KMYB | Chapter 56

Lin Xiaojin let out a "tsk."

Xi Shui looked at his own hands. No jewelry. He lowered them again, then heard Xu Wei call his name. Xi Shui stood up and said, "I want to get full marks, all As."

Lin Xiaojin: "…"

Even without that battle cry, Xi Shui’s scores and evaluations in the practical classes at Jingwu had never dropped below an A. An A meant ninety-five and above. In each class, there were usually only two or three of those, and sometimes none at all.

Two hours before the exam, their class had all drawn lots. Xi Shui drew the third-act solo variation for Odile, the Black Swan, from *Swan Lake*.

This variation had been performed over and over by the principals of countless ballet companies. The most classic version was the thirty-two fouetté turns, performed on one foot in place, created by a foreign ballet dancer.

Half the boys in the class had drawn female roles to perform, including Lin Xiaojin.

Xi Shui used a sweatband to push back all the loose hair at his forehead. With no bangs, his eyes and brows looked even colder and more distant.

Xu Wei said, "All right, begin."

Xi Shui swallowed and stepped slowly into the music’s beat. The Black Swan, Odile, was the Demon King’s daughter. Confident, elegant, wicked, and determined to get the prince.

Lin Xiaojin rested his chin in his hand. When Xi Shui turned and lifted his gaze, those dark eyes held a natural, elegant greed that sent a chill down Lin Xiaojin’s back. It took him a long while to pull himself out of the feeling of being drawn into Xi Shui’s performance, but every time this happened, he could feel the gulf between them, as wide as heaven and earth.

Being able to dance ballet was already a sign of talent. Ballet was extremely strict about a dancer’s physique, but Xi Shui had it all. Not just his appearance, but more importantly his expressiveness, his explosive power, his ability to learn, his ability to move others, he had almost no weak points.

Before, Lin Xiaojin had still been able to console himself with a little envy. Now he didn’t even have that.

When Xi Shui began the thirty-two fouetté turns, Lin Xiaojin pulled out his phone and filmed it. How on earth did Xi Shui manage to turn thirty-two times without his pointe moving even a little?

Every time Lin Xiaojin turned past ten revolutions, he felt like he was about to spin from the middle of the classroom all the way out into the hallway.

Xu Wei gave him an A+, Jiang Die gave him an A, and the other teachers were all A+. After Jiang Die finished scoring, she asked curiously, "Why are you so distracted today?"

Xi Shui rested for two seconds, then answered, "N-no… nothing."

Xi Shui returned to his seat, and Li Weiwei and Hai Tinghua over there both gave him four thumbs up.

The next one was Lin Xiaojin. He shoved his phone into Xi Shui’s hands. "If I do exceptionally well, then record it for me."

Lin Xiaojin had drawn the Blue Bird variation from the third act of *The Sleeping Beauty*.

Xi Shui turned on the camera and filmed from start to finish.

Thankfully, everyone got A’s. Jiang Die was stricter, wavering between A and B, and Lin Xiaojin kept staring at her with pleading eyes.

"I didn’t do exceptionally well, but I didn’t make any mistakes either." Lin Xiaojin sat down, drenched in sweat. "Every time I dance, I feel like I don’t deserve to be friends with you. Maybe in the future I’ll only be able to join some random company and spend twenty years in the corps, and I still might not have the qualification to dance a lead role."

At school, the teachers assigned roles, so everyone would have a chance to carry the main weight. But in a company, that was different. Even for just a supporting role, a whole crowd of people would fight over it until blood was drawn. And the director and agent would only look at ability, they wouldn’t hand out parts by default.

Xi Shui handed the phone back to Lin Xiaojin. "You dance really well. Every dancer has their own brightest strengths. Xiaojin, you’re really suited to lively, kind roles, and that light, bright feeling isn’t something everyone can give an audience."

"Really?"

"Really. When we were out performing last semester, even my grandma asked if you wanted to take the Beijing company’s exam after graduation. She must really like you."

