“Fine rain with wind soaked through the evening street; wiping away the rain, my eyes lift upward for no reason, looking toward the lonely streetlamp—it is that sorrowful memory…” (NT: from the song "I like You"(喜欢你) by the Hong Kong rock band Beyond, written and composed by the lead vocalist Wong Ka Kui)

Cheng Boyan looked at Xiang Xi, who had his back turned to him and kept staring at the big screen. As soon as he opened his mouth, several people in the room burst into applause and cheers.

“Once again countless feelings of longing surge in my heart; the brief laughter of the past still hangs upon my face…”

Xiang Xi’s voice was different from Wong Ka Kui’s. It was much clearer and brighter, yet unexpectedly very suitable. He sang the song with a different flavour—serious and persistent.

“You actually sing it pretty standard,” Chen Pang shouted from the side.

Cheng Boyan was also somewhat surprised. They usually sang the Mandarin version; whether Xiang Xi’s Cantonese version was truly standard he didn’t know, but it sounded convincing enough.

(NT: the primary spoken language in Hong Kong is Cantonese. The same Chinese characters are pronounced differently)

“May you know at this moment that what I say comes from the bottom of my heart…”

When Xiang Xi reached this line, he suddenly turned his head and looked at Cheng Boyan.

Cheng Boyan smiled and looked back at him.

“I like you—”

At the same moment Xiang Xi’s voice sounded, everyone else in the room joined in.

Cheng Boyan burst out laughing. This group only knew that one line; the only part they could barely sing without going off-key was those three characters.

“I like you. Those eyes are captivating, your laughter even more charming… may I once again gently stroke that lovely face…”

Xiang Xi probably didn’t remember the lyrics very well; every few lines he had to turn around to look at the screen. But every time he sang “I like you,” he would turn back around.

And every “I like you” uncontrollably turned into a chorus. The moment that line appeared, everyone in the room shouted at the top of their lungs. Their voices were almost as loud as Xiang Xi’s microphone, and Cheng Boyan kept laughing.

Even so, among the chaotic shouting, he could still clearly hear Xiang Xi’s line.

“I like you.”

When the song ended, Xiang Xi put down the microphone and sat back on the sofa. Chen Pang slammed a glass of beer in front of him with a loud bang.

“Xiao Xiang! That was great! Come have a drink.”

“Thank you.” Xiang Xi smiled, took the glass, and drank a big gulp.

“I’ve been inspired! I’m going to sing Qinghai–Tibet Plateau,” Chen Pang said, squeezing toward Song Yi. “Quick, put on Qinghai–Tibet Plateau for me!”

“Oh my god,” Song Yi laughed. “You want to sing Qinghai–Tibet Plateau? You can’t even handle the Sichuan Basin properly.”

(NT: A metaphor for someone overestimating their ability: If you can’t handle the simpler “lowlands” (Sichuan Basin), how can you manage the “highlands” (Qinghai–Tibet Plateau)? )

“Let’s cooperate,” Chen Pang said. “When I can’t do it, everyone help shout along!”

After the music started, several of them again began preparing to loudly butcher the song.

(NT: Qinghai–Tibet Plateau is a song considered (very) difficult to sing, written and composed in 1994 by Zhang Qianyi. Ii is the theme song for the TV drama “Heavenly road”. Check out the following link to understand how difficult this song is … 李娜巅峰之作《青藏高原》，无人超越的经典【岭枫音乐】 )

Cheng Boyan picked up a cup of watermelon juice and took a sip. He leaned closer to Xiang Xi and softly said: “Xiang Xi.”

“Hm?” Xiang Xi turned his head.

“Sing that line for me alone. Just now they were making so much noise I didn’t hear it properly.”

Cheng Boyan glanced at the few people who were singing and quickly kissed Xiang Xi on the ear.

His voice and the faint tingling that crept across Xiang Xi’s ear almost made Xiang Xi lose control and turn to kiss him.

