KMYB | Chapter 29

The rain had fallen through the night and into the morning.

The mountains were shrouded in thick white mist, and visibility was very low.

The lawn, the woods, and the bushes were all damp and slick. The air was humid and icy cold, seeping straight into his pores.

But the sun came out, rising in a flash of gold from behind the opposite mountain.

Xi Shui rinsed his mouth with bottled water, then sat cross-legged in front of the tent and watched the sunrise with complete seriousness.

Half the people on the mountaintop were already up, while some had chosen sleep over the sunrise and kept right on sleeping.

When Zhou Zeqi opened his eyes, what he saw was Xi Shui’s back.

Even sitting cross-legged on the ground, Xi Shui didn’t hunch over. His back was straight, his neck long and elegant. The golden morning light seemed to drape over his face like a layer of luminous gauze, sketching his features into something almost godlike.

Hearing movement behind him, Xi Shui turned to glance back.

Zhou Zeqi went to rinse his mouth. When he came back, he was holding a bottle of water and silently crouched down in front of Xi Shui.

Xi Shui pressed his lips together. “You’re blocking my view.”

Zhou Zeqi gave an “oh” and, still in that crouch, leaned in to kiss him. Xi Shui tilted his neck back. He didn’t know how to refuse, so Zhou Zeqi kissed him however he wanted.

Next door, Meng Kewen poked his bedhead out of the tent. The moment he saw that scene, he immediately shrank back inside and hammered the quilt twice with his fists. “Damn it! Damn these dog couples!”

Gradually, everyone in the group got up.

Lin Xiaojin held up his phone and took photos from every angle, then suddenly declared in a booming voice, “One day I shall stand at the mountain’s peak!”

“I know this one,” Zhang Kan said, raising his hand. “From the top, one sees all the mountains smaller.”[[N]]

Zhou Zeqi lowered his head and changed the photo of him and Xi Shui from yesterday to his avatar on every social app. In the hazy light, the person in the picture was so good-looking it didn’t seem real, not at all like a casual snapshot.

–

After watching the sunrise, the group finally headed back.

Zhou Zeqi drove Xi Shui home.

“I still need to go back to my place. Do you want to come along?” Zhou Zeqi asked.

Xi Shui shook his head. “Not together. I still need to make up the practice I missed these past two days. You don’t need to come upstairs with me, just give me the stuff.”

Zhou Zeqi nodded and handed over the backpack.

He watched Xi Shui carry one backpack in his hand and wear another on his shoulder as he went into the building, and only then did he turn the wheel and leave.

Xi Shui went upstairs and came out of the elevator.

When he saw the pile of oversized supermarket plastic bags and several kraft paper bags standing at his front door, Xi Shui hurried over.

Inside the bags were fruit, low-fat snacks, and two cases of milk.

The paper bags held summer clothes and daily necessities.

Xi Shui pulled out a note from inside, written in Xi Buyao’s handwriting.

-I’ve brought you food, drinks, and clothes. Put all the fruit in the fridge. Don’t eat too many snacks, just have a little once in a while if you’re craving something. And don’t drink several cartons of milk a day, it’ll make you run hot and break out. P.S. Don’t fall behind in schoolwork.

Xi Shui carried everything inside. He hated his dad being like this.

He always said things that hurt so much, but then did so many things that made him feel touched and guilty.

There was nowhere to shower on the mountaintop, so after he put everything away, Xi Shui washed up and shampooed his hair. Once his hair had been blow-dried to only half-dry, he slowly started checking the messages he’d missed on all his messaging apps over the past two days.

Li Weiwei and Hai Tinghua had sent the most.

[Class monitor Hai Tinghua: I’ve thought it through for the carnival. We’re not doing ballet, we’re doing waltz, but we’re going to make it different. The girls will dance with girls, and the boys will dance with boys. What do you think? The buzz will definitely be huge!]

[Li Weiwei: Hai Tinghua wants to do waltz, I’m dying laughing. Girls dancing with girls too, who would want to dance with her? Yue~]

[Hai Tinghua: Everyone agreed, and my application to the student council was approved too. Only Li Weiwei disagreed. I really want to blast her to pieces.]

[Hai Tinghua: But if it’s boys with boys, Xiaoxi, then you don’t have a partner. Lin Xiaojin doesn’t match you. He’s about your height, so there’s no cp vibe. Find someone else, team leader. /blow kiss/ /blow kiss/]

[Hai Tinghua: Don’t worry, I already sent out a notice in the Beijing Dance Academy group. Tomorrow is the official audition. Come pick your partner yourself. There are already seventy-eight applicants!]

Hai Tinghua was all fire and momentum, each message sent after a little gap. She had arranged everything.

Xi Shui replied: Okay /grin.

–

When Zhou Zeqi got home, his mom, Chi Xiu, was rallying a few aunts to vote for her brother, and his dad was there too.

