CY – Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Night markets, no matter where they are, are always exceptionally lively. Lu Bai grabbed Zhang Xiaotian’s arm. “Hold onto me, let’s not get separated.”

“Okay,” Zhang Xiaotian nodded, letting him hold his arm. Lu Bai’s body heat spread through his palm, making Zhang Xiaotian feel a little parched.

“Let’s go eat skewers at that place, see if it’s as good as the one outside our high school,” Lu Bai said, spotting a popular fried skewer stall and pulling Zhang Xiaotian along.

They tasted everything they saw, and before they were halfway through, Lu Bai was already holding quite a few things.

“Let’s find a place to sit and eat slowly,” Zhang Xiaotian said. “Don’t buy any more, we might not even be able to finish all this.”

“Alright, I’ll listen to you,” Lu Bai followed Zhang Xiaotian and casually sat down at an empty seat at a barbecue stall.

“After eating all this, it’s still not as good as the one outside our high school,” Lu Bai said, smacking his lips.

“Then go back and eat there when you have a holiday,” Zhang Xiaotian said. He noticed some sauce on Lu Bai’s lips and reached for a tissue to hand to him, but then hesitated and pulled his hand back.

“Will you go back with me then?” Lu Bai suddenly grabbed his hand, which he hadn’t fully retracted, and asked.

“Go back where?” Zhang Xiaotian didn’t react immediately, then finally understood. “Of course, I’ll have to go back. Where else would I go?” His mother had left him an apartment there, where their family of three used to live. Now, he lived there alone.

“Then when we go back, we’ll go eat outside the school,” Lu Bai let go of his hand and said with a smile.

“Help me check, my eye is a bit itchy,” Zhang Xiaotian said as soon as he put his bag down after returning to the hotel. Lu Bai called out to him.

“Let me see.” Zhang Xiaotian washed his hands. “Sit properly on the bed.”

Lu Bai couldn’t help but rub his eye. As soon as he raised his hand, Zhang Xiaotian pushed it away. “Dirty!” He gently pulled Lu Bai’s eyelid aside. “It looks a bit red. Did some river water get into your eye?”

“I think so,” Lu Bai thought for a moment.

“I’ll go buy some eye drops,” Zhang Xiaotian put his jacket back on. “You wash your face and get ready first.”

Zhang Xiaotian went downstairs to a nearby pharmacy. When he returned, a man and a woman were standing at the reception, looking like a couple.

Zhang Xiaotian didn’t stop and ran back to the room. Before he could even knock, Lu Bai opened the door from the inside.

“I recognized your footsteps. You don’t weigh much, but your steps are heavy,” Lu Bai pulled him inside.

Zhang Xiaotian walked in with the momentum, but tripped on the threshold and instinctively grabbed onto something to steady himself. When he regained his balance, he realized his hand was on Lu Bai’s chest. Lu Bai had come to open the door for him and was only wearing pants.

“Did you shower?” Zhang Xiaotian quickly withdrew his hand, subconsciously swallowed, and quickly lowered his head to walk further inside.

“Yes,” Lu Bai followed him.

“Why aren’t you wearing more clothes?” Zhang Xiaotian put his hands on Lu Bai’s shoulders and pushed him onto the bed. “Lie down.”

“I’m like this in the dorm too, aren’t I?” Lu Bai asked, confused.

Yeah, he was always shirtless in the dorm, so why was he paying so much attention to it now? Zhang Xiaotian was stunned by the question and could only say vaguely, “It’s not the same as being in the dorm. Stop asking, close your eyes properly.”

After the eye drops were administered, Lu Bai was about to say something else, but Zhang Xiaotian covered his mouth.

“You’ve talked too much today,” Zhang Xiaotian said. “It’s time to sleep. We can talk about anything tomorrow.”

“You slept so much this afternoon, can you still sleep now?” Lu Bai’s lips moved beneath his hand, and Zhang Xiaotian felt his palm getting wet from the warm air of his speech.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Zhang Xiaotian didn’t remove his hand.

“Chat with me for a while,” Lu Bai opened his eyes and moved Zhang Xiaotian’s hand from his face to his chest. Only a bedside lamp was on in the room, and in the dim yellow light, Lu Bai’s eyes looked very bright.

