Having known Cheng Boyan for so long, this was the first time Xiang Xi had ever seen him sleeping. Even during the days he himself had lived here, he had never once seen Cheng Boyan asleep at this hour—this was normally the time when Cheng Boyan would be twirling a pen, reading books, and taking notes at the same time.

Cheng Boyan always paid close attention to his appearance—at work, after work, even when squatting with him at roadside food stalls eating cheap food. He always looked handsome. Even now, curled up asleep on the sofa, he was still handsome—obviously different from someone like Xiang Xi, a product of Zhaojiayao.

Xiang Xi looked at the half of Cheng Boyan’s face covered by his arm. All he could see was half of a straight nose, tightly pressed lips, and a clean-shaven chin.

This was the man who, time and again, quietly did things for him in places he could never see—things he would never even think of…

This time, Xiang Xi didn’t go on thinking about things like “what virtue or merit do I have to deserve this”—things he would never be able to figure out anyway.

He just kept staring at Cheng Boyan’s face, thinking: Are you fucking blind or what?

The first time, he would ask why.
The second time, he would feel confused.
The third time, he would be at a loss.
The fourth, fifth—again and again—there was no way he still didn’t understand.

Even though there were still things he couldn’t figure out, still uncertainties, still a lack of courage to think too deeply, he decided he wasn’t going to dwell on them anymore.

He only wanted to look at Cheng Boyan’s quiet face. His mind felt like it was boiling over—from warmth, from being moved, and from something else he couldn’t name. He didn’t know whether it was from bending over for too long or from overheating, but his face felt a little hot.

But he still didn’t want to move.

It wasn’t until he caught a faint burnt smell drifting out of the kitchen that he suddenly snapped back to his senses.

Kitchen stuff.

Fuck!

The chocolate!

The future white-pastry master’s first attempt!

“It’s over, it’s over…” he muttered softly in rapid succession, tiptoeing and half-bending as he trotted into the kitchen.

Hearing Xiang Xi hurriedly pull the frying pan with melting chocolate off the stove and then clang it onto the counter, Cheng Boyan softly sighed. He moved his arm away from his eyes and rubbed them.

Hearing Xiang Xi run back out again, he quickly put his arm back over his eyes and resumed the same sleeping posture.

“Doctor Cheng,” Xiang Xi clung to the kitchen doorway, speaking in a whisper, “Cheng Boyan… hey… what do I do? It kinda burned…”

Cheng Boyan didn’t move. After a pause, Xiang Xi turned back into the kitchen.

The range hood was switched on, humming loudly, and the burnt smell gradually faded.

Only after the smell had completely disappeared did Cheng Boyan sit up, yawn, and walk over to the kitchen doorway.

“How is it?” he asked.

“Don’t come over!” Xiang Xi, who had been bent over in intense concentration with his face almost on the counter, sprang up and spun around. “Don’t come over! I’ll call you when it’s done!”

“I won’t,” Cheng Boyan smiled. “I’ll just stand here and take a look.”

“You’re awake?” Xiang Xi bent back down. “This is the first time I’ve ever seen you sleep at this hour.”

“Did a major surgery with the department head today—pretty tired,” Cheng Boyan said with a smile. “You were peeking at me sleeping?”

“No!” Xiang Xi immediately raised his voice. “I’m not sick—what’s there to look at when you’re sleeping?”

“Oh,” Cheng Boyan said. “When can we eat?”

“In a bit. You just ate a whole box—aren’t you full?” Xiang Xi glanced at him.

“My stomach is pretty easygoing,” Cheng Boyan said, turning back into the living room and singing a line, “When I wanna eat, I eat—eat arrogantly…”

Xiang Xi found a large flat plate and arranged the three heart shapes—one large, one medium, one small—as Cheng Boyan had requested. After thinking for a moment, he also took out a few little cats, dogs, and mice molds and added them too.

In the end he never figured out how much milk to add. He guessed and poured in about half a carton. He wasn’t sure whether the milk flavour would even come through—he had licked a bit earlier and couldn’t really tell.

After pouring the chocolate mixture into the molds, he suddenly remembered he hadn’t added the walnut bits and such, so he sprinkled them on top afterward.

If you didn’t taste it, the whole thing actually looked pretty close to being done. Xiang Xi put the plate into the fridge and let out a long breath in front of it.

When he came out of the kitchen, Cheng Boyan was brewing tea in the living room. The room was filled with tea fragrance.

