PL | Chapter 14

Running Away from Home

The hug lasted quite a long time, breaking Gu Zhong’s personal record for the longest hug of his life so far.

During the hug, he neither spoke nor thought. He simply focused on feeling, properly and seriously, the solid reality of Qi Yue’s presence inside the circle of his arms.

He had originally wanted to hold him even tighter, but his ribs warned him to be careful, in case he used too much force and snapped the bones that had only just begun to heal.

It was only when Qi Yue lightly patted his back a few times that he loosened his arms. He took a step back, looked Qi Yue over carefully from top to bottom, then dropped into the chair beside him. There was a comfortable feeling of limp weakness all through his body, like after a burst of heavy exercise.

“Eat,” Qi Yue said as he sat across from him, pushing the noodles over and smiling. “You really are something.”

“How am I something?” Gu Zhong picked up his chopsticks and mixed the noodles. The familiar sauce fragrance made him instantly happy.

“You just had to make me cook you instant noodles,” Qi Yue said. “My hands were shaking while I was boiling them.”

“Why were your hands shaking?” Gu Zhong glanced at him. For some reason, right then, he was actually a little too embarrassed to look straight at Qi Yue.

“What do you think?” Qi Yue looked at him.

Gu Zhong said nothing and lowered his head to eat. Qi Yue said nothing either. He just sat there watching him eat.

Only after he had wolfed down more than half the bowl did Gu Zhong finally calm down a little and say, “You probably still haven’t fully recovered.”

“Hm?” Qi Yue did not understand.

“Your hands shaking.” Gu Zhong lowered his head and continued eating.

“Ah.” Qi Yue laughed. Leaning back, he watched him and laughed for quite a while. “Right, I haven’t fully recovered.”

After one bowl of instant noodles went down, Gu Zhong felt a fine layer of sweat prickling across his back. Only then did he remember to take off his jacket. Leaning against the back of the chair, he looked at the now-empty bowl.

He felt a little emotional.

Qi Yue had vanished from his life just like that, all of a sudden, and then just as suddenly appeared in his life again.

No, not appeared again. Gu Zhong had found him.

But the feeling was probably about the same. After the wild joy of recovering something lost came a quiet, wordless sense of reflection.

“Sorry.” Qi Yue moved the empty bowl aside, stood up, and went to the small freezer nearby to get a bottle of iced lemon tea.

“I don’t like hearing you say sorry,” Gu Zhong said softly. He knew Qi Yue was apologizing for suddenly disappearing, but from the very beginning, he had never blamed him for that. “I really don’t.”

“Then I won’t say it anymore.” Qi Yue poured out a cup of lemon tea. “Want some?”

“Iced?” Gu Zhong looked at it. “Is it already the season for cold drinks?”

“No,” Qi Yue said. “But customers often ask for iced drinks, so I keep some on hand. I drink it myself too.”

“Is business good here?” Gu Zhong asked.

“Better than at the fort,” Qi Yue said with a smile, staring at him for a while. “You’ve gotten a lot thinner.”

“Do I look handsome?” Gu Zhong touched his face.

“Compared with middle-aged people like us, you’re way more handsome,” Qi Yue said.

“I won’t ask about the other stuff.” Gu Zhong thought for a bit. “I just want to ask, what exactly was the deal with that five-hundred-yuan phone top-up?”

Qi Yue paused, then laughed. “Ah.”

“What do you mean, ‘ah’? No matter what kind of fee it was, that was way too little. Looking down on me or what?” Gu Zhong said. “And it was exactly that insulting five hundred yuan that kept me searching all over the city for you.”

“No.” Qi Yue laughed. “Really, no. This really wasn’t… It was a misunderstanding. I wasn’t trying to top up your phone. I was topping up my own.”

“I don’t get it.” Gu Zhong froze.

“I got a new number, and when I was topping it up, I… keyed in the wrong number,” Qi Yue said as he switched on the small electric hotplate on the table and set the iced lemon tea on top to warm it. “So it ended up going to yours.”

It took Gu Zhong quite a while before he finally said, “You remembered my number?”