“I thought you’d died out there somewhere,” Zhou Yiqiao said sourly as he compared the two golf clubs in his hands to see which one felt better.

Zhou Zeqi didn’t say a word. He walked over and kicked the golf ball away.

“…"

“You little bastard, looking for a beating?” Zhou Yiqiao exploded, raising the club as if to hit someone. “You changed majors behind my back and I still haven’t settled accounts with you!”

Only when Chi Xiu heard the commotion over there did she realize Zhou Zeqi was back. She put down her three-piece set of tablet, phone, and computer, then rushed over to break them up.

“Don’t fight! Don’t fight!”

Zhou Zeqi and Zhou Yiqiao: “…”

“Your mom’s already gone a little crazy from being online too much,” Zhou Yiqiao said, leaning on the club. “According to your mom, you’re in a relationship? Didn’t bring him home?”

Zhou Zeqi bent down, picked up an apple from the coffee table, and bit off a big mouthful. “I brought him back yesterday. You weren’t here.”

“Wasn’t I here today?”

“Who knew you’d be here today?”

“…"

Chi Xiu didn’t join the bickering. She took two red envelopes from the cabinet that had been prepared last night and pressed them into Zhou Zeqi’s hands.

“You left in such a hurry yesterday that I didn’t get a chance to prepare. These two red envelopes, one is for Xi Shui, the other one, also for Xi Shui.”

Seeing her son’s speechless expression, Chi Xiu corrected herself. “One is from me for Xi Shui, and the other is from your dad. It’s his first time coming over, so elders are supposed to give red envelopes. When you get married later, he’ll call us that too, and there’s also the address-formality fee, heheheehehehe.”

“…” Seeing how blissful his mom already looked, like she might float off at any moment, Zhou Zeqi said carelessly, “The future is the future. Who can say for sure?”

“I’d like that, but would he agree?” Zhou Zeqi was fully aware of reality. At most, Xi Shui’s gaze toward him held a bit of fondness. Everything he did was based on what his family had taught him since childhood, not on the fact that he was Xi Shui’s boyfriend.

It was one thing for him to dote on his own feelings, but with his mom and dad all delighted too, Zhou Zeqi was irritated beyond words. “I’m going to shower. Have the auntie make me a bowl of noodles.”

Chi Xiu watched Zhou Zeqi’s back and nudged her chin toward Zhou Yiqiao. “Our son’s shy.”

Zhou Yiqiao wiped down the golf club. “…I didn’t see it.”

Zhou Zeqi tucked the two thick red envelopes into his pocket. In the kitchen, he sat with a bowl of noodles and swallowed it down in a few big mouthfuls. Eating was not the main thing. He bent his head and rummaged through the fridge in a flurry.

There was hardly anything in it.

Then he noticed the sink beside it.

A few mandarin fish were being kept there.

When the auntie saw Zhou Zeqi roll up his sleeves and prepare to scoop them out, she handed him a landing net. “These were caught by Boss Zhou yesterday. Wild mandarin fish, all of them pretty big. They’re perfect to make for you today.”

Zhou Zeqi scooped one up and weighed it in his hand. It wasn’t more than two jin.

“Auntie, find me a bucket. I’m taking them with me.”

In less than ten minutes, Zhou Yiqiao saw Zhou Zeqi come out of the kitchen carrying a blue plastic bucket that looked strangely familiar.

“Leaving already? What are you taking?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Zhou Zeqi said.

His bike was in the yard. He unlocked it, held the bucket in one hand and the handlebars in the other, adjusted his speed, and shot out of the yard in a burst of pedaling.

Not long after Zhou Zeqi left, Zhou Yiqiao finally remembered why that bucket looked so familiar. It was the one he used for fishing.

Zhou Yiqiao set down the golf club in his hand and strode to the kitchen.

Sure enough!

Only one tiny mandarin fish, barely over a jin, was left in the sink. The rest had all been scooped up by that little bastard Zhou Zeqi!

The Zhou family certainly didn’t lack a few wild mandarin fish, but this was joy, the joy of fishing, and it had all been hauled away with one stroke.

The auntie said from the side, “Young Master said fish is rich in high-quality protein, so it’s most suitable for his boyfriend to eat. He told you to go fish some other kind, since eating one kind too much gets boring.”

Zhou Yiqiao: “…”

“Get lost, get lost!”

–

Xi Shui practiced basic skills for two straight hours, then went through the Soloir section of *The Dancer* he had been rehearsing lately. The final variation still wasn’t good enough.

After practice, he showered and fell asleep right on the sofa.

As dusk fell, Zhou Zeqi woke him up.

Xi Shui jumped in surprise. He sat up suddenly, clutching a pillow. “You’re back?”

“Why do you look like a ghost?” Xi Shui’s heart was still pounding.

