(2/2)—
“Yu-ge, this lock seems to be broken.”
Liu Zi squatted down, helping to check the padlock on the store door as requested by the owner: “…Does it need to be fixed? Damn, now that I’m going out to work, I even have to do repairs.”
Liu Zi fiddled with it for a while, but there was no response from Yu Xun.
When he looked up, he saw his Yu-ge holding up his phone: “What are you taking a picture of?”
Yu Xun said, “A photo.”
After saying that, he squatted down next to Liu Zi and showed him the photo he had just taken: “How is it?”
Liu Zi was suddenly confronted with a selfie: “…”
“What do you mean, how is it?” Liu Zi said, a bit startled, “You usually don’t take photos.”
Yu Xun’s voice was lazy, devoid of emotion: “I’ve started now. Does this one look good?”
Liu Zi: “…Quite handsome.”
Yu Xun zoomed in on the photo and said, “I think it’s average. The jawline isn’t captured well, and the face’s contours aren’t prominent enough. I’ll pay attention next time.”
Next time?
Does he plan to take selfies every day?
Yu Xun repeatedly looked over the photo. Despite having a face that could get him by anywhere, he somewhat insecurely asked: “This face of mine, it should be considered alright, right?”
Hearing this, Liu Zi numbly said: “Damn, if your face is just considered alright, I might as well not live.”
Back when they were at West High, Yu Xun and that guy named Yun would always be the top two in the school’s handsome guy rankings every year. At that time, there were endless girls coming to Class Seven’s door just to catch a glimpse of him, but he never seemed to care much about his looks.
Liu Zi couldn’t fathom Yu Xun’s thoughts, but thinking about it, his brother never did things the conventional way.
Yu Xun put away his phone and motioned for him to move aside: “This lock probably needs to be replaced. I’ll handle it. You go inside.”
Liu Zi responded with an “oh,” preparing to get up: “Should we go buy one?”
Yu Xun: “Of course, get the owner to reimburse it.”
“……”
Yu Xun stood up, calling the owner while saying: “After working for so many years, you still don’t get these things? Also, ask for a delivery fee.”
Liu Zi: “……”
Liu Zi suddenly remembered how he and Yu Xun met. It was back in their first year of high school.
High school students had to lie about being over eighteen; otherwise, the store wouldn’t hire them. At that time, he wasn’t very good at lying and had a bad temper, directly snapping: “Damn it, I said I’m eighteen; I just had my birthday.”
The barbecue stall owner wasn’t easy to fool: “Do you look eighteen? Get lost, don’t waste my time. Go back to school and study.”
Liu Zi had come for an interview and, halfway through, wanted to wreck the stall.
Just when he didn’t know what to do, someone suddenly appeared beside him, lazily putting a hand on his shoulder and calling him: “Hey, Liu Zi.”
He turned his head and found it was that famous guy from class, surnamed Yu, but they hadn’t had much interaction at the time.
“Boss, this is my old neighbor,” Yu Xun said without changing his expression, “He really just turned eighteen. Last year, we even celebrated his seventeenth birthday together.”
Liu Zi: “…………”
Liu Zi caught on: “Oh, yes.”
They squatted in the kitchen stringing skewers. Awkwardly, Liu Zi said, “Thanks.”
Yu Xun shamelessly said, “Then help me string fifty skewers.”
Liu Zi: “Damn.”
Yu Xun: “I found you a job. Helping me with fifty skewers isn’t too much, right?”
After a while.
Liu Zi tried to make conversation: “How come you’re here?”
Yu Xun casually said: “For the same reason you’re here.”
Liu Zi countered: “Do you know why I’m here?”
Yu Xun: “Poverty.”
“……”
Damn. No argument there.
They worked part-time together after school, gradually becoming closer, but what truly earned Liu Zi’s respect was an incident.
The owner wasn’t around that night. At midnight, the most common customers at the barbecue stall were those who were drunk.
That night, a group of drunk people caused trouble. His temper flared up, and he smashed a customer’s bottle: “What? Want to fight? I’m not afraid of you!”
Tensions were high. In reality, he couldn’t win. There were five or six strong men on the other side, and he was alone. Plus, there was a half-familiar Yu Xun whose fighting ability was unknown.
Then the guy with unknown fighting ability appeared on a black motorcycle, without a helmet, making a very impressive entrance. His long legs stretched out, as he calmly called out to him: “Get on.”
Liu Zi jumped on the bike, and then, with a roar, he felt the wind pulling at him as they sped off: “Damn! Where’d you get this bike?! Aren’t you poor?”
“From the roadside, I don’t know whose it is. Borrowing it.”
“No, wait,” There were too many important points; Liu Zi didn’t know which to grasp first, “Do you know how to ride it??”
“No.”
Yu Xun’s voice drifted over with the wind, jokingly: “Isn’t it just the throttle and brakes? I haven’t figured out how to brake yet; I’ll work on it later.”
Liu Zi was utterly convinced: “At this speed—figure it out—I’m getting off—”
……
Liu Zi snapped back to reality, leaning against the store door, and called out to Yu Xun again: “Hey, did something happen with that person last night? You spent the night at my place and didn’t sleep.”
