"Where do you want to eat?" Xiang Xi asked, leaning against the car window.

"Asking me?" Cheng Boyan smiled. "Aren’t you the one treating me to a meal?"

"You caught me off guard..." Xiang Xi muttered quietly. If it weren’t for the fact that he had nowhere to store money and carried all of it on himself every day, he wouldn’t even have money to treat someone now. "You choose the place."

"Let’s go have barbecue," Cheng Boyan said after thinking for a moment. "I’ve been to one place that’s pretty good, not far from here."

"Mm." Xiang Xi nodded.

Cheng Boyan didn’t speak again. It was the time when people were leaving work, and the road was a little congested. He drove slowly, stopping and going, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

Xiang Xi leaned against the car seat, looking out the window. After a while, he got bored and turned to glance at Cheng Boyan.

Cheng Boyan’s profile looked a little cold, giving off a sense of distance from people, but when he smiled, it was very gentle. Xiang Xi still liked watching him smile.

"Do you want to listen to music?" Cheng Boyan suddenly turned to ask.

Xiang Xi quickly turned his face away, took his camera out of his bag, and fiddled with it for a while before remembering to answer: "Let’s listen to the radio."

Cheng Boyan turned on the radio and tuned to the traffic channel. "That camera—its manual got lost, but I checked the model yesterday and drew a diagram for you."

Xiang Xi had been about to say that even if the manual hadn’t been lost, he probably wouldn’t have understood it. Hearing that Cheng Boyan had drawn a diagram, he froze for a moment, feeling a warmth in his heart.

"You can draw too?" he asked.

"No, just drew a… rough sketch," Cheng Boyan said with a smile. "I can draw skeletons."

"...You turned the camera into a skeleton, didn’t you?" Xiang Xi said.

"You should be able to understand it. I’ll show you in a bit," Cheng Boyan smiled. "Once you get the hang of it, the rest you’ll just feel out."

"I’m just afraid of breaking it," Xiang Xi said, picking up the camera and pointing it at the front of the car. "Which one is the switch?"

"The left side, it says ‘on’ and ‘off,’ just flick it," Cheng Boyan pointed. "The one on the right, facing you, is the shutter. It has a little camera icon."

"What’s ‘oh’ and ‘oh-fuh’?" Xiang Xi looked at the camera. (NT: ON → 哦 (ó) ; OFF → 哦夫 (ó fū))

Though he didn’t understand the letters, there was only one flickable switch on the left. He gently toggled it, and the screen lit up. He snapped his fingers. "It’s on!"

He raised the camera, steadied it on the red brake lights ahead, and pressed the shutter once.

The camera clicked.

"I took a photo!" Xiang Xi got a little excited. "How do I see it?"

"There’s a triangle button by the screen, like the play button. Press that and it will show up," Cheng Boyan said.

"Oh!" Xiang Xi pressed the playback button, looking at the photo he had just taken, laughing. "What is this thing..."

"Let me see," Cheng Boyan said, just as the traffic light turned red. He stopped the car and turned to look. "How’s it?"

"Not great," Xiang Xi raised the camera to show him, smiling awkwardly. "It’s all messy."

Cheng Boyan glanced at it. The image was a blur of red; up close, the lit brake lights were clear, and farther away, the red glow was blurry. "It’s pretty good."

"...Aren’t you being a little fake?" Xiang Xi clicked his tongue.

"Some sense is innate," Cheng Boyan smiled. "This one’s really good—it’s instinctively captured."

"Really?" Xiang Xi scratched his head.

"Any other photos?" Cheng Boyan asked. "Scroll back a bit."

"Oh," Xiang Xi tried a few times, "none..."

"None?" Cheng Boyan smiled. "You actually deleted them so thoroughly, didn’t even leave a single glamorous shot."

"Whose glamorous photo is this?" Xiang Xi laughed, holding his camera out the window as he asked.

"Song Yi and Lin He’s, of course," Cheng Boyan said.

