Chapter 54
Shi Ye came back carrying a huge bag of biscuits. After making a full round through the orphanage and failing to spot Xia Fengsheng, he temporarily left the biscuits in the dorm.
The old man who sold them had said that as long as the biscuits were kept away from moisture, they would last three days at room temperature.
Shi Ye deliberately picked a sunny spot to set them down. The moment he came out of the dorm, he ran into the director, who had come looking for him.
The director told him that the activity where volunteers accompanied the children in their daily play had already begun. There were many projects to choose from, and she asked Shi Ye which one he wanted to join.
“There’s cooking a meal for the children, teaching them about animals, playing childhood games with them, and so on…”
All the activities the director listed sounded pretty good.
As Shi Ye walked toward the children’s activity area, he thought about which one to pick.
Since the weather had turned cold in winter, outdoor activities had already caused many of the children to catch colds and start sniffling. On top of that, it was flu season, so the director had decided to suspend the children’s outdoor time for a week and wait until the temperature rose again next week before taking them outside to play.
And tomorrow there would be a safety drill, so the children could use that opening to get a bit of fresh air then.
The children’s activity area was in the teaching building. Different activities were held in different classrooms. Since most of the children in the orphanage were quite young, every classroom was decorated in a very cozy style. Carpets covered the floors, and all the sharp corners had been padded over.
Shi Ye thought he would go with the “teaching children about animals” activity.
When he was little, he had had several animal encyclopedias. Every night before bed, one of his parents would come read with him, and they had read those animal books. He recognized almost all the animals in them and knew their habits, characteristics, and what kind of climate suited them for living and breeding. Since he knew a lot about animals, it would be easy enough to explain them to the kids.
The director said, “Right up ahead is the classroom for teaching the children about animals.”
The two of them arrived outside the classroom. Through the glass window in the door, Shi Ye peeked inside.
And saw Qin Buming sprawled on the floor, letting a child ride him like a horse.
Shi Ye: ……
Just then, the child grabbed Qin Buming by the hair, and a strong, vigorous horse neigh exploded out of the classroom.
Shi Ye: ……
In an instant, all the animal encyclopedia knowledge he’d once known vanished from his mind.
He had only been four or five when he read them, after all. The memories were too long ago. All the animals he once knew were long forgotten.
Shi Ye turned and walked off, as if he had made up his mind, without the slightest hesitation.
Who would have thought teaching children about animals could be so undignified.
The “cook a meal for the children” activity was different from the others. It was the only one that required absolutely no interaction with the children.
Soon they reached the kitchen area. The sliding kitchen door was tightly shut.
Shi Ye stood at the entrance.
Since walls never fully block out smell, just from the scent drifting out of the kitchen, he could already tell that this afternoon’s food was going to taste terrible.
He decided not to join the cooking activity after all, lest he ruin the lifelong reputation of his culinary skill.
Just then, a message came in on his phone.
It was from Qin Buming. They had added each other on WeChat over lunch earlier.
Qin Buming: “Shi Ye, are you back? Come teach the kids about animals with me. It’s really fun and super happy.”
Shi Ye: It’s a trap.
What a poisonous heart.
He had zero interest in being ridden like a horse, so he replied off-topic: “What is Xia Fengsheng doing?”
Qin Buming: “Xia Sheng?”
Qin Buming: “He’s acting spoiled in the kitchen.”
Acting spoiled?
Shi Ye blinked, as if struck by a blow.
How was that possible?
Even when they had been together so long in their youth, Xia Fengsheng had hardly ever acted spoiled even with people close to him. How could he possibly act spoiled now?
Shi Ye set down his phone and yanked open the kitchen door.
Let me see for myself.
Clatter clatter clatter clatter—
A frantic chopping sound rang out.
Inside the kitchen, Xia Fengsheng was gripping a knife and rapidly chopping up the corpses of green peppers on the cutting board.
His expression was refined, but buried beneath it was a savage kind of satisfaction. No one knew who exactly he was imagining the peppers to be.
Pepper slaughter.
Shi Ye: ……
What exactly had he been expecting?
Shi Ye quietly pulled the door shut again and said weakly, “I’d better just go play childhood games with the kids.”
Shi Ye headed into one of the activity classrooms. This was where the childhood games were held. Most of the children here were between five and eight years old, with more girls than boys.
Volunteers were already inside, playing with the children. Shi Ye changed into indoor slippers and walked in.
There were many toys in the classroom. There were all kinds of girl-oriented play sets, plus toys from different professions. There were small drums and little guitars for music, airplane models for aviation, and—taking into account the preferences of little kids who loved beauty and dressing up—there was also children’s makeup suitable for their age.
All of it had been anonymously donated by a woman.
The children were having the time of their lives.
The moment Shi Ye sat down on the carpet, he was quickly surrounded by children, both boys and girls.
