TA •Chapter 33

Chapter 33

Cheng Ke was helpless whenever Jiang Yuduo compared him to that three-and-a-half-year-old kid, but this time at least he was calling it fun, so he put up with it.

Still, he corrected him. "That three-and-a-half-year-old kid should be almost three years and ten months old now."

"So strict," Jiang Yuduo said with a smile. "He’s actually about to turn four. It’s the countdown now. His dad starts buying him one gift a week a month in advance."

"Pretty much like when I was a kid," Cheng Ke said, biting into a skewer of big chilies. "Every year on my birthday, the gifts started coming in ages early."

"That sounds amazing," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Not really," Cheng Ke said. "When things come too easily and too much, there’s no sense of happiness. No anticipation. Everything you want shows up, and things you don’t want show up too."

"Never experienced that," Jiang Yuduo said, lighting a cigarette. "Easy for you to say from the sidelines."

Cheng Ke didn’t say anything. With Jiang Yuduo’s situation, let alone birthday gifts when he was a kid, he probably didn’t even celebrate his birthday.

"When’s your birthday?" he asked.

"June 1," Jiang Yuduo said. "That’s what’s on my ID."

"…Oh." Cheng Ke answered.

"Has anyone ever made fun of your birthday?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"Huh?" Cheng Ke froze.

"222," Jiang Yuduo said.

"How do you know that?" Cheng Ke asked.

"I have a photocopy of your ID," Jiang Yuduo said with a sigh. "Is your intelligence maybe a little lopsided?"

"Get lost." Cheng Ke took a sip of wine. He had to admit, Jiang Yuduo could really surprise him at times. Forget a photocopy of an ID tucked behind a rental agreement, even if he were asked to deliberately remember someone’s birthday, he might not be able to keep it straight.

He casually grabbed another skewer, glanced at it, then put it back down.

He had accidentally picked up a skewer of pig penis.

"Do you think it tastes bad, or does it gross you out?" Jiang Yuduo asked, taking the skewer from him and biting into it.

"Neither," Cheng Ke said. "I just… this, it’s pig…"

Jiang Yuduo choked a little and looked at him. "You’re being way too modest. The way you put it makes me embarrassed to eat it."

Cheng Ke stared at him, then quickly ran through what he’d said before. "Damn it, I mean this is pig penis, not bull penis, bull balls…"

"You eat bull penis and bull balls?" Jiang Yuduo asked at once.

"I…" Cheng Ke really didn’t know how to explain. He didn’t eat any of that stuff, but bull penis and bull balls were probably more familiar, so compared to pig penis, they were easier to accept.

Before he could figure out what to say, Jiang Yuduo had already raised a hand and shouted, "Waiter!"

"What do you want!" a waiter shouted back.

Cheng Ke reacted immediately and hissed at him in a lowered voice, "Jiang Yuduo!"

"Lamb kidneys!" Jiang Yuduo shouted again.

"Coming right up!" the waiter answered.

Cheng Ke let out a breath, but when he saw Jiang Yuduo’s smile, he finally realized. "You did that on purpose, didn’t you."

"Nope." Jiang Yuduo smiled. "That’s what being deliberate looks like."

"Like what?" Cheng Ke asked without thinking.

"Bull penis and bull balls!" Jiang Yuduo suddenly yelled again.

"Coming right up!" the waiter shouted back just as loudly.

"…Fuck your damn uncle." Cheng Ke jumped at that roar. For a long time, he didn’t even know whether he needed to turn his head and avoid the eyes around them.

"It’s fine," Jiang Yuduo said after taking a sip of wine. "Plenty of people eat this stuff. Nobody’s going to make a fuss. I didn’t say I wanted human penis."

"Just shut up already." Cheng Ke sighed.

Jiang Yuduo didn’t say anything more, just kept eating and drinking with a smile.

When the waiter brought over the grilled lamb kidneys, bull penis, and bull balls all at once, Cheng Ke had an indescribable feeling. After finding it hard to put into words, he suddenly felt like laughing.

