KMYB | Chapter 13

Chapter 13

In the middle of the night, Xi Shui got up and reached the basin from the balcony over to Zhou Zeqi’s balcony, setting it down on Zhou Zeqi’s side.

He also sent Zhou Zeqi a WeChat message to remind him.

He didn’t know whether Zhou Zeqi had seen it.

Before five in the morning, the rain came pouring down. Huge drops pounded the ground with a stone-like crack, and with the curtains drawn, Xi Shui opened his eyes in a daze. The sound of the rain in his ears was like a lullaby. In this weather, it was just too easy to sleep.

Xi Shui reached to the nightstand for his phone. After checking the time, he opened WeChat and saw that Zhou Zeqi had replied.

[Okay.]

[There’s something going on in the courtyard tomorrow, I won’t be home.]

Xi Shui’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he couldn’t make sense of the message.

What did he mean he wouldn’t be home? So what if he wasn’t home, then he wasn’t home. It wasn’t like his place had no door. Did Xi Shui need to stay and guard the house for Zhou Zeqi or something?

The only pity was that he couldn’t kiss Zhou Zeqi.

Xi Shui hugged that disappointment and drifted back into sleep.

–

The university basketball team in the capital was holding a match today, split into preliminaries, finals, and the championship round, all at the city gymnasium.

For games like this, Zhou Zeqi would be allowed on the court.

He left early in the morning, and on his phone was a message from Xi Shui that still hadn’t been answered.

A little after five, the sky was pressed down by dark clouds and still hadn’t brightened. Wu Fengyi and the others stood downstairs with umbrellas and backpacks, all craning their necks to look up at the building.

"Why don’t we go upstairs and wait?"

"We don’t have the entry code."

"Why don’t we have the code?"

"We forgot it."

Zhou Zeqi came out of the building. Wu Fengyi stepped forward and tossed him a few buns. "Ten bucks total, remember to transfer me."

That wasn’t the important part.

The ten bucks weren’t the important part.

Wu Fengyi held the umbrella over Zhou Zeqi and asked, curious, "So what’s going on between you and that little swan from Jingwu? I remember you two didn’t even know each other before."

"How do you know we didn’t know each other?" Zhou Zeqi said, biting into a bun and sipping soy milk at the same time. His eyes were long and narrow, almost smiling. "Didn’t we go watch their college’s showcase performance last semester?"

"Sure, you went to watch. That counts as you knowing him, I guess. But he doesn’t know you."

"…"

"Wu Wing, don’t forget, this game was something you begged me to play."

Wu Fengyi: "…"

After a brief silence, Wu Fengyi exchanged a glance with the others. They immediately rushed over to Zhou Zeqi and started chattering nonstop.

"A perfect match!"

"A match made in heaven!"

"This romance is disgustingly sweet."

"He must be secretly in love with you, totally devoted to you."

"I saw it the moment I laid eyes on him."

"Enough," Zhou Zeqi finished breakfast in a few bites, opened his own umbrella, and his eyes were as dim as the still-unlit sky. "Whether I’m compatible with him or not is not for you to say."

"Wu Fengyi, which school did you draw?"

"Jingcheng University of Electronic Science and Technology."

With Zhou Zeqi on their side, they were almost guaranteed to get through the preliminaries. Wu Fengyi was good too, but his kind of good was only good within the school. He was the basketball team captain, a top player there, but compared to Zhou Zeqi, he fell a little short.

Still, being team captain meant dealing with all kinds of random stuff in addition to playing. Zhou Zeqi wasn’t interested in being captain. Anyway, whoever was captain in the end still had to listen to his arrangements.

The rain kept getting heavier, but it didn’t affect office workers at all, punctual as ever.

Outside the car window, rainwater poured down like a waterfall.

Zhou Zeqi looked at the flower shop by the roadside. Wu Fengyi noticed he was looking and leaned over to ask, "You buying flowers for Xi Shui? Yeah, you should. He bought you flowers." Though the flowers had only cost thirty yuan.

"I don’t know what he likes." The flower shop had all kinds of flowers, dazzlingly varied, wrapped in a blur of rain mist, like a still-wet medieval oil painting.

"Swan flowers."

"You want to die?" There was no flower called that.

Wu Fengyi withdrew sulkily. He had never given anyone flowers, and no one had ever given him flowers either. The most he’d ever seen were peach blossoms and pagoda tree blossoms on campus, along with foxtail grass and azaleas in the flowerbeds.

