E ⋆ Chapter 9

Yu Zhinian didn’t need special care; he could adapt very well on his own.

At the time, Yang Ke quickly came to understand this.

Yu Zhinian’s academic performance was better than Yang Ke had imagined, but because his language skills were temporarily lagging, he chose almost entirely science-oriented subjects, so the overlap in their course selections wasn’t high. They only ran into each other in mathematics and science classes from Monday through Thursday.

Just a few weeks into the school year, Yang Ke noticed that Yu Zhinian had already become familiar with his classmates. Wherever he went, there were people with him, and he even became the object of competition during group projects. This kind of competition was different from the invitations Yang Ke received from classmates; it was more intimate in tone, carrying more genuine, friendly affection.

Yu Zhinian went to school and came home with Yang Ke every day, which naturally aroused curiosity. According to Wei Chi, one of Yang Ke’s closer friends at school, Yu Zhinian hadn’t hidden his identity as a sponsored student boarding at Yang Ke’s house.

At the end of October, while eating lunch in the Chinese restaurant, Yang Ke and Yu Zhinian happened to run into each other. Yu Zhinian was with several classmates, among whom was Wei Chi’s twin sister, Wei Yi.

Wei Yi let out a “hmph” at Wei Chi and pulled Yu Zhinian away.

After getting their food and sitting down, Wei Chi complained unhappily, saying Wei Yi and Yu Zhinian were in the same swimming class: “Every time we come home from swimming class lately, she compares me to him and speaks in this weird, sarcastic tone. I don’t know what’s wrong with teenage girls. What does she think I’m lacking compared to him?”

“Your sister probably likes that he has a good temper,” Cheng Xuwen, another friend eating lunch with them, offered his assessment. “He even helped adjust reagents for the other two groups during chemistry experiments. The guy basically says yes to everything.”

However, unlike at school, Yu Zhinian’s behavior in front of Yang Zhongyin remained quite reserved.

Yang Zhongyin came home to eat dinner two or three times a week, and at the dinner table, Yu Zhinian had to report to him in meticulous detail about his school day.

On almost every night when Yang Zhongyin wasn’t away on business, Yu Zhinian had to go to his study to do homework and read.

Because most assignments had to be completed on a computer, Yu Zhinian often took the opportunity to message Yang Ke while doing his homework.

Sometimes he’d take screenshots and ask Yang Ke if a word’s usage was correct or if there were grammar errors, or whether he’d gotten the assignment format wrong. Other times he’d simply lament that he was tired and sleepy again, giving Yang Ke the impression that Yu Zhinian’s physical condition wasn’t great.

Halloween was approaching, and the middle and high school divisions of the school were holding a costume night walk event.

The night walk required students to return home late, and participation was voluntary. If students chose to participate, minors had to submit a form signed by their parents giving permission.

The forms were distributed on Friday, which happened to be the day Zhao Sibei came to pick up Yang Ke in October. Zhao Sibei called Yang Ke at noon to tell him that an urgent, important meeting had come up, so he couldn’t come directly to school to pick him up. He estimated he wouldn’t arrive until very late at night.

In the car on the way home, Yu Zhinian asked Yang Ke if he was going to the Halloween night walk.

Yang Ke said yes, and Yu Zhinian then hemmed and hawed, saying he wanted to go too. A classmate had invited him, and they were even willing to do his makeup. He asked Yang Ke tentatively: “Do you think Grandpa will sign the form for me?”

In autumn and winter, night fell very early in Ning City. By six in the afternoon, the city was completely dark, and the streetlights outside the car window had just come on, faintly illuminating the lines of cars in the evening rush hour traffic.

Yang Ke glanced at him. Yu Zhinian was wearing his school uniform, with every button fastened neatly. A watch his grandfather had given him was on his wrist. His skin was pale and cool, his expression innocent.

To Yang Ke, who was eager to leave home, Yu Zhinian seemed to fit into this car, this family, even better than he did.

“I don’t know,” Yang Ke said to him.

Yu Zhinian didn’t show disappointment. He simply shared his thoughts with Yang Ke: “I’m thinking I’ll ask Grandpa about it when we have dinner today.”

At dinner that evening, Yang Ke silently listened as Yu Zhinian reported on his entire day.