In truth, Shi Ye rarely played with young children. But looking at their innocent, bright little faces, he relaxed. How hard could it be to play with kids?
A little girl came over carrying a makeup kit. “Big brother, let’s play house together.”
Shi Ye flashed a sunny smile. “Sure.”
Twenty minutes later—
Shi Ye held up a pink hand mirror shaped like a heart and stared at himself in it.
Shi Ye: ……
His bangs had been tied up with a strawberry hair tie by one of the children. He had two massive fiery-red circles of blush on his cheeks, so thick they wouldn’t blend out, and his mouth—and a full ring of skin outside it—had been smeared with exaggerated lipstick.
Shi Ye: … So beautiful I dare not look directly.
“Big brother, are you satisfied with the makeup we gave you?”
Beauty-loving Shi Ye lowered his head in depression. He should have gone and been a horse after all.
He quickly adjusted his mindset and looked up with a bright, sunny smile. “I’m very satisfied. It’s excellent.”
Hearing the praise, the children happily asked, “Then tomorrow, if we do your makeup again, will you still let us?”
Looking at their eager little faces, Shi Ye immediately said, “Of course. Definitely.”
So Shi Ye, wearing his “beautiful” makeup, sat on the carpet with the children and worked on jigsaw puzzles.
A little girl asked, “Big brother, do you have friends?”
Shi Ye helped another child find a puzzle piece and answered while searching, “Yeah. Why?”
The little girl said, “I was thinking, if you don’t, we can be your friends!”
She pointed at the whole big circle of children around them.
Shi Ye smiled and patted their heads. “I do have friends, but you can still be my friends too.”
Another child asked with innocent curiosity, “Then where are your other friends? Why didn’t they come with you?”
Shi Ye replied, “They have their own things to be busy with.”
Just then, the sliding classroom door was pulled open. Xia Fengsheng, wearing an apron covered in cartoon characters, came in to deliver fruit for the children in this room.
The children were so absorbed in playing with the volunteers that they did not notice him.
Shi Ye did.
And likewise, the moment Xia Fengsheng set down the fruit, he saw Shi Ye too.
Xia Fengsheng: ……
Shi Ye: ……
Xia Fengsheng stared expressionlessly at him. After taking in Shi Ye’s beautiful face, even his brows shot up.
Then Shi Ye waved at him like an idiot dog. “That’s my friend.”
He quickly patted the children who were bent over their puzzles.
The children looked up. “Where?”
“Big brother, where?”
A chorus of tiny confused voices.
“Right there.” He pointed toward the door—
But by then, the doorway was already empty.
The instant Xia Fengsheng heard Shi Ye say he was his friend, he had turned and vanished without a trace.
Respectfully declining the ugly.
Soon it was time for the afternoon meal. Perhaps because there was already precedent for volunteer-cooked food tasting terrible, the “cook for the children” activity did not have the volunteers prepare the full meal. Instead, they only made a very small portion of vegetable balls.
Three per child. Even if they tasted awful, they could still be finished, and no food would be wasted.
Each vegetable ball was golden and plump, made with vegetables, eggs, and flour. Judging from the color and appearance, they should not have been too bad.
Qin Buming, broken all over after spending the whole day as a horse, dragged himself into the cafeteria.
He had finally survived long enough to eat.
He felt that surely no one in the world was more miserable than him today—until he spotted Shi Ye standing in front of him in line, with his hair tied up and that full flower-face makeup still on.
Qin Buming: ……
There are always greater sufferers out there.
Sure enough, once someone else’s pain was bigger than your own, your own pain didn’t seem quite so unbearable anymore.
After seeing Shi Ye, Qin Buming’s mindset improved significantly.
Xia Fengsheng was in charge of handing out the vegetable balls, which meant he could interact with the children along the way.
Shi Ye and Qin Buming found a place to sit, leaving an empty seat beside them for Xia Fengsheng.
After finishing the distribution, Xia Fengsheng came over to eat with them.
Since his junior had made the vegetable balls, Qin Buming was the first to show support. He stuffed one whole ball into his mouth, just about ready to close his eyes and praise it as delicious, banquet-worthy perfection—
Only for a flavor so awful it felt like it might blow off the top of his skull to assault his taste buds.
Qin Buming’s hand holding the chopsticks trembled. H-how could it be this bad?
“Xia Sheng,” Qin Buming looked like he had been poisoned. “What’s in these meatballs?”
Xia Fengsheng coolly tossed out three words. “Eat and shut up.”
Qin Buming: … If he didn’t ask, would he really be able to die in peace?
He left the ball until the very end so it wouldn’t ruin his appetite.
Just as he was steeling himself to overcome the difficulty and destroy the ball, he realized Shi Ye’s were already gone.