“Finished?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“Once it freezes solid, we can eat,” Xiang Xi said. He walked over to the table, picked up the glass Cheng Boyan was using, took a look, and sniffed it. “This tea’s good.”

“You can tell just by smelling it?” Cheng Boyan looked at him.

“You can tell just by looking,” Xiang Xi took a sip, then tapped the side of the glass with his finger. “Qimen Maofeng (NT: A high-grade Qimen black tea). You didn’t rinse the tea first—it’s not fragrant enough.”

“You…” Cheng Boyan froze. “You can even tell what tea it is?”

“I guessed,” Xiang Xi said sheepishly. “Uncle Ping loved black tea—liked pretending to be cultured. Of the ‘Three Swordsmen of Qimen black tea,’ Maofeng was his favorite.”

(NT: refers to the three most representative premium styles of Qimen black tea: Maofeng, Xiangluo and Golden needle)

“You like tea?” Cheng Boyan truly hadn’t expected Xiang Xi to be able to talk about tea at all.

“Wouldn’t say I like or dislike it,” Xiang Xi looked at him. “Why?”

“Some day I want to buy some tea leaves and maybe watch a tea ceremony performance,” Cheng Boyan didn’t say his full thoughts yet, just testing the waters. “If you want, we can go together?”

“…Oh,” Xiang Xi thought for a moment. “Sure, but don’t expect me to help you choose—I don’t really know.”

“Mm,” Cheng Boyan smiled. “Can we eat the chocolate now?”

Xiang Xi ran into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and poked the chocolates a few times with his finger—they were already hard. Then he remembered he hadn’t specifically washed his hands… whatever, Cheng Boyan didn’t see anyway.

He knocked the chocolates out of the molds and neatly arranged them on the plate, placing the three heart shapes right in the center.

When he brought them out, Cheng Boyan didn’t even look closely. He directly picked up the smallest heart from the middle and took a bite.

“Well?” Xiang Xi stared at him. “Can you tell what flavour it is?”

“It’s… really good!” Cheng Boyan gave a thumbs-up and took another bite.

“Don’t just say ‘good’ every time I ask—aren’t you annoyed with yourself? That’s way too insincere,” Xiang Xi laughed. “Tell me the truth—is it good or not? Can you actually taste what flavour it is?”

Cheng Boyan finished the small piece, then leaned back against the sofa and laughed for quite a while. “Whether it’s good or not… hard to say. But as for the flavour… it’s probably scorched rice crust flavour.” (NT: implies something slightly burnt)

“Holy shit!” Xiang Xi shouted, laughing so hard he couldn’t stop. He grabbed one himself and took a bite, laughing indistinctly with his mouth full. “It really is scorched rice crust flavour… I’m telling you, you have to keep stirring this stuff. I just walked away for a moment and it burned.”

“Where did you go?” Cheng Boyan asked with a smile.

“I…” Xiang Xi picked up a piece of chocolate. I went to watch you sleep,; obviously he couldn’t say that, so he chuckled twice and stayed quiet.

“That one’s mine,” Cheng Boyan pointed at the chocolate in his hand. “Eat a different one.”

“Huh?” Xiang Xi looked down and saw that the chocolate in his hand was heart-shaped. Suddenly he felt a bit embarrassed. He didn’t want to put it back, but didn’t know what to say. After holding it in for a long time, he finally squeezed out a completely random sentence: “Yours… heart? Then… me eating it… isn’t that… just right…?”

“Hm?” Cheng Boyan froze for a moment.

“Ah! You want to eat it! You want this one!” Xiang Xi shouted immediately after. Only after the words left his mouth did he suddenly realize something was off. He bounced in place, then rushed toward Cheng Boyan holding the chocolate out, so embarrassed he even started walking awkwardly. “Here! You eat it! Go on! Take it!”

Xiang Xi’s crisp, loud voice left Cheng Boyan unsure whether he should laugh or not. When he reached out to take the chocolate, his face was utterly serious—like some sacred torch-passing ceremony—just short of shouting ignite passion, pass on dreams…

“When are you going to buy tea leaves?” Xiang Xi picked up the cup on the table and took a sip, then immediately spat the tea leaves back into the cup.

“Oh dear…” Cheng Boyan sighed helplessly, half a piece of chocolate hanging from his mouth.

“Sorry, I drank too big a mouthful,” Xiang Xi spat again. “Alright, done spitting.”

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Cheng Boyan looked at him.

