KMYB | Chapter 5

Xi Shui stood himself up properly.

He looked at Zhou Zeqi and suddenly felt that his impression of the other man had improved a lot.

Actually, Xi Shui wasn’t particularly sensitive to whether someone was handsome or ugly. There were too many good-looking people at Jingwu. From childhood to now, his parents, his grandmother, his relatives and friends, all of them had impeccable bearing and faces. His parents had told him before that appearance could not represent a person’s whole self.

So when Xi Shui chose friends, looks were second. They had to be clean, polite, patriotic, hardworking students, respectful toward women…

Zhou Zeqi met the first requirement.

He didn’t smell bad.

Jingwu and Jingtizai were no different in that regard. Long periods of high-intensity training meant sweating through your clothes was unavoidable, so their professional practice rooms were equipped with changing rooms and showers. But Xi Shui had classmates who wouldn’t wash for days and wouldn’t change their clothes either. Their practice clothes would come out of their bags in a blackened lump, reeking of pickles and sweaty feet. It was honestly unbearable, and he’d heard Jingtizai had people like that too.

But Zhou Zeqi wasn’t like that.

Xi Shui was a little pleasantly surprised.

Zhou Zeqi’s gaze slid away from Xi Shui’s face. “West-yuzu laundry detergent. You can try it too.”

Xi Shui laughed twice. “I thought it was the smell of hormones. So it’s laundry detergent?”

“?”

Zhou Zeqi had been praised since he was little, tall, handsome, with men and women throwing themselves at him in endless streams. He’d long since developed an absurdly strong immunity to flattering words.

There were also plenty of people who tried to get his attention by going about it sideways.

But Xi Shui wasn’t like those people.

Hormones?

Xi Shui had a face that looked like he didn’t even know what hormone smell was, and yet he was talking about hormones.

“Why did you move out too?” Xi Shui asked on the way back, taking the initiative to chat with Zhou Zeqi.

Zhou Zeqi was a little taller than Xi Shui. When he was with Wu Chibang and the others, he rarely walked this slowly.

He said, “It’s more comfortable living alone.” The iron beds in the dorms were stifling to sleep on, like hell.

“What about you?”

Xi Shui hugged his water bottle and answered, “I need to practice dance. The practice rooms at school close too early, and Lin Xiaojin always wants to drag me out to eat. Oh, Lin Xiaojin is my friend.”

“He keeps dragging you out to eat?” That could count as a worry?

“We dance, so we can’t get fat.” Xi Shui had only eaten a bowl of salad that afternoon. Jingwu had its own cafeteria, and the meals were made to suit dancers’ needs. The calories and nutrition wouldn’t let them starve, but they absolutely could not be called tasty.

“What do you like to eat?”

Once they started talking about that, Xi Shui immediately perked up.

“Fried skewers, grilled skewers, mille-feuille cake, fried chicken, hot pot, fries, hamburgers…” Xi Shui counted on his fingers, then put his hand down. “But I haven’t eaten any of that for a long time. The last time I had cake was at the beginning of last month.”

He could remember so clearly because he rarely got to eat anything good. Every time he did, he ate it with tears in his eyes, and he had to lick the cake box clean.

Seeing how desperately he was craving it, Zhou Zeqi frowned slightly. “You guys train so much. Why is your diet control still this strict?”

“Because eating one meal isn’t a big deal, but you can’t eat like that every day. If you form a bad eating pattern, that’s disastrous.” Xi Shui remembered a senior from his department who had been in a bad mood after a breakup, then binged and ate way too much. After that he couldn’t lose the weight, so he started making himself throw up, jamming his fingers down his throat until he caused stomach bleeding. Later, because of depression and bulimia, he took a leave of absence from school.

After that, their counselor had specially sat them down for a heart-to-heart. They all knew very well how much this profession demanded of the body. Some people were born to be fed by heaven, while others had to cinch their waistbands their whole lives. There were gains and losses either way, and the counselor hoped they could rationally balance desire and ideals.

Xi Shui’s ideals were bigger than his desires, so, he should just eat less.

Zhou Zeqi lowered his eyes and looked at the collarbone exposed outside Xi Shui’s neckline. It looked like two small ridges, and he was already very thin.