“Okay.” He cleared his throat, leaned close to Cheng Boyan’s ear, and said softly but clearly, “I… like you.”

“Now I heard it clearly.” Cheng Boyan smiled.

I like you.

This wasn’t the first time Xiang Xi had said those words. When he was little, he had said them to a dog that wandered into the wet field : “I like you so much.” But the dog didn’t pay much attention to him.

This was the first time in his life he had said those words to a person.

And that person was a man.

Xiang Xi didn’t speak again. Suddenly he felt as if his whole body was heating up.

Amid the noisy chaos and Chen Pang’s heart-rending, lung-tearing singing that sounded as if he were about to run out of breath, he actually heard his own heartbeat.

“I see—!” Song Yi suddenly grabbed the microphone from Chen Pang and shouted. His voice, just as everyone expected, cracked immediately with a sharp break.

“Ouch!” Lin He choked on a mouthful of alcohol beside them.

Xiang Xi was so startled by that shout that he jumped. When he turned his head toward Song Yi, he saw the meaningful smile on Song Yi’s face.

“You pigs!” Cheng Boyan grabbed the microphone from the table and shouted as well. “A bunch of pigs!”

Everyone burst out laughing. Chen Pang didn’t hesitate for even a second and immediately continued shouting, “I see! A bunch of pigs! A bunch of pigs! A bunch of pigs all connected together—”

Cheng Boyan put down the microphone, turned with a smile to look at Xiang Xi, and noticed Xiang Xi staring at him with wide eyes. He curled the corner of his mouth. “What’s wrong?”

“I want to hear you sing,” Xiang Xi stared at him. “That line you just sang sounded really good.”

“A bunch of pigs?” Cheng Boyan laughed. “That’s your taste?”

“Are you going to sing or not?” Xiang Xi kept staring at him.

“Alright.” Cheng Boyan stood up and walked over to the song selection console. “I’ll sing you the Song of the Little Pig.”

“Oh?” Chen Pang, whose voice was already cracking while he was butchering the song, still found time to speak into the microphone. “Am I seeing things?”

“No!” Lin He lunged over from the sofa and sprawled across Song Yi, leaning toward the song console. “Our God of Song is going to pick a song!”

“Hurry up!” Song Yi pointed at Chen Pang. “Finish vomiting out the last few lines of your song.”

“Just cut it off!” Chen Pang immediately said. “Cut me off!”

Without another word, Lin He cut off Qinghai–Tibet Plateau.

The private room immediately fell silent. No one spoke.

Cheng Boyan was bending over to select a song. With the room suddenly so quiet, his hand hovered in the air for quite a while before landing. He turned back to look at everyone. “You guys are putting a lot of pressure on me like this.”

“You come out a hundred times and don’t open your mouth once. Of course you’re going to become the target of public criticism,” Song Yi said with a smile.

“No, this is what everyone has been hoping for,” Lin He said.

“Get up!” Song Yi slapped Lin He on the back as he lay across his legs, then looked at Cheng Boyan. “Boyan, sing something we can’t understand and compete with Xiao Xiang.”

“Alright, then let’s do…” Cheng Boyan thought for a moment and tapped the console. “Let’s do See You Again.”

(NT: by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth, part of the Furious 7 soundtrack, a tribute to the late actor Paul Walker)

Xiang Xi sat on the sofa. It took him a while to recover from the dizzy feeling of having said the words “I like you.” He didn’t understand what “See You Again” was.

But the music sounded a little familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before.

“Quick,” Cheng Boyan said, standing in the middle of the room with the microphone after listening to the intro. He suddenly pointed at Song Yi. “Lower the key for me. It sounds like the God of Song won’t even reach the first line.”

Song Yi laughed uncontrollably and went to lower the key. “Is that good?”

“Alright.” Cheng Boyan nodded, holding the microphone and lightly tapping his toe along with the rhythm. “It’s been a long day…”

“Good!” Lin He immediately shouted and clapped loudly.