Lin Xiaojin instantly swelled with pride. Unable to hold back, he hugged Xi Shui and kissed him hard on the cheek.

Xi Shui’s expression turned awkward. In a small voice, he said, "I have a boyfriend now. I can’t be like I used to be."

"Okay, okay."

Xi Shui was quiet for a while, then suddenly remembered he still hadn’t shown Lin Xiaojin his cat. He opened his photo album and held it up like a treasure. "Zhou Zeqi gave me a cat, a white lion cat."

Lin Xiaojin looked through the pictures. "So cute! Why are its eyes so big!"

"Right? It’s only three months old. Its fur is super long, super soft, super white."

"Then are you going to take it with you when you go abroad to study?"

"I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it yet."

"Take it. Otherwise it’ll be so boring overseas."

Xi Shui hadn’t thought about that before. The moment he thought about going abroad, his chest felt stuffy and dull.

–

Zhou Zeqi didn’t get back from the swimming pool until 9:30 p.m. They were about to have a competition, a university swimming competition. Unlike last time, when only a few schools took part, this one was a big event, and every university in Beijing could join, whether it was a sports school or not. Many non-sports comprehensive universities even had their own professional swimming teams, and they were pretty strong.

When he came back, before he even had time to drop his backpack, a fluffy mass had already wrapped itself around his feet.

Zhizhi circled his legs, meowing.

A cat takes after the person who raises it. Zhizhi was clingy and good at acting spoiled.

Zhou Zeqi put down his bag, bent over, and lifted Zhizhi into his arms. "Where’s Xi Shui? Why isn’t he taking care of you?"

"Meow~"

Zhou Zeqi leaned closer. "Louder. I can’t hear you."

Zhizhi: "…"

Hearing movement outside, Xi Shui trotted out of the kitchen with a spoon in his hand. "I’m making soup."

Zhou Zeqi stuffed Zhizhi back into its own bed. "What soup?"

"Potato and beef brisket." Xi Shui walked into the kitchen, lifted the lid off the pot, and said very seriously, "I came back after the exam. Didn’t you make radish and beef brisket last time? There was still beef brisket in the fridge, so I learned from a video on my phone. It’s so good."

Zhou Zeqi took the spoon from his hand. "Praising yourself?"

The potatoes had been stewed until they were almost falling apart, and the brisket was about done too. The soup was richly fragrant. On the cutting board sat a small pile of scallions cut into lengths so even they were almost precise enough to be measured with a ruler. Zhou Zeqi could practically imagine how serious and meticulous Xi Shui had been while slicing them.

"Just one soup?" Zhou Zeqi asked, looking back at Xi Shui behind him.

The smile on Xi Shui’s face slowly faded. "You’re not going to praise me first?"

"I’ve been busy for two or three hours. Why aren’t you praising me?"

Zhou Zeqi set down the spoon, turned, lowered his head, and kissed Xi Shui. "I’m not saying I won’t praise you. You’re amazing, but one soup isn’t enough. Haven’t you had dinner yet? I want you to eat sooner."

"Oh…" Xi Shui said. "I only made this one."

"Then I’ll fry two more dishes. Go wait outside, it’ll be ready soon."

Xi Shui obediently went back to the living room and played with Zhizhi.

Zhou Zeqi rolled up his sleeves and opened the fridge. Ever since Xi Shui moved in, the number of drinks and sodas in the fridge had steadily decreased. Xi Shui didn’t like drinking beverages, and instead the amount of fruit and vegetables kept increasing.

Zhou Zeqi pulled open the lower shelf. He remembered there had been a bunch of very fresh tender asparagus, but after searching several times, he still couldn’t find it.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the trash can nearby. A big black heap.

?

Zhou Zeqi crouched down and shook the trash can. The heap scattered, and he could faintly make out its former appearance. It was asparagus.

Xi Shui was hugging Zhizhi while doing practice problems when he saw Zhou Zeqi come out. He immediately sat up. "That fast?"

Zhou Zeqi stood right in front of him. "I just asked you whether you only made the soup, and you said yes. Did you mean you only successfully made this one soup?"