In a low voice, Qin Buming asked, “Do you think they’re good?”
Shi Ye replied without changing expression, “Yeah. They’re good.”
If everyone else said they were bad but he alone said they were good, Xia Fengsheng would definitely notice how special he was.
Shi Ye: 😀
Watch me make him fall hopelessly in love with me.
As he said that, Shi Ye took Qin Buming’s remaining two vegetable balls and stuffed them into his own mouth.
Qin Buming’s pupils shook. An… an eating disorder?
Shi Ye had saved him from the balls, and Qin Buming was so moved he said, “You saved my life. One day, I will surely repay you tenfold.”
On the other side, Xia Fengsheng, dead-eyed, was chewing on his own vegetable ball and saw that Shi Ye had eaten all of them.
“You like them?”
Shi Ye knew his moment had arrived. “I do. These are the best vegetable balls I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
Shi Ye: 😀
He must be touched to death by now.
Xia Fengsheng frowned. “Try eating something decent sometime.”
The makeup on his face was ugly enough already, and now it turned out his taste buds were equally beyond saving.
Shi Ye: ……
Thankfully, these horrible vegetable balls were something Xia Fengsheng was only making for the children this one time.
If he had to make them every day, hell would have to open a nineteenth level just for him.
That night, Xia Fengsheng returned to the staff dormitory. It was a double room, and he shared it with Qin Buming.
There was no private shower inside, only a toilet. If they wanted to bathe, they had to go to the public bathhouse on the first floor.
At the orphanage, Qin Buming had once again tasted the life of being worked like an ox and horse. After cosplaying as a horse all day, he grabbed his scrubbing mitt and bath supplies, intending to go take a glorious hot bath and wash away all his exhaustion.
Holding his little washbasin, he called out invitingly, “Xia Sheng, bathing? Come with me.”
Xia Fengsheng did not want to move just yet. Leaning against the bedhead, he looked at his phone. “I’ll go later.”
Qin Buming had figured the two of them could go together and scrub each other’s backs and such.
Meanwhile, Shi Ye—currently washing off his giant painted face in the washroom of his own dorm—received a message from Xia Fengsheng.
Xia Fengsheng: “What are you doing?”
Because there was water all over his face, Shi Ye had one eye open and one eye shut, half-blindly fumbling with his phone to reply. “Washing my face.”
Then Xia Fengsheng’s next message hit him out of nowhere.
“Want to go bathe?”
Bathe!
Shi Ye’s face heated all at once. The two of them? Together?
Bathe together? Like, completely undressed together?!
His cheeks flushed for no reason. Let alone bathing together—Shi Ye had never even seen Xia Fengsheng bare from the waist up.
Now that they had been together longer, the amnesiac Xia Fengsheng had already accepted that they were a couple and had started inviting him to bathe together too.
In his ears, the anthem of victory began to play. It felt like his grand plan had just leapt forward by one giant step.
Shi Ye hurriedly found his bath supplies and typed back, “Yeah.”
Xia Fengsheng replied instantly: “Open the door.”
He was waiting outside for him already.
A little romantic.
Who would have thought Xia Fengsheng’s eagerness to bathe with him was this strong?
Shi Ye decided that later, in the bathhouse, he would definitely do a wet-hair styling look.
With a radiant smile, Shi Ye opened the door. “Let’s go.”
And met Qin Buming outside holding a basin.
Shi Ye: ……
The smile froze on Shi Ye’s face.
Xia Fengsheng, what exactly are you trying to do?
Qin Buming said enthusiastically, “Let’s go. Later we can scrub each other’s backs.”
Right, then. Shi Ye sighed and went to the bathhouse with his bath buddy.
When they started undressing in the changing room, Qin Buming pulled off his shirt, turned his head, and saw Shi Ye with his shirt off as well.
Qin Buming: ????
He’s just taking off clothes—why does he suddenly look an entire size bigger?
Qin Buming blurted, “Did you eat some kind of enlargement pills?”
Shi Ye was baffled. “What enlargement pills?”
Qin Buming stared in shock at the solid, full muscles on Shi Ye’s body. He had always looked big, yes, but with clothes on, it was like the clothes sealed all his muscle away—lean in clothes, all muscle without them.
When Shi Ye lifted his arm, Qin Buming caught sight of shockingly defined lines running along his obliques.
“How… how did you train yourself into this?” Qin Buming was utterly shaken.
Shi Ye replied, “Do more exercise and it comes out.”
Then he walked into the shower room.
Back in the dorm, Xia Fengsheng was absorbed in his phone, playing a game of Lianliankan. Then there was a bang, and the freshly bathed Qin Buming came stumbling back like a wandering soul, his mind elsewhere, looking exactly like a deranged Ke Yun searching for her lost child.