Xiang Xi turned his head. Although he had previously guessed about their relationship, hearing Cheng Boyan say it so directly still made him pause. "They… what kind of relationship?"

"Lovers," Cheng Boyan glanced at him.

"Oh…" Xiang Xi responded softly, "Oh."

"What’s wrong?" Cheng Boyan turned onto a quieter street, and the car suddenly sped up.

"Nothing, it’s just… them…" Xiang Xi didn’t know what he wanted to say, and stopped halfway through.

"They’ve been together for quite a few years, maybe since the two years after college graduation," Cheng Boyan said, then suddenly laughed. "Do you know how they met?"

"How did they meet?" Xiang Xi asked, curious, turning to look.

"Song Yi rode a motorcycle and accidentally scraped Lin He’s car bumper, and then they started fighting," Cheng Boyan said, laughing. "Back then, both of them had pretty bad tempers."

"Ah?" Xiang Xi immediately became interested, swinging one leg onto the seat and turning to face Cheng Boyan. "Who won?"

"Lin He should have won, being a school basketball player and all, but in the end, he got beaten by Song Yi," Cheng Boyan said. "Halfway through the fight, Song Yi got on his car, and when he closed the door, he couldn’t get down. He tried to pull Song Yi out, and ended up getting his head caught in the car window..."

Xiang Xi froze for a moment, then laughed so hard he couldn’t stop for a long while.

"After that, he summed it up: three things when parking a car—close the window, turn off the engine, pull out the key," Cheng Boyan laughed.

Originally, Xiang Xi had a subtle discomfort with men liking men; except for Cheng Boyan, it felt awkward to him anywhere else.

But after laughing for a while, he suddenly felt it wasn’t a big deal. Leaning back in his chair, he looked down at the camera. It didn’t seem like a big deal.

Cheng Boyan, Song Yi, Lin He—all were good people. Like any ordinary person living a normal life, they could like men or women, and it made no difference.

Of course, people like Tan Xiaokang, the pervert, were exceptions!

Disgusting!

Touching people at random!

‘I am exactly the kind of pervert you're talking about.’ (NT: see chapter 19)

Cheng Boyan’s words suddenly flashed in his mind.

Xiang Xi pursed his lips. Actually, Cheng Boyan was even worse—he had kissed him, yet didn’t classify him as a pervert.

So, as they say, ‘The concept of a bottom line is really too arbitrary’.

"This is the place," Cheng Boyan said beside him.

"Oh." Xiang Xi, still daydreaming, immediately reached for the car door to get out.

"Hey!" Cheng Boyan pulled him back. "What are you doing?"

Only then did Xiang Xi realize the car wasn’t stopped yet. Cheng Boyan was looking for a parking spot. He knocked on the window: "I’ll get out and reserve a spot for you."

"No need, a car just left ahead," Cheng Boyan glanced at him, driving forward to park. "Are you asleep or something?"

"No, I would’ve stayed awake even if my tail was on fire," Xiang Xi said, putting the camera back in his bag and jumping out of the car.

"Where is it? I didn’t see it," Cheng Boyan said, getting out as well.

"…You said you wouldn’t look when you had surgery!" Xiang Xi couldn’t help but shout.

"I took a peek before surgery," Cheng Boyan said calmly.

Xiang Xi felt the conversation couldn’t go on and strode into the barbecue restaurant.

Actually, they just came for some barbecue buffet to satisfy their cravings. Xiang Xi had an average appetite, and Cheng Boyan would spend ages deciding between red meat, white meat, and whether it was nutritious.

Xiang Xi didn’t even drink any soda to save room, and in the end didn’t eat that much. If he hadn’t been treating Cheng Boyan, he would have felt pretty upset about the hundred-something yuan spent.

He knew salmon was expensive, so he went to get it several times, but the woman slicing the fish only gave him two portions. Cheng Boyan went three times, and the lady still sliced it for him and even enthusiastically introduced the salmon.

