Xiang Xi wasn't someone who cried easily, but lately Cheng Boyan had been seeing him cry more and more often. It was probably because he'd been watering him too much.

Cheng Boyan looked at Xiang Xi, who was clinging to the car window with his head practically sticking outside. He was sure he'd been crying again, but he clearly didn't want Cheng Boyan to notice.

“What do you feel like eating?” Cheng Boyan asked. “I'll take you.”

“I want cake. Ice cream cake.” Xiang Xi rubbed his eyes as he turned back around. “Wow, the wind's really strong now. Just now I saw a dog in the car across from us sticking its head out too. Do you think its ears hurt?”

“I could just ask you,” Cheng Boyan said. “Little Puppy Xiang has been letting the wind blow on him for five minutes. Your ears must've been blown clean off by now.”

“Just drive,” Xiang Xi sniffed. “Why do you talk so much? It's getting chilly.”

“Yeah, about time to start eating nourishing food,” Cheng Boyan said. “Come to my parents' place with me this weekend. My mom will probably buy a lot of things to take over to Grandma's.”

“Okay.” Xiang Xi nodded. “Going grocery shopping with her?”

“Yep.” Cheng Boyan smiled. “Last time I even said I wanted to talk to her about you, but I never got around to going. Now that Uncle Ping and Erpan have been arrested, it'll be much easier to explain. Otherwise, with two fugitives still on the run, it just didn't feel safe.”

“Watch what you tell her.” Xiang Xi tugged at his seat belt. “Don't tell her everything. Just say Uncle Ping was the leader of a gang of thugs. Don't mention the rest. You should learn to tell a few lies once in a while. Want me to teach you?”

Cheng Boyan glanced at him and laughed for a long while. “I know. It's just that now those two have been caught, I finally feel at ease. Even making things up, I can do it with a clear conscience now.”

“Right. Anyway, think it through. If you can't make something up, Teacher Xiang will teach you. Making up stories is Teacher Xiang's specialty.”

Cheng Boyan didn't reply.

In the past, whenever Xiang Xi talked about things like this, he would deliberately act as though he didn't care, trying to hide how much his past still affected him. But now, that feeling had suddenly disappeared.

Perhaps it was because Uncle Ping and Erpan had been arrested. No one would threaten him anymore. Nothing would make him feel unsafe again. Now, when he spoke of these things, there was only calm acceptance.

Seeing this change in him, Cheng Boyan suddenly felt his nose sting with tears. After all this time, Xiang Xi could finally face the darkness that had long tangled itself inside his heart with calm composture.

It felt like finally seeing a little Chinese cabbage seed sprout after burying it in a flowerpot and watering it, fertilizing it, and letting it bask in the sun every single day.

“You wanted cake, right?” Cheng Boyan said. “Then let's go. There's a huge main store on the road back from the hospital.”

“I said ice cream cake,” Xiang Xi emphasized.

“Alright.” Cheng Boyan smiled and nodded.

At this hour, ice cream cakes were almost sold out. The main store they visited didn't have any left. Cheng Boyan checked the time—it wasn't that late yet—so he drove Xiang Xi around, stopping at every cake shop they saw to ask.

In the end, they found one on some street nearly eighty li (about 40 kilometers) from home. Even the bakery's name seemed strangely fated—it was called Uncle Cheng's Bakery.

“Your uncle's shop,” Cheng Boyan said after confirming with the clerk that they still had ice cream cake before parking by the roadside. “Let's see if your dad can get a discount.”

“I also want a bottle of yogurt.” Xiang Xi happily jumped out of the car.

“If you wanted donkey's milk, I'd go find that for you too,” Cheng Boyan said.

“…I don't want donkey's milk.” Xiang Xi shot him a look.

Xiang Xi walked into the bakery. There was only one clerk inside. After making a round of the shop, he asked, “Where are the cakes?”

“Over here.” The clerk pointed toward the refrigerated display case. “We've got several kinds.”

“Does your boss happen to have the surname Cheng?” Xiang Xi leaned over the display, looking at the cakes. They weren't cheap. Normally he couldn't bear to spend twenty or thirty yuan on a little cake smaller than the palm of his hand. “His brother's here.”

“Huh?” The clerk froze. “Our store manager's surname is Wang.”

