In the noisy and chaotic hotpot restaurant, it seemed there was a kind of barrier between him and Yu Xun, isolating them from everyone else.
Yu Xun originally sat in a slouched posture, casually leaning against the chair back—not having gotten a haircut this week after Yun Ci had glanced at his long hair a few more times, the slightly longer bangs partly covering his eyes.
After a while, he asked, “Why are you giving this to me?”
Yun Ci still kept his hand tucked, gripping the edge of his sleeve, trying to maintain a calm expression, “…Saw you seem to like it.”
You saw that I liked it, so you gave it to me?
Yu Xun thought this but didn’t say anything more.
He accepted the candy, also hiding it in his palm.
The candy was still warm to the touch, with the wrapper holding a bit of residual body heat.
A voice broke the subtle atmosphere between the two.
“Eat up,” Peng Yiyuan pointed at the table full of beef slices, “Quick, dip them, they’re eating too fast, in half a minute, two plates are gone. If you don’t hurry, they’ll have finished it all.”
Yun Ci took his hand out of his sleeve and picked up the chopsticks.
As students with limited living expenses, eating hotpot was somewhat of a luxury. Luo Sifang, dipping six slices at once, cherished this rare hotpot meal: “Peng Shao, didn’t you say you were out of money by the end of the month?”
Peng Yiyuan: “My professor called my dad, saying he didn’t expect me to submit my assignments, regardless of the quality, he didn’t expect me to hand them in. My dad got happy and gave me some money.”
“…”
Luo Sifang clicked his tongue: “Your dad’s expectations for you are that low? Does your dad need another son?”
“It’s not really something to be happy about,” Peng Yiyuan thought for a moment and said honestly, “Having no one expect anything from you actually doesn’t feel good either.”
Peng Yiyuan shrugged: “My dad’s a businessman, rarely home. I didn’t have any special skills growing up… Anyway, I can’t compare to him in anything, never get his recognition; he just thinks it’s fine as long as I don’t cause trouble.”
In short, a reliable yet insurmountable mountain.
…
Before entering Nanyang University, he never thought he would meet these guys.
Fighting in the East Gate Alley, helping him with his messy final assignments.
In the midst of this lively crowd, Peng Yiyuan felt a bit sentimental. Then, amidst his sentimentality, he saw Yun Ci use communal chopsticks to dip a piece of meat, watching carefully until it was cooked, and immediately taking it out, turning his wrist, and dropping it into Yu Xun’s bowl.
“…?”
Yun Ci was entirely focused on responding.
He didn’t know if his response was obvious enough.
He only knew that after dipping that piece of meat, Yu Xun looked at him for a long time.
The overhead lights in the hotpot restaurant shone directly down, very bright, but Yu Xun, sitting in the corner, had dim pupils.
If the atmosphere was slightly subtle when he gave the candy earlier, it became more subtle after Yun Ci dipped the meat.
Before Yun Ci looked away, he noticed that Yu Xun hadn’t eaten that candy.
The candy he handed out earlier was still hidden in his palm.
During the hotpot meal, a small incident occurred.
Li Yan and Liu Zi had originally focused on eating hotpot, temporarily pausing their argument in the face of delicious food. But as they ate, perhaps because there were too many people and it was too crowded, someone got up to dip meat and accidentally knocked over a glass on the table.
With a “smash.”
The clear sound of breaking glass made everyone stand up immediately.
“Damn, smashed a cup???”
“There’s a signal.” Someone stood up while stuffing the last piece of meat into their mouth, “Everyone, be on alert!”
“What smashing cups?”
“They smashed a cup on the other side; I don’t know why; they just suddenly smashed it while eating, maybe trying to catch us off guard.”
“……”
Amidst the argument, Liu Zi’s furious voice: “Who wants to fight you? My cup accidentally fell on the ground!”
“……”
Finally, it was Yun Ci’s voice, leaning back against the chair, his head aching: “—Big Nephew.”