“Mm.” Qi Yue curled his lips. “Unexpected, isn’t it?”

“Very,” Gu Zhong said. It really was unexpected. The only phone numbers he could blurt out instinctively were probably 110 and 119, oh, and 120.

“You don’t remember mine, do you?” Qi Yue asked.

“I don’t.” Gu Zhong shook his head. “Sometimes I can’t even recite my own number smoothly.” Qi Yue said nothing and just snorted a laugh.

“Well…” Gu Zhong could not quite explain what he was feeling, whether it was happiness, smugness, gratitude, or something else, but he still struggled stubbornly to defend himself. “Do you maybe have some hobby of memorizing numbers? Some people just like memorizing phone numbers or license plates and stuff.”

Qi Yue snorted again.

“No.” Gu Zhong slapped the table. “What’s with the snorting? Is it that incredible that you remember my number?”

Smiling, Qi Yue took out his phone and placed it in front of him. After unlocking it, he opened the contacts. Gu Zhong lowered his head to look, and was pretty surprised. The contact list was completely empty, not a single number in it.

“I remember all my numbers with my brain,” Qi Yue said, and there were actually traces of childish pride in his smile.

“Oh.” Gu Zhong clicked his tongue too. “So that means I’m nothing special after all. I’m just one of everybody.”

Qi Yue said nothing again. He just looked at him with that half-smile.

That made Gu Zhong feel extremely embarrassed. The moment he said those words, he had already started lecturing himself in his head. Don’t get so full of yourself. Being self-indulgently sentimental at a time like this was seriously awkward.

Now, with Qi Yue smiling like that, he almost could not stay seated. Just as he was about to get up and go stand by the window to ease the awkwardness, Qi Yue spoke.

“But yours is the only number I’d mistype when topping up phone credit.”

“Ah.” Gu Zhong answered, staring at the tiny bubbles rising from the bottom of the teapot. After staring for a while, he ended up grinning to himself. “Damn.”

“How did you end up coming here to find me?” Qi Yue asked, reaching over to lightly flick the back of his hand.

“I opened my heavenly eye,” Gu Zhong said.

“Did you go ask Maomao?” Qi Yue laughed. “I brought her around here years ago. Other than her dad, she’s the only one who knew I wanted to open a place here.”

“Yeah.” Gu Zhong sighed. “I didn’t think too much about it. If I’d known you hadn’t actually told her anything, I wouldn’t have gone looking for her.”

“She can guess. That little girl is sharp,” Qi Yue said. He poured him a cup of the warmed lemon tea, and when he was about to pour one for himself too, he suddenly stopped. “How did you find her? You didn’t know what school she goes to, did you?”

“I told you, I opened my heavenly eye. You don’t believe me?” Gu Zhong picked up the cup and took a sip.

“Did you search one school at a time, or did you have some pattern to it? When I saw you ride past on your bike, you looked like you were about to take off. You were riding that fast.” Qi Yue’s finger kept lightly flicking at the back of his hand.

“What the hell?” Gu Zhong was stunned. “You saw me?”

“Mm. A fleeting glimpse,” Qi Yue said with a nod.

“You saw me and didn’t call out to me? What the hell! Qi Yue, what is wrong with you? Is there cement poured into your brain?” Gu Zhong instantly became very annoyed.

“Chuan’er,” Qi Yue said, “how about this, I go out and ride a bike past at your speed. If you can run out of the shop and stop me before I vanish, then I lose.”

“You were riding way too fast. By the time I got out there, all I’d be able to see would be the smoke trailing behind your ass,” Gu Zhong said.

“You probably weren’t even planning to call me anyway,” Gu Zhong added with a loud, cold laugh. “A phone call would have stopped me, right? Didn’t you remember my number?”

“Because I didn’t know you were looking for me,” Qi Yue said.

“So if I hadn’t been looking for you, then even if you ran into me on the street later, you wouldn’t have said hello, right?” Gu Zhong sighed.

“Idiot.” Qi Yue looked at him. “To be honest, even now I still don’t know whether I should acknowledge you.”

“Get lost.” Gu Zhong laughed. “Then how about you just pretend you don’t know me.”