"Why is that?" Xiang Xi asked irritably, leaning in his chair. After missing out on salmon, he ate a lot of other meat. "Is it because I look like someone just freeloading?"

"No," Cheng Boyan swallowed, "it’s because I’m too handsome."

"Your face is bigger than that piece of fish… but this really tastes good. I like the fatty beef slices," Xiang Xi laughed, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his stomach. "Can you believe it? This is the first time I’ve eaten at a buffet."

"I believe you," Cheng Boyan nodded. "Are you satisfied now?"

"Comfortable," Xiang Xi said. "What about you? I noticed you didn’t eat much."

"I ate quite a bit, I’m comfortable," Cheng Boyan smiled. "This is your first time formally treating someone, but honestly, I could be comfortable even eating mixed bean porridge."

Xiang Xi chuckled a little.

After leaving the barbecue restaurant, leaning back in the car, Xiang Xi felt a bit sleepy—probably from overeating.

"Look at this," Cheng Boyan handed him a piece of paper. "Can you understand it? If so, take it home and slowly learn to play with that camera."

"Oh," Xiang Xi took the paper and opened it. "Wow, you’re actually… good at drawing."

On the paper, multiple sketches of the camera were drawn from different angles, all cartoonish with rounded corners, but it was immediately recognizable as Song Yi’s camera. Every button was labeled with lines, and small diagrams explained the functions next to complicated characters.

"Can you understand it?" Cheng Boyan asked.

"Yes," Xiang Xi looked and started laughing. "This diagram is nothing like you, it’s way too cute."

"Mm, more like you," Cheng Boyan smiled.

Xiang Xi froze for a moment before realizing what he had heard. He stared at the paper without saying anything.

"Shall I take you home?" Cheng Boyan started the car.

"Oh," Xiang Xi responded, then immediately lifted his head. "My clothes? You said you’d help me get that frame off."

"I’ll take them back and fix it for you. I’ll give them back tomorrow," Cheng Boyan said.

"Then what will I wear to work tomorrow?" Xiang Xi glared at him. "This is the only set I have. Song Yi said the new ones won’t arrive until next month."

"Then if you wash it, won’t you have nothing to wear?" Cheng Boyan didn’t quite understand.

"That’s why I haven’t washed it yet," Xiang Xi said.

"…Aiyo," Cheng Boyan sighed, "you’ve been wearing it for half a month straight, huh? You’re something else. Well, in this case, even if you wash it one day and don’t wear it, nobody’s gonna say anything, right?"

"No one says anything," Xiang Xi frowned, lowering his voice. "But doesn’t that make me different from everyone else?"

Cheng Boyan was silent for a moment, lightly tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. "Then go wait at my place. I’ll fix it for you."

"Ah?" Xiang Xi hesitated for a moment.

"If you don’t want to, wear something else tomorrow," Cheng Boyan said.

"…Alright." Xiang Xi slid down in the seat.

Cheng Boyan’s home was probably the place Xiang Xi was most familiar with in this city, even more than his own “thief’s nest” where he lived.

Entering the door, he skillfully changed his shoes, then stood by the door rubbing his hands together.

Cheng Boyan brought him a pair of pants. He looked at them—same pair from that day, but smelled freshly washed.

"I didn’t even wear them that day, and you washed them again?" He went into the study and changed into the pants.

"Once I took them out, I felt I couldn’t put them back unwashed," Cheng Boyan said, holding his work uniform. "Go watch some TV."

"Will it come off?" Xiang Xi asked anxiously.

"Hard to say," Cheng Boyan studied it carefully and sighed. "Did you trace over it eighty times? The colour almost bled through to the other side."

"I didn’t count. Not eighty times, but probably seventy-eight," Xiang Xi rubbed his nose.

Cheng Boyan went to the bathroom with a bottle of alcohol.

Xiang Xi sat on the sofa, turning on the TV.