“That can't be right. Your shop's called Uncle Cheng, but the manager's Old Wang from Next Door (NT: a famous Chinese internet meme referring to 'the neighbour Wang,' often jokingly portrayed as someone having an affair with another man's wife)?” Xiang Xi turned to look at Cheng Boyan. “His surname's Wang.”

“Uncle Cheng is a chain store,” the clerk explained with a laugh. “There are more than a dozen branches in the city. But our general manager isn't surnamed Cheng either.”

“Quit fooling around and pick one already,” Cheng Boyan said. “If they've got yogurt too, grab one.”

“I'll take this one with the little pink flower,” Xiang Xi pointed. “Do you have red-date-flavoured yogurt?”

“Yes.”

The clerk handed him a bottle of red-date yogurt.

Back in the car, Xiang Xi comfortably stretched his legs onto the dashboard area and ate, alternating between bites of cake and sips of yogurt.

After taking a couple of bites, he held the cake toward Cheng Boyan. “You should lick off the little pink flower. I haven't touched it. I saved it for you.”

“Why'd you pick one with a little pink flower?” Cheng Boyan leaned over and licked the frosting flower away.

“It looked pretty,” Xiang Xi said. “Don't you like pink?”

“I don't have any particular feelings about it.” Cheng Boyan smiled.

“Then what colour do you like?” Xiang Xi immediately followed up. At last he'd found a perfect chance to ask about colours.

“Nothing in particular... Green, maybe? It feels comfortable. Every time I went to your master's tea house, looking at the tea-covered hills always felt relaxing.”

“Then why don't you wear green clothes, green pants, and green shoes?” Xiang Xi asked while eating.

“You mean clothes?” Cheng Boyan thought for a moment. “White, black, blue... just the usual colours. My mom once bought me a pink shirt. It's still hanging in my closet. I've never worn it.”

“Dark blue?” Xiang Xi asked. The watch he'd seen the other day had both black and blue versions, but there had actually been two different shades of blue.

“Yeah. What do you think I'd look like wearing light pinkish-blue?” Cheng Boyan laughed. “Would you even dare look?”

“If you wore turkey-coloured clothes, I'd still dare look,” Xiang Xi replied with a grin.

Then dark blue it would be. It looked steady without being too heavy. It should suit someone like Cheng Boyan, whose outward appearance and inner self didn't quite match.

After they got home, Xiang Xi felt very sleepy, but he still forced himself to stay awake through the evening news rerun.

The report wasn't very detailed. It only said that two fugitive suspects had been captured by the police in the suburbs. It didn't mention where the lead had come from. Maybe Dajian had confessed.

Earlier, Cheng Boyan had helped him look into Uncle Ping and Erpan's drug manufacturing and trafficking case. If they were caught, they would probably be sentenced to death. Thinking about it, Xiang Xi couldn't help feeling emotional. He had no idea whether Uncle Ping and Erpan hadn't been able to leave, hadn't dared to leave, or believed that the most dangerous place was the safest place (NT: meaning the obvious hiding place is often overlooked). They had actually been hiding so close by...

After the news ended, he leaned back against the sofa with his head tilted up and his eyes closed.

His heart felt light. Though, naturally, his emotions were still somewhat complicated.

If he hadn't escaped in the end, what would his life have become?

Playing freely with tea at the tea estate...

Eating cake and drinking yogurt on the way home...

Returning home to lean against the sofa and watch television...

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn't help letting out a few quiet chuckles.

“I'm going to take a shower first,” Cheng Boyan said, standing up. “What about you?”

“Mhm.” Xiang Xi answered.

Now that the weather had turned cool, he was honestly feeling too lazy to bathe.

After Cheng Boyan finished and went back to the bedroom to read, Xiang Xi wandered into the bathroom, changed into his pyjamas, then quietly tried to sneak into the bedroom and go straight to bed.

“Forgot to bring your clothes?” Cheng Boyan looked up at him.

“No. I've already changed.” Xiang Xi tugged at his pyjamas.

The corners of Cheng Boyan's lips curled upward. “You changed into your pyjamas before taking a shower?”

“I... already showered,” Xiang Xi said as he edged toward the bed. “Ah, I'm so sleepy. I'm going to sleep first.”

“Believe me when I say I'll strip you naked and throw you back into the bathroom?” Cheng Boyan put down his book and looked at him. “There wasn't a sound. And you're telling me you're already done?”

