TA •Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Jiang Yuduo looked around. There was no sign of Cheng Yi and the others anywhere within sight. Maybe, just as Cheng Ke had said, his mother had never liked this kind of noisy, crowded occasion. Add to that the fact that her eldest son’s landlord had suddenly turned into his boyfriend, and had even gotten into it with her younger son, so she’d left.

But when Jiang Yuduo first arrived at the square, he had not really gotten used to it either. There were too many people.

Although they usually did not show up on important holidays, being in a crowded place had always made him tense. Back when he came with Chen Qing, it had never been on this scale. They would just wander around the outer edge, buy a lantern, eat some skewers, and that was about it.

Today, because he wanted to avoid Cheng Yi, as he and Cheng Ke squeezed through the endless crowd and all the lanterns that blocked his view, he had felt uncomfortable the whole time.

They did not come out on days like this, but the overwhelming number of people still made it hard for him to breathe. Fortunately, most of his attention was on Cheng Ke’s arm in a cast. After Cheng Ke bought him a lantern, especially the cat lantern, he relaxed even more.

Some things, if you did not deliberately pay attention to them, maybe they would not exist at all. Unfortunately, that was hard for him. The times when he could manage it were too few.

After they had more or less seen all the lantern stalls, they walked over to the cotton candy stand.

There were quite a few people gathered there, mostly girls with their boyfriends, plus children with their parents. Jiang Yuduo hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Cheng Ke. "Wait for me here. I’ll go buy it."

"I’ll go with you," Cheng Ke said.

"…Fine," Jiang Yuduo said. "What color do you want?"

"Rainbow," Cheng Ke said. "And you?"

"I want a pink-blue one," Jiang Yuduo said. "I like solid colors."

"Okay," Cheng Ke smiled. "I thought you’d say pink."

"Pink-blue looks better," Jiang Yuduo said as he and Cheng Ke squeezed up next to the cotton candy machine. "Pink is too tacky."

A girl nearby, holding a huge freshly made lump of pink cotton candy, glanced at him.

Jiang Yuduo felt that he probably had said something inappropriate, but the other person was a stranger, and a girl at that, so he could not think of how to fix it right away. In the end, he just ignored it.

"It depends on who’s wearing it," Cheng Ke said, smiling at the girl. "Some girls look especially cute with pink."

The girl smiled back a little shyly, then walked away with her cotton candy, making room for him.

Cheng Ke stepped into that spot and squeezed shoulder to shoulder with Jiang Yuduo, then said quietly, "You really don’t know how to talk."

"I don’t know her," Jiang Yuduo said just as quietly. "Besides, I’m definitely not as good with words as you rich pretty boys. You’re smooth with the girls."

"Bullshit," Cheng Ke said.

"Boss, make me a rainbow one, and a blue one!" Jiang Yuduo said to the vendor. "Hurry! We’ve got a train to catch!"

The vendor laughed. "You’ve got three people ahead of you. Even if you were catching a rocket, you’d still make it."

Jiang Yuduo kept staring at the vendor’s hands as he made the cotton candy. Cheng Ke kept staring at Jiang Yuduo. Jiang Yuduo was curious about a lot of things. If it was something he did not normally get to see, he would always look.

The only thing was that when he looked, his face was often cold, giving people the illusion that if the other person made even one mistake, he would be ready to swing a punch.

Fortunately, the vendor never once looked up. He would finish one and hand it forward. Whoever it belonged to just took it.

The rainbow and blue cotton candies were ready very quickly. They were bigger than a head, huge fluffy clumps. Jiang Yuduo held the two cotton candies and squeezed out of the crowd, handed the rainbow one to Cheng Ke, then bit into the blue one and tore off a big chunk. After tasting it, he nodded. "Mine is sweet."

That feedback suddenly made Cheng Ke doubt his own long-held understanding of cotton candy. After all, something like this, like those sticky rice balls sold on street corners, was something he rarely had any contact with. If he remembered correctly, he had never eaten cotton candy once…

He hurriedly bit off a big piece from his own rainbow one and tasted it.