Li Yan silently swallowed his words.
Yun Ci: “Sit down.”
Li Yan sat down.
Peng Yiyuan stared in a daze, even though he had experienced the East Alley incident before, he was still shocked by this.
He poked Wang Zhuang and said, “How about we skip the KTV later?”
Wang Zhuang: “Why?”
“These two groups of people,” Peng Yiyuan whispered to Wang Zhuang, “do you dare to take them?”
Wang Zhuang thought about the private rooms in that place and the few cases of alcohol they always got: “Nope. The private rooms are prone to fights, and with alcohol, so many glass bottles… let’s forget it.”
So, after the meal, Peng Yiyuan suggested they go to the nearby night market to walk off the food.
Liu Zi: “Didn’t we agree to sing?”
Li Yan also asked: “Yeah, I have so many bros who can sing really well.”
Peng Yiyuan awkwardly lied: “They said all the private rooms are booked today, let’s do it another day.”
Liu Zi: “Alright, then which specific day?”
Peng Yiyuan: “……” Why ask so specifically?
“Just,” Peng Yiyuan fumbled for words, “whenever we’re free.”
The night market was near the school, and every weekend it was like a festival, the whole street brightly lit, selling all sorts of things, including candied hawthorns, Polaroids, and small pets. It was a popular date spot for couples from Nanda University.
Someone sighed: “It’s a place we single dogs rarely come to.”
Yun Ci followed at the back of the group.
After leaving the hotpot restaurant, there were significantly fewer people; many had returned to school after the meal, and only a handful of people were left around Liu Zi and Li Yan.
They passed by places like “couple photography” and stopped in front of a competitive stall.
Stalls like this were always clustered together, with several shooting game stalls, a board full of balloons, and two toy guns in the front.
“Shooting game,” Liu Zi read the rules displayed, “First prize, little fish.”
This prize was quite unique, someone looked over: “What’s the little fish?”
“Oh, a little ornament.”
“…… forget it, not interesting.”
“To be fair, it’s quite pretty, but who would play the shooting game for this.”
“……”
Yun Ci paused, attracted by the words “little fish,” and looked at the prize wall—a small ornament of unknown material, the whole fish shimmering as if glowing.
The other prizes below were small dolls, with the lowest tier being encouragement prizes, red flags with blessing words written on them.
Little Fish. Xiao Yu.
Yun Ci didn’t know why, but he suddenly thought of Yu Xun.
And this “little fish” was colorful and very dazzling. Like fireworks. Also like someone’s eyes.
……
——Maybe because he liked someone, everything seemed to resemble them.
Yu Xun once said this in a video call, and it echoed in his ears again.
Back then, he didn’t quite understand.
Now he realized, it was true.
He thought this fish looked like Yu Xun.
Li Yan was just saying, “Let’s go, no one will play,” when the next second he saw his uncle stop.
Yun Ci asked the stall owner, “How do you play?”
The owner, seeing a customer, stood up and explained, “Fifteen yuan per game, thirty bullets. Hit all of them for the first prize; miss one for the second prize; miss two for the third prize; more than two, and you get the encouragement prize. Want to try, handsome?”
Yun Ci scanned the thirty yuan.
Although he hadn’t played this kind of game for a long time, based on his own estimation, he should be able to win within two tries.
“He’s going to play?” Li Yan stood by the street, feeling a bit cold, hands in his pockets, shocked.
“Then let’s wait.” Someone said.
Another person mentioned: “But didn’t Ci Ge play this often before—” saying a few keywords, “back in West High, during spring and autumn outings. In the amusement park.”
On the other side, Yun Ci had already bent down.
He raised his hand to pull down the zipper of his jacket a bit, then steadied the gun with one hand, closed one eye, placed the other hand on the trigger, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
“Bang.”
A balloon popped.
……
After hitting a balloon, Yun Ci followed the trajectory of the bullet, recalling past events from his time at West High.
