Title In Progress

Five,

Wu Shujiu, who acted as a lawless boy, didn’t have to endure that beating, and the conspiracy theory he imagined didn’t come true either — Over the weekend, when his mom called to say hi, Xu Xing answered the phone and spoke politely, saying all the things elders liked to hear.

“Don’t worry, auntie,” He said, “I’ll look after him.”

At that time, Wu Shijiu was draped over the back of the sofa, craftily eavesdropping. When the call ended, Xu Xing put down the phone in his hand, stood up, and changed into clothes for going out.

“I have an engagement.”

He went to the bathroom to look at the mirror, closely examining his own face, then checked the time on his wristwatch, “I’ll be back a little late.”

“Oh.” Wu Shujiu stood up and watched him put his shoes on by the side of the vestibule, “Aren’t you going to spend the night outside?”

Xu Xing put his hand on the doorknob, but stopped when he heard that, “Huh?”

It was a while before he reacted, stretching out his arm to wrap around Wu Shijiu’s head, “What are you thinking about, you little bastard?”

The little bastard remained unconvinced, “You can’t be like this, uncle Xu, I mean… you’re almost thirty, you can’t even have joint healthcare if you don’t have a partner.”

“So you can actually worry about things.”

Xu Xing’s long legs walked out the door, but he turned half of his body back, the corners of his lips bent in a smile that was different from those past subtleties, “Worry about your homework.”

“I won’t send you out.”

Wu Shijiu returned to the second floor, and he worked on his unending test papers with some instant noodles and milk. After finishing a subject, he looked at his watch and repeated the process a few times until it was 12 o’clock. This was usually the time he went to sleep, but he wasn’t feeling that tired today.

He came out of the bathroom after washing up and heard the movement of someone coming back downstairs. He ran to the stairs and squatted down to look. Xu Xing had just come into the house, and the two met face-to-face when he raised his head.

“Yo.”

“You’re back.” He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts, exposing his slender and strong arms and calves as he sloppily wandered downstairs, “Are you happy?”

“Why do you care about my engagements?”

Xu Xing took off his clothes and threw them on the laundry basket, going straight to the sofa and sitting down in the middle. Wu Shijiu went around to the kitchen, heading to the fridge for some cold soda, and found that the man was actually lost in thought, a rare sight to see.

He thought about it and grabbed another can to give to Xu Xing, single-handedly prying open the pull-top as he walked so he could just drink it when he handed it over. The only light in the living room came from a floor lamp in a corner, and the light was very dim, so he could barely see shadows and outlines, let alone the other’s face.

He could vaguely see as Xu Xing patted down the empty space beside him, saying, “Sit with me for a bit.”

“What’s up?”

He had no objections, he was just a little curious. After asking his question, he sat down next to him, minding his own business, the soda swaying as it was shook, quietly bubbling though the aluminium can.

“Nothing.” The question was hard to answer, at least for Xu Xing. “I just want someone to sit next to me for a bit right now, and tell me about something happy.”

“Me?” Wu Shijiu forced a laugh, “Every day I go to school like I’m going to a funeral, what’s happy about that? Mr Xu, you’re making things hard for me.”

Xu Xing coughed, “Sorry.”

“Every day I solve problems, solve more problems, memorise stuff, memorise more stuff, take exams, and take more exams, does that make you happy?”

“That too.” Xu Xing’s expression approved, but he still didn’t give up, “There’s not a single thing?”

“Hmm…”

Wu Shijiu tilted his head and muttered, his gaze falling on the two soda cans of the same flavour being held by the two people. Xu Xing didn’t look at him, but he felt his breath and warmth clearly and steadily. He drank the very last gulp and blinked, stepping on Xu Xing’s slippers with his damp toes.

“I suppose this is one.”


Six,

Half a semester passed. Wu Shijiu hadn’t established much affection for his new school, but his relationship with Xu Xing got friendlier and friendlier.

Xu Xing wasn’t his elder, he didn’t have any duties to perform or requests to exert with him, so there was no class antagonism between them, and he had gained the teenager’s trust to the maximum extent. They still didn’t spend much time together, but the ways in which they did were subtly changing. It was no longer as polite and estranged as it was in the beginning, their mutual rapport was based on a sense of distance, which could be forgotten now, like a miraculous pair of friends despite their difference in age.

After the midterm exams, the iron-hearted school who only gave them half a day of rest every week was moved by some unknown mysterious power and miraculously gave them a two-day vacation. When his classmates spread the news, the scene was lively and touching. When Wu Shijiu reacted, he almost shed tears as he sent Xu Xing a message saying he wanted to eat out, and didn’t wait for a reply before he returned home in high spirits.

