Xiang Xi stayed at the tea room until nearly three o'clock. Old Lu explained the production methods of several kinds of tea to him, then packed a little of each for him to take home.

Hu Hai kept playing the qin beside them the whole time, performing his background-music duties with remarkable dedication. By the end, Xiang Xi was almost reluctant to leave.

He genuinely enjoyed listening to Hu Hai play. Combined with what Old Lu had told him about Hu Hai's younger brother—even though he'd only mentioned it in passing and hadn't said whether the boy had gone missing or died—it somehow made Xiang Xi think of Cheng Boyan, and he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity and warmth.

The three-man bodyguard team was still waiting for him at the intersection. They had probably already finished their barbecue by now, so Xiang Xi picked up the tea leaves and prepared to head back. He said to Old Lu, “I've got some sausages at home—my friend's grandma made them. I forgot to bring them today, but next time I come I'll bring you some.”

“Great! I love sausages,” Old Lu said happily. “Then come a little earlier next time. Stay for dinner?”

“Dinner won't be necessary,” Xiang Xi said, scratching his head. “I'm staying at my friend's place, and we always have dinner together.”

“The one who brought you here last time? The doctor you mentioned?” Old Lu said with a smile. “Invite him too. I'm picky about taking apprentices, but I do enjoy making friends.”

“Well...” Xiang Xi thought for a moment. “I'll ask him.”

Old Lu enjoyed sharing food, drinking tea, and chatting with people in the tea room. Xiang Xi thought it sounded quite nice too, but he wasn't sure whether Cheng Boyan would be interested. He was usually exhausted after work, and every time classmates or friends invited him out, they practically had to plead tearfully before he would agree.

That day Cheng Boyan was just as tired as usual. Since both of them were injured, he simply drove downstairs and called upstairs. “Xiao Xi, come downstairs. Daddy's taking you out for some meat.”

“You're home already?” Xiang Xi asked. He had been sitting on the sofa watching TV out of boredom.

“Yeah, I'm downstairs. Come on down. Let's make up for yesterday's missed feast.”

Xiang Xi ran downstairs.

Cheng Boyan's car was parked right outside the building. He had his forehead resting against the steering wheel, dozing off. Xiang Xi tugged at the car door, but it was locked.

“Hey, Dad!” he shouted, patting the window. “Wake up!”

Cheng Boyan lifted his head and unlocked the door. “How's your shoulder today?”

“I can't really feel anything. It doesn't hurt,” Xiang Xi said as he got in. “Does that mean it's already healed?”

“Dream on. If it healed that fast, what would doctors be for?” Cheng Boyan started the car. “What do you want to eat?”

“No idea.” Xiang Xi rubbed his stomach. “I'm actually not that hungry. Why don't we just eat whatever you feel like? I'm fine with anything.”

“Oh? Since when are you ever not hungry?” Cheng Boyan glanced at him.

“I went to the tea room at lunchtime,” Xiang Xi chuckled. “Master invited me over for lunch. Brother Hai brought a whole lamb leg—”

Cheng Boyan lightly tapped the brakes. “Brother Hai? Where did this Brother Hai suddenly come from?”

“Oh, my senior apprentice brother,” Xiang Xi glanced at him. “The one I told you about—the guy who plays the qin. He also cooks. He made the lamb leg himself, and it was—”

“If he's your senior apprentice brother, call him that. Why are you calling him Brother Hai? Doesn't he have a full name?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“His name's Hu Hai. He's about your age. Calling him 'Hu Hai' directly wouldn't be very appropriate, would it?” Xiang Xi said, puzzled.

“But you call me Cheng Boyan.”

“Not really! I only call you Cheng Boyan when I'm mad,” Xiang Xi laughed. “Usually…”

“Usually you don't call me anything,” Cheng Boyan said after thinking for a moment. “You don't call me ge anymore. You hardly even call me Doctor Cheng these days. If you're annoyed, it's 'Cheng Boyan.' If you're in a good mood, you just start talking... Oh, you did call me Dad just now.”

“You're a grown man. Are you really going to nitpick something like this?” Xiang Xi laughed so hard he almost doubled over. After a moment he lowered his voice. “I stopped calling you ge because I was afraid it'd remind you of... How about I just call you Boyan?”

“My parents, my relatives, my classmates, and my friends,” Cheng Boyan said unhurriedly, “they all call me Boyan.”

“Hey...” Xiang Xi tapped the window helplessly. “Then how about Xiao Cheng?”

“My coworkers and supervisors all call me Xiao Cheng.”

“Fine, I'm not calling you anything anymore.” Xiang Xi leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. “You can sit there and keep listing titles yourself.”