Xi Shui blinked. "You found out?"

"The asparagus and eggplants in the fridge are both gone."

Xi Shui put Zhizhi down. He was a little nervous. "I didn’t mean to. I wanted to make a proper meal so you could eat as soon as you got back. I thought you train every day and have it much harder than I do, but that asparagus was really hard to stir-fry, and so was the eggplant."

"I’m sorry. I wasted food. I won’t do it again, or I’ll make something simpler. I’m afraid you’ll scold me."

Zhou Zeqi crouched down in front of him. "Have I ever scolded you?"

"N-no."

"I’ll still make the meals from now on. You just wait to eat." Zhou Zeqi stood up. Xi Shui rose with him and slowly lifted his head. "It really was a waste of food, so tonight you’ll call out for me the way you did before, as punishment."

After saying that, Zhou Zeqi turned and walked toward the kitchen before Xi Shui could answer.

Only then did Xi Shui react. His face slowly turned red. He hurried after Zhou Zeqi, following closely behind him step by step, his whole face tense and shy. "But my intentions were good! Don’t they always say, 'It’s the thought that counts, it’s the thought that counts'? Why aren’t you accepting the thought?"

"Who says I didn’t accept it?" Zhou Zeqi took out a tomato, three eggs, and a bunch of water spinach. "I did, but shouldn’t you be punished if you did something wrong?" As he spoke, he flicked a glance at Xi Shui.

Xi Shui’s chest tightened. The way Zhou Zeqi looked at him just now was exactly the same as that night, when he had made Xi Shui count how many times he had been slammed into.

Even if he could barely get the words out, he still had to count.

Zhou Zeqi was sometimes very much a man of his word, and Xi Shui was a little, just a little, afraid of that side of him.

"You already accepted my intentions, so why should I still be punished?" Xi Shui asked.

"One thing at a time."

Zhou Zeqi wasn’t moved.

Xi Shui kept clinging to him. "I’m leaving at the end of the month, and you still want to punish me…"

Zhou Zeqi was slicing the tomato. The blade was sharp. The tomato split open easily, and juice ran along the cut surface onto the cutting board. His expression was dark and unreadable. "It’s precisely because you’re leaving that I’m punishing you."

"Why?" Xi Shui asked in confusion.

"That way, you won’t forget me so easily." Zhou Zeqi’s voice was low, slow, but relaxed and easy. "The kind of feeling only I can give you, nobody else can. Before you leave, I’m going to make that impression deeper."

"Anyway, you’re going to come see me," Xi Shui said softly.

"And," Xi Shui argued very seriously for himself, "how do you know you won’t forget me?"

Zhou Zeqi put down the kitchen knife and turned his head to look at Xi Shui. "I’m going to tell you something."

Xi Shui looked blank. "What?"

"Didn’t I tell you that the first time I saw you was at Jingwu’s end-of-term performance?" When Zhou Zeqi saw Xi Shui’s eyes shift awkwardly as he tried to look away, he raised a hand and pinched Xi Shui’s chin. "Listen carefully." His voice dropped lower.

"Earlier than that, you were still in high school then, right? I went with my mom and her best friend to see the seasonal performance at the Beijing Grand Theatre. You played a little prince, and we even ran into each other in the restroom. You asked me how I trained my muscles."

Xi Shui tried hard to remember. "I don’t remember."

Zhou Zeqi slowly lowered his eyes. "You don’t remember?"

Xi Shui nodded honestly. "Mm. I remember the performance you’re talking about. During that time, I really did want to build big muscles, and I asked quite a few… quite a few people…"

Asked quite a few people?

Zhou Zeqi looked down. "I thought you were hitting on me."

How do you train your muscles?

That was obviously a very suggestive way to flirt.

Xi Shui wanted to say it wasn’t flirting, but before he could speak, Zhou Zeqi lifted his eyes and looked straight at him, then laughed. The laugh was a little dangerous. "You just said you asked quite a few people?"