xia Fengsheng had forgotten a test paper on his desk. Jing Changyu had specially chased after him to return it. Xia Fengsheng had obediently taken it and even softly said a few words to him. His attitude had been unbelievably good.
Jing Changyu was the sort of highly responsible class monitor who took care of everyone in the class. As a person, there was nothing wrong with him at all, and he was broad-minded too.
Ding Qizhen: “Don’t let Jing Changyu outshine you. Remember to act generous. Absolutely don’t let Brother Xia find out how petty you are.”
Shi Ye: ……
How was he petty?
Act generous?
How exactly?
Wasn’t he already being generous enough? Jing Changyu kept barging into what was supposed to be a two-person world, and he still hadn’t chased him off. He’d even obediently taken the photo and sent over the original before opening an editing app to retouch it.
Thinking back on all of it, Shi Ye began to question life:
…How could a person live this spinelessly?
Just then, after breakfast, Jing Changyu’s same-city couriered phone arrived as well. Having received the photo Shi Ye had just sent—the one of the three of them taken at breakfast—he immediately turned around and posted it to Moments.
“The Best of Us [photo]”
Seeing the post while scrolling on his phone, Shi Ye: ……
Who’s us? And then he turned around and gave it a like.
He never forgot that he had to act generous. Only then would Xia Fengsheng not think he was the small-minded type.
Shi Ye: “:D”
One more beautiful virtue on him meant one more chance for others to like him.
Shi Ye was extremely good at seizing opportunities. Making Xia Fengsheng fall for him was a done deal in his mind.
At the hot spring resort, the scenery looked different at every hour of the day, each time of day carrying its own special charm.
Now that they’d run into Jing Changyu first thing in the morning, the daytime activities had once again become a three-person outing.
Shi Ye was starting to regret bringing Xia Fengsheng to the hot spring resort for vacation.
The plan had been to enjoy a two-person world.
But now…
After glancing at Jing Changyu, Shi Ye closed his eyes in bleak despair:
…If I’d known he’d come, I wouldn’t have come at all.
That afternoon, the three of them went to a scenic pavilion for afternoon tea.
The pavilion had an old, elegant style. The octagonal eaves and the several pillars all carried a noticeable sense of age. They said the investor of the resort had spent a fortune transporting these ancient timbers from elsewhere because of the symbolism attached to them.
Afternoon tea was self-serve. If you wanted pastries, you went to the buffet area and took them yourself.
Jing Changyu stood up, and Xia Fengsheng was also about to go get some.
When on vacation, Xia Fengsheng didn’t bother controlling his diet. Normally, he intentionally kept his eating in check in order to look good in a suit, but once out having fun, all of that got tossed aside. He could worry about fitness when he got back.
Shi Ye had no intention of letting the two of them have any alone time. He pressed a hand down on Xia Fengsheng’s shoulder. “I’ll go.”
No need to move himself?
Xia Fengsheng sat back down again. Since he could just sit and wait to be fed, there was no reason to go himself. He looked up and told Shi Ye what desserts he wanted, then waited for him to come back.
Shi Ye looked toward Jing Changyu and was just about to say, “Let’s go together.”
Who knew Jing Changyu, who had just half-risen, sat back down again and said with a smile, “Mr. Shi, I’ll have the same as Student Xia.”
Shi Ye: ……
Hahahahahahaha, Tom’s.
Still keeping the smile on his face, Shi Ye headed for the dessert area. The moment he stepped beyond the range where Xia Fengsheng and Jing Changyu could see him clearly, he started glaring murderously at Jing Changyu, trying to burn a hole right through him with the heat of his eyes.
This particular pavilion was rather remote, so not many people came. Apart from him, there was also a little boy in the self-serve area taking desserts.
The table covered in various pastries was too tall for the little boy. He was standing on tiptoe, struggling to reach a chestnut cake on a tray. The tongs and the chestnut cake were separated by no more than five centimeters, yet that tiny distance might as well have been a chasm.
A pair of tongs reached over first and placed a piece of chestnut cake onto his plate.