“I just... took a more casual shower today...” Xiang Xi stubbornly tried one last struggle.

Just as he was about to flop onto the bed, Cheng Boyan sprang up, took a step forward, grabbed his arm, and hauled him upright.

“Ow, ow, ow...” Xiang Xi cried out repeatedly, frowning. “My arm! My arm! My arm! It hurts... My injury still hasn't completely healed...”

“When I first met you, I already wanted to say this, but never had the chance.” Cheng Boyan held onto him without letting go. “How about I pay for you to enrol in an acting class? I honestly think you'd have a much brighter future as an actor than playing with tea.”

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

“If I hadn’t seen your scans and known exactly how much strength I was using,” Cheng Boyan said, “I would have really thought I had injured you.”

“How do you know I’m not injured? With one lift of your hand, you could dislocate someone’s shoulder.” Xiang Xi frowned again.

“Precisely because I can dislocate someone’s shoulder, I know you definitely didn’t even feel pain.” Cheng Boyan pulled him again. “Stand properly. If you were really in pain, would you still be hanging off my arm like this?”

“Hey, I…” Xiang Xi struggled, still trying to put on another act, but Cheng Boyan had already taken another set of pyjamas out of the cabinet and pushed him toward the bathroom. “My life is so miserable.”

“My life is the miserable one,” Cheng Boyan said. “I was just sitting there watching TV on top of that spot of soup.”

Xiang Xi thought about it and laughed again. “Tomorrow I’ll get Officer Zhang to come back and help you scrub it off.”

“What do you mean, help me scrub it off? I’m not the one who made it.” Cheng Boyan corrected him.

“Fine, when I come back I’ll scrub it off, okay?” Xiang Xi said.

“Good boy.” Cheng Boyan ruffled his hair. “Do you want Daddy to help you take a bath?”

“No need!” Xiang Xi hurriedly pushed open the bathroom door and went inside. “Daddy, go read your books! Hurry up and study hard so you can save lives and heal the wounded.”

Although he was unwilling to take a bath, he forced himself to finish washing, and afterward he actually felt very comfortable. Especially since Cheng Boyan had opened the bedroom window; when he came out of the bathroom, a cool breeze swept over his body, giving him a refreshing, chilly sensation.

He ran into the bedroom, jumped onto the bed, pulled the small blanket over himself, and rolled back and forth several times until he had wrapped himself into a cylinder. “Comfortable.”

“Someone just now didn’t want to take a bath.” Cheng Boyan turned off the bedside lamp and lay down on the bed as well.

“Hey, I feel like winter is coming soon.” Xiang Xi grinned at him. “Listen.”

Cheng Boyan was just about to ask what he should listen to when he heard Xiang Xi’s teeth chattering beside his ear.

He was shocked. “Are you this cold? Did you get a fever?”

“No.” Xiang Xi laughed and made the chattering sound again. “This is another one of my skills. Even in forty-degree weather, I can make this sound.”

“What use does this skill have?” Cheng Boyan laughed.

“To pretend to be pitiful, of course. Uncle, ge, sir, auntie…” Xiang Xi said while his teeth continued to chatter. “I was wrong. I really had no choice but to… steal your wallet… I’m so cold…”

Listening to Xiang Xi’s dramatic performance, Cheng Boyan wanted to laugh but also felt sorry for him. He turned over, hugged Xiang Xi who was curled up into a cylinder, and patted him. “Then you can’t use this trick in summer, right?”

“Sometimes I can. You can also make your teeth chatter because you’re scared. Please don’t hit me, please don’t hit me, my dad is sick…” Xiang Xi finished while clicking his teeth together, then laughed and sighed. “When you think about it, humans can really become anything. When you’re only trying to survive, things like dignity, pride, and morality can all be thrown away. Actually, it’s not that they’re thrown away… it’s that you never had them in the first place.”

“You have them.” Cheng Boyan said.

“Yeah.” Xiang Xi thought for a moment. “I do. I used to keep them all in my little box… Did you put the box away for me?”

“That little metal box? It’s in the cabinet.” Cheng Boyan said. “Do you want to look at it?”