“Let me say something serious.” Qi Yue put away his smile and even cleared his throat. “Seriously, about what happened that day…”

“I don’t want to talk about what happened that day.” The moment Gu Zhong heard that opening, he knew what Qi Yue was about to say, so he cut him off immediately. “Usually you’re so casual, like nothing matters, so how come you’re stuck on this one thing and can’t get past it?”

Qi Yue said nothing. He just stared at him with complete concentration.

“I always thought you were pretty carefree,” Gu Zhong added in explanation.

“If it were someone else, I would be carefree,” Qi Yue said. “With you, I can’t be. I have to think about the consequences.”

“The consequences are already done with,” Gu Zhong said. “The people who wanted to vent already vented, the people who should’ve gone in already went in, the person who had to disappear already disappeared. From…”

Gu Zhong knitted his brows and thought for a moment before saying, “From when I got discharged… no, from when I started looking for you. That’s when it became after this, not before this.”

Qi Yue stared at him.

“Do you understand?” Gu Zhong asked. “How about I be a life mentor for once?”

“Okay.” Qi Yue smiled, lips curved upward.

Gu Zhong looked at him too.

They held each other’s gaze for a while, then Qi Yue said, “Then mentor me.”

“I already did,” Gu Zhong said. “You didn’t get it?”

“I got it.” Qi Yue nodded. After smiling for a while, he put the smile away again. “I’ve missed you a lot.”

“I, well…” Gu Zhong pressed a hand against his ribs. “I’ve missed you a lot too.”

“Not one of the waiters in my shop is quick-witted. Whenever I look at the two of them, I especially miss you,” Qi Yue said again, this time with a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Then you’ll just have to keep missing me slowly,” Gu Zhong said. “This place is too far from our school. Someone as clever as me is not coming all the way here to work.”

“What if I pay more?” Qi Yue asked.

“Too far,” Gu Zhong said.

“What if I go pick you up?” Qi Yue continued.

“You’re still in hiding,” Gu Zhong reminded him.

“Oh, right.” Qi Yue snorted. “That lousy school of yours doesn’t even have as much class in a whole week as other schools have in three days, and here you are pretending to be some serious college student.”

“Raise the pay,” Gu Zhong said. “I saw that the new subway line reaches this area, so on top of that there should be transport allowance, meal allowance…”

“I feed staff,” Qi Yue said.

“Even if you feed staff, there still has to be meal allowance. Transport allowance, meal allowance,” Gu Zhong said. “If I remember any other allowances, I’ll add those too.”

“Okay.” Qi Yue nodded. “How about I just let you handle the accounts, then? You can set your own salary however high you want.”

“That wouldn’t be right. That kind of treatment would make me second boss,” Gu Zhong said.

“Careful your big teeth don’t get flashed loose.” Qi Yue laughed, and Gu Zhong laughed along with him.

Honestly, if he had not laughed, he would never have noticed that from the day he was hospitalized up until now, he had not laughed like this even once. When he laughed, he could actually feel the muscles in his face stretching in a way that was both unfamiliar and wonderfully relieving.

Some things were just like that. When you were in the middle of them, you did not realize. Only when you looked back did it suddenly hit you.

Like laughing. Like how much he had missed Qi Yue.

After they were done catching up, Qi Yue showed him the layout of the second floor.

“The second floor was actually bigger than the first to begin with. I partitioned off part of it to sleep in,” Qi Yue said. “So now it looks about the same size as downstairs, and it’s enough.”

“So you really do still always sleep in the shop,” Gu Zhong said, looking at the wall that partitioned the area off. “Is the door hidden too?”

“It’s just a sliding door. It really is more expensive than the old kind of door, though.” Qi Yue went over and slid open the wooden door, which had been hidden behind the plants and was painted the same color as the wall.

Half a small room was revealed.

Compared with the little attic before, this place was a lot bigger, but it was still very much Qi Yue’s style. This time there was no straw mat. Instead there was a thick leather mat. Gu Zhong went over and pressed it with his hand. It was probably stuffed with feathers, thick and very soft.

“Seriously comfortable,” he said.