“Listen quietly,” Cheng Boyan said, then followed the rhythm and sang the next line. “And I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again…”

The rhythm slipped slightly on that line, but Xiang Xi froze mid-movement with the beer he had been about to drink.

He couldn’t understand the lyrics, but Cheng Boyan’s voice sounded really good. His entire attention instantly shifted from wondering what the song meant to listening to Cheng Boyan’s voice.

Because Cheng Boyan had once said that his singing was “generally unpleasant,” Xiang Xi hadn’t had high expectations. But once he started singing, Xiang Xi realized that aside from not being very modest about his looks, Cheng Boyan was actually very modest about everything else.

“Oh, I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again…”

After a few lines Cheng Boyan finally caught back up with the rhythm. When he sang this line, he suddenly smiled at Xiang Xi. “You again…”

That smile made Xiang Xi hear his own heartbeat again—loud, like drumbeats. For two seconds he even sighed that his heart was still so young before realizing that it was actually the drums in the music.

After that line, the rhythm of the music changed completely, and right after the drumbeat came a stretch of rap. Cheng Boyan surprisingly recited it very fluently.

“We’ve come a long way from where we began…
Oh I’ll tell you all about it when I see you again…”

Cheng Boyan looked at Xiang Xi, who was staring at him with his mouth half open in fascination. The song itself didn’t have any particularly special meaning, but there were a few lines he wanted Xiang Xi to hear.

Even though the kid couldn’t understand them yet.

No one in the room could really sing along with this song, but since the melody was familiar, they still successfully found a chance for a group chorus—or rather, a group shout.

Every time Cheng Boyan sang “See you again,” he could hear everyone shouting at the top of their lungs: “See you again!”

Xiang Xi found it funny and curled up on the sofa laughing continuously. Cheng Boyan somehow managed not to break character and finished the whole song with a deeply emotional, serious expression.

After that, the room returned to a state of demons dancing wildly (NT: in complete chaotic excitement). Songs were selected randomly, and several people grabbed microphones and shouted together.

“So?” Cheng Boyan sat down beside Xiang Xi and reached behind him to touch his back. “Are you hot? You’re sweating.”

“I laughed myself into a sweat,” Xiang Xi leaned back and pressed down on his hand, smiling. “Well, this is the end of the hand-washing maniac. You touched a handful of sweat—are you going to wash your hands?”

“No hurry. I’ll finish touching everything and wash them all at once,” Cheng Boyan said with a smile.

“You sing really well,” Xiang Xi turned his head. “Better than me.”

“Is that because you didn’t understand the lyrics?” Cheng Boyan said with a smile, his fingers lightly tracing circles on Xiang Xi’s lower back.

“Because it sounds good,” Xiang Xi glanced at him sideways. “Though it’s true I didn’t understand it.”

“I didn’t understand what you were singing either,” Cheng Boyan said. “But you still sounded pretty convincing.”

“I was bluffing. When I don’t know the lyrics, I just sing the melody.” Xiang Xi chuckled.

When Cheng Boyan and Xiang Xi left the KTV, it wasn’t even midnight yet. The others were still in the room singing loudly. Cheng Boyan had to go to the hospital tomorrow, so he didn’t stay.

When they walked out of the private room, Song Yi chased after them and said, “Xiang Xi, you don’t have the night shift tonight.”

The meaning behind that sentence was extremely obvious.

Even after leaving the KTV, Xiang Xi still hadn’t recovered from the embarrassment and inner conflict.

As he followed Cheng Boyan toward the parking lot, he felt a little dazed.

No night shift.

No need to go back to the supermarket.

Then where should he go?

Cheng Boyan’s home?

Go to his place… to do what?

The moment that thought appeared, he felt like his ears were about to melt from the heat, and a strong sense of awkward confusion washed over him.

“Sleepy?” Cheng Boyan got into the car, closed the door, and asked while looking at him without starting the engine.

