(NT: Famous lyric from the Huangmei opera song《天仙配》 (The Heavenly Match), where “birds in pairs” metaphorically represent a loving couple.)

 

When Cheng Boyan went into the bathroom to shower, he casually slapped Xiang Xi on the butt. After taking two steps, he came back and gave it a squeeze.

Xiang Xi had just picked up the washed cup and was about to go out when that pinch on his butt made him yelp, “What are you doing?!”

“You just slapped my butt,” Cheng Boyan said solemnly, walking toward the bathroom as he spoke.

“But I didn’t pinch your butt! Why are you pinching mine!” Xiang Xi shouted, rubbing his butt.

“Then pinch back,” Cheng Boyan said. Standing at the bathroom door, he raised a hand and pulled off his T-shirt. Before Xiang Xi could react, he yanked off his sweatpants too. Wearing only his underwear, he turned his back to him and looked over his shoulder. “Going to pinch?”

“You shameless old thing!” Xiang Xi froze, cursed, and ran back to the living room.

Only after he heard the bathroom door close did he let out a breath and sit down on the sofa.

He felt that he must really like Cheng Boyan. Although he didn’t quite understand what this kind of “liking” amounted to, he didn’t resist Cheng Boyan’s intimate gestures… not only did he not resist them, he actually liked them. It felt good. When they hugged and held each other, rubbing against each other, every touch felt comfortable.

Of course, sometimes he couldn’t help but… want to “burn off some energy” (NT: euphemism for sexual release).

But when he was suddenly confronted with Cheng Boyan’s nearly naked body, he would still run away as if startled. And whenever he thought about the few glimpses he had caught of certain “short clips”, he felt even the hairs on his body would stand on end in fear.

That old rascal!

When Cheng Boyan came out of the shower, Xiang Xi was sitting at the computer, transferring the photos from his camera and scrolling through them one by one.

The photos he had previously saved had all been renamed by date by Cheng Boyan, and sorted into folders like street scenes, landscapes, interiors, and so on.

“The new ones you just leave outside. I’ll sort them for you when I’m done,” Cheng Boyan said, towel-drying his hair.

“That’s such a hassle,” Xiang Xi muttered.

“It’s not. A messy pile makes me uncomfortable,” Cheng Boyan walked over to him. “Your photos are getting better and better. Once they’re organized, you can look back by time and see how you’ve improved bit by bit. Isn’t that interesting?”

Xiang Xi looked up at him and smiled.

Cheng Boyan stood with his back to the chandelier in the living room. The light spilled from behind his head, illuminating his hair with a faint halo.

Xiang Xi suddenly grabbed the camera and raised it toward him. “Don’t move.”

Cheng Boyan smiled and stood still.

Xiang Xi snapped several shots in a row, then lowered his head to check them one by one.

“How did they turn out?” Cheng Boyan leaned over to look.

“This one’s good,” Xiang Xi picked a satisfactory shot and showed it to him. “Your smile looks really nice.”

“What’s this one called?” Cheng Boyan smiled. “A godlike handsome man, a faint smile, I see the light?”

“No,” Xiang Xi lowered the camera and glanced at him. “Guanyin Bodhisattva (NT: the Bodhisattva of Compassion in Buddhism).”

After looking through the photos, Xiang Xi checked the time at the bottom right of the screen. It was getting late; he should head back to the supermarket. But he didn’t move, just sat there watching Cheng Boyan blow-dry his hair on the sofa.

“You’ve been staring for quite a while,” Cheng Boyan glanced at him, turned off the hair dryer, and handed it over. “Help me dry it?”

“Sure.” Xiang Xi got up and walked over. The only time he had used a hair dryer was at the barbershop when styling his mohawk. He didn’t own one and had never really used one; when styling his mohawk he usually just grabbed it with his hands and sprayed some gel. He took the dryer. “Let me play with it.”

“Just turn both the temperature and the wind to high,” Cheng Boyan said. “Don’t worry about the shape.”

Cheng Boyan’s hair was about as stiff as his—once dry, it wouldn’t flop flat against the head. A quick blow-dry was enough.

Xiang Xi switched it to high and aimed it at Cheng Boyan’s head.

Not even a second later, Cheng Boyan jerked forward. “Hey.”

“What?” Xiang Xi asked.

“You’re scorching me. Don’t you smell something burning?” Cheng Boyan ruffled his hair. “Hold it farther away.”

“Oh.” Xiang Xi lifted the dryer farther back as he blew, then sighed. “When I cook vegetables, I burn them. When I make chocolate paste, I burn it. Now I’m blow-drying hair and even the hair gets burned. Am I a man cursed with burning?”

“You’re also cursed with breaking woks,” Cheng Boyan replied.

Xiang Xi laughed at the back of his head for quite a while.

After finishing, Cheng Boyan turned around, his hair sticking straight up all over, and looked at him. “Going back to the supermarket?”

“Yeah, I have to. I’m on duty,” Xiang Xi started laughing again. “Why is your hair like that? It’s like you’re doing a headstand.”

“Blow it upright for me a bit longer—tomorrow it won’t lie down at all,” Cheng Boyan stood up. “I’ll drive you back.”

“I’ll take the bus.” Xiang Xi rubbed his nose.

“There’s no bus at this hour,” Cheng Boyan went into the bedroom, changed clothes, came out, and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Let’s go.”

“I’m all sweaty. I haven’t showered,” Xiang Xi said.

“I’ll shower again when I get back,” Cheng Boyan didn’t let go.

“Carrying the bathtub-level cleanliness king…” Xiang Xi clicked his tongue.

Although it was late, in the height of summer the nightlife was just beginning. Neon lights of varying heights flickered on both sides of the street, and music drifted over from time to time.

Xiang Xi leaned against the car window and looked outside. It had been a long time since he had walked streets like this.

On countless nights before, he and Mantou had walked together in the shadows beneath the lights—sometimes wandering aimlessly, sometimes looking for work.

In this kind of flashing lights and noisy crowd, he felt an instinctive fear.

That old sensation that had once surrounded him—people drifting, his heart drifting, living was drifting, feet never touching solid ground—the terror of never landing.

He lowered his head and stomped his foot, no longer looking outside.

“Want to talk about Mantou?” Cheng Boyan suddenly asked.

Xiang Xi’s fingers trembled slightly. He sighed, and only after a moment did he speak. “Mantou came to the supermarket to see me. He stayed just a few minutes, then left. He came to say goodbye.”

“He went to the supermarket to find you?” Cheng Boyan let go of the accelerator and glanced at him.

“Yeah.” Xiang Xi looked back at him. The focus of Cheng Boyan’s question was completely different from his own, yet it made him clearly feel the concern in it. His heart felt warm and soft. He smiled. “He came quietly. No one was following him.”

“To say goodbye? Where’s he going?” Only then did Cheng Boyan return to Xiang Xi’s main point.

“I don’t know.” Xiang Xi frowned. “He wouldn’t say. I just have a feeling something’s going to happen.”

 

Translator : DarNan