“Want to lie down for a bit?” Qi Yue walked over, turned around, and dropped hard onto the mat, smashing a hollow into it as his whole body sank down.

“You…” Gu Zhong turned back to glance at the still-closed door. “Is it really appropriate to be this unprofessional during work hours?”

Qi Yue grabbed his wrist. Just as he was about to pull, he stopped. “Is your hand healed?”

“If even my ribs are healed, how could that little wrist fracture not be?” Gu Zhong lay down beside him. “Damn… this is comfortable. But if you sleep here all night, won’t your back ache? It’s too soft.”

“You can sleep on the floor. I’ll lay out a hard mat for you,” Qi Yue said. “I can sleep however I want. My waist strength is still very good.”

Gu Zhong had been about to say something, but then he felt that something about that sentence was not quite right, so he turned to look at Qi Yue.

Qi Yue happened to turn his head to look at him too.

“Did I just say something kind of strange?” Qi Yue asked.

“Yes,” Gu Zhong said, trying not to laugh.

“I really mean it,” Qi Yue thought it over, then added.

“Got it.” Gu Zhong lost it and laughed helplessly up at the ceiling.

A person’s mood really had a huge effect on them. When you were in the middle of that mood, the feeling was not that obvious. Only after coming out of it did the contrast become clear.

For example, his sense of taste had woken up. And it was only after it woke up that he realized that for all that long stretch of time before, nothing he ate had tasted like anything.

Even eating by himself, he could eat with real enjoyment now.

Compared with the old basement place, business at Qi Yue’s new shop was moving enough to bring tears to one’s eyes. Not long before dinner time, customers started coming in, and very soon the first floor was full.

“I made you one of the signature noodles.” Qi Yue brought him a bowl upstairs. “Eat here and be good.”

“What made you think I needed a ‘be good’ added in there?” Gu Zhong poked at the noodles, looking very satisfied.

“I’m just consoling you a little. Once it gets going, I’m going to be busy,” Qi Yue said. “I won’t have time to talk to you. I’ll probably be stuck in the kitchen the whole time.”

“It’s fine.” Gu Zhong said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll just leave after I finish eating.”

Qi Yue braced both hands on the table and looked at him.

“I’ll settle the bill before I leave,” Gu Zhong said.

Qi Yue stayed leaning on the table, still looking at him.

“If you cry and beg me, I can also consider sitting here and waiting till you’re done,” Gu Zhong said with a smile.

“It hasn’t even been that long since I last saw you,” Qi Yue said quietly. “And you’ve already learned to be this bad.”

Gu Zhong nodded. “Shocking, right?”

Qi Yue smiled without saying anything and sprinkled a little pepper into his bowl. “Eat first. I’m going to get busy.”

“Mm,” Gu Zhong answered.

He really had gotten worse.

Because he had sensed the difference, the changes in himself, and the changes in Qi Yue.

And so he became bolder. Acting without restraint, secure in what he had to rely on, was a kind of pleasure.

Qi Yue had no idea what kind of day today was supposed to be. Gu Zhong had suddenly shown up at his door, and he could not even remember the last time he had felt this kind of surprise, or what it had been over.

Anyway, he was in a very good mood today. Even looking at the droopy, lifeless waiters was not as annoying as usual, and standing busy in the kitchen did not make his legs feel sore.

But as the number of customers kept increasing, Qi Yue once again started finding fault with the waiters in every possible way.

The waiters were probably unhappy too, since more people meant more work. When they carried noodles to the customers, they dragged their feet and moved at a crawl. Anyone who did not know better would think their legs had only just been broken.

“Two Spring Rains.” Qi Yue set two bowls of noodles onto a tray and called to the waiter standing nearby.

“If the noodles weren’t named like this, would there really be no way to tell all the kinds apart?” the waiter said.

“We’d have no choice but to call them Beef Slice-Slice Noodles A-B-C, Lamb Cube-Cube Noodles A-B-C, Fish Slice-Slice Fish Ball-Ball…”

Trying to act cute, are you?

Qi Yue froze when he heard that voice. He turned his head and glanced over, only to see Gu Zhong standing there with a stern face, reaching out for the tray.