Looking at the little cake, fragrant and sweet, the little boy let out a delighted “Wow!” Then he tilted his head up and thanked him very politely. “Thank you, big brother.”
Shi Ye casually said, “No need.”
The little boy was the familiar, self-starting type and immediately struck up a conversation. “Big brother, are you here for cake too?”
Shi Ye clipped more food onto his tray. “Mm.”
The little boy said, “You’re like me! I’m here for cake too. Big brother, I’m taking some for my mommy. Who are you taking yours for?”
Shi Ye bit down with the tongs on another dessert, like a crocodile in water clamping onto prey before starting a death roll. “For my lover and another annoying guy.”
The little boy’s mouth formed a small “o.” “Is the annoying guy your love rival?”
Shi Ye froze. “How did you know?”
Did kids nowadays really know this much?
The next second, the little boy shouted at full volume, “Ah!!! Big brother, you’re getting desserts for your partner and your love rival?!”
Everyone around them turned to look.
Shi Ye, flustered, immediately crouched and covered the little boy’s mouth. “Keep your voice down! Do you want the whole world to hear?”
His face flamed as red as the sunset clouds in a textbook. He nervously turned his head to check.
Thankfully, Xia Fengsheng and Jing Changyu hadn’t noticed the commotion over here.
After confirming they hadn’t heard, Shi Ye laughed at himself again in sheer helplessness.
His lover and his love rival were chatting.
And he was the one fetching desserts.
Shi Ye: stunned.jpg
How could a person live so miserably?
Thankfully, after spending the whole day with the two of them, Jing Changyu didn’t insist on coming to their room to sleep at night.
After pretending to be magnanimous all day, Master Shi took a shower, opened a crack in the curtains, then crawled into bed ready to sleep.
At last, this vicious day was over.
As Shi Ye lay there, his mind was planning what hairstyle he should do tomorrow morning. Not long after he closed his eyes, his head tilted, and he directly fell into a dead sleep.
Beside him, Xia Fengsheng lay under the covers looking at his phone.
He always felt tonight’s bedding was especially cold.
Could it be that the room heater wasn’t on?
He climbed up to check. The thermostat showed the room at twenty-three degrees, without the slightest hint of chill.
So Xia Fengsheng lay back down again, pulled the blanket over himself, and prepared to sleep.
These past few days had been a lot of fun. Once they got back, though, work would start getting busy again. Qin Buming had sent a message saying that because they’d done so well with the last project, a bunch of new work had come flooding in.
In Xia Fengsheng’s mind, it was as though countless stacks of cash were waving at him.
The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile:
Haha, oh my god.
Xia Fengsheng closed his eyes: ZzzzZzz…
He opened them again, grin stretching toward the back of his head:
Hahahahaha, oh my god!!
Just the thought of going back and earning several huge sums of money made life feel more worth looking forward to.
That night he didn’t dream at all. He fell into a quiet sleep.
He had no idea how long he’d slept when a sharp, dry pain in his throat woke him. It felt as if tiny knives were stabbing inside his throat, as if he’d gone three days in the desert without a drop of water.
Because he had night blindness, there was always a small nightlight on in the room. Before sleeping, he remembered setting a glass of warm water beside the bed so that if he woke thirsty in the middle of the night, he’d have something to drink.
Good thing he’d left that water there.
Xia Fengsheng picked up the glass and drank two mouthfuls.
Warm water passed through his throat, yet the pain in it didn’t ease at all.
What was going on?
He drank another two mouthfuls.
Still useless! His throat still burned painfully.
At the side, Shi Ye—who had just been grabbed and force-fed two mouthfuls of water in his sleep—said, “What did you give me to drink? Kinda hot.”
Xia Fengsheng: ……
The warm water had passed through a throat, just not his throat.
Only then did Xia Fengsheng realize he’d accidentally fed the water into Shi Ye’s mouth.
How had he managed to feed it to him?
The warm glass in his hand was still hot to the touch. Xia Fengsheng picked up his phone and checked the time. He’d only been asleep for ten minutes before waking up.