There was no one home, the door was locked.

Oh, right, Xu Xing didn’t know he’d returned early.

He sat his butt down on the emergency fire extinguisher box on the staircase and sent Xu Xing a text.

Wu Shijiu: Uncle Xu, I’m on vacation.

Wu Shijiu: Uncle Xu! I’m free!

Wu Shijiu: Mr Xu, I’m your long-lost nephew.

Wu Shijiu: ??? Xu Xing you’re not home, you didn’t leave a message, you’re not answering my texts, don’t tell me you’re out there cheating!!!

He was about to starve to death until Xu Xing called.

“Hey, I’m out talking to some people, how about you come over? We can go out to eat once I’m done, I’ll send you the address.”

“Okay, scumbag!”

“…Wu Shijiu, you’re on speaker.”

“……”

He took a taxi there and, on the way, calmly bought a facemask and put it on.

He arrived at the address Xu Xing gave him, the place was a low-key and secluded coffee salon with few customers. He spotted Xu Xing sitting at a table with five other people through the row of French windows, his colleagues were both male and female, young and fashionable, wearing uniformly-coloured business attire.

He hastily looked down at himself; his backpack was slung over his shoulder, he was deliberately wearing his school uniform like a hooligan with his sleeves rolled up unevenly, it wasn’t that it looked ugly, it was just rather out of place —— he actually felt at a loss for a moment, until Xu Xing rose and vacated a spot on the sofa he was on, letting him sit down closely next to himself, and ordered a dessert for him, then asked if he wanted his milk tea iced or warm.

Wu Shijiu was just nodding as he greeted the others, and it was a while before he leaned close to Xu Xing’s ear and whispered, “Iced, iced. Don’t I need to say something to them?”

“Say what?” Xu Xing handed the menu back to the waiter, “New Year’s greetings?”

“……”

The group of co-workers actually didn’t mind, rather, they seemed to quite like this mask-wearing young delinquent, greeting him warmly and kindly one after another. A fashionable white-collar woman with fine makeup and a motherly air repeatedly tried to torment the little high schooler, but was quickly stopped by Xu Xing, “Hurry. Decide which proposal we’re going to use next week.”

He held a ballpoint pen between his fingers and tapped it on the documents spread out all over the table, grabbing everyone’s scattered attentions back to the matter at hand. He was wearing a black shirt today, with two buttons undone, and his necktie was loosely tied with the part that should have been hanging down fastened to his chest pocket by a tie clip, making it easier for him to bend over the table and write.

Wu Shijiu knew it wasn’t a time for him to butt in and disrupt them, so he silently cast a glance around: every document seemed to be filled with something different, numbers, diagrams, and tedious marks and symbols, not only could he not interject, he couldn’t even understand what he was looking at.

The disparity between him and the “adults” wasn’t only in terms of age.

Soon after, the group of people once again became absorbed in the conversation that had previously been interrupted, using their actions to let Wu Shijiu know he could do as he pleased. He sensibly put his earphones on, and couldn’t bear the loneliness for even ten minutes before he began listening to music and playing games, quickly becoming cut off from the rest of the world. He was entirely unaware of what progress the adults were making, or when it would come to an end.

He had just finished playing a new round when his right earphone was suddenly pulled off, the sound of the music was interrupted for some reason, replaced by a man’s quiet, low and hoarse voice.

“Hungry?”

He stiffened from head to toe.

Xu Xing was leaning extremely close with his chest pressed against his shoulder, one of his hands was draped on the back of the sofa above his head, and the other was cupping his exposed right ear, blowing warm air as he spoke. “We can just leave if you’re hungry. I’m tired too.”

He saw Wu Shijiu’s frozen, motionless profile, and a long time passed before his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. From this angle, Xu Xing could clearly see the hollow of his collarbones inside his white collar and the faint, small mole on the left side of his chest, and could feel him gritting his teeth with force as his eyelashes trembled.

The three colleagues sitting across from them were chatting about non-work topics, and the other two had gone to the bathroom and not come back yet, the night scene outside the window was hazy and the distant lights waned, so no one discovered them.

Xu Xing realised something, but didn’t plan on drawing back.

Wu Shijiu took of his other earphone and turned slightly, meeting the man face-to-face, and his gaze carefully roamed from his eyes to his lips. There seemed to be a secret hiding under his drooping eyelids that had never been there before.

He could hear his own thundering heartbeat, and his ears burned like fire.