“What are you doing? Didn’t I tell you to stay upstairs?” Qi Yue said.

“There are too many people. Your waiter can’t keep up, that face is about to drag all the way down to his shoes,” Gu Zhong said. “I’m idle anyway.”

Qi Yue smiled. “These two bowls are…”

“I know.” Gu Zhong picked up the tray. “For upstairs.”

It’s exactly this quick-witted streak of yours I like. Qi Yue watched Gu Zhong’s retreating back, then turned around to start on the next order.

By the time the tables on the second floor were almost full too, two girls sat down by the kitchen counter. Normally that spot did not get many customers, because when the place was not crowded, sitting face-to-face with the boss cooking your noodles was a little awkward.

When Qi Yue finished the noodles and turned to place them in front of the girls, he discovered that both of their phones were pointed straight at him.

“Boss, you don’t mind if we take a few photos, right?” one of the girls asked.

“I mind if they come out ugly,” Qi Yue said.

“We guarantee you’ll look explosively handsome. We guarantee we’ll only post them after editing,” the girl said.

Qi Yue smiled and said nothing more.

“Iced lemon,” Gu Zhong said as he came downstairs. “Do we still have any?”

“We do…” Qi Yue glanced at him. “Lemons and ice cubes.”

“Got it.” Gu Zhong opened the freezer, took out the lemons, and went to one side to make the lemon tea.

Those two girls had been photographing Qi Yue the whole time, and Gu Zhong had already noticed it from upstairs.

It was not surprising. Back at the fort, people had taken photos too. It was just that at the time, there was not really much to photograph. Qi Yue’s face and body had certainly been good, but when he sat there zoning out, he could sit like that for two hours. Even if you took a thousand photos, they would all look the same.

Now it was different. Now you could get a hundred different looks out of Qi Yue. And… Gu Zhong glanced back and realized that full tattoo sleeves, plus an apron, plus noodles, actually looked incredibly cool.

The third time he looked back at Qi Yue, out of the corner of his eye he saw one of the girls tilt her phone slightly in his direction.

This angle?

He had always believed he was handsome enough to blow up a whole street, but he was not flawless from every angle. Out of all three hundred and sixty degrees, there were always a few that would make him look like a monkey.

Like the angle right now, with his neck twisted. If they took a shot now, he would definitely look like a monkey with a twisted neck.

He immediately whipped his head around.

Probably because he was worried he might get photographed as a monkey, his expression did not look too good. The girl holding the phone quickly smiled at him. “Can I take one? If not, I’ll delete it.”

“Delete it,” Gu Zhong said. Then he turned around with the lemon tea he had finished making. “This way is okay.”

“Hey, how come you’re just like your boss?” The girl froze, then laughed and snapped a few pictures of him. “We’ll definitely help advertise for you two when we go back.”

“Thanks,” Gu Zhong said.

“Give the pretty girls two iced lemons on the house,” Qi Yue said while boiling noodles.

“Wow, thank you, boss.” The two girls laughed. “Then this counts as paid advertising.”

They stayed busy for more than two hours before the people in the shop gradually left and there were no new customers coming in. Gu Zhong sat back down upstairs.

That waiter was not great, or rather, maybe it was just that other people were not like him. He was helping Qi Yue willingly and even happily. That guy was just working for a boss, and he was tired from being busy.

Still, the waiter really was a little too unwilling to move. Carrying one bowl of noodles from the first floor to the second, he looked so strained on those few steps of stairs that Gu Zhong almost wanted to go over and support him.

A little after eight, the waiter changed clothes right on time and left.

Qi Yue came upstairs with a few small cakes and put the plate down in front of him. “You’ve worked hard.”

“You even sell tiramisu here?” Gu Zhong looked at the plate.

“There’s a pastry shop next door,” Qi Yue said. “I went over and got it.”

“Got?” Gu Zhong had just picked up his fork to eat, but after hearing that, he paused.

“Mm. Not every day, though. This is only the second time I’ve gotten some.” Qi Yue said. “The last time was because I didn’t know what to eat for breakfast, so I went over once.”