"Actually, if I didn’t say what any of this was, you’d still happily eat it all," Jiang Yuduo said, putting a skewer of lamb kidneys in front of him. "This one’s fine to eat, right?"

Cheng Ke picked up the lamb kidneys and took a bite.

He had to admit, Jiang Yuduo was rough all over, but from the very beginning, Cheng Ke hadn’t been able to dislike him. And a Jiang Yuduo like this tonight made him feel a kind of reckless, unrestrained pleasure.

He picked up the last skewer of pig penis. "Actually, this really is pretty tasty."

"If you’re going to eat it, then just eat it. When you’re eating this stuff, don’t comment on it, whether it’s tasty or not," Jiang Yuduo said as he ate, his voice a little muffled. "The way you say it makes me think dirty thoughts."

"I’m done with you," Cheng Ke said with a sigh.

For tonight’s late-night meal, Cheng Ke ate very comfortably, experiencing for the first time in a month what it felt like for food to be "delicious and really good."

Still, there were a lot of skewers on the table, and neither of them finished everything.

"Let’s pack it up," Cheng Ke said. "I’ll take it home and eat it later."

"I’m treating, and you’re taking it home," Jiang Yuduo said, looking at him. "Your face is really thick."

"Oh, right, I forgot," Cheng Ke said a little awkwardly. "I kept thinking I was the one treating."

Jiang Yuduo called over the waiter to settle the bill. "So, are you treating?"

"No." Cheng Ke answered.

"You wouldn’t be…" Jiang Yuduo frowned. "Out of money, would you?"

"Huh?" Cheng Ke didn’t get it.

"Can’t afford to eat?" Jiang Yuduo looked at him in realization. "So that’s why you suddenly asked me to treat barbecue. We haven’t contacted each other for a whole month, and you come right up asking me to buy you dinner."

"Fuck," Cheng Ke laughed. "This one’s on me."

"No need," Jiang Yuduo said. "I said I was treating, and around here I don’t even have to pay."

Cheng Ke clicked his tongue.

The moment he stepped out of the barbecue shop and stood on the street, Cheng Ke suddenly felt a little disoriented, not knowing which way he should go.

Jiang Yuduo looked left and right.

"Lost your way?" Cheng Ke asked with a smile.

"No." Jiang Yuduo walked toward the road on the right.

Cheng Ke knew he wasn’t really looking for the route. Jiang Yuduo often did this, whenever he rounded a corner or stepped out a door, whenever he entered a new scene, he would always glance around.

"What are you looking at?" Cheng Ke looked around too.

"Seeing if there’s a taxi," Jiang Yuduo replied.

"No need to take a taxi," Cheng Ke said. "It’s still warm out."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded.

Cheng Ke glanced at him. Maybe he was being too sensitive, but this was the second time tonight. In his mind, Jiang Yuduo should have brought up "those people" or told him to be careful, but neither had happened.

It was like after the last "wrong person" incident, Jiang Yuduo had intentionally stopped mentioning these things.

That suddenly made Cheng Ke somewhat doubt his earlier judgment. If Jiang Yuduo really had some kind of… mental problem, how could he deliberately avoid related topics?

"I’ll see you home." Jiang Yuduo said when they reached the intersection.

"No need," Cheng Ke said with a smile. "I’m not some little girl. I don’t need someone to walk me home."

"No offense, but you really aren’t as good as the girls who grew up around here," Jiang Yuduo said. "Those girls aren’t as slow as you are."

"How am I slow?" Cheng Ke was a little annoyed.

Jiang Yuduo hesitated, then sighed. "I’ll tell you this much. I was behind you when you bought that dishwasher the other day."

Cheng Ke looked at him in shock. "What?"

"If I hadn’t stopped him, the thief could’ve stolen your underwear. If it were one of the girls who grew up around here, she might’ve slapped you across the face long ago." Jiang Yuduo said.

"So you really were there." Cheng Ke was still stunned.

"Really?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"I told you I saw you!" Cheng Ke was strangely excited. "I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me! I fucking said that was you! Were you carrying someone downstairs?"