Cheng Boyan laughed. “Call me whatever you like.”

“Boyan then. I'll just go with the crowd,” Xiang Xi said with his eyes closed. “I really like hearing other people call you Boyan. When I say it myself, I suddenly feel especially cultured.”

“Sounds good,” Cheng Boyan nodded, then glanced at him again. “Not calling me Dad anymore?”

“Hey, you know those little compressed sheet masks that look like candy beads? The kind girls use?” Xiang Xi said, pinching his fingertips together to show the size. “Normally they're only this tiny. But once you soak one in water—my God—it becomes this big…”

He spread his hands into a large circle. “About this big. Just like your face.”

“You little brat,” Cheng Boyan laughed so hard the steering wheel almost wobbled. “You've even learned to take the scenic route just to insult people. I was actually listening seriously.”

“You really don't know me very well,” Xiang Xi clicked his tongue. “For the first ten-odd years of my life, making fun of people was how I entertained myself. If insults could turn into bricks, I'd have beaten who knows how many people to death with them. Erpan would've never gotten the chance to pin me into the mud and beat me up.”

Cheng Boyan simply smiled without replying.

Come to think of it, if Xiang Xi hadn't reminded him, he had almost forgotten what the original Zhan Hongtu had been like when they first met.

Thinking about it now, that kid who always wore a look of impatience, spoke so abrasively, and could change expressions with professional speed had, without anyone noticing, already been left far behind.

Whenever he looked back and compared the past with the present, Xiang Xi—who had summoned up an admirable amount of courage to step with one decisive stride into the sunlight—never failed to leave people suddenly astonished.

As the car wound through the streets and was about to reach the avenue lined with the most restaurants, Xiang Xi suddenly opened his eyes. “Hey, let's go have Western food. You know, steak and stuff.”

“Just the two of us?” Cheng Boyan was taken aback. “We've each only got one usable hand, and you want to eat steak?”

“Oh, right.” Xiang Xi looked at his arm. “Then let's have KFC.”

“What?” Cheng Boyan stared at him. “KFC?”

“Yeah. I've never had it before,” Xiang Xi said, looking at him. “What do you think? I want to try it.”

“What's there to try?” Cheng Boyan said. “I've never had it either.” He found it hard to accept that the lavish meal he'd planned had suddenly turned into KFC.

“Well, perfect. Then we can try it together,” Xiang Xi said, still looking at him.

“...I budgeted several hundred yuan for this meal,” Cheng Boyan sighed. “And you want KFC?”

“You've only got one hand and you're still thinking about spending several hundred?” Xiang Xi looked him up and down. “Save it. Let's have KFC today. I suddenly really want to try it, even though I have no idea what it tastes like.”

In the end, Cheng Boyan went into KFC with Xiang Xi. There was a Pizza Hut across the street, but when he suggested going there instead, Xiang Xi refused.

“I suddenly really want this,” Xiang Xi said. “Fried chicken, burgers, fries, chicken wings... Ah, I want to try everything.”

“Alright, alright.” Cheng Boyan joined the ordering line. “What do you want?”

“I want everything. How about two Family Buckets?”

Cheng Boyan whipped his head around. “Two?”

“Is that too much? How big is a Family Bucket? I've never even seen one,” Xiang Xi said quietly.

“Normally it looks about this big,” Cheng Boyan said, mimicking the gesture Xiang Xi had made earlier. “And when you eat it... it's still only this big.”

Xiang Xi laughed all the way until it was their turn to order. He was still grinning so much that he didn't even notice Cheng Boyan hadn't ordered two Family Buckets—not even one.

Only after they found a seat did he realize. “Huh? You didn't order a bucket?”

“No,” Cheng Boyan said. “Let's have combo meals. If you still want something afterward, we can order it separately. If you're really curious, we can buy a Family Bucket to take home later so you can study it at your leisure.”

“Alright then. I'll try a burger first.” Xiang Xi grabbed a burger. Before he'd even unwrapped it, Cheng Boyan set a small bottle in front of him.

It was a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

Xiang Xi sighed and put the burger back down. “How am I supposed to rub it in with only one hand?”

“Hold out your hand.” Cheng Boyan squeezed some sanitizer into Xiang Xi's open palm. “Shake hands with me.”

Xiang Xi froze for a moment. Cheng Boyan placed his own hand over Xiang Xi's and rubbed it back and forth. Only then did Xiang Xi understand, and the two of them spent a moment with Cheng Boyan rubbing while Xiang Xi squeezed his hand in return.

“Can I eat now?” Xiang Xi glanced at the neighbouring table. “People are looking at us.”