“…A little,” Xiang Xi said. “Normally I’d already be asleep by now.”

“Song Yi said you don’t have to go back to the supermarket.” Cheng Boyan reached over and touched his forehead. “Want to go to my place?”

Cheng Boyan said it very naturally, as if he had said it countless times before. But Xiang Xi suddenly became nervous. He stared at the windshield wipers for a long time before finally saying:

“I… maybe…”

Before he could finish speaking, Cheng Boyan started the car, interrupting him. “Come to my place.”

“Um… well…” Xiang Xi only managed to speak with difficulty after Cheng Boyan had already driven out of the parking space. “I still… I just… don’t…”

“You’ll sleep in the study,” Cheng Boyan said.

Xiang Xi had no idea how Cheng Boyan managed to understand his meaning from those fragmented, incomplete words, but that sentence made him suddenly let out a big sigh of relief. He leaned back into the passenger seat and closed his eyes.

“Want the air conditioner on?” Cheng Boyan drove the car out of the parking lot.

“Open the window,” Xiang Xi said. “I want to get some air. It should be cooler now, right?”

Cheng Boyan rolled down the window. Xiang Xi leaned against it and looked outside. “My ears are still ringing. They were really shouting like crazy.”

“If you can’t sing, all you can do is shout,” Cheng Boyan said.

After the car started moving, the cool night wind blew in through the window. Xiang Xi squinted slightly. “Ah… that feels good.”

“Want to drive around for a bit and enjoy the breeze?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“Don’t you have work tomorrow?” Xiang Xi looked at him. “Still going for a drive?”

“Not far, just a couple more turns,” Cheng Boyan said. “Maybe twenty more minutes.”

“Okay.” Xiang Xi smiled. “Or maybe we could grab something to eat. I’m hungry.”

“Sure.” Cheng Boyan nodded.

At that hour the late-night food stalls were lively. The two of them found a barbecue stand and sat down at a table by the roadside.

“Are you eating?” Xiang Xi ordered grilled chicken wings and beef skewers, then added a grilled fish before looking at Cheng Boyan.

“…You ordered all that and none of it’s for me?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“No. It’s too dirty, unhygienic, and unhealthy to eat at this hour,” Xiang Xi said with a straight face. “I figured you wouldn’t eat.”

“I’ve already eaten food out of a plastic bag with you before…” Cheng Boyan glanced at him and took a bottle of water. “I’m not eating. You go ahead.”

“You really won’t eat?” Xiang Xi laughed. “I was teasing you.”

“I really won’t. I’m not hungry,” Cheng Boyan said.

The owner brought over two grilled chicken wings and placed them on the table.

“Ah, chicken wings.” Xiang Xi clapped his hands. “Grilled wings are my favourite—”

Before he could finish, Cheng Boyan suddenly grabbed both wings quickly. Before Xiang Xi could react, he licked the wings and took a bite of one of them and then put it back on the plate.

“I…” Xiang Xi stared at him in shock. “You…”

“Go ahead and eat your favourite wings,” Cheng Boyan smacked his lips. “They’re Orleans-flavoured too.” (NT: Makes it sound fancy and exotic, in reference to New Orleans jazz nights)

“You think I’m like you?” Xiang Xi clicked his tongue at the wings, picked one up, and took a bite. “Try licking them again.”

Just then the owner brought over a plate of beef skewers. As he was about to set them down, Xiang Xi grabbed the plate. “I’ll take it, I’ll take it.”

He picked up several skewers and licked each one.

Then he looked at the stunned owner. “What are you looking at? Go grill your skewers.”

Cheng Boyan kept his head down laughing. Xiang Xi gnawed on a chicken wing and said, “What are you laughing at? If you’ve got the guts, go lick the beef too.”

“I don’t have that ability,” Cheng Boyan said with a smile, waving to the owner who was still staring. “Two broccoli skewers for me.”

“Got it!” the owner replied.

Xiang Xi suddenly started giggling.