It was just white sugar flavor, with nothing else besides sweet… cloyingly sweet. After one bite, he did not want another…

"How is it?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"Mm, good," Cheng Ke said with a nod. "Mine is sweet and sour."

"What?" Jiang Yuduo froze. Before Cheng Ke could say anything, he had already taken a quick bite from the rainbow one, ripping off nearly half of it.

Cheng Ke sighed and watched Jiang Yuduo struggle in the wind, chasing the cotton candy that kept blowing away as he tried to roll it into his mouth. In the end, he still had to use his hand to stuff it all in.

"Your taste buds are broken or something? Isn’t this just sweet?" Jiang Yuduo said after swallowing that bite, looking at him. "Where the hell does cotton candy get a sweet-and-sour taste? Why don’t you just say cumin flavor?"

"If they’re all sweet, why did you specifically say yours was sweet?" Cheng Ke asked.

"I just said something casually," Jiang Yuduo said. "Besides, I was telling the truth. I didn’t say this was cumin flavor."

Cheng Ke did not speak. After hearing cumin twice in a row from him, he suddenly felt a little hungry. The sweet, gooey cotton candy was even less appealing.

"I’m hungry," Cheng Ke said, rubbing his stomach. "I want barbecue."

"Then let’s go back?" Jiang Yuduo had finished his cotton candy in two bites. He took out his phone and tapped at it a few times. "I’ll send a message in the group chat and have him wait at the shop first and order some food."

"Group chat?" Cheng Ke was startled. "You guys have a group chat?"

"What’s so strange about that," Jiang Yuduo said, glancing at him. "Do I usually have to message people one by one? I don’t even have them added as friends."

"Oh." Cheng Ke leaned over to look at his phone.

He did not catch what Jiang Yuduo sent, because it had already been pushed up by a string of replies.

– Okay, Third Brother

– Got it! Third Brother

– Happy New Year, Third Brother! On my way

– Yes!

…

Cheng Ke was starting to want to laugh, and when he saw the group name, he instantly cracked up. "A group chat? Who came up with that name?"

"Me. Isn’t it just a group chat?" Jiang Yuduo said.

"It is a group chat." Cheng Ke held back his laughter and nodded.

"Didn’t you say looking at someone else’s phone is really rude?" Jiang Yuduo said. "You’ve been looking for ages, haven’t you? And now you’re laughing at me after reading it?"

"Sorry." Cheng Ke laughed and waved it off.

"Let’s go." Jiang Yuduo put his phone back in his pocket and waved a hand.

This barbecue place should have been Jiang Yuduo’s regular hangout spot with his younger brothers. When they arrived in Chen Qing’s two-door car with the little trunk, several people who clearly looked like "Third Brother’s people" were already standing at the door smoking.

Jiang Yuduo parked right in front of the shop entrance, and Cheng Ke got out with him.

"Third Brother," several of them came over at once. "Brother Ke."

Cheng Ke was deeply touched that they had so thoughtfully switched his title back from Brother Ji.

"What happened to Brother Ke’s hand?" Da Bin noticed the cast on his arm.

"I wasn’t paying attention on the stairs and fell," Cheng Ke said with a smile.

"Why didn’t you go in?" Jiang Yuduo asked. "What are you standing around here for?"

"We just got here, Tu’er’s almost here too, he… got hurt, so we’re waiting for him," one of the younger guys said.

"How did he get hurt?" Jiang Yuduo turned to look at him. "Last time he got robbed. This time did somebody beat him up again?"

"This time it really wasn’t his fault…" Da Bin said from the side. "Third Brother, you don’t need to worry about this. We weren’t planning to tell you anyway."

"Then is it my fault?" Jiang Yuduo said irritably.

The others fell silent. After a moment, when they were all still a bit stunned, Da Bin finally spoke. "After the last fight with Zhang Daqi, it just… never settled down. Those guys basically started swinging whenever they saw any of us. We were all avoiding them. Third Brother, you said it yourself, if you can avoid trouble, then avoid trouble."

Jiang Yuduo looked at him without speaking.

"Last Tuesday, Tu’er had been drinking a little. He happened to pass behind their bar, and then… he couldn’t get away," Da Bin said.