He had played a lot of shooting games like this in high school.
During spring and autumn outings organized by the high school, they often went to various forest parks. The amusement parks there would set up many snack and game stalls in open areas to entertain the students.
A group of boys, not interested in wandering around, would gather by the game stalls.
Back then, Li Yan, leading a bunch of other boys from their class, wanted to play a few rounds: “Let’s pool our money, guys. I’ll put in five yuan, you put in five yuan, and we’ll have ten yuan, fifteen bullets, one bullet each in turn.”
“Class monitor,” Li Yan called to Yun Ci, “want to play a round?”
Even on spring and autumn outings, West High strictly required students to wear uniforms.
Wearing his uniform, Yun Ci sat on a bench, legs bent, a black pen propped beside him: “No, it’s boring.”
Li Yan directly questioned: “You think memorizing words is fun???”
Yun Ci: “Yes, midterms are coming up.”
Li Yan: “…… I’ll fight you exam lovers.”
There were two guns at the stall.
But after Li Yan paid, just as he was about to grab a gun, the gun beside him was picked up first.
A slender hand, with distinct joints, was loosely placed on the trigger. Following the hand upward, he met Yu Xun’s faintly smiling eyes: “What a coincidence.”
Li Yan cursed inwardly, just about to say, “What bad luck,” when Yun Ci, who had just said, “Not playing, it’s boring,” suddenly stood up and threw the English vocabulary booklet in his hand directly at him.
“……” Yun Ci said, “I’ll give it a shot.”
Li Yan hastily put away the vocabulary booklet: “Didn’t you say you weren’t playing? There are only fifteen shots; don’t embarrass us.”
……
Sometimes he won, sometimes Yu Xun won.
In any case, they would play a round during every spring and autumn outing.
Yun Ci’s hand was on the trigger, his thoughts drifting back to the present with the second bullet.
After hitting the second balloon, someone stood in front of the previously empty gun beside him. Just as casually as before, Yu Xun placed his hand on the gun, closed one eye, and in a voice only the two of them could hear, asked: “Do you like that prize?”
He wanted to win it to give to him, so he must like it.
Yun Ci gave a soft “Mm.”
Yu Xun adjusted the position of the gun and said, “I’ll help you win it.”
He wanted to give it to him, so how could he let him help.
Yun Ci refused: “No need, I can do it myself.”
Under the brightly lit night.
The same shooting game. The same two people.
Separated by a distance, the group waiting for them sighed in unison: “As expected, they’re at it again—”
“Totally expected.”
“When have they ever passed by a stall like this without stopping to compete.”
“Every year during the spring and autumn outings at West High, as long as we went to the park, you’d always see these two at the game stalls, turning them into battlefields every semester. Who would’ve thought that now in college, without spring and autumn outings, there’s the night market.”
“Want to bet? Who do you think will win? Although it’s hard to say this time.”
“……”
At the stall, the sound of gunfire continued.
Yun Ci was performing normally, and tonight his hand felt exceptionally good. He didn’t even need a second round; with the last bullet of the first round, he hit the final balloon.
Yu Xun was a few seconds slower, not having finished his bullets.
Seeing that Yun Ci had already finished, he didn’t continue. He let go of the gun and took a step back.
“Such accuracy,” the owner thought. “I’m going to lose big this time. Not only is he good-looking, but his aim is also so precise. First prize, take it. I’ll refund you the extra fifteen.”
Standing beside him, Yu Xun casually praised him with a lazy tone that didn’t sound very sincere: “Really impressive, Xiao Ci.”
However, just after the praise, Yun Ci said to him: “Hold out your hand.”
“?”
Yu Xun extended his hand.
In the next second, Yun Ci handed him the little fish he had just won.
Li Yan was stunned.
Maybe it was the ambiguous lighting, or maybe the fact that the two of them were excessively eye-catching, but standing together, they exuded an indescribable feeling.
What was his uncle doing?