After a while, it got boring. He stood and walked around, noticing some papers on the desk with sketches—similar to the one Cheng Boyan had given him.

He picked them up; they were indeed similar, but these seemed obsolete. Some sketches weren’t complete, some characters were corrected or erased. Xiang Xi looked at them for a long time.

Even though they were discarded, he could understand them all. They just weren’t neat enough, the characters weren’t clear enough.

He suddenly felt a sting in his nose.

He touched the tear mole on his face that wasn’t covered and smiled. Lately, why was this happening?

Cheng Boyan didn’t come out of the bathroom for a long while. Xiang Xi checked the time—it had been more than ten minutes—and couldn’t help but walk to the bathroom door.

Cheng Boyan squatted, back to the door, looking down at something.

Xiang Xi peeked. Cheng Boyan had a basin with his clothes soaking inside.

He looked for a while, seeing nothing that would explain why Cheng Boyan was staring. "Do you have to recite a spell to wash this?" he asked.

"Huh?" Cheng Boyan turned his head and smiled. "Just needs to soak for a while."

"Then you don’t need to keep staring at it all the time." Xiang Xi said.

Cheng Boyan stayed squatting, and after a pause said, "I was worried that if I left, you’d feel uncomfortable."

"I…" Xiang Xi hadn’t expected that Cheng Boyan was squatting in the bathroom for this reason. "I’m not uncomfortable."

Cheng Boyan stood and turned. "You…"

Previously, Xiang Xi had stood very close to see what was in front of him, so when Cheng Boyan turned, they were almost face to face.

He could feel Cheng Boyan’s breath.

Xiang Xi tried to step back. Before he could, his left foot stepped on his right slipper, almost twisting and falling to the ground.

"Go watch TV outside. It’ll be done in a bit," Cheng Boyan helped him.

Cheng Boyan squatted again. Xiang Xi stayed behind, leaning against the door frame, watching his back.

While squatting, Cheng Boyan’s elbows rested on his knees, shoulders tense from exertion—very striking. He probably didn’t have much time to exercise, but his muscle lines were so proportionate and beautiful.

"Maybe it won’t come out completely," Cheng Boyan scooped in the basin.

Xiang Xi didn’t hear him clearly and asked: "How do you usually work out?"

“Work out?” Cheng Boyan glanced at him. “There’s a treadmill and some dumbbells in the study. I play around with them when I have time.”

“Oh,” Xiang Xi thought for a moment. “I never saw you use them when I lived here.”

“No nonsense, right? You’ve taken over the whole place, how could I exercise?” Cheng Boyan laughed.

Cheng Boyan fiddled with the clothes for almost half an hour. Besides using alcohol, he tried other methods, even went downstairs to his car to get some gasoline.

In the end, he still couldn’t completely remove the name with the frame.

“My hands are really reckless…” Xiang Xi looked at the collar.

Actually, this wasn’t a big deal. For someone like Cheng Boyan, it was just a fun little thing, but Xiang Xi felt uneasy. It seemed unlucky; past experiences made him sensitive about such things.

He had originally wanted to ask if Cheng Boyan had another method, but when he looked up, he saw Cheng Boyan’s fingers were wrinkled from soaking, tips slightly red, and immediately felt guilty.

“Forget it, let’s leave it as it is,” he said.

“Actually, there’s another way,” Cheng Boyan said, looking at him. “I was thinking of using it if the washing didn’t work.”

“Don’t mess with it,” Xiang Xi frowned at his hands. “Why don’t I do it? You tell me how.”

“You?!” Cheng Boyan laughed. “With your five lazy limbs, I don’t think it’ll work. Just wait.”

Cheng Boyan said this, took the clothes, and went into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Xiang Xi stood in the living room, unsure what he was doing, and didn’t dare follow, fearing Cheng Boyan might throw him out. He shouted from outside: “How are you going to do it?”

“Wait!” Cheng Boyan called back. “Ten minutes!”