“You can eat now,” Cheng Boyan said with a smile.

It was Xiang Xi's first time eating KFC. Cheng Boyan had probably never eaten it because it wasn't nutritious and wasn't good for your health. Xiang Xi, on the other hand, had simply never considered eating it at all.

Back when he wandered the streets with Mantou every day, it had never crossed his mind either. They usually ate cheap fast food, stir-fries, or noodles.

Back then, the meaning of being alive had simply been... staying alive. His horizons had only reached that far. It was almost as if clean, tidy places made him uncomfortable. Even internet cafés, he'd subconsciously choose the shabbier ones. That was simply where he'd placed himself in the world.

Now, holding a burger in his hand felt strangely special. An ordinary person's ordinary, not-particularly-healthy life.

He'd eaten rather too much lamb at lunch, so he wasn't especially hungry. He managed one cod-fish burger, one pair of roasted chicken wings, one box of fries, half a box of egg tarts, one corn on the cob, and one beef wrap before he couldn't eat another bite.

“Ah, I'm stuffed.” Xiang Xi leaned back in his chair, narrowing his eyes contentedly.

“I used to worry all the time that you were too skinny,” Cheng Boyan said, looking at the pile of empty boxes in front of him. “Now it seems that was completely unnecessary.”

“I eat more when I'm in a good mood,” Xiang Xi chuckled. “Oh, right. Master invited me over for dinner this weekend after our tea lesson. He said you should come too.”

“Me?” Cheng Boyan asked in surprise.

“Yeah. He said it'd be livelier with more people.” Xiang Xi rubbed his nose. “I told him I'd ask you. If you're too tired, we don't have to go...”

“Who'll be there?” Cheng Boyan asked.

“Just me, Master, and —”

“Sounds good,” Cheng Boyan interrupted with a nod before Xiang Xi could finish saying Brother Hai.

“You're coming?” Xiang Xi's eyebrows shot up happily.

“Yeah,” Cheng Boyan said, wiping his hands. “Might as well meet your... senior apprentice brother.”

After leaving KFC, it wasn't very late yet. Xiang Xi wanted to stop by the bookstore. “Let's buy a few books like The Little Prince. I can understand that one, and it's really good. Out of all the books on your shelf, that's the only one I can actually read.”

“Sure,” Cheng Boyan agreed. “Let's walk over. It's not far, and it'll help us walk off dinner.”

“Okay.” Xiang Xi tilted his face up and took a deep breath. “It's actually pretty cool out now.”

The two of them strolled slowly along the street. Xiang Xi watched the bright lights of the shopping malls and restaurants on either side, and the pedestrians passing by, some quickly, some slowly. On the surface, this aimless wandering looked very much like the idle drifting he'd done in the past, but inwardly it felt completely different.

Every step he took felt solid.

When they reached the entrance to the bookstore, Cheng Boyan's phone rang. He glanced at the screen, then walked toward a quieter spot. “It's my mom.”

“Huh?” Xiang Xi instantly tensed up and hurried after him.

“Mom?” Cheng Boyan answered the call. He was rather surprised she'd phoned at this hour. He'd already called her that morning and said he'd come home over the weekend so they could have a proper talk.

“Boyan,” his mother said. Her voice sounded no different from usual. “There's something I wanted to tell you. If you have time in the next couple of days, bring Xiang Xi home for a meal. Your father wants to meet him.”

“In the next couple of days?” Cheng Boyan froze. He still hadn't gotten past his mother's objections, and they hadn't even had a proper discussion yet. He hadn't even begun thinking about taking Xiang Xi home. “Didn't we agree not to tell Dad about this yet?”

“Of course I didn't tell him about you two getting beaten up and ending up at the police station,” his mother said. “But he already knew you had someone in your life. He's leaving on another business trip next week, so these next couple of days are the only time he's free.”

“Is... that really appropriate?” Cheng Boyan hesitated, thinking about the state both he and Xiang Xi were currently in.

“For us, of course it isn't. I wasn't planning to have him come over this soon either,” his mother sighed. “But for your father, it's perfectly appropriate. He doesn't know about everything that's happened since. All he knows is that his son has a boyfriend who's already living with him. Naturally he wants to meet him.”

Cheng Boyan fell silent, frowning as he thought it over.

His mother was right. It was only natural for his father to want to meet Xiang Xi. If he refused, his father would probably find it strange, and might even end up forming a bad impression of Xiang Xi.

“Then...” He gritted his teeth. “The day after tomorrow?”

“Yes,” his mother said.

“All right then. I’m on duty tomorrow, but I’m free the day after tomorrow.”

“Mm. Give me a call before you come over so I can get the meal started.”