Starting from the morning, he described what happened in class, what he’d learned, who he’d eaten lunch with, and then moved on to the afternoon classes. Yu Zhinian got to the main point.

He said that in chemistry class, Zhu Peijia had asked if he wanted to join them for the Halloween night walk. They had a small group with a unified theme, dressing up as eighteenth-century vampires.

“Grandpa, can I go?” Yu Zhinian asked carefully. “The night walk will end by nine or ten, but it needs a parent’s signature.”

“When?” Yang Zhongyin’s expression remained unchanged. He smiled at Yu Zhinian.

Yu Zhinian seemed to have gained courage. He told Yang Zhongyin: “This Friday.”

Yang Zhongyin turned his head and looked at Secretary Xu, who was waiting nearby. Secretary Xu immediately said: “Chairman Yang has a meeting on Friday evening that requires dinner. It’s expected to end around nine, and the venue is about half an hour’s drive from home.”

The dining room fell silent for a moment. Yang Ke continued eating his own food, then suddenly heard Yang Zhongyin call his name: “Yang Ke, are you going?”

Yang Ke looked up at Yang Zhongyin, and Yang Zhongyin looked back at him. Yang Ke couldn’t be bothered to guess what he was thinking this time. He simply said: “Yes.”

Before Yu Zhinian came to the house, Yang Zhongyin came home infrequently. Sometimes he and Yang Ke wouldn’t see each other for half a month. He rarely disciplined or showed concern for Yang Ke. Moreover, because of his position as chairman of the school board, Yang Ke, who rarely encountered him at home, had received some special treatment at school. For example, when participating in activities that required late returns, Yang Ke had never notified his parents or needed to submit a signed form.

Yang Zhongyin put down his chopsticks. As if after some consideration, he said to Yu Zhinian: “Since it’s a school activity and everyone’s going, our Zhinian certainly should participate too. But Grandpa is used to having you keep him company in the evenings. Would Zhinian be willing to come back early?”

His tone carried exaggerated magnanimity and affection. Watching him, Yang Ke felt somewhat unable to eat. Yu Zhinian, however, didn’t notice anything amiss. His face brightened, and he promised Yang Zhongyin that he would definitely leave school before nine and come home to keep him company while he worked.

After dinner, Yang Ke went back to his room.

After ten o’clock, Zhao Sibei sent him a text saying he’d arrive in about half an hour.

Yang Ke texted back okay. Suddenly, someone knocked softly on his door. At first he thought he’d misheard, because the knock was very light, but the door seemed to keep knocking, so he got up and opened it. Yu Zhinian was standing outside in pajamas, holding a small box.

Yang Ke looked at him without speaking. Yu Zhinian took the initiative to hand the box to Yang Ke: “I came to give you some chocolate.”

“A classmate gave it to me. It’s really good. They said they made it themselves.” As he spoke, he took a piece and ate it himself, looking very happy.

Yang Ke glanced at the box in his hand and the shape of the chocolates. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if Yu Zhinian was genuinely naive or just pretending to be. He didn’t take the chocolate. Instead, he asked Yu Zhinian: “Do you know what this means?”

Yu Zhinian’s expression looked blank and dazed. He asked, mouth full of chocolate: “What does it mean?”

“Give me the box,” Yang Ke said, extending his hand.

Yu Zhinian obediently handed the box to Yang Ke: “What’s wrong?”

Yang Ke took it and pulled out the box lid that had been tucked underneath. He looked at it, then held it up in front of Yu Zhinian’s eyes: “Look for yourself.”

On the back of the lid, a letter was taped to the paper. Yu Zhinian froze for a moment, as if he hadn’t noticed the letter before, and said slowly: “What is this?”

He opened it and read for a while. Apparently he felt embarrassed, which was rare for him, and lowered his head. Yang Ke saw his ears turn red. Yu Zhinian probably thought he himself had been incredibly stupid.

“How could this happen,” Yu Zhinian said quietly. “This is early romance.”

Yang Ke laughed. Yu Zhinian awkwardly closed the chocolate box back up. From what Yang Ke could roughly see, five chocolates had already been eaten from the box.

He looked at Yang Ke with a pitiful expression: “What should I do?”