“If you dare lick those,” Cheng Boyan said with a smile, “I’ll smack you.”

After finishing a chicken wing, Xiang Xi rubbed his fingers together. “Relax, I won’t lick them. When I eat barbecue, I don’t like vegetables.”

“Could you at least wipe your hands?” Cheng Boyan frowned.

“I’m still eating. If I wipe them now it’ll be pointless,” Xiang Xi said, sucking his fingers again. “Just endure it.”

“Oh boy…” Cheng Boyan sighed and turned his head away.

When they were almost finished eating, Xiang Xi picked up Cheng Boyan’s unfinished water and took a sip. Just as he was about to speak, a fire engine siren suddenly sounded in the distance.

Cheng Boyan turned his head and saw a fire truck speeding past the road, followed by a second, a third, and a fourth. Four fire engines roared past behind them with their sirens blaring.

Everyone at the late-night stall fell silent and watched them go.

“Wow, that must be a big fire,” the owner said. “Four fire trucks.”

“Wonder where it’s burning,” someone added. “In weather this hot, even a tiny spark can start a fire…”

“Let’s go,” Cheng Boyan said, taking a pack of wet wipes from his pocket and wiping his hands before handing one to Xiang Xi. “We’ll find out in the news tomorrow.”

“Maybe it’s not that serious,” Xiang Xi said while wiping his hands. “When I was little, some idiot burned trash in a garbage pit. It looked scary, and someone called the fire department saying half the sky was glowing red. The firefighters rushed over with three trucks. When they got there it was just a garbage pit. They were furious.”

“Let’s hope it’s just a garbage pit this time too,” Cheng Boyan said, standing up and ruffling Xiang Xi’s hair. “Full?”

“Yep.” Xiang Xi stood up and patted his stomach. “I’ve secretly burped several times.”

When they got back to Cheng Boyan’s place, he rubbed his hands as soon as he entered, then went to wash them. After washing, he went to the bedroom to grab clothes and headed for the shower.

“Like you’re going into battle,” Xiang Xi said.

He had just changed his shoes and was slowly rubbing his hands together.

“I’m covered in sweat,” Cheng Boyan said, glancing at him. “Want to shower together?”

“N-no!” Xiang Xi jumped in surprise.

Cheng Boyan laughed and went into the bathroom, calling out from inside, “Don’t change clothes yet. Shower first, then change, so you don’t get the clean clothes dirty.”

“Then am I just supposed to stand here?” Xiang Xi asked blankly.

“Stand for a bit,” Cheng Boyan said. “Or walk around the living room to digest your food. Didn’t you say you were burping?”

“…Okay,” Xiang Xi replied.

Cheng Boyan started showering.

Xiang Xi slowly paced along the edge of the living room.

The sound of water poured into the living room. The soundproofing wasn’t great.

He walked past the TV and turned it on.

The water kept running loudly.

He continued pacing, flipping through channels as he walked.

The water kept running.

One channel was showing a cop-and-robber action movie with lots of fighting. He put down the remote. That would do.

The water stopped.

Maybe he was washing his hair… or applying body wash. Probably washing his hair. Someone with Cheng Boyan’s level of cleanliness obsession wouldn’t go a whole day without washing his hair.

The image of Cheng Boyan standing naked, raising his arms to run his fingers through his hair flashed across his mind.

Suddenly Xiang Xi felt flustered.

When Cheng Boyan came out of the bathroom, Xiang Xi was still standing in front of the TV watching a group of people fighting, unable to tell who was fighting whom.

“Go shower,” Cheng Boyan said, turning on the air conditioner. “Why didn’t you turn on the AC? I can see the sweat on you.”

“I’m doing a sweat-steam treatment,” Xiang Xi said, running into the study to grab clothes.

“Here.” Cheng Boyan handed him a pair of underwear.

“What's this?” Xiang Xi was stunned for a moment.

“Your underwear,” Cheng Boyan said. “The one you threw here last time—you didn’t take it back, remember.”