“I can cook. If you get the chance, you can come over and try it,” Zhou Zeqi said in a low voice.

“Huh, you can cook? What can you make?” Xi Shui was a little surprised, because Zhou Zeqi didn’t look at all like someone who could cook. He looked more like someone who would smash plates and break bowls.

“A lot of things.”

“What kind of things?”

Zhou Zeqi was silent for a moment, then turned his head and looked at Xi Shui, who insisted on getting to the bottom of everything, with a half-smile. “Are you thinking that if I know how to make something you don’t like, then you’ll reject me?”

Xi Shui’s face heated up. He hurriedly clarified, “I wasn’t thinking that.”

“I was thinking that after you told me what you can cook, I’d praise you and say, ‘Wow, so amazing.’” Xi Shui honestly admitted his plan.

Zhou Zeqi: “…”

–

The next morning.

As usual, Xi Shui started morning practice at six. Afraid of disturbing the neighbors, he drew the floor-to-ceiling window curtains closed, and only went out onto the balcony to get his clothes after he finished practicing.

He had a few potted cacti on the balcony, brought from home by Li Wanzhi. They had already been well cared for to begin with, and the cacti, each the size of a palm, had even bloomed bright red flowers.

Xi Shui had to shower after morning practice.

The automatic retractable drying rack slid downward. Just as it rose back up, the neighbor’s door beside him suddenly opened. The new neighbor was holding a T-shirt and yawning while pulling it over his head.

The morning sunlight landed precisely on the new neighbor’s sharply defined eight-pack abs. His skin was quite fair too, and his build was flawless. Xi Shui stared in a daze.

Because Lin Xiaojin had told him that abs also came down to talent. Some people only had six, or even four. No matter how hard you trained, the number wouldn’t increase.

Zhou Zeqi was so talented.

Zhou Zeqi also saw Xi Shui.

He ran a hand through his hair. “Morning.” Just woke up, his voice was lazy, low, and hoarse.

Xi Shui’s throat tightened for no reason.

The sweat on Xi Shui’s face was all sparkling. Probably because of the sunlight, half his face was soaked in gold, almost translucent, and you could even see the blue veins beneath his neck.

“Morning.” After Xi Shui answered, he hugged his clothes and went back inside.

Zhou Zeqi returned to his own place. He had just moved in, so there wasn’t much furniture in the room, making it look empty.

This apartment had originally been bought by his dad for his older sister when she was studying at Jing University. Later, after Zhou Zezhi went abroad to study, the apartment had been left empty and no one lived in it. His parents never mentioned it to him either, until the day he said living in the dorms at school felt unbearable. Only then did his dad remember that he still had an apartment near the school.

The place was huge, almost two hundred square meters. The decor was still fairly new, and there was only one bedroom. The other rooms had all been remodeled, and the small balcony at the back had a large stretch of flowers and plants. Because no one had tended them for a long time, the floor was covered in dead branches and fallen leaves, and climbing vines draped over the surroundings like a web.

Zhou Zeqi called housekeeping and had all the flowers Zhou Zezhi had been raising moved out.

He didn’t like things that were too troublesome.

–

When Xi Shui went out with his bag slung over his shoulder, he ran into Zhou Zeqi just as Zhou Zeqi was leaving too. Zhou Zeqi pulled the key out of the door. “Together?”

Xi Shui had wanted to refuse, but he felt awkward about it. They were going the same way anyway, and even if he didn’t agree, could he really say, “You go first, you go first”?

They walked the whole way without speaking while Xi Shui looked at his phone as he walked.

Jingtizai and Jingwu were in two different directions.

But the two of them entering school together was still photographed by someone.

[It’s only been a few days, and this is already their second time appearing together, right? And they came to school together, in the morning too. What did they do last night?]

[You even managed to take a picture of that? Sisters, don’t you sleep in the morning?]

[Oh, I’ve been preparing for the graduate entrance exam lately. I got up at 4:30 this morning, and now I’ve already finished my first round of review. Seeing this sugar makes me feel like I can do another hundred problems!]

[They’re definitely dating.]

[Xiao Xi’s expression is so cold. Didn’t he notice that Lord Yan Wang has been looking at him the whole time?]