“Seriously not,” Xiang Xi laughed. “Really! Not on purpose—I just drank without thinking. The way you brew tea, of course you’ll end up drinking tea leaves!”

“Then how should I brew it?” Cheng Boyan asked. Given that Xiang Xi’s tea knowledge had already exceeded his expectations, he was actually looking forward to the answer.

“Use a teapot, ge,” Xiang Xi said.

“…I see.” Cheng Boyan almost didn’t react when he heard this simple, blunt, yet perfectly reasonable answer.

After thinking about it, he laughed again—and kept laughing for quite a while before stopping.

“Did you get tired stupid today? You keep laughing,” Xiang Xi frowned. “What’s so funny anyway? You’re smiling nonstop like the Maitreya Buddha.” (NT: The laughing Buddha, symbol of constant smiling)

“No,” Cheng Boyan rubbed his face. “I just think what you said makes a lot of sense.”

“You’re mocking me, aren’t you?” Xiang Xi shot him a sideways look. “What’s wrong with using a teapot!”

“Nothing wrong—absolutely right, very right!” Cheng Boyan gave him a thumbs-up.

Xiang Xi clicked his tongue, took another sip of tea, spat into the cup a few more times, then set it down and plopped onto a chair. With his elbows on his knees, he looked at Cheng Boyan. “Wash your hands. Appreciate the tea set.”

“Huh?” Cheng Boyan looked at him, confused.

“Scald the cups and warm the pot, take the tea, rinse the tea, brew, seal the pot, pour into cups, return to the pot, pour again…” Xiang Xi rattled it all off in one breath. Then he narrowed his eyes slightly and tipped his chin at Cheng Boyan. “Each step has its own rules—things like dragon-horse enters the palace, spring breeze brushes the face, jade liquid returns to the pot, phoenix or peacock bows three times (NT: flowery tea-ceremony metaphors describing pouring motions)—I don’t remember exactly, but bluffing you would definitely be no problem.” (1)

Cheng Boyan opened his mouth but didn’t manage to say anything.

“Don’t laugh,” Xiang Xi glared at him. “Is it that whenever I say something serious, you just want to laugh?”

“I don’t,” Cheng Boyan looked at him seriously. “Right now, I genuinely don’t want to laugh.”

Xiang Xi snapped his fingers. “Honestly, Uncle Ping used to say all this whenever he was showing off. I heard it from childhood, so I remember bits of it. Sometimes I use it to brag.”

“Xiang Xi,” Cheng Boyan stood up, walked to the table, and put the last heart-shaped chocolate into his mouth. “These skills can actually make money—and quite a lot, too. Of course, the prerequisite is mastering them properly.”

“Then Uncle Ping was pretty proficient…” Xiang Xi stopped mid-sentence. He stood up too and looked at Cheng Boyan—anything involving making money always grabbed his attention immediately. “How do you make money?”

“Come take a look with me when the time comes,” Cheng Boyan smiled. “See if you’re interested.”

“Mm,” Xiang Xi responded. He lowered his hand and nudged the chocolates on the plate with his finger. After a long pause, he finally said, “You wouldn’t even be this stressed raising a son, would you?”

“If I really had a son, I’d toss him to his mom to raise. I wouldn’t bother worrying this much,” Cheng Boyan said.

“Scumbag,” Xiang Xi glanced at him. “Good thing no one married you.”

“Yeah—dangerously close call,” Cheng Boyan laughed.

Xiang Xi laughed along with him, suddenly feeling an indescribable sense of lightness. Just eating, chatting, bantering like this—if it could go on forever, that would be best. No worries, no anxiety; everything else could be tossed aside for now.

Cheng Boyan leaned closer into his line of sight. Xiang Xi looked at him, and when their eyes met, Xiang Xi was surprised to realize he didn’t look away.

Cheng Boyan paused slightly, then leaned in and gently kissed Xiang Xi on the forehead.

Xiang Xi froze for a moment—he didn’t move and didn’t dodge, just stared steadily at Cheng Boyan.

It wasn’t until Cheng Boyan, unable to withstand his gaze any longer, gave a light cough that Xiang Xi finally gathered himself and shifted his eyes to the chocolates beside them.

“Milk flavour,” Cheng Boyan said.

“Huh?” Xiang Xi turned to look at him.

“The flavour—milk chocolate,” Cheng Boyan picked one up, brought it to his mouth, then thought better of it and put it down. “Ah… I really can’t eat anymore.”

“That’s what you get for snatching food like a kid,” Xiang Xi laughed. “When you get childish, it’s honestly shocking. I stopped being like that when I was five.”