He threw himself beside Xia Fengsheng’s bed, the shock still all over his face, and said without a soul, “Xia Sheng, do you know?”
Xia Fengsheng: ?
Know what?
Qin Buming shook his head. “No, you probably do know.”
Xia Fengsheng: ?
What kind of nonsense was he muttering?
The man had gone out to take a bath and come back a completely different person.
“What do I know?” Xia Fengsheng asked.
Qin Buming’s lips quivered for half a day, as though tears might fall from the corners of his eyes. “Have you seen Shi Ye’s?”
Shi Ye’s?
Xia Fengsheng frowned in confusion.
Then Qin Buming finally stammered out, “You never told me it was that big.”
Shi Ye’s thing was huge. Seriously, huge.
The moment he saw it, Qin Buming had leapt five shower stalls away on instinct. It had been a direct assault on the eyes. He had even begun to suspect Shi Ye might have some kind of foreign blood in him.
Calmly, Xia Fengsheng smiled faintly. “It’s okay. You don’t need to envy him.”
So what if it was big? It didn’t even work.
At once, Xia Fengsheng’s inner malice stretched contentedly and unfurled.
Qin Buming could not hear a single word anymore. He collapsed on his bed and quietly broke down.
One moment of outgoing behavior, a lifetime of introversion in exchange. From now on, he would learn to bathe alone.
The next morning, Shi Ye was met with a look of pity from Xia Fengsheng.
Completely clueless, Shi Ye: ???
Today was the day of the safety drill. The volunteers would be demonstrating in front of the children how to save themselves and perform first aid in various disaster situations.
The volunteers were divided into groups of three. Since they all knew one another, Xia Fengsheng, Qin Buming, and Shi Ye ended up in the same team.
Their assigned demonstration was emergency rescue for drowning.
Qin Buming held the water-safety booklet. It described what should be done when someone drowns. He would read it aloud to the children, and Xia Fengsheng and Shi Ye only had to act it out according to the booklet.
Shi Ye came over to meet up with them. He had been perfectly normal when he woke up, but by the time he came back, his face had already turned into the same giant flower-face from yesterday.
He had promised the children that if they wanted to do his makeup next time, he would gladly agree without hesitation.
He just had not expected that next time to come this quickly.
Sure enough, people should not make promises lightly, because they really do come true.
After the earthquake and fire drills earlier, it was finally their turn for the drowning rescue demonstration.
In order to look more convincingly like a drowning victim, Shi Ye had specially dumped a bucket of water over himself.
Then he collapsed onto the floor all drenched, vividly and faithfully playing the role of the drowned person.
Qin Buming read from the manual, explaining what should be done when someone is drowning.
First check whether there is algae, mud, or anything else in the person’s mouth or nose. Then place both hands crossed on the victim’s chest and press down firmly to perform CPR.
Xia Fengsheng followed Qin Buming’s instructions step by step.
“At the same time as CPR, it is necessary to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the drowning person.”
Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation!
Shi Ye’s eyes flew open. Realizing immediately that they were still in the middle of the safety drill, he hurriedly shut them again.
No one had told him there was going to be this part before the demonstration began!
And Xia Fengsheng had read the manual too, but had never told him there would be mouth-to-mouth!
At the same time, Xia Fengsheng stared at Shi Ye’s giant flower-face.
Xia Fengsheng: Tch. Can’t bring myself to put my mouth on that.
In emergency rescue, mouth-to-mouth was absolutely necessary, so there was nothing surprising about this step.
But… but…
Lying on the floor, Shi Ye silently clenched his palm.
This was his first kiss!
Even though they had dated for nearly three years in high school, he and Xia Fengsheng had never actually kissed mouth to mouth.
The most intimate thing they had ever done was that one time when Xia Fengsheng had spent his birthday with him. Xia Fengsheng had been standing in front of the candlelight, eyes shut, hands clasped at his chest while making a wish. Wearing a birthday hat and looking too obedient with those long closed lashes, Xia Fengsheng had looked so soft that Shi Ye had not been able to help himself and had secretly kissed the little beauty mark at the corner of his mouth.
They had dated for almost three years in their youth and still never kissed. Now they were about to.
No, wait! Shi Ye tried to force himself to stay rational. Mouth-to-mouth was a necessary emergency measure. How could he think of it as kissing? That was far too immature, Shi Ye!
But mouth-to-mouth still meant their lips would be pressed together!
The more Shi Ye thought about it, the more tormented he became. He cracked one eye open to look at Xia Fengsheng’s lips.
What was he supposed to do? What was he supposed to do?!
Couldn’t Xia Fengsheng fake it with camera angles or something?
A little girl watching the drowning safety demonstration tugged on the director’s sleeve.
“Director Mommy, why is that drowned big brother pouting all by himself?”
Director: ……
Director: “Uh… maybe his will to survive is especially strong.”