Yu Xun thought about his current situation with Yun Ci and said: “Sort of. It’s fine now.”
Liu Zi nodded.
As expected, it was another conflict with that Yun guy.
Finally, Liu Zi said: “Anyway, if anything happens, just let me know.” He would immediately gather everyone to support his brother.
“You probably wouldn’t be much help.”
Yu Xun added: “This matter mainly depends on my own efforts.”
Liu Zi nodded again.
He understood.
Between men, no matter how intense the battle, they hope to face it one-on-one.
After Yu Xun finished reporting the lock change to the owner, he went into the store, put on his work uniform, and started his shift as usual. The new school year had just started, making it hard to find work, so he temporarily settled for this job, planning to switch to something else later.
He sat in front of the cash register computer, and seeing there weren’t many people around, he thought about taking a nap. Before lying down, he recalled what Liu Zi had said about “last night.” Only then did he realize that his heart was still racing.
Half-lying down, he couldn’t help but input the six-digit password he knew by heart, unlocking his phone to check if Yun Ci had replied to his message.
When he cornered Yun Ci in the classroom, only he knew how nervous he was.
…
But there was no other way.
Compared to leaving Yun Ci’s world forever and losing even the status of an enemy, he could only make the rift between them even wider.
Yun Ci hadn’t replied.
Yu Xun raised his hand and, before lying down to sleep, typed another message: [Not replying means you’re not satisfied with that photo, right? I’ll take another one.]
–
In a short span of two or three days, Yun Ci received countless photos.
Different angles, different places, and different poses. The same person.
Photos of him eating, detailing the number of scallions floating in his soup. Photos of him picking up deliveries and asking if Yun Ci had any packages to pick up. Even photos from the barbershop, naturally sending a selfie after a haircut.
…
Even when they were in the same classroom, he would take a photo of himself during class.
yx: [/photo]
yx: [In class.]
Yun Ci opened the photo, seeing him holding a pen, sitting in the back row.
The lighting in the back of the classroom was a bit dim. Yun Ci noticed a faint mole on his hand, not very obvious, located on his fingertip. The part of his face captured seemed casual, but from the angle, showing half his chin and the bridge of his nose, it was clear the photo wasn’t taken so casually.
“……”
He hid his phone under the table, typing with one hand.
yc: [You think I don’t know you’re in class?]
yc: [I’m also in the classroom.]
Yu Xun replied quickly.
With two classes between them, Yun Ci’s typing hand stiffened, not daring to look back.
yx: [Oh]
yx: [Can I sit next to you?]
Yun Ci: “…………”
Yun Ci angrily tapped on the screen.
yc: [No.]
After sending that, afraid Yu Xun might really come over, he added two more sentences: [Come over and I’ll block you.]
[Not even ten Luo Sifangs will help.]
After receiving too many photos, he had blocked him before.
But being in the dormitory, there was no escape. Luo Sifang would come to talk to him the next second: “Yu Xun said you blocked him. What’s going on? I know it’s because of me that you two… but now you’ve deleted him from WeChat too. In our dormitory in the future…”
Yun Ci felt a headache coming on.
“My hand slipped.”
In the end, he could only unblock him, “I’ve unblocked him. Okay, dorm leader?”
Luo Sifang was finally satisfied: “Alright.”
Yun Ci sighed softly: “It might have been a mistake for me to step down back then.”
yx: [Let’s discuss.]
yx: [Just sitting next to you, I won’t talk.]
yc: [No discussion.]
They had accumulated many messages unknowingly, their avatars starkly contrasting in black and white.
The more Yun Ci looked at the avatars, the more uncomfortable he felt. Before class, he took the initiative to message Yu Xun: [Change your avatar.]
This time, Yu Xun didn’t reply immediately. The teacher entered the classroom, so Yun Ci didn’t check his phone again.
During the break between the two long classes, someone occupied the empty seat next to him.
Yu Xun leaned back in his chair, speaking lazily: “Not changing.”
“……”
Yun Ci: “Who told you to sit here?”
Yu Xun: “How else can I pursue you if I don’t sit here?”
“I want to be closer to you. That’s how we pursue people.”
“……”
“In class, you didn’t let me sit next to you, so I didn’t,” Yu Xun said, “Now it’s break time. I can sit anywhere, right?”
In his words, there was even a sense of “I’m very obedient” and “I listen to you well.”
Yun Ci gritted his teeth: “Fine, if you won’t change, I will.”
After saying that, he really started looking for a new avatar.
The plan was to search for a random WeChat avatar online, regardless of what it looked like, just to change the current one.
Yu Xun watched from the side: “The old avatar was pretty good, you’ve used it for years and gotten used to it. One black, one white, they match well.”
“……”
Match well.
After clearing up the misunderstanding of black and white being irreconcilable opposites, the meaning of black and white avatars was clear to both. But Yun Ci didn’t expect Yu Xun to admit it so directly.
Yun Ci had just opened a new avatar, a cat lying in the sun.
Yu Xun’s voice floated over immediately: “You can change it, if you change to a cat, I’ll also change to a cat. If you change to a dog, I’ll also change to a dog. It doesn’t matter, it’s the same as black and white.”