He raised a hand to touch his forehead.
A little hot.
Probably a fever.
A small illness.
Xia Fengsheng didn’t take a cold or fever seriously at all. Even without medicine, a cold would get better on its own after seven days.
Back when he’d been in that rented room cramming for grad school exams, if he caught a cold, one sleep was enough.
He paid it no mind, made sure to accurately feed himself water this time, and then pulled the blanket over himself to go back to sleep.
In his sleep, Shi Ye heard a rapid fit of coughing, the kind that sounded like someone couldn’t catch their breath. Groggy, he opened his eyes and saw that the bedding beside him was shaking violently. Xia Fengsheng was coughing nonstop.
Shi Ye’s drowsiness vanished instantly as he sat up from under the covers. “Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
Xia Fengsheng had bundled himself tightly inside the quilt, not even a single strand of hair sticking out.
Shi Ye pulled back the blanket to check on him. The back of his hand touched Xia Fengsheng’s skin, and the heat from him was startling. He reached up and felt Xia Fengsheng’s forehead.
A fever.
Shi Ye quickly pulled out clothes for the two of them, intending to dress Xia Fengsheng and take him to a hospital. But halfway through, he realized that in the dead of night there were no vehicles going down the mountain.
Driving the mountain road at night was dangerous. Even the hot spring resort only transported guests during the day. There was no way to get him to a hospital right now.
Shi Ye patted Xia Fengsheng’s face. “How are you feeling? Where does it hurt?”
Xia Fengsheng’s skin was white to begin with, and the fever combined with being stuffed under the blanket had turned his face a flushed pink. When Shi Ye’s fingers touched his cheek, the skin felt smooth and elastic like a peeled boiled egg.
Xia Fengsheng’s throat hurt so badly that it was hard for him to make a sound.
Shi Ye went to the bathroom for a towel, then took a bunch of ice cubes from the fridge and wrapped them up inside it.
He tied the towel bundle shut with the ice inside and placed it beside Xia Fengsheng’s face for him to press against.
Shi Ye moved briskly, without the slightest hesitation, and clearly knew what to do next.
After setting up the cooling pack for Xia Fengsheng, he went to the hotel front desk for fever medicine. When he came back, he used warm water to help Xia Fengsheng take it.
The fever had come on suddenly, and Xia Fengsheng’s whole head was muddled from it.
Shi Ye lifted him up to support him, but Xia Fengsheng didn’t have the strength to sit on his own. So Shi Ye wrapped an arm around his waist and used his own body as a backrest, holding Xia Fengsheng upright against his chest.
“Open your mouth.”
Xia Fengsheng had his head tilted halfway to one side. Those fox eyes, usually narrow and sly, were now pitifully half-closed. His head rested against Shi Ye’s shoulder, his whole expression dazed, as if he were barely conscious.
Shi Ye put the fever pill into his mouth.
The white tablet hit his tongue, but because he was producing so little saliva right now, it immediately turned dry.
The pill was bitter and nasty, sticking to his tongue so that plain water wasn’t enough to wash it down.
“Yue…”
Xia Fengsheng’s head tilted, and he threw it all up. A pale, watery, foamy mess splashed onto Shi Ye’s thigh.
Anyone seeing that would have felt disgusted.
“It’s okay.”
Shi Ye steadied him when his body slumped off-center again, then lifted a hand and gently rubbed his back to help him through the choking and gagging.
His big, knuckled hand patted Xia Fengsheng’s back again and again.
Only after the bitter taste faded from Xia Fengsheng’s mouth and the coughing eased a little did Shi Ye take another pill from the blister pack.
“In a second I’m going to put the pill in your mouth. Don’t close your mouth right away. Wait until you’ve swallowed some water first, then close it. Got it?”
Xia Fengsheng’s head was in chaos, and he nodded vaguely. It was hard to say whether, in that half-conscious state, he’d actually heard a word.
There were five pills left.
Shi Ye fed him one more.
This time, as Shi Ye instructed, Xia Fengsheng swallowed the pill without throwing it back up.