“Then you grew backwards,” Cheng Boyan nodded.

“Get lost.” Xiang Xi froze for a moment, then laughed.

After finishing the chocolate—well, not exactly finishing it. Cheng Boyan put the remaining pieces into a small glass jar, saying he would take them to the hospital to eat the next day.

After tidying up, Cheng Boyan drove Xiang Xi back to the supermarket. Ever since Xiang Xi started sleeping at the store at night, he had to return around closing time every evening to help coworkers shut the place down and check the doors and windows.

“Can you sleep at night? You don’t have to keep getting up, do you?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“I can sleep. If there’s any noise I get up to check and take a walk around while I’m at it. I sleep really well—lie down and I’m asleep, fall asleep and I’m gone,” Xiang Xi said, rattling it off like a tongue twister. “Way better than when you’re on night duty.”

“Mm.” Cheng Boyan nodded. He started the car, but didn’t drive off.

Xiang Xi rested his hand on the car window. Logically, now that the engine was running, he should have stepped back—but he didn’t move. It felt like they should chat a bit more, yet he had no idea what to talk about.

Even a simple “good night” took forever to come out.

“I… I’m heading back,” Cheng Boyan tapped the steering wheel. “About buying tea leaves—when I go, I’ll call you.”

“Okay.” Xiang Xi bared his teeth in a grin.

“Then…” Cheng Boyan thought for a moment, reached out and grabbed the hand Xiang Xi had braced on the window. He tugged Xiang Xi’s index finger slightly toward the car, lowered his head, and kissed the fingertip. “Good night.”

“Good night.” When Xiang Xi spoke, his voice felt like it was floating. If he hadn’t been holding onto the car door, he figured his legs would’ve gone soft and he’d have dropped straight down at Cheng Boyan’s feet.

Standing by the roadside, Xiang Xi watched Cheng Boyan’s car drive all the way out of the street. Only then did he, a bit dazed, turn and walk back toward the supermarket.

“Xiang Xi, help me mop the floor,” the night-shift supervisor ran over, speaking anxiously. “My kid’s got a fever today—I need to rush home.”

“Oh—okay!” Xiang Xi nodded quickly, though he was a bit surprised. He’d always thought the supervisor looked pretty young—turns out he already had a kid.

You really can’t judge people by appearances. Cheng Boyan was already that old, and he didn’t look like someone with a kid either… no, wait, Cheng Boyan didn’t have a kid at all…

Accompanying Dad to the supermarket?

What kind of nonsense was that!

After washing the mop and locking up the store, Xiang Xi dragged the mop slowly across the floor, his mind still looping around those two kisses from Cheng Boyan earlier that night.

Compared to before, today’s two barely even counted as kisses—but for some reason, it was precisely these two that left him dizzy. Not hugely dizzy, just a mild kind of dizziness, the kind that made your legs tremble when walking.

While mopping, he misjudged the distance and rammed the mop handle straight into a shelf. This shelf was newly installed; Song Yi had said during the day that it was a bit shaky and needed someone called in to secure it. Before Xiang Xi could shout “Buddha bless me, please no!”, a whole pile of snacks on the shelf came crashing down with a clatter.

“Ai—” Xiang Xi tossed the mop aside and let out a long, forceful sigh.

Alright then. Now he wasn’t dizzy anymore, wasn’t trembling either—clear ears and sharp eyes, refreshed and alert, quenched and invigorated… little adult films…

“Damn.” Xiang Xi frowned, squatted down, and started picking up the snacks one by one.

All this stuff looked pretty much the same, with lots of varieties and all the labels crammed together. Xiang Xi, the “literacy prodigy,” stared at them for a long time before finally managing to put all the “which one goes where” snacks back onto the shelf.

After the store was fully tidied up, he took a shower and returned to his small room.

He turned on the TV and flipped through every channel, but didn’t find anything worth watching—or rather, he didn’t have the mind to watch anything.

Xiang Xi rolled back and forth on the bed, from headboard to footboard and back again, never managing to calm himself down.

Coming out of Cheng Boyan’s place today felt different from every other time. On the surface, it seemed like nothing had happened—but somehow, it also felt like a lot had happened. That feeling of “ah, everything’s different now, everything is completely different” was especially strong.

But if asked what exactly had changed, he didn’t dare be sure.