“Close your eyes properly,” Zhang Xiaotian withdrew his hand. “We’ll chat after you close your eyes.”

“Okay,” Lu Bai obediently closed his eyes again.

“What do you want to talk about?” Zhang Xiaotian lay down on the other bed and asked.

“Tell me where you studied your third year of high school later. Is it far?” Lu Bai asked him.

“Not far, still within the province,” Zhang Xiaotian replied. “I even went back to take the exams there.”

“I didn’t even see you.”

“You didn’t know which exam center I was at, so it’s normal that you didn’t see me.”

“Who was your deskmate there?”

“Why are you asking?” Zhang Xiaotian smiled. “You wouldn’t know them even if I told you.”

“Were you close with him? Closer than we are?” Lu Bai suddenly sat up with a startled movement.

“Go to sleep, lie down!” Zhang Xiaotian was startled. “What are you being so weird about in the middle of the night?”

“Oh,” Lu Bai lay back down.

“At the third year of high school, who has time to make friends?” Zhang Xiaotian recalled. “I didn’t even recognize all the faces.”

“That’s good,” Lu Bai mumbled softly.

“Why are you acting like a child?” Zhang Xiaotian chuckled softly.

“So what if I’m a child?” Lu Bai said. “Promise me, from now on, you’ll be the best to me in the world.”

“Stop messing around,” Zhang Xiaotian said.

“I’m not messing around, just say it,” Lu Bai wouldn’t let him off. “If you say it, I’ll sleep well.”

Zhang Xiaotian was at a loss for what to do. “I’m the best to you, the best in the world, okay?”

“You said it, don’t forget it,” Lu Bai turned to face him.

“I won’t forget,” Zhang Xiaotian closed his eyes. “Sleep, Lu Bai, take care of your eyes.”

As it turned out, neither of them slept.

After hearing the couple in the next room confessing their affections to each other for the third time late at night, Zhang Xiaotian gritted his teeth. “Lu Bai, what kind of room did you book? The soundproofing is terrible.”

“Heaven knows, you can’t blame me for this,” Lu Bai also frowned. “Do you think those two next door know the soundproofing is bad?”

“No,” Zhang Xiaotian said.

“How can you be so sure?” Lu Bai asked.

“Sure about what?”

“Didn’t you say they didn’t know?”

“You…” Zhang Xiaotian was so angry he wanted to curse. He rolled over and turned his back to Lu Bai.

“Ah, are you angry?” Lu Bai quickly got up and pounced onto Zhang Xiaotian’s bed, landing squarely on him. “Deskmate, Tian’er, I was wrong. I was just teasing you. Don’t be angry.”

“Get up, get up!” Zhang Xiaotian, pinned down, pushed him off with his hands and feet. “I’m not angry, I just can’t sleep because it’s too noisy, it’s bothering me.”

“Then I’ll sleep with you!” Lu Bai seized the opportunity and slipped into Zhang Xiaotian’s quilt.

“What are you doing?” Zhang Xiaotian was completely frozen.

After what happened in the bathroom earlier, and now this, did Lu Bai really not understand boundaries?

“Why are you so resistant?” Lu Bai pillow-talked on Zhang Xiaotian’s pillow and even nuzzled him. “With me to warm the bed, you’ll definitely sleep better.”

“Go back quickly!” Zhang Xiaotian felt stiff all over. “This bed is too small, go back to your own bed.”

“I won’t,” Lu Bai remained motionless.

“Lu Bai! I really need to sleep!” Zhang Xiaotian started to push him. With him here, he definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep all night!

“Really?” Lu Bai looked like he had succeeded in a trick. “Then call me Master once!”

“Master,” Zhang Xiaotian complied readily.

“Oh, you just… wait, what did you say? Say it again!”

“I don’t repeat myself,” Zhang Xiaotian decided to give up communicating, not knowing if Lu Bai would stubbornly make him say it many more times.

“Look at you, you don’t know how to joke,” Lu Bai pouted and also turned over, covering himself more snugly with the quilt. “Fine if you don’t call me, I heard it once, and that’s enough.”