Why give it to Yu Xun?
……
The others were also a bit bewildered: “Gave it to Yu Xun?”
“Yeah, why did he give it to him?”
Soon, Li Yan regained his composure and told everyone: “This is normal, very normal. This can’t even be called giving.”
He decisively told the others: “—This is the blatant humiliation of Yu Xun.”
“……”
Liu Zi, biting his molars on the side, thought the same. This was indeed a humiliation.
Liu Zi secretly observed Yu Xun’s reaction, ready to rush up with his men if his brother so much as frowned.
However, there were none.
His mentally strong brother, upon receiving the fish, lowered his eyes, hiding his expression.
Yu Xun felt a cold touch on his palm.
The little ornament reflected dazzling and changing lights under the illumination.
He couldn’t help but think of an unlikely guess.
Do you maybe like me a little bit?
……
This sentence, which could have been said easily before.
But at the critical moment, not a word came out.
“Another round,” as they were about to leave, Liu Zi wasn’t having it, “the last round didn’t count. That Yun kid started shooting first; it doesn’t count.”
Li Yan: “What do you mean by starting first? We were there first; how could it be starting first? You were just slow.”
Peng Yiyuan and the others tried to mediate, but to no avail.
So Li Yan and Liu Zi argued and ended up each paying fifteen yuan for a final showdown.
The main group dispersed immediately.
Yun Ci and Yu Xun separated from the main group and continued walking forward, quickly blending into the crowd, distancing themselves from the others.
Ahead, there was a drink stall. After paying for his drink, Yun Ci felt his body heating up continuously, wanting to cool down. He stopped and asked: “Do you have anything iced?”
“Yes,” the owner said, “we have everything. Want a cup?”
Yu Xun asked: “Aren’t you afraid of the cold, drinking something iced?”
Yun Ci: “I’m in good health.”
“……”
“Oh, good health,” Yu Xun said. “Who was it that couldn’t get out of bed with the flu?”
This manner of speaking was too familiar.
Yun Ci habitually retorted: “Someone didn’t fare much better with a high fever.”
After retorting, Yun Ci felt his body temperature rise even further—these two illnesses were times when he and Yu Xun had been very close in the dorm.
Just as the owner handed over a drink through the glass window.
Yun Ci took it and stopped talking.
The drink had a lot of ice, a sweet and sour taste, but there was also an indescribable flavor.
Yun Ci drank nearly half the cup, but instead of cooling down, his body temperature seemed to rise even more.
……
What kind of drink makes you feel hotter the more you drink it?
He belatedly looked at the label on the cup and found a line of small, inconspicuous text: Contains alcohol.
“……”
As Yun Ci felt a slight dizziness, he saw a somewhat familiar figure approaching.
It was a female classmate from Yu Xun’s class. He had seen her during large lectures, and she always sat nearby.
The girl was quite delicate-looking and she didn’t expect to run into them here. She slowed her steps, turned her head to say something to the person she was with, then walked over to them. When she greeted them, her eyes were fixed on Yu Xun, and her voice was a bit unnatural: “Class monitor.”
“What a coincidence,” she smiled, showing a shallow dimple and bright eyes, revealing her intentions clearly, “it seems we have quite the fate.”
As she spoke, her gaze fell on Yu Xun’s hand, and she found a new topic to chat about: “This is so cute; it’s a prize from the shooting stall, right? I saw it when I passed by last time, but I’m too bad at it; I always miss it.”
“……”
“I’ve always wanted this,” she finally mustered up the courage to say, “if you don’t want it, could you give it to me? I’ll treat you to a meal.”
Yun Ci, feeling slightly dizzy, sensed his emotions being inexplicably amplified.
Here comes another one.
Why are there so many people around him?
One senior just left, and now another girl.
Yun Ci wanted to say, “He’s not giving it,” but the item now belonged to Yu Xun, and the girl was standing right in front of him. He had no right to speak, but at this moment, his emotions surged, and he didn’t want to hear what Yu Xun would say.