Once he got the medicine down, Shi Ye stopped moving him around and tucked him back into the blanket. Then he went into the bathroom to wash himself.
A cold wasn’t some major illness. Even one-year-olds got colds. Once he’d taken the fever medicine, the rest was just a matter of waiting. Xia Fengsheng was a grown man—nothing serious would happen to him.
Shi Ye tossed the pants that Xia Fengsheng had vomited on into the laundry hamper. Shi Ye didn’t have a cleanliness obsession, but he did like things clean. A few years earlier, getting puked on might have disgusted him, but after being thrown into military training and rolling through all kinds of dirt and mud, Xia Fengsheng’s vomit really wasn’t that bad. It didn’t gross him out much.
He’d already showered before bed. Now he just turned on the water and gave himself a quick rinse.
Once he was clean, Shi Ye came out in a bathrobe intending to go back to sleep.
But Xia Fengsheng kept making noises from the bed.
Little hmphs and mumbles and indistinct sounds—it was impossible to tell what he was saying.
Shi Ye opened his eyes and looked over. “What now? Why aren’t you sleeping?”
The instant he asked, Xia Fengsheng stopped making noise.
Shi Ye closed his eyes again.
Not even two seconds later, the little hmphing started again.
In Shi Ye’s eyes, a cold was a minor illness, not a big deal at all. Everyone got colds. Sleep one night and it would pass. Yet Xia Fengsheng kept refusing to sleep.
Shi Ye sat up and went to his side, lifting the blanket to inspect him. “What is it? Why are you whining?”
Sweat had started to form all over Xia Fengsheng. His hair was wet now, strands sticking to his forehead and cheeks.
His eyes were still closed. With one side of his face buried in the pillow, he spoke in a low, sticky, slurred murmur, “Can’t sleep.”
He sounded unbearably pitiful.
A tiny illness really had changed Xia Fengsheng all over. The usual proud expression of his formed the starkest possible contrast with the way he was now.
Shi Ye asked quietly, “What would make you able to sleep?”
For a cold, once the medicine was taken, the rest could only be handed over to sleep.
Did he need a bedtime story or something?
Xia Fengsheng pressed his lips together for a long while before finally speaking.
“I want Little Bear.”
“What?” Shi Ye hadn’t heard clearly.
Xia Fengsheng was fever-muddled. Eyes closed, he muttered hotly, “I want Little Bear. I want Little Bear to sleep.”
Shi Ye froze where he sat.
Through the haze of fever, Xia Fengsheng had remembered Little Bear—the part of himself that had forgotten everything else.
.
It was the height of summer, with cicadas screaming and the heat so fierce it hit your skin in waves.
The moment school let out, students wished they could fly home the very next second and sit under fans or air-conditioning, blowing away the hot, damp air.
Ding Qizhen found Shi Ye. He remembered that Shi Ye didn’t have dance practice today, so he wanted to ask him to come over and play that night.
“Let’s go to my place and play video games tonight.”
Ding Qizhen had just bought new gaming equipment. Competitive games weren’t fun played alone. Since Shi Ye finally had some free time today, this was the perfect chance to drag him over.
Shi Ye sat in his classroom chair with one long leg bent, replying to messages from his parents.
A few days later would be Labor Day, and school was giving them a four-day holiday.
During the break, He Yu had things to do and wouldn’t be able to teach Shi Ye, which meant Shi Ye finally had free time to go out with his family.
Shi Ye’s parents were busy with work. Since Shi Ye had moved to the seaside city with He Yu, the family saw each other at most once every two months.
Even though they video called often, not having them nearby still made them miss each other.
Shi Ye’s parents were very open-minded. They interacted with him almost like friends, deeply respecting his opinions and inner world. Big matters and small matters alike, they would ask what he thought.
Even something as small as replacing an inconspicuous flower vase, they would still include him and have him help choose.
Shi Ye’s home in Beijing was so large it was ridiculous. If you bought one flower vase and put it in the house, no one would even notice it.
And yet his parents never excluded him from participating in such little things.