"Watch your words," Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. "Who did I carry? I was strangling a thief and taking him downstairs!"

Cheng Ke laughed. For some reason, he was just really happy. After laughing for a while, he patted Jiang Yuduo’s arm. "Thanks."

"That day I just wanted to see how your eye was injured," Jiang Yuduo said, looking a little embarrassed. "I didn’t want to call you directly, and I figured I wouldn’t go looking for you again."

"Why?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Why else," Jiang Yuduo said. "I beat up my own friend."

"Then back when you beat up Chen Qing," Cheng Ke said, "was it the same? You stopped looking for him too?"

"No," Jiang Yuduo frowned. "That was different. I don’t know how to say it. Chen Qing and I, and you and I, they’re different."

"How are they different?" Cheng Ke kept asking.

Jiang Yuduo seemed not to know how to say it. He frowned for a long time before finally looking at him. "He isn’t as nagging as you. Asking this and that. Different is different, how am I supposed to know how it’s different."

"Fine, I won’t ask anymore." Cheng Ke smiled.

Jiang Yuduo walked back with him. Cheng Ke didn’t refuse Jiang Yuduo’s offer to see him home anymore. After eating while it was still warm and walking down an empty street like this, it actually felt pretty nice.

"Chen Qing and I grew up together," Jiang Yuduo said suddenly in a low voice. "We know each other pretty well. I know he… he won’t disappear. No matter what happens, he’ll always be with me."

Cheng Ke turned his head. "I won’t disappear either."

"Hard to say," Jiang Yuduo said. "You’re too different from us, too far away. If you hadn’t been kicked out of your house, you probably wouldn’t spend a single brain cell in your whole life on people like us. You’d never even know there was such a group of people in the world."

"That’s a bit too absolute," Cheng Ke said.

"Pretty much that way," Jiang Yuduo said.

Cheng Ke thought about it. "You and Chen Qing have known each other for ten years, right?"

"Yeah, probably," Jiang Yuduo said. "I… met him when I first came here."

"From where?" Cheng Ke asked.

"Don’t remember," Jiang Yuduo said. "I was too little back then."

"Oh." Cheng Ke nodded. "Chen Qing said if you hadn’t saved him, he might’ve drowned."

"When I went to help untie him, he was already trying to undo it himself. After a little while, he might have gotten free anyway," Jiang Yuduo said. "Still, maybe not. If he really couldn’t hold his breath and swallowed water, he could’ve passed out with one gulp."

"He really admires you, your composure," Cheng Ke said. "You were pretty methodical about saving him too."

"I learned it from TV," Jiang Yuduo said.

"TV?" Cheng Ke asked. A kid who got beaten for even reading books could watch TV?

"The TVs in shopping malls," Jiang Yuduo said. "It was a rescue program. I watched it a few days ago."

"Oh," Cheng Ke laughed. "Learning on the fly, then using it right away."

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo nodded.

Cheng Ke didn’t continue the topic. Whenever Jiang Yuduo talked about his childhood now, he was calm and composed, and that made Cheng Ke feel a little strange.

When they got downstairs, Cheng Ke grit his teeth and held back from letting Jiang Yuduo come up for a sit.

"I’m going," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Mm," Cheng Ke said. "Also, the rent, you should keep collecting it. No need to let Chen Qing come."

"Okay." Jiang Yuduo agreed.

"Then… good night." Cheng Ke turned and walked toward the elevator.

Only after a while did Jiang Yuduo say from behind him, "Good night."

Cheng Ke waved a hand, not turning back. Only after he entered the elevator did he turn around, and Jiang Yuduo was already gone from the stairwell entrance.

Good night.

Cheng Ke had said good night to him before, but he had never responded.

In his impression, that ordinary yet elegant phrase was too far from him. He didn’t know who he could use it with, Chen Qing? Lu Xi?

They’d probably laugh themselves to death.

If Chen Qing and Lu Xi ever said good night to him, he probably would get goosebumps all over too.