“No need.” Xiang Xi smiled. “I didn’t look at it all the time before either. They were just a bunch of little scraps, used to remind myself who I was. There was someone called Xiao Zhan (NT: Little Zhan), he had a movie ticket. He had watched a movie, and there was even a date written on it. He also had books, though he hadn’t read them… Anyway, they were all things like that. Whenever I remembered, I would look at them. But now I don’t need to use them to prove my existence anymore. I’ll just keep them as memories.”

“Even if you had nothing at all, you still have me.” Cheng Boyan pinched his earlobe. “I see you, I remember you, I care about you, I know what you’ve done, what you’ve said, what you like, what you’re afraid of… right?”

“Mm.” Xiang Xi turned over so they were face to face. “You also get jealous.”

“Yes.” Cheng Boyan clicked his tongue. “But Hu Hai is actually a pretty good person.”

“He is pretty good.” Xiang Xi rubbed the tip of his nose against Cheng Boyan’s lips. “But don’t expect me to say Boss Peng is good.”

“I don’t need you to say she’s good. Whether she’s good or not has nothing to do with us.” Cheng Boyan said. “If you really continue working at Yunshui, she just needs to pay you on time. Then you save money, and once you’ve saved enough, you can support me.”

Xiang Xi laughed for a long time. “So you’ll stay at home every day and mop the floor?”

“Exactly. Let me tell you, if I weren’t so tired from work, I could mop the whole house from top to bottom twice every day.” Cheng Boyan laughed. “Unfortunately, this grand ambition has never been achieved… Oh, right. Tomorrow after you scrub that drop of soup, wipe the floor too.”

“That counts as ‘afterwards’?” Xiang Xi sighed.

“Of course it does. After scrubbing the soup, you casually wipe the floor along the way. Isn’t that ‘afterwards’?” Cheng Boyan kissed him. “If you’re tired from going out in the morning, then don’t do it. I can clean it when I’m off the day after tomorrow.”

“You already said it…” Xiang Xi replied.

“Then you clean it.” Cheng Boyan tightened his arms around him. “Sleep. Which way should you face? Can you share a little blanket with me?”

Xiang Xi pulled open the blanket wrapped around him, turned over, and pressed his back against Cheng Boyan’s chest. “Like this.”

“Mm.” Cheng Boyan pulled the blanket over them properly. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

*

When he was about to see Officer Zhang again, Xiang Xi didn’t know whether he felt excited or nervous. Officer Zhang said he would be passing by on the way to handle some business and could pick him up, so Xiang Xi stood waiting at the entrance of the residential complex.

There was no longer the trio, and there was no Cheng Boyan either. He was completely alone, yet he no longer needed to worry that someone would suddenly rush out at him. The feeling was indescribably wonderful.

Even the nervousness he used to feel whenever he saw the police had disappeared. When Officer Zhang’s police car stopped in front of him, he happily got inside.

“There isn’t anything especially important today. Mainly, you’ll identify some photographs, and then there are some statements from the suspects that need your help with indirect confirmation. It won’t take too long.” Officer Zhang explained the situation to him.

“Mm, I don’t really have anything else to do anyway.” Xiang Xi paused. “Then…”

“Your matter, we also asked about it while we were sorting out his connections,” Officer Zhang knew what he wanted to ask. “There weren’t any useful clues. He said he picked you up. He also gave the location. I can write the place down for you later… How is your household registration going? Is everything going smoothly?”

“It’s going pretty smoothly. I even went to have my blood taken. The comparison results aren’t out yet; I’m waiting for them.” Xiang Xi said that what Uncle Ping had told him might be true. Regarding his background, perhaps this really was how it had happened: he had been abandoned by his parents…

But why had they thrown him away? If he could not find his family, perhaps he would never have an answer.

He helped Officer Zhang and the others identify some photographs. Some of the people in them he had seen once or twice, while others he had never seen before. He answered honestly, responded to a few more questions, then signed his name, and that was all.

Holding the address Officer Zhang had written for him, Xiang Xi stood at the bus stop waiting for a bus. Strictly speaking, this was not really an address. It was the place Uncle Ping had mentioned when recalling where he had found him: a dirt road in the western suburbs, with some residential houses nearby. He had been wrapped up and placed beside the wall of one of the houses.

So he really had been found in the west.

Xiang Xi smiled knowingly as he looked at the note in his hand.