Zhou Zeqi leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes to rest.

White calla lilies.

Very suitable for Xi Shui.

The flower head lifted upward. The pure white of the calla lily was spotless, not because Xi Shui resembled it, but because it barely deserved to be compared to him. Even so, it still couldn’t rival or replace Xi Shui in any way.

Xi Shui slept until six in the morning, got up to do his morning training, took a shower, then crawled back under the covers to sleep again. When he woke up, it was already afternoon.

The rain had eased from a downpour to a drizzle.

He was so hungry.

Xi Shui slowly slid out of bed. His toes found his slippers, he shoved his feet in, and only then did he stand up.

The first thing he still did was weigh himself.

He was so groggy he could barely think straight. Holding onto the wall, he stepped onto the scale.

51 kg!

Great. Time to go to the bathroom again.

Xi Shui felt this was all Zhou Zeqi’s credit. They hadn’t even kissed that much, and he was already this impressive. If Zhou Zeqi really kissed him hard, then what would happen!

His appetite was already not very big, and when he was in a good mood, he didn’t feel much like eating either.

Xi Shui took out a few slices of bread from the fridge, used the sandwich maker to press a sandwich, and poured himself a glass of milk. He ate while watching the film *Black Swan*, which he had already seen many times.

His phone, left aside, rang.

It was Mom.

After Xi Shui answered, Li Wenzhi didn’t speak for a long time. After a while, Xi Shui heard her curse under her breath: "Damn it."

"Did your dad make you go abroad again?"

"Mm."

"What’s so good about going abroad?"

"Exactly."

"I didn’t let him call you. I even confiscated his phone. He probably secretly got hold of a phone from me and came over to show off in front of you. He let it slip to your grandma, and your grandma scolded him. Grandma’s going to call you later, so remember to answer."

"Okay."

Li Wenzhi knew Xi Shui was full of little moods. When he was unhappy, he liked to eat random things and use food to distract himself, but that would end up ruining his strict standards and principles, which made him even unhappier.

That was why the whole family opposed him going abroad and stood on his side.

The more stubborn you were in certain matters, the more likely the things you cared about would strike back and hurt you.

"What are you eating?"

Xi Shui bit into his sandwich. "A sandwich, with tomato, egg, and corn kernels."

Li Wenzhi felt a little relieved, then asked, "Did you install the anti-theft bars?"

"No need anymore," Xi Shui said after taking a sip of milk. Thinking of Zhou Zeqi, his tone turned light. "The person living next door is a good guy."

"…"

Hearing Xi Shui’s cheerful tone, Li Wenzhi asked curiously, "How do you know he’s a good guy?"

Xi Shui wouldn’t tell his family that he was dating, but Zhou Zeqi being a good guy was a fact.

He was willing to date him, kiss him, wasn’t that enough to count as a good guy?

"We go to the same school."

Li Wenzhi was both surprised and delighted. "That’s great. Then you can look out for each other in the future."

"Yep, yep." Xi Shui kept nodding.

Li Wenzhi gave him a few more reminders, saying things like he should get along well with his neighbors. Xi Shui agreed to all of it. After the call ended, Grandma’s call came right after, and Xi Shui had only finished a third of his sandwich.

"Grandma, good afternoon."

"Oh, my darling grandson, my darling grandson, did your father hurt you again?"

"No," Xi Shui said softly. "I’m already fine."

Grandma was especially clingy with family. Whether it was Grandpa, Li Wenzhi, or Xi Shui, she was affectionate toward all of them, except for Xi Buyao. She said Xi Buyao was annoying and always wore a sour face.

"Are you coming home next weekend? Grandma went shopping and bought you a necklace. Your cousin said diamond suits you, but I think gems are better. If you don’t like it when the time comes, I’ll take you to exchange it."

Xi Shui said, "Either is fine." Then added, "If there’s anything you want, I’ll buy it for you when I come back."

"The little cake you brought me last time, bring me another one. I haven’t had it in so long, I’m practically dying of cravings."

Xi Shui laughed twice. "Okay."

Most of the Xi family worked in dance, whether ballet, classical dance, or other styles, and most of them had to keep their figures in shape. So it was common to hear things like "dying of cravings" or "crazy with cravings" at home, even Grandma said it.

–

After his evening practice, Xi Shui pulled up a video of *The Dancer* and danced for three or four hours straight.