“Oh,” Xiang Xi took it. “That’s great.”

Cheng Boyan watched Xiang Xi run into the bathroom, then sat down on the sofa and sighed softly, lowering his head and wiping his hair with a towel.

He had originally wanted to tease him with something like, “Were you planning not to wear underwear?” But he held it back and didn’t say it.

It was obvious that Xiang Xi was a bit nervous. When he ran into the bathroom, he even bumped into the door frame. Cheng Boyan was afraid that if he added another line like that, Xiang Xi might trip and fall.

Must’ve scared him.

Although everything that needed to be said had been said, Xiang Xi clearly wasn’t prepared for the relationship to go any further.

Cheng Boyan leaned back against the sofa with the towel still on his head. In fact, he hadn’t planned to do anything either—asking Xiang Xi to come over was simply because he wanted to spend more time with him.

Xiang Xi took a very long shower. Cheng Boyan was already thinking of going over to check on him when Xiang Xi finally came out of the bathroom with his hair dripping wet.

“Dry your hair,” Cheng Boyan said.

“I did,” Xiang Xi said, touching his head.

“You’re like a sprinkler truck,” Cheng Boyan tossed him the towel from his own head. “Use this one. It absorbs water better.”

Xiang Xi took the towel and rubbed his hair with it. He didn’t know what material it was made of, but it absorbed water really well. His hair was short now, and after rubbing it a few times it was basically dry.

Then he stood there, not knowing what to do next.

“Take it in, give it a quick rub and hang it up to dry,” Cheng Boyan glanced at him and casually picked up the book beside him and opened it.

“You’re still reading?” Xiang Xi took the towel into the bathroom. After tidying it and hanging it up, he returned to the living room. Cheng Boyan had already moved the bedding for him into the study—and now he had even started taking notes while reading.

“Go to sleep,” Cheng Boyan said.

“You’re not sleeping? You have work tomorrow—it’s almost one o’clock,” Xiang Xi looked at him, unable to understand.

“Why do you care? I’m not bothering you,” Cheng Boyan laughed. “It’s not like you’re sleeping in the same bed with me.”

“Good night.” Xiang Xi darted quickly into the study and shut the door.

Less than a minute later, the door opened again and half his head poked out.

“Hey.”

“Hmm?” Cheng Boyan turned his head.

“That sofa… how do you turn it into a bed?” Xiang Xi asked.

Cheng Boyan sighed, put the book down, got up, and went into the study to help him unfold the sofa bed.

“So it’s manual. I thought there was some kind of mechanism. I was feeling around for a button for ages,” Xiang Xi patted the bed and arranged the pillow. “Now I know how to do it.”

“You planning to sleep here often?” Cheng Boyan said casually.

After he said that, both of them fell silent.

Xiang Xi didn’t say anything. He bent over and kept patting the pillow back and forth—patting this side, patting that side. Someone who didn’t know him might think he had a cleanliness obsession.

“What a set of Bagua Linked Palm Strikes (NT: a style of martial-arts palm technique associated with Bagua Zhang, known for continuous strikes),” Cheng Boyan said. “Look at that sofa—its meridians are already completely severed.”

“Damn,” Xiang Xi stopped and turned to look at him, laughing. “I almost didn’t understand what you were saying.”

“Sleep well,” Cheng Boyan held the back of his head and gently pulled him forward. He looked at him for a long time, and finally kissed the tear mole beneath his eye. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

Cheng Boyan closed the study door, turned off the air conditioner and TV in the living room, picked up his book, and walked into the bedroom.

Not even two minutes later he came back out, holding two mint leaves. He went to the kitchen, rinsed them, brewed a cup of mint tea, and carried it back into the bedroom.

After closing the door, he placed the cup on the small tea table and looked at the book lying to the side.

Finally, he turned and flopped onto the bed, letting out a long sigh.

This is just too much.

 

Translator : DarNan