“And why exactly would they let you just take it?” Gu Zhong asked.

Qi Yue smiled and said nothing.

Gu Zhong stared at him and sized him up, then clicked his tongue. “The owner is a woman, right?”

“Mm.” Qi Yue’s lips curved up.

“Ohhh.” Gu Zhong stuffed a piece of cake into his mouth and spoke unclearly while chewing. “I get it now, you old indecent man.”

“I’m middle-aged, aren’t I? How did that turn into old indecent man? Shouldn’t it be middle-aged indecent man?” Qi Yue looked at him.

“You’re indecent in every possible way,” Gu Zhong said with disdain. “Back by the fort, there weren’t any neighboring shops. And even if there had been shops, there weren’t any female owners. I really couldn’t tell that you’re the sort of middle-aged man who’d sell his looks.”

Qi Yue laughed for quite a while.

“What are you laughing at?” Gu Zhong said.

“How about you go pay for it, then, and draw a clear line with the lady owner.” Qi Yue took out his wallet, pulled out two bills, and handed them to him. “While you’re at it, see whether there’s anything else you want to eat and buy that too. You ran up and down enough just now.”

“Do you think I’d be embarrassed to go?” Gu Zhong took the money.

“No. You’re definitely the opposite of embarrassed,” Qi Yue said very seriously.

Gu Zhong stuffed the money into his pocket, went downstairs, and out the door. The pastry shop Qi Yue had mentioned was immediately to the right, directly next to the noodle shop, and its decor style was extremely cute.

When he pushed open the door, he heard the delicate tinkling of wind chimes. He looked up and saw a string of pink wind chimes. Looks like the owner really is one of those cute-style young girls.

“Welcome,” someone behind the counter called out. “There are freshly baked little buns on the right. You can try some.”

That should be the owner.

Gu Zhong immediately turned toward the voice, except that voice did not sound much like a cute little girl.

Behind the display case stood an auntie, smiling at him. “They’re our signature little buns. Very good.”

“Oh.” Gu Zhong froze. Reflexively, he took two steps toward the buns, hesitated, then asked, “Are you the owner?”

“Yes.” The auntie nodded. “Is there something you need?”

“No no no.” Gu Zhong quickly shook his head and strode toward the buns. “I’m buying buns.”

“There are bags next to them,” the auntie said. “Buy ten, get two free. Just count them yourself and bag them.”

“Okay.” Gu Zhong took a bag and packed twenty-four buns. After paying, he nearly jogged back to the noodle shop.

There were no customers left in the shop by then. He went straight for the second floor and shouted, “Qi Yue!”

“So, did you draw a clear line with the lady owner?” Qi Yue sat by the window with a cigarette between his lips, smiling in obvious delight.

“I’ve realized that sometimes you’re really cheap in an annoying way,” Gu Zhong said as he sat down beside him and slowly pulled out a little bun to eat.

“You bought a lot.” Qi Yue glanced at the bag of buns. “Are you hungry? Want me to make you something?”

“No need. Take a few. I’ll bring the rest home to make my mom happy. You…” Gu Zhong lowered his head to look at his leg. “Is your leg completely healed?”

“More or less.” Qi Yue moved his leg a little. “Once they take the steel nail out next month, it’ll count as fully healed.”

“You’re still pinned with a steel nail?” Gu Zhong was somewhat shocked. He forgot to swallow the bread in his mouth.

“Mm. It was broken, after all.” Qi Yue took out a bun too and ate it. “A steel nail isn’t anything scary. Standard procedure.”

“Oh…” Gu Zhong looked at him. “Are you used to getting that done or something?”

“Bullshit.” Qi Yue said. “Do I look like someone who gets hurt that easily?”

“You do,” Gu Zhong said with a nod.

Qi Yue laughed and flicked his finger against Gu Zhong’s face. “You’re not going back to school in a bit?”

“Not school, home,” Gu Zhong said. “It’s Friday. I usually go back, and now my mom… she’s pretty tense about everything to do with me.”

“Then go back. Don’t stay out too late,” Qi Yue said.