The white practice clothes wrapped around his slender, delicate body, strength and beauty coexisting in every line. The hair at his forehead was swept up with a headband, sweat sliding down from the corner of his brow and dampening his lashes.

The solid wood floor rang under his landings.

Ballet required dancers to be light on their feet, to leap as if they were truly swans. Xi Shui could achieve a strong sense of suspension in the air, but the room wasn’t big enough, which limited what he could do.

"Knock, knock."

Someone was knocking outside.

It was already almost ten at night. He didn’t know who it was.

Xi Shui, still in his practice clothes, ran to open the door.

A large group of people stood in the hallway, all wearing expressions of utter disbelief. You could probably fit a light bulb into each of their mouths.

"…"

Wu Fengyi leaned against Meng Kewen’s shoulder and waved at Xi Shui. "Hi, good evening."

The others immediately chimed in in unison, "Hi, good evening."

Seeing Xi Shui dressed like that, his brows and eyes damp with sweat, Zhou Zeqi said in a low voice, "I’ll come look for you in a bit." Without waiting for Xi Shui to react, he pushed Xi Shui inside and closed the door.

Zhou Zeqi turned around and looked at Wu Fengyi and the others. "Pretty?"

Meng Kewen was just about to say yes when Wu Fengyi pinched the flesh at his waist hard. His face twisted in pain, but he still shouted, "What what, I didn’t see anything!"

They had gotten through the preliminaries, and after celebrating outside, it was almost time for lights out at school. On top of that, it was raining, so the whole group had clamored to stay at Zhou Zeqi’s place for the night. Zhou Zeqi thought that he still hadn’t seen Xi Shui today anyway, so he’d come by and say hello.

Wu Fengyi and the others hadn’t known Xi Shui lived next door. They had been standing behind Zhou Zeqi, waiting for him to open the door, only to see him knock on the next door instead. The door opened, and they saw Xi Shui. Xi Shui? They were living next to each other through the wall!

Zhou Zeqi kicked the few of them inside, tossed his backpack onto the sofa, and headed straight for the balcony.

"What, mad enough to jump off the building?" Wu Fengyi went to the fridge like he knew the place by heart and grabbed a few bottles of soda. In the next second, Zhou Zeqi’s hem flicked past, and just like that, the man was gone.

!

He really jumped?

Wu Fengyi was shocked and grabbed Meng Kewen, dragging him to the balcony to check.

They didn’t see Zhou Zeqi jumping off a building. They only saw Zhou Zeqi jump across to the next balcony.

Zhou Zeqi turned around and said to Wu Fengyi, "I’ll be back in a bit. Help yourself to whatever you want to drink."

Wu Fengyi was already staring in utter disbelief at Zhou Zeqi’s shamelessness. Then he remembered Zhou Zeqi’s abnormal behavior on the balcony some time ago, and damn it, no wonder it had seemed so strange. So Xi Shui had been right next door the whole time!

Xi Shui was frightened twice that night.

Once by Zhou Zeqi’s friends.

And once when Zhou Zeqi appeared from the little balcony in the practice room.

He was just about to turn off the stereo and some of the equipment and go take a shower and rest when he saw Zhou Zeqi’s figure. His heartbeat skipped a few beats. He glanced at the space behind Zhou Zeqi. "How did you jump over here?"

Xi Shui’s sweat hadn’t dried from his neck yet. A thin sheen of perspiration had given his long neck the soft, glowing look of a fine piece of jade.

Zhou Zeqi sat down on a chair by the wall. "Came to see you."

Xi Shui just stared blankly.

He didn’t know how to respond.

"Okay."

"…"

Zhou Zeqi said he had come to see him, and he really did look at him, very seriously, very intently. Under that gaze, Xi Shui was almost about to catch fire.

He touched his own face and thought that since he was the one who had actively pursued Zhou Zeqi, he should be more proactive too. He looked at Zhou Zeqi with bright, sparkling eyes and asked, "Zhou Zeqi, are you going to kiss me today?"

Zhou Zeqi’s eyes slowly narrowed.

The kiss yesterday had been effective, but not long enough, so Xi Shui hurried to add, "You can kiss me hard like yesterday, but you have to kiss me longer."

Xi Shui made the request with complete seriousness. Zhou Zeqi looked at his reddened ears and couldn’t bring himself to refuse. He curved his lips. "Okay."

——————–

Author’s Note:

Xiao Xi: I order you to kiss me hard