But when Cheng Ke said good night, it sounded natural and casual, and somehow comfortable. It made him want to answer. Even though saying good night himself felt a little awkward, there was also something novel and pleasant about it.

When he walked out of the residential complex, Chen Qing’s call came through.

"Third Brother, you done eating over there?" Chen Qing said. "We’re still drinking here. Coming over? Give Ertu a little face and bring Jiajia over too. It’s only our own people at the shop now."

"He went back already," Jiang Yuduo looked at the time on his phone. "I’ll come over."

"Then I’ll have them grill some more," Chen Qing said.

"Mm." Jiang Yuduo hung up and quickened his pace.

After turning a corner and walking for a stretch, he glanced back. A shadow was cast from the corner of the wall, stretched long across the ground.

Jiang Yuduo didn’t slow down, just kept walking forward, paying attention to the movement behind him.

On this street, if they wanted to do something, it would be hard. The streetlights here were old-fashioned, mounted especially low, and spaced pretty closely together. The shadows alternated frequently and were stretched long. If anyone came close, it would be easy to notice.

After walking a little farther, Jiang Yuduo used the turn in the road as an excuse to glance back again. There was no one behind him anymore.

Only then did the hand gripping the knife hilt in his pocket finally loosen.

When he was escorting Cheng Ke home, that person had been following them all along. He had seen it as soon as he came out of the barbecue shop. Cheng Ke, while following him and looking around in every direction, might have seen it too, but someone that slow would never think too much about it.

He hadn’t told Cheng Ke.

He didn’t want to make Cheng Ke nervous because of his affairs.

Or rather, he still clearly remembered the look in Cheng Ke’s eyes after the fight that day, and he didn’t want to see that look again.

Some things were destined to be faced alone.

When Cheng Ke got home and took off his clothes, he finally smelled the scorched odor all over himself, along with alcohol.

It was already pretty late, and he was sleepy as hell. He struggled for nearly five minutes before finally grabbing clothes and going to take a shower.

When the hot water hit his body, the buzz from the alcohol and the fog from having stuffed himself with meat all came rushing up together. He braced his forehead against the wall and let out a long breath.

Great!

What was great about it?

He didn’t know. Anyway, it just felt great, in a good mood.

He tipped his head back, and the hot water slapped against his face.

A hot shower had many uses. Sometimes it could relieve fatigue, sometimes it could make you sleepy, sometimes it could sober you up, and sometimes… just when you were so tired you could try sleeping while standing, a blast of hot water would suddenly leave you awake and alert in the middle of all that drowsiness.

He hesitated, then walked out of the bathroom covered in droplets, went to the living room, and grabbed his phone.

He found the video of Jiang Yuduo he’d just recorded, hit play, and set the phone on the sink… he really should buy a phone stand.

If you drank at night, you didn’t want to get up in the morning, especially if you had also had a wet dream after drinking.

When Xu Ding’s call came through for the third time, Cheng Ke really couldn’t keep sleeping anymore, so he answered.

"Sorry," he said, glancing at the time. It was almost noon. "I drank a bit last night."

"That’s good," Xu Ding said. "At least having something to drink proves your life is back to normal."

Cheng Ke laughed and sat up. "Maybe."

"I wanted to tell you the video’s being moved up a few days. The location has changed a little," Xu Ding said.

"Okay," Cheng Ke yawned. "My schedule is flexible. I’m free all day."

"Also, there’ve been some changes to the video content. We added a model," Xu Ding added.

"Mm." Cheng Ke responded. Every video had a different concept. Sometimes it was just the sand-art process by itself, and sometimes they added a bit of plot and other visuals. They had added models before too, but never in the same frame as him, so it didn’t matter much. "What kind of model?"

"A half-naked pretty boy," Xu Ding said with a smile. "You know, that kind of fusion of heaven and man, primitive wildness, all that. You should be able to imagine it."

"…Yeah," Cheng Ke laughed too. "Same as before?"

"No, he’ll be next to you," Xu Ding said. "So I wanted to discuss it with you first. If you’re not used to it, we can figure out the arrangement later."