Yun Ci’s hand, about to save the picture, paused.
Silence.
Yun Ci’s mind was left with one thought: when would Gao Pingyang approve his withdrawal application.
In the end, he didn’t change the avatar, fearing that if he did, Yu Xun would follow suit, making things worse. With his personality, he might even publicly admit, “I’m pursuing him.”
Yun Ci convinced himself that everyone at West High saw the black and white avatars as representing irreconcilable differences.
…
Barely making it through the day, he had to return to the dormitory in the evening. Not fully prepared for it, he took his homework to sit in Li Yan’s dormitory for a while.
Li Yan: “Why don’t you just add a bed in our dormitory and move in?”
Zhou Wenyu, playing a game with him: “If you come, can you not bring homework? It makes me anxious. Someone studying while I’m playing games.”
Li Yan: “I second that.”
Ignoring them, Yun Ci finished his after-class homework and stayed for a while longer.
During this time, he kept checking his phone.
This time, it wasn’t because Yu Xun was sending him updates, but because this person had gone silent.
Sometimes, silence is more worrying than activity; at least when there is activity, he knows what the person is up to.
The last message from the black avatar was over three hours ago.
Yun Ci’s right eye couldn’t help but twitch.
He packed up his homework and materials: “I’m heading back.”
Li Yan didn’t look up from his game: “Alright, call me if anything happens.”
“…”
Before returning to room 608, Yun Ci imagined many possibilities: Yu Xun was probably busy with homework, or Liu Zi had come to see him, or perhaps this person had suddenly fallen asleep with a fever again.
He held his breath and pushed open the door.
There was no unusual activity in the dormitory.
Luo Sifang, busy ranking up in the new season, shouted, “Don’t go in yet, retreat, we can win this round!”
Then he took a moment to address Yun Ci: “You’re back?”
Yun Ci responded with a “mm,” then looked at the others. Peng Yiyuan and Yu Xun were huddled together, engrossed in something with many sheets of paper scattered on the table, marked with various corrections.
Liu Sheng sat opposite them, reading sheet music.
“Ci-ge,” seeing Yun Ci approaching, Liu Sheng explained, “they’re writing love letters.”
Yun Ci nearly stumbled, almost losing his balance.
The usual cold expression on his face began to crack, suspecting he had misheard: “…they’re writing what?”
Liu Sheng repeated, “Love letters.”
“To be precise, Peng Shao is writing. He’s been pursuing someone recently, and bringing breakfast doesn’t seem to have much effect, so he decided to try writing a love letter.”
As Liu Sheng spoke, he pointed to Yu Xun: “Then Yu-ge, for some reason, got very interested and said he had never written one, so he wanted to try as well.” Finally, he muttered, “Is this something to be written for fun?”
Although Yu Xun’s manner of speaking often gave the impression of joking, Yun Ci knew he was serious.
“…”
What the hell.
Three hours of no messages, and this is what he was doing???
He would have preferred the continuous stream of selfies reporting his every move.
Not only was Yu Xun writing, but he was writing very seriously. Usually, when he was at his desk doing homework, he would sit crookedly without any proper posture. Now he was sitting upright.
Seeing Yun Ci, he held a black pen, ready to speak.
If Yun Ci had spikes all over his body, they were all bristling now, afraid of hearing him say, “Look at the love letter I’m writing for you.”
He interrupted before Yu Xun could speak, leaning down and pressing his palm on the sheets of paper Yu Xun was writing on.
He didn’t know how much Peng Yiyuan had seen, but judging by his reaction, he probably wasn’t clear on what Yu Xun had written. So Yun Ci immediately grabbed those sheets and clutched them in his hand.
Peng Yiyuan, biting his pen: “?”
Yun Ci straightened up, hiding the papers he had snatched from Yu Xun behind him.
Peng Yiyuan: “Ci-ge, what are you doing?”
After a moment, Yun Ci said, “Competing.”
“He can’t surpass me in anything,” Yun Ci felt absurd but continued, “including writing love letters.”
Peng Yiyuan: “Oh.”
This rivalry was intense; even in this, he had to compete.
Not knowing how to mediate the tension between the two, Peng Yiyuan could only invite, “Why don’t you sit down and write with us then? Yu-ge is only five lines into his sixth draft, you can still catch up.”
“……”
There was no way he was going to write a love letter.
Yu Xun, the one whose love letter was taken away, seemed in good spirits. He twirled the pen in his fingers, propping his chin with one hand, looking at Yun Ci. He couldn’t say much in front of Peng Yiyuan, so he typed on his phone for a bit.
The moment Yu Xun put his phone away, Yun Ci’s phone pinged.
Though no one noticed this detail, Yun Ci waited a few seconds before checking his phone.
yx: [Not finished yet]
yx: [No need to be so eager.]
yx: [Return it to me, and I’ll show it to you when I’m done.]
…
Who the hell was eager to see it?
The stack of papers in Yun Ci’s hand suddenly felt burning hot. He didn’t know whether to return them or read them; his whole body was tingling.