“Mm.” Gu Zhong answered.

Qi Yue sighed.

“What?” Gu Zhong asked.

“If your mom finds out you came here and that I didn’t make you leave, she’ll probably get mad,” Qi Yue said.

“It’s not like I told her. Even if she finds out, at most she’ll scold me,” Gu Zhong said.

“That’s not the same.” Qi Yue smiled. “I’m an adult…”

“I’m underage or something?” Gu Zhong pointed at himself.

“I mean compared to me,” Qi Yue said. “In front of me, you’re a kid. Logically speaking, with the way I usually do things… I shouldn’t have made you that bowl of noodles.”

“With the way you usually do things…” Gu Zhong lowered his voice. “Then the two of us shouldn’t have gone beyond being boss and employee in the first place, should we?”

Qi Yue looked up at him. “Mm.”

“I’m not underage. What kind of friends I want to make, who I want to stay with…” Gu Zhong rubbed his nose. “I can make my own judgments. My parents’ opinions are just a reference. I can listen, or I can not listen.”

“That sounds very reasonable,” Qi Yue said.

“If you want to mock me, you can do it straight to my face,” Gu Zhong said, eyeing him sideways.

“No.” Qi Yue stood up and stretched. “Sometimes I just suddenly realize that you’re more mature than you look.”

“Do I look that immature?” Gu Zhong was a little unconvinced.

“No.” Qi Yue laughed. “You look very dumb.”

“What time do you close?” Gu Zhong stood up and put on his jacket. What Qi Yue had said was not praise, but the familiar tone and the familiar kind of words still made him feel comfortable.

“Any time.” Qi Yue said. “I’ll walk you to the subway entrance.”

“You’re not doing a late-night round?” Gu Zhong asked. “Business around here is so good it’s enough to make a man cry. It feels unbelievable.”

“It’s Friday today. Tomorrow and the day after won’t be quiet either. After I walk you over and come back, we’ll see,” Qi Yue said. “If I’m not sleepy, I’ll close later.”

Qi Yue still had the same old habit. Even when he went out, he did not lock up. But this whole area was covered with surveillance, and there were commercial district security guards too. For the short trip to the subway entrance and back, it ought to be safe enough.

“Are you really not giving this place a name?” Gu Zhong asked after stepping outside, then turning back to look at the signboard. “If somebody wanted to advertise for you, they wouldn’t even know what to call it. That noodle place is amazing, the boss is cool and handsome…”

“You come up with one,” Qi Yue said.

“Don’t. I’m a guy who can only come up with stuff like Beef Slice-Slice and Lamb Cube-Cube,” Gu Zhong said. “You’re the high-level sort of person who can even name noodles things like Spring Rain and Qinse.”

“I just made them up casually. Didn’t you say so yourself? If the noodles didn’t have names, there really’d be no way to tell them apart. Some differ by toppings, some by sauce.” Qi Yue slung an arm around his shoulders as they walked. “How about just calling it Fort again?”

“What do you mean, ‘again’? It was never called Fort in the first place.” Gu Zhong laughed.

“Then call it Chuan’er,” Qi Yue said.

Gu Zhong turned to look at him. “People will think you sell skewers.”

“Then call it Idiot,” Qi Yue said again.

“If you don’t mind embarrassing yourself, then sure,” Gu Zhong said.

“Then it’s settled.” Qi Yue nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll have someone make a new sign.”

Gu Zhong looked at him.

The expression on Qi Yue’s face was very serious, not the kind of serious he put on when he was teasing people, but the kind that made it obvious he truly intended to use “Idiot” as the shop name.

What a lunatic. Gu Zhong smiled. But he really liked this kind of lunatic that Qi Yue was.

Living very casually, and not casually at all.

When he got home and was just taking out his key to open the door, his phone chimed once. As he unlocked the door, he pulled out his phone and took a look.

It was a friend request. The nickname was the utterly unoriginal “Qi Yue.”

Smiling, he accepted the request and sent over a smiley face.

“Where’d you go?” his mother’s voice came from inside.

Gu Zhong looked up. His mother had smeared her whole face in green mud. It was pretty startling, but he was already used to it. Green was a little better than black.