*

“I’m off tomorrow,” Cheng Boyan said as he changed his shoes after returning home. “Let’s go there, to that place.”

“Hm?” Xiang Xi looked at him.

“Let’s go take a look and ask around. Maybe someone will remember.” Cheng Boyan handed him a paper bag. “Red date yogurt, chilled.”

“Ah.” Xiang Xi happily took out the yogurt and took a sip. “How did you think of buying this for me?”

“I passed by a yogurt shop after work. I thought you might be tired today, so I bought it.” Cheng Boyan ruffled his hair. “Did you clean the floor?”

“Yeah, I cleaned it according to your requirements. Actually, it wasn’t that tiring.” Xiang Xi pointed at the sofa. “I cleaned the sofa too, but there’s still a little mark left.”

“It’s fine. Close enough is enough. Once I sit on it, I won’t be able to see it anyway.” Cheng Boyan said. “Are you going to Yunshui today?”

“I’m not going. It’s only three times a week.” Xiang Xi leaned comfortably against the sofa while drinking his yogurt. “If Master really lets me go there from now on, should I invite him to dinner to thank him?”

“He deserves thanks even if you don’t go there. We can invite him over to our place.” Cheng Boyan rolled up his sleeves. “I’ll cook a meal.”

“I think that tea restaurant is pretty good. It’s clean and the food tastes good.” Xiang Xi did not look at him. His eyelids lowered as he stared at the yogurt bottle. “Or…”

“I plan to learn how to cook one dish a day starting today.” Cheng Boyan said while changing clothes.

“Or we could eat near the tea research institute. I saw a Cantonese restaurant there that day. The food is probably lighter, which would suit the old man.” Xiang Xi continued.

“Today we’ll start with stir-fried bitter melon with eggs.” Cheng Boyan went into the kitchen.

Dinner consisted of bitter melon soup and stir-fried bitter melon with eggs. The bitter melon was slightly undercooked, but the taste was acceptable. Cheng Boyan had added some chili peppers while stir-frying it, so the bitterness was not very noticeable.

The bitter melon soup, however, was somewhat questionable. Even so, Xiang Xi drank two bowls of it.

“You’re really easy to raise.” Cheng Boyan said. He did not eat much himself. He normally did not eat a lot to begin with, and on top of that, the dishes were not particularly good.

“I’ll cook tomorrow.” Xiang Xi put down his chopsticks. “Considering how easy I am to raise.”

“Tomorrow we’ll eat outside.” Cheng Boyan said. “We’ll go out in the morning, ask around for information first, then walk around nearby. Consider it a way to relax. There are quite a few farmhouses by the river there. How about eating some local free-range chicken or something?”

“Sure.” Xiang Xi nodded.

“Xiang Xi, this trip is only to see whether we can find out anything.” Cheng Boyan held his hand. “Whether we find anything or not, just treat it as an outing.”

“Mm.” Xiang Xi smiled. “The two of us haven’t gone on an outing together before.”

“After your identity certificate is completed, we’ll go somewhere farther away and play for a few days.” Cheng Boyan picked up his phone and looked at the calendar. “I’ll try to take a few days of annual leave this year and see if it works out.”

“That’s really pitiful.” Xiang Xi rested his chin on his hand and looked at him. “Looks like I’ll really have to earn money and support you in the future.”

“I’m counting on you. Hurry and come rescue me.” Cheng Boyan said with a smile.

Although this was only a trip to the western suburbs of their own city to search for a possibility, Xiang Xi was still very excited. As soon as he woke up in the morning, he packed water and snacks into his bag.

This time, he did not have much hope. More than anything, he simply hoped to have an outing with Cheng Boyan.

Although it was already early autumn and going out to enjoy the spring scenery was no longer possible, the two of them driving a car, bringing food and drinks, and going to the countryside—even if it was only to look at withered grass—was still interesting.

Cheng Boyan was not as thoroughly prepared as he was. He only took a small bottle of disinfectant and put it into Xiang Xi’s bag.

“People say they only feel at ease when they have their wallet, phone, and keys with them. I think you don’t need those. As long as you hold a bottle of disinfectant, you’ll feel comfortable.” Xiang Xi sighed.

“I also need to bring my son.” Cheng Boyan put an arm around his shoulder. “Let’s go.”

 

Translator : DarNan