“…Okay.” Xiang Xi hesitated and stood outside the bedroom door.

After about ten minutes, the bedroom door opened. Cheng Boyan came out with the clothes, tossing them to Xiang Xi: “Done. Rewrite your name yourself. The clothes are freshly washed, just let them dry.”

“Removed?” Xiang Xi was surprised. He stretched the clothes and looked at the collar. “This… what is this?”

The name and frame were truly gone. In their place was a small fabric patch with a bear. Part of it was white, for writing a name.

“A name tag, sewn on,” Cheng Boyan leaned on the desk edge, stretching his legs. “Aiyo, my eyes are going blind.”

“You sewed it on?” Xiang Xi’s eyes widened.

“Yes. After sewing a sandbag in elementary school craft class, I never sewed anything again,” Cheng Boyan laughed. “How is it?”

“Where did this come from?” Xiang Xi, still in shock, couldn’t respond.

“My little niece’s,” Cheng Boyan tapped the bear with his finger. “Kindergarten kids all use these. I bought a few for her. Luckily, my sister wanted to embroider the names herself, so I bought the blank ones. This one was left over. Acceptable? Your bandages are all this style too.”

“Acceptable! Totally!” Xiang Xi nodded vigorously, holding the bear patch tightly. “Perfect!”

“Write your name,” Cheng Boyan said, noticing the papers on the desk. He paused, then quickly moved them aside. “No more frames, okay? Sewing this nearly killed me.”

Xiang Xi said nothing, staring at the collar for a long while. Then he suddenly leaned forward and hugged Cheng Boyan tightly.

This hug was strong—Xiang Xi almost used all his strength.

Cheng Boyan was pushed back against the desk, tilting slightly, then patted Xiang Xi gently on the back.

When Xiang Xi released him, his eyes were still wide. After a moment, he suddenly spread the clothes on the desk, grabbed a pen, and half of his body leaned onto the clothes.

Quickly, write the name.

But his hands shook violently. This motion, done many times before, inexplicably made him nervous today. He didn’t dare put the pen on the bear patch for a long time.

He just lay on the desk, gripping the pen.

“Want me to write it?” Cheng Boyan’s voice came from the side.

Xiang Xi immediately threw the pen onto the desk, jumped aside, and plopped onto a chair, still staring at the floor.

Cheng Boyan took the pen and bent over to write his name on the collar.

“Done.” Cheng Boyan glanced at him.

“Mm,” Xiang Xi responded, staying still. After a while, he went to examine the clothes carefully. “Your handwriting is really good.”

“Thanks,” Cheng Boyan smiled. “Do you want me to take you home?”

“I’ll take the bus, it’s not far. Don’t go out of your way.” Xiang Xi said. This time it wasn’t awkwardness or embarrassment—he really didn’t want Cheng Boyan to keep fussing.

“Then… up to you.” Cheng Boyan smiled.

Xiang Xi changed pants, put on shoes, and stood at the door for a moment. Then he turned to Cheng Boyan: “I’ve said this many times… no one has ever been this good to me, whether in big things or small things. I… can’t help you with anything…”

“Xiang Xi…” Cheng Boyan lightly tapped on the desk, trying to speak, but Xiang Xi interrupted.

“But if there’s anything I can do, I’ll do it for you without a word,” Xiang Xi looked at him. “Really, even if it may never happen, as long as there’s something…”

“Xiang Xi,” Cheng Boyan came over, standing in front of him. “Just like before, that’s enough.”

Xiang Xi said nothing.

“Just like before is fine,” Cheng Boyan said. “Say or do whatever you want without overthinking. Of course, no cursing. Say it again and I’ll pinch you, shove your head into the car window.”

Xiang Xi burst out laughing, leaning against the door frame for a long time.

Cheng Boyan smiled. “Really don’t want to take you home?”

“Take me,” Xiang Xi rubbed his nose. “My legs are a little swollen.”

Translator : DarNan