From the moment he was born, he had been treated as a complete person, someone with an independent identity of his own. His way of thinking might not yet have been mature and needed cultivation, but that didn’t mean he should be ignored.
Shi Ye loved dancing. When he first started ballet as a child, he suffered a great deal from it. His parents felt pain just watching him, but since he liked dancing and wanted to dance, what they gave him was encouragement and support. They never let their child sink into bad emotions and lose heart.
In the family chat:
Mom: “How about an island trip? The Maldives maybe.”
Dad: “I think seeing the aurora would be better.”
Mom: “Xiao Ye only has four days off. How’s he supposed to see the aurora? He won’t even have time to adjust to the time difference.”
Shi Ye: “Let’s do the island. I want to swim.”
Dad: “Alright. Island it is.”
Mom: “Then I need to buy two new outfits. You two can handle your own.”
After confirming that the holiday trip would be an island getaway, Shi Ye set his phone down and looked toward Ding Qizhen. “What did you say just now?”
He’d been busy replying in the group chat and hadn’t caught what Ding Qizhen had said.
If he hadn’t heard, then Ding Qizhen could simply say it again.
Just as Ding Qizhen was about to invite Shi Ye once more to come over and play video games, the classroom back door was suddenly knocked on.
The two of them turned at the same time.
Xia Fengsheng was standing there with one hand lifted from knocking, half his body hidden behind the door.
“Hold on,” Shi Ye said to Ding Qizhen.
Then he stood and walked over to the door.
“What is it?”
Ever since Xia Fengsheng had started boarding at school in the second year of high school, the two of them hadn’t walked home together after school in a very long time.
The place where Xia Fengsheng worked after school was in the complete opposite direction from the dance studio Shi Ye went to.
So as long as they got through the school day, Shi Ye wouldn’t have to see Xia Fengsheng at all in the evening.
Xia Fengsheng kept his head lowered, eyes on the floor. His mouth opened like he wanted to speak, yet the words wouldn’t come out.
Today his state was different from usual. At this hour in the past, he would already have sprinted out of school to work. He would never have been standing here looking for him.
When he still didn’t speak, Shi Ye frowned. “What’s wrong?”
He’d come to find him, yet he still refused to speak.
Xia Fengsheng’s always-crimson lips looked a little paler than usual, and when he spoke he didn’t look into Shi Ye’s eyes as he normally did.
He hesitated for a long while before finally saying it.
“Can you spend the night with me today?”
Shi Ye’s whole body stiffened. “What?”
As if he had heard the resistance in Shi Ye’s tone, Xia Fengsheng inhaled and changed tack.
“Spend the night with me today, or I’ll expose the fact that you helped your friend cheat.”
Shi Ye stared at him coldly and clenched his fists.
“Wait here.”
Throwing down those words, he went back to get his bag.
When he returned, Ding Qizhen could see his expression had changed completely. He swallowed. “What happened with you two? Are you still coming over to my place to play games tonight?”
Shi Ye picked up his backpack. “No. Another day.”
“Damn it, Shi Ye, you’ll go with him but not me? Am I still your best friend or not?!”
Ding Qizhen had thought that if Shi Ye had to choose between him and Xia Fengsheng, Shi Ye would definitely choose him. They’d grown up together.
Who knew Shi Ye would choose Xia Fengsheng without the slightest hesitation.
Ding Qizhen fumed helplessly. “You bastard who values romance over friendship.”
Shi Ye slung the bag over his shoulder. “He already kissed me. I can’t just not take responsibility.”
Hearing that, Ding Qizhen relaxed.
Oh, so they’d already kissed. Well then, that made sense.
And so, his plan to play games together failed. Ding Qizhen went home alone with his backpack.
On the way home:
Shi Ye and Xia Fengsheng have already gotten to the kissing stage. Things are moving fast.
During dinner:
If Shi Ye kissed someone, he really does need to take responsibility.
At night, under the covers:
Shi Ye already kissed him…
He closed his eyes for two seconds.
Then suddenly opened them wide:
Wait. That’s not right!