He only knew that when Cheng Boyan had lightly kissed his fingertip, he hadn’t panicked, hadn’t felt awkward, hadn’t even felt shy—his legs just went weak, and all he wanted was to grab Cheng Boyan’s elbow and slide all the way down to the floor, lying there, before he’d feel comfortable…

When Cheng Boyan’s text came through, Xiang Xi had his legs braced against the wall, body sideways on the bed, head hanging upside down.

The message said only four words: “I’m telling you.”

Xiang Xi, still upside down, held up his phone and tapped for ages before replying with one sentence: “What are you telling me?”

—About that chocolate of yours.
—Can you not be so overly petty
Panting.
—It was really awful. Even the milk flavour burned bitter.

Xiang Xi burst out laughing as soon as he read the text message. Hanging upside down, he laughed for a long while, nearly choking on his own saliva.

He dialed the number directly. “You could’ve just told me outright—why send a text?”

“How could I bear to say something that cruel to your face,” Cheng Boyan laughed. “I just ate another piece, and I was really overcome with emotion.”

“Say, if it hadn’t burned, it probably would’ve tasted pretty good, right?” Xiang Xi chuckled.

“No,” Cheng Boyan said very sincerely. “Even if it hadn’t burned, you still would’ve messed up somewhere else in some magical way. We’ve known each other this long—you’ve never successfully made a single bite of anything that tastes good.”

“Hey, that’s fate,” Xiang Xi laughed until he started coughing. “You’re not picky about food or flavour or anything, so Heaven went and paired you with someone who can even manage to cook rice and shatter the pot.”

“Mm, paired by Heaven,” Cheng Boyan said.

Xiang Xi froze for a second, then erupted into a violent coughing fit, sprawled over the bed and unable to speak for a long while.

“Xiang Xi?” Cheng Boyan’s voice came through the phone. “You okay?”

Xiang Xi didn’t dare speak, and also felt too embarrassed to say anything.

“Do you have some kind of complaint about Heaven?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“Whether I do or not… what difference does it make,” Xiang Xi clicked his tongue softly.

“If you’ve got complaints, then say them,” Cheng Boyan said very seriously. “Heaven won’t blame you—at most it’ll just clamp you in a car window and give you a beating.”

--

Note from the translator :

(1) Chinese Tea Ceremony

The Ceremony of tea (Chá Dào (茶道) or "The Way of Tea”),  is far more than just preparing a drink. It is a meditative practice, a social ritual, and an art form that embodies deep philosophical principles. It was normalized during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) with Lu Yu's "The Classic of Tea."

The ceremony is guided by principles often summarized as Harmony, Tranquillity, Pleasure, and Genuineness (the four truths). It integrates ideas from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism

Steps of the Ceremony (Gongfu Cha (功夫茶) ) :

1. Warm the cups and teapot

Pour hot water over the teapot and teacups.

Why: Preheats the vessels so temperature stays stable. Prevents “cold shock” that dulls aroma. Symbolizes preparation and respect for guests

2. Measure and present the tea

“Dragon-horse enters the palace”: Tea leaves are placed into the pot (often shown to guests first).

Why: Shows transparency and appreciation of quality. Allows guests to admire leaf shape and scent. Sets expectations for flavour

3. Rinse the tea

“Spring breeze brushes the face”: First infusion is poured out, not drunk.

Why: “Wakes” the leaves after storage. Removes dust or excess bitterness. Prepares leaves for full extraction

4. Brew/steep the tea

“Jade liquid returns to the pot”: Hot water is poured over the leaves in a controlled way, brewed tea is put back into pot to mix evenly for uniform flavour.

Why: Timing and water temperature determine flavour. This is where the brewer’s skill shows. Tea is never rushed

5. Controlled pouring

“Phoenix nods three times” : The kettle is raised and lowered three times while pouring.

Why: Even extraction of tea leaves. Aesthetics. Symbolic courtesy: three nods of respect to guests

6. Seal and return the brew

Covering the teapot with its lid after steeping the tea. After brewing, the tea may either be poured back into the same pot or (partly) be poured over the outside of the pot (to warm the teapot and cups)

Why: Keeps heat consistent. Ensures uniform flavour in every cup. Shows patience and care

7. Serve the tea

“Jade liquid divides into cups” Tea is poured evenly into all cups.

Why: No cup stronger or weaker than another. Symbolizes fairness and equality. Guest-first philosophy

8. Taste the tea

Drink slowly, often in three sips.

Why: First sip: aroma. Second sip: flavour. Third sip: aftertaste (returning sweetness)

 

Translator : DarNan