He didn’t know when the couple next door quieted down. When Zhang Xiaotian woke up, it was already morning, and Lu Bai was still sleeping beside him.

When Lu Bai learned that Zhang Xiaotian had changed his part-time job, he didn’t seem as happy as Zhang Xiaotian expected, which surprised him a little.

“I said I would help you…” Lu Bai sounded a little unhappy. Then he asked, “And when did you become so close with Xu Yan?”

“We’re not particularly close, are we?” Zhang Xiaotian was a bit bewildered by the question. “He’s local, wouldn’t it be more convenient for him to find a part-time job than you? Besides, isn’t Xu Yan just a warm-hearted person like that?”

“Okay,” Lu Bai looked a bit wronged. “Then I’ll accompany you after class later.”

“I’m going to be a tutor, how will you accompany me?” Zhang Xiaotian asked. “Why don’t you go find Li An?”

“We only met once when I helped him last time, and I haven’t contacted him since.”

“Then what about others?” Zhang Xiaotian asked again.

“There are no others.”

“Then you play with your phone in the dorm,” Zhang Xiaotian was truly at a loss with him. “Otherwise, find something to do yourself. It wouldn’t be good to bring you along when I’m tutoring.”

“You’re so heartless,” Lu Bai pouted theatrically. “I’m not talking to you anymore.”

As a result, after class, Zhang Xiaotian found that Lu Bai really hadn’t followed him.

Not just that day, but for several days afterwards, Lu Bai didn’t pester him after class.

Perhaps he had met some friends, or… was he really angry with him?

Zhang Xiaotian pondered and tapped his pen a few times.

“Teacher, do you have something on your mind?” The child quietly doing his problems beside him asked.

“It’s nothing,” Zhang Xiaotian retracted the tip of his pen. “Are there any problems you don’t understand?”

“Not yet,” the child shook his head and looked at the book open in front of Zhang Xiaotian. “Teacher, do you also like to color in the enclosed parts of the characters?”

“Huh?” Zhang Xiaotian didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“Look, in the character ‘結’ (jié) in ‘結果’ (jiéguǒ), there’s a ‘口’ (kǒu) at the bottom,” the child wrote the character ‘結’ on a piece of scratch paper. “It’s like coloring in this ‘口’. I like to play like this too.”

Zhang Xiaotian looked at the scratch paper and then at his own book. He hadn’t even noticed this habit of his.

“Focus on your problems,” Zhang Xiaotian closed the book. “Show me when you’re done.”

“Oh,” the child pouted and listlessly resumed his work.

This child was just like Lu Bai. Zhang Xiaotian couldn’t help but smile, but thinking of Lu Bai made him feel annoyed again.

Where on earth had Lu Bai gone? He was really making Zhang Xiaotian worry.

“Teacher Zhang.” Zhang Xiaotian walked out of the child’s room, and the child’s parent immediately greeted him. “Does he listen to you? Has he made any progress these past few days?”

“Don’t worry, a child’s grades improve little by little. He’s been doing well on his problems recently,” Zhang Xiaotian said.

“Thank you for your trouble. Please take good care of him.” The woman in front of him was well-maintained and her age was indiscernible. “My child doesn’t have many friends and doesn’t get along with anyone. He gets along very well with you. If his grades improve, we’ll have to rely on you more in the future.”

“It’s nothing, please don’t be so polite,” Zhang Xiaotian exchanged a few more pleasantries before leaving. As he reached the entrance of the residential area, a figure suddenly darted out from a corner.

Zhang Xiaotian was so startled that he took a big step back, lost his balance, and was about to fall when the person grabbed his arm and pulled him into an embrace.

“Lu Bai!” Only when he smelled the familiar scent did Zhang Xiaotian come to his senses. He punched Lu Bai. “You scared me to death!”

“Hehe, I was wrong. I came to pick you up from class, Teacher Zhang,” Lu Bai lowered his head and grinned at him.

“Next time, use a more normal way to appear,” Zhang Xiaotian said to him after standing up straight.

“Okay,” Lu Bai nodded. “I’ll listen to you.”