“I went to eat with classmates.” He did not tell the truth.

He understood how Qi Yue must have felt, promising his mother something in the role of an “adult” and then failing to do it. So he really ought to have an honest talk with his mother about this. But right now… he wanted to keep this happy, about-to-take-flight mood for one more night.

Tomorrow was the weekend. Qi Yue’s place would definitely be busy, and he planned to go help out. Then he would have a proper talk with his mother. She was usually in a better mood in the mornings, easier to communicate with.

“You couldn’t even call and let me know?” his mother said. “I thought you were coming back for dinner.”

“Did you make my share?” Gu Zhong asked, a little embarrassed. He really had forgotten all about that.

“No,” his mother said.

“Oh…” Gu Zhong could not help laughing.

“What are you laughing at?” his mother looked at him. “You’re in a pretty good mood today.”

“Mm.” Gu Zhong nodded.

“What happened that’s got you so happy? Tell me about it?” his mother asked.

“I’ll tell you tomorrow. I’m sleepy. Oh right, I bought you some little buns. If you stay up late watching TV tonight, you can eat them.” Gu Zhong set the buns beside her hand, turned, and quickly slipped back to his room.

When Qi Yue opened his eyes, sunlight had already poured through the gap in the not-quite-fully-drawn curtains, spilling a broad patch of gold across the room.

It made body and mind feel at ease.

He yawned and reached for his phone to check the time. It was already ten. If he did not get up now, he would not even have enough time to finish preparing today’s ingredients before the lunch crowd began arriving.

The fact that he had actually slept until this hour surprised even him. Yesterday, he had probably felt too settled. He had slept more soundly than ever before, without dreaming, and without waking up halfway through.

Still yawning, he went downstairs. The female waiter in the shop was leaning against the register playing on her phone. Even the sound of his footsteps coming down failed to startle her.

Qi Yue did not call her either. He went straight to wash up, then entered the kitchen, thinking through what needed preparing today.

It was only when his phone rang that the waiter by the door finally jerked her head up as if startled. Qi Yue answered the call.

“Do you need that sign urgently?” Chen Gui asked. “I don’t have a free machine right now. Earliest I can do it is tomorrow.”

“No rush,” Qi Yue said. “Take your time.”

“You sure this shop is really going to be called Idiot?” Chen Gui asked again. “Sure?”

“Sure,” Qi Yue said.

“You’re really creative. Why don’t you call it Three instead?” Chen Gui sighed.

“That wouldn’t do. We’re all people with bottom lines.” Qi Yue smiled. Someone came in through the door, and he glanced over. It was Gu Zhong, warming a bag of milk in his hands, with two bags hanging from one hand. “I’m done wasting words with you. Once it’s ready, send someone to let me know. I’ll just come haul it over and put it up.”

“All right,” Chen Gui said.

Qi Yue hung up and looked at Gu Zhong. “Are you moving house?”

“Clothes I’m taking back to school.” Gu Zhong set the bags on the floor and moved the warm milk away from his face.

“I… came here directly. I haven’t gone to school yet.”

“Not spending the weekend at home?” Qi Yue came out of the kitchen, picked up his bags, and asked, “Why didn’t you go back to school first and then come here?”

Gu Zhong said nothing. Qi Yue turned his head and saw him drinking milk and looking at him.

“Oh.” He smiled. “You missed me. You missed me so much you had to see me first thing.”

Gu Zhong nodded.

Only after they carried the things into Qi Yue’s room did Gu Zhong quietly say, “I had a fight with my mom and went straight back to school.”

“Because of me?” Qi Yue frowned.

“For myself,” Gu Zhong said.

“How bad did it get?” Qi Yue looked at him. Gu Zhong’s complexion did not look good.

“It didn’t get that far. Just normal far.” Gu Zhong rubbed his face. “I don’t usually fight with my mom. If we do fight, it’s basically like this, I guess. It’s just that this time, I didn’t back down.”

“And the ending?” Qi Yue pressed.

Gu Zhong darted a quick glance at him, then turned his face away again. “I ran away from home.”