"How badly was he hurt?" Jiang Yuduo asked.

"His thigh bone was broken, but it wasn’t too serious," Da Bin said.

Jiang Yuduo frowned.

"Third Brother, you two should go in first. The wind is too strong," Da Bin said.

Cheng Ke followed behind Jiang Yuduo into the shop. Before he could even make out what the place looked like inside, he heard a wave of voices shouting.

"Third Brother!"

"Third Brother’s here!"

"Happy New Year, Third Brother!"

…

It had been a long time since Cheng Ke had felt this sense of Jiang Yuduo being Third Brother. With his current contact with Jiang Yuduo, it was already hard for him to connect Jiang Yuduo with a title like that.

Now, hearing that sudden commotion and seeing a whole crowd of people spring up in front of him, he felt a little out of place at once, like he had wandered onto the wrong set.

The shop was already almost full, and with one glance it was obvious that at least three or four tables were Jiang Yuduo’s people.

Counting the ones still outside, the whole shop only had room for five or six tables. They had basically occupied the whole place.

Cheng Ke took in the scene. Not to mention that anyone coming in to eat barbecue might need some courage, even the people already seated would need courage if they did not want to leave early.

Who knew whether a bunch like this might start fighting at any moment.

Chen Qing was sitting at the innermost table, waving them over.

Cheng Ke had just sat down when Chen Qing leaned over past Jiang Yuduo. "What the hell kind of photos did you send me!"

"What’s wrong," Cheng Ke said. "Aren’t they better than those blurry photos you took?"

"How are they better? When was I blurry!" Chen Qing protested in a low voice. "And you were using such an expensive phone…"

"Then why did you post my picture to your Moments?" Cheng Ke laughed.

"I had no choice," Chen Qing said quickly, glancing around. "I already said I was going to see the lanterns! I was forced into it. Besides, you two looked so good in the photos you took, like magazine covers."

"We just look like magazine covers," Jiang Yuduo said, pushing him aside. "Sit properly. Why don’t you just crawl onto my lap? Want me to hold you?"

"Let’s take one together later too, Third Brother," Chen Qing said, leaning back in his chair. "The two of us don’t have a single photo together… I always thought you didn’t like taking selfies."

"I don’t," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Yeah, I’ve known you for so many years, and you’ve never taken a selfie, right?" Chen Qing asked.

Jiang Yuduo glanced at him, then pulled out his phone. "Come on."

"Come on then." Chen Qing scooted closer to him.

Jiang Yuduo raised his phone. "Smile. I’ll say one, two, three, and then smile."

"Okay." Chen Qing bared his teeth.

Cheng Ke looked at them and felt that the photo would definitely be a disaster.

"One, two, three." As soon as Jiang Yuduo finished speaking, he pressed the shutter.

Cheng Ke felt that Chen Qing was probably quite adaptable to Jiang Yuduo’s one-two-three pace. He reacted pretty quickly, and by the time Jiang Yuduo said two, he had already pulled out a smile.

"Done," Jiang Yuduo looked at the phone, then showed it to Chen Qing. "What do you think?"

"Handsome!" Chen Qing gave him a thumbs-up.

"Let me see?" Cheng Ke was a little curious. Could those expressions from just now really add up to "handsome"?

Jiang Yuduo handed him the phone.

On the screen were two big faces. Because they were so close, one ear on each of them was outside the frame. One was baring his teeth, the other grinning, both smiling very painfully.

In the gap between them were three blurry characters. Even though they were blurry, Cheng Ke still made them out.

Bathroom.

He truly admired them. It took an exceptionally solid friendship for these two to look at a photo like that and unanimously decide it was "handsome."

Holding back a laugh, Cheng Ke handed the phone back to Jiang Yuduo. "Not bad. It would be even better if you took it from a little farther away."

"This is called a close-up," Chen Qing said.

"Oh." Cheng Ke took a sip of tea.

Chen Qing went off to talk with the younger brothers beside him before Jiang Yuduo leaned over and said in a low voice, "Do you think that photo from earlier still has a chance if you edit it?"