After hanging up, Cheng Boyan stared at the flowerbed in front of him. This was going to be troublesome. He needed to come up with a believable excuse for the injuries the two of them had.

“What’s wrong?” Xiang Xi asked nervously beside him. “What’s happening the day after tomorrow? What’s wrong with your dad?”

“My dad wants to meet you,” Cheng Boyan said, slipping his phone back into his pocket and looking at him. “He wants you to come over for dinner.”

Xiang Xi’s eyes instantly went wide. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He stared at Cheng Boyan for quite a while before finally managing to say, “You agreed?”

“I had to. What else could I do?” Cheng Boyan said, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

“If I go looking like this, won’t I be cutting off all future path?” Xiang Xi glared at the splint on his arm. “Can this thing come off by the day after tomorrow? I don’t feel anything at all anymore. I can take it off, right?”

“No.” Cheng Boyan held down Xiang Xi’s arm as it started moving with his agitation. “Leave it on. We’ll just make up a story and bluff our way through it.”

“How are we supposed to bluff? Director Xu knows what happened!” Xiang Xi said anxiously.

“She’s not going to tell my dad right now,” Cheng Boyan said. “We just have to think of a convincing story.”

“How about this: some drunk guy drove his beat-up car onto the sidewalk while we were walking. We couldn’t get out of the way and got hit. Would that work?”

“…It’ll work.”

A moment ago Xiang Xi had been eagerly looking forward to buying books, but after that phone call, he became dejected. While stepping into the elevator, he misjudged his footing and nearly stumbled.

“It’s okay,” Cheng Boyan whispered into his ear. “You’re just meeting my dad.”

“Even if I were a perfectly decent person, I’d still be nervous about meeting your dad,” Xiang Xi muttered. “Never mind looking like... this.”

“You look fine now too.” Cheng Boyan smiled. “My dad’s an easygoing person. He’s easy to get along with. My mom listens to him about a lot of things. You…”

“Really?” Xiang Xi suddenly looked up.

“Mm.”

“What does your dad like? Does he have any hobbies? Is he into health preservation? Growing flowers? Keeping birds?” Xiang Xi fired off a string of questions. “He’s not going to ask me medical questions, is he? If your whole family starts talking medicine, I really won’t be able to join in. The only medical thing I can contribute is talking about being hospitalized…”

“Tea.” Cheng Boyan patted his shoulder. “Just talk to him about tea. He’s not as obsessed with it as my eldest brother, but he’s very interested in it.”

“Huh? Great!” Xiang Xi immediately brightened. “Tea! I can do tea. I can talk about that for ages. If my hand worked, I could even make tea for him!”

“Feeling a little more at ease now?” Cheng Boyan asked. “Shall we go pick out some books?”

“Yeah. Let’s pick books first. This time we don’t have to go to the children’s early-reader section—we should head to the storybooks.”

Watching Xiang Xi’s back as he walked ahead, Cheng Boyan finally let out a sigh of relief.

But Xiang Xi’s state of mind kept swinging back and forth. One moment he would remember the upcoming meeting and become nervous again; the next he would think it wasn’t such a big deal.

He stayed like that all evening and into the following day, wavering between panic and calm. Cheng Boyan even began regretting telling him so far in advance instead of waiting until just before they went.

“I’m on duty tonight,” Cheng Boyan reminded him, still a little worried. “Eat properly, sleep properly. If you’re bored, read a book. Stop overthinking it. At this rate, you’re going to overthink yourself into a mental hang-up.”

“Got it.” Xiang Xi bounced lightly on his feet. “Honestly, you don’t have to worry about me. That’s just how I am. Whenever something comes up, I keep thinking it over and over. Eventually I run out of things to think about, and then I’m fine.”

Then I’m fine.

Even as he said those words, Xiang Xi himself wasn't convinced.

Going to Cheng Boyan’s parents’ home for a formal meeting was completely different from the last time, when Cheng Boyan’s grandmother and the others had shown up unexpectedly in an unannounced visit.

Although he knew Cheng Boyan’s feelings for him wouldn’t change because of anything, he still wanted to leave a good impression. He wanted Cheng Boyan’s parents to see him as an ordinary person.

For so long now, he had been treated with kindness by the people around him. He had Cheng Boyan, his coworkers, his friends, his master, and his senior apprentice-brother. Not one of them had ever looked at him strangely.

And yet, more than anything, he still longed for Cheng Boyan’s parents’ approval.

He thought about countless things, but by the end, he couldn't even remember what he had been thinking. By the time he dragged Cheng Boyan to the shopping mall to buy gifts, his mind felt completely blank.