Before Zhou Zeqi could answer, he ran barefoot to the door, took out his string of keys, removed the big pink leopard hanging on top, then took off one key and solemnly handed it over to Zhou Zeqi. “Here. Don’t jump the balcony anymore in the future. It’s not safe.”

Zhou Zeqi looked at Xi Shui for a while, reached out to take it, then before he could touch it, Xi Shui pulled his hand back.

“Yours?”

“What?”

“As an exchange, you should give me a key to your place too.”

Zhou Zeqi changed into a crouch and looked at Xi Shui, who was entirely serious. He said, “My place can be opened with a key, or with a password. I’ll tell you the password.”

Zhou Zeqi snatched the key from Xi Shui’s hand. “Come on, let’s eat. I made squirrel-shaped mandarin fish.”

At the mention of something delicious, Xi Shui’s eyes lit up immediately. He followed after Zhou Zeqi like a little tail. “You bought fish?”

“My dad caught it.”

“Uncle is amazing.”

Xi Shui noticed that Zhou Zeqi had replaced the rice with brown rice, and besides the fish there was also salad. He thought Zhou Zeqi was really so nice~

The mandarin fish was placed right in the center. It had been deboned, cut with decorative knife scores, coated in egg batter, fried until tender into a squirrel shape, then plated and drizzled with a sweet-and-sour glaze. The color was bright and glossy, and it tasted sweet and tangy.

Xi Shui was already hungry. He hadn’t really eaten much, and ended up finishing more than half the fish.

“I’m starving!” Xi Shui said.

Zhou Zeqi poured him a glass of water and handed it over. “I’m going to a competition at Beijing Sport University in a couple of days. Do you want to come watch?”

“Compete in what?”

“Swimming.”

It was an event organized by a few sports schools’ student councils. It wasn’t official, but it decided the sports-school ranking in the students’ minds.

“When is it?”

“Next Saturday.”

Xi Shui bit his chopsticks and shook his head. “Next Saturday we’re holding a carnival with the neighboring Beijing Conservatory too, and there’ll be competitions. I was hoping to have you come watch.”

Both of them were disappointed.

“Alright,” Zhou Zeqi said. “Once I’m done, I’ll come find you.”

After the meal, Xi Shui hugged a glass of water and slowly sipped at it on the sofa. He drank for a long time and still had more than half a cup left, while he was watching a TV drama intently.

After Zhou Zeqi put all the bowls into the dishwasher and came back out, he asked, “Still not going home?”

Xi Shui looked at Zhou Zeqi and only then realized, belatedly, that Zhou Zeqi was telling him to leave.

He hurriedly stood up and set down the glass. “Then I’m going.”

His tone was a little pitiful.

Zhou Zeqi strode over and pulled Xi Shui into his arms. “I tell you to go and you just go? You’re that obedient?”

Xi Shui sounded slightly awkward. “But this is your home. If you tell me to go, then I go…”

Zhou Zeqi saw that Xi Shui was about to start lecturing him again, so he cut him off directly. “Then what if I tell you to stay?”

“Th-th-this won’t do, it’s too fast,” Xi Shui stammered as he refused Zhou Zeqi.

Zhou Zeqi’s gaze darkened. He had no real way to deal with Xi Shui, but the hour was already getting late, and Xi Shui still had an early class tomorrow.

“Fine, I’ll send you home.”

Zhou Zeqi kissed Xi Shui on the cheek and took his hand to see him out.

Xi Shui was left dizzy by Zhou Zeqi’s sudden mood swing. “You don’t need to be this polite.”

He lived right next door.

Qiqi was being way too formal.

Xi Shui opened the door and stood at his own doorway, waving at Zhou Zeqi. “Bye.”

He closed the door slowly. When only the final crack remained, he said softly to Zhou Zeqi, who was still standing outside, “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Zhou Zeqi said, the corners of his mouth curving slightly.

When it came to Xi Shui, he had endless patience.

After closing the door, Zhou Zeqi returned home. Earlier, while Xi Shui had been here, he hadn’t felt how empty the house was.

Zhou Zeqi bent down and picked up his phone from the sofa. Looking at the rows of new messages, he opened Meng Kewen’s.

[Meng Kewen: I’m showing you something, I’m fucking dying laughing.]

Zhou Zeqi opened the link. It was a poster. The first page was a photo of Xi Shui standing onstage, his costume exquisite and noble, his head slightly bowed, a golden crown on his head, looking like a little prince.

The poster auto-played. There were five pages in all, and it was quite elaborate, made by Hai Tinghua, a sophomore in Beijing Dance’s ballet department.

The second page was filled with roses and paired with text: Want to become partners with our Beijing Dance Ballet little swan?

The third page had a music-box background track and the line: If you’ve got the guts, come on then!

The fourth page listed the requirements for a partner.

The fifth page used a little megaphone animation: Come, come, we’ll be waiting for you at the university student square!

Zhou Zeqi looked at it several times, and in the end he just laughed. A laugh of exasperation.