He knew these emotions were groundless and unjustified, but he just didn’t want Yu Xun to get close to others.
Anyone.
Be it a man or a woman, it was not acceptable.
So, riding the wave of his amplified emotions, he didn’t say anything. Instead, just like in the hot pot restaurant before, he reached out and tugged at Yu Xun’s clothes again.
A very subtle action.
The girl didn’t notice.
But Yu Xun did. He paused and then said to the girl: “Sorry, I can’t.”
“I really want it too,” he said seriously for once, “so I can’t give it away.”
The girl wasn’t surprised by the refusal. She forced a smile and said, “Alright, my friends are waiting for me. I’ll be going now.”
After the girl left, Yun Ci let go of Yu Xun’s clothes.
On the way back to school, the two fell into a certain subtle silence.
From the moment Yun Ci responded, the atmosphere between him and Yu Xun became strange, ambiguous, and concealed, neither daring to probe nor break it.
But Yun Ci felt that the alcohol content in that drink seemed a bit high. His emotions, heightened by the dizziness, didn’t dissipate after Yu Xun’s refusal. So, amidst the ongoing dizziness, he couldn’t help but say: “Are there usually a lot of people?”
His words came out of nowhere.
Yu Xun didn’t react immediately: “What?”
Under the streetlights, Yu Xun’s face was illuminated, making him even more striking. Today, he was wearing a black jacket, his figure tall and broad. The contours of his nose and jaw were sharp, giving him a somewhat aloof and unapproachable aura, often broken by his half-smiling eyes and overly enchanting features.
And he always seemed indifferent, his tone playful.
Yun Ci: “A lot of people approach you.”
He added, “Like just now.”
With these words, the lingering, subtle atmosphere finally cracked open.
After a long pause, Yu Xun tightened his grip on the item in his hand. His Adam’s apple moved heavily. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say, so he asked in return: “A lot of people approach me, so what?”
His voice was very low, and finally, he couldn’t help but ask, even though he still felt it was impossible: “Would you care?”
With this question, both of them knew that a certain barrier had been completely broken.
A gust of wind swept down the long street.
Yu Xun suddenly realized that this street was the same one where he had coincidentally met Yun Ci at the start of the school term while being dragged around for interviews by the student council.
That day, just after school started, he heard that some old classmates from West High were dining nearby. He thought Yun Ci might be there and wandered around the area.
At that time, he had just finished reporting and was walking in a school many times larger than West High, suddenly realizing that even though they were in the same school, it might still be hard to bump into Yun Ci.
But during the interview, across the long street, there was someone spinning a keychain walking towards him.
The keychain spun a few times.
When it stopped, he met Yun Ci’s gaze—just like now.
……
After asking, Yu Xun still felt as if he was waiting to be judged.
Even though Yun Ci had left too many traces.
After a moment…
Yun Ci didn’t avoid his gaze and said: “I would.”
Maybe it was the alcohol, or maybe it was the wind just now, but the dizziness turned into a feeling of floating.
Yun Ci continued: “I would hope that none of these people approach you.”
It was already quite clear, but Yu Xun still lowered his eyes, laughing self-mockingly, lacking confidence: “I usually consider myself a pretty confident person, but not with you. When you say that, I would think—”
He paused: “I’d think that maybe you like me a little.”
Yun Ci answered him straightforwardly: “No.”
Yu Xun felt his heart being gripped tightly by those two words.
No.
Not what, not liking.
Standing in the wind blowing through the street, Yun Ci suddenly remembered many past events with Yu Xun.
Sometimes he didn’t think about it, but looking back, he realized that this person had been in his life for a long time. In his three years of high school, all his important moments and events involved this person as an “enemy.”
It seemed that even before they accidentally became roommates, they were already the most special existence to each other.
Facing the wind, he said: “It’s not thinking.”
“No need to think, and not just a bit; I do like you.”