Earlier that day, after Cheng Boyan had come home from his hospital shift and gone to catch up on sleep, Xiang Xi had quietly gone to the tea house and asked Old Lu for a tin of good tea. It wasn't expensive, but it was tea grown on the tea mountain itself, so he trusted its quality.

Even so, he still felt that tea alone wasn't enough.

“The tea is enough,” Cheng Boyan said. “What else are you thinking of buying?”

“I don't know anything about this stuff.” Xiang Xi looked around. “I've never bought gifts for elders before. The only things I've ever bought for Uncle Ping were cigarettes and takeout.”

“Let's just look around first. We've got plenty of time. Think it over slowly. I can't come up with anything right away either.” Cheng Boyan put an arm around his shoulders.

After wandering around the mall for nearly an hour, Xiang Xi finally settled on a silk scarf. The pattern was beautiful. The moment he saw it, he felt it would suit Director Xu perfectly.

Then he saw the price.

Over five hundred yuan.

After staring blankly at the price tag for a while, he decided to buy it.

“It's too expensive,” Cheng Boyan said, stopping Xiang Xi just as he was about to ask the sales assistant to place an order.

“It's not.” Xiang Xi gently stroked the scarf. “It's beautiful. I think Director Xu will like it.”

“It's still too expensive. Let's buy something else. If you want to get something like this, aren't there hair clips over there? They're beautiful too.”

“No. This one.” Xiang Xi looked at him. “For you, I could give you a lollipop. But I can't do that for Director Xu. You don't understand! I don't want to... be rude again.”

Cheng Boyan didn't say anything. Xiang Xi picked up the scarf, turned around, and handed it to the sales assistant.

When it came time to pay, Xiang Xi insisted on going to the cashier alone. After paying, he returned, carefully inspected the scarf one last time, and only then allowed it to be wrapped.

The scarf box was beautiful.

After admiring it for quite a while, Xiang Xi asked the sales assistant, “Do you have any other boxes? A bigger one?”

The sales assistant smiled. “We do. But it wouldn't be the original brand's box—it doesn't have the logo, and it's a bit large for a scarf. It's usually used for…”

“Could this fit inside?” Xiang Xi asked, taking the tea tin out of his backpack.

“For tea?” the sales assistant asked in surprise.

“Yeah. Miss, look... these are for my... future mother-in-law and father-in-law.” Xiang Xi sneaked a glance toward Cheng Boyan. “The scarf has such beautiful packaging, but this tea tin doesn't look nice enough, even though it's really good tea…”

Standing nearby, Cheng Boyan covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to laugh. His eyes were practically disappearing from smiling so hard.

“I see.” The sales assistant glanced at him. “Then I'll find you a box... You look so young. Are you getting married already?”

“I…” Xiang Xi glanced toward Cheng Boyan again.

“Yes,” Cheng Boyan answered smoothly. “He's getting married very soon.”

“Congratulations, then.”

The sales assistant found a box, placed the tea inside, and it fit perfectly.

Xiang Xi walked out of the mall hugging the two boxes to his chest, thoroughly satisfied.

The whole time, Cheng Boyan kept smiling without saying a word. When they got into the car, he simply pulled Xiang Xi into his arms and kissed him hard twice.

Putting a tea tin into an extra gift box looked a little silly. But Cheng Boyan didn't say so.

Xiang Xi was trying, in his own way, to make every tiny detail perfect. He was trying, in his own way, to earn his family's acceptance. Even if Xiang Xi had wanted to present the tea in a shoebox, Cheng Boyan wouldn't have objected.

“I should call your father Uncle Cheng, right?” Xiang Xi confirmed as they stood downstairs waiting for the elevator, hugging the gift boxes.

“Mm. That's right.”

“It's just your mom and dad at home, right? Nobody else? I don't want there to be someone else there and end up calling them by the wrong title.”

The moment he heard that, Cheng Boyan couldn't hold back his laughter. “No one else.”

“Don't laugh!” Xiang Xi glared at him, his fingers tapping nervously against the boxes.

Earlier, Cheng Boyan had called his mother to say they were almost there.

The elevator doors had barely opened. Cheng Boyan had only just stepped out with one foot when the door to his parents' apartment opened, and his father poked his head out. “Boyan?”

“Yeah.”

“Hello, Uncle Cheng!” Xiang Xi called loudly from inside the elevator.

“Hello, hello.” His father nodded. “Where's the young man?”

“I'm here!” Xiang Xi hurriedly pushed past Cheng Boyan, who was blocking his way. He stepped out of the elevator and, from several meters away, gave him a deep bow toward the doorway.

“Hello, Uncle Cheng!”

 

Translator : DarNan