Xi Shui no longer went on the forum. He had already clarified it yesterday. He and Zhou Zeqi were not in that kind of relationship. They were innocent.

But Lin Xiaojin was scrolling with great enthusiasm.

Lin Xiaojin had changed into practice clothes and was sitting in front of the mirror, scrolling while grinning foolishly. Xi Shui came out after changing his clothes. He had long limbs and was considered the best in the class in terms of physical condition. Ballet had its own professional requirements for a dancer’s body.

Flexibility, turnout, body proportions. The lower body had to be longer than the upper body. For boys, it had to be more than 10 cm longer, for girls 12 cm, and Xi Shui’s lower body was 85 cm longer than his upper body, which was a very superior condition.

After he bent down and saw what Lin Xiaojin was looking at, he kicked him. “Class has started.”

Lin Xiaojin whipped around, grabbed Xi Shui’s leg, and said, “You’re here? Tell me, how did you come to school with Lord Yan Wang today?”

Xi Shui paused. “He lives in my neighborhood. We ran into each other this morning.”

“Wow…” Lin Xiaojin got up and clapped his palms together. “Let me show you the way Lord Yan Wang looked at you. Wasn’t it practically stringing together?!!”

Xi Shui didn’t understand Lin Xiaojin’s excitement.

And he also couldn’t make sense of that pitch-black image shoved in front of his face.

“What is this?” Xi Shui asked.

Lin Xiaojin answered, “This is an enlarged version of Lord Yan Wang’s gaze!!!”

Xi Shui: “…”

Today they had to weigh themselves.

The girls first, then the boys.

When the girls were weighing themselves, they usually didn’t crowd around, because it was rude.

Xi Shui sat on the floor at the back and recalled the choreography they had practiced during this period, while Lin Xiaojin and Zhao Mengzi played around beside him.

“Boys! Boys, come here!” the teacher called, holding a record book. “Later, you’ll do the basic training routine once. Those of you who’ve been slacking these days, don’t think I don’t know.”

Lin Xiaojin’s scalp tightened.

He feared foot pressing the most. Pointing the foot was fine, but every time they pressed his foot, someone had to stand on it. The classmates would pity him, but the teacher wouldn’t. The teacher would stomp him to death.

Xi Shui got up from the floor. He didn’t really like weighing himself, because his weight was always going up and down.

The day before yesterday it had been 50.

It had only been two days, so the fluctuation shouldn’t be too big.

Under the teacher’s sharp yet affectionate gaze, Xi Shui stepped onto the scale.

51.

Xi Shui’s heart shattered.

He looked at the teacher miserably.

The teacher was holding a new riding crop. “Come on, come on.”

Xi Shui walked up in front of the teacher, and the other boys and girls immediately started heckling him.

“Xiao Xi, what’s going on with you? Sneaking food again?”

“Why do you always love sneaking food? I’m dying of a headache here, honestly.”

“Oh my, how much was it last time, 59?”

“You can’t go over 50!”

Xi Shui was embarrassed and anxious. He turned to them and said, “You’re so annoying.”

“Ohhh, we’re so annoying, we’re so annoying.”

The teacher was laughing too. She lightly tapped Xi Shui with the riding crop. “Still throwing a tantrum. I’m asking you, why are you so much heavier than last time?”

Xi Shui was still miserable, his face scrunched up. “Maybe I, um, haven’t gone to the bathroom yet.”

The teacher lowered the riding crop and reached out to pinch the flesh on his stomach. “Xi Shui, you have talent for dancing, but your mouth is really… Why are you such a glutton?”

Xi Shui said nothing.

Because the teacher was telling the truth. He really was a glutton.

“It’s fine though.” The teacher crossed one leg over the other. “Boys are different from girls. Girls really can’t get fat. Otherwise you won’t be able to lift them. But boys, as long as it doesn’t affect aesthetics, being a little heavier is fine.”

Xi Shui felt that the teacher’s helpless tone was even more heartbreaking.

“I’ll be more self-disciplined from now on,” Xi Shui promised. “And I’ll work hard to lose another two jin.”

——————–

Author’s Note:

Xiao Xi: I have a solution!

Teacher: What solution?

Xiao Xi: I heard kissing can make people lose weight

Teacher: …