Cheng Ke lowered his head and laughed. It took a while before he looked at him. "I thought you thought it was great."

"Damn it, how could it be good? Two idiots," Jiang Yuduo said. "I’m afraid Chen Qing’s going to get excited and post it to Moments later. There are too many people on his Moments…"

"Send it to me. I’ll try," Cheng Ke said.

Jiang Yuduo sent him the photo.

Cheng Ke lowered his head and tried to rescue it.

Da Bin and the others who had been standing outside earlier had probably waited for Tu’er, because by now they were all inside. Cheng Ke’s ears were full of all kinds of excited, cheerful shouting.

Everyone who came in came over to their table, stood behind him, and shouted "Third Brother" at Jiang Yuduo. Every one of them had a loud, ringing voice, and they were so boisterous it made Cheng Ke nervous. He kept feeling like they were not here to greet him, but to issue a challenge.

But unlike the usual feeling of hearing this kind of "bad manners" noise, today he did not find the chaos noisy or irritating. Instead, it gave him a completely new understanding of the word "lively."

Excitement, disorder, everyone was happy, calling out to one another, teasing each other, with some filthy jokes mixed in.

Sitting amid those voices, lowering his head to edit photos of Jiang Yuduo and his chief bodyguard on his phone, Cheng Ke actually felt an unprecedented sense of steadiness.

"I actually quite like being with these guys," Jiang Yuduo said quietly beside him.

"Mm," Cheng Ke nodded. "It’s pretty good. Lively."

"Mainly because…" Jiang Yuduo hesitated for a moment. "It feels safe."

Cheng Ke tilted his head slightly. "Really?"

"Mm," Jiang Yuduo said. "They… are the people in my life. All of them, every single one of them… Do you get what I mean?"

"They’re all controllable. You know what kind of people they are, who they are, where they came from, and what they’re going to do," Cheng Ke said as he sent the edited photo back to Jiang Yuduo. "Right?"

"Right," Jiang Yuduo nodded. "I realized you’re really amazing. The way you put it, it just clicks. That’s exactly what it is."

"I sometimes feel that way too. It’s really just a lack of security, I guess. You need a completely controllable environment," Cheng Ke smiled. "It’s a pity I have too little of that kind of environment and space around me."

"You’ve got me." Jiang Yuduo patted his chest. "I’m controllable, that’s how you’d put it, right?"

"…Mm." Cheng Ke looked at him.

"I’m safe." Jiang Yuduo paused, then added, ""

"Yes." Cheng Ke answered.

He did not know why Jiang Yuduo had specifically added that line. Maybe Jiang Yuduo and he did not actually understand safety and a sense of security in exactly the same way.

Jiang Yuduo had always worried about his safety, worried that someone might mean him harm.

And those "protections" that Cheng Ke could not fully understand had already been classified by Jiang Yuduo himself as something that needed a psychologist to solve. Cheng Ke felt that was probably the unspoken implication. Jiang Yuduo’s changes over the past two days had indeed been obvious. There was no longer that kind of excessive, nervous vigilance.

But now that he had specially added this line, Cheng Ke still felt a faint unease.

"Pour the drinks!" Chen Qing stood up, picked up a metal tray, and knocked on it with chopsticks. "Hurry! Pour the drinks!"

"Pour them! Pour them!" a bunch of people shouted back, and immediately a clatter of banging echoed through the little shop.

"Today’s the last day of the New Year break. On behalf of Third Brother, I wish everyone in this coming year," Chen Qing poured himself a glass of liquor, "good health! That’s the most important thing. Health!"

"Health!" The others banged their cups against the table.

"May money keep pouring in! That’s also especially important!" Chen Qing said.

"May money keep pouring in!" The others kept banging their cups.

"There’s nothing else, really. As long as you’re healthy and rich, everything will be fine!" Chen Qing tipped his head back and drank his liquor.

The others all shouted along. Cheng Ke could not even make out what they were shouting, but when Jiang Yuduo picked up his cup, Cheng Ke picked up his too.

Just as he was about to lean over and clink cups with Jiang Yuduo, Jiang Yuduo’s cup was already there, tapping against his. "May everything go as you wish."