Cheng Ke imagined the scene and couldn’t quite pin down how he felt about it, but Xu Ding’s videos, though sometimes incomprehensible, still had a certain sense of style.

"It’s fine." Cheng Ke said.

"Want to see the model’s photo first?" Xu Ding asked.

"What, am I selecting a consort? No need," Cheng Ke said.

Xu Ding laughed. "Alright, then I’ll come pick you up then."

"Mm." Cheng Ke smiled.

The weather was good today. After hanging up, Cheng Ke went to the window and looked outside. The sun was bright, and the wind wasn’t strong.

He stood by the window for a while, then decided to go out for a walk and get lunch while he was at it.

He hadn’t gone out much lately. He just didn’t have the energy, and when it was freezing outside, he didn’t even know where to go.

Today he still didn’t really know where he could go, but he just wanted to wander around. He still hadn’t finished exploring the area around his neighborhood. The places he knew best were the bar street and the area where Jiang Yuduo lived, and he had never gone farther past the supermarket.

Today he’d just go over there and find some place to eat.

He wrapped himself up in his coat and went out. The moment he closed the door, he quickly stuck a foot in the crack, reached into his pocket, and confirmed the keys were there before shutting the door again.

If he ever forgot his keys again, he’d have to call a locksmith. If he went to Jiang Yuduo again, Jiang Yuduo would probably think he had some unspeakable intention.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

It was just that this kind of thought could only be self-entertainment. As for Jiang Yuduo, who jumped at anything related to homosexuality, he basically couldn’t have any further thoughts about him. Getting a little satisfaction out of it in his head was enough.

Two streets past the supermarket was a new commercial district, probably built only in the last two years. He hadn’t even known there was a business area over here.

Even though this side also looked fairly bustling, there weren’t too many people.

He wandered into a coffee shop. When the waiter smiled and asked what he wanted, he turned around and came back out, suddenly wanting milk tea, ginger milk pudding…

He still remembered the name of the place where Jiang Yuduo had treated him to ginger milk pudding last time.

But after walking around for a while, he still hadn’t seen that shop. It turned out not to be a chain.

"Sir, interested in fitness?" Someone beside him suddenly handed over a flyer.

Cheng Ke turned his head and saw a pretty girl.

"I…" Cheng Ke took the flyer at random, glanced at it twice, and kept walking.

A gym, one he hadn’t been to in months. The new membership card had been activated, but he still hadn’t gone many times. His previous personal trainer had jumped ship, and he wasn’t especially eager to go anymore anyway. It wasn’t easy to run into a trainer who looked pleasing to the eye.

"We just opened," the girl said, following him. "There’s a 20 percent discount on membership, and we’re also giving away two personal training sessions. You look like you work out a lot, sir. Want to come try our place? You can test it for free, and if you’re satisfied, then sign up."

Cheng Ke was especially bad at dealing with sales pitches from girls. They were all quite pretty, and they followed you around seriously explaining things, so it was hard to refuse them outright.

"You can go in and take a look first, see our space and equipment…" The girl walked backward in front of him, getting blown by the wind until she could barely keep her eyes open. "All our equipment is the newest model, and we have a lot of it…"

"Where is it?" Cheng Ke couldn’t bear it and asked.

"Second floor," the girl quickly pointed to the side. "Should I take you up?"

This gym wasn’t bad. It was bigger than the one Cheng Ke usually went to, and you could tell it had just opened. There were hardly any people, and all the equipment was empty.

"This is our personal trainer Xiao Yang, Xiao Yang…" The girl waved over a few good-looking young men nearby. "He’ll show you around. You can ask him anything you don’t understand."

One of the young men came over, and Cheng Ke glanced at him.

…He looked pretty good.

"Hello," Xiao Yang said with a smile in front of him. "My surname is Yang, you can just call me Xiao Yang. I’ll show you around."

"Oh." Cheng Ke answered.

Xiao Yang led him a few steps farther in, then turned back. "Ge, do you not remember me?"