“How should I know?” Yang Ke countered.

“So what did you do?” Yu Zhinian asked Yang Ke.

“I’ve never received any,” Yang Ke admitted.

Yu Zhinian was shocked: “How is that possible!” His eyes went wide. Yang Ke said nothing. After staring for a while, Yu Zhinian began to look troubled again, clutching his chocolate box with a worried expression on his face.

Many years later, Yu Zhinian would become accustomed to such situations.

He would learn to decline gracefully, becoming more like someone who had grown up in this family, more composed and confident, rather than like a naive country bumpkin who accepted homemade chocolate from a classmate, brought it back home, thought it was delicious, and then presented it at Yang Ke’s door like a treasure, only to be flustered and red-eared upon discovering a love letter inside.

That night his pajamas were old and no longer fit him well. He had grown taller since coming to Yang Ke’s house, and his wrists and ankles were exposed beyond the pajama hems.

When Yang Ke noticed him worrying, he casually asked if the housekeeper hadn’t prepared new pajamas for him. Yu Zhinian told Yang Ke, “Those are new.”

Yang Ke didn’t know how Yu Zhinian ultimately dealt with the first confession gift. Perhaps it was with a very awkward rejection, such as saying he couldn’t have an early romance.

A week later, on Halloween, Yang Ke, Cheng Xuwen, and Wei Chi, wearing their regular uniforms, wandered around the night walk event, looking at artworks displayed by students from the art program along the roadside, and throwing darts for charity to raise money for children in mountainous areas.

Small twinkling lights were strung around the trees along the school’s main road, and the speakers played eerie music.

Students dressed in bizarre costumes came streaming toward them in groups. When they reached the middle of the main road, suddenly someone rushed toward them and jumped in front of Yang Ke.

Yu Zhinian was wearing strange makeup, dressed in medieval European-style black and white clothing and riding boots. He raised his hand and made what looked like a very low-IQ threatening expression at Yang Ke.

Watching Yu Zhinian wave his arms and legs around, Yang Ke thought he was ridiculous, but for some reason, he probably smiled.

Yu Zhinian briefly introduced his classmates to Yang Ke, praising a girl named Shu Xi who was standing behind him for her makeup skills. When Yu Zhinian called out her name, the girl showed an obvious shyness in the shifting lights and noise around them.

But right after that, Yu Zhinian received a call from the driver, urging him to leave the school.

It was almost nine o’clock, and Yu Zhinian had to go home. Yang Ke saw Yu Zhinian’s disappointment and, inappropriately, thought of Cinderella when the clock struck twelve.

Before, when Yang Ke participated in these activities, he would return very late, because he didn’t want to go home. But that day he left early too.

During middle and high school, whenever Yang Ke and Yu Zhinian spent time together, it seemed to often end with Yang Zhongyin’s interference.

Yu Zhinian had said many things to Yang Ke, sent many messages. Yang Ke hadn’t completely ignored or dismissed them.

What Yu Zhinian said to Yang Ke that day, many years later, Yang Ke would be able to recall.

At that moment in the back seat of the car, the pleated edge of Yu Zhinian’s sleeve cuff was white, his skin was also white, his hair was black, and he had smoky eye makeup beneath his eyes.

In those moments when he wasn’t making stupid expressions or saying stupid things, he already showed the early form of the Yu Zhinian who would later attract swarms of admirers.

The driver had received an urging call from Secretary Xu, so he drove fast, pressing the accelerator one moment and the brake the next, making it uncomfortable to sit. The car played Western classical music that Yang Zhongyin liked. Yang Ke felt irritated and looked out the window.

After a while, he heard Yu Zhinian say “Yang Ke,” so he turned his head to look. Yu Zhinian was looking at him, his face showing no wild joy, almost calm. After a moment, he said: “I didn’t know before, but it turns out things can be this simple, and you can just be this happy.”

Yang Ke didn’t remember if he responded. He guessed he hadn’t.

At the time, he probably thought Yu Zhinian had very little experience of the world, had only ever lived through hardship, and was making a big fuss over nothing.

That’s what Yang Ke thought when he recalled it.

But also on that day, he should have felt that Yu Zhinian was uncomplicated, not bad.