"May everything go as you wish," Cheng Ke said with a smile.

May everything go as you wish.

Such a blessing was probably the hardest to achieve, and even a little unreal.

But it was also what many people longed for the most. They did not need everything, or a thousand things, or a hundred things. Even if only one thing went their way, that was enough to feel happy.

This was Cheng Ke’s first time experiencing a toast and then everyone raising their glasses and drinking happily in a barbecue shop, but he found it rather interesting.

The barbecue shop owner was quite used to their style too. As soon as everyone raised their glasses, he began piling all kinds of grilled meat and vegetables onto the largest trays and bringing them over to their table.

After one cup of liquor, it immediately felt like someone had gotten drunk. Cheng Ke heard the sound of several cups falling to the floor and shattering, followed by bursts of laughter, and then it descended into a noise of eating, shouting, and chatting that he could no longer make out a single word of.

Cheng Ke reached out and grabbed a skewer of meat, he did not know what kind, but definitely not pig penis. He took a bite. "Hey, this is good."

"If you need help, just tell me," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Eating barbecue only needs one hand anyway. You just hold it and gnaw," Cheng Ke said with a smile.

"Are they a little noisy?" Jiang Yuduo asked, biting into a chicken wing.

"Mm," Cheng Ke nodded. "Noisy as hell, but pretty happy."

"I usually just focus on eating. I don’t really listen to what they’re saying," Jiang Yuduo said.

"I just want to ask," Cheng Ke leaned closer to him and looked at the people around them. "Your brothers, are they all… unemployed?"

"If they were all unemployed, what would they eat," Jiang Yuduo clicked his tongue. "Have you watched too many movies? They all have jobs. They’re just not the kind of jobs you mean, just odd jobs really, like being a chef at a small restaurant, or a driver helping people haul goods…"

"Or staff at an auto detailing shop," Cheng Ke said, glancing at Chen Qing. "Right?"

"Right." Jiang Yuduo laughed and patted Chen Qing on the shoulder.

"Come on, Third Brother," Chen Qing immediately turned around with his cup. "Come on! Brother Ji! Bottoms up!"

Cheng Ke picked up his cup. The three of them clinked glasses, then all tipped their heads back and drank it down. After that, Chen Qing set his cup down and turned back to keep chatting with one of the younger brothers over there. "I’m telling you, whether a girl’s chest is big or not should not be the first thing you look at. You still have to look at her character! You keep staring at a girl’s chest all the time, why would any girl like you, right? That’s just a pervert!"

Cheng Ke laughed.

"They’re all like that. Once they drink, they start talking about girls," Jiang Yuduo said.

"Did you used to talk about girls with them too?" Cheng Ke asked.

"No," Jiang Yuduo said with a click of his tongue. "What’s there to talk about with girls? Even if you wrote a whole guide to picking up girls, not a single one would bite."

"There should be quite a few girls who like you, right?" Cheng Ke looked around the shop again. Quite a few people had come with girlfriends, and several of them were pretty.

"Mm," Jiang Yuduo looked at him. "Why?"

"You don’t have a single one you like?" Cheng Ke asked.

"No." Jiang Yuduo answered without hesitation.

Cheng Ke looked at him without speaking.

Jiang Yuduo also looked at him. After a while, as if he had suddenly realized something, he glared at him. "That doesn’t mean I like men!"

"Did I say that?" Cheng Ke said, amused.

"The way you’re looking at me," Jiang Yuduo pointed at him, "that’s exactly what it means! I’m telling you, just because you’re gay doesn’t mean you should always be trying to drag someone down with you."

"Oh." Cheng Ke still wanted to laugh. He did not know if it was because he had barely eaten anything before suddenly downing two big cups of baijiu, but he felt a little excited now.

Jiang Yuduo looked at him without speaking, as if he had suddenly fallen into deep thought. After a while, his brows even knitted together.

"What is it?" Cheng Ke asked.

"You said, I…" Jiang Yuduo frowned. After a while, he picked up his cup again and